Musings

When I fly, I like to watch the ground get farther away as the plane climbs into the air. Pretty quickly, the cars, buildings, and roads become small, and the things that are too big to see from the ground come into view. Things look very different from 35,000 feet. Perspective. The ability to see…

I recently watched a documentary about the Yellowstone Caldera and supervolcano. If Yellowstone were to have another large eruption, it would likely be the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). The three historic eruptions in Yellowstone were about one million years apart with the latest being 640,000 years ago, so we probably don’t have anything to…

I was in Kansas City for our annual Sales Summit last week. A great part of travelling is the opportunity to experience local flavor. KC is known for barbeque (specifically burnt ends), but my wife thinks it should be known for narrow winding streets and tiny parking spaces!  The word barbecue comes from the language…

Around 1980, I discovered KCSC, the classical music station from Edmond, Oklahoma’s Central State University. Classical during the day, but after midnight, a show called The Insect Lounge played music that wasn’t seeing the light of day in Oklahoma—punk rock. And I’ve been punk ever since. By 1987, punk was a little more mainstream, and one of…

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This quote from Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” is often used in motivational talks, articles, and Facebook posts. Unfortunately, I believe they misinterpret Oliver’s intentions in writing those lines. The poem describes a day of quiet solitude, paying attention…

After reading a particularly apocalyptic article about AI, I texted a friend who is a Futurist and asked, “Are we all going to die?” His response was, “Yes, we are all going to die. Just not from synthetic intelligence killing us. More from bad eating habits, stress, and lack of exercise.”  I’ve been listening to…

I have a 1969 Mustang coupe named Donna. Actually, I have all the parts of a Mustang. She still needs to be reassembled, which is no easy task. It didn’t take long to take her apart, even allowing for time to take lots of pictures and notes about where everything went. Putting her back together…

My cousin brought something to my attention recently. The song we have all heard a thousand times, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” while still full of longing and melancholy, was originally much darker. Written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for “Meet Me in St. Louis,” Judy Garland thought the original lyrics were too…

Last night, we had a gingerbread house building contest during our last Advent gathering. It has become something of a tradition with our adult kids. Over the years, we did various crafts each Sunday, but, once the kids got older, we ended up just doing the gingerbread houses, and it turned into a competition. This…

I was listening to the radio, and a song by AJR with that title came on. The chorus recites, “I ain’t happy yet, But I’m way less sad.” Sometimes, I find myself in that mental state. Not really happy, but not really sad either. It’s almost like I’m waiting for something to change so I…