Category: life

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life

My Transition: Embracing Change Amidst Life’s Busy Schedule

It has been a few months since my last post. My wish remains to post more often. This remains the goal as I get ready to renew my website and WordPress account. It gets to be problematic given all of the commitments on my time. Between work and kids, there are times where there are not enough hours during the weekday. By the weekend, I am so mentally tired. As the weather turns to spring, summer, and fall, my time commitments shift to outdoor adventures.

Needless to say, I have found this to be an interesting time in my life. Much has transpired since that last post. I have been very busy, both professionally and personally. I continue to do the same job. I have been doing my current job before I started writing TheMcKeeSpot. It began as an idea after a morning coffee cabal with a great colleague. He retired several years ago.

Over the past few years, many of my friends and colleagues have retired. Many return and “double dip” and work part-time as a contractor. As I contemplate my own retirement, I stay focused on retiring and not planning to be a contractor. Yet, economic changes are affecting my life. Personal changes in my life are also influencing my decision. These changes convince me that this represents a good “middle of the road” approach as I ease into retirement. I will probably follow in their footsteps when I do retire.

Recently, I got a promotion of sorts. This was after 15 years at the same level and job title. Obviously, a promotion should be a time to rejoice. Unfortunately, the HR processes at Los Alamos are broken. It was more of a way to reclassify people into the correct job title. It was not a real promotion. Many of the work processes are, in my opinion, broken.

I continue to do the same job that I have been doing for over a decade. However, there has been much change. Changes have been in terms of the people that I worked with and admired, and how work is performed. About the people, many who have worked on the project for years, retired. I am happy for them. None of the change has improved the work load, the work product, or made processes more efficient. Regarding the work environment, I have coined the phrase “bureaucratic work free safety zone” to characterize the entire place. It takes twice the number of people and twice as long to move ahead with even the simplest of activities.

Given all of this, my thoughts turn towards loosing myself in the wish to balance work and life. It has been a long time coming. Yet, I stay lost in the busy schedule of work. I often ignore family, friends, and self-care. Of late, I have vowed to change much of that focus as I contemplate retirement.

I have been planning much to do for myself over the next several months. This week, as I write this, I am in Phoenix addressing a medical issue. I have talked about this issue over the past few years. Enough procrastination has lapsed and now I am working the issue. In two weeks I have planned work travel, followed by another Pearl Jam concert. This will be followed with hiking and camping back east for a couple of weeks. I will be with a friend who has been great at uplifting me lately. This story remains a work in progress. Finally, June will follow with some fishing with great people in Alaska.

I plan to end the summer by traveling with the kids. The kids are preparing for school in August. A trip away will be a great way to end the summer. I also plan to decide on the next chapter of my life at this time.

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life

A Picturesque Sunrise in New Mexico: My Hurkle-Durkle Morning

After a fantastic dinner and an overall great evening last night, I went to bed about usual time. It was met with sleeping in later than my schedule allows. There is a 200-year-old term I learned on the internet called hurkle-durkle. It is a Scottish term meaning to lounge in bed long after it’s time to get up. Well, I certainly did the hurkle-durkle this morning.

I doubted that it was a real expression. However, sure enough, the internet was able to educate me on the subject. You can read about it here:

https://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/hurkle-durkle-scots-word-meaning-origin-4491313

That said, I hurkle-durkled until 6:30 this morning. Absent coffee, I hurried up, got dressed, and drove to the stables in order to catch sunrise on my iPhone. I’ll save the why for another time. It was a beautiful morning. The stables were quiet, except for some horses, a few chickens crackling and some sheep. The air was crisp but had a very pleasant smell about it, surprising for an area with many horses.

According to my weather app, sunrise was at 7:04 am this morning. The fact that it was February 2nd, Groundhog’s Day, was not lost on me. Sunrise, I expected to see my shadow. Here is the first picture when I got to the riding arena at about 6:55 am this morning.

Just beginning to creep up and over the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Let me continue with its progression…in silence.

And there you have it. The last picture was around 7:12 am. Another beautiful sunrise in New Mexico. Not much orange in the colors of the clouds. But it was the start to another great day.

In my mind, I was reminded of the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Also sprach Zarathustra. You can close your eyes and here the opening notes. They almost parallel the rising sun. However, it looks like the sunrise was doing its own abbreviated form of the hurkle-durkle.

