2009 a year of loss and false hope

I don't remember so many well-known folks dying in one year. Here's a partial list of deaths from 2009: Les Paul, Ted Kennedy, Robert Novak, Don Hewitt, Patrick Swayze, Mary Travers, Oral Roberts, Roy E. Disney, Chris Henry, George Michael, John Hughes, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, David Carradine, Dom DeLuise, Jack Kemp, Bea Arthur, Harry Kalas, Ron Silver, Paul Harvey and James Whitmore.

Of course, this was an unusual year in many ways.

Granted, some of these folks were old. But some died before their time for various reasons. I can't help think that all these deaths were just another small part of a rather dismal year -- a year in which even the most optimistic people were tested by the barrage of bad news and sense of loss. Death comes in many forms, and I think we've all gotten a clearer picture of that this year.

2009 was billed as a year of hope and renewal as President Obama took office. But hope, to a large degree, seemed to die along the way, like the many fallen celebrities listed above. While Obama grades his first year in office fairly well, millions of folks lost their jobs and homes due to the recession. Unemployment shot into double figures despite government bailouts. The health-care reform package has many folks worried as the deficit continues to spiral out of control. And we continue to fund wars that few truly believe in anymore.

All of the deaths we've witnessed this year underscore how short life is no matter if you're a famous actor or just an average citizen. It's difficult to go through hard times like we have this year when one realizes that every day, week and month is precious. Yet, there is no way around day-to-day worries in this climate of increasing financial hopelessness, conflict and global concerns. It's getting harder to smell the roses, harder to unearth new opportunities. There is plenty of evidence to indicate that the economy is not going to turn around anytime soon. And does anyone truly believe we're going to be done with Afghanistan in 18 months? The poor keep getting poorer and the rich get richer. Meanwhile, the middle withers away with each layoff, coffin at Dover and foreclosure notice.

For some folks, it's already too late to rebuild. Talk to someone who has lost a son or daughter in Iraq or has been foreclosed upon in their 60s or 70s. Where do those folks go from here? How does one remain optimistic in Fort Myers, Fla., where every other house is abandoned and there are no jobs as drug dealers and other criminals takeover a once vibrant vacation and retirement community. Talk to a young college student who had to drop out because loans weren't available or his or her parents lost their jobs and couldn't afford tuition. Minorities are being hit particularly hard by the recession as are older folks who have become unemployable despite years of valuable work experience and top-shelf work ethics.

I keep hearing hints of things getting better but see no hard evidence of it. Instead, I only see skewed numbers released by government officials with partisan interests. There seems to be an inordinate number of elected officials these days who not only dance around the truth, but claim victory and success when there is neither. Remember Nancy Pelosi trumpeting big wins for the Democrats during the elections in November, when in fact the biggest races were won by Republicans? How about some political types claiming the system worked when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Delta jet over the weekend. That was nearly the ultimate failure of security measures and governmental policies. The only thing that saved that plane from being blown up was a faulty explosive device and some quick-thinking passengers who restrained the would-be bomber. It was quite obvious that this was a security breach only rivaled by uninvited guests strolling through the White House this year. But we now live in a society where truth is no longer acceptable if it means egg on an administration's collective face, whether it be in government or even at the top levels of corporate America. We've gone from top officials sticking their heads in the sand to their now saying whatever is obviously contrary to all evidence and reason. I guess if they say it enough they think we will believe it. But I digress...

Many of us have cut back...way back. But there reaches a point where you can only cut so much before life becomes too much of a burden and not enough of a joy. The inconvenient truth of our society is that money drives almost everything, including relationships and self esteem. One can only turn down so many invitations to go out because they have no money to buy a round of beers before life become rather lonely. That loneliness, if prolonged, can lead to many more problems that go well beyond being unemployed.

There are setbacks that not only hurt one's checkbook, but can destroy something within us that allows us to hope, wish and work hard to reach our dreams. When too much is lost through no fault of our own, and it happens time and time again over the course of a lifetime or bad economic drought, it's difficult to rebound or to see any light at the end of the tunnel. Yet, most human beings move on and fight to survive another day. Survive for what, I am not sure. But I guess it's just in all living things to cling to life regardless of circumstances. This recession may make it impossible for some to ever resume their previous lifestyles, but they try to endure, to cope and pray.

Hopefully 2010 will bring a real turnaround for common folks and not just for fat Wall Street investors. We don't need anymore false hope from politicians or self-serving economists. We need to see real improvement such as small businesses hiring and banks lending money to those in a position to help rebuild the economy. We need a government that provides more than Band-Aid solutions. But first these politicians and other policy-makers need to acknowledge how bad things are and how much worse they will get if nothing is done. Bailouts aren't the answer. Fundamental changes to the core of how we conduct ourselves is where the true turnaround will start. When the greed stops, the healing will begin.

As I begin to curtail this blog and ponder the possibilities of the new year, I am rooting for President Obama but know he is just one man with limited powers. My eyes are wide open as I am still not sure Obama has the right stuff to restore America. He has an incredibly tough job ahead in a country that seems to be on the brink of becoming second rate. His next year doesn't appear it will be any easier than the first. And if Obama continues to lose public support, as polls have shown, he won't be able to get much done beyond what he's already initiated. I am hoping he, along with Congress and business leaders, can find ways to get people back to work -- not just in any old jobs -- but in careers similar in stature to the ones they had before this economic collapse. That will improve Obama's popularity and restore national confidence more than the passage of health-care reform or global-warming initiatives, which are good things to pursue, but not quite as relevant in people's everyday lives. If that means giving tax breaks to businesses that hire, so be it. If it means ending wars, then the "hawks" will just have to live with that. We need a strong military but we don't need to fight wars against an enemy we can't see or truly defeat in the manner we're going about it. We can't afford these types of wars anymore.

The time has come to rid ourselves of what is perceived as Republican or Democrat ideas. We must do whatever will work and put aside notions of political alliances and ideals. A sense of fairness and trust must be restored in individuals and collectively as a society. We must recognize how short life is and make the best use of our time for ourselves and for the future of the country. Life should not simply become a game of economic and emotional getting-by in a country that once stood tall and provided the one thing people treasured the most -- hope.

2010 has to be a year when we get down to the business of restoring faith in the economy, government and companies, and make some hard choices about where and how we spend taxpayer money. CEOs need to police themselves and stop creating class warfare and institutional mistrust by splurging on themselves one day, and laying off people the next.

This is an opportunity to get it right -- to make America a more fair and just place. We have to reject greed and reward fiscal responsibility in the private and public sectors. If we simply weather this storm with some flimsy fixes and return to our bad habits, 2009 will soon look like the good old days.

Another child taken

I am never sure why some child abductions and murders make the national news and others don't, but this is a picture of Sarah Haley Foxwell, 11, who was found dead near Salisbury, Md., on Christmas. It's been a story in the Washington area for a few days but doesn't appear to be making national headlines. A registered sex offender has been charged with kidnapping. It seems Sarah was taken from her Eastern Shore bedroom and later killed.

Unfortunately, it's a common story in America but one in which the national media seems to have no set criteria for covering. At times, the major networks will play up these stories almost too intensely, while other times cases like this barely make it into the briefs column on page 27 of a national magazine or newspaper. It's hard to figure how news judgment is so wildly random in these instances. What distinguishes one tragic kidnapping or death from another in the eyes of newsroom editors across the nation?

