Category: Life 2012
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Sometimes you have to be your own doctor
2012 ends for me with some positive health news. Problems I have been chasing for years appear to be on their way to resolution, or are at least in remission. The bad news is that despite the many physicians and specialists I have seen, overall I have had to become my own doctor. Such is…
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The blog turns ten
To channel The Bard, “To blog or not to blog? That is the question.” This blog has its tenth anniversary on Thursday. Subtracting out this post, I have written 1406 posts since the first one appeared on December 13, 2002. That’s 1,569,166 words, with an average of 1116 words per post. In short, it’s a…
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Shuttling to Denver
Someone once told me I could make anything interesting, so today’s challenge is to write something halfway entertaining about this routine flight to Denver. This is going to be quite a challenge and I doubt I can do it. Here goes. I am at thirty five thousand feet, there is little turbulence but there is…
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She is more like me than I thought
There are children that are a chip off the old block, and then there is my daughter. Physically she has many of the attributes of her father (me). She tends toward being tall, with bigger feet and the proud Roman/English nose sported by my side of the family. However, she has never seemed to take…
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Lost in translation
I am starting to realize that one of the reasons labor costs are so low is because so much of the labor I use cannot speak English. In theory, English is the common language in the United States, but in practice it often is not. English works fine for me on the job and usually…
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Greeted by the lovebugs in Ormond Beach
If home is where your heart is, then my heart is in Endwell, New York instead of Ormond Beach, Florida. I spent nearly ten years in Endwell and they were during my prime developmental years: ages six through 15. No wonder I feel bonded to the area and its climate. In contrast, I spent only…
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It’s better outside
I have a blessedly short commute to work, about three miles each way. The fastest way to work involves driving through a suburban, tree-lined neighborhood. This neighborhood is a lot like mine: single family homes with a third to half acre lawns, streets with sidewalks, trash collected on Tuesday and Fridays (I know because I…
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Perchance to dream
We are such stuff As dreams are made on The Tempest Act 4, scene 1 Do you look forward to sleeping? The evidence suggests that most Americans do not. There are too many modern world temptations, like your smartphone. In a way, perhaps it is good that modern life is more tempting than sleep. It…
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A truly capital Fourth of July
It’s a curious thing: I have lived in the Washington D.C. region since 1978 and had never been downtown to see the Independence Day fireworks. Why? For years it was because I could not afford to get home sometime after midnight and then struggle to work before dawn the next morning. As I got older…
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Eulogy for my mother in law
My mother in law passed away Sunday night. As a consequence we find ourselves in Phoenix, Arizona to mourn her death where she died with family. She was aware that she was dying, having been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer some six weeks back. She was expected to live four to six months but…
Occam's Razor 