It’s taken a couple days to get back into the groove back home. I’ve been gone four weeks and the world feels like it’s passed me by. Thus is the tempo of Internet marketing.

Therein it goes

I just finished working on wearing out my running shoes. And I just finished killing some ants at oldold man Finn’s summer place – when saving a jam basket, make sure it’s all cleaned out. Now comes the task of waiting for messages to be returned, compiling the to-do list, and reminding myself that the Book of Blues Prequel won’t write itself.

So long as I can stay busy, I can keep managing my winter blues…so I hope.

And another ant down. It’s a 33-degree day in The Region. Where the hell are they coming from?

I’m on Southwest Flight 138 in Fort Myers, headed for Chicago w a stop in St Louis. And my judgment is skewed, subjected to my bittersweetness of leaving oldold man Finn, my love for my second home – Ft. Myers, Margaritaville – and claustrophobic barriers being pummeled by an unusual selection of self-centered passangers not wanting to share seats. my need to escape this eerie chi is only magnified my feeling that this flight is ominous.

I hope my senses are off.

luckily 1) I got the aisle and 2) the nicest person in the cabin is now sitting next to me. He’s a boy, not much older than 12. Already lost in his book, he seems to share my need to simply get this flight moving. he doesn’t hold the same angered expressions the elders in the front held.

time to shut this down. don’t need the iPhone wordpress app to be the predestined reason for my fears.

So I was falling asleep on the couch after dinner Saturday night as oldold man Finn watched The Lawrence Welk Show. An uncommon occurrence indeed. Somewhere ’round the end of “Huckabee” I woke up with a tune in my head.

I thought the tune was played on The Lawrence Welk Show, but then I remembered the show’s theme was Disney and that I couldn’t have fallen asleep faster to the alluring sounds of The Mickey Mouse Club Mambo.

What the hell?…

The tune in my head wouldn’t have fit the pattern. Merle Haggard would have set the set of the show on fire if his outlaw gem was in the same show as the Mickey Mouse Club Mambo.

No one could steer him right, but Mama Tried, Mama Tried…

If you check the playlist above, you’ll find some great renditions of the definitive outlaw song:

• Merle Haggard’s (studio cut)
• Johnny Cash
• Grateful Dead at Woodstock
• Everly Brothers on the Smothers Brothers Variety Show (What the F*CK?)
• David Allen Coe (and if that ain’t country, you can kiss his a**)
• Willie, Merle, and Toby

Road Tested

The oldold man & I tested out several of this classic as we headed back from the Ocean on our road trip.“Mama Tried” became our unofficial theme song of our road trip.

Yeah, I’m finding Grateful Dead covers he’ll hum along too. His repressed outlaw is coming out.

The more I research for Book of Blues Prequel and the farther along I go in Plan B, the more I can’t escape the bond between Country & Western Outlaws and Blues leaders. I didn’t place “Mama Tried” in the Book of Blues – nearly a shame but for the fact I can put it in the Prequel, and perhaps the Blues Book Sequel. I think I know how I’d do it to.

But getting back to that Saturday night, as I hummed the chorus:

It dawned on me where I heard the song…

As I was in an out of consciousness before The Lawrence Welk Show, oldold man Finn was watching the Time Life Gold Age of Country infomercial.

F-in’ infomercials. Will I ever escape them?

It only shows that inspiration can come from damned places.

Speaking of oldold man Finn

He made it out to the Florida Gulf Coast University men’s basketball game just fine last night. And he still made his bike ride, too. The old man is still leaving footprints.

And I’m breathing easier.

(photo credit: J.W. Doran [and MERLE!] via Flickr)

And once in awhile, the unexpected happens…

Oldold Man Finn and I took off for Clewiston, Florida at about 10:30 am this morning. He wanted to show me a little bit of Florida history during this “bad” weather – bad as in “it hasn’t broken 60 in a few a days.”

Clewiston sits on the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee. It’s the home of US Sugar Company, the company that once owned the historic Clewiston Inn where the oldold Man and I had lunch.

