So, the gimp leg that gave me problems yesterday is still sore and walking is still something of a hobble, but it's Monday, nothing on the schedule, we can keep off our feet and maybe catch up on the guitar. The weekend was a long shooting of pictures weekend and I, for the first time, didn't get in any practice. But we'll fix that. Probably within the hour.

Are we fighting guitar practice?

Not something to think or worry about. You play or you don't. So far I do and, although there's a certain frustration involved, it seems to be working out. There's always frustration involved in any kind of practice, that's why it's best to practice the things you innately desire. Desire gets you through the traps, snares and travail. True for photography and writing too, doodle-dee-do. Wish I'd been aware of that when I was a youngster. Would have cleared away some barriers I wasn't able to get around until later in life. But that's not a unique story. Something, I suspect, they discuss on Oprah in the afternoons.

Later. A very leisurely walk, to say the least, the gimpy leg still acting up, but it's better and feels OK as long as you don't put any great strain on it. A cup of coffee outside of a Starbucks (knowing they'd have a WiFi channel so I could check my email, something that makes no sense whatsoever in retrospect), a walk over to Broadway across from Sears to catch a bus, heading on beyond the apartment to my morning restaurant to have a chicken Caesar salad and a glass of iced tea. Back now after a slow and easy ramble along Grand, stopping briefly to sit near the lake and take all of one picture. Pretty exciting for a Monday I think.

So good, the need to get outside has been placated, the head is a bit funky, but doesn't ache and the eyes are seeing clearly now after a bit of the old double vision when I was setting out. The day is clear, sunny and not overly warm. The balcony sliding door is open and the fan is blowing a breeze across my body as I sit in front of the computer. Again, life in the fast lane. No complaints.

I think the project for the day is to get my wireless router going with its new IP address, now that I've gotten everything else connected through this AT&T U-verse thing. I called into the outfit that maintains my web sites (and my email boxes) to ask why I was receiving mail, but not able to send. A change in a port address was required he said. Had I changed my Internet access recently? Why yes I had. It seems you're never too old to learn something new (kicking and screaming).

One thing I'd been hoping was the speed of this “fiber” connection they described wasn't just marketing speak and would be as fast as the wireless connection at the WiFi café down the street. Their's really zipped. This one may be faster than my last, I think it is, but not nearly as fast as the one they have at the café. I noticed there were other options you could buy to increase upload and download speeds on the AT&T web site, so maybe the WiFi café signed up for something faster. Either that or they're using cable and I'm an idiot for not doing the same

Later still. The wireless router is up. My laptop and this new smart phone can now connect to the net. Life is swell, the attitude good - better than it was this morning and it was reasonable good this morning - and the evening is ahead. Icky, isn't it, all this hup! hup! hup? No pictures today, other than the two I've linked above, but we made up for it this weekend. Nothing coming up during the week in the way of concerts, photo events or such, so I guess I'll just sit around and play guitar, go out on walks and maybe, just maybe, continue cleaning this apartment.