Some Things Never Change Last night Kim and I had dinner with friends Cliff and Linda. Cliff was on my freshman floor at college. We were both engineering students with him thinking he wanted to be pre-med and me thinking I had no idea what I wanted to be. He came to college with a high school girlfriend in tow, who was attending college in nearby Cortland. I came to college with an army…
Too Much, Too Often, Too Funny I have a problem. I over-communicate. I talk too much I’m sure, but what I really do too much is write. It takes form in all aspects of my life, both personal and business. Self awareness is a good thing, but recognition without solution may not be all that valuable. Not that many of the people I run with are in Wikipedia, but I am. It states a number…
The Tea Party When I watch John Meacham on MSNBC at any time of day (he is a popular and regular guest on all their shows ranging from Morning Joe to The 11th Hour), he always strikes me as very calm and poised despite the serious and concerning issues he is addressing about the deficiencies of our current President and the state of political affairs in this country. I just assumed it was because…
Downtown Guy Billy Joel forever owns the term Downtown Guy from his song Uptown Girl, which many Billy Joel aficionados consider one of his less great and more bubble gum songs. I was more of a fan of it than others, but no one has ever accused me of having refined taste in music. At least they haven’t once they find out I’m a big Meatloaf fan. So it is with some apology…
Phi Sig Ep In the fall of 1971, those of us on the second floor, north wing of University Halls #4 had an unusually strong degree of camaraderie. We were not close at all to those people on the south wing and only connected to those on the west wing via the Resident Advisor Greg and his perfect blonde girlfriend, Louise. The RA on our wing was Wiley and while we didn’t know his…
Perpetual Notion The Bodies Exhibit was working out just right for Krista. She was taking home almost $400 every shift she worked, between the salary and the cash tips. Everything was handled in cash, which was just fine with her. If she could get just three shifts per week she could cover all her ordinary living expenses and then some. It left her lots of time and flexibility to go on auditions and go-sees,…
Wake Up, Maggie, I Think I Got Something to Say to You It was late September, 1978 and Steve really thought he should be back at school. He could collect his books and get on back to school. Or steal his daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool. Or find himself a rock ‘n’ roll band that needed a helping hand. If that reminds you of Rod Stewart, it’s not coincidental. …
Victimized Resentment Why does a person choose a path in life that places themselves as a pitiful victim? We humans are always prone to a bit of self-pity. We never completely feel we get our due and the strange thing is that when we do get good things, we ignore the balancing aspect of all that and reinforce our view that we deserve to get more than we do, when, in fact, we may…
An Extraordinary Life I see that Gloria Vanderbilt died at the ripe old age of 95. It was said on Morning Joe that she had led an extraordinary life. I’m sure that is true in that she is a bit of a household name, mostly because of her designer jeans made popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It isn’t lost on many that her son, white-haired Anderson Cooper, can be seen every night on…
The Etagere Back in 1990 I was sent to Gulag Toronto. That’s what I called my two-year tour of duty as CEO of BT Bank of Canada. I was in exile by my firm for having presided over a sin of omission (as opposed to a sin of commission) wherein a secondary decision that fell under my command was faced with a large credit loss. It was a collateralized cotton loan to a renowned…