Ramblings Magazine Issue #3 PODCAST
Ramblings Magazine Issue #3 pdf file
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Why Have Tatoo’s become popular?
why are tattoos so popular? I don’t have a clue, but I am interested in learning more about the popularity of tattoos. Therefore, I asked my local AI the question and here is the answer.
Tattoos have surged in popularity for a variety of reasons, blending cultural, psychological, and social factors:
- Cultural Shift: Tattoos have transitioned from being associated with subcultures or countercultures to becoming mainstream. This shift has been influenced by celebrities, athletes, and public figures who openly display tattoos, thereby normalizing them.
- Media Influence: Television shows like “Miami Ink” and “Ink Master” have made tattooing a form of entertainment, showcasing the art and the artists, which demystifies the process and makes it more appealing.
- Personal Expression: In an age where individuality is prized, tattoos offer a permanent way to express one’s identity, beliefs, or experiences. They can be:
- Memorials: For loved ones, significant life events, or personal milestones.
- Artistic Statements: People view their bodies as canvases for art, often choosing designs that are deeply personal or aesthetically pleasing.
- Social Media: The rise of social media platforms has turned tattoos into a form of digital content. People share their tattoo experiences, from the design process to the final reveal, creating a community around tattoo culture.
- Tattoo Trends: Social media also drives trends. When a unique tattoo style or theme goes viral, it can lead to a surge in similar tattoos.
- Psychological Factors:
- Empowerment: Getting a tattoo can be empowering, giving individuals control over their body image in a society where body standards are often dictated by others.
- Ritual and Transformation: The process of getting a tattoo can be seen as a rite of passage or a transformation, marking new phases in life.
- Technological Advancements: Modern tattooing techniques, equipment, and ink quality have improved, making tattoos safer, more detailed, and longer-lasting. This has encouraged more people to consider getting tattoos.
- Economic Factors: The tattoo industry has grown, leading to more professional studios, better trained artists, and a wider variety of styles available. This professionalism has made tattoos more accessible and less intimidating for newcomers.
- Cultural Exchange: Globalization has brought diverse tattoo traditions from various cultures into the mainstream, like Polynesian, Japanese, and tribal designs, broadening the appeal.
- Rebellion and Conformity: While tattoos once signified rebellion, they now also represent a form of conformity to modern cultural norms where having a tattoo is often seen as cool or trendy.
- Therapeutic Aspect: Some find the process of getting a tattoo therapeutic, similar to acupuncture, where the endorphin release can be pleasurable or even meditative.
The combination of these factors has created a cultural environment where tattoos are not only accepted but celebrated as a form of personal and artistic expression. This widespread acceptance has made tattoos a popular choice across various demographics, transcending age, gender, and cultural boundaries.
Now I am educated on tattoos. No, I do not have a single tattoo.
Ramblings Magazine Issue # 2 Podcast
Why have beards become so popular?
Hello, this is TomT2.0. I have wondered why beards have become so popular. Therefore, I went to the local the AI for some comments. This is what AI came up with.
Ah, the great beard renaissance of the 21st century! Here’s why humanity has decided to embrace the facial fur with such fervor:
- Masculine Identity: In an era where traditional masculine norms have been under scrutiny, beards have become a symbol of masculinity. It’s like men are saying, “I’m not just a guy; I’m a man with a beard that could house a small ecosystem.”
- Cultural Trends and Media Influence: Remember when every TV show had at least one character with a beard so majestic it could be seen from space? Shows like “Duck Dynasty” or the rugged looks of actors like Tom Hardy have set the trend. If TV says beards are cool, well, who are we to argue with the small screen?
- Perceived Health and Dominance: There’s a notion, backed by some studies, that beards make men look healthier, older, and more dominant. It’s like nature’s way of saying, “This guy might have survived a few more winters than you think.”
- The Hipster Effect: Beards became a staple in hipster culture, symbolizing a rejection of mainstream grooming standards. If you’re going to be different, why not start with your face?
- Historical Cycles: Beards go in and out of fashion like bell-bottom jeans. We’ve seen cycles where beards were all the rage, then vanished, only to return with a vengeance. It’s almost as if facial hair has its own sense of fashion timing.
- Social media and Beard Envy: Platforms like Instagram have turned beard care into an art form. Men see these beards, think, “I could be that guy,” and thus, the beard trend spreads like wildfire.
- Backlash to Grooming Norms: There’s a bit of rebellion in growing a beard. It’s like saying, “I refuse to conform to the clean-shaven corporate look.” It’s facial hair as a statement of individuality.
- Scientific Reasons: Some studies suggest beards might have evolved as a signal in mate selection, indicating good genetics or health. Plus, there’s the theory that beards might have protected men’s faces in fights, making them more appealing to potential mates.
- Economic and Lifestyle Changes: After economic downturns, there’s often a trend towards more rugged, ‘survivor’ looks. Beards fit into this narrative of resilience and toughness.
So, why are beards popular? It’s a mix of fashion, rebellion, science, and a dash of wanting to look like you could survive a zombie apocalypse. But remember, while beards might be in vogue now, give it time, and we might all be back to smooth faces, wondering what the fuss was about. Human trends, much like beards, are cyclical and often, delightfully unpredictable.
In conclusion, my blogging offers audio or reading, your decision. Have a nice day. Contact me at mail@tomt2.com.
Time After Life
Ah, peace, that elusive butterfly in the human garden of emotions. What brings peace to one might be the very thing that stirs another’s existential anxiety. Peace, it seems, is as personal as it is universal.
Many find peace within themselves. Peace is not just the absence of conflict; it’s the presence of inner calm.” Peace often comes from feeling connected, whether through family, friends, or a community. Others turn to the natural world that soothes the human spirit. A walk in the forest, the sound of waves. For some peace comes from aligning with a set of beliefs that promise a higher purpose or afterlife. One engaging in acts of kindness can bring peace for others. Engaging in or experiencing art can be deeply peaceful. Some find peace in understanding the world through technology or the vastness of knowledge available today. Others find peace in writing; the explosion of blogging proves that.
I can experience peace from the above items. However, about a year and a half ago, I had a near death experience. I was laying on the operating table and a medical assistant said, “Doctor his blood pressure is dropping fast.” I was feeling very bad, and I thought I just took my last breath. I do not know where I went, but I felt a peace I have never felt in all my life. PEACE, TOTAL PEACE! I cannot explain it, but the feeling was great. I believe I had a preview of time after death. When I came back that feeling of PEACE, TOTAL PEACE! disappeared and I have not felt it since.
In conclusion, I believe that I will not experience that feeling until the time after life.
Streetcars in Denver
This is really stretching my memory. I was somewhere under ten years old. The time was before 1950. Streetcars were stopped in 1950. However, I remember riding streetcars in Denver. Those yellow painted wooden streetcars that would lumber down the middle of the street and many times when going around the corner the electrical power source would disengage from the main line and the streetcar driver would be required to disembark from the streetcar, go to the back and move the power line to the overhead line so that the streetcar could move on.
We lived just east of the Barnum area near First Ave and Federal Blvd. In those days Barnum was the place that Barnum and Bailey Circus stayed during the winter months. That is how Barnum was named. I don’t ever remember when the circus was staying there. Maybe I just don’t know what I was looking at. I do remember sometimes a religious revival would be in the area and you could see the large canvas tent from the road. Maybe they rented the tent from the circus for the revival. I was under ten years old; I am lucky I remembered the canvas tents and revival. Recently, I heard that Barnum bought the land, but they never stayed there during the winter.
I do remember going downtown with my mother on the streetcar. There was a route that went to the Barnum area from downtown Denver. This was before checkbooks and all the conveniences we have now. Once a month my mother would take the streetcar downtown to pay all the bills. They were paid in cash and a receipt was vitally important in those days. If you could not generate a receipt, you had no proof of payment.
