This one was unplanned, but I’ll try to keep it shorter than the previous 2.

Everyone who knows me (including the handful of you that may be following this) knows I really like golf (and have since I was about 12). Now that I’m retired, I get to play more than I ever have. I’m in 2 senior leagues (9 holes 2x/week, and I don’t use an electric cart). I also watch golf a lot. I watch the new rival LIV Tour more than the establishment PGA Tour. LIV has only 14 events per year and my favorite player, Harold Varner III, plays on LIV (I wrote a post about him ~ 5 years ago that you can read if you want to know why Ilike him). I also always watch the 4 major championships, and The Masters tournament was played this past weekend. For those non-golf people (probably most of you), please consider reading this entry, as most of it does not directly discuss the tournament played (there is some of that) but it covers my thoughts about the venue and a rather famous player (see title for teaser).

Despite its prestige, I have issues with the Masters, mostly due to the venue that hosts it. It is the only major championship in golf that is played on the same course every year (the others rotate courses). The Masters is played at Augusta (GA) National Country Club, and it is one of the final remnants of the Old South. The vast majority of African Americans on the grounds are the “help” (food service, grounds cleaning, etc.). In fact, the first Black player to qualify for The Masters (per their own rules), Charlie Sifford, was told he was not welcome to play. This was 1966. The Club finally relented in 1973, when they allowed Lee Elder to play. It wasn’t until the 21st century that women and people of color were granted membership. There are now a few token members from those groups (Condoleezza Rice being probably the most noteworthy).

The golf course is beautiful (so I’m told; I’ve never been), or at least it looks that way on TV. However, they add blue dye to the creeks and ponds on the course, and most of the bird sounds heard are pre-recorded and played through speakers dotted throughout the course. And they have many arcane rules that the broadcasters and spectators (whom the broadcasters must refer to as “patrons” or risk being banned for life) must follow. I won’t go into any more detail about the rules but take my word for it; no one under the age of 80 understands why they exist. They also have the weakest filed of any major tournament (and weaker than several non-major events) because they limit to about 90 players (vs. the 150 or so for the other majors), and at least a dozen of those are past champions over the age of 60, who are qualified for life and have zero chance to contend, much less win.

It usually does, however, provide compelling golf, and this year was no exception (you can skip this paragraph if you don’t care about these details). It was quite windy on Thursday and Friday, which made life difficult for the participants. And by Sunday afternoon, there was a 4-way tie for the lead with 10 holes to play. And 3 holes later, the tournament was essentially over. Three of the four players tied for first made critical errors, leaving the undisputed number one player in the world, Scottie Sheffler, on top. And he played the last 10 holes nearly flawlessly, ending up on top by 4 strokes. It was his 4th victory in his last 5 events (he finished 2nd in the one he didn’t win), and he now has a second Masters victory (he also won in 2022). He is on track to have the greatest season in the history of golf if he keeps this up.

Which brings us to Tiger Woods. He came to Augusta having played 24 holes of competitive golf in 2024 (one tournament where he withdrew in the second round). If there is any tournament in which Tiger could conceivably compete, it would be this one. He has won The Masters 5 times, including his last victory on the Tour (in 2019). He knows the course by heart, and the layout fits his game. And sure enough, for 2 days, he had the media and fans going berserk, playing well both days. At the end of his round Friday, he was at 1 over par, which easily made the cut (which was 6 over par, players with a score higher than that didn’t play the weekend or get any prize money) and put Woods in the middle of the pack. Some people (not including me) went to bed on Friday night with visions of a Tiger miracle. But then, Saturday came, and as he had in previous years, he completely fell apart, shooting a disastrous 10 over par round of 82, equaling his worst ever as a pro. To his credit, he played the final round (he had withdrawn the previous 2 years) and improved to a round of 77, which landed him in 60th place out of 60 golfers who had made the cut. It wasn’t pretty.

Now look, I know Tiger has had some serious injuries (albeit of his own doing), but what is he trying to prove by attempting (and mostly failing) to compete at the highest level?

I can’t say for sure (I don’t know the man), but those of you who are sports fans have seen this before. He is still the biggest name in golf, and he is adored by both the media and the fans (oops, I mean patrons) whenever and wherever he shows up. And that’s it; he craves the attention and adulation. It’s no different than other great players who hang on too long and look bad doing so (like Willie Mays’ last season as a New York Met or Michael Jordan playing out the string as a Washington Wizard). But unlike some of the others, I have no sympathy for Tiger Woods. He had it all. And then he dumped on his supermodel wife and was mostly an absentee father until his kids hit adolescence (now he takes them everywhere). Like many, I was a huge fan of Tiger until he showed his true stripes. No amount of rebranding his image (and there has been lots of it) will change my opinion of him at this point. Woods was 100 time greater a player than my guy Harold Varner (who, it so happens, is also black) will ever be, but he isn’t 1/100th the person.

