In the past few days after a series of sunny days here in the Northwest, the snow-covered hills and mountains could be seen for miles. In fact, I don't recall seeing so distinctly the nearby hills, that it really surprised me that they were actually that high. I have lived in the same area for 26 years.
However, today, as I turned the corner on the way to work, it was back to the same-ol, same-ol. The clouds shrouded the hills back to their old stunted looking selves. For me, familiarity breeds comfort and seeing them the way that I am used to seeing them surprised me at first, since it's been so darn clear out after enduring a particularly dismal winter, but then I realized that God was humoring me. I had to laugh.
As I turned the corner this morning, the hillside view was again shrouded in clouds, just as life often is shrouded in mystery. Quickly, it was back to reality with the routinely, cloudy, Northwest weather. It was refreshing to have a glimpse of what view is possible, a way at looking at life differently.
As a side note, the hills are not completely visible in the summer either as the hazy smog does a good job covering them up.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Giving up TV for Lent
I haven't posted on this blog since 2015. I have started another blog on Wordpress and debated on whether to import this blog into one of the other Wordpress blogs that I am thinking about starting. I still may, but I may also leave this as is because, to me, it almost has the nature of a journal. The other blogs are more "promotional" in nature.
I am into the second day of Lent and have been OK since deciding to give up TV for 40 days. I got to thinking, what constitutes TV? Is streaming video on your computer or smartphone TV? Well, yes, because the way we view TV is changing. We don't all hang out and watch one TV program anymore. We are all on our individual devices watching individual programs or flipping through Facebook checking to see what vies for our attention.
Now, I am not giving up all video, as I am going to make a concerted effort to get some additional training that is offered on my computer and some of it includes video. What I am giving up is my usual nightly routine of watching the local network news and then the national network news and any other programs that I like to watch and any other mindless TV that I flip around watching. The one thing that I will miss, is sitting down with my husband to watch whatever he is watching. Generally, I don't always care for the same programming that he likes to watch but I like to have that sense of watching something together and spending time together. I like spending time together with him and watching TV is a good way to unwind.
As I've gotten older, I tend not to like as much noise and the commercials always seem to be louder than I like so I mute them. Sometimes I use the DVR to bypass them altogether.
Of course, I can always do something computer related like I am right now, but I plan to be more productive, like getting rid of clutter, cleaning, etc. I just have to wait for the sun to come out so that I can see the dust.
I am into the second day of Lent and have been OK since deciding to give up TV for 40 days. I got to thinking, what constitutes TV? Is streaming video on your computer or smartphone TV? Well, yes, because the way we view TV is changing. We don't all hang out and watch one TV program anymore. We are all on our individual devices watching individual programs or flipping through Facebook checking to see what vies for our attention.
Now, I am not giving up all video, as I am going to make a concerted effort to get some additional training that is offered on my computer and some of it includes video. What I am giving up is my usual nightly routine of watching the local network news and then the national network news and any other programs that I like to watch and any other mindless TV that I flip around watching. The one thing that I will miss, is sitting down with my husband to watch whatever he is watching. Generally, I don't always care for the same programming that he likes to watch but I like to have that sense of watching something together and spending time together. I like spending time together with him and watching TV is a good way to unwind.
As I've gotten older, I tend not to like as much noise and the commercials always seem to be louder than I like so I mute them. Sometimes I use the DVR to bypass them altogether.
Of course, I can always do something computer related like I am right now, but I plan to be more productive, like getting rid of clutter, cleaning, etc. I just have to wait for the sun to come out so that I can see the dust.
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