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Kaitlyn’s Morning Briefing – 7/13/19

By kaitlynk on Saturday, July 13, 2019

Morning Briefing
July 13, 2019

Notes from around our human experience, including Philosophy 101, On This Date and an excerpt from one of my books.

PHILOSOPHY 101
Life is being on the wire. Everything else is just waiting.
Rick Wallenda

Every now and then life presents challenges, events that take us out of our norms and our comfort zones, putting us in a situation we’ve seldom, perhaps never, encountered. Invariably, this will be a circumstance where our very best is demanded, seemingly drawing on every skill and talent – and sometimes emotion – in our personal arsenal.

Life being life, this can be a challenge that came up suddenly from seemingly out of nowhere, or it can be a challenge we’ve spent an awful lot of time preparing for. It could be a moment where firmness with our children will produce dividends that will pay off for them many more times in their life, or it can be a challenge at work that must be met or it can be stepping on the field or court to officiate a ballgame that is as important to the players as it is to you.

What it is is of no particular consequence; it can be anything. What matters is that we have them from time to time in our life. Because when we have them we are generally showing ourselves and the world that we are trying to better ourselves, to do something we haven’t done or be someone we haven’t been. Because if we are not trying to be something better than we’ve been in the past then we are not making our time on this planet serve us, we are merely serving a sentence.

What wires are waiting in your life? When they appear will you have the courage to walk them, risking the acquaintance of the imposters known as success and failure, or will you take a pass, while others walk on theirs?

We cannot answer that question for you and you can’t answer it for us, but the answer determines whether we will ultimately be looking back at a life where we did well or a life where time was squandered.

Rick Wallenda is an American high wire artist.

Running The Numbers
Our national debt as I write this is $22.489 trillion. and America has been at war for 10,798 consecutive days.

“There Is Tape In The Oval Office”
Alexander Butterfield, a former deputy assistant to President Nixon and then head of the FAA, reveals in Congressional testimony the existence of a taping system in the White House on this date in 1973. Butterfield knew about it because he had overseen its installation for the president. Butterfield had no role in the Watergate break-in or its coverup. Butterfield was also one of the few to correctly guess the identity of (in)famous Watergate informant Deep Throat as Mark Felt.

Maybe Some People Got Fed, Maybe Some People Bought Guns
Live Aid, a dual-venue, multi-artist concert held to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief, is held in Philadelphia and London on this date in 1985. It is estimated that 1.9 billion people, about 40% of the planet’s population at the time, aw at least a portion of the concert. Phil Collins was the only artist to perform at both venues and it is still not entirely clear how much money went to relief and how much was siphoned off by Ethiopian leaders.

CHARTWATCH
#1 songs on this date in 1974:
Hot 100 – Rock Your Baby…George McCrae (1rd of three consecutive weeks)
Soul Chart – Rock You Baby…George McCrae (2nd and final week)
Country Chart – He Thinks I Still Care…Anne Murray (2nd and final week)
UK Singles Chart – She…Charles Aznavour (3rd of four weeks)
Album Chart – Caribou…Elton John (1st of four weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

TODAY’S KAITLYN BOOK EXCERPT
From my latest novel The Angel and The Captain
In today’s episode, Angel and her older man Captain hit the sack on their wedding night.

The tenderest love.

I really made love to Angel on our wedding night. Sometimes it’s good to fuck her. She is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been naked in the same bed with a lot of, well a few, beautiful women over the years. My Angel is a complete freakazoid in the sack, too, and enjoys getting fucked and having her dirty old man whisper nasty things in her ear.

But not tonight. On our wedding night it was the tenderest love. It was when I kissed her at the chapel after the drunk minister pronounced us “man and wiiiiffeee” and it was the tenderest love when I carried her to bed and laid her down and began making love to her. There was no hair pulling, no filthy names whispered in her ear, just a man in love with his woman.

