To Mac Or Not to Mac…

Posted under Cigars, My Observations, Step Daughter

The wife and I are starting the process of shopping for a laptop.  We’ve decided that the time has come for us to be one of the hip people.  I mean who doesn’t want to be sitting at a their local coffee venue surfing the web, answering email, updating the blog, or anything else that doesn’t involved conversation. 

 

Actually it’s getting to be a necessity for her.  The convenience of getting things done at school (a teacher) instead of bringing them home would make for a less irritable husband.  Her selling point to me is that I could take it outside with my cigars and work on my blog.  She knows me too well. 

 

But what type of laptop to buy.  I mean the cool people like Stepping over the Junk have gone with Mac.  One of my daughters has a Mac and let’s face it their commercials are pretty funny.  But a Mac is expensive, and you’d think for all that money their mouse would have more than one button. 

 

I’m a PC guy.  Been one every since Bill Gates was a teenager.  Cut my teeth with DOS and then worked my way through Windows 3.1, 95, XP and the dreaded Vista.  I even lived to tell about Windows ME (shudder!).  I have just found comfort in a two button mouse with a scroll wheel. 

 

My wife isn’t as picky as I am.  PC or Mac, 15 inch or 17 inch screen.  She really doesn’t care as long as it’s a laptop.  Though I think I saw her drooling when she was on the Dell site and found she could get one in pink.  I don’t think I could go there.

 

Our dilemma will continue for another month or so.  She has decided to pay for this with the income she makes tutoring.  A cash transaction would make me happy. 

 

So with any luck I’ll be posting to you from my backyard, smoking a cigar, enjoying a glass of wine, and typing on a pink computer.  Whatever it is…   

 

More Random Stuff…

Posted under Cigars, Family

 Why you may ask?  

 Because it’s my blog and I want to…

 

• “Doctor Who” (Sci Fi Channel) finale was Friday and now I’ll have to suffer with waiting for the season 4 DVD release.

 

• “Burn Notice” (USA) Great spy stories with a bit of the Robin Hood angle. 

 

• “Psyche” (USA) Fun show, lots of 80’s references.  Like Corbin Bensen as the dad.

 

• What I’m reading now:  “Wine and War” by Donald and Petie Kladstrup.  A book about the German occupation of France and how the French saved their great treasure during WWII.

 

• What I’m going to be reading soon:  Another classic (Steinbeck, Poe, Austin, Hemingway) so that I can have an intelligent conversation with my youngest while she is reading it also.

 

• I’m also reading or better yet perusing the many cigar catalogs I get in the mail.  My wife said I can buy more when my humidor gets empty.  At the rate I’m smoking, should be about six months.  Unless I get frustrated then it could be two weeks…

 

• I was flipping the channels last night (king of my remote) and stumbled on in all its glory, Al Michaels, and John Madden calling a pro football game.  I had to go check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t September already.  I mean, these are the ‘dog days of baseball”.  When did the sport seasons start running into each other?

My Freedoms…

Posted under Cigars, Family, My Observations

Today on the occasion of our Independence Day, I thought I’d list some of the freedoms I enjoy:

 

1. I have total control of the t.v. remote after 10:00 every evening.  My wife heads to bed about then.
2. I can listen to whatever I want on the stereo or my computer, as long as I use headphones.
3. I can drive my wife’s car to the store as long as I make sure I fill it up with gas.
4. I am King of my castle, as long as I don’t wake the Queen.
5. I can watch the baseball game on t.v. until the girls in the house start to roll their eyes in disgust wondering why “What Not to Wear” isn’t on.
6. I can smoke my cigars, as long as it’s outside, they can close the doors and windows and whine to me later about how it stinks.

In all seriousness, the freedoms that we all are enjoying today and everyday are due to some pretty remarkable people from our past, present and future.  It’s those who defended and continue to defend our nation and way of life, whether in uniform or not.  It’s the make of a person, their spirit, and their devotion to live this way.  I may whine a bit about things, but all in all I’ve got it pretty good because of these people.

Wine, Women and … Cigars?

Posted under Cigars, My Observations, Women

 I arrived back yesterday to the land of offices and cubicles after taking a short vacation last week.  It was difficult to put on long pants and a dress shirt after spending last week in shorts, tee shirts and flip flops.  With a week off, my wife and I decided to stay home instead of traveling.  Sometimes having the hustle of getting somewhere can make a vacation a chore.  I mean, I live a mile from a Southern California beach.  People come from all over the country to vacation where I live. 

 

My days were spent with the family, the gym (still trying to stave off middle age) and playing around with setting up this blog (still a work in progress).  Afternoons were spent barbequing a steak or other meat, sipping a glass of my favorite California wine (yum!) and enjoying my latest passion, cigars.  I’ve enjoyed cigars in the past but only on rare occasions.  A friend started my current obsession with them this past year.  I’m a member of so many cigar websites that my email inbox gets flooded daily on new deals.  Enjoying a cigar in the late afternoon especially this time of year in Southern California is special.  The days are longer and weather is warm.  A good cigar and a glass of wine in my humble opinion can make the end of the day exceptional.