Thinking Turns One, And He's Just Learning To Walk

It's been one year since I started writing this blog. I have to tell you, it has been great therapy, and it keeps me off the streets at night. This whole experience has been a learning one. After a year of writing, I am only now learning to walk.

I chose the title of Thinking Out Loud In Sturbridge because that is exactly what this space is all about. All those thoughts that one normally thinks, and then shuffles off to some quiet corner of ones head I choose to put out there. Why? Well, I think that a lot of those thoughts deserve to be seen by others. Exposing my inner most thoughts is a great cathartic. They are good enough to share. Then there are other thoughts that only confirm that I may need medication.

I like those thoughts the best.

After living in town for a while I wanted a venue to share the ideas I had with an audience, and maybe, if the those ideas were sound, they would gain a life of their own. Over the past year, some have, and some haven't. The speed limit situation here on the southern end of Route 148 is still a stickler, but I have come to the realization that even the most well meaning people can become paralyzed with inaction because they don't really know what to do, so they "hide" away and ignore the issue.

My intent was never to change my world, but rather to share. Sharing an idea, or thought can foster change as well. Sometimes when we hear, or read of someone that has a similar view as us it confirms that maybe our thoughts aren't too far off. I have received a lot of comments that support this. It's good to know that I am not "too far off" on a lot of my thinking.

There were other times, over the past year, when I enjoyed just being silly. As I said above, my thoughts have a way of leaking out onto these pages, the good, bad and the silly. No pretensions here.

One of the things that I most enjoy is writing about our town of Sturbridge, its past, where we are now, and where we could be in the future. Seems a lot of you enjoy those thoughts as well according the the survey currently being taken on this space. More on the survey results on a later post, but be assured, I will write a lot more on our history over the upcoming year.

What is happening here in town at the present is something that always gets a good response from readers. Writings on our environment, our woodlands, our roads, and businesses all seem to touch a nerve, as do the visions of Sturbridge in the future.

One thing I will continue to write about is the silliness, stupidity, ignorance, laziness, of folks in town whose actions either hurt us as a group, or individually. Can't help it. I think that my sense of what is right, and what is not right is quite good. Why? Well, if we ignore the questionable behavior of some, and don't react to it, then it is as good as condoning it. Someone has to speak up, and it might as well be me. There isn't another forum around that lets one express themselves about issues of behavior regarding our officials, residents, and businesses. People have to know that their are consequences to there words and actions, no matter how benign they may seem at the time. I do hope that these writings will be few. I do respond to what I see and read, and I do call 'em as I see 'em. That being said, I will also continue to recognize those that do us all proud. The individuals that are often overlooked, or get lost in the shuffle of everyday life, and sometimes yesterdays fools, can be tomorrows standouts.

Life works that way.

So, here I go onto a second year of exposing myself on the web. Wait. That does not sound good. Let's try again. So, here I go onto a second year of exposing myself on the internet.

Better.



Survey results will be posted on a future posting.

Give Thanks Everyday

This Thursday is our traditional time to give thanks for all we have in our lives. I always thought that appointing one day to give thanks was a bit odd, but there is far more to the day. We are celebrating the Pilgrims that survived that first year in Plimouth, and their giving thanks for their survival. So many of them did not survive that first year, and they may have all perished if it were not for the Wampanoag.

The Pilgrims took those bad times and built from them. Having their heads all in one positive place helped to insure they were all on the same page. A celebration of communal survival was something they could all be part of, and also set the stage for the times that were to come.

A football team doesn't usually celebrate a loosing season, but they should. They may not have made it out of the season in one healthy piece, and may have not made the best of choices during the year, but they finished, and the experience was something to learn from. Instead of going their separate ways after the last game, and reuniting the following July, they should celebrate, and give thanks for what positive things did happen.

Acknowledging the negative things, as well as the positive is the very best way to insure that the mistakes of the past are not made again.

The Pilgrims grasped this concept.

But, getting back to that one-day-a-year thing. It is a great way, and excuse, for rounding up family and friends, dressing up, and sharing a meal. The day is a low key one. We need that. Our lives are too crazy. We need to shut down, and take the time to let our bodies, and minds have a holiday. I think it is great that most businesses are shuttered on Thursday, and Friday. This way one is not stressed to catch up with life the following day. You can do that on Monday.

Yes, we need this one day a year to shut down, and when we are sitting in that comfortable chair, watching the Macy's parade, and waiting for the bird to come out of the oven, look around, and start acknowledging the things in your life. Start giving thanks then.

