Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
NOVEMBER 22, 2024 – For me the day was a mad scramble on multiple fronts. Ironically, all was unexpectedly quiet on the most critical front—our oldest son’s health. His PET scan had been scheduled for 12:45, and we’d managed to arrive at the clinic with minutes to spare. After completing the requisite forms, he was …
NOVEMBER 21, 2024 – Today I had to turn inward, away from the public square back to the workbench of my figurative second floor shop with its windows overlooking the public space. Of course, except for a few characters who reside in the public zone every waking moment—engaged in various forms of theater and theatrics—most …
NOVEMBER 20, 2024 – I’m pretty sure that Elon Musk’s name was not on the ballot earlier this month. But as it turns out, his influence was—next to Trump’s name. The owner of X contributed over $118 million toward the effort to elect (“re-elect”?) Trump, and more than ever in American democracy, money buys influence, …
NOVEMBER 19, 2024 – Today, finally, I understood the people who voted for Trump. At least the faction who “couldn’t take it anymore” and voted to burn the place down. Except . . . in my case my wanting to trash the system wasn’t over the price of a gallon of milk or a carton …
NOVEMBER 18, 2024 – Blogger’s note: At the end of my post on October 9, 2019, the second part of a story about a trip to the ER up at the lake, I wrote, In the lobby, my wife was chatting away with three guys in camouflage. These cheerful musketeers were awaiting care of their …
NOVEMBER 17, 2024 – Last night before sailing off to Nod, I read more of Ian Frazier’s latest book, Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough. I highly recommend it. Currently, I’m reading all about the Bronx in the opening stages of the Revolutionary War. Of course, it’s all about the …
NOVEMBER 16, 2024 – Today was another glorious day in the “tree garden,” where I took full advantage of the unseasonably fair weather and blasted well beyond my goal of “bud-capping” 500 trees. As of nightfall, the count was closer to 600, though a far cry from my record of 1,000 two years ago, but …
NOVEMBER 15, 2024 – Our culture has long been “anti-elitist” but Trump’s recent cabinet appointments signal that we’re deep into territory hostile toward experts and expertise, with growing antipathy toward government and governance. Experts aren’t always right and non-experts aren’t always wrong, but context is everything. Back in the distant past when I managed a …
NOVEMBER 14, 2024 – Lately, I’ve been so focused on serious, heart-wrenching matters in my own little sphere, I’ve had little time or desire to focus much on the larger world. When I do raise my head for a wider view, however, I find perverse relief in a painful diversion: The Appointments. They are straight …
NOVEMBER 13, 2024 – (Cont.) Almost nine years ago I inherited a matter from a law partner who was leaving the firm. The case involved a swanky medical office building owned by two groups of doctors. The two groups were also members of two parallel practice groups that occupied portions of the building. The rest …
NOVEMER 12, 2024 – Life for me has been a huge connect-the-dots project. I’m not sure what the final figure will be once all the dots are connected, but if I were to guess—which I’m about to do—I’d say the final figure will be full of flashbacks, intersections, coincidences, circular side-trips and the inevitable open-ended …
NOVEMBER 11, 2024 – Today the world rotated yet again and made all of us a day older. In my own little corner of the globe I experienced enough to fill at least two episodes of the current season of my imaginary Netflix series. Otherwise put . . . to capture for posterity the details …
NOVEMBER 10, 2024 – Today on the medical front it was a day of rest before tomorrow’s round of tests. In the interim . . . back to politics . . . * * * As I read with amusement the continuing cascade of self-criticism by mainstream Democrats and the more acerbic attacks by progressives …
NOVEMBER 9, 2024 – At the personal, conscious level, our mere existence is a really big deal. In fact, it’s bigger than that. It’s everything. From an individual’s point of view, what could matter more than the individual’s existence? Okay, fine. I overstate things a bit or rather, a lot. What matters more than one’s …
NOVEMBER 8, 2024 – However much my heart, psyche and soul are restored and rejuvenated by the woods of Björnholm along the shore of a secluded lake, I also thrive in the society of my species, homo sapiens—beings every bit as noble as we are ignoble. Today I interacted only with the most noble, though …
NOVEMBER 7, 2024 – “What in the world happened to the Republican Party?” Democrats had been asking ever since Trump assumed unquestioned and unquestionable control of it. In the run-up to the 2024 election, pundits predicted that if Trump lost, the party would lie in ruins. After Trump’s decisive defeat of Harris on Tuesday, however, …
NOVEMBER 6, 2024 – Early this morning before the rest of the household was up, I quietly went downstairs, fixed myself my usual breakfast, then slipped out of the house and out of town. The election results had taken their emotional toll on us all, and for the sake of everyone’s blood pressure, I wanted …
NOVEMBER 5, 2024 – 7:10 a.m. – Today’s the day, the tipping point in our political history; the day we’ll all look back on as a turning point—one way or the other—in our individual lives and collectively. The stingy November light of daybreak is hampered further by a gray, low-slung sky. Rain pelts the windows …
NOVEMBER 4, 2024 – As an American I’m a product of our “make a quick buck” culture and have pursued a number of “get rich quick” schemes. My first was an attempt when I was five to sell my older sisters’ Jack and Jill magazines to the neighbors. I had no takers, but not for …
NOVEMBER 3, 2024 – (Cont.) Last Christmas our younger son and his wife gave us a gift certificate to a local swanky restaurant—sight unseen. Both son and daughter-in-law are foodies of the highest order, meaning both are experienced food critics. They’ve wined and dined in the finest eating establishments around the world, most particularly Paris …
NOVEMBER 2, 2024 – I’m no foodie; never was and probably never will be. In cooking up this restaurant review, I have to acknowledge my lack of culinary credentials. During my law school career, which coincided with the most intense phase of my competitive running career—I lived alone and cooked for myself. My daily diet …
NOVEMBER 1, 2024 – Allow me to kick back for a moment and savor the thought that not only will the Duly Defeated soon fade from the national consciousness, but for the first time America will elect a woman as president. As if that alone isn’t cause for celebration, we’ll be in bonus territory in …
OCTOBER 31, 2024 – Last Tuesday I completed the third and final phase of SIBS at the University of Minnesota (see 10/16/24 post). It was an in-person session consisting of an interview and compilation of IQ tests portrayed euphemistically as “brain teasers.” The tests or “teasers” were administered in a quiet and spacious room at …
OCTOBER 30, 2024 – Today I went to a doctor’s appointment. For the first time in a decade (when my parents were alive), it wasn’t on my own account. The patient was a severely ailing family member, however, and for months my wife and I had been working on getting him to today’s appointment. By …
OCTOBER 29, 2024 – After watching/listening to vice president’s uplifting campaign speech this evening, I was schooled by our older son, who also heard Harris’s rallying cry. Cory himself is not voting for Trump, but he understands why a lot of men—regardless of race—are Trump supporters. I realized that if I wanted to understand better, …