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A NOTE TO THE THIRD STRING PEOPLE: DON’T FEEL TOO BAD

March 24, 2026 by

There’s nothing wrong on third string, nothing wrong with third string people. They’re on the team, just not the traveling team. But they matter to the team as they work to move up to second string. One day they’ll be first stringers? Let’s take it one string at a time.

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END OF THE LINE . . . “ARE WE THERE YET”

March 18, 2026 by

It’s one thing to see the end of line, a whole other to drive past the start in Newport, Oregon. If I have a full tank of gas I hit empty after 460 miles. Eight tanks later, give or take, I’d be in Boston. Might take a week of 500 mile freeway days, or two […]

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DO MORE? LIKE WHAT

March 13, 2026 by

You need to do more to matter? That’s what you ask yourself when someone says,  “You need to do more to matter.” Have you heard that? I still hear it and I’m not some spring chicken pecking my way around the pen. When is enough enough?

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BIG TIME FOR BIG CITY PORTLAND, AND OREGON

March 11, 2026 by

Big city Portland gets the name for being the biggest city in the state. How big?  The next biggie, Eugene, is three times smaller, rounded up and down for 600k people in one, 200k in the other. (K = 1000)

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LUNAR NEW YEAR AND MORE IN PORTLAND

March 9, 2026 by

My small group of five went to the Lunar New Year Parade in downtown Portland. Yes, that Portland. If you’ve heard about it and wonder, it’s not a smoldering city rocked by insurrection. But it was rocking. After living in bigger cities where most people visit and leave, including Portland, I was thrilled to see […]

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WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION, (FOR ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL)

March 8, 2026 by

From twitterX:   I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.   Doesn’t that […]

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ELDERLY TRUTHS FROM OLD MAN

March 5, 2026 by

I watched a video clip of an old man speaking elderly truths. He looked good in his v-neck sweater and button down collared shirt. He said he was ninety-one in the most sincere way. His talk was aimed at the younger crowd, you know, around seventy. Made me feel like a teenager.

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OLD SONG RINGS TRUE TODAY

March 4, 2026 by

These are the opening lyrics of an old song, for what it’s worth: There’s something happening hereWhat it is ain’t exactly clearThere’s a man with a gun over thereA-telling me I got to beware   That’s the name of the song, For What It’s Worth. Click the link for the live video.

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STORY SHAPE: MORE SAG IN THE MIDDLE?

March 3, 2026 by

Story shape and physical fitness have that in common, the middle. From the beginning of ‘good fortune,’ the main character has a few moments until things dip downward. Think of the fanatical diet and exercise demon losing their edge in a Las Vegas buffet and taking off from the high dive into the Mexican, Italian, […]

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YOU TIME + ME TIME = OUR TIME

March 2, 2026 by

‘Our time’ is full of hope and promise for a better world. That’s what I learned in kindergarten and it set me on my path. Maybe it’s a baby boomer notion, or maybe it’s everyone over a certain age who feels that hope. Either way a better world has been a long time coming and […]

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