Last weekend was Uncle Joe's 92nd birthday. As we have for the past few years, Flo and I went down to Florida for a long weekend to see Uncle Joe and other relatives who no longer travel north. Joe is a survivor, both literally and figuratively. He survived the Warsaw Ghetto. He has had his share of loss and illness. But Joe was always a vibrant, athletic man who set an example for all of us in how to enjoy life in retirement.

Today, January 18, marks the 24th anniversary of ALL 50 states celebrating Martin Luther King Day.   He was born Michael King on January 15, 1929. He would have been 88 last Sunday.

  In January 2007, Apple announced that the first iPhone would shortly be released. It has been ten years since Apple’s first smartphone.    

In the world of social media, “likes” are very important. I recently noticed that  my daughter had taken down a picture she had posted on Instagram. When I asked her why the photograph was removed she told me, “Because I didn’t get enough “likes” in the first hour it was up.”  

In my weekly eve and weekend games, the same expectation applies to all players: Get open, get ball, shoot.  And some I play with demonstrate phenomenal shots and range.  I know my spots and when to slide or roll after a pick.

Have you every gotten frustrated and angry at our government institutions (I know;) Here's a captial idea...pay your government bill with pennies.   In fact a business owner recently did this. Nick Stafford paid a DMV bill of $2,987.45 using five wheelbarrows filled with 300,000 pennies.   The employees at the DMV office in Lebanon, Virginia were forced to count each penny by hand to confirm they totaled the right amount, which they did.  

Recently, Ben blogged re our most worthy Advocates initiative. Another of our great under the radar Gotham initiatives available to all members is our peer mentor program.   Administered by Flo Feinberg, it matches Gotham peer members in a unique counter intuitive manner.  We seek to hook up 2 people from 2 different worlds so that their shared experience is potentially so much wider.  Thus, when one peer asks the other "Have you ever faced this situation before?" the response allows for broadened horizons and shared experience. 

Every week, on Friday afternoon, towards the end of the workweek, I get a subliminal message reminding me to wish a good friend a "Good Sabbath" - a "Shabbat Shalom" - in anticipation of the imminent arrival of sundown. We exchange the greeting, whether in a text message, voice call or, on rare occasion, in a face-to-face exchange, and whether initiated by him or by me.