Fiction/Humor Retirement

Getting Pickled

Getting Pickled I have a funny relationship with pickles. I think it must have to do with PH balance or something. There are times I like them and times I find them very distasteful. If I’m going to have a hot dog, I generally prefer one with mustard and relish and relish is nothing more than ground up pickles, right? Maybe its the combination with mustard (something I believe Heinz may have combined and sold…

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Fiction/Humor Memoir

Influencer Hell

Influencer Hell A few years ago I read about a simple music teacher in South Korea that was eking out a living doing one-off music lessons. Then someone gave him the suggestion that he take his craft online and start leveraging himself by offering his lessons over the internet. The idea was initially about sourcing more clients through digital marketing, but also to create a network effect by allowing more students to access his supposedly…

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Fiction/Humor

Seeing Red

Seeing Red Red has always been a controversial color. Red flags make bulls crazy. If you are especially angry, you see red. If you are an irresponsible driver you do things like run red lights. If you make a faux pas you might blush red. Redheads have been intriguing to men over the centuries for all sorts of reasons, most of which are too obvious and risqué to mention. If you exclude white, the most…

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Fiction/Humor Memoir

That’ll Do, Pig

That’ll Do, Pig My old college fraternity pal, Doug, stayed with us with his wife, Liz, for the past few days. They came for a western trip to spend time in Phoenix, Sedona and San Diego. We had been inviting them to come out and stay with us for several years and they finally had the time on their dance cards to come out and make that happen. They timed it to join us for…

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Memoir

Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap Those of you who have spent time in London and ridden the Underground (subway) there, you are familiar with some of the Britishisms that one encounters. If you are on the street, you are familiar with the “Look Right” or “Look Left” designations on the curbs that are intended to remind pedestrians that road traffic travels in the opposite direction than what is familiar to most people who live in right-hand drive…

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Politics

Relief

Relief I think I speak for Kim as well when I say that I am very tired of politics. I have spent a lifetime ignoring politics even though I lived through some pretty turbulent times. My first election at the ripe old age of eighteen was the 1972 election that set the stage for the era of Watergate hijinx and Nixon. The big political issues were war and economy (Vietnam and Stagflation). Fifty years later…

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Love Retirement

Going to the Mountain

Going to the Mountain I still feel new to my hilltop after three years here full time. It’s days like today that make me feel that way and stare in wonder at the beauty of the distant views. It forces me to remind myself that views may be one of the secrets to the universe. If you are a believer, like I am, that state of mind drives everything, very few things other than perhaps…

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Memoir Retirement

Bell Ringing

Bell Ringing We are only two weeks away from starting the official holiday season. I know I have discussed how much the season gets pushed forward on us by commercial interests and that’s all fine since we can each choose to ignore it if it offends us. But during Thanksgiving week, there is no avoiding the advent of Advent. We have our favorite holiday movies, which do not count the countless Hallmark movies that Kim…

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Love Politics

A Precious Gift

A Precious Gift In 2014, someone decided to make yet another movie about the biblical apocalypse of the great flood. They gathered Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Watson to play out the story of Noah. First interesting choice made by Director Darren Arofonsky, perhaps due to the presence on set of the fabled Sir Anthony Hopkins, the classical Shakespearean actor who trained under Sir Laurence Olivier and was guided by the craft…

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