Joys of living alone.....

Living Alone

As of 2000, the most common household type in the U.S. is people living alone. 27 million American households consist of a person living alone, compared to 25 million households with a husband, wife, and child.
- Hobbs, Frank. "Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000." U.S. Census Bureau, 2005.

More than one in four American households consist of an adult living alone (25.8%).
- Hobbs, Frank. "Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000." U.S. Census Bureau, 2005.

These are some stats for people's living arrangements. They don't surprise me at all. I am not the "norm" here where I live. Apparently, there are a lot of like minded people throughout the U.S. I can't even imagine having to live with someone else after about 12 years of living alone. It's great! You can walk naked from the shower to the bedroom to get dressed. (for that matter you can dance around naked on the way, not that I would, but you could) You can get up at 2 A.M. and turn up the radio....the list goes on and on. The only down side I can see is you could possibly choke to death on a piece of meat. I am willing to take that risk. I can see why a lot of people like to live this way. That is my thought of the day.

My theory of the universe

I think mankind on the earth is like a small colony of ants on the middle of the desert. They have never seen other life. (except some crazy ants that say they were out looking for food and saw a small lizard and all of the other ants make fun of them) We think we may be the only life that exists. Actually the earth is full of life. The ants just don't have the ability to travel hundreds of miles. The ants live their whole lives never knowing the true nature of the universe. They would never understand if you told them the earth was a sphere and they could walk forever and never get to the end. There is no end. I think the universe is like a reverse sphere. Very few (if any) people would be able to understand the universe even if they knew the truth. There are probably things out there like a guy on a four-wheeler blazing through the desert one day and running right over the ant colony. I hope (in a way) that I'm here to see the "guy on a four-wheeler" when he rolls over the earth. We know nothing!

Trying to live a "balanced" life

How are we supposed to live a "centered" life? Are we supposed to be good at work, relationships, spirituality, family, community, take care of our bodies and minds and then try to balance all of these things and find a "happy medium".  I can barely find a way to balance one or two of these things and I can't even do that! Is life a cruel test designed to drive us all to madness? Some days I think it may be. We should try to "better ourselves" and "keep learning". I guess that's all we can do. Hopefully some day we can find a way to master life. The problem is....I think it will be over before we know what hit us. Good luck. That's my thought of the day.

Windows XP - Vista - 7

I have been a Windows user for about 10 years. I started with 98 and have used XP (a lot) and now Vista (which I love) and will go to Windows 7 next. I had one issue moving from XP to Vista. A driver issue with Nvidia like everyone else. I LOVE Vista. I understand the people who think it's the worst thing ever but also am pretty sure those people 1. don't like change 2. had out-dated hardware 3. had new hardware and drivers were hard to find or did not exist. I understand the issues somewhat. We all know what our choices are. Windows or Mac. I know there are others out there but they really aren't on the same plane as Windows and Mac. I am not going to pay Apples prices...period. I got my system on sale on line for $350 and got Vista Home Premium 64 bit, 500GB hard drive, 4GB of ram, and an AMD Phenom CPU. You just can't get this kind of system if you want a Mac without forking over the $$. I have no issues with XP, Vista, and doubt I will have any issues with Windows 7. Microsoft will continue to rule the OS world and that's that. If you have extra money and want a Mac....more power to you. I'm sure it's a fine (maybe better) OS. The rest of us will continue with Microsoft so we can get software that runs on our computers and a platform we are familiar with so we can help our friends, families, and co-workers with their computer issues. That's my thought of the day.

Dreams

I had a dream last night in which I was planning to go somewhere with my brother and sister. I woke up late and they had already left. I found when I woke up (in my dream) and they were already gone....I was trapped in a house I didn't recognize. I went from room to room and there were 2 "crazy" people in the house with me. I tried to exit the house and found at each exit there was an animal (I thought it was the devil) waiting for me with a cardboard box. I knew if I exited the house, he would throw the box over me and I would be trapped in darkness. I stayed in the house....trapped with 2 "crazy" people and woke up (for real this time) in a sweat.

I know I am not the only one to have dreams like this but they are interesting.... Why do we have them? What do they mean? Are they good or bad? Do they release tension? There are a lot of questions. I can tell you right now nobody knows. They may tell you they know because they studied this or that but they don't know for sure. It will always be a mystery....just like the existence of god.

Photography

I have been into photography for 25 years. I still don't know anything about it. I go through phases where I get very excited about it, and then it becomes less important then back again. I got a Canon G9 a year ago and have really been into digital photography for almost the whole year. I have learned more in the past year than in all the past years combined. Photography can be very simple and fun. It can also be very complicated. I just tried some RAW (.CR2) photography. My Canon G9 will record in .CR2 RAW files. It was a lot of fun "developing" the RAW files into .JPG files. If you don't know what the hell you're doing...it can be quite a task. You always have that RAW file if you don't get it right or want to change the outcome in any way. I will be shooting more pictures in RAW format. I may need to get a bigger hard drive as the files are about 3X bigger than a 12 megapixel file. Anyway whether you are a point and shooter or an enthusiast...the G9 is a great choice for both types of users. I have found using my G9 has been great....I am not really an artist but it seems to pry art out of me. If you're thinking about getting into (or back into) photography, do it. 

Relationships....

I look around me and wonder...Why do men and women still get married? It is painful to even witness. Do people just need someone to fill their empty lives? Life is too short, why be unhappy day after miserable day? Every married couple I know has big problems. They may put on a show in public but when they are home and nobody is looking it is chaos. Do people need the drama to fill in the emptiness in their lives?. Does it work? It sure doesn't work for me. People put up with a lot to not be alone. Admittedly, I would rather be with someone who loves me and worships the ground I walk on....however, this kind of game is reserved for dating and it goes away quickly. Stay single. Date. Don't let those funny feelings in your gut effect your long term decision making ability. That's my thought of the day.