All posts tagged: Random DJB Thoughts

The Last Eight Years…Mapping Life Under Bush

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The Atlantic online magazine has this fascinating look at America in the Bush years, all presented in a map filled with graphics and stats.  Did you know: There were 298 billionaires in 2000.  The number grew to 454 by 2008. 28 out of 50 states had obesity rates below 20% in 2000.  By 2008, the number dropped to 1 state in 50. Gross federal debt as a percentage of GDP was 58% in 2000; 67.5% by 2008. And the list goes on and on.  It makes for a fascinating look at stats and changes both important and silly…and you’re free to interpret it as you see fit.  As the President gave his exit interview to the press corps today, you may find this of interest. More to come… DJB

Inauguration Planning – Sites to See Off the Mall

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Well, our little place on earth is getting pretty excited about the next ten days.  Washington is making plans to keep Virginians from coming into the city.  (I would have thought they’d be treated better since they actually voted for Obama, going blue for the first time since Jamestown was founded, or so it seems.)   While Candice and I will be passing each other in the airport on the way to and from town, the children are busy making their plans.  Claire has a good friend on Capitol Hill, so she’s already set for a sleepover and a morning hike to the mall.   Andrew is vacillating between hiking to the mall with friends and watching it all in the comfort of the restored AFI Theatre on the big screen.   I just hope I can see the actual ceremony before I have to head out of town. But for those looking for something to do in Washington during the inaugural week, my organization, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has put together a great list of …

Few Things Beat a Car Radio

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I love listening to music late at night when driving on a country road.   There’s a warmth that’s hard to capture in other settings.  You feel connected to the world, but the distractions are minimal and the darkness enfolds the car as if in a cocoon.  Tonight I had teenager taxi duty after an especially late party, so I found myself driving alone through the only stretch of road that could remotely be considered country on my route.  Rock Creek Park is an oasis of nature in the midst of the city.  It is also one of Washington’s treasures, and tonight I was crossing through in a drizzle, with only the threat of wandering deer to worry me. Another great Washington treasure is Mary Cliff’s Traditions, a long-running folk-music show on public radio.   Since Mary switched stations a few years ago, she comes on later and I don’t have the chance to hear her as often.  But tonight I was tuned in, and the sound of Jack Williams playing Dylan’s Forever Young came through during a set to  …

A Derby Winner in Life

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Editor’s Note:  My wife Candice wrote and delivered the following eulogy for her father at his funeral at the Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord in Dania Beach, Florida on December 30, 2008. My father – Andrew Charles Colando, Sr. – was born in 1922 in Lodi, NJ to Joseph and Esther Colando.  Pop was the middle son, with Steve his older brother and Joe his younger one.  He was named Andrew after his maternal grandfather as was customary for a second son in an Italian family.  His parents were hard working and he carried with him a love and respect for them throughout his life. While in high school Pop began to race trotters at Yonker’s Raceway in New York on the weekends and his love affair with horseracing began.  He moved on to thoroughbred racing when his father bought some race horses. In 1950 he married Irene Holsey and his 58-year love affair with my mother began.  A few years later they moved their young family to Florida seeking a warmer climate, …

The Last Sunday in the Year…A Ritual

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In our household (even transplanted to South Florida) there’s a ritual that is as sure as opening presents on Christmas Day:  Andrew and I will read, laugh loudly, and quote liberally for the rest of the day from Dave Barry’s Year in Review.   This ritual drives Claire and Candice up the wall.  Claire just stormed away from the breakfast table as Andrew read, In non-economic news, a Las Vegas jury convicts O.J. Simpson on 12 counts of being an unbelievable idiot.  He faces more than 60 years in jail, which could end his relentless quest to find the killer of the people he stabbed to death in 1994. “Stop it,” she cries.  “Dad’s already read it and I don’t care!” but he continues on with, Meanwhile John McCain, still searching for the perfect running mate, tells his top aides in a conference call that he wants “someone who is capable of filling my shoes.”  Unfortunately, he is speaking into the wrong end of his cellular phone, and his aides think he said “someone who is …

A full life

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My father-in-law, Dr. Andrew Colando, passed away last evening.  All members of his immediate family were with him on the day he died, and he went peacefully after a short illness. His obituary details the key milestones of his life:  a proud graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine; a founding board member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners; a 71-year association with the horse racing business as veterinarian, breeder, trainer, and owner.  He began racing trotters at Yonkers Raceway on the weekends while still in high school and trained Uncle Miltie among other horses in his father’s stable before beginning his equine veterinary practice. I first met Dr. Colando after he retired from his practice and had returned to the training he loved with his own stable of horses.  Being the first in-law in a New Jersey Italian-Irish family was full of new experiences for a Southern-bred fellow.   I didn’t have the years of experience with family banter that made the dinner table discussions so exciting.  The closest I’d been …

Hope for Passenger Trains?

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I love riding trains.  On my business trips between Washington and New York, the train is always my preferred mode of transportation.   So I’m glad to see the pundits like Neal Peirce commenting on the train ride that Obama and Biden are taking to Washington for the Inauguration as a positive metaphor for passenger rail. Rail enthusiasts, for decades spurned by presidents of both parties, were elated by the news that Barack Obama will travel to Washington for his inauguration by train from Philadelphia. “The symbolism is magnificent and the message very positive for all of us who for so many years have labored to create a more balanced American transportation system,” said James RePass, president-founder of the National Corridors Initiative that’s pressed since 1989 for upgraded rail passenger service in America. Rail service is wonderful.  Compared to air travel, getting on a train is about a simple as stepping in  your car.  On a train you can plug in a laptop and work uninterrupted and with sufficient space.   From the first second to the …

16 Wonderful Years

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Time passes too quickly.  Sixteen years ago our twins were born and life in our family changed forever.  I have been enriched by their beauty, inquisitiveness, talent, laughter, tears, art, openness, and love.  Having just spent yesterday afternoon with the two of them, I was reminded of why the last 16 years have been such a joy.  I posted three of my favorite pictures from when they were young. But the day was also a reminder of why we strive to live in the moment.  Long-time friends spent the weekend with us.  We shared stories, jokes, and laughter and made new memories.  We talked about the upcoming birth of their first grandchild.  But as they were leaving, they received news of the death of a dear friend.  At about the same time, an email from work told me that a colleague’s sister had taken a turn for the worse and was very ill.  We also had a lovely visit with a classmate of Andrew and Claire’s who stopped by with her Mom to surprise the twins with 16th …

For Mom, on what would have been her 78th birthday

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Mother was born on December 9, 1930.  Today would have been her 78th birthday, had cancer not claimed her on New Year’s Day 1998.  For the past ten years there’s seldom a day that passes without something happening that reminds me of her.  She was a remarkable woman with a large circle of friends and an even larger capacity for love and service. After I graduated from college and left home, Mother and I maintained a weekly correspondence for many years.  She was a “newsy” letter writer, with information about the family mixed in with items from town, updates on old friends, tidbits about both our careers, and extensive sports news.  (Mother was my loyal co-spectator for games on television.) Several years after she died, I published a collection of her letters from 1980 – 1997 entitled Rich in Love.  Over the course of those 17 years she wrote about love, death, babies, pets, advice, and family.  Her letters included a four-page typewritten description of our wedding she prepared for family members who couldn’t attend.  She wrote one of …