If you are in the habit of finding stuff online to make yourself angry and depressed, don't laugh, lots of folks are into it, go and read some articles on how methodically your life is monitored by big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon - even if you don't have accou … | Continue reading
I'd like to get to know some folks here at Bear Blog. Here are a few blog posts from the past couple of months that will introduce me, who I am and what I write about. Please use the guestbook, Mastodon or email to leave me some of your favorite posts from your own blog. I promis … | Continue reading
Things I liked about today I woke up earlier than normal and used the extra time to have an extra cup of coffee, read some extra blogs and interact on Mastodon. My job has special summer hours and I get tomorrow off as a result. Three of my grandkids are spending the night with u … | Continue reading
Clock Things I liked about today I woke up earlier than normal and used the extra time to have an extra cup of coffee, read some extra blogs and interact on Mastodon. My job has special summer hours and I get tomorrow off as a result. Three of my grandkids are spending the night … | Continue reading
My first memory of television is from July of 1969 - Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 and the moon landing. I remember the adults in the house being awed and excited but not much more beyond that. Most of my early TV memories are of stuff the grownups watched, not kid shows. Walter Cron … | Continue reading
Apollo 11 My first memory of television is from July of 1969 - Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 and the moon landing. I remember the adults in the house being awed and excited but not much more beyond that. Most of my early TV memories are of stuff the grownups watched, not kid shows. W … | Continue reading
When it comes to online interaction with other people, I couldn't tell you what exactly what I'm looking for because I don't have an exact goal. I enjoy getting to know about the folks I interact with but it's not 100% necessary. We can have those 30,000-foot conversations if tha … | Continue reading
The People We Meet When it comes to online interaction with other people, I couldn't tell you what exactly what I'm looking for because I don't have an exact goal. I enjoy getting to know about the folks I interact with but it's not 100% necessary. We can have those 30,000-foot c … | Continue reading
What do you think about music? I'm not sure I understand the subtle, almost pathological appeal music has in practically every society in the world. Children love to sing and are often prodded into reluctant performances by their elders. It is a rare church service which contains … | Continue reading
Elvis What do you think about music? I'm not sure I understand the subtle, almost pathological appeal music has in practically every society in the world. Children love to sing and are often prodded into reluctant performances by their elders. It is a rare church service which co … | Continue reading
I'm fortunate enough to have never suffered from income derived hunger at any point in my life. Other than through unintended weight gain, food has not been a stressor. Quite the contrary, I have a lot of happy memories associated with food and the people who have prepared it for … | Continue reading
Steamed Shrimp I'm fortunate enough to have never suffered from income derived hunger at any point in my life. Other than through unintended weight gain, food has not been a stressor. Quite the contrary, I have a lot of happy memories associated with food and the people who have … | Continue reading
Back in the 90s when most folks of a certain age were discovering online communities through USENET, BBSs, AOL and the like, no one really new how to act. Each community had a certain culture and through trial-and-error people came to an agreement on what was good manners and wha … | Continue reading
LMGTFY Back in the 90s when most folks of a certain age were discovering online communities through USENET, BBSs, AOL and the like, no one really new how to act. Each community had a certain culture and through trial-and-error people came to an agreement on what was good manners … | Continue reading
In the last 90's I started a GeoCities page and eventually bought a domain name, randomly named wonderfulmonds.com, after a minor league baseball player named Wonderful Terrific Monds III. The site had absolutely nothing to do with baseball, however. It was mostly just essays I w … | Continue reading
I've evidently been living under a rock as a budding controversy has been brewing in the Fediverse. There is a two-year old proposal known as FEP-5624: Per-object reply control policies: Sometimes, users may want to share an information or a story without inviting replies from ou … | Continue reading
Amerpie Origin Story In the last 90's I started a GeoCities page and eventually bought a domain name, randomly named wonderfulmonds.com, after a minor league baseball player named Wonderful Terrific Monds III. The site had absolutely nothing to do with baseball, however. It was m … | Continue reading
Preaching I've evidently been living under a rock as a budding controversy has been brewing in the Fediverse. There is a two-year old proposal known as FEP-5624: Per-object reply control policies: Sometimes, users may want to share an information or a story without inviting repli … | Continue reading
Depression Sucks. There is no doubt. People who are depressed need and deserve compassion and understanding. It's a medical condition, not a moral failing. It's usually treatable. According to the American Medical Association, the average time between seeking and treatment and ac … | Continue reading
Therapy Depression Sucks. There is no doubt. People who are depressed need and deserve compassion and understanding. It's a medical condition, not a moral failing. It's usually treatable. According to the American Medical Association, the average time between seeking and treatmen … | Continue reading