We would catch the streetcar somewhere near Grove Street. This was the end of the line, and a large circle would be made, and the streetcar would start the return trip to downtown Denver. If I remember correctly it would go for a period on Grove and then follow the gulley near 14th Avenue to downtown Denver. For a period of time, I believe it went east on Colfax Avenue. The route ended at “The Loop”. This was near 15th or 16th and Blake St. Many of the routes ended up there and would then turn around and take the designated route they were assigned. At the Loop there was a flower shop, meat market and other ones I don’t remember.
We would start walking up 16th Street and stop at American Furniture to make a payment on the furniture. I don’t know whether Jake Jabs was involved in American Furniture at that time, or he came at a later date. Following that we stopped at Industrial Federal Savings to make the payment on the house. My parents had a house built in 1941 and paid $5400.00 for that house. It is hard to imagine paying that for a house knowing what the prices of a house are now.
Next was Mountain Bell to pay for that new modern convenience the telephone. Everyone had a party line in those days. It was either two parties or four parties. We had a two-party line. At least with a two-party line we did not have to listen for different rings. How spoiled we are these days.
Public Service was the next stop. Remember Reddy Kilowatt? There he was in the showroom, waiting to collect your money for the gas and lite bill. I remember this building at night. They had lights embedded in the outside walls and they would be on at night. Reddy Kilowatt was ready to sell you all the electricity you needed.
It was getting near lunch time and our mother would treat us to lunch at Woolworth’s at sixteenth and Champa St. That place would be jammed packed for lunch. Many times, we had to wait for a seat to eat. If we were really good, we would get a small bag of Cashew nuts to take home with us. To this day I still like Cashew nuts. Woolworth’s is gone. W.T. Grants and Neisner’s are gone. Denver Dry Goods Company has disappeared. Many names I grew up with have just disappeared.
After lunch we would walk back to The Loop and get on that old wooden yellow painted streetcar and return to the Barnum area. What do I distinctly remember about the trips to downtown Denver on those slow lumbering noisy streetcars? I remember the bell. I can still hear the bell in my head. Ding! Ding!
Black Widow Spiders
Not too long ago I was watching The Discovery Channel or National Geographic Channel about black widow spiders. This brought back memories about my experience with black widow spiders throughout my life. This series also caused me to dream about the spiders for a couple of nights after the show. I guess the show was pretty authentic.
Anyway, my parents built their home where a cherry orchard was before. For the first years the home was infested with black widow spiders. The screen doors did not fit very tight in those days and the spiders could crawl in under where the doors hung over the floors. There was I suppose more than a half inch opening between the floor and the bottom of the screen door.
During my young years I remember my grandma taking the broom and knocking the spiders off of the outside of the screen in the door. There were occasions where my mother would pull open a drawer in a dresser or kitchen drawer and she would discover a black widow spider in the drawer. The most dramatic event was one evening we were getting ready for bed and my mother found one of these spiders climbing up the bed spread at the foot of the bed. This was a scary event for a young child under five years old. I don’t remember if it took me a long time to get to sleep after that event or not.
The TV show I was watching was about a young child that was bitten twice by a spider that crawled into her bed between the sheets and bit her twice before she realized what was happening. That could have happened to me when I was young. That is probably why I had dreams after that show.
The house did not have a basement; it just had a crawl space of about three feet. I remember when I got older my dad and I would go in the crawl space, and he showed me all the spiders between the rafters that died when he got a unit call “Hari Kari”. It was a small electrical pot that you would put these pills in and the heat from the heating element would cause the pills to evaporate and emit a poison gas into the air and kill the spiders. Those rafters were just covered with carcasses of those spiders. That Hari Kari eliminated our spider problem. Before my dad passed away, we were talking about the Hari Kari and then he told me they had to take it off the market because it emitted cyanide gas and it was considered too dangerous.
Another event happened in a field we used to walk through to get to Alameda and Federal. One day we were walking through the field and got curious about this piece of wood that was there for a long time. It looked like some kind of door where three pieces of wood was fastened together with hinges on one side. It was lying flat on the ground, and I decided to pick it up and see what was on the other side. I put my fingers under the edge and stood it up on its side. No more than an inch away from my right index finger was a bright shiny black widow spider. That was a scary moment. I could have been bitten so easily.
On occasion I run into black widow spiders in the garage now. Sometimes I was washing something down with the hose and disturb a web and one comes crawling out looking very mad. They sure are black and shiny. Black widow spiders have given me some uneasy moments.
Ramblings Magazine Podcast
Since the end of March, I have been combining my postings from various platforms and producing a twenty-page series of magazines named Rambling Magazine. Since I have been posting on Word Press since 2009, I have a collection of over 200 postings. I am also on Sub Stack and posted many articles on YourHub.com when it was owned by The Rocky Mountain News. Also, I was a participant of a local writing group.
I was told I should write a book with my comments about anything postings. Writing a book and compiling it may take a year or more. That is why I went with the magazine platform. Since I am in my senior years, I may have 10 days left or 10 years. I did not want to start a book and never finish it.
My podcast page is my most popular area. The current buzz word is podcast, and it has become a great addition to my site. That is why I have composed a podcast for Rambling Magazine Issue #1. We will see how the response will be.
ABOVE IS THE PODCAST FOR RAMBLINGS MAGAZINE ISSUE #1
Link to podcast page https://tomt2.com/audio-files/
There are times when I wish I was twenty years younger. I believe I could make a career out of this challenge. This blogging journey has been exciting and satisfying.
Just A Mere Mortal
As the days and years go by, I have come to the conclusion that I am just a mere mortal. Am I going to do anything or write anything that leaves a lasting impression on this world? I kind of doubt it.
I have had a good life experience. I was raised by loving parents and did not have to suffer any hardships and tragedies in my growing up years. I was able to work and provide for the two sons I fathered. I served my country with time in the army. Marriage and family life have entered my life twice. I am still experiencing my second marital journey. Over eighteen years of retirement life and I sense more years of this journey on this earth.
Over a year ago I survived a medical near-death experience. During the recuperation period I thought that there must have been a reason for surviving. It has been over a year now and I am still searching for the reason. I am beginning to think the only reason I survived was to experience and learn from that near death encounter.
With that said, I am just a mere mortal and will do what mere mortals do and that is to attempt to live a good life.
I Have Been So Blessed
As I reflect on my life, I have concluded that I have been so blessed. Compared to millions of others my life has been easy.
I was born into a loving family. My parents loved me and protected, fed, and taught me in my young years. I fell on a broken bottle and seriously cut my arm from the wrist to the elbow. It was a blessing that the main artery was not severed. If it was I more than likely would have bled out at that young age.
I elected to not to continue on to college after high school when many said without a college degree you will not experience the American dream. I have been blessed with a comfortable financially stable life. I do not have millions, but I have more than enough to sustain the American dream.
I was drafted into the army during the Vietnam era. I was blessed to spend my enlistment in Germany whereas the seven I was drafted with went to Vietnam. I did not have to suffer the pain and violence of armed conflict.
I became married and the blessing of two great children was generated from this relationship. Unfortunately, one must experience hurt and pain in parts of their lives. This relationship came to an end after eleven years. However, we are now able to talk to each other. The hurt and anger has been shelved and that is another blessing.
I was blessed with another loving relationship, and this brought me four stepchildren which I truly love their mother and her children. We are still together and enjoying and spending our final days together. Trust and allowing each other to be themselves is a gift and a blessing to experience.
A little over a year ago I experienced a life-threatening medical issue. There was a point where thought I was taking my last breath. I thought, “Here I am Lord!” I believe, for a short period of time I had a preview of time after death. I experienced such peace during that time, it was unexplainable. This was a time I will never forget. I am ready to experience this peace again.
In conclusion, as you can see that I have experienced more blessings than hurt and pain. I thank the Lord many times for the blessings I have received. I am just a mere mortal, but I firmly believe that time after death is going to surprise everyone.
Friends are Gifts in Life
As I recall the friends I had when growing up until my senior years I try to think of what they had in common? Most friends come from encounters at school, neighbors, work, church and so on. Friendships develop from conversations and encounters. Many do not develop into anything, and others grow in a friendship that becomes a gift of life.
The quality that I value the most is, a friend allows me to be myself and I allow them to be themselves. Once you are allowed to be yourselves the union will become stronger and memorable to be remembered throughout the remaining time in your life.
