i believe in a better way

I’m slowly getting back into the frame of mind to start posting again at the ol’ Deist blog. Ideas come to me but unlike before where I could remember throughout the day what I wanted to write, my ideas tend to disappear slowly and without any definitive moment they vanish like mist that’s burned away from morning sun.

But I’m getting there and hope to be flexing my thoughts again in a more consistent manner. I’ve been looking at drafts that I have sitting in my WordPress cue and it seems like most of them were meant for when they were first written… a year, two, three or even four years ago. Not sure why I never pressed the publish button on some of those but needless to say they aren’t really relevant or would be out of context because… well, I don’t know how to explain but they would be out of context.

But there are a handful that are meaningful to me still and I’m sure I’ll dust them off and give them the chance to be seen by someone. Kinda like this one. Not sure why I never posted this one but the first draft was written almost four years ago to the day. Weird huh.
Below is the original post:
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A friend of mine from church introduced me to this song several months ago.  I hadn’t thought about it in a while and don’t know why I remembered it today.  Just thought I’d share.

[Deist begins to stretch a little so he can properly do his best air guitar windmill and scissor kick]

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an entire year has passed

If I had published my previous post and deliberately intended for it to be the first thing people see here for an entire year, I would have never been able to do it. If that had been my intention to sit away from my blog for an entire year, I’m certain I wouldn’t have been able to.

My history is replete with examples of me trying to do or not do something for a specified period of time so I’m certain I would have failed at keeping away from my blog for a year but here I am an entire year TO THE DAY without a single post. Success!!

Wait, whuh?

Years back, when I was entrenched in WordPress and lived for the comments and posts of the small circle of blogging friends I had, I sometimes wondered to myself, “how long will this go on?  Will we be writing and following each others’ accomplishments and disappointments 5, 10, 20 years from now?”

I sometimes wondered what happens if/when a beloved blogging friend dies? How will we know? How do we find out?

I thought about in regards to myself. I should at least have the courtesy to let my blogging friends know I’ve kicked the bucket and am on the other side. I should right?

But how to do this?
I figured I’d write a post…  one last final entry here on the ol’ DeistFromTexas blog and schedule it to publish innnnn… I don’t knowwww…. let’s say two months. If I hadn’t keeled over in that time, I would simply back the date up another month or two. And keep doing that until one day I was in an urn on the mantle and in time…. tah dahhh one final post to say goodbye.

It must sound crazy to plan something like that but I think some will understand… I’m looking at you Amuirin, LazyBuddhist, Bibliomom, Ombud. During that first year or so of writing and logging in here at my little outpost of the interwebs, I became connected… so very connected, emotionally to many of you who visited my site.

Well, I never wrote that post. I never scheduled what I’d like to say. I never did the courteous thing. And as luck would have it….  I haven’t kicked the bucket.
I’m back.

And damn is it good to be alive!

Five year blogiversary!

The activity has slowed but there’s still some movement here at the blog o’ Jules. That’s weird sounds Irish huh.

Anyway, I drafted the title the day of my blogiversary (June 22) as a reminder but then got caught up with other things and here I am two days late. Story of my life.

So what was I caught up with? Still working on house stuff. Had to cut the jungle that is (was) my backyard. And I was watching all the GA stuff.

I mentioned the UU General Assembly in my last post and I’ve been following the association’s Livestream channel to watch the worship services and other activities that have been videoed. Couple that with a bunch of UU ministers, attendees and off-site UUs who have been Tweeting on the #UUAGA hashtag and it’s been a pretty cool experience.

Nothing like actually being there. General Assembly was held in Fort Worth back in 2005 and with it being a mere four hours away from Houston, a couple of friends of mine and I went. It was a pretty amazing experience. So I know what it’s like to actually be there. The video, tweeting and live blogging is pretty cool but not quite like being there.

So back to the blogiversary… I’ve been working on going self hosted. I had actually hoped to be there by the time June 22 hit. Oh well, maybe in a month or two. Sept 11 anniversary? In time for the election? The Mayan prophecy?

Meh. Soon.

it’s on the verge of flat lining

Last week The Deistette and I were winding down from the day and she came to my blog and said, “I think it’s dead.”
I’m starting to concede that idea.

I mean I’ve only put up two posts in five months not including this one.

I think part of the trouble I have is a lack of time but also this blog is more of a personal blog, vice being about a cause or product. I think the title insinuates religion and/or politics but I don’t really have the desire to enter the UU blogging community again… it’s become too… I don’t know. Too… silly. There is a contingency who have taken the Red Pill and I have other things I need to tend to right now rather than argue an unarguable debate.  And politics is more of a hobby which is basically me yelling at the AM radio hate-mongers of right-wing talk shows.

                                                    (part of why I have little time. I’m taking baby steps replacing all the siding on my house.)

And although this is pretty much a personal blog, I don’t really like the idea of posting stuff about my daughter, stepsons or wife. I have now and again posted about them and offered a picture here and there but it’s been few and far between. So not wanting to post things about the people who are most involved with my personal life, kinda turns the ol’ blog a little stagnant.

                                        a pic of the wife waaayyyy off in the distance watering some of our veggies in the elevated bed I built.

Not sure what I’m afraid of in that regard. I mean, I’m not a celebrity. I don’t have any stalkers. Hell, I barely have any active readers of this blog any longer. Amazing what happens when you stop writing how far the stat numbers go done huh.

