The Heart of Darkness 125 years ago, William Conrad wrote The Heart of Darkness about a voyage up the Congo River (not named, but assumed) to meet up with a trader, Kurtz, who had gone native. It is the story of colonial rule in the darkest sense. The story was adapted during the Vietnam War and made into a movie by Francis Ford Coppola into the quintessential war movie called Apocalypse Now. What made these…
Good & Plenty Today was a big day for me on this trip. We had booked a full day tour out to the far western region of Thailand, some 3-4 hours drive from our hotel in Bangkok. That is only 115 miles, and the roads were decent, but Bangkok traffic is always an issue. We had a young lady named Angela (her Anglicized name for our convenience) who was our tour guide today. Her partner…
So, So Tired I am not so-so tired, I am so, so very tired. Just as I finished my deposition yesterday and wrapped up a three month expert witness blitz that had me putting in over 180 hours, a reasonably brisk pace for a semi-retired guy, I have not been able to just take a deep breath and relax in anticipation of my upcoming travels to Asia. What has stolen away my well-deserved “School’s Out…
The Hill of Life This morning we are having a brief respite from the rain and with the sunshine has come a desire to squeeze in whatever yard work I can do since in a week I will be away for three weeks and the garden will go untended. I’m having Joventino come back next week so that we can give it a final touch up before we head out as well. Last night I…
Contemplating My Navel How often do you think about your navel? It is literally and figuratively the center of you. It connected you to life and to your heritage, undeniably so. We are mostly bestowed with “innies”, but who among us does not wish that we had the abdominal muscles to show off an “outie”? We mostly ignore it until it accumulates some lint and we are forever washing it in the shower absentmindedly because…
Demon Dog Let’s be clear about one thing right from the start, Kim and I both love Buddy and think that he is an incredibly cute pup that we are thrilled to have as part of our lives for a long time. That all said, Buddy has more than a little of the Devil possessing him at certain times. I’m actually quite serious about this and while I am not a particularly religious person nor…
A Life Well-Lived I grew up in a single parent household. My mother was 100% of my parental influence, which is, sadly, more often the case in life. I have great admiration for my mother, both for what she achieved professionally in her life and how she went about her role as parent to me and my sisters. The things I have mentioned previously that I liked about her parenting included that she was a…
The Art of Turning the Other Cheek I am constantly amazed at all the opportunities I get to declare that no good deed goes unpunished. I am well aware that I spent 45 years on Wall Street and developed a thick skin and an ability to joust with the best of them. I know that normal guy trash talking has become the standard and that joking around with your pals is the norm in modern…
The Sedona Vortex We have come to Sedona for the weekend to attend the wedding of my niece Nichole. Nichole is the daughter of my sister Barbara. She attended Cornell and travelled with me and my kids overseas on several occasions, so I got to know her pretty well in her youth. Nichole was an interesting college student. She studied Art History in school and as a bright and attractive young woman, she managed to…
Take a Deep Breath I have been 70 for a long time. I don’t know what it is about me that wants to rush my aging, but it has been almost a year now that when asked my age I have said that I was 70. The truth is that I will turn 70 officially in 30 days. Last night when we watched the ball drop in Times Square, for one reason or another they…