Sunday Five - First Time

Everything we do started someplace and time.  This week's theme, first times. 

1. How old were you when you got your first passport? 
2. In what place did you first clear Customs and Immigration or border control? 
3. What was the first airport you boarded an airline flight at? 
4. Where was the first place you went over 100 miles per hour in a car?
5. Where was the first place you saw a live concert? 

My answers: 

1. How old were you when you got your first passport? 32 
2. In what place did you first clear Customs and Immigration or border control? Sarnia, Ontario - as a kid when it was simple - very few questions asked and no ID needed (good thing my grandmother was undocumented at the time.) 
3. What was the first airport you boarded an airline flight at?  Detroit, DTW the old terminal - Eastern Airlines.  
4. Where was the first place you went over 100 miles per hour in a car? M-90 in North Branch Michigan in a 1965 Plymouth with my oldest brother driving - he could really drive . 
5. Where was the first place you saw a live concert? Jacksonville Florida, KISS. 

Your answers in the comments! 

10 Years and new leaps of faith

Ten years ago today, I took a giant leap of faith, and started my job in Washington DC.  I left behind a job with a couple of years of funding lined up, a home and city that I knew, a community that I where I was "a big fish in a small pond" to move to a place where few people knew me, and the big fish had been here for decades.  I split our family life in two, with two jobs, in two states, two homes, and lots of going back and forth.  

We soon discovered Google Hangouts, aka, Google Video Chat, a free service that we use to see talk with one another nearly everyday, 30+ weeks out of the year, for the last decade as we have lived and worked apart.  We have treasured the summers together, and the extended academic holidays that my sweet bear's job afford.  

Ten years ago, I needed a change, this was a chance to "dance on the national stage."  It was a big risk.  I figured if it didn't work, I'd return to Kentucky, assuming that J would let me back in. 

It worked.  I liked the job, my boss is a saint to work for.  I have done some good work, I have gotten noticed, I have made a difference.  I have learned, and pushed my field to look at issues differently. I have been fairly paid (though I could have made more by changing jobs a couple of times.)  

Jay has taught his last class, he is grading his last final exams.  I am headed to Lexington today, for the move out and closing on the other house.  I find the timing of my trip back to Lexington to be ironic, ten years to the day from when I started the job in DC.  

We are looking forward to being under the same roof year around - new beginnings and new leaps of faith.   

Guns

Earlier this year, the teenage son of a friend of mine hid in a classroom in his high school, desperately texting his father, while an angry young man with guns murdered classmates, teammates and friends in his school. School officials and local police knew the shooter, knew he was unstable, yet the guns were purchased legally though a licensed firearms dealer. Sadly, that was just one of several such occurrences this year. And nothing has been done to keep guns out of the hands of unstable people in this country.  

I am a gun owner.  My grandfather gave me my first rifle when I was a teenager.  I have fired thousands and thousands of rounds from rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and pistols.  I own at least one of each. (And I know the difference between them, and how to handle them safely.) My guns have never hurt anyone or any animal.  There is no risk in me owning guns as long as the two of us remain mentally well and stable, and I reasonably control access to them by angry or mentally unstable people. I live in a state with relatively simple gun laws.  My guns do not have to registered or licensed.  Only if I want to carry a concealed weapon would I need a state license.  In my state you can open carry (carry a weapon - including a firearm in public as long as it is readily visible), I don't, it is rare to see.  

We have laws in this country requiring a background check for "most" firearms purchases.  Not all sales, private sales and gifts are difficult to track, and even in places where they try, criminals sell guns outside of the system. Short of amending the Constitution, it will be difficult or impossible to regulate private sales, or gifts. 

Persons banned from buying guns through licensed dealers include persons convicted of serious crimes, persons who have committed domestic violence, and persons who are mentally unfit.  

