Dee Hathaway

OK. Don’t really. Cuz I’m not.

This is gonna seem really weird (have you met me?).. but I fired up and logged into the ol’ lappytoppy this morning and there was a page on Tourette’s syndrome open (I usually put it to sleep instead of shutting down cuz I’m always in the middle of sumthin) . It was a discussion forum and I was all like “what the crap Hathaway? You’ve GOT to stop eating spicy food at night”. It was really freaking me out.

So I hit the back button to find out what I was looking for to land on such a page… and it turns out I was googling a quote from Hook.. “I’ve had an apostrophe” and landed on a support forum page where someone had that little exchange from Hook in their signature block. It was on page one for the search.. Google is a crazy beast. Here’s the quote, in case you’re about to google it yourself… (although I like it very much when you Google stuff)

Smee: I’ve just had an apostrophe.
Captain Hook: I think you mean an epiphany.
Smee: No… lightning has just struck my brain.
Captain Hook: Well, that must hurt.

OK… back to superstitious (yes, distracted before the post even began!).

I don’t consider myself to be a superstitious person. I think it’s bad luck to be superstitious. (Hahaha! oh I slay me! Well at least I find me amusing.)

Friday the 13th? Just another payday/day off. (love the 4 day workweek!)
Black cat crossing my path? Kitty!!!!
Broken Mirror? OK, that just sucks. Cuz those things shatter into the tiniest little pieces. But it’s 7 minutes of bad luck, while you clean it up, at the most.

So what inspires today’s rant, you ask? (go ahead.. ask). Well for one, it’s you my muse. my distraction. my friend. Ya, it’s pretty amazing how many things throughout the day make me think “that should be a post” and yet never make it.

The other inspiration is a bug. You read that right. A bug. Well, two bugs to be more precise.

I was playing doctor today (simmer down.. just tree doctor) and transplanting some plants who had outgrown their pots. I was washing the dirt out of the old pots using the hose over by the side of the house… you know; the one by the Christmas tree I still haven’t gotten rid of. :-/

N.E.who… I was washing out the older, smaller planter and felt a creepy crawly on my wrist. I looked down and found not one, but two little praying mantises (manti? maniti? mantoose?) gotta Google something again… brb.

“The plural of praying mantis (not preying mantis) is praying mantids, mantes or mantises.”

So there were two praying mantises on my hand. And I thought how it must be such good luck to have one praying mantis on your hand (they make MUCH better roommates than crickets, btw… always with the praying instead of the chirping) but to have two??? Double lucky. I’m such a lucky guy!

And I started thinking (surely you’re expecting that after all this time. Crap! I’ve become predictable! wait.. let’s call it something you can count on, mkay?) about how I view luck. Luck is nothing more than what you believe is going to happen. Yes, I’m one of those who think we make our own luck.

Remember Hee-Haw? If if werent’ for bad luck I’d have no luck at all… (you know you’re singing it!) Yah, I don’t buy that. If it weren’t for good luck, I’d have no luck at all.

I watched Caddyshack yesterday, and the quote from Chevy Chase (who once was funny. no really, he was!) comes to fingertips… “there’s a force in this universe that makes things happen, and all you need to do is get in touch with it. Close your eyes, find your center, and…be the ball”

And I say it’s so true… and it extends way beyond the golf ball. It goes for your life. We need to be our life. We make our own luck. Good or bad, we draw to us the things about which we think we are worthy. So take a look at yourself right now (yes, I said now!). It doesn’t matter if you’re in a huge house with a great view or living in your parents’ spare bedroom… the way your life is heading is the way that you believe your life is heading. When you follow a GPS (I love the GPS) you don’t just turn it on and go wherever is says (cuz it really sucks at finding a random location). You don’t go where the GPS tells you to; you tell the GPS where you want to go and it tells you how to get there. According to Your preferences.

So let’s make this deal now. And this time it’s more than a deal. It’s a guarantee. Let’s let all of our luck be good luck. Let’s let all of our intentions lead us down the path we want. the path we choose. according to the options we want. You and me… we’re gonna be okay. Let’s tell the universe/planets/superman where we want to go and let it/them help us get there… but never leave it up to anyone else where we end up. Ours is to decide where we want to be.. the route is optional according to our options… what we want to see… how much time we’re willing to spend on the journey. (I prefer back roads and frequent stops to dance) The path is the adventure. But the destination is our choice. I choose happiness. and Love. And Beauty. And You.

