To avoid making decisions, politicians and executives often talk about across-the-board cuts. Not only are the cuts a bad idea because they rarely include politicians' and executives' salaries and perks, but because the cuts often include both the essential and the frivolous.
Let's take a family example. Dad gets a wage cut because the execs decide there should be across-the-board cuts. Now should Dad decide his family should have across-the-board cuts? Is he going to cut the mortgage payment? Is he going to take the bus instead of driving? Probably neither. Is he going to cut the kids' milk budget and his beer budget by the same percentage? If he wants to invest in his kids' futures, he better cut his beer budget a lot and leave their milk budget the same.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, February 08, 2013
Thursday, September 27, 2012
To my one faithful reader and others
Within an hour of posting a new blog entry, it seems within an hour, at least one person has read that entry. Whoever you are, thank you!
Unfortunately, I haven't given you or others much to read lately. That's because I've made my to-do list a bit longer and blogging has taken a back seat. I originally called this blog "Irregular Blog" because I didn't know how often I would post something. I guess the name still means something.
One, the fall quarter for University for Seniors has started at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I signed up for five classes, but fortunately I was wait-listed for two. Otherwise, I would have been really full up.
Two, I bought some new toys - an iPhone and an iPod. From the simple Apple Macintosh "For the rest of us" we have seen the boxes get smaller and the capabilities grow almost exponentially. It is no longer a simple matter of pulling the computer out of the box, plugging it in, and starting work. There are settings galore, dozens of features to explore, and a whole lot more to do all you want to do.
Three, I finally found a round tuit to reinsulate the floor of our cabin. That is a blog entry in itself. Oh, yes, I don't do much blogging at our cabin because the connection is so darn slow.
There is a bit more on the new toys, but I must go finish installing Skype on the iPad so my wife can use it when she visits our daughter and they can talk to our son in Japan.
So, please keep checking. You never know when I might post three entries in a day.
Thanks for your readership.
Unfortunately, I haven't given you or others much to read lately. That's because I've made my to-do list a bit longer and blogging has taken a back seat. I originally called this blog "Irregular Blog" because I didn't know how often I would post something. I guess the name still means something.
One, the fall quarter for University for Seniors has started at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I signed up for five classes, but fortunately I was wait-listed for two. Otherwise, I would have been really full up.
Two, I bought some new toys - an iPhone and an iPod. From the simple Apple Macintosh "For the rest of us" we have seen the boxes get smaller and the capabilities grow almost exponentially. It is no longer a simple matter of pulling the computer out of the box, plugging it in, and starting work. There are settings galore, dozens of features to explore, and a whole lot more to do all you want to do.
Three, I finally found a round tuit to reinsulate the floor of our cabin. That is a blog entry in itself. Oh, yes, I don't do much blogging at our cabin because the connection is so darn slow.
There is a bit more on the new toys, but I must go finish installing Skype on the iPad so my wife can use it when she visits our daughter and they can talk to our son in Japan.
So, please keep checking. You never know when I might post three entries in a day.
Thanks for your readership.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Family News from Japan
Our son Darryl put this on his Facebook page:
So the earthquake was pretty bad in Tokyo, but at least the building stayed up. Most people stayed frozen at their desks; I went to the stairwell, stood in the doorframe and watched these cracks form.
We assembled on the sidewalk and watched the building sway in the aftershocks. Since the trains were all stopped I walked home (90 min). There are still streams of people heading home even now.We also spoke with him via Skype. His almost 4-year-old daughter Kayo is still frightened. They went out for a few groceries and it was a struggle to return home. So many people who would have been on the subway were walking towards them that he had "to fight his way" through.
Monday, July 05, 2010
2904 miles and I can't stop driving
Yesterday we returned from a 12-day trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake ON, West Chester PA, and Silver Spring MD with overnight stops at Sault Ste. Marie MI, Richmond IN, and Madison WI. That's almost like driving coast-to-coast. The purpose was a reunion of my wife's sisters and cousins to celebrate our 50th anniversary and that of one of her cousins.
