Today I have been watching the latest Ken Burns extravaganza called The American Revolution, another PBS documentary, this one about the most important revolution in the history of mankind. We all tend to think that it was the French Revolution which was the most impactful, but I think it might be debatable based on how we define “impact”. Most people would be surprised to learn that before heading to Wall Street some fifty years ago,…
This morning I spoke to my friend Steve, who lives in Phoenix. He mentioned that he and his wife Maggie have bitten the bullet and rented an apartment to move to starting in two weeks. He talked about the move less about not wanting the rigors of a large sprawling house and garage, and more about this being an opportunity to finally get a grip on downsizing and cleansing. Steve is of Scandinavian heritage (and…
I am more focused on personal healthcare than I can remember ever being. One obvious reason is watching my brother-in-law struggle with his various maladies and the healthcare system’s back-and-forth about how best to handle it. I’ve seen the importance or specialist expertise in immediately fixing problems. I’ve seen specialists contradicting one another as to the state of their patient, perhaps overly focused on their specialty without adequate consideration of the bigger patient issue. I’ve…
Today here in Southern California, we are having he storm of the year and it has been pouring down much of the morning. Luckily for us, we here in San Diego are not getting the worst of it…the folks in the L.A. area are once again getting the brunt of the deluge. I’m sure we will be hearing about mudslides and such based on the large amount of wildfire-scarred hillside land that is now exposed…
Like many like-minded people across the globe, I am always stunned by the abject lack of guilt that gets displayed by Donald Trump and much of his following, whether in the Administration, Congress, the Judiciary or the general public. Let’s start by asking ourselves what exactly guilt is. Guilt is a powerful moral emotion that serves as an internal compass for our behavior and relationships. Guilt is the uncomfortable feeling we experience when we believe…
One of those great conflicts that regularly afflicts me (and probably other liberal-minded sorts) is how to balance the Good Samaritan aspects of the ethos I try hard to consistently espouse and the lifestyle we live and like to maintain. I long ago determined that I am no Sister Teresa that insists on living my life with no creature comforts. I look to Pope Francis, someone who most would agree chose, even as Pope, to…
I’m on day 36 of this weight loss juggernaut and am glad to report that I have lost 20 pounds since starting Zepbound (5 weekly shots so far, ratcheting up from the initial 2.5mg dose to this month’s 5mg). That makes 40 pounds off since the beginning of June, and 60 pounds since moving to this hilltop five years ago. I attribute the first 20 to changing my life to a more active one around…
The clothes make the man, right? The phrase “clothes make the man” has roots going back to ancient Rome, but it took a winding path to become the expression we know today. It’s ancient origins come from the Latin saying “vestis virum facit” (literally “clothes make the man”), which was already a proverb in classical times. The idea was that your clothing revealed your social status and character. The Dutch scholar Erasmus included this saying…
Time is a big deal because it’s the one truly non-renewable resource – the only thing you can never get back or make more of. It’s finite and uncertain. You don’t know how much you have. Could be 80 years, could be 80 days. This uncertainty creates urgency and forces us to make choices about what matters most. Every “yes” to one thing is automatically a “no” to something else. Some say that it’s the…
Over the years, in many houses that I’ve owned, I furnished and decorated them in almost as many different ways as one could. 50 years ago my first house, purchased when I was only 23 years old, was decorated with discount furniture, American style. That was by necessity since the purchase of that home tapped out all of my savings and all of my borrowing power on my credit cards. By the time I purchased…