Regardless, there are simply too many cases of child abuse, abduction and murder in this country. It seems to me that serious sex offenders should never get a second chance at freedom and that parents or guardians who put their kids in danger should be held more accountable before tragedy strikes. Click to read the story.

George Michael dies at 70

George Michael died of cancer today. Nationally, he was known for hosting The George Michael Sports Machine on Sunday nights for many years. Locally, in Washington, D.C., he was the sports anchor at the NBC affiliate (WRC) and a well-known, high-energy media figure.

The thing I remember most about Michael is how he walked away from a new contract offer in 2006 in order to save the jobs of several of his staffers who were going to be laid off by NBC Universal.

"NBC made me an extremely, extremely beyond-my-wildest-dreams offer to stay and sign a new deal," Michael, then 67, said in 2006. "If I have to lay somebody off . . . I have to take the first bullet. It's that simple."

You don't see that sort of selfless integrity much anymore -- at least not in the workplace or when it involves a lot of money. The NBC 4 evening sportscast has never been the same since Michael left.

Keeping it simple escapes us

Healthcare reform has been a noble fight. But it also underscores why this country is so divided and increasingly dysfunctional. It illustrates why whenever you get a large group of people together (in this case Congress) to try to fix something that's broken, you often end up with an even worse result. I saw this same phenomenon while working for a large company.

The longer the fight and the more revisions to the various proposals are dragged out, the more we are moving away from true reform and the closer we are getting to actually creating new financial hardships for millions of people.

In the world of design, simple is often considered best. If designed well, it's more elegant and functional to keep things clean rather than to create clutter. Some mental-health therapists advise folks with anxiety issues to reduce the clutter in their lives. Yet, in most large organizations, including the federal government, simple is never an option. Just look at the tax laws to see a prime example of what happens when the concept of simplicity is abandoned.

At the same time, there is a group of folks in America who would like to do nothing about reforming healthcare. They believe in every man, woman and child for themselves. If people fall through the cracks, so be it. And these hardliners call that liberty. They are usually the same folks who think people should be allowed to smoke in public places and drive at whatever speed they want.

With these opposing forces constantly clashing, it is difficult to create or revise laws to improve our country. Too little government intervention leads to corporate corruption and epic levels of greed. Too much poking around by the feds infringes on the constitution and the reason why this country was formed.

So what's the answer?

I honestly don't know anymore.

Redskins a reflection of owner

John Riggins recently said that Washington Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder, isn't a good guy. Monday night's beat down by the New York Giants is proof of what Riggo was talking about. You see, the Redskins had some momentum late in the season. They were improving. Then last week, after a rare victory in Oakland, and with three games left for players and coaches to make a case for themselves and their jobs for 2010, Snyder brought in a new general manager. And with that odd timing, the end of the coach Jim Zorn-era was all but signed and sealed. Therefore, the team had less motivation to play for Zorn on Monday night. The team lost its incentive, its edge. The distractions created by the front office became too heavy to overcome. And Zorn, a genuinely nice guy, got caught in the Snyder web.

Don't get me wrong -- the previous GM, Vinny Cerrato, needed to be replaced -- but the timing of it appears suspiciously manipulative. It seems feasible that Snyder didn't want Zorn to succeed in these final weeks. A few late wins could drum up public support for keeping Zorn, which Snyder doesn't want to do. So he more than likely had his boy Vinny resign to create a new layer of uncertainty for the head coach and players. It's textbook corporate-like nonsense by another rich guy who thinks messing with people's lives and professions is a birthright. Why didn't Snyder just fire Zorn? Read on.

It's been apparent that Snyder wants Zorn out so he can bring in yet another big-name coach, even though few top-rated coaches would work for Snyder, which should be further evidence of all not being right in the owner's box. But Zorn is a smart cookie and isn't going to leave money owed to him on the table by resigning. Snyder should do the right thing and put Zorn out of his misery. And he should pay Zorn for his remaining contract year.

So when Riggins, the Hall of Fame running back, said disparaging things about Snyder, he was indicating that this is the way some people in power go about their business. They try to embarrass subordinates into quitting so they don't have to pay out contracts. They hide behind lies and deceit. They create an unfair playing field for those who fall out of favor and have an uncanny ability to create a climate of fear and mistrust. And ultimately, the product suffers from all these smoke-and-mirror tactics that have become all too common in businesses of all kinds. In a larger sense, this is why big business in America is failing. Too many top dogs have forgotten how to be human beings first and CEOs second.

The egos of some owners are large enough to believe they can repair the damage they create (see Jerry Jones of the Cowboys). Well, it hasn't happened for this team under this owner as coaches come and go like the seasons. Thousands of fans sat in FedEx Field in freezing temperatures Monday night to watch a team that has been directly or indirectly undermined by its own owner for years. It's not that Snyder wants to have losing seasons or drive away support for the team, it's just that he is pretty much what Riggins said he is. The Redskins are a toy for Snyder who doesn't seem to have that intuitive touch needed to be successful in sports. Being smug doesn't work in sports. It might work on Wall Street or in corporate board rooms for a while, but sports rely more on honesty, hard work and sincerity to motivate employees to physically perform. You have to know that the boss (owner, GM or coach) has your back in order to put your body at risk. Money generally doesn't buy championships in sports that require bravery and heart. "The Dan" confuses desire with heart. He might be a fan of the team, but he's not a good leader of men. His team is a reflection of himself -- profitable and well marketed, but without substance. It doesn't matter who the coach or general manager are as the years under Snyder have proven.

There was no fight in the 'Skins Monday night. They embarrassed themselves on a national stage. A large part of that is on the players. This was not a professional effort. If at least half these players aren't replaced next year, expect a similar record under new GM, Bruce Allen.

By the way, it seems rather obvious that the hiring of Allen was yet another public relations stunt. Allen's father, George, was a beloved Redskins coach, and his brother is a popular Virginia politician. I don't believe Allen's NFL track record is as stellar as Snyder claims. But Snyder knew few would question the hiring. Like many folks in power, Snyder appears to have some sort of need to be liked more than respected. Some folks might even applaud Snyder because of the ties Allen has to the Redskins and Ashburn, Va., where the Redskins train. But is Allen really the answer?

Hopefully, Zorn will soon get back to his native West Coast, either California or Seattle. Two years in D.C. has aged him. The lines on his face have become more obvious. Some bosses and jobs aren't worth that sort of stress, especially as one begins to get older. Zorn is still a hero in Seattle where he is remembered as the best quarterback in Seahawk history. He's still a straight shooter despite two years in Washington -- a place where spin and backstabbing are epidemic. Zorn might not be head-coaching material, but under Snyder, who is? The main reason the inexperienced Zorn got the job two years ago was because no one else wanted it. For the elite, seasoned coaches, there isn't enough money in the world to work for a dysfunctional organization under an owner who has failed to deliver a serious run at a championship or even a decent game-day experience for fans.

Mother Nature exposes our softness

I don't think we have the right stuff anymore. We don't know how to cope with inconveniences or how to tough it out when things don't go according to plan. Take this weekend's snowstorm. Washington has never been a city that reacts well to bad weather. Rain sends people into a frenzy here. You would think Washingtonians would be accustomed to foul weather, but they aren't. I lived in this area in 1979 for one year and it was the same deal then as it is now. No one can drive in anything other than perfect conditions in Northern Virginia, the district or Maryland. Schools close even if there is a forecast of a few inches of snow. And federal offices...well, forget about it. Biggest wimps in the country.

