2. When taking pictures, make allowances for framing and matting.

3. Thors Hill is now verdant.

4. The Booming Escape.

I like blogs that remind me as to how to become a better writer. Now I am adding Tammy’s thoughts into my conceptual toolbox. Each of her three ideas stands simple and strong. The third being the key;

“And a crazy amount of focus.”

As I look to my left at the pile of first draft outlines, waiting, begging to be coalesced into a coherent message. Not to mention the Alaska trip journal that still has several more days to go.

To often, our thoughts are turbulent distractions, one thought leading to another and the other until what should be the flow of consciousness becomes the screaming flood of turbulence.

As a bonus, ready Tammy’s blog posting How To Say “No” Gracefully. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves No for now, in order to get to Yes for later.

So what’s next message? Promised pictures or words of creative wisdom?

1. A letter from my supplemental insurance carrier wanting me to designate up to three people to notify for if/when my premium payments are not made. Shred letter, recycle envelopes.

2. Credit card application. Shred & recycle.

3. Life insurance application from AARP. Shred & recycle.

4. Directv. S&R. When you offer the internet, telephone and channel bundle, we may talk. Until then. S&R.

5. Rockler - telling me that I am one of their BEST CUSTOMERS! It has been at least several years since my last expenditure. If I am one of the best, their standards and expectations are curious. S&R

6. Metlife Auto Insurance card identifying me as a Preferred Motorist and a Personal Identification Number. S&R

7. Discover Card offer. Apparently will never recall me kicking them to curb, for irresponsibly corrupting my credit rating, over 25 years ago.And never fulfilling their promise to take appropriate corrective action. S&R with a vengance.

Seven items for the week. You may ask yourself, as I ask myself, why don’t I register to Opt Out with the Direct Mail Association?

I certainly and quite easily could, but consider the employment impact throughout the junk mail supply chain. Loggers, paper mill workers, marketing folks creating the copy, printers, the post office and finally the recycling industry. Opting out would break this chain of employment.

So I’m not grumbling, only reflecting.

Most were DiscovereDuring other writings. Others WeREvealed when one thing leads to a NexThing. Some were the result of daily living. Many were captured for inclusion in my 50 Things project.

1. VanisheDesolve
2. LefTurn
3. RighTurn
4. ArtistiCreativity
6. DisasteRecovery
7. DucTape
8. GeneratoRunning
9. ExploREflection
10. GuideDiscovery
11. BaDreams
12. SelFirst
13. ReaLiving
14. CosmiCycle
15. ShutteRelease
16. FasTrack
17. StupIDeas
18. WindoWonder
19. MarkeTrade
20. ClosEnough
21. ShorTime
22. NobLEadership
23. UsERror
24. CluttereDesk
25. SeconDraft
26. FacilitateDialogue
27. HumaNature
28. ProfounDisappoinment
29. EntitleMENTality
30. GrowinGrass
31. TighTerse
32. MinimaliSTyle
33. FurtheReflection
34. ExcellenThought
35. FinDevelop
36. EmploymenTermination
37.PracticaLogicaLineaRational
38. ParkinGarage
39. FirsThing
40. TourisTraffic
41. LimiTransition
42. PapeReading
43. ProjecTask
44. CrediTaken
45. CrediTaken
46. AttendanCEnsus
47. PaINjury
48. DangerouSituation
46. Stressurged
47. VirtuaLife
48. ReaLife
49. FocaLength
50. WaiTime

Rain is making me lazy, as I watch the falling leaves.

Let there be light. Would have been done quicker, easier and sooner without the burden of laziness and some day thinking.

Now, off to plan deck steps – replacement needed, probably two or more years ago. Why?

The steps are designed & overdesigned for rugged reliability. The list of supplies is as complete as a list of supplies can become. Off to a lumberyard.

1321: Back from the land of orange aprons. Went with pressure treated lumber to continue my theme of build it right, build it once. Wondering why I am replacing the steps – what happened the first time?

Now tomorrow: I didn’t make the 500 word quest. Working with wood always absorbs me while time vanishes. I looked up and it had become dark. And that is why working with wood is good. There are not enough words to describe, not 500, not more, not less.

Someday is saying if, then, when.
I say now, soon and always.
I didn’t always.
Spent two decades living if, then and when.
No regrets, even then had more somedays then many & most.
But now and forever, everday is now someday.
Whether it be a project, task or adventure.
I choose the uniqueness of today everyday.
Somethings are repeated
Until usually once too many.
Somedays are never enough.
Someday I will no longer.
Those days have nearly been.
When someday now comes.
It will be everday.
Only different.

“As a college student long ago in the 1950s I nurtured the thought of one day becoming a writer, and on the advice of an instructor in sophomore English Lit., I attempted to form the habit of keeping a journal. … – and so I was glad to be told it didn’t matter what went down on the page. Anything at all the man said. … ; learn to put one word after another, like your feet in your shoes, and maybe you’ll find out you have something to say.”

I’m still looking for that something to say, so I have a lot more writing to do.

From my journal three years ago this day.

47.12.10 Each of us in life walks on the special path that the soul is destined to take. The pitfalls and blessings we encounter are unique, yet we are all learning and no one form of knowledge is more important than any other. Even so, when we observe others it can become easy to pass judgment on their decisions and to assume their actions will correspond to what we feel is right. But for every problem, there is a multitude of solutions. Everyone makes mistakes and while watching others do so can be frustraing, it is important that you accept each person’s unique way doing things. Given others the capacity to act in the way they feel best without the fear of harsh judgments honors the capacity for growth that all people possess.

My first book is On the Wealth of Nations - P.J. O’Rourke. Notice that is only, not the source book.

As one of the first titles in Atlantic Monthly Press’ “Books That Changed the World” series, America’s most provocative satirist, P. J. O’Rourke, reads Adam Smith’s revolutionary “The Wealth of Nations” so you don’t have to.

It is a good listen, although I miss having my pen in hand to capture lifted pithy expressions for further reflection. There is at least one on CD 1 – third selection in.

Just like NetFlix, when done, all I have to do is drop the CDs back in the mail and they will send the next one while I listen to the second selection sent. This will create a revolving library with something always available to listen to. So far, each day, I have been able to listen to a CD a day – coming and going.

Next on deck is Freakonomics by Steven Levitt.

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life — from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing — and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives — how people get what they want or need especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of … well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

More ideas instead of two hours daily of dormant drive time.