Now, where were we? When I chose to take a break a bit more than a month ago, I was arguably at a low point even by my modest standards, and in hindsight it showed at every level. Even when people were doing something that had the chance to be right, more often that not … Read more
My best friend, for reasons I can’t possibly try to sensibly go into publicly, has given me the pet name of “Brock”. So I was kind of rooting for Mr. Purdy, that young up-and-comer quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, who led his underdog team to overtime and down the field with an impressive seven-minute-plus … Read more
If I have anything resembling a mantra that I do my best to reinforce every waking moment, it’s the one I often had to remind disbelieving executives with whenever I’d be the bearer of ratings news or testing reports that went against every instinct they had had when they put blood, sweat and tears, and … Read more
These days, I’m subserviant and a slave exclusively to data and information, not to the whims and the wishes of anyone who might want to control how and why I believe. It clearly frustrates quite a bit of people who might somehow see this as a sign of my ultimate demise. I know this because … Read more
When my best friend was exploring options for where to take their soon-to-be 91-year-old grandmother for a New Year’s Day brunch, they were handicapped by the fact that the nearest and what they saw as the most fiscally responsible option that was open was a Burger King. When I heard that was under consideration, I … Read more
If you want to know how to get on my bad side, just try reassuring me in the manner that someone in an online chat group recently tried to when I remarked that I was having lots of trouble sleeping lately, most recently due to a persistent shoulder and neck ache. “You’re getting old!”, this … Read more
My mom, rest her tortured soul, didn’t offer much sage advice during her truncated life that has stuck with me at all lo so many decades later. But two, usually delivered with a gravely, scolding tone, do still stay ingrained in my essence: Cover your mouth when you cough. If you have nothing nice to … Read more
So Claudine Gay is out as Harvard’s president, mere months after she was elevated to such a prestigious position. Plenty of people with more extreme views than I are doing victory laps over this, and those still in her camp are decrying this as yet another concession to what they see as the cancerous influence … Read more
Christmas might be a big, happy, family and friend-filled big deal for you, and I envy you far more than you can realize for that. In recent years, though, it’s been especially lonely, as what little family I have is far away geographically and, in some cases, light years removed emotionally. Same thing with friends, … Read more