______

To feel my Captain on top of me on our wedding night, to feel his legs spread mine, to feel his cock work his way inside me, it was love, a man making love to his wife on their wedding night and there isn’t a girl that hasn’t dreamed of this and there aren’t any guarantees it will ever happen, either.
He really ate me out. Good God, that was the best feeling. I like seeing his old man head between my legs, so I propped myself on an arm to watch but it felt so good I was on my back again soon enough. The only downside is that I would not have dismissed out of hand sucking him off and swallowed my Captain’s load, but he’s old enough where that would’ve been it and I wanted him inside me.
But that was it. It was perfect. The man I love on our wedding night. I was almost overwhelmed. Not every girl gets this. Some girls get married because they have to, or because they don’t think anyone else is going to love them or because they want regular cock or for other reasons that don’t include love.
Our reason is love. Our good marriage was off to a good start.

Click here to read more from The Angel and The Captain.

Stuff 2 Know

Kaitlyn Live – July 11, 2019

By kaitlynk on Thursday, July 11, 2019

Kaitlyn Live
July 11, 2019

Good morning friends.

AND THEY’RE OFF: We should all care about animals, and horses are deserving of our attention now, as Breeder’s Cup officials have announced their November championships are still planned for Santa Anita, the Los Angeles-area track where 30 horses died this past racing season (December-June).

Now, thoroughbreds die regularly for our betting pleasure, but 30 is eight more than the track’s previous high, and most of them came before mid-March, causing no small amount of panic. And it’s true deaths fell to a more normal rate after Santa Anita halted racing for a couple of days in March, so maybe the industry will get away with it. Moving the Breeders Cup would have had a major, perhaps devastating impact on the sport. But boy, hardly as devastating an impact as even one horsie death at the Breeders Cup would have. Horse racing is dying anyway and closing out the year with a, some, high profile deaths might well close the coffin.

Running The Numbers: Our national debt as I write this is $22.4 trillion. and America has been at war for 10,796 consecutive days.

More Crap: Significant birthdays on this date include John Quincy Adams (1767), Charlotte’s Web author E.B. White (1899), and the (sort of) legendary Brett Sommers (1924).

You’re In For It: Checking your horoscope for today, no, you are not as big a pain in the ass as you think, but you are neither as cute or funny as you think you are, either. Which means be careful trying to talk yourself out of that ticket.

Can We Go Back To Politicians Dueling?: Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr murders former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey on this date in 1803. The two had long been bitter rivals and while accounts vary, it is not unreasonable to conclude that Hamilton intentionally shot into the air while Burr intentionally shot into Hamilton’s chest. Burr was charged with murder in both New Jersey and New York, but didn’t stand trial in either jurisdiction and completed his term as vice president.

Great Moments In Reading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is published on this date in 1960. Keeping it light with topics such as rape and racial injustice. Lee evidently felt she had said all she had to say as a writer, because her second novel, Go Set a Watchman, did not come out until 2015 and it is generally recognized as the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird.

CHARTWATCH: #1 songs on this date in 1981:

Hot 100 – Bette Davis Eyes…Kim Carnes (8th of nine non-consecutive weeks)
Soul Chart – Give It To Me Baby…Rick James (5th and final week)
Country Chart – Fire and Smoke…Earl Thomas Conley (only week)
UK Singles Chart – Ghost Town…The Specials (3rd and final week)
Album Chart – Mistaken Identity…Kim Carnes (2nd of three weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

PHILOSOPHY 101: He had real intelligence…a working, persistent mind. – Saul Bellow
Ravelstein

Intelligence isn’t the ability to use big words few understand or the ability to rattle off mindless facts or impressive figures. It is not retaining knowledge force-fed you by an ancient text or an enlightened master or a famous school. Intelligence is nothing more than the ability to learn, something all of us have.

Sure, some learning is in a formal setting, but most of what we know comes from outside a classroom, from how and if we heed the lessons life is teaching us. We learn every day when we put our experience to work for us, withdrawing every possible lesson – both good and bad – from what nature and circumstance put in front of us. It’s using these lessons to build a foundation for knowing ourselves, from living the life we were meant to live, instead of merely conforming to what others expect from us.

…a working, persistent mind…

Our minds are like parachutes: they don’t do us any good closed. And it doesn’t matter what we choose to learn, either. All of us were issued assorted talents at birth and what interests me might well, probably will, bore you to tears.

What matters is that we put our minds to work for us and for this we need diligence and courage. We must follow our hearts to what interests us and we must be prepared to learn the lessons that are presented to us. We must do this every day, too: we can’t accept life’s lessons one day and ignore them the next. Each day we must put the work required into knowing what we want to know and what we should know. When we do this, we will know ourselves, life’s great prize.