The system breaks down, in a failure to report persons who shouldn't have guns.  Persons with serious unresolved anger issues, persons who are delusional, or paranoid.  All too often after a mass shooting, we hear that the person had an encounter with law enforcement, or mental health before the shooting and the professionals were concerned, but the person didn't meet the state criteria for reporting, or the system to report simply didn't work.  Many states require that a person be involuntarily hospitalized or found to be a person in need of protection by a court in a mental health proceeding before the name can be included in a database. Those are extreme measures, last resorts, that are invoked for a fraction of persons with serious mental challenges. For domestic violence the name does not go on the list in most states unless the victim goes to court and gets a restraining order - many victims remain with their abuser and try to work things out.  Those violent perpetrators don't end up in the no-sale database. 

We need to fix the system to expand reporting.  In doing so we need to provide due-process to challenge being on the no-sale list. 

All too often a professional saw the warning signs that a person was likely to become violent, and didn't or couldn't report.  

We need to improve access to mental health care.  Mental health needs to be on parity with physical health, and those without insurance need to have access to free or very low cost counseling.  

I am not advocating taking all the guns away.  I am just saying, keep guns out of the hands of people we all agree are a risk to the public if they have access to guns. The extremists on both side of this issue, need to come to the middle.  If we can't agree that a person who is paranoid and angry shouldn't have guns, what can we agree on? 

Style

I have a conference coming up next spring in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Should I buy the hat and boots?  I own a couple of pairs of boots, but I have never owned a pair of cowboy boots.  I have had a few hats - but not a good western hat.  Should I or shouldn't I. 

The picture above was in my mother's collection, apparently someone in the family history had a sense of style. 

Did that gene skip a few generations?

A rude joke: 
What do cowboy hats and hemorrhoids have in common?  
Answer - sooner or later every asshole has one.  

The Way We Were Wednesday - The Mirror Project

This was taken in Toronto about 14 years ago, in Toronto, with my first real digital camera.  I will have that one around here someplace.  It was taken to be submitted to "The Mirror Project."  The Mirror Project was a website that posted photos of reflections of the photographer.  Any reflective surface would work, the more interesting the setting, the more popular the image would be.  As I recall submissions were limited to one per week, per person.  The editors selected the images for posting.  It was run by volunteers, never monetized and stopped taking submissions after a few short years.  It was one of my first forays in web-publishing - along building a page on Virtual Tourist - now also closed.  

How far we have come in just a few years, how far will we go in the next 15 years? 

Random Notes

I read recently that researchers have determined that prozac makes lobsters happier.  When exposed to antidepressants, the serotonin level improves in lobsters - the lobsters exhibit more confidence and happy lobster behaviour.  Among other things the lobsters stand up taller, waive their claws in a confident and ready to take on all challengers way, and are less likely to hide under a rock. The book argues that as thinking beings, we can change brain chemistry by our actions, act confident, and your brain chemistry will follow - or change the brain chemistry and your physical actions will change.  The author argues that to some limited extent, brain chemistry and physical manifestation of happiness are a two way street.  

Stand tall, shoulders back, smile, fake till you make it. 

Don't Stop Believing

I sent a memo to a boss one time, telling him how angry I was. The memo started out, "I am mad as hell and that is a good thing, because it means I still care."  Over the years I have mellowed, I seldom get mad, when I do I try to take time to put it all in perspective and usually come up with a better solution.  

When I resigned from my first real job, I simply said to the boss, "I lost the faith, I don't believe in company any more." I had stuck with that first company through thick and thin, but changes in management and ultimately in ownership and I felt the company had lost its way.  I moved onto one of the best jobs I ever had, working for a self professed manipulator.  

I was hauling books to donate to the library in Lexington, and I came across a paperback book that I read at the right time (during that first real job) called the power of purpose.  The message of the book was simple, find something to do with your life that has meaning for you - and there is meaning to be found in any job.  Most of the jobs I have had have allowed me to do work that I found intrinsically valuable. I found purpose, even something as mundane as selling womens shoes. I took time to help customers who were hard to fit. I set a land speed record finding the perfect pair of white shoes for a bride in her wedding dress who was late for her wedding (she had stepped in something and ruined her shoes on the way to the church.) I made a difference, most of the time.  

Everyone has value, 
Everything we do matters, 
If you don't care when things are messed up, either find purpose in what you are doing, to move on.  The sad truth is I quit that first job, weeks before I left that first job.  If you don't believe, rethink, or move on.  

Is the song stuck in your brain?   

