Joventino Today is Wednesday and it’s the week that Joventino has come to work in my garden. Joventino arrives at 7am like clockwork and never leaves before 5pm. He puts in a very full day and is constantly moving, working for what amounts to about 9+ hours. I know for a fact that he does this six days a week. His going rate is $180 in cash per day, which is crazy. He comes in…
Summertime Today is the last day of May and even though the summer season doesn’t officially start for another 21 days until the summer solstice, June is a summer month and warm sunny weather is what we are all accustomed to finding in the lazy days of summer. As you know by now, this has been an unusual year here on the hilltop. Between atmospheric rivers and extended cooler weather, we feel as though we…
Recall? Recall?! I’m sure you remember that scene from the 1979 coming-of-age classic Breaking Away, which was set in Bloomington, Indiana. In it, a graduating local high school student, who loves bicycle racing forms a local “Cutters” team to compete against the Indiana University frat boys. His father is a local used car dealer and ex-cutter himself, who sells junkers to the naive local student body. The scene that I always remember as so memorable…
An Expert’s Expert Business is booming. Did I mention that I’m retired? Have I explained about how after 45 years of being in harness, I’m working hard at trying to relax more and be less focused on achievement orientation? Well, I seem to be doing something wrong here because the work just seems to be coming at me more and more rather than less and less. And here’s the thing that I have to admit,…
Holiday Road Some of the great modern day stories come from people trying to get home for the holidays. Here in the U.S. there are really five holiday seasons that really matter. The first is the Christmas/Hanukkah break that is usually considered to include the New Years holiday. The second and most uniquely American holiday in the Thanksgiving holiday. Canadians also have a Thanksgiving holiday, but it occurs about almost two months before its American…
The Tender and the Tough Why do some people get hardened by life while others get bruised and more bruised as life goes on? Is this a function of the thickness of our skin or is it more of a nurture rather than nature issue that reflects the environment and societal forces that have weighed upon us? When you look at certain people, like an obvious candidate for such consideration, Donald Trump, you can actually…
In Defense of Myself As it turns out, I am still in the heart of Des Moines, biding my time thanks to the opposition in this case deciding that they wanted to spend extra time taking me apart piece by piece. I arrived here on Sunday with the initial expectation that I would give my testimony on Monday or Tuesday. As we began on Monday, it became clear that I was more likely to go…
Doin’ Des Moines I first came through Des Moines in 1962 when I was eight years old. My mother, sisters and I were living in Madison, Wisconsin while my mother was getting her Ph.D. My Uncle John, who was a retired Chief Petty Officer in the Navy and now worked as a janitor at a local school in National City, California, had won a big score at the racetrack in Tijuana and had used the…
The Corn Belt There are very few foods I like better than steamed corn on the cob, with lots of butter and salt. In fact, I can easily make a meal out of two or three ears and be very happy with that. Kim understands this and knows that when the summer season rolls around, I am always in search of my next corn dinner. So, today I am on my way to Des Moines,…
Pacing Myself Kim and I have just had a very unusual exchange. It has to do with getting from here to there, but it’s really about how one chooses to live one’s life. I start by declaring that I feel that state of mind is a governing principle. What I mean by that is that everything from enjoyment and happiness to effectiveness and competence are a direct function of how I feel. If I feel…