I enjoy sitting at my desk, surfing on the computer and the feel of a nice, warm cushion under my butt. My desk chair has one of these types of seats in it. The heat is supplied by a fat, lazy cat who sleeps there any chance she gets. She’s provided me with a warm place to rest my butt on many a cold morning lately and its these kinds of simple pleasures in my life that really make me smile. (Spazz doesn’t appear to smile when roused on those cold, early mornings though.)

The same can be said for a couple memories from my childhood that are running through my head tonight. Back in the day, our family was a leader in home convenience in our neighborhood. We were one of the first homes to have two significant innovations. We had two TV’s AND a remote control. We of course HAD to have two TV’s because the large one had picture but no sound and the small one on top had sound but no picture. A match made in heaven. My dad’s remote control was voice activated. “Change the channel boy!”, “Turn the volume up!” and “Adjust those rabbit ears!” were the programmed commands and at the sound of his voice, either me or one of my brothers would do his bidding. (It sure made my dad smile!)

I was really glad that these thoughts had invaded my head tonight, because a couple days ago, I learned that a friend of mine for over 30 years was found dead in his house several weeks ago by his dad and brother. He lived two houses down from my mom in an old house that we had occupied for six months when we first moved to Central Florida back in 1965. I heard that it was a “natural” death, but what the hell is “natural” about a 50 year old guy, in good health, passing away alone in his home.

I hope everyone is enjoying their evening and having a safe and warm one. The temps are still in the low 70’s here in Orlando this evening, so I’ll close for now and do a little enjoying myself.

Later gators!