Sunday Five - Whimsical Art

1:  Are you more interested in where the penguin has been, or where he is going? 
2:  Should the penguin be blue or gold? 
3:  Do penguins dream?
4:  If you had this gallery space, what would you place in it? 
5:  If the penguin could answer, what would you want to ask him?

My answers: 
1:  Are you more interested in where the penguin has been, or where he is going?  Share with me, where you have been, and I will understand where you are going. 
2:  Should the penguin be blue or gold?  Blue. 
3:  Do penguins dream? Yes, vividly. 
4:  If you had this gallery space, what would you place in it?  It is perfect. 
5:  If the penguin could answer, what would you want to ask him?  What is it like to fly underwater? 

Your answers in the comments below. 

Just the Tip

I had a conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago the week before Thanksgiving.  Nice hotel, nice space, this was part of the view from my room. Nice, except for the big prick, just the tip, of Trump Tower.  Maybe I should have asked for another room.  

Lexington, Kentucky

At long last the old Fayette County Court House in Lexington Kentucky has reopened.  The building was built in the 1890's at a cost of $250,000 as a replacement for a previous stone court house on the same site, that burned down when it was less than a decade old.  It operated as the Circuit court house until about 2001, when new District and Circuit Court buildings opened a couple of blocks away.  I had a couple of motion hearings in the building, I tried my first cases in the old district court building a few block away. 

When the new buildings opened, a back room deal was cut to sell the old district court building to a church - it was torn down so the church could expand.  A lease on the old circuit court building was thrown in on the deal.  The church used some office space and the first floor hosted a small museum for a few years.   The building proved difficult to repurpose.  It needed major repairs, and suffered from a 1960's remodel that filled the central core and rotunda with mechanical systems.  In the end the city took the building back, and over the past couple of years invested $35,000,000 in restoration and renovation.   

The first floor houses the new Lexington Visitor Center, and two restaurants.  The second floor contains the offices for the Breeders Cup horse racing series.  The third floor is an event space, open to the rotunda.  If is a great reuse of the building.  The city is lucky the building didn't get torn down, of converted into apartments.  

Was it worth $35-million to save this building? 

Just a Sniff

In the new Lexington Kentucky visitors center, is a display about Bourbon - 95% of all Bourbon is made in Kentucky.  They don't offer samples (there is a bar across the corridor) but they do offer a sniff.  Squeeze the bulb, and a stiff comes up into the glass funnel.  They have five different Bourbons to sniff.  Kind of fun. 

Would you try just a sniff? 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Jack's Story

I found this is my father's slides, from the early 1960s.  His name was Jack, I don't remember his last name.  He was a childhood friend of my father in Clausen and Royal Oak, Michigan.  In the 1950's he moved to Arizona, married and had a houseful of kids.  We visited them the first time we went to Arizona, we were only there a week that trip.  When we went back the next winter Jack was gone.  

Jack liked to drink, it is unclear if he was an alcoholic, but he made a terrible mistake one night.  He had a few too many drinks, and caused a traffic accident on the way home.  Someone died in the accident.  He pled guilty to DUI and went to jail.  Leaving his wife and family struggling in his absence.  Being the 1960's the sentence was short, he was released in 2-3 years.  He divorced his wife, without returning home.  He signed on with a shipping company and went to sea.  Sometime in the 1970's my father heard that Jack was living with his mother in the Detroit area and went to try to visit.  Jack declined the visit.  He was terminally ill and didn't want to talk to anyone.  He died shortly after that.  

I recall the hurt and confusion my father went through.  Dad believed in second chances, forgiveness, that good people make mistakes - and are still good people.  He didn't understand how a good man, could reject his family and friends.  

We learn values, by observing.  

Perspective

I was having breakfast at a Holiday Inn Express recently.  You know the people with the annoying commercials about being smart, very smart.  I was trying to decide which juice to have, and I had a grand ah-ha moment.  One of those moments that open your perspective on the world. 

A person walked up next to me, I looked over and I was not sure what gender the person was.  The person was kind of butch looking, with tattoos and a plaid shirt, but the face, and jewelry didn't register as male, being a little overweight, the body shape was indeterminate.  And it hit me, "why does it matter?"  

