New Shoes in the Rain

Good Monday morning, everyone.  Found a few quiet minutes to collect my thoughts and commit them to this space. Last week was a pretty good week, followed by a good weekend.  We had unseasonably cool weather in central Kentucky until the last couple of days, and even got a little rain over the weekend. I did not take advantage of this nice weather by playing golf, as I am fighting my way through a sore shoulder that arose from a pretty serious stiff neck almost two weeks ago.  This shoulder issue has flared up a couple of times in the past, but not to this extent.  It is a dull ache during most of my waking hours, but when I go to bed, it REALLY begins to be bothersome.  So far have been taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatories and applying topical stuff like Icy Hot to treat the symptoms.  Found something a little more powerful yesterday that helped, but it's a bit messy to use during a workday. In case any of you are amateur doctors or physical therapists, most of the pa

Good Monday morning to all.   Hope you had a great weekend.  Central Kentucky finally got a little rain, but not all that much, so the browning continues locally. I know that I made a pact with my regular visitors not to discuss my job, and I plan to uphold that commitment to you now.  But the word "boss" came up with my grandchildren yesterday and I started to think about the bosses in my life, mostly past, and how they have influenced and shaped me.  And, no, this will not turn into some offshoot of that movie "Horrible Bosses."  As an aside, I think I read that the powers that be in Hollywood are either going to make or have made a sequel to that movie! I began my working life as a 16 year old in Paris, Kentucky.  I got a job at a local supermarket, where my older brother had worked after school.  Eventually this store would also employ my younger brother and my mother, of all people, when she returned to the workforce. The store was owned by an affable fel

Good morning to all.  Welcome to a rare Sunday morning post! I've had a bit of a hectic schedule over the past week or so, but things appear to be getting back to normal now.  My wife returned safely from her trip to Colorado, albeit a bit delayed by severe weather in the Denver area last Tuesday.  And when she came home, she was fighting an upper respiratory disorder.  She is slowly getting better, but, of course, that takes time. She told me that she experienced something that I never did during several years of frequent air travel--her plane and others in the airport complex that contained passengers had to be evacuated due to a tornado warning.  She said that she and her fellow passengers had to go down several flights of steps into a tunnel area for safety. The weather here in central Kentucky is much more closely aligned with what we usually see in August....hot.  And dry.  And when it rains, it storms.  Up until recently we have had wet conditions almost continually si

Happy Friday, all.  I'm enjoying the second of a couple of days off, not to gloat.... Took my wife and granddaughter to the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (also known as CVG in the airline biz) for a flight to Colorado yesterday morning.  Rained the entire way there, rained the whole time I was onsite, and rained for the couple of additional hours I spent in the northern Kentucky area.  And rained all the way home, too. There's a bit of a trend here....but as I am always quick to say, I have friends in drought-stricken areas, and I certainly sympathize with their current climate situation.  But I'm grateful for rainfall in early August, as it used to be such a rarity. But it's kinda quiet here, not only because my wife is away, but also because there was a ten-year-old here for about three weeks after her family visited in July. Later today I'll trek west to Owensboro, about three hours away, where a good friend has planted his fl

It's Monday, friends.  Hope the week is off to a good start. Since I don't go to therapy, my periodic confessionals in this space will have to do, but I've made a pact with myself to simply stop complaining so much and/or to stop conveying negativity to others.  The majority of my negativity revolves around work, as it does with many folks, but it creeps into other aspects of life, too. Here's an example: Recently I spotted a possible opportunity that might be a fit for a good friend.  I sent a note to the person who posted this opportunity on a business networking site, a former colleague.  He responded with a bit of information (turned out the situation wasn't a possibility for my friend) and then asked if everything else was OK in my world. OK, I thought, now I'm at a crossroads.  But instead of my default response of "not bad, but my job is ____ or ____," I opted to say that I have "been better, been worse, but my family and I are all