Posted on February 2, 2013
We have driven almost fourteen hundred miles through Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. That’s a lot of highway, and I feel it qualifies me to make suggestions to the DOTs (Departments of Transportation)involved.
For example, some states provide mile markers every tenth of a mile, while others just identify every mile. I wonder about the cost of the extra nine signs per mile and if it is offset by saving lives or providing employment to sign makers. It seems extravagant to me.
Then there are the rest areas that crop up along the Interstate. Usually you get a two-mile warning that one is on your horizon, and that’s plenty of time to move into the appropriate off ramp for relief. Some states also tell you how far the next rest area is; and I find this particularly helpful in determining whether we’re stopping at the approaching one or whether we can make it to the next one. It’s a mental thing.
As one drives south the roads become smoother, and perhaps this is because they are not subjected to snow and ice and de-icer. I don’t believe we saw a single pothole after we left Indiana.
Florida is the most welcoming state, although I’m not sure the DOT is responsible. Regardless, soon after you cross into it there is a Welcome Center that offers free fresh orange juice or grapefruit juice, as well as a gazillion brochures promoting the state’s many attractions.
If Tennessee offered BBQ samples or Kentucky offered Maker’s Mark samples, we might consider wintering there instead of Florida.
See more 10 Minutes in category Travel
|
Posted on January 31, 2013
We pulled out of our driveway at 7:30 this morning and headed south. The scene was bleak, with icy roads, dark skies, and that awful mixture of rain and snow that promises white-knuckle driving.
“It will get better as we hit Indianapolis,” I said. “It’s almost two hundred miles due south.” “It should get better by the time we hit the Indiana state line,” Earl countered while I thought a mere twenty-five miles down the road was a bit optimistic.
The outdoor temperature, according to our car, was eighteen degrees. For the next few hours we watched it rise slowly with the interest we usually give the stock market. It was as erratic too.
Both Earl’s and my estimates of when we would out-drive the snow were grossly underrated. It followed us through Indiana into Kentucky and then Tennessee. When we pulled off the road for the night, the thermometer had hit forty-eight, but as the sun set it began a disheartening descent. This isn’t what we’d planned for. Except when we contacted someone back home, we learned southwestern Michigan was bracing for single digit temperatures and more heavy snow.
I think we left just in time.
See more 10 Minutes in category Travel
|
Posted on January 30, 2013
Tomorrow we start on our next big road trip to the Florida Keys via the Carribean. It sounds circuitous, but we’re taking a seven-day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale before pushing southward to the tip of the state.
Some years we’ve taken a cruise; others we’ve just lounged in a condo at Marathon Key. This year, simply by coincidence, we doing both back-to-back. It will be interesting to see which experience we enjoy the most. Or the least.
Regardless, I’ll never have all my client work done by departure time tomorrow morning at 7 AM. I’ll be lucky to be packed. So, as is usually the case, I’m bringing my computer and my clients with me. Some people would blanche at this thought, but not me.
The thing is when we go away we leave many other commitments behind. There are the household ones: making beds, doing laundry, planning meals, visiting the supermarket. Somebody else is charged with doing all this for us on vacation and we merely show up. Then there are the medical commitments: no doctors’ appointments, no tests, no results, no co-pays. There are business commitments: meetings, unexpected crises, various problems. Your other colleagues, who believe you’re on vacation completely, need to handle them as best as possible. And finally as much as I love piano, there is no daily practice; because a piano does not travel well, it must stay behind.
So there will be ample time to relax and see sights but still work a little each day. Who knows? I might even return home completely caught up!
See more 10 Minutes in category Travel
|
Posted on January 24, 2013
I have written for over sixty years. Poems, essays, children’s stories, full blown books. There are files in cabinets and files on various computers to document this statement. But considering my output, my publishing success has been minimal.
No longer.
Does that mean some agent has optioned all my work, and I’m going to be famous? Hardly. Does it mean I’m retiring from the written word? Absolutely not! What it means is that I’m going to take my work into my own hands and publish it on my website under a new category titled “Potpourri.”
I know what it takes these days to actually get published. You need a platform; you need to be on Facebook and Twitter; you need to accommodate agents’ demands. All this takes time from the act of writing. And it doesn’t guarantee success either.
So I’ve decided to be my own publisher. Under “Potpourri,” which will debut in February, I plan to share works of a longer nature than “Ten Minutes to Write, Less Time to Read.” They are works that have been seriously edited, not like the off-the-cuff blog I try to write regularly.
It does fly in the face of conventional wisdom, and I don’t know where it will lead. But I think I’ll find pleasure in sharing my writing – good, bad, or ugly – without having to grovel to do it. More on this to come.
See more 10 Minutes in category Writing
|
Posted on January 21, 2013
I’m still wandering on the “train of thought” route, looking at blips and blops and not trying to make sense of anything. So don’t think you have to make sense either.
Today is both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day. Much to solemnize. Much to watch on dawn to dusk television. Because of various commitments, such as the dentist, I saw only Beyonce sing the “Star Spangled Banner” and part of President Obama’s second inaugural speech. I’m not sure which hit the better note.
I took a nap, something I’m prone to lately, even if it’s only for sixty minutes. I find it refreshes and makes me want to use the remaining hours in a more productive fashion. As in reconciling our bank statements, paying bills, trying to find out if the cruise we’re taking in ten days has Internet access in the staterooms (So far, the verdict is out.).
I keep on top of my job with Fred Flare, checking company emails regularly day-in and day-out. Even on the days I’m not supposed to work. I guess it’s part of the New Society, the one where we’re connected 24/7 whether we like it or not.
Finally, I made popcorn. I’m in a weight loss club with two other long-time friends and tomorrow is weigh-in day. In fact, every Tuesday is weigh-in day. So popcorn is my go-to dinner on Monday nights. According to the FDA label, a cup of popped popcorn is only 30 calories. Which means a bunch of cups can’t be that much. Wish me luck!
See more 10 Minutes in category Things to Ponder
|
Posted on January 19, 2013
Five days ago I took a nasty fall in our bathroom, and I now have two black eyes to prove it, although they’re more purple than black. Here is what I’ve learned from the experience.
First, falls happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Do not use your nose as the primary method of braking them. It is inadequate; hands are bigger and better. Mine did not rise to the occasion but rather floundered somewhere reaching for the nearest wall or ledge to grab while my head followed my nose into the ceramic tiled floor. Next time I’ll use the other bathroom; it’s carpeted.
Second, do not wear glasses unless you have to. I was going to say, “Remove your glasses before falling,” but this negates my first lesson in that we never know when we might fall. However, had I not been wearing glasses, it’s possible my eyes would have experienced much less colorful trauma. Those little pads on the glasses that rest on the side of one’s nose moved up into the corners of my eyes, which is the reason I have a symettrical set of bruises.
Next, bruises move through some orderly color pattern that is rainbow based, but not necessarily in the same order that gives us Roy G. Biv as a way to remember them (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo for those who don’t remember their grade school acronym.) So far indigo has been the most prominent, but I seem to be moving into orange and yellow today.
Finally, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one in three people over age sixty-five falls annually. This is a serious problem since falls are “the leading cause of injury death and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma” notes the CDC. Go to www.cdc.gov for more information. However, the overriding thought for me was, “Hey, I really am a senior citizen statistic regardless of wanting to believe otherwise.”
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Things to Ponder
|
Posted on January 12, 2013
It’s a good thing I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution to blog every day, because we’re almost to the middle of January and I have been uninspired. I’ve been busy too, but uninspired is the real reason. So I’m going to jot down the first things that come to my mind for the next five minutes and see where this goes.
The timer is set . . .
As of last night, we have new salt and pepper shakers. They’re like utilitarian spice containers in that the lid swivels to reveal a variety of different size holes to accommodate different peoples’ taste buds.
The lettuce at the supermarket these days isn’t very good. But the Brussel sprouts are.
The birds have found Earl’s feeders and are in danger of becoming fat, even if they’re supposed to eat seven times their weight each day. Let’s assume one tiny sparrow weighs one ounce. That would be close to half a pound of birdseed daily.
The timer just dinged, so I reread this blog. Note to self: You seem to have foodstuff on your mind. Go eat something.
See more 10 Minutes in category Dining/Food
|
Posted on December 27, 2012
We’ve been on a Christmas high around here for the entire month of December. It started with a bevy of holiday parties, more than we’ve ever experienced before. And it ran through the usual gift purchasing and tree trimming and family gatherings.
Tomorrow, however, is the end. By that I mean the parties are over, the gifts have been given, and the tree is coming down. Our spirits have already begun their descent.
Usually we keep the tree up longer or – if you wish – take it down later. But there’s something about the frenzy of this year, alongside Sandy and Cliff (that physical and financial hurricane couple), that makes me want to contain the holiday season to December.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about our Christmas. It’s just that I feel the need to meet the New Year in full battle regallia, and it’s difficult to do when your home is filled with blinking tree lights and snowmen accessories and snow globes and a sign that reads, “The fat man is coming.”
It’s just that he came, he saw, he conquered. And now he’s gone.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events, Things to Ponder
|
Posted on December 22, 2012
I am disturbed not only by the timing of the NRA’s first public announcements after the horrific shootings in Newtown, CT but also by its solution to the problem.
First, the timing. It was one week ago yesterday that Adam Lanza invaded Sandy Hook School and wreaked carnage on children, adults, and himself. Since then the tiny Connecticut town has been under a magnifying glass. Who among us hasn’t watched part of the official reports, resident comments, and funeral corteges? Did the NRA have to choose the week anniversary, when emotions are still raw, to make its announcement?
In a defensive mode, Wayne LaPierre, NRA vice president who has led its operations for two decades, argued that we should have armed guards at all schools across our country to prevent such violence. He even offered his organization’s money to make this happen. Yet, I wonder if he knew that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold pushed their way past such guards to inflict mortal damage at Columbine in what seems like an eternity ago.
I know the Second Amendment insures that our country’s citizens have the “right to bear arms.” And I support that. However, this amendment needs historical context. So go online to study it and you’ll see that in this day and age – when we haven’t been subjected to Great Britain’s tyranny for more than two centuries – it doesn’t mean all citizens can collect as many guns as they want and use them as they please.
I’m all for hunters using their guns. I’m all for defending my home. I might possibly be in favor of CCW laws. But I’m not in favor of having more power than one needs. Which brings me to the military assault weapons that have been involved in more than one of these mass murders. What is the problem with banning them? We didn’t even have them when the Second Amendment was ratified.
And this leads me to my final thought. Who is defending the Sixth Commandment?
See more 10 Minutes in category Things to Ponder
|
Posted on December 21, 2012
Today is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight, not in terms of length. In length, all days are the same.
Still, when Earl and I discussed this, he was eager to turn the calendar corner and enjoy the approximate 45 seconds of additional sunlight in the morning and the evening that will ensue. And . . . it’s cumulative.
I appreciate Earl’s rational for longer days – school children won’t be standing at the corner for the bus in darkness, runners will be more visible in the morning – and I like that the sun will rise earlier. My philosphy has always been that I needn’t get out of bed before it.
At the same time, I suspect that we won’t really see a calculable difference for a couple months. So, Earl, keep the faith.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene
|