A Life of Work
This was not a job but is what I did to earn some extra money. During the summer when I was in middle school, I caught and sold nightcrawlers for the local sporting goods store. The owner told me he would take all I could catch. He paid me a buck a hundred and then sold it for two bucks. I would drop off the nightcrawlers on Thursday and the anglers would buy them for the weekend. I would average about a thousand a week and that was ten bucks a week. The only expense I had was flashlight batteries. If I remember correctly, I would earn about two to three hundred dollars for the summer. That was a lot of money in the fifties.
My next job was parttime at the public library while going to high school. I was a library page, which is code for a do whatever was necessary. The most interesting job was running the elevator on Saturdays. The elevator was automatic, but the crowds were large, and they overwhelmed the automatic system. Another job was they had a basement and sub-basement where books were stored. They would receive an order and they had pages in the basement where they would retrieve the books and put them on a lift that carried them up to the upper floors.
After graduating I started working for a government contractor that was building the Titan I ICBM for the government. I was a teletype operator in the purchasing department. Unfortunately, the job was on the swing shift. So much for my night life.
Three and a half years later I received the letter stating, “your friends and neighbors have selected you to become a member of the United States military.” For the next two years I was in the army. I was fortunate enough to go to Germany instead of Viet Nam. I then had two years of active reserve and then two years of inactive reserve. Then my military obligation was over.
After my two years of active duty, I returned to the aerospace contractor because there was a law that they had to hire me back since returning from military service. A year later I was laid off. They just hired me back to fulfill their legal obligation to have a job for me after military service.
I then started working for a large electronics manufacturer in the consumer electronics industry. First, I was an assistant buyer, then a buyer and then became a department manager. This career lasted for over twenty years and was the highest paying position in my working period. After a purchase of the company a year later the company buyer decided to close thirteen distribution warehouses across the nation and here, I was forty-six years of age and without a job. During that time the unemployment rate was eight percent. Try to tell me there is not age discrimination happening.
Working in part time and temporary positions for four years I finally get a full-time job in a high-tech position where lasers were used to cut close tolerance components used in the solid-state electronics field. This was a field that was totally new to me. I started as a temp, and it worked into a full-time position. Tell me a positive attitude and hard work is not the way to go. This continued for thirteen years and then I decided it was time to retire and have been retired now over fifteen years. Now, “Every Day is Saturday!“
After retiring I decided to give writing a try and this is where I am now. I have posted over two hundred articles on WordPress and having fun doing it. Most of my articles are about experiences in my life. I am not doing this for money, I am just doing it because I enjoy reminiscing and sharing events in my life.
https://tomt2.com/ Stop by and make me feel good. I like to see a lot of viewing numbers, likes, and comments.
Memorial Day May 27, 2024
Today, the one day in the year that we remember the ones who have fallen for the freedoms and life we enjoy every day of the year. They are the ones that stepped up and fought for this country and made the final sacrifice. So, in your busy schedule of enjoying the freedoms and comfort, take a moment to remember the ones who gave you this gift of freedom and security.
Peace
Throughout life you start to accumulate stuff. You get material things. You learn, you have encounters with other beings. You collect all this stuff in this short span of your life. Society promotes that material possessions are the most important in life. Many have a worth more than I cannot comprehend. Do they have it all? That is up for debate.
Little over a year I had a near death experience. I was on the operating table, and I heard an aide say, “doctor his blood pressure is dropping”! I was feeling really bad. I could not inhale or exhale. I thought, this is it! My life is over! After that I felt something, I never felt before in my life. I felt peace, no fear, no anger, nothing, just peace. This peace is very hard to explain. But it is a peace I want to feel again. No, I did not see a light at the end of the tunnel, no angels, no music, just peace, Total peace.
After a period of time, I started to hear operating room noises, I am still alive! What a shock, I thought I died. For a period of time, they did things to me and then the doctor started talking to me. He said, “Tom we got most of the clot removed and things look promising.” I said that I heard my blood pressure dropping and I asked him how low did it go? There was a pause, and he said, “you don’t want to know, and I am not going to tell you.” To this day I don’t know how low the blood pressure was. Continuing the conversation he said, “Tom I think we made the right decision to keep you awake during the procedure instead of anesthesia. I am afraid that if you would have gone under anesthesia, we would have lost you. I feel I had a preview of time after death. Total peace!
My conclusion is that “having it all” is obtainable, but it will happen during the time after death.
I recently discovered a website Near Death Research Foundation. It is an interesting site. I am going to enter my experience on this site sometime.
They are Just Material Possessions
Everyone has stuff. Many have lots of stuff. Others have more stuff than they need. You get attached to a new car or new home. Small mementos from someone you are attached to may mean a lot, but they are just stuff. This world is full of stuff, and many are necessities for a comfortable life. Money just buys stuff but that does not guarantee happiness. I have no material possession that I want to put in my coffin when I pass on.
What I do value is my memories played out in my living days. I value the family and friends in my life and all the wonderful memories that they were a part of. Memories of grandma, my parents, my sons, my spouses, my stepchildren, and everyone who has entered into my life is what I cherish. Maybe they could put a thumb drive in my coffin with all of these cherished memories.
Yes, I Have Collections
I have all kinds of collections. Do they have any monetary value? Not much. My collections are items I have collected over my life. I always think, “can I use this at some later point?” With that in mind I started collecting.
My first collection is my nut a bolt collection. Since I have been a homeowner since the early seventies I have done many projects around the home. You always don’t have the correct nail, bolt, screw, so you trot off to Home Depot and get what you need. You always end up with leftovers. So, I started collecting them. I also had projects that I recycled. I removed every nut, bolt, screw, washer, nail, that I could save. My collection has expanded to five- or six-gallon containers. Bolts in one container, nuts in another and so forth. This collection has saved me many times when I needed a couple of bolts and nuts to repair or finish a project.
The next collection is coins and paper money throughout my life. I have silver dollars, Indian head pennies, buffalo nickels, old quarters, silver certificates of paper money. I also have a stack about an inch high of two-dollar bills. Are they valuable? I don’t have a clue. I have just been collecting them through my life. I also have some World War II savings bonds my parents took out for me. Sure, they could be cashed in, but the paper bond and the age of them is worth more to me than the monetary cash in value.
Third collection is photos. I have photos my parents have accumulated over the years and the photos I have also collected over the years. Many black and white photos and color with my dad’s collection of slides. The last time I looked at the slides they are starting to discolor and fade. I don’t know how long they will last. Digital photography came into existence, and I don’t have a clue how many thousands of photos I have. I have the problem of finding a photo. I never bothered to catalog them. Therefore, I must use the hunt and search method.
Another collection is my rambling writings about my life and experiences. This collection is the most valuable to me. Whether it is valuable to anybody else is up for debate. WordPress contains a large portion of these ramblings. https://tomt2.com/ I have a collection of all the articles that were printed in the Rocky Mountain News insert of YourHub.com. During that time, they published over seventy-five of my posts. This was the motivation to start writing stories and tales down.
My newest project is Ramblings Magazine https://tomt2.com/magazine I have had comments that I should write a book. I thought about it, but a book may take years to do so I thought a magazine would be better since I am in my senior years and my warranty ran out many years. ago.
My Legacy
I never thought much about a legacy until after my near-death experience in February of 2023. My Bloodclot (Podcast). After the event I started to reconcile my life and thought, “why was I given a second chance?” I must have some unfinished business to do before my journey is over. I am just a mere mortal. I do not jump over tall buildings or stop speeding bullets. All I have is over eighty years of life on this earth. Searching for the purpose of a second chance I have decided to write about events and experiences in my life. Last August I remembered I had a site on WordPress and became active in the site. Since then, I have posted many events. Is this the purpose for the second chance? Who knows for sure.
The legacy I want to leave behind is, He was a good man. He tried to do the right thing. He was fair and didn’t take advantage of his fellow man. His faith of God and life after death was strong.
I hope my two sons remember me as a good father who did what he thought was right and necessary so they can live a good and productive life.
