25 Years?

Hard to believe today is 25 years since the most impactful historical moment of my lifetime happened. When our young football team faced the flag during our moment of silence this evening, I realized none of them were even born! Do they understand the impact of today?

I remember in high school when I had write some paper that involved asking my parents for memorable/impactful moments in history. My mother knew exactly what she was doing and how she heard on the radio that JFK was assassinated. I thought "How do you remember that from 20 years ago?!" 

But now I get it.

Between work and taking football pictures this evening, I didn't have time to watch any of the 25th anniversary tributes to 9/11. Maybe tomorrow I can find them. It's not like I want to re-live the day. But don't you want to go back to that month and remember how we all came together as a nation – and it didn't matter our political affiliation, our skin color, our income, or anything? We bonded together as mourners and survivors.

That definitely got lost in the decades since, unfortunately.

For me, it was crazy week. Working at a newspaper had a whole host of extra memories. Special editions. Two newspapers a day. And we still couldn't keep up with how much was being discovered those first few days – Trade Center, Pentagon, Flight 93 – and how it all tied together. So surreal.

But like I said, any of us who woke up ALIVE on September 12 should consider ourselves survivors. Let's try not to take that for granted.

Or our freedom to comment on this event however we want! 

We Are Not The Same, Ha

I love this! Totally identify with reading part of a book or just the back cover and making up a very creative book report! Or one year we had the option of either a report or an art project illustrating the theme of the book. I sure made The Hound of the Baskervilles look sinister and scary... even though I did not read a single page! Was it even about dogs?!

So much creative thinking required by my generation!

Things are different today. I would not want to be a teacher of any kind trying to determine if their students are good writers – or just good AI users. Oof.

There's been so much news – frankly disturbing – in recent days about AI. Like Doomsday-type news. I really don't know what it all means or what to believe. But as a professional writer for nearly 40 years, it's been a hot button in my field for some time.

Some of my co-workers use it a lot and some of us just rely on the skills we've honed for decades. I'm kind of defensive about it. Can you tell? LOL.

As a mentor of interns the past two summers, I told them quite frankly that AI can help you write your resume and your cover letter, but it can't help you answer questions in your "live" job interview. You need to develop critical thinking skills. No "machine" can replace that.

It probably helped that us X-ers had to do a lot of legwork to cobble information together and make cohesive sense of it for school work. No Internet. Just card catalogs in the library. And potentially outdated encyclopedias. I still got straight A's so I'm guessing that was sufficient information for the time. 

As Carter went through high school, I was kind of jealous how easy it was for him with his access to worldwide information. That would have been SO handy as a newspaper reporter in the '90s!!!

Today I feel a bit (mildly right now) threatened because it can replace all my income streams – writing, graphic design, and photography. I sure hope my retirement countdown on my phone expires before "humanity" will! 

God, save us all!

Embracing Autumnal Vibes... Sort Of

Well I definitely wasn't going to lead with a photo of myself but my blog platform won't let me upload any other images. Gah!

So I've mentioned before that I'm a solar-powered girl. I love summer! I love the sun, time with Mr. Deck Chair... and my golf clubs. But today, because I found (and ordered) a style of dressy shirts on Amazon, I had to kick my "Autumnal Vibe" in gear!

Yes, I take pictures in the bathroom at work to show my sisters certain outfits. LOL. But you can't argue this doesn't spell FALL.

When I got to my hair artist after work, she's like, "Let's cool you down for fall." I always have complete trust in her – especially when she adds in the red and brownish low-lights in all the right places.

Per usual, I told her I'd have to sleep "real careful" so I wouldn't smush her handiwork before going to work tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. 

I do love autumn as well. If you can believe, it's September 9 and I still have held off having my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. Something tells me that's going to drag me from summer to fall in the very near future!

Happy early fall, y'all! 

Those Fickle Golf Gods

After driving to work in the pour rain – make that a deluge – and seeing it rain all morning, my golf partners and I thought for sure we wouldn't have league tonight.

