Friends

Greetings once again Mech Fans and friends. A new year has crept up on us and with that brings hope for a better year for all. 2009 was not that good to Ol' Vettie overall, but things has calmed a bit and seem to have settled. Oh yeah, forgot, every January brings another birthday to the old guy but I heard he is happy to see one come this time.

When you find out that you just have a few left (according to the Doctors) each one becomes something special. Since I found out that I am supposed to kick the bucket, I have lived almost as long as they said I would before shutting down for good and yet, I dont feel any worse. I am thankful to GOD for helping me and my family get through so far and also to my Doctors for finding the problem, hopefully soon enough to prolong fate that awaits me. Things take on a different perspective when you are given a short lease on life. So many things you once thought very important become so immaterial. The real important things that I have found are my faith, my family and finally my petty happiness. I made my peace with GOD a long time back and I renewed it recently, you know, just in case HE forgot or in case I acted like the idiot that I can be sometimes. When my time does arrive, I'll be ready, but until then, I have learned to live and enjoy and not be so caught up in the little things.

Well, sorry to eat your time on myself, but I needed to put that out there somewhere and maybe, just maybe, someone will read that little bit and think a moment about their own life and the things that are really important to them. Maybe...

This blog is usually devoted to MechWarrior and reviews on Mechs or maps or weapons or electronics and occassionlly I throw in one of rants about something that I think is just wrong, or something some of you can relate to. Today I plan to write about friends. Thats right friends. No not that sitcom, about people.

Old Man Webster defines a friend as 1. one attached to another by affection or esteem, 2. one that is not hostile, 3. one that favors or promotes something, 4. a favored companion. For todays discussion I like number 4., a favored companion. Yeah I like that.

How many friends do you have? I mean really, think about it, how many friends to you have? In my non-internet life I have known many, many people from all over the world. I have many of them that I would consider to be “friends” as in we are 'friendly' as in non hostile. There are also several that I would actually consider as 'friends' in a way that I like to spend time with them and they like to spend time with me. And then there are those few that I consider 'close friends' that would actually do something for me (or my family) if I really needed them. These are what I call “true friends”. Most people dont have many of those types of friends, but if you do have those types, hold on to them and keep them close to you, be there for them if they need you even if they dont or wont ask cause you never know when you might need them.

Of course I have many “online” friends too. Many of the folks that read Vettie's Views are my 'on line friends' and many of the Sunder Junkies are too. Some of those folks overlap from 'on line friends' to 'non-internet' friends. I wont call them out, but they know who they are. Of course, ALL The Blood Pearls are my friends and some them are non-internet friends as well.

My father was an Air Force man for 24 of years here with us, so I moved around a bit when I was a kid. I had friends way back then and I wonder what happened to the ones I can recall the most. When he retired from active duty, we settled in Alabama even though neither of my folks were from there. We settled here because of friends of my folks that Dad had served with lived here.

I have thought about some of my friends from my earlier years and wondered how many of them were and what they were doing now. Facebook is a fairly decent way to get in touch with some of your friends you have seen in long time and even the friends you have now. I signed up for a facebook account and I did a few searches for some of my old high school friends. To my surprise, I located a few and I have sent them a 'friend request'. Hopefully they will respond and I will let them know who I am and maybe we can revisit some of those days.

See, when you are a kid you have friends or buddies. I am sure that many of you lived as I did and were forced to move away for one reason or another. Kids make friends pretty easy so you meet up with a new bunch then the cycle reboots itself and again you start over.

In high school, I am sure many of you had friends that you hung out with, or played sports with or whatever. That is until graduation. Many of you went on to college or to work or both and you lose touch with your high school friends. Again the cycle starts turning and you meet new ones in school or at work and the cycle repeats.

Over my professional career I have met many that I would call friends. I was fortunate enough in my career to travel often, either in the States or in Europe or Mexico. I met folks in countries far away that became friends. I still “talk” to some them via email or Skype every once in a while. I cant forget about the many friends that worked with me or for me over the years plus all the friends I made during my work career in various states. Cant forget about church friends or socail friends either. Just so many

When it comes down to it, friends make up a big part of our lives. They help you each day whether you know it or not. Think about it like this, what if you accepted a job for another company in another location far away from where you are now. For the first few days you would meet people, but not really “know” them and you would have no friends there. Just you and your work and hopefully you go home to you best friend ever, your spouse (if you are married). That would be a tough thing if you never made friends. A lonely existance for sure. We as humans rely on others in so many ways...

Get out and make a friend today. If you have a close knit friend, call them up or drop them a text message or send them an email and let them know they are your friend(s) and you appreciate that. You'd be surprised at how that might make them feel. If you have friends like mine, they might ask you what the hell is wrong with you, but just let them know you appreciate their friendship.

Just so we keep this blog in line with MechWarrior, I hope our friends at MekTek and Microsoft soon get their issues resolved so MP3.1 can be reased for free. Whatever the problem is, I hope it can be resolved in a friendly manner with a friendly out come for all of us (and them too).

Aanother note, yeah yeah, old men ramble on, get over it, This edition is again brought to you with the use of Linux Mint (version 8). I have been tinkering with it off and on and I really like it. For those of you out there that have been wanting to try Linux but didnt know how or where to start, I suggest Ubuntu or Mint. Mint is (more or less) built off of Ubuntu but contains some things that Ubuntu does not have without digging a bit. Mint is smooth and stable and if you are a Windows user (most of us are, right?) you will not really have any trouble using Mint (or Ubunto for that matter). It is Icon and Menu driven but you can use the “terminal”. Mint or Ubuntu, either one, is perfect for web surfing (Mint has some of the adobe stuff like flashplayer already built into Firefox) and doing emails. Open Office is installed by default (I am using Open Office Writer [very similar to Word] to write this addition of Vettie's Views) and for Microsoft Office users you will have no trouble using it. Evolution is the email program (looks and acts a lot like Outlook) but Mozilla Thunderbird is also available. For those who use an IM program, Pidgeon is there and connects with all the other like Yahoo messenger, MSN Messenger and, well you get the idea. So a big thanks to our Linux friends and dont be afraid to give it a shot, it can be fun and you might learn something.

Well, I guess that will do it for this edition. To my friends, I appreciate and care for you all. Find an old friend today and try to make a new one, but let your old ones know you care.