I wonder what it is about Washington that causes panic whenever it snows? Is it because metro-D.C. is a region with people from all over the globe, many of whom might not have ever seen snow? Or is it just a town with too much entitlement?

As I traveled about today, traffic was thick, restaurants and stores were full, and parking lots had very few empty spaces. It appears all those people who couldn't get to school or work found a way to get to other more fun places. It was particularly noteworthy to me because over the three decades of my working life, which ended abruptly last year, I didn't miss work because of bad weather. I drove through snowstorms at all hours of the night and took my responsibilities seriously. I didn't feel better or more special than anyone else. I just felt I was paid to show up at the office and not take the day off to stroll around the mall. It was on me as to how I got to work in bad weather. Just part of being an adult and earning a paycheck. Not everyone I worked with subscribed to my values and saw snow in much the same way a fourth-grader would -- as an opportunity.

I am guessing that people in Albany or Buffalo deal with snow that is far worse than what the mid-Atlantic saw this weekend. And they deal with it several times a year. They go to work. They go to school. They don't whine nonstop on around-the-clock television news reports. I am thinking that folks in Killington, Vt., somehow find their way to their jobs at the ski lodge offices, restaurants, shops and hotels there. And our friends farther north in Canada probably think Americans are totally lame when it comes to coping with bad weather.

We've gotten soft. We panic about everything. We worry about more 9/11's every time a plane soars a little too low. We get sick over the idea of the cable TV going out during Survivor.

Our sense of entitlement and unfounded fear has no bounds. Americans fall apart if the fireworks are rained out on the Fourth of July or a sale item is sold out the day before Christmas. People in the media turn every death from H1N1 into a sensationalized national catastrophe, as if things like "The Plague" never existed. One beheading in the Middle East or a kidnapping in North Korea equals the entire media coverage of World War I.

What are we going to do if a real emergency occurs? Can we handle it? What if an asteroid hits Kansas City and kills 1,000 times more people than 9/11? When the "big one" finally slices through California, will our entire country fall apart? How about if we have to go to war against a real nation with a real military and not just a cult? Could we man up against China? I doubt it.

We better get comfortable with the idea of hardships and toughen up a bit. I see troubling days ahead. If we stop sticking our heads in the sand we might be able to avoid some problems, but not all. Many experts agree that we will get hit by a nuke one day. A lot of people feel the deficit is going to lead to class warfare or worse. Some think factory farming is going to sprout viruses that wipe out millions.

It's a shame that in order to regain perspective and backbone we're going to have to face something much more challenging than a foot or two of snow.

A Larry King-like post

Larry King of CNN wrote weekly columns for USA Today at one point during his career. The columns consisted mostly of a string of unrelated, brief statements and opinions. The columns were mocked by various folks for being shallow. Running the risk of being equally shallow, here are some random thoughts of my own.

I am tired of television news reporters, with zero authority, telling me to stay off the road when it snows or to remain indoors on hot, humid days... If every study imaginable has proven that talking on a cellphone impairs drivers much the way being intoxicated does, it seems beyond obnoxious that so many people continue to do yack away behind the wheel... Bruce Allen, the new GM for the Redskins, has nothing on his resume that tells me he's a winner, despite what team owner, "The Dan," was selling us last week about his new hire... Air conditioning and light bulbs remain the best inventions ever...

Ninety-five percent of what is on television is unwatchable... There is only one "LT" in pro football and that is/was Lawrence Taylor... Former NFL coach, Jon Gruden, praises everyone, which makes him a terribly boring color commentator on Monday Night Football broadcasts... Our country hasn't learned a thing from this recession... Americans and the media place way too much importance on the office of president and don't pay enough attention to the people who really call the shots... I recall my favorite beer being whatever was on sale... Key West was very cool before it became trendy and filled with condos and cruise ships...

Glenn Beck isn't the answer... The best food and comedians come from New York... I hope Tiger Woods stays out of the limelight for the rest of my life... Radio is better than TV... If we really wanted to win the war in Afghanistan, we could do it in about a week... It's difficult for me to pray when I have no idea if anyone is listening... Chocolate ice cream sodas from Carvel are a great childhood memory... I don't get people who say they have no regrets... Seafood should be eaten near the water... Of the 10 neighbors who live closest to me, only four consider English their first language... Ray Romano should be getting better parts in movies...

1992-93 was the worst time in my life; 2008-09 is now officially second... I am in awe of how big and complex the universe is... If it has eyes and cares for its young, we probably shouldn't be eating it... See the movie Idiocracy because, as silly as it might seem, I believe it's a window into the future... Grown men wearing backpacks to work looks silly, particularly in white-collar office environments... Consensus doesn't always yield the best results... Grocery stores are getting too big and take up too much of my time... Something about Madonna's "Tell Me" video still appeals to me, though not much else grabs me about the pop star... The Shining is the best horror film ever made and includes Jack Nicholson's finest performance...

Sean Hannity plays the same tune over and over, yet people continue to listen/watch... The two-party political system doesn't work for us anymore... Anything that gets too big and successful inevitably fails... My pre-season Super Bowl picks (Giants vs. Ravens) aren't looking so good but aren't dead yet... Everyone agrees that the movie Office Space accurately depicts the absurdity of the workplace, yet we continue to accept all the occupational lunacy and cliches in real life...

Seems criminal that trans fat should still exist in any food product... I confess that I am rooting for Brett Favre simply because he's old... Sadly, friendships feel more like rentals than keepsakes... I miss real diners... I discover more clues about the nature of life and death as I get older, yet also have many more questions... Regardless of one's hands-on skills, education level or title, not everyone is suited to manage or lead others... Howard Cosell was right about many things, including the decline of broadcast journalism...

I am drawn to the lights and colors of Christmas but not the materialism... Charlie Brown and Looney Tunes cartoons still hold up very well today... There are too many flavors of almost everything from cheese cake to ice cream, and not enough quality in anything... Smarter phones will put the nail in the coffin of face-to-face, meaningful communications... The only sequel that was equal to if not better than the first movie was Godfather II... An inordinate number of parents these days call their young sons, "buddy"... Why hasn't there been a million-man march on Washington related to unemployment...?

Greed is the root cause of almost every societal problem, yet we continue to focus on the symptoms rather than the cause... Listening to a single song can change my outlook on things, at least for the moment, unlike anything else... I can't get through a week without hearing something about Sarah Palin and marvel at how someone so intellectually vacant might become president... There are some very smart people in the world who claim cures for most cancers would have been discovered by now if not for the misappropriation of funds for research...

I recall a time when it was common knowledge that the left lane was for passing... I kind of like Sen. Joe Lieberman's unwillingness to follow the herd... If money were no object, I'd probably live in Santa Barbara or the Florida Keys... Listening to Frank Sinatra while having a nice dinner in either Baltimore or New York's "Little Italy" is a good way for me to reconnect to certain parts of past... Coffee shops should ban notebook computers, phones and children, and promote reading, conversation and the arts... Sunday Night Football on NBC is a solid broadcast from start to finish...

