High School Reunion

Posted inColumns

Twenty-five years ago, I wanted to move on more than anything. I had just a few weeks before I graduated high school and looked forward to the next challenge in life.

I can’t say that I had a horrible time in high school. I took part in a number of activities, did well enough in the classroom and have lots of fond memories. But I never really created a solid core of friends.

Most of the time, I hung out on the fringes. I could blame the distance between my home and the school – I commuted from one side of Baltimore to the other – but grade school classmates of mine had no problem finding their place in the social scene.

By the time I got over my fear of getting in trouble, the time had pretty much come to leave for college. So I just had what fun I could, then went off to the wilds of western Pennsylvania to start over.

I’m getting a little nostalgic about all of this because I went to my 25-year high school reunion the other week. Actually, I passed on the formal reunion event for a number of reasons and attended the more casual Happy Hour event with 25 or so guys.

Gaga for Gadgets

Posted inColumns

I remember coming home one day as a teenager to a deafening roar inside the house. Puzzled, I walked into the kitchen to find my mother, basically nonplussed by the noise. I looked at her quizzically.

“Your father has a new toy,” she said.

For some reason, Dad decided we needed surround sound for our television. Mind you, this was the mid-1980s so the technology was fairly primitive. Dad didn’t care and felt he needed to turn the sound all the way up to make the proper adjustments to the system.

Part of me found his ideas pretty kooky, but I have learned over the past 30 years or so that he had the exact right idea when it came to gadgets. You can never have enough of them.

Even with this mindset, I have resisted the siren song of one particularly fun item – a fancy cell phone. Well, that is until a few weeks ago.

I finally upgraded from my pre-paid, no-frills phone to a low-cost monthly plan which includes a touch-screen phone. I didn’t go for the full-on smartphone, but I have enough fun things to play with now.

That’s the problem.

Suitcase Paranoia

Posted inAmerica, Columns

I generally like change. People who cower at anything out of the ordinary bother me. But some changes make me step back and wonder what’s going on.

When I came home from work one day last week, something new sat in the dining room. We have started to look at a bunch of repairs we need around the house, so I had grown used to new things around the house. This one, however, stood out.

My wife bought a new suitcase.

On its own, I might have dismissed the whole thing. After all, she did say she just happened upon a really good price. She wasn’t wrong when she said that the one suitcase we mainly use for travel has seen better days.

So the whole concept made complete sense. Except if you have an underlying paranoia like I do.

Hooray! Another Singing Competition

Posted inAmerica, Columns, Music

I was just sitting around the other week thinking, “We don’t have enough television shows which judge people’s singing ability.”

Well, to be honest, I didn’t say that. I would never say that. But some television executive said it at some point because NBC has started hyping a new show to find a hidden talent.

I can certainly understand the need for another show like this. After all, singers around the country have no way of letting others discover their talent. America certainly suffers from a shortage of performing venues, karaoke nights and web sites which allow people to promote their own work.

And the agents and talent scouts certainly don’t have the ability anymore to go beat the bushes and find someone who they think can develop into a musical superstar. Why work hard when they will audition for you like trained seals?

Besides, we all know success comes down to someone standing there singing. The band which actually plays the music and – gasp – may even write their own songs doesn’t really make a difference. We only care about young, pretty people singing.

At least we used to. The new show coming to TV tonight should solve all of that. The judges will take a massive step and listen to the performers … are you ready for this … with their backs turned so they only make their judgement based on what they hear.

I wonder why some people think we have failed to progress as a society.

Soup Season Is Over

Posted inColumns, Family, Food

Like most adults, my life basically revolves around calendars. I have many of these I need to follow with varying degrees of importance.

At the top of the heap sits the calendar on the side of the refrigerator. That carries all the important information I need to make sure I end up in the right place at the right time.

Because of that, I need to check this calendar regularly. Just because something shows up on there does not mean I already knew about the event. Such is the life of the only male in the house.

But that calendar also drives the calendar I keep. This one has important sporting events on it or other key events that really only matter to me. I keep this calendar online so I can make sure I have continuous access to this information.

So keeping the two calendars – plus any work events which might affect my plans – in sync can provide a tremendous challenge. I have managed to handle this task, but now find myself vexed by a different problem: unwritten calendars.

Navigating Like It’s 1981

Posted inAmerica, Catonsville, Columns

I had to take a different route than usual home from work the other day. I had an event to attend in downtown Baltimore so it just made sense at the time.

Luckily, I left before the real bad part of the afternoon rush hour started so I figured I could potentially cruise home with no problem. Once again, I don’t know why I trust my instincts.

I hadn’t even merged from I-95 to the Baltimore Beltway when I saw the first sign of trouble. Cars were already backed up after I passed the point of no return for that exit. I quickly turned on the radio to try and suss out the trouble.

An accident ahead had limited traffic to one lane. I listened to the location of the problem and made a quick decision. I had to pretend I was 13 years old again.

Coffee Panic

Posted inCoffee, Columns
I thought I had planned everything perfectly. I scheduled two days off for the beginning of March Madness and the NCAA wrestling tournament. If I went into work on those…

Packaging Our Secrets

Posted inAmerica, Columns

The way things go these days, we hear a lot about national security and how we have to protect the secrets which keep us safe.

I don’t really believe in conspiracy theories or anything. I think the government puts the best people it can in the jobs that matter. Of course, this doesn’t always work out how everyone hopes.

No magic solution exists. However, I think I know how we can better develop a system from keeping our secrets out of the hands of our enemies. We need to bring in the people who package our electronics.