The surprises keep on coming

What? You mean no one else has posted here in the month I've been away from here?

Shocked! Shocked I say!

Dare to dream big

OK, I'm pretty sure that no one from the family has visited this site for a while, which is OK. I'm trying not to take it personally. Either that, or I may have to amend my Powerball win plans.

Over the years, first when I bought California lottery tickets for big prize drawings and now with Powerball drawings, I have developed some common themes to my lottery dreams. Oh, sure, every once in a while I add or subtract details, but the basic dream stays much the same. I've been dreaming that dream again this week, now that the next Powerball drawing is all the way up to $153 millions. I know I probably won't win, but for 5 bucks I can let my imagination run free. The entertainment lasts longer and is cheaper than a ticket to a movie.

The megamillions dream goes something like this:

Of course, I would establish a trust fund for Suzanna, and structure it in such a way that she will still have some money left to take care of me after I frivolously spend all my winnings on bobbles and bling.

I would also set up some sort of trust funds for the family. I would need a financial manager to help me figure out the best way to do that, but the basic concept is that there would be a "West" fund, for my parents and brothers (and perhaps could benefit other in the extended family on both my mom's and dad's side). Then, there would also be a "Felix" fund (although that fund may now be restricted to active blog participants, sort of like a blogging scholarship).

There would also be some property acquisition. I'd pay off Monica's house and buy my parents' house and property, so that maybe my parents could retire and not have to leave the home they've lived in for the last 35 years.

Selfishly I also see two homes for myself. One, a winter home, would be someplace warm in the winter, like Palm Springs or San Diego or Phoenix or Tucson. It would have to have a pool and a hot tub and a nice back yard and enough bedrooms to host family members wanting a winter vacation. Perhaps it needs a casita, so visitors can have their own space.

The other home would be in Portland. Again, perhaps we are talking some sort of an estate here, so the Portland branches of the family tree could all move in if they wished. But again, there would need to be sufficient space to afford all occupants (and any weekend visitors) enough space for some privacy. For example, when Martha and Michael are in town and go to bed at like 8, the party can continue in the fiesta wing without disturbing their sleep. Equally important, when they wake up at O-dark-30, late sleepers, like me, won't be awakened by noisy coffee brewing.

And of course, I'd have to quit my job and become a professional blogger, which essentially gives me an excuse to do nothing, but to have a tax write off for all the high-tech digital computer toys I would want to play with.

Eventually, I may start my own business, to give me something to do and would necessitate people calling me "boss" and sucking up to me even. It would also give me someplace to go whenever someone tracked me down at either the Portland estate or the winter estate in Palm Springs to ask me for a favor, or money. "Sorry, I can't deal with this right now, I have to go into the office. We'll talk later." Then there would be an emergency business trip to meet with investors or clients or pursue new acquisitions. Oh, and I'd need a personal assistant so I could be conveniently unreachable via cell phone or e-mail.

I also haven't decided yet, but I am even thinking about possibly getting a new car. But I have to say, I'm torn. It would be awfully hard to part with the ol' '95 Dakota. Wait! I don't have to. Getting a new car doesn't mean I have to give up the truck (which I know Suzanna loves so much). I just need to make sure the estate has a place to part the ol' Dodge. Hey, I might even be able to afford to hire someone to wash and wax 'er.

And you want to know what the really cool thing is? Since no one comes to this site anymore, no one in the family will ever read this and they can't hold me to any of it! I'll have money to burn! Maybe I'll buy two cars and make sure the house has a 3-car garage.

Is anybody home?

OK, people, where are all the new posts from our new contributors?

Sarah? Suzanna? Queen M? I'm talking to you in particular!

Tell us about your day. What's happening at work or at school.

I will try to post here regularly, but I also added my own personal blog, where I plan to post from time to time. If you want to check it out, here's the link. I made a post there about what I have to do tomorrow, which is serve on jury duty (yippee!).

Speaking of other blogs, if anyone knows of any other blogs they like that we should link to from this site, let me know. Also let me know if anyone else wants to share administrative duties with me on here. That will allow you to make changes to the template and other stuff.

It was an idea that wouldn't go away

I often carry a notebook with me on trips. I keep one by my bed too. It's an old habit, born of regular bouts of insomnia. Sometimes when I lay down at night my mind turns to the next day, or regrets about the day past, and the brain just won't shut off. When this persists for too many days I have found that sometimes it helps to write in one of those notebooks about whatever is running through my head. Sometimes putting those seemingly random thoughts on paper reveals the order to them. I get the jumble out of my brain and spill it on a page and that act allows my mind to rest and my body to sleep. These days I rely more on a computer for my periodic writing jags, but sometimes things just flow better like ink through onto paper, when I put the keyboard away and take pen in hand.

It was in one of those notebooks that I wrote the following on Aug. 14, 2006:

I have an idea for a new blog. A family blog site for the whole Felix/West clan. The original idea was for a father/daughter blog for Suzanna and I, but I don't know if she'd go for it. I don't know if anyone else in the crew will either.

Question is: Will I pitch the idea to them, or let it die?

And for more than a year, the idea sat dormant. I had let it die, or so I though. It was resurrected again, almost a year later, in August 2007, after Suzanna and I teamed up on a little project for my newspaper and the newspaper's blog. It was fun collaborating with Suzanna on material for the blog and a story for the newspaper. I was even inspired to write a blog post on another site about the experience.

That caused the family blog idea to flare up again, but I didn't do anything with it. Then, over Thanksgiving weekend, when I saw Suzanna, Monica and Elizabeth, I worked up the courage to share the idea with them: What if we had a family blog that we could all contribute to and share things with each other (and maybe even the wider world) from our separate locations around Oregon (or wherever or lives take us)? Were then interested? Did they think the rest of the family would be interested?

To my surprise, the idea was greeted with some enthusiasm. So now, I'm ready to pitch the idea to the wider family and see who might be interested in not only the idea, but in contributing post, pictures, video -- whatever -- from time to time.

There is no magic to this formula. It's just a place where we can share ideas, memories, whatever. It's the holiday season, so maybe we might not get this thing going in earnest during this busy season. But I hope this post serves as a start to a fun family collaboration.