To be a good American is to be a contributing member of society. And to be a contributing member of society means being a functioning part of America’s commercial engine. At our core, all Americans are resources of money. Pie charts that everyone wants a piece of. Restaurants, Doctors, Lawyers, Car Makers, Tax Collectors, Cable Companies, Computer Companies, Hollywood – you name it, to them we are all just these little pockets of oil that they mine. Valuable, but exhaustible…
I looked at my watch. Ken looked at his. It was still too early, so we continued to hole up at Mike’s Tavern off Route 9 – a dark den with a cigarette machine, a juke box, and a television over the bar. The television was on. The bartender was watching a Mets game and chain smoking. “You know why I like baseball? Ken asked. “Because I don’t have to watch it on TV.” He took at swig from his…
Tell good stories. You’re welcome. *** Jim Mitchem
I read recently where the average life expectancy in the United States is 78.1 years. They break it down by gender, and it’s a little less for men than it is for women. But in any case, it looks like I’ve got about 30 good years left – assuming that I’m still learning and moving forward at the end, and not decrepit. Otherwise, it’s probably 20 good years and 10 miserable ones. But I’m going to remain positive as things…
As you may or may not know, I was unexpectedly hospitalized in March. I spent about 36 hours in Carolinas Medical Center, which is part of the Carolinas Healthcare System. It’s a good hospital. Both our daughters were born there. It’s part of the neighborhood. My bill for the 36 hours of intravenous antibiotics, a CAT scan, some lab work, and a few shots of morphine was $18,000. Or about $500 per hour. I saw a doctor for all of…
This is going to be a long post, but hopefully a good one. I’m just not getting Google+. At first, I blamed Google for another over-hyped, under-delievered digital toy. I got burned by Wave. And by burned I mean I invested time in that device that I’ll never get back. Admittedly, I haven’t invested too heavily in Google+ like I did with Twitter, Facebook and even Linkedin. But because Google owns search, I went ahead and set up a business…
