New Shoes in the Rain

Good tidings to everyone this morning.  I hope that you stopped for a moment over the weekend, especially yesterday, to reflect on the sacrifice that so many have made for us through their military service. Major League Baseball continues to "celebrate" occasions during the six months of the baseball season with special uniforms.  Yesterday I watched the Cincinnati Reds in a rare victory over the Colorado Rockies, and, naturally, both teams were wearing special Memorial Day uniforms.  These consisted of camouflage caps and all logos were trimmed with the same, regardless of team colors.  This was preceded by "special" Mother's Day unis which were dark grey caps trimmed in pink, in honor of the fight against breast cancer.  I believe that we can expect other special-use uniforms for Father's Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day. This all evolved from special wristbands and bats and such and I suppose it's a way to recognize an occasion, but it's als...

It's Monday, everyone.  This time next Monday, much of America will be celebrating the unofficial start of summer, otherwise known as Memorial Day. For me, in my current situation, it will simply be Monday.  I continue to explore the market for an appropriate job opportunity, and have been developing some good contacts and possibilities over the past several weeks.  I find it odd how long it's taken to move forward even this much, but the job market is certainly not like it used to be. My wife and I have had a running joke for a number of years on how the job search process worked for her (she's retired now) versus how it functioned for me.  In my case, when I would decide to explore new possibilities or be unexpectedly unemployed, it would generally take some time to get things going.  And even when it did move forward, there were often multiple interviews that would lead to anticipation and then disappointment when I would be informed that the hiring compa...

Good morning, all.  The sun is finally shining in central Kentucky, after what feels like weeks of darkness.  I'm exaggerating, of course, but it certainly FELT that way.  It's mid-May, so time for it to start getting warm, you know. I write this morning upon seeing the news that Time Warner Cable, our local cable TV and internet provider (and phone, too, if you're into that sort of thing), has now been acquired by Charter Communications and will later begin operating under the brand name of Spectrum.  Comcast apparently was going to buy TWC a while back but regulators let the principals know that they would not approve it, so, naturally, the next largest cable company was given the green light to acquire TWC. My title today is indicative of the "be careful what you wish for" mindset that so often plagues our utilities (and cable TV is a utility, of course).  Here in Lexington we've had a flurry of changes in who owns our cable operator over the past fifte...

Good Tuesday morning to everyone. Today is primary election day here in Kentucky, unless you're a Republican, in which case you've already gotten to do this once.  Yes, the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Republican Party opted to separate the Republican presidential primary from the "rest" of the primary ballot.  Reason?  So that current Republican Senator Rand Paul could simultaneously run for President and for reelection to his Senate seat in the same year.  Good thing, too, since we all know what happened to his bid for the Presidency. This is always a strange time, when Kentucky is mentioned in the national news for having politicians conduct rallies here and not for a natural disaster or for the Kentucky Derby.  We've had Trump, all of the Clintons, Sanders and a few other surrogates and such visit in the last few weeks. My wife and I are planning to vote, and we have a grand total of three things to vote on:  President, Senate and House of Represent...

Friends, the Commonwealth of Kentucky appears to be getting back to normal following the descent of, you know, everyone who's anyone into the state for the Kentucky Derby, which occurred last Saturday. Disclaimer:  I know NOTHING about horse racing, and have never attended the Derby, despite having been a Kentucky resident for virtually my entire life.  But it's our state's annual moment to shine and show the world a little bit of itself.  This year apparently did not disappoint, with overall good weather (save for a sudden but brief thunderstorm a short time before the big race) and favorite Nyquist winning in good fashion, although another horse was closing fast at the end of the race.  Will Nyquist have what it takes to repeat what American Pharoah accomplished last year and win the Triple Crown?  We'll know in a few weeks! When I say "everyone who's anyone" my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, but lots of famous, semi-famous and formerly famous...

Good Monday morning to all.  I hope that you had a good weekend. This morning I come with tales of a whirlwind trip to southern California late last week.  A company whom I had targeted for potential employment and with whom I had interviewed by phone and videoconference a couple of weeks ago invited me to come to meet senior leadership to discuss a career opportunity. When the human resources contact for this company told me that we'd be meeting in Pasadena, outside of Los Angeles, I was filled with conflicting emotions, as I know what a long and logistically challenging trip that can be, but that outweighed the excitement of moving ahead in the selection process with this particular employer. I received the flight itinerary last Sunday and was surprised to see that my trip involved THREE flights in each direction.  On top of that, the primary place I was connecting was in Charlotte, and, if you visit here periodically, you will likely remember that the Charlotte a...