Category Archives: Advice
Complaint Department
Yesterday, still in bed, I resolved to have a full day without a complaint. I lasted until 11:00 AM. When the telemarketer called. I complain. You complain. My dog complains. Everyone complains. I bet the Dalai Lama complains that the place is too damn quiet. It’s only natural. I mean, there’s so much out there …
Ranking
I am a ranker. I love to put things in order. Not in my home… that is often order-free. In my mind. I rank objects by how much I like them. What is my favorite color? How about my next-favorite? We have a set of coffee mugs – 6 mugs, each a different color – …
Choosy
Having high expectations can be a very good thing. Mostly, because I have found that when you expect the best from people, they usually give it. This is my best example. Our foyer. The carpenter who laid this floor had never done anything like this before. We showed him a photograph from a lovely mansion-turned-bed-and-breakfast …
What If You Fail?
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? This saying was popularized back in the 70s and is mainly attributed to Robert Schuller, a televanglist I didn’t much like. But I did like this axiom. And it came into prominence again in this decade as the result of a terrific …
Not Quite A Friend
There’s a woman who belongs to the same circle of friends as I do. I don’t particularly like this woman. I don’t like her politics. I don’t like most of her opinions. We don’t enjoy the same hobbies. We have little in common. But she lost someone close to her and yesterday was the sad …
Using and Losing Time
A very scary event is on the horizon for me. My 50th high school reunion. FIFTY! I remember my parents going to my dad’s 50th. Oh my god, they were so OLD. It’s a good thing I’m so much younger now than they were then. A reunion is a wonderful time to gather and … …
The Escape
Years ago, a close friend asked me for advice on her workplace issue. She worked in a very small office – I think the staff totaled no more than five. She had very little in common with any of her co-workers. She was unhappy and had tried various methods to improve her relationships with the …
The Limit
Yesterday, I warned the dogs: “I am at my limit.” This warning was at a decibel level that surprised even me. I don’t think I have been that screechy-loud since the day about sixty years ago, when the gang playing Red Rover thought it would be funny to just let go when I ran full-tilt …
Where I Ought To Be
I have a memory that keeps repeating in my brain. It was the summer of 1979. I was 28, and I had been working for the past three years at a research organization at the lowest possible rung that existed in that organization or perhaps any organization. I had a college degree in English, but …
