#1 Why are we here?

Is life more than a Seinfeld episode? Or is it really just a personalized story about nothing.

On July 8, 2006 I blurted to some friends, "I am going to start a blog."

With dumbfounded stares they asked, "Why?"

"Because I have a lot to say and I have read and listened to others and don't find them be any smarter or more incisive thinkers about anything that interests me than I am."

In my mind I heard the response that went unspoken, "We listen because we are your friends. Who else cares?" And the subject changed. We ordered lunch.

Months went by. As Christmas approached, I sent a request to an author for some bookplates. It wasn't that simple, of course. Not for me.

Instead of saying, "Please send four bookplates to . . ." I spent over one hour telling a story in the e-mail. Truth be told, I interrupted the telling to get a Thursday Taco Salad, the special in the DMV cafeteria.

That author, apparently a very nice guy, a very good person at heart, from what I could tell, complimented my writing and sent along the bookplates and more, much more. He encouraged me. If you've read this far and you are not pleased, but functioning under some unexplained compulsion, blame him. Then, take some personal responsibility for your actions!

Being the go-getter that I am, several more months passed. I did very little fishing and no riding. Other stuff consumed my time. Then, the appointing authority at whose pleasure I was employed decided that I pleased him no longer.

Several more months have passed. Go figure. I researched how to start a blog and read some interesting and some not so interesting and some not at all interesting blogs. About six weeks ago I read all of the blog offerings of Frank Baron and all of the comments. Greatly discouraged, I thought I should do something else. Two weeks passed and I read another of Frank's postings; two more weeks and I read the latest. That was yesterday. (I didn't read it right away, don't you know.)

Frank's blog life doesn't read like a Seinfeld script any more than does my life.

Yesterday I was talking to one of my sons about his grad school application personal statement. Some realizations came out of the conversation. If one is going to tell their story, they must figure out why and to whom and then tell the story in a way that makes the writer comfortable and the reader want to finish reading it and then act on it.

So that is what this blog is about. My stories about the meaning of life as interpreted by me living one.

Join me for a while as I explore the meaning of life, the meaning of love, the meaning of family, the meaning of . . . an awful lot of stuff. Some of the perspectives will be seen through the perspective of the motorcyclist, the fisherman, the husband, father and bibliophile. Sometimes I behave as if I am off my meds - hypertensive - and sometimes I will not be well behaved in other ways. That's life!

And that's why I'm here. For now.