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Make sure you click the TGO Photo Club Photos in the left column – Dave Cesari posted some great photos – “Snow and a story of the Northern Shrike.”

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“My story which was prompted by the TV coverage of the celebration of H W’s life.

The legacy of George H W Bush set me to thinking – What a nice person!!  And in addition,  he seemed so happy and satisfied. Having lived 15 years in Texas after H W was president  I consider him  part of my life – George H W was one of my mentors – of course he did not know that and I am sorry for that – I would have  liked to say “thanks” to him in person.

 How does an ex-President continue with a happy life after the presidency?  No access to Air force one, no demanding schedule, but still not a normal citizen. Security everywhere you go, some media following you, folks wanting to see what you are doing – tough to get privacy.

When I walk into a cafe’ for a cup of coffee no one notices – when a Bush, Clinton, or Obama walks into that cafe’ everyone takes notice. When I wake up in the morning, I make a cup of coffee, and my daily demands are pretty much as they were for years, but for an ex-president it must appear like a “nothing” day in front of them. Even the demands required to design and build a presidential library must be small compared to meeting with the head of a hostile nation before flying on Air Force One across the country to speak at a political rally before flying back to DC to meet with Senate Leaders on gun control legislation after handling hundreds of other things brought to you by your staff. Now that is not a “nothing” day.

Anyway, George’s legacy got me going to the internet to search out two subjects – 1. What life style makes for a happy satisfied life?  and 2. What do ex-presidents do all day long?

Here is a list of 10 things to do for a good life style – After watching on TV the celebration of George’s life, I think the Bush’s must have read this list:

1. Have a daily routine

2.  Do hours of learning for the joy of learning

3.  Do hours of outside activities that offer exercise, nature, challenge 

4.  Fulfill daily commitments -To friends, family, community

5.  Be tranquil by seeing the full half, telling the truth, speaking precisely

6.  Select media for enjoyment, dance to music – If only in your mind

7.  Eat well – Vegetables, fruit, protein, cheese, wine

8.  Drink water often

9.  Make people laugh. Choose people who laugh with you.

10  Be kind, accept others for you know not of their reasons

Now what do ex-Presidents do after the daily demands of that office. I found this list on the internet:

Presidents’ Occupations

President	Major Jobs Before the Presidency	Jobs After the Presidency
George Washington	surveyor, planter, general of the Army of the United Colonies	planter, lieutenant-general of all the U.S. armies
John Adams	schoolteacher, lawyer, diplomat, vice president under Washington	writer
Thomas Jefferson	writer, inventor, lawyer, architect, governor of Virginia, secretary of state under Washington, vice president under Adams	writer, gentleman farmer, rector at the University of Virginia
James Madison	lawyer, political theorist, U.S. congressman, secretary of state under Jefferson	rector at the University of Virginia
James Monroe	soldier, lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of Virginia	writer, regent at the University of Virginia
John Quincy Adams	lawyer, diplomat, professor, U.S. senator, secretary of state under Monroe	U.S. representative from Massachusetts
Andrew Jackson	soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, governor of Florida	gentleman farmer
Martin Van Buren	lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of New York, vice president under Jackson	activist for Free Soil Party
William Henry Harrison	soldier, diplomat, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Ohio	died in office
John Tyler	lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Harrison	lawyer, chancellor of the College of William and Mary, member of the Confederate House of Representatives
James Knox Polk	lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee	died 103 days after leaving office
Zachary Taylor	soldier	died in office
Millard Fillmore	lawyer, U.S. congressman, vice president under Taylor	rogue political activist, chancellor of the University of Buffalo
Franklin Pierce	lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from New Hampshire	gentleman farmer
James Buchanan	lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, U.S. secretary of state	writer
Abraham Lincoln	postmaster, lawyer, U.S. congressman from Illinois	died in office
Andrew Johnson	tailor, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee, U.S. senator from Tennessee, vice president under Lincoln	U.S. senator from Tennessee
Ulysses Simpson Grant	U.S. Army general	political activist, writer
Rutherford Birchard Hayes	lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio	education activist, president of the National Prison Reform Association
James Abram Garfield	schoolteacher, soldier, U.S. representative from Ohio	died in office
Chester Alan Arthur	schoolteacher, lawyer, tariff collector, vice president under Garfield	lawyer
Grover Cleveland	sheriff, lawyer, mayor, governor of New York	reelected president
Benjamin Harrison	lawyer, soldier, journalist, U.S. senator from Indiana	lawyer, lecturer
William McKinley	soldier, lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio	died in office
Theodore Roosevelt	rancher, soldier, governor of New York, vice president under McKinley	hunter, writer
William Howard Taft	lawyer, judge, dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School, U.S. secretary of war	professor, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Woodrow Wilson	lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey	retired in poor health
Warren Gamaliel Harding	newspaper editor, U.S. senator from Ohio	died in office
Calvin Coolidge	lawyer, governor of Massachusetts, vice president under Harding	writer, president of the American Antiquarian Society
Herbert Clark Hoover	engineer, U.S. secretary of commerce	chair of the Hoover Commission on administrative reform
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	lawyer, governor of New York	died in office
Harry S. Truman	farmer, soldier, haberdasher, judge, U.S. senator, vice president under Roosevelt	writer
Dwight David Eisenhower	supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, U.S. Army chief of staff	writer
John Fitzgerald Kennedy	journalist, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Massachusetts	died in office
Lyndon Baines Johnson	schoolteacher, soldier, congressman, U.S. senator from Texas, vice president under Kennedy	rancher, writer
Richard Milhous Nixon	lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Eisenhower	writer
Gerald Rudolph Ford	lawyer, U.S. congressman, vice president under Nixon	writer
James Earl Carter, Jr.	peanut farmer, governor of Georgia	writer, humanitarian, Nobel-prize winning statesman
Ronald Wilson Reagan	movie actor, corporate spokesman, governor of California	writer
George Herbert Walker Bush	oil executive, U.S. congressman, U.S. ambassador to the UN, Director of CIA, vice president under Reagan	private citizen; teamed with President Clinton to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds
William Jefferson Clinton	lawyer, governor of Arkansas	writer, independent ambassador; teamed with President G.H.W. Bush to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds
George Walker Bush	oil executive, sport team owner, governor of Texas	public speaker; written a book about his life entitled Decision Points
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.	community organizer, civil rights lawyer, constitutional law professor, Illinois state senator, U.S. senator	—

I noticed a good many ex-presidents were writers and had outdoor activities. We know George W took up art.

You see, I wrote all that just so I could show you some of my digital art in process. I try to learn to do digital art as I learn to write.  Then I must learn to put it all together into this blog. Oh my, sure hope you can put up with me during my learning.

First I create a story in my mind, then I compose a picture to support the story, then I paint that picture. After scanning the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, I got several story ideas in my mind. Here are two compositions I created – I still have to throw these compositions away and learn to digitally paint them from memory. The story comes later.

Before reading my story on friends and theory-of- mind, click on the TGO Photo Club page in the left column, Dave Cesari has a story on the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

My Story : Animals are my friends.

Yep, that is what I said – Do not take from that statement that I prefer animal friends to human friends – It is far from that.  Without my human friends there would be no life for me.

But, having animal friends is like traveling to the ski slopes.  It is an activity enjoyed. Owning, feeding, cleaning, petting, and training my animal friends is an activity that has been central to my whole life. Due to brittle bones of old age, I have given up skiing, but I have not given up on animals. I will continue to own and train animals.

See the difference between human and animal friends.  I do not own and will not train  my human friends – Rather, my human friends and I have a mutual sharing of mind and soul which defines our lives together.

Maybe animals are a little like our human babies which fully depend on us for care and learning.

Babies, like animals, have not yet picked up the “theory of mind” – which is the theory that “Not all knowledge is universal”,

If you hide a toy from a 2-year-old and they see you hide it, they assume everyone knows where the toy is and they assume it will always be there – they do not think about you removing it when they are not looking.  By three years of age, our babies realize that just because they know something it does not mean everyone else knows it.  From that realization, they begin to form judgements and opinions. At that stage my children began to become my human friends, sharing mind and soul.

My animal friends, on the other hand,  never reached that state.  We do not share mind and soul. We enjoy a lopsided relationship where I own them,  keep them safe and happy, and train them to do as I say.  I have enjoyed that relationship with chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, cows, horses, ponies, sheep, emus  llamas, parakeets, gerbils, turtles, snakes, lizards, or others I can not remember.

I was thinking back over the years, instead of taking a skiing trip to the Rocky’s or what other activity that I did not do – I spent hours each day training animals.