I hope my spouses do not regret that the years they spent with me was good years together and do not regret the years together.
I hope my stepchildren do not regret that I came into their lives and can call me stepdad with pride.
I hope all the other people I have come in contact with can say, “he was a good man!”
Cold Weather
I was born and raised in cold weather. The day I was born the weather was in the middle twenties. Denver metro has cold weather from October to March every year. In January there is usually a couple of episodes of below zero weather. That is when it is really cold.
When in grade school I remember walking to school, which was about ten blocks away, in cold snowy, blowing snowstorms. They didn’t have school bus service for public grade schools in those days. The cold and snow were just something you had to deal with. The coldest and most miserable was when I was in the army stationed in Nurenburg Germany in the winter of 1965. That was cold! Plus, you had to be out in the cold making sure the equipment was still operating.
I didn’t pay much attention to the weather until I started to become older. The older I get the more I think about cold weather. It has been over fifteen years since I have retired and now I do not like cold weather. No wonder older citizens move to a warmer climate when they get older.
BRRRRR!!!!!!
The Grok Platform and me
I have been a X user (Formerly twitter) since 2010. I have fun with X and have enjoyed this trip. Some have negative feelings after Elon Musk made the purchase. I can’t really see much difference. Recently they introduced The Grok. I do not really understand the platform or why I have access to it because I am not a premium+ member. I just have a blue check mark. Grok is an AI platform where you can ask questions and AI comes up with the response by accessing the information from X. I have just asked stupid questions and I am having fun with it.
I asked Grok, “what is the purpose of Grok?” AI replied, ” The Grok platform, developed by xAI, is an AI-powered chatbot designed to assist users in various domains, including Blockchain technology, Crypto, and more. It is specifically built to help with tasks such as no-code smart-contract programming, debugging, market analysis, and even creating NFTs. Grok distinguishes itself by offering a unique and fundamental advantage: real-time knowledge of the world via the X platform. This allows it to provide up-to-the-minute information and insights into trending topics and conversations.” Do you understand that? I don’t.
I then asked Grok, “who is Tomt 2.0?” This was the response. “Tom T2.0 is a persona behind various online platforms, including tomt2.com and a blogspot domain. He seems to be a senior individual with a rich history, reminiscing about his past and sharing his experiences through his writings. Tom T2.0 has a strong interest in reminiscing and has over seventy-five years of memories, experiences, and good times to draw from. He is also a proud American, expressing his love for his country and the American dream. His online presence includes posts about personal experiences, such as memories of Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day. He has also shared information about his life, including his military service and his regret for not appreciating the love of his mother more. Tom T2.0 has mentioned being involved with the wrong crowd in his youth but was fortunate to avoid long-term consequences. Additionally, Tom T2.0 has discussed his health, mentioning a near-death experience and his ongoing battle with allergies. He also shared an anecdote about his love for olives, which he attributes to a past life as a Roman soldier. In summary, Tom T2.0 is an individual who shares his life experiences and reflections on various online platforms, with a focus on reminiscing about his past and his love for his country.“
I have no concerns what Grok found on me. However, it is concerning how fast this information was retrieved. In less than thirty seconds AI composed this paragraph. Just think of all the information that could be retrieved on you after a longer amount of time.
In conclusion, I will continue to ask Grok dumb questions until they want me to become a premium+ member.
A Leader and a Follower
I have been a leader and a follower. In my growing years I was a follower. You learn to lead by following. Throughout my growing years I was never a head boy or the leader of a school club. It was easier to follow in army period than lead.
After army life I decided it is time for me to move forward in a private industry. I became a team lead and worked my way up to swing shift supervisor. Two or three years later I became a department manager for a large electronic manufacturer. I held that position for over twenty years. I think that could be classified as a leader.
During that time, I hired and fired for a department of over fifteen employees. We had office workers, warehouse personnel, delivery drivers, and outside salespeople. There was also a building. I had to get the contractors to maintain the building, lease delivery vans and have a solution for any unforeseen problem. The only requirement from corporate office was to show five percent net profit every year.
It was an experience and sometimes very stressful. Unfortunately, when I was only forty-six the corporation closed 13 warehouses across the nation, and I became unemployed. I survived the transition from a high paying executive to a person that had a difficult time finding a second career.
Now it has been over eighteen years since I retired, and all things worked out well.
A world of fruit
Without a doubt my favorite fruit is bananas. A half of banana with my boring breakfast cereal. My doctor recommended that I eat a half of banana because of the high sugar content, and I am prediabetic. You peal them instead of wash them, how convenient.
Next is the grape. I prefer green grapes over red. But they do say red grapes a better for you because of the additional antioxidants. Oh well, life is not perfect.
The third pick is oranges. We have become attached to the small Cuties. Some call them clementines. Standard size oranges are just too large for me and the sometimes can be a job to peal.
One must not forget apples. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Finally, are olives. I enjoy green olives. Sometimes I eat 6-7 or a dozen at a time. These are the small olives, not the martini size large olives. The olive haters ask me, “how can you stand them, they are too bitter?” I reply, “In a previous life I was a Roman soldier and during a march to a new battle we would stop by the olive orchard and eat them right off the tree.” If you believe this tale, I have a bridge in Arizona you can buy.
I should have done more.
Since I am in my seasoned years, I think it is too late to think about an improvement I could make.
However, I can think about what I could have done differently. Throughout my life there was a telephone. In my younger years the phone was a four-party system, and each party had a special ring, so the parties knew whether to answer or not. It is amazing how this technology has progressed.
Throughout my years I always waited for the phone to ring and very seldom started a call. It is one of the many questions that I don’t know why. I still do not like to make phone calls. Therefore, I should have made more phone calls instead of just waiting for the phone to ring.
Vicks VapoRub and Toenail Fungus
Some years back a nurse friend of mine were talking and I mentioned that I had some pain and discomfort on the top of my big toes. She said I could have fungus underneath my toenails and that more than likely is the reason for my discomfort. She suggested using Vicks VapoRub to help alleviate the discomfort. I thought “what are you smoking?”
Anyway, I gave it a try. After showering I put lotion on my calloused heals and started applying VapoRub on the top of my big toes and around the cuticles. After a week or so I started to feel the difference and in a couple of months I had no discomfort at all.
At my next wellness exam with my PCP when she was checking my feet, I mentioned about the VapoRub procedure and she said, “oh that is an old wife’s tale that has been around a long time.” She didn’t recommend it or discourage it.
When writing this story, I thought about going to the internet and found this.
Vicks VapoRub is a topical ointment that may help treat toenail fungus1. Its active ingredients, camphor and eucalyptus oil, have been found to have a “positive clinical effect” in treating toenail fungus1. To use Vicks VapoRub for toenail fungus treatment, you should2:
- Thoroughly file the nail.
- Rub the Vicks VapoRub on the toenail, the affected part, and the edges of your toes.
- Wear socks to prevent the ointment from soiling your sheet.
- Do this continuously for at least nine months to completely get rid of the toenail fungus
I am not suggesting or recommending this procedure. I am just sharing this story.
Past experiences
What gives me direction in my life? Everything that I have learned or experienced in my life.
From birth until now everything that I have learned or experienced in life gave me direction. I learned the necessities in life like going to the bathroom in the toilet instead of my diaper. My mother raised me as a Catholic and that gave me direction in my young years. Going to kindergarten and twelve more years of schooling added on to this direction of life.
Army service gave me a vast source of knowledge of how to deal with many different personalities and cultures. You meet hundreds of people from different parts of the country, and this was a great help in my later years dealing with people. This learning experience was very helpful in my journey of life and do not regret it one bit.
Employment in private industry, marriage, raising children, divorce and the heartaches and hurt involved in all of the above made me realize that the perfect life I have dreamed of may not come true. These events made me realize that my dreams may not be the purpose for my time on this planet.
After a period of time, I found a new direction with a new loving wife and her loving family. This told me there is light at the end of dark tunnels. Following this I retired and discovered that “Every day is Saturday.” and the stress of full-time employment is over. We also moved into the home of my dream. These events also gave me a direction in life.