I’m lucky like that.


Evidently I’m in a heavy metal mood today…

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Before we get started, I would like to post a Public Service Announcement. Or maybe it’s more like a Public Service Pleading. Either way, brb.

Dear Guy at the Gym in Stretch Pants,

Please stop.

Sincerely,
Everyone Else at the Gym

OK. Thanks for hanging in there while I took care of that… on with the post!

I was at Lake Powell a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it’s taken me that long to write about my oceanic adventures (Oceanic.. reminds me of Lost. Good times). I’m hoping that the fact that I’m writing 2 days in a row will help make up for that. Yes? No? Well I’m posting anyway.

I love being on the lake… and it’s not just the fantastic fishing. And it really was fantastic, btw. We kept (that’s kept, not caught) 84 delicious bass. What does 84 stripers look like? 2 zebras.

While the fishing was awesome, the weather was a little rough. The tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew (that’s me and the bro, btw), the stripers would be lost. (you know you were singing along!) But we didn’t lose the stripers. We didn’t even lose the boat (this time). I did, however, manage to lose a fishing pole (just kicked it in) and a fillet knife (it spun through the air so beautifully before it splashed and sank). You’d think that anything you take on a boat should float. But almost nothing does.

N E wayyy….. another thing I love about being on the water there is the scenery. Especially this time of year when the sun isn’t bearing down on everything making it all washed out (especially my eyes). As we were heading up a canyon, the captain (that’s right.. I’m not always the big toe. Sometimes I’m the second toe. or the heel. You can be the pinkie toe, mkay?) commented that he never gets tired of the scenery. And I commented that it’s partly because the scenery is different every time. As the sun moves across the sky through the different seasons, it causes the shadows on the chiseled walls to change constantly. The same cliffs can look completely different from one hour to the next.

And I love looking for arches. The place is just lousy with arches! You can buy a map of the lake that points out all the arches that have been named, and I’ve seen that map, but there are new arches forming all the time and a lot of them are tough to see. (did you see all the arches in that paragraph?! It’s like that!)

So as we drove up the canyon admiring the beauty of the lake, the sun started heading toward the horizon and all of the patterns and shadows on the rocks started to disappear.. and just when it looked like the beauty of the lake was fading.. I noticed that when it starts to get a little dark down in those canyons is when it also gets easier to spot arches. As you’re looking up from the dark water towards the light sky those arches just start popping out left and right!

That’s when you know it’s time to start heading for the shore. You don’t wanna be out on the lake at night. Dark and scary. Then the light fades a little bit more, and it gets a little bit darker… and then the sky explodes with color and the lake comes alive with beautiful reflection as the sun paints itself to bed. It’s absolutely amazing!

(you know what’s coming next, don’t you?? well you should!) And that got me thinking about the similarities of being on the water at sundown and living through the times in our life when it seem the sun might not be shining so much. And how that even carries over to sunrise… how it’s always darkest (or at least coldest) before the dawn. (oh that’s too cliche, even for me. so let’s get back to the sunset shall we?)

So if shadows fall as we travel this path, if things start to get a little dark and we feel tossed and turned and lost at sea… don’t panic! (first rule of life) Let’s find the bright spots, search for those hidden arches (no, not McDonald’s.. that’s golden arches), look for and remember the good things. We can help each other find those little parts of beauty that weren’t apparent because all we’ve been seeing are the walls around us. Before we know it that sun will throw it’s beautiful colors against the clouds, and paired with the reflection off the water, the reflections of ourselves in each other, it will light our way to shore. You be my boat, and I’ll be your sea. And love will be the sun.
m’kay?

and you thought I would post ‘the River’, didn’t you?!

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Well Hi There! How you doin? It seems like I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays, doesn’t it? I am SO glad that it’s May! I’m at least glad it’s not April anymore, cuz that was kind of a difficult month.

Welcome to a new month (yes, I KNOW it’s 8 days into the month.. I’ve been busy. or lazy. whichever) a next step on the path, a new beginning and a new life.

and a new post. So let’s get on with it, 65?