I do, however, feel for him in one regard. I agree with sports journalist John Feinstein (he’s covered Woods extensively and has interviewed him) who said (not an exact quote) that Tiger Woods wasn’t, isn’t, or ever will be truly happy in life. His behavior is consistent with that assessment. And that’s sad.

#The Masters

#Augusta National Country Club

#Scottie Sheffler

#Tiger Woods

Off-topic intro. The total eclipse was a total bust in upstate NY. It was cloudy the entire afternoon, and, though it did get very dark for 3 1/2 minutes, we saw none of the amazing sights that many others did. I’m very envious of those in the path of total eclipse who had clear skies this past Monday. Sorry, I just had to vent.

In this post, I am going to discuss a book I recently listened to on Audible (and subsequently bought a paper copy). I will provide a modest summary of the book and some of my reactions to it. Hopefully, I will be able to hold your interest.

The book’s title is The Grid by Gretchen Bakke, Ph.D. As you may have guessed, it pertains to our electrical grid. Please continue reading this post; this isn’t going to be a science lecture (and neither is the book). The only hard science discussed (and not at great length) is first, the difference between electric circuits running in series (the very first ones, which electricity from a single source passed through a single wire and were limited in their coverage) vs. those running in parallel (electricity originating from a single source passing through many wires at once, which allowed for significant expansion of the grid). The other physics covered is the difference between direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC), the difference being that DC can only traverse a relatively short distance before petering out, whereas AC can travel much greater distances through the use of transformers. They are explained in a way in which most lay people can understand. Now I say this as a person with an advanced degree in science. Not a simple major, but I’m no engineer. Nor is the author (her Ph.D. is in cultural anthropology).

The book contains the following topics (which I will tough on as briefly as I can): (i) history of grids and expansion of large grids throughout the US (ii) a few laws which changed how grids operated and were regulated (iii) the grid’s vulnerability, including a discussion of a few major blackouts. Interestingly, many are not weather-related (iv) the benefits and issues of modern methods of electricity generation (nuclear, wind, solar) (v) the beginnings of movement away from a large, interconnected grid and what the future might look like (note that the book was published in 2016 and though there have certainly been technological advancements since them, the book is quite relevant, IMO).

Now if you think about it, the way in which we are able to safely and reliably use electricity is pretty amazing. These days, we take the use of electricity totally for granted. However, electricity has become available almost everyone only in the last 75 years or so. Early grids (Edison deployed the very first one) were tiny and were employed mostly for manufacturing, street lighting, and public transport systems. With the passage of time, people/companies who had the money and know-how developed increasingly larger power plants and grids to provide electricity to home and apartment dwellers (though regulated by state and the federal government, there are very few municipally owned suppliers of electricity). More recently, with the increase in green technology, people can now generate their own power, which is most often fed into the existing grid but gradually is being used by individuals, along with generators and battery power, to become independent from the grid.

As you can imagine, operation of an electricity grid for an entire nation is not trivial. Power is coming from multiple sources. Ensuring that sufficient electricity is available to keep everything smoothly from 6 AM to 10 PM (when the need is great) and then dealing with the dropoff overnight (you see power coming in need to be balanced with power going out) is not easy to manage. The grid, like other facets of infrastructure, is fragile, with old wires, wood poles, and outdated computer systems. And furthermore, the grid is susceptible to the weather, of course. In case you were wondering, the two most frequent causes of power outages are tree limbs and (get ready for it) squirrels chewing through wires.

So, what was my motive for tackling this topic? Maybe I am hoping to educate/inform someone, maybe even enough for that person to want to read the book. And as you can see, I enjoyed the book enough to write multiple paragraphs about it. Having said all of this, reading this book made me more concerned, worried, and disappointed than I was before I started the book. Why?

My suspicion is that this book has not been widely read (my internet search didn’t unearth sales of the book). And I suspect that if the book were offered to the masses for free, the vast majority would turn and run (too nerdy). I know this book isn’t for everyone, but understand that without a properly functioning grid, we would have no lights, no internet, no A/C, and most businesses would shut down. Imagine that world for a couple of weeks, especially in the summer. It’s one of those things that no one cares about until disaster hits.

Given how important the grid is to our lifestyle if not existence, why is the grid never talked about by the populace, the media, or the politicians (to be honest, these days, I suspect very few of them could carry out an intelligent conversation about it)? I mean, an infrastructure bill was passed in 2022, and improving the grid was essentially not mentioned. Of the $1.55 trillion to be spent in the approved legislation, only about $25 billion (or about 1.6% of the total, this according to The Council of State Governments website) was allocated to improving/fortifying the grid. If this book in any way approximates the true state of the grid, that figure should have been more like $100 billion. While roads and bridges are critical for our society, they aren’t the only components of infrastructure.

