Or maybe not. I was on the trip home one day last week engrossed in reading something on my phone when I noticed a commotion behind me. We were stopped at Jamaica and an unruly passenger had come into my car, loud, angry, carrying way too many bags and disheveled. He was yelling at everyone around him and clearly making the crowd nervous. With that a woman who could have ben his grandmother jumped in and asked him what was wrong. Still loud and angry, he told her that...

  During this time of the year a lot of people talk about or write about their resolutions. Anyone who knows me knows that every year I make the same resolution, I’m going to watch my weight. This year I gave a lot of thought to my resolution and what propensities of mine I really wanted to work on changing. I came up with two.       First, I resolved to try to watch my language, that being, to control my cursing. That lasted until I was back in my office on January 2, 2020. ...

Had some friends over yesterday. The “gathering” centered around the need to review and update some membership records in my home Knights of Pythias Lodge. Since Bob needed to come in from New Jersey, the original plan was he’d come with his wife who’d join my wife for some shopping. The plans grew to include two other couples. Dinner was to follow. Interestingly, the girls just chose to socialize; their call. Bob and I completed our work rather efficiently so my office which...

Fred's blog a week ago inspired quite a bit of comments. Some of them were very passionate about their beliefs on current events. This caused me to think about truth and what it really means. I've learned that there can be two types of truth...empircal and convenient.   Empirical truth is based on evidence, research and reason. It is the truth that scientists seek. It is the truth that people seek when they want to achieve predictable results.   Empirical truth is hard ...

At my stage in life my aim is to maintain my quality of life, ie, keep on keeping on.  So it seems, for me, there can only be one New Year’s resolution...

How about you?

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I first saw it as a fraud alert. The second reference was a professional suggestion forwarded to me. In case you haven’t seen it, I thought I’d share... Abbreviating 2020, as in 1/9/20, could be a problem — Especially in legal documents. The fear is that digits could be added causing confusion, or worse. For example, 1/9/20 could be changed to 1/9/2021. Let’s not speculate on the untoward causes of such an alteration, or its impact; the fact is to avoid the problem in...

Nicknames. One word descriptors. A catchy phrase that sums up a person. A personal tag line. A tag line you give someone else. Interesting introspection. We were sitting at Sea Salt restaurant “people watching” late last week in Naples when a person in our party began to describe various locals. “Drummer Charlie”, “Bob the complainer“, “Reese Pieces”, “chatty Joy”, Bob the sucker”, the list goes on. Crazy how everyone knew exactly who we were referring to with these descript...

  Here I go again. This is my first blog of the new year and I have a tradition. I blog about resolutions. I’ve always had this theory that saying it out loud would hold me accountable – as if each and every one of you counted as my own personal mirror. (And yes, I know that “resolutioning” is not a word – but this time of year, it has always seemed to me to be more of a verb). I have to admit, though, that my process hasn’t really worked. I make those resolutions every ye...

  My Mom used to say quite often, “Think before you speak.” She would go into further detail with, “Is it necessary?” “Is it kind?”           I’ve been thinking a lot about my Mom’s advice lately. Both for myself and other people. We now live in an age where people share their most private thoughts and words on the internet and social media. Or where we easily communicate through text or email. And it appears that often there is no thought given to the effect one's words may ...

At the end of every year, I compose a review of the top ten shows that I attended. This year. I posted my commentary to my website on New Year’s Day. While I prefer to post on the eve, this year and last I posted on the first day of the year. As with 2018, many of the shows received coverage in this Gotham space (View the links to review those past blogs also linked in the commentary.).   Interestingly one-half of the 2018 top list list finds representation in the list that f...

As is tradition, I offer my predicttions for the coming year. Just as a reminder, here's my record since 2007:   2007 - 1 for 7. (my rookie year:)2008 - 1 for 1 (gutsy picking one but it was spot on)2009 - 3 for 5 2010 - 2 for 32011 - 3 for 3!!! 2012 - 3 for 3!!!2013 I took a break, the launch of the new website took all my attention2014 - 2 for 32015 - 0 for 3, bad year but came close on the stock market2016 - 2 for 4 2017/18 I took a sabbatical2019 - 1 for 4   Since 2007 I...

When I was young Edward R. Murrow was at the crest of his fame as a CBS broadcast journalist which started with his “This is London calling” reports during the Nazi Blitz in early World War II.   During the late 1940s and early 1950s our democracy was plagued by a “Red Scare”, based on the alleged growing influence of Communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy was a chief Red Baiting proponent and tormentor wielding such scare tactics and ruining many lives in his wake.   I remember...

Are you addicted to your cellphone? The question was recently posed to me and I have been considering it for the past few days. Many thoughts.... Addiction is a loaded word. Is it appropriate to our relationship with these now generally accepted standard devices? Obviously useful. Utility or addiction? A little of both? Connection to others at the cost of communication with those around you. I am still amazed when I see two people having dinner at a restaurant. A quiet table,...

  How many of you out there still have a land line at home? We still do but frankly, I am not really sure why. The calls that come in on that landline are mostly sales calls, political calls, important notifications that I have either won a car or an expensive trip or that my computer has acquired a terrible virus that can only be fixed by providing immediate access. You get my point. People who really know and need to reach me call my cell. Why am I keeping that pho...

Last week, we received a holiday card and letter from our cousin. It was filled with news from their family from the past year.   I remember when we used to receive numerous holiday letters from friends and family. They all, generally, would recap the past year and shares what the families had been up to. These letters always made me smile. It made me feel connected to the writers even though they may have been far away. And it gave me a chance to take a moment and catch u...