Last of the random comments

I’m back and have a few more (and last) random comments.

I love my computer.  I realized when I was struggling with a rinky-dink tablet computer that part of why I’m able to blog as I do is that I’ve got things set up so perfectly for my needs and abilities.  This is easy; that wasn’t.

No one gives a welcome like a dog.  She squealed all the way home from the very nice kennel and now won’t let me out of her sight.  I think she missed us.

There are two types of control freaks.  Those who believe in controlling themselves, and those who believe in controlling others.  The former often make themselves miserable, the latter often make everyone else miserable.

The world doesn’t stop when you go away.  It just seems to because you’re not looking.  A lot of people take this to mean that, as long as they don’t look at issues and think about them, nothing important is taking place.  It is taking place, but we all have a responsibility to pay attention and to care.

I have some really great friends in the blogging community.  I wasn’t going to stop blogging even if all of you said that what we bloggers, blog readers and commenters, do is meaningless — I seem to be drawn rather compulsively to the whole blogging thing.  Nevertheless, your intelligent, kind, interesting comments were hugely helpful, since they stoked my engines beyond mere personal compulsion.  I especially enjoyed the idea of a huge dinner table, where people of like interests (or even unlike interests) get to come together, and share ideas and viewpoints.  For those of us who live in Blue enclaves, this type of interaction is especially important — and, I suspect, for the uncounted number of Reds isolated amongst the Blues, blogging really does make a difference, because it keeps the intellectual excitement alive.

I’m still catching up — 50 million loads of laundry, shopping, household organization, and all the other stuff that comes with plopping a family back into day-to-day life after a prolonged sojourn.  Still, part of that catching up includes reading the news and reading the blogs, so you can expect to hear substantive stuff from me soon.

And the last random thought, but the most important, is a big THANK YOU to Don Quixote for taking the time to post some wonderful things.  I’m always impressed by how thoughtful he is, and by the way in which his posts stimulate some of the most interesting dinner table conversations this blog sees.