The daily prompt asks – If you could erase one movie from your memory and watch it again for the first time, which one would it be?

If the above were true, I’d sit down with my almost 4-year-old grandson and watch Toy Story again for the first time. It’s been a good while since watching a lot of kids animated movies.

Also, an old one called (The Great Escape) and maybe (The Blues Brothers).

The daily prompt asks – What’s a classic book that you think is overrated?

I would be the worst judge in history to answer this question because my classic book experience is limited. And instead of slandering someone without basis I’ll share this opinion. It’s not that I don’t read, just not many classic books.

I think the world is losing the tactical feel of reading. Maybe it’s just my old generation but seeing a train full of people reading a newspaper or magazine or book was a picture that only lives in my mind now. Holding something in your hands that doesn’t have a battery in it.

In the past you could pick up the local paper and get the feel of a place. Those no longer exist and if they do, they are struggling to stay in business.

Books seem to be the last baston of printed reading holding their own.

Anyway, just my opinion. A smartphone isn’t a reading tool unless you want eyestrain issues.

The daily prompt asks me to – Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

Risky things I don’t regret.

Going 140 mph on a motorcycle – was exhilarating.

Getting married – a wonderful family as a result.

Buying a home when we couldn’t afford it was a big risk, but it worked out.

Sharing my work (photos and words) finally.

When I was young and at a fair I went on a ride and it broke while we were on it. They couldn’t stop it for almost an hour. That is one risk I regret and won’t get on amusement rides again.

Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind. – Interesting task from the daily prompt.

It was a string of thoughts, first thing this morning. As I sat at the keyboard wondering if I was going to make pancakes or bacon for breakfast, then I read this question while my back is having a spasm and I’m thinking is this going to be an all-day thing or one off.

I get tired of pain. It comes with age, the wear and tear of jobs and activities over the years. The mind changes to accept some or a lot of pain somedays and nobody is the wiser for it. Other times it’s harder to hide.

Pain wakes me, and if it doesn’t it always says good morning at some point.

I’m not sure of the time, but it’s been in the last few years, that I’ve had to start thinking about what activities I do and how I go about them. Something simple like cutting the lawn and trimming and cleanup. It used to be a one-day thing. I split it now into two. I didn’t consciously do this, but I just found myself doing it and realized it in the last year or two.

Finding myself taking a break, after washing the cars before I clean the interiors. All kinds of little things like that. Well at least I’m thankful that I’m still here and up and around to do things I’ve done all my life. Just a little slower.

Reminder, regardless of how I wake, be it physical or mental pain, concern about family and friends, or bills or the car that needs to be replaced. I always pause and smile for a bit for the shot at another day.

As usual I’ve rambled on too long. Have a great Sunday.

Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you. – Asks the daily prompt.

While in New York city earlier this week, I saw a couple holding hands. I thought how uncommon it is that I see that now. It reminded me to hold my better half’s hand more often again. Not that I ever stopped but it’s something that should be done regularly.

The daily prompt asks me to – Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.

Later in my career I turned down a management position because I wanted to keep pursuing a more technical track that I had been on. I had management experience and positions before that, but I didn’t feel the challenge the technical parts gave me. Turning it down didn’t make the upper management happy.

I was even told the VP didn’t accept no to things like that. Too bad for him. He tried to block another move I made to the UNIX Admin team and he failed there also. I applied for a position in that group and interviewed, was offered the job, accepted the job, was given a transition schedule and start. The VP was on vacation and when he returned, he tried to squash it.

He failed at that one also because either it was that position or I was walking out. That position was one of the best learning experiences I had there. Thank you, Joe and John for sharing all that knowledge.

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness? – Asks the daily writing prompt.

1. I’m always happy waking up each day.
2. A Coke in the morning.
3. Talking with family and friends.
4. Food
5. A hug and kiss.

What is the most fun way to exercise? – Asks the daily prompt.

Besides the obvious one we all enjoy. I’d say basketball was the most fun I had exercising. But this body doesn’t play much anymore so I like to walk with my camera. I did about 4-5 miles yesterday.

Weightlifting is fun. I always enjoyed playing baseball as a youth but never thought of that as a lot of exercise.

Working on my home and yard is good exercise. Sometimes too much.

Detailing my car is fun exercise.

But the MOST FUN way to exercise for me is playing with my grandchildren.

