Earl and I are sitting in an Airbus A321 at Chicago O’Hare. We are awaiting taxi and departure for Syracuse. Yes, a man that loves the Arizona desert is headed to one of the snowiest cities in the United States.
My mother is not doing well. She has been in the hospital for nearly a month and earlier this week I decided it was prudent for us to make the trip.
Our plan is to return home on Tuesday. I look forward to the warmth.
I’ve been pretty hard on Apple, and Tim Cook’s leadership specifically, for the past few months. It’s difficult for me to watch a company that once proclaimed that folks should “Think Different” kowtow to the demands of the current administration.
But in reality, that’s what corporations in the United States need to do these days in order to keep doing what they’re doing.
I’ve been avoiding most news since mid-January. I’ve been keeping abreast of highlights from time to time, but I’ve stayed away from the minutia of the idiocy. This is all for my mental health, which frankly, isn’t great these days. I don’t want to sound alarming, so I’ll just say this: I’ve had brighter days than what I’m experiencing in 2025.
Though I’ve been avoiding the news, I did catch a glimpse over the past weekend about Apple announcing the addition of 20,000 jobs and an investment of $500 billion U.S. dollars into the economy over the next decade. Apparently this was announced after Tim Cook had a meeting in the Oval Office.
Building up the American economy and bringing more jobs to the States is a good thing. It’s my understanding that this economic growth is around the ever present “A.I.” which is completely artificial but not that intelligent.
When it comes to technology in general, it’s my opinion that it has been many years since someone come up with a great idea that will truly benefit mankind. Without true innovation we don’t have new “things” to build, we just have new services to offer. Using American workers to build the infrastructure to power these services is better than nothing. Yes, there are plenty of environmental concerns around the resources needed to keep the lights on with these new services, and frankly, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m really happy to be on the back half of my life.
But with the way the United States works, it’s important that folks have job opportunities. And Apple bringing more job opportunities to the states can only be a good thing.
There’s plenty of room for improvement; I completely get that. But let’s take the small wins where we can find them.
Roberta Flack is somewhat responsible for the name of this blog. You see, I have used “Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity” since the late 1980s, when I worked for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). You could put a “personal name” next to your given name in your work emails and other electronic communications, and for several years folks saw me as SOCIAL::WINGJ (John Wing, “Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity”). I kept the tagline through my post-Digital years and when I created my blog in 2001, I decided to name my blog with the phrase.
So what does this have to do with Roberta Flack?
Well, Roberta Flack sang the theme song for the sitcom “Valerie”/”Valerie’s Family”/”The Hogan Family” in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I always found the theme song catchy and I was delighted to hear Roberta Flack singing the track. Though she was still an active performer at the time, it felt like she was coming out semi-retirement to sing the theme song, “Together Through The Years”.
Roberta Flack was better known for the 1972 hit “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, probably one of the most haunting vocals to ever grace the U.S. Top 40 charts. She also famously sang “Where Is The Love” and “Killing Me Softly”, the latter being revived in the latter half of the 1990s by The Fugees (back during my radio days).
Roberta Flack passed away today at age 88. May she rest in peace.
Carve out around 37 minutes in your schedule and watch this video. Technology Connections reminds us of the importance of actually thinking.
I grabbed this photo by mistake while getting an authorization code from a different app on my phone. I thought it looked pretty cool so I’m sharing it with the class.
Look for the little things in the world that bring a smile to your face or simply amuse you. I enjoyed spotting this pigeon using the water fountain while we walked in a park this weekend. The pigeon didn’t figure out how to turn the water on, but they certainly knew how to grab some water left in the bottom of the spigot.
Truman continued with his new nap location in my office. He hops in this shelf box for 30-45 minutes every day and he seems quite content.
Last weekend my husband and I visited a local resort for brunch. While we were waiting for our table to be ready, we took a walk through an adjacent building, admiring the grounds and such. Off the resort library was a magnificent library, completely worthy of its own blog entry. That’s coming soon.
In the corner was a book stand displaying a very large book. I was instantly reminded of a book I found fascinating at Grandma and Grandpa Country’s house when I was young lad. The indexing thumb tabs on built into the pages was always fascinating to me. Unfortunately, I did not get the title of this book on display, but it is an encyclopedia.
This find further reminded me of how much I love books versus reading off the screens of a tablet or e-reader.
I need to spend some time in a library soon.
Today is my husband’s birthday. I won’t mention any details about which century we’re talking about here, but he’s having a wonderful day of retired life and the family is making a cake and dinner for the festivities.
The celebration began this week and shall continue through the weekend. I’m looking forward to a little adventure with him.
Two articles from blogs I follow up popped up today with pretty much the same advice: stop reading the news all the time.
If you’re of a certain age, you were probably taught in school to keep a log of current events or some sort of similar activity. This made you an informed person. But if you’re of that certain age, that’s when the likes of Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor shared the news for 30 minutes every evening. There was no battle for clicks or emotional responses to keep that advertising money flowing to the network.
Take a look at these two blog entries. They may just make things a little more bearable.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!