Lessons

Happy Saturday – Actually it’s been a quiet week. Quiet, except for the fact that I took our little Corolla ‘beater’ in the have the resonator piping replaced, and that on my birthday no less. It must be that old cars and old guys’ ‘resonator’ piping suffer a similar issue – loudness, especially in public.

The other aging phenomena is the reappearance of kindergarten aged fart jokes and the like.

So, here is a resultant juvenile limerick, one of many.

When you enter your eighties – life takes on a different format:

An irritable person is Dirk the faultfinder.
A legit and professional griper.
People had no idea why he had the blues.
Turns out he had a full diaper.
They quickly got a nose full of clues.

It’s still early and still dark, so back to my coffee.

Presidents Day – Here is a quick question regarding last Monday. Who of you all actually spent a nano-second reflecting on even one of our Presidents last Monday as we celebrated our 147th Presidents Day (1879)?

I would guess that topping the list would be critical events such as mistakenly putting out the garbage a day early. Or checking the mailbox forgetting that there was no delivery that day.

Was your bank open, did you buy a piece of furniture or a mattress at the weekend’s onslaught of sales? Any of you care to share your favorite screw-up?

Cathy on the air – Tomorrow is the start of an important week, especially for us, the elderly. National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW). It runs from March 1 to 7, 2026, with March 5 designated as National “Slam the Scam” Day to focus on government imposter scams.

Our Cathy at Cincinnati’s Pro Seniors heads up the organization’s Statewide Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) sector. Quoting their stats; “In 2024, the 54 SMP projects had a total of 5,643 active team members who conducted a total of 22,752 group outreach and education events, contributing to $35.1 million in expected Medicare recoveries.”

Last evening, using Roku’s Live Streaming setup I listened to a wonderful show on WMKV – 89.3FM where the station hosted Cathy representing Senior Medicare Patrol and a representative from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to alert listeners to the myriad and ever more sophisticated onslaught of scams – over 200% increase in about a year.

This week especially, be alert, verify and incoming calls and requests. If the ‘pitch’ sounds too good to be true, most likely it is!

A tale of two women – is proof that it’s not just by being from a group, a culture, a gender, a religion that becomes the criteria by which to judge a person. All this was brought home to me when I spotted the antics and untoward attitude expressed by one representative, Ilhan Omar during this week’s State of the Union presentation.

The tale of the two women is made oh so clear when we look at Representative Ilhan Omar who is little more than a grifter, a masterful and successful grifter at that. A grifter who constantly caps on America and openly expressing a deep-seated hate for Jewish people.

The other is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ayaan same country of origin endured female genital mutilation as a child and fled an arranged marriage. Ended up In the Netherlands, exposed Islamic misogyny through her writings and the film *Submission* with Theo van Gogh, which critiqued the oppression of women under fundamentalist Islam (van Gogh was assassinated by an Islamist in 2004).

Hirsi Ali received death threats, moved to the United States and has been living under protection. She is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University where she champions our values, freedom, tolerance, and women’s rights. She embraces a gratitude toward the nations that sheltered her. She is a hero.

The plan today is that our Cincinnati family meet up for brunch. Assuming Marcia is up for it we’ll head for one of my favorite coffee/sandwich shops; “Mom ‘n Em”. No better Avocado or Anchovy toasties anywhere!

Then proud congratulations to Derek who the day after his birthday showed up an Austin courthouse to report for jury duty. He survived ‘voir dire’! Was seated, then on Thursday at 6:30pm, after a two-hours of deliberation, the jury of twelve came to a verdict. He faced his civic duty with aplomb and performed well.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

How many iterations of the American flag have been made? Hint, the United States holds the world record for the most changes to a national flag.

1. 27
2. 13
3. 6
4. 29
5. 18
6. 21
7. 17

Last week answer – #2

here a ‘D’ there a “D’

Happy Saturday – Last week I mentioned the almost open neighborhood Dairy Queen as our forerunner of Spring. Now it can be safely said that Spring is exactly one month away.

And after this winter I am beyond ready.

The other day I came across a news view of a Barge heading up-river through broken up ice. Considering I worked late summer’s River Roots Festival and watched the Riverboats cruise up and down the river with Calliope’s playing merry tunes, this view was a far cry from those jolly days.

Let’s pretend that I am enjoying a celebratory mug of Peets coffee [Peet’s just IPO’d at $17Billion] this very morning as I sip and look towards Spring, one month into the future. Better yet, in the meantime ease back and celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, the year of the Fire Horse.

Pressure? – With all the happenings (turmoil?) this winter I am completely out of sync with any prep work for proceeding with some of the 5Ks I’ve participated in over the past several years.