We drank and talked and ate and talked and we walked and we went on a jet boat ride and drank and talked and ate and talked. We took many pictures and movies and we gave impromptu speeches. As part of my speech I sang some song fragments with two duets with my wife. The best part was when my wife's youngest sister, who had had opera training, complimented me on my singing.
We stopped in West Chester to visit a high school and Scout friend and his wife. Although we took a walk in town and went out to a restaurant, we mostly sat in their gazebo, talked, read, and watched TV. It was also a bit of a nostalgia trip in that we haven't been in the area since we lived there in 1974-1977. It is something to drive twisty roads where the trees are right next to the road.
We stopped in Silver Spring to visit a possible third cousin of mine. Her ancestors were from Baltimore and my great-grandfather gave his father's birthplace as Maryland. Since John C. Magree was a ship's master born in Baltimore and dismissed from the U.S. Navy in 1862, I suspect he is our common ancestor. Now to find the right records. For him they are very sparse: I have found only one transcribed record of his bringing a ship of immigrants from Liverpool to New York. That was in December 1851. Since my great-grandfather was born in Brooklyn in December 1850, could John C. Magree have had two families, one in each U.S. port?
It was something to go from the hills of Appalachia to the Great Plains. In the morning we were going up and down and around and in the afternoon we were driving into the horizon. I took a picture of one gap and the valley behind us, but I never noted what the rest stop was. I suppose I could figure it out with the camera time stamp and a map. As we drove through West Virginia, we certainly understood the feeling of the song, "Country Roads".
I also understood the psychology of "keeping up with traffic". I've divided drivers into lone wolves, the wolf pack, and law-abiding individuals.
The lone wolves are the drivers who drive fifteen or more miles-per-hour over the speed limit. They are also the drivers who will weave in and out of traffic to get to an exit one minute before other drivers. They also arrive in the left lane at about the time another driver is ready to pass a vehicle in the right lane. That driver has the choice of being tailgated by the lone wolf or slowing down to avoid a collision with the slower vehicle in the right lane.
The wolf pack consists of those who drive five to ten miles over the limit. It is amusing to watch them drive. They are in a group of five to ten cars in both lanes. As they come to a slower vehicle they merge into the left lane, getting closer and closer to each other, sometimes less than a car length apart. When they get through the "choke point", the first driver will pull right in front of the lead car in the right lane, often at a distance closer than the following car was in the left lane. Then the second car pulls in front of the first, the third in front of the second, and so on, with a lone wolf bringing up the rear.
The law-abiding drivers are driving within five miles per hour of the posted limit. They rarely see each other because they are spaced some distance apart. This gives them the illusion that they are all alone in driving at the speed limit.
When one of these drivers passes a similar driver, the lone wolves and the wolf packs accuse them of holding up traffic. Isn't it the other way around? The lone wolves and the wolf packs are pushing traffic.
I think I've had enough of driving for a while. The one hour to our cabin is enough, and we may be passed only twice, if at all.
Besides, we have to pay all our credit card bills. Other than all the good visits, the next best thing was that our 2002 Prius got 48.0 miles per gallon in that 2904 miles.
We drank and talked and ate and talked and we walked and we went on a jet boat ride and drank and talked and ate and talked. We took many pictures and movies and we gave impromptu speeches. As part of my speech I sang some song fragments with two duets with my wife. The best part was when my wife's youngest sister, who had had opera training, complimented me on my singing.
We stopped in West Chester to visit a high school and Scout friend and his wife. Although we took a walk in town and went out to a restaurant, we mostly sat in their gazebo, talked, read, and watched TV. It was also a bit of a nostalgia trip in that we haven't been in the area since we lived there in 1974-1977. It is something to drive twisty roads where the trees are right next to the road.
