"Most people will passively do exactly what they did last year. Whatever you do, don't let that person be you." ~ Richie Norton

If you were planning on getting a goal accomplished before the end of January, well, you might want to get on with it since today, Friday, January 31, 2020, is your last shot at it. You didn't actually have anything in mind? Not to fear. I will see if I can help get you jump-started. Some suggestions: ~ The things you have always wanted to get done. Go do them. ~ Do what I did. Remove all the bad-for-you food from the house. By the way, it was delicious! ~ Send a note to your abs, "I promise to find you this year and to reveal you." ~ To quit blaming the holidays. Let's face it, you were fat last August. ~ Slogan: Merry Fitness and Happy New Rear ~ I will do selfies this year without using a filter. ~ Brew more coffee. Drink more coffee. Be the coffee: I am coffee! ~ Work on pretending to be a better person. ~ A new year's prayer: Lord please help them provide a way for me to punch people over the internet. ~ I will add fine print to every resolution: I am under no legal obligation to fulfill this resolution. ~ To make it through the new year even if it kills me. ~ To finally act my age. ~ Those did not originate with me. They came from the internet although I did reword several of them to fit the point I was trying to make. That being the case, you might as well laugh. Go ahead. It will do a body good.

Those were the days, January 31, 2008: Cold Case Reopened ~ Your mind can be a very powerful influence on what you believe and the actions you take. Yesterday, I went through my regular routine to prepare to leave for work without incident. I even walked out to the mailbox in my shirtsleeves and I thought to myself, "Hey it's a little cooler than I thought it might be today." But, I shrugged it off, finished getting ready, and was at my workstation before 5 a.m. About 8:30 I received an email from my wife in all caps: YOU DIDN'T EVEN TURN THE HEAT ON FOR ME AND IT'S 29 DEGREES! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? To tell the truth I wasn't thinking about it being cold at all because the last report I heard it was only supposed to get down into the '40s, therefore, that's the expectation I had and I guess I responded to what I thought rather than the reality of it being much colder. Maybe this is an example of mind over matter or the power of suggestion or just plain being out of touch with reality. This situation ended up making for a good laugh from both of us and to be sure while it is only 55 degrees this morning as I sit here at 5:20 a.m. doing this blog, that furnace at home is on overdrive preparing for her to wake up and start her day. I sure hope she remembers to turn it off before she leaves for work but that's another story entirely. On the way in this morning I heard that in Buffalo, New York, yesterday, it was 53 degrees at 3 a.m., and 15 degrees by noon. Maybe she should be thankful she wasn't in Buffalo and be counting her blessings instead of sending emails in all caps!

I have made it clear I'm no longer as resilient in handling the cold as I once was. I still have a fair amount but nothing like I had when I was the undisputed all-time freezeout champion as a teenager. I read someone lamenting how they never realized that getting old would come so fast. I hear that. I appreciate the meaning. I am the meaning. Speaking of the cold, I can't remember us ever having a white Christmas but that didn't keep us from loving the song about dreaming for one. We never roasted chestnuts on an open fire. Never. I saw one of those food carts on my first trip to New York City and the fellow was selling hot chestnuts. I had never seen one before that. It makes you wonder how we so enjoyed Christmas without experiencing the stuff the songs portrayed. The true meaning of the birth of our Lord and Savior has something to do with that. And, even on a warm shirt sleeve Christmas Day we had an even greater feeling of warmth about those gathered to celebrate with us. Sorry about so many Christmas related references but when you hand out cards announcing yourself to be the Real Santa, what would you expect? I do hope you have a most wonderful day on Saturday and that Sunday, the first day of the week, the day commemorated as Resurrection Day, will find us all at the place where we gather to worship the Resurrected Christ. Amen. .....More later.