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was a Canadian/American writer. In 1976 he won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

TODAY’S KAITLYN BOOK EXCERPT: From my latest novel The Angel and The Captain
In today’s episode, Angel and her older man Captain are having their usual Sunday dinner at Angel’s mother’s house.

“Had you ever gone to church?” the Captain asked.
Mom shok her head as if she’d been asked if she’s ever sucked off a yak.
“Haw! My husband left us. I had a three-year-old to raise and a living to earn, both on my own. When the hell did I have time? Sometimes I worked on Sundays, but usually we just enjoyed our Sundays to ourselves, didn’t we sweetheart?
I smiled and nodded. Those were still pleasant memories.
“Sometimes we’d go to the diner for an early dinner. You know, the one you took me to on our second date.”
The Captain nodded and smiled. We still went there regularly, usually after one of his games, which pleased me.
“I really liked it when we went to the nice hotel and window shopped.”
Mom sipped her wine.
“Those were not easy times,” Mom said plainly. Then she smiled a genuine, warm smile I had seen from time to time, but never too often, over the years. “Having you both over Sunday makes up for an awful lot, though.”
Mom refilled our wine glasses.
“So, tell me, what church did you go to?”
The Captain told her and Mom nodded knowingly, which was funny because Mom knew as much about the local church scene as she did about applied physics. The actual church was irrelevant.
Mom, it turns out, was really interested in our journey. She said she wasn’t surprised we had set out on it, she had sensed we were out of sorts and while there was certainly no way in hell she was going on this journey with us, she was happy to see us shopping around for a spiritual life.
“Maybe there is a God,” Mom said. “I’ll tell you, sometimes I like to think there is. It’s awfully hard knowing you’re going at it alone in this world. Awfully hard.”
“I don’t know…” the Captain said. My Captain is such a dork! He always says this when he is about to disagree with you! My Captain is relentlessly pleasant when he disagrees with you, too. He is so agreeable when he disagrees with you it will annoy you sometimes. “…maybe we are going it alone. I’ve never minded going it alone. Of course, that was before I was plied every Sunday with meatloaf and macaroni and cheese and wine.”
We sat quietly for a while. I’ve always been comfy being quiet with my Captain. Well, maybe not always. I don’t remember much about our first date, but I do distinctly remember being scared stiff whenever someone wasn’t saying something. I knew immediately I wanted a second date – a lifetime, really – and I remember thinking he probably thinks I’m boring when I was quiet. I would learn, fairly soon, that the Captain does not require non-stop yapping. I would also learn, fairly soon, that I didn’t either, rare for a girl, I know.

Click here to read more from The Angel and The Captain.

Stuff 2 Know

Live From Kaitlyn – July 10, 2019

By kaitlynk on Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Live From Kaitlyn
July 10, 2019

Good morning friends.

We didn’t care about the baseball All-Star Game anymore than you did, but it was funny the scoreboard showed wrong pictures and misspelled names. Unless it was your picture that was screwed up, of course. It’s academic, of course, because attendance is down and people don’t care about baseball anymore anyway.

At Wimbledon, the ladies have the day off, while it’s the men’s quarterfinals on Centre Court and Court 1. While the top three men’s seeds are playing today, three are seeded 20 or below and one is unseeded. Thrilling doubles action continues for all genders and gender combinations.

Our national debt as I write this is $22.4 trillion. and America has been at war for 10,795 consecutive days.

Significant birthdays on this date include William Blackstone (1723), Arlo Guthrie (1947), and Greg Kihn (1949).

Checking your horoscope for today, the SWAT team showing up at your house today should be regarded as an opportunity, not a threat.

Also from the almanac:

It’s Not The Heat, It’s The Heat: The highest official temperature ever is recorded on this date in 1913 at Death Valley, California, where the high was 134 F. A previous all-time high of 136 in Libya in 1934 was decertified in 2012.

Well, This Should Stop All Drug Use Forever And Ever: All illegal narcotics use ceased on this date when former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison following his conviction on assorted drug and racketeering charges. He served 17 years before extradited to France where he was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was later extradited to Panama, where he died in 2017.

