Changes

Good day, everyone! First, I want you to know about something before I do it. As I hope you remember, I have recently moved this site from wordpress.com to a new server. When I did that, lots of stuff I took for granted changed. Things like automatically sending you a notification when I write a new post, or a place to comment that disappeared for most users, and I needed to get a new e-mail address (jim@jimbellomo.com). I will still be using my old one as well. I now have seven, I think ?.

At any rate, one of the big things I found out is that my "theme" is no longer being supported by WordPress. It is a VERY old theme, so I need to update it. When I do this, you are really going to notice it. It will look like a complete redesign. I have about three weeks to get a new design before it stops working altogether. (FYI: A theme is what makes this website look the way it does.) So watch for that here in just a few short weeks...I hope.

Random thoughts

A couple of things I have seen in the past few weeks. Here's the first one. It comes from an article in the Seattle Times, and it both cracked me up and saddened me. It was in an article about the lack of WiFi on the Washington State ferry system. They used to offer somewhat decent WiFi, which you could buy from a company called Boingo. But about three or four years ago, they went out of business and since then, no WiFi. Here's the last couple of paragraphs of that article that just killed me. I highlighted the part I want you to see.

OMG! People might actually have to..." be bored, have to read, look out a window or (heaven forbid) talk to strangers." Does that just say it all about the state of people today? And it's not like there is nothing to look at. If you have ever been on a Washington State ferry, you don't go to ugly places. There is ALWAYS something interesting to look at out every window. But heaven forbid you might have to actually read something (instead of scrolling through videos). Or talk to a stranger. 99% of my friends were strangers when I first met them. Okay, old man rant is over now. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Television

I am not sure I have ever mentioned it, but we are TV people. We just like a lot of great shows. We especially love British television. We often exchange ideas about what to watch with friends. I just want to tell you about a superb show we just finished watching, the first season of, and another we just started.

The first is a wonderful British mystery series, now available on PBS, called Bookish. It stars Mark Gatis, who created it. You might know him from the Benedict Cumberbatch show Sherlock, where he played Sherlock's brother Mycroft. The best thing I can say about this show is that it reads like a script written by both Arthur Conan Doyle and Noel Coward. The mysteries (six shows, each story is two episodes) are excellent, and the writing is as witty as I have heard in years. Give it a try if you love British shows as we do.

The other show is on Britbox. It is so good, it is almost worth subscribing to Britbox just to see it. It's called Riot Women. It's about a group of middle-aged women who are going through a lot and decide to form an all-female punk rock band. It is hilarious, poignant, and so much more. We have seen the first two episodes, and we can't wait to see the rest. If you watch a lot of British TV, you will recognize many of the people in this show. It's outstanding! Oops, I forgot to mention that it is filmed in Yorkshire, where our good friends Paul and Gail live and that we have visited twice. This part of Great Britain is absolutely beautiful. And Paul and Gail were the first to tell us about this show—thanks, guys.

That's about it. Watch for changes coming soon, and if you get an announcement from me that doesn't have my caricature smiling and waving at you, it's just a mistake. Sorry.

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. - Gail Sheehy