Fat is as Fat Thinks Let’s get one thing out of the way right up front. I’m fat. I’ve always been fat (at least as long ago as I can remember and to some degree). I’ve never been at an ideal weight, if such a thing exists. I look at people who are not fat and have never been fat and wonder how that changes their world view. I could guess, but I’m betting that…
Into the Heavens Several years ago when I was teaching at Cornell, I did what people do on big college campuses, I faked my way into a parking spot, this time at the Statler Inn valet parking, pretending to be attending some function in the ballroom with other guests. What I was really doing was avoiding a long uphill walk or bus ride to one of the distant parking lots at the expense of a…
Insuring Eternity Back in the late 1970’s when I was beginning my career in banking, I was traveling across New England almost every week, visiting a combination of banks and insurance companies to sell them our banking services. I was a member of FI or financial institutions side of the bank. For some strange reason, the FI side of banking was always the red-headed step-child of the banking business compared to the corporate side. The…
COVID Schmovid I have just travelled through seven different global airports on eight different flights, spending some fifty hours in airplane cabins with their recirculated air, over the past few weeks. We stayed in seven different hotels and ate in something like thirty different restaurants ranging from an elegant Middle Eastern Lebanese restaurant on the Nile to Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navonna in Rome, all the way to a Martian Dome eating hall at…
Into the Ozone I am a big fan of technology, and especially the communications vehicles like email and text. In fact, since I consider communications the heart of human interaction and evolution, I am especially enamored with how, in my lifetime, our ability to communicate with one another has evolved to the point of her perfection. I only moderate that view with the term “near” since I’m sure that there are some that think we…
Coptic Coupling Tonight, Mike, Melissa, Kim and I decided that we would do a simple sandwich dinner at the lobby bar. That was a well conceived plan that bore little resemblance to what actually happened. To begin with what we thought was a lobby bar that offered bar food or sandwiches turned out to be a lobby bar that offered a full menu from one of the restaurants. In theory that shouldn’t be a problem,…
Stanley Tucci Go Home There are certain actors and actresses that everyone likes. That can’t be said for all actors and actresses. I have always found it interesting that while Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner have drawn lots of controversy, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have stayed above it all and are beloved by all. That’s all a little easier to understand with star-quality actors and actresses who get paparazzied to death on a daily…
The Best Seat Ever I am, once again midway over the Atlantic Ocean on my way to Europe. For the first time, Kim and I are flying directly to Europe from San Diego. We are on our way to Egypt and Jordan for a few weeks of pure tourism. We are with Mike and Melisa and have all decided that the best way to do this is to fly to Rome and spend a few…
Superbloom of Bust There is a natural phenomenon here is Southern California that occurs every few years. The “Golden” state is mostly covered with semi-arid landscape that I like to call chaparral. It creates a lovely golden backdrop on which outcroppings of green scrub oaks and such get highlighted. The other thing that happens is that the weeds that are native to California decide that it’s time to declare their presence the way weeds do,…
Wadi Bashing What a shame that everything is not perfect at all times in our lives. Most of us come to expect and deal with the imperfection on a day-to-day basis, but on vacation it suddenly takes on expanded importance. We got “dumped” here at the Wadi Rum Sun City Camp at 1 PM today. Other than taking a hike, we had pretty much done everything that Wadi Rum has to offer. I wish I…