Month: August 2020

I left Florida late in the afternoon driving and headed for Washington State. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and I planned to make it to Atlanta before nightfall. As it turned out, there were traffic problems on all significant northbound highways in South Florida, and it slowed me down considerably. Alas, I did not quite make it as far as Atlanta, but I got to a place just north of Valdosta, Georgia, and approximately 100 miles south of Macon, Georgia on I-75. I was tired, so I pulled into a hotel to see if there was a vacancy. It seemed that every civilized hotel within 10 miles of Valdosta was full, and Valdosta is still in a second world development state. I walked to the front desk of this no-name hotel. Before I could enquire about vacancies, the attendant greeted me with a gruff, “if you ain’t got a reservation, we full.” Which way are you heading, North”? Yes, I said. “Well, there is a motel at exit 45 with vacancies”. Thanks, I said and left on a further adventure.

Continue reading “Room 112 – Part I”

Room 112 – Part II

I headed for room 112 confident that I was too tired to care, all I wanted to do was sleep. Nice I thought, on the front of the door was a no smoking sign and I just remembered the landlord mentioned this was a no smoking room. A small victory I thought, which brought a small smile to my face. I opened the door and entered this dungeon of a room that smelled like the neighbor’s shaggy dog came over after falling into the swamp and stayed over, and over. I turned on the lights. I believe each bulb had 15 watt lightbulbs. I think this was by design so the guess could not make a full inspection. I felt like I was on a clandestine mission in the jungle searching for exotic bedbugs.

Continue reading “Room 112 – Part II”

Recently, I had an opportunity to rewind the tapes of my life and reexamine several events. The reason I did this is that for some odd reason, in my daily reflections, I wondered, if I could go back in time and change one thing in my life, what would it be? I thought that was an easy question to answer; I would rewind that fateful day in 1993 when my only daughter, 17 years old, died in a fiery car crash. I thought the answer was too easy, so I rewound the old eight-track tapes.

Continue reading “What Would I Change?”

Today, in a contemplative moment, I chose to stroll on the beach rather than jog. Most mornings, I am pressed for time to get my workout done before heading to the office. But this morning, I strolled to find the perfect seashell. Usually, when I am running, my gaze is on the distant marker, which keeps me focused on my goal, time, and distance. Very rarely do I look around at the water, the people, and nothing on the ground immediately ahead of me.

Continue reading “Searching for the Perfect Seashell”

Over the last 40 years, I had a career in technology. Sometimes, I felt like I was with Babbage holding a flashlight as he moved some huge levers to switch ones to zeros to get his computer to work. At other times, I imagined I had discussions with Grace Hopper about some crawling creature that mysteriously appeared in a program we were writing, which bugged the mess out of her.

Continue reading “Oh No! Not de Bone!”

Recently, I had the privilege of eating a delicious meal at a nice restaurant with a client. I ate my fill and had quite a bit leftover. I asked for a to-go container and took a deep breath. The waiter cleared the table and offered a selection of hot beverages and a variety of desserts that came with the meal. I was full, but I love key lime pie. So I had a beautiful piece of cake and a cup of tea.

Continue reading “When is Enough Enough?”

How often have you looked at a person and was able to describe the essence of that person in a single word? As an exercise, what single word would you use to represent each of the remaining presidential candidates in both parties? How did you approach the process? What factors lead you conclusively to that single word?  

Continue reading “What is your Word?”

In the Atlanta Olympics of 1996, the U.S. Coach Bela Karolyi carried young gymnast Kerri Struggs around the gym after her second vault. Kerri’s second vault was nothing short of amazing. I remembered her courage and determination to just finish what she had started even though she had badly damaged the ligaments in her ankle on the previous vault. The U.S. Olympic Women’s team was determined to win the team gold medal, something they had never done, and it was all in the hands of injured Kerri to just finish “it”.

Continue reading “Just Finish It!”