About a decade ago, I was going to start a venture with a trusted advisor of mine, Arthur Lipper. The goal of the venture was to train Executive Assistants (AEO) to be able to better perform their functions.
Continue reading Unsung Heroes?
I just had a friend spend a weekend. And, I was reminiscing about the Royal Canadian fitness program I employed to get my pre-teen self in shape. (Oh, the friend was from Toronto- that’s why this came up.) I also recalled using a handgrip exerciser as part of that regimen.
Time. It’s important- mostly because of what we do with it. Or, what we don’t.
We used to tell time with sundials. Until we were able to develop sophisticated mechanical pieces that made our obsession with the time be possible, regardless of the weather. My religion uses the concept of hours- but those hours change in length as the day gets longer or shorter- since daylight is defined as containing 12 ‘hours’- and so is night-time.
Continue reading Baby, it’s dark outside!
It’s Kidney Week. OK. It’s kidney 5 days… Starting today and ending on the 10th. A ‘week’ to make all of us more aware of one of our biggest killers- certainly one of our most expensive diseases- that is, often, undetected. Why is that so? Because most subjects (they are not yet patients) exhibit no symptoms, until a crisis has developed.
Continue reading Kidney Week 2013
Tomorrow is election day. For Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the City of New York, these are big days. We (in Virginia) are going to elect new governors, as well as legislators that will make laws we will have to live with for years, if not decades. And, that’s the point. Too many of you (I have only missed one election- a primary that was held in March- since the first time I have been allowed to vote) only vote in Presidential elections. Which means that you let other folks pick your Congresspersons and state officers- that pass rules with which you vehemently disagree. Or let them move district boundaries to insure that their favorites get elected time and time again, or to insure the opposite party has no chance of gaining a seat. 
The bubble has burst on the American Dream. We have lost sight of our vision, our mission. As President Clinton said, “If we become ideological, then we’re blind to evidence.” So, I guess we are totally blind, because we have become inimically ideological.
Continue reading It’s YOUR job!
Eggs. Apples. Chocolate. Strawberries.
What do they have in common? They were the four things I was NOT allergic to as a child. Everything else- fuhgeddaboudit! Seriously. I had a forty-three page, three column booklet listing each and (almost) every item to which I had a +4 reaction.
Continue reading An apple a day?
Most of you know I live in Metropolitan DC. So, whatever happens in/to/from the Federal government is LOCAL. Like the shutdown- that cost the DC area more than $ 220 million each and every day in business. Since there are some 5 million folks living in the Metropolitan area, that’s $ 50 not spent by every man, woman, and child. OK, that doesn’t sound too bad. But, there are about 225,000 businesses in the area. Which means the average business took a hit $ 1000 a day. That is a significant number if you are a small business- even if you are a large one.
Continue reading R-I-S-K (don’t shudder- react!)
The US minimum wage is $ 7.25. There have been recent efforts to raise this to something more viable, but many (of a certain political ilk) aver that this would devastate business. But, let’s consider a few real facts. Continue reading Wage Follies
I admit it. I love cheese. And, that’s a real problem. Because I can buy a pound of cheese for $4, which is about 1/3 cheaper than buying two 8 oz slabs and 50% cheaper than buying precut cheese (not the slices, which is even still dearer.)
Continue reading Make it hard!
College tuition. OK. Breathe… Yes, it’s high- very high. It amazes me that the highest tuition in the land is to be found at a STATE university. When I was going to college – back before we were a free nation- you could bank on two things. State schools were cheap. State schools were easier to get into.
Continue reading How much is that?