In some ways, a sunrise is like a new beginning. It is kinda how I have been feeling for the past several weeks. A new beginning for me. A new sunrise as I continue to travel through my life’s journey. More to come. Stay tuned.

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life the week in review

Early January 2025. What will the new year bring?

This marked a return to normalcy after the winter break. My daughter departed Saturday for the spring semester of her sophomore in college. Due the of breakfast on weekends we decided to visit Viola’s on Friday morning for a father-daughter. She left Roman in Colorado for the winter break. Remarkably, she managed to ride other horses over the break. She took a few lessons and earned a few dollars by taking care of other horses at the stables. I believe she would be happy if she could make a career out of that type of work.

My son returned to school earlier in the week and has already managed a week of high school classes. Now that his sister has left, he must hope for good weather in the afternoon. He cannot take the bus home. Therefore, he has to walk. Alternatively, he hopes that one of his parents can pick him up. His junior year is progressing better, but he is just doing the minimum to get through. For, breaks consist of playing computer games and spending a significant amount of time watching various videos on YouTube. He should have figured out a niche and become some type of YouTube influencer. I suppose there is still time.

I worry and wonder about their futures. I am concerned about how they will secure employment and what fields or careers they will pursue. I also wonder how they will take care of themselves, given the current state of this country. Will they have the opportunity to continue to enjoy the activities they do now in the future? Have I adequately prepared them for life after I am no longer around? It is evident that their lives today are vastly different from mine at their age.

A quiet dinner at an Olive Garden, sometime in 2017.

I can only hope and pray that I have prepared them for tomorrow.

As for me, I have returned to work, and I am thinking very hard as to when I will retire. I need to think about myself. I must consider my next 30+ years I believe I have left on this planet.

Today is a very cold Sunday in Los Alamos. I write this post on a very quiet day while contemplating taking the dog for a walk. The recent news is about the fires in southern California. Having twice evacuated over the past thirty years because of forest fires, I understand how those people feel. If you have the time to pack, you might wonder what will happen. Will you return to a pile of ashes? Fortunately for me, that was not the case. Sadly, there is much destruction in California over the past week.

I previously wrote about the fires in Los Alamos in May 2022. I also wrote about them in April 2022 and in May 2020. This post isn’t a further reflection of these types of disasters or the empathy that they trigger. Droughts, poor forest management and other contributors add to the lessons learned from these events. So far this winter, we have had very little snow in Northern New Mexico. What kind of weather will the spring, summer, and fall bring? Will our once a decade fire cycle be different?

Equally unmentioned until now was the return of the McRib after Thanksgiving. But it was a tasty reminder of several previous posts on this blog. But I didn’t mention it until now, nor did I critique the culinary experience.

The result the fires will be higher homeowners insurance rates in the coming year. I have already experienced increases in my automobile insurance. Given my current stage in life, I have added more coverage through an umbrella policy. This helps protect my family.

With the arrival of spring, I must downsize as part of my retirement strategy. Although I no plans to sell the house, I do need to focus on the backyard. My retirement planning also includes more hiking, more camping, and more travel. And perhaps, this will be the year I finally finish reading Atlas Shrugged!

Until next time.

Categories
Family life

Another end of the year is upon us

I can’t believe that 2024 will soon be over and 2025 will be upon us. I will soon be another year older. I will be 64. I am entering what I often refer to as my third act on this planet. Sadly, I am still working. But, I am pretty sure that this will be my last. As I no longer enjoy it, I am finding getting up every day a difficult task. The reasons that I worked so hard are gone. The enjoyment I once felt is just no longer there.

Wow! Thanksgiving came and went. And in typical fashion, I spent the day doing chemistry, creating yet another tasty meal. One thing that I have

learned over the years is that cooking might be easier if I have the proper tools. Must have been the wine that got me through the day. So for Christmas, I splurged and bought myself all new pots and pans for cooking. That certainly came in handy when I cooked the Christmas day meal. Over the years, I have found that I certainly let food dictate elements

of my life. Certainly a possibility for when I retire is to combine food with travel, besides other themes.

