Clones Are People Two....

OK, it's not a Mike "Original." But, you have to agree it was certainly worth stealing.

The World Famous Sapster-Wapster-Papster-Schmapster

My old girlfriend, Saps. Twelve years old, slowing
down, but still a lot of puppy in her. Showing off
her new Tee Shirt, which became absolutely filthy in
about two hours. This dog should by rights be bald
for all the fur she sheds.

As I write this she is sitting on my feet (not BY my
feet!) trying telepathically to get me to take her for
a walk.

Oh ALL RIGHT!! I don't (and will never) have anything
better to do.

my old sweetie...

Third Monday in April...

The Boston Marathon. The Grand Daddy of them all.
Traditionally run on the third Monday in April. 12
Noon start from the town square of Hopkinton, Mass.
Except for the Olympics it's the only marathon in
which one is required to qualify. My last one was the
101st running in 1997. My 17th (and probably last)
marathon.

I LOVED running Boston. It was the highlight of my
running calendar. This photo is from the 1988 race.
I finished in 2 hours, 42 minutes and eight seconds.
Good for 330th place out of several thousand runners.
For a "Ham and Egger" I wasn't too bad back then.

Even now I get a case of the nerves in the week
leading up to the date of the race. Spring for you
may start on March 20th, but for me it will ALWAYS
start the day after Boston.

roll the dice

if you're going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don't even start.

if you're going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or
4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is a gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you'll do it
despite rejection and the
worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you're going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the
gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride straight to
perfect laughter, it's
the only good fight
there is.

-My Man - Charles Bukowski (from "What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire)

I Gotta Meet This Woman

live with intention.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is.
-mary anne radmacher

'Course she's probably 106 years old and her idea of living on the edge is to skip her Metamucil for a day...

Personalized License Plates

I'm a fan of Personalized Plates. I love to figure out their messages. The more cryptic the better. When they give a clue as to the owner's interests or identity, that's fine. Just plain funny is great.

But these people who can only declare the model vehicle they're driving are pathetic. You know the ones, "LXS" on a Lexus, "HUMMR" on a Hummer. That sort of thing. It seems they are always on a higher end set of wheels. What they are saying is "I have no imagination, no creativity. In fact, no brains. If I didn't identify the type of vehicle I am driving I wouldn't know what it is. But, more importantly I want YOU to to be aware what I'm driving." If that's all the better these morons can do they should A.) not be allowed to have Personal Plates, and B.) they should not be allowed to have a luxury automobile. Just a personal observation.

Do I have Personal Plates? Of course...GDDYUP!

I SMELL REFUND!!!

Really?!?! No. Not really. (That joke was old five years ago) With a few strokes of his trusty, rusty computer my friendly CPA with the bad haircut took me from the emotional high of a $1400 refund to $2700-Bye-bye-Oh. Ouch! More painful than a prostate exam. Thanks Mike. And for this I hooked him up with streaming internet radio so his customers wouldn't be subjected to the mindless blathering of the local AM talk station playing in his office?

The annual ritual of being roasted over the financial coals has passed.

But, we're still friends...

What I'd Give for a Close Shave

Did you ever notice no matter how hard you try and no matter what equipment or technique you use you can never get a truly smooth shave? Using twin blades, Mach 3 or Quattro makes no difference. Forget electric. I can shave my mug for a half hour and STILL as I'm driving to work I always find a spot I missed. Of course, that spot then bugs me all day.

They can put a man on the moon, but...

Puerto Rico

You know...I love Puerto Rico. The weather is great. The scenery is great. The people are great. For me it's a little piece of Heaven. If I lived there though I would be located in either Ponce or maybe Rincon. More laid back, not so touristo. Although Mick lives in San Juan, it's a bit too much.

But can there be a better place to Salsa than in San Juan? No way.

Plus there's always the challenge of figuring out how to drive through the mountains.

I'll say this though: They don't speak Spanish down there. They speak "Spanglish!" Not that I can understand either.

Mick and me (that's Mick on the right)

Mick and me (that's Mick on the right)
Originally uploaded by MikeWigal.

Mick, Scotty, me and Mick's work amigos from the Ritz-Carlton in San Juan, PR

Mick, Scotty, me and Mick's work amigos from the Ritz-Carlton in San Juan, PR
Originally uploaded by MikeWigal.

Lost in the Cordillera...

Saturday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Came down a couple days ago to visit Mick, my son. He works days, so we only see each other after 7 PM when he gets off work. My nephew, Scotty, is with me. We rented a car today to cruise the island. Drove west a couple hours to Rincon, a beautiful artsy kind of town on the west coast. I went snorkelling at a beach called the Steps. It's an off-the-beaten-path kind of place. The reef is only a few feet deep, starting at the water's edge. Which is it's biggest problem. The ease of access has just about killed it. The once glorious Staghorn coral is all but gone. What skeletal remains still standing are covered by some almost cancerous type of growth. Aside from a few Brain Coral and some reef fish, the area is dead. If you consider a coral reef to be a single organism, this is a hell of a thing to have killed due to it being loved too much. I saw much of the same thing in the Red Sea. It's clear we are killing at least the shallower reefs. I'm glad I got to see some relatively healthy reefs back in the 70's.

