Tradeoffs when taking care of business by Dom Cioffi I told my son at the start of mass quarantine that this was not going to be a vacation, that we — individually and as a family — would be getting things accomplished throughout the duration of our home confinement, no matter how long it lasted.…

Woulda, shoulda, coulda by Dom Cioffi I was supposed to be heading to Saint Martin in the Caribbean tomorrow for a spring break week of sunshine, fun, and cocktails with tiny umbrellas. The trip was also doubling as a celebration of my son’s 16th birthday. Obviously, that’s not happening. Instead, I’ll be sitting at home…

By Dom Cioffi When I was a very young child, my mother took me to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was an event that had a profound influence on me for many years. My mother used to vacation with her parents in Florida each February, and for several years I accompanied…

Brave New World? Part two By Dom Cioffi Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced a week quite like this past one. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, I’ve seen and experienced some interesting things. First of all, I am dumbfounded by the amount of people I’ve seen outside walking, running, and playing.…

Brave new world? Well, this has been interesting. Like everyone else, I’ve been trying to navigate the strange environment brought on by COVID-19, the acute respiratory disease that originated out of China in recent months. I don’t ever remember a time in my life when the social atmosphere was quite like this; when there was…

The drive to recovery A work associate came to my office recently for a meeting. While we were chatting, he mentioned that he had just purchased a new Tesla Model 3. Being the curious type, I inquired what he thought of the reigning champion of the electric car world. He obviously loved his vehicle since…

More than meets the eye I was on a business trip recently where I had to take an Uber to get from one place to another. I pulled up the app, punched in a few data points, and within seconds I could see where my driver was and how long it would take him to…

Stepping into the bigtime by Dom Cioffi Last week, I traveled to Dallas, Texas, for a business event. It was a quick trip that involved one very long day mingling with people. I arrived the afternoon prior and had dinner that night with several of my coworkers. Like many work dinners, it was full of…

Bringing the game home By Dom Cioffi Somewhere around the ninth grade, something clicked in my head with basketball, where it went from an activity to a passion. I had always played on my school teams and enjoyed watching the sport on TV, but it had never held any hallowed ground in my mind until…

Better late than never? by Dom Cioffi I am confident that at some point in my young life, something happened to me that made me pointedly adverse to being late. I can’t tell you the exact moment or scenario, but I know it happened. I know this because I live my life in such a…

Gone too soon By Dom Cioffi Depending on the weekend, I try to reserve Sundays to get all my errands completed. I’ll knock out a number of these tasks in the morning and then once my son wakes up (which is any time between 11 a.m. and noon… eye roll), we’ll head to breakfast before…

By Dom Cioffi As my wife and I sat having dinner last Thursday night, I commented how disheartening the start of a new year could be. The company I work for experienced record sales in 2019, but all of that was erased on Jan. 1. Everything was reset and the pressure returned – and actually increased…

Working the system By Dom Cioffi My 15-year-old son came home from school last week and announced that he had an important assignment to complete. Apparently, his Spanish teacher told the class that they had to go out to eat at a Spanish restaurant and then write a food review. I told my wife that…

by Dom Cioffi Here we go again! Another year at the movies has come and gone, leaving us with the inevitable year-end review of the season’s best pictures. I go to the theater once a week so that gives me the opportunity to see roughly 50 films a year. Obviously, I don’t get the chance…

Signed, sealed, delivered The holiday season is filled with countless traditions. Some, like decorating your house with lights and putting up a Christmas tree, are observed by millions of families across the country. Other traditions are trendy, like incorporating an Elf on the Shelf or placing blow-up ornaments on your lawn. And then there are…