Laws should be enforced or purged

When was the last time you heard of someone getting pulled over by the police for illegally texting or talking on their smartphone while driving?

Have you ever heard of a telemarketer being fined for calling a phone number that is listed on the "Do-Not-Call" registry?

What about employment laws? Does anyone know of a single instance where an business was fined by the government for age discrimination?

None of these laws have enough teeth in them. They are violated thousands of times a day, right out in the open, and yet there is no enforcement anywhere to be seen.

All of these laws were created because there is a need for them. The acts are not frivolous or rare. Texting while driving kills innocent people. Laying off an employee or not interviewing a  job candidate based on age destroys lives and impacts the economy.

So the question is, why aren't laws enforced? Do we not have enough resources to police these things? Does big business have the lobbying power to prevent enforcement of these laws? Or were the laws simply created to appease the public, with no real intention of following through on them? Maybe it's all of the above.

I suspect we have too many useless laws in this country, which in turn causes many worthwhile laws to be ignored by various agencies and courts. Until we clear out all the antiquated laws, I doubt we'll see much enforcement of newer, more relevant laws.

Pixels are the fountain of youth

Meet the "pixel painter." He was 97 years old at the time this video was made. While the story of this artist is inspiring for all the obvious reasons, I have to admit that I am also moved by his use of technology.

Hal Lasko uses technology the way I think it should be used, to improve his life, not to place further burdens on himself.

Too often, we want the latest-and-greatness gadget or software, thinking it will somehow make us happier or inspire us to do great things. Most of the time, we end up in such a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with new technology that we forget why we acquired it in the first place.

Mr. Lasko uses Microsoft Paint -- software so old and clumsy by today's standards that it's probably unthinkable to the boys over at Pixar or Apple. Microsoft Paint is what a Polaroid film camera is to photography these days.

Because of a sight problem, Mr. Lasko uses a technology, not a paint brush and canvas, to express his creative passion. The quest for newer, better, faster software isn't his concern. He uses what works for him. It allows him to focus on the art, not on the technology. There are no manuals to read. No steep learning curves to distract. Just pixels.

There is a simplicity to his approach. An elegance, if you will. Mr. Lasko doesn't want to learn  Adobe Photoshop, Flash or Illustrator. He doesn't need the fancy filters and other features of high-end graphics applications. His art isn't about the technology, it's about the joy and purity of each dot.

I believe pursuing creative passions in the simplest ways possible, without over abundance or complication, is one of the secrets to a long life. If you can share those creative endeavors and enthusiasm with others, all the better.

A new kind of grandpa

I became a grandfather for the first time about two weeks ago. It's taken about that long for it to actually sink in.

While I have not had any startling revelations about my new status, it is somewhat of a unique feeling that I didn't have when I became a father 29 years ago. Back then, there was just utter panic at the beginning of a new and long journey. While much of life was in front of me, I had no roadmap for being a parent. Now I am more aware of all the mile-markers behind me and am fairly mellow about it. No panic, no fear. Just acceptance of a new role.

My daughter gave birth to an 8-pound, 14-ounce healthy boy who is named Jack. I presume at some point Jack will recognize me and perhaps want me to play catch with him, but until then, I am probably just a another mysterious character who shows up in his field of vision every now and then.

Everyone feels somewhat differently about what it means to be a grandparent. To me, a grandfather was a little Italian man in his late 50s with white hair and interesting stories about the farm his immigrant father once owned in New Jersey. His pants were baggy and had lots of change in the deep pockets. He was at the tail end of a career as a photographer at the New York Post when I was still a young kid. He retired by the time I was a teen-ager and died about 10 years later. Retirement did not suit him well.

Grandpa was also that weird old dude on The Munsters sitcom. He lived amongst three generations of ghouls, but was the craziest in a haunted household full of crazies. There were countless other television shows in the 60s and 70s that stereotyped grandparents in unflattering ways. Some grandparents amused us. Some were just there, like paint on a wall.

Despite some of the age-releted kidding I've received in the last 10 days, the perception of grandparents has changed over the years, mostly for the better. Nowadays, grandparents are active and vital members of society. Many still have a lot of productive working years left. Some run marathons or coach NFL teams. Others look like models or are CEOs. To be a grandparent today does not necessarily mean you're on the waiting list at the old folks home.

No matter how much some segments of society want to put labels on older people, or restrict them from landing good jobs in their 50s, 60s and even 70s, grandparents march on.

We are Baby Boomer grandparents living and competing in a very different world than Grandpa Munster lived in. We don't need to be slightly batty or a burden to anyone. We have much to offer our colleagues, friends, children and grandchildren. We produced some of the best music, art and began the technical revolution. We aren't going away or becoming any less relevant anytime soon.

If I live long enough for all my hair to turn snowy white, and to tell tales of my days as a newspaperman to Jack, I will cherish those times.

Until then, no more grandpa jokes, please.

Rocky reminders from space

Last week, two space rocks came whizzing by our world.

The smaller of the two actually busted through the atmosphere and landed in Russia, causing a lot of windows to break from the sonic boom. Some people were injured, but many more were simply stunned by the sight of the fireball in the sky.

Fortunately, the larger rock, a full-blown asteroid, didn't get any closer than 17,000 miles from Earth. As we all heard, however, that is relatively close in space terms. If the asteroid would have crashed into the planet, there would have been regional devastation and many fatalities. So we definitely dodged a bullet.

We are told by astronomers that these fly-bys were not related. It was purely coincidence that the events happened within 24 hours of each other. Scientifically speaking, I am sure the experts are correct. However, it still seems odd to me that these episodes were totally random and without any meaning.

