New Shoes in the Rain

‘Tis this season, friends. Hope it’s wonderful for you and yours!   And as far as I’m concerned, it’s a great time to talk about customer service, the good, the bad, the indifferent, the avoidable, and so forth.  We’re all cornered by it, whether we like it or not!   Here’s my first and worst bad example.  Some of our family lives out of state, so we conscientiously shop for them early, so that we can ship their gifts out well in advance of Christmas.  We did exactly that this year, and my wife shipped the box on December 9.  Since that time we have not received any tracking updates from the United States Postal Service, the tracking site only states that the parcel is “in the possession of the USPS.”   Since then my wife visited the post office from which she shipped it, and the employee there complained that they hired no seasonal help, they don’t have enough people to handle mail and parcels and that she wasn’t about to ship anyt...

I don't know about you, but it's always so difficult when one takes even a couple of days off work and then comes back to a full week.  Last week felt like it lasted about eleven days. Did you happen to travel over the holiday weekend?  I was very glad that I didn't, with weather and flight delays and all of that! Along with that, work wasn't all that much fun. I work in a portion of the healthcare industry that's affected by seasonal changes, sometimes more than others.  Last week was one of those "others" that created an "all hands on deck" scenario all week last week.  We're still in that state, and it really isn't much fun. Enough complaining.  We'll have plenty to complain about in a little more than a month. I have to say that I wonder about some of the people the President-Elect has chosen for certain cabinet and staff roles.  It's the Senate's job to do the worrying, of course, but I worry about THEM as well! I'm l...

Good Sunday to all of you looking in today. Have had an interesting and enjoyable weekend thus far.  Not long ago my son and I looked at our grandson’s hockey team schedule and saw that his team was due to play two games in Cincinnati (a family favorite destination) yesterday.  So we agreed that the best move would be to get rooms for last night here in the area, as the second game did not end until around 10:30 PM.  Back to that soon. Correspondingly, my wife was caught up in the media blitz surrounding the opening of the new movie version of Wicked, about the witches from the Wizard of Oz.  She knew that our two Lexington granddaughters would want to see it at soon as possible, so we bought the tickets for a showing in the Lexington area for yesterday at 12:30.  They loved the movie but were a little disappointed to know that this new release is only part one with a second film forthcoming.  Typical Hollywood to stretch it into two tentpole flicks! I digr...

I think it’s been long enough since the election results were finalized that the shock has subsided and the immediate future is a bit clearer.  Regular visitors to this space noticed, I’m sure, that I last posted about something totally unrelated to the state of our country, and that was intentional. So here we are.  The President-Elect is still fighting to prevent being sentenced for his 34 convictions in New York State court.  He is thoroughly dominating the news cycle every day, as he did the last time he was elected to the Presidency.  He is doing so mostly by toying with the mass media and those on the left who would oppose him, naming one unqualified person after another to head government agencies.  He is all over the place, appearing at conferences, UFC matches, space launches and more. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll forget about him between now and January 20, when he officially becomes President.  Again. The Democrats have lost the Senate AND the H...

Happy weekend, everyone.  I don’t know about you, but this couple of days off could not have come at a better time! Took advantage of clear conditions earlier this afternoon and mowed our yard for hopefully the last time of the season.  Let the mower run so that I emptied the fuel tank and it took way longer than I would have guessed! Anyway, have picked up a couple of new things that may be of interest to you, since I often mention new items here. First up is some new tech.  I watched the Apple keynote two or three weeks ago with interest, as I always do, and a couple of things got my attention.  First of these was the Apple Watch Series 10, because my wife’s Series 6 was beginning to show its age.  We went to the local Apple Store, mistakenly, on the date of the release of iPhone 16, so really were only able to look at the watches, store was just too crowded. We returned the following day and got my wife what she wanted, and I began to think about how light an...

Good morning, all.  Promise that this will NOT be a rehash of all that has been said, written and posted since the Presidential election results were confirmed early yesterday. And I won’t get into attempting to analyze what our country is facing next.  The President-Elect has already served one term, so there’s not much mystery there. But what I will say is that this country reveals itself to us in many strange ways, sometimes wonderful and other times less so.  We now see some hard truths that we had thought, or at least hoped, were in some ways behind us. And make no mistake….just as in 2016, this is what a large swath of our population wanted.  Even if you and I did not.  But in the United States of America, we are taught to accept the will of the people.  At least we’re supposed to do that. So what now? I have a lot before me, as I turned 64 a few months ago and had been looking ahead to retirement in just a few years.  Will I still retire?  ...

