New Year

2017 is coming in with an unmistakable note of time passing.  Family and friends are ageing before my eyes, and in some instances, suffering from horrible physical maladies.  Things are in flux, and not necessarily in a good way.  Though it all, I'm trying to understand the point.

Maybe that's the goal for 2017: clarity and understanding.

Regardless, the turning of the calendar page to a New Year affords one opportunity.  There is a great big 2017 in which to live and laugh and love.

Time to get ready for a good mix of all three.

Fascinating Discussion on Millennials

The snippet below is a fascinating discussion on millennials - who they are, and that makes them tick.  As someone that leads a number of them, I found this to be quite enlightening.  

There were some good solid take-aways for me as well.  The rule about no phones in the conference room is as brilliant as it is simple.  

What a better world we'd have it we just talked to each other for a change.

Cop Gives Warning, Tie Lesson

We've all been pulled over by that cop with an attitude.  OK, maybe it is just me.  Regardless, this cop has a different kind of attitude.  One I think all of us would wish was contagious:

Christmas Recap

It has been a whirlwind of a past two weeks, which has also resulted in the dearth of my writing.  It actually started right after Thanksgiving with the craziness that is a career in retail, which afforded scant amounts of free time for much other than work.  We were then able to celebrate a fantastic family wedding in New Orleans, which is my favorite town in the whole world.  Combine to all the that the hustle of trying to be in three different places over Christmas break, plus a winter storm or two for good measure, and the recipe starts to taste lousy.

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely loved all of my experiences.  However, they all came at a price.  For example, for the first year of my 52 years on this world I didn't have a Christmas tree.  There just wasn't time.  I also didn't create or send any Christmas cards.  Just no time.

I still have some presents yet to create and send, we still have an upcoming trip, and work shows absolutely no signs of slowing.  Even after the fact, there is no Christmas down time.

Despite this, I was able to spend good quaily time with the people that mean the most to me, and ultimately I could want for nothing more than that.

The Left Talks to "White Guys"

New from MTV is the following which is a blatant example of 1) racism run amuck on the left and 2) why Donald Trump won the election.

Keep digging, lefties.  You're almost to the bottom...

Saturday Song Share: Madness - One Step Beyond

My favorte ska band on a Saturday.

"Don't watch that, watch this!"

The Welcome Mat

Today we fly off to our favorite city in the world - New Orleans.  While there, we'll eat incredible food, enjoy the warm temperatures (while a blizzard rages at home), walk a ton, listen to a bunch of great music, and spend some quality time with family.  It will be a powerful tonic for one exhausted by a career in retail here at the end of the holiday period.

We'll engage with a bunch of people both like us and different from us, and that is something that is nearly uniquely New Orleans.  The city itself was molded via so many influences, but each melted into each other and left commonality - a love of music, food, sports, religion.

Can the same be said about other great cities of the world?  Will one be welcomed as an outsider from "flyover country" in non-tourist confines of San Francisco?  Or New York?  Or Paris?  No.  We're divided as a country as we've never been since the segregated south.  The sad part?  We're segregating ourselves based on our politics.

Stupid.

Thus, give me New Orleans.  Give me a big ass beer, a second line parade, Cajun music, crawfish etouffee, hockey and football on the big screen, and the Eucharist at mass.  I'll love it and take it all in with brothers and sisters - all different from me, but sharing the same love.

Indeed.  Give me New Orleans.  

More Sexual Misconduct by a Teacher Involving Kids

The StarTribune reports this morning that the principal of Chanhassen Highschool was arrested due to a child pornography sting.  Stories like these are getting all too common.  It seems we can go just a couple of days and up pops another allegation of a teacher engaging in sexual conduct with kids.

When you think about it, it makes sense.  If one has a proclivity for sexual attraction for children, what better role for you than one in which you work with them, all day, every day?  If you're a wolf, why not go where the sheep are plentiful?

What I don't understand is that there is absolutely no backlash to these myriad incidents, let alone recognition that there is a problem.  Unlike the Catholic Church which is still being exonerated due to actions of predator priests, teachers are still held up on some pedestal.  I'd argue that it is because the left, which owns a monopoly on the media, also owns a similar monopoly on education.  Hence, these stories continue to be reported on a weekly basis (they can't be swept away), yet nobody ever connects the dots.

Pay attention going forward, and see if I'm right.  We have a problem with teachers putting our kids at risk, and nobody is doing or saying anything about it.