This year, we are electing a President, dozens of Senators, and the entire House of Representatives. Yet it is quite unlikely that any questions related to the quality, dependability, safety, and security of the grid will be asked of any of the candidates. Part of this is due to the fact that an issue like this one does not elicit sexy (for the media) sound bites. But it’s also due the voters’ lack of knowledge and lack of desire to due and research or critical thinking (I could say this about other similar issues). I want our leaders to stop the culture wars and focus on the less glamorous but more important issues that ensure the safety, comfort, security, and prosperity of our nation and for voters to hold these individuals accountable. Sorry if this came off as a rant or was too preachy; I hope some of you got something out of this post.

#Audible

#The Grid

#ELizabeth Bakke, Ph.D.

#2022 Infrastructure Bill

#Council of State Governments

This one’s going to be pretty long, so bear with me. But if you are a reader who either currently lives or has lived in Baltimore, you will understand. Some of this post will be based on my memory, so if I make any misstatements, please comment and correct me.

I was born and grew up in Baltimore. I left in 1986 with my then fiancée (now wife of 37 years), although I commuted from Delaware to UMBC for almost a year (almost 80 miles each way, ugh!). I have moved multiple times since, spending the last 19 years in upstate NY. When the kids were young, we visited B’more 2 or 3 times a year. As everyone aged (and the kids’ grandparents passed on), the visits became less frequent, but recently I have made an effort to visit with some frequency. There have been some funerals, and I want to see family and friends who still live in and around town.

I am now going to talk about Baltimore at some length (this post is really more about the city than the recent tragedy, although I’ll get into that toward the end). For those of you unfamiliar with Baltimore, it was an important as well as populous city. The port was even more important 60 years ago than it is now, although obviously the port is still relevant. Bethlehem Steel was a huge supplier of steel to the world and employed tens of thousands of people. The McCormick spice company was based in Baltimore as was Domino Sugar (it’s the only one of the 3 that is still around). As late as 1970, Baltimore was one of the 10 most populous cities in the US (7th largest, with a population of 905,759, info courtesy of the US census). Below is a picture of the skyline/downtown in 1970 (taken from Facebook):

However, by the time the 2020 census was taken, the city’s population had dropped to 585,708, making it the 30th largest city in the US. Part of this was due to the growth and overall transfer of the US population Sout and West. But also, there was significant loss of population due to white flight, industries closed or left town, taking people with them, and crime became a serious problem, leading to the exodus of people of all incomes and ethnicities.

In the late 1970s, the downtown area at least made a comeback with the opening of Harborplace, a series of shops and restaurants along the inner harbor, but eventually, that faded as well, and the pandemic essentially shut it down for now (if not for good). And though there are still nice areas of the city, and a few areas have experienced a revival (Federal Hill, southeast Baltimore near Johns Hopkins Hospital), the city has fallen a long way, and the road back will be very difficult.

It should also be noted that Baltimore has always (IMO at least) had an inferiority complex. It was /still is compared to other northeastern cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC, and Baltimore doesn’t have the history, wealth, or charm (despite the nickname “Charm City”) of these cities. It is seen as the poor stepchild of the Northeast by many, and this burns in the bodies of Baltimoreans. Even in sports, Baltimoreans desperately want the Orioles and Ravens to outperform the Yankees and Steelers. During the 60s and 70s, the Orioles and Bullets (basketball; yes, they had a team) fans were obsessed with beating the NY teams (I was one of them). When the Bullets moved to DC, I vowed never to root for them. Post-move, they were a good team for about 6 years (including their only NBA title), and since then they have mostly been terrible (vindication!). I won’t even talk about the move of the Colts to Indy (an absolute dagger at the time); I may dedicate a future entry about this one.

So that’s some city and personal history.

Although not unique to Baltimore, it was (at least while I lived there) a city very defined by neighborhoods (you could call it segregation if you wanted to). As a person who grew up in Northwest Baltimore in a neighborhood that was mostly Jewish with some African Americans, I had very little contact with folks living on the East side of town, where large neighborhoods with people of German, Polish, and Greek descent lived. There was at one time a thriving “Little Italy” adjacent to the inner harbor with lots of great Italian restaurants. Some of the restaurants are still there, but most of the Italians have vacated. South Baltimore (as in south of the harbor) was relatively poor and white in the 1960s. Roland Park was where blue-blooded WASPs lived. Our neighborhood was adjacent to large areas that were (and still are) populated by Blacks, in fact, the area around the duplex where I lived until I was 6 was mostly African American by the time my parents moved out. Their version of white flight carried us a few miles up the road from that area but still within the city limits. Most of my Baltimore-residing friends and relatives (with a few exceptions) live in the burbs north of the city. I don’t know if the neighborhoods are as defined as they were through the mid 1980s when I left the city. Anyone reading this who can enlighten us is welcome to comment.