CHARTWATCH:
#1 songs on this date in 1971:
Hot 100 – It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move…Carole King (4th of five weeks)
Soul Chart – Mr Big Stuff…Jean Knight (2nd of five weeks)
Country Chart – When You’re Hot You’re Hot…Jerry Reed (4th of five weeks)
UK Singles Chart – Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep…Middle of the Road (3rd of five weeks)
Album Chart – Tapestry…Carole King (4th of 14 weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

PHILOSOPHY 101
Only when we begin to trust ourselves do we begin to live.
Goethe

Life is not lived on the sidelines. Us humans are meant to do things and each one of was cut out to do certain things. Those that get on in this world go out and do those things. Doing this every day leads to a succession of good days, which provides the foundation for good years and you rack up enough good years, the next thing you know you are looking back at, and forward to, a well-lived life. Those that don’t sometimes end up staring at time wasted and talents squandered.

Only when we begin to trust ourselves…

Trusting ourselves is not easy because the task of following the path laid out for us by nature – by definition a path no one else can possibly take – is difficult. It means deviating from the status quo and the expectations others, and perhaps ourselves, have for us. It means leaving the comfort of the familiar for the uncertainties of the unknown.

It’s a journey we must take, though. When we do, when we are following our hearts and trusting our instincts instead of ignoring them, we are living the life we were meant to live – life’s great prize.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German writer, scientist, lawyer, and statesman. His play Faust remains one of the most famous in human letters.

TODAY’S KAITLYN BOOK EXCERPT
From the Danielle short story from my novella The Benjamin Chronicles.
In today’s episode, Benjamin is about to seduce Danielle. Years earlier, he had dated Danielle’s mother Brenda, while simultaneously being seduced himself by Brenda’s mother Valerie and Valerie’s own mother, Joan.

“How much?” Benjamin asked.
Danielle was taken aback slightly. It was plain no one had ever offered her money in exchange for sex before.
After a few seconds it was equally obvious she wasn’t rejecting the matter out of hand, either. She was obviously considering it.
“A thousand dollars,” she said, as if she routinely issued quotes for access to her body.
“All right.”
The pair stood there for a couple of seconds.
“You have a thousand dollars on you?” Danielle asked.
Benjamin shook his head dismissively.
“No, not me, silly. You. You pay me a thousand dollars.”
“I pay you?” Danielle’s tone was incredulous.
“Yeah. You can afford it, plus you’re the one who’s half-dressed and wearing six-inch heels.”
They were standing between the bed and armoire. Benjamin reached out with an index finger and ran it from her chin, down her throat and between her large, firm tits. Then Benjamin took off his coat and started removing his tie.
“What makes you think I pay for sex?”
It runs in the family, that’s why.

Click here to read more from The Benjamin Chronicles.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 4/1/19

By kaitlynk on Monday, April 1, 2019

April 1, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Welcome to today’s column. Today the AMC Gremlin and Apple, Inc highlight On This Date, while the Turtles and Aretha are at The Top of the Charts, and fooling ourselves is the subject of Philosophy 101.

Enjoy, and many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo,
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1974 – The AMC Gremlin is introduced in America. One of the ugliest cars in human history, the Gremlin was designed to compete with other economy car legends such as the Chevy Vega and the Ford Pinto. Appropriately, the first designs of the Gremlin by wizards at American Motors were drawn in an airplane on an airsickness bag. The Gremlin ceased production after the 1978 model year.

In 1976 – Apple, Inc. is founded in Los Altos, California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Twelve days later Wayne sold his share in the new company back to Wozniak and Jobs for $800 and later accepted $1,500 against future claims, a total of about $9,500 in today’s money. Its first product was the Apple I computer and the Apple II would be introduced the following summer.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1967:
Hot 100 – Happy Together…The Turtles (2nd of three weeks)
Soul Chart – I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)…Aretha Franklin (2nd of seven weeks)
Country Chart – Walk Through This World With Me…George Jones (1st of two weeks)
UK Singles Chart – Release Me…Englebert Humperdinck (5th of six weeks)
Album Chart – More of the Monkees…The Monkees (8th of 18 weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,691: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.171: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
590: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
Richard P Feynman

Our mind is at the same time our most useful and dangerous tool. Take, for example, the aphorism everyone can do something well. We preach this regularly in this feature and it is one of the earliest lessons we can remember learning. Though true, it’s a double-edged sword, carrying both good news and bad news.

