New Shoes in the Rain

My wife and I are heading out to Colorado on vacation, leaving later today.  We're driving, so that's always quite an adventure.  And I've had another hectic week leading up to our departure. I was out of town Monday through Wednesday for business, but that was a successful trip, punctuated only by a flight delay on my last flight Wednesday and then a luggage claim delay (so much for Sky PRIORITY, Delta).  Since then we've been doing what anyone does before leaving for vacation, but, along with that, we aerated, seeded and fertilized our backyard, which I had done to the front yard before leaving for my business trip. Our days in Colorado will be spent with our six-year-old granddaughter, who'll be on spring break next week.  We'll be taking her out to do some fun things with Gram and Poppy, and she'll decide a lot of it.  But that hasn't stopped us from asking for input from her mom about where she likes to go, eat, stuff to do, etc. Also asked a ...

This is a phrase that I use with my wife a lot, mostly when we're discussing things like houses and cars and other LARGE purchases.  And given that we live what I would consider to be an above-average upper-middle-class lifestyle, the line between what we want and what we need blurs considerably. If you visit here even infrequently you are likely aware that I love gadgets, particularly those of the Apple variety.  I'm on my second Mac computer (current model is a Macbook Air, the ultra-light-and-thin portable), have owned more than one iPod (right now I have an iPod Nano, which about the size of a postage stamp and not much thicker).  And at my insistence, when my wife was due for a cellphone upgrade, we got her an iPhone, and she's extremely happy with this. I also have an iPad.  Original version, bought it two Christmases ago.  64 GB storage memory, no cellular connection, just Wi-Fi.  I tried to use it as my travel computer for work, even, although I...

Morning, all.  No particular theme today, but that's often the case around here.  Raining today, but the sun's going to shine tomorrow, they say. I was horrified to hear of an American soldier going door to door firing an automatic weapon on innocent civilians in Afghanistan over the weekend.  In my view, that's proof that our forces have been there too long and that it's time to leave nation-building to those whose nation it is--the Afghan people. The item above will, I'm sure, be termed a failure of the Obama administration by the four lesser minds who seek the Republican nomination for President.  They're all in the South arguing about who's had grits in the past or who says "y'all" as a part of his normal speech patterns.  Oh, and it's Mitt Romney's 65th birthday today, so he's one step closer to that much needed government retirement and healthcare. Peyton Manning's looking for a job.  He appears to have good qualific...

My wife and I watched "The Wizard of Oz" the other night. No, we didn't have the grandchildren with us.  We watched it because WE wanted to.  And we enjoyed it. And I got all choked up near the end, just as I had since I was a kid. We've both always liked that particular movie and when the Blu-Ray disk came out we decided to get it when the price wasn't quite so outrageous.  So we waited, we bought it and we enjoyed it. But that started me to thinking about other movies that evoke a discernible emotional response, whether through manipulation or genuinely created emotion.  For example.... One of my very favorite movies is "Field of Dreams," and if you're one of the small number who don't know what it is or don't remember, Kevin Costner plays a reluctant Iowa corn farmer who hears a voice that tells him to plow under most of his crop in order to build a baseball field.  Why?  So that Shoeless Joe Jackson, a disgraced former major leagu...

On my way home after a successful trip to Richmond, Virginia this week.  Had to postpone this trek due to, what else, a respiratory infection.  Seems there's a lot of that going around in my home area, and I'm sure the volatile weather has a little to do with it.  It's predicted to be 80 degrees here in Richmond today.  Today.  February 24.  WINTER. Are you planning to watch the Oscars Sunday night?  I probably will for a while, if only to see Billy Crystal do his thing. Older folks talk about Bob Hope and Johnny Carson (who I admit was good) but no other host has the whole package like Billy always has.  And it's not like his career is that demanding these days..... I don't follow professional basketball, even though now there are numerous former Kentucky college players in the NBA.  But this story of Jeremy Lin has been somewhat interesting.  How so many "experts" missed out on him is pretty amazing. Speaking of Kentucky basketba...

Did you happen to watch the Grammy awards last night? We watched some of it, mostly because Bruce Springsteen was rumored to be kicking off the show.  He did, as he and the E Street Band (with a large string section, no less) presented a rousing version of the new song "We Take Care of Our Own" from his forthcoming "Wrecking Ball" album (I still refuse to refer to these things as CDs). Paul McCartney performed, Tony Bennett sang a duet with Carrie Underwood (someone had to REALLY be thinking hard to come up with that pairing) and there was a tribute to ailing Glen Campbell in which Glen joined in. Other than that, unfortunately, most of the performers who sang or were otherwise identified as presenters or nominees were largely unknown to me.  I know who Katy Perry is.  Adele is astoundingly talented as a vocalist. And I know that Lady Gaga was "born this way," to borrow a phrase. To wit:  I was in New Orleans last week, out with a group of work ass...

Are you one of those people who almost always likes or even needs to be the first in your circle of friends to try a new product or service?  Or are you one who waits to see if it's a passing fad? I'm kind of in the middle on this subject.  For instance, we were a little slow to move from VHS tapes to DVDs, largely because we had such a substantial number of them.  Then we were just a touch slow to move into Blu-Ray high-definition discs, but in that case I was waiting to see if that format, or the now-dead HD DVD would "win" the competition to be the primary high definition format out there (if this doesn't make sense, think about the VHS-vs.-Beta debate in the 80s). We still don't have caller ID on our home phone, and, in fact, since we HAVE a home phone, I suppose that indicates something about my rate of adaptability. So, with all of that in mind, there are a few newer products and services that we've tried recently, and here's a small sample...