Now this! A week ago a gentleman by the name of Gary Patton NYRR’s Night at the Races #5 held at The Armory in New York City, saw 80 year-old Gary Patton run 6:38.10 setting a new world record for 80-84 year-olds for an indoor mile run!
Really?
OK, now the pressure is really on!

A short while ago – So many things and capabilities we take for granted were brand spanking new just a handful of years ago. When I talk with my grandkids and as they describe some work requirement for school done on-line during the evening, submitted as homework, and graded by the start of the next morning’s class as the forever norm. That ‘norm’ as many others were barely thought of just a short while ago.

Think of YouTube, we almost live on YouTube. Need to look anything from music, science, repair, and on and on. All can be readily found among the multi-millions of clips online. You’d think that all this availability dates back many decades earlier.

Well, here is an eye opener.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is now offering visitors a new landmark display. featuring the first video ever uploaded to the site (waaaay back in 2005): Jawed Karim’s “Me at the zoo“.

The video shows a young software engineer, Jawed Karim, co-founder of YouTube, on the first up-loaded video in 2005. A year later Google purchased the technology, and thus it all began.

Presidents Day – Here is a quick question. Who of you all actually spent a nano-second reflecting on even one of our Presidents last Monday as we celebrated the 147th Presidents Day (1879).

I would guess that topping the list would be critical events such as mistakenly putting out the garbage a day early. Or checking the mailbox forgetting that there was no delivery that day.

Was your bank open, did you buy a piece of furniture or a mattress? Any of you care to share your favorite screw-up?

Where is the joke? – this two-week period sees an array of birthdays in my circle; and three of them have names starting with the letter ‘D’. I mention this not as a joke since I consider all three as being ‘A’.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

How often do we watch a spot on the evening News that another satellite was launched. Actually, what has recently been proposed by SpaceX is an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for a megaconstellation of up to one million satellites to power data centers in space. As of this month approximately how many satellites are currently in low earth orbit? One number is correct.

1. 875
2. 14,000
3. 1,400
4. 900
5. 125,000
6. 1,850
7. 692,000

Last week answer – #5

2 – Weeks Till …..

Happy Saturday – Really Happy! Do you realize that in just two short weeks our nearby harbinger of Spring will open. March 1, 2026, our Dairy Queen will start serving their ‘Blizzard’ complete with sprinkles. As the Duch would yell out; “hiep, hiep hoera” (hippity, hip hoorah).

Pressure? – In short order, it’s like we’re being slapped on one cheek and then the other. Yesterday it was that always worrisome (if you so believe) day of potential mishaps – Friday the 13th style.

Then today’s Valentine Day ballyhoo as so advanced by the dear people of Hallmark. As a ‘just leave me to get along by myself’ kind of guy it becomes more and more difficult to stay out of trouble. Happy Valentine’s Day.

C of C & M – you guessed correctly, the C of C & M does stand for ‘Corner of Chaos and Mayhem’. And, two days ago, the “nom de guerre” of our dear corner once again earned its name. Thursday Marcia had a ‘Lady sitter’ for me to run out to take care of some much-needed stuff. Heading home from Costco I got a call. The gist was that our street was closed since three Ambulances, seven Fire trucks, plus Police were scattered about the corner – seems that the third floor of our neighboring building was on fire.

I did manage to sneak on the back side of our drive and an hour later everything was back to normal. Fire had been called quickly, and they managed to contain the fire. Nice going and kudos to the folk professionals staffing our nation’s very first professional fire brigade.

And the Winner is – I am talking about the current Winter Olympics of course. No, not about any spectacular speed, loop, turn, half loop, or even a win which brought tears to the eyes of all those ever present experts.

I am talking about the winner of the best creative uniform for an athlete. First let it be said that Haiti only has two entries. These two won my ‘best of costume’ award for their kit, hands down.

What makes them even more special is that these outfits were hand painted, as stated in an on-line article, “hand painted by artisans with designs rooted in the nation’s heritage. Displaying symbols of resistance, even keeping the iconic image of the riderless red horse at the center.”

It was great – I am talking about last Sunday’s “Jazz@First” concert. The concert focused on the amazing (and amazingly long) career of Pat Metheny, and his long-term collaborator, Lyle Mays.

These concerts with the Phil deGreg trio are formed from players/instructors at the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music (CCM). Being teachers as well as performers means that their audience is handed a double ‘whammy’ – a great performance, and teaching moments with some wonderful background insights.

So, I learned that while Metheny is known mostly for ‘smooth’ jazz, it is his being raised and exposed to the music found in Kansas City (his hometown). Working with this prevalence of western and country music had him incorporate those sounds into his music. So, it’s not surprising that the sounds of bands such as Steely Dan can be found in his works.

