The First Day of the Rest of My Life – A Day Off – September 6, 2019 – Day 6

It's Friday, the 6^th day of my new adventure. It's been a quiet day. I didn't have to cross the 7 mountains and valleys today. As a matter of fact, I mainly relaxed catching up on responding to comments to my blog posts, sending some emails, communicating with some of the people who attended the conference I ran a few weeks ago and, in general, just relaxing.

However, I just sent a poison pen letter to some nameless (oh wait, everyone at Amazon is named Amazon.com) small-minded nebbish at Amazon in response to one of their stupid, incomprehensible communications relating to a book I published about 20 years ago for one of my many authors. It appears after all this time (they sold the book in hard copy for about ten years or so and made money off it), they decided they don't like the content of the Kindle version of the book.

As usual, they don't tell you what bug is up their ass. They send you a letter and a bunch of links to their myriad policies, rules, etc. Basically, what they are saying is they are now censoring books and setting aside individuals' right to freedom of speech that some jerk – probably a millennial with a degree in “Underwater Basket Weaving” living in their parent's basement – has decided “offends” them because it's politically incorrect or doesn't meet with their warped values. I sure as hell hope they have a HUGE “Safe Place” for these jerks.

I basically, in nicer language than I just used in this article, reamed out whoever will read the response – by the name of Amazon.com, of course. Every once in a while I need to kick some ass – I guess we used to call it kicking the dog. But, I don't kick dogs. But, I don't mind kicking the asses of real asses. I feel much better after doing that. I don't expect I'll ever hear back from them. But, who cares. What are they going to do to me? I have more serious things on my mind and agenda to expend my priceless time on.

I feel invigorated after that. One of the reasons I decided to get out of the world of business after about 50 years was because I had to put up with more and more of this kind of stuff – from all kinds of organizations and institutions. So, you can believe I'm not going to put up with it now.

It was a nice day here in West Virginia today. The sun was out most all day. The temperatures were moderate – and, so far as I can tell, Dorian, the monster hurricane doesn't appear to be having any impact this far inland.

I'm sorry for those along the coast and the areas that were badly impacted, but that's a calculated risk anyone who lives there or has a vacation home in those locations takes. It's sad when someone loses a home or vacation property. And, for sure, it's devastating when someone loses a life or a loved one. But, it's a cost that must be calculated into the choice of living and owning property in locations where natural disasters are known to impact on some kind of frequency.

I've experienced several major hurricanes including driving through one in a 30' motorhome. That was nerve-wracking. I've experienced a number of Nor'easters. I've been through more blizzards over my lifetime than I can count on multiples of my two hands and feet. One, as I recall reached about 6 feet of snow with drifts of 12 to 20 feet.

And, just this year, I was in California when the triple earthquake struck, the strongest one being 7.4 – more powerful than the last major LA and San Francisco earthquakes in the late '80s and the early '90s. I was about 150 miles from the epicenter of the three earthquakes this spring. I felt them.

I've been near some tornadoes, but never seen one in action. And, I was within 100 feet of a lightning strike. And, yes the hair all over my body stood up and the sound was deafening. Mother Nature is a formidable opponent. We seldom beat her at her own game.

I'm basically off for a few days, playing catch up until I have to cross the 7 mountains and valleys again on Tuesday for my next appointment for more testing. So, that's my excitement for today.

Live free and be happy. EH