The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Jack Steiner

What Is Meaningful

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Been blogging for so long now the little boy whose toddler antics were highlights of early posts is a twenty-something-year-old man who went to jury duty.

It was his first time doing so and it led to some conversations we haven’t had in quite a while.

The gist of it was my reminding him to ask questions about what is meaningful and what is fluff.

There are fewer moments where the kids reach out to me to ask for my thoughts/advice/assistance on things so I very much appreciate those rare opportunities when they come along.

Don’t mistake that to mean I want them coming to me for everything. That is not what I want at all.

It would mean I failed and I am proud to say I didn’t. They are very capable of standing on their own and they mostly do.

But there are still things in life they haven’t experienced or have far less experience in doing than myself so moments creep up.

“Dad, can I ask you a question?”

The answer is always yes but the answers are not as simple as they once were and they have long since recognized that I don’t know everything.

That is ok, they should know I am human and just a man.

But sometimes it is nice to be needed like they did when they were younger. Sometimes it is nice to put those shoes back on and lend a hand.

I like it.

I like watching them grow and evolve. Sometimes hard to watch but mostly good, they are smart and they get it.

Life is some kind of rush now isn’t it.

A ‘New’ Theme For The Coming New Year

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If my Gmail is to be trusted I purchased the current theme of this blog almost eight years ago.

Given that I don’t know when I will change it again I ought to say it is Myth by Meanthemes. That may or not be familiar to the readers but should I read this post again at some future date it will provide context.

I changed because I got word the old ‘new’ theme was updated and figured I was ready for a new look here again.

Don’t know if it will increase the frequency of my posting but don’t know it won’t either. This current phase is the slowest it has ever been and given that I used to update multiple times a day throughout the week it really has been slow.

Quantity doesn’t always reflect quality and though I feel the overall production has been solid it is time to reflect, reframe and refocus.

The biggest challenge isn’t finding things to write about but time and determining where to prioritize what I have.

Given I still have multiple blogs that time is divided further so the question becomes what provides me the biggest return.

Not in a financial sense, but in satisfaction.

Because each of the blogs is different, but not all give the same oomph.

So now I reflect and that provides it is own satisfaction.

Signs Of An Older Dad Blogger

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I began this blogging journey as a man in my thirties and am now in my fifties. The toddler boy I used to write about is standing in the kitchen, 20 feet in front of me.

That toddler looks me in the eye and has a beard now.

He isn’t asking for help making breakfast, doesn’t need for me to grab things he can’t reach or for a ride to places he can’t get to because he has a car.

Doesn’t come to me for money because he has a job.

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The girl who calls me dad and refers to the toddler as her older brother is talking about what spring break plans she and her roommates are thinking about.

She says she’ll come home for a few days during winter break but I don’t expect to see much of her because she’ll be running around with girlfriends who have also come home in between semesters.

Probably will get a moment of attention when she needs the car keys and or wants to discuss something where dear old dad gets hit up for a dollar.

She is good about that as she has had a couple of jobs and done a good job of carrying her own weight as best a college student can.

So I don’t mind helping out, she is on her way.


Where Will The Tracks Lead?

It is a strange thing to be in this semi-empty nester place. Looking at these kids it is clear they are on their way and curiosity makes me wonder where the tracks ahead of them will lead.

Good places I hope. Places that don’t have too much of the unexpected and unusual curves and bumps that life throws at us.

Something weird will happen, some sort of challenge and they’ll met it or them as needed, of this much I am certain.

And me, well I wonder where my own tracks will lead as I don’t just feel change, I smell and sense it all around me.

Should be an interesting journey, a little anxious, but mostly excited.

Can’t complain or ask much more of it now can I.

Another Year Comes And Goes

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Another year comes and goes isn’t quite accurate as we haven’t reached the end of 2022 but in my experience the time between Thanksgiving and December 31 moves at light speed.

Thought about it because I heard someone play The Hustle and it reminded me of being a kid at  a New Years party and being told I had to go to bed.

I was around seven or so and remember being angry because I was certain I was old enough to be up past midnight for a party.

Heck, there had been times when I had absolutely been up then so I had no understanding of what crazy logic my parents were using.

But I wanted time to move faster so that I could show them that I could stay up late and not be tired the next day.

