Memoir

The Cocoon

The Cocoon I spoke to Kim today as the Atmospheric Rivers buffeting Central and Southern California raged on. She was hunkering down during the storm. We have been very fortunate in San Diego relative to other areas of California for many reasons. To begin with, the impact of the long term draught has not been as severe in our area than it has been in the more northern parts of the state. We have not…

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Business Advice Memoir

The Hot Seat

The Hot Seat Today I am sitting in the breakfast room wearing a blue suit and tie, like I did for the better part of forty-five years during my working life on Wall Street. As much as I am unused to strapping on my business armor at this point in life, I ws never that bothered by dressing the part during my working life. I had gone to four years of prep school during my…

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Business Advice Memoir

The Hot Seat

The Hot Seat Today I am sitting in the breakfast room wearing a blue suit and tie, like I did for the better part of forty-five years during my working life on Wall Street. As much as I am unused to strapping on my business armor at this point in life, I ws never that bothered by dressing the part during my working life. I had gone to four years of prep school during my…

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Memoir Retirement

Seeing the World

Seeing the World There are only a few pieces of promotional mail that I bother with. One of those that I can’t seem to ignore is that National Geographic Expeditions magazine. The magazine is a pretty fancy piece of literature that must be expensive to produce and is therefore probably not just sent out randomly. I must be of the preferred customer list as both a long-time subscriber to their magazine and an occasional buyer…

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Memoir Politics

Illegitimi Non Carborundum

Illegitimi Non Carborundum I took Latin for four years of high school and I learned lots of Latin words and expressions, many of which are used in the practice of the law. I have found my Latin education to be useful in the way everyone says it will be helpful, as an aid to understanding the English language and the various roots and derivations of words that have found their way into the English language.…

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Memoir

The Best of Times

The Best of Times The New Year always brings out of the woodwork all manner of articles reflecting on the past and the future. The ones I read most closely are those that deal with the here and now. Today I read a Times Op/Ed piece entitled so as to highlight what the writer feels that we are living in the best times that have ever existed, what he called “the best time to be…

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Memoir Politics

Lazy Daze

Lazy Daze There is a large cocktail party underway in the House of Representatives Chamber in the U.S. Capital today. I say that because it is past 5:00pm in Washington D.C., so officially into Happy Hour, and the scene on the floor of the House is not so much chaotic as without any discernible direction. At a cocktail party, once you have a drink in hand, you wander around aimlessly, chit-chatting your way around the…

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Memoir Retirement

Trailers

Trailers Today I am hopeful of doing my first transaction for 2023 and it could be a meaningful one. A month or so ago I finally put an ad on a website called Trailer Traders. For ten years I have had a motorcycle trailer that I have used perhaps ten times to take my motorcycles across the desert to a place where I can comfortably ride them to one of my motorcycle club’s gatherings. I…

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Memoir

Raindrops on Roses

Raindrops on Roses It is hard to miss. When it’s not sunny out here, it seems the options of what to do with one’s day are severely limited. One would think that spending a lifetime in an area where there are between 120 days (NYC) and 160 days (Ithaca) of annual precipitation, would make one accustomed to getting through a rainy day. Out here there are closer to 20 rain days in a year and…

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