No more houses should be built until the ones for sale are sold... Let's give a tax break to businesses that hire folks... According to a recent study, Florida is the third happiest state; Virginia and Maryland weren't even in the top 20... Hard to believe that much of the Washington-area will be closed this week as a result of the weekend snowstorm... Would Jimi Hendrix still be playing if he were alive today, or would he have taken the Grace Slick route and bowed out before he got too old...?

The morning after

My street after the storm. Sterling, Va., 20 miles from D.C., got over 20 inches snow. Our street was plowed on Sunday morning, but we have not ventured out of the neighborhood yet.

19 inches in Sterling, Va.

And it is still coming down. I shoveled four times today. December snowfall records have been shattered for the entire D.C.-metro area. There are no above-freezing days coming in the next week to 10 days, so the piles of snow aren't going anywhere. No telling what damage will be done to houses and other structures. As trees coated in ice and snow fall, power will be lost in certain areas. School has already been canceled in Loudoun County through Tuesday. Craziness erupted in D.C. with a massive snowball fight that ended in some sort of gun play and police action, according to local news reports. Seems appropriate for 2009 to end this way. Just a terrible year in so many ways.

D.C. region bracing for major storm

People are scurrying about like lunatics today, buying milk and bread, preparing for what some forecasters say will be a record-breaking storm for December. The forecast: Snow beginning tonight and possibly never ending. By the way, I never understood the snow-driven panic that leads to the assault on milk and bread in every grocery store within 100 miles of here. Has anyone in D.C. ever been unable to get to the grocery store for more than a day because of snow? Does milk and bread guarantee one's survival against all that falls from the sky?

Watchful eyes on an obscure blog

I wonder who is out there reading, watching, listening? My blog audience is limited, but I do appear to have a few loyal fans. They aren't official followers/subscribers, so I don't know them by name. Some folks just don't like signing up for yet another online service, I guess. Nonetheless, their site visits are appreciated. They are anonymous. The information I have on them is limited to country, city or sometimes place of business. They literally are dots on a map. Sometimes those dots are in Asia or Europe. Most of the time the hits are coming from the states, according to the free blog-traffic reports I receive.

Who is watching me in Miami? Do I know them? Are they a distant friend or just a stranger who stumbled upon my blog and became curious enough to click on it a few times a week? The only information I have is that they are somehow associated with something called Gadjraj & Sons Imports. I assume that is a business in South Florida. I would be thrilled to hear from them and to ask what it is that draws them here. I would be even more grateful to hear from them if they are a long-lost friend.

Who do I know in Manhattan, Kan., Queens, N.Y., or Potomac, Md., who checks in now and then? Of course, in my situation, I am always hoping that someone will find me through this blog and offer me a job or at least a spot in their garage band. However, that doesn't seem likely. In fact, even sites geared towards that sort of networking -- like LinkedIn.com -- produce very few tangible results for job seekers. I joined a musicians site that has yielded a grand total of one query in three months. All the hoopla about having to connect online in order to find jobs or like-minded hobbyists seems to be more myth than fact.

How often does a personal blog like this come up in a search? When I comment about President Obama does the FBI or Secret Service take note through some sort of Internet wizardry? Do I get on some agency's to-be-watched list? Doubtful. They can't even keep track of who is on the White House party list.

When I made a remark about Jerry Lee Lewis a few weeks ago my blog traffic went way up. In fact, that week's numbers were the highest I've recorded so far, leading me to think I should abandon this blog and start up a Jerry Lee Lewis site.

There are other people I don't know who come here regularly. And, unfortunately, there are some folks who visited frequently at the start of this blog but apparently lost interest, which just leads to more questions about the true value of blogging, social and professional networking.

Pearl Jam and random memories

In a musical mood this week. This is my rendition of a Pearl Jam song called "Wishlist." As usual, I am singing and playing all instruments except drums. The pictures do having meaning -- some tied to the song's lyrics and others to random memories.

Rockin' live performances for the ages

Sometimes a rock band, even one that I don't particularly like, turns in a great live performance. As I happened to see Sly and the Family Stone at Woodstock recently on television, I have to say that their medley of Dance to the Music, Music Lover and I Want To Take You Higher was fabulous and still resonates with me 40 years later. Considering that Sly did it at Woodstock, where there was no shortage of great musicians, adds to the legend.

As I think of other live recordings, I have to include Grand Funk's I'm Your Captain at Shea Stadium (1971) as amongst the best single songs played in front of an audience. I think Jimi Hendrix was also at the top of his game at the Monterey Pop Festival where he played Like a Rolling Stone.

These were all great songs, but the visuals, energy and creativity are what pushes them to the top for me. Great musicianship and stage presence. Thankfully, they were all caught on film.

Would be interested to know what live songs standout in your memory.

Cerrato takes the low road

Woke up to the news that Vinny Cerrato resigned as the Redskins' executive vice president of football operations today. For most fans in Washington, that's good news. The team has floundered under Cerrato's leadership. But a few questions remain.

First, how much was owner Dan Snyder involved in the poor decisions that the team has made in recent years? Is Cerrato truly responsible for the gridiron mess in D.C.?

What is the next move? The radio talk shows are buzzing that there will be more news later today. Possibly a new coach? Maybe a new general manager? Is Joe Gibbs coming back again?

Regardless of where the team goes from here, Cerrato made a parting statement that was less than classy: "I've had the pleasure of working with some great coaches such as Joe Gibbs, Greg Blache and Sherman Lewis, great people on the Redskins staff ..." Uh, what about the current coach who you hired, Vinny? You mentioned Blache, a coordinator, and Lewis, an adviser to the team for just a few weeks, but you don't mention the head coach, Jim Zorn?

When people at Cerrato's level fall, they generally don't fall far. They have enough money in the bank to last a lifetime. Failure in one place almost guarantees he will get a good job elsewhere in the upside down world of professional sports. He spent a lot of time doing a radio show, when some thought he should be spending that time improving the team, so maybe he will become a broadcaster.

I am sensitive to anyone losing their job these days, but Cerrato, like most top executives, will be just fine. The system is setup to protect these types of high-ranking insiders regardless of whether they have talent or not. More than anything, these guys know how to play the game (I cleaned that up because this blog is g-rated). In Cerrato's case, however, the game didn't respond to his maneuvers. And in a public arena like pro sports, it is hard to hide incompetency and failure. Fans wanted a change. The Redskins were becoming a public-relations nightmare. Snyder had to put aside his personal feelings for Cerrato and make a move. I am sure he took good care of his friend Vinny.

Update: Bruce Allen, the son of legendary Redskins' coach, George Allen, has been named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Washington Redskins, according to ESPN980. Allen was GM for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Senior Executive with the Oakland Raiders.

Car commercials lack sensitivity

I have a profound desire to throw my shoe at the TV every time one of those luxury-car commercials comes on urging us to buy a pricey vehicle for Christmas. We're in the worst recession of our time. People are genuinely hurting and many folks can't afford to buy anything for the holidays, let alone a Lexus. If some fat cats can financially swing gifts like cars, all the more power to them. But these commercials seem to want to rub it in the faces of those who aren't doing as well ... and that's a whole lot of people these days. The tone of these commercials is insensitive at best.

Dean says kill health-reform bill

I rarely agree with Howard Dean about anything, but his opinion piece in The Washington Post makes some sense. It's astonishing that the opinion is coming from a hardcore Democrat. The current health-care reform bill doesn't seem to accomplish what was originally intended and it might be best to start over, says Dean. Read Dean's column.

