Movie Diary

Ninety-nine percent of the time, while I run, I listen to either podcasts or audiobooks. My runs generally last one hour, so for those 60 minutes, I am a captive audience. I can thoroughly engross myself in listening and develop a deeper understanding of what’s being discussed. However, when Dec. 1 arrives, things change. On…

Several years ago, while on a work trip to Denmark, I took a stroll into downtown Copenhagen to take in the sights. I enjoy roaming the cities I visit, hoping to catch a glimpse of something new and interesting or find some delicacy I’ve never tasted.  Denmark is notoriously rainy, but the sun was shining…

Sports were my greatest concern growing up, to the detriment of almost every other activity. I never considered choir or band or scouting or anything else. I was all-in with my sporting interests, which varied in degree between basketball, football, baseball, and track.  My personality was completely defined and characterized by my involvement in athletics.…

I have a friend who lives just outside of a major city in the South. He’s done well for himself; he drives a nice car, has a lovely wife and kids, has carved out a successful career in the insurance world, and lives in a beautiful home. Recently, we had a conversation about getting older…

When I graduated from college, very few people had a personal computer. Instead, we had campus computer labs that required students to reserve space at designated workstations. At your allotted time, you would enter the lab with a dozen other people and then reference your assignments from 5.25” floppy disks. Then, only a handful of…

The more things change I’d like to say that I don’t mind change (simply because it’s the one constant in life, so there’s no sense fighting it), but the reality is that I’m not a big fan. I’ve constructed my life so that I’m very comfortable with how things unfold on a day-to-day basis. Therefore,…

I’ve spent years interviewing candidates for various jobs. I’ve done it so much that I can generally tell within minutes of meeting someone whether or not they are going to fit in. In my profession, you have to be able to “talk the talk,” and if you’re not keeping up with my questions and observations,…

Several months ago, I wrote about my son’s high school graduation and how shocked my wife and I were when we learned that he had told the entire graduating class that he was headed for Japan once his senior year ended. We discovered his intentions after the valedictorian mentioned it during his speech. “I even…

I have a poignant memory involving the song “Stone in Love,” released by the band Journey in 1981. I can’t tell you the exact date of my memory, but it probably coincided with the popularity of the aforementioned song, likely around my sophomore year of high school.  The memory revolves around a weekend night in…

A little over 25 years ago, my brother-in-law called to ask if I was interested in meeting him in New York to catch a live airing of “SNL” at the Rockefeller Center.  I’ve ticked off several items on my bucket list over the years, but seeing “Saturday Night Live” from the studio audience was one…

The word “fascism” gets thrown around a lot these days. In fact, it’s so overused that if you’re in the political sphere and haven’t been labeled a fascist, you’re probably doing something wrong.  The term “fascism” comes from the Italian word “fascio,” meaning “a bundle” or “group,” which in turn comes from the Latin “fasces,”…

I’ve lived through one major hurricane in my life…and it wasn’t pretty. It was 2016 and my wife, mother, mother-in-law, and I were living in Jacksonville, Florida, in a vacation home directly on the beach. In fact, it was so “on the beach” that you could walk out the back steps and down a set…

 Last Monday, I put my 20-year-old son on a plane to Melbourne, Australia. All in, he was in the air for over 20 hours. I fly regularly and anything over three hours makes me insane. Sitting in such a cramped space for an extended time makes my body ache and exhausts my mind. I can…

Thirty years ago, I attended a friend’s destination wedding in Paris, France. It was a fun affair that involved several events related to the nuptials, balanced with a few sightseeing tours that introduced us to French culture. I remember having a blast but feeling slighted when it came to the few museums we visited. I…

I was sitting in an auditorium last spring watching my son graduate from high school when a funny moment occurred.  The class valedictorian was giving his speech and at a certain point mentioned the various personalities of his classmates and how they were a microcosm of society. “Some of my classmates are going to be…