October 2025

I actually created this blog on October 27, 2008.  If you search by topic, you'll find that "October" is probably the most written topic in all these 2,189 published postings, although I have done a terrible job tagging said posts.  Bad blogger.  Anyway, personally and professionally, time and time again, October has consistently been probably the most challenging month of the year for me.  Yet I still welcome the month.  

Is this all about some weird version of the Stockholm Syndrome?  Have I been conditioned by October to admire it, despite reasons to the contrary?

No, I have a different theory: October has always been the month of change, be it for me or just the cycle of life stuff in general.  October has a way of being far different on its 1st day than its 31st, more dramatically so than any other month.  Be it going from 80's to 50's or thunderstorms to snow flurries, seasons pivot at October's whim.

Part of the pivot for me is the appreciation that summer has had its time in the spotlight, and I am personally tired of feeling broiled every time I do anything outside.  Granted that being cold doing anything outside is kind of a bummer as well, but for a few shining weeks, October offers a kind of mediation that makes time outside actually enjoyable.  

This year, October for me is at the forefront of some other changes that are coming not too far down the road.  I have a long-term physical issue that will be addressed via surgery next month, so there is work to be done to get ready for (as Fonzie once put it in an episode of Happy Days) "the rip out room".  Nothing life or death, but nevertheless very necessary.  Post that, I will be making some other changes with an eye towards improving my overall physical health.  

Another thing coming down the road is on the professional front, where I've already started to make some changes that will both help me on the physical front as well as help to improve the balance in my life.  That part of my life has been terribly out of balance for years now, which at the risk of repeating prior postings needs to change.  One thing that has changed?  I'm no longer doing the "coming in early and leaving when it's dark" thing.  

Lastly, and as I finish this posting, there are millions participating in No Kings Day protests across the nation.

Obviously, I am here writing this and not there protesting, but my hope is that this is yet another example of big change coming from October.  I will also note that, while I support this movement, I have yet to get a check from George Soros, I am not a member of Hamas or the mythical Antifa "organization", nor am I a Communist or an antisemite.  Instead, I am just a guy who wants a country where his children can grow old without fear of a far-reaching federal government bent on continuous revenge and intrusion into their lives, one that thinks nothing of dragging children out to be deported by masked men.

Here's to falling leaves and failing would-be dictators. 

October

By my reckoning, October is life's great equalizer.  Rich or poor, powerful or powerless, October doesn't care.  October is going to change the world, whether any of us like it or not, ultimately reminding us that we are not, in fact, in charge.  I will readily confess to having a checkered past when it comes to the month of October.  This is something that I can back-up with over a hundred blog postings on the subject of this month.

Anyway, in spite of past experiences...or maybe because of them...I admire what October stands for in the cycle of life.  

(Our large pink rosebush needs a rest)

Life just gets tired, in part because nothing gets to last forever.  All that happened in the Spring and Summer, all of that growth, comes at a cost.  In order to eventually grow again, life needs to take a pause.  October is that pause.

There are a bunch of other non-mock-philosophical reasons why I really want to love October.

First, I love the weather.  The temperature is just right.  There is nothing better than a cool October breeze, especially after a summer where winds were more like convection oven currents than cooling events.

Second, I confess to liking Halloween.  Not necessarily the trick-or-treating part, but just this notion that for one day out of the year, the things that I found scary as a kid were somehow rendered temporarily powerless.

Third, there is just something wonderful about falling leaves.  They have this kind of special smell, especially as you walk through them, shuffling your feet along the way.

Finally, I'm not the biggest fan of really cold winters, so October provides this kind of window that allows us to get ready for what's to come.  For me that means getting the yard ready, trimming trees, and cleaning/putting things away.

Here's to hoping that all of us learn to appreciate October.  Especially me.

October

As I start writing this, it's Labor Day, September 4th.  That means that it's less than a month to go until October.  Dreaded October.  What's so "dreaded" about October?  Well, the month has not been friendly to me over the years, a point I've made time and time again.  In fact, some of the most angst-ridden stuff I've written, going back years, was in the month of October.

Just how bad is the month for me?  Well in 2016 I decided I wasn't going to have any more of October's negative mojo, so I embarked on a campaign to "Make October Great Again".  I even had a graphic.  My thought was that I would flood the month full of positive stuff, rendering its powers merciless at my onslaught of all things good.

Then, well, I was "retired" from a company I had which had employed me for nearly 28 years.

Once again, October was not to be denied.

I've thought about bringing the "Make October Great Again" campaign back, but then I got worried that something else not-so-great could happen...for example, I could come down with scurvy...or trench foot...or lose my job again...so it's likely that won't be happening anytime soon.  I'm not one for tempting fate.  Especially when it's called October.

So what's left to do?

Well, I am trying to fill the month with plenty of things to do.  Some are fun, such as a hike up to Ricketts Glen State Park (with my mother-in-law), others will be more strategic, such as studying for my SPHR designation.  I've got less than a month to go, and I've still got a lot of time to fill, so I had better finish my planning.  October looms.

Lastly, and as I've noted countless times before, I actually want to like October.  The weather is ideal, I enjoy Halloween, and I like getting the yard/house ready for the winter.  It just doesn't seem to like me all that much, but maybe there's hope.  Come on October, work with me a bit on this one.

(October at the Kinzua Dam)

Making October Great Again

In theory I should be loving October:

The weather isn't too hot, nor is it too cold.

I like the changing Fall foliage.

The non-summer routine has taken hold.

It's a photographer's dream.

It's a great time to ride the bike.

I love taking a trip out to the pumpkin patch.

I like preparing the yard for winter.

Yet over the years, October hasn't been so good for me.  I have 8 years worth of blog postings to prove the point.  What to do?  Well, starting next month I am going to take October back.  Yes, I'm going to "Make October Great Again".  All of my postings in October will be positive reflections on the world in and around me.  It's the perfect time really, especially given the fact that the media will, by the time October actually rolls around, basically just be saying the words "Trump" and "Clinton" over and over and over again anyway, to the point where blood will be flowing from all of our ears.

Oh, and yes, I am stealing a certain political candidate's slogan.  The above graphic is really just a cheesy modification of a bumper sticker you can find HERE.

Making October Great Again...coming to a blog near you.