author of The Kennedy Effect
I’m an adult. And I have been for a while now, despite evidence that may suggest otherwise. This status eventually comes to us all, and it entails certain privileges. When you’re in the club, for example, you don’t have to
eat Brussels sprouts if you don’t want to 
abide by anyone else’s rules, because you’re probably under your own roof
be home on time. You can stay out until 10, or maybe even 11 pm.
But here’s the really cool thing:
I’ve lived in my home since 1990. During that time the house has evolved. Some of it happened organically since things wear out and need to be replaced. This can include roofs, boilers, well pumps etc… And I’m okay with that. Where I resist change though is updating for the sake of the latest styles or fads.
For me being trendy and up to date interests me about as much as news of another royal baby. That’s not at all. One time, when I actually purchased a fashionable brand item, it didn’t end well. Surprisingly, family and friends implored me to get rid of it. But, to be fair, people had stopped wearing their Members Only jackets about twenty years before. My counterargument was that there was still plenty of wear left in it. It was great for those shoulder seasons.
In the distant future, archaeologists and divers will swim to the bottom of the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida in search of the fabled Super Bowl LV Vince Lombardi Trophy. They will have heard whispered rumors that the coveted artifact lay there because of some fumble-fingered human tossing it (almost) from one boat to the other. And they’d be wrong.
A prime reason they’d be wrong is that it was tossed by Tom Brady, who has won 7 Super Bowls and 5 Super Bowl MVP awards (and counting).
Remember the question what do you want to be when you grow up?
For boys, it was typically a fireman, policeman, astronaut, or maybe even a cowboy. All of those were worthy callings.
But did anyone list international jewel thief? I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that it was high on my list.
I’d seen my share of heist movies at that time, and there was something thrilling about cutting glass and disabling an alarm system to gain entry. Or cracking a safe before guards made their rounds. Or dangling from a high ceiling to steal priceless valuables in some museum. I’d see these men attempting these daring exploits, and I thought: cool!
Oh, this modern age. You can’t do anything without being held hostage to an advertisement.
Back in the day, when there were just three TV stations, you would watch your favorite hour-long dramas and get more than 50 minutes of actual show. At that time, one’s “free TV” entertainment was solely funded by commercials. The only reason a show was on was to get you to watch the commercials and thus be inspired to part with your hard-earned cash for a detergent that was Stronger Than Dirt!
I first became aware of the Loch Ness Monster legend back in the mid-Sixties. Like most boys my age at that time, I was consumed with the possibility that there really was such a creature. It made the world a much-more-fascinating place than the dull existence I perceived back then. Now I know that the world isn’t dull — but let’s talk about the legend as an exercise in human psychology.
In truth, I wanted to believe in the Monster. If someone tried to make a rational counterargument, they weren’t starting with a totally open mind. I was ready to disbelieve any fact or set of data that might’ve disabused me of this intriguing mystery. Indeed, I thought I knew exactly what was haunting the lake.
Those of you who are lucky enough to work from home recognize it as a mixed blessing. It has its upside, but there are a few frustrations too. Networking and communications technology can contribute to those frustrations.
My wife recently admitted needing a new phone. She had been using an iPhone 6 since forever, and it was starting to show its age. It would mute itself at awkward times during her business calls, and it had long since given up the ghost on Bluetooth connectivity in her car.
When I was busily engaged managing my publishing recruiting business, I wrote four novels in my spare time. They took me a while, because I had an essential day job; but it was fun. I even enjoyed the editing. But in two ways, it was also a challenge.
An engineering degree does not prepare one for the rigors of the publishing world — especially if there are a lot of words involved. And the marketing of a novel isn’t for the faint of heart.
After the umpteenth instance of waiting for my gears to engage as I struggled uphill I decided that I couldn’t put off servicing my bike any longer. Biking outdoors is what I do for aerobic activity in these warm days of our Covid Summer. Since my neighborhood would put San Francisco to shame for hilly streets I can get a satisfactory workout in just 3.5 miles.
In college I rediscovered recreational reading when I learned to buy books that appealed to me personally as opposed to my English teachers. The first book that kicked off this new found hobby came at the suggestion of a friend. It was War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. No wait, that’s not right. What was it? Oh yes, it was Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard.
