New Shoes in the Rain

On another business trip, this time to Tucson, Arizona for organizational meetings through Friday morning.  So, last night, I had the opportunity to see an in-flight movie for the first time in a while. I had a number of choices but settled on "Larry Crowne," the Tom Hanks written/produced/directed story of a man who is laid off from his second career in mid-life (his first career having been the Navy).  Hanks almost always plays a nice guy, and this is no exception.  The film features a varied cast of supporting players who were well chosen, but the most obvious good choice was Julia Roberts as a frustrated junior-college teacher (a close second was George Takei, of Star Trek Mr. Sulu fame).  Just a little over an hour and a half, a mostly light entertainment with a pleasant message about the possibilities presented by a major event like being laid off from a job. Then, in the ultimate irony, I arose early this morning (two hours earlier here in Arizona than at ...

I simply cannot believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving.....can you? I suppose it's a byproduct of age, but I now marvel at how quickly time seems to pass, compared to, say, thirty years ago.  Simply amazing. But, despite that, we're off and running with our preparations for the Christmas season.  I have all of my time off requests in for work, and we've already done about 60% of our Christmas shopping.  However, before you start throwing things at your computer screen, note that we started a tradition in our family several years ago of buying a variety of gift cards.  This began because our daughter and her family live in Colorado, and since we're not with them frequently, we had less of an idea of what to get them, so the gift card idea became a pretty practical solution to the gift-giving dilemma.  Plus they're easier to ship than larger presents, and we normally ship their holiday gifts to them. In fact, I bought about half of what we're giving for ...

Had a conversation with my son-in-law a couple days ago regarding his interest in discontinuing cable TV service.  His argument is pretty sound....they can get network TV over-the-air, and most everything else they watch is available either through a streaming service or via DVD. In my totally unbiased and non-expert opinion, this is an admirable and worthwhile objective.  Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of reasons why I question whether it will work. Easy to look at your cable bill and then need to reattach your eyebrows to your forehead.  I don't know anyone who doesn't pay what appears to be an obscene amount in order to receive what Bruce Springsteen called "57 Channels and Nothing On."  Why, even my mother-in-law, who lives in a very small town in western Kentucky and has no pay channels, no DVR box, no high-definition service or anything "extra" pays a ridiculous sum each month for so-so channel reception. So, you have to ask yourself, wha...

When I heard that just-retired CBS and "60 Minutes" commentator Andrew Rooney died last week, I was certainly saddened, but also glad that I got to hear some of his commentaries over the years that he appeared on and I watched "60 Minutes." On Monday I host a conference call of my direct reports and one of my folks made a venting comment and then apologized for being such a "curmudgeon" today.  Well, I couldn't help but take that ball and run with it, and then the rest of the call became a complaint forum, as I asked each of my team members what was bothering them that day.  Mostly about work, of course, but some other extraneous comments were heard about sports, household things and the like.  And then I shared a couple of my favorite Rooneyisms. One concerned the worth of the cotton that used to always come stuffed in the top of any kind of medication bottle.  I saw a clip of Andy with that commentary, saying, "So do they expect us to put it...

Tomorrow is election day in Kentucky, and I, for one, will be most glad when the current campaign is over.  Not because it's been a contentious race.  Not because there has been lots of mudslining.  Both are true, but I actually enjoy some political news here and there and Kentucky's down-and-dirty brand of politics is entertaining, to say the least.  And all of Kentucky's statewide offices, governor on down, are at stake in this election. No, it's the robocalls that I will be happy to have gone.  This phenomenon hit Kentucky a few years ago, and now it seems that candidates from all parties for all offices are resorting to these calls.  They're annoying, not informative and disruptive to normal life, particularly if you work at home as I do. What I don't get is how these are permitted, even if you're on the statewide telemarketing no-call list, as we are.  This warrants some investigation...... I have a good friend who makes a point of collectin...

Not really, but at least I thought of a catchy title this time around..... Greetings from Birmingham, Alabama this evening where a very pleasant fall evening is settling onto what I believe is pretty much the centerpoint of the state of Alabama.  Nice folks here, and I always enjoy my visits here.  I'm here on business until sometime Thursday. Had a very memorable barbecue meal at a local restaurant chain called Full Moon Bar-B-Q.  Outstanding.  Pulled pork and sliced beef brisket, with baked beans and vinegar coleslaw and a toasted bun.  AND two "Half-Moon" cookies.  Wow.  Check it out if you like tasty barbecue and find yourself in the area! Speaking of food, my wife and I visited a Wendy's in our home area on Saturday, in order to try the new "Dave's Hot and Juicy Cheeseburgers" (sans cheese for me, thanks).  Don't bother.  Wendy's has taken an above average hamburger and apparently diminished the quality and perhaps the size of the ...