Looking Out My Back Door

Wow...it's been QUITE a while since I posted here!

Nearly two years have passed since my last entry on this blog, and that's two years too many. I blame it on a busy fall and holiday season that took place after that last post, then discovering Facebook in January of 2009 -- and my subsequent addiction to same. After about a year of fervently Facebooking, I've slowed down a bit. Nearly a year ago, I got sick of being treated like crap by the "person" that ran the website I had contributed two weekly columns to, gratis, for about four years, so another compatriot also tired of the nonsense joined me in abruptly quitting. It was a glorious exit, and I may detail it here one day. Glorious, I say!

Lately, it occurred to me that I should revisit this blog, as I'm not posting on FB as often, and I do like to express myself. I just need to find out how to block certain pathetic types -- you know who you are, Cowtrina and Slutti (Snooki's trampier cousin)! Perhaps improvements have been made that will let you approve who sees your post. I'll be checking things out!

In the interim, let me try to sum up the past couple of years. With 2009 came a new president and, I hoped, a fresh new Washington, DC. Unfortunately, it hasn't been all we had thought it could be, but President Obama has had much to clean up after the previous eight years, had to battle hard to get anything pushed through Congress, and was also met with more vitriol than any sitting president (other than, perhaps, Nixon) from the opposite side and many members of the Fourth Estate. More ugly racism has reared its disgusting head since this president was elected, and not only from a segment of the "Teabaggers." (I chuckle whenever I think what "Teabagging" means in modern slang, and how hysterically funny it is that these rightwingers chose their name!) Anyway, enough about that. Our current leadership is not perfect, but it is trying, and that has to count for something.

The first half of 2009 was quiet and uneventful, leading up to a busy June and July. After traveling to Boston for a rainy trade show week (and at a time when the visiting Yankees were blown away, 4-0 in a four game series by the Red Sux, to add to the misery), it was time to get ready for the event of the decade: the wedding of my cousin/godchild, Maggie, to the wonderful man of her dreams (and a welcome addition to the family), Kevin. I did stuff I wouldn't normally do (attend bridal shower, etc.) but for the fact it was Maggie and Kevin. They honored me by asking me to do a reading at the wedding, so I practiced my butt off, even going for coaching with Toastmaster Extraordinaire BennyO. After a few sessions, I not only got to know the microphone really well, but learned a lot about presentation. I'm normally pretty good at speaking off the cuff, but this was a Bible verse, and there's no room for improvisation! The rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and wedding, held over the July 4th weekend, were the best I'd ever been a part of. The only thing that sucked was the drive home, on the Sunday of a holiday weekend. It took twice the time to get to the wedding (4+ hours), which had me and cousin Carol in stop-and-go traffic for ten hours. Yes, ten. Only for you, Maggie and Kevin!

I spent the rest of the summer entertaining semi-lavishly and going to a few concerts, but this post is long enough. More soon (maybe even tomorrow) -- I've missed being here!

posted by Hopster @ 9:35 AM