January 20- Hello/Goodbye
Today has been an emotional, unforgettable day – Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009. Yes, I had wet eyes, just like you. And watching the million people in the Mall, and listening to the joyful hopes, I vividly recalled January 20, 2001 when I was part of the crowd in Washington for President Bush’s first Inauguration. I was accompanying my friend Ann Lolordo, an editor at the Baltimore Sun while she boldly and I (timidly) interviewed people. Read more
Just at Noon in Zbrosławice
I like rodeos. The strangest, but best one I ever went to was in 1985. The rodeo was organized by the Polish Student Union at their stud farm at Zbrosławice near Katowice, in southern Poland. Poland is famous for its breeding of Arabians, and the stud farm was apparently well-recognized. The rodeo event was an end-of-summer bash for students – a professor friend had arranged for me to enjoy the event. Read more
Beyond Bigos
“Dzien dobry! Jak się masz?” “Good day! How are you?” were the first Polish phrases I learned at age 11 from my best friend Janek Murliewski, as we traveled on 607 trolleys back and forth to school. Janek introduced me to his Polish friends and I soon developed a lifelong fondness for Poland and Poles. Read more
Sign of the Times
I saw this in the neighborhood of our weekend home in Pacific Grove.
Quartz – @!*Quartz!$%
Quartz is a silicon dioxide. It is hard, often formed into lovely crystals, with various tints and hues; although most often found as transparent to milky white, and is one of earth’s most common minerals. The word quartz is known by virtually all geologists. But very few of them, including most professors of geology, know the origin of this most basic of geology words. ( I have asked the question of academics dozens of times.) Actually: most of us do not stop to think about the meaning and limitations of many of the words, concepts and laws that we use everyday. Yet, occasional curiosity is rewarding when we question that which we take for granted…
I think of quartz as a Saxon swear word. Read more
Careering With Job Lurches
An integration of jobs constitutes a career. In my case, the jobs I have had constitute an erratic trajectory; a random walk of lurches.
I started working when I was 12 or so (1960). Since then I have worked at many jobs. I count a job as a period of work when I was paid hourly or weekly or with a salary, not consulting projects. Some jobs came my way by chance; some I found by hunting them, a very few were later lost. In retrospect, I don’t recall any really bad jobs; all have forced me to learn something, even if it was how to perform menial work willingly and cheerfully; and in some still memorable cases, what to learn from being fired/laid off. Read more