I also found myself more in the Christmas spirit this year. I do not know why! I decorated both inside and outside the house compared to other

years. Pretty sure that I was not dreaming of a White Christmas. After all, how many people celebrate Christmas with a display that includes an inflatable Grinch. Added a few new nutcrackers to the collection and the kids got me a new ornament for the tree.

I sit here this Sunday morning. I am enjoying my first cup of coffee. The mug was made by my daughter. I am also savoring a Nonna Randazzo’s King Cake from New Orleans. This delicious treat is a Christmas gift from my sister. Son got me a coffee roaster and beans that I will soon have to

try. And I have always wondered if one can grow coffee beans in New Mexico? An entrepreneurial twist to retirement? If anything, I certainly need to get to Mardi Gras sometime.

Having wrapped up a weeks vacation over Christmas. Getting ready for a second weeks vacation over New Years. Not much planned with the kids off from school and home. Roman stayed behind in Colorado for daughter’s Christmas break from college. The weather has been great. It is getting into the upper 40’s during the day. There is no sight of snow on the horizon. I have found myself sleeping in until 6am instead of my normal 3am start of the day. Soon the sun will be up, expected to reach the low 50’s today. Will take Jewel out for her morning walk shortly. As the year ends, trust all is well with everyone. Soon 2025 will be upon us. Let’s hope that it is a better year than the last.

Categories
life

Exploring California’s Ohana Festival and New Orleans Adventures

Welcome to early October. It has been a few weeks since the last post. This is the time of year when I often plan my vacation. Nothing extravagant like some of my friends, who venture off for weeks to Scotland and Ireland. That said, I have placed such trips on my bucket list for the future—when I retire.

More often than not, my vacations are typically long weekend getaways. They are solo trips to a music festival, usually in a place that I have never visited. This year was no exception. I decided in early April to attend the Ohana Festival in California.

I would sum up the Ohana Festival as great weather, great music, and great food. It was a fantastic weekend to sleep in, charge the batteries before returning to work. The food was delicious and aside from all of the walking and drinking, I managed to put on 10 pounds. And while the location, on a Pacific beach was spectacular, the water was too cold to enjoy the surf.

Of course, given the cell phone age, I managed to take pictures to share of the adventure.

The music lineup included Dogstar, The Breeders, The MOSS, and Turnpike Troubadours, along with DEVO, Sting, and Alanis Morissette, among others. Pearl Jam was also featured. These were just a few of the acts from the three-day event. The two Pearl Jam concerts started off explosively but, in my opinion, ended as some of their least remarkable performances. I shouldn’t have been surprised; it was the conclusion, or nearly so, of the Dark Matter tour. They seemed to lack the vigor I had seen at an earlier show in Las Vegas.

I returned from California and spent a few days at work. There it was wrapping up the fiscal year and starting anew. Of late, work has become more of a negative distraction than the whole idea of accomplishing specific goals. That trend continues and certainly has pushed me towards making this my final year. My week at work involved less actual work and more preparation for retirement, along with planning for my upcoming trip.

It was another long weekend vacation. This time, with son in tow, we ventured off to New Orleans and my niece’s wedding. Daughter, unfortunately, could not attend due to college classes.

I figure that it was a complete wedding, New Orleans style. There was a jazz band. People enjoyed dancing and music in the streets. The celebration included a streetcar trip. The wedding took It was a black-tie event and thus the need to wear the tuxedo. For me, there were relaxing moments on the front porch. I enjoyed drinking a gin & tonic while reading a book. I also spent time pondering the future.

A visit to the Crescent City isn’t complete without exploring the National World War II Museum. My son found it engaging. The ‘broken world’ exhibit felt particularly relevant as we approach this election cycle. I can’t help but think that we may be facing some challenging times ahead. The sentiment remains unchanged regardless of the election results, unless a clear frontrunner appears with policies that align with my vision for the near future.

And to that end, I have already voted. Yes, I voted early and in person. Otherwise, this election cycle has been madness. I get between 50 to 100 phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and snail mail requests for donations every day. This happens daily. I cannot believe how much money the democrats have raised. I honestly believe that the amounts indicated some illegal shenanigans that need to be investigated. However, I wonder why we cannot raise those kinds of funds to ease homelessness. We could help those less fortunate or provide disaster relief.

