Paradigm shift needed #2: waiting room

I needed new glasses. I usually go through a friend who owns a small eyewear shop with no in-house optometrist. So I made an appointment with an outside optometrist. I had to wait two weeks to get in. I made the appointment for the morning – 11:15 A.M. – so they wouldn’t be running too far behind. I closed [...]

Paradigm shift needed #1: passwords

I had a new computer installed in my home office. I called my regular computer guy to install it, along with a printer and some software. I met him at the house to let him in and hung around to watch.
“We need a password…” he said.
“How about ‘Rich?’”
“It should be at least eight characters.”
“Okay, how about ‘RichardG?’”
“It really should be something less obvious, to [...]

Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is a German term meaning, “taking pleasure in the misery or suffering of another.” Schadenfreude explains why, at the time of Christ, the Romans took pleasure in watching gladiators gored to death by lions. It explains why in the mid-twentieth century, America was enamored with the antics of the Three Stooges, who constantly hurt each other. [...]

Who “won” the Presidential Election?

Inauguration Day is tomorrow. I fully expect to see Barack Obama sworn in as the first Black U.S. President.
As in most elections, there was controversy surrounding the candidates. In Obama’s case, there was the question of his U.S. citizenship, his relative lack of political experience, and the suggestion of terrorist ties implied by his name. Still, he won the election. [...]

The deceitful qualities of glass

A cup of coffee, combined with an overheard sentence fragment from a nearby conversation, can get me thinking in overdrive. This morning a woman is talking about her son going to a university where researchers are developing glass that won’t break. “You can hold a bottle of Coke at chest height,” she says, ”Drop it on the ground, and it won’t [...]

Headlines! Daily newspaper cuts own throat!

Our daily newspaper here in Rochester, the Democrat & Chronicle, is getting thinner and thinner as the weeks go by. Getting thinner as it loses readers and advertisers to electronic news sources.
I’ve watched the newspaper try to attract younger readers with stories about bars and nightclubs. I’ve watched it try to reel in minority readers. It’s no secret [...]

Breakfast

I’m enjoying an artichoke omelet for breakfast at Gitsis. Sitting at the counter I’m in the midst of three waitresses as they place orders and hurry meals out to their booths. A nearby menu is continually flipped open – with cursing – for a price check. The waitresses are seasoned pros, but a new menu was recently printed with new [...]

What’s Mike hauling over-the-road this month?

My buddy, Mike, has been driving tractor trailer cross-country since high school and he’s hauled just about anything you can think of.
Ironically, his loads seem not to reflect the economy, but social trends. One day, maybe ten years ago, my office phone rang. While most acquaintances assume you’ll recognize their voice, Mike always launches into: “This is D. [...]

Tele-professions #3

I am a professional resume writer. When I started my business 20 years ago clients came to my office, I interviewed them, wrote their resumes on a word processor, and provided them with packages of 25 or 50 hard copies.
This has changed significantly, thanks to the computer, the phone and the internet. I now interview people all over [...]

Internet piracy

I am in mild shock.
Prior to starting this blog, I launched another blog, in February 2005: www.rochesterblog.com, about life in Rochester, NY. I pay to have the blog hosted. It has enjoyed measurable success, racking up 350,000 hits to date, even though I actually stopped posting on it a year ago.
All that changed around January 1, 2009. I was [...]