While we scurry around on the planet, thinking we're the masters of our own destiny, obsessing about silly things that we place life-and-death importance on, there are millions of objects moving around the solar system that could take us out in the time it takes Marco Rubio to sip water from a bottle while on camera.

It seems to me that the gods are often trying to warn us not to get too distracted or imprisoned by our selfish and shallow desires.

Why would they do this?

Well, maybe it's for the same reason a parent guides a child away from the edge of a busy street. Maybe the gods want us to develop our potential, to live long enough to fulfill our promise, and to avoid the dangers of losing focus. The cosmic reminders could be a tug on the back of our shirts telling us to be careful not to mindlessly roam too far from the sidewalk and to pay attention to what lies ahead.

It's my hope that these space rocks will help human beings understand that we have a planet to protect. It's a job that can't be done by one political party or a single country. It's a job that requires an awareness of our surroundings and a global education system that will provide us solutions to our biggest threats.

If we're going to deflect asteroids and cure cancer and feed the hungry, we must evolve intellectually and spiritually. We must gain a greater perspective.

If we continue on the path we're on, where some studies suggest that we are actually becoming dumber as a species, then the next space rock, virus or other calamity to hit Earth might be the one that ends our existence.

It is essential to our survival and growth that we move forward individually and collectively without losing focus or doing further damage to ourselves or other living things. The fiery space rocks are not just a here-today-forgotten-tomorrow story for the evening news or something to watch on YouTube when bored at work.

They are reminders that we are all in this together.

Leaving your footprints in the digital age

I am mildly amazed that some people still don't have much of an online presence. In this day and age, not having a digital footprint seems almost impossible. Yet, I can Google any number of folks who I have known over the years and find virtually nothing about them in cyberspace. No Facebook account. No LinkedIn profile photo. No blog or corporate website information about the person. Not even an old garage band photo. Nothing.

How do people avoid being found online?

Nowadays, if you get a speeding ticket or get married, you could easily show up in a newspaper's digital police blotter or wedding announcements respectively, and thereby be found in an online search. Join the board of your HOA, and you will likely be found online. Or, if you win an award from your alma mater or your civic club, you could be named on an achievements web page or two, and again, be discovered by an old friend, colleague or classmate. It's not difficult. You can be almost completely passive and without any technical skills, an ultra-introvert, and still show up on the Internet. Yet, some people remain ghosts.

In theory, any of these possibilities, and many more, should lead to you being found in a casual Google or Bing search. In essence, unless you've been completely off the grid for the last 20 years and without any friends or associations, there should be some electronic record of your existence, even if it's just a mugshot from your high school yearbook.

Now I know certain people avoid computers like the plague. Not to stereotype, but most of them tend to be over a certain age. Others use computers for work but stay away from social media. Some go to extremes and make sure not to be in the group picture at the end of softball season, fearing it could end up on the the team or league's website. Many folks just want to protect their privacy and won't even shop online. I understand all of that. But still, it's a mystery to me how someone can have no online exposure.

Not having an Web presence probably has its benefits. You don't have to worry so much about identity theft. You can sleep easy knowing no one has hacked your Twitter account or used your photo to play a prank on a friend. You won't get stalked by a Craigslist crazy.

But there is a growing drawback to not leaving any 'Net footprints. Besides not being found by your long-lost love, you may also be sending the wrong message to a potential employer. Companies nowadays want you to feel comfortable with technology. While they might still be tempted to snoop around into parts of your life that could hurt your chances at landing a good job, you're more likely not to be hired because you've shown a reluctance to keep pace with modern ways of communicating. That, in the eyes of some employers, is a liability and evidence that you are adverse to change. In some cases, employers might even think you have something to hide.

So if you're not in a profession that requires a basic digital interaction then I wouldn't sweat it when typing your name into a search box yields zero results. But if you are looking for work that requires a grasp of the way businesses connect, market and sell in the digital age, I would advise that you make sure your name comes up in Google search more than once, preferably in a positive light. I know a lot of this stuff like Facebook and blogging seems like a waste of time, but to be totally invisible can be a detriment.

Life expectancy and the merits of retiring on your own terms

Woke up to the big news today. A pope is calling it quits for the first time in 600 years. While this is of religious significance in the Catholic community, reading the announcement raises some secular thoughts about aging and vocation.

Lately, I've been wondering about the following questions:

• How old is too old to work in a responsible, full-time job?

• Who should decide when a person retires?

• While we are living longer, does that necessarily mean we should be working longer?

The pope is 85, which is 30 years older than me. I'm pretty tired after a long day in the office, so I can imagine how the pope must feel after a grueling day in Vatican City. However, the pope has a lot of support. Probably has a staff that rivals most presidents. Most likely has a team of chefs and eats healthy -- i.e., not grabbing a burger on a shortened lunch hour while rushing off to another meeting. I am also guessing that most popes are more delegators than micro-managers, particularly in their latter years. Yes, there's some business travel involved, which can be exhausting at any age, but the pope must be crossing oceans in relative style and comfort.

Still, Pope Benedict XVI decided enough is enough today. I applaud him for that. Breaking 600-year-old traditions can't be easy. He came to the conclusion that he wasn't up for the job, and rather than continue on out of pride or to pad his 401k, he did the right thing for himself and for the church. He did what we all want to do, which is to decide for ourselves when our working days are over. For some that might be at age 55, for others it can be 85. But regardless of age, we have to be honest with ourselves in evaluating our skills and energy level, and know when to step aside.