Our brains attach a set of social roles and expectations based on that momentary assessment of gender (or race, or sexual orientation, or ability.)  This is a mixed bag of desirable and undesirable.  Men and women have different expectations.  It helps my brain assign the correct pronouns.  But it also results in me treating a person based on a momentary assessment based purely on appearance.  Much about a person is not readily apparent, sexual orientation, and many differences in ability.  

Sometimes I wish sexual orientation was more obvious, then people wouldn't ask me about my wife.  At that point I either correct them, or ignore it and talk about my spouse.  My brain rushes through a through process. Does it matter? If I correct will the person still like me? Is it safe to talk about my husband?  Will I ever meet this person again?  Is this a teachable moment about cultural assumptions? I haven't kept track, my guess is about half of the time I let it slide, about have of the time I correct the gender.  

That moment of uncertainty, forced my brain to think through and articulate deep thoughts.  

Have you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express? 

Legal Definition of Bourbon

In the Federal Regulations, is a legal definition of what can be called bourbon.  It must be made in the United States, it must be at least 51% corn, it must be aged in a new charred oak barrel, it can't be distilled to more than 160 proof, and can't go in the barrel at more than 125 proof, can't be bottled at less than 80 proof.  Yes, leave it to the lawyers to define everything.  

You can't make good whiskey from a poor quality distillate,  the secret to a good bourbon whiskey is a good product, aged to perfection.  The art is in the aging.  And like people, age matters. Most of the really good bourbons have aged for 10 to 15 years, some longer.  When a popular brand brags about aging for four long years, I laugh, I wouldn't clean a bird cage with a Jim Beam. Now there are ways to quicken the aging process, Jefferson has started aging a sea, loading the barrels into shipping containers and sending them on around the world voyages.  Aging - as in improvements in flavor - stops when the bourbon goes in the bottle.  

Aging away, in the windows above is the Blantons or Van Winkle of the future.  

Have you tried a 15 year old Bourbon?  

Sunday Five - Tell Santa What You Want?

It has been many - many - many years since I have sat on Santa's lap and told him what I wanted. All the same, we all have a wish list.  Tell us yours.

1:  What place would you like to visit in the new year?  
2:  If you could have lunch with a blogger, who would it be?
3: What toy from your childhood, would you like to have back? 
4:  What superpower would you like to have? 
5:  Puppy, kitten, pony, sheep, or penguin? 

My answers: 
1:  What place would you like to visit in the new year?  The two states I have not been to. 
2:  If you could have lunch with a blogger, who would it be? John Gray at Going Gently He has had a rough go and I'd love to spend time assuring him that it will all be okay.  
3: What toy from your childhood, would you like to have back?  The remote control truck from when I was about 10. 
4:  What superpower would you like to have? The ability to make everyone happy. 
5:  Puppy, kitten, pony, sheep, penguin?  I plea the 5th amendment, the last thing we need is a war between the flightless waterfowl and the fluffy wonders.  

Your answers in the comments. 

Children!

I have to start off by saying, I don't understand children.  There is little evidence that I was ever a child.  I have never been around children, I was the youngest child, in a rural setting, my one and only cousin is 14 years younger than I, I was living 1,000 miles away when my sister spawned.  I have no experience with children, and they sometimes frighten me.  

Two things this week set me on a bit of a rant. 

First is a "news" story about a gate-agent for an airline mocking and making fun of the name of a young girl.  A rude thing to do, people are outraged at the airline.  Now the child's name is Abcde - pronounced according to her mother as Ab-city, or Absidy.  Where is the outrage at the parents?  This dear child is going to be the but of the joke until she changes her name.  Her parents should be charged with child abuse.  

Moving on to my second one.  I had lunch with a former law clerk. The week he graduated from law school, his wife gave birth to a delightful little boy.  She had a really great job, so he stayed home with the baby for the first year of his son's life.  A couple of employers have criticized his choice to stay home with his son for a year.  

I had two comments for him, the employer who does not understand a man taking the opportunity to spend a year with his newborn son, is an employer who does not understand work life balance, an employer you really don't want to work for.  And second, 30 years from now, he will have no regrets.  That time with his baby, will be one of the highlights of his life.   