But first (yes, I still do that) I want to tell you a little story mkay? You like stories, right? Right?!

I threw my bedspread in the dryer last night, cuz it was wet. And before you say anything, it was wet because I’d washed it. I set the timer for well-done and went to watch some TV while it dried.

When I woke up the this morning (hey, I fell asleep.. so sue me. you’re just jealous) I went in to get the bedspread out of the dryer and found that it was still wet. (that’s not the conclusion of the story, btw. spellbinding as that might be.) So I checked the lint trap and set the timer again and pushed the start button and

you know what happened? You ready for this?

Nothing happened. Ya. no spin. no heat. no dryness. no bueno. So I did what any good computer guy would do and I pounded on the top of it a couple of times and said ‘what the cheese?!’ and I moved the dryer out to check the electrical connection and then…

you know what happened? You ready for this?

I closed the door and pushed the button and the dryer started right up. :-/ (sigh)

So now that we’ve officially established my blondeness, let’s talk a little tech. (no that’s not a short TV repairman). I was helping someone activate a new phone (and I’m so jealous.. I haven’t had a new phone in like 3 weeks now) and took off the little plastic protective cover thing (that’s the tech talk right there) so that I could see the screen. Ya know.. I hardly ever take the plastic stuff off. Drives some people crazy. It’s probably a good thing my couch didn’t come wrapped in plastic or it still would be. And I’m not that OCD. yet.

I noticed the writing on that little plastic cover (we’re talking about the phone again, btw) and it turns out there were little tiny instructions on there for setting up the phone. And as I read those little tiny instructions, I thought about you (well, I do that most of the time anyway). The instruction on the cover read:

GET ACTIVATED
1. Charge Battery
2. Locate Activation #
3. Activate Service

And it struck me as just really good advice… and not just for setting up a phone. So lemme go through this all d.com style. I think that get activated is just really good advice, and I think it comes at a time when I really need that good advice. I’m certainly active.. gym everyday, work most days (ok.. every day), fishing (whole other story there, but not every day).. I do stay fairly active. But I’m not sure I’ve been activated lately. I go through those times, as a I’m sure we all do, when I just kind of.. be. And maybe I’ve ‘be’en there lately. Maybe you have too?

But being activated is getting involved in your own life, not just drifting and settling and waiting. Ya, those things are ok sometimes, but it’s kind of a circle thing. To keep your batteries charge you need to stay activated. And to get activated you need to charge your batteries. (see what I did there? hmm?)

Oh Hey! That brings me to step 1 (oh this is gonna be a long post. I’ll try to hurry it up but you know how I get when I feel rushed. Maybe you want to get a latte or a fudgesicle or something)

1. Charge Battery – For the purposes of this post, let’s pretend first that I know what I’m talking about (oh just pretend with me!) and second that this isn’t the type of battery charge where you just sit around and relax. I think this is the type of charging where you get ready. Where you find that you need something more than what you have right now. Or at least something different. Something less.. average. More than average maybe.

2. Locate Activation # – So now that your batteries are charged and you are ready to be powered on (best analogy you get right now), it’s time to find that activation number, the thing that is going to turn you on and get you going. Just like with the phone, it’s different for each person. It’s very personal for you, and there isn’t any way that somebody can tell you when it’s going to come along. But once you’ve found it, you know that you have to do whatever you can to keep that with you. And it’s really the only thing that can take you to

3. Activate Service – step 3 is by far the most difficult. If that phone doesn’t activate you will miss important texts and calls and start freaking out and spend HOURS on the phone with tech support and will probably just have to take it back to best buy and swap it out anyway. What? Oh, ya. Right. Back to talking about you/me/Us. But it really is the toughest thing to do. Once you find that your battery has been charged and your # activation has been located , it’s difficult to keep going like you have been. To sit around and do nothing (see the previously mentioned other type of battery charging) but it is so very often even harder to do something. Sometimes to do anything. And taking that first move is daunting and scary and wonderful and life-changing. And worth it!

So there you have it. Activating your phone and your self in 3 confusing steps. See how easy that was? If you haven’t gotten activated yet, I hope that some of the things you find here at the hathawaywebs helps you find what you need to get your battery charged and your # in gear.

