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I'll Be Damned!

Two different "I'll Be Damned!" items for today's post:

1) I have crossed the 20,000 mark on my counter! I am very happy to see those numbers keep rising.

2) Folks, after many months of coaxing and cajoling from me, it looks like my baby brother has finally been nudged into the blog world. His blog can be located here. He is a very good fellow and a grand writer if I can get him to loosen up a bit.

Since he has not fleshed out his blog very much yet, I shall write a brief synposis of him [grin} for his and your perusal:

My baby brother, Ken (actually Konrad is his formal name, my father gave us all literary related names), is the youngest of my parent's seven children (I am the oldest and am close to two decades older than he). Ken is a wonderful soul and he is a very thoughtful person, but (and perhaps this is an aspect of being the youngest... my two youngest siblings both share this trait) he is somewhat of a timid, introverted fellow. Not to suggest there is anything wrong with that... for there is not. But while I tend to prefer to consume life and all of its riches in great abundance, Ken seems to more often than not, simply sip at what life has to offer. I have always wanted to coax him into a more robust existence, but he appears to be firmly rooted in great caution.

Ken is a professor, just like yours truly, but he took after our father in focusing more in the literary field. He works hard at his profession and is good at his job. He has a very pleasant wife and one child and another on the way. His hobbies and avocations are primairly reading and spending time with his family. He enjoys fishing when I can coax him to go, and he is also a pipe smoker, although he may better be labeled a part-time pipe smoker. He does not smoke in his home or at his college. He does not smoke in front of his children even if outside. He only rarely smokes in his vehicle. The 2-3 bowlsful he may smoke in a day are most often outside in his backyard, alone. He acts almost as if he is ashamed of the hobby and I wish that would change. I am not sure why he has this sort of pattern and demeanor about smoking, but he suggests that it is different for him because of his age and the way "society" is. To that I say, "Bah!". But overall he is a good fellow. He is a good brother and friend.

Ken has great ideas if you can tug them out of him. He is deeply religious (he is Catholic just like all of us siblings are) and also very philosohpical. He married later in life and I often thought (prior to his marriage) that he had the makings of a good monk in a monestary. His wife is good to him and he to her, and he is a wonderfully devoted family man.

Now that he has a blog, he could us an audience and I am sure he would appreciate constructive criticism. Give him a try if you can.

PipeTobacco