This brings me to my next point.

I do not believe that just because Americans are living longer, that means we should delay retirement benefits to the elderly. I do not support raising the age for receiving Social Security or Medicare.

Just because we might physically still be breathing in our 70s and 80s, does not necessarily mean we are fit to work. The pope quit because of his failing "mind and body." Average Americans should be able to do the same without being denied the benefits they are owed. But more importantly, they should be able to retire before their minds and bodies collapse.

Raising the Social Security age would mean many people with significant ailments and limitations would still be waiting tables and putting up drywall because they can't afford to retire at reasonable age.

Additionally, how many companies do you know that would allow 70- and 80-year-olds to remain on the payroll? Yes, I know there are age-discrimination laws in this country, but for the most part, they aren't enforced. In fact, they are a joke. Just ask anyone over 50 years old who has been looking for a job in the last few years. If you can't find work at 50, how do you think the job search will go at 70? Do policy makers in Washington ever think about this stuff before proclaiming everyone should work into their 70s? Do they think that it is just magically going to happen, and that all seniors will be welcomed with open arms by employers?

I've seen people burned out at 40 and I've also seen people going strong on the job well into their 60s. I had a grandfather who would have never retired if he wasn't forced to by his employer. He was one of those guys who probably wanted to die on the job. I, on the other hand, am more like the pope. I think I will know when the time is right to get out of the rat race. I'm not saying I will make it to 85, but I won't hesitate to let go when I no longer feel capable or relevant in the workplace.

Of course, unlike the pope, I will have to consider whether I can afford to retire, which is a whole other issue.

Our society has allowed early retirement for cops and firefighters and certain government workers for decades, mainly because of the stress associated with those jobs. Yet, most professions have no early escape from the pressure cooker of a high-rise or coal mine. Is a big city bus driver any less stressed than a cop on patrol in a cushy suburb with little crime? Why do we make these distinctions and judgments when each job and how individuals cope with work varies so much? Cops are vulnerable to stress related illnesses but accountants aren't? I don't think you can paint occupations with that broad of a brush. I think everyone deals with stress in a different manner, and therefore, work pressures have more to do with the person than the profession.

Imagine working on a farm since you were able to walk. Perhaps by the time you hit 60, you've already put in 50 years of 14-hour work days. You're not officially disabled, but your body hurts from thousands of days of hard labor. Your mind worries about drought and market prices every year. You think you might have earned the right to sell the farm and to kick back in a mobile home park somewhere in Florida for the remaining 10 or 20 years of your life? I think so. But apparently some people in our government would label you a "taker" and imply that you are lazy. These politicians, many making over a million dollars a year and can retire whenever they want because they aren't relying on a Social Security check, will tell you that you have to keep working on that farm. They'll deny you your lousy $1,200 a month in Social Security because they say the government can't afford to pay you that amount for too long. So, the later you retire, the closer you are to death. They steal from the people who could most benefit from that $1,200 a month, yet refuse to mean test people who are super wealthy and don't need to collect Social Security in order to retire.

Frankly, I want to be somewhat functional when I retire. The longer I wait, the more likely I won't be. Oh, doctors might keep me alive, but what good is retirement when you are spending it in a wheel chair or attached to a breathing machine? Life expectancy has risen, but what about quality of life? Has that proportionately gone up? I doubt it. We're a culture kept alive by pills.

If you want to keep working into your golden years, you should be able to do that as long as you are capable. Some folks need the sense of purpose that being employed can provide. Some don't  or can get that same feeling dangling a fishing pole over the waters of a calm river. But you have to be healthy enough to get in the boat, so you better not delay retirement for too long.

No telling what the pope will do in retirement. How bad his health is remains to be seen. He has exceeded the life expectancy of men in most countries. He's able to walk away and not die on the job. We should all have that choice and not be impeded by a government that seems to want us to work until we drop.

NYC Marathon should be postponed

One of the hottest post-Hurricane Sandy arguments has to do with whether the New York City Marathon should go on as planned, just five days after the devastating storm.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others back the decision to hold the race as scheduled. The reasons are:

1. The race will make New Yorkers feel better.
2. The event will bring in lots of money for the city and local businesses.
3. Few public resources and/or money will be used for the event.

There are other arguments in favor of not postponing the event, but those in a nutshell are the main reasons. Here are some reasons why I think it's totally wrong to hold the race:

1. Too soon. It's conceivable that runners, who will begin in Staten Island, could actually pass by funeral processions or rescue personnel still searching for stranded residents. This isn't 9/11, where the dead bodies and ambulances were long gone by the time the marathon arrived. As horrible a tragedy as 9/11 was, it was nearly two months prior to the marathon. In fact, 9/11 was a geographically limited catastrophe. The carnage from Sandy is spread out all across the tri-state area. Staten Island, where the race begins, looks like some scene from an end-of-the-world movie. Look, in the days after 9/11, the NFL canceled football games that were to be played in stadiums far from Ground Zero. It only makes sense that a marathon, which will be run through or near some of the storm-damaged areas where people died and lost everything they owned, be postponed. 
2. Perceptions. How do you tell people who are being looted that the city's finest are going to be on duty for the marathon instead of patrolling their neighborhoods. It doesn't matter who is paying for police services, the perception is that the city cares more about protecting racers and fans than residents. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation. This isn't a time for diverting resources to large, non-emergency events.
3. Transportation. Have you seen what is happening in New York with the existing population trying to get around in the last few days without a subway system? Now the city is inviting tens of thousands of more people in for a race before the public transportation is even close to being fully operational. It makes no sense. It seems almost foolishly macho to insist that NYC will go on with the show. This was a natural disaster. We don't need to be defiant towards Mother Nature the way we were against the terrorists. There is no glory in holding this event in the shadow of such devastation and fresh suffering.

