Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 2, 2024 – (Cont.) The man who “sometimes couldn’t believe how smart [he] was” wound up blowing himself up. As time passed, my peers and I noticed ever-increasing disturbing behavior on his part. The full range of his antics reflected an ego that exceeded whatever room—or building— Keith occupied. Among other examples was his …
JANUARY 5, 2024 – The week of sales training was about 25% actual sales training and 75% attitude adjustment. The sales part was intense, well-organized, and highly disciplined. It had to be, since the only way Southwestern sold product was by a bunch of callow college students pounding the pavement—and pounding doors along the way. …
DECEMBER 23, 2023 – During the course of my 24-hour stay at the Red Cabin, a dense fog filled the surrounding woods. When I hiked along the lakeshore path, I seemed to be walking along the border of infinity: beyond about 50 feet from shore, the lake itself was completely missing from view. Back in …
DECEMBER 11. 2023 – Each December I’m shocked and amused by the horse-drawn buggy method that Minnesota lawyers must follow to file their annual reports. The operation is run by the “Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility” established by the Minnesota Supreme Court. By statutue, each law firm operating in the state must certify annually that …
NOVEMBER 30, 2023 – For readers who’ve followed this blog since June 1, I’ve managed daily postings of two memoirs; writing projects with ample material that simply required assembly. Each day I reviewed plans, gathered parts, and applied tools to the task. Never did I experience “writer’s block.” Today, however, I find myself without map …
AUGUST 18, 2023 – At 4:00, I left UB at headquarters and found my way back down to Cliff’s store. He issued a few directives to his staff, then suggested that we go out for a serious talk. Cliff drove us to a nearby establishment where we sat at an outside table and ordered iced …
AUGUST 8, 2023 – The trip had had its origins in February 1995. Gaga had died the previous November, and Mother and Uncle Bruce decided against having a funeral. We all knew that Uncle Bruce “didn’t do” funerals, and somewhat out of character with her Christian impulses, Mother herself saw no need for a funeral …
JUNE 28, 2023 – (Cont.) I do not know much about Gaga’s family, except that she had a sister Jane, who married the inventor of pop bottle caps, made a fortune and drank it away, leaving Jane and her daughter Lois as Grandpa’s charity cases, which he assumed without complaint. Jane and Gaga’s father, a …
JUNE 2, 2023 – If I weren’t the storyteller, I wouldn’t believe this story. So far, no one who has heard it believes it, except Cliff, who has survived the most critical parts of it, and my sisters, because I’ve told them everything and they themselves have lived enough of the story to know I’m …
APRIL 13, 2023 – Yesterday afternoon after I brought Illiana home from school, she grabbed her scooter, donned her helmet and celebrated freedom by zooming full-tilt down the sidewalk. Inspired by her carefree spirit, I followed, luxuriating in the hot zephyr as it overwhelmed the last vestiges of winter. She was headed for the playground …
MARCH 27, 2023 – In the aftermath of 9/11, my spouse remarked that if terrorists really wanted to hit us hard, they’d hit us where we live—everyday places in random communities across the country: our neighborhoods, shopping malls, churches, offices, amusement parks and . . . that’s right, schools. Here we are, more than a …
DECEMBER 22, 2022 – (Cont.) “We’ve got to get our skiing in before it gets cold,” I said. The skier knew I’d said something but hadn’t heard what it was. Out of politeness, the athlete stopped, pulled down a face covering and removed an earbud. Three facts struck me simultaneously: 1. Music had obscured my …
DECEMBER 5, 2022 – Today was my “100-day appointment” with my transplant doc. I no longer view him as strictly “a research doc,” though he re-revealed himself when I disclosed that I’ve volunteered for a clinical study of a post-transplant maintenance treatment (at my regular oncologist’s clinic) for multiple myeloma: “Fantastic!” he said. “I’m all …
NOVEMBER 4, 2022 – I’m “a people person,” to be sure, but I also thrive in periodic seclusion from my fellow humans—as long as I’m surrounded by natural beauty, as I am here at the Red Cabin. When the weather and legal work are accommodating, I spend the majority of daylight hours outside, always observing …
OCTOBER 24, 2022 – (Cont.) With that I buttoned my suit coat, zipped up my laptop case, and walked out, kicking the door so hard my foot would surely hurt for a week. It’s take me longer, I feared, to get over the scuff mark on my shoe. What happened next I couldn’t have anticipated—except, …
AUGUST 8, 2022 – (Cont.) Seventh grade took me to Anoka Junior High on the other side of town and a block south of the most happening part of Main Street. Boys who’d attended Lincoln Elementary added a whole new dimension to “cool”—manifest in their . . . shoes: English walkers, English “boots,” Clark suede …
JULY 9, 2022 – Blogger’s note: The duty of friendship mandates that yesterday’s tribute be supplemented by another, this time in honor of two more people who’ve celebrated “big, if numerically unspecified, birthdays.” My self-imposed, single-post word limit has been doubled to match. Tomorrow will bring back the series, “True Story: An Explanation of Life …
MARCH 26, 2021 – When images of houses blown to bits by tornadoes flash across the screen, most people see . . . images of houses blown to bits by tornadoes. What I see is cheapskate construction, even in upscale neighborhoods. I see in the wreckage behind the on-site reporter, lots of OSB (oriented strand …
JUNE 23, 2020 – People reacting to the recent rash of statue sackings fall into three groups. First: angry folks pulling down symbols of racism—symbols erected by very white, very dead white . . . women (surprise!) who’d organized themselves in 1894 as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, primarily to build all those statues. …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 – Unless your name is “Benjamin Button,” when you’re young, everything you know about being older is vicarious. You watch your parents, grandparents, maybe great-grandparents, and wonder how you’ll appear, think and act when you’re an old geezer. More likely, you’ll proclaim how you won’t appear, think or act. Good luck with …
SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 – When I was young and ambitious, I wanted to influence the world. Now that I’m old and contemplative, I want to understand it. But how? I’ve developed a three-part prescription: READ GOOD BOOKS. In the first place, a non-fiction book, as opposed to most any other media (e.g. podcast; film documentary) …
JULY 17, 2019 – Last week while walking the neighborhood, I encountered a new neighbor. I stopped to chat. We soon discovered many common interests. In the course of talking, the neighbor told a “small world” story. Then I told two, sufficiently linked to count as one. They (it) went like this: For high school, …
JUNE 17, 2019 – Elizabeth Warren has become the “ideas” candidate for president. One of her ideas is forgiveness of student debt, paid for by taxing the assets of the super-rich, not the merely rich. I love the electoral simplicity of this idea: free stuff for the masses, ergo lots of political benefit; whopping price …