James Stabile Informational Newsletter

January 2005

Discussion of the Month...

January 2005. Happy New Year! Can you believe it? We are almost halfway through the first decade of the 21st century. Unreal. 

Time for New year resolutions. Every year we are fortunate to review our place in this world. We are given the time to reflect on our life and determine what has worked and what has not worked. Take the opportunity to review your life. I know time goes fast. I know we are busy. But we need to "reboot" every once in awhile. Take the New Year to reboot.

Remember my resolutions from last year, 2004:

            My 2004 New Year Resolutions (At least the ones I choose to reveal):

            1. Buy some new clothes...
            2. Once a week I will do some light dusting of furniture, etc, run the vacuum and clean the bathrooms...
          3. Do some home improvements...

How did I do with my 2004 resolutions? Not too bad. I did buy some new clothes, but I have continued to wear the old, baggy ones as well. I can't give up that old, comfortable feeling.

I think that I am cleaning on a more regular basis. I don't do everything on my list every single week. It gets done in a timely matter. May I make perfectly clear, my home is clean. I'm one person, how fast can it get "dirty"? I'm proud to say that I am not one of those people who takes delight in cleaning and over cleaning. Cleaning my home is not one of my compulsive/obsessive tendencies. Another thing, I don't make a special point to clean when I expect company. I may tidy up, but that's the extent of it. I figure, one can appear at my door unannounced at any time and I will not be embarrassed by the condition of my home.

Home improvements, well I do change my AC filter on a regular basis. I haven't tackled those big projects, yet, but I'm thinking about them. No, I haven't remodeled the patio. No, I haven't gotten an estimate for the new sliding glass doors, nor for the hurricane shutters. I plan to pursue the patio door and the shutters Spring of 2005, yea, that's it. My sink in the master bathroom still needs those supply values repaired. A little stream of water comes out when I turn on the faucets, that's enough. Anyway I use the main bathroom for my primping - shaving, brushing my teeth, etc. I may tackle the supply valves during the first week of January.

I know that I have done some home improvements since December 2003. Let me think. Yes, I did replace all of those light bulbs over the vanities in both bathrooms. I think I did that last summer. I fixed the warming lights, in the bathrooms, after I attempted to change the bulbs and broke the socket. I did go to Lowe's retrieve the correct sockets, (Home Depot did not have them) and installed them. That was towards the end of last summer. In the Fall of 2004 I replaced the dimmer switch in the dining room. I change the AC filter on a regular basis. See I have completed many home repair projects. 2005 I will get to the really big ones. 

So for 2005, many of my resolutions will be pretty much the same as the ones for 2004. I guess I'm a work in progress. One big resolution for 2005 is to call my family and friends more often. I can't believe months go by and I don't call my brothers and sisters. The excuse is always the same, too busy. Well too busy will not do it any longer. That's right I am going to find the time to telephone each of my siblings on a regular basis, busy or not and whether they are busy or not, by goodness I will converse with my family more often in 2005. So, get ready.

Christmas was fine this year. I missed not seeing my family and friends. Oh didn't you know, I didn't make it to Pennsylvania this Christmas. I was already to go. I had my suitcase packed. The weather was just too iffy. On Thursday, December 23 the weather forecast in Sharon called for rain, freezing rain and then snow. The temperature was forecasted to fall from a high in the 40's to zero and subzero. How could I leave the comfort of Florida for the unpredictable, frigid weather of northeastern Pennsylvania?

Another factor was the situation with the airlines. I suppose my flight would have been just fine, but the weather conditions in the mid-west and the unpredictability of the airlines may me rethink my holiday plan. As it turned out my USAirways flight was delayed for over 2 hours in Fort Lauderdale due to weather conditions elsewhere. I found out on Sunday that USAir cancelled 400 flights over the holiday due to computer problems and personnel absenteeism. It seems that a unthinkable number of flight attendants and baggage handlers called in sick over the Christmas weekend. As I stated earlier, I would have probably been just fine, but who needs the gamble. 

Another contributing factor in this dilemma was the fact that for the last 2 weeks I felt like I was fighting off the commencement of a cold. Thursday, December 24 it hit. My cold really wasn't that bad. I had been taking Zicam for a few days before, in fact as of the date of this writing (12.28.04), I'm still taking Zicam. I have a cold, but the cold hasn't rendered me in capacitated or even close. I think this is due to Zicam. I swear by Zicam. It really cuts down on the severity of the cold. It also cuts the duration of the cold. It doesn't just alleviate the symptoms, it has been proven to tackle the cold itself. Zicam is my hero. I wrote about Zicam in the May 2004 edition of this newsletter.

So Christmas was quiet and peaceful. My celebration of the birth of the Christ Child was simple but meaningful. It wasn't lonely, even though I was alone. It was joyful. I hope everyone is provided with the opportunity to spend some quality time with themselves, away form the distraction of others. Don't get me wrong, others are important. I value and yearn for the time I spend with my family, especially at Christmas, but I appreciate and value my time alone, too. 

Sometimes people spend their time trying to not to be alone. They busy themselves with planning activities with this one or that one, anyone, not to be alone. I think you have to be comfortable with yourself. After all in the end it's with you, you have to live, each to his or her own. Seriously, take the time to get to know that person you see in the mirror. He or she is your best friend, he or she is the only one who really knows you and cares about you. Edith Bunker would say something like, I don't need to depend on you Archie, cause I know I can depend on me. (See the Entertainment section.)

No Christmas decorations for me this year. I just wasn't in the mood. I celebrated Christmas, but I didn't have all those commercial things around, the kind of mundane things that are supposed to get you in the spirit of Christmas. I was in the Christmas spirit, but it didn't come form those decorations, it came from within. The decorations are nice and I usually decorate. Next year I will probably decorate again. But for this year I wanted the emptiness that a room without decorations provides. I guess I wanted to feel the emptiness of my physical surroundings with the abundance of Christmas memories that I possess from the past. I think it worked. I still have the memories. Thank you for the memories.

January 2005 Newsletter 
Discussion of the Month    Entertainment    Health, Fitness and Lifestyle   Politics    Religion and Spiritualism    Technology and Business