West of the Mind

In 29 days, I will be officially unemployed. It is simply amazing that I am not in full on panic mode knowing this. If this had happened a few years ago, I am certain that I would be losing my mind about now. Today though, I simply am not worried. I know, for a fact, that something will come along. It simply has to. And if it doesn't, then I will create something. That, in a nutshell, is how I live my life. If you've followed me for more than just a few days, you know the story. But you probably don't know the whole story. Seeing as Christa isn't feeling well and is asleep, and I'm sitting here on some very good Percoset , I'll try and put down in words what's on my mind. In the past 12 months, my entire life has turned upside down. I'm not really complaining though, because most of it is my own fault. 1. My marriage of 27 years broke up. I'll accept most of the blame. I wasn't a very good husband. We had problems between the two of...

When I was asked recently what I wanted for Christmas, it struck me that the answer was “nothing”. I’ ve said for years that I have enough stuff, so I don’t need anything. This was usually a lie, because there was always something I wanted. This year is certainly different though. I simply couldn ’t be more serious when I say I don’t want anything. You can blame it on the motorcycle accident, mostly. There’s nothing like coming within an inch of dying to make you realize that all the things around your house are just that….’things’. They really aren ’t important. In fact, the house itself isn ’t important. I’ ve lived in a house for the last five years that I can’t stand. It is too big, too remote, and sits on five acres of grass that I have no desire to mow. Mowing my “lawn” takes me nearly three evenings. During the summer, it has to be cut every week. Add that time up when you are bored. So the house can go too. So I look around the house, and realize that anything I might possibl...

I have received numerous emails from regular readers asking me why I don’t write about poker anymore. To tell you the truth, it has nothing to do with poker. I simply haven’t been able to write about anything lately. But I wanted to post this and let you take from it what you wished. In the end, I simply wanted you to understand what happened, and what the future holds. It’s taken me nearly two and a half months to write this, but I’m going to give it a go. The delay has been for many reasons. To begin with, it was because of pure pain. I couldn’t type with a shattered shoulder and dislocated fingers. But even more than that, there was the mental aspect. Simply thinking about what happened was difficult enough. Actually discussing it was out of the question. But here we are, well into December, and it is time to stop worrying and start writing. On September 23rd, at around 11:30 at night, I was riding my motorcycle home after a wonderful evening out. I had spent the evening out with so...

I don’t like cats. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you the same thing. Never have, and probably never will. There is just something about their attitude that turns me off. We had one for a little while when I was growing up, but I never cared for it and wasn’t upset in the slightest the night he decided he had better places to be than our house. With that being known by everyone, including my wife, I got the surprise of my life at my front door a few months ago with one simple knock. I opened the door to find my neighbor standing there holding a little gray kitten. “Here is your new kitty”, were the words I was greeted with. I just laughed and said “You must have the wrong house.” She laughed right back and informed me that my wife had agreed to take one of the newborn barn kittens off of another friend’s hands. I just called my wife down from upstairs, and walked away. I was fairly sure there was about to be a discussion, but I was willing to wait for the neighbor to l...

A recent event in Denver, Colorado highlights the critical need for every poker player to join the Pokers Player Alliance ( www.theppa.org ) and ensure your voice is heard in Congress. Last week the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, along with the Denver Police Department, raided a local bar that was holding a $10 buy in poker game. The game was a long tradition at the bar and in no way could be considered anything more than a fun little diversion for the bar patrons. If a whopping 30 people participated, then a bank busting $300 was on the line. If the actions of the CBI and DPD weren’t bad enough to start with, their actions after the raid are what really stress the problems poker players are having in this country. The Poker Players Alliance contacted the owners of the bar and offered their services, free of charge, in defending the game in court. The owners declined, because they were threatened by the CBI and DPD if they took such assistance. In a nutshell, the owners of t...

In 1992, as my family was preparing for our Air Force directed move from Arkansas to Colorado Springs, my two sons decided that it was a perfect time for us to adopt a dog. It had been several years since we had owned one, and they thought that nothing would be better than to add to the family just before driving across the country. “He can keep us safe on the trip!” was one of their favorite attempts at a justification. Since I really didn’t want to deal with a new dog on the trip, I promised the boys that as soon as we were settled in Colorado we could go to the local shelter and see what they had. This seemed to satisfy them, since they then spent the entire 3-day trip talking about what kind of dog they wanted,and what they wanted to name it. It worked so well that there was no complaining or whining “Are we there yet?” the whole trip. Once we arrived, we quickly purchased a house and got settled in to our new life in the mountains. Life was so interesting at that point that I...

On a recent Facebook post, my son said "Just took a nap with a pug. Name something better". I laughed when I first read it, but then got to thinking about the reason he said it. You see, a few years ago our older son came home one day with a little surprise. He had gone to the pet store and bought what I considered then to be the ugliest dog I had ever seen. If you've never seen a pug puppy, then you have no idea what I'm talking about. There is simply nothing about them that you would find even remotely attractive. Bulging eyes, no neck, squatty body, and a smashed in face. I certainly wasn't in any mood to welcome another dog into the house either. We already had Bo, who was well over 10 years old at the time. Why in the world would we want another poop machine in the house. Well, it seems that my vote wasn't counted in this election. Valerie took one look at the rat and proclaimed it to be the cutiest thing she had ever seen. (Yeah, it made me ...

If I was perfectly honest, I'd tell you I hate my job. Not because it is difficult (it isn't), but more because it is boring. I fell into this line of work a long time ago, and I simply can't escape it. I tried when I retired from the Air Force, but a simple call saying "Hey Jim, want to travel the world for way too much money?" couldn't be ignored. I did that for five years, but after two I was ready to quit. You can only see so much of the world, one week at a time, before you realize that a Sheraton is a Sheraton, regardless of the face on the bill you used to pay for it. My oldest son is in the Navy, and is doing amazing well at it....but I can't help thinking he'd still rather be playing bass in a band. My wife is about to retire from the Air Force, and will probably accept the best playing job offer rather than the one that she would truly love. Then again, there aren't too many high paying "rock my baby all day" jobs out ther...