The Life and Times of Jim
Hi, there. I'm Jim. Welcome to my phlog!
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
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Sat 
05/09/2009 08:10:05
 jim  Mothers Day came early this Year
I sent some flowers to Ruth (my ex-wife) in Mississippi. She's not going to survive much longer -gbhs. While I was on FTDs website, I thought we'd send some flowers to Becky's Mom (Gma). Well, I got a call from the Mississippi FTP florist, who jokingly said in a strong Mississippi accent "I would love to travel to Las Vegas to deliver these flowers, but can you afford it?". I said "I thought FTD employed a naked guy with wings on its head and feet to deliver flowers". I cancelled the order. Meanwhile, I got a call from a friend who is in a Asia. He called saying "Jiiiim, Heeeeeelp.". I can't resist that. In all of the excitement, he left his credit card in an ATM, and was stranded with just the money he had in his pocket. I took the morning off and wired him some money. I didn't have time to replace the flower order though. Becky went on to finish what I/we started earlier...getting some flowers for GMa. Later that day, while at the store getting some sliced ham (half of which I ate in the checkout line),  I'd realized I'd made a BIG mistake. I'd gotten flowers for my ex, and we'd gotten flowers for Becky's Mom, but I'd overlooked the most important person in my life...Miss BECKY. Now this is really wild, I bought her some Starlight Lillies, a little Koala Bear, and a nice MOther's Day Card and when I gave them to her with ham on my breath, she hugged me and started to cry. I asked her why. She said nobody had ever given her flowers on Mother's Day before. Being stupid-like, I said "But you have four kids and you're 100 years old". That snapped her back. The night before, Becky got a call from Renee, and when Becky was talking on the IPhone, all I could here is what sounded like geese cackling (saying something about ghoulash). On Friday night, Becky got another call and it sounded like geese cackling again, so I assumed it was from Renee. This time it was from Jennifer. She was all high on life and I'd swear if she had rockets in her heart, she'd already be past Pluto. Jennifer put on GMa, and she was all high on life. During that call, a florist delivered her Mother's Day Flowers. Now here's the kicker. A voice in the background sounded just like Ruth. It had that strong Mississippi drawl. She was a friend of GMa's. Friday was a very good night.
Oh, Becky got some new gradient transitional lensed glasses. They were the best lenses available from Walmart, and I realized I would be taking a gamble (it would probably be the first time Becky had ever seen me clearly). I worried about having to explain to her that my hair wasn't really fuzzy. She cried when I bought them. hmmm.  Coming home, I decided to take I76 to I79,  but I76 didn't have an exit for I79. Matter of fact, it didn't have any exits for 30 miles so we decided to go to Cleveland. But I had second thoughts when I realized I had YooHoo from an exploding can all over me. I was so sticky. Instead we went to Beaver Falls, which is a wasteland of dead mills and factories. From there, we went on to Richland, which consists half of mansions, golf courses, and elegant cemetaries and the other half abandoned houses, shops and greenhouses. We stopped at this little pub name "Tilts". I'd heard about their bands from a guy at work. The bartender was almost impolite at first (we were outsiders), but after a few small conversations, she warmed up and started bringing us jumbo shrimp. Becky had the nastiest Slo Gin Fizz on this planet. Being a gentleman, I drank half of it and had the bartender fill it back up with 7-up (what a guy!).
And, that's my long, drawn out, over embellished, never ending, run on story with  colors , for this week, as I see it. ---yawn 
Sat 
05/09/2009 03:41:13
 jim  So, what is reality?
Is reality what we experience?
If others don't experience what we do, is our perception real or imagined?
All of those voices in our head, what are they? Do our dreams tell us what to do in our daily lives?
I've seen things that I rarely get a chance to talk about.
Because this blog offers mostly my perspective of life, through pictures and words, I feel I can voice freely some of what I've seen.
I know that there is much more to this life than I can imagine.
I see an intelligent force around me every day. It must be millions, if not billions of years old.
And I know that our brain holds the knowledge of how are body was built as well, and this knowledge is denied to our consciousness.
I've seen animals that learn to walk much faster than humans after being born. Do they dream about walking before being born?
We aren't given the tools to understand reality.
Why? I will never know using this brain with its senses. We are severily limited in our thinking.
Sometimes I think our brain is like a 20 year old PC. We can't do a lot with it. One person is gifted with math, another is gifted with music, but nobody has it all.
Its nice to know others have gifts, and I'm not just talking about people. I'm talking about every living thing I see.
Perhaps, nothing I do in this life really matters to anyone here today, including myself, but it will matter millions of years from now.
It seems sad that eternity simply can't exist for this brain. Its amazing how much this body has changed forms since I was born.
It makes sense to me that I've been here, changing and having many different forms for a very long time, long before my body and mind existed. 
It always amazes me that I was once a small fertilized egg. Logic tells me that when I was born, everything in the universe worked its way up to my creation.
If everything hadn't happened exactly the way it did, I wouldn't be here.
If my Mom hadn't met my Dad, if my grandparents didn't ride a trolley together in New York...and so on, if anything had been different, I wouldn't exist in this form.
That seems clear to me.
And I believe we die every day. Our skin dies, our memories die, our body is constantly replenishing dead cells with new cells everyday.
We host over 30 trillion living cells in our body. Our perspective changes all of the time. We aren't any single thing. We are part of the universe, and we are many.
But if someone sees life as being something different than what I see, who am I to say they are wrong.
All I have is my perspective on life.
I like this article.
Almost everyone writes better than I do.