And for those of you, dear readers (who by now number in the high single digits I think), who have already activated your service.. good for you! I’m so happy and proud! Now you just need to keep track of that activation # (you can keep it safe at my house), and make sure you get the other kind of battery charging (you can borrow my Charger if you’d like).

So let’s put each other on speed dial (I like fast) we can act as reciprocal tech/life support, mkay? When your system won’t boot or reception is lousy, when you feel like you’ve used all your minutes or the bill is too high, call on me. Sometimes a good charge is in order. Sometimes just a memory refresh or the voice of a friend. And sometimes you just need to be reminded that you have unlimited usage on your plan.

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What time is it? I’m sorry, what? It’s mid-April already?! I’m just gonna go ahead and rip April off my calendar… I can’t believe I’ve slept a third of the year away already. And what have I done with the year so far?

Well I’m SO glad you asked. Very nice of you.

It actually has been pretty good. I wouldn’t call it a walk in the park.. not even a drive through the park. Maybe a park in the park? A swing in the park? A

Anyway. I wanted to talk to you today about a little trip I recently took (yes, I go places.  I do!! You don’t know!) I had the pleasure (when I go places it isn’t always business. No really!) of taking a little trip up north a couple of weeks ago with a couple of friends (one of them was Rowdy.. pics to follow on his Facebook I’m sure). You should know that in this part of the country, going up north means Prescott or Payson or possibly even Flagstaff, where the temps are a little more not as hot. Not north as in Dakota..  :)

This particular trip was to Prescott via Jerome. And the story (I promise there will be a story… don’t I always tell one? No? Sometimes? Occasionally?) is about a stop we made just before Jerome. We stopped at 2zagoot, Tutzagut,

gotta go google something.. brb

Tuzigoot National Monument, which is a historical ruin (aka pile of rocks) supposedly occupied by the Sinagua people in the 1100s-1400s. The most interesting thing about the ruin is that the name Tuzigoot is Apache for “crooked water’. Now I’m no historical genius (but I have stayed at some very old Holiday Inn Expresses), but I’m pretty sure the Sinagua people didn’t give their little pile of rocks an Apache name. Just sayin.

As we walked around the site, looking at all the partially constructed walls (also aka piles of rocks) and reading all the little signs about what each room might have been and how the people there might have lived, I noticed a few things that, in true goodol’dee.com style, I would like to list for you now.

But first, have you noticed that I have hardly gotten sidetracked at all in this post? Yay me! wait….

1. It was a long haul to the river. And on top of a big hill. I’m guessing these people spent a lot of time hauling water. But maybe they had Sparkletts deliver, what do I know?
2. Penguins are AWESOME at snowball fights.
3. The signs there all had a lot of possibly, might have, and could have in them. Nobody knows what really happened!.

Lemme splain. On the roof there was a sign that said it might have been used for drying corn or watching for incoming traders or attacks by touristy penguins from Phoenix, but for all the historians know it could have been a helicopter pad. The signs would say this room could have been used as a kitchen or a meeting room, but for all they know it could have been a room for weekend getaways, complete with fireplace. Hey, my stories are just as good as the historians’. Says me.

I started thinking about how the people who printed those signs just kinda went with their best guess. The people who rebuilt those piles of rocks just went with what their experience and their instinct told them. So they put up those walls and put out those signs with the best of intentions, and the people who come across them now just take it for granted that that’s how things are. Maybe those walls weren’t in those places… maybe that field at the bottom of the hill wasn’t used for husking corn. This isn’t a post about bluffing ((then what IS it about?)), and as usual, I have no idea what it’s really about. So I’ll just keep writing and you keep reading and we’ll figure it all out together, mkay?

The signs posted there say the Sinagua left possibly because of drought or they were attacked by another tribe/village/pack of senior citizens. I say maybe someone different came along who could offer them new stories and travel and adventure… and they decided that sounded like a pretty good way to live. Or maybe they just decided they weren’t happy there, didn’t like living there anymore, and it was time for them to make a change in their life. To move on.