The Clewiston Inn looks like a classic Southern Inn on the outside with a two-story, white marble column entrance. Its inside has decor that pays homage to the Everglades – wildlife, fishing, hunting…

Glorious wooden greeting room, a legendary lounge with a wall-to-wall mural painted by a local artist, Clewiston Inn was indeed a nice little local treasure.

While at lunch, I got a call from a buddy who suggested I write about the Clewiston Inn. I might still do that. I took pictures and I’ll put them in a Flickr gallery when I get back home.

But it was after lunch that stirred the imagination

As we were leaving the parking lot at Clewiston Inn and heading a mile down the road towards “the last light in town” (because our waitress thought we knew where that was) which would take us to a scenic trail for Lake Okeechobee, I pointed out the there are roads that circle the water.

“Yeah, but you really don’t see the lake,” he pointed out.

If the “scenic” trail was any indication, then he was dead on. We shoulda brought the boat we don’t have.

As we were comin’ back from the “scenic” trail, I played around on Google Maps to check our trail back when something surprising caught my eye:

I pointed out to the oldold man that we were actually closer to West Palm Beach (~ 45 miles) then we were to Ft. Myers (~72 miles).

“Oh yeah? You know of West Palm Beach?”

“My once-employer used to have an office there.”

He hemmed and hawed as we started to head back towards Ft. Myers.

A couple miles later he pulled into a gas station.

“You have three-quarters of a tank left,” I noted.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t turn around on the road.”

“We’re actually going to tour Lake Okeechobee?”

“Nope.”

And before I knew it, we were headed for the Atlantic Ocean.

I’ll write more about the trip in the next couple days, but for now I was overwhelmed by the fact he turned around. I knew the oldold man still had it in him.

I think he’s starting to realize the vitality of his age.

I’m older than I care to admit and today I got to take an unplanned, college-style roadtrip from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and back with my 84-year-old grandfather.

And if you’ve been reading, then yeah, with “six strong hands on the steering wheel.”

I can’t wait to script this into the Book of Blues Prequel. I can’t wait for the family to find out.

And by the way, Google Maps, it didn’t take us 1 day, 16 hours to drive the 46.2 miles. He doesn’t drive that slow.

Does anyone in your life need to re-remember what makes life worth living? Have you done anything with them to remind them?

Link to “Oldold Man’s Never Been to Fenway – Part 1″

My aunt and uncle just took a tour of New England. One night put them close to the college town in Maine where I was born. She called from near my hometown and I asked her if she would take me pictures of the place since I hadn’t been there in awhile. She obliged.

Family is good like that.

I bought up the fact that speaking of places never visited, her  dad – Oldold man Finn – had never been to Fenway Park. She nonchalanted:

“That’s not suprising. I’m sure there have been many parks he hasn’t been to. Like Cincinnati’s, St. Louis’, Milwaukee’s, Detroit’s…”

All parks close to home.

Not only has he never been to the parks he’s near when on Florida, but he’s never been to the parks that were but a full gas tank away from his house.

I don’t know whether or not to feel for the man or respect the man all the more because of how he put others first. An accountant, he understood firsthand the concept of Opportunity Cost. The money that could have gone to those roadtrips went instead to making sure his children had everything and that his family was able to vacation together.

It will be a blues to me if I don’t hit the midwestern baseball parks, but I now believe it is not a blues for him to have never have attended these places.

Oldold Man Finn’s started the year in Ft. Myers, Margaritaville. He spent a month in Seattle with my aunt. He’s spent the summer in Chicagoland. In two days he’ll be going to Bakersfield, CA for a month. And just after Thanksgiving he’ll be back in Ft. Myers, Margaritaville again.

If he wants to go to more ballparks, he’ll choose to go. Nothing can stop him. He knows that. He simply chooses not to go.

And that’s okay.

I blinked when I left Ft. Myers, Margaritaville in January and now it’s May. The time between posts wasn’t an accident. I swear I went down to Indy n tore up Broadripple with Bling last month but that was back in Feburary. And I also keep thinking I went to Seattle a couple weekends ago to celebrate Oldold Man Finn’s birthday, but that was in March.