The good news is some of us believe this and once we do, we are on our way to getting the most out the talents we were issued birth.

The bad news is some of us believe this and we delude ourselves into believing we are good at things we really aren’t very good at.

This feature is a good example of both. You’re reading this because we have a knack for writing and are vain enough to think others will like it. On the other hand, we are delusional enough to think everything we write is the very best human letters has to offer, though it should be noted that while this may not be true, a little ego usually attends all successful ventures.

The biggest way some of us delude ourselves is that we are making the most of our time on this planet. It’s easy to fool ourselves with the procession of aimless days, days full of the distractions that nudge us off our path. In fact, this nudging is so gradual we may not even be aware it is happening: a day or two off our path and the next thing anyone knows we’ve been off our path for weeks, months, years, the rest of our lives. When our time comes to die we will be looking back at time squandered instead of time well spent.

They key to not fooling ourselves is first to look inside ourselves, to find the talents we were born with and to spend our days courageously and diligently getting the most out of these talents.

Second, forget success and failure. These two imposters exist only in relation to each other: ignore the relationship and both disappear. The Taoists amongst us would say, somewhat contradictorily, that someone who never fails always succeeds, but dismissing success and failure means we are left only with the work we’ve put into our lives. If that work is substantial and consistent, then we will have a life well spent, life’s great prize.

Richard P Feynman (1918-88) was an American physicist, earning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 3/31/19

By kaitlynk on Sunday, March 31, 2019

March 31, 2019
Dearest Readers,

A good Sunday morning to you, and many thanks for stopping by. Today On This Date has highlights from 1959 and 1992, Top of the Charts reviews the #1 songs and album from this date in 1984 and Charles Bukowski is featured on Philosophy 101.

Enjoy, and many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo,
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1959 – Following the Tibetan Uprising, the Dali Lama and his entourage cross Tibet’s border into India and are granted political asylum. In time, more than 80,000 Tibetans would follow the Dali Lama into India, where the Dali Lama continues to live as a refugee. Today Tibet is regarded by almost everybody other than Tibetans as a province of China

In 1992 – The battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) is decommissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and put into mothballs. Commissioned in 1944, it saw 17 years of active service, serving America honorably in World War II, Korea and Operation Desert Storm and is perhaps best known as the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1984:
Hot 100 – Footloose…Kenny Loggins (1st of three weeks)
Soul Chart – Somebody’s Watching Me…Rockwell (5th and final week)
Country Chart – Let’s Stop Talkin’ About It…Janie Fricke (only week)
UK Singles Chart – Hello…Lionel Ritchie (3rd of three weeks)
Album Chart – Thriller…Michael Jackson (35th of 37 non-consecutive weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,690: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.168: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
591: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
I had always been good company for myself.
Charles Bukowski

We must like ourselves. Consider this: we are the only person we will see every day of our lives. Parents, spouses, kids, and friends will come and go, but every morning there we are, looking the mirror, our reflection staring back at us.

Do we like what we see? If we are going to have any sort of internal peace and happiness, any sort of anchor for a good life, that answer must be yes. We must be happy to see our reflection in the mirror every day.

Now, we do not want to be in love with ourselves, but we must be able to be alone in the same room with ourselves. We must be comfortable being alone from time to time though, of course, we do not need to be hermits.

This isn’t always easy. We have faults and some of us dwell on our faults and let them overcome and define us. Our instincts tell us something is wrong and we do it anyway. Even if this act yielded some perceived advantage or gain, inside we are not happy with ourselves. Some are determined to do better next time, while others say screw it, and repeat the behavior.

The best way to like yourself is to live the life you were meant to live, to be completely in tune with who you are and what you were meant to accomplish in this life. To do this, four traits are helpful:

– Have a plan for your life. Know where you want to go and how you want to get there. Listen to your heart and trust your instincts.
– Execute that plan every day. Not some days and not others, not some years and not others. Be on your path every day.
– Come back strong from the inevitable setbacks because there will be many. You cannot let the early reverses get you down.
– Believe that success is there for the taking, that all you have to do is put the work in to go and get it.

