One of my favorite short stories by Raymond Carver is titled, “A Small, Good Thing”. The title comes from a line in the story, when a baker is encouraging a couple to have some fresh, warm cinnamon rolls to eat, and says, “Eating is a small, good thing in a…

I thought I’d take a stab at presidential speech writing, as I think there is a critical message the president can deliver on this Memorial Day. This is a complete speech, that includes all the predicted ad-libs I expect Trump would make. Those will be set off in brackets and italicized. My fellow Americans, I address you on this Memorial Day as our great country [the greatest country in the world] is emerging from this darkness of the virus, this terrible, invisible enemy that has spread across the world [in over 185 countries now, unbelievable, almost every country in the world].

In the movie, “A Beautiful Mind”, there is a pivotal scene where John Nash, portrayed by Russell Crowe, has a eureka moment sitting at a table in a bar with his fellow mathematicians. A beautiful blonde woman and four of her friends walk in, and Nash and his pals debate…

Many things in life are on a spectrum. There seems to be varying degrees of just about anything we experience, including grief, and even death itself. Is there such a thing as a “good death”? I’m not sure, but I do know not all deaths are created equal, not by…

There’s a lot of debate on the “real” numbers of the COVID-19 pandemic. The “real” fatality rate, the “real” number of infected, the “real” timeline of when it first arrived in the USA. Most often, we are being told the real in a way that supports a narrative of, “it’s…

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? — Langston Hughes There have been numerous articles, essays, and even books written on the value of time. Almost all have a common theme: time is more valuable than money, since you can make…

Unless you’ve worked in the IT department of a large corporation, you may never have heard of the term “DR Plan”. Though I don’t specialize in DR, I’ve worked in IT consulting for over 23 years, and have spent the last 20 years specializing in Siebel software — a Customer…