The marathon needs to be postponed. Even moving it back one week would at least allow for the odor of smoldering ashes in Queens and leaking natural gas in New York Harbor to dissipate. Yes, the logistics of that might be difficult, but so are the logistics of restoring large portions of a city.

To go on with the marathon now, without pause, makes me wonder about the priorities of the city that I was born in, at a hospital just a block or two from the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which links Staten Island to Brooklyn -- the place where runners will start the race this weekend. No one is trying to take food off of anyone's plate or rain on anyone's parade. Those who are passionately arguing against holding the race are only asking that it be postponed, not canceled. If that means a little less tourism this weekend, so be it.

UPDATE: Less than two hours after this post, the mayor of New York City called off the marathon -- a decision even runners agreed with.

Congress should be charged with treason

At least one report is now claiming that by just approaching the "fiscal cliff" we're stalling the economy and causing more layoffs. That cliff is just two months away, so things could get far worse, according to most experts.

Because Congress is directly responsible for creating this fiscal cliff, I believe its members should be charged with treason.

Sound too extreme?

Well, I am open to other charges. But to say that Congress is not acting in some criminal manner is to be blind to all that has gone on in Washington recently.

If you were well on the way to recovering from cancer, but just as you were about to go into remission, doctors told you to stop taking your medicine and begin a diet heavy on bacon and hot dogs, and start smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, wouldn't you think that doctor should at least be thrown out of the medical profession. How about if he or she was injecting you with known carcinogens and your cancer returned? Shouldn't that doctor be charged with attempted murder or manslaughter?

This is what Congress is doing. They are killing the recovery. This goes way beyond negligence or even blatant incompetence. They are doing it on purpose and for selfish political reasons. They are raising fears in the business sector. They are acting as un-American and un-partriotic as anyone who would sabotage this country in any way, shape or form. And they are telling us that they are doing it to save the country. That's the biggest lie I've ever heard out of Washington. Even bigger than weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

I am not going to bother explaining what the fiscal cliff is or how we got here. I am tired of trying to tell people that they should pay attention to stuff like politics, climate change and other issues that directly impact them, even if they don't know it.

This country is going to get what it deserves by electing the people it does. This level of stubbornness and playing these insane, mean-spirited games of chicken on Capitol Hill occur because voters tend to vote against their own interests and support people who have zero honor and integrity. They do this because they don't open their minds or explore alternative views. They find an ideology they like, and they cling to it like never before, with no desire to compromise. They watch Fox News and never question whether its even close to being journalistically sound. Their guy clearly loses a debate and they can't even admit it. Some politician makes outrageous claims about rape, and they somehow dismiss it because he's on "their side."

It goes on and on.

This new lack of flexibility in voters and politicians is creating an epic mess that we may never be able to clean up. This country does not function best when it is divided the way it is now. It will, in time, destroy us from within if we don't seek common ground for the betterment of all. I fear the unwillingness of people to say, hey, maybe I am wrong about this or that, or perhaps I can bend my views based on new evidence, will do us in.

If we allow politicians to drive us over the fiscal cliff, we have no one to blame but ourselves for re-entering a recession or depression, which is what will happen in 2013. Regardless of who is elected president in November, if Congress continues to steer this country into the ground, they should be criminally indicted, not just voted out of office.

What really drives Romney?

Here's the thing I can't figure out about Mitt Romney. Why is he running for president?

Seems like a pretty basic question, but from my perspective, I don't see the usual motivating factors such as:

• A final stepping stone in a long political career. He was in the private sector most of his life and often seems uncomfortable with campaigning.

• Money and fame. He's already in the one percent in terms of wealth.

• Patriotism driven by involvement in the military earlier in life. He's no McCain or Kerry, let alone Dwight D. Eisenhower.

• Ego. Well, maybe, but he's sure not in Herman Cain's league. Romney seems uncomfortable around people, in fact.

Not even political ideology drives this guy. This is a Republican who many conservatives mistrust. The only reason he is supported on the right is because he is not Barack Obama.

It is beyond denying that Romney has switched positions on almost every position imaginable in the last decade, and sometimes from week to week. His main goal seems to be to get elected by any means necessary, not to push hard for any one particular political view unless it can help him get through a primary.

OK, so what is it that drives Romney? Well, it might be the very thing he talks very little about: Mormonism.

It wouldn't be the first time someone rich has run for national office to, in part, bring their religion into the mainstream. Some say John F. Kennedy wanted to be president to provide a certain degree of acceptability to Catholicism in America.

It's not that Romney necessarily wants to convert anyone to his faith. But when you really think about why Romney wants to be president, shedding light on Mormonism, even if subtly, has to be considered. Romney has been deeply involved in the Mormon church for his entire life. The religion remains on the fringe, a mystery to many Americans.

We are a country of firsts, and having the first Mormon president would have to be considered a major accomplishment to believers of that religion. Maybe that, at least in part, is what drives Romney.

Loco for logos at USA TODAY

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Logo Makeover for USA Today
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

I try to refrain from publicly mocking any former employer. It often backfires and sounds like sour grapes. So instead, I will just post this Colbert Report video and let you draw your own conclusions about the direction USA TODAY (and other news media) is heading.

