By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Nov 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
This absurdity of holding on to petty resentments.
True story.
Last night–and I don’t remember the details—but I had a dream in which a tall gentlemen I seemed to respect but didn’t know well and who was wearing a yellow-ish jacket passed me by on the street and intentionally brushed up against me in that way that seemed to say he was upset with me or sending me a message of disrespect.
That’s all I remember from the dream. The rest of whatever happened has been forgotten–which I think was mostly pleasant.
But twice today I’ve thought about the brush off passerby.
And I’ve decided the next time I have this dream and he shows up–assuming I can remember to do it—I am going to go out of my way to walk past him and brush up lightly against him (not in an offensive way that is trying to start a fight but rather just to let him know that what happened last night in my dream gets acknowledged, was not OK with me, and send the message that I hope it doesn’t happen again.)
On the other hand, I could just forgive him or assume it was an accident. In my dream. And let it go.
I want to let it go but this slight seems different and worth holding on to a little longer. Because, you know, it’s the principle of the thing. Right?
Newt says that he is not ruling out another presidential run.
Smart move. By dangling the prospect of a 2016 candidacy, Newt can charge higher fees as an…historian. [Naples News] (This link is not an Onion article.)
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Nov 26, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
“You can’t manage whay you can’t measure.”
Wrapping up our 6th annual father – daughter weekend with my 14 year old daughter, Maggie.
All 6 have been excellent but some feel a little better than the others —but we have never had a concrete, objective way to measure the success of our annual weekends.
Until now.
Late this afternoon I got a call from my credit card company for an “Alert for potential fraudulent activity with my credit card.”
They needed me to confirm three unusual purchases this weekend that deviated from my usual habits—-all involving female clothing purchases.
I finally explained “I am with my 14 year old daughter this weekend.”
Even that gentleman on the other end of the phone from what seemed like a call center in India understood. “Thank you, Mr Brown” he laughed. “I understand now!”
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Nov 23, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Now that the election’s over, my satellite radio’s tuning system is stuck permanently on ESPN.
Between the “male performance” ads and the dating services promoted, there’s been an ad running regularly urging listeners to check out a Web site that exposes President Obama’s “secret plan to retain power through 2020.”
I clicked on it, but got too bored after a few minutes of Obama-bashing and investment self-promotion.
So if any of the RP Nation wants to persevere and report back, our Web page will be open.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The holidays are here.
Starbucks has changed its decor and colors and will be setting the tone for all all retailers during the holiday season.
Tomorrow I’ll be there early to see if they will be offering a Thanksgiving special: Turkey Flavored Latte with a gravy drizzle and cinnamon sprinkles.
Then I’m going to Heine Bros for my Thursday cup of coffee. ; )
=====
Thank goodness.
A little perspective is always helpful when seeking to muster much needed –and much warranted —gratitude. For official national holidays involving giving thanks or just any old day for expressing a blessed sentiment.
And if you can put it to music, even better. Especially if it’s Steely Dan.
No matter what our complaints are about the world today–and tomorrow, Black Friday 2012—it is important to remember this.Black Friday 2012 for our country will be a very different experience for us than the original–and infamous– Black Fridays.
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Nov 22, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Today’s Thanksgiving celebration is especially meaningful to Seinfeld fan-boys like me.
For today also marks the 20th anniversary of the most brilliantly funny 22 minutes television has ever seen — the uber-classic episode entitled “The Contest.”
“The Contest” is about…well Seinfeld never uses the word either. So if you are too young to remember, or too sheltered to have seen it, or you can’t wait to laugh again, enjoy the first few minutes of comedic history:
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Nov 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Thought for the day.
Squeeze something of value out of everything you do today.
When scrounging, gratitude for a seemingly small thing is a good fall back. Sometimes those “small things” are really pretty big things.
For example, yesterday I was stuck somewhere and Sponge Bob Square Pants was on TV in the background. I watched several minutes to see what useful life “take away” was coming my way.
Sure, I love Sponge Bob Square Pants as much as the next gu,y but yesterday’s episode Bob was off his usual charming and clever game.
And then it happened.
The next scene prominently features a character names Squidward. And I had my “take away.” And didn’t even have to squeeze hard.
I am so grateful my parents did not name my Squidward. Even with a cool middle name, having the first name Squidward would have provided challenges and obstacles in my youth I may not have been able to successfully surmount. Even though I am a human being and not an animated cartoon character.
And you can see the toll it’s taken on Squidward himself by looking at his drawn face and vapid eyes.
Yes, mom and dad, thank you. And is so often the case, the “small gratitude” turned into a large gratitude.
And then someone changed the channel to Fox News. And I became grateful my name wasn’t Shep.
Are you beginning to see how this Thought for the Day works?
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
General David Petraeus is just the latest in a seemingly endless stream of powerful men brought down (or at least dented a bit) by their sexual escapades. You can find articles about what motivates them, about how their power gives them an entitled sense of hubris, about the specifics of their sordid activities, and of course plenty of jokes about Appalachian Trails and sexting – but does anyone else wonder why we never read about a powerful woman brought down by scandal? (Mind you, there are plenty of married women involved in these soap operas – and don’t you love that the Petraeus saga even includes twins? – but the women are not the power players, and we wouldn’t even know their names if they hadn’t slept with someone famous and then spilled the beans.)
While the obvious answer is that there are far fewer powerful women, there are still enough that proportionally there should be at least a couple of publicly humiliating affairs. And it’s not just that highly placed women tend to be way past the ‘babe’ stage – attractiveness certainly isn’t an issue with the guys who cheat, many of whom are downright homely. So my theory is that women who have ‘made it’ had to work twice as hard as men to get to their lofty positions, and even if they felt attracted to an aide or a gushing biographer, they’re too busy, and too exhausted, to start anything.
I’m not in any kind of power job, and yet I can swear that I have never cheated on either of my husbands (I’m not a reverse Mormon, it was one spouse at a time) – but this has nothing to do with my moral purity. Like most working mothers, I barely have time to brush my hair – so when that hunky boxboy at Safeway gives me a leering eye, I’m flattered, but not tempted (it just sounds like too much additional work).
However, I did summon up enough energy to have fun with the rhyming potential of some of these scandalous characters’ names . . . . .
The Seattle Times was watching The RP on The Daily Show last week. Indeed, they mention the appearance as an illustration of the problem of hyper-partisanship and polarization in our system:
Some will glance at the list and liken No Labels’ mission to a bunch of kumbaya ho-hum, but something’s gotta give. If the two main parties in this country can’t work together, we need an independent force to shake things up. I’m not saying we should do away with the Democrats and the Republicans; I’m saying citizens should encourage them to use No Labels as a basis for building consensus and compromise.
On last Thursday’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, correspondent Al Madrigal “reported” on gridlock in America and interviewed a No Labels co-founder about the group’s 12-point plan. The fake newsman challenged the virtues of those ideas by taking us to “a magical land of no gridlock.” He goes to Arizona, where Republicans have a super majority in both chambers of the Legislature and have passed a series of controversial bills.
Watch. It’s really silly, but the underlying message is serious.
In Madrigal’s faux news world, we’re presented with two extremes: gridlock — government inaction that’s symptomatic of parties seeking to tip the balance of power — or one-party domination.
We’re better-served by having something in the middle.
Since the make-up of the U.S. Congress is relatively balanced between Republicans and Democrats right now, I can’t think of a better time for lawmakers to set aside party labels and take tentative steps to re-gain the public’s trust.
But twice today I’ve thought about the brush off passerby.