Perla, my horse friend for example, learned that a finger pointed at her chest told her she must back up, or a wave of two arms told her to get up on the box in the field, and the list goes on. 

At six, I was training chickens to enter the coop when I walked into their yard at dusk so that they would be protected from raccoons and weasels that would be out seeking dinner that night.

Mostly I like working with dogs – I think they almost approach “theory of mind”. I had great working dogs that learned to compete in the Show-Ring and won top awards, they knew how to control cattle in the field, they knew how to pull wagons loaded with my children and their friends, and they could pick out a nut that I rubbed my hand scent on and then threw it into thousands of nuts under the Live Oak tree on my ranch in Texas. The instruction to Laverne, the  Papillon, was “Get the nut you nut.” She would return with it and I would laugh, clap hands. jump up and down – she was glad she could make me so happy and would beg to do it again.

All of this training sure gave me a sense of success – made me happy. The biggest success I had was to have happy animals. Even without the theory-of-mind, I am convinced that animals have emotions. I am sure  my cows, horses, and dogs truly enjoyed our training sessions – they laughed with me and they loved to know “Yea, I got it”.  As they returned to their pasture, entered the barn, or sat on the front porch they were happier for their “Yea, I got it” sessions.

Here are some benefits of a well trained animal:

Now, I practice digital art with PhotoShop. I train PhotoShop to do what I want – I think training animals is easier – but I will show you some PhotoShop art I made:

 

Before I talk about learning – click TGO Photo Club pages in the left column and see a beautiful Georgia mountain color scene by Pat Mahon,

THEN READ MY LEARNING STORY:

Think about learning.  Send me your quote – If you do not have one, search the internet to find some, then make up you own.

Here are a few I found. The one I made up is the title to this page – ” At my age, finding something new to learn is so easy. – Jim Brubaker

“Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“The day we stop learning is the day we die.” ― Michael Scott

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned.” – Albert Einstein

“Improve quality of life and make those around us a bit more happy by leading a vigorous life, keep on learning every day you live,  ………” –  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 

At the last Photo Club meeting I suggested that one way to become a better photographer was to study photos in the many Christmas catalogs we receive this time of year – study their use of composition, color, and tone – these photos were taken by experienced (high paid) photographers – someone to learn from.

I try to study (learn something new) each morning  – I study photographs and test what I see when I change them with Photoshop. I see the effect of taking away an element of composition, color, or tone and I learn to use some of the extreme complexities of PhotoShop.

My last blog talked of my experience with the Neiman Marcus catalog – page 208. Here are some more results of my playing around (learning around) with PhotoShop each morning with my own computerized classroom. I study the elements of the photos of “expert photographers”,  then using what I learn, I create my own photo-based images of my experiences and my familie’s activities.

 

 

 

 

I went to the internet and looked up the health of laughter.  “helpguide.org” came up as a source:

“Laughter is the Best Medicine

Sure, it’s fun to share a good laugh. But did you know it can actually improve your health? It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. By seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, though, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life.”

—–How did I ever get to writing to you about laughter? Well, here is how:

Monday I had to drive my car 50 miles to the dealership where it gets  free service of oil, grease,  etc. Well it is not free – nothing is free at the Audi dealership – but shall we say it was “pre-prepaid.”  I listened to Sirius all the way – always like to catch  Joel Osteen’s sermons.  I make sure to catch the first  few minutes of his sermons – ’cause he tells a joke that relates to the message of his sermon.

For example:

The scene: Man walked up to the country store where a young boy  was sitting on a bench. Nice big dog sitting beside the boy.

Man: “Does your dog bite?”

Boy: “No, he is very gentle.”

Man: Reaches down to pet the dog saying “Pretty dog”

Dog: Growls,  jumps up and takes a bite of the man’s arm.

Man: “I thought you said your dog was gentle and does not bite!”

Boy: “Ain’t my dog.”

—–The message of the sermon had to do with asking God the right question –

—- Anyway, sometimes I like to tell jokes of my own:

I was riding along on my bike and saw a 10 foot gator laying by the lake. I stopped to take a photo and along came women in her car – She stopped the car and walked over to see what I was photographing.

I said to her – “You know something? I never talked to anyone who petted an alligator.”

The women said “Me neither” and started walking to the car. Halfway there she started laughing – I thought she would roll in the grass laughing.  Sometimes my jokes are subtle and require a little thinking time.

