WHEW! Finally finished up our adventure in refinancing today! We’ll be able to save a significant amount on our mortgage, and with the savings (no new debt, thank you very much!), we should be on our way to being debt-free (except for the mortgage) by year’s end! Very cool!
Author: Charlie Pharis (page 27 of 165)
I’ve gotta tell ya…I’m a sucker for girl singers! And I discovered a new one yesterday on the way home from church!
Bob Edwards was interviewing Tift Merritt on his weekend radio show. She just sounded like loads of fun, and the snippets of her tunes grabbed me. So I’m now her newest fan, and courtesy of iTunes, I’m unwinding with Another Country, Tambourine, and Bramble Rose. Good stuff…
(Oh, did you notice she sings?)
Left the YMCA this morning to hear that William F. Buckley, conservative icon and founder of National Review was found dead in his home today.
Say what you want about Buckley’s erudite persona, he truly was a giant among Americans. He stood for something in the midst of times when it became increasingly unfashionable to do so. He never apologized for what he believed to be foundational principles of civilization, even when others were seeking ways to excuse their core beliefs. A true Renaissance man, Buckley was a writer, a publisher, a TV talk show host, a sailor, a harpsichordist, and more, and he did it all with a real sense of style, grace, intelligence and dignity.
Buckley was one of my heroes in a lot of ways. I first read his Up from Liberalism as a sophomore in college. That was followed closely by his classic God and Man at Yale. Then came the first subscription to National Review, and the discovery of Blackford Oakes in Buckley’s spy thrillers. His sense of style inspired my own, and I believe it was Buckley who once opined…
One can never be overdressed.
His work inspired a column I wrote in the school newspaper, “The Perils of Being a Young Conservative.” His life showed a devotion to God, his country, his family, and his principles.
We’ll miss his intelligence, his wit, and his brilliant personality. And we’ll wonder who is there to pick up the mantle?
OK, for all you technical wizards out there…
I’m using a 5-year-old Dell desktop, Windows XP, 512 mgs of RAM, etc. etc. Here’s the annoying thing…When I play music or any other audio source, there is a distracting “pop” sound (much like old 33-1/3 rpm LPs made). Also, it seems the mouse “hangs” up while that popping sound is happening. Is it something about not enough memory? Too many programs running? Sound card problems? Mouse problems? Any ideas?
No error messages or anything…just the annoying popping sound…help!
Laid-back sounds of Jim Pearce after a long, rather stormy day. Along with the very smooth sounds of Pearce and his players, there’s the great title track, sung by Rene Marie. Talk about smooth!
I’ve been notoriously slack in setting – and achieving – good effective goals. I’ve been thinking about that over the last couple of days. I figured up that just a little over 12% of 2008 has already passed by, leaving just under 88% of the year to accomplish some goals. In what’s left of this year, here are some of my objectives…
- Stop looking at the wind and the clouds
- Be debt-free, except for the mortgage
- Get serious about training again – physically, spiritually, etc.
- Learn something new every day
- Encourage somebody every day
- Re-kindle my passion
Overheard another conversation this morning that went something like this…
Person #1: So, you got a big weekend planned?
Person #2: Oh, you know…the usual…honey-do list and all that.
I decided I don’t ever want to answer that weekend question like that ever again. My answer of choice from this weekend on needs to be something like this…
Person #1: So, you got a big weekend planned?
Me: As a matter of fact, I do! I’m going to help change somebody’s life!
What about you? You got a big weekend planned?
I talked to two people back-to-back this morning at the YMCA. One has been out of work for months. His excited comment: “I may actually get to go to work on Monday!” The other person’s cynical and rather angry comment: “Well, I’ve got to go to work now!” Interesting contrast…
Just saw this amusing line in John Grisham’s The Appeal…
He was from Atlanta. If you’re from the big city of Atlanta and you find yourself in the outback, then it’s important to remind everyone there that you are indeed from Atlanta. (p. 151)
Funny. True, but funny…