Simple pleasures

In this world if information technology, it's a surprise and inconvenience when anything hiccups. That's what happened to our wire service tonight ... box scores weren't available for hours, and with two colleagues, I helped add coding to garbled text in order for our paper to publish something resembling baseball box scores. While doing this tedious work, I began to wonder about the old days. Before computers, when reporters would use typewriters and a carbon, editors actually used pens and copy-editing symbols and typesetters would take 26 letters and arrange them in such a fashion that, when a little ink and paper is added, you have a newspaper. A far cry from our newsroom today.

So last night while driving home after the busy flourish, a trio of songs played on my iPod in shuffle mode. It's not that bizarre since more than 10 percent of my music collection consists of this one artist, but the trio of songs by Harry Connick Jr. made me forget the night that had passed. The first was an instrumental I Like Love More from "Occasion," then the crooner's smooth, blues-y voice in You Don't Know Me from "Only You," followed by a bass-slapping, chord-thumping rendition of Stompin' At The Savoy from "When Harry Met Sally." Mission accomplished. Spirits lifted!

Like so many others

Today, I began my morning with so many plans for the day, and once again (like it happens so often), I ran out of time.

Awake at about 10 a.m. (after hitting the sack at almost 3 a.m.), I didn't get a jump-start until about noon. Then I paid bills, had a bit of "breakfast" and mapped out my day after practicing my calligraphy. I would make trips to the market, Tri-R Recycling and the post office. All that before heading to a friend's in Highlands Ranch to feed her fish and water the flowers.

At about 1:15, I realized I didn't have enough time to do all that and get to work by 4 this afternoon. "There's always tomorrow," I kept thinking. Now, here I am at my desk at work scheduling my tomorrow.