So, as is indicated in the title of this entry, I want to talk about the Key Bridge collapse (I will try to tie it in with some of the book chapter I have written above). I’ve seen some live coverage on cable networks, and I’ve also reviewed coverage posted on You Tube by CBS News and NBC News. It’s pretty clear that the crash was an accident due to loss of power on the barge. And although it tragically caused the death of 6 men working on the bridge, it’s a minor miracle that once the mayday call came from the barge, the police were able to rapidly close the bridge to vehicle traffic, saving who knows how many lives. Kudos to them! And before I move on, will those who are blaming this on DEI or Joe Biden or some other conspiracy theory, please shut the Hell up. Same to those who are saying that the Federal Government shouldn’t be helping to re-open the port and rebuild the bridge. When disasters happen, no matter where they are or what caused them, the Federal Government should (and always does) help. In this case, Baltimore is still a major port for cars and heavy machinery, and the bridge is part of an interstate highway.

I will leave the issue of the port aside for now and focus on the (Francis Scott) Key Bridge. As most of you either know or have heard, the bridge was opened in 1978. It is part of I-695, a highway that circles the city. Before the Key Bridge was built, I-695 ended on the southwest and southeast sides of the city on each side of the harbor (I-695 was shaped like a horseshoe). The key bridge connected up the 2 sides of the highway. It also coincided with the construction and expansion of I-95 the major interstate of the East coast. Without getting too bogged down, the construction of the Key Bridge and the Fort McHenry Tunnel, which allowed I-95 to go through Baltimore, made vehicle travel through Baltimore travel much easier. There was (and still is) the older Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, but that is a more indirect route through the city than is the McHenry Tunnel. And as you probably know, Hazardous Materials (or HAZMATs) are not allowed in tunnels, so the Key Bridge takes a lot of truck traffic traveling on I-95 that cannot use the tunnels. With the Key Bridge out of service, those vehicles will have to go around the northern portion of I-695 to connect back up to I-95 (which, to be honest, isn’t a huge inconvenience; it probably adds about 10 minutes of drive time). The Key Bridge is also important for commuters who live and/or work south of the city, as well as the support businesses (like restaurants) in those areas. Confused? I kept this paragraph as short as I could while still trying to convey the importance of this bridge without boring you to pieces.

Interestingly, I don’t think I have crossed over the Key Bridge 10 times in my life. As previously stated, I rarely went to the southern areas of Baltimore and the suburbs around it. In fact, until I went to high school (which was located in NW Baltimore but had kids from all over the city attending), I knew almost no one beyond 5 miles of my residence. I don’t think this was uncommon. But it was nice to finally meet and befriend people from all over the city and compare notes. Later on, I went out with 2 women from the south side of Baltimore, which necessitated the occasional trip over the Key Bridge, Suffice it to say, however, that this accident will not only have some supply chain implications, but it will affect the ~15,000 people working for the Port of Baltimore, businesses in the vicinity of the bridge, and the 30,000 or so vehicles that crossed the bridge daily.

(Last paragraph, I promise) All this being said, this situation affects me personally as a person born and raised in Baltimore. It’s a city that has gone through some really hard times, and it’s a city that is looked down upon by much of the country. For a city that could really use some good news, this feels like piling on. I hope that the City and State governments make progress on the opening of the port and planning for the new bridge as quickly as possible (there are signs that removal of the debris is off to a good start). Maybe, somehow, the inhabitants of the city and state I used to call home and have many great memories of can rally around the cause and show the resolve of Baltimore and Maryland in the aftermath of serious disaster and hardship. This Baltimore boy is rooting for you!

#Baltimore

#Port of Baltimore

#Key Bridge

#CBS News

#NBC News

Yes, I’m going to try and resuscitate this blog again. I know that my loyal followers (both of you) are very excited. Since it’s been so long, I will reintroduce myself and my reasons/goals for attempting to restart this blog, just in case someone new happens to see it, or in case a former reader thinks I died or lost my mind (maybe I shouldn’t state the second option).

It all started several years ago when a great friend of mine started a blog. I admit I thought it was cool, and it piqued my interest. He has been very faithful to it, posting an entry most days, and he managed to acquire a following (me included) over time. A few years after he began his blog, I received the news that my employer had decided to end my employment (along with about 100 others) in about 9 months. OK, to be fully transparent, I could have kept my job if I would have moved to New Jersey (a major enticement, for sure), but for many reasons (financial suicide being one), I took the severance package that the company offered (reasonably generous) and stopped working in April 2019. A similar thing happened to my great friend, and that’s when he started blogging. When it happened to me, I took it as a sign, so during my lame duck period, although I was still working hard because there was a slim chance that my employment would be extended until the end of 2019, I decided to enter the blogosphere. I made a few posts, and then the blog dried up. Why? well for one thing, we decided to move in early 2020 to be closer to our older daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild (now grandchildren). As we did all of the packing (and some of the moving) ourselves, this endeavor kept me quite busy. And of course, this move coincided with the COVID outbreak, which for me didn’t make things any less busy. And then as the pandemic heated up, I decided to accept a contract position offered to me in mid 2020. It was nice to get the extra money, and it lasted for 16 months until September 2021. At this point, the blog had been derailed.

