John Delach

Welcome to my 300rd blog. What a ride, what a thrill.

I readily admit that on most Wednesday mornings, I am excited yet wary of the task at hand, launching my weekly piece. I kid you not, that piece has been edited by Mary Ann, also, in many cases, my writing group and by me one last time after all the input. Like a rocket paused on a launch pad down at Cape Kennedy, my hope each time is, it’s the payload: my blog ready to go?

First thing Wednesday morning, a trip to the Keurig brewer and a medium cup of Nantucket breakfast blend with a dab of milk. Coffee in hand, access my computer, open my piece, highlight and copy. Then open AOL, access my publisher, enter my site, write my title, paste my piece and select publish. Hit publish twice and in 98.5% of my attempts, the bird launches and in minutes, it arrives on “you have mail.”

I print out every blog just in case. You may ask, “Just in case of what?”

“Who the hell knows.” But in my mind, have a written record. No disc, no thumb-drive, no cloud.

Sounds logical and easy; right? But believe me, being 75, all my reference points are pre-analog technology and our entire cyber world remains to me, at best, a mystery and when it goes off the rails, the work of Satan. This electronic revolution is the way of the world, but it’s the revolution part that I don’t want to accept much less embrace it. Even if I were able to shake off the rust of history, all it takes to reduce me to incompetence is a major change in my operating system like the jump from 4G to 5G. Such a great leap forward breaks my mind and spirit while returning me to the electronic stone age.

I live and die on the whims of technology. Having access to electronic communication is a wonderful vehicle for a writer like me. I have a loyal and treasured following to whom I am grateful. WordPress allows me to share the widest range of topics possible and I hope that I reach my goal every week to present to you, dear reader, a quality presentation about a meaningful subject that you will find interesting but never insulting or offensive.

There is far too much “in your face” material being published. I refuse to be a part of that scene. There are plenty of other places to find a fight to the finish. Perhaps that is why I report about sports as often as I do. To me the most wonderful aspect of being a fan of a team is that once the contest ends; win, lose or draw, you walk away and return to your real life.

I ask your indulgence and promise not to overwhelm you with sports talk.

Having said that, let the record show that My Giants have now won two games in a row behind our rookie quarterback, Dan Jones. I can only hope that Eli Manning accepts this end of his era of king of New York and comes to terms with his excellent body of work especially being named the Most Valuable Player in his two Super Bowl victories over the New England Patriots.

I avoid controversy as much as possible. That is why I do not openly reply to comments made to my pieces. If I believe I have an additional point to make, I will answer the reader personally via e-mail. My second reason for not publicly responding is I don’t want to turn my site into a debate forum.

I will take on a controversial subject but only if I can deal with it objectively and dispassionately and hopefully with humor. This is close to being impossible in our disruptive world where payback and revenge are paramount. I will not add to the noise that continuously bombards us. 

Three hundred blogs! God willing, I’ll publish Number 301 next Wednesday which is about helping a ten-year old Labrador Retriever swim for the very first time.

Dear reader, I thank you all for your loyalty, support and encouragement.