Life is funny. I woke up Saturday morning and my priority was helping my folks put out stuff for the big-item pick-up they are having here in town, and finishing the script for my latest podcast (which you can access here).

Then I got a message on Facebook from the wife of a friend of mine, saying he was in the hospital. As it turned out, it was nothing too serious and he was home again in a few hours.

But it really made me stop and think that something like that, or more serious, can happen at any moment. You don’t get a “Next Saturday, something bad is going to happen!”-type warning; things just happen. And so in those moments where something serious isn’t happening, you need to take them for what they are and appreciate them for what they are.

And I think in those moments where you do realize what might have been, you need to rethink priorities – what’s worth being upset and stressed about and what’s not worth the bother. There have certainly been times – and COVID and past experiences has certainly aggravated this – where I have allowed myself to become stressed and upset about things that, in the long run, had no ill effect of my life, other than my being embarrassed at getting so upset about it. Maybe this is one of those learning experiences where you realize that there are things you just have to let go of and focus on the important things – and people – in your life.

My friend’s birthday was on Tuesday. I had planned to call him on Tuesday night but I knew he’d be watching NXT so I messaged his wife to say I’d call him on Saturday. Of course, with this happening on Saturday and him being tired after his trip to the hospital, I said I’d call him on Sunday night – and you better believe I am going to.

You never know when you say goodbye to someone when – or even if – you will say hi to them again. I remember, years ago, my Mom asking me if I had called a friend of mine. I was in kind of an anti-social mood at the time and thought “Well, she’s got a phone. She can call me.” Within a week, she had been killed in a car accident and I’ve always regretted both my attitude and the fact I never got a chance to talk to her one last time.

I think (and this is a topic I will explore in an upcoming podcast) is that social media has actually made us less social. It’s easy to “like” something on Facebook or Instagram but how people take the time to really read what the other person is saying and engage with them. I mean, it doesn’t make things easy when 90% of the posts are just memes and jokes and opinions that other people have posted. But maybe it’s time we used social media to be, you know, social.

For the first time in a long while, I actually left the property on Sunday. The town was having their annual Big Item Pick-up this week so this weekend people were putting larger items. (I believe the restriction was that it could not fit in a regular-sized garbage bag.) My folks and I put a few things out to the curb and then, like many other people in town, went around to see what else had been put out. We ended up picking up a small table for our back “patio” and some spindles for a fence the folks will be building.

Depending on whether we are still in lockdown (or whatever they’re calling it) by May 2-4 weekend, they may be holding a town-wide yard sale. I have been doing some “spring cleaning” as of late and, while I won’t be hosting a sale, I may just put some stuff on the porch or curb (“Free to a Good Home”).

So, earlier this week, I was listening to Sirius XM and I noticed they had what they call Pandora Stations. (I’m not sure what the difference between Pandora stations and regular Sirius XM stations, save that there’s no DJs and each station seems to be devoted to a single artist or group, rather than a genre like 80s on 8, B.B. King’s Bluesville, or 60s on 6.) I have had an awareness of Pandora Stations because there is one called “WWE and Jim Johnson” which, as you can probably guess, is all WWE themes. (I don’t listen to that one a lot but I have turned to it the odd time.)

Anyways, I noticed that one of these Pandora stations was dedicated to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Now, I love me some CCR so I tuned in to see what the channel had to offer.

I ended up listening to it for the entire work day on Tuesday and I tell you, there was not a bad song to be had. It wasn’t a completely CCR line-up (it offered everything from BTO to Tracey Chapman to Bob Seger). I’m not sure how they decide what plays on the station but so far they are getting no complaints from me.

As recently as 72 hours ago, I wasn’t sure I was going to push the button and launch JohnMilner.ca and make all this a reality. I mean, I kinda built up this “big announcement” and I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed to find out it’s just a website with a bunch of my writing on it.