So, you may ask, why am I trying this again. It’s not due to boredom, as I have a busy and active life (we watch the grandkids 2 days a week, there are 2 dogs which I walk twice a day, I read a lot and am in a book club with my wife, I’m trying to become proficient in French, and once the weather gets a little warmer (I live in upstate NY), I will be playing 9 holes of golf twice a week. I’m sure some of this will come up in future posts. And let me state very clearly that I’m not doing this in the hope that this will go viral and make me famous (and if by some ridiculous fluke it did, I don’t think I’d want the notoriety). I’m doing this because (1) I like to write, and this will help me to do that, (2) by recording my thoughts, it will (hopefully) enhance my family’s memory of me once I leave this world, especially those of my grandkids (as they are rather young right now) and even their kids if they choose to have any, and (3) I am hoping that I can make this interesting enough to be able to have an exchange of ideas with others, especially if they disagree with me or can add to my understanding of a given topic.

I will have no consistent agenda; I will write about topics that interest me as well as about me personally. As I said, I read a lot so that I expect that a decent chunk of the posts will be based on material I read and find interesting. I’m going to try and limit political stuff (although some will undoubtedly creep in) because I don’t want this to turn into a partisan shouting match; there’s already too much of that on the Web already.

My goal will be to write about a post per week. I don’t know what other bloggers do, but I need to write out my posts (either entirely or at least in a detailed outline) before I post them. So I hope to have my first substantive post out within a week of this one, and I’ll try to keep them coming (which means being able to overcome my wandering attention span). If you happen to stumble upon this blog, please give it a shot, and if anything I write moves you, interests you, infuriates you, or otherwise grabs your attention, please comment. I’ll do my best to quickly reply to respond. Fingers crossed; here we go (again).

#Disaffected Musings

This is a post related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) issue, although not directly. Let me simply say that I hope that everyone is taking the necessary precautions and stays safe. There probably is a long road ahead, so please be careful and be patient. This too will pass, hopefully without too much loss of life.

So where am I going with this? Well, for obvious reasons, as many people as possible have been told to work from home until the spread abates. This makes obvious sense. What doesn’t make obvious sense is why more companies haven’t let their employees who work essentially with a laptop do this for years. It is obvious to me that many jobs can be done remotely for the most part, but there are few positions like this available in the US (and I know because I have been trying to get one of these for a few years). In fact (and some of you know this), I was released from my last job because the condition for keeping it was relocating to the location where my boss sat (which was different from the location where I sat and was totally unfeasible for me). The sad part of this was that I had been at a different location that my bosses for over 10 years and had performed my jobs more than adequately (if performance appraisals are to be believed). Besides, in most medium and large companies (especially ones which have multiple sites), the majority of meetings are teleconferences. Sorry for the rant, but I didn’t write this post to vent (OK, maybe a little). I wrote this to point out the many benefits of having many a lot more remote positions (I’d say they were obvious except for the fact that if they were, I wouldn’t be writing this). The benefits as I see them:

– potentially a lot less congestion on the roads. And theoretically, the reduced time on the road could lead to more time for work and less stress (not having to fight the traffic).

– it would be beneficial to the environment due to the reduced combustion of fossil fuels

– would allow for flexibility for child care. Companies may not believe this, but it is possible to perform you job at home if there are kids in the house, especially if the kids are not babies

– likely, many more people with disabilities and /or handicaps could be significantly more productive

– if we had been implementing this practice for the last 5 – 10 years, business would certainly be interrupted less during crises like this one.

So my question is the following; will we learn from this with regard to remote working? Generally, once we recover from situations like these, we go back to business as it was before the situation/crisis. We often don’t seem to learn very much of anything. For example, after the financial crisis in 2007-2009, we placed some rules on big banks to rein in predatory loans and risky investments. Since then, many of these rules have been reversed. We haven’t seemed to have much of a reaction to the extreme weather events which are likely to have some connection to global warming. At most, some people acknowledge it, and we move on. I am hoping that we learn many things from this unfortunate crisis. One thing I hope we do learn is the value of working remotely. It’s time the American workplace enters the 21st century, and this would be one step in the right direction.

