Yesterday we had two geese steps from our patio, madly eating and eating. Like their lives depended on it. Perhaps they knew the snow was coming. Today the geese where nowhere to be seen. But our two ducks were still on the pond. So after the Tiger Woods drama, I watched the ducks swim around…
Category: Work, Writing. Reading, Watching
Stories from my prior life in the corporate world and now as a writer
April 12th: Tear down this fence
Almost 32 years ago, President Reagan gave the speech, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” I wonder how many Americans really know much about the speech. How 50,000 had gathered in Berlin to protest Reagan being there. How the western media had largely ignored covering it. How his own administration had argued against Reagan using those…
April 5th: This Side of Paradise
Fifty two years ago, the Star Trek episode “This Side of Paradise” aired. The Enterprise was sent to a planet where an agricultural and research colony had been established several years earlier. They expected to find the entire colony wiped out from exposure to deadly radiation. Instead, the colonists were alive and happy… very, very…
March 31st: I was fooled (Flunk Day)
May 18th last year I commented on the Flunk Day tradition at my undergrad school (Coe College). I linked a video of nothing but squeaky clean fun. It was a surprising transformation from the wild Flunk Day celebrations of my four years at Coe. Now today, I was watching a few YouTube videos and up…
February 28th: The Day the FBI arrived
It was a day the accounting manager (Terri) will never forget… March 5th. We were gathered in a conference room, somber faces all around. The CEO, his staff including the CFO (Terri’s boss), myself as the new FP&A manager. I was sitting directly across the table from Terri. The CEO solemnly spoke directly to Terri,…
January 29th: Project Blue Book
Are you familiar with Project Blue Book? It was an official investigation of UFOs by the United States Air Force, active from 1952 until 1969. There were precursor investigation (Project Sign and Project Grudge). In the late 1970’s there was a popular TV show fictionalizing the results of Project Blue Book. The History Channel has just…
January 28th: Warren Buffet… the sex analogy
I have always liked the sentiment of… “Don’t be afraid to spend while you are young. A hamburger tastes much better when you are 40 years old than when you are 80.” Today I saw an article with a Warren Buffett quote on the silliness of sacrificing your life to build the perfect resume. Many…
January 27th: Doodles, pencil sketches and my masterpiece
I have no artistic talent to draw or paint. So my writing is my substitute. Most of these blog entries are my doodles. Some very short flash stories on this blog, and unpublished short stories constitute my pencil sketches. With my book, I am ever so slowly painting my masterpiece. When I started this blog,…
January 16th: Super Ball / Super Bowl
It was the summer of ’65 in Kansas City, I was seven years old, and I wanted what every kid wanted… a Super Ball. You would drop this magical ball and it would bounce back up into your hand (well, technically 92% of the way back, but we thought it was 100%). It also did…
January 12th: Enjoying the ride
Back in 2015, when the Kansas City Royals were playing in the World Series someone said, “I just wish it was over and we were holding that World Series trophy.” What? Actually, I can relate. After 29 years of waiting, a championship was in reach. Still, it wasn’t over. Worry. Something could go wrong. It…