The daily prompt asks – If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

I would like to be the grandfather in the book my kids gave me called Grandpa’s Wish List. It’s a book I can read to the young ones on all the things I’d like to do and build for them and adventures to go on. It’s a short children’s book but one that reminds me to be that person for them. Not that I have much problem remembering their importance to me.

The daily prompt asks a question that isn’t one of my favorites – How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Fine I get my shot each year. Just like I get my flu shot every year. I believe in science. I know it’s not exact. Not much in life is.

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? – Another personal question from the daily prompt.

I’m not a coffee drinker so my morning beverage is Coke. Sometimes I eat a large breakfast and sometimes nothing at all.

A little stretching to release the old body. Most days some light dumbbells. Some days the treadmill.

Check email and text, start my first blog post of the morning.

Look at the sunrise if there is one. Listen to the wildlife outside if it’s not winter.

I usually turn on the TV but try not to sit in front of it. Sometimes music which I’m trying to make more the norm.

Pretty much every morning I’ll write my kids a short email.

A good morning to my better half.

I’ll look around my office and change something. Then to the to-do list and update.

I’m trying to remember to watch or read something funny to start the day.

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique? – Asks the daily prompt.

In some ways, just about everything about us is unique. Appearance, speech, mannerisms, smell, taste, interpretation and more. And in some ways, we are all the same.

Everyone laughs, just a little differently and maybe sometimes at different things. How a person grieves is unique. A lot of it may look the same but it’s personal to that individual and them only. The memory of that event will be their own and different from yours. The way we experience things is unique.

That is what makes all our interactions so special because other people can’t replicate it.

That is something AI can’t replace – our uniqueness.

We are like leaves on a tree, looking the same, but no two alike. Headstones all similar, yet a different story underneath each.

I also answered this question in a previous post 2 years ago called Uniqueness.

What was the best compliment you’ve received? – A fairly simple question from the daily prompt.

I’m not sure which is exactly the best, but when my children say I love you Dad or my grandchildren say I love you, Papa from doing something for them, that is the best. It can be as simple as sharing a snack with the young ones or sharing a meal with the kids. Usually with the young ones, it’s from spending time playing with them. Or the kids saying thanks for our family week at the beach.

When friends belly laughs at my humor that’s a great compliment. When a friend tells me years later how important some photos I took and gave him are to him.

I haven’t been on the professional side for a while now, but I used to like when managers were perplexed in how I saw systems in trouble so early or how I fixed things so fast at times. Or when we discovered fixes that weren’t in the manual or tech data in the early years before the internet. I remember vendors coming to us at times to see what and how we were using their equipment or software.

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings? – An interesting question that we all should ponder.

Music helps me with negative feelings. So does driving my Miata. Writing or photography helps at times. Exercise helps a little but not much. Watch some comedy clips. Call a friend to laugh with. Sometimes though, being alone to sort through things is what I need.

I have gotten better at turning around negative feelings more quickly than in the past. A best friend reminds me that you can’t control what happens to you always, but you can control how you react/respond to it.

How you respond sometime is even more important than what causes negativity to enter your life. I’m glad my friend reminds me of this every so often in our conversations. We’re pretty good at picking up when each other struggles.

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you have ever taken on. – Asks the daily prompt.

I don’t know the exact answer to this question. Maybe building my deck. Getting headers and side pipes on my old Camaro was one of the rudest jobs without a lift. Helping a friend build a boathouse. Started a newspaper with two friends from scratch that became successful.

Becoming a father. Ushering in technology changes throughout my career. Playing caregiver for elderly parents. Becoming the artist, I wanted to be in my youth, as a senior citizen. And my new role of becoming the best grandfather (Papa) to my grandchildren.

What advice would you give to your teenage self? – A reflection question from the daily writing prompt.

First, I would tell myself to never have picked up a cigarette. Good thing I came to my senses and dropped that habit long long ago.

Next, I would like to kick my ass up and down the street till I got it in my head that drinking is not a competitive sport.

I would encourage myself to have a lot more confidence in my abilities and to follow my dreams more. To not be afraid to talk from the heart.

To appreciate that time of teenage life fully. I did a pretty good job but there were things that could have been done better.

Oh yeah, to tone down a lot of the riskier things I did during those years.