Anyone have a job for a caring law school graduate?  

Is It Art?

Is it art or vandalism?  Can it be both? Should it be illegal? 

Sometimes the best view

Is from behind, 

The Way We Were Wednesday 1988

In 1988 I competed in the National Championship Sprint Triathlon.  I was fit and healthy, I was making really good money at a job that I didn't hate -yet.  The water was cold, resulting in one of my fastest swim times ever.  I passed one of the super elite runners on the bike leg.  The run was flat and fast.  I finished in the top half of the field.  Not bad for a 30 year old who had been 75 pounds over weight two years before.  

If I am on Schedule

If I am on schedule, I am just outside of Boston, in Worcester Massachusetts speaking at a conference at the College of Holy Cross and I will be home later today.  

It has been an intense month of travel, four trips, in three weeks.  Three trips back-to-back, with barely time to repack in between. Two of the trips have been work, Chicago and Boston, in between I was at the other house for Thanksgiving.  I don't blog about being out of town, saving it for when I get back.  When I am going to be gone like this I write and schedule ahead of time.  

The Chicago project was part of an ongoing effort to train lawyers to be better presenters.  We are making progress, we are seeing improvement.  The Boston project is a cutting edge ethics project that has allowed me to examine issues from an entirely new perspective.  Preparing it forced me to think in new ways, I can only hope that the audience sees old challenges in new ways when I am done.   

One more trip before the end of the year.  

Favorite Places

I could spend the afternoon at Eaterly in Chicago. I enjoy cheese, I love the incredible selection and staff that know the product and are enthusiastic about it. The cured meat selection is simply amazing.  Again people know their stuff and are eager to share.  

Sunday Five - a little about you?

1. Number of siblings?
2. How many years of education?
3. How many places you have lived?
4. Longest you have held a job?
5. Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall, what is your season? 

My answers?

1. Number of siblings? Three, all older 
2. How many years of education? 20 
3. How many places you have lived?  14
4. Longest you have held a job? Coming up on 10 years 
5. Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall, what is your season?  Spring.  

Your answers in the Comments, 

Bargin Hunter?

John over at Going Gently did a posting a couple of weeks ago about the scramble for discounts in the grocery store. The posting got me to thinking if I was a bargain hunter or not, or someplace in between.  I have to say someplace in between.  I don't live and die based on the price I pay for things.  I would never fight someone for a bargain.   

I really don't pay a lot of attention to food prices, I buy what I want, I buy the best quality I can.  That being said, I don't buy steak at Balduchi's and generally wait for it to be on sale.  When I buy steak, I buy the best, I'd sooner pay $20 a pound for a nice tender filet, than $10 a pound for a tough strip steak.  If I find something I like, marked down, I am likely to stock up, or even splurge.  I found ducks on sale after Christmas, marked down from $5 a pound to 49-cents a pound.  I had never cooked a duck before, it was fun and tasty (I think I still have duck fat in the freezer!) 

The year before I started law school, I needed a job.  Any job, I needed an income money and health insurance.  I filled in a few applications and the first offer was from a department store.  I spent 9 months selling ladies shoes for about $9 an hour.  An experience that will forever shape how I buy clothing.  I almost never pay retail for clothes, everything goes on sale sooner or later.  Even better is clearance on sale. As I have gotten harder to fit, I buy more and more online, on sale at a deep discount.  When I see it, if it is a good value, I buy it.  

For many money is a scorecard of success.  For me it is security.  I am always reminded that I can't take it with me, even if dad did place an order on Amazon a week after he died.  I watched the accounts, he only did that once.   

Christmas Shopping Season

Today marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, 5 weeks when US retailers make as much as half of their profit for the year.  I will be driving today, not shopping.  My shopping is nearly done, I have an Amazon order to place - they can ship to my siblings.  I will get that done in the next week.  I tend to gather gifts through the course of the year.  

Are you shopping today? 

