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BASIC APPRECIATION OF COMMON THINGS

A basic appreciation is important for context.
Things are usually more complicated than they seem.
A brick is a brick, just some fired up mud, until you see them working together.
In the hands of a skilled craftsman, a brick is a jewel.
What else deserves a second look? A towel rack.
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TALKING DOWN TO SOMEONE? WHY

How can you tell when someone is talking down to you?
It might be the clarification questions you ask that gets them annoyed to the point of explaining everything a few times, very slowly.
Or it might their regular way of communicating.
Which leads to more questions, like, “Why be a jerk?
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FALLING LEAVES OF AUTUMN

Falling leaves are the rule of the season.
The only place without a carpet of leaves is a parking garage.
But that’s Oregon, famous for trees.
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toughen up

CANCER STORIES: FEEDING PUBLIC FEAR AND PRIVATE WOE

Things you’ll never know until you get cancer, any cancer:   You’ll either be an object of sympathy, or an antenna of sympathy. Or both.   “Keep up the fight,” or, “You’re a fighter,” or “You look like you’ve got this thing whipped.”   That’s what I heard after running Hood To Coast at 49 […]

CANCER TREATMENT: 5 THINGS I KNEW BEFORE STARTING

    I will submit to the cancer treatment sequence of events that may or may not do what is predicted. Like a lamb to slaughter, I would submit to whatever it took to kill the shit out of hpv16 throat cancer.   In the writing world we all dream of that one ‘YES’ that […]

MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR A DOSE OF CANCER

    Medical marijuana? Isn’t that just an excuse to get loaded without consequences, like jail? That’s what Pat thinks. I caught a rather painful case of cancer and tried one oxy pill, and one nip of liquid oxy, which changed nothing.   Why would marijuana be different?   At a desperate moment I tried […]

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boomer years

SELF CONTROL INTERVIEW BEFORE ASSAULT RIFLE PURCHASE

  What do we need to know before another assault rifle purchase?   In the short days before the next mass shooting, gun shops need to start an interview process for those making their first assault rifle purchase.   Besides the usual questions on the background check and ATF Form 4473, add a short interview […]

D-DAY PRACTICE: DIEPPE, SLAPTON SANDS

History of D-Day practice neither grand or glorious. The real D-Day turned the tide in World War Two, but the two D-Day practice events left more dead than the real D-Day. Through those deaths communications improved. Coordination improved. And suppressing news improved. No one wanted it out that commanders had screwed up a D-Day practice […]

WHY THE BIG DISCONNECT? CHINA AND AMERICA

If You Never Fix What’s Not Broken, You’re Not Looking Hard Enough. There’s A Big Break. China is the world’s factory. Everyone agrees. If you disagree, look at labels in the nearest big box store. It’s also leading, or mentioned, in other categories too. Human rights, pollution, the usuals. Sometimes it’s a thin line between […]

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buckle up

PORTLAND’S BOOMER CASTLE ON BROADWAY

You don’t have to go to France to feel the grandeur of a beautiful room. Or a cathedral in Spain for the ornate. Walk into the Benson Hotel on Broadway for the same feeling of WOW. The size is different, but the details are wonderful. For an Old World taste in the New World, this […]

MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SUSHI

When a birthday dinner turns to Shakespeare and Midsummer Night’s sushi. Imagine if you will a birthday dinner, but not just a regular birthday dinner for a regular birthday. Instead, it’s a milestone birthday dinner, a biggie, so you plan and time and schedule and connect. Because it is an older birthday, one idea is […]

BABY BOOMER MISSION CREEP: AIR TRAVEL

You Know How To Tell Time, So Does The Airport. Air travel asks one thing: Can you be on time? Successful travel is that easy, and that complicated. After an extended road trip in a rental car you don’t want to miss the plane home. Who knows what happens if you miss that flight, but […]

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