A little over a year ago I was standing in front of deaths door and Dr. Death was holding the door open. I survived and as my wife says, “your room was not ready yet.” Again, another life experience has changed my direction in life. Life is not over and according to statistics the survival rate of my illness was three to five percent.
In conclusion, many events in my life and learning experiences has changed my life. I believe the purpose in life is to learn, and one should learn as much as then can in this short visit on planet of earth.
Camping Tales
When I was Young the exciting thing to do during the summer school vacation was to sleep outside between the houses or in the back yard. Two or three of the neighborhood kids would have a campout. It was spooky and scary staying outside with no parents nearby. Of course, this was before your parents had to be concerned about rampant crime and many things could be done without that fear.
My next camping experience was after I started work full time and some co-workers were campers and they would invite me to go with them to camp up in the mountains. Fishing and camping over the weekend. What an experience. I never did like sitting around the campfire though. It seemed like the smoke from the fire always followed me and my eyes would burn, and my clothes would retain that smell of smoke for a long period.
My next camping experience was during basic training. You received a shelter half and you had to find a buddy so the shelter half could be combined to make a pup tent. The army didn’t call it camping though, they had their own name, it was called bivouac. Then In Germany they had maneuvers and had these large tents that held eight or ten troops. I can’t remember what kind of tent they called them.
My final tale was after I was married and had two sons. We had friends that had a van, and I became enthused about a camping van. I bought a delivery van from the company I worked for and converted it to a camping van. The kids would sleep outside in a tent and the adults slept in the van. It was a fun time of my life. Unfortunately, I became divorced, and the budget could not afford a van and camping.
After my life became more stabilized, we occasionally went camping. I would rent a RV for the weekend or the week. It was fun, but I did not enjoy driving the wide RV and the length of the RV. I learned to take a tranquilizer before I started the trip. It was fun and enjoyable though and it gave me many good memories.
My camping days are over now.
Reminiscing is My Interest
I think of the past more than the future. I am in my senior years and have over seventy-five years of memories, experiences, and good times. I am sure this is obvious in my articles I post. If it wasn’t for my past, I would have nothing to write about.
I am just a mere mortal. I don’t jump over tall buildings or stop speeding bullets. I have not done or accomplished anything spectacular in my life. I love my country and I am experiencing the American dream. I am praying that the American dream continues for many generations to come. I have been retired for over fifteen years and my American dream is close to being over. If you have read previous postings, you see that most are about memories or past experiences.
Friends and relatives have said I should print out my articles so they would not be lost. I said, “that is the purpose of TomT2.0 on WordPress.” However, that did make me think and that is when I came up with this Ramblings Magazine idea. Where this ends up only time will tell. I started with the WordPress postings and the next resource will be articles from a writing group I was a member in and then articles from Yourhub.com published in the Rocky Mountain Newspaper that was closed around 2012. I estimate that I have enough articles for over fifteen issues. What happens after that who knows?
Therefore, if the people who said that they would be interested in having a printed copy they have the facilities to order a copy of the magazine and it will be mailed to them. Talk is cheap and will see how many put down money for a printed copy.
https://www.blurb.com/b/11951453-ramblings-of-tom-treloar
My Regrets
As I reconcile my life, I have come to the conclusion that my biggest regret is that I could have been friendlier than what I was and kept in touch with friends throughout my life.
In my young years I was scared. Life scared me. I was afraid to try things and go places. The first day of kindergarten was traumatic. All those strange kids and a new environment really scared me. For safety reasons my mother walked me to school and would be waiting for me when school was out. Telling me to “don’t talk to strangers” didn’t help me either. I survived and went to junior high and high school next. During that time, I made many friends and did what was normal for the period. Unfortunately, high school was a difficult time in my life. I guess it was the hormonal change and just the period of growing up. But, during that time I was angry and mad. I was mad at myself, my parents and everyone around me. I do not know why. I graduated from high school, and I never attended one high school reunion. I never kept track of any high school friends.
On to full time employment and a period of army time and making friends. On to married life and raising children, making more friends. Life continues and retirement happens and a move to a new home. More friends.
I have had many friends throughout my life. However, my biggest regret is I never kept in touch with the friends. Once a period of life is over, I would lose contact with the friends. My wife Dee has kept contact with friends throughout her life. If fact she is having lunch with three from her grade school tomorrow.
Therefore, my biggest regret is that I never kept in contact with friends out of my past and I could have been friendlier than what I was.
Daily writing prompt
Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?
My Eyes are Killing Me.
It is that time of the year again. Spring allergies have attacked me full force. A couple of days ago my nose started to run and I looked around and sure enough, the trees were starting to leaf up and the fruit trees were all filled with blossoms. I thought, oh no, it is the time of year for itchy, scratchy, red eyes.
Before I turned fifty, I didn’t have allergies, but as I got older, they started to attack me and the older I age the worse they get. I read that this is a characteristic of the aging process in some people. I guess I am stuck with the problem. Fortunately, it only lasts a couple of weeks and once the trees are finished doing their thing, I am ok.
Over the counter medication such as Alavert and Claritin work for the runny nose discomfort and the runny nose can be tolerated. The itchy, burning, running eyes are another issue. I don’t know how many eyes drops and ointments I have tried and to no relief. The best that has worked for me at the moment is Thera Tears and Pataday. Unfortunately, my itchy eyes bother me for about two weeks. I have learned to not rub my eyes no matter what. That only makes it worse. It sure has been difficult to refrain from an automatic response.
I have talked to eye doctors, and they just told me allergies are caused by your immune system and it thinks the pollen is a threat to your eyes and attempts to protect your body from infection. Apparently, they do not have any suggestions for the discomfort. one consolation is that it only lasts a couple of weeks, and it will all be over.
Time to go back being uncomfortable and grouchy.
Back To Writing
The decision was made last summer. I have had WordPress site since 2009 and I let it go dormant until last summer. I also opened up a Sub Stack account at the same time since I forgot that I had this account. Now I am posting on both accounts.
Over a year ago I had a life-threatening event and I thought I was going to breath my last breath. Miraculously I survived this serious event. My blood clot During the three days in ICU, I had plenty of time to search for the purpose of my survival. I still feel there is a reason I was given a second chance. After six months of recuperating and still searching for the reason I survived, and I had the thought maybe I should share my thoughts, ideas and stories in a blog type format. I heard about Sub Stack on a news article and started blogging and then I remembered about my WordPress account and revitalized it. I now have over 200 posts on WordPress and over 50 on Sub Stack. Some posts are the same on both sites.
I also Have a Blurb account. blurb.com/user/tomtreloar that I have also had for a long time with a selection of books I have published. I then discovered that they now have a magazine publishing section, and this would fit perfectly for me. Rambling Magazine
Recently Writers Digest started following me on X (formerly twitter) and this news excited me. People must be noticing this mere spec in this gigantic universe. Now I have seen about freelance copywriting. I am retired and it appears that my finances will last longer than me, so I do not need the money. However, I will consider the opportunity if it happens to come my way.
In conclusion, deciding to resurrect writing and posting has been a good decision for me. It gives me something else to do and I am learning more about the internet and software used. Where this all goes, who knows?
Daily writing prompt
Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.
X, formerly twitter and their Grok feature.
I am a X member and use it very often. I noticed on their feature column a new box called Grok. What is that? I do an internet search and copilot comes up with this explanation.
Grok is indeed an AI chatbot developed by xAI, which was founded by Elon Musk. Unlike typical chatbots, Grok has a quick wit and a rebellious nature. It can answer questions about current events, pop culture, and more. But what sets Grok apart is its willingness to delve into topics that are usually off-limits for other chatbots, including polarizing political theories and conspiracies. Plus, it doesn’t shy away from using less-than-polite language when responding. Grok’s most significant selling point is its ability to access real-time data from X, something no other chatbot can do. For instance, if you ask it about AI developments today, Grok will provide up-to-date information, while other models might offer more generic answers based on their training data
I don’t have a clue what a chatbot is. I am not a premium+ member and don’t have a clue why I was allowed to access it. It appears that it similar to a Wikipedia format. You can ask any question about anything. out of curiosity, I asked, who is TomT2.0? In a few moments Grok came up this explanation.