I can say this, that regardless of what one thinks about this particular redesign, when companies start worrying more about logos and less about substance and integrity, those companies are usually out of good ideas.

No county for old men

I have heard people say that the older they get the less they know.

I wonder if that's just a nicer way of saying, "What the hell is going on these days?"

Well, I don't always have that much tact or false modesty. I know what's going on, or at least observe the trends, and I don't often like it. I might not have the reasons why certain things are, but I am not oblivious to the fact that they are happening.

Take this obsession with paving and sealing roads and parking lots in the affluent counties where I live and work. You would think Fairfax and Loudoun counties have nothing better to do with taxpayers' money than to freshen up the pavement at an obsessively frequent rate. While other parts of the country are dealing with potholes the size of your average moon crater, we here in Northern Virginia drive around on shiny parkways. Shopping centers and homeowner's associations also seem to have a fixation with smoothing out the pavement in parking lots at the first sign of a hairline fracture.

This is all fine, I guess. Better than navigating around gigantic cracks and getting realignments every six months. However, there is one big drawback, other than costs, to all this compulsive road maintenance.

We already are in traffic Hell around here! All this cosmetic road work is only adding to the backups and gridlock. Do we really need to tidy up our smaller thoroughfares while major projects like the Metrorail Silver Line (the biggest construction project currently going on east of the Mississippi) routinely close major highways through Fairfax County? Can I just get to the local grocery store without having to dodge orange cones? And where is this money coming from? I constantly hear that there are no funds for anything these days. Yet, the odor of fresh blacktop is always in the air in this part of Virginia.

I suspect the politicians are behind the pavement madness. Mayors of major cities learned a awhile ago that as long as the trash was picked up and the roads were plowed after a snow storm, they had a pretty good chance of staying in office. Voters have their priorities. Well, in these 'burbs (ranked the No. 1 and No. 2 richest counties in the country), the same principle holds true -- except here it's all about making sure the roads are pristine for all of the expensive cars that are going nowhere fast. Problem is, I can't even get out of my neighborhood anymore in order to go sit in the larger traffic jams a few miles away. I'd like to travel a mile or two through Fairfax and Loudoun counties without seeing construction crews. Some of the repairs are necessary, I suppose, some are simply redundant or cosmetic at best.

* * *

While I can take a stab at guessing why the roads in Fairfax and Loudoun counties are constantly being resurfaced, I don't fully understand the following unrelated trends and worsening hiccups. I realize these things, mostly trivial yet symptomatic of something bigger, are irritating and getting worse in the part of the world I call home. None are a deal-breaker for living here, but together they do add to the growing sense of bewilderment I have about modern-day life in Northern Virginia and maybe America in general.

• Why on many radio commercials is there a voice that sounds like the guy is talking through a cheap megaphone or an old ham radio with the volume cranked? Does a scratchy, distant voice somehow give the actor trying to sell a product more credibility or authenticity? I don't remember any financial adviser or home mortgage lender ever speaking to me with a tone that sounded like we were using two empty cans connected by a string. Yet, some advertising genius has come up with this concept that takes the quality audio of the digital age and sends it back to pre-analog days. What good is having an HD radio in one's Lexus if the commercials intentional sound like they were recorded in a cave? (Just for the record, I drive a 7-year-old Jeep).

• I went to a specialist today to have a "re-treatment" done on an 20-year-old root canal gone bad. I've gone to this guy before. He's very good. Loves his work. Has all the modern equipment to do this type of dental procedure. Yet, when he was prepping me, he almost began working on the incorrect tooth on the WRONG side of my mouth. With my mouth stretched open by something that looked like a miniature trampoline, I frantically waved him off, like an NFL referee gesturing that a receiver caught the ball out of bounds. How does this happen? I mean, it's a tooth. They use numbers to identify our molars. They take digital x-rays. They have a tooth chart on the referral slip and they are highly educated people. Even the assistant didn't catch it, and she had just taken x-rays of the tooth minutes earlier on my left side. I was about five seconds away from being needlessly drilled on the right. But these professionals aren't alone. I've noticed more and more screw-ups just like this -- from oil-change places overfilling car engines to coffee shop cashiers forgetting what I ordered a second after I said, "Tall coffee." I can understand if I order a "grande skim vanilla latte, three pumps, with two shots...blah, blah, blah." But c'mon, tall coffee ... and Mr. Barista forgets that order almost before I get out the "fee" in cof-fee? We seem to be having a widespread problem with focusing (yes, I know you're thinking I might be suffering from that as you read this post), regardless of the simplicity of the task or how much expertise one might have in any given field or service industry. Are we becoming too dependent on technology to correct us? Are we just stressed out? What's going on? Perhaps I am just noticing it more.

• Kids in bars have been a pet peeve of mine for the last few years. I recently complained about this new phenomenon to the manager of an eatery that I patronize fairly often. Couldn't understand why there was a kids' soccer team surrounding my cozy pub table while I was trying to watch a baseball game in a comfortably numb, adult state of mind. I don't get today's parents. Even if they couldn't care less about my needs, why would they want their kids looking at an unshaven middle-age man ordering another round and throwing his hands up every time Tyler Clippard blows another save. Why expose children to adult environments and tantrums when there is alternative restaurant seating, away from the bar, that is more suitable in every way imaginable? Is it the new society we live in, where there are no lines, no boundaries? Is it OK for 5-year-olds to belly up to the bar and sit next to a weathered biker on his eighth Bud or a drunken dye blonde with too much mascara? I guess so, because I see it all the time lately. Maybe these new-age parents are so starved for an adult outing that they are going to bring little Johnny to the bar regardless of what psychological scars it might leave on him or how much it annoys the heck out of every mature couple on date night. Folks, if you don't want to give up your bar-hopping days, don't have kids or get something that my parents used to refer to as a "babysitter." Remember those? And restaurant managers, I know you're trying to attract customers, but just remember, when Las Vegas went through its family-friendly stage 25 years ago, tourism plummeted. Seat the kiddies where they should be seated, away from the boozers and adult conversations. Learn from the Vegas experiment or else I'll do my social drinking and sports watching at home, where not only don't I have to be social, but I don't have to pick half-chewed Cheerios off my shoes.

