Posted inEntertainment

Streaming shows I’ve liked recently

This is the third, and last, installment of my hit blog post series (in my own mind, at least) about streaming shows I've liked in 2023. First two posts are here and here. Billions -- Various streaming servicesYeah, I know. This series, which had seven seasons, kicked off in 2016 and concluded this year. But I came late to the Billions party. I started watching it in 2023, can't remember exactly when. Once I started, I was completely and utterly hooked on Billions. I couldn't watch anything else during my Me Time for streaming. (My wife and I watch some…
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Posted inPhilosophy

A message for those having a hard time during the Christmas season

Many people, well, most people I'm sure, enjoy the Christmas season. Vacation. Gifts. Relatives. Eating. Drinking. Football. And for Christians, the birth of Jesus. But for others, and I'm largely in your camp, all of these festivities, well-wishing, and positivity grate on their nerves, because for reasons unique to each person, the Christmas season isn't a time for celebration. After all, as the Buddha pointed out, life is suffering. Or at least, full of disappointment. Sure, it's possible to put on a happy face and ignore this truth, but ignore it or not, that truth remains.  Many people are lonely.…
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Posted inSports

Oregon State and Washington State get a $255 million Pac-2 settlement

Santa Claus came early for the two remaining members of the Pac-12 conference, Oregon State and Washington State. For yesterday there was an announcement that $255 million will be under their metaphorical Christmas trees, courtesy of a settlement agreement with the ten departing members of the conference. Sports writer John Canzano described the agreement in his Bald Faced Truth substack column that I subscribe to. Jayathi Murthy called me at 6:30 a.m. PT on a Saturday in Week 2 of the college football season. The Oregon State president was ticked off about what happened to the Pac-12 and the attempts…
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Posted inFood and drink

Why I prefer Chroma Coffee drops to other acid reducers

I like coffee. But the acidic aspect of coffee causes me problems. As noted below, I've tried several acid reducing products. After learning about the Chroma Coffee drops, they've become my favorite. Yesterday I received another order from the Chroma Coffee owner, Jack. As with my initial order, a handwritten note was included with the drops. Hey, you won't get that with any acid-reducing product you order from Amazon.  Jack referred to a review I left on his web site.  Pleased to find these drops I'd been using acid reducing drops from another source, which went out of business. That…
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Posted inGrowing older Home life

Our 2023 Christmas letter is about cars that act like old bodies

Here's our 2023 Christmas letter, hot off the press of my mind this afternoon after I decided that I really wanted to write it, notwithstanding my wife having said that we shouldn't send one out this year, because there's nothing interesting to report on in our lives. To which I thought, What?! How could that be, given all that happened with us in 2023? What she meant, I think, is that we haven't gone on any exciting trips or done anything noteworthy. That may be true, but exciting and noteworthy is in the eye of the beholder. Plus, that's not the…
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Posted inGrowing older

Hearing “Hey, Old Man!” got me thinking about people treated as an object

Above is the short version of what happened to me yesterday in downtown Salem (Oregon). But since I'm a wordy Old Man, I'm going to share a longer version.  As background, I am indeed old, 75. And a man.  So it doesn't bother me when my Tai Chi instructor, whom I've known for about 22 years, beginning with his instruction in a hard style martial art, refers to me in class as Old Man. For I'm the oldest man in the class, though my instructor is 70, just five years behind me. But it did bother me when I was…
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Posted inSalem

CASA of Marion County helps children in an inspiring way

Last Thursday CASA of Marion County had their annual luncheon in downtown Salem's Reed Ballroom. Vanessa Nordyke, CASA Executive Director, invited my wife and me to the event, which is both a fundraiser and an opportunity to showcase what CASA does. I was somewhat familiar with CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) because my daughter, Celeste, had served as one in Orange County, California. But I didn't even know what CASA stood for until the luncheon. I came away highly impressed. A page in the event handout describes how CASA of Marion County helps foster children. A You Tube video I…
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Posted inHome life Philosophy

A kitchen faucet problem reminds me of the wisdom in “I could be wrong”

I don't like to be wrong. But I dislike problems that defy fixing even more, whether these be personal, political, or any other sort. And what I've learned from painful experience is that when I believe I'm absolutely right, yet that rightness isn't resulting in progress at resolving a problem, the best thing I could do is tell myself, "I could be wrong." This morning, when I emerged from a separate bedroom where I sleep, my wife told me that our kitchen faucet that we'd gotten earlier this year had stopped working. It's a Delta faucet with Touch2O technology. Meaning…
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Posted inSports

2023 Oregon football: so close, yet so far

After Oregon lost to Washington by three points earlier in the football season, with Coach Lanning inexplicably choosing to not attempt several short field goals on fourth down, followed by a field goal miss in the closing seconds that would have tied the game, I was super excited when Oregon earned a rematch with Washington in the Pac-12 championship game. After all, Oregon had been winning by large margins since the Washington loss, while Washington looked beatable in most of its games, winning by just a few points while still remaining undefeated. Oregon was favored by about ten points. Plus,…
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