Happy Thanksgiving From a Cockeyed Optimist

Most of the time, I have a weirdly optimistic view of the world, I have my father to thank for that.  When I was a kid and I would complain about what I had, or wanted, or my lot in life, he would remind me, often in a colorful way that others would be grateful to have what I had, to have the place in life that I had. And he was right, I have so much to be thankful for.  

• I have love in my life, my sweet bear. 
• I have a home, that while modest in size, is comfortable, and I feel safe in. 
• I have a job, that I find rewarding, that allows my strange mind to do things that I find fulfilling and to make a difference in the lives of others. 
• I have an education that leverages my abilities and helps me understand the weird world out there.  
• I have a good work life balance. 
• I have decent health, able to move about on my own, not contemplating imminent death. 
• I am able to travel, not everyplace I ever wanted to go, but a lot more than most. 
• I have friends, and few enemies. 
• I have a forum for sharing my photos and thoughts. 
• I have a good life, and I know it. 

Be thankful for what you have, be kind, be generous with your love and time.

The Way We Were Wednesday

This was taken in 1992 or 93. When I was at my most anorexic.  I was running 30 miles a week, swimming three mornings a week, and riding a very fast bike 50 miles a week - and not eating.  I have a complicated relationship with food, this was the extreme in one direction.  

Over the years I have mellowed, I am much happier with who I am and much easier to be around.     

Screen Saver

Last winter I bought a new desktop computer for home, I know a desktop is kind of old-fashioned, but I LOVE the 27 inch display, the robust capacity and speed.  I switched from being a longterm Windows user to being a Mac baby.  I do like it, but converting is a bit like learning a new religion, it takes a while to figure out how things are done.  

I recently discovered how to change the desktop image and the screen saver image.  I set the desktop to the photo above, taken on a Sunday morning in March in San Francisco, and the screen saver to rotate through my photos from 2018.  My I have been busy, and I have been some pretty places.  I need to be reminded from time to time, that it has not all been a grind.  

It has been a very good year! 

Stuck in the 1960's.

My families first visits to Arizona were in the mid 1960's the first winter for just a couple of weeks, the second winter I went to the first grade in Phoenix.  

When I was in Phoenix last month, I took a drive out to South Mountain.  It was one of the drives I remember from my childhood.  When I arrived at the parking area of the lookout, the lot was filled with mid 1960's Ford Falcons.  I wondered if I had passed through a wrinkle in time and landed back in 1965.  It was a car club, out for their Sunday drive.  A wonderful flashback.  

The Sunday Five - Foods of Thanksgiving

For my readers outside of the United States, this coming Thursday is the American holiday of Thanksgiving.  Modeled on a harvest feast held in the Plymouth Colony after the first successful harvest - I had ancestors at that first one.  Hence today's Sunday five.

1: Is it a feast of Thanksgiving or a festival of gluttony? 
2: Turkey, Ham, or something else? 
3: Do you watch the Macy's Parade? 
4: What time is dinner served? 
5: Football or naps after the feast? 

My Answers:
1: Is it a feast of Thanksgiving or a festival of gluttony?  As time has gone by I cook and serve less, trying to avoid gluttony. 
2: Turkey, Ham, or something else? Turkey. 
3: Do you watch the Macy's Parade? Sometimes. 
4: What time is dinner served? After noon, when it is done.  My mother was obsessive about the appointed hour.  The big bird is done, when it is done.  
5: Football or naps after the feast? Naps.

Your answers in the comments. 

Stormy Weather

Someone was lamenting stormy weather recently, pissing down  cold rain, makes it hard to get out and go.  Makes for a good day to snuggle up and read.  As this was happening, wildfires are raging in California.  A rainy day would be very welcome for a person in the midst of a drought and active fire season.  

When I flew into Sacramento last month I was watching the ground. The lake is easy to pick out, but what is the black area, then it hit me, those are areas, hundreds of acres, burned off in wildfires.  

Wishing stormy weather on California, they need it. 

Baa!

We went to the Wensleydale Creamery in Yorkshire.  I had mentioned maybe going to a cheese factory, our hosts thought I would get the Wallace and Gromit jokes (I didn't, I hadn't seen the show.) Between the parking lot and the creamery was a meadow with sheep in it.  Friendly sheep, there was a path through the meadow and the sheep spent a lot of time with people.  