Next day I was riding along on my bike again. I ran into, Bob, the leader of out “Writing Club.” I told him of the 50 mile ride to the dealership and back. I told him of the joy I got from the sessions with Joel.

Bob hardly acknowledge my Joel story. He just started writing – no, I mean – telling me his story:

Bob said, in church on Sunday the preacher was about to start his sermon. The preacher looked out over the parishioners and ask the question: “Who wants to go to Heaven?” and he paused while every hand went up, reaching for the Heavens.  Then he finished the sentence, “today?” You can guess what happened to the hands of the  parishioners.

Thanks Bob.  You made me laugh and I got to tell your story at least 5 times – and got to laugh with a 5 friends – well, only 4 friends ’cause I forgot and told the same joke to one friend two times.

Oh, while at the dealership waiting for the car, I studied and practiced with the “drawing” software on my iPad.  Of course, the image of the “gator” woman almost rolling in laughter was on my mind.  So I practiced having people and animals rolling with laughter. That is where the little sketches of ROFL came from.

Oh my, by the way did you know that your Grandchildren write in shorthand?  For example:

ROFL means Rolling on floor laughing.

LOL means Laugh out loud.

LOLZ means more than one laugh.

LQTM means laughing quietly to myself.

LMHO means laughing my head off.

HAHA and

goes without saying.

There are others that use language we older folks prefer not to use.

 

I went to the internet and looked up “WHY” – dictionary.com had as it’s first line : “adverb – for what? for what reason, cause, or purpose?: “Why did you behave so badly?”

That is a rather negative example of the use of the word “Why”.  It would be better to say “Why do I always smile when I see you?”

Anyway, onward with the word why. In my years of engineering study and teaching at the university, “why” was key.

Before an engineer can design and build a new thing, the engineer needs to have answers to a lot of “Why’s”.  In designing a new engine, a new rocket, or a new management organization the engineer needs to know why metals behave the way the do, why a propellent responds to pressure and heat the way it does, or why humans respond to organizational motivations the way they do.  Organizational engineering was my field in the university and in my working years. 

But now in retirement, I get to play. I get to study something an old fashioned engineer like me knows nothing about – I can study ART.  

As I sit here in my library I must have 800-1000 books. Most of the books have a cover designed to be appealing to the purchaser. An artist designed them. I counted in my house more than a dozen pictures on the walls – selected to enhance the decoration of the home.

So, why is the art on a book cover appealing.  Why does that picture enhance the decoration of my home?  I have almost no idea. But the question controls the way I look at & study things.

I looked and studied  page 208 of Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog and saw this this $1,500 mixer. With unlimited dollars to spend on a photographer – I am sure the photographer was one of the best in the world – why did the photographer lay out the photograph exactly that way? Why are the relational elements of the photo worthy of filling up page 208? You see, I have many “Why’s” about each picture I see.

Why are the bones angled to the dog, why the weak colored powder in the lower left, why the vertical lines in the window pane at the top of the photo, why a dark colored dog, why the silver bowl, why the dog looking into the bowl, why the position of the dogs head at the quadrant, why the angle of the mixer, and on and on my “why’s” go on.

Guess what – I tried to use Perla instead of the dog and made a piece of art using many of relational elements of the Neiman Marcus photo on page 208. During my five hour study I positioned the hay bale many different places – I changed the brightness of the hay bale by Perla’s nose, I changed the angle of the tractor, I changed the vertical tree line at the top of the photo, I blurred the back ground, played with contrast colors on Perla’s nose, the color tone on the jeans, I changed the spilled grain, on and on go the things I tried – often using page 208 as my guide saying to myself “Why did the Neiman Marcus photographer do each element that way?”

As I said – I know little of art, but I sure had fun playing around for five hours – Hope you enjoyed seeing Perla’s Christmas  gift. Hope you find 5 hours to play around with a photograph someday.

Before my story – Dave is a great chapter in the TGO book – Click the Photo Page to see his new posting of woodpeckers and more.

My challenge to all you photographers is to figure out how to photograph the invisible.  Oh my, read on and I hope it will all makes sense to you.

We have 100’s of photos that show off our wonderful community called The Great Outdoors (TGO).  The TGO Photo Club is taking on an awesome challenge – Select 14 photos from these 100’s that show why TGO is our paradise in Florida.  I say “in-Florida” because most of us have a “come-from” home and life elsewhere.

