Things don’t always go as planned and when they don’t, it helps to be flexible and have a sense of humor. Otherwise, we are in a really bad mood.

Arriving at Logan Airport at 5:30 am for the British Airways flight to Stockholm by way of London, I was notified that the plane didn’t “show up.” Huh? Since there was no advance notification, I’d shown up in plenty of time. They kindly booked me on another flight, leaving 11 hours later, and handed me a voucher for a whopping $19 to use in the airport. Fortunately, Hilton Hotel is next to the terminal and they held my luggage while I walked through their little garden and took a cat nap in their courtyard – it was good to get some sunshine before the long overnight flight.

It’s common knowledge that the best way to spend time at the airport is to have a drink, and I like to do what’s best. The voucher went towards lunch – yay!

Time for the World Cup – go USA!

Hopefully this plane will show up. I’ll see you in Stockholm.

My carry-on is packed for a new adventure: Scandinavia! I’ve wanted to see it for years and finally the stars aligned with airline mileage for the flight into Stockholm and out of Oslo. Another factor is that with my new vocation as Ombudsperson, which position originated in 13th century Sweden, I have an additional purpose in going which is to meet and interview a couple of Ombuds over there. The other, and probably most important reason, is that my DNA shows that my dad has some Scandinavian heritage, so I’ll go see if I can stumble into some long lost relative.

John Cleese and Michael Palin are additional sources of inspiration via the hilarious Dead Parrot skit where Palin said that the parrot from the pet shop was merely ‘pining for the fjords’ and not really passed on. I really can’t wait to see the glacial waters as well as all of the land of the midnight sun in its summer splendor.

July 1, 2019

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.