I just spent the weekend in Denver on business, but that’s a separate post. This one is about a surprise. Several years ago, during a previous life (not physically—I don’t do reincarnation, even in my fiction) a software company squired me to a week in Nashville to learn the finer points of their highly esoteric program suite. They put me up at the Hampton Inn; I was notably unimpressed. I have since never seriously considered that chain for any of my travels. As it happened, I didn’t choose the hotel this time either; everyone was staying at the Hampton Inn. (Sigh) OK, I can be sociable. Well, I’m big enough to admit a prejudice when I see one, especially in myself.
Perhaps because Hampton Inns now live under the Hilton umbrella, or not, this hotel was a full two stars above my Nashville experience. The room was huge, and well appointed. The bath had black granite countertops; the mini-bar came with a microwave. The entire building is a wireless hotspot, and the rooms have high-speed wired hookups—free. The breakfast was not spectacular, but perfectly edible. The staff was outstandingly friendly and helpful. I’ve stayed at worse at twice the price. My only complaints are: 1. The lamp switches are black-on-black and hard to find, and 2. I left my favorite coffee mug there. There are worse things. I’d expect the lot of us will be back same time next year. (If you remember the movie, forget it; strictly business.)
Tags: hotels
Not to denigrate the presidency in any way, but the chief function of the president is, and always will be to lead and inspire the nation. In every technical aspect of the job, whether social, financial, military, or foreign policy, the president has senior staff whose entire lives and talent have been focused on their particular area. The presidency is truly a team effort.
The one area where the president must stand alone is the lectern. He may have speech writers to help chose the best turn of phrase, but the ability to inspire men and women to action, to challenge them to higher standards, to succeed in marshaling the nation behind him is a path he must tread alone. In his inaugural speech, Barack Hussein Obama stepped firmly onto that path. Few others have preceded him.
For Obama, the danger lies in the heightened expectations created by such a masterful speech. To paraphrase the old saw, hell hath no furies like a disappointed nation.
My mindset has always been to expect the best from everyone I meet. My wife has a somewhat more suspicious view of the human race, and together we seem to pass through life with no more than our share of disappointments. Although my wife has the login to allow it, she does not post to this blog, so alone in my family I say, “Lead on, Mr. President, and may God give you strength!”
Tags: Obama
Vacation, for us, is a strange ritual. We’ve be en doing it 25 years now; longer than most of the participants have been alive. I own a little log condo in the lakes area of Minnesota-two bedrooms, a fireplace, a hot tub on a golf course that is, of course, a foot or more deep in snow. It is a winter family reunion of sorts. Not every family member comes, but this year I have two daughters, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren wedged in the place. It simply proves an old definition of mine-intimacy is the ability to enjoy each other’s company without having to do anything special.
I have watched the erosion of this principle over most of my lifetime. Young people are no longer content to sit quietly on a front porch swing and bask in the nearness of someone they love. They feel compelled to do something-sing, dance, have sex, drive fast-it matters little what. It’s doing nothing that is anathema.
During our winter retreat, we do very little. There is the inevitable grocery-shopping foray. There are occasional trips to the community center we (the owners) built for ourselves several years ago with the help of our tireless manager, Neil Narvison. The television is occasionally on (the girls can’t miss Biggest Loser). Mostly we talk, eat, pass babies from lap to lap, and enjoy intimacy.
Rather like trying to describe a round of golf in engineering terms (club head speed, face angle, ball spin, wind speed, etc.), much of the joy is lost in the description. The only way to understand the concept is to experience it.
Find someone you love. Find a quiet spot. Talk-do not debate, or compete, or gossip-talk. The subject is close to irrelevant as long as it does not lead to conflict. Avoid anything resembling an agenda. The near presence of the other should be sufficient. Once you have mastered intimacy of this sort one-on-one, try adding another. Like most worthwhile things, it requires practice.
Tags: relationships
A few days ago, I installed a plug-in to WordPress, the engine that runs this blog. For whatever reason, it created a problem that prevented me from logging in. That means:
· I couldn’t write.
· I couldn’t disable the plug-in.
· I was, in a word, toast.
Enter figaro, an angel (OK guys, angels are not females with wings; that’s a figment of Renaissance art). Figaro is Steve Hyndman when he’s not on the WordPress forum. He teaches WordPress, and helps aging goats like me who have just enough knowledge to get themselves in trouble. He fixed the problem, and said, “…the visitors plugin created an additional table in the database and it was also still listed as being active in the wp-options table….just dropped the extra table and removed it from the active plugins record in wp_options table.” Like I would have been able to do that from instructions.
The internet is driven by people like Steve Hyndman who selflessly give of their time so people like me can do marvelous things in cyberspace without having a degree in Information Technology.
Thanks, Steve, you’re a good man.
Tags: blogs, internet angels