When we launched from our dock in Valparaiso on Saturday evening, we were at dinner at the Manfredi’s Italian restaurant on the ship. We were all excited to see the ship wend its way out of the harbor as the tugboats turned our ocean liner around and we left the hills of Valparaiso behind us. As soon as we left the harbor we got the pleasant visual of the rugged Pacific Ocean under what was…
I have touted the wonders of Chile for forty years. From 1985 – 2000 I traveled here so much for work that I lost count somewhere along the way. But I don’t recall ever coming to spend time in Valparaiso. Whenever I would come to Santiago and some wealthy counterparty or client would want to show me the sights (other than for skiing in the Andes Mountains), we would go to the lovely resort town…
I am currently two hours into our ten hour flight from New York to Santiago, which means I’m still in the heartland of America somewhere. When booking these flights, I was mildly concerned about flying a “local” airline like the LatAm flight that we are on. Granted, LatAm is partnered with Delta and is, indeed, 25% owned by Delta, but that only serves to provide so much comfort that the flight standards are up to…
Last year Mark Cuban made headlines when he paid his $276 million tax bill. While his outspoken support for more liberal causes made some pundits ask if he was paying more than what he owed. he said that he pays what he owes. “This country has done so much for me, I’m proud to pay my taxes every single year,” Cuban went on to say that while he doesn’t expect all of his tax money…
I have spoken before about my extended cadre of siblings. The two that I have been closest to for the longest (other than my full sisters, Kathy and Barbara) are Diane and Sondra. Back in 1962, when we were living in Madison, Wisconsin during my mother’s graduate years spent there getting her Ph.D., my mother got thinking that for various reasons it might be a good idea for me to go visit my father in…
Yesterday, on a quiet Saturday afternoon found me finished with my weekend round of planting the sixteen new rustic pots that I carefully placed (and Kim even more carefully adjusted in their placement) along the stone Patio wall on the north side of our barbecue area. It was then that Kim told me that Doctor Zhivago was on Turner Classic Movies. I have become so used to on-demand streaming of movies that it unsettled me…
A few weeks ago I got a call from a lawyer I had worked with on a case in November. He called to tell me the outcome of the arbitration. I only got the case in October, so it was not the usual careful and drawn out process that has characterized most of my expert witness work over the past six years. It was a case where I represented the respondent/defendant in an arbitration over…
Today I had to kill some time while the cleaning crew was at the house, so I went down to the local Public House, called the Sideyard. It was named that because the owners of the deli to which it is attached built it as an addition to their structure and created it literally out of the sideyard of the property. I remember seeing it under construction and thinking it was a really unfortunate place…
I just had a text exchange with my red pals and I feel like it was a doozy. I keep that text chain going for two reasons. First and foremost, I shared some good times with these guys and have fond memories of many great motorcycle trips with them. Secondly, I find it important and fascinating to stay in touch with the mindset of people who I think should be ideologically aligned with me but…
Ever since I was little, I have had the very bad habit of biting my nails. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but I think it was when we lived in Wisconsin and I was in early grade school. Nail biting is called onychophagia and is a common habit that affects around 30% of the population. The obvious and default cause relates to psychological factors like anxiety and stress relief (many people bite their…