Coincidentally. . .

. . . it is Sunday. I'm no longer a conventionally-religious person, but on this Sunday morning a recurring issue crossed my mind
and I searched YouTube for some video from one of my heroes.

LISTEN TO THIS MAN. (I think he has the right idea.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XL8LvaJ9Rc

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

The Piano. . .

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

Some might think . . .

. . . it's a morbid thought. Some might just not want to cope with it. Others can't approach it unless they involve some religious or spiritual application. But it can't be avoided. Like the old saw says, the only certain things in life are death and taxes. And by now you've surely deduced that I ain't talkin' bout taxes.

Ah mortality. The concept revisits me each time I lose a friend or family member, or someone else connected to me or my loved ones. It revisits me with a much more definitive presence these days. I'm not preoccupied, mind you. I'm simply coping with life's challenges as they confront me. But the reality of the concept is much clearer to me now that I've past the half-century mark.

So I'll get through this weekend's two funerals. Comfort will be taken from friends and family. Monday, I'll move on. . . a changed person nonetheless. At least a little changed. Life goes on.

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

Drugs in the Nescafe????. . .

It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

"The U.N. Security Council was due to meet Friday to consider actions against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as his regime said it was more than doubling some public sector workers' wages and promised $400 for every family.
Libyan state television said the government was raising wages, increasing food subsidies and ordering special allowances for all families, in its first practical attempt to enroll the support of citizens since the uprising began. . ."(MSNBC)

Taking his cue from King Abdullah.

"Money can't buy everything. You've heard it time again. No, money can't buy happiness. When will you learn that fact of life my friend?" (Ray Jozwiak)

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

Yesterdays news. . .

. . . of the Obama administration's change in stance on the Defense of Marriage Act was most certainly Good News.

Why jettison DOMA to the proverbial sharks? Because. . . "DOMA has been used by federal officials to justify excluding gay couples from a wide range of benefits that are available to heterosexual couples. These include federal health, Social Security, pension and tax benefits, even to gay couples who were legally married in the handful of states that recognize same-sex unions. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that there are more than 1,000 provisions of federal law "in which benefits, rights, and privileges are contingent on marital status or in which marital status is a factor." Widows have been forced to pay estate taxes, where a survivor in a heterosexual marriage would have no tax bill from an inheritance. Federal employees may not enroll their same-sex spouse in federal health plans or take family and medical leave to care for their partner. Same-sex couples cannot file joint income tax returns or benefit from state retiree health insurance plans that are controlled by federal tax law. DOMA even has been used to prevent a gay couple from filing a joint petition for bankruptcy."

Eric Holder said, the section of the law defining marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional, in the administration's view. Importantly for judicial review, Holder says courts also should apply a heightened level of scrutiny that makes it more difficult for laws to be upheld.

Maybe we really ARE evolving.

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

It's me

From the Cool Cosmos website. . .

"Warm-blooded creatures, like mammals and birds, try to keep the inside of their bodies at a constant temperature. They do this by generating their own heat when they are in a cooler environment, and by cooling themselves when they are in a hotter environment. To generate heat, warm-blooded animals convert the food that they eat into energy. They have to eat a lot of food, compared with cold-blooded animals, to maintain a constant body temperature. Only a small amount of the food that a warm-blooded animal eats is converted into body mass. The rest is used to fuel a constant body temperature.

Cold-blooded creatures take on the temperature of their surroundings. They are hot when their environment is hot and cold when their environment is cold. In hot environments, cold-blooded animals can have blood that is much warmer than warm-blooded animals. Cold-blooded animals are much more active in warm environments and are very sluggish in cold environments. This is because their muscle activity depends on chemical reactions which run quickly when it is hot and slowly when it is cold. A cold-blooded animal can convert much more of its food into body mass compared with a warm-blooded animal."

My 'cold-blooded'-ness is not in relation to my attitude to others. The operative words here are "sluggish in cold environments."
Nuff said.

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)

Another . . .

. . . snow. February's almost over. It should melt by the end of the week. So maybe it's not so bad.

The bear of it all though is, I have to get out of bed, shovel the stuff and get it all off the car. . . then
go to work just like it was ANY OTHER DAY!

Oh to be a kid again and only have to worry about where and when I'm gonna do my sledding today.

(Hear my music at http://www.rayjozwiak.com)