What happened? My legions of readers (which often number more than zero) must be worried. I haven’t posted in over 6 months. I mean, I don’t have a job, so I should have all the time in the world, right. Actually, not so right. Over the last 6+ months, I have been doing the following things:

– Got heavily into golf during the summer and early fall. I joined a league, played every week, and practiced 2-3 times per week. I wasn’t very good, but I sure as hell had a good time.

– Continued trying to become somewhat competent in French. Was part of a group that met once per week, took a class in the fall, and am taking another one now (can’t get away from homework, even at my age). Also spent 3 days participating in a French immersion exercise. I have a ways to go still, but I have improved, which tells me that my brain is still functioning.

– Joined a book group. I have been reading a fair amount for a couple of decades, but by participating in this group, I have read books that I normally wouldn’t read, which has opened my eyes a bit, plus we discuss each book at the monthly meeting, so you have to read actively.

– Went on a great trip to Europe. It was a cruise that left from Stockholm, stopped in Helsinki, St. Petersburg (for 2 days), Tallin (Estonia), and Germany, and then ended in Copenhagen. We stayed over in both Stockholm and Copenhagen to spend some time in those cities. It was one of the best trips of my life. However, it was the beginning of my blogging issues in 2 ways; 1) I was planning to live blog the trip, but the internet signal on the ship was too weak for me to be able to do it, 2) I did take notes and planned to make a post after I returned home, but somehow I lost the notebook that had all of the notes (and a number of other potential blog posts). This both depressed and derailed me since I lost a lot of important information., and this started the blog slump.

– Fall was, of course, football season, and I was pleasantly surprised by the success of the Ravens. Amazingly, they kept getting better and better as the season progressed until, unfortunately, it all came crashing down in the playoff loss to Tennessee. But one of the net results was to divert my attention away from blogging.

– And more recently, relocation became my biggest passion. My wife, younger daughter, and I are moving about 90 miles to be closer to my older daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. This involves (in our case) a major cleanup job dealing with tons of clutter in my house. We’ve been working on this for about 2 months now. We also began looking for and have found a new house to move into. All we need now is to be able to figure out how to finance all of this.

And of course, there’s lots of day-to-day stuff (we have 2 dogs, for example as well as a yard that needed to be tended to and lots of other stuff we all have to do).

Clearly, there is nothing profound here, so why did I write this? Well, first of all, one mess has been disentangles, that being my inability to work at this blog for the last 6 months. And there is also another point; any chance of me being bored or having not enough to do is absolutely moot. There may not be as much pressure on me as there was when I was working, but I have been as busy as I have ever been. I still have a decent list of things to get to that I haven’t have enough time to tackle. And I am as happy as I’ve been in a long time. So don’t be afraid of the future. And expect to see more posts from me in the very near future. I have things I want to say, and I hope at least a few folks who want to read about them

To those few that follow this blog, yes it’s been too long since my last post. But this is actually a good thing. Please read below.

So, I have hit two months since I stopped working. And I can honestly say that mostly it’s been a blast. I’m doing all kinds of things that I didn’t have time for in the past (like playing golf regularly (and I’m really getting into it), learning about meteorology, writing, etc.) in addition to the things I have to do. I’ve been so busy lately that one of the things that is suffering is this blog, but I’ll try to write more often. There are so many things I want to do that sometimes I think I need to start making a daily schedule. In other words, I am anything but bored, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. But I am not complaining.

We spent this past weekend with our 2 year old granddaughter. It’s been great to be able to watch her grow and learn and be able to participate in it (even more so now that I’m not working). It’s easier to watch her develop than it was with my own kids because I don’t have so many responsibilities like I did when my daughters were growing up, so I can pay more attention (apologies to my daughters; I did the best I could, and I did notice your development and growth, too). It also helps not being the primary caregiver, though my wife and I hope to do more of that next year when we plan to move close to where my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter live). Just sitting back and watching her figure things out is quite enjoyable. Her brainpower must be growing exponentially by the day. But her best feature is her unconditional love of her parents, her family, and (of course) Elmo. As you get older and see the craziness of the world today, it’s very refreshing to see that she (and most humans before the age of 4 or 5) love people and things for who and what they are. So what happens to kids between age 4 and adulthood? Well they change an awful lot. Part of it is probably natural and simply due to an aging brain and the need to survive. Part of it has to do with interactions with other kids, and kids can be rough on each other. But mainly ,IMO, it is once the adults start planting their worldviews into kids’ brains that they lose the capacity to love and think like they did as kids. In essence, we start (and then continue) the process of closing their once completely open minds. And it doesn’t help that many school curricula are light on teaching critical thinking skills. We need to do better. Maybe if we treat our kids better, there will be a lot less close-mindedness and division in the world. I know I will do my best (without overdoing) to help my daughters teach their kids (assuming there will be others someday) to be caring, loving, and thinking adults.