I think we can do worse than to live a little like the Sinagua… I’m not saying we need a special place to banish people who are ‘broken’, but there are a few things we can do to make our stay here better. We too can get on that roof, that high place (aka our own pile of rocks) and watch for better things. We can tell our own stories, live our own adventures, and put out our own signs for the things we want, the way we think things should be in our lives. Let’s tear down those walls that are in the wrong place and stopping us from doing those things, and put some up where they belong. And when the time is right to move on, let’s move on. We don’t need someone else’s stories. Someone else’s reasons. Someone else’s signs. We just need the ones that are right for us.

And let’s have more snowball fights. (Rowdy, no!)

It must be a pretty good job, being a historian, making up stories. Historian, blogger… same diff.

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Hey, you wanna try something new? Ya? Feeling adventurous? Well I’m always up for it… so let’s do this.

You write this post.

What’s that? Oh, ok. I guess it would be hard for you to do if you don’t know the password and stuff. So I’ll just go ahead and write this one.. but maybe it’ll be your turn next time, mkay?

I do like adventures, and I also like posting for you here (oh yes, my tens of readers.. I do like writing for you). So today let’s talk a little bit about adventures and, as usual, let’s talk a little bit about you and me. (it’s what I do best)

I had the opportunity to make a road trip quite recently to destinations North. I went with a couple of friends (Rowdy included) to Prescott. Via Jerome (you know how I like to travel).

The details of the trip are a different story for perhaps a different time (yes, that’s a teaser)… What I’d like to talk about today are the photos of the adventure. I got some awesome shots of Jerome, and of Rowdy playing in the snow and chillin’ by the fountain (and should have taken way more pictures of the adventures themselves, but you know how it is when you’re on the roller coaster.. too excited to remember to put your hands in the air sometimes..)

NEhooo… I found myself prepping the pictures for sharing on the interwebs and using a fantastic little program called Picasa (cuz my photo editing skillz are nowhere near advanced enough for photoshop & whatnot).. and as I was prepping said photos in said program, I realized that there were a couple of very handy little utilities in the program that I found myself using over and over again. and again. And sometimes again. (is that redundant or just repetitive?)

When you edit… well, let’s not call it edit. When you touch up a photo in Picasa, there is an option called “I’m Feeling Lucky”. This usually does a pretty good job of adjusting the color and warmth and all those other happy photo settings that I’m sure you know much more about than I do. It’s one of my favorite buttons.

The other little utility is also in Picasa and is “Fill Light”. This allows you to adjust the lighting of said photo to make things a little more clear.

And as I sat in my chair editing a particularly inspiring photo (made even more inspiring by feeling lucky and some light filling), I started thinking about how that applies to my own life (you see.. it happens pretty much every time here!)

As it turns out dear reader(s), I am feeling lucky. In fact I’m lucky on a pretty consistent basis. And I have found over the past year or so that I get lucky (hey.. keep it clean! this is a family post!) more when I just let it happen than when I try to force it. I guess there is a fine line between expecting things to roll your way and trying to force them to. I’m learning to fall a little more softly on the side of expecting. and letting. And less on the side of pushing and getting frustrated.

So where, you might ask (go ahead and ask) does the “Fill Light” button come in? Well, that’s where you, oh my faithful follower (yes, you) come in. You are the light that makes things a little more clear. You are the magic button that brings my life warmth and color. The perspective that being here with you, that pondering and talking and writing and musing and distracting and stuff brings to me helps me to see that My life is even more full of light and joy and beauty than I would catch at first glance. You have allowed me to adjust the background, and to bring things into focus a bit more, and to see that I really am the luckiest boy in the world.

So here’s what we’re gonna do (oh ya, you don’t get to read this much without having to be involved somehow!) Let’s remember just how lucky we are to even be able to be here… that Google somehow brought you here in the first place.  How lucky we are to share these adventures with each other (and yes, I know you’re still waiting for the adventures post.. coming soon!) and how lucky we are to face each day with a smile, knowing that we can always meet here should life get to be a little… not enough.

And, you’re gonna like this, there’s no deal required on the fill part. Just know that You do light up my life, and fill up my senses. Thank you for making my world brighter.

So… ask yourself one question… do I feel lucky? Well do ya?
I hope so. Cuz I sure do.

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