At the concert, I recorded a piece written by Metheny, Bright Size Life, where this influence is clear. Enjoy a listen:

Marcia – had what can only be describes as her own “Hippity Hip Hoorah” moment when her Physical Therapist assessed the gains Marcia had made. Closing out her P.T. cycle it came time for Marcia to strut her stuff. The result being that Laura the therapist had Marcia park her walker and prance away using her cane. She did great!

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Seniors are currently strategizing their final college selection. Our Presidents too went through that same cycle. Some became our POTUS with unlikely majors to prepare them for the role of Chief Executive. Which of these early career paths were taken by a President, 6 are correct, one is wrong.

1. Nuclear Physics
2. Teaching
3. Geology
4. Hebrew
5. Mortuary Science 1978
6. No Formal Education 1993
7. Mathematics

Last week answer – #5 -1978 & #6 – 1993

Happy

Happy Saturday – The ‘Happy’ as my standard opening word is much more than just a filler word. Each and every day we all have at our disposal an opportunity. The opportunity to seize at whatever is tossed into our path as a challenge or as an impediment. As an ‘Albatross’ or as a positive opportunity.

This might be a (very) weak example of what I just mentioned; but here goes. I forgot to grind some of our Don Pablo coffee beans and wanted my mug of coffee ASAP. Without batting an eye, I got into my Hazelnut coffee stash; problem solved, plus a ‘wake-up-the-tastebuds’ moment – glad I made that move.

Happiness – Just to avoid getting into a long diatribe let me just steer you to the writings of the legendary Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) – he was a main character in the psychology studies I had at Calvin. What you’d find is that many reliable rules as to what creates happiness can be found and most of them were figured out in 1960 by a senior citizen – none other than Dr. Carl Jung. Concepts such as having a “complex”, something being an “archetype”, even us being an “introvert or an extrovert”, were all put forth by Jung.

Approaching his 85th birthday Jung was asked what factors requisite for happiness were. He posited five pillars for happiness:

1. maintaining good physical and mental health.
2. good personal and intimate relationships.
3. satisfying work and a reasonable standard of living.
4. seeing beauty in art and nature.
5. a philosophical or religious outlook that fosters resilience.

Perimenopause – As we age, not necessarily yet old, most of us experience a bit of aphasia now and then. The ladies have a dedicated term to their specific type of aphasia, perimenopause (for men the closest is ‘andropause’). It appears that both Estrogen and Testosterone play a part.

I got a bit more of an insight on this subject through the writing of Mira Ptacin. I guess that I had one too many of those ‘brain-burps’. One which made me want to dig in a bit more on the subject. As Ptacin says regarding ‘losing words’; “Mid-sentence, mid-thought, mid-story I’ve told a hundred times; the word I want stands just out of reach, waving its little arms from a foggy distance.”

Anyway, this isn’t trying to be a science paper. Just an old guy placing front and center a small piece of all what encapsules the aging process.

But mostly, to also expose you, the readers, to a small piece of the charming writings of Ptacin as she writes, “When hormone levels are seesawing, neurotransmitters get jumpy and gray matter thins. Temporarily, they insist. Reversible, they say. Meanwhile, I’m in the kitchen trying to remember the word cinnamon and calling it “the spicy dust.”

Is there a Ball Game tomorrow? – Rumor has it that a few of us will be watching a football game tomorrow; still not certain if I’ll be part of it all. There was a time when we’d head out for parties or gatherings. This year it seems to be more of a ‘meh’ event. I haven’t really got to the reason why.

Musical Interlude – I’ve been a bit deep with this week’s Ramblings; please don’t get riled up or anything like that. Instead, just ease back with some super cool music. Listen to one of my favorite pieces performed flawlessly by none other than musical greats Wynton Marsalis, Taj Mahal, and Eric Clapton as they perform a wonderful rendition of Just a Closer Walk with Thee.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Over the years we’ve experienced many a Blizzard across the USA. Some were severe enough to be given a name. Here are the top 10 with the dates they occurred. All except for two, what year did those two storms occur?

1. GREAT BLIZZARD OF 1888
2. WHITE HURRICANE (1913)
3. KNICKERBOCKER STORM (1922)
4. CHICAGO BLIZZARD OF 1967
5. BLIZZARD OF ????
6. STORM OF THE CENTURY (????)
7. BLIZZARD OF 1996
8. SNOWMAGEDDON (2010)
9. GROUNDHOG DAY BLIZZARD (2011)
10. WINTER STORM JONAS (2016)

Last week answer – #7 Applesauce