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(I guess I could have kept my numbers up by writing about the super cool garden we have going on.)

Near the end of June, I’ll be at the five-year mark of this blog. To be honest, it feels like I’ve been at this so much longer. It feels like a lifetime since I first started writing down my thoughts and “met” some of my favorite people in the blogosphere. They’re not around much anymore and I miss them.

I bring up the time frame because five years is kind of a marker of sorts I guess and I’ve been thinking of starting over and letting go of this one. I don’t know.  If I do (which I’m really leaning to) I’ll be pulling away from WP.com and doing the self-hosted thing. I’m still looking into it. The thing is, blogging here on WP doesn’t feel the same as it did four or five years ago but it has been so important to me that I don’t want to just abandon it.

I guess we’ll see.
For now, know I’m still alive and kicking despite having posted anything in a while.

today begins year number 5

Yesterday was my blog’s birthday. It’s been four years since my first post but wow, it feels like it’s been a lot longer.  Seems like it’s been WAY longer.

Saying that reminds me of this clip from the Steve Martin movie “The Jerk”.  Anyone here remember this scene. I tried to get it to start at the 39 second mark but the code didn’t take.

Anyway, I think my first year blogging was the best. It was my funnest. My first year I “met” some really great people.  A handful of them became what I would consider, dare I say, friends. Many of those bloggers who found me when I first started blogging have  gone on to other things though.

I miss Amuirin and Bibliomom.

Todaybegins year number five.

A bit of dead air

This is the longest break in posting I think I’ve ever had in the four years I’ve maintained this blog.

It’s been a hair more than two months since my last post and it isn’t for a lack of anything to say.

I’ve had some things I could have written about: my continued work and fixes on my house which I’m learning to do as I go along… learned mostly because of the awesome people on YouTube who post how-to vids, the feeling of loss after having sold my little 16-acre piece of land that I paid on for nearly 10 years, what it was like having my ex-wife’s 16 year old daughter come to the house unexpectedly (seeing my stepdaughter was wonderful by the way), the hard transition to only one car in a city that is designed in such a way that citizens really need a car. Or like how last week, my continued Wednesday date night with my daughter has now crossed a threshold and I have only 51 of these left until she turns 18 and is no longer obligated to spend them with me.

Those are some of the biggies.

There were a bunch of little things that I could have written or shown you pictures of that involve just random, mundane, every day things.

But I haven’t.
I’ve been tired.

Seems like everyone needs a piece of me and it’s sapping my energy to near zero by the end of the day. My physical, mental, spiritual energy seems to be running on fumes and it sucks.

The other thing though is I havent’ really been inspired to write about what’s been happening with me.  I wonder if blogging, not just for me, but for the blogosphere as a whole is waning.   Maybe it’s simply taking on a new shape.  Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and a few other sites have different way of blogging and I imagine have pulled some away from Blogger, WP and Typepad.

I don’t know.

I’m here though. Not dead.  Still alive and kicking.

Amen to what the Preacher Man said

My UU congregation has gone through a few ministers in its 15 year history.  I can think of four right off the top of my head but I think there has been seven including our current minister.

We share him with another congregation in San Antonio because we only had enough money to hire him part time.  Rough gig for the preacher man as he drives the three hours from San Antone to us once a month… sometimes twice. Don’t tell his boss though cuz he’s only supposed to come over once.  He likes us.

Anyway, apparently my powers of sway and persuasion

Even this is hard to write

It’s almost been a month since my last post.   For some reason I can’t seem to muster the will to post anything. I’ve wanted to. I thought about posting something at the fall equinox, another home improvement update, something silly the boy did, a mother in-law update, a wife update, a pic of it raining while the sun is brightly shining and consequent rainbow, some kind of Deist info.

Meh. It just ain’t comin’ to me though.

I’m not sure… it’s like, I don’t know… like when Delilah cut off Samson’s hair.

No, more like this.

I apparently have lost my mojo.

Today is 9/02/10

I was SOOOOO in love with Kelly.
Kinda still am.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Ok, so I didn’t invent anything but necessity bred a strong impulse to learn to become a cabinet installer, plumber, sheet rock installer, mold abatement guy, and all around Do-It-Yourselfer.

You see, the reason I’ve been gone from the interwebs for a while is I had to rebuild my kitchen. Not completely but there was a pretty good chunk to fix because I had a leak underneath the sink.

Actually this story goes way further back than that. I bought the house we live in 12 years ago and the guy I bought it from told me that someone had broken in to the house from the kitchen window several years before and in doing so broke a pipe. He apparently didn’t have it fixed right and I being a first-time home buyer didn’t know I could tell him, “fix it or I won’t buy it.” I figured it was an “as-is” sort of sale.

Anyway, 12 years of neglect finally caught up with me.

Like I said we had a leak. Who knows how long the leak had been dribbling out of the sink because we never, ever open that cabinet. But here is what started it all. That is the drain basket that attaches to the sink and to the drain pipes.  Somehow it had worked itself loose of the drain basket.

Some of my blog peeps might remember I’ve written before how The Deistette is highly allergic (pretty much ‘deathly’ allergic) to mold. A few weeks before my brother came over to help rip it all out, she was having bad allergy attacks (her sinus were so inflamed she had nose bleeds) and we didn’t know what was causing it.  We just figured it was pollen.