In my somewhat disjointed quest to connect the dots once again, to make sense of it all, I will say that I think a lot of this stuff is just an indication of the current culture of over-the-top entitlement and overload that causes people to lose focus and commonsense. Admittedly, the anxiety and awareness that I feel about these things big and small could also be an indication of my becoming a cranky older man -- the get-off-my-lawn syndrome that overtakes some of us north of 50 years old. If that's the case, I might eventually need to leave this crowded, competitive and privileged area for a place that doesn't assault the senses or test one's tolerance levels like Northern Virginia does.

I am beginning to believe this is no county for old men. I see very few seniors around here. Loudoun, the wealthiest place in America, is becoming a place for young lions looking to make big bucks to support their growing families or tastes in upscale cars. It's a place to compete, whether for a bar stool or airtime on local radio stations or the left lane on highway into Washington. A part of the world where the roads are silky and the taxes are high to pay for the constant stream of new schools and infrastructure, where everyone is seemingly looking for an edge. In that search, we're losing something. Call it authenticity or common sense or just plain competence.

Maybe the entire culture shifts in favor of the young with each passing generation. Perhaps if I were 30 years old I would understand megaphone man on the radio commercials, be grateful for new pavement every six months or not think it's a big deal that a dentist nearly assaults the wrong tooth. Then again, I might not even notice those things. When you're 30, you are busy climbing the corporate ladder, still hanging out with your college buddies or raising kids. I just wish those kids weren't being raised at the bar stool next to mine.

Good luck connecting the dots

It's been a long time since my last post.

Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that means I've been too busy with more rewarding ventures.

Nah. The lack of writing is just an indication of the malaise of summer and a fading desire to focus too much on any one topic. That is not to say certain things haven't crossed my mind during the dog days. Questions and observations seem to come in waves as one sits back and ponders it all.

For instance, the other day I was thinking about what our parents and teachers told us when we were children, and how much of it has turned out to be false.

Remember how we weren't supposed to sit too close to the television set, let alone touch the screen? Well, now many of us have to make a living doing just that -- sitting inches away from 27-inch computer monitors for hours. Heck, I remember when the biggest TV was 19 inches and my father said I would go blind or get brain cancer if I sat within 10 feet of it.

And then there are tablets.

Our fingerprints are all over our Kindles and iPads. Go to an Apple store and you'll be exposed to more germs than you will find on a toilet seat at a truck stop. Shouldn't these touch-screen devices carry some sort of warning label?

How about food? Red meat and whole milk were supposed to be good for us when we were kids. Now we're told that those items will send us to an early grave.

I was taught not to lie. Now being deceitful is practically a national past-time. You see it in advertising and politics. We are encouraged by otherwise respectable folks to inflate our qualifications when going for a new job or promotion. We color our hair to shave off a few years. We get cosmetic surgery in order to support the lies. We hire attorneys to lie for us when we can't keep our lies straight. And we reward them when they win.

Corporate lies have become particularly popular. Many large businesses have entire teams of professional "communicators" who will lie to employees, the public or the government, particularly in times of crisis or transition. Of course, government practically invented the institutional lie, so what goes around comes around, I guess. It often feels like part of some societal dance -- a dance of survival and getting ahead, no matter the cost.

I've been thinking about trivial stuff, too, like why we don't hear of reports of UFOs anymore? Can't recall the last time there was a well-publicized sighting. You would think that with everyone on the planet carrying smartphones with high mega-pixel cameras built in, this would be the golden era for visual proof of alien ships hovering on the horizon. Instead, it now appears that all of those grainy UFO photos from yesteryear might have been fraudulent? Either that, or the aliens decided not to visit Earth anymore.

Politics creeps into my mind still, in a more personal way, that is. I now wonder how I could have gone from moderately conservative to somewhat liberal. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Aren't we supposed to be liberal when young and idealistic, and grow more conservative with age and a greater sense of reality?

Modern-day Republicans jumped the shark in recent years and made it impossible for a lot of people like me to support conservative values anymore. As fair-minded people, we had no choice but to move to the left. The right seems bent on taking us back, and worse, just make up crazy and dangerous stuff as they go along. As Will McAvoy (the fictional news anchor on the HBO show The Newsroom) said in the series finale last Sunday, the Tea Party and right-wing extremists are, in essence, the "American Taliban." Yes, these people on the fringe scare me.

It amazes me that Mitt Romney is running even with President Obama in most polls. I mean, it's stunning to watch. Stunning. Granted, Obama should have paid more attention to the economy, but does that mean we have to punish him by electing a guy who doesn't know what a doughnut is, who caters to the American Taliban and hides his money overseas while trying to make us believe he's for the middle class?

I recently said I wouldn't write much about politics anymore. The lack of honor in our political system has become too depressing. I have made an attempt to watch less political news while tuning in to more baseball games this summer. But, of course, it's almost impossible to avoid the political ads, which brings me back to lying.