When we set up this Photo Club photo project we identified 3 areas that make our TGO great: Abundant nature, Beautiful 18 hole golf course, and a Special life style. These three are visible – but later on in this article I will be talking about the invisible.

VISIBLE:  Our TGO paradise is visible to our camera.  We Photo Club members share photos of sunsets against the church steeple, sun rising over our golf course or one of our dozens of lakes, and the list goes on.

The photos show deer, birds, a bird “showering” under a fountain, bobcats, nature trails, flowers, and the list goes on. The photos show our tennis courts, our motor homes, people biking, our

Florida homes with swimming pools, folks at bingo and card games, exercise classes, watching performances with resident actors, visiting at “Doggy-Park”,

sitting at dinner in our Blue Heron restaurant, laughing in the bar at happy hour, and the list goes on.

The photos show our folks entering our church, our tennis courts, our swimming pools, our roads –

safe for walking-biking-dog walking, neighborhood parties, our security gate, the Christmas parade, the Thanksgiving pumpkin decorations, and the list goes on.

This is the visible part of the greatness of TGO – this is the tangible stuff our camera sees and your photographs show very well why TGO is great.

 

 

INVISIBLE: Now the invisible  part of TGO – how can you show, with your cameras, that TGO’s residents – it’s people – is what makes TGO great?  We are a melting pot of people – each with a life story.  All those different stories of life make every day a real joy.  Every encounter with a neighbor is like reading the next chapter of  a best-selling book on life.  These neighbors are far better than the many 100’s of  books I have in my physical and digital libraries. 

Every encounter is an audio book of life.  The neighbor “tells” his/her story.  Just listen – it is a wonderful chapter. Their experience is unique – they done so much – so many things that are new to the listener.

My neighbors are men and women who were:  motorcycle cops, train engineers, fighter pilots, medical evacuation helicopter pilots, prisoners of war, executives in foreign countries, senators, owners of used car auctions, junk dealers, bicycle store owners, kennel owners, heart surgeons, family doctors,  athletic team doctors, members of US Seal Team, workers in our national parks, those still recovering from a long ago tragic experience, those still celebrating a long ago accomplishment, retired military, college teachers, college presidents,

owners of schools for children, factory workers, coal miners, business advisors to large corporations, firefighters, professional golfers, retired priests, married priests, national news reporters, even a Democrat or two (Ha, Ha), professional news photographers, professional bowlers, ministers, professional auto racers (one woman still doing rehab due to a  professional racing accident), professional actors, builders, trained horse show woman, people born and raised in Germany, people born and raised in Israel, people who converted religions, spiritual people with no formal religion, and the list goes on.

Finally TGO people have become experts in new-found hobbies and are ready to tell you of it at the drop of a hat:

art, boating, kayaking, biking, bird photography, golfing, exercising/pumping iron, horsemanship, model plane flying, wood carving, writing, reading, singing, acting, dancing, and the list goes on.

These TGO friends and neighbors are the new library of best sellers. Each is a chapter in the TGO book. They are all about the “Joy of Life in TGO”.  They are what really makes TGO great and makes our life here in TGO great.

Ok, Photo Club members here is the challenge – make this TGO book –  this “Great People Book” – visible in the photographs you select for the office wall.

Earlier this year, I was thinking what we might do for an experience.  Somewhere out of the blue Havana, Cuba popped into my head. Are Americans allowed to go there? – Back to the internet to get the answer. 

The major allowance’s for Cuba travel fall under work-related reasons. Journalists, performers,  and athletes can enter Cuba. That’s not me. – I studied further. I found that individuals can get a special people-to-people visa. You must participate in a person to person cultural and educational experience – talk one-on-one with Cubans. Cruise ship companies saw great opportunities. They organized people-to-people tours. I contacted Norwegian Cruise Line. Two months later we were in Havana.

I listed a few things I thought I wanted to see in Havana:

1. Cigars making
2. Rum making
3. What did they do with all the money Russia gave them
4. Why do the they have classic  cars
5. How many books did Fidel write
6. Gotta see those dancing-girls
7. What are those faces on Revolution Square buildings

   

I saw all eight of them.

It is what I did not see that will prompt a second trip – I did not see the invisible – What growing up free in the United States and growing up under Castro did to the biased way we two people-to-people think, feel, and respond. 

