View From Here

What is radical? What do we expect? What is unexpected? Why are the results, the outcomes, different from what we expected? For example, capitalism suggests that people with assets should invest in activities that will generate income to repay the investment on the one hand and produce a service or product outcome that benefits the customer. Philanthropically, if the outcome benefits mankind, so much the better. Expecting people to invest for financial return is normal. Expecting that same investor to take on enormous risks to benefit all of mankind with little payback or none for himself, is unexpected. In my book, the latter example appears radical to me. Now, I know that we think of radical as an idea or movement to benefit a cause near and dear the hearts of many people. Those people want the outcome to reduce a large problem experienced by many or will be experienced by many people if nothing is done. They want solutions. The size of the beneficiary pool of people is not rel...

A leaf blower is sounding outside my condo building. A lawnmower roars nearby. A train passes across the street – a Metra or freight train? Who’s to know? What does it matter? These and other sounds are packed with meaning. Imaginings, too. Memories of past encounters. I remember mowing lawns in my teens, my own and neighbors, and then friends of my parents elsewhere in town, and certainly fellow members of our church. The green blades awaiting their trim. Shade of trees or open yards, the activity of mowing was precise, orderly, tidy, too. It was purposeful and gave me lots of time to think about things. The leaf blower – I never had one or used one – conjures sights of landscapers servicing lawns both residential and commercial. Their jobs centered on order and tidiness. Purposeful. Useful. Routine, too, until the arrival of snow. A snow blower reminds me of so many major storms. Not the little ones, the dippy ones of one or two inches. No, I remember the 18-inch snowfalls, eve...

My mother played piano. She studied it many years. She played by ear and reading music. Mostly classical, she loved contemporary songs of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Those were the days of love songs with lyrics easily understood. The melodies were enticing and sweet. Memorable for her. Instantly, she sat at the piano and picked out the melodies, added harmonies in a jiff and soon was singing along with them. Music on the radio as I grew up was always classical. Phonograph records, too, were classical. When the folks left me alone to attend a social event or concert, I played the records on my own and listened to them over and over again. Years later after moving to New England, we attended local college recitals and concerts. During the summer it was the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. And then I studied piano for 8 years and violin for two. Along the way were many years of church choirs. It is no surprise then, that my musical choice is mainly classical. Still is. Over the years ...

Congress has always been in control of immigration. Period. They write the laws. They make the assignment of tasks to the Executive Branch. It is then up to the President and his/her delegates to perform the tasks as provided by law and policy. Policy is on the Executive Branch, but it must conform to the law. Many times in the past 30 years, Presidents and their advisors have worked with bi-partisan congressional teams to address immigration issues. The Presidents have been willing. It is the congress that has been ineffective or determinedly hands off. The current Congress did take up immigration and had a well written bill for action. The lobbying efforts pointed to massive approval of the bill. However, Trump asked that it be defeated so he would have an issue to campaign on for the 2024 elections. Republican congresspeople followed his dictate, and the bill failed. That means immigration remains a problem to be solved. It also means it is a republican problem to solve. They ...

As a kid I wondered what adult life would be like. I saw myself as a husband and father just like my dad. I imagined having a job in which I commuted daily by car, traveled some in the job, had plentiful income to support the family in its journey of development, and still have money left over for vacations. I imagined the education I would need to do these things. The college template was much in sight as both my parents went to college. I imagined having hobbies and following them. I also imagined myself an involved citizen learning what was going on locally as well as nationally. By this time, I was firmly rooted in my teens and following newspaper accounts of national and regional happenings. Government was an oft cited topic. I came to appreciate our form of government as it emerged from history. Freedom was a word frequently used, but more was associated with it at the time. We had exited a world war successfully. The outcome had not been assumed; lots of fear and angst were ...

The last raisin. Or popcorn kernel. The last bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not quite enough for another bite. Yet a bit wanted. Just a bit more. Or time. When we need to finish a task, but the clock has run out. The phone is ringing for an answer to the call and the task. So too, the person at your office door no longer waiting for her answer to the question.   Just a moment or two more would have been nice. How about information? Enough to work with or not quite enough? Lordy, this is common in my life. So much to know, needing to be known, to finish sentences, paragraphs and understanding of problems. Huh! Problems both known and unknown.   Not enough information to deal with an issue. Left dangling, out there, just dangling. Travel is another dimension of life. We travel to see things, to know things, to experience them, too. We travel to be busy, to act whether purposefully or not. There needs to be no reason for travel; that is what it is, going from o...

Summer in Fall : It will be 90 today. On September 16th! It has been 90 most days this week. If not, 88 was the temperature. Rain? No; not even likely. We are in the midst of a stretch of days, perhaps 3 weeks of them, when the weather was distinctly summer, not fall. Yet, we are in fall. Without rain our landscape is quite summery, brown and dry. This is summer in reality, not fall. I wonder when it will arrive? Not on time for certain. No; this should be fall, but summer has not given up its hold on sun and heat. I, for one, delight in this. Sneezes : A huge, sudden release of nasal air. A deep tickle of indescribable power. An expulsion much like an explosion. A sneeze can be small, even timid. A sneeze can be a mere interruption of a moment. Or a sneeze can be a series of many, taking minutes of time, energy and life focus. People who know me are aware of the big sneeze. Explosive and time consuming. A seasonal thing? Not very likely. A George thing, indeed! Mighty and debilitating...

