The Peaceful Gnome

For the last several days I've been managing to avoid things like Facebook, especially the political posts there.  I've also ignored the "news" for the most part.  I also noticed that I've not been following any sports for the last week or two. The roller coaster ride of identifying with a baseball or football team can really be stressful, even when they are winning.  Staying away from all of this has contributed to a sense of calmness and peace in my mind.  What all of these things have in common are the fact that they represent things over which I have no actual control, while at the same time I tend to feel strongly about them.  So, when the team I like wins, or the political idea I approve of gains some ground, I'm "happy" about that, and when they are on the opposite end of the scale then I'm "unhappy."  But either way my watching them go by has not influenced the outcome in the least!  But more important than what I've av...

Just now we were standing around in the dining room talking, Lora, JD and I.  Max was at our feet playing with the dog.  I looked down and the dog and Max had both begun to turn black.  Max had discovered a container of mascara that Lora left on the counter.  Right at our feet, as we thought we were watching him, Max was decorating his body and the dog's back.  This boy is beyond fast.  :-)

I've been mostly ignoring Facebook today.  Only when family or close friends post do I see a notification and most of those don't require that I actually go to FB to know it's not anything I really need to bother looking at.  No offense but I think I've seen my fill of lame jokes, political slams and cute kittens for now.  :-)  This post is primarily being written to test my auto feed to Twitter.  If you are not on Twitter you should be, if only to ensure that you don't miss any of my scintillating blog posts!  It won't be too long before I disconnect completely from that evil pit that is Facebook, so think about getting a Twitter account and looking for me there.  I'm @LDevich once you are on.    You may have noticed that yesterday I mentioned in my Thankfulness post that I was going to my friend Jean's house after work.  This is a very cool thing that has developed.  My friend Jean, whom I've known over 20 years, when I was ...

I said that I was planning on closing down my Facebook account in about a week.  Of course I've said that a number of times in the past and changed my mind later on.  The trouble with leaving Facebook, as evil as it really is, is that many people in my family depend on it to stay in touch.  I doubt very much that I could convince all of them to leave that platform for another.  I've played around with Twitter a bit, but I don't care for the idea of restricting myself to short "tweets" and sending out links.  As a matter of fact that is one of the things about Facebook that I don't like, the constant "sharing" of other people's writing.  I am guilty of this like everyone else of course, original words on Facebook are pretty rare.  Google + doesn't appeal to me much either.  That leaves such things as Pinterest and Flickr.  Flickr is great for posting photos but I don't have any idea why I would ever go to Pinterest . So w...

Tonight on my way home to my friend Jean's house I walked by a very sad little pile of rags on the sidewalk.  It was obviously the remnants of a homeless persons possessions.  There was a pen and a tattered notebook with pictures scrawled on the pages.  It was a very sad thing to imagine the person who had been there huddled under rags as the drizzle came down early today.  I felt profound gratitude for all of the blessings God has given me. Family, friends and a job I can handle even with my various difficulties :-) I always am full, never hungry or cold. I have a nice cozy blanket in a warm room here in the city and when I'm at home. Really, life is good.  Thank you Lord and thank you family and friends. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

It is time to get off of Facebook for good I think.  There has recently been quite a kerfuffle over Zuckerberg insisting that every one use their "real" name on their profile.  While this may seem like a good idea there are many different reasons a person might not want to have their name out there. Some could be using an alias for safety reasons. I actually know some people who would like to express their own opinions but could not safely do it using their real name. Zuckerberg has also been abusing the data Facebook gathers for research and just to make ever larger piles of money. I suppose posting here on my blog will be the way for me to go.  I plan to shut down my Facebook account in about a week.  More later when I'm not stuck writing on my phone.