I mean, I’m sure people had some fun trying to guess what that announcement was. I think I have everything from getting a sex change to becoming a Kyle Busch fan. (I will leave it up to the reader to decide which guess was more far-fetched.) But would people really be interested to “tune in” to read about NASCAR or old wrestling shows or Canadian history? And, odds are, I’m going to writing some op-eds about various subjects (don’t worry, nothing too controversial) …are people really going to want to read what I have to say?

And, if I’m being totally honest, I’m sure that some of the people who weighed in on just what my big announcement was going to be are probably going to react with some version of “His big announcement was some vanity website???” and never bother to read so much as a single word that I have posted here.

And you know what…that’s fine. I am confidant that there will be people out there who will read at least a posting or two -and maybe people I don’t even know yet will discover the website and become fans.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s review the week that was in the world of John Milner: I am in the middle of a four-day weekend. (I had to use up my last two vacation days by the end of the month and so I decided to use them this weekend – and then realized it was also Talladega weekend, so win-win.)

A couple of weekends ago, I wanted to do “Spring Cleaning” and did a half-*ss attempt. This weekend I decided to try again and really rid myself of stuff that I had but I knew I was never going to use (movies I was never going to rewatch, books I was never to reread and other stuff that was just taking up space to say nothing of files on my computer). I still have a lot of work to do in that department but I figure I can do some more tomorrow before and after watching the Cup race.

It was Oxford Local History Day and as part of it, the Heroes of Zorra project contributed a video showing what people can find when they visit the website. I think it’s fairly well-done but feel free to check it out for yourself.

I even lent a hand to my folks helping them out by mowing the lawn and helping with other yard work. Neither task took too long and made me feel like I was contributing to the betterment of our property. It was also nice to get away from the computer screen and out in the fresh air. Maybe I will spend Sunday night sitting out and reading. (Oh yeah, I was going to announce that JohnMilner.ca has been launched. Oh well…maybe I will do that and then log off and head out, and see how badly the Internet has exploded when I come back in…Hahahaha!)

Okay, well, I think the launch of the site is big enough for one weekend. Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy. (Oh, and hey, drop me a line at johnmilner@johnmilner.ca.)

Ugh! What is it about Friday afternoons that I just feel like I could take a nice hour-long nap either just before or after supper? Come on, this is the start of the weekend. I should be full of energy and trying to get as many things crossed off my “To Do” list as possible.

I am not sure if this will be the last blog entry I make before the website goes live. I am toying with whether to have JohnMilner.ca go live on Thursday night after I get off work (as I have a four-day weekend coming to me) or Sunday night after the Talladega Cup race.

Maybe I will post on Thursday night and then log off for the weekend and return on Monday to see what kind of response (if any) I am getting. That could be fun. Quite honestly, I rather enjoy taking a break from the Internet just to give the platforms some time to produce some new content.

By the way, and this is the part where I come off as a jerk, there was a part of me that thought “I should just tell everyone that I’m going to reveal my Big News the weekend of Talladega” and then watched as everyone replied “What’s Talladega???”

I feel like, since I’ve been working on this “project” (and other things on my To Do list) I really haven’t been doing a lot besides my day job, of course. I always think that if I can get my To Do list under control, then I will be able to relax, watch a movie or two, read more, but that never seems to be the case. Oh well, maybe if I bear down this next week and my four-day weekend maybe I can finally get a handle on things. I mean, I have to at some point and preferably before I run out of days to be able to do so.

I actually chatted with a few people over this past week that I haven’t in a while. Maybe this weekend, instead of signing off social, I will surprise a few people by seeing if they respond to my chats. (Maybe I will be the one surprised.)

Last weekend was Wrestlemania and I kept in touch with the goings-on via Twitter, mostly through the hilarious WWF Prime Time Today twitter account, which gives updates on WWE events as if covered by the late Gorilla Monsoon and “The Host of Prime Time” Bobby “the Brain” Heenan. However, that was the extent of it.