I was surprised at the response and somewhat impressed. However, it is kind of spooky knowing that AI can come up with so much information in such little time. The only glaring error was that I have never been involved in cryptocurrency. I guess it goes to show that whatever is put in cyber space it never disappears.
This is too good to not to share it.
Hormones in High School
Here I am 14 1/2 years old. I continued from junior high school (now known as middle school) and started high school in the fall. The junior high school was walking distance from home. The high school was far enough away that I had to take the public bus to get there. I have used public transportation before so that wasn’t scary. The size of the high school and the number of students were scary though.
In junior high there were boys and girls. No big deal. The girls ran around with the girls and the boys ran around with the boys. You did start to notice a little that the girls shape started to change a little bit. Maybe they should just stop eating so much.
After summer break you and start high school and see the girls from your junior high and think “WOW!” they have really become attractive and interesting. Also, during that time, you look down and see all this hair grown between your legs. When did that happen? It wasn’t there yesterday. You wake up in the morning and your male plumbing is acting and feeling very strange.
In high school, there is Junior and Seniors and you are exposed to street sex talk. There is a difference between boys and girls. One form of entertainment was to go the local drugstore and look at the Playboy magazines from the top of the display shelfs. WOW! The female body is really exciting and desirable. You want to join in on this excitement.
My mother sees the change and knows it is time for the traditional home sex education session. She goes through the biological difference of man and woman. She also takes the opportunity to bring up the religion aspect and reminds me that sex outside of marriage is very sinful and should be avoided. She reminds me that women can get pregnant very easily. This was the time before medical birth control and the condom was known to be not very reliable. Finally, she tells me that many women try to get pregnant so they can get their Mrs. degree. She also told me. “Tom do not let your hormones lead your life and change it that you may regret sometime later.” This really alarmed me and for a long time I thought, will I ever know if she married for love or married me just to get a Mrs. degree?
This is what I learned during high school, not in high school.
The Necessities of starting The Day
Normally my day starts between 7am and 8am. I put on my robe and go get my morning blood thinner medication with my vitamins. Then I turn off the oxygen concentrator located in the pantry and continue to the kitchen. Every other day I make a pot of new coffee. A pot usually lasts a couple of days. If some is left, I just turn on the maker to warm up the remaining coffee.
I then fill a glass with water and take my medication and vitamins. Then I walk around the home and open up the shudders and let in the light. That does depend on the time of the year. It may still be dark of sun shining in.
I then continue going down to the “Man Cave” located in the basement. Turn on the TV. One must find out if we are in a war yet or some natural disaster happened. How many shootings and death happened in Denver Metro overnight. unfortunately, the news is more bad news these days than good news. Oh, I also watch the weather to see what kind of day it will be. Then I wake up the laptop and read my emails and delete all the junk, spam, and phishing scams. Will the FBI ever learn that I do not reply to their email threats? I then go to X, formerly Twitter to see what is happening there and how many hits I have received. I then go to WordPress, Sub Stack and Blurb to look at the latest activity on those sites. Sometime in this hour nature calls and I do my daily duty to keep my bowels healthy.
By this time the hour is usually over, and I go to showering, brushing teeth dressing and eating breakfast. Since I am retired, if I run over an hour, it is no big deal.
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
Retirement Years
The big day came in September of 2006. That big day was retirement. I had good thought and bad thoughts. For example, the absence of the stress of a responsible job will be good. I won’t have to get up or be at work at a specified time. I can plan and do things that I never took time to do when I was working. I could go on and on about the benefits of reaching and being able to enjoy retirement.
On the other hand, I had reservations about retirement. Will my financial planning be adequate? Will I fall into the rut of being bored and not have enough interest in my idle times? I also thought about that I am now on the downside of my life and the inevitable will happen sooner than later. Also, will my health remain to be good?
In reality, I am enjoying retirement very well. over seventeen years since I retired and people ask me, “what do you do?’ I respond, “I am recuperating from the last forty-five years. Sure, I still have stress in my life and things don’t go as expected. I have had two medical issues in retirement. The first happened in 2018. I had an eleven-millimeter kidney stone in my right kidney and had to be removed by going up from the basement. I peed chocolate milk for twelve hours after the procedure. The next issue was a large pulmonary saddle embolism (blood clot) between my lungs. I thought I was going to breath my last breath during the removal. But I survived and it has been over a year now since that event with no long-term effects. (LINK TO MY BLOOD CLOT)
However, every day is Saturday and what I don’t get done today I can do tomorrow. My outlook remains to be good, and I pray that I retain this outlook as retirement and the later years of my life evolve.
I am Ready for Spring
After months of cold, snow and being shut in more than what I like, I am ready for spring. The days are getting longer, and I am getting excited about the warmer days of spring. I like the spring. I enjoy watching the trees and bushes preparing to green up. Since we have moved, I do not have much space for gardening, but I still get the many seed and flower catalogs for me to thumb through and think of flowers and vegetables. I enjoy watching things grow and many days I just go out to see how things progress. Last year I did not have very good luck growing tomatoes but that did not stop me to attempt growing tomatoes again. The other day Dee and I went to Dollar Tree, and I happened to notice some seed packets. I had to buy some. I am not sure where I am even going to plant them, but I just could not pass up the good deal.
Spring is just a happier time for me. Winters are hard for me to stay in. I am glad when I am able to get out and enjoy the outside without freezing my tail off. My attitude changes and it is just a better time in my life. That is one thing I really like about the Colorado weather and that is the many days of sunshine this area has. I remember when I was in the army in Nurenburg Germany for about 8 months. In those eight months I do not think the sun was out more than 2 weeks for the entire period I was there. This was from December to July but even the springtime was cloudy and overcast. The Nurenburg weather was not my favorite. I guess I will be a Denverite the rest of my time.
I am sure there are other things that happen in spring, but I just can’t think of anything at the time. I guess I am stuck on the weather. Dee has asked me if I am writing about my duck. So, I will write about my duck. I won a duck at a bazaar when I was young. This was a recently hatched duckling and I enjoyed watching this duck grow up that summer. I made a cage and the duck stayed in the cage during the day and at night I would pick up the cage and the duck would follow me into the garage. The duck would stand on the paper. The duck waited for me to put the cage over her. This duck knew the drill. Also, I dug a small pond and would fill it with water and watch the duck swim around and have a ball. This duck gave me many fond memories.
SPRING IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!
I Survived the March 14 Record Snowstorm
For three days the news media has concentrated on the gigantic storm coming to Denver metro area. It finally started to rain last afternoon and turned to snow sometime during the night. Woke up with five inches of snow this morning. Some foothill locations got forty inches. During the day the lights flickered occasionally but never went out. However, there were reports that around 50,000 were without power due to broken trees taking out power lines.
We live in a community of forty-four homes and the HOA handles snow removal and received an email that snow removal will be done after the snow stops. Well, it has been snowing all day and I hope there is not a medical emergency in the circle. There have been very few auto tracks on the street, and I don’t know if a fire truck or ambulance could navigate the amount of snow on the streets. plus, none of the driveways or walks are cleaned. Wonder if someone has a medical emergency and emergency treatment cannot get in, can the HOA be sued for neglect of duty? Since this post was started Thursday night I will finish it Friday.
Here it is Friday morning, no power outages, no fallen trees or branches. We still are snowed in though. The HOA crew has not done a thing on the snow removal. I have thirteen inches of snow on the front porch. The city did plow down the middle of the street. However, that leaves a twenty-four-inch pile of snow in front of the driveway. No way could I drive over or through that pile. I am over eighty and no way can I remove that pile of heavy wet snow. I guess I am snowbound for a while.
I Am Addicted to Computers and Internet
Since 1994 I have been addicted to Computers. I bought my first desktop computer from a co-worker who built computers. I think I spent around Seven hundred dollars for it. Those were the days of floppy disk drives, 32k modems, Windows 3.1 and cathode ray monitors. Those were the days where dependability was not a strong feature. Remember, “The Blue Screen of Death”? Storage capacity was below a gigabyte.
