I was very happy to learn two things late last night: first, that a temporary restraining order had been put in place against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's plan to begin implementing the license changes allowing Waste Control Specialists to import nuclear waste from several other states into Texas. Nothing has changed other than there is still time to halt the impending disaster. But it was a ray of hope, nonetheless.
The second thing I learned was that one person who read my blog yesterday was from, or at least in, Slovenia at the time he or she viewed my blog. I was both honored and thrilled about the distant reader, but even more, I was curious about Slovenia itself. I have to plead my ignorance here. I mean, I know Slovenia was at one time a part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and that Yugoslavia collapsed as a nation shortly after the demise of the Soviet Union in the early nineties. I knew the approximate location of Slovenia on the new globe. But that is the extent of my knowledge of that nation, other than what I have read in the past few minutes.
But I wanted to send a "hello" to the reader or readers in Slovenia, and to wish a Happy New Year!
In my reading, I learned that Slovenia had actually been a "nation" several times since the last days of the Roman Empire. But the coolest little tidbit I learned was that if one vacations in Slovenia, one can enjoy spending time in the Alps, then drive an hour or so to the Mediterranean coast and enjoy the beach, making Slovenia a very attractive tourist destination. In fact, it turns out that tourism is one of the largest segments of the Slovenian economy. Slovenia also seems to be a relatively stable state, making it all the more desirable for timid tourists like myself. Of course, Slovenia has seen its share of bloodshed and warfare over the centuries, right up to the last century when several thousand refugees fled there from regions less peaceful.
That is the extent of my knowledge of Slovenia, but I am eagerly reading more as I get the opportunity. I again thank the reader from Slovenia for honoring me with at least one visit to this blog, and even more, for giving me a spark of curiosity and desire to learn more about this little nation, about the size of our own New Jersey, or more familiar to Texans, about the size of Brewster County in West Texas. Maybe it is not totally out of the realm of possibility that my lovely bride and I someday could visit that distant land, climbing the Alps in the morning and walking in the ocean surf later that afternoon. Sounds like a plan!
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