Those that get on in this life have these four traits and if you don’t it’s easy to get them: follow your heart and trust your instincts because your heart will tell you where to go and your instincts will tell you how to get there.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was a German-born American poet and novelist.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 3/30/19

By kaitlynk on Saturday, March 30, 2019

March 30, 2019
Dearest Readers,

It’s a rather violent edition of On This Date, as we revisit a car bombing and an assassination attempt, while Top of the Charts mellows out in 1974 and Philosophy 101 talks about not dying in the closet.

Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo,
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1965 – A car bomb explodes outside the US Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam. The car bomb was placed by the Viet Cong, the Communists that ran the People’s Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam, who were the enemy in the Vietnam War. The explosion killed two Americans, 19 Vietnamese, and one Filipino serving in the US Navy and injured 183.

In 1981 – John Hinckley Jr., looking to impress actress Jodi Foster, attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, shooting him once in the chest. Reagan would suffer a broken rib and a punctured lung but would recover. Also shot were Press Secretary James Brady, whose injuries confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and a Secret Service agent and a Washington, D.C. policeman. Hinkley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was confined to mental hospitals until 2016. He is now 63 and lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1974:
Hot 100 – Sunshine on My Shoulders…John Denver (only week)
Soul Chart – Lookin’ for a Love…Bobby Womack (3rd and final week)
Country Chart – Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)…Tanya Tucker (only week)
UK Singles Chart – Billy Don’t Be a Hero…Paper Lace (3rd of three weeks)
Album Chart – John Denver’s Greatest Hits…John Denver (1st of three non-consecutive weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,689: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.164: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
592: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
Don’t die hiding in the closet.
Jim Murray

We can all do something well. It was one of the earliest lessons we remember learning and it is a lesson that proves itself on a daily basis.

We must be us. Our time on this planet is not only finite but of undetermined length. Unless we are in possession of a death warrant or a suicide note we have no idea when our time on this planet will end. Fair enough. This means we have an obligation to ourselves and our fellow beings to get the most out of the talents we were issued at birth. When our turn comes to die, we must ensure we are looking back at time well-spent and not time squandered. To do this we must do three things:

We must have the wisdom to know what we are about, to know the life we are meant to live.
We must have the courage to go and live that life
We must have the patience to see our journey through to the very end.

We must do these things every day. Not some days and not others, not some years and not others. We must live the life we are meant to live every day, from the day we commit to our path to the day we die. There’s no middle ground.

When we do this, when our lives exhibit these three traits, then we are living the life we are meant to live – life’s great prize. There is no hiding in the closet.

Jim Murray (1919-98) was an American sportswriter, best known as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 3/29/19

By kaitlynk on Thursday, March 28, 2019

March 29, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Apologies for having the temerity to not produce this column for a few days. We have some other projects that demanded our attention.

Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo,
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1886 – The first batch of Coca-Cola is made, in Atlanta by John Pemberton. Coca-Cola was the end result of two decades of tinkering with assorted recipes as Pemberton, injured in the Civil War as an officer in the Confederate Army, tried to find a pain reliever that did not contain the morphine he was addicted to. Coke as we know it only came about when carbonated water was accidentally introduced, convincing Pemberton to sell his creation as a fountain drink and not medicine. Pemberton died in 1888 and sold his interest in the beverage shortly before he died.

In 1971 – Lieutenant William Calley, United States Army, is convicted of premeditated murder of 22 Vietnamese civilians in the 1968 My Lai Massacre. Two days later Calley would be sentenced to life in prison and on April 1 President Nixon ordered Calley transferred to house arrest and in 1974 his sentence was commuted to time served. Now 75, Calley lives in Atlanta and remains the only soldier convicted of anything in association with the My Lai massacre.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1980:
Hot 100 – Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)…Pink Floyd (2nd of four weeks)
Soul Chart – And The Beat Goes On…The Whispers (5th and final week)
Country Chart – I’d Love to Lay You Down…Conway Twitty (only week)
UK Singles Chart – Going Underground/Dreams of Children…The Jam (2nd of three weeks)
Album Chart – The Wall…Pink Floyd (11th of 15 weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,688: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.162: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
593: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
You don’t run from your weaknesses, you attack them.
Keith Burkepile

We talk a lot here about how all of us can do something well, about how all we really have to do in this life is decide whether or not we are going to maximize the talents we were born with, and about how those who get on in this life are those who do this. We don’t talk a lot about weaknesses.

