New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone! I don't know if that's a thing, but it seems more and more people that I know and do business with opt to take this entire week off. As is customary for this time of year, I've been thinking a bit of what I'm appreciative of, which is especially important right now.  So here goes: I'm most thankful for the health of my wife, my children, their families and myself.  Throughout the coronavirus pandemic we have all avoided any infections from COVID-19, although I think we all know someone who's had it.  With the rapid spread of cases everywhere, it seems that continuing to evade such problems will become more difficult, at least until the majority of citizens can receive one of the multiple vaccines that should become available sometime in 2021. I'm also grateful that I work for a company that has found a way (and then another and another) for me and my peers to continue to work and provide value, and to earn our normal compen...

It's Monday, everyone, so hope you're able to make it a good week. 2020 has been such a challenging year for most everyone, with a worldwide pandemic that is still claiming far too many victims and a bitterly contested presidential campaign. The news came over the weekend that Jeopardy host Alex Trebek passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.  Trebek was 80 years old, and had been diagnosed over a year ago with this disease.  My wife and I had recently rediscovered Jeopardy via a streaming service, as they had many episodes of this thinking-person game show in their archives. That got me thinking about other well-known people we've lost in the past year.  One of the most prominent was the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died at the age of 87 in October. She was a pioneer in the practice of law and as a judge and later a Justice, and certainly left her mark on the judicial establishment. Just before the news of Alex Trebek's death, we l...

The question of the day. I hope that you did not miss your opportunity to vote early or to vote by mail.  If you did, Election Day is Tuesday.  Your county clerk or board of elections for your area has a website that can tell you where you should go to cast your ballot if you're not sure. Almost 88 million people have voted across the country already, which is just more than 60 percent of the total number of those who voted in the 2016 Presidential election. Make sure your voice is heard!  Make sure that you VOTE!

Happy Hump Day to all.  Sorry, old cliche. I don't know about you, but I'm very worried about our current situation relative to the coronavirus pandemic.  As regular readers know, I'm a resident of central Kentucky and can unhappily report that new positive tests for COVID-19 have increased dramatically throughout my state over the past two weeks. And that appears to be the case in many, many other states.   Our governor here is determined NOT to have to repeat the extreme measures he implemented in the spring of this year, closing all but the most essential businesses, as well as schools and other entities.  As it stands now, one can shop most anywhere he likes, dine out in reduced-capacity restaurants, have a drink in a reduced-capacity and limited hours bar, attend a high school or college football game, go to work, get a haircut (as I did earlier today) and so on. Incidentally, our governor is a Democrat and he was sued more than once by the Republican Attorney G...

Probably no need to remind you, but in most places, you can vote NOW!  And you should! Here in central Kentucky, we have the benefit of multiple ways to cast our ballots.  We're permitted no-excuse absentee balloting, which my wife and I utilized to avoid the obvious risks presented by the coronavirus pandemic, and there are even sanctioned drop boxes to take them to if you're not comfortable sending them through the mail.  And what's more, we were able to verify with the board of elections that they arrived.  We also can do early in-person voting and, of course, in-person voting on November 3. But all's not joy in Mudville, so to speak, as our County Clerk (the office that oversees elections in Kentucky's counties) complained that they hoped for more absentee ballots to take the pressure off of in-person balloting.  This is the same man who objected to having these multiple alternative ways of voting in the first place, saying that he nor other clerks were not ...

Friends, I want you to indulge me today with a thought exercise about our country and the state that we're in.  Try to imagine.... That the President withdrew from numerous international agreements designed to maintain peace, order, economic prosperity and combat climate change.  And did so for petty and sketchy reasons. That the President decided to roll back virtually every regulation designed to protect our environment and assure clean water and air for future generations. That the President would undertake a damaging and prolonged trade war with China, implementing the ancient tactic of tariffs in hopes of leveling the playing field, only to damage the American economy and require a bailout for farmers, and that the ultimate outcome of this would be the highest trade deficit in 14 years. That the President would pursue a relationship with the dictatorial leader of North Korea and claim to have "fallen in love" with that murderous tyrant through the course of letters a...

A simple message for everyone this morning....today is National Voter Registration Day in the United States.  That means that if you have not registered to vote yet in the upcoming election, you should! As regular visitors to this space know, I live in central Kentucky, and our state has done a pretty good job making is possible to vote in a variety of ways in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  In the primary election earlier this year and now in the general election, we have the privilege of choosing to vote via absentee ballot, which was formerly reserved for people with ongoing health issues that prevented them from being able to travel to polling places. And new for the general election are absentee ballot drop-boxes, or they will be, since they are due to be installed in the next week or so.  Because of the tenuous nature of mail delivery I'm holding onto ours until we can safely put them into a drop-box. I keep reading of various issues in numerous states, and i...