Well, it is Sunday. I have been at it for a few hours. I have been to the grocery store. I have taken Jewel for a walk. I have been out for coffee. The rains from yesterday have subsided for the moment, but more in the forecast. There is snow in the mountains and autumn has clearly arrived.

Until next time, enjoy the pictures, have a great week and get out and vote. I am afraid that our Constitutional Republic may be hanging in the balance. Why would Warren Buffet sit for a photo on a toilet? He must be thinking that this is the direction of the economy.

Categories
life Uncategorized

A Return from the Unknown

When I logged in this morning, I was shocked to see that my last post was on October 15, 2023. There I said that there has been change in my life. But as I start typing this post, it has been about eight months since I last updated the world on my comings and goings.

It was the Rush drummer Neil Peart who said that “the more things change, the more they remain the same”. However, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The More Things Change may refer to:

The internet cannot even provide a clear answer as I was able to find many articles on the phrase, whether it is in English, or in French. I still attribute my introduction to the phrase from the song “Circumstances” by Rush, since they sang the words in both English and French.

Today is early May. I have been up for awhile and went to the stables early to get ready for the return of Roman. After a semester at college with my daughter, he , and she, is coming home for the summer. I think the horse has been goof for my daughter to help her navigate the emotional ups and downs of college but we will see how she handled the coursework.

Son has about another month of high school. This year has been better with less absences, less bullying, but also less focus on the work. I am concerned as to what summer will bring for him. We shall see, but I hope that we can spend more time outdoors than in years past.

As for I, I continue to work but contemplate retirement multiple times a day. After all, it has been over 33 years, and I recently celebrated the 34th anniversary of turning 29 years old. That which was great about working at Los Alamos is no more. And it has been broken for a number of years. It has, in my opinion, become poorly managed in so many ways. It is not sustainable.

As summer comes, I see two planned outings in which I will cross paths with Pearl Jam. Vacation travel is planned as part of these outings and perhaps represent a view of my post retirement gig. Aside from some weekend hiking and car camping, working to rebuild the stables will be much of my effort.

Perhaps a few other trips are in the offing, as I see how the year will round itself out. And I see that we have an election in the fall. Our nation cannot stand another 4 weeks, let alone, another four years of Joe Biden. He and the rest of the democrats in government should be impeached, imprisoned and tried for treason against the constitution. The left are destroying our nation that so many have fought and died for, and that others continue to see as a better place.

However, I am not sure who I can vote for as the other side of the equation is not much better. And the other parties offer more of the old. Lock and load as the nation is falling apart. Looks like we will have another summer of lawlessness and protests that lack a proper moral direction.

Until next time, and lets hope that it isn’t as long as this time.

Categories
Family life

Is it May already?

I cannot believe that we have entered the month of May. Allergies are bothering me to the point where I need to take the usual drugs in order to get through the day. The first several months of this year have just flown on by. We have already passed Cinco De Mayo. I have had another birthday, 62, and find myself still working. March flew by like a lion. The weather is starting to improve, yet a couple of weeks ago we had snow. Soon it will be summer, and the kids will be out of school for the summer.

Tis a typical Sunday that I find myself up somewhat early. Having tea and breakfast. Laundry is done. The dog is fed. Need to take some items to the recycling bins (glass and cardboard boxes). Vacuum cleaner needs to be run; a general spring cleaning is necessary. Yard needs to be cleaned up, especially since Jewel uses it a lot. Virginia creeper runs amuck along the once fence. If I don’t thin it out, it grows across the canopy of trees and slowly kills them. My backyard is a mess that is in need of some revitalization. I think about it every year but never really get any backyard project started. Yet it is time to plant the tomatoes in the deck box.

Ditto with the projects at the stables. Some of the wood in the buildings needs to be replaced. The wind can blow quite excessively, causing damage. The fence needs replaced in areas; a good coat of paint would improve the aesthetics of the place. Alas, soon it will be time to cut the grass, bail hay for the horses, and in general, try to keep up with the chores.

Soon I will find myself at the high school graduation. I cannot believe my little girl is 18 and a senior. Seems like it was just yesterday when she was doing little girl things. Where did the time fly? Soon it will be off to college and then taking care of the horses while she is away. Son will have wrapped up a very difficult freshman year. What will we have him do this summer?

