In response to a few postings from various authors and other visitors to this site of late, but mostly in response to a string begun by Gwen Brown.

If you have ever searched for a job or done any hiring, Indeed is a well known and often used company that helps connect employers and job seekers. But apparently it is also a good place to work as well.

I recently responded to a comment by another member here. The original comment was posted regarding Amazon making a change which resulted in the comment’s author losing purchased reading material on kindle. However, my comment was regarding another comment made in response to that comment.

Yesterday I read a story posted here by Emma Anne Tate, For Us, the Living. Like all of her work, as well as the work of many others on this site, it had me crying. But more importantly, it had me reflecting on my life, my family, and the lives of others.

I was sitting on the couch in my living room this evening, just catching up on my e-Mail from the last several days, while my wife watched TV. We had been watching the news, and when it went off the show ET came on. It was a special broadcast about Celine Dion, so she left it there even though she usually doesn’t watch that show.

Someone thinks I should try writing a story, and thank you JoanneBarbarella, I am flattered. I know this is in conjunction with the recent blog about trying to get new authors involved here, and I truly am stunned that anyone would approach me.

I have been trying to get into the Whateley Academy site, or the Crystal Hall site, to read a few of the stories I haven’t read in years.

Unfortunately, I am unable to get in. I can’t remember my old account, so I tried to create a new one - but it keeps telling me my account has either been locked or has not yet been verified.

When I try to recover my user name or password, I get a message that I will get an e-mail with a code - but I never get the e-mail.

Any suggestions from anyone?

I was wondering what to read this afternoon when one of my sons happened to show me a miniature figure he had just finished painting. He purchased a new game just after Christmas, and he has been painting the figurines that make up the playing pieces. He is very good; a skill which I am proud to say he inherited from me.

I spent many an hour working with him and one of his brothers painting Warhammer 40K figurines and vehicles, and showing him the modeling skills I developed through my childhood and later in engineering classes.

I have much to be thankful for this year - I have survived yet another year, it appears that my immunotherapy has been successful in that I have been cancer free for over a year and a half, the reaction which I had to the immunotherapy seems to have settled down and I am no longer in constant pain from my joints, my mobility has returned to very nearly 100% of what it was previously, and I am still surrounded by my family.

I was looking through my bookmarks this evening, deciding on a story to read, when I started thinking about the authors that I have become acquainted with here and those that I am missing.

Has anyone heard from Elsbeth? She is one of my favorite authors, but she disappeared suddenly around the beginning of Covid.

Bailey Summers posts sporadically and is another of my favorite authors. I hope to see more from Bailey soon as I basically owe my life to Bailey. We’re it not for Bailey, I would probably have eaten the muzzle of my .45 nine or ten years ago.

Over the time I have been on this site I have seen many an author, reader, or simply a poor tortured soul who has expressed themselves either through their writing, or through a posted blog. I myself have found it useful at times to post something, using the site to express my frustrations with some aspect of my life or society in general - or crying out over some emotional issue which is tearing me apart.

As it could be upsetting to some.

Some time back, I posted about having a mole removed from my back and finding out it was melanoma. So, after seeing an oncological surgeon, she sent me for a PET scan. My PET scan came back negative, which was of course great news - but there was of course the fact that my mole still tested out as stage four melanoma. After the PET scan, this was reclassed to stage three based on the results of the scan.

The past several weeks have been......... well, let’s say interesting. You remember the old Chinese curse about living in interesting times? Yeah......... interesting.

A few years ago I noticed a mole on the back of my left shoulder, just above the scapula. It was unfortunately in a location that was visible in certain styles of clothing (annoyingly and unflatteringly so), and over time it became large enough that it occasionally caught on my bra strap or rubbed on my clothing uncomfortably.

Between working remotely (the recent snow storm to hit the east coast resulted in our offices being closed for the past two days) and clearing snow, I starting thinking about the friends and acquaintances I haven’t or heard from in the past year. We are coming up on 12 months since the pandemic hit the shutdown phase, and we began to lose track of a lot of people.

This was really pointed out to me as I was looking for a story to read this evening. While going through my bookmarks, I noticed several stories by Elsbeth.

As I lay here trying to sleep, I started thinking about my life - as I am often prone to do. In light of the fact that technically it is Thanksgiving, being nearly 1:30 AM, I started looking at the things that I have to be thankful for.

First, my family is healthy and safe - which in this time and place is something not to be taken lightly. Given that my spouse, two of my sons, and myself all suffered through Covid-19 in late March and early April, and that we are all doing fine now, I am very thankful for the fact that everyone is healthy.