It’s another Tequila Friday

Tequila Friday, April 17, 2020

Ain’t it funny how an old broken bottle,

Looks just like a diamond ring.

And it’s far, far from me. John Prine

It’s Tequila Friday all over again! Thank goodness for that. So, today is a potpourri blending of topics for you to chew on starting with…

What I’ve found in this lost year…so far. 

I’ve found time. Time to listen more. Time to read more. Time to think, consider, reflect and share. 

I have been retired for over a year and you’d think I would have found plenty of time to do those things, but, let me tell you, we’ve been so busy being retired I still couldn’t find, couldn’t make time for those things because of all the other things that we were doing. The biggest consumption of time, energy and money was travel and the virus put an end to that and almost everything else that we had going. The slowdown gave me the inspiration to dig in.

I’ve found my pen and a reason to put it to use. I do hope that my writing has found you. Somewhere, wherever you are. And that you’ve been finding more of yourself in the meantime. I’ve seen your posts on Facebook and Instagram sharing of your experience. So far I’m seeing just how resilient you are and what we can all do together by staying apart.

My sister-in-law loves to hike. She lost her favorite hiking trail when so many new folks looking to get out of their homes hit her favorite trail. It was too close for comfort. So, she did some quick research and found new trails nearby that were empty. It’s brought a new perspective to her hikes. 

Let me know what you’re finding…about you, your family, friends, the country and the world. 

In losing the great John Prine, I’ve found myself lost in his work, his life and all the many tributes paid to them both. My friend Brad said that it is amazing that we had him as long as we did with all of the health issues he had struggled through. And he’s right. We should be happy about that. Happy to have his final album, “Tree of Forgiveness.” 

Zoom – Surprise! 

Just like you, I’ve found Zoom. Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Zoom. We were pulling together a video chat with our son, Clark, and daughter, Blair and their partners, Sarah and Rob. Blair volunteered to schedule a Zoom meeting, saying that they used it for work. Ever since then, you can’t get out of the way of Zoom. When I saw this story pop in my daily newsfeed I had to check it out. 

This is a great article by Bloomberg News on the video platform, from who started the company, his and its history and mission and the surprise explosion of use rate during the Stay at Home order. If you’ve heard about the security issues and hacking, stalking and malware attacks, this explains where simplicity confronts security. 

Two firsts: Riding in a Saturn and hearing the word, “internet.” 

This article on How the internet started popped up…in the newspaper. The real printed paper to which we still subscribe. I found the web version for the link for you. It’s well worth the read about the guy who actually was involved in the very beginnings, the part that the Bell Telephone folks played and then didn’t play, and his work for the Pentagon to launch it. 

The read reminded me of the first time that I heard the word, “internet.” I was riding in the back seat of a Saturn in Pittsburgh. Why do I remember? Well, let’s just say that it’s the confluence of something new and something else that was so new at the time that it was mostly not known, nor could you Google it because it predated Google. 

The “new,” was the Saturn my friend had just bought. GM had just launched the Saturn brand. It was once billed as “a different kind of car company.” So, it was a big deal. My TV station’s research director was the first person that I knew to own one and this was my first ride. He drove our sales director and me to a luncheon downtown when he dropped the word “internet” into our conversation. Being in the back seat where it can be difficult to hear and understand the driver, I had to ask him to repeat that word: inter-what? “Internet,” he said. I repeated the word to confirm that I was saying it correctly, it sounded so foreign. I asked him what it was, as in, “What IS the internet?” He was a PhD in something like statistics and was pretty ahead of most of us. I remember him explaining how universities were linking together for the purposes of sharing research over communication lines that were not connected to phone lines. He said that  many were forecasting the day we would all be connected. I asked, “Connected to what?” “Everything. Each other. To books and history,” he answered as we arrived at lunch.    

At that time he turned out to be the connection that readied and opened me to what would become the future in our business, and in our lives.  

Imagine how this worldwide viral infection would be without the internet. 

For the time being we’re seeing all of the in-home shots of news reporters/anchors and all of the people that they are interviewing, all in their homes. Most are positioning themselves with bookshelves behind them. Others, their kitchen, others just the ceiling with phone or computer screen below them and aiming up. That, that makes me scream “Look at what you’re doing! It is not, not, not flattering to you or anybody. 

If it’s their bookshelves behind them I find myself trying to read the titles of the books in their library and cross-reference with the topic and experience they are bringing to the report. 

If they’re in their kitchen, I’m checking on how it is designed. In other words, I’m surfing how they live by what they show and what it says about who they are, how well off they are based.  

I’m not saying that I’m really proud about this but I cannot help myself. Can you?

A couple of notes:

I’m a native North Carolinian with family there so I pay attention to what is going on in my home state. I heard this sad news last night on The Rachel Maddow Show about a  Salisbury nursing home reporting  96 positive COVID19 residents according to the Salisbury Post. 

And, reports are coming from my dear state of Pennsylvania on the growing concern for Western PA becoming a major hotspot for deaths in nursing home facilities. This link is jaw dropping stat in the fight against the virus.

And finally, with tequila already poured and waiting…

If I wrote a book of fiction basing the main character on The Real Donald Trump, using the language that he uses, the statements that he makes whether riffing in his press conferences or his late night Tweets, the way he “runs” the show, his boorish bullying remarks about people and countries, all of that that appears to capture America, my high school Creative Writing teacher would write on my draft in red ink draft, “Overblown. Unbelievable. Too elementary. Just too much. YOU CAN DO BETTER! Try again.”  

Well, sometime it is very hard to handle the truth. And, yes, we can do better. Way better.

Stay safe. Stay away. Stay home. And stay tuned. 

Happy Tequila Friday!!