I got pretty sick in Feburary after doing the first part of a project – the events were probably related – n spent six weeks recovering. The illness left me feeling shackled up til when sis n I went to my aunts place in Seattle for Oldold Man’s birthday – the events could be related.

The light is finally coming at the end of the project tunnel. SEO projects can be exhausting when you have to restart from the ground up n…rants for another day. Once upon a time I got the job as “plan B” to Book of Blues. Still, I’m blessed to have a “plan B” 4 miles from home.

My copyediting cousin has gone from saying he’d be done with Book of Blues just after the Super Bowl to not returning phone calls. Don’t know the answer. Hope he’s alright. Maybe he’s pissed about my impatience. Either I could keep hunting him down or go on to those I can get ahold of.

Time for plan C: listen to the copyeditors at work n let them go to town on the draft. It’s a lucky plan C to have in the back pocket. For in the end, the goal is to finish the Book of Blues. The work projects n editing delay gave me time to think about the idea of writing to the audience. So, I think I’ll do one more runthrough the draft as I print it out for Max Power. It also made me reconsider the book titles because now I think of all 3 books at once, whereas before I used to just think of the original book.

But, before I get to do the Book of Blues fun, I actually have to get to the end of the project tunnel.

Unless this is all a dream and I’m still in Ft. Myers, Margaritaville.

“Welcome back, Finn. We moved up some deadlines while you were on vacation. You can check your email later.”

And like that, it was time to go headlong back into the grind.

I tried not to let go of the feeling of still being in Ft. Myers, Margritavile. The task was made more arduous by the fact it has snowed every day since I’ve been back.

I got used to seeing oldold man Finn everyday. It was like he was back home.

I got used to outdoor dining. Palm trees became an everyday part of my personal landscape. My body is starting to go through withdrawl from not feeling the cooling gulf breeze. I haven’t seen the sun lately let alone a sundown.

Not like the sundowns over the Gulf of Mexico.

I did see sunup, again, last night from my office windows. It’s Saturday afternoon. Didn’t sleep much this AM. Time to go back in and get the big projects done. There’s no such thing as “ok” on projects. It’s success or failure.

Needless to say that I don’t get to work on Book of Blues Prequel this weekend. So goes the duties of being an SEO Copywriter in Chicago. Its a privledge. Wow, did get a refresher in basic copywriting 101. It’s taken three drafts to write content for this huge project. The first draft was SEO copy. The second draft was flowery. The third draft, I finally reremembered how to write broad. Simple, declarative sentences. It’s been awhile since I had to write without creative nuances thrown in. It took restraint. Good practice, though afterwards I was ready to run back to some Book of Blues.

Back to the grind.

In a scary thought, weather isn’t delaying my long flight home. Mechanical issues with the first plane has backed me up 2 hours. Who made this flight up: Ft. Myers to Orlando to pick up passengers on the way to Columbus, OH, then a layover (now extended further) on my way to Chicago. Then, once the leapfrog flying is done I have a 60-minute bus ride to Merrillville, IN, then a car ride to my grandfather’s to get my car. Then home for a nap and back to the grind. Painful.

I stayed 16 days in Ft Myers, Margaritaville to recharge. Now, I’m dreading the flight home. The cold, the grind, waiting for stolen moments to get back to Book of Blues Sequel, I’ll be fighting depression until the weather warms up. So, I’ll be fighting depression until the 4th week of the MLB season.

I’m getting too old to fight it with comfort food. Two weeks in Ft. Myers and I’m back to craving the taste of healthy foods, again. Detox, if you will. I don’t want to slip back into the bad habits, again. I developed them when I was broke, living at the corn crib and I expounded them when writing Book of Blues. It’ll be a struggle.

I have family coming back to Ft. Myers, Margaritaville at the end of March for oldold man Finn’s birthday. My sanity might have me coming back with them.

