Give Thanks...For Replacements

 I began my daily blog in January, 2011. In order to successfully maintain a daily blog, you must blog daily. Yup...it's true. In order to do this, you must have reliable equipment. Until about 2015, or there about, I used my first MacBook Pro to create my posts. The laptop was big (huge, by today's standards), a great keyboard, a CD/DVD drive, card readers, and a battery that needed replacing on a regular basis.

I used that computer every day--literally. I used to so much I wore off some of the numbers and letters on the keyboard. I had so many photos and other programs on that computer, it began to drag. That, plus the battery began to expand to the point where it became tough to type anything and it took forever to open even one program. Creating a blog post required a lot of time.

I needed a new computer.

I bought another MacBook Pro.

It served me well.

At least, until this month, when it died.

My first Apple laptop was white and plastic. It was another great machine. It too had battery issues, but back then, you could just pop out the old one and inset a new one without taking apart the computer. The metal MacBook Pro models are not so accommodating. The reason my first MacBook Pro failed me was in part due to the battery, and wouldn't you know it--my second MacBook Pro stopped working this month was due to battery issues.

I found a deal on a used MacBook Air. I'm writing this blog post on the air. I like it, plus the best part is, it's newer and therefore, has a newer battery. Hopefully, I won't have to worry about it for a while.

When I think about how we can replace a computer cheaper than a new set of car tires, it's astounding. Computers used to cost more than cars...not so much anymore. I'm grateful I live in this time. I'm also grateful I have a replacement laptop to continue my daily blogging streak...

4601 posts...and counting.

Today...Every Day...For Ten Years

 For those of a certain age, you may remember sitting in a high school or jr. high school math class, and someone--maybe even you--asked the teacher if we could use a calculator to figure out the problems. And inevitably, the teacher would say something like, "This is important stuff to know--you're not going to always have a calculator with you?"

A time machine would allow both the students and the teacher to know that is basically not true. So, if anyone needs to know how many days are in ten years, without a calculator I can say (with the inclusion of two leap year days...) is 3,655. 

I didn't need a calculator for that...

But, I did use my blog's dashboard to get that number.

Ten years...ten years of daily blog posts. Many times I wondered if I'd reach that milestone. Most of the time, I find something to write about--it's not always interesting, but it's always punctual. There were other times, however, when I had no idea what I was going to write about. Somehow, some way, the post was written and published.

I started the blog as an experiment, a way to write something at least once a day. It's been a journal of sorts. I've chronicled the decade of three U.S. presidents, three of my four kids graduating from grade school, our family moving, a son getting married, and of losing a family patriarch. We've had broken cars and other things, saying hello to new pets and good-bye to others, big storms and small miracles--lots of those.

It's not the most exciting life, but it's ours, and for three-thousand, six-hundred, and fifty-five days I've tried to mix humor, drama, some serious stuff, a tribute thrown in, and only a few political rants. And after every post is published, I put away the computer hoping what I put into the ether made someone laugh, or cry, or think just a little.

The last line of my first blog post (you can check it out by clicking: HERE if you'd like...) I wrote:

Let's hope we have a good time as we interact and explore and entertain an(d) inform (I even had a typo...). We shall see...

Hopefully, we've done that.

Thank you for checking out my little blog. Let's see what the next ten years brings.