To get around our biased thinking I suggest we ask Cuba’s unbiased National bird to host our unbiased National bird – The Cuban Trogon and the American Eagle. So, just to entertain you, I doctored my camera photos a little – read on!

I grew up free – living in our democracy while Cubans, my age, lived under quite different forms of government.

My communities were isolated and independent – the people of the community set the rules – no outsider set the rules:  In a 200 year old Brethren community, in the one-culture IBM corporate culture, in an Island 12 miles out to sea Block Islander’s ruled their Island, Texas Hill Country ranchers all lived one-way for 150, Drummond Island families lived as “Islanders” since 1850.  Each of my communities had it’s rulers that evolved from the community – whether elected or self-appointed, they ruled – but they ruled according to the free-culture set in place in 1776 by the winners of our American revolution.

Cuba sets it’s own rules. Whether Castro is self-appointed or elected is not my intended future study  – what I want to study is how do people think, feel, and respond as a result of the Castro communism and Batista’s dictator rules.

But for now – my camera saw two birds touring Havana (Trogno and Eagle) – know as “Tro” and “Eag”:

This has been one visible story of my Cuba trip – If I do a second one – I will look for the invisible – What growing up free in the United States and growing up under Castro and Batista did to the biased way we two people-to-people think, feel, and respond.

Yes, college is free in Cuba but only after you have Political Clearance: Students must be cleared by the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution before they are allowed to take the university entrance examinations. Students demonstrating good political standing in relation to their Communist beliefs receive a letter of approval allowing them to take college entrance exams. Students with a “poor” political standing may be “blacklisted” from furthering their education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Cesari, once again, gave us wonderful  information on the birds he photographs.  He just posted photographs of the Kinglets – a very small bird.  To see them, click the Photo Page in the left column – then return to read my article below. By the way, I see I got a few comments – take a look at them and maybe add a comment – Thanks.

 

———-  I decided to write a story on re-education after Bob, the leader of our writing group, announced at our last meeting:  

“When I started writing as a hobby several years ago, I knew I had a lot to learn — and I wasn’t going back to school to do it.  So I started following blogs and checking out websites.  When I came across an article that taught me something, I captured it and added it to my elibrary .  I’ve been doing that for over five years, so my elibrary is quite full. ”  Bob went on to offer the content of his elibrary to us all.

……..Here is my story………

Of the 12 steps to happiness, close behind friendship, is having a job.   A job gives a person a sense of worth, a sense of accomplishment, a pride in ones self.   In short, obligation’s associated with a job give you fun! (Of course a job  can be a retirement hobby like Bob’s writing.)

I have had  many jobs.  Between each job I needed to re-educate myself.  I was lucky, my parents taught me to love learning.  I am still learning as I work to re-educate myself to write this blogs.   Oh my!

 In the future (say 30 years from now) everyone will be forced to learn to take on new jobs.  If the children being born today do not enjoy education, I fear our they  will fall into a group of humans that are frustrated and unemployed.

We older folks have an obligation to teach the young folks to embrace change. Teach them to be ready to re-train themselves when their job goes away.  In the future, most  jobs will go away every 10 years.

We will have drones delivering packages, robots delivering our food, and computers generating entertaining TV shows

–  we will have self driving cars, computers that do a complete medical diagnostic on us.  Why do we need doctors anyway? Computerized robots  can do a better job of telling me what medication I need  than any human doctor can do.

The echocardiogram I took today will produce all the vitals for the doctor to read. He will look at the vitals.  Then he will use his experience and education to tell me this is what we should do!

In 30 years all of that doctor’s experience and education will be dumped into the computer – Poof – The doctor’s job is gone – He or she has been put out of work.

In the old days when the car replaced the buggy – folks in the buggy factory could easily be retrained to work in the automobile factory. But when the doctor is put out of work – what will he or she be re-trained to do?   They must learn a whole new career – must love to re-educate themselves.

What about wars – if drones and robots fight the wars what will soldiers and pilots do –  it will take more people to build, maintain, and fly  the drones and robots – but re-training a soldier or pilot to program a drone’s computer will require re-education.

