A simple matter of priorities

If you do not recognize this fellow, you are beyond help ....

So, what else is new?

I suppose I could lie and write here that I took a hop, a skip and a jump way up north a few days ago to the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then had taken this photograph.

But, anyone who has read me here during the past two-plus years knows that I am not a fan of the politics or the policies of Barack Obama, and I would have to be paid to attend an event in which he was speaking. It would have been evident that I was lying.

(It is possible I might have voted for Hilary, though, had the circumstances been different.)

And, anyone who has read me here during the past two years might recall that I dropped out of the tedious world of journalism in May 2009, so I had absolutely no reason to put in an appearance there as a newsman. Once again, it would have been evident that I was lying.

(Who knows? I might decide to give journalism another whirl around the dance floor. After all, I have come from it and gone back to it a few times in the past. Mostly for money, not for love, I hope you understand.)

So, no. I was not present at the Obama event to take the photograph you see here today.

(Not too shabby a shot, though, hah? Excellent work, Tommy .... hmmmm .... Tommy? Yeh, well, ok ..... a professional is a professional is a professional -- from beginning to end.)

The fact of the matter, to talk like a politician talks, is that there remains one other surviving member of the Michigan version of the "wild bunch" in addition to me, and our photo today was taken by the other. He sent it to me to taunt me. He is a liberal, you see, while I am .... well .... sort of a conservative. By the way, the photo is copyrighted, so please, treat it appropriately.

Anyway, had I been in town when the President was there, undoubtedly, I would have spent the day in a canoe on The Lake rather than listening to his endless, empty chatter. It simply is a matter of selecting one's priorities. With that, we shall adjourn to the next item on the agenda.

Notes from the land of snow

My posts are becoming infrequent, intentionally, I might add, so that I spend more time working on other projects. Yes, this means establishing priorities. Sort of the here today, gone tomorrow concept. So, with that in mind, here are a couple of things I have mentioned in comments, but not in an actual post:

I will be staying in this townhouse in March and April and, probably, May. I received a message from the owner last week stating I could stay as long as I wished. He gave no explanation, and, simply, I do not care what the reason. My assumption is that this will make the next few months a bit easier for me.

Next, I am in the process of securing a house in suburban St. Paul. It is about twenty miles from the downtown Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I anticipate moving in toward the end of May, no later than June 1.

This house will become my "fire base," as it were, for the next year or two or three. I probably will rent out either the upstairs or the basement next autumn, depending on the circumstances, and use one or the other as a place to store my own personal possessions and to "camp out" when I am in and around Minnesota.

Sometime in the autumn, most like late September or early October, I will take to the road again, in a manner of speaking. If I remain in America during the Winter months, it will be in a location where the sun shines and the temperature is considerably warmer than it is here-abouts and ice only exists in refrigerators. I think I would look good with a year-round tan.

Anyway, that is the way life is shaping up for me at this moment. With hindsight, I should have left this region last November and returned in March to do the business required of me here, but, at least, I will have accomplished a few things by remaining here during this long, cold, snowy Winter. To this, we can add about a foot of snow just fallen during the past thirty-six hours. Uff da.

Finally, do you have an hour to spare? Whatever .... if you do not recognize this rock opera, you are beyond help ....