tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32686898666240285532011-11-27T15:56:28.594-08:00<big><big><big><b><i>This is My Catharsis</i></b></big></big></big>Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-9560431896684906402010-09-28T03:30:00.000-07:002010-09-28T20:43:25.956-07:00

Sorry, I haven't been writing for my blog for quite a bit of time. The only thing I can say is that life is happening. And obviously there have been some changes to the blogging software that are quite obvious to me as I try and type this missive. Anyway, I do plan to get back to this blog. There is a lot happening in my life and a lot happening in life around us all. Some of it good and some

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-8376202320236295072010-06-13T21:09:00.000-07:002010-06-13T21:09:36.356-07:00

This may be a bit late but I had to think about it some. So please bear with me. Memorial Day came and went. We spent it like a lot of other people: Relaxing, some barbecue pork back ribs, and a movie. That doesn’t go to the feelings I have about Memorial Day. I’m a Vietnam vet. I went over when I was 18-years-old and spent nearly two years there. I came home from Vietnam in February 1969.

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-35344496357116453362010-06-06T00:10:00.000-07:002010-06-06T00:11:34.863-07:00

The Gulf oil spill continues to dominate the news, and with good reason. It seems that every effort by BP to stem the massive deep-well oil flow gets stalled. The perception is that BP really doesn’t know what it is doing. Yeah, they got a cap in place on the Deepwater Horizon well this last week but oil still flows into the Gulf. The major issue is that BP put profits above safety. They

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-35332472460868823082010-05-31T13:43:00.000-07:002010-05-31T20:09:48.027-07:00

I read a lot these days about bullies in schools. It is not heartening news. Many of the stories have tragic endings. It saddens me. When I was growing up I had many encounters with bullies. Since I changed schools often in my childhood I became a target of bullies. I think I was generally a target because I was new, but also because I grew rapidly as a child and usually was taller than

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-70699614541849939712010-05-23T20:43:00.000-07:002010-05-23T20:43:04.436-07:00

Last week I noted that there have been two constants in my life: music and photography. Certainly music was a much bigger constant. That does not diminish my love of photography and how much it has filled my life. However, until my early 20s photography seemed to move in and out of my life. I read a lot of comic books as a young boy. Advertised inside and sometimes on the back covers of comic

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-35563176424331889382010-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:002010-05-17T12:18:52.850-07:00

I just finished watching “The Rookie,” the story of Jim Morris who got a chance to live his dream of being a major league baseball pitcher long after he had given up on that dream. It is one of my favorite movies and chokes me up every time I see it. It got me to thinking about my dreams. I talked about some of that regarding my journalism career in a previous blog. While I had dreams and

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-52211996184834800042010-05-10T14:05:00.000-07:002010-05-10T14:17:33.359-07:00

At the recent college reunion, my old dorm-mate, Ken, said one thing to me that stood out: “I had bigger ambitions for my career.” Ken works for a small daily newspaper in Arizona. He has written a few big stories and won a few state awards for his reporting. Nonetheless, he feels a hollow sense of accomplishment in his career. Ken also says that things at his sheet aren’t looking good and he

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-85915943189702665752010-05-03T09:59:00.000-07:002010-05-03T12:07:24.080-07:00

You may recall my blog about picking cotton in Arizona as a child and that we were there because Dad had committed a crime in California and was on the run. We stayed in Arizona for about seven months. Eventually time ran out for Dad. The local police gave him a choice, be locked up and face an extradition hearing or voluntarily return to California and surrender. It was early spring 1957. He

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-74689306160473793612010-04-25T20:47:00.000-07:002010-04-26T12:01:59.938-07:00

This weekend I am getting together with some old college classmates and unlike depictions I’ve seen in many movies I doubt it will be filled with angst. It is the 50th anniversary of my university’s newspaper and to honor the event the Communications Department organized a reunion of all its former staffers. I haven’t attended any school reunions. As for high school, that wouldn’t happen since

