When I was in the Navy the sailors who were deployed on submarines were paid Hazardous Duty Pay. In other words they got paid more for having a more hazardous job. There were other positions in the Navy and I imagine the other branches of government service where you were paid more for the extra degree of riskiness involved in the position. To this day service members are paid extra for certain jobs. I don't know how many people were killed or injured on the jobs where they w

As summer starts to roll around I got to thinking about how I have spent my summer vacations. Growing up I always looked forward to the end of the school year. While I am no proponent of having year long schools I think schools did many of us a disservice. Well, I think they did a lot of disservices but the one I am thinking about now concerns summer vacations. School let us out from mid June till after Labor Day and while that was my favorite part of the year it did do some

PT Barnum was right. There is a sucker born every minute. I've certainly been one more than once and you probably have too. But, it is getting harder and harder not to be a sucker. This last week I read an article that scared me in ways I haven't been scared before. You may know all about this, but for me this was both surprising and weirdly funny at the same time. Are you familiar with Miquela Sousa? She has over a million followers on Instagram which doesn't put her in leag

When I first started writing my blog I had no pictures. My daughter suggested I consider adding some and since then all my posts have come with a picture. It is, in fact, my favorite part of writing the posts. When I'm all done with the writing I get the reward of looking for pictures.The pictures have become the dessert that tops off the meal. I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures and if you are so inclinded you can click on one and read the post that was the

Some years ago my friend Steve and I went to Esalen and took a writing workshop with Ann Randolph. It was one of the better learning experiences of my life. Whether you consider yourself a writer, a baker or a candlestick maker, if you get a chance check her out. She really is transformative. And a whole lotta fun. Usually I write my own posts, but instead I am going to copy an email she sent out that I hope will be of benefit to you. "It’s 2006, and I am teaching my first “W