Before long the “pilots” job will be gone – the computers will be trained to fly the drones with greater accuracy.  Much faster than the human, the computer will digest thousands of inputs from satellites and other drones, before firing weapons.  It will accurately distinguish between a gathering at a church and a gathering at the enemy’s military headquarters.  Teaching the computer will require a different skill than “piloting” the drone. Only those “pilots” that embrace re-education will be employable.

It is not like in my day –  go to college, learn a career, and 40 years later retire from that job.  In the future, study for a career and be employable for a few years.

Today’s youth must be taught to embrace change and enjoy re-educating themselves  to teach computers how to replace them.

I read that the international game of competitive chess must be carefully monitored to assure that human competitors are not getting instructions from a computer. 

It took only 4 hours for the computer to teach its self how to never lose to a human chess player. No one taught the computer – it taught itself!  

This is not science fiction – we have the skill to build these computers and  we have the skill to build self driving cars.  The hard part is for our governments to sort out how to govern these new cars.  That will take several years – but in the next go around the computer will define new laws for self driving cars in only four hours. Who needs congressmen and senators to work on it for  years? The saving grace is, the computer will figure out what to do with all the unemployed congressmen and senators.

Maybe being a writer of a blog like this is a safe job? – Oops, I just got an idea – I could  program the computer to write my blog. Then what would I do?

Here is my message. Help your family embrace change. Set the stage for kids being born today – help them embrace change. Not only embrace it but be ready for it.  Help them learn to love getting re-educated over and over again. That way, they will always have a job. They will get new challenges, win some, and  have fun doing it  – They will be happy.

Dave Cesari posted some great bird photos from his improved bird feeder and up-state NY – click on TGO Photo Club in left column and then return to read my story on friends and opportunities below.

 

…………MY STORY ON FRIENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES……..

The subject of opportunities crept into a discussion my daughter and I were having relative to my granddaughter.  We envied the opportunities of our youth. 

How did she get into the college of her choice. Some said friends of her Dad help her assure early admission.  I believe her friends helped her prepare for the opportunity, seek the opportunity, and  accept the opportunity the moment it was available. In any case, friends were a part of her being at the college of her choice today.

Friends are the most important assets we have. Our friends are from our families, our spouses, and our communities –  neighbors, social media,  clubs, churches, and the list goes on.

In this writing, I want to look at only one  aspect of friendship –  Opportunity!  

What did I say?  We select friends because we want to use them for opportunity – that sure sounds terrible.  Well, read on.  I hope to illustrate that taking an opportunity from friends is an honorable arrangement. 

I found the following suggestion on the internet:  “You can attract opportunities to you by selecting  friends that have a strong focus in life.   Be curious to learn about their focus. Give praise to your friends. Give to support your friend’s focus.”         .

 First, let me add this caution: You must take opportunities and actions  that reward you in your own way.  Mine would not necessarily work for you.

Think about what YOU want as YOUR opportunity, how YOU will grab it, and  how YOU will attract YOUR own opportunities.  

Here is an opportunity given to me by my friends – It is just one of many opportunities I have taken. I strung them all together for a full life of extraordinary phases.

Here is a story of one of my opportunities  – “Block Island Preacher Man.”

Right after retirement from IBM, I wanted to give a year or so to the church on Block Island.  I discussed it with my friend Reverend Tony.  From that came an opportunity beyond my greatest expectation.

Tony gave me responsibility to help him expand three service’s offered by his church: 

 

 

1. Develop a  leadership program for small churches using his book, “Seeds of Renewal”

2. Run a church camp program for Rhode Island youth,

3. Offer “church weddings” to non-members – couples who fell in love while visiting the island and wanted to return to the Island to have a church wedding. Tony could not take time from serving his church members to do the pre-wedding counseling that the church required.  I needed to go to school to learn to do that. Then I was locally ordained.

To me the rewards were many. Here are a few:

I studied and learned much in order to be prepared to take on the responsibilities – I love learning.  Gloria and I worked together – she organized weddings – I performed them – We were a team doing a fun service for the church. Twice while doing leadership programs, I had the opportunity to live as a guest with a family on the Hopi Reservation – It was like a vacation trip to experience a different way of life.  Later in the year, several parents of young campers from Rhode Island told me the youth Camp program change the direction of their teenagers – that was a remarkable reward.  On down the road, couples I married, sent us photos of their new-born child and told of how wonderful we made their wedding day at the church on the Island.