This summer, I have taken a vow of sorts to do things that I want to do. Camping and other weekend getaways. Get to the gun range and target practice. Hiking and yes, some fishing. I want to sit under a tree and read books, to go to fancy restaurants, waste hours in bookstores, drink wine and visit microbreweries. Long weekend trips to visit friends, museums, art galleries.

Some of the planning is coming together for summer concerts. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus in Taos, Bruce Spingsteen and The E Street Band, and perhaps even Pearl Jam.

Yet I need a new iPhone, put the car into the garage, what else?

Well it’s a nice day and so I might as well see what I can accomplish. Until next time.

Categories
life

The Return

Hello Everyone. It has been over six months since my last post. It wasn’t that I lost interest. It was due to the death of my computer. My desktop, and all of those files were rendered unretrievable because of a failure of the disc drive. All my pictures. All my tax returns. All my things in the electronic age were lost. My son and daughter lost years of games. Yes, I know better and should have had backup. Live and learn…or maybe it is fate telling me that it is necessary to start over. Let’s go with that!

Earlier this week I recovered from the problem. Partially. I bought myself an early Christmas present in that I got a new computer. I was excited when it arrived. Now I struggle because I need to figure out how to set it up with what I want. I hope that I can take the old hard drive somewhere, somehow, and recover the files, but we will save that for another time.

Much has transpired since last I commented on TheMcKeeSpot. Let’s spend a few minutes and get everyone up to speed. Can’t you see how excited Jewel is…

My last post was the latest update of the Cerro Pelado fire. It was pressing close to town, and we were in the early stages of preparation to evacuate. Well that never happened. The fire crews were able to stem the tide and the fire was soon contained and a return to normal happened. I actually traveled through the fire area near Jemez Springs a few weeks ago on the back road to Los Alamos. Many trees scarred and lands burned. A beautiful fall day in the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

Late June brought travel and the subsequent return to another sense of normalcy…travel. And so, I traveled for work. And so, I returned, then spent three weeks recovering from COVID. Yes, despite getting the original vaccine, its follow-up, and then a booster, I entered the ranks of over half of the country and got COVID. It was three days of pure hell, between the 103-degree fever and massive headache, followed by three weeks of testing positive, lethargic and brain fog. And then it was done, and I returned to normal.

During the whole time, my evening taste test of bourbon did not fail me. I could taste it every night. So, I did not lose my taste, or smell. As summer turns into fall and soon winter will be upon us, one has to wonder if the return of COVID, the flue, or something else will transcend life as I know it?

The summer months were spent between work, and the occasional visit with the kids. Daughter turned 18 in July and her brother 15 in September.

They are both in high school. Where did the time go? Daughter is looking for college possibilities and has already been accepted into a couple. And they only accepted her and not the horses. She is still riding, but not as much as in the past. Both Roman and Ruby are doing well. Son continues to play video games, gripe about schoolwork, and has limited extra curricula activities.

September also found me travelling again, both for work and a trip to Bourbon and Beyond. Now who could not enjoy four days of food, drink and music. I had a great time getting away from here.

Outside work, nothing to really to report. I am still working. Jewel and I spend quiet evenings after work, reading or whatever needs to get done, as illustrated in the photo above. Soon I will be wrapping up my 32nd year. I am ready for retirement but with the Biden economy in the toilet, my kid’s college funds have lost over half their value. As a country, we had an election which failed to result in a change since over 70%, myself included, felt that the country was heading in the wrong direction. Our country is in decline. Our world is gravitating closer to war. I am afraid for what tomorrow will bring.

Sadly, I believe that this generation will inherit a country, a world, that is not better off than the previous generation.

More to come.

Categories
life

OMG the hamster escaped!

A hamster is jailed in their cage.

I had a pet hamster growing up. Put them into those balls and they will run for hours, exploring the house. Also a dog and a cat. Our family was bad at names. We had a dog named Tippy because of the white tip at the end of her tail. And Grey the cat. You guessed it. Grey’s mother was named Fluffy. Shall I go on?

To a hamster, the caged life must be great. All the food you want, an exercise wheel. You sleep. You eat. You drink. You poop. Plenty to do, provided you like to live behind bars everyday of your life. That is if your hamster is caged in the modern rodent cages that one can purchase from a local pet shop. Or from Pet Smart at the mall. Both of my kids have had lots of pets over the years. It started with Guinea Pigs.

