Do you have an appetite for risk?

Risk can take many forms: physical, financial, social, emotional, intellectual, creative, legal and (feel free to add more to fill in the blank).

As one who espouses a "Dare to be great" philosophy I have taken risks in my career, but as I mature my wife perceives a growing tendancy towards risk aversion. Maybe I've had my fill of risky business.

Do you walk the tight rope without a net?

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I heard that the weather was abnormally cool in New York for the Memorial Day weekend. We were in Prague and the weather was about the same --- the coldest weather that they have had at this time of year in fifty years. And it rained.   It was fitting weather for our visit to Terezin -- the site of a ghetto and concentration camp near Prague during the second world war. It would have been incongruous to visit such an awful place under sunny spring skies.   Although my parents...

It was a simple proposition that I generated from a variety of thoughts.   Part of it came from the repeated Rutgers "scandals".  Part of it came from conversations I've had with my sister who is both a teacher and a mother of a special needs child.  Part of it was conceived throughout Memorial Day weekend as I watched episodes of MASH, a special on D-Day and the first half hour or so of Saving Private Ryan.  Part of it came from my long time argument about the selling of sex...

Driving around my neighborhood on Memorial Day, I made the following observation. My house was the only one displaying the American flag. A little disconcerting. Growing up, my father religiously put the flag out on our front porch in Brooklyn on Memorial Day, July Fourth and probably a few other holidays during the year. I don’t really remember talking about it -- the flag was just part of the tradition. We weren’t alone. The American flag flew all over the place in our...

I was asked to discuss at a meeting  this week, how the South Shore was doing six months after Sandy. I talked about many of the businesses that still haven’t come back. I also spoke about all the homes that still haven’t or are just beginning to undergo construction.   Without realizing that I would, I spent a lot of time discussing  the color green. One effect of the storm that I did not expect is that the salt water kills grass, shrubbery, and trees. For the longest...

This topic is inspired by Fred's post on "Failure."  It is the urge, or obsession, that everything has to be just right.   Whenever I get my haircut, and my haircutter Audrey is the best, I return home and carefully examine it.  I see that she missed one little hair, it is sticking out like a flagpole.  I take out my scissors and snip away.  Later, noticing another area that seems a tad too long, I take off another clump.  Having messed up what was fine to begin with, I have ...

We all want the silver bullet when it comes to exercise and diet. This will add fuel to the fire...a recent article in the May-June issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal says you only need about 7 minutes performing 12 specific exercises (image on left) using only a chair and a wall, no weights or machines. It has been proven by scientists that even a few minutes of training at an intensity approaching your maximum capacity produces m...

Failure is something which we all inevitably experience, one time or another, in our lifetime. That said, I feel that failure gets a bad rap. The common impression is that failure should be avoided and covered up at all costs. To the contrary, it is the fear of failure that is the negative. Thus, playing it safe is the common approach. However, as one who has failed mightily (eg, the Bar exam) I feel that such failure can be a seminal moment in one's life. The feeling of sham...

By the time this blog is posted and being read, we will, hopefully, be safe and sound in Prague. We are flying Lufthansa, the German airline. For many years as I grew up, Germany -- and it’s products -- were persona non grata for my family and generally prohibited. As a child, I learned to be sensitive to a product’s country of origin, and “Made in Germany” was a non-starter. My father (who, as most know was a holocaust survivor) was a printer and had a small printing bu...

There is a TV show on HBO called Girls that I have likened to watching a car accident.  I understand that my taste might not be everyone's and I can accept that.  What I'm curious about is how badly it makes it's female characters look.   I have wondered if the same exact show were made by a man rather than Lena Dunham, whether women would be screaming bloody murder about the negative portrayal of women.  Has the concept of "likable characters" just gone by the wayside?!?...

Prom season is upon us. Dresses -- matching tuxedos – flowers – dates -- pre-party – limos -- after-party -- and the list continues Growing up in Brooklyn, I did not experience any aspect of prom season for the simple reason that we did not have one. But living now on Long Island, the role of prom as a rite-of-passage comes through loud and clear. Will you share with us a prom experience? ...

This past weekend began a very exciting period for my husband and me.  All four of our children are graduating this spring. My daughter and step daughter graduated college this past weekend. My other daughter and step son graduate high school in June. The overwhelming emotion my husband and I are feeling is pride. With respect to our older children, we are proud of their accomplishments while in college and their choices in pursuing post-graduate education. We are even ...

Thursday was a beautiful day so I took the day off and Eve and I drove up to Amenia for a 21 mile bike ride.  The sun was blazing and the air was warm as we started along the Harlem Valley Rail trail past the farms and hills of Dutchess County.   We came upon an open stretch of the path with a lovely large pond bounded by a hill on the far side and the trail on the other.  In the distance we saw some geese and as we got closer saw a mommy and daddy and about three or four yel...

The Syrian Electronic Army (S.E.A.) successfully attacked the NY Times yesteday. This is the same "army" that hacked the Twitter account of the A.P. and drove the stock market down by Tweeting that there were explosions at the White House.   We have a cyber army and so does Russia, England, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and of course China. Just about every country has one...even Bangladesh.   Anyone can start one. Just get together some smart, computer saavy people, create a name a...

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