ABSILVER's World

ABSILVER 2013 Wrap Up I sit here on the edge of a new year thinking about tomorrow.   Not in the sense, of actually tomorrow, when I will ring in the new year with some good friends at a dinner that starts at 9pm (9pm!).  But, more in the sense that if I were a book, I would see that it as the page is turned there is a blank page with a new number on it, a chapter to change the tale and direction of the moment.  Or, is it more like a menu at a restaurant that you turn over to see what they have for dinner or their wine list.  I am 49 and hopefully only at the mid-point of my life but I must say this has me wondering about the future. There is a consistency in many movies or tv shows I have seen lately where people seem to be concerned about their legacy when they leave this planet to move onto whatever is next.  I don't know that I believe in what is next because nobody has ever come back to tell us what it is like. Think about all the personalities in your life, that have

Random thoughts... and photos I am a creature of habit, habitually trying to push myself not to be a creature of habit. I don't mean to be rude, or hurtful, but I am going to revert back to my previous Christmas holiday ritual.  Chinese Food and a movie. If your personal pictures on a dating site show pictures of a restaurant or store that has not been open in years, please don't tell me all your pictures are recent. What is most disheartening about the Credit Card debit card breach at Target? 1) That it took them apparently 19 days or more to discover the breach was occurring... since this was happening over a period of time as compared to a one time snatch of information. 2) That apparently the secret service is investigating, and thus may have been the agency that discovered this and alerted Target.  What if this was because of all of the evil data collecting of the government. 3) When I received the email from Target of the breach and that it may impact me

It appears that "Season" is upon us, so consider this a Service Advisory from your friendly Fort Lauderdale Residence. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed below are solely those of the author.  They should not be associated with any other Fort Lauderdale or South Florida resident.  That said if these pointers seem appropriate, and applicable to you they probably are.  If they seem inappropriate and not applicable (want to bet) then please take them in the humor they were intended. For those of you, who comment on the lack of seasons in South Florida as a reason not to live here that is not true.  We do have seasons here, and they seem to parallel your own.  You in the north call it winter: We call it snowbird season.  You look for an early spring getaway: We call that cruise ship season.  You call it summer: We call it summer.  The scientists aren't sure but our seasons appear to parallel yours and seem to start depending on your own impending weather.  Those seaso

So, today is my birthday and I think it incumbent on me to share some instructions.  Open with care, and please think carefully.. and read all of the instructions below. If it were up to me I would bury my head in the sand of the beach and wake up tomorrow.  I don't take too well to being the center of attention, and honest it is a number to me and my memories of birthdays are sparse. My birthday is one of those holiday birthdays.  It is one of the biggest holidays of them all, Thanksgiving and everyone celebrates Thanksgiving.   Ask me for memories of Thanksgiving and they are many, birthdays not so much. Beyond my Bar Mitzvah, my birthdays have been mostly non-events.  They usually comprise of another holiday, another holiday preparation, and on rare occasion some errant human who thinks surprising me is a good idea.  (IT’S NOT MARK!) My few birthdays I remember: First birthday with Harry, we went dressed up to a fancy restaurant in New York with a Prix Fixe menu that

So, this started with me sitting here on a Saturday afternoon watching "Mona Lisa Smiles" with Julia Roberts.  I was sitting here thinking this really is one of my if not my favorite Julia Roberts Movies.  She seems to light up the movie, and you really want to like her and not just cause she is Julia Roberts. My favorite Susan Sarandon Movie is Stepmom which happens to have Julia Roberts.  If I have a desire to cry, something is stuck in me and it needs to get out then I watch the end and it triggers the emotional moment.  The moment where she is horse riding with her daughter is wonderful.  I love the moment where she is driving her son, and he asks her if he should hate the step mom and that he would if she wanted him to. Favorite Barbra Streisand Movie, it is a difficult choice.  I think " The Prince of Tides " is probably my favorite.  I remember seeing it the first time with my parents on Christmas Day.  ( Think was its opening actually.).  I remember wa

Here is a good bad and ugly buying experience. I wanted a small fridge for my guess bedroom to put in a closet.  Somewhere to store extra drinks, wine, and such when not needed and to empty some of that (including beer and wine I am not drinking right now) out of the fridge in the kitchen. So, I started on-line to see what the options and alternatives are.  Call it a drink cooler and prices go up, call it a wine cooler and oh boy, but an ordinary  compact fridges range between 2 and 11 cu ft and they seem to be manufactured by all the major brands. I started out going to home depot, Lowes and Sears about a month ago and after thinking and looking I settled on a 4.4 cu ft. Kenmore as I have said before I am quite happy with my Kenmore appliances.  Part of the reason was the delivery fees online for the others were quite high and I didn't really want to pick it up myself. Kenmore  4.4 cu. ft. Compact Refrigerator - Stainless Steel Well, Sears let me down.  They said it w

