Planes, Trains, Ships and Automobiles John Candy was one of my favorites. I can rarely pass up a John Candy movie, but my all time favorite is that Thanksgiving classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. So when my lovely wife got all wierded out by the ASPCA commercial (she absolutely cannot watch them), I had to randomly flip the channel and it landed on PT&A, which was just starting. I’m writing this for two reasons. The…
Wired I just got a message from LinkedIn that told me that “Rich people are looking at your profile.” I was very pleased to hear that. That must be a portend of good things to come, unless you think they just forgot the comma and meant to say, “Rich, people are looking at your profile.” I don’t want to pay extra for the premium service, not because I don’t like to know who is so…
The Cold War I know that what historians call The Cold War lasted from 1946 to 1989 according to all the encyclopedias. My first thirty-five years were spent under that regime and it is a part of my fabric as a person as much as it is for all Baby Boomers. I never had to hide under my desk in a drill, but I do recall crouching with my hands over my head in the…
The Archipelago of New York Neither came from New York and yet both were of New York. It is said you choose your friends but not your family. I disagree. It’s like nature versus nurture. While your family forms your nature. I believe that with the passage of time, your nurture comes from your friends and they dominate who you are. You may be from where you spent your childhood, but you are where you…
Devils in the Details I was recently in Tasmania for the first time in my life. This island at the southern tip of Australia is an evolutionary anachronism, the land that time forgot. The capital city, Hobart, does not look so different from anywhere else in 2019, but the animal population of the island is where the history gets told. The wombats, penguins, platypuses, echidna (looking like a mini porcupine) and, of course, the eponymous…
Riding the Ferry He had found his way down the length of Manhattan by coming down the East Side, usually staying near, under, over or on (only momentarily) the FDR Drive. It was actually a far easier route than it sounds like and far, far easier than the renovated and gentrified West Side Highway with its constant stream of runners, bicyclists and dog walkers, with their coddled pups with cute little doggie sweaters and fancy…
A New Day Funding start-up entrepreneurial efforts is always a challenge. Your best day is the day when everyone agrees to the next round of funding and puts their money in. Today is such a day. Your worst day is the day you are low on cash and you have to tell the board and investors that you will need to begin shut-down processes tomorrow if funding is not obtained. Yesterday was such a day. …
Bermuda Bob did a quick count of his trips to Bermuda over the years and concluded that it was, by virtue of his visits, his favorite place on earth. Bermuda is a twenty-one-mile-long, one mile or less wide, sub-tropical island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a bundle of contradictions. It is a British Territory with a clearly British flavor, but it is exactly opposite Britain in weather. It is a blue-water…
Driving to the Finish Line Some people hate driving. They find it boring and tedious. During college, some people were always up for a good road trip. Others thought of driving back and forth home was one step up from the lot in life they would have to suffer as a bus driver if they didn’t finish college. My brother-in-law was a naval aviator. Every one of us takes pride in his service and admires…
Antica Ancora Wherever we live, we like to find a neighborhood restaurant we can call our own. Obviously the food has to be good, but mostly the atmosphere must be pleasant and the service accommodative. Everyone wants a a place “where everybody knows your name” just like on Cheers. Usually we are prone to Italian restaurants both because the food is not hard to like and because my three years living in a Rome and…