It’s been raining now for over 36 hours, so I think it’s fair to say that the garden has had a good drink. I see that L.A. is already under threat of flash floods and mudslides, particularly in those areas that are dealing with severely scorched earth (literally). For the rest of us, this rain and these raindrops are still feeling like a good thing, especially because the rain looks to be scheduled to stop…
My technology configuration was, for many years, best characterized by bleeding edge. I was an early adopter with computers, cell phones and and PDAs. I’ve had several (no where near as many as some) digital cameras, and I have even had a few iPods even though I am less music-oriented than most. Because I was using computers in my workplace (even before they were formally provided my employer), I tended towards the more commercial Microsoft…
I make a point of always trying to recognize and acknowledge the good things in my life. It’s why I write about my pleasures in the garden or my love for my fair Kim. This morning I’m in a funny sort of mood. It is the middle of January and I have not booked any hours in my expert witness practice despite having about ten cases on my docket and a host of cases on…
I pick titles to my stories in several ways. Sometimes I hear an interesting turn of phrase in a movie or on some TV news or read it in an article and it just resonates with me, so I write to capture what it invoked in me when I heard or read it. Sometimes I have a decided theme in mind and I search for a word to describe it and when I capture that,…
Thirty years ago I ran the retirement business of Bankers Trust Company. BTCo. was founded in 1903 by J.P. Morgan (the man) and his other banking pals who thought it would be smart to put all their trust business in one institution that he and his pals controlled. BTCo. Grew to become the second largest trust bank in the country. When I was asked to take over the Retirement Services business with it’s 4,000 employees,…
The power of media is a longstanding source of commercial interest among the wealthiest people of the world. I recently saw a documentary by Ken Burns about Benjamin Franklin, the man often referenced as the most globally powerful American of his era and perhaps the most influential Founding Father of what has become the most powerful country in the world. Franklin was indeed an influential figure in early American media, and was so significant in…
I have been a CEO of eight companies (I actually had business cards that said CEO) during my career and I have run fourteen distinct businesses for which I was the primary decider of strategy and tactics. The term Chief Executive Officer seems like its a week defined role, but saying you are a CEO can range from being the head of a small start-up company with two people and a dog, to being the…
I feel like I am less inclined these days to write about politics, but that may or may not be true if you tally my stories about politics versus those about everything else. What I do sense is that I want to hold back and not just repeat my shock and awe over every new challenge put forth by the Trump team. I feel like I’m happy to let the system and others more activist…
I am quickly coming to the conclusion that it is simply getting too damn hard to pursue the American Dream in the way in which we have all grown up to know it. What I am talking about is independent, free-standing home ownership. There are many reasons for this conclusion, but I will start with one and ramble from there. This Dream is predicated on what used to be one of the key differentiators about…
For years now, I have thought to myself that I simply don’t understand why people listen to podcasts. Meanwhile podcasting has grown to become one of the most profitable mediums (to the podcaster) with the most audience appeal and an absolute influence on the political scene. It is now being said that Joe Rogan single-handedly won this election for Trump by swaying 11-15 million listeners (mostly young males) to the Trump camp, thanks to his…