And I was wondering if I would have enough to do once I stopped working? I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to keep up with everything I wanted to, including writing in this blog. But now, it’s time for a new entry.

Most of us listened to a lot of music when we were growing up (or if you’re young enough, listen). And most of heard (repeatedly) things like “turn it down!’ and “how can you listen to that noise!” from our parents. And maybe those of us who became parents have said those things to our kids (I probably did, but I don’t think it was too often). Anyway, where I’m going with this is that a lot of the music most of us listen to is the same music we listened to when we were young. My favorite music types are as follows (not necessarily in order):

• R&B from the mid ’60s to the mid ’70s, including Motown (ending with the introduction of disco)
• Jazz from the mid ’50s to the mid to late ’60s (mostly mainstream, I can’t deal with avant-garde).
• Classic rock (’60s to about mid ’80s)
• A fair number of ’50s and early ’60s oldies

Broad strokes, but you get the picture.

So I’m pretty consistent with my profile. However, there is a lot of music outside of the above list that I like and listen to, just not as consistently. So you might catch me listening to Peaceful by Helen Reddy or In My House, by Mary Jane Girls, or What’s My Name Again by Blink 182, or I’m not Dead Yet from Spamalot, or The Trial by Roy Hargrove. I continued to listen to music as I aged and expanded my horizons. For one thing, I was a DJ for about 2 years (1984-1986, I worked in bars and at parties for a cousin of mine to make so extra cash), so I was able to keep current for a while after I stopped listening to the radio (more on that later). When my kids were growing up, they would watch music videos, which were probably at peak popularity in the ’90s. I often watched as well, mostly to make sure they weren’t watching videos that were too explicit. But at the same time, I did get to know some of the music of the ’90s, and some of it is very good (some not so much). And my younger daughter has occasionally turned on the car radio to listen to more recent pop music. I don’t think much of that stuff (too much techno and not enough instrumentation), but I occasionally hear one that’s I like. And my younger daughter also introduced me to Broadway music. I don’t love all of it, but again, some of it is great, especially live. That’s kind of same way I feel about classical; I enjoy listening to it live much more than hearing it on a CD or the radio.

With Jazz, it was a little different. I began listening to Jazz as a teenager but really got into in my 30s. We moved to New England, and I had consistently long commutes. Combine this with the proliferation of CDs and CD players and a store, Newberry Comics, which had a great CD collection, and I began rapidly collecting Jazz CDs. I would listen to one CD on the way to work and one on the way beck. I have over 100 of them now from many different artists. I don’t listen as much as I used to, but it’s nice to have a relatively comprehensive collection.

I also think that me sharing my music with my daughters exposed them to a lot of music from the past that they now like. Each of them are big Beatles fans, they both like Motown a lot. I went to see the Temptations with one daughter and Billy Joel with the other. We’ve always bonded through music. FYI, I saw Jethro Tull last year with my sister and brother-in-law (they introduced me to lots of music, and I grew up listening to my sister’s 45s). Great show. And I have a new friend who wants to share his favorite music with me (and me with him). I can’t wait to get together.

Sadly, radio ain’t close to what it used to be. When I was young, many radio stations played a good mix of Top 40 (and beyond) music. In a given hour, you might hear songs by the Grass Roots, Wilson Pickett, and the Who. Nowadays, almost every station (including those on Sirius XM or cable TV) is specialized for a single genre of music. And lots of stations have pretty short playlists which you get tired of within a few hours (there are a few, but only a few exceptions). Some people want it that way, but I would never have been exposed to the music I love now with today’s format. My dream job, if I could get it, would be to have a 4 hour radio show every day where I could play whatever I wanted. In my dream, people would actually listen to it. Maybe in future entries, I’ll post some playlists.

Suffice it to say that music has been a very important and critical part of my life. I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels that way.

This is a pretty long post and probably a bit unexpected, but this is some of what has been in my mind lately, so I thought I’d post about it.

If you happened to read my first 2 posts, then you know that I am not an economist (nor do I play one on TV). In fact, when I was growing up, I frankly could have cared less. I’ll never forget one morning when I was riding to school with my great friend (his pop owned a gas station, so he had a car). He usually had an all-news station going on the radio. When the business report came up that morning, he declared that he intended to major in economics (I don’t remember if I prompted him by saying something like, “Who cares about this stuff?”). We were probably 16 or 17 at the time, and it was the first time I recall him revealing his intended major, and I was surprised since almost all we ever talked about was sports and sometimes girls. And while me, the meteorologist to be, changed course, he went on to achieve a Masters degree in economics and used that knowledge to work as an economist for a while, then go on to have a long career in the world of sports. I gradually began to become interested at least generally in the economy, mostly due to my interest in politics and in job security. As time moved on, my interest included investing to be able to get my kids through college. And more recently, I my interest has continued to grow as I tried to prepare for life after work. In addition to my great friend the economist, I have become friends with another economist who works as a financial advisor, and I now have a (different) financial advisor my wife and I work with. I have conversations with all of these smart folks, I read anything they give me, and I pepper them with questions and some of my own comments/views. And every so often, they tell me that my thoughts/views/opinions aren’t totally bizarre. They even occasionally agree with me. I also think that my investment strategy has set us up for a comfortable retirement. I’m even reading books like The Undercover Economist (Tim Harford), The Courage to Act (Ben Bernanke), Too Big to Fail (Andrew Ross Sorkin), and several of Tom Friedman’s books and liking them (and understanding some of what they’re saying). And there’s more; I’ve been watching a lot of CNBC recently. It’s been a real education for me. Now, given all of that verbiage, here’s this pseudo-economist’s view of parts of the current economy:

