The Warmth of the Season Today it is 70 degrees warmer here on the hilltop than it is in frigid New York City. I got a Snapchat this morning from my daughter, who lives in Brooklyn that had her dog, Abe, running around their place with a knit Santa suit on. The video stated that it was 8 degrees, implying that Abe was lucky to be clad to stay warm. Meanwhile, back here on the…
Starry Starry Night Last night we had the pleasure of going to what is called the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. To begin with, Ernest Rady is a self-made philanthropist who has given away billions of dollars mostly to help sick children, but also to enhance his adopted home of San Diego. The Rady Shell is a acoustical marvel and is a outdoor bandshell sitting on a spit of land adjacent to the San Diego…
Top of the Wall Everywhere I look these days, I am seeing articles about one of two issues: homelessness in America and the crisis and the U.S. border with Mexico. It is sometimes hard to reconcile the two issues. On the one hand people from all over the world, especially Central America are finding the conditions in their countries intolerable and abuse for risking life and limb to get to the U.S. border to seek…
The Quantum of Life I have written in the past about string theory and ring theory, but doubt I could give you an elevator pitch on either. I think I am a reasonably intelligent guy, and I’m certainly well-educated by most standards. Nonetheless, I know a fair bit about my limits. I hit some of those limits ( a funny mathematical pun which gets me right to my “limit” when it comes to mathematics) as…
Wandering Through Caracas I spent my first four years of life in Caracas. I don’t think I really remember anything from Caracas even though I have a few mental images that could be a genuine recollection. Then I find an old black and white picture from those early days in Caracas and I realize that what I thought was a memory might have really been nothing more than my having seen the old photo. And…
The Enchanted Village Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, and Kim gotta sing. Now that we live out here, Kim is singing with a choral ensemble called Encore. Technically they only have two big shows each year and one of those was last month in La Jolla, where she gave the Eleventh Hour solo, which was a big hit. Here we are a month later and Kim has volunteered with the group to sing in…
The Ethics of Ethics I am in a bit of an ethical funk at the moment and its about my ethics course, which I just finished and which I am preparing for next semester. For all the years I have been teaching (since 2007 to be precise), I have wanted to teach ethics at the graduate business school level. I suppose ethics in Kindergarten, Grade School, High School and Undergraduate is not so very different,…
The Sloth From the Black Lagoon I am back to my peaceful existence today on the hilltop. After a sleepless night spent grading and writing, I got some Z’s this morning before going to the “Perfect Workout” with Kim. She loves to say, as she did to the gym of four people this morning, that she can do anything for 20 minutes. That gives me the comedic opportunity to say back to the gym (while…
The Rounded Earth This morning I have good news and bad news. The news of Reverend Warnock’s Georgia Senate win was last night’s news. I applaud Hirschel Walker at long last for conceding defeat in what must have been a great moment of relief to him. He clearly got cajoled into the race and I’m sure for some time now he has been wondering what in hell he was thinking. Many of us have some…
Where’s Waldo? I am thoroughly confused. I consider myself a very rational person. I am a sequential reasoner. If A=B and B=C, then A=C. What is so hard about all of that? Isn’t that what made America great? Well, I am once again staring at the clock and it says 4:44 and I don’t mean in the late afternoon. Both Kim and I were very tired last night after a long day traveling back to…