Well I had to sever the facebook earlier; kind of like ripping the bandaide quickly.  I feel bad that several people did not get back to me and I wont be able to keep in contact with them.  That is what I found the biggest plus to facebook was; reconnecting me to old friends.  So, I am going to try the old ways

1. Calling people
2. Mailing a letter
3. Calling people

Don't get me wrong, these new social networks are great but I really dont like how facebook has gotten

1. Advertising
2. Timeline
3. Running thread on the right hand side to see what friends are doing.
4. Suggesting facebook pages I might want to view on my page
5. Security setting that drive you nuts.

Anyway, so I hopped off.  Im going to try different things.  I am going to try reading more.  Walking more.  Just using time better.

TTFN

Fletch

Here I go on a new adventure.  On Sunday April 5th 2013, I will be deleting my Facebook account.  I loved Facebook when it was simple but as time has gone on they have added so much stuff that I am just tired of it all.  I hate reviewing security setting when a change has happened to verify I am not sharing my friends info out.  I have spent many hours reviewing that security and now I am done.  I have tried to collect information from my friends on facebook but I have barley scraped the surface.  I hope that I have gotten enough information so I can keep in contacts with all those people I reunited with via facebook.  We shall see if I can stay away.  I plan to do more calling, emailing, snail mail and even just going over and talking.  I plan to post here and there to keep my friends on the internet posted on what I am doing.  I hope you all find this a website to drop by now and again and post a comment.  Look forward to figuring this new technology out.  Hope to hear from many of my friends and family through this form or just giving me a call.
TTFN
Mike Fletcher

A White Christmas

It happened and it is hard to beleive..... This year for the week of Christmas, Portland Oregon had a White Christmas... OK, the weather was starting to change as of Christmas but it did snow once and there was lots of snow on the ground so I am counting it as a White Christmas for Portland Oregon. Nothing beats a white Christmas, snowball fights with my kids, snowman building with the youngest child, walking in the snow, staying warm in the house after being outside with a Hot Chocolate or a Baleys and Coffee :-) The bad weather came into Portland for a week and then in two days melted away leaving very little behind of what happened. It has been YEARS, I'm am thinking atleast 10 to 15, that Portland has had snow at Christmas and this years was a good one. We recieved over the week long event a foot and a half of snow and the drifting was remarkable. The amount of snow in the streets would not let any vehicle that sat low to drive on them. The site was beautiful and although it was hard to get around it was outstanding.
Today, the snow is gone. There is a ton of gravel on the side of the road and leftover card chains scattered here and there. The rain is back as usual and the east wind has gone away. Although the rain is not much fun, its nice to be able to get about without driving 20 miles/hour everywhere.. I will cherish the memory and the fun that the 2008 Arctic Free brought to Portland and hopefully in my future I will get to see another White Christmas but until then I will have to be happy with my grey wet winters.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

TTFN
Fletch

Election and the "Great Melting Pot"

Well, I have my mail in ballot and other than the ballot measures it is complete; will be tracking those down tonight. As I filled out my ballot, I thought to myself "Wow, this has be another polarizing election". Why does it seem like the elections lately have been nothing more than a match to make the other side angry. So angry that maybe they wont vote for their candidate but the other candidate. Is this really necessary? Is that what we have come to is nothing more than people controlled by our emotions? I am so mad at the other side and there lack of understanding for my side that I hope the worst for them. Is this good? Should we really be a nation of finger pointers always looking at the opposite side and saying "They did it.", "That's their fault.","If they would only do it our way!". What happen to the "Great American Melting Pot"? That land where people all around the world wished they could make it to because they heard that people are FREE there. The land of milk and honey were a person who works hard can make a decent living and maybe even make a fortune if that is what they want. I think we have lost this. I think the nation has been polarized so long that you don't even want to bring up politics or religion in a casual conversation any more worried you might offend the person your talking with.

So, where will America be after this election? Will the American people become less polarized? Will either side be OK with the other side winning? Will we become a UNITED States again? I am thinking these things wont happen and that we will just be more polarized. I am thinking that we are going to debate until the next election and not be UNITED but DIVIDED as we have been for the last 8+ years. I think we are losing in America and that we can not accept difference anymore. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the uncomfortable conversation I had the other day with friends of opposite political ideas was just a settling of differences. Or maybe I am right and Americans are just going to become further and further divided until America is no longer what it has always stood for - "The Great Melting Pot".

Common Sense, Is it dead?

Lately I have found myself asking the question, "Is common sense dead?". To some this might seem like a silly or stupid question but for me it seems to be the question that answers "Why" everything seems to be so bad in our society today. Lets look at a political example. Our gloriuos president, George Bush, took us to war in Iraq because of he though Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass distruction. Now I was like all the other sheep in America and agree with Mr. Bush that if this were so then he did have the right to take use to war. Come to find out, Bush and his administration lied to us; us meaning the American People. Now shouldn't someone in Bush's administration be held accountable for this lie that has lead the US to war with Iraq or am I missing something? Isn't it "Common Sense" to think that lie is a bad thing and therefor should have consequences? When my children lie to me, I punish them. Ok, maybe that exampl is too extreme. Let me describe an example that I see consistantly in the city I work in; Portland Or. Now I can't claim that Portland City Planners are very intelligent since the roads in downtown seem to be a mixture of one way streets and two way streets and there doesn't appear to be a reason for why one street is one way or the other. The good news is in the USA you can tell what kind of a street you are turning onto by the color the dashed line is. If you turn onto a road with a White dashed line then its a one way road that eveyone is moving the same direction on. If the road has a yellow dashed line then there is two way traffic on the road. As I walk in downtown Portland, I see people pull out of building parking lots the wrong way down a road. This could be explained away by them simply not being aware of the area but when you see someone turn down one of these roads when there is already a vehicle traveling the right way down the road then that is a different story. I guess I expect people that drive a car to have "Common Sense" and know the rules of the road; oh yeah and follow those rules. It is amazing how un-aware drivers are.

OK, there are two examples of "Common Sense" not being so common. I am starting to think we need to relabel this phrase and call it "Uncommon Sense" since it is obvious to me that it doesn't seem to be around any more. Well, I just thought I would ask the question and see what people thought. Have a great day.