I had just separated and moved into a three bedroom apartment. The kids called me one day crying. Their Montessori needed to re-home two Guinea Pigs from a student who had them but as she got older, developed allergies. My lease didn’t allow pets but I said that I would ask the landlord. Oddly enough, he didn’t have a problem with Guinea Pigs. I guess it was because they live in a cage. So the kids got the two Guinea pigs, renamed them Super Guinea and Brownie. I don’t remember what their original names were. Over the next three years, they were the only two pets in our new home. Then over time…

Along came several goldfish and then tropical fish. We still have three goldfish that my son won at a street carnival two years ago. They share the tank with a five year old tropical fish and get along just fine…

And the seven or so parakeets. They had great bird names…

And the lizards. We loved to watch them eat live crickets…

And two dogs over the six years that we have called the place home. The dogs arrived after I bought the place from my landlord. Abby died after two years and after a year, we had to get Jewel. Both were pound puppies…Jewel is currently lying on the back of the sofa over my left shoulder as I write this.

The kids got very creative with Pet names over the years. How else can you get Ruby from a horse that is actually named Think of Chocolate?

Ruby the horse has her own place about 5 miles from our house. If she could, I am sure that my daughter would love to have her living in the back yard.

Over the years, these pets taught my kids about the circle of life. How to take care of something that cannot take care of itself. All things live, until they die. The backyard has become a pet cemetery of sorts. Nondescript graves, a nondescript funeral. Flushing the goldfish down the toilet is not how we send a family pet like whitie the goldfish into the ever after. If the mean guy who lives two houses down wants to report that to the homeowners association, I don’t care.

This morning I went into my son’s room to check on Johnnie, my son’s pet hamster. He has had Johnnie for almost two years now. Gave him fresh food and checked the cage. It was empty! There was no Johnnie. He escaped.

Johnnie the hamster. Not his real picture. Could not find one but this is what we are going to put on his wanted sign.

The last time that I saw Johnnie was a couple of days ago. I went to my son’s room to check on him. He was fine but needed water. I refilled his water container. Pretty sure he was there when I replaced the water bottle. Checked today, provided him food and there was no hamster. No sign as to how he got out. My son swears that he was there yesterday. What to do now?

My daughter had a hamster several years ago. He managed to escape from his cage. This kids like to hold them and play with them. Hamster fell out of her hands and ran off. Took us about 24 hours to recapture him in my daughter’s closet. Hope to do the same with Johnnie.

But he is missing. So I checked the internet on how to recover a lost hamster. I set his cage in the middle of my son’s room with the door open. Hopefully he will get hungry, or thirsty, spy the cage and craw inside. Visit for awhile and hopefully I can trap him.

The trap in my son’s room…hopefully Johnnie will get home sick!

Came across many interesting articles about hamsters, and other animals. Found a particularly interesting article entitled “Do Hamsters like music” at https://hutchandcage.com/do-hamsters-like-music/. From the article, the hamsters are like my kids. They love classical music. The article says that all animals like classical music. Of late I have been listening to Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man. Jewel isn’t too keen on it. Mozart or Beethoven? The article didn’t specify….Hamsters get stressed out to Metal or Rock music. The article suggests that music can be beneficial to hamsters. Too bad my children cannot benefit from listening to Pearl Jam (or RUSH; but they are OK with the Beatles and REM).

So if the cage trick does not work, I guess that I will resort to music.

Think I need to rethink the whole concept of getting chickens and rabbits and goats for the kids at the stables. Son wants a snake. I told him he can get a snake when he has his own place. Daughter would like lots of farmland so that she can take in any and every animal that does not have a home.

Categories
life

Magazines

Many things that defined my growing up, college, graduate school, and the present, have changed with the creation of and continued expansion of the internet. Over the years, it has changed much of how I learn, watch movies, read, get the news, purchased things, my daily routines in life. It has had a significant change of how our society has evolved. Some of it has NOT been for the better in my opinion.