The daily writing prompt wants to know – What is your favorite drink?

My favorite drink is an ice-cold Coke. My favorite libation is a Pina Colada. My favorite shot is Plantation XO Rum.

Drinking isn’t a sport. Drink responsibly please.

Who are your favorite people to be around? – That isn’t a fair question from the daily writing prompt.

Being I’m not putting one ahead of the other I’ll just say family and my close friends.

Some days I’m my favorite person to be around. Those are the days I hop in the car and point it eastward till it gets to the ocean. My blanket and music. A day of solitude.

I like being around people but less now than when I was younger.

Whomever I’m around now, especially those who are closest to me, each meeting feels special.

The daily prompt wants me to – Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

These are my favorites and take me to where I want to go. Be it this beach or that beach, my patio or deck, they take me to my happy place. If this footwear is on, it’s a sunny warm day and all is right with the world. The same holds true for barefoot.

Write about your approach to budgeting. – A money management question from the daily writing prompt.

Keeping cash out of my hands and pockets was something I learned early on because those two are easily separated. Let my better half run the books. In other words, let the most frugal and responsible person pay the bills. I concentrated on incoming.

If you want stuff, you had better have a plan for it and stick to it. If you want a home and family, then that’s a huge commitment and could take your lifetime. Your plan will have to be flexible and adaptable to change but always focused on the goal.

Making smart decisions along the way. Learn quickly from the ones you make wrong. Don’t underestimate the timing of decisions.

Bring in more than goes out. Make things last. Pay bills promptly. Save and invest in something, even a home. Be responsible and honest with yourself. The major debt should be the home. All others should be minimized and paid off quickly.

You can budget smart but sometimes the only way to change your state is to either increase your income and or reduce your expenses. It’s the simplest thing and the hardest thing to do because you have to live it. It means not being able to do things you might have done for a long time before that.

A compact car instead of an SUV, doing your own maintenance instead of hiring out. Brown bagging lunches, eating at home or skipping meals. Working overtime and another job to work on that down payment.

I would drive a car for as long as I could. Usually selling them a few miles short of 200k or 12+ years old. For instance, I have an old beater that is 14 years old now that I use almost every day. But I’m also older now and have been wise enough and saved to be able to have a toy (Mazda Miata) that only sees sunny days with the top down.

Luck or good decision making. We have been lucky with the lifespan of most things we have bought. Be it furniture, cars, my 27-year-old tractor, the 35-year-old drier, the 33-year-old fridge and many others. I still have an electric leaf blower, over 5 decades old. If you take care of things, they last.

When we were young and had just bought a home, I got some life insurance so that if I was gone my better half would have a place to live at least and a little more. But I don’t believe investing in life insurance beyond early years is a good investment.

If you’re going to invest, either find someone you really really really trust and then still be smart enough to stay educated yourself to ask them the questions you need to know to ask.

Medical expenses can really mess up a budget. No, not the monthly premiums or the deductibles. It’s that unexpected thing that sometimes hits many families. There is nothing you can do about these. They hurt your budget.

It can be a lot of sacrifices along the way to get what you want. Some are lucky and have it all. And sometimes the best laid plans and even some luck along the way can come up short. But if you tried your best and got most of the way there and accomplished all you wanted for everyone else then that is a victory.

Here is a rule I lived by and budgeted for. I wanted my children to have a much better life and opportunities than I had. Providing for their health, well-being, education, and solid home foundation while growing up. And then help them do the same for their children.

I know nothing. I did nothing, I saw nothing. I heard nothing. Look at the daily writing prompt asking – Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

Nope, each time I did, I knew what I was doing.

As Eddie Murphy famously said in one of the Beverly Hills Cop movies — “I wasn’t always a cop. And Rosewood answers, He’s fractured an occasional law.”

If there were a biography about you, what would the title be? – Interesting thought from the daily writing prompt.

What would others say about my life. That could get quite diverse. There have been a number of phases in my life that have some contrast, speckled with peaks and valleys. Sort of like a lot of people’s lives.

Of the titles off the top of my head.

• Hang On
• Loss and Lost
• Ink and Paper
• That Twinkle in the Eye is His Family
• Charge – Yep, he’s that Friend
• Relaxed Challenged

You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do? – Asks the daily writing prompt.

I share it. I smile and then tell my better half.