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CUTTING WOOD WITH A CREW

February 22, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Like most kids growing up on the Oregon coast, like most people with a fireplace, I’ve spent time cutting wood. My brother and I hauled and chopped rounds my dad sawed from the logs washed up on the causeway connecting Hwy101 to the sand dunes. The old man was the boss. He said we could […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, bad boss, big picture, blame, blog, blogger, boomerpdx, boss, cast aspersions, cast shame, committed, cutting, cutting wood, failures, Gerald Ford, good boss, good citizen, good president, good soldier, incompetence, interested, job, lie, president, shame, wood, work, writer, writing

THE OTHER PORTLAND OREGON

September 28, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The other Portland once had a reputation as a place for rich hippies to retire young and send their kids to Reed College. If that was the 70’s those kids might be fifty or sixty years old; thirty or forty if they started a family late, or decided to have more than one family. Since […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blighted area, boomers, commander in chief, education, Eisenhower, family, hippies, kids, learn, millennials, Oregon, Oregon duck football, Portland, Portland Oregon, president, Reed College, retire, rich hippies, south portland, teddy roosevelt, travel

ACCEPTING FAILURE? LESSONS FROM LeBRON

November 6, 2024 by David Gillaspie

If you’re good at accepting failure, it means one thing: You tried, given it your best, and it wasn’t enough. You’ve done it, I’ve done it. If you haven’t done it, it’s coming. Accept failure to get better, and who doesn’t want to get better?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: accept failure, accepting failure, americans, beatdown, beaten down, best effort, failure, grass roots, history, LeBron James, losing, loss, NBA, president, regular people, scoreboard, sports, try hard

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE SINCE 1900, DAVID’S VERSION

November 5, 2024 by David Gillaspie

The presidential vote is tricky to gauge. Some of the guys from 1900 on are cloaked in the fog of history. While this isn’t some kind of ‘last word’ on the subject, it is a reflection of the voting mood. Sometimes you just don’t know how things will turn out.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: 2024, climate, david, David's version, election wins, entertainer, grab, grabbing, headlines, health, insurrection, jan.6, president, presidential, presidential vote, science, Social media, vote, voter, voting, White House, women's health, women's healthcare, you're fired

DAMAGED MEN DON’T ASK FOR BAND-AIDS?

October 28, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Damaged men are all around, but you’d never know it. Why? Not because they tell you, because they don’t. In a show and tell world, they do the show part better than the tell part.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, broken arm, damaged, damaged man, damaged men, election, fitness, general kelly, glass houses, harm's way, hate blog, health, hip replacement, interior landscape, life choices, master's degree, men, pinball, president, public crying, scar, second born, shit talk, show and tell, Social media, United States, vote

WEIGHT LIFTING FOR MENTAL HEALTH

October 25, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Weight lifting is for everyone, more or less, weight-wise. Lifting is something you do every day whether you log it as such, or not. I’m a fan of trying to tell the difference between lifters and non-lifters.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: candidate, democracy, fitness, fitness watching, government work, history, Hitler, incompetence, lifters, lifting, mental health, mental process, metaphor, politics, president, stalin, successful democracy, trump, weight lifting, workout, write, write about it

AMERICAN PROCESS = THE GRIND

October 9, 2024 by David Gillaspie

American process is what we’re famous for around here. The U.S. didn’t become what it is today by scrapping everything and starting over, although some argue that that’s what FDR did in the Great Depression. Not my argument. Why? Because FDR was schooled in the American process. He had been a state senator, assistant secretary […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American, american process, american progress, baby boomer, baby boomer lifetime, BOOMER, boomer lifetime, campaigning, cbs news, experience, government, government experience, history, lifetime, military, military experience, misunderstanding history, Oregon, politics, presidency, president, presidential, presidents, register to vote, sandwich generation, the grind, time magazine, vote, WWII

SCREEN SPACE vs AIR TIME: BEING HELPFUL

July 24, 2024 by David Gillaspie

What are the goals of screen space and air time? Fill them up. That’s the primary goal. Secondary goals are making sense, being interesting, and ultimately trying to be helpful. I’m helpful. Which isn’t a way of asking, ‘Are you helpful?’

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: air time, being helpful, blog, blogger, boomerpdx, boomers, education, entertainment, false observations, helpful, helpful side, little bitch, president, presidential, presidential material, screen space, team player, team players, tired accusations, trustworthy, writer, writers, writing

FIRST FATHER’S DAY?

June 16, 2024 by David Gillaspie

If this is your first Father’s Day keep a few things in mind. It’s not a birthday, Christmas, or any day you’ve had before. Dad’s across the nation have had the very same day, but they all took did it differently. No dad is the same, after all.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: alone time, club Father's Day, father's day, felony convictions, first Father's Day, god's will, great father, insurrection, kids, lead us, men, men with children, militia recruiter, old dads, political, president, rape, restraint, strong kids, violent, women, wrong answer

TRUST, HOPE, THEN EXPLOIT

April 23, 2024 by David Gillaspie

If you believe in the power of trust, hope, and faith, and you should, what could go wrong? Do it right and you’ll find yourself in the company of others with the same beliefs. At first. Then time reveals other plans.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: american way, effort, exploit, good american, hope, power, president, smarter, trust