Catching the positives. I am not sure, but I think I may have another of those long letters in me.

I have already had three Diet Cokes since noon and it does definitely help my asthma. OK, it may also wire me a bit. I am going to force the "wired" to keep my brain functioning, but kind of like using downshifting in a car when going down a long hill, try to keep the writing slow and steady. Each letter will touch the line and I am writing one word at a time with both mind and hand. So if I can keep this pace, maybe it will not be such a chore to read, or at least will be less of a chore.

I had an interesting day today. I do find that when I "catch" the positives that are tossed my way, well, it does my soul good.

I met with my psychologist today. It is the next to last time we will meet. She has me penciled in for Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week and then that's it. She has been approved for a transfer (yes, staff likes to get off this mountain too), effective January 2005. So it is a good thing I am leaving anyway.

We have been meeting every two to three weeks for six years. Thinking of this again brought to the forefront of my mind how over time one can make changes in one's life despite or because of one's surroundings!

So what follows are the good things I caught today. They were tossed out to me and I caught them and used them to help lift me up a bit. I could have and would have in the past missed some of them, or not assigned the weight to them that they deserved. So yes, I guess it is akin to "stop and smell the flowers."

Besides the general dumping of my thoughts, the Doc said that I had made much progress in lowering my previously too-high expectations of what life owed me.

As I have mentioned in the past, I know that I have always felt that I knew it all, and I would not have even tried to change some parts of my life. Also, to have someone notice that was very affirming.

I really cannot wait to get my mind out of here and try to stand the tech world on its ear! Let us get back to the K.I.S.S. system. Hey, I had databases running on 64K text-based CPM systems. Think what a text system could do now! Maybe GUI should stand for Guaranteed Unruly Interface?

Yes, I know video and audio are needed, but perhaps if we separate them a bit we could improve each instead of mixing all together and muddling the standard. Yes, there are some great graphics, audio, and video systems out there doing things never before possible. Hey, I love that yellow line for first down on the football field on the TV.

But maybe if we came up with more basic systems we could also develop a lower-paid but still skilled workforce, like the good old apprenticeship system. Yes, some of it is rocket science, but hey, one Rocket Scientist with lots of lower paid supplicants! Get the picture?

There is a special on NPR now talking about Senator Byrd, the beloved Senator from West Virginia, as a fiddler!

Well, it is 9:40 PM so I better get this in the mail.
  ¶ 9:09 AM