As hard as it may seem to believe, we are only five days from Election Day. Of course, mail-in and early voting has been going on in numerous states for a while now, and is happening for just a couple of days here in my home state of Kentucky.  My wife and I have observed lines of cars searching for parking spots and long lines of people standing and waiting, potentially for hours. It seems that many people got the message, that participation is the only thing that makes this election come out the way that many of us want it to.  Glad to see that. The television networks and other mainstream news sources continue to trumpet that it's a dead heat, it's a photo finish and whatever other phrases can be employed to reflect how close the race appears to be in light of polling data. The simple truth is that we'll know when we know who the actual winner is, or was.  In 2020, it was the following Saturday before most media outlets were confident enough in their tallies to declare...

We’re inside of two weeks until Election Day 2024.  Have you voted, if your state supports mail-in or other early voting?  Make sure you vote when you are permitted—your voice should be heard! Seeing Arnold Palmer’s name in the news for such a stupendously vile reason was really disappointing, but par for the course with TFG. But Arnie remains my all-time favorite golfer, solidified by an occasion where I met him. I was just out of college and working for my hometown radio station in Paris, Kentucky, and one summer Lexington, the larger city where I have lived for most of my adult life, was about to host what was then called a Senior PGA tournament (now called the Champions Tour!) and the sponsors were having a reception for media in the region to meet and mingle with players and officials of the tour. One of my best friends who knew of my admiration of Mr. Palmer arranged for us both to attend this reception.  Palmer was one of the players known to have committed to the ...

That’s how many days we have until Election Day, when the majority of Americans who are politically engaged will go to the polls and cast their votes for President.  Of course, in many states, voters are able to vote by mail (my daughter and her husband have that convenience in their home state) or vote early, as we’ve seen happening in record numbers in the state of Georgia. So now we’re seeing both candidates make concerted efforts to get their messaging out with increased television advertising and by appearing at public events but also taking advantage of non-traditional media sources like podcasts and satellite radio programs like Howard Stern’s.  Given the number of people who say that they don’t consume traditional news sources like network and cable news broadcasts and newspapers, that’s one of those ideas that’s a good one but it took a long time for political operatives to acknowledge their importance. Objectively, though, I have to say that the former President and ...

Happy Friday, one and all. We’ve almost made it to a hard-won weekend! Before I go further, let me express my hope that everyone who visits here is safe and dry, given the severe weather some parts of our country have experienced.  I have been fortunate throughout my life not to have experienced a disaster like the recent hurricanes, so I am certainly thankful for that. So I stopped by this morning because, as the kids say (sorry, when you are in your 60s that applies pretty frequently), I did a thing yesterday. Over the past few years my travels have caused my approach to on-the-road entertainment to evolve somewhat.  Part of it was buying our newest car, which is equipped with a dedicated connection for your phone to then play the contents of that phone via the car audio system.  Another part of it is that I rent cars for about half of my travel weeks, when the distance is such that I want to keep those miles off my car. But the real reason I did what I did was that it ...

By my rough count we’re five weeks out from Election Day, and probably another week from learning who the winner of this highly unusual campaign will be. I don’t think anyone who visits here regularly doubts that my allegiance is with Vice President Harris, as it was for President Biden previously.  We have benefited from steadiness and experience in the White House and our economy has shown the positive effect of this leadership for quite some team.  Lest we forget, the country also had to come out of the worst period of COVID spread before any of this would be possible, and while former President Trump green-lighted the development of our vaccines, his administration really wasn’t able to do much in terms of distribution, so the Biden team did that as well. I bring this up because the hate and dishonesty and downright absurd accusations about nearly everyone by Mr. Trump have apparently kept some people from fully embracing the possibility of electing our first female Presid...

Hello, friends.  It's Monday, or at least it will be for a little while longer.... This post is gonna be an assortment of things, some of some importance and some not.  As always, bear with me, I'm going as fast as my 64 year old brain will allow! If you're a sports fan and enjoy a professional football game broadcast once in a while, you've probably heard former quarterback Tom Brady as a game analyst on Fox Sports.  He's paired with the excellent play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt, who is among my favorites.  I'd rate Burkhardt second only to Mike Tirico and Ian Eagle these days. Anyway, Burkhardt and his former partner Greg Olson has become Fox's top booth team after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman departed for ESPN and Monday Night Football.  They had developed a great chemistry over the years they worked together. And now that's gone.  I have not heard Olson work a game since Brady was added to the "national" game squad with Burkhardt, Erin Andrews...

