Welcome to my first blog entry. Obviously, I am new at this. For instance, I just learned that you can't write in Word and paste that content directly in here. Any tips?

The reason(s) I take "pen" in hand will become clear down the road a piece. But first, let me give you a tidbit about myself. If asked to describe myself, the last thing I would say is that I am computer literate. I'm more of a techno-dunce actually. If it doesn't have moving parts, or can't be fixed with a hammer, I'm lost. So, from time to time I'm going to rely on the more experienced readers out there in cyberspace to help me out with the fine points of this blogging thing. There, I'm glad that's cleared up from the get-go.

As a fifty-something-year-old man, I have plenty to write about. I have not been shy about living. Along the way, I made my share of mistakes. Hopefully, I learned from them. Time will tell. Having said that, I'm not pretentious enough to believe that I can teach anything to anybody. I'm not smart enough to have made any original mistakes. Rather, I'm here to share. Sharing feels good. I don't know anybody who doesn't like to talk about themselves. And I love to write, so this whole blogging thing is decidedly self-serving.

Which brings me around to another reason I started this blog; I am currently confined to a zero-gravity chair waiting my employer's health insurance company to approve the back surgery that will - hopefully - allow me to return to my "normal" life. I am very kinesthetic. I like to move. I love to work with my hands. Beyond the pain, this last month of sitting on my slowly spreading keester has been nothing short of pure psychological torture.

In the first few weeks, I downloaded a lot of songs from iTunes. It was fun re-discovering some of those oldies I remember from my childhood (who knew they had the Baja Marimba Band!). But I blew this month's disposable income and had to restrain myself.

I find daytime TV insulting (nightime's not much better). That's one thing that hasn't changed since I was a kid.

I Google Earthed just about every mile of coastline on the planet. In doing so, I added quite a few places to my bucket list.

So, having exhausted my options, here I am. For a brain like mine, writing requires focus, and that helps distract from the pain. I'm not a fan of pain medications. Pain is good. Pain is your body telling you, "Stop! Don't do that, stupid!" Cover pain up with meds, and stubborn numbskulls like myself will hurt themselves even more. "I feel great! Think I'll climb up on the roof and patch that hole before the next storm comes in."

Besides, for me, thinking is like dredging the Santa Monica Bay; sometimes somthing interesting floats to the surface, but most of the time, it's just....well, you know.

With that in mind, I invite you to come back and visit again. See if anything interesting bubbles up.

Best regards,

Preston

BTW: Is it proper to sign off after every post?