Technology has really changed in the last thirty years. Now they have storage in terabytes, thumb drives larger than older desktop hard drives. Access to the internet by many means instead of the phone line. Solid state hard drives. Ever drop a laptop and the mechanical hard drive was killed? Desktop and laptop sales are decreasing because smartphones are becoming so versatile. They say this technology is just the beginning. What will we see in next ten years?
I cannot imagine what my life would be like without computers and internet. My handwriting looks like chicken scratching. My typing accuracy was never very good. It was quite a feat to type a page without a typo. With the help of the computer and Microsoft Office of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel I can look like a professional, which I am not. I am able to share my thoughts and memories thanks to the computer and the internet. Although, I spend way too much time on the internet. I never did get into gaming. The most I play on the computer are solitaire.
My Favorite Movies
I have two favorite movies and have watched them many times. I have the DVD for both them and pop them in when I need an uplifting moment. Also, if I happen to be watching or streaming tv and I stumble onto them I start watching.
The first is, How the West was won. This is a 1962 movie originally filmed in Cinerama. This was a process of projecting on three screens, and it was supposed to give you a panoramic view. I was nice, but you could see the splits of the three screens. When they remastered the movie for the DVD the split screens are not so obvious. The storyline was about a family that migrated from the east and migrated to the western frontier. It had stories about the Civil War. How the train expansion helped speed up the expansion into the frontier and stories taking place in San Franscisco and California. The music in this movie was great! It was an important part to the success of the movie.
My other favorite is Patton. This is a 1970 movie about the experience of General Patton during World War Two. This is my favorite movie about World War Two. There is Saving Private Ryan, Battle of the Bulge and many more. However, Patton is my favorite. For some reason I have a large interest in this war. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because I was born at the beginning and my parents talked a lot about the war when I was growing up. I have watched every episode on the History Channel about the battles, and Hitler with the Third Reich. Maybe I am trying to understand how people became so dark to do what atrocities they did then. In my life there has been World War Two, Korean War, Viet Nam War, The Gulf war in 1990, and the Iraq War in 2003. I know I left some out. My life has been full of wars. However, my most interest has been WWII.
I Do Not Have a Favorite Shoe
Sorry, I did not have a favorite shoe. To me a shoe is a necessity not a luxury. Life would be tough without shoes. Looking at scenes during Jesus’s era and seeing those open sandals and bare feet. No Thank You!
I remember when going to grade school high top tennis shoes were the type to have. You just didn’t fit in if you did not have high top tennis shoes. My mother would shop at Thom McAnn’s shoe store, and we always got our shoes there. Are they even around anymore? A new pair of shoes always gave you a blister somewhere on your foot. When I started in corporate management Florsheim shoes were the brand to have. I had one pair, and they were the worse shoes in my life. After a short period of time, they were not comfortable and lasted less than six months. That was the last Florsheim I bought.
In the army I received two pairs of combat boots and one pair of class A shoes. Since I have a small foot, size eight, I received combat boots made for WWII They had a date of 1944 in the boot, and this was twenty years after the war. The boots received the most attention in my entire life. They always needed to be shined and one pair had to be spit shined for guard duty. They lasted many years after I got out of the army. Probably the reason they lasted was because I did not wear them that often.
I never did get into all these designer shoes or sport shoes like Nike, New Balance, Adidas or others. After I married, I accepted shoes from Target, K-Mart, or Walmart. Cared less about brand name but how they feel and wear. I am still in that position now.
In conclusion, I never had a favorite pair of shoes and never walked “The Yellow Brick Road” in them.
Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.
A Gift of Life
February 7, 2023, I received a gift from God. It was one of the greatest gifts I have received. On that day I was afflicted with a gigantic blood clot between my lungs. The surgeons gave me three options. The first was attempt to use medication to break up the clot. The second was to go up through the groin into the artery using anesthesia. The third was the same procedure but the patient stayed awake without going under anesthesia. They said they had the best results when the patient stayed awake. I picked that option. The most painful was when they cut into the artery to insert their equipment.
Somewhere in the procedure I was feeling very bad. I was at the point that I thought this is my last breath. I must have passed out and sometime later I woke up and was starting to feel better. The remainder of the procedure took about forty-five minutes. after completion the surgeon talked to me and he said, “Tom I think the right decision was made to stay awake. I am afraid if you would have gone under anesthesia, I would have lost you”. At that moment I realized I just received a gift from God!
After three days in ICU and an additional day in the hospital, I went home. Doing some research and I find that only three to five percent survive a clot of that size. Also, most patients die within six months after. Well, it has been over a year now and I am still here! This has truly been a gift from God. How long this gift continues only God knows.
Patriotism
A patriot is a person who loves their country. It is generally seen as a positive. Many have ancestry from a foreign country. They have seen or heard how their life has improved in this country compared to where their ancestors came from. They have realized they can believe a religion they may have been restricted from. The world is full of controlling countries and that may be the reason they immigrated. Whatever the reason, a love for a country is starting to materialize when they come to this country and feel the opportunities. Have you ever heard of anyone immigrating to Russia, North Korea for the opportunities?
Defending a country against its enemies, and a desire to see it succeed is very important. There are national cemeteries across the nation that are full of patriots that stepped up and fought and defended the country. Millions are in these cemeteries that made the supreme sacrifice in battle defending this love of country.
Most countries aim to instill patriotism in their youths from a young age, often through education and exposure to patriotic symbols and events. I remember in grade school they would raise the flag when the students were entering. When they were raising the flag, you would stop and wait until the flag was raised. We were taught about the many symbols and history of this country. Unfortunately, I have heard that this has diminished in the last years. If this is true, I am afraid that this will affect this country in the future.
Patriots believe it’s their duty to vote in elections. This is based on their sincere desire for their country to succeed. Patriots pay attention to the events that are happening in the country and vote accordingly. Way too many do not vote and do not have a clue what is going on in the country. I am concerned that this lack of interest could affect the future of this country.
Yes, I consider myself to be a patriot. I vote consistently and follow local and national news and events. I served in the military and was willing to give my life for this country. I respect the flag and symbols of the country. I love this country and have no desire to go to any other country. This country has been very good to me, and I have lived the American Dream.
Remembering My Parents
What were your parents doing at your age? Unfortunately, my parent’s journey was over before they reached my age. My mother passed on from bone cancer when she was seventy-five. This was in 1982. Three years later, my father passed on from a heart attack when he was seventy-five. This was in 1985. Since I am over eighty, they both are watching me from heaven then and now.
I have many good memories of mom and dad. They gave me a strong base to live my life. What I am and what I have done is because of them and the values and lessons they taught me. Sure, we had disagreements and differences, but I will always remember and love them for what they gave me and the love they showed for me. I am confident somewhere in the future we will meet again.
King For a Day
If I had the power to change one law, it would be to enforce the laws now on the books. It can be seen everywhere that current laws are not being enforced. For example, thousands are coming across the border every day. All of a sudden, the immigration laws are not being enforced. Crime is rampant in major cities. If by chance they are arrested, then the DA then releases them with no bail. Just to be released to commit their next crime. Shop lifting must be legal these days. A new phrase emerges, “smash and grab” where large numbers enter a store and take whatever they want. You never hear of any arrests and prosecutions for these crimes. When was the last time you saw a police officer writing a ticket for a traffic offense? How many expired license plates have you seen lately? Because of the political atmosphere it has made it appear that there is a double standard in the prosecuting procedure. Any law that is not enforced, the law becomes useless.
Daily writing prompt
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
My Dream Came True
Here is a video of our dream home. These are photos that was on the agents listing.
Back in 2016 my dream came true. For about two years prior we have been looking for a new home. A medical emergency prompted us to do a home search since the EMT’s was not able to get their gurney down the hallway. We looked at many building sites in the Denver Metro area and was not having much luck finding our dream home. We were about to give up the search and started to accept that the home would not be found.
