I haven't written a blog post in a minute.

I'm in Arizona. Vail to be specific. Vail is a city in Colorado but apparently they also have one on Arizona because I'm in it. It's a suburb of Tucson. Does anyone remember when I came to Arizona? I've been here a couple of weeks or so now and it's been a blast.

The funny thing is that I haven't really been out much. I came to visit friends but also just to kinda have a place to stay and work while I figure out where I'm gonna live next. Luckily my friends Drew and Cheryl are very easy-going people and don't mind having me around. I probably annoy Cheryl at times but she tolerates me because she knows I'm not staying forever. Lol.

Cheryl has a little dog named Bitsey that I've grown quite attached to. She sleeps with me every night. All I've ever wanted is a girlfriend to climb under the covers with me every night and I finally found that in Bitsey the dog. Hahahaha.

Bitsey is SO fun to play with, too! She does this thing where she brings you the ball and then spins around waiting for you to throw it. It's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. Sometimes when I'm working she'll put the ball at my feet and spin around 20 times.

Oh and did I mention she makes noises like an Ewok? I'm going to miss her SO much when I have to leave but I'm not going to think about that right now because we still have a couple of weeks together. Bitsey is the best summer fling I've had in years! 

Here are some pics and a vid of the little diva herself..

Okay, goodbye for now from the desert. Hope you've enjoyed my grams while I've been here. The skies are incredibly beautiful. Stay tuned for more pics of gigantic cactus. 

Peace and love. ✌️

I maintain a list of things I can't wait to experience with someone who shares the zest for life that I do.

One of those things just happened and I thought I'd share.

I was waiting for a VERY early train down in a Dallas train station called Cityplace Station. It's far underground. It's an anomaly since most everything in Dallas is above-ground.

It was very still and quiet before the train came. I was sitting pretty close to the tunnel from which the train would emerge any minute.

Then, before I even heard a sound I felt a small wind. The absolute calm was replaced by a cool breeze. Then more breeze, then the sound of the very fast-moving train as it made it's way towards the station.

In the tunnels the trains can go as fast as they want and I guess all that speed combined with the sheer size of the train creates a mighty wind.

There are moments in life that you never forget and that was one for me.

Have a great day! Maybe one day we can share a moment like that together.

Peace.

As a person who has suffered from bouts of depression in my life, I know what it's like to feel "down" for no reason. It's actually kind of annoying when this feeling takes over because many times you don't even know why you feel the way you feel.

There are many ways people with this "disease" I guess I'll call it learn to cope. Society provides MANY forms of escape from drinking to drugs to sex to gambling (my vice) to entertainment in all it's different variations. There are literally thousands of diversions.

I don't think choosing a diversion to help you overcome feelings you don't understand is necessarily a bad thing if said diversion isn't really causing harm to your well-being or the people around you.

As a matter of fact, I've personally found that doing the opposite of harming others or yourself provides the best sort of relief. Occupying your mind and time with HELPING others actually ends up helping YOU feel better in the end. Like you've done something worthwhile. Which you have!

So if you also suffer from feeling sad, lonely, depressed, anxious, just not right, or whatever at times possibly think about someone other than yourself and how they might need your help. How I do it is by surfing the web for sites like VolunteerMatch.org or Voly.Org, etc. Believe me, once you start the search for people looking for help, it's not hard to find them.

Even just starting to think about helping others can stop the anxiety and give you a sense of calm.  

Anyway, try it and lemme know if it works for you too. I bet it will!

Peace to you. :-)

Don't forget to visit http://c2ccharity.org to see what our charity is  up to lately!

I ride the bus and train. I can afford a car but why? I work from home so I don't really have a need to travel much and when I do I can just call Uber. Click on that link and sign up for Uber and we'll both get $30 ride credits! I kinda heart Uber which you would easily be able to tell if you looked at my Paypal transactions. I love Uber so much I even use it to pay for friend's rides. lol.

If Uber is not an option because I have a trip to take or I have to go across town I just rent a car.

And here's something I do that's gonna sound REALLY crazy. Sometimes I actually WALK to places. Can you even imagine that?!? Walking is fun because not only does it save you money but you get exercise as well. Walking is the shit.

The bottom line is there is really no sound financial justification for owning a car anymore. When you add up the cost of a payment, the gas and the insurance it's just ridiculous. WAY more than I spend on Uber or renting each month. Not to mention all the stress that goes along with owning a car like keeping it up, fighting in traffic, parking, etc.

Now just because I choose not to own a car doesn't mean I condemn everyone who are car owners. I just can't justify one for myself unless I just start making so much cash I want a toy. Because that's what a car is to me. Just a toy to play with when you're bored. On the other hand, if I want to play with cars I can just use all the cash I save NOT owning a car and spend it on a weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. For a grand or so I can go drive stock cars. Now THAT is driving.

So basically I don't care about driving unless I'm required to wear a helmet. THEN I'm into it.

Thanks for reading and have a super-wonderful exciting day!

Peace.

Or vice versa...

I found this email from my cousin Michael to be quite delightful so I asked him if he would be gracious enough to allow me to post it to my blog. He said "post away" so here it is for all to enjoy. If you are not a member of my extended family much of this may not make too much sense but the "memories" part is something to which I believe we can all relate. I've added some "editor's notes" to help explain the following for those who were not actually there.

To: Family.

It is too far off to be clear about plans, but since Todd found a crazy-ridiculous way to avoid the "pull-up competition" (Editor's note: Todd's daughter had an unfortunate hammock accident but is fine), we'll have to have a do-over family reunion, so that I'll have my chance at glory (2015 pull-up champ).  Dance-off competition will be between Nicky and Tim (Editor's note: I enjoy doing the Cupid Shuffle and since my father is also Nick I'm referred to as Nicky. I used to hate that but now I kinda like it.)