Have you seen the ad where Romney and Obama are on a stage together behind podiums, in a debate setting? Uh, did the right-wingers who made that commercial think we are so easily fooled that they could show an image of a debate that hasn't even happened yet? And what's with slow motion? Why is it that whenever a candidate is portrayed as the anti-Christ in a political ad, he or she is shown in slow motion? Is there something evil about slow motion? Should I not be watching slow-mo replays during football broadcasts to avoid demonic possession?

I know what you're saying by now. What the heck is this post about? Slow motion, demonic possession, whole milk, red meat, UFOs and political transformations?

Well, as I warned you in the beginning, this post wasn't going to have one obvious message. My thoughts move from decade to decade, subject to subject in no particular order or priority lately. Yet, if you look a little deeper, there is a message here.

For better or worse, things do become clearer with age and experience, yet the dots are harder to connect in this ever-changing, complex world, which is the opposite of how I felt at 25. Then, the dots seemed easy to connect, but life itself was filled with deceptive distractions and false assumptions ... and maybe fewer dots.

Top 5 annoyances about power outage

In hindsight, now that the power has been back on in our Northern Virginia townhouse for a couple of days after last Friday's devastating storm, I must say that the 100-plus degree heat wasn't the worst thing about being without electricity and air conditioning. Oh, believe me, sleeping on sheets that are hot to the touch is no fun. But it was the unexpected things that nearly broke me after three days without power during the summer's meanest heat wave. Here's what I will have the harshest memories about relating to the blackout of 2012.

1. My neighbor running a gas-powered generator 10 feet from our open windows. The noise was deafening. He was the only one in our townhouse community who had the nerve to run a generator in a tight, multi-family building area. We walked through the single-family area of our subdivision and saw generators placed on the far edge of one-acre lots where the noise wouldn't impact neighbors so severely, but not a single condo or townhouse owner, other than our next door neighbor, had a generator. Most condo/townhouse people had enough courtesy and commonsense to not blow out their neighbors' ear drums with the constant roar of a portable generator, which sounds similar to one of those large, industrial lawn mowers. To add insult to injury, our neighbor bought a window air conditioner so that he could close up his house and not deal with his own noise and polluting fumes.

2. People driving through intersections that had dark traffic lights without even slowing down was fairly common. When traffic lights are out, we are taught to treat intersections as four-way stops. However, in Northern Virginia, powerless traffic lights seem to mean something very different to half the drivers who I saw. In fact, I nearly got rear-ended several times by people who I guess wanted me to blow through the intersections.

3. Paying $60 for a cooler that probably didn't cost half of that pre-blackout. Yup, good old capitalism was rearing its ugly head all around the D.C. region. A hotel in College Park, Md., not exactly a garden spot, was charging $500 for a room. Gas stations were hiking up prices 50 cents and more. The grocery store that was supposed to be giving out free bags of ice, according to radio reports, was actually charging $2.00.

4. I will admit it, I missed my gadgets, my Internet connection, my ability to play electric guitar to relieve stress. Couldn't watch a ball game on television. There was only one radio news station with 24/7 coverage and I had to listen to it through a 1980s battery-powered boom box that I fortunately had buried in a closet years ago. I will never listen to that station or boom box again. Never want to hear another commercial or incompetent reporting.

5. Viewing people in less clothing than they would/should normally wear. I will leave it at that.


Overall, I give the people of Northern Virginia a C-minus in dealing with this crisis. The level of courtesy and pulling together was lower than I expected. This isn't an overly friendly area to begin with, but as a native New Yorker, I was kind of hoping that an emergency would bring out the best in people. While New Yorkers are often known for their rudeness, they do seem to be at their best when the "s" hits the fan in snow storms and other emergencies. I saw little evidence of that here, however.

Thousands are still without power on this Fourth of July. I feel for them. I am grateful that mere annoyances were the toughest things I had to deal with, but I am also disappointed by the every-person-for-him-or-herself attitude displayed by so many Virginians this week. Maybe more than being a reflection of a geographic area, it's a sign of the times we live in.

My musical journey in 12 minutes

Trying to squeeze 38 years of photos and audio into one 12-minute video is tough. Fortunately, there were big gaps in my amateur music career, otherwise the task would have been far more difficult. Still, a lot of material was left out of this video -- many good tunes.

This mini movie contains recordings of practice sessions and gigs -- my musical journey, sort of speak. The quality of the sound and images varies. Some of the songs were actually recorded on cassette tape. Remember that? To document this segment of my life, I felt it was important to include the clams as well as the gems, high- and low-production quality.

I have chosen to convert everything to black and white. It's an art thing -- a personal preference. Plus, it makes us all look more like bad asses instead of middle class geeks from the suburbs. There is no narration. In varying degrees, I perform on every song you hear. There are some images, like one of my father, that certainly turn back the hands of time.

This video serves as a personal reminder to me that music was an integral part of my life and hopefully can continue to be in the coming years, although that is getting tougher for various reasons. While I never seriously aspired to be a professional or had the talent to do anything more with music, we all have those "what if" moments in our lives when garage band morphs into rock stardom. Looking back, knowing what I know now, maybe it would have been wise to try to turn a passion into a career. The attempt, regardless of how unrealistic, is often more important than succeeding or failing. Of course, that would have meant taking music lessons, and for anyone who knows me, I am not a lessons guy when it comes to creative endeavors.

I am also reminded that I have had the good fortune of playing with many talented folks -- some very cool guys and gals. We all shared a common interest and made the most of it when we got together. Some of the musicians in this video were only passing ships, while others have become long-time friends. Maybe that's the best part of this musical journey -- the relationships.

