A Dangerous TV Table How easy should you make your life? I am never quite sure how I feel about that issue. There is a fine theoretical argument that says that struggle is the grit that makes for a better life. But then that’s all very theoretical. Who would make their life harder when they can make it easier? Not very many people I know. And how exactly does one discount that future “better” state…
Beaten by the Market I am spending more and more time these days working as an expert witness in investment management cases. One thing keeps coming up over and over again and that is the value or lack thereof of active management versus passive management. In simplistic terms, for readers who are not financially-focused people, the simple issue is whether people can consistently beat the market or whether the market will always dominate and make…
The Art of Doing Father/son scenes always mean a lot to me. It may be because I had so few, if any, with my father, or it may because I try to do so many with my sons. Obviously the two are connected, but I still find they drill deep with me. Baseball seems to be a common landscape for these interactions given its prominence as an aging, but still inter-generational common ground. The first…
California Dreaming My readers are probably tired about hearing me prattle on about the joys of the Golden State, but please indulge me this last time to wallow in the earthly pleasures I find myself amidst out here in San Diego. I am still adjusting to waking up in this paradise and pinching myself that this is what I get to wake up to every morning form here on in. This morning I had a…
Sweeping the Garage I have used the analogy of sweeping the garage for many years. It is my way of saying that every life needs to include some trivial tasks, not because they cannot always be avoided, but because doing basic tasks is good for the soul. This is somewhat about reminding ourselves that being of service and not vending every aspect of our lives, even when we have the means to do so, is…
Chillaxing We have now officially moved out of our apartment and into the next door Hampton Inn. It’s funny, sometime after the financial crash of 2008, I imagine some aggressive developer who owned this building on Water Street stroked his chin about what to do with this underperforming B-class office building. Downtown office space was not in very high demand (except with HMO’s for some reason) as most of the action had moved well off…
Going Slow Today I turn sixty-six years old. According to the Social Security Administration, I am now eligible for full retirement. I’m waiting until March to start my monthly check for the silly reason that the monthly amount will then click over the maximum amount for someone my age of $3,011. If I waited until age seventy to claim (four years from now), I could claim $3,790 per month. That means I am choosing…
Up at Night It’s 3:30am and do you know where your mind has wandered off to? There is nothing so frustrating as insomnia. The older we get, the more we come to realize that the simplest of bodily functions are the ones that give us the most peace and happiness. Few things that I want to discuss in a story do this more than a good night’s sleep. I characterize a good night’s sleep…
The Big Uneasy I’ve never been to New Orleans, which is amazing because there aren’t many places in the U.S. or abroad that I’ve missed visiting. I don’t know when I first heard the nickname The Big Easy, but I’m guessing it was about the time the James Conaway novel by that name was published in 1970, or at least by the time Dennis Quaid played Remy McSwain in the 1986 movie, again of the…
Birth of a Movement I am coming up on my 66th birthday next week. That used to be a relative nondescript milestone, but now, thanks to the shifting retirement standards of social security which make me a part of the first cohort to get pushed back on their retirement date by a full year. I am now technically eligible for “full retirement benefits” as of January 30, 2020. Those who are sixty now will wait…