Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

The world this morning from my living room couch

I'm sitting on the couch in our living room right now looking east for any signs of the sun.  And I've been thinking about retiring this blog.

I started "Daily Grit" in October 2004 as an experiment.  I wanted to wrap my head around the writing style for blogs and around their utility for communicating in all types of positions.  I've learned a lot.

Since then I've written more than 1,700 posts about everything.  Much has centered around my life at that time and about my inexorable move as a member of the first class of baby-boomers towards being a senior citizen.

This morning I went back to the posts I wrote during my first blog year from October 2004 through the next twelve months.  What have I learned as a 63-year-old male?  To help me sort through those lessons, I will continue this blog for a while longer. 

What age are you?  What have you learned?  What have you not figured out yet?  What answers are you finding?

I'll be back.

We've switched from drapes in our living room to Levalor vertical blinds

This is not earth-shaking, but we dumped our drapes in our living room for Levalor's vertical blinds.

Somehow we got in the crosshairs of our traverse rod holding our drapes.  We couldn't restring it and we couldn't get a new one to operate the way it should.  The drapes just didn't hang right.  So, we decided to change.

When we took our coupon to the local J.C. Pennys, we had a very helpful clerk and we had lots of choices.  For less than $300 we had custom vertical blinds.

Installation of the brackets was patience-producing and the valance still seems to be a challenge, but we'll get it.

Here's a photo record of our last steps in getting them installed:

My "Wes Thorp Video Two Minutes"--Check it out

I'm trying to live intentionally as taught and described by Dr. Randy Carlson.  At times, I've felt like a deer stuck in the headlights of a car.  I'm a member of the first class of baby-boomers who were born in 1946.  That means I'm a senior citizen in training.

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Tags: baby-boomers, intentional living, dr. randy carlson, michigan, anniversary

Can I use this blog to help me wend my way through the transitions of becoming a senior citizen?

WHY THIS BLOG?

I've had this blog for a little more than three years.  And during that time I have tried to refine my purpose for it and have tried to identify my potential audience.

If I don't do this, then I'm afraid that this blog will wander out into the ozone of the blogosphere with little noise and even less effect.  It's time for me to do it again.

I have firmly entered some heavy-duty transitions in my life and I want to make sure that I know where I want to go and what I want to do.

Then I want to make firm moves to get it done.  It's far too easy to let time slide by without anything to show for it. 

RE-PURPOSING THIS BLOG

Here goes on my re-purposed thoughts on this blog:

• First, my most important audience is me.  Yeah, I'm writing it for myself.  Why, you ask?

I'm sixty-one years old and I know the clock is ticking and that the number of ticks I have left are getting fewer and fewer.  More than ever before I want to make time count. 

This means knowing my priorities and devoting my attention to them. In the past, I've been very cause driven.   I've wanted to do my part to make this world a better place to live.

During much of my life I felt that I could best do that through being a newspaper reporter and then through politics.  That experience left me feeling less than satisfied that I was moving towards my goal.

DOING BLOG BRAIN DUMPS

• This blog is a place where I can throw down ideas and see how they sound.  It might be a full-fledged treatment of what I'm thinking or it might be bits and pieces.  Firming up my beliefs is important to me.  With the Daily Grit, I can write them down on virtual paper and then refine them. 

Sometimes it might sound stupid, questionable, searching, curious.  But, it will be my thought process at work.

• Second audience for this blog will be others who are searching for the purpose and for their place in the world.  Perhaps, there can be a synergy of encouragement and ideas that can be useful to others.

• Third audience would be those interested in what I'm reading, what I'm hearing and what I've experienced.  I read a ton of varied fare online and I'd like to share it through links and comments.  I'm particularly interested in my home state of Michigan and how it deals with its serious problems. 

As a member of the first class of baby boomers, I've had a wide-variety of experience.  It's time to start sharing some of that for anybody who might be interested and who might gain from it.

I will continue this effort from time to time to refine my purpose for this blog.  My hope is that it will be valuable for me and for the audiences that I mentioned.

Reviewed again on Jan. 6,2008

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Tags: blogs, daily grit, blog writing, baby boomer, michigan, purpose driven life, intentional living

My retirement refirement: Learning Intentional Living from Family Life Communications

Yesterday, I posted about being a sixty-year-old retired baby-boomer and my recognition that it's time to move into the refirement stage.  I don't have this all figured out yet, but I do have some directions.

I know that I have to start moving forward with INTENT.  My wife and I have been monthly financial supporters of Dr. Randy Carlson and his radio program Parent Talk which has transitioned into Intentional Living. 

On the surface, it seems like his intentional life principles are incredibly relevant for people my age.

I will be reading and listening.  I'm happy to see that he has an Intentional Living website.  I will report back.

Technorati Tags: retirement, baby-boomers, intentional living, randy carlson

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