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BETTER LISTENING SKILLS FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be.
How hard is it to pay attention?
You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher.
I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra.
Maybe we need more of that? Instead we get more of this:

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RETURNING REVERENCE TO IT’S RIGHTFUL PLACE

There’s a scent of reverence in the air, of returning reverence after a long pause.
It started in my doctor’s office where I’d been called to sit on a panel with others.
One of the others was Roy Pittman, one of my personal heroes.
The next time I saw the doctor he told me he was surprised at the way I acted, that I showed reverence to Coach Pittman.
If I did, I didn’t know it. What I remember is feeling awe-struck. Maybe it’s the same thing?
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NBA CHAMPION CROWNED, AGAIN

Becoming an NBA champion is a lifelong goal for every basketball player in the world.
The best want to play the best, beat the best, to tell themselves they’re good enough.
It’s that along with contracts and money and fame.
All of that goes along the wayside when you stop playing in ninth grade like me, or in high school.
Do I blame the coaches that I didn’t become a star, a substitute, or even a benchwarmer?
Noooooo, but . . .
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CLEAN LIVING FOR A QUIET LIFE

Clean living is an art form, and like all art it takes practice.
Yes, we’re talking about practice.
It takes practice to talk without a particular tone, without too much edge.
Do that and you may have a productive conversation.
Go ahead and save the tone and edge for people you don’t know, who don’t know you.
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I READ THE NEWS TODAY OH BOY

The news today is all about world events.
News organizations deliver it every day with the same hype and urgency.
News hounds consume every detail and load it onto the pile they carry in case someone asks them ‘what’s up?’
That’s when you brace yourself for the headlines as if they’re coming from an anchorman. Or woman.
That’s the big news story you NEED to know.
The small news, the stories that make us step back, come out another way.
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toughen up

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT OSCAR GOES TO?

Who deserves the Oscar for the Affordable Care Act? Health insurance used to be simple when I was young. At least it seemed simple. Mom and Dad took me to the doctor when things looked funky, like my collarbone. Things break on kids, like bones when they fly through the air and land awkwardly. Have […]

NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS KNOW NUTRITION FIRST

  My wife shared a joke with me. She’s a naturopathic physician, Dr. Gillaspie. It had nothing to do with the old television show with young Dr. Kildare and his colleague Dr. Gillaspie.   “Early in our practices doctors from my class would talk about what it must be like as an RD, a real […]

CANCER RESEARCH THROUGH BETTER BEER

    “I’m buying you a beer,” G said.   “That’s awfully nice, but you don’t have to,” I said.   “It’s that one,” he said.   “Which one?” I asked.   “At the bottom of the Daily Specials.”   I looked at the beer menu and didn’t see it.   “Where are the specials?” […]

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boomer years

BEAVERTON, PORTLAND’S EASTSIDE FOR ADULTS

  Beaverton sees Portland as a necessity of suburban life. They need a city nearby But it doesn’t work the other way around. Portland sees Beaverton in the same lot as Tigard, Lake Oswego, Gresham, even Vancouver. Suburbs feeding off the urban tube. You can defend any town, but a suburb takes more thought. Start […]

WHAT IS THE BABY BOOMER BOND, YOU ASK

    3 Shortcuts to understanding a baby boomer bond   If some bright-eyed middle aged face pops up in your life, you know what it’s there for. You need to shop smarter, invest better, learn the art of kindness. But you’ve already bought more than you need, are happily invested. People know how kind […]

WHERE PORTLAND MEMORIAL DAY REACHES

The guys in the top left set up in front of the wall from their years in the Vietnam War. Marching in the bottom right, guys wear the gear from those same years. “Aren’t they too young to wear the uniform?” one lady asked. “They always are.”

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buckle up

MEXICO TRAVEL: PUERTO VALLARTA PERFECTION, pt3

    The top down view from the seventh floor in Old Vallarta, or Viejo Vallarta, to the square.   Is it Frida Kahlo’s turquoise house? It’s the right color.   If it part of the Kahlo catalogue, she’s got octopus on her self portrait.   But it’s not Frida. Not enough eyebrow.  

LA FREEWAY OR NYC SUBWAY: WHERE WILD THINGS ROAM

The BoomerPdx Transportation Award Goes To… Ask a New York City native how they get around without a car and they’ll say they know at least three ways to get where they need to go without hailing a cab. 1. Walk. 2. Bus. 3. Subway. When a New Yorker talks about the subway they make […]

PORTLAND PLANNING VIEW FROM SOUTH WATERFRONT

    Does the top pic look anything like a Portland planning Christmas card? Stacked apartments dot the SW Portland landscape like a vision of Chicago from the Sears Tower.   That’s not the welcome mat Portland planning rolls out for new pioneers. Where’s that world famous food cart court next to a tap room? […]

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