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MONDAY MORNING STARTER: COMPLAINING?

March 16, 2026 by

Monday morning, like every morning of the week, starts with a quick look online to see what’s up in there, to see if anything sticks past the first scroll. What stuck? Complaining. My online peeps are disappointed in their engagement numbers. No one reads their posts. And it hurts soooo bad.

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TAXES PAID, SERVICES DELIVERED, AMERICAN DREAM

March 1, 2026 by

You settle back after you close the books on your taxes paid and that new life waiting just around the corner. Those taxes are the money paid to live the American Dream. Who among us thinks of taxes paid every time we get jolted driving over another gaping pothole? “Why do I bother when they […]

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LEADER PREPARATION TRAINING PROGRAM 2025

November 17, 2025 by

This is my claim to leader preparation, not leader, but ready to lead. I lean on the Fort Ord Leadership Academy when I need to tighten things up. I’d like to thank the academy for the training? Thank you, but during the supposed twenty-one hours of training we were all so sleep-deprived we could barely […]

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WINTERING WINE AND ROTHKO

November 4, 2025 by

Wintering wine is what it looks like with the grapes gone to juice. Wine country in Oregon’s Willamette Valley at ground level where the fruit had been. The turning leaves paint a splash of color across the hillsides this time of year. What’s it remind you of?

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MATERIAL WORLD, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT

September 3, 2025 by

Mashing two words together to make ‘material world’ brings up a long list of ongoing problems, some more distressing than others. Scientific American shares this story from 2020:   Human-Made Stuff Now Outweighs All Life on Earth Artificial objects have gone from just 3 percent of the world’s biomass in 1900 to on par with […]

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GOOD EXPECTATIONS, VARIED RESULTS

August 20, 2025 by

Good expectations, not great, are the more reasonable expectations for most people. Even when you harbor feelings of greatness, who would you tell without sounding like a nut-job? Yes, I hear you with your, “But Muhammad Ali . . .” He was ‘The Greatest’ and proved it over an over, until he became what all […]

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“I HAD NO IDEA?” OK BOOMER

June 13, 2025 by

At some point ‘no idea’ or ‘I have no idea’ is the wrong answer. You can use it as an excuse up to a point, up to a certain age, and it isn’t seventy. Too often I feel like I should have an answer to the hard questions, something better than raising the white flag […]

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CRAFTSMEN KNOW HOW TO WORK, ARTIST KNOW WHEN TO STOP

February 26, 2025 by

Craftsmen know their work, the ins and outs, the customs and traditions; they know the lay of the land. The good news is you can tell a good craftsman by their work. As a young history worker I inventoried a donation of hand tools used to build the wooden ships of old. The toolbox was […]

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WHITE LOTUS BEACH CAMP: LIFE IMITATES ART

February 17, 2025 by

My wife and I found White Lotus this week, which is about right for us. This time we’re only five years behind. The family scenes make me laugh, not so much her, but one struck me hard: The kid sleeps on the beach at low tide  in the first season. What was so funny? The […]

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FINE WHINE FROM CHEKHOV’S DOG

December 22, 2024 by

“Why are we worn out? “Why do we, who start out so passionate, brave, noble, believing, become totally bankrupt by the age of thirty or thirty-five? “Why is it that one is extinguished by consumption, another puts a bullet in his head, a third seeks oblivion in vodka, cards, a fourth, in order to stifle […]

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