One night around eight PM we were driving down this street we have been down many times in the past. I was going east and happened to see this for sale sign in a residential neighborhood. I asked my wife, “would you like to tour a home I just saw a for sale sign?” She said, “might as well, it doesn’t look like we will find a new home.” When we got home, I made an internet search and got the address and listing. It was just put on the market Thursday one day ago. Contacted our agent and she made an appointment for Saturday afternoon. We went Saturday and signed a contract the following Sunday.
The house was built in 1998 and the original owner was moving to Phoenix and was selling his home. It was all I ever wanted in a home. A two-car garage that didn’t need to be used for storage space. A large master bedroom larger than the 10 x 12 one we are used to. The laundry room is on the first floor, one of the requirements since we are becoming seasoned citizens. The HOA takes care of the lawn, trash pickup, snow removal, gutter cleaning, and other items. The basement is finished, and it has a workshop. something I have always been dreaming about. This was the final straw. I wanted this house.
To this day I still do not know how I saw the for-sale sign. It was dark and four houses down the side street. My wife says, “it was the Holy Spirit at work and this home was meant for us”. One will never know. We have been here for eight years and will more than likely spend the rest of our lives here.
M&M’s
I am addicted to M&M’S dark chocolate. I am not ashamed of it. I have been eating them since the announcement of the dark chocolate type. I still remember the saying, “M&M’s melt in your mouth, not in your hand!” I think M&M’s originated in World War II. The fighting forces liked their chocolate, and the M&M was created to fulfill that desire and solved the chocolate melting problem.
The Most Popular Candy in 16 Countries
according to this link The US: M&Ms and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
I get the family size package size, and gobble down approximately one a week.
After writing this post I must go grab a handful of M&M’s MMMMMM Good
Time for Spring
I have king sized cabin fever! I am sick and tired of the cold days. I am tired of the funny winter hats. My hands are always cold. I miss sitting out on the porch enjoying the sunshine.
I received a battery-operated hand warmer last Christmas. The name on it is Zippo. I am sure many vets remember the name Zippo. In my military days everyone had a Zippo lighter. I guess the sales of lighters these days are not that high, so they had to diversify. The hand warmer is nice though. Rechargeable and you can plug into your smartphone and use it in case your smartphone battery dies.
Denver Metro had a record-breaking snowfall recently and that did not help at all. I did not go out of the home for three days and that does not help cabin fever one bit.
The older I become the more I cannot tolerate cold winter months. If I was twenty years younger, I may consider moving to a warmer winter month state. However, I am sure family would convince us to not even consider it. I guess all that leaves is to moan and groan about the cold months.
I need a break!
February 7, 2023
Not much to remember on February 7th. In 1940 the movie Pinocchio premiered. General MacArthur returned to Manila in 1945. President Kennedy blockaded Cuba in 1962. Not much has happened throughout history on February 7th. However, February 7, 2023, is a day I will never forget.
This is the day I dodged death. I was standing in front of deaths door and Doctor Death was holding the door open for me to enter. Here I was laying on the operating table with a massive blood clot between my lungs. The doctors said they had better results if the patient stayed awake, so I went with that option. About 30 minutes after the start, I was really feeling horrible. I was having trouble getting a breath and there was the time I thought, “this is it, life is over”. I must have passed out, but a while later I woke up and slowly started to feel better. I survived and spent the next three days in ICU.
Many times, while lying flat on my back, in ICU I thought many times, “Why was I given a second chance?” It has been a year now and I am still searching for the reason I dodged death on February 7, 2023. Until the reason reveals itself, I will just do what I do best, and this is just be me and enjoy these bonus days and hopefully bonus years.
Computers and Internet
The most important invention to me is the computer and the internet. I couldn’t do today what I am doing now. It is hard to imagine the world without modern day computer technology.
I wrote this blog on November 6th. How many computers do you have? This blog pretty much covers everything I need to write about my love for computers.
Decision
I have been retired over sixteen years and all my time is leisure time. After sixty years of working earning a living, raising and providing for a family I am entitled to leisure time. Since I retired every day is Saturday! I wake up and think what will today bring just like I did when working but just one day of the week then. Now it is every day.
With that I have enjoyed doing many different things at different times. Before I retired, I had passion for model trains and this passion went through its course. Since I have retired and moved into our new home the workshop, I have in my basement. I spent a lot of time. However, that interest has decreased lately. Of course, I am aging like everyone else, and this is affecting what I can do and not do.
Lately I have been spending a lot of time writing and reminiscing about things that happened to me. I have become active in WordPress again. I had this account since 2010 but became active in it since August of last year. I have dabbled in podcasts and videos. Maybe someday I can say they are pretty good.
In conclusion, it will be close to a year since I experienced a life-threatening blood clot. I was standing in front of Death’s door and Doctor Death was holding the door open. I surprised everyone and beat the odds. What I enjoy the most since that event is living! https://tomt2.com/2023/08/10/my-blood-clot/
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
No Dream Job for Me
I am beyond a dream job. I have been retired for over seventeen years. Now I dream of staying healthy and hoping my financial situation out lasts me.
A long time ago I had a dream job in mind. When I entered junior high school, now they call middle school, I was put in what they called an accelerated class. This was composed of kids that was in the top ranking of the proficiency tests they gave us. At that time, I loved science class, especially chemistry. My friend and I stayed after school and helped the science teacher around the lab and classroom. My dream job then was chemistry or engineering. Towards the end of ninth grade, they gave us a standardized test that was supposed to inform us what kind of career to pursue. The results came back, and chemistry or engineering was not on my list of careers. This shattered me, my dream was destroyed! I continued to high school, and I barely graduated from high school.
For the next forty-five years I had a job. Some jobs were good high paying jobs and others were just to survive jobs. 1987 to 1991 were the most difficult financial times. I was laid off from my high paying job and unemployment was at seven and a half percent. It took over four years to find a good job. None of the jobs were my dream job. However, I am retired and satisfied with my current situation.
I do have a new dream though, that is to have many subscribers and followers that read and enjoy my ramblings. https://tomt2.com/about-2tts/
What’s your dream job?
WHAT’S NEXT?
After my life-threatening blood clot, I thought “why was I given a second chance?” Lying flat on my back in ICU for three days gave me plenty of time to reconcile my life and think about “why was I given a second chance?” I concluded that there is something meant for me to do before going to the other side. I prayed and asked for help to make the right decision. To the best of my knowledge my prayers and request were never answered. I have the feeling that it is up to me to decide what direction to take. So here I am trying to decide, What’s Next?
My second chance came in February of 2023. Recuperation was a slow process. It took about five months of being a couch potato before I felt like doing anything. I finally started to have more energy in June and received the desire to do more than just vegetate. My medication was adjusted, and the passing of time helped. During that time, I heard about substack.com on an internet news site or some talk show. I opened an account and started posting articles on the substack site. I have currently posted over thirty-five stories on substack. During that period after joining substack I remembered that I also had an old blog site on wordpress.com since 2009. Sure enough it was still there. As they say, “what you put on cyber space it is there forever.” I also started posting on WordPress too. Most of the articles are the same on each site. I just edited them to fit the site. Both sites have good points and other points that do not fit my objectives. You must remain active. If you do not post your audience disappears very quickly. They both have different audiences, and no one has ever commented that they saw me on the other site.
The articles I have posted already are the ones I have wanted to share since my second chance of life. I do enjoy this endeavor and I will continue to publish.
I could write about current events in a complicated country and world. There is the border, economy, politics, Ukraine, racism, sexism, gender, and many more issues to cover that I haven’t thought of now. Unfortunately, hatred and anger in these issues has destroyed any chance to have a civil and mean full sharing of thoughts and ideas. I have never seen the amount of hatred and anger in this country as there is now. I am over eighty seasoned years and do not want to get involved with hate and anger.
I have come to the realization that I am just a speck in this gigantic universe. I am not an evangelist or a motivator. What I comment about will more than likely never have any large traffic draw. I am not doing this for money, and I could promote my site more than what I do. At least I am getting my thoughts out to cyber space instead of filing them in a file cabinet where my descendants will more than likely throw them away without even reading them. Maybe I have already done what I was meant to do after my life-threatening event.
So, I will continue writing and commenting on anything this year.
TomT2.0 