Our country might not exist if British soldiers had succeeded in confiscating the firearms of patriots in Lexington and Concord in 1775. But today, guns threaten our freedom and our future. Of course, I am thinking about the killings at Newtown, CT. My son is in first grade. None of us can get the image of [...]
From the category archives:
Essay
I let myself get into an irritating conversation last night, and it left me wondering what the endgame of our dysfunctional political system will be. The guy next to me started up, complaining about Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, but I could tell Obama was probably so disgusting to him it wasn’t worth talking about. [...]
I got a job and this blog died. We moved and I really had no compelling reason to keep updating http://westwoodblog.org either. My life is pretty full but I do miss expressing myself and creating something here. Partly, I’m also in transition. As we adjusted to a new rhythm of job, home, schools, etc. I dialed back [...]
I’m not sure what starting me thinking about New York City again, but yesterday, somewhat impulsively–but with a little planning–I decided to visit. By myself. Cheaply. Without a concrete plan, I did a lot and spent just a little over $100. I’ve been to NYC about half a dozen times. As a freshman at MIT, [...]
Thanks to my diligent monitoring of my online banking account, I caught $2700 of errors in the past 30 days. Sovereign Bank (Santander) is still in the process of fixing the last mistake, but two strikes was enough for me to move my business to a local bank. The first error occurred when David Adkins [...]
My career is a search for opportunities to use my talents to help make a difference in people’s lives. My resume does not adequately make that connection. Much of what I enjoy writing involves connecting the dots between related but nonlinear ideas, so today I apply that to my own story: I began with an [...]
I thought, when I switched over to Firefox a long, long time ago, I had left behind the indignity of the whole pop-up ad banner. Perhaps I simply began visiting fewer porn sites (just kidding!). But whatever the reason, I began to notice that when I shut down my browser I would find half a [...]
There is a great article in the Globe today about the Charles River Wheelmen and their Saturday Morning Fitness Ride in Needham. The weekly ride has proceeded uninterrupted for 617 weekends, including a few during blizzard conditions.
I still get nervous when it’s my turn to speak at a meeting. When I organize and lead meetings, I still feel like the novice upstart. I still assume there are older people who know better, and I wonder if they will take me seriously. Then I realize I am 43 years old, and I [...]