Give thanks for your being there in the first place. You survived another year. Then seek out your partners face in the room, and give thanks. The little faces spread about the room, the older ones talking in the kitchen, the table that is set so nicely, and waiting for the meal, the seven year old van in the garage that hasn't failed you yet, the roof that is not leaking, and anything else that has touched your life. Acknowledge it all, and give thanks.

Don't take anything for granted.

When we place our minds in this place, and take an accounting of all the things that are in our lives that are good, and the things that weren't so good, but we learned from, we become that much more enlightened.

Although we set aside the last Thursday of November for our giving thanks day, don't let that stop you from giving thanks the remainder of the year. Give thanks each time you arrive home safely, when the flu begins to break up in your little one. Give thanks that there is at least one meal to be made still in the cupboard, and you have two quarters for a newspaper.

Take nothing for granted, the Pilgrims didn't, and neither should we.

She's Twenty-two Today

She's 22 years old today.

I remember everything about the day she was born. Everything.

The days, weeks, months and years that have come, and gone since that day I am blessed to have been able to store away as wonderful memories.


She's in her last year of college now. Far cry from playing with her Pocket Pals on the dining room table, and watching the Littlest Mermaid over and over again.


Dance lessons are history. The American Girl Dolls are neatly packed up so that she can share them her children someday. Those countless plastic Disney little people, that we collected together, fill a few large popcorn tins somewhere at home.


I still have a clothespin she taped a piece of fabric to and drew a face on the top. She made me a little person to play with so I wouldn't feel left out.


She's 22 today, but she will always be my little girl no matter how grown up she becomes. Dads have that right.


Happy Birthday, Mic.

Love,

Dad

Exit 9 Blues

Holiday traffic tie-ups forecast
Fiscal woes to take toll on Turnpike traffic flow

November 24, 2008 6:00 AM

By Steve Urbon




NEW BEDFORD — If you are traveling by car this Thanksgiving, especially if your trip will take you on the Massachusetts Turnpike, you might want to leave as soon as you finish reading this.
Tuesday, said Holly Sutherland of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, is no longer the easy traveling day that it once was. Better to leave at daybreak on Thanksgiving, and certainly not after 10 a.m. on the big day.
We haven't yet mentioned Wednesday. So here's the word:
Forget Wednesday.
"We're basically asking people not to try to travel during Wednesday," Ms. Sutherland said.
But that won't change the fact that many people will. The Pike will be jammed "just about all day on Wednesday," she said.



Those people will almost certainly enjoy an hours-long look at the bare-trees scenery approaching the tolls at Exit 9, which connects the Pike to I-84 in Sturbridge. The Turnpike Authority is strapped for cash, and there is no intention to clear the bottleneck by allowing motorists to use Exit 9 for free.



Asked about the policy in previous years to allow the state police to waive those tolls at their discretion, Ms. Sutherland took a lengthy pause and said, "Only in an emergency." And it is not an emergency if it takes people an extra three hours to get to Connecticut...

$1.89 Per Gallon!!

I can fill my tank again!!

Hooyah!!

Gas is now $1.89 per gallon here in Sturbridge. Still more than I paid when I first landed here in town 8 years ago, but a whole lot less than I have been paying. It is like getting a raise.

I have a Ford truck, and I bought it the week gas hit $3.00 plus per gallon in August of 2005. As soon as I signed the contract Exxon / Mobil raised the price of gas. They were watching.

The truck has a thirty gallon tank. Thirty gallons. I need a tank that big because the truck gets about 18 MPG on the highway, and that is where I spend most of my time. Poor choice for a vehicle? Not a very green choice?

Yep.

I bought the truck for a couple of reasons. It is a temporary vehicle, for one. I needed a vehicle to transport all the things I would eventually buy at Home Depot for a new house I had yet to buy. That August in 2005 Ford was practically giving the trucks away. I took one.

When we purchased our home that truck sure came in handy. Even today I am about to run off to Home Depot and give them more of my cash in exchange for all sorts of guy what-nots and stuff. The truck has more than served its purpose, and it has years left in 'er.

But, when gas got to be way over $4.00 per gallon, it would have cost me over $120.00 to fill it.

(choke)

I took the less painful way out, and limited myself to only $60.00 per visit to the gas station. The gas didn't last long, but it was easier to swallow.

Now, with gas at $1.89 at the Pilot Station at the old Sturbridge Isle it will only take $56.70 to fill 'er up!

Yep, I got a raise, and I got gas.

Excuse me.