Happy Monday, everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend. I suppose that the former president has had better days, as another assassination plan was foiled by Secret Service agents at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon. The "former guy," as he's often referenced, stated a short time after this attempt was announced widely that it had been an interesting day.  He managed to build fundraising e-mails and social media posts around this alleged assassination attempt. And let's face it, he promised so much to so many who voted for him in his two previous campaigns and has failed to make good on many of those commitments.  He pledged to remove illegal immigrants from the country and to stop more from entering.  There were not large-scale deportations during his administration and the wall that he promised that Mexico would fund was constructed only in a few places and was not even close to completed.   Contrast that to the 1% of the population...

Back for a little summation of what most of us watched in real time….   Seems that all of the back and forth about muting or unmuting microphones was for naught, because the former President insisted on interjecting numerous times and was accommodated each time.  The Vice-President also did this a couple of times, but not to the extent that former President Trump did. It seemed there were two consistent approaches here….Vice-President Harris spoke to camera much of the time, except when she was explaining things to former President Trump, and that showed a keen awareness of the split-screen nature of these debates and how they’re shown. Donald Trump seemed like a feeble old man to me most of the time, ranting at various points and reacting negatively to most of what Kamala Harris had to say about him.  He could not look at his opponent, he failed to distinguish between previous lies and newer positions he had taken on race, foreign relations, tariffs, immigration and a ho...

The day is here, friends, when we see former President Donald Trump do what he’s made an awful lot of noise about NOT doing…..debating his political opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris. I am going to post again after it’s over, so thought I’d send out some thoughts about where we are and how we got there.   Let’s start with former President Trump…. I don’t think I’m alone in sensing that Mr. Trump has been veering further and further from the mainstream over the past couple of months.  He first postulated how unfair it is that he “beat” President Biden and now has to do the same with Vice-President Harris.  Unless I’m mistaken, the campaign did not end with President Biden’s relatively poor debate performance, and it’s not over yet.  Trump also seems to really be leaning into several ideas, not the least of which is that he plans to get even, one way or another, with those who oppose him.  In addition to the camps into which he plans to force all illegal immi...

Good morning.  Hope you're able to take the day off to celebrate the labor movement in this country.  I've never had a job that was associated with any of the labor unions but have great respect for those skilled workers who have such positions and the work they do. Regular visitors to this space will remember my past posts about Sonos speakers and my personal experience with them.  Recall that I was very impressed with how they connected with your home wi-fi, always sounded great and were relatively problem free.  And I more or less doubled down, bought a second speaker, the One SL, to form a stereo pair for my office and was SO SO happy! That was then. In what seemed mere minutes after I made that decision and that purchase with which I was so enthralled, problems arose on the horizon.  I think I mentioned that their speakers are set up and managed with the help of an application on a smartphone or computer, and that allows you to change sound settings, add or...

I don't know about you, but I am endlessly fascinated with the catch phrases that permeate our normal speech.  And since I'm in my 60s, I've heard a lot of faddish phrases throughout my life.  I'm a fan of language, obviously, since I'm here writing this now! The title is one such phrase that we'll come back to later, but one that I like! So let's go back...WAY back!  When I was little the word "cool" floated around for a while and then sort of lost its cachet.  Think how often we all hear or even say something or someone is "cool."  To be fair, my parents were way too unhip to ever use that word in that context.  At our house, "cool" described the weather or that a dish or cookies straight from the oven were now at a suitable temperature to eat.  Or that I needed a jacket if leaving the house! As I reached my pre-teen years, there were many, many euphemisms that were employed to describe a girl or boy who was attractive.  An ea...

Greetings, all.  Hope this week is off to a good start! Are you one of those people who have to have things a certain way and will do most anything to ensure that they are right?  Or are you a good improviser, finding ways to bend circumstances into how you want them to me? I like things just so myself, but at the same time, I think I’m pretty adept at making things work within what’s available.  Been thinking of a few examples of that lately. For example……as a man of “maturity,” shall we say, I like to look reasonably professional for work.  Our dress code for my position is “business casual,” which is a term that needs to go away, as so many people, particularly those under 40, seem to think that as long as you’re wearing a shirt with some kind of collar that you’re properly attired.  I see lots of men in pants that look like sweatpants with pockets and loose ankles, which I detest. I still wear dress slacks for work most days, and if not those, I wear khakis ...