Shohei Ohtani I'm a little jealous of Shohei Ohtani's salary but I am not mad at him for earning it. Professional athletes deserve every penny they get. We live in a capitalist society with a supply and demand economy. There is a demand for people with athletic ability and baseba … | Continue reading
Ahhhh I am a creature of habit. I like to get up at the same time every day, go to bed at the same time, eat my meals at the same time. I'm not at Rainman level when it comes to things. I do have a degree of flexibility when called upon. It's that it’s seldom that I have to exerc … | Continue reading
Pondering I've read that some people don't have an inner dialog. There is no conversation going in every person's head. I don't know what that would be like, because the voices are always present in mine. I used to drive 30K-40K a year without listening to the radio, podcasts or … | Continue reading
No one needs to convince me that Mark Zuckerburg is an evil techbro or that Facebook is net negative on society and responsible for the undermining of American democracy in 2016 when it promoted an orangutan hued failed gameshow host to shock and awe his way into the White House. … | Continue reading
Me and Harper I had children early and thus got a head start on becoming a grandparent. That delightful event happened 19 years ago with the birth of Braedyn when I was 40 and has since been repeated a dozen more times. Wonder Woman and I have five grown children ranging in age f … | Continue reading
Mrs. Teasley, My Favorite Custodian I love working class people. Most of us find ourselves in that category. That's not to say that if you are a business owner or you're in management that I don't have some feelings for you too, but my people are the working stiffs. In my who tim … | Continue reading
The site of our wedding By the time I was mature enough for marriage, I'd already been married two times, once to my high-school girlfriend with whom I had two children and again to a woman I met in drug and alcohol rehab. I can't say that I'd suggest either one of those places a … | Continue reading
My Son-in-Law I don't know how much the average American thinks about war. In the 21st century, our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq dragged out so long and the news from the war zone was so repetitive that it was seldom at the forefront of any outlet's reporting. The names of … | Continue reading
Cup of Coffee I am all about trying to lift the spirits of my fellow indy bloggers in any way I can. I am a prolific leaver of comments. I am forever clicking on the "send me an email" links. When Jarrod Blundy started the one a month club, I quickly picked out a half dozen diffe … | Continue reading
Elephant on an iMac When ChatGPT was first announced, I wasn't blogging and didn't spend much time keeping up with tech trends. My online presence at the time was lots of Reddit doomscrolling, some Facebook and Google News. Then I came out of retirement, went back to work in a te … | Continue reading
In Georgia, on the Appalachian Trail The experience of hiking the Appalachian Trail with my wife on our honeymoon, a 156-day, 2189-mile adventure was probably the most life changing thing I have ever done. I was a different person at the end of the journey, physically and mentall … | Continue reading
Hidden Behind Magnolias #100DaysToOffload 9/100 In the mid 70s, my family took a break from our yearly or bi-yearly moves and stayed in the same place for my brother and sister and I to put down some roots, albeit shallow ones. We lived in a huge mill-owner sized house on a corne … | Continue reading
My friends #100DaysToOffload 8/100 I had lunch today with a couple of guys I've known for more than twenty years. At one time we all worked together but these days we are on separate job paths. We have all had pretty significant impacts on each other's lives. We've known each oth … | Continue reading
That's me on the inside #100DaysToOffload 7/100 I'm a big believer in goal setting. It's worked well for me over the years. As with most things, the joy is often in the journey, rather than the destination. The following is a report of a time when I fell short of a goal - an atte … | Continue reading
Me in high school #100DaysToOffload 6/100 I started the 11th grade in the fall of 1981 at Westover High School in Fayetteville, NC. It was the 13th public school I'd attended and the first time in my educational career that I'd been with the same group of kids in three different … | Continue reading
Vacation 1970 #100DaysToOffload 5/100 When I was growing up, family pictures were kept in notebooks on a shelf in the living room. Most of the pictures were either taken with instant cameras or by professional photographers at schools, churches and department stores. My mom's hus … | Continue reading
Lance Armstrong was a doper I have written before on how cycling changed my life. In December of 2008 I weighed nearly 300lbs and had been drinking on a daily basis for years. I had my last drink three days after Christmas that year. Twelve months later I weighed less than 200 lb … | Continue reading
Paperboy #100DaysToOffload 4/100 I've been working in some way or another since having a paper route in the sixth grade. I tried to retire in 2020 and that turned into a disaster when I felt totally lost without something to do. In my life I've done landscaping, farm work, cookin … | Continue reading
Sleeping soldier #100DaysToOffload 3/100 I was chatting with fellow blogger Scott Jones on Mastodon, and I mentioned that I spent time napping on a recent car trip. Scott remarked that sleeping in cars or planes is a superpower he wished he had. His analysis of my sleeping skills … | Continue reading
Tweet #100DaysToOffload 2/100 I have been poor in my life. I grew up in a variety of family situations between my parents' marriages and remarriages and time spent living with other relatives. I wore hand me down clothes from my cousins and was glad that my grandmother could sew … | Continue reading