It’s weird because I feel sad that I don’t watch wrestling much anymore, (although I just switched on WWE Friday Night Smackdown) and what’s even weirder is that I always feel like my parents might be disappointed because I don’t watch it anymore. (Ironically, my Mom was vocal a while back “You’re not watching wrestling again, are you?”) I think it’s similar to how my nephew was so hugely into Thomas the Tank Engine and then, on a dime, just began hating it. It was just sad that he turned his back on something that seemed so important to him.

And wrestling was very important to me. My Dad and I went to WWE and indy shows. I met my friends Chris, Dee, and Kelly because of watching wrestling. I became better friends with Jim and Jason because we could chat about wrestling. I wrote articles for various websites and I even like to brag that I worked in wrestling. (It’s not that impressive when you here the whole story.)

So even when I had my falling out with wrestling, I still kept tabs on it and so, even if I didn’t tune in this year, I still wanted to know who won and who lost. And it’s the same reason why I decided to bring back “Milner’s Mat Report.” I may not discuss current events (although you never know) but it’s still fun to watch old shows and recap them. Even if no one else reads them, I will from time to time. (Maybe I will post excerpts from my manuscript about being a wrestling fan from 1985-1990 “When Wrestling Was Golden.”

Well…by this time next week, perhaps JohnMilner.ca will be officially launched. Until then, stay safe.

I have to start off with a shout-out to my sister, Cathy, celebrating a birthday today! I will also suggest you all go visit her blog, Cathy Unfiltered! (Of course by doing so I am guessing the few people who will read this will leave my blog, – even with me setting the link to open in a new tab – never to return.

Speaking of family, my Dad seems to be doing well. He had X-Rays done and the doctor called within about 48 hours (24 hours, I can’t remember) to say there was no need to come in for a follow-up as everything looked good. (With COVID, he doesn’t want to risk someone coming into a hospital unless there is something really wrong with them.) Needless to say, my folks and I were pretty happy to get that news.

I was going to update the blog last night but I was watching what turned out to be the first half of the Xfinity race from Martinsville. Of course, it went into a rain delay. If you thought that was bad, rain seems to be playing a part in delaying NASCAR, the Blue Jays and Wrestlemania! (I always wondered when the latter was going to happen, given WWE’s penchant for running in open air arenas.

So I have been trying to decide when exactly to launch JohnMilner.ca. I didn’t want to do it this weekend because I didn’t want to overshadow my sister’s birthday. (Yeah, like the launch of this website was going to do that.) I am taking the last weekend in April (April 23-26). No real reason save I have to take my last two days off before the end of April. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s also Talladega weekend! So I have decided that will also be the weekend I launch the site.

I am kinda nervous about the launch because I want the website to really look good. At the same time, however, I don’t want to just keep delaying the website until everything is perfect. I do need to post some new content as much of what I have is from a few years ago. Oh well, I have a few ideas for articles, etc.

I discovered that I had saved all the copy from one of my old blogs so I have 888 pages (yep, you read that right!) of copy to go through and post where need be (mostly on the Canadian History and Milner Mat Report pages).

Well…I could write more but there’s not a whole lot to talk about that’s not COVID-related and I’m sure you can find tons of stuff about that on other websites. And so, until next time, stay safe and take care.

You know, there are a lot of things I like having the number 3 associated with, but number of lockdowns are not one of them. And yet, here we are again.

With everything COVID-19-related going on, it’s been a busy week for those of us in the communications business. Due to some pre-webinar festivities, I was actually on campus at King’s for a little while on Wednesday. It was great to see some of the King’s Communications team, including three I had never actually met in person before. While I was waiting for this (socially-distanced and fully masked) gathering to take place, I saw at least a half-dozen people I knew so it was a bit of “Ol’ Home Week.”

One thing I do like associating the number 3 with is three-day weekends. I decided that this weekend was going to be my “Spring Cleaning Weekend.” I got my “downstairs office” re-arranged and while I still have a lot to do, I’ve also made some real progress. You know me and my To Do lists, they’re never really close to being completed.