Low-paying gigs hard to live on

There is little money to be made by low-end musicians. By low-end I mean the guy who plays piano in Nordstrom's department store or the dude strumming guitar on the schooner tour of some second-rate city's polluted harbor. There is even less cash to be made by musicians in small clubs who many times must guarantee a certain number of patrons otherwise they could actually lose money.

But "real" professions in offices don't seem to be any better these days. As jobs begin to trickle back, I am noticing pay is way down.

I saw a rather typical ad recently from an employer who wants to hire a journalist for a newspaper/web-site operation. The job required candidates to have a four-year degree, be experts in various software such as Photoshop, InDesign and Flash, be able to write sports and news stories, do page layout and manage a couple of part-timers. Weekends and night work was required. The ad said the salary was "competitive." When I checked to see what competitive meant, I found out it was $20,000 a year. And this isn't unusual, particularly in journalism. Makes you wonder why anyone would spend tens of thousands of dollars on a J-school education.

As employers have the upper hand in a bad job market, they are requiring a vast array of skills. This is not all that unusual in journalism jobs, but the salaries being offered are what folks could have expected 25 years ago with a degree and maybe a year or two of experience. The pay is so low that you might as well take that gig singing Van Morrison tunes at the tacky airport hotel lounge. Cubicle work certainly isn't that much more lucrative these days.

Of course, employers are like anyone else -- they tend to get what they pay for. Even though the market is flooded with fairly talented folks who would be willing to lower their salary demands, it's not always the best move to hire inexperienced folks or people with questionable work histories just to save a buck. That bargain-basement employee in the long run might not be such a good idea if your company ends up being sued for libel or some form of malpractice.

Past catching up to the present

Even in 1960 my displeasure with winter was obvious. Didn't like it in Brooklyn, where this picture of me was taken. Didn't like it when my family moved to Long Island. And didn't like it while in high school in Rockland County, N.Y. No wonder I ended up going to college in southern Virginia. Winters are milder there, but still not mild enough for me. I recall being in shock the first time it snowed. The usually green campus was pretty in white but my anxiety rose with each inch of the fallen flaky stuff.

My first choice of colleges was the University of South Florida in Tampa. However, due to not being the best of test-takers, I screwed up my SATs and ended up in Lynchburg, Va. I have no regrets. Lynchburg College was a fine liberal arts school in a very scenic area of the state. In some ways, I wish I could have settled down there after graduation. Instead, I went on journalism career-driven romp up and down the East Coast before eventually coming back to Virginia in the mid-1990s.

As I look out over the gray, northern Virginia sky today, I wonder what course life would have taken if I would have ended up in Florida in 1979 -- what relationships would have been forged, what career would I have chosen, etc. One wonders about the road not taken when the current path seems to have led to a dead end. The winter slows everything down, allowing for the past to catch up to the present.

Of course, it's impossible to say things would have been better or significantly different -- that I would have become a physical education teacher (my original career goal) if I went to Tampa, or played in a great rock 'n' roll band (my first love). I might have gotten swallowed by a shark in the Gulf of Mexico at the age of 19 or been flattened on the streets of St. Petersburg by a runaway Buick driven by an infamous "blue-hair" with over-sized sunglasses. I might have eventually ventured back north, just to test my tolerance for winter or for nostalgic reasons, only to perish in a frozen park lake.

Still, it's interesting to consider what better things might have happened with a left turn at the intersection instead of a right. Unfortunately, when you're making those life-charting decisions at 18 you really don't have enough data or a crystal ball to choose the best course. Who would have thought in 1980 that newspapers would be dying because of a thing called the Internet and that seasoned journalists, such as myself, would be scrambling for jobs in 2009? Who would admit at 20 years old that they really don't know themselves yet or that they might be forced to reinvent themselves later in life when most folks are beginning to look forward to retirement? While I do know of a few people who knew exactly what they wanted from life early on, and made their visions into reality, I think most of us just stumble around, bumping into furniture as we go. The key is to try not to fall down the stairs.

The biggest challenge for me this winter will be in dealing with the unknown for the second year in a row. I still feel disoriented from the events of last year. The cold and dark days makes navigation more difficult. There is something about sunlight and warmth that makes impossible things seem possible. Maybe it's just an illusion, but it's a good illusion.

We've already had our first significant snowfall in the D.C. area. Luckily, we don't get the amount of snowfall that places like New York and Boston do. I am keeping my fingers crossed that good things can happen in the winter months. Maybe it will change my perspective on this time of year. Maybe the apparent dead end up ahead is just a dark tunnel across the harbor's icy waters. Perhaps there is light on the other side, even in the winter.

Poll: Mental health issues on rise

Excerpts from The New York Times:

“Everything gets touched,” said Colleen Klemm, 51, of North Lake, Wis., who lost her job as a manager at a landscaping company last November. “All your relationships are touched by it. You’re never your normal happy-go-lucky person. Your countenance, your self-esteem goes. You think, ‘I’m not employable.’ ”

Joblessness has wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll of unemployed adults, causing major life changes, mental health issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities.

Sobering thoughts about aging

This chart from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project shows what many of my closest friends and I have to look forward to in the next 5 to 25 years. Just think, in 5 years about 1 in 10 of those who graduated from college in 1979 will have trouble using the toilet. And 13.4 percent will have difficulty simply dressing. Daily living will not be what were told it would be. The golden years aren't looking so golden. I have no desire to fight my own feet in order to put on my socks.

Of course, few things in life remain constant or improve over time. Even wine reaches a point where it gets rancid. We have to accept that inevitable decline in all things, including ourselves. But who determines when the wine is turning bad? There is also the question of whether the wine is actually worsening or whether our tastes are changing.

It seems that life involves a series of reboots and dispelling of myths that can often get frustrating as one begins to have the advantage of a seasoned perspective.

Remember when we were told to drink several glasses of whole milk each day? Well, turns out that's a sure-fire way to die before you even begin having toilet issues. But I fully expect that sooner or later, drinking milk will be fashionable again.

Remember the American dream? Get an education. Buy a small house. Work your way up to a good job in a big company. Get a bigger house. Show loyalty and collect a pension after 30 years or so. Then retire to a warm-weather place and play catch with your grandchildren. Now, a bachelor's degree doesn't guarantee you anything. A small house won't necessarily appreciate enough to ever buy a bigger home and may, depending on the economy, lead you into foreclosure. Pensions are long gone at most companies, replaced by 401k plans. And employers show little loyalty, particularly to older workers, making it almost impossible now to work for just one or two companies in a lifetime. Oh, and those 401k and other savings plans ... turns out they aren't the retirement safety nets everyone said they would be when pensions were ditched.

Aging in America is not the rewarding, respectful or peaceful time we were told it would be or just assumed. Many people who should be at the height of their careers are finding themselves on unemployment lines. What's worse is that the future for these folks looks even more dismal because personal resources are being burned just to get through the here and now. If you are one of the 24.3 percent of the people who can't walk a block when you're 65, you won't even be able to be a respectable homeless person.

