Ramble, ramble ramble ...

It has been a productive day. Those are always good and, fortunately, more numerous than the unproductive days.

The best -- Linda and I watched the last episode of "Roswell" on the SciFi Channel tonight. Tomorrow they start airing the series from the beginning and I plan to tape them all.

Watching the series from the beginning with mission just a few has been a most pleasant ritual for my wife and I. She is turning into a science fiction fan (I was going to say, a scifi freak, but she may read this some day and be offended). She has always said I like weird things and she is right.

One of the things I notice about "Roswell", particularly in the later episodes, is the "meetings" that are held in secrecy and usually include Max, Isabel, Kyle, Liz, Maria, Michael, Jesse and Jim.

The meetings remind me of the "friends of Narnia" meetings in the last book or books of "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis. I wonder if that series had any influence on the folks who created the characters of "Roswell" on TV and the book series that inspired them.

All in all the series is most satisfying.

It is neat that finally, Liz's dad and Max and Isabel's parents are told the truth.

And, the series ended with enough threads to support a whole series of movies or another TV series. For example:

* While Kyle's powers haven't "sprouted" yet, (though they will, for he was healed, just as Liz was healed) Jim Valenti was also healed by Max and will probably get powers, too.

* Max's son may grow up knowing that he is different. He may have powers, too, though he is supposedly 100 percent human. Also, what about the problem he will have trying to find his father and learn why he was put up for adoption?

* There is Jesse and his desire to reunite with his wife, Isabel. Also, I am sure, given their travels in that old VW van, that something will continue to smoulder between Isabel and Kyle.

* Of course, there will have to be periodic return visits to Roswell along with inherent dangers of making those visits.

* The biggie was totally ignored when the series made the jump from the WB to UPN - what about future Max's warnings to Liz that through their union, the earth is endangered.

* The granolith sets dormant in the pod chamber, awaiting a visit from aliens.

WOW! I can't wait.

Will "Roswell" die out? Don't think so. Do a search for the TV show or Roswell blogs using any of the major search engines. There are thousands of sites out there. And the show is gangbusters in Europe!

I just hope Max Evans actors don't suffer the "Superman curse" that has beset both George Reeves and Christopher Reeve (and notice the eerie similarity in the last names of those Super-actors!)

What else today?

Well, I installed a new computer in The Brazil Times newsroom today. Installed the new version of Baseview's NewsEditPro on some of our machines as well.

I have decided to learn what I can about Applescript and how it can be used with NewsEditPro and in other applications. Can I use it, for example, to create macros to automate some routine work on our Macintosh computers? I have never found a shareware Apple macro program. though there are some good ones for PCs.

Have been thinking a lot about retirement lately. Probably because I look around at work and see the 30-somethings and find it hard to remember when I turned 30. Now I am on the sunset side of 50 and wonder about the future. But then, I have always wondered about the future. I spent my earlier years worried. Now I seldom worry, but I get aggravated.

I guess my mind is in this future-thinking-past-50 mode because my hip hurts like hell sometimes. feels like I either pinched a nerve or pulled a muscle in my butt. ( If I were an alien, I would be from the planet Buttocks near a black hole:);)) I'm just not as young as I once was.

Oh, well.

I do have some goals. In addition to making enough money so Linda and I can retire in some comfort by the time I am 70, I want to travel the USA (visit L.A. and Roswell, among other spots). I want to become a successful fiction writer. I think (though others can certainly find evidence to disagree) that I have achieved some success as a non-fiction writer.

I have been honored by the Indiana Presswomen's association (sorry, I don't remember the exact name) and for some years now, I have made a living with words (of course, Linda continues to work full-time, but that is a) by her choice and b) doesn't count because so many wives work).

But I would love to make it as a fiction writer. I think science fiction will be the route for me to go.

Would I work in retirement? Probably -- but it would be on my terms -- as a writer or a radio talk show host. No playing records or working 20 hours a day as a one-man news staff as I did at WCVL, Crawfordsville, Ind., for four years.

Well, that's about it.

Oh, one other thing. I did not find this blog using Google. Wonder how many other blogs are out there that are not found by search engines?

Hmm?