That was the start of my liking sheep.  You have to be careful if you say loving sheep, people get the wrong idea, this is the not land where men are men and sheep are nervous.  I like the look, the basic shape, the fluffy fleece.  Sheep and penguins are recurring themes in my life.  

What animal keeps popping up in your life?  

Glacier Bay

The cruise up the inside passage to Alaska remains of the neatest adventures we have done.  I loved the pace that the ship moved at, the great food, wonderful people.  For Alaska I booked an inside cabin, it was quiet and very dark.  I slept so wonderfully well.  And just a few steps away there was scenery 24 hours a day. 

The Way We Were Wednesday

Ah High School.  Jack McCoy the journalism and year book teacher at Titusville High School in Florida bought a "button maker."  He had us take pictures and he snapped out the buttons.  They have held up well - this was 41-42 years ago.  

Sadly Jack died suddenly last winter, from the flu.  

Have you had your flu shot? 

Salt Water- Salt Air

Just looking at the picture, I can taste the salt water.  My earliest memories of the ocean are as a teenager.  I remember being surprised by the sharp-salty water, the minor burning as it made contact with my pasty skin.  The tight feel on my skin as it dried.  Much different than freshwater, much warmer than the great lakes.  I like it.  I miss it.  

Minimizing the woulda, coulda, shouldas in the my life, I should have learned to surf.  

Salt or freshwater for you? 

New Adventures in Travel in My Front Yard

When I bought the condo near Washington DC, one of the requirements was that it had to be near a subway station.  And it is, about a 10 minute walk. And the association runs a rush hour shuttle bus that picks me up and drops me off at the front door of the building.  I ride the subway to and from work.  The last time I drove to the office was May 4, 2015.  

Last Friday the subway lines from this end of town were closed for four days for major repairs.  I knew it was coming.  Ideally I would have worked from home, but there were meetings I needed to be at.  I thought for a moment and decided to try the VRE, Virginia Railway Express.  These are commuter trains that run to and from the far distant burbs into the city.  There is a stop at King Street in Alexandria.  A little over a mile from home, and metro was running one station beyond that on this end of the system.  

I downloaded the VRE app, bought a one day pass on my phone.  The trains were ontime, comfortable, very smooth, quiet and really a very easy way to travel.  The subway is easier for me, but I have a bypass option.  

Have you ridden commuter rail? 

The Sunday Five: Well Worn

I have nearly worn the A off of my very dirty office keyboard.  Inspiration enough for the Sunday five this week.

1: How many miles or kilometers per year do you drive?
2: How many pairs of shoes do you wear out each year?
3: What is the oldest item of clothing that you continue to wear from time to time?
4: What item of technology have you been surprised by how long it lasted?
5: Dishes, have you worn out the good stuff?

My answers:
1: I drive my car less than 2,000 miles per year, at this rate I may already own my last car.
2: Two or three, I need a lot of comfort in shoes, when that fades - they need to go.
3: I have a navy blue Irish will sweater that I bought in London in 1990, that I still wear. Love it.
4: My current Kindle is a survivor - 5 plus years. This was a surprise the first 4 Kindles didn’t last long, a couple of broken screens, a battery failure, and software failure.
5: Yes, I have used a set of good stuff daily for a decade, washing it in the dishwasher, and washing the pattern off of it.

Your answers in the comments.

Two Truths and a Lie

Okay, someone started this, and I am never very good at remembering names.  I have used this one in the past as an ice breaker.  Think for a moment and come up with three facts about yourself, two are true and one is not.  Have others guess what is not true. Here are my three.

1:  I have flown on a Zeppelin.
2:  I have two sisters and one brother.
3:  I attended a tea party hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Your guess on what it not true and why in the comments, and try this on your blog.

Richard Branson - the Importance of Kindness

I follow Richard Branson on Facebook, I have read a couple of his books, he has some amazing things to say.  