Whether one's problems are career, financial or health-related, "baby boomers" were not prepared for this. We adjusted and readjusted as boomers have done since grade school when we had to hide under our desks to protect ourselves from nuclear weapons, only to find out that that was one of the dumbest things we were ever told to do. We survived divorces which became fashionable, retooled our careers as technology took off and gave up drinking whole milk. We quit smoking and kept our hands on the 10 and 2 o'clock positions on the steering wheel. Unfortunately, someone mindlessly talking on their cellphone ran right into us and obliterated everything we worked for in our lives. Guess they didn't take driver's ed.

I am not a fan of aging if on top of having a 9.5 percent chance of having difficulty getting out of bed means that once I am out of bed I have nowhere to go. What good is there in medical science increasing our life expectancy if society and our culture casts us out in our 50s and 60s? I don't want to have difficulty walking across the room, assuming I have a room to walk across, only to find that once I am across it there really isn't anything there worthy of my attention.

Because we've eaten more veggies and get prostate exams regularly, the average life expectancy of men has increased to about 75. It was 10 years less when many of us boomers were born. That's the good news. However, I wonder who is going to take us to the pharmacy after the sun goes down when 30 percent of us won't be able to drive a car at night? I wonder how many of us will even be able to afford a car because no one will give us a job?

You would think everyone would be more supportive of the aging process -- from employers to the entertainment industry to Madison Avenue -- because we all get old if we're lucky enough to avoid premature illnesses or fatal accidents.

Maybe along with prolonging life, we better figure out a way to tweak our culture in a manner that allows mid-life and older folks to be contributing members of society. When we get out of bed in the morning, we want to go to meaningful jobs, see movies we can relate to, read books and publications with something substantial to say. Most of us are capable of working well into our 60s and 70s. If given the chance, some folks are still vibrant contributors in their 80s. But our culturally mindset has to change in order to have a more just and productive society. Just because 9.7 percent of us may walk across the room a little slowly doesn't mean we don't possess knowledge and skills that should be treasured.

I am not ready for the shuffleboard courts. I feel the pressure of time being preciously limited, but fortunately I don't have any of the problems listed in the chart above. At least not yet. And while I am blessed to be relatively healthy, it would be nice to feel like there is still a place on this planet for me that doesn't involve canasta and waxing poetic about the Ed McMahon. As many of my boomer friends would agree, we might not be able to play four quarters of full-court basketball or drink until the wee hours of the morning anymore, but we can think, feel, analyze and contribute in ways we couldn't in 1979.

Yes, daily life is bound to get progressively difficult after a certain age regardless of how many hours you spend on the treadmill. But it doesn't have to be made even more difficult by what seems to be a growing list of societal, economic and cultural shifts. Not being able to properly digest a slice of pepperoni pizza doesn't have to be made worse by losing one's sense of place in the world. Ideally, I would like to go back to an America where grandparents are respected, workers can retire comfortably and I can drink a glass of milk every now and then. Yet, I know that's not the way things are trending. And with the prospect of battling my underwear on the horizon, I have to wonder if Billy Joel was right in singing, "Only the good die young."

Sandwich shop justice

A bleach-blond woman in a sandwich shop that I visit occasionally claimed she gave the young, Latino cash register guy a $20 bill today. The cashier gave her change from $10. The older owner of the shop came over and checked the register. There was no evidence that a $20 bill was placed in the $10 slot, but the owner made good on the customer's claim anyway, seemingly to avoid further dispute. I felt bad for the young cashier because he was certain he did not make a mistake.

The woman, whose body language and attitude told me she was scamming these folks, sat down to eat her meal. Five minutes later, the owner walked over to her table and said that he checked the video in the back room and that she gave the cashier a $10 bill, not a $20 as she had claimed. He then pointed to the camera above the register, asked for his money back and calmly walked away after she ponied up the money.

As I watched this little random episode play out, it felt good to see justice served without further incident. I felt good for the young cashier who was proven to be correct. If life were only like this more often ...

Online "news" intentionally misleading

I have touched on this before in this blog. And here is another example of what is wrong with the lack of real journalists working in online "news" environments.

A headline on AOL's home page today reads: "Is Tiger Woods Ready to Quit Golf?" The text below the headline says: "A report has surfaced that wife Elin has given him an ultimatum -- one that might not bode well for his career."

However, when you click on the story you find out that Woods quitting golf is just a rumor and a pretty far-fetched one at that, according to the writer. But in the online news world, the home-page headline and readout served its short-sighted purpose in that it got me to click to the full story, even if it did so by being blatantly misleading.

Unfortunately, AOL isn't the only site guilty of trickery disguised as real news. And just to be clear, I don't usually go to AOL, Yahoo or sites like that for news. However, I am beginning to see newspaper sites doing similar, unethical things in order to drive web traffic. And that's pretty disturbing to a lifelong editor such as myself. Ultimately, I think it will fail from a business standpoint.

My advice to these types of quasi-news web sites would be to hire professional journalists in order to increase credibility. People seeking legitimate news want to believe what they are reading. They don't want to read one thing on a home page and a completely different thing once they drill down into the site. Over the long haul, credibility is more important than tricking people to click headlines that are misleading. Solid, reliable and original content will build traffic, not juvenile gotcha headlines that refer to supermarket tabloid reports.

Update: Reports came out later in the day on numerous web sites stating that Tiger Woods is taking a temporary leave from golf. He's not quitting. I can't really understand why anyone would even speculate that he'd retire at a still relatively young age. Plenty of public figures, including athletes, entertainers and even politicians have been guilty of similar things that are alleged about Woods. Rarely does anyone ever quit over them unless they broke a law and are forced to. The money-making machine that is Tiger Woods will return to golf soon enough. Hopefully, the media won't glorify him quite as much when he gets back on the course. Athletes and others in powerful positions are often arrogant enough to think they can get away with anything and still maintain their public image. Yet few ever get through their various indiscretions without some exposure and scars ... just ask Bill Clinton, Wade Boggs, Gary Hart, Roger Clemens, Koby Bryant and a host of others.

E&P: More than just a magazine

Editor & Publisher magazine is closing down after 125 years of publication. The web site will also cease operations.

Probably unheard of by most of the population, E&P was the magazine of newspaper professionals. Even more popular than its stories about the business were its famous classified ads. Long before the internet explosion, this is where many young and not-so-young newspaper people went to look for a job. I began subscribing to it while still in college in 1979.

In part, I got my job at USA Today in 1995 by answering an ad in E&P. I also was hired by a Miami-area daily newspaper in 1980 and found an editing job in Meriden, Conn., in the mid-1980s thanks to the E&P classifieds.

With newspaper jobs drying up and layoffs continuing, my search for employment just got a little bit harder today as I still went to E&P to read about trends in the business and to peruse the help-wanted ads.

Read more about the E&P demise.

UFO or Russian missile?

A light appeared in the sky over Norway this week. A beam seemed to be coming from the spiral. As I said in a recent post, more strange images in the sky are likely to be photographed because of all the digital and security cameras in use now. Story/more pictures.

Tattoos still taboo in the office

According to a 2007 Pew Research Center study, 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 40 have at least one tattoo. As common as tattoos seem to be these days, that statistic surprised me. I figured the number would be lower.

I worked in a large office building with hundreds of employees, many of them in the 18-40 range, yet I can only think of a handful of people who had tattoos. I guess a lot of my former colleagues were in the tattoo closet.

It seems those with ink in their skin are still reluctant to show their body art in the workplace as this Washington Post article explains.