Anyway, click here to read something a little more eliquent than what I've wrote.
Its comforting to know that after 100s of years, few things that were said today will be remembered. However, everything we do today is part of a chain of events that will create a different kind of future. Everything we did, will matter.
Fri 
05/08/2009 18:28:58
 jim  Richmand-Tilts Pub
Fri 
05/08/2009 16:25:45
 jim  Beaver Falls
Wed 
05/06/2009 19:48:11
 jim  Counting the Days
I hear rain falling. Cars are treading their way through the flooded roadways. It takes me back to a timeless place in my mind and its a good feeling. I feel young again.
A friend has layed down for her last time. She's counting the hours. 
All of the old times in our past, the partying with the gang, picking each other up from the floor and falling down again, us laughing at ourselves.
We had crazy times of constant fun, with never a bad word to say.
Almost all of the old gang is gone now. They came and went like an afternoon dream.
And I'm left here, listening to the rain fall, remembering with a smile...
while counting the days.
 
Sat 
05/02/2009 17:59:22
 jim  MeadowLands Casino
Sat 
05/02/2009 16:07:20
 jim  Meadows Race Book
Sat 
05/02/2009 09:01:46
 jim  Homestead-Lowes Theatres
Wed 
04/29/2009 07:07:42
 jim  Last Weeks Events - Pittsburgh turns Green
Last week was HOT! It got up to the high 80's. All of the trees that were brown the week before, are now green. Where do the bushes that looked like sticks the week before get all of that green stuff! I'm awed by the event. Plants are full of action. All you have to do is notice them.
Magoos Bar and Restaurant
Magoos is just up the hill from our apartment on Old Perry Highway.The food was excellent and they have live bands every Tuesday and Saturday.
Near there, was an ancient bowling alley hidden in the back of a small, self deteriating mall. It was full of leaguers.
Walnut Grove
Wednesday, we rendevoused with a coworker at Walnut Grove in Cranberry They have live jazz at 9 pm on Wednesdays. The food, music and company were GREAT.
Mt Pleasant Drive-In
Friday, we ended up at a drive-in 65 miles south of Pittsburgh. You wouldn't believe it. There were three screens surrounding a grassy field. The burgers were hand shaped (old fashioned style), and the ambience was festive. We caught the tail end of Hannah Montana (which was surprisingly good). People clapped at the ending! We came to see Witch Mountain with the Rock.
Rita's Ice Cream
We swung by and tried some of Pittsburgh's famed ice cream. I figured it must be good if people are lined up there in the winter time. I had my first Gellato. I don't know why I was thinking it would have Jello in it, but it was delicious. One of Pittsburgh's various surprisings is its Ice Cream College! Strange, but true.
New Glasses for Becky
Let's see, what else did we do? Oh, I bought Becky a new pair of glasses (expensive little boogers). She was in tears, she was so happy. I didn't expect that.
It was beautiful.
IBM Thinkpad for work
Yesterday, I finally got my laptop for support work. Its old, but does the job. I like Thinkpads. I especially like the mouse stick they put on the keyboard. Its light, has a docking station for work, and now I have two monitors!!! Now I have an excuse to stay at home on the weekends...and not wander the country aimlessly, looking for new and exciting places.
Tue 
04/28/2009 09:13:33
 jim  Wexford Apt-Spring is here
Thu 
04/23/2009 19:17:31
 jim  Magoos in Wexford
#1 - Magoos has excellent food
#2 - They have live music every Tuesday and Saturday.
#3 - They are close to home
What else could we ask for? YEA!
Wed 
04/22/2009 20:43:03
 jim  Becky Time
What do you think? (YUK)
New Glasses!
My work threw a putt putt contest through the cubicles. GREAT STUFF! Working here is fun.
Sat 
04/18/2009 23:59:18
 jim  Louisville Thunder Crowds
Sat 
04/18/2009 21:32:21
 jim  Thunder Over Louisville - Fireworks
Sat 
04/18/2009 18:48:12
 jim  Louisville-The Friedrichs Clan
Sat 
04/18/2009 17:59:46
 jim  Louisville-The Camp
From Saturday to Sunday
We cherished the festivities. Becky and I drove 6 hours from Pittsburgh. Most of the Fredrichs clan drove 12 hours from Wisconsin. The partying, fireworks, variety of people, airshow, and just being in Louisville made this occasion a very special event. Even the guy who came by and broke my truck added a special spice when he said "I fixed your truck". I loved it, and the Fredrichs have become sort of a family to me.
WE HAD GREAT TIMES YA'LL !!
Sat 
04/18/2009 17:00:44
 jim  Louisville Thunder Bldgs
Sat 
04/18/2009 14:26:20
 jim  Louisville Thunder Baseball
Sat 
04/18/2009 11:54:52
 jim  Louisville Air Show-20090418
Sat 
04/18/2009 08:22:50
 jim  .Louisville Trip
Sorry I haven't gotten more pictures out yet. They will come.
Sat 
04/18/2009 08:22:50
 jim   (Reply)Louisville Trip
Sat 
04/18/2009 02:59:40
 jim  More Louisville Pix - From Rod
Fri 
04/17/2009 01:01:01
 jim  Thunder Over Louisville
Thunder Over Louisville kicks off the Kentucky Derby on 4/18/2009. It is one of the top 10 events to see in the US.
Over 500,000 thrill seeking people are expected to show up for the event.
This calendared Stories is here to remind me to plan on going to the events.
Rod's family is coming, and I'm pretty sure everyone sets up on a camping area near the river.
Wed 
04/15/2009 18:53:20
 jim  Homestead Square-20090415
Mon 
04/13/2009 17:54:19
 jim  Pittsburgh FoxAndHound-20090413
Sun 
04/12/2009 12:52:32
 jim  A Cranberry Easter-20090412
Tue 
04/07/2009 03:49:40
 jim  Wexford Snow Again-20090408

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