The positive:

• Overall, the unemployment numbers continue to look really positive (now at ~3.6%; the chart’s a bit dated). We appear to be at, or nearly at, all-time lows in unemployment. Yes, I know there are many ways to measure this value, but the trend has been positive for almost a decade. Practically every place I shop continues to be in hiring mode, I am constantly hearing from recruiters and getting messages about job fairs, and there also appear to be lots of job openings on sites like Linked In. I’m not looking for work at the moment, but I’m pretty confident that if I either suddenly wanted to get a job in my field or just have some extra spending money in my pocket, I would be able to get employed pretty quickly. This is a good feeling to have.
• Inflation is very low, despite the strong economy. According to what I have heard many economists say, this is surprising given the recent GDP numbers. In fact, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates thrice (I love that word) last year at least partly in anticipation of an increase in inflation that hasn’t materialized. At least that’s my understanding. The President and some pundits think they should roll it back a bit. Hell, even gas prices haven’t moved too much despite expectations that they were on the verge of a serious uptick.
• The stock market (despite the US-China trade war jitters of the past few days) has been quite good overall since 2009. As someone who was pretty heavily invested in the market during the last 10 years, this has worked out quite well for me. Now that we have to live off the income I generated this way, we’re backing off some to help assure that our money lasts, but I still am keeping a potion of our money invested because I agree with those who say, “you can’t beat the S&P.”
• The recession that has been predicted by a fairly large number of experts to have arrived by now still hasn’t. Many are predicting it for 2020. Maybe thy are right, and nothing lasts forever, but it’s hard for me to believe that we’re on the precipice of a serious downturn.

Having said all of this, I still am pretty uneasy about this economy, especially toward those who are middle class and/or young. Here’s why:

• Even now, many of the jobs being created are fairly low paying jobs. While certainly better than nothing, these jobs are not going to raise large numbers of people out of poverty or debt. And though it hurts to say this, for many of the newly crated high tech positions, there are not a lot of US citizens that can perform them due either to lack of education and/or desire to achieve the necessary level of education/training.
• Although unemployment and inflation levels are both very low, wages have struggled to outpace inflation. When you achieve a certain income level, a 2-3% raise might not seem so bad (like for me in the last half-dozen years). But when you’re making, let’s say, $50,000, that kind of raise doesn’t buy you a whole lot.
• While the tax cuts may have created some jobs, it is now clear to those of us making less than $250,000 that this legislation in fact raised our income taxes. This was intended largely for the wealthy and big business, and as with other tax cuts targeted to those groups, they will keep much more than they spend on job creation.
• Both the US government and most of the citizens living under it are in deep debt. If my wife and I did one thing right financially, we stayed out of debt and bought what we could afford. The current pattern is not sustainable, and at some point we will have to pay the piper or risk going into deep recession (remember 2009?). Belts need to be tightened, and that includes the runaway military spending that is taking place. I don’t see it happening, nor do I see any politician with the will to realistically address it.
• Although I agree with President Trump (something I don’t often say) with regard to the issues with China, especially pertaining to intellectual property, I don’t think we can win a trade war with them for several reason; 1) China can hold out longer than us. Because it is a dictatorship, the government can much more easily pass the pain onto the citizens, who have no power to fight back. At some point, even Trump’s most loyal supporters will lose patience if they can’t afford to buy cell phones, 2) Because of point 1, China has more time to look elsewhere and find other trade partners, who will give in to the cheaper goods. The current Administration is pissing off a lot of our usual allies, and they might not side with us if we levy tariffs on them (as we are threatening), 3) Many of those “Made in China” goods (clothes and sneakers, for example) are made in (relatively) low tech factories using cheap labor. Can we bring back those types of jobs and get US workers to do them, especially if the wages are low?
• I won’t get into Social Security, health care, or the potential effects of global warming now.

Well, there you have it. I hope I didn’t bore you. It’s high level and simplistic, but I suspect that many politicians don’t know a lot more. And I’d love to hear from some of you, especially if you think I’m off-base.