It's Cold Out

I just don't think that I'm used to temperatures. Yes, I have been around for a very long time but I have to admit that I have not really been outside all that much over all those years. Except for the last three years when I had to recover from my serious illness. Because of that, I walked outside quite a number of times in all kinds of weather.

It was a very hot summer this year which meant that I did not walk as much as I expected. If I wanted to go for a stroll, I usually got up earlier so I could walk outside before the sun rose too high and the temperature started getting hotter. Also, I would wait until after dinner to go for a short walk just to get some exercise.

Over the past few years, what seemed interesting to me was how short the spring was and how long the summer was. It almost seemed as if Mother Nature wanted to "spring" directly from winter to summer.

It will be interesting to see what happens this autumn. Last year as you know, winter was relatively shorter than expected as far as I was concerned. Given the length of the summer, I expected to have a very long winter as well. However, that just did not happen. I wonder if we will see something similar this year.

I have some nice equipment that I use to exercise especially when I cannot go outside. I must admit that, even though I use it a lot, I still get tired pretty quickly on some of it. I hope that means that I'm on it as much as I physically can take and that it is good for me. I am pretty happy with what I did last winter to keep in shape and hope that I can do it again this year.

One of the things that I must do is keep my brain exercising as much as possible. As you know, dear reader, I do that by writing stories on here for you to read. Here are some new ones.

AN INTERESTING NEWS STORY

I saw a very interesting story the other day in the Detroit Free Press.

No, it was not all that fascinating to me when I read it in the American newspaper but tell me if it is just as out of the ordinary to you too as well. Here is what I mean:

Do you see who the author of the story is and where the story was originally written?

I don't know if an article from the Windsor Star ever appeared in the Detroit Free Press before as happened this time around but it was a big surprise for me.

I wonder if the two newspapers will start exchanging more stories between them.

OUR NEW BUSINESS

What a terrific story to read:

"A beloved but crumbling downtown watering hole undergoing a multimillion-dollar makeover will soon be occupied by some of the brightest minds within the extensive financial empire of Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert.

Employees under Quicken Loans — the mortgage-based business that boosted the Michigan businessman into one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs — will set up inside the former Fish Market and Loop building.” (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, October 15, 2018) 

The expectation is to hire around 50 people at this time and then potentially to grow that number to around 100 people. No, they are not going to be employees for a new mortgage business here:

"...there are no plans to open a mortgage business on this side of the border. The office space and employees located in Windsor are solely to support the company’s existing operations and avoid crossing the border each day.”

To me this is quite exciting and potentially a fantastic opportunity for this area. There's no reason why we cannot offer something similar to other American companies.

We ought to consider seriously doing so right now!

FACEBOOK MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

One of the features of Facebook that I really like is that they remind us about events that happened a number of years ago on a specific date by sending out the stories that we posted in the past. That just happened to me recently.

I hope this is something that you too, dear reader, would like as help as a reminder of a past event, especially something that was very cheerful for you.

I've received some information the other day about a fabulous cruise that my wife and I went on seven years ago! Seven years, can you believe that. The cruise that we went on was in Europe. The ship itself was a relatively new one and extremely large at that time. It held thousands of passengers yet, when on board, one did not see very many of them at any time. Perhaps we ate fairly early but when we were in the dining room there were not too many people there. The service that we received from the dining staff was fantastic.

I did a video on the trip that we were on and actually reviewed it after the Facebook note. It still reminded me of the glorious time that we had.

Hmmm, perhaps I had better look at doing another one.

I JUST WON A CONTEST

I just received notice that an entry that I had made for a contest that closed recently turned out to be the winner! Am I ever happy about that.

It turns out that the contest was run by one of the real estate agents in town. Fortunately, I was the winner. 

Oh, the prize itself is not all that huge but it is still something that my wife and I can use very well. More importantly, given some of things that are going on these days, it is so pleasant to learn that positive factors are still available for us.

Here is the photograph where my wife and I received our prize from Mike Coffin and Amy Bondy