"D.C. is culturally one of the most conservative cities I've ever lived in," said Sarah Graddy (not pictured above) in the Post article. Graddy is 31 and has lived in Seattle, Los Angeles and Gainesville, Fla., before coming to Washington to work for the government. She has three tattoos. "I just see fewer people displaying body art in the workplace here."

I have no objection to tattoos unless they become an obsession. Not sure I'd feel comfortable with a dude in a nearby cubicle coming in with his face looking like bar code, but I'd probably get over it if the guy was a decent worker and relatively normal human being. Still, I would advise anyone seeking work not to openly display their tattoos during a job interview because there are still many employers who will pick apart everything about your appearance and jump to false conclusions. Might not be fair, but it's just the way things are. We've battled race and gender discrimination. We've become accepting of sexual orientation and provided considerations for handicapped workers. Yet, in our constant quest for fairness (some might say political correctness) we can't seem to conquer appearance discrimination. If you appear too old, too fat, too tattooed you will be at a disadvantage, particularly in certain professions in cities like Washington.

Seems to me that tattoos are like anything else that we do to ourselves to express a feeling, image or belief. People dye their hair to look young or for self expression. They wear tinted contacts or shave their heads to change their appearance. They have a cross or star around their necks to express religious beliefs. And when it's all done in moderation and isn't a clear sign of some more serious, underlying issues, I'm not sure why anyone would be offended. Of course, if Bob the banker has a swastika carved in his forehead, I'm probably going to open my meager savings account elsewhere.

There is something about tattoos, even "tasteful" ones, that still seems to draw a wider range of opinions and reactions, both positive and negative. With so many people now sporting tattoos, it won't be long before they become more visible in office.

"Men of a Certain Age" a winner

A new series, Men of a Certain Age, premiered on TNT last night. And it appears that this show might already be one of the smarter programs on television. The first show mixed real-life struggles with a light touch of humor and irony throughout. Nice to see a television series with some appeal to people who are over 40. Also good to have something on commercial TV that doesn't contributed to the constant dumbing down of America via the boob tube. Even the musical soundtrack to the show was solid. My only complaint is in having to wade through all the advertisements. Wish Men of a Certain Age was on commercial-free HBO, although it's nice not to have to pay extra to see quality entertainment. We'll see if the show holds up throughout an entire season. So far, so good.

Jeep fails to fess up to a major problem

It's no wonder American automakers are in trouble. Between the unreliability of their products and poor customer satisfaction rates, it's hard to get behind U.S.-made vehicles. You would think this would have improved by now.

For the second time, my 2006 Jeep Liberty had a regulator break on a window. The first time it happened, I thought it was just one of those things. The vehicle was still under warranty, so it was no big deal.

Then it happened again yesterday, this time to a different window. The person at the dealership said it was common but there was no recall on the Jeeps. This time, with my warranty expired, I had to pay for Jeep/Chrysler's idiotic engineering of a part that simply doesn't last very long and also causes windows to break (an additional expense for the glass).

So today I filed complaints with Jeep/Chrysler and also filled out a form with a government agency responsible for tracking recalls. Jeep/Chrysler, in their words, has 24 hours to respond to my request for reimbursement. If they don't respond or don't pay for the repair, then I have to take this further. It was also disheartening to be told by the person in charge of complaints that he knew nothing about the problem with Liberty window regulators. The dealership, where it was repaired, sure knew about the problem.

If you simply Google "Jeep complaints" the first thing you will see is a site with complaints about this very problem. So it's not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, it appears to be the most-reported problem of any Jeep model in the last decade. Yet, the guy on the phone at Jeep said he was unaware of it?

When something similar happened to my wife's Jetta several years ago, Volkswagen made good and paid for the full repair. While there was no official recall despite the Jetta models having window problems, the German-automaker seemed more willing to satisfy the customer. That's good business. Of course, if you buy dependable models from Honda, you likely won't have any problems in the first place. My wife now drives a CR-V. Not a single issue in nearly four years.

What's scary about Jeep is that the new part that was replaced is of the same design and could break again tomorrow. There's no way of telling when the windows will break or whether glass will shatter. There are even reports, according to the dealership, where the regulators break so violently that they rip apart the door locking system. I have three other windows that could go at any time, including the other one that was previously repaired.

Jeep/Chrysler, which recently merged with Italian manufacturer, Fiat, should do a better job at taking care of an obvious flaw in design that has cost thousands of Liberty owners a ton of money. Whether this is a safety issue or not is irrelevant in my mind. Jeep/Chrysler is making thousands off of repairs of a part designed to fail.

UPDATE: Jeep has agreed to pay for the cost of the repair, minus $100 for what they said was a "deductible." Not exactly sure what that means since this is not an insurance issue, but I will now wait to see if they actually cut me a check. I did not, however, get any indication from Jeep that this defect will be fixed once and for all, either through a recall, or a voluntary redesign/replacement of all four window mechanisms.

You can't budget for busted windows

When one hasn't worked in a year, an unexpected $700 car-repair bill is reason enough for quite a bit of anxiety. I hadn't had to worry about affording to fix a broken window, decayed tooth or leaky roof in a long time because for 29 years I worked. I didn't always make a lot of money, but I made enough to get by. Today's car mishap reminded me of how a big chunk of cash taken here or there over time can eventually lead to homelessness, which at my age is almost surreal to think about, yet a very real possibility as the months fly by and the savings account dwindles. While we've cut back on many things due to my being cast out of the newspaper business with thousands of others at the worst possible time, life still happens. Things break. However, if I do end up living in my car, at least the window regulator and battery will work.

Odds and ends from Sunday's games

The most discouraging moment from Sunday's games: Atlanta fans cheering Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick late in the game. A convicted felon who tortured and killed dogs for entertainment, the former Atlanta player should never have been allowed back into the league. His return to Atlanta as a member of the opposing team should have produced a cascade of sustained boos for three hours. Fans boo former players who defect to other teams all the time for far less serious reasons. Yet, in Atlanta, Vick continues to have substantial support, which makes me wonder about that city.

The Washington Redskins had three of the most heartbreaking mistakes possible in their 33-30 overtime loss to undefeated New Orleans. Take away any of the mistakes and the Redskins would have pulled off the upset of the year. They missed a late field goal that was essentially the same distance of an extra point. And extra points have well above a 90% success rate in the NFL. Earlier, they intercepted a pass, and while returning it, the Redskin player wasn't paying attention to how he carried the ball and a receiver from the Saints took it out of his hands and ran the other way for a touchdown. The Washington secondary has done some bonehead things this year, like lateraling after a pick or leaving receivers wide open for touchdowns, but this took the prize for carelessness. Then, the Saints punter shanked a punt for just 20 yards, which would have given Washington great field position. Instead, the ball hit a Redskins player on the back and New Orleans recovered.

What's up with the Pittsburgh Steelers? Losing to Oakland? The defending champs are now in jeopardy of not making the playoffs.

With that all said, any week that includes a Dallas Cowboys loss is a good week. Even better on Sunday because the loss came against the New York Giants, who remain in playoff contention.

Waiting on the arrival of UFO images

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have always seemed feasible to me. Presidents have seen them. Police and pilots have witnessed them. Even my own father claimed he saw one or two in his lifetime. I've listened to guest lecturers in college speak of a historic case of a UFO hovering over one of the main buildings on campus in the 1950s in Lynchburg, Va. It seems to me that believing in UFOs is no crazier than having faith in an unseen god (of your spiritual choice) that has never been scientifically proven to exist. I guess we all want to believe in something beyond our own existence, which is one of the appealing things about UFOs and religion.