Happy Wednesday morning, everyone.  Hope your week is going well! I’m on the road again, as I have been asked to mentor a new team member for a couple of days.  She seems nice and I’m looking forward to getting acquainted, starting in about ninety minutes! Unless you weren’t watching, or were glued to the Paris Olympics, the Kamala Harris presidential campaign held a rally in Philadelphia to introduce the candidate’s newly chosen running mate to the public.  He is Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota.   I first learned a little about Governor Walz at the time when George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis over a minor legal situation.  Walz stepped up and assigned the state’s Attorney General to prosecute the officers involved with Floyd’s death, insisting that the case be handled by someone with thoroughness and impartiality. Since his name came up as being under consideration for the VP slot on the newly formed Harris ticket, there’s been a lot of...

It’s Wednesday, everyone.  ALMOST halfway to the weekend! As pleasantly surprised as I am at how seamlessly the Biden-to-Harris transition took place, those of us who lean a little more progressive need to make sure not to take our eye off the ball. The media has done a good job of making people aware of Project 2025, a multi-pronged effort to formalize what Donald Trump wants and plans to do if he regains the White House.  And, yes, there’s always been a lot of double talk from him about getting even with his enemies, and putting a 10% tariff on all imported products, but this project, which is nearly 1000 pages in length, goes to great detail in outlining what policies will be enacted, which ones will be changed or eliminated, departments and agencies that will either be consolidated or eliminated and become a part of the executive branch of the federal government and on and on and on. Simply put, we will discard much of the social and economic progress we’ve made as a count...

Belated happy birthday to me!  I turned 64 years of age on Saturday, my Paul McCartney birthday, as I've been calling it leading up to the actual day last weekend (sorry, Sir Paul!). Truthfully, I don't feel much different, not surprisingly.  But I'll say a few things about what I've seen over the past six decades and a little more.... I'm listening to (surprise!) The Beatles as I write today's thoughts.  I remain horribly out of touch with modern music, and honestly, I'm fine with that!  I'm sure there are some good musical acts in various genres that I might like, but I haven't heard them.  Let me add that I am intrigued by the superb baritone country singer Sturgill Simpson, who has demonstrated that he's quite the renegade and operates pretty much outside of the country music establishment.  He has a new album out (I still buy albums, y'know) but I have yet to figure out where to find it.... I like a few of the movies that have come out o...

Happy hump day, everyone.  I’m in the middle of a week of travel, made more complex by having to pack up the tent and move mid-trip.  Seldom my favorite, but can’t be helped! So let’s recap briefly what’s been happening lately, particularly on the political front.  We must start with the events of last Saturday in Pennsylvania, which saw a 20-year-old man attempt to assassinate former President and current candidate Donald Trump.  I saw what you saw, none of it in real time, but a few things seem clear: A turn of the head at the time of the shooting would have been disastrous for Mr. Trump Rally attendees saw the shooter moving into position and others reported he was acting strangely near the metal detectors; how did he get onto the grounds with an AR-15 and a ladder? Part of me felt that what occurred on stage when Mr. Trump was grazed by a bullet and thereafter seemed staged.  I don’t think I’m alone in that ambivalence.  And the timing of these events, ...

Happy Friday, everyone!  After what I hope was a short week for you last week, these five day weeks seem SOOOOOO long….. I think I mentioned in this space at some point in the past that I have had a lot of fun portraying myself to my grandchildren as the Knower of All Things.  A couple of them dispute this openly, and try to beat me with researched questions and the like.  It’s all in good fun for all of us. Kidding aside, though, I was driving (as per usual) this week and began to think of a list of things that I am pretty sure that I DO know.  Here goes…. People who persist in speakerphone conversations in public places need to be taken directly to a store where they can buy a pair of earbuds or headphones that they can use to preserve the quiet where they are the only ones making noise. The people who hurriedly cross multiple lanes of traffic to make it to an offramp on a limited access highway are simply not very good planners. When asked “is it hot enough for ya...

Do you follow the news?  Are you paying attention to what’s happening in politics, world affairs, the economy and other things that are important to all of us? There are times when I think I maybe a little overinformed but lately I actually have begun to feel that’s not the case. In the past week, we had the earliest modern presidential debate ever.  Neither candidate performed well, as President Biden came across like an 81 year old person sometimes does….tired, somewhat disoriented, having difficulty expressing himself, and confusing one set of facts or specifics for another.  Will come back to the President in a moment. And then there was the former President, Donald Trump, who performed largely as expected.  Bombastic, misleading, unsympathetic and unrepentant for anything of which he has been found guilty in a court of law.  He also persisted in his claims that the 2020 election was not contested fairly, which is consistent with his public position on that ...