NASCAR is off this week but I’ve been watching the odd race on YouTube (watched the 2011 Southern 500 from Darlington and the 2015 Truck race from Talladega) as well as some WKRP in Cincinnati episodes on the ‘Tube as well. I was going to see if YouTube had all of the 1999 reboot on there somewhere but maybe that’s a Sunday task for me.

I did something this week that I don’t normally do and that’s buy something off Facebook Marketplace. A seller in London was offering some Earnhardt cars (1:64) at $5 a pop and one of the cars he had for sale was a very rare car: a green Lowe’s Food Busch series Pontiac that Earnhardt raced at Daytona in 1989. It’s rare because (a) Earnhardt ran Chevys not Pontiacs, (b) Lowe’s Foods was not one of Earnhardt’s regular sponsors and (c) the car is green, not Earnhardt’s traditional black. I did some research and it turns out Earnhardt wrecked his primary car on the last lap of qualifying – he actually ran one more lap after the red flag came out to end practice, slid in some oil and wrecked. My guess is he tracked down some driver that didn’t make the field and bought the car off him. He finished fourth in the race to Darrell Waltrip. (Still don’t like the idea of Cup drivers racing in what is now Xfinity, even when it’s drivers like Earnhardt and Waltrip.)

Anyways, the guy was selling off much of his collection of NASCAR diecasts so I ended up buying quite a few. I now have five of the six Darrell Waltrip 25th Anniversary Series and a few more of the Earnhardt Winner’s Circle Lifetime Series. (I have to see how many of those cars I have and how many I need.)

So, I will shut up about a lot of things (and believe me, it’s safer for someone like me to do so in most cases) but I have to say my piece about the news that the “Holy Roller” tank in London’s Victoria Park was vandalized.

Now I am sure that there will be those whose political and world views will find justification in the actions of this vandal (or “these vandals” as the case my be). And I used the term “vandals,” (and notice there are no other four-letter words preceding it) rather than “activist” or “protestor” or any other terms that people label themselves when they think they’re going to do something that’s going to change the world.

I’m sorry to break it you but spray-painting some (mostly illegible) slogan on a memorial to those men and women who sacrificed so we could enjoy freedom for three-quarters of a century is not a courageous act against whatever internet-popular buzzword we’re all supposed to be fighting against today.

This is vandalism. Pure and simple. So simple that it doesn’t even need to be muddled by arguments over which ideology is behind all of this. Wrong is wrong, no matter who you vote for.

Whoever did this should not be lauded. They should be ashamed. Anybody who supports this should be ashamed and perhaps really think about their beliefs and values.

Sorry for “the rant” as some might call it, but while I may keep my mouth shut about a lot, this is one issue I am willing to speak up about.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy,

So my plan to launch JohnMilner.ca once I received the Milner Racing sweatshirt I purchased on Amazon (which I was going to use in the web banner on the main page) has been delayed. The sweatshirt – which was supposed to arrive sometime between March 16 and April 19 (yeah, I know right?) – arrived today. The only problem is that somebody decided the word “Milner” would look great in gray on a gray sweatshirt. Me, not so much, so I am going to be sending it back (maybe I will get it in blue).

That minor disappointment aside, this past week was pretty eventful, actually. After working the Open House at King’s last Saturday, I decided to take Wednesday which nicely split up the week. Monday and Tuesday weren’t too confusing but Thursday and Friday were because I kept waking up wondering what day it was.

Speaking of Wednesday, my Mom had a good idea that some day I should take a day off during the week and go to a couple of the area antique and collectibles, including the One of a Kind Antique Mall in Woodstock and Brydges Street Merchant Mall in London. Her thought was that during the week, there would be less people there and she was right. Before any reader blames that on COVID, I prefer going to places like that, even pre-pandemic, when it’s quiet and you can take your time and look around. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, going to these antique and collectibles stores (“flea markets” as I still call them, although I’m guessing that terminology will be deemed “problematic” in 2021) are a great way to get your mind off everything else. As you walk through the aisles, you definitely get some sensory overload but everything outside the four walls just disappears.

