Amazon Kindle

For the past couple of weeks I have been adrift in life's doldrums.  There are a number of factors that led me to this state, but I won't get into that on this very public forum. I am not sure what it is going to take to get me out of this funk, but I am sure that a gust will come along sooner or later to blow wind back in my sails.

In the meantime, I have been looking for inspiration. Inspiration comes from many sources, and in many forms, but for me at this time in my life I am looking for inspiration from historic literature. This summer I ordered an Amazon Kindle that I was not able to receive until I got home in July. I had mulled over the idea of buying a kindle for nearly a year before I took the plunge, and in retrospect I find it a little strange that finance was not one of the factors when I was weighing the pros and cons of the purchase. Nevertheless, I had leveraged my desire to read against my opportunities to read and despite the great possibility my Kindle would sit around collecting dust, I made the purchase.

Just in the month of August I have read five books. I am not sure how long the books are since they are digital, but I have invested quite a bit of time reading when other family duties weren't calling, and more often in the evenings when I was out of town on temporary duty. I looked for inspiration in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and another biography on George Washington. Both are free on Amazon and I appreciate the writing for the historic perspectives they were written in. For instance, I truly enjoyed reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography because he wrote it and explained many aspects of his life from his own feelings and in his own time. At the same time, I truly enjoyed William Roscoe Thayer's research into the life of George Washington. Since the book was published in 1922, he provided in his conclusion the perspective of an America that was sucked into World War I. This was addressed by the author since Washington in his final address warned against American - a new nation - getting involved in European affairs.

Both Franklin and Washington were great and stood prominently in the light of our founding fathers. Especially in Washington's biography it was easy to see how dirty politics could be. Washington was a consummate politician and Thayer put forth many facts that would lead one to believe America would have never survived without him at the helm. Looking at Washinton's life and reading a comment made by Theodore Roosevelt in his autobiography (that I am currently reading), it lends credence to Teddy's thought that a politician should not depend solely on his political career for his livelihood. The need for reelection without any other source of income will compromise a man's ethics. Washington led the Revolutionary Army free of charge and never needed an income during his eight year presidency given his vast property at Mount Vernon. So sometimes, a search for inspiration can lead to depression given our current state of affairs in D.C.

I also read the book Letters of a Woman Homesteader, The Red Badge of Courage, and a book that Megan purchased so she could read while we were riding all over God's green America, Looking for Alaska. Of these three, I especially enjoyed Letters of a Woman Homesteader. Once again, the historic perspective and the picture she painted through her letters to a previous employer was fascinating, given the period to be early 1900s. Who knew you could still homestead that late in American history?

Maybe through these books and my Kindle I will find some inspiration. Who knows? At the very least, however, I will have something to do in lieu of watching TV. For some reason, our cable TV company has been playing some of the most God-awful programs one after the other every night of the week. I can't seem to get a break.

Update

It has been a while since I posted on my blog.  Partly because noteworthy events have been sparse over the past couple of weeks and partly because I just haven't felt like posting.

Megan is back in school now and seems to be fully integrated back into her studies. Only time will tell whether she is really studying in her room, or if she is just chatting on MSN messenger.  If it becomes too hard to concentrate, I hope she decides to do the right thing without too much parental control.

Things at work for me move along. We are in the last field activity for this fiscal year (fiscal years ends Sep 30).  I have a lot going on, but nothing unusual or noteworthy.

It seems Diep has the most going on. We are moving along with the paperwork for her to get her citizenship interview. No date yet, but I imagine we will be back in the U.S. towards the end of this year for her interview, test and swearing in.  She is in Saigon right now overseeing some repairs to her mother's house. They have been a long time coming, and Diep is handling the money, contracting and payments. I just hope she manages to get her tasks done without being too bossy about it. She is very particular about the way things are done and she can be a little difficult if you don't get it right.

A final note. I closed by Facebook account for the time being. I ran into some difficulties with my real social network because of the virtual social network we all know as Facebook.  Without too much detail, I had a problem with someone I had accepted a friendship from. It came back to haunt me in my real life and rather than unfriending the offending component, I thought I would give unhooking from the scene a try for a little while. The first couple of days, I have experienced some habitual withdrawal symptoms. I enjoy looking at other people's pictures and I enjoy the comments I get from other people on my pictures, but I don't know that I can justify the amount of time I spent on FB for those basic pleasures. The good news is that FB doesn't actually delete your account right away, so if I decide to come back I don't have to rebuild it from scratch.