But the golf gods were smiling on us and the sun came out by 1 p.m.

So golf was on! The tricky thing about the golf gods is that if they smile on you, it can only be for one thing at a time. If today was weather, that meant they were not helping me have a stellar round! 

Also against us was the fact the course was so wet, it was "cart path only." Now there are a few holes with wide fairways and a long walk from the cart path to your ball. While it did help me get my 10,000 steps quite easily. It didn't help my game.

Still, I'll never complain about a round at SentryWorld!

And on the way home, the regular God gave me a colorful commute. Never doubt the blessings hiding in plain sight!

Labor Day Vibes :: Feeling Shady

Happy Labor Day! I have never worked in a union and I am quite sure my father never did either. So my only familiarity comes from life as a newspaper reporter sharing updates on "negotiations." 

Yes, I am guilty of just seeing this as a day off and unofficial end of summer. But it hit home during the pandemic when I realized jobs like mine did not make me an "essential worker." No one is going to live or die based on my creative marketing copy. It does nothing really to move the country forward.

The ones who do deserve more than just one holiday off, in my opinion! Salute to you all!

As for my holiday, I did do some physical labor pulling weeds and random pop-up grape vines (probably poisonous) from around the front deck. I also laid all my hanging baskets of flowers to rest! RIP.

That was sunny, sweaty work! When I hauled the wheelbarrow full of weeds to our way back yard "dumping pile" I was immediately struck by how much cooler it was back there in the shade... with a breeze!

So I set up a chair in my new shady area and enjoyed a cool breeze while I listened to more of my marathon audio book. It was nice. I was wishing for a hammock!

Beyond that, it was a pretty laidback day for both of us. Always plenty of baseball on TV. Plus I needed my steps while listening to my book. 

This week is our week "in the office" Tuesday-Thursday, so I need to remember to turn on an earlier (dang) alarm and pick out clothes for work/immediately followed by golf tomorrow. There is a lot of pressure in the workforce these days, isn't there?

Hope you had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend and took time to pat yourself on the back for your hard work! Thank you!

No Plans, No Problem

 

When I saw this, I gave myself permission to do as little as possible this long weekend. I gotta say, I'm getting pretty good at it!

I actually didn't want to do anything that would be stressful. So even though I had an opportunity to go Up North and back to see some cousins. Just wasn't feeling the "let's drive 9 hours in road construction and detour" vibes.

That would, however, have put a dent in this audiobook I just started. It's called The Calamity Club and it's like 28 hours! Better be worth it. So far I'm really enjoying it! Might have to increase the talking speed just a bit more.

So although I haven't been running in circles, I have been walking in them. Getting my 10,000 steps AND listening to this book. That will be the extent of multi-tasking this weekend!

Foxy Friday

Ever since I made national news (CBS Morning News!) with my famous fox photo from the 2023 U.S. Senior Open, I've declared the fox as my spirit animal.

So today, on my day off, imagine my delight in finding these fox paper plates at Dollar Tree while I was hunting for other raffle basket related items! Not sure when and where I'll use them, but it was a must-buy!

Speaking of must-buys... I went to the downtown farmers market at lunch yesterday (not many weeks left) and made sure to feed my guilty pleasure of buying myself fresh flowers. How can I resist full bouquets like this for merely $10? I don't feel so guilty after all!

Today I took the day off for no reason other than to have a 4-day weekend. I went down to the Rome farmers market so I could get some candles from our friends who run Midwest Nice candles. (They smell so yummy!) 

A perfect addition to these raffle baskets I'm putting together for a benefit my nephew Colin and his wife are organizing. A fellow racer has a newborn daughter who spent many, many weeks in the hospital due to seizures. Very sad.

For the rest of the day off... well I was going to get steps on this hot and humid day. But now I see it's 87 degrees and "feels like" 95. Uff da!

Enjoy your holiday weekend!