While I was in London, I stopped by Paul Sutter’s house to pick up copies of Issue #230 of Shelf Life Magazine. Earlier this week, I finished the update for the Shelf Life website, with excerpts from this latest issue. While I was there, I also picked up a couple of books, including The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer. It’s an alternative history about the group of people involved with the Manhattan Project. I don’t know enough about that particular chapter in history to know what’s alternative and what’s not but it’s an extremely fascinating read. If it continues the way it began, I will definitely give it a great review.

Speaking of reviews, Paul has been producing video reviews over the last year as COVID prevented him from putting Shelf Life out in print form. I decided to try my hand at it, producing my own video reviews for The Deep by Alma Katsu and Tombstone by Tom Clavin.

My folks and I are likely staying close to home this weekend but that’s okay because “IT’s BRISTOL BABY!” That’s right, NASCAR is running a Cup race on dirt for the first time since 1970, and it’s at the famous (or infamous) short track of Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s definitely going to be different and definitely going to be interesting. I will definitely have something to write about in Track Talk.

If you’ve managed to make it to this blog post, you’ve probably overcome the overwhelming disappointment that the “Big News” was simply that I had launched “JohnMilner.ca” and have moved on to wondering why I posted my first blog before I launched the website.

The answer to that particular pondering is:

(a) I wanted to get in the habit of writing a regular blog. Going forward, I will be trying to providing updates every Friday or Saturday night. Years ago, I had a blog that I would update every Friday night, I think it was while I was working at Coles. I actually enjoyed it because it gave me a chance to reflect on my week. Going forward, this blog will be one-part weekly update, one-part random stuff that crosses my mind throughout the week.

(b) I also wanted to talk a little bit about what led me to create “JohnMilner.ca.” My sister has her own blog (Cathy Unfiltered – A single Mom of an almost teenage boy who is real, authentic, unfiltered.) and domain and so I started thinking that it’d be cool to have my own Dot-Com website. Initially I was going to transfer my Track Talk blog into TrackTalk.com.

However, I decided to enlarge the scope and, in addition to continuing Track Talk, showcase:

Some of my writing – Most of what is published now is fiction that I wrote sometime ago. Going forward, I will be posting some non-fiction pieces that I’d like to work on. I would also like to get the novels I have written (but have never been able to seriously work on getting published) posted here, but given that these are full-length 90,000 to 100,000 word publications, it may be a while in coming.

My history articles – This is a lot like my writing in that it’s articles I’ve written in the past (as well as chapters of my would-be book History in Your Back Yard). However, maybe I will be inspired to write some new articles and post them here.

Wrestling Recaps – One of my favorite things to do on my blogs of the past was to watch old WWF house shows and write about them. My wrestling recaps, much like Track Talk, will be an acquired taste but luckily there are probably a few people out there who will enjoy them.

My Portfolio – Think of this as my “Brag Book.” This are examples of my writing, graphic and web design, video production and even some social media from across the full breadth of my career in communications-related fields.

So, you may ask “Why is this JohnMilner.ca and not JohnMilner.com?” Well, initially I had thought of moving all of this over to Wix. However, as much as Wix makes more a much better looking website, I couldn’t see where I could post articles, etc. and be able to link directly to individual articles. Maybe you can, I just couldn’t see where it was easy to do. WordPress – where TrackTalk and other websites I’ve worked on reside – isn’t the easiest thing to work with, especially with this whole block thing going on but I’ve been using it for a while now.

I had thought of getting the dot-com domain but WordPress offered a dot-ca domain instead and being Canadian, I decided to go with JohnMilner.ca instead.

So there’s a very long story but I hope you enjoy your stay here on the site.