We're entering a make-or-break era in UFO-ology. Because cameras now exist in everything from our cell phones to traffic intersections, I believe someone is going to capture definitive proof of unworldly objects in the sky. When that day comes, the debate about what the nature of the object(s) is will intensify. Some believe that definitive proof of visitors from another planet could even change how human beings view themselves in an extremely profound manner that could alter cultures and society in general. I wonder if it would change us for the better?

Unfortunately, the UFO community has its fair share of nuts. Just like some cat enthusiasts who don't know where to draw the line between loving their pets and total obsession, UFO people are one of two types. Either they remain relatively quiet about what they believe or possibly have seen out of fear of ridicule, or they wear UFO t-shirts and drive around in saucer-shaped cars.

If all the digital cameras in existence now can't capture one image or video clip that proves UFOs are real and probably not from this planet, I may have to rethink my beliefs and consider the possibility that we are truly alone.

This is no time to exhale, Mr. Norris

Floyd Norris is financial writer for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune. He covers finance and economics. Apparently, Norris believes the job drought might be over, which is an astonishing conclusion to make based on today's modestly good news of unemployment dropping from 10.3% to 10.0% in November.

It's opinions like this that allow politicians to exhale and create a false sense of things improving, making it less likely that job-creation will remain near the top of the national agenda. But in the real world, the middle-class folks I know, employed and unemployed, don't see any significant job gains on the horizon. And believe me, I contact a lot of people about work on a weekly basis in my job search. The news I get from potential employers is almost always 100% discouraging. They simply have no plans to hire.

Granted, there are the occasional tales of people going back to work, but usually at lower pay or fewer hours than they previously worked, meaning they are still struggling. That's not going to bolster the general economy much. Those folks aren't going on shopping sprees this Christmas. The jobs that are popping up are jobs with salaries that people might have made 20 years ago but can't live on today. Those lucky enough to find comparable pay to their previous jobs are more likely to save at a higher rate, meaning they aren't going to buy goods that help grow businesses that allow for more hiring. The destruction that comes from a lack of public confidence, due to companies slashing jobs, comes back to those same companies that now can't sell their products because fewer people have expendable cash. In an odd, ironic twist, companies laying off people are actually hurting themselves. They might enjoy the immediate gains that come from a lighter payroll, but the domino effect eventually returns to haunt them as products go unsold. So then there are more layoffs. It's a vicious cycle.

It's frustrating to see some businesses cutting more employees than need be because it feeds into the entire economic mess were in. I see it happening in the newspaper industry, mainly because certain companies are carrying such high debt that their once-fat profit margins are dwindling. Yet, they are still turning a profit. Perhaps not enough to keep investors and boards of directors happy, but nonetheless some publishers are making money. The unfortunate thing now is that to increase profits, they are getting rid of workers and blaming it on the recession or unions, when in fact the blame lies with the folks who ran up the debt. (Have you seen the new New York Times building where Mr. Norris works?) This quick fix has ruined careers, bogged down the economy, destroyed consumer confidence and rippled through millions of American households like an endless tsunami. There is a lack of compassion and even a shortage of patriotism in the way the workforce is being dismantled.

I would profoundly welcome feeling optimistic again, but until I see the real unemployment/underemployment rate dropping (the U6 number), and until I can get through a week or two without reading about more companies laying off workers by the dozens or hundreds, I respectfully disagree with the opinion of this particular Times columnist.

We have to keep the pressure on politicians and business leaders to find a real and lasting solution to the unemployment problem. There needs to be a greater sense of urgency from government, business and even the media. I suggest Norris walk around some Florida neighborhoods and witness the countless foreclosure signs still going up. Maybe a stroll through almost any downtown outside of New York City, where there are numerous empty storefronts, would give him some perspective. He should take a look at the empty desks that are likely abundant in his own newsroom. Tell me their is a sense of optimism in you, Mr. Norris, when more cubicles are vacated in 2010.

It's tempting to cling to any good news these days, but to imply that the drought might be over is bordering on irresponsible. I don't completely trust unemployment numbers, nor should any good journalist draw too many conclusions from this sort of data. Too many folks are falling through the cracks and not being counted by the Labor Department. If a columnist at The New York Times can't see that, well, I question his observation abilities.

Dumb and dumber

Jay Leno interviewed people on the street for Thursday night's show. He showed images to mostly young adults. Keep in mind, some of these folks were college students. One young lady could not identify George Washington, even after Leno gave her the hint, "He was the first president..." It's a funny segment Leno does from time to time, but it's also scary as this country seems to be getting dumber at an alarming rate.

Summit appears cosmetic at best

In lieu of no apparent new ideas coming out of the White House "jobs summit" on Thursday, FOX TV commentator Bill O'Reilly offered his own suggestions to get people back to work. I actually thought a few of his ideas made sense, including giving tax breaks to companies that hire new employees. Rather than giving all companies tax relief, the reward would only be triggered by proof of hiring. I wonder, in that same sense, if tax breaks should be taken away from companies that are using the recession as an excuse to get rid of more workers than they really need to?

I also found this article in The Washington Post to be interesting. It explains how President Obama has failed to help the private sector create jobs.

What I am not buying from anyone, including ABC News, is that the stimulus money made a significant difference in improving the private-sector job market. On its broadcast Thursday night, ABC did a fluff piece about some folks going back to work because of stimulus money given to various municipalities. What they didn't mention was that every one of the jobs they featured was directly or indirectly related to government work.

Washington's other newspaper

The Washington Times, D.C.'s other newspaper, will layoff a "significant number" of employees. This coming on the heels of nearby USA Today slashing more jobs in McLean, Va. Even the mighty Washington Post isn't out of the woods yet. All of this in one of the more affluent areas of the country where the population is still growing. Cities like Detroit or the agricultural areas of California, where the recession has decimated businesses (potential advertisers), things are far worse. Wonder if the "jobs summit" at the White House today will bring any hope for journalism and other professions on the verge of extinction? Click here to read about the layoffs at the Times.

I am far from a professional musician, let alone recording engineer, but this song came to me yesterday after learning of more layoffs at my former place of employment, USA Today, and thinking about my year of unemployment. I won't bore you with the technical challenges of how I put this together on a simple laptop computer. Obviously, I wrote the lyrics first, then the music. I recorded the main guitar and vocals together, then played the bass and lead guitar parts later. Finally, I added a computerized drum track (since I don't play the drums) and created an MP3. After the song was recorded, I found some photographs online to accompany the music and merged everything in a video-editing application. I was tempted to turn this into a standard blues song, but decided on a different approach. Because I mumble a lot, I am providing the lyrics below.

LAID OFF
Lyrics and Music by Mick Calvacca

Went to the boss yesterday
got three months severance
that's all I'm going to pay.

I said what am I going to do
with all that money
I got bills to pay, it ain't funny.

When you're 50 years old and
feeling weary about the days
gone by and all that spirit.

Well times are hard and
I'm not believin' all I'm told
and all that I'm leaving.

You got to know someone.

You got to have some luck.

Note: Video slides compiled by Mick Calvacca with apologies to photographers and cartoonists who I was not able to credit