We stopped in Silver Spring to visit a possible third cousin of mine. Her ancestors were from Baltimore and my great-grandfather gave his father's birthplace as Maryland. Since John C. Magree was a ship's master born in Baltimore and dismissed from the U.S. Navy in 1862, I suspect he is our common ancestor. Now to find the right records. For him they are very sparse: I have found only one transcribed record of his bringing a ship of immigrants from Liverpool to New York. That was in December 1851. Since my great-grandfather was born in Brooklyn in December 1850, could John C. Magree have had two families, one in each U.S. port?
It was something to go from the hills of Appalachia to the Great Plains. In the morning we were going up and down and around and in the afternoon we were driving into the horizon. I took a picture of one gap and the valley behind us, but I never noted what the rest stop was. I suppose I could figure it out with the camera time stamp and a map. As we drove through West Virginia, we certainly understood the feeling of the song, "Country Roads".
I also understood the psychology of "keeping up with traffic". I've divided drivers into lone wolves, the wolf pack, and law-abiding individuals.
The lone wolves are the drivers who drive fifteen or more miles-per-hour over the speed limit. They are also the drivers who will weave in and out of traffic to get to an exit one minute before other drivers. They also arrive in the left lane at about the time another driver is ready to pass a vehicle in the right lane. That driver has the choice of being tailgated by the lone wolf or slowing down to avoid a collision with the slower vehicle in the right lane.
The wolf pack consists of those who drive five to ten miles over the limit. It is amusing to watch them drive. They are in a group of five to ten cars in both lanes. As they come to a slower vehicle they merge into the left lane, getting closer and closer to each other, sometimes less than a car length apart. When they get through the "choke point", the first driver will pull right in front of the lead car in the right lane, often at a distance closer than the following car was in the left lane. Then the second car pulls in front of the first, the third in front of the second, and so on, with a lone wolf bringing up the rear.
The law-abiding drivers are driving within five miles per hour of the posted limit. They rarely see each other because they are spaced some distance apart. This gives them the illusion that they are all alone in driving at the speed limit.
When one of these drivers passes a similar driver, the lone wolves and the wolf packs accuse them of holding up traffic. Isn't it the other way around? The lone wolves and the wolf packs are pushing traffic.
I think I've had enough of driving for a while. The one hour to our cabin is enough, and we may be passed only twice, if at all.
Besides, we have to pay all our credit card bills. Other than all the good visits, the next best thing was that our 2002 Prius got 48.0 miles per gallon in that 2904 miles.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Facebook makework?
I have had a very small number of friends and relatives invite me to Facebook. I have declined in all cases considering tending to my page as one more task.
Yesterday I began to reconsider being a holdout when our son sent a transcript of a conversation on my brother's Facebook page. My brother has several health issues that he mentioned on his page. Relatives that I rarely hear from or even hardly know responded. Should I get on Facebook to keep in touch with my own family?
I think not. I have a growing to do list and it would be one more thing to compete with reading, writing, and singing, all of which I spend less time than I would like. I had this feeling reinforced when I got email from Ancestry.com touting some feature or other. I started following through with submitting a family tree. Then I thought if any other relatives respond, then I'll have to respond, and to respond I'll have to do more research, and …
As for keeping in touch with my brother, we do exchange emails every so often, and I knew just about everything he had posted on his Facebook page. The only really new information was the number of relatives who are on Facebook.
Yesterday I began to reconsider being a holdout when our son sent a transcript of a conversation on my brother's Facebook page. My brother has several health issues that he mentioned on his page. Relatives that I rarely hear from or even hardly know responded. Should I get on Facebook to keep in touch with my own family?
I think not. I have a growing to do list and it would be one more thing to compete with reading, writing, and singing, all of which I spend less time than I would like. I had this feeling reinforced when I got email from Ancestry.com touting some feature or other. I started following through with submitting a family tree. Then I thought if any other relatives respond, then I'll have to respond, and to respond I'll have to do more research, and …
As for keeping in touch with my brother, we do exchange emails every so often, and I knew just about everything he had posted on his Facebook page. The only really new information was the number of relatives who are on Facebook.
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