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-28457025300533567592010-04-21T15:40:00.000-07:002010-04-21T16:11:35.348-07:00

The sciatica remains and probably will continue as a part of my life if not for years to come at least for weeks or months ahead. At this point the worst seems to have passed – for now. Still, this has been the most challenging malady I have encountered in my life. My wife, Kerry, says she cannot imagine what I’m going through. She is sympathetic and believes I’m in agony because she has seen

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-58245394060498713442010-03-30T12:09:00.000-07:002010-03-30T12:09:24.491-07:00

I haven't abandoned this blog. I've just been dealing with yet another event in my life: Sciatica. I've been taking the past couple of weeks to continue recuperating. I'll be back at the blog again in the next couple of weeks. So please stay tuned and check back soon. Just bear in mind that this has been a very challenging malady and extremely debilitating. It is difficult to sit for very long

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-76826482175626435462010-03-16T12:03:00.000-07:002010-03-16T12:06:15.150-07:00

In an earlier blog I talked about how long I have worked in this lifetime. It got me to thinking. Poverty defined my childhood. I cannot remember a time when we were not on welfare or I and my siblings were not wards of the state living in foster homes. My father and mother were both alcoholics. Dad seemed to have trouble handling responsibility and Mom I think was just a party girl.

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-57547809377519252382010-03-08T15:15:00.000-08:002010-03-08T15:17:59.489-08:00

While I watched a movie this morning there was a conversation about passion. It got me wondering: Do I have passion?; Have I ever been passionate about anything? There is the passion that is loving someone else. Certainly I love my wife and feel passion for her. But that is not the passion I’m questioning. Some would say I have a passion for photography. Others would say I have a passion for

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-79617983152371989992010-03-01T11:20:00.000-08:002010-03-04T12:24:44.942-08:00

Monday arrived after my few days of recuperating from a massive dizzy spell. I only had a couple more days on the job. I checked my emails to get caught up and listened to a few voice mails. Nothing was urgent. I always got in earlier than anyone else on my team – and for that matter anyone else in my department. It was a trade-off I’d made a long while back so that someone from our team was

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-78688632270469364722010-02-22T10:44:00.000-08:002010-02-22T16:29:59.906-08:00

In June, we’d received the news that the take-over of our company was complete. So at this point everyone was on pins and needles waiting to see what happens next. Nearly a month had passed since the announcement. It was a Tuesday and just another day for me on the job. Had a few calls that morning from customers about problems, worked on a recurring issue we were having with the software, and

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-35555098853499905482010-02-09T14:05:00.001-08:002010-02-15T11:59:04.957-08:00

Before I get too far into this blog I don’t want anyone to think that I’m a depressed potentially suicidal individual. Yes, I have had my moments in the dumps. But generally I am a pretty optimistic guy. My catch phrase in life is: It’s a good life and someone has got to live it. Still, I can’t help but feel down these days. The daily news doesn’t help. The government pummels us day after day

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-40560487826691455632010-02-08T12:49:00.000-08:002010-02-09T16:48:54.297-08:00

I wrote this a few weeks before I got my layoff notice. I still think it is appropriate. ------------------------------ There goes the alarm clock again: Same time, another day. It goes off the same time every day, except Saturdays and Sundays – unless I forget to turn it off. Still, there it goes. Insomnia has kept me awake most of the night so I’ve really been laying here anticipating it. Most

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268689866624028553.post-71648934247294042262010-02-04T12:08:00.002-08:002010-02-09T16:11:21.710-08:00

Last October I turned 61. I'd just been laid off from my job of 11 years a month before that birthday. Still, I really don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I was thinking about some of my past, remembering things from all phases. I think I might have had a mid-life crisis -- I married a woman 15-years my junior; I quit my career-job in journalism to go to graduate school; I earned a

Rusty Sterlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789669785887326916noreply@blogger.com0