We all have them though. While we all have things we are good at, we also have things we are not good at, as well as things we’d rather not do and traits that do not bring out the best in us. It’s the way the world is built. Personally, one of our favorite weaknesses, one of many we possess, is procrastination, a trait we can sometimes give clinics in. It’s a trait that manifests itself every year at this time when the yard needs tending to as the snow melts and it takes no small amount of effort to get out there and do what needs to be done. We were able to do that today, though, overcoming a long list of obstacles like writing or cleaning the kitchen, which is something else we are good at putting off. We had everything done by early afternoon, too, a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.

We cannot let our weaknesses define us, or even let them seize a moment, much less a day. We must attack them. When we do, we are rewarded with a wonderful dividend of confidence.

Keith Burkepile is a colonel in the United States Marine Corps.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 3/24/19

By kaitlynk on Sunday, March 24, 2019

March 24, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Good morning, and thank you for reading.

Today we allow On This Date to take us to 1765 and 1944, Top of the Charts reviews 1974 and Philosophy 101 talks about choices that may already have been made for us.

Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo,
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Quartering Act, which required colonial governments to house and feed British troops. This was one of many acts of Parliament that tended to annoy the Colonists, was one of the grievances detailed in the Declaration of Independence and was the impetus for the 3rd Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes without permission or without being specifically authorized by law. It also had some influence over the passage of teh 2nd Amendment.

In 1944 – What History refers to as the Great Escape begins at German POW camp Stalag Luft III in what is now western Poland. It was not particularly successful. Of the 600 prisoners who worked on the tunnel, 200 were chosen for escape and of these 76 actually made it out of the camp and of these only three made it to an Allied or neutral country. Of the 73 that were captured 50 were executed by the Germans.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1973:
Hot 100 – Love Train…The O’Jays (only week)
Soul Chart – Neither One Of Us (Want To Be The First To Say Goodbye)…Gladys Knight & the Pips (2nd of four weeks)
Country Chart – The Teddy Bear Song…Barbara Fairchild (2nd and final week)
UK Singles Chart – Cum On Feel the Noize…Slade (4th and final week)
Album Chart – Dueling Banjos…Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell (2nd of three weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,683: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.149: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
598: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
But for the chosen, there is no choice.
Saul Bellow
Ravelstein

We talk a lot here about getting the most out of the talents we were issued at birth. We believe it is the key to a good life and doing so is one of life’s great prizes.

We had no say in what those talents are, either. Nature endowed us with them and the only real choice we humans have to make is whether or not we are going to make use of these talents or squander them. It might seem like there are those chosen for a good life and those who are not, but in reality the only difference between those that get on in this life and those who do not are the former had the diligence and courage to get the most out of their talents and live the life they were meant to live. Those looking back on what might have been probably did not maximize their talents.

All of us – you, me, your aunt in Reno – are cut out to do certain things, things we were chosen to do by nature. Now, it is important to note that these things do not necessarily have to favor or curse us with fame or fortune or cause to live down the ages. In fact, they probably won’t. All that is important is that we do the things we have a knack for, that we make our time serve us by following the path our hearts direct us to take and trusting our instincts to take us there.

When we do that, we’ve made the only real choice us humans have to make.

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was a Canadian/American writer and was a winner of both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn – 3/22/19

By kaitlynk on Friday, March 22, 2019

March 22, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Some good stuff for you today as On This Date visits with the namesake for the Americas as well as Karl Wallenda, Top of the Charts reviews today in music in 1975 and Philosophy 101 talks about being on the wire and why that is a good place to be, even though some avoid it.

Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1508 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon appoints Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian mariner and cartographer of note, as chief navigator. Thanks mainly to various letters he either wrote or were attributed to him, a variation of his name was attached to the continents of the New World, now known as North and South America.