Glen asked me to write one more blog post before the month ends.. there are so many writers with so many fans, and I have a fan!  So, I thought it is Halloween so a little bit of rambling merriment is required.  Some of this is to be little funny and some serious, if you have a hard time deciding which is what think of it like trick or treat from my mind to yours.   Halloween:  My first memory of Halloween was Mom and Dad got a cougar outfit from somewhere and that was my costume. I loved the costume and am eternally grateful this was before the era of Facebook and Instagram. Banana Palm Trees:  OK, I ordered miniature palms trees for my patio.  I have a sinking suspicion as I watch another new leave sprout in one week that these are not miniature any where but the tropics.  I still am enjoying them though. Huffington Post:  Yes, I am a liberal, and I admit it.  More so socially than fiscally, but I tend most often to vote democrat.  That said Huffington Post is leani

What do you do when .. you are near the ledge.. only a symbolic one... You know your life is about to change.. maybe it has to do with something good coming your way.  You won the lottery, or maybe you found out you received a bonus at work.  The ledge doesn't have to be a bad place it is just a place where you stand knowing your life is going through some changes, and that you don't have full control of the next steps. This doesn't happen often in my life, but today ends up being one of those days.  I sit here watching the water go by, the occasional kayak go by, hear the birds chirp and know this is one of those days.  That my life after today will be different than it is today.  Sometimes it is about summoning all the power and wisdom I posses to make sure something changes or someone is helped, or help assure success of the moment. So, what do you do?  I have written many times, that I have an editor in my head.  This extra cycle or two of thought that 99% of the

I want to quit Facebook... I am not but I want to.. so I thought I would share why. I live a relatively dull life on the outside, and feel this constant sharing makes me want to prove I really do get the occasional pedicure and find some excitement.  Yes, I sit on the porch every morning. I read the paper on line.  Walk the occasional sunrise on the beach.  Go for a walk, and enjoy a good bagel with nova and cream cheese.  I am not complaining but am certain many of you go he needs some excitement in his life. (Trust me I am fine!) As much as I appreciate everyone else's status, I wonder about this constant need to post where, what and how we all do what we do every day.  I watch these older shows and wonder what were they doing at 8pm each night and how we could have survived without knowing each moment of the day what all of us are doing.  I guess when the compelling need to share soemthing people just picked up the phone.  I think about this collection of information th

I do what I need to do.  To put it simply, when I get up in the morning,  I head to the beach and I feel each morning is starting with a mystery.  You must trust me when I tell you that sunrises are as different as snow flakes.  No two are alike.  This morning there was a storm out on the horizon and then the sun sneaks up on the side of the storm that never seem to make it onto shore. Two mornings ago it was a firing red clouds giving way to that lovely sun sneaking out from the horizon. So, I do what I need to do.  I see the world, I must confess to a slightly evil grin when I see tourists reaching out to the beach with coffee in hand to watch this mystery unfold for them.  That mystery I get to witness every morning, and like a truly spoiled adult I get to sit at home and through the window of my living room watch the sun set in the evening through a screen of palm trees. In between I do what I need to do.  I do some work in these days of uncertainty for me.  I actually ra

This is an article about what I really care about. This starts out on a bad tone that is GA is losing to Missouri.  I sit here and frankly I care, but not nearly as much as anyone around me on Facebook.  I remember great times at GA football games.  The first game walking into the stadium, and the great expectations you could feel of all that were there were amazing.  Also, it accompanied my being a pledge at AEPi and all of the memories. I have to confess, that I care more about Serena William winning the US Open that if the Bulldogs won the game today.   I think her amazement as a lady, and a personal force of success seems much more exciting to me.  I want to say it is cause I played tennis in my life, but truthfully I think she is an amazing person as well as her sister Venus. Yes, this may be considered criminal as a southern man growing up in the state of Georgia and a very proud UGA alumni, but the idea of watching a football game on the TV and having to gasp at eac

Should health insurance be like car insurance? Come on... take a walk with me out of your comfort zone.  Especially if you work in corporate America, and you are staring down a 49th birthday and you wonder what is next in your life.  Maybe you have been at this, whatever, for 30 years.  You walk into Starbucks and there is a smiling face looking back at you and you wonder, you are between conference calls,  you worked the weekend toward a deadline and you wonder what does that smiling person looking back at you know that you don't know.  They may surprisingly look like you.  Similar age, and heck maybe even drive the same car, but what may just separate the two of you is a smile because if they are working more than 20 hours a week they have heath insurance. If you have auto insurance.. you know the drill.  What is the first question asked?  do you currently have auto insurance? If you say yes they merrily go on their way of asking a few questions about your history of clai

OK.. in honor of Ivan's post.. I have never written about my view of AEPi in College. Maybe some of this will come as a shock to those of that time, but I was an unusual pledge as I was a sophomore.  Actually didn't imagine wanting to be in a Fraternity and came to this in a very unusual path, and that led me to AEPi. When I was a senior in High School, I actually graduated 10th in my class, I had narrowed down my college choices to Mercer University and UGA.  I happened to be bagging groceries at Red and White and the daughter of the owner had been accepted to Mercer and kept saying how great it was.  Nice Baptist college in a very accepting Georgia town of Macon (smiles).  So, the more I heard about it and frankly a little bit of a desire to show I could go also I applied to Mercer and University of GA among others.  I remember Boston University was recruiting me, but there was no realistic way I could see being in Boston. My folks were skeptical of Mercer.  They ha