Why’s it “Black Friday,” anyway? Here’s a good Gizmodo article on how to avoid Black Friday ripoffs.
So, it’s 6:21AM and I feel a gym trip beckoning, but for now I’ll just exercise 2 of my fingers. For the record, that would be the index finger of my left hand and the middle finger of my right. Strange. Considering how much I tap, maybe Mavis can still teach this old dog.
When I was in Vegas earlier this month, gerontologist Ken Dychtwald was our keynote speaker, and a fine headliner to our cool opening video on the changing workforce, but that’s not important right now.
During his presentation on the evolving expectations of generations, Mr. Dychtwald attributed a quote to former “Original 7” astronaut and US Senator John Glenn, who in 1998 became the oldest human to enter space. At the time Glenn was criticized for the trip by some who saw it as a publicity shot for an old politician. True or not, his response got me scribbling in the canyon of a conference center: “Just because I’m about to turn 77 doesn’t mean I don’t still have dreams.” Once I got home, I transcribed those words onto a greeting card featuring a monkey smoking a cigar. I sent that South to another man looking at a 77th birthday, but one who seems to have let go of his dreams. Since the passing of his wife of 30 years in 2007, Dad has confined himself to a solitary life, even though he has many friends and acquaintances in “the Villages.” Most times it seems futile, but I always encourage Dad to “get out there.”
Yesterday as we danced and laughed in the car on our way to “Nana’s” for dinner, Megan, Kyle and I howled while discussing how long it would take Dad to say, “Lee, I gotta go. I gotta pee like a race-hoss.” To our gleeful surprise, Dad didn’t have to pee, but he had to go. “I’m going out for Thanksgiving dinner with Dick and Kay.”
Thanks John Glenn.
Leo, where is your national debt clock? Before Obama took office, it was a constant feature of your blog. It has conspicuously disappeared…along with money from my wallet and my hope for less government control of my personal life. How's that HOPE and CHANGE working out for ya?
I got rid of it. It's my blog. You want a debt clock? Get your own blog, Mr. Anonymous. Oh, your taxes have increased, have they? I must have missed that news. It would be just awful if we actually paid for the wars that helped get us here. I'm so sorry you don't care for the stimulus spending or the effort to reform health care. I guess if the dollars aren't going directly into the pockets of war profiteers or giant insurance companies, then it's wasteful, right? As for HOPE and CHANGE, I'm hoping for more of it, while you hope for a Palin-Beck ticket.
Beck-Palin.