In 1978 – Karl Wallenda, a German-born naturalized American and patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, falls ten stories to his death while attempting to walk a tightrope between two buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda was about halfway across and was lowering himself when he lost his balance and fell. Despite the high winds, his family said his fall was due more to faulty wires that were attached to the tightrope. Wallenda, 73, came from an old German circus family and had been performing since he was four-years-old.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1975:
Hot 100 – My Eyes Adored You…Frankie Valli (only week)
Soul Chart – Shining Star…Earth, Wind & Fire (1st of two weeks)
Country Chart – Before the Next Teardrop Falls…Freddy Fender (2nd and final week)
UK Singles Chart – Bye Bye Baby…Bay City Rollers (1st of six weeks)
Album Chart – Physical Graffiti…Led Zeppelin (1st of six weeks )
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard (US) and Official Charts Company (UK).

Numbers Racket
10,681: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.142: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
600: number of days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
Life is being on the wire; everything else is just waiting.
Rick Wallenda

We all have our wires waiting for us. The only question is whether we choose to cross them or not. Now, the wires that await us don’t necessarily have to be tightropes strung between buildings or over waterfalls. As we note here from time to time, we are all issued assorted talents at birth and not all of us have a knack for or an interest in being an acrobat.

But we all have talents. We all have certain things we can do well. The difference between those that get on in this world and those that, perhaps, are looking back on time squandered, is those that make something happen for themselves have accepted the challenge of making their time serve them and maximizing the talents they were issued at birth. They know the life they were meant to live, they have the courage to go and live that life every day and they have the patience to see their path through to the very end.

We can do no less; the talents we were born with are calling us, waiting with their own wires for us to cross. Are we going to accept the challenge? Are we going to choose to maximize the talents we were born with and live the life we were meant to live, or are going to squander that opportunity? I can’t answer that question for you and you can’t answer it for me. Each of us must look in the mirror every morning – where we will generally see our biggest obstacle – and decide for ourselves.

Attempting to cross the wire is life’s great challenge and crossing it is life’s great prize. It is there for everyone. All we have to do is know ourselves and follow our hearts and trust our instincts to lead us where we were meant to go.

Rick Wallenda is the grandson of Karl Wallenda, whose death is noted above.

Morning Coffee w/ Kaitlyn

Morning Coffee w/Kaitlyn

By kaitlynk on Wednesday, March 20, 2019

March 20, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Welcome aboard today. On This Date reviews events in both 1602 and 1985, while Top of the Charts visits the #1 songs and album of 1982 while Philosophy 101 talks about knowledge.

Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is formed. Though usually known as a trading company, the Dutch East India Company was rather diversified, and was one of the world’s first megacorporations and was also used by the Dutch government as an instrument of colonialism. It remained in business through 1799.

In 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska in a time of 18 days and 20 minutes, about two-and-a-half hours faster than the runner-up. The race that year had more than the usual number of storms and Riddles won because she had carried on in a storm where others had chosen to lay over in a village. Four of the next five races were won by Susan Butcher, and they remain the only two women to win the race.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1962:
Hot 100 – I Love Rock and Roll…Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1st of seven weeks)
Soul Chart – That Girl…Stevie Wonder (5th of nine weeks)
Country Chart – Mountain of Love…Charley Pride (only week)
Album Chart – Beauty and the Beat…The Go-Go’s (3rd of six weeks )
UK Singles Chart – The Lion Sleeps Tonight…Tight Fit (3rd and final week)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,679: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.138: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
602: days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
I was by no means a scholar, simply an interested reader with nothing to do but live and learn.
Louis L’Amour
Education of a Wandering Man

We talk a lot here about the assorted talents we are all born with and how maximizing those talents is the key to a good life but, in reality, L’Amour is right, all we really have to do in this life is live and learn. Because when you get right down to it, all education is self-education, something else L’Amour was fond of saying.

This is true regardless of how we choose to educate ourselves, whether we utilize the resources of a great, or even average, university or whether we do it ourselves: we must put the work in to teach ourselves both what we want to know and what we should know. Those that go to college and spend four years binge drinking and passing tests are doing themselves as much good as the autodidact who comes home from work and spends his time drinking brewskis and watching TV all night.

The ultimate education in this life is knowing ourselves, and the only real knowledge comes the experiences we have and the work and diligence we put into making good things happen for ourselves. The very best way to educate ourselves is to know the life we are meant to live and the only way to do this is to know what we are about, to have the courage to go and live the life our hearts and our instincts tell us to live and to have the patience to see our path through to the very end.

Louis L’Amour (1908-88), self-educated himself, was an American writer.