350 is not just another number, and other nifty warm thoughts

Time to pause and reflect… ahhh, that’s better. 

I’ve been rather busy lately and haven’t taken the time to do the thing I love most.  But now here it is Sunday morning and as I glance out at the crystal clear blue Canadian sky, the sun is rising on our sleepy little neighborhood with not a creature stirring… not even a mouse.  We’ve had a brush with winter already.  One morning in particular had snow flurries so thick it made it difficult to see the highway and I had to wonder, “Am I prepared for this?”  But this morning the sun is warm and the snows of a week ago have all melted away.  The grass is still green and if not for the barren trees, one might think it was Spring.  Am I prepared for winter?  Probably not.  But unlike the nomadic Canadians who relish the cold and all those winter activities, I shall endure by thinking warm thoughts.

I’ve been thinking about my Dad lately.  Perhaps it was because the Iowa Hawkeyes had gone 9-0 up until yesterday. story.asp?S=11436708    Back a few years ago, before ESPN and the Big Ten Network, the only way you could follow a game on game day without actually being there was to listen to the radio broadcast.  The Hawkeyes are not a big name team, like Ohio State or Notre Dame, though they play in the toughest conference in college football.  Each year there are at least 4-5 Big Ten schools in the top 25, more than any other conference.  My Dad loved sports and having been struck by Parkinson’s Disease in his mid-thirties, following the Hawks in what ever the venue they were playing in was a great way to spend a Saturday.  I spent many colorful Autumn afternoons listening to football with him.  He would have been ecstatic rootin’ for the Hawkeyes now, even with their loss to Northwestern yesterday.  I cannot think of a more loyal fan.  Funny how memories come and go.  Though he has been dead for going on two decades, until recently… I haven’t thought of my Dad in years.

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350 was a topic of interest a week or so ago.  http://www.350.org/  I had read an article in the local newspaper about the climate and this organization that was moving towards the lessening of carbon in the atmosphere.  The writer admitted it wasn’t a number she was familiar with until she began writing the article, but recommended that we all should become acquainted with the movement, so now… you are, too.  Can we do something about global warming and the air we breathe?  I don’t know, but perhaps it is worth a try.  My Dad used to say, “There’s no sense in getting mad, you just have to get glad again.”  It would be good to get glad about the environment again.

This is my 350th post.  I looked on the Internet for other remarkable 350 milestones.  There is the Oldsmobile Rocket 350 and the 350 Chevy engines.  There is the 350 Z from the company formally known as Datsun.  In the year of our Lord, 350: the city of Antioch (Turkey) installed the first lighting system in the world.  (gotta love the Internet)  There  are only two NFL quarterbacks who have thrown at least 350 touchdowns. (ditto)  China’s 350 million cigarette smokers consume 1/3 of the product worldwide.  “… killing me softly with each drag…” (double ditto)  Sex actually started 350 million years ago.   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article5804234.ece (triple ditto)  The constellation, Ophiuchus (the Serpent Holder), is 350 million light-years away.  (quadruple ditto) and 350 million dollars is just a drop in the bucket for a virtual site.  http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2007/08/01/disney-buys-club-penguin-for-350-million  (quintuple ditto)  So what’s next for AMRFP?  (not to be confused with AARP)

After a self-imposed exile of two months and an unceremonious rejection from the local newspaper, the writing urge is still burning inside of me.  I wrote a short story recently and entered it into a contest sponsored by CBC Radio.  I cannot put it here because that would garnish a disqualification since they consider online publishing of an un-published work “publishing”.  Needless to say; win, lose or draw… it will appear here eventually.  I also still have the 8 original articles that I submitted to the local paper and will begin placing them here starting with post #351.  I have taken a break from the Shades of Hemingway series, but that doesn’t mean I do not think of it from time to time and will eventually post the conclusion here, much to your chagrin.

So, at my 3.5 centuple I would just like to say… thanks.  It has been very therapeutic for me and encouraging.  I look forward to other milestones in the future and hope to continue Advantages of Mutual Respect and Fair Play for a little while longer.

peace.

Tags: 350.org, Iowa Hawkeyes