One of the many things that is debatable in this electronic age is the loss of magazines. The loss of books. The loss of privacy, of oratory and the spoken word. The converse may also be true. The internet allows me to share my thoughts. Put into words what I am thinking. The ability for it to be shared with anyone and everyone. This post is the manifestation of that.

Growing up, grade schools and high schools often raised money for student activities by selling magazines. I think Publisher’s Clearinghouse still offers annual contests for millions of dollars! In graduate school, much time I spent in the library reading chemistry journals. As a serious professional (a chemistry nerd), much money was also spent subscribing to the various ACS (American Chemical Society) and getting their journals delivered monthly. Now all of these can be obtained by paying for an electronic subscription. For the record, I think I stopped receiving those journals about 5 years after graduate school. It is still much easier to go to the library. They took up too much space in a one bedroom apartment. Moving many boxes of dead weight was a hassle. I don’t even think I saved the copies of the published issues where I actually published my original research articles. Alas, I can look them up on-line.

When I travel for work, if I don’t have a book to carry along, I will stop at the magazine store at the airport to pick up one for the trip. Of late, that has been either a sailing magazine or woodworking. Thinking about the next 50 years.

However, I still get magazines delivered to my home. When I got serious about making money and investing, I had to have every magazine out there. From BusinessWeek to MONEY to SmartMoney to Kiplinger’s to Cooking Light, Real Simple, even Men’s Health and Playboy. Over the years, I had several magazines delivered. Yes they take up space. I saved them before recycling them. Slowly, over the years, many of these magazines have migrated to an all electronic format. MONEY has been that way for about 18 months now. Note to son – sorry, but I got rid of the Playboy subscription and magazines before I met your mom. Replaced it for Coastal Living for a few years. I get a periodic e-mail reminder of what’s new in MONEY. I guess they make money by online advertising. It still has the same format.

Somehow, it just doesn’t fill all of my necessary sensory needs. With Kiplinger’s, which I still get sent to my house monthly, I have the feel. I can feel the paper, smell the paper, look at the pictures, read the articles. I can roll it up if I have to hit the dog, or the kids, or myself. I can recycle it. I can take it to work and leave it at the lunch table for others to read. I can even take it to the bathroom to read it. Every month, it comes to my mailbox and every month, I read it. Cover to cover. Takes maybe two days, cover to cover. I have it. I own it.

I used to get the Wall Street Journal every day, the same way. The stacks of paper would pile up. You still can, but several years ago I opted for the electronic version only. I think that the electronic version is quickly becoming overpriced at $38.99 a month. I find that the quality of the presentation is less, more typos, errors. It no longer prints the daily stock quotes as near as I can tell. They have a web site for that. The same article can appear electronically in different versions for several days. Corrections are easy, updates to articles are easy. But it is convenient. During the COVID19 situation, I wished that I still had the paper copy, especially on those days when toilet paper was in short supply. But I read it every morning on my iPad.

Garden & Gun April/May 2020.

The inspiration for this post was that I received and finished, my April/May 2020 issue of Garden & Guns about a week ago. I have found it to be the best printed magazine out there today. I know that I have June/July on my table to read next. I read it cover to cover, all the time. Why would a 59 year old man born and raised in the Northeast, who lives in the Southwest, enjoy a magazine about the South? It has great articles, photography, recipes. The advertisements make me think of places to add to my bucket list if I ever want to get away from New Mexico, even for a few days. Articles about guns, horses, dogs, the culture, music, cooking, cities, towns, decorating. This month features include Saving the South. Articles about 30 heroes, from musicians to chefs, farmers, cowboys, conversationalists, and others who are making the south a better place. I find it has something new, enlightening, enjoyable to read. A new recipe to try when I feel the need to practice some at home Chemistry.

The website https:gardenandgun.com has the June/July issue already up for your viewing pleasure. I cannot wait to sit and read it from cover to cover. To feel the paper. To gaze at the pictures and to contemplate the mouthwatering recipes. For Memorial Day (yesterday), they posted on Instagram a picture from Arlington National Cemetery (see above). Many other magazines follow this same format. They have an on-line presence, linked with their subscriptions. In my opinion some just do it better than others.

Yes I can get the copy electronically, sent to my iPad. It loses its meaning to me in some ways. So as long as I can continue to get the printed copy, I feel added pleasure. I can hold it, get a paper cut, enjoy the turning of every page.