The month of March is said to “roar in like a lion and go out like a lamb.” It’s a bit too early to know how March will be going out, but it certainly roared in loudly enough.
Category: <span>Family Stories</span>
We’re approaching the last day of February with outside temperatures still below freezing. We had another dusting of snow yesterday, the third snow shower this month. Not enough to shut down Washington, but enough to scare drivers off the road during commuting hours. For those of us brave enough, we had a pleasant drive during peak commuting hours which is a newsworthy event indeed for this area.
Today is the New Year’s celebration for about one-quarter of the world’s population, as celebrated by Chinese and other Asian cultures. It’s the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.
Winnie and I were targeted for a rather slick scam recently but managed to avoid losing money. It was an interesting scam that started with a spam e-mail inviting me to do some “Secret Shopper” work.
For the first post of this brave new year of 2015 CE, I’d like to wish all my readers a year of good heath, happiness, and prosperity.
We had a very different Christmas celebration this year. In the past we’ve normally celebrated Christmas at home, with the exception of a few years in a row when we went up to Mom’s house in New York. Staying at home was the preferred option as the Charest family is currently spread out from Washington, California, Tennessee, Northern Virginia, and on out to Wales. However, this year the stars aligned and we all descended upon Tennessee for a very Charest family reunion Christmas celebration.
It’s Thanksgiving day again; another year passed remembering the good and the bad. Thanksgiving continues to be my favorite holiday, and one thing I’m thankful for is that this holiday has remained relatively commercial-free. This is and should be the one day each each when families and friends come together to celebrate, reflect on the year passed, and give thanks for their many blessings. Then eat a lot of turkey-based foods.
Back in 1970 I had just landed my first job as a newspaper delivery boy for the New York Daily News. It was a big deal for me, getting a job at the ripe age of 13, as it meant I had money in my pocket. On a good week when I finished collecting and paid my manager his cut I might actually have as much as $15 profit for delivering 60-80 newspapers each morning, seven days a week.
The first thing I used my new-found wealth for was to invest in a radio cassette tape recorder. I wanted to listen to music and be able to record it. With the wonders of then-new solid-state electronics, all kinds of gadgets were becoming available. So I found a sale on a quirky portable AM/FM/Cassette recorder that was within my budget, and with Mom’s help driving me to the store I became a proud new owner.
I’ve been traveling for business on an average of one week per month for the past six years. Include personal travel, and this means a lot of time spent in airports. With airports come the TSA security checks and all the related security theater that comes with the TSA. I have never said or written anything nice about the TSA in the years I have been dealing with them; until now.
I was up at Mom’s house in the Hudson Valley region of New York this past weekend, and had a chance to spend a few hours kayaking. I chose to paddle the Bashakill (from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning “riverbed” or “water channel), and it turned out to be a great choice!