Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

I don’t often read Charles Krauthammer’s column, but for some reason I read it today. As usual, I didn’t agree with most of it, but he had a metaphor for writing a daily column that I think applies neatly to writing a blog. He said, “…is like being married to a nymphomaniac ― as soon as you’re done, you’ve got to do it again.” I consider that a good excuse for skipping a day or two now and then. Where shall I start today? Important stuff first. It’s 2:00 pm and our driveway has not been cleared of the nine inches of snow we had yesterday and last night. This is very unusual; normally the snow is cleared early in the morning. I called and left a message, but it’s Sunday, so who knows when it will be delivered? Now for the unimportant(?) stuff. Among other things, politics has been defined as the art of the possible. Obama got two huge lessons in pragmatism in the past three days: first at Copenhagen , where he salvaged an agreement to agree, but little else. He almost wound up with...

I have been elected to the post of treasurer of the Residents’ Council at Luther Acres. It will be my job to keep track of the receipts and disbursements of the council’s funds. Each month I will also be expected to report to the council on the financial activities for the prior period. I have already received some feedback on the format of the monthly report; the gist of it is that it is too complicated. The residents say they are old people, inexperienced in financial terminology, and as a result I need to keep it simple. What complicates matters is that the Executive Committee of the Council needs to see where they are in relation to the budget which is set up at the beginning of the year. And it seems to be the budget that is confusing the main council. I have some ideas about what to do, and I shall try them out, first at the Executive Committee meeting, and if approved there, at the general council meeting. As so many things seem to do lately, this situation appears, at l...

I have been playing bridge since 2005. I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I would like to learn the game, and shortly thereafter I was invited to substitute in the Wednesday night game at Luther Acres, the retirement village in which she lived. As it happened, she was the organizer for the Wednesday night group. I bought “Bridge For Dummies” and proceeded to read it. After four years I am still reading it. I suppose I didn’t stumble too badly, although I felt really stupid by the time that first evening was over. All I could do was hold the cards and follow suit. I also was the dummy in more ways than one. Even though my mother-in-law has been gone for three years, I have been invited to “substitute” almost every week since then. Bridge is a very humbling game. Whenever I think I am beginning to get the hang of it, I run up against reality. Experts tell me one never stops learning about the game, and I believe them. I read the daily bridge column in the newspaper, and about half t...