Random Thoughts

I know it's a day early, but I find myself in a great writing mood. So why stop at one blog, right? Just as the hiatus from the blog ended last week, now the hiatus for Friday's Random Topic also ends, too. It's the return of my Random Thoughts blog!

Mowing Grass

Mowing the lawn of my great aunt and uncle's yard has become somewhat of a summer tradition for me. I finished the last mowing of the season for them this past Tuesday and I began thinking how long I've been doing this chore for them. Honestly, I would say it's been nearly ten years of mowing for them, ever since they officially moved to the Upper Peninsula to stay since living downstate. It's not a physically taxing job and does provide a good workout for me. Plus it's a little added money for me. But the big advantage for me in doing this job is getting the chance to visit with my aunt and uncle, who are getting up in age and have physical disabilities. You just don't know how much longer they will be around and it's always a pleasure to see how they are doing. I look forward to continuing the tradition again next summer.

Small Town News

Do you ever get tired of hearing of the gloom and doom that typically headlines the news nationally and in bigger cities in the country? I would be surprised if there were people out there who actually liked hearing the negative news going on. That's one advantage to living in an area with a small area population. It's very rare to hear news about murders in the Upper Peninsula. Don't get me wrong, there are a few that happen from time to time, but nothing like in bigger cities. A lot of times the major crime stories that headline the news in the U.P. are burglaries, drug and alcohol-related crimes, and sex-related crimes. Those are certainly bad enough, but they aren't in as high number as in higher populated areas. And more often than not, the news typically switches from the doom and gloom to informational and uplifting stories. It certainly presents a nice change of pace.

Re-Building Laptop

I've had this laptop computer laying around for awhile that's basically been dead in the water. It's been over three years since it was last operational and I decided to try and get it working again. It's an R40 Thinkpad once made by IBM. I remember when I last had the laptop working, it was working rather sluggishly. All signs pointed to a faulty hard drive, but I never really did anything with it until earlier this month. So I went on-line and purchased a new motherboard for it. I removed the old one and once I got the "new" one in the mail, I put it back together. I powered the laptop up - and much to my chagrin, it did the exact same thing with the old motherboard. I say it's a "new" motherboard because it was actually a used one that I bought. Could it be that I purchased another faulty motherboard or is there something else wrong with it? I am kind of at a loss as to what to do next, but I plan on doing some more research on the problem and see if I can officially get it running again. I haven't given up yet.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See you again on "Luke's Ponderings" next week.