New Shoes in the Rain

Remember that old song?  By Jimmy Cliff, the reggae star? For some reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about that song recently. Why?  Well…… I went for an eye exam back in July because I sensed that my vision had decreased over the most recent several months. I had a cataract removed from my left eye in June 2022 and that improved my ability to see well quite a bit.  But this latest decline was a little mysterious.  I do a lot of computer work for my job and was having some difficulty seeing the screen well at times. So in the process of my necessary vision exam the optometrist expressed some sense of loss as to why my right eye had declined so much since my last examination.  Upon closer observation she concluded that I had a cataract on my right eye.  The one I thought was OK around this time last year! I had already decided that if this happened, I would seek out a new ophthalmologist.  The previous one corrected my vision last year, to be sure, but h...

Happy Friday….we made it! I’ve been on the road this week, traveling several hours Tuesday, yesterday and again today.  So I’ve involuntarily used a lot of that windshield time to think through some things. And today’s title and corresponding topic kept coming back to me….. TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED! I turned 63 on my last birthday (Paul McCartney, I’m coming for your song next year!) and when you reach a certain age, I suppose it’s customary to be a little introspective.  Here’s a list of things that I find more and more essential as the years go by. FAMILY I was very lucky to encounter my wife when I did, and suppose it’s mutual, as she had been widowed not all that long before we met.  As I have mentioned here in the past, I was so fortunate to marry not only my wife, but also her children, who are now OUR children.  Our family arrangement was unconventional at first but after almost 40 years together it’s the way things are for us. I try very hard to take care of ...

I am not the kind of person who routinely longs for the good old days.  I like to think of myself as a fairly progressive person, and that I know how to adapt to changing times and circumstances. But some recent events have made me think about how things used to be, compared to how they are now. For example, political candidates were frequently judged to be finished in the eyes of the public when some thing either happened or a past event was found out.  Remember Gary Hart, the handsome Senator from Colorado who had worked for John F. Kennedy and was often compared to him?  Reporters covering his presidential campaign in 1988 apparently heard a lot of rumors about Hart and his many infidelities and when confronted about these rumors by the media, Hart challenged them to follow him and find out. They did. He was photographed secretly aboard a boat aptly named “Monkey Business” with a pretty young woman named Donna Rice sitting on his lap and at a townhouse in Washington, D...

Happy Saturday, friends!  Hope.you had a good week and are ready for some down time. I don’t consider myself an early adopter of most anything, but I suppose that’s always a little subjective.  I resisted the iPhone when it first came out, not only because I really, REALLY liked my Blackberry at the time, but also because I didn’t want to have to switch to AT&T’s cellular service, which I believe was called Cingular Wireless at the time.  I have had Verizon Wireless for a long, long time, and like their service overall.  So that didn’t interest me right away. When I finally did get my first iPhone, I was pretty well blown away, and have been an enthusiastic user of various versions of this device since.  I actually had an iPad before I had an iPhone, but learned enough with the workings of that tablet that I was able to troubleshoot for members of my work team who had iPhones.  The rest came rather naturally, of course. I was also a little slow to adapt...

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start. My premise today is rather simple.  When is it best to replace something that's older with a similar item that's newer?  What criteria do you use to make that decision?  Is it something you give a lot of thought to, or is it more impulsive? My answer, for better or worse, is that it depends. And I stand by that response. For instance, for fourteen years my car was a 2007 Honda Pilot SUV.  Bought it as a demonstrator with 4,400 miles already on it.  Went a lot of places in that car, numerous business trips to St. Louis, Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Cleveland and many other destinations.  Transported me and my son to Cincinnati to see the Reds countless times, and later took along his two older children for games.  Survived a couple of multi-state baseball trips.  Went on vacation to Colorado for other lots of other weekend excursions.  I did all of the major required maintenance, but after the se...

Good Monday morning, everyone!  Note that I waited until 10:05 AM EDT to say that! Some weeks ago I received some alarming news in my annual bloodwork that I do for my cardiologist.  In addition to cholesterol numbers that are crucial to that aspect of my health, he orders a variety of other standard tests, and one of them captures a patient's glucose level. I think I'm in my fourth year with this cardiologist (my former doctor retired) and he routinely orders these additional tests.  My glucose level indicated that I was in pre-diabetic range for the last several years, which was not a great surprise, since both of my parents were diabetic.  But this year's glucose number was significantly elevated and he advised me to seek care with a provider who could address my newly identified condition. I should add that my former general practitioner had also retired several years ago, and since my cardiologist prescribes all of my medications, I really didn't have much need ...

Friends, I'm almost there.  I've almost pulled even with the narrator of the Beatles' tune "When I'm Sixty-Four!"  Today I turned 63 years of age. Do I feel different?  Not really, but I rarely do when I have a birthday.  Just grateful for family and friends who care about me and provide love and support when I need it most! I took some time away from work today to celebrate the occasion, although we began the festivities last night with a nice dinner out with our son and his family, which is always a great time.  Our timing was because our middle granddaughter is going with a friend to Orlando and leaving tonight.  Hope they have a great trip! This morning I had a what I would easily characterize as a unique experience.  Some weeks ago I noticed someone I knew way, way back and whom I had not seen in probably forty years had looked at my LinkedIn profile.  I viewed hers and we eventually began exchanging messages.  Turn out that she was one ...