Vacation in NC

I haven't posted for a while because I was on vacation to the beautiful land of North Carolina! My good friend Tom's daughter Megan lives and works in Statesville, NC, and my daughter Rachael is best of friends with her as well.

The total distance traveled was over 1,700 miles, but my van was made for trips like that and we had a good time getting there, a great time there, and a bittersweet time coming back home. We were guests in Megan's home for four all-too-brief days and she was the perfect hostess.

While there, I was very impressed with the lay of the land, the warm winter weather, and the local cuisine. I especially enjoyed the salmon filet steaks that I ate at "Gluttons" restaurant (you gotta love that name!) and the hours of fellowship playing games with beloved friends - I didn't want it to end. Sigh.

The memories are deep and rich - listening to the girls sing and enjoy themselves at a local Karyoke bar, laughing and enjoying good food at Kobe's Japanese restaurant, and watching "Santa" stumble around in Starbucks - yes, I will cherish the memories of this vacation for a long time! Lord willing, we'll be able to do it again someday.

Bill's Favorite Things

Inspired by the "Living By Faith" blog post, here is a list of my five favorite things...

#1 - Reading. I love to read. I am very much like "Mr. Henry Bemis" from the Twilight Zone in that literature is my favorite hobby. Close on the heals of reading I like writing and computer programming -- which is in essence another form of writing. My favorite format for books is the eBook format on my Palm Treo 755P and my favorite book is the Holy Bible.

#2 - My Children. I have a son, a daughter, and a grandchild - Michael, Rachael, and Jacob. The significant others of my children are also important to me - Sarah and Joe. I have been blessed by God to have been able to raise my children from childhood to adulthood without significant problems and now they are self-sufficient with families of their own. Praise the Lord!

#3 - Retirement. With my children being grown adults and independent now, I have been retired from the proverbial "rat race" for about five years with no regrets. Retirement doesn't mean that I don't work -- it just means that I work when I feel like it and do something else when I feel like it. Retirement is the culmination of a plan that is established when young and followed carefully as the years pass. Perhaps more than anything else - retirement means establishing strict self-control of spending habits early in life.

#4 - Rib-Eye Steaks. Yum yum! Along with salmon, rib-eye steaks are my favorite food. Just thinking about a good rib-eye steak along with a fine wine is enough to "perk me up". Recently, my mother, sister, brother, sister-in-law, and I purchased ¾ of a cow that was hand-raised by a man that my brother works with. At a price of close to $3.00 a pound for the most quality meat we've ever had, it was quite a bargain!

#5 - Survivorman! My favorite program on television is the Survivorman series staring Les Stroud. It may seem strange for a guy like me who is primarily an indoor dweller who relishes modern living to enjoy such a back-to-nature show as this, but it always pleases me to watch Les surviving while I sit back on the proberbial "easy chair", drinking cup in hand, thanking God every moment that I'm here and he's out there!