Also posting as...

I have several Google accounts.  I will also be posting as "Jonathan Luke Hall".

I've moved to Northern Colorado

The name of the blog is Central TX Random Musings.

That was originally appropriate as I was living in Central Texas.  I am now in Northern Colorado.

Oh, and another thing.  I haven't updated this blog since 2015.  It is now 2019.  I'm still storing random thoughts.

Photos at night waiting for a train

1:This is the front of a freight train. 2:downtown Taylor at night. 3:looking down the tracks towards the sunset. 4: towards the Amtrak train station.

New blogs coming

I am going to resurrect  this account and post new material.

Vacation in July, 2011

We flew in to Buffalo, NY and rented a car.

Our stops were:

• Niagara Falls
• Toronto
• Kingston
• Ottawa
• Montreal (2 nights)
• Burlington, VT
• Lake Placid, NY
• Rochester, NY
• Erie, PA

Personal Moves

I have been extremely busy due to a couple of moves.

First, we moved in September/October of 2010.

Second, we moved my mother in January/February of 2011.

The moves are over and I'll try to get back to sending out updates.

Been really busy this year

I've neglected this blog this year.  It's been a busy year.

We took our vacation in Spain in May of this year.  Right now, we are planning our second vacation of the year and we are leaning towards a cruise originating in Boston that heads up to Nova Scotia and then returns.  The cruise would probably take place in October.

What Do You Want?

Ok, new year and new blog.

Most of us seemingly flutter through life without asking some really basic questions of ourselves. What do you want? It's a simple question, really.

Actually, it's a more complicated question, if you really think about it. I have found a number of people who seem to think that happiness involves their getting their way and they seem to be dependent on other people for doing whatever is necessary for their happiness. This is wrong. Own your own happiness. Take control of your life. Your happiness should involve your efforts to get the most out of your life and really the most out of yourself. If you depend on other people's actions for your happiness, then you will probably know misery, but if your view of life is that happiness is a choice, then you will see that it is yourself that stands between you and happiness.

It all comes back to the basic question of "What do you want?" and the next question: "What are you going to do to get what you want?"

If you realize that happiness is a choice and it's all a matter of your attitude, then there is nothing to stop you from achieving happiness.

I do suppose that you really need to be at peace with yourself first.

The short life of Sammy the Puppy

Here is a note that I published on facebook 12/16/2008:
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Sammy the puppy passed away last night (early morning of 12/16/08).

Soon after we got him, we were told that he had a heart murmur. Later on, the diagnosis was changed to a hole in the heart. Blood was bypassing part of the circulatory system where oxygen would fully join with the blood.

While he was a puppy, he could manage to get by, but as he matured and got more active, the hole in the heart was going to eventually cause him to die early.

They originally thought that he might last a year. He was only with us for 2 months.

We had a health guarantee where we got him, but that didn't help when we bonded to the pup and found out that if we returned him to the store and to the breeders that the puppy would be put to sleep.

We wanted to insure that the pup would live out whatever life that he had by being wanted and being loved. He brought us happiness and I believe that he had love and happiness from us.

It was a short life, but it was a sweet life.

Sammy will be missed.
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I have thought many times since I wrote this piece. This was a hard decision on us and I'm just not sure what would have been the right thing to do. I do believe that life is precious. It's been about one year since we picked up Sammy. I'm not sure which day we received the bad news.

There are no guarantees in life. You just don't know what is ahead and you may never understand the why of it all. You just have to keep going on and just make some of the hard decisions in your gut.

My gut says that we did the right thing by keeping Sammy for the life that we had. If there is a heaven, I hope that he'll be waiting for me.

Science and Religion

Most people who are involved in the teaching of science in public schools are alarmed at how religious zealots are trying to infuse religion into science classes.

I believe in a strong separation between church and state and religious beliefs have no place in science classes.

I believe that science tries to answer the question "How?" The problem is that scientists deal with the evidence at hand when creating theories and the amount of evidence is constantly growing, so theories do change over time. Newtonian physics gave way to Einstein physics as relativity was discovered and understood.

Religion tries to answer the question "Why?" It is a question that science cannot answer and should not answer.

I don't have any problem with anyone's search for answers to questions that may never get quite answered. Your faith should be respected.

Upcoming albums that I'm interested in

Here are some soon-to-be-released albums:

1. Dolores O'Riordan: No Baggage (release 8/25). Lead singer for The Cranberries has her sophomore album.
2. John Fogerty: The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again (release 8/31). Singer-songwriter that was a significant part of Creedence Clearwater Revival and has transitioned to a solo career. The new album has a definite country sound to it and features guests like Bruce Springsteen.
3. Michelle Branch: Everything Comes and Goes (amazon.com says it will be released 11/10/09). After two high profile solo albums and an album as a part of The Wreckers, Michelle returns to the studio to produce a country sounding solo album.

I also have friendships with these independent artists who are working on new albums:

1. The Sugar Dames
2. Noush Skaugen

Cooperation

I cannot imagine the US winning a war unless we put away our differences and work towards the common good.

One of the most memorable scenes in the series John Adams which appeared on HBO was the scene with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin hammering out the Declaration of Independence. Much of the document was Thomas Jefferson's but the words changed over the course of their sessions so that each one of their perspectives influenced the final outcome. I do recommend the series.

Everybody's Right and Nobody's Right

One of the better aspects of American politics is the shifting back and forth between political parties. I believe that neither party is perfect and it is necessary to shift the balance of power back and forth.

I also believe that this country works best when there is a divergent collection of opinions, but that the best is collected from the different components and a well rounded compromise is created.

Unfortunately, there has been a shift of lately that translates compromiser = loser. I think the win at all costs mentality is quite unhealthy for our society and our democracy.

Let's Start

This will be my first blog post for this newly created blog. I plan to discuss politics, travel, photography, music, or any other subject that I'm interested in discussing.

I will welcome comments from friends. Please note that I am rather open minded when it comes to politics, but I will simply not tolerate any belligerent or intimidating behavior. I don't claim to have all the right answers and I expect other people to be as equally tolerant. Otherwise, this cannot be an open discussion and no one learns anything.