Good afternoon, friends.  Hope that you had the opportunity to spend time with your dad yesterday, or to at least think of your dad fondly.  I am lucky to have kids and grandkids who love to celebrate me, let alone tolerate me! Wow, is there a lot going on or what?  I haven't checked in recently, having written my last post during our vacation to Colorado (and Kansas and Nebraska).  Work has been correspondingly busy but I've had the pleasure to recently meet and become acquainted with some great folks who work in the same space I do.  Always such a plus to have partners to help when needed for the population we all serve! I am a proud graduate of the University of Kentucky so let me state here that UK is in the College World Series for the first time EVER this week!  The team showed its resilience again last Saturday by coming from behind twice and beating North Carolina State 4-3 in 10 innings.  They play again tonight against Texas A&M.  Go...

Greetings from Parker, Colorado! My wife and I are here this week to celebrate our older grandson, as he was gracious enough to schedule two basketball tournaments, his Catholic confirmation and his graduation from 8th grade all in just over a week! We left Lexington Friday afternoon and drove to the western suburbs of St. Louis.  Had a good night’s sleep there and traveled on Saturday morning to Lawrence, Kansas for tournament number one.  I thought it was rather funny that his team played three other teams…..also from Colorado.  Long way to go to play against teams from your own back yard! On that trip our grandson was accompanied by his dad (our son in law) and his big sister, who had just finished her freshman year at Colorado State University.  Nice to see everyone, and our player and his dad went with the team for a group dinner event Saturday night, so we took our granddaughter out to dinner and had a wonderful time in a local brewpub with great food and atmos...

Happy Monday, friends!  Here in Kentucky, the locals are celebrating that it's Derby Week, which is code for non-Louisville residents to steer clear of that city.  Lots going on this week, and if you're unfamiliar with what happens where, well, you could find yourself in a lot of unexpected traffic! I come to you with a bit of an update to my last post about music appreciation while working.  If you remember, I mentioned that I have a Sonos One SL wi-fi speaker on my desk.  And that I was contemplating getting a pair of the new Era 100 speakers that are the One's replacement. As a Sonos user of several years, I find some utility in receiving their e-mails now and then, although a great many of their products are aimed at the home theater market, where I don't really have a stake (but we'll address that another time). A message from Sonos proclaimed a great savings event on refurbished Sonos equipment.  And one such item that they were offering at a substantial d...

Do you listen to music while you work?  I suppose that's a bit of a loaded question, as you have to work in the right environment to have that opportunity, right? I ask because there is a worker at the vacant house next door (it's a rental, so goodness only knows who or what we'll have living next door soon) and every time he shows up over there (if we're home, we know, because he has a very loud older Jeep) he opens all of the doors and windows and plays irritating country music at a very aggressive volume. I spoke briefly with him once when I was doing some yard work several weeks ago.  I complimented some work he did on the front door, he looked at me strangely and said "it's OK, I suppose."  The song playing at that moment indicated that he loves his country, he loves his country, and he loves HIS president.  Somehow, I don't believe the song was referring to the current occupant of the White House. But I digress.  One of the best aspects of workin...

Happy April 3, everyone!  That’s not really a thing, but no one attempted a prank on me on April Fool’s Day, so just thought I would mention that. Lots going on in the world right now, as always.   I don’t know what your opinion of what’s happening in the Middle East might be, but at this moment I’m just sick about the most recent events there.  I have long been in awe of Jose Andres, a renowned chef and founder of World Central Kitchen.  WCK goes where the need is and feeds people in the midst of war, natural disasters and many other events.  Not surprisingly, they’ve been on the ground in Gaza for some time. If you had not heard, seven of their team members were killed as collateral damage from an Israeli missile attack, despite having coordinated their travel route with the IDF.  A senseless tragedy and one that cannot simply be explained away. There is ample blame to go around in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and until US diplomats and President Biden fina...

Wishing you a very pleasant Sunday morning, as I write this post.  Hope all is well in your corner of the world! Like most people, I have numerous electronic devices that are a big part of my everyday life, both for work and for leisure.  I have a mobile phone (we finally got rid of our land line a couple of years ago), a tablet and a desktop computer.  I also have a laptop computer that was assigned to me by my employer, and I use that for specific purposes. My question this morning is whether or not you use cases for the items you carry with you every day.  I'm sure there are surveys somewhere that spell this out, but I find it interesting that so few people go without some sort of case, particularly on their cellphones. This has been so for a long time.  In my case, I've generally relied on a case to allow me to hang the phone from my belt, as older phones would easily overwhelm one's pants pockets, and I don't always wear a coat or jacket (the days of routin...