It’s funny how slowly time goes as a kid because you only want it to go faster and as an adult it flies by but you wouldn’t mind if it slowed down.

Had all of my kids for Thanksgiving and got an excited call from my middle sister who told me that her oldest was able to take time off from the new job to go to her table.

I told her to say hi for me and to appreciate that he had driven through three states to get to her and then laughed because that still sounds ridiculous to me.

Driving through three states that is, not that it can’t be done but if you can do it in a day those states are awfully small.


Hold On One More Day

Got some big stuff on tap this week and it’s chapping my hide that it is chapping my hide.

Really shouldn’t be any reason to be concerned because I will manage whatever comes my way, but something about it has me uneasy.

Probably irked because I know there are some big changes and I don’t know enough about them to start working out how to handle them.

You can equate this to why I dislike hurricanes much more than earthquakes.

I haven’t any problem accepting that Mother Nature can unload some pretty heavy stuff upon us but I hate the idea of watching and waiting for a hurricane to hit.

Reminds me a bit of when I was younger and I got into some fist fights. I hated the anticipation of whether it would hurt much when I got hit.

Always felt better after I had been bloodied because I knew what I was dealing with.

Earthquakes can be pretty damn scary sometimes but you don’t get to spend a week or part of a week walking on eggshells while you wonder if the beast is going to wallop you or give you a small kiss.

So I am focused now on holding on one more day so I can more accurately gauge and assess what needs to happen.

Anticipation is no fun.


Walt Was Right

I like what Walt had to say in the quote above, he was correct and I follow his advice.

Doesn’t hurt that it tends to fit my preferred way of living, now more than ever. As the years go by I get a bit crankier and more set in some of my ways.

Not all, I am not above changing if it makes sense, always open to better ways of doing things.

Made a point to talk to the kids about that at the Thanksgiving table. Told them what I am grateful for, told them a little bit about what scares me and what gives me hope.

Got more hope than fear, that is a good place to be.

Five Minutes After Midnight

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It is five minutes after midnight and I just barely avoided breaking my neck over crap the family left in places you can only see with night vision or if the lights or on.

It more than pleases me to say I avoided both minor and major injuries to be here with you because that kind of crap doesn’t just go away.

The big injuries can leave lasting effects but so can the small ones that come with the little nagging things that stick around for far longer than you would like them to.

So color me grateful for having dodged that particular bullet especially as I discovered this evening that a certain noodle product from Costco hates me.

It was an unexpected and unpleasant discovery especially as I had no reason to consider this item to be something my wacky digestive system wouldn’t like.

Color me less than pleased but not with a real pen, marker or paint.


I Dare

Don’t think I did a particularly good job with that photo quote above but it works for now and provides an opportunity for me to answer the unspoken call to action in it.

I dare.

I am taking action to encourage fortune to favor me but I won’t write out precisely what I am doing here because I am mildly superstitious and there are boundaries in blogging.

You don’t need to know everything and given that updates here have been a little sporadic I might save material so that I can resume something more consistent.

I’ll also share that I am nervous about some of this, but mostly in a good way. If it goes as I hope it could be pretty darn good.

And if not, well I am not going to put much energy into that because I don’t want to borrow trouble or jinx myself.

Sometimes you just need to run and expect life to unfold as it should.

Told Steiner the minor that very thing tonight and laughed because I called him Steiner the minor and he made a face.

He is not a minor anymore, hasn’t been for a long while and neither is his little sister.

He told me I am old and that is why I forgot that he isn’t a minor. I disagreed with his assessment of my age, I don’t feel old and can confirm there are many far older.

But I concede I am not the young guy at the office anymore and haven’t been for a long time.

Not quite ready to retire, but far closer to that than to the beginning of my career. Now I listen to the guys who talk about shlepping their kids to soccer or ballet and smile at fond memories.

Sometimes You Can Feel Opportunity…Knock

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Sometimes you think your life is going to go a particular way and then something happens that makes it clear that what you expected to happen won’t.

Those changes aren’t always easily read so you can’t determine whether the new direction is something to be excited or concerned about.

But sometimes there is a moment where you can smell changes in the air and gain a sense that something is about to happen.

And sometimes you can feel opportunity begin to stretch and warm up because it is about to…knock.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com

What Will Your Story Look Like?

I don’t know how to answer that question yet, but I suspect I will soon.