Let’s get one thing straight right from the get-go, I am inclined to be lazy. The word sedentary was designed for me. I am both a home body and I am contemplative at all times, which predisposes me to sitting and thinking or sitting and watching or siting and listening, and as most of you know already, sitting and talking. When I garden, I like to sit. I now have nine benches on the back…
Yesterday I was watching an immersive video on my Apple Vision Pro, which has gotten a resurgence of interest from me over the holidays because I have been letting others test drive it. That immersive video was an aerial tour of the islands of Hawaii, a place where I have spent almost no time (I went there for 36 hours in 1999…don’t ask, it was a work thing). Hawaii has always been a place of…
Today is Boxing Day, an occasion that really came into the vernacular in America in the last few years. The term comes to us from England, where it is traditionally celebrated on December 26th. It originated in Britain during the Victorian era, though some of its customs trace back even earlier. The name has a few potential origins, but the most widely accepted explanation relates to the practice of giving “Christmas boxes.” These boxes were…
My last stop in NYC during my visit this past week was at the memorial service for a long-time friend and colleague. His name was Peter and I first met him in perhaps 1981, so 44 years ago. He died at age 84, so I knew him for over half his life and over 61% of my life. If I think of my adult life (post college), I would need to say I knew him…
I love the New Yorker magazine. It always makes me think. Today I read an article in the most recent edition about President Javier Milei of Argentina. It caught my attention for a number of reasons. To begin with, I spent a lot of time in Argentina in the 1980s trying hard to get back about $500 million that they owed my bank. That was during the presidency of Raul Alfonsin, who had followed a…
Given that we now live 2,759 miles away from New York City, a mere 5 +/- hours by plane, plus another four+ hours of transit time to/from the airports (not to mention whatever unexpected but still somewhat ordinary hassles occur at the airports on either side of the country), Kim and I do our best to coordinate our visits to accommodate as many multiple purposes as we can. The cost of air travel for us…
The other night I watched a movie that had missed my screen for many years. With all the movies that get served up and dangled in front of me for consideration through Prime, Netflix, AppleTV, Peacock, Paramount and MAX, I am very surprised that this one has never been pitched to me or perhaps just got overlooked by me. It stars Al Pacino and John Cusack, two actors I would always want to watch. It…
Just before the election, some time in October as I recall, the Washington Post declared that they would not be issuing their normal presidential election endorsement. That meant that they would not be endorsing Kamala Harris as one would expect. The same decision was taken by the publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Both papers announced that their decision was in keeping with their desire to remain neutral arbiters of the news and to not…
We’ve all heard about the Aboriginal tradition of young people going through a rite of passage when they come of age and go forth to explore the broader world around them but more distant than what they have known in their upbringing. Its’s a time of reflection of the soul, a return to one’s roots and family ancestry, a joyous revisiting of the wonders of the natural world. For someone like me that has spent…
I know I wrote about the healthcare system in America recently, so please don’t read too much into the fact that today I’m writing about medicine. It is purely coincidental…I think. It just so happens that meds are on my mind for all sorts of reasons. I will start with the most personal of those. I am expecting the delivery of two prescriptions today and I am in short enough supply of those two so…