All posts tagged: Random DJB Thoughts

Quest for the Best (Picture), Year III

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Yes, we’re at it again.  As has been the case the past two years, Candice and I are out to see all of the Best Picture nominees (or as many as possible) before the Academy Awards show.  We began this new tradition two years ago after we became empty nesters, and I have to say it  has raised my stock as a husband. One of my major failings in life before I came up with this brilliant idea was not making an effort to go to the movies. What can I say… However, we got a late start this year.  (Once again, the “sure things” we went to see early in the year – I’m looking at you Lee Daniels’ The Butler – didn’t make the final cut of the Academy.) So here it is February 1st – with the awards show just weeks away, and we’ve only seen two.  However, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen the winner. If there is any justice in the world, 12 Years a Slave will win in a rout.  …

Now THIS is a Cool Retirement Gift

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The stick-in-the-muds who write headlines for the Washington Post may have thought that this customized baseball card for retiring Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wasn’t up to his accomplishments (see I saved the economy and all I got was this custom baseball card), but die-hard Nats fans – of which Bernanke is one – realize that this beats a gold watch any day! What true fan wouldn’t want to see themselves immortalized in that one medium that tells how good you really were…the baseball card.  I loved the career stats on Bernanke’s card: 2002:  First drafted from the Ivy League 2006:  Signed offer as Chairman 2008-2009:  MVP for most four-letter acronyms created 2009:  Named Time magazine Person of the Year 2010:  Inked new deal as Chairman Plus he had 79 Congressional testimonies and 226 speeches given in his “career.” Now, if you feel you need something more than a baseball card to capture Bernanke’s contribution to saving our economy (which – it should be noted – came with a great deal of help from the …

Pete Seeger, R.I.P.

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Pete Seeger, 1919 – 2014. A life well-lived and a perfect example of how a banjo and a man of his convictions can change the world. If I had a hammer I’d hammer in the morning I’d hammer in the evening all over this land I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out warning I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters All over this land If I had a bell I’d ring it in the morning I’d ring it in the evening all over this land I’d ring our danger, I’d ring out warning I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters All over this land If I had a song I’d sing it in the morning I’d sing it in the evening all over this land I’d sing out danger, I’d sing out warning I’d sing out love between my sisters and my brothers All over this land When I’ve got a hammer, and I’ve got a bell And I’ve got a song to sing all over this land It’s …

Petco Panorama

Baseball, Springsteen, infomercials and anything else that comes to mind

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Update: Since this blog was written, Joe Posnanski — like many bloggers — has shifted platforms one or more times. The first link in the post takes you to his current Substack page, where you can also find a link to his sports writing at The Athletic. Some of his posts will now be behind paywalls, while others are no longer archived. It is the nature of the digital platform beast, so reader beware. On my way home from work this evening, I decided to open my iPad to Joe Posnanski’s blog and just read and read until the train pulled up at the Silver Spring station.  Thirty-five minutes of bliss. Why? Perhaps I wanted to think about something besides work.  As my colleague Allie said yesterday, “It has been a very long short week.” Perhaps I am really getting sick of this endless string of days with temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below zero. (I vote for this as the real reason.  I don’t mind cold, but enough already!) Perhaps it …

Put on a sweater like Patti Page

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I loved the recent Treehugger post In Praise of the Dumb House. Go ahead.  Click on the link and read the blog post from Lloyd Alter.  When you get to the picture of Patti Page, you may laugh out loud.  I did. Alter talks about all the newfangled gadgets to keep your house temperature perfect – and environmentally correct. But he points out the problem with this line of thinking: As Victor Olgyay noted exactly 50 years ago in his book Design with Climate, comfort is not determined by temperature alone, but by a combination of temperature, humidity and air movement. The Nest thermostat turns an air conditioner or furnace on or off, where you might be just as comfortable opening a window or turning on a fan. That’s what you would do in a dumb home. Instead, the Nest causes you to use energy to do what used to be free. He then goes on to say: There is also another problem with the smart thermostat: people no longer put on such smart sweater sets …

Farewell 2013; Hello 2014

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It is the season for musing on the year that is rapidly passing away and making resolutions for the year ahead.  I tend to use this blog to reflect on items throughout the year (see – among many others – thoughts on the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, preseason baseball, wonderful European travel, fathers, live music set in the midst of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, “stay-cations”, holiday weekends, our year in photos, and 21st birthday celebrations.) So I have only one additional reflection today…but I have several resolutions.  I’ve found that when I call out my resolutions publicly, I tend to keep them.  (Funny how that works!)  But first, let’s look back. I am a lucky man.  The picture above pretty much explains it all.  As Claire and Andrew have passed significant life milestones, I have often written about my wonderful children.  They aren’t perfect, but they do give me a great deal of pleasure (when they aren’t driving me crazy.  Have you seen those rooms!?!) However, I’ve been reminded over this holiday season how lucky …

A Musical Weekend

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Messiah.  Just a mention of the name of the famous Handel oratorio this time of year brings up thoughts of Advent. So it was only fitting that we settled in at the beautiful First Church of Christ Scientist in Providence on Friday evening for the first of two performances of this perennial favorite on our weekend calendar. Candice and I are in Providence to visit with Andrew and to hear him sing with both the University Chorus and the Brown Madrigal singers. Friday evening’s performance of Messiah was a double bonus, in that this was a “bring your own score” community sing-a-long.  It has been a long time since I sang in a regular performance of Messiah, but I do own a score and brought it along for the evening. Some choruses were like riding a bicycle – you never forget.  Others…well, I decided not to inflict pain on those around me and quickly dropped out of those where my muscle memory wasn’t very good. Andrew, as you already knew, did a much better job with …

From the Bookshelf

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Despite a busy fall schedule of work and travel, I’ve managed to finish several books that have sat on my bookshelf for various periods of time. Some are hot off the press, others have been waiting for me to pick them  up for more months than I care to admit. All were worth reading, and two were terrific finds.  So here are a few thoughts on a season’s worth of reading – beginning with the one I finished earlier this week, and working backwards from there. Lawrence in Arabia:  War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson. This new work on the Middle East of World War I falls in the “terrific finds” category. Obviously much has been written about the exploits of T.E. Lawrence – the famous “Lawrence of Arabia.” In this book, however, the veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson weaves in Lawrence’s story with those of three spies from the era (German Curt Prüfer, American – and Standard Oil employee – William Yale, and Zionist Aaron …