Ways I’m going to fight weather-induced depression:
1) stop eating comfort foods
2) stop using caffiene as a stimulant
3) stop drinking pop
4) avoid high-sugar foods so I don’t have ups and downs
5) walk once a day
6) blog at least every other day
7) work on personal projects
8 ) keep focused on other things such as Book of Blues
9) when spirits are low, hit a tanning bed. Get the melanin in the skin going. It was a trick we’d use at valet when the weather became unbearable.
10) Get rest and recreation.

Hopefully, practicing these warm-weather ideals will help me reach my physical and career goals so when the weather warms up I’ll get to enjoy it to the fullest.

I’m almost sad to find out that I’m going to still be able to make my connecting flight. I’d a rescheduled for tomorrow. One more night I. The island would have been a dream. I got oldold man Finn addicted to outdoor dining. I haven’t eaten an evening meal indoor since…hell if I know.

At this moment, it’s 78 on Ft. Myers, Margaritaville and 22 in Valparaiso, IN. Always the details. Always the details.

I am happy I got to recharge, got to spend quality time with oldold man Finn, and got a good directional start on Book of Blues Prequel. If I had a month here, I’d want another month. I want November through May here. It’s my career goal.

I appreciated my time here. I’ll be heartbroken for it when I finally leave. I’ll be counting down the days to my return.

Thank you, Ft. Myers, Margaritaville, until we meet again – which could be sooner than expected if this flight mess isn’t sorted out.

Finally made it to the local Mecca, Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was theraputic, enjoyable. I’m a sucker for outdoor dining to begin with, but put me within site of a flat panel tv so I can watch the NFL Wildcard games m me n oldold man are happier than pigs in slop.

I got to experience fine SW Florida local minor league hockey. It was a twist from watching FGCU basketball where the announcer there requested the crowd cheered on an optimistic manner. Hockey fans, on the other hand, are playfully mean. It think the Everblades reacted off the crowd a little too much because after scoring 3 goals in the first ten minutes of the game – which resulted in having the opponent’s goalie replaced – the Everblades started to play like the Hanson Brothers from Slap Shot. They successfully killed 8 of 9 of their opponent’s power plays while bruising their way to an easy 4-2 victory despite being outshot 37-20.

Good to see there’d be things to do out here in case I ever moved down. I’ve been watching the local realty channel as I write this. In order to live in the home I’d want – screened-in pool, western gulfside view on the island and “just steps to the beach” (note to local SW Florida realty copywriters: first one to come up with an original version of that worn-out phrase gets the viewers’ attention) – I’d only have to sell Book of Blues Prequel, Book of Blues, Book of Blues Sequel, write n sell the movie scripts, star in the movies, win acclaimed awards, win the WSOP main event, win the lottery, wish upon a star, rub a lucky coin, pray to the applicable patront saints, catch a lepprechaun, and get a little lucky.

Hmph. I got a little writing to do. . And, no, I can’t write the Book of Blues just to sell. The series already themes the values of relating and identifying with people. Because of this focus point, the story is moreorless writing itself. I have to focus on getting the details.

Time to go enjoy my last full day this season in Ft. Myers, Margaritaville. One day, I’ll be able to live at Mecca in some fashion.

I’m getting too old to stay up so late writing. At least, when I want to try to get up the following morning and enjoy the sun and weather. And I failed miserably when I tried to get up early this morning.

The problem with writing late in the night is that even when you stop scribbling the thoughts down on paper or slopping them up on a keyboard, your brain keeps going. Good thing, too. During the restless tossing and turning I realized I forgot an elemental part of the chapter I was writing in Book of Blues Prequel.

The chapter was aptly titled, “And the Band Played on.”

“And the Band Played on,” is an extension of the scene which starts Book of Blues Sequel. I forgot a simple, unifying detail that will keep consistency within the books.

It’s always the details that matter.

I hope to write tonight. But dinner at “Cheeseburger in Paradise” along with a Florida Everblades hockey game, topping it off by watching the last bit of the Colts / Chargers game could take up the minutes in the evening. The focus of my stay in Ft. Myers, Margaritaville is to relax, recharge and spend time with oldold man Finn. And I’m running too low on go-juice to stay up again.

Especially with only a couple days of gulf sunshine remaining.