It's not clear what is next for me, musically speaking. I am not sure when the last waltz will occur or when the music will die. Lots of classic rockers are, well, fading away or are transitioning to shuffleboard as a past-time. Others are busy with work and family, caring for elderly parents, or just lost the desire to make noise. The bad economy has apparently cut into the number of Baby Boomers looking to jam, too. Many are simply worried about surviving. I can relate. So, before too much more time passes, I am posting this video in order to boost my own spirits and to give anyone who might be interested a little view into what has been a fun hobby for a lot of years. With any luck, maybe I will "get in with the right sort of fellas" and fire up the Fender one more time. It has to be easier on the joints and the ego than playing softball.

A one-game comeback

Remember when we could soar?

Oh, perhaps not like an Olympic athlete or a falcon above the Blue Ridge.

But in our minds and ambitions. In our hobbies and our past-times. We were young lions. Climbing, running, jumping. Doing whatever was required on the playground or the office.

After a mere two decades away from playing any sort of competitive sport that didn't require a golf cart, I recently joined my company's softball team. Despite a chronically ailing shoulder and 20 pounds of extra weight, somehow I thought I could walk out onto the diamond and perform at a reasonable level at age 54.

Yes, 54. Isn't that the new 44? That's what I keep hearing.

The mind does play cruel tricks on our bodies at times. It markets things that we know in our hearts aren't true.

First the good news. I went 2-for-3 with the bat. Both hits were lined sharply. I scored two runs and had two assists and one put-out playing second base and shortstop in my first game out of softball/baseball retirement.

Now the bad news.

I was standing on first base. The next hitter came to the plate and blasted the ball into the gap in left center. There was no way I could legitimately stop at second without looking like a lazy, lame ass. I had to take third base. However, third base looked as far away as the moon to me as I made the turn. I had already slightly pulled a hamstring running out my hit to first base.

I made it to third. There was no throw to challenge me.

When he next hitter came up, he popped out to deep center on the first pitch. "First pitch" being the key phrase.

Tag up you say?

No way. I was still gasping for air from the run from first to third, and their was no way my hamstring was going to cooperate with another burst. OK, maybe not a burst. More like a pathetic meandering down the line. But you get my drift. I needed more recovery time.

I waited for the next batter to get a convincing hit that would allow a more leisurely stroll to home plate. Thankfully, that hit came and we didn't leave a potential run on third base.

After the game, the pain in my already-injured left shoulder was tear-jerkingly awful. But the worse was yet to come.

The next morning, a new injury appeared. A left knee swelled up. Can't recall what I did to cause the swelling other than to think that I could just go running around the baseball field like Father Time had stopped in the mid 1980s. Heck, I don't even think I stretched.

My arms were sore -- forearms, wrist, hands, fingernails. You name it.

My hamstring tightened.

My eyelids and hair hurt.

It took a week to feel better.

My comeback lasted one game. I hung up my No. 2 jersey and if I join any softball teams in the future, it will be in the 50-and-over league where you don't feel compelled to take the extra base or turn two in the field as a gorilla is steamrolling his way into you.

Playing with folks 20-30 years younger than myself, even though I held my own, is a prescription for aches, pains and humiliation that I no longer can get rid of with just a Tylenol or two.

Playing sports that require sprinting, diving, running into base runners trying to jar the ball loose from my glove is not a good way to spend a Wednesday evening when the pain for the next week makes putting on my socks a major challenge.

However, I am glad I tried it and didn't totally embarrass myself. But a man must know his limitations. And all the muscle memory in the world isn't going to make that run from first to third feel any shorter.

I feel lucky I did no long-term damage in my brief comeback.

Playing guitar, taking long hikes, learning new tricks related to work and career -- those are all still viable endeavors that old dogs can do fairly well. I am grateful for still being able to do those things.

Having a grapefruit-size sphere whizzing towards my head as my glove-hand reflexes can't match my enthusiasm may sound like a blast, but I think I will leave that sort of fun for folks with muscles that don't object so loudly.

I no longer want to soar.

I want to glide.

There is a subtle but noble difference.

No shame in teleprompters

Bruce Springsteen's use of a teleprompter on his current tour has apparently outraged some people.


As long as it doesn't negatively impact his performance, I am not sure why anyone would care if Springsteen occasionally glanced at a teleprompter to remind himself of certain song lyrics. It's not like he's standing in front of a music stand, glued to cheat sheets all night. And he's certainly not the first aging performer to use a teleprompter.


Do you think any of these critics could memorize the words to 50 or more songs from a catalogue of hundreds of tunes, then perform flawlessly on a stage in front of 30,000 fans, and do it at 60 years old with a million things swirling around them? I know I couldn't. I've been modestly playing and singing the same songs for over 35 years and still forget a chord change or one of the lines on a verse from time to time. Memorizing new songs has become nearly impossible. Heck, I can't remember where I placed the laundry basket on some days. That doesn't mean I am ready for the glue factory.


Few have ever accused Springsteen of mailing it in at a live performance. The E. Street Band plays extremely long sets with a high degree of energy and passion. That is the band's trademark. A teleprompter on stage isn't going to change that.


So why all the sour notes from some purists who think performers shouldn't use certain technologies on stage?


Maybe it has to do with our desire for authenticity in a world where using technology to cut corners or fool the audience is becoming the norm. Or maybe it's because we don't want to accept that the aging process does limit us in some ways. Sort of hits a nerve related to our own diminished abilