Chronicles Of Mark

It’s been far too long since I’ve posted anything. It wasn’t for lack of moments of inspiration. I thought of plenty things to write about both involving the events of my life in 2016 as well as tidbits I wanted to share. And it never happened. As bad as the year started with Dad’s stroke…

It’s been 8 weeks since Dad had his stroke. I think I could write a book if I talked about everything that’s happened since but it wouldn’t be a very entertaining read. So I’ll hit the highlights. Dad was at Grady a little over a week after his stroke. He probably would have been moved…

I posted this to my Facebook page tonight where the folks have only been wondering where I’ve been for a day or two. Any actual readers of my blog have probably wondered that for far longer. I need to do a real update sometime but the following at least hits the most important point in…

I mentioned late last year that I was getting progressive lenses. It’s taken awhile for me to finally report back on that experience… Wow, well, first off the bat, I believe there was an issue with the first pair I got. It took several days of trying to adapt, but I finally came to the…

I decided to try something new today. I’ve long thought about how much time I spend sitting. Between photo editing and general online tasks, I’m attached to my laptop a lot. And while a laptop is a go-anywhere kind of device, you tend to sit with it a lot, eh? I’ve had a vague interest…

I’ve gotten where I rarely report on illness, especially on social media. I just hate to be one of those woe is me people. So, if I’m ever quiet, it may be that I’m busy or it may be that I simply have nothing positive to report! But hey, it’s my personal blog, so I…

There’s something about going to see an eye doctor that always feels me with dread. It’s not that I’ve ever had a bad experience with one, mind you. Still, I manage to build it up pretty much every time. There’s something about having someone peer into your head at things you can’t see. What might…

Wow… what a night… Yesterday afternoon, I started really feeling worn out for no good reason. It’s not the first time. In fact, it’s almost right at a decade since that first time. The first time was equally scary. I had a week of just feeling tired and like every step was dragging. Not like…

The title of this one is somewhat tongue in cheek. Certainly had I been painting non-stop, I’d be done by now. But the humorous part is that observant people will remember when I broke my foot last year, I was doing what? Yes, painting! And yes, the same room! I wish the room were that…

I could spend a ton of time boring you with stories of phone tag with the doctor’s office, but I’ll cut it short and sweet. There was a brief game of phone tag trying to get some more details and then silence on the other end. I don’t know whether I was forgotten about or…

It took almost a week to find out about my foot. Last Wednesday I had more x-rays and a test to check on the possibility of gout to explain why I still have a good deal of soreness nearly three months after breaking my foot. Before I get into specifics, I have to say I’m…

I finally had to bite the bullet and get my foot looked at today. I’ve made a lot of progress since I took off the training wheels, but it’s been two and a half months since I broke it and although I’m hardly in grinding pain, my toe still is sore like I stubbed it…

A full day without the buddy tape around my big toe and it’s nearest neighbor. It’s been interesting. After six weeks of being taped and 99% of that time in a recovery shoe on top of it, the first sensation was that it felt incredibly odd to have air touching it. In fact, the first…

Wow, I can’t believe that tonight marks six weeks since I was sitting in the Emergency Room waiting to find out the status of my poor toe. In some ways, I feel every minute of those six weeks. I watched the leaves change through the windows, and I’ve barely wandered past the steps for ages….

In the grand scheme of things it could have been far worse, but it’s still not a banner day. I’ve been working on prepping and painting my room. It is well due, but I guess now it will be a December task. I was on the second step of the a small step stool. I…

We found out Sunday that the last of my Grandmother’s siblings had passed away. My grandmother, the oldest of ten children, was 25 years older than her baby sister Lois. In fact, Granny got married later the same year Aunt Lois was born. They were still close, though. Not to minimize anyone’s grief as we…

It’s fun when something amusing happens in the mist of misery! Okay, I exagerrate, but it’s allergy season and medicine puts a dent in it but at the peak of whatever pollens are hitting me, it’s never a complete reversal of the symptoms. This week has been particularly rough on the eyes which to me…

I was shell-shocked today to discover that one of my favorite teachers from High School, Mrs. Linda Beckum, passed away from cancer. Speechless because I had no idea, and because I suddenly realized that I had let more than a decade pass since I last saw her. Granted, that’s not uncommon, particularly when you spent…

Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I put my house up for sale and left my employer of  a decade in the metro Atlanta area.  It’s actually more in the range of a year and a month, I’d literally lost count and thought it was this month.  How time flies! I expected…

Somehow I missed this SNL sketch.  To be honest, I haven’t watched Saturday Night Live in, well, I have no idea how long.  But my RV searches always seemed to turn up this skit, so I figured I had to share it. Full Video Skit Here So, those of you who are connected to me…

So, last Friday was my final day at Equifax.  I’ll still be back and forth to Atlanta for a bit until I move my stuff in storage and won’t entirely cut ties until I manage to sell my house, but soon, I’ll get to move onto another chapter of my life.  A little travel and…

I guess you could say a fair bit has been going on in my life this year.  After a decade working with the same company, I’ve decided to cut ties and try something new.  When I figure out what that is, I’ll let you know!  It’s a long involved story for one on one time…

Picture this, I had to go to Chicago on a business trip this past week.  There wasn’t a lot of advance notice, but it was not the first time, so I sailed through the trip arrangements and off I went. Arrived Monday afternoon for an all day meeting Tuesday.  Tuesday flew by, quite busy, and…

This past Saturday was the first time in ages that I’ve gotten out with my camera.  It really has been that long.  I came back from Egypt and less than a month later made a quick weekend dash to Boston as part of a business trip. I came back and edited photos until April.  Can…

Okay, I’ve had news of one type or another (nothing overwhelmingly earth shattering or anything), but have just been a complete slacker lately.  I could write one overwhelmingly long post and bore everyone to death, or attempt to break it into smaller more digestible chunks.  I’m going for the chunks route.  At least then news…

Okay, I can only guess at how long they’ve been awaited, but I have been very MIA of late.  Nothing super exciting, but I suppose I should do a bit of updating here. The biggest thing of late has been re-doing my kitchen.  I moved in to my current abode nearly 8 years ago.  The…

Okay, anyone who knows me fairly well will be sufficiently puzzled by that one. You see, to cast that same mystery for you all, both of my grandmothers have passed on, the last one over 5 years ago now.  It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed, but in the interim, I’ve been to…

The past few weeks have been busy as usual. Work has been demanding of late, and I’ve been trying to get ready for a photo show that was on Friday. It was one of those things I kept meaning to put out there for everyone and never got around to it except for a bulletin…

One hundred and five years ago, my grandmother was born in the tiny community of Midway, Alabama. She was the eldest child of Joseph & Gertha Johnston, and was born at the home of her grandparents, Proctor & Lula Johns. My grandmother, who I called Ma-Ma, also called her grandmother Johns the same. They were…

I think I may well have been one of the few who took note of Earth Hour in one of Georgia’s newest “cities” – Johns Creek. On one of my typically many tangents, I find it hard to accept this as anything more than a tax district.  There’s no city center and no real history….

It’s very interesting where we find inspiration sometimes. For a few years now, I’ve been a casual reader of Wil Wheaton’s blog.  Yes, Wil Wheaton AKA Wesley Crusher of Star Trek.  For one reason or another, I relate to some of the things he has to say, which I would never have anticipated, but same…

I had grand plans today to get an early start and ride up to the mountains and catch the sunrise on what I hoped would be some good fall color. What actually happened was waking up to see the sun already having risen. Hmm… change of plans… I had a leisurely morning and headed up….

I’m not sure what today got me into this journey down memory lane. But it began with hunting down this old commercial… And the memories came rushing back.. I moved from commercial to commercial and the odd cartoon of those days such as But in the end I came to a skittering halt here… The…

Almost two weeks ago, I was having my pre-op for the surgery.   The hospital is down the street in Duluth, but the opposite direction I usually go to shop and all.  That morning, I stopped by the Kroger coming from that direction instead.  It’s a slightly older and less remodeled Kroger than the mammoth…