Anyway, I always wanted to go up into the Puerto Rican mountains, which form the backbone of the island. This range is called the Cordillera. So after some searching and wrong turns I found a route up to the mountain ridge. Well, I must have been wearing my bad decision pants, because it turned out to be just that. After a hair-raising climb on a pretty narrow road we reached the top of the ridge. I've never seen a road with so many twists and turns. Somehow I must have got off course, because the road was no wider than a bike path in some locations. And I'd swear we were climbing at a 45 degree angle in places. But, even though we were clearly lost and NOT making good time, we knew something was up when we passed the same dog twice. Only he was laying on the opposite side of the road in front of an identical house with an identical couch we had passed 30 minutes earlier. After some dead reckoning we found a route down off the ridge toward what we hoped was civilization. Because I was getting concerned about running out of gas I put the car in Neutral as we coasted down. I went over three miles before I had to use the accelerator. When we arrived in the town of Yuaco I realized that for almost two hours driving we had made only about 10 miles of forward progress! But, for a while there I felt like I was flying a World War II fighter plane.

So we were late getting back to San Juan. But, all's well that ends well. Had a good dinner with Mick and got him safely home by 11:30. It's Saturday night and the natives are coming out to party. The prime party spot in PR is the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel, right across from my humble hotel. The traffic is unbelieveable. But, the fashions are even MORE unbelieveable. Yikes! Muy Caliente! 'nuf said.

Saad tries to Kill the White Guy

000018
Originally uploaded by MikeWigal.

A picture says a thousand words

I like the CONCEPT of humanity...

I just can't stand people.

My Letter of Resignation

March 21,2005


XXXXX X XXXXXXX
XXXXX College
75 College Avenue
XXXXXXXXXX,XX 07734


Dear Dr. XXXXXXX:


Time and tide have brought me to these unfamiliar shores. As you well know, with the death of Jan, my life has undergone and continues to undergo profound changes. The support of the Administration, Faculty and Staff throughout her illness and following her passing has been a great source of comfort for me. For that I will always be grateful.

But, at this point I find I am drawn in a different direction. Consequently I am submitting my resignation, effective the end of the 2005 Academic Year.
I will always be indebted to you and to XXXXX College for the wonderful opportunity afforded me. These past three-plus years have truly been a life changing experience. I thank you for that.

Sincerely,



Michael R. Wigal



CC: XXXX XXXXXX, Director of Admissions
Human Resources

It's Done

Well, I cut my ties, sort of. I will cease my employment at the end of May. Even then they are willing, at least in theory, to have me do some work on a contractual basis. Hey, OK by me. If the work is interesting I'm interested. If not, I'll take a pass.

Have already gotten a couple possibly intriguing offers. I'm not jumping on anything yet. First, I have until the end of May and after that I have lots of travel plans, so for now I'm keeping my powder dry, so to speak.

I'll post the resignation letter tonight.

For now I feel pretty good. There were some tears, mine and theirs. But many congratulations too. I'll just have to get used to it.

Otherwise I think I'll post a picture of my new friend I've met.

Lock and Load...

I've spent the weekend mulling over my decision to resign from my job. I am committed. Or maybe I should be committed. It goes against our mind-sets to quit a job without some definite other employment to jump to. We are ingrained to be at work. When we meet someone new one of the first things we ask and are asked is "so, what kind of work do you do?" It's largely how we define ourselves.

So, I am stepping away from that. It's a little like stepping off the edge of a cliff into the unknown. But, it is something I must do. After Jan's passing I find the daily grind to be just that. By the time I get home in the evening, take care of the dog and get a bite to eat, I'm beat. There's little to no time for anything else. I want to be free to explore the other possibilities in life. I have many travel plans for this summer. Some possibly interesting employment (part-time) possibilities. I'm on the Board of Directors of the local Crisis Intervention center. They always want me to increase my volunteer hours from the current "nothing" to "something."

Financially I'm OK. So if I chose employment or ANYTHING it will be strictly because it is interesting to me.

So tonight I'm nervous. It's still a helluva thing to do. But I know it is the right thing for me to do.

More tomorrow.........................

Home is the Hunter, home from the hills.....

Arrived in the 'Burgh around midnight last night. Stayed at the airport Hyatt (one last night in a hotel). Picked up the dog and finally got back to my house this afternoon. She (the dog) is pissed at me I think. And why not? Seven weeks away from her. I'm not sure she even remembers who I am.

But I wish to thank all those whose very presence during the trip made it memorable.

To Saad, Jennifer and Michelle (Taiwan), Wendy, George, Katherine, Usha, The Big "A", the singing Mr. Gupte, Joseph (special thanks), Boyd, Jason, Nasser, Hani, Rashid, John, Arvind, Peter, Miro, Silma, Ani, Bahar, Richard, Paul, Jennifer (Not from Taiwan), Eva, and anyone else whose name slips my brain right now, strictly due to jetlag, I assure you, I thank you all for enriching my life these past few weeks.

To Eddie, Mary, Betsy, Lynn and me Mum, thanks for keeping e-tabs on me during the trip.

In Mike's perfect world we all be together always.

On the other hand, to the SOB at the Emirate's counter in Delhi, who shook me down for 156 bucks (after I talked him down from $200!) for "excess baggage", I'll see you in Hell. If only I believed in Hell.

I know, I know... That's not the Buddhist philosophy. Hey, it's a work in progress.

The new Czech "Skoda" next to an ancient Trabant. 

An Old Trabant (East German?) next to a Beemer