These suggestions are his: 

1. Tell a joke

2. Call a friend or a relative

3. Give a compliment to a stranger

4. Make up with anyone you’ve fallen out with (even if you feel it’s their fault)

5. Give someone a hug

6. Leave a happy note for someone to find

7. Email an old teacher who has made a difference in your life

8. Hand-write someone a letter, and mail it

9. Smile at someone on the street, just because

10. Talk to the shy person who’s sitting by themselves at a party

11. Help a parent with their baby stroller

12. Help someone struggling with heavy bags

13. Stop to talk to a homeless person

14. Give up your seat to someone on the bus or train

15. Give someone a book you think they’d like

https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/importance-kindness 

Signs

If I came with a warning sign, what would it say?

Caution: If you get him started talking, you may not be able to get him to shut up.  Makes his point by telling stories.  Yes, he knows he is chubby. He forgets names, don't take it personally, he always has, always will. 

What should your warning sign say?

The Way We Were Wednesdays - BFFs

This picture is Mary-Jane one of my sister's best friends forever (BFFs) from high school. My sister had several strong personal friendships from high school. I think this picture was taken in 1975, around the time they finished high school.  It is not her baby, her baby is now in her 30's married and living in Albania, with babies of her own.  Mary-Jane went to work for GM shortly after high school and has been semi-retired for a couple of years now.  She and my sister still see one another from time to time.  

My BFFs from high school? There were few, I was the loaner, who never fit in well, and I either didn't know why, or didn't want to deal with it.  There is one special BFF left in Florida, she is married - with an amazing daughter - she is in poor health - I worry about her.  One other BFF I have given up on, I don't need abuse and intolerance in my life.  Facebook has put me back in contact with a bunch of past classmates.  It is nice to see and hear what they have done, but we have gone so far in 41 years. 

Vote

Vote, in every election, every time. Vote like your life depended on it.  
Vote for kindness, honesty, tolerance, compassion, peace 

The Changing Landscape of American Retail

When I was in Phoenix last month, I met a distant cousin for lunch at a restaurant next to a shopping mall.  I was early, so I decided to take a walk around the mall - it was easy to walk, the place was nearly deserted.  From what had originally been a two story mall with three anchor stores, there was one department store and a handful, maybe a dozen small stores left, and the department store was having a closing sale.  In my lifetime I have seen enclosed shopping malls largely replace downtown department stores (the exception being densely populated urban centers in cities like New York, and Chicago where downtown stores survived.) And now the malls are closing.  There are millions of square feet of empty shopping malls.  

When my family started spending winters in Titusville, Florida - across the river from the Kennedy Space Center, I was thrilled, there were two shopping malls, one with Sears, and the other with JC Penny on one end, and Belk (a southern chain) on the other.  All of those are now closed, one of the malls has been torn down and replaced with a handful of big-box stores.  

What will retail look like in 10 years?
What will we do with the vacant shopping malls?

Sunday Five - Would you?

Given the opportunity to strut your stuff, would you?

1: Sing in public?
2: Talk to a live audience of 1,000+ about an issue you are passionate about?
3: Have lunch with the President with an invitation to say anything you wanted?
4: Be a model in a fashion show, for real people?
5: Make a cameo appearance on live television? 

My answers? 
1: Sing in public? No, probably my greatest fear.
2: Talk to a live audience of 1,000+ about an issue you are passionate about? Been there, done that, would do it again. 
3: Have lunch with the President with an invitation to say anything you wanted? Yes, I have some advice for him, but he wouldn't listen. 
4: Be a model in a fashion show, for real people? Yes, never done that.
5: Make a cameo appearance on live television? Yes, but can I act?

Your answers in the comments, 

I am late

Earlier this week I had two postings on one day, and today I didn’t have one scheduled.  Oh my, there is a lot going on in my life and I am late, I am late.  I certainly hope I am not crazy as the hare. 

I am at the other house, my version of the western White House.  Tonight is Jay’s retirement party, I  am referring to it as his graduation party, he started school when he was 5, and 59 years later he will finally be leaving the classroom in about a month.  The house is sold, we met with movers and estate liquiadators yesterday.  I will be back here a couple more times, I am coming in for thanksgiving, aka, the last supper in the other house, and coming back next month for the move out and closing, I am looking forward to handing over the keys and getting a rather large check.  

Have a great weekend,