There are some stories that you just don’t read about in very many places. I read tonight on the WSJ’s editorial page about an upcoming bail-out for the US Postal Service, which has just about reached the end of a $15 billion line of credit extended to it by the […]
What a lovely day to spend in bed, rain pounding down on the roof, reality television silently playing on the wall-mounted TV, typing out thoughts on my laptop. It’s funny to think that there was once a time that I would have been depressed by a rainy Sunday. Today, I […]
Last night I reached a decision that will finally end the long experiment known as the GoNOMAD Cafe. It’s become clear that it is not a viable business for me, and after a nightmare of trying to fund a payroll, I have set a date for the closing of the […]
Tomorrow morning, try something new. Reach over and switch off that radio. Try turning off that familiar mainstay, WFCR, that has filled your kitchen with news and music for the past fifty years. For many Valley households, it’s just impossible to imagine waking up without NPR’s Morning Edition, and the […]
There was a time, not that long ago, that companies like Wal-Mart could demand that products made in China cost less and less every year. I read tonight in the Wall St. Journal about many reasons that this has changed, and from now on, the story said that prices of […]
Actress Betty White was profiled on CBS’s Sunday Morning program today by Katie Couric, and she was asked if she is ever afraid of dying. At 89 White is the last surviving Golden Girl and the oldest person to ever host Saturday Night Live. “Oh no,” she said. “Not at […]
Often this blog turns out to be a pulpit on which to declare things like resolutions, or for me to share words I read that inspired me. I am still thinking hard about the essay on making the speaker a star, and how to put real effort into carefully listening, […]
Mark Zaccheo thinks big. He is the co-owner of one of Greenfield’s largest apartment buildings and is putting the finishing touches on a 19-unit apartment building that’s as green as you can get. He thinks big because he sees the future and it’s all about energy efficiency, using the sun […]
I discovered wisdom on the Net late last night. I read an essay called The Secret to Connecting with People by David Cain and it was wise and worthy of repeating. A summary: Always let the speaker be the star. Give a person the chance to say their piece, no […]
“We’re not September 11. We’re the fourth of July.” Thomas Friedman spoke to Anderson Cooper decrying our $110 billion per year Afghanistan war and other tragedies. Now that we’ve got Osama, we should be thinking about when we’re going to get out. Egypt is the ballgame, he said. “Can the […]
How often does a book you are told about turn out to be as good as the person thought who recommended it to you? That was the case as I read Bill Bryson’s “In a Sunburned Country,” in which he provides fascinating details about a place most people in the […]
I’m in a new phase of my life, and it’s definitely different from what I am used to. Now I work every day in the cafe, cheerily greeting the customers, washing dishes, mopping the floor and making lattes. For someone who has owned his own cafe for nearly five years, […]