I first wrote this in mid-October of 2020. It was hiding on my computer and I forgot to share it. This is a brutally honest reaction to a difficult time. We are not out of the woods yet, but I didn’t want my kind words about the TV show The West Wing to be missed. It’s been almost 15 years since the last episode of this political epic. I have watched the entire series at least three times now. My most recent viewing was within the last week. I know it is not a coincidence that the real presidential election…
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I was listening to a podcast about leadership earlier today and the guest was talking about being yourself. She used this phrase that really struck me. I paused the podcast and wrote it down. I didn’t want to forget this simple, yet profound idea. I spent the better part of my 20s trying to figure out who I wanted to be. Which interests would I embrace and which would I leave behind? I would speak of my “core self” as if that was a solid piece of rock that never moved. I tested the boundaries of my beliefs and I…
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Sound. Little molecules vibrating through a medium so the tiny bones in our ears can send signals to our brain to process. Even before we are fully developed, we hear our mother’s heartbeat and our father’s favorite music. Perhaps a dog is barking and a lawnmower buzzes around outside the window. As we grow, we learn what the different sounds are, and make our own. A child will learn the language that it is exposed to in the early years. In fact, the earlier the child learns multiple languages, the more likely they will stick. The young human will learn…
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Note: This trip was taken in February 2020 before COVID was a major issue in the USA. I have been pretty much trapped in my tiny apartment since then. Trains: The last time I had been on a train before this had been more than 15 years ago when I had just started Boy Scouts. One of our adult advisors worked for the Railroad and was able to get a few of us on board for a special tour. We walked the length of the train and rode in a fancy sleeper car. It was an adventure! About halfway to…
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From the classic idea of humans finally getting out of their caves and searching for new land, the idea of exploration has fired the imagination. What will be over that next hill? Can we get there faster? What can we bring back home? The love of space exploration has been a main theme in my life. I started young with model rockets and movies of space travel. I observed the planets of our solar system through telescopes. Later on, I watched shows like Star Trek. Voyager is my favorite series, but I like them all. Movies like Apollo 13 showed…
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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power