The rewards continued long after we left the Island.  For example, at our ranch in Texas, a Navajo family I worked with in the leadership program, came, at Christmas, and prepared a “Navajo Traditional” Christmas dinner for us.  Here is an other example of continuing rewards:  Can you imagine, 30 years later, how much fun I have telling folks to speak nicely because “I am an ordained minister” and then watching their mouths drop open?  Finally and most valuable reward I received was an insight to Tony’s strong focused philosophy.  That philosophy forever changed my concept of the rewards of giving. I would need to write a book to tell you of all the rewards I received from this experience on Block Island.

Using my friends was a great arrangement for both of us. So, say I, make friends, use them, and most important – help them use you! 

Go to the Photo Club Page (Click in left Column) – Dave Cesari posted new photos.

Hey you are my community. See, below,  my STORY on COMMUNITIES. 

In Psychology Today Dr. Karyn Hall wrote of “Belonging to Community.” I paraphrase:  “A sense of belonging to community is a human need, just like the need for food and shelter.” Some find community in a church, some with friends, some with family, and some on social media. Some see themselves as connected to one or two people. Others feel a connection to many. Those that struggle to find a sense of belonging have a loneliness that is physically painful for them. “

The Brubaker family is one of my communities – a community that is generations old.

My daughter Heather and grandson Charlie made me laugh today. On my last visit there, Heather started a conversation during “Happy Hour” by saying we Brubaker’s are different.  She said we Brubaker’s try to see the humorous side to any situation.

Heather’s txt to me today said “Oh my goodness. Charlie IS half Brubaker….. we were driving down the road and we saw a sign that said “road work ahead” and he said “I sure hope it does.”  I smiled at his Brubaker style humor.”

We all have a community language that is common to our family, our community, our business, and our internet friends. The community communicates in a unique shorthand.

We humans talk and think local – those in our community experience the same things, so we know the same physical and social features of our community and they form the bases for communication. We are part of the community by talking and thinking a certain way. 

Most of my 80 years were in communities where everyone associated with their neighbors.  Since I moved to different places, I was often an outsider.  I knew to join the community, I needed to lean the insider’s  language and then use their language – and I needed to embrace their attitudes.

Remember, we use the same language within the community but not across communities.  “You’uns” may make me one of “we’uns” back home in the hills of western Pennsylvania – But, saying “you’uns” in a presentation to a group of IBM’ers in Westchester County New York would not fly. On the other hand, “Lets take the 6:40” would be clearly understood short-hand for  Westchester commuters to New York City.

Just for fun, see if this makes sense to you:  “I sure enjoy a pop – even on a unwedder day like this – but I could not have any because it is all. Sonny spilted the last one when he was redding up. I do not think it would have happened if Doris wasn’t rutching around so much. Anyway, I said to Sonny, come here once. I told him I would get more but nowadays pop is so expensive anymore. Looking out the window and seeing white, I said: ‘Is it snowing.’ Sonny said, ‘Is that a question or a statement?  It depends where I put the intonation.”

That paragraph uses the words and language  of the community that I grew up in.

Our community’s language,  elicits feelings of home – of belonging – If used in other communities, it can bring ridicule and carry a perceived lack of being part of the community. 

I ask you to look at your own community’s shorthand language and enjoy pondering it – Here are a few phrases (and attitudes) from communities that I have been a part over the last 80 years.  See if you relate to any of them.

1. See you at the painted rock.

2. No rush, they are running wild due to Kelly’s jeepsters.

3. Turn left at 4 corners, past James’s, by U block – it was at least 500 pounds.

4. We had a big hatch last night.

5. Love Feast is in the Soap Holler church tonight.

6. I saw a 10 footer just 2 ports down from the bee tree.

7. I saw a 10 pointer at flat rock.

8. Did you hear an Islander went down off the channel.

9. I am in a pickle. My pig is leaking. I should have painted it.

10. It is there by the low water crossing where Bernice shot the axis deer. 

….. A little side humor – Bernice (98 at the time) said to the Texas Conservation Officer: “It is my ranch and I will shoot whatever I damm well please on my ranch.” The female Conservation Officer understood the language and the attitude. She put her summons-pad away, got off the ranch with haste, and drove away.

Each one of the 10 phrases was understood by members of the community I was a member of at the time.

Like Dr Hall says, focus on building community, learn their language, use it to help say – “I want to be part of you” – them smile.  

I will show photos from only a few of my communities