Merry Christmas to all

Howdy everyone. I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.

It is a typical Montana Christmas Eve today. It's 2 below zero with a little snow on the ground. It's interesting how the sky is clear and blue, the sun shining brightly and not accomplishing a thing! Pretty though.

I'm doing the regular Mint Bar Happy Hour thing on Fridays again this year. Without John, of course, who abandoned us all and moved away.

Actually, he'll be flying back to do a New Years gig with Country Traditions at the American Legion in Manhattan.

I'm doing my usual Christmas activities...staying in my house, staying warm and hiding from the whole thing until it's all over. Sorry, not much Christmas Spirit here the last few years. In fact, a few years ago a couple of my friends were giving me a hard time about my Xmas attitude. They said I just needed to quit being an old Scrooge and relax...enjoy the season. Their words did have an effect. They made me mad. I sat down and wrote a song that I get a pretty good response to, especially from other old divorced/separated/lone guys who aren't all that enchanted by the Holiday Season. http://www.cowboyentertainer.com/realfiles/gibson/xmasblues.mp3

There's another Christmas song that I always liked. I first heard this Nitty Gritty Dirt Band song years ago and have always liked it. I've been singing it myself for years but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. Youtube has it, of course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452uszvh9XA .

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all and I'll be back in the world again after New Years.

New (to me) internet radio link

I ran into a really good western/country internet radio yesterday and I've been enjoying it. It's Rang Radio and the main website is http://www.rangeradionetwork.com/ . I found it at http://www.radiotime.com/ which has all kinds of online stations listed.

It's Montana out there still. Hovering around zero, sometimes 1 or 2 above and sometimes 1 or two below. A little bit of snow but mostly just cold.

I'm headed into E. Helena today to sit in with Hillbilly Mafia for a little while.

Just an update

Not a lot going on in my world. I'm watching the thermometer get all the way up to 6 above zero today while the snow drifts and banks in places like Iowa are so high that the plows can't get through. Sure hope those folks in Copenhagen can get this Global Warming thing dealt with pretty quick! They should be holding their "summit" in West Yellowstone.

Friday was fun as Penny had me playing music at the Mint for happy hour. I had several people who were listening and stayed the whole three hours I played. Very enjoyable, good practice and a few bucks in my pocket.

I had a booth at the Townsend Christmas Stroll last Saturday. I had pool cues (http://www.nickvarner.com/), Music CDs and Reliv products (http://www.relivingpartners.com/) for sale. It was a lot of fun but no one was picking up larger ticket items that night. The people selling cookies did well and anyone selling hot drinks (it was sub-zero again) did very well.

I've had lots of fun with computer service stuff lately. I had one client who wanted data saved from a Windows Vista machine to a Windows 7 machine. He used Windows Mail on the Vista and the Vista Contacts list. He had his documents to save and Favorites.

The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard didn't transfer much of anything for us and the "old way" of saving the files and copying them to the new computer only kind of worked. Since 7 doesn't have an E-mail program (Big Bill wants us to use Windows Live Mail online) and the client wanted to use his Office 2003 suite and not put out a couple of hundred bucks for a new Office, the old e-mail messages wouldn't transfer over and neither would the contacts. I showed them how to make V-cards of the contacts (one at a time!) and I forwarded his old messages by e-mail. What a disaster.

In my opinion, there was no need to "upgrade" from Windows XP. XP did everything that needed to be done, easily and simply. These new Windows OS's are a mess and it's too bad that we are stuck with the whims of Redmond's Super Nerds.

Have fun out there y'all and keep in touch.

Reliv International Products...I guess I'm hooked

I've mentioned the Reliv products a couple of times here lately. Tonight (this morning) I am very concious of the products and their effectiveness. At least, the ones I am using.

Since I sell this stuff, this will sound like a sales pitch but I just want to get the info out there for everyone. I've become kind of a missionary about these products as I see how much they have helped me and I want to get the word out to EVERYone so please bear with me.

Joann Shindoll got me to start with the Reliv "Now" product back in June. My only real health issue is that I am a diabetic but it hasn't been ( I didn't think) a big issue and I have even stopped keeping track of my blood sugar. I was just watching my diet and exercising a little more. Anyway, I didn't see where a nutritional supplement was going to do me much good.

The first thing I noticed was that I not only slept better but felt better when I got up each day. I quit starting the day with aspirin to fight my morning headaches. Then I realized that I didn't need my antacids any more. That was a big issue as I never went ANYwhere without antacids! I even have some in my guitar case and in the side pockets of the CD case where I carry my CDs for sale.

As I got more interested in the Reliv products and began doing some research, I found that their "Glucafect" has had clinical studies showing it to effectively reduce blood sugar levels so I figured I'd try it out. Since I don't keep track of my actual blood sugar levels, all I can testify to is how I feel. My diabetic symptoms have been reduced or have gone away in the two months that I have used this product.

In fact, the reason that I am up at 4 in the morning and typing this long missive is that I ran out of Glucafect about three days ago and figured I'd just continue with my "Now" product and not replenish my "Glucaffect". My symptoms are back already. I haven't felt great all day and here I am, unable to sleep and not feeling well.

I guess, if you look at the negative side, I'm in withdrawl mode and maybe this is an addiction? I'm more inclined to say that the product has done what the Reliv company says it will do. It has given my body the nourishment to take care of itself and without that nourishment, I have returned to the more unhealthy state I was in.

You can safely bet that I will be using these products for the forseeable future. I like feeling better and healthier.