New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Thursday-before-a-Monday-holiday.  Looking forward to spending some time with family and friends over the weekend, as I'm sure you are, too. I had occasion to travel south this week, as I undertook a new work project on Monday with a company based in Alabama.  So I had to travel south through Nashville, Tennessee to get there. If you've not had the pleasure of driving in Nashville traffic, take it from me that it's quite something. I've driven in larger cities that offered fewer traffic challenges than Music City, and I've never been quite sure why that is.  I do know that the positioning of the city in and around the Cumberland River has a bit to do with it, but I also think that their road system is just not designed to accommodate the large volume of cars driving on it each day. Luckily for me, I was passing through southbound on Sunday afternoon, so sailed through and around the center of town "without touching my brake," as I told my wife ...

I don't know about you, but I've taken note of the phrase "do something," signifying the public's disappointment with the lack of action by our political leaders on the issue of gun control and prevention of mass shootings (and I know, they're two different issues).  This is the mantra now, much as "we call BS" became the rallying cry of the Parkland kids and those who worked directly with them.  And I have just one thing to say about it: It's about time. I didn't watch much of it, but there was a multipart documentary on MSNBC over the past several Sundays called "American Swamp," and it detailed various aspects of why and how our political system has become what it is today.  While I viewed about twenty minutes of the first episode, I saw promotional messages for each succeeding episode.  The final one apparently dealt with infrastructure, and how our crumbling roads and bridges are unfortunate but that we probably shouldn...

Good Tuesday morning to you.....hope things are cool and lush in your part of the world.  They're not here in central Kentucky, as most of us homeowners are breathlessly awaiting the rain that's due to fall in a couple of segments today. I'm closing in on a new job opportunity (more on that once everything is finalized) but today I have some thoughts about the Internet, particularly since I've been using it more and more during my period of unemployment. And I've had more time to reflect on the negative aspects of the web as well, and that reflection has been punctuated by what we've learned about the alleged perpetrator in the recent mass shootings in El Paso. First, this spot and Twitter are about the only places where I express much of my opinions on anything of weight.  I don't have a Facebook account (never have, never will, so sorry, not sorry, Zuck) and while I have an Instagram account, I use it to post photos that I like or view those of other...

I'm sure that many of you were as horrified and upset by the shootings this weekend in El Paso and Dayton.  I've visited both cities repeatedly (El Paso was part of a large sales territory I managed some years ago) and have always been welcomed warmly by people in each. I have a friend with whom I used to work in El Paso.  She, in turn, has children and grandchildren in the area, so Saturday evening I sent a message to her to make sure that she and her family members were all OK, and was relieved to hear that they were. I won't go into all of the political, social, medical and other ramifications of these heinous acts, except to say that none of it is simple, or clear-cut, or that there are obvious solutions that will prevent these things from happening again, regardless of whether these shootings occur in the workplace or elsewhere. I honestly don't know what else to say, but welcome your comments and to know what your thoughts might be.