Kamala Harris won the debate with Trump. A clear winner. I hadn’t expected anything different, but I was gratified that she did well, and he didn’t. That does not make me jubilant. The reason why is simple: roughly 50% of voters indicate they are waiting to support Trump in the election. Another 50% claim they will be supporting Harris. That is a tie. We still don’t know who will win the election. That is not sobering. That is depressing. Half of America’s voters believe a convicted felon, a liar, a cheat, a con artist and an abuser of women. He is despicable on so many grounds. In any other time, he would be reviled and laughed out of the room. But not in 2016, 2020 and again in 2024. Why does he get this support? He was an awful president. He is totally unwitting in international affairs. He does not understand economics. He cannot write. He evidently doesn’t read much. Yet, he garners half of the voters. Donald Trump is an error of mankind. I know that in my soul. A lot of...

The days plod along, one day after another. Routines dictate getting out of bed at 5, computer time until 7, then breakfast and shower and shave. The rest of the day is spent writing blogs and meeting with SCORE clients. Until there isn’t. Isn’t another commitment for that day. And then the TV goes on and programs are watched until the inevitable snooze comes along. Other duties include maintaining the calendar. What’s coming up, who is asking for a client session, what events are approaching, and what do family commitments look like. Bit by bit the calendar fills in. Free time expands as age accumulates. What once kept me busy no longer does. Reading used to be my primary fill-in activity, but it is easier to watch TV and snooze than read. Oh, I’ll get back to reading. Journals and work files mainly, but an occasional novel as well. What seems to be missing are the outings to church, town and organization events. Pam is great at getting me out and about to church breakfasts,...

Just sitting. Pondering. Good weather to do that lately. Mostly indoors, but a few minutes spared for outdoors. Wafting breeze. Soft – not warm or cool. Just right. Blue skies, too. Very few clouds and those are fluffy cotton balls. Nothing alerting us of deteriorating weather. This is early fall. Kids back in school. Tempo has picked up. People scurrying to and from errands and work. Commuting, too. Pondering puts bits and pieces of thoughts with others. Different ideas are born. Some are light, even airy. Some are heavy, dark. Ominous. And with shades come feelings. Sensing and thinking are two different things. Logic and facts on the one hand mix with feelings, emotions on the other. The emotions are sometimes foreboding. Fear, and worry creep in. Feelings rise and fall. What do we do with these feelings? Anything? Or are they kept as companion shadows that warn us of possible negatives? Being realistic causes us to think in a different manner. We look for possibilities. Yes, ...

Recent challenges on the computer front are shown below and how they were handled or resolved. 1.       Printer Ink : when I learned the computer supply store that supplied my printer ink had closed, I searched for other stores and even visited Best Buy. The latter made a good try, but I resorted to an internet search. Found a supplier with fast delivery and their pricing was very competitive with what I had been paying in past years. Determining the right product to match my printer model was another level of angst. But I made a best guess stab, and it was the right one! Solved: three big cartridges for $17 each. Thousands of copies each so I should be in good shape for many months. And the refills will be easily ordered. 2.       Using Rocky’s much newer Lenovo computer to replace my 10-year-old laptop for high production activity was accomplished by my eldest granddaughter. She did great. It functioned quite well. The old laptop w...

Lots of people ask questions. They want to know or need to know something. Sometimes at the same time. Logic leaps to answers; experience chooses options for the best answer. And then wisdom fills the rest of the space. That is how it seems to work. It is also the way we want it to work. But when it comes to our time to personally follow the same answers, we hesitate. What I need to do compared with want to do are quite different. Logic has little to do with our personal choice. We want what we want. We need what we need. It is difficult to find the right answer for ourselves. Much easier to advise others what to do. That is obvious. It does not appear obvious, however. No; not obvious. Aging prompts many questions. Aging seeks many answers. Wisdom for us is hidden almost always. Not so our advice to others! We hop to saying something for every question. Later we think again and wonder how we could have done it better. There is always a better, or so it seems! I like thinkin...

I’m not going to write about Labor Day. We all work or did. We insist on fair and dignified working conditions. That should be automatic for everyone. If it is not, then jail the employers involved. Simple and to the point. Oh, and another thing, work from home is often better for most workers and employers. Saves time and expense for everyone. There are other adaptive options to use in building team experiences. And staff competitiveness. Now, the real thing I want to mull over is international affairs and what Harris needs to focus on in her administration. Biden had a load of crap to deal with because of Trump’s chaotic policies dealing with the rest of the world. But Biden knows that we are solid citizens of the global community and must act like it. If we have more resources than everyone else, then we should expect to provide ample resources to the efforts of everyone else in making this a peaceful world. Now, how to do that. First, re-examine use of tariffs. They usually d...