Archives in Category: Things to Ponder

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

ATM

Posted on April 4, 2015

I needed money: For a Starbucks, some greeting cards, and other sundries.  So I drove my little car to the local ATM and prepared to go through the standard process.  Insert ATM card, provide PIN number, tell the machine the

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Spice Exchange

Posted on March 28, 2015

I’ve been known to purchase a certain spice or herb for a particular recipe, only to find we didn’t like the final result. Perhaps I used a quarter of a teaspoon and am now stuck with the rest of a

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Antsy

Posted on March 12, 2015

My motto has always been, “When it’s time to paint it’s time to move.”

I understand most people don’t share this sentiment; they prefer to stay put and add a coat of paint. Or change the carpet or reupholster the

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Joel, John, Lang-Lang, Wang, Wonder

Posted on February 22, 2015

Ever hear of the ten thousand hour rule?  I hadn’t until recently when a version of it was applied to playing the piano.  It went like this:  To really master the piano, you must spend either ten years or ten

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Brian Williams

Posted on February 12, 2015

In the past week, almost everyone has weighed in on Brian Williams: various journalists, op ed columnists, talking heads.  I had even thought of commenting myself, although I’m not in any of those categories.  Instead I’ll comment on NBC’s reaction

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Touched

Posted on February 8, 2015

Some woman named Nancy sent me a message via Facebook, and I didn’t know what to do with it.  She claimed I wrote a poem, and she had a grammatical question about it.

The problem was I didn’t recognize the

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Absent from Class

Posted on February 7, 2015

There is a new app out there that tells parents when their college aged students are absent from class. They get an email saying that Johnny didn’t attend English 101 or Sociology 320 today.

Really?  Do we need this?

The

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Way to Go

Posted on January 31, 2015

There are five of us who mall walk regularly in various combinations. Sometimes there’s two, sometimes all.  In this latter case, we usually split into two groups.

What’s interesting is that each of us measures our progress differently.  I measure

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Universal Standards

Posted on January 26, 2015

I don’t understand it, although I suspect it’s driven by money.  Some things have universal standards; others don’t.

Cases in point: Electrical outlets.  They all accommodate various cords, regardless of the appliance in question. Bridges:  They all accommodate trucks from

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Muzio vs. Roberto

Posted on January 25, 2015

I was practicing piano yesterday when Earl stopped by.

“You can’t possibly use the pedal when your legs are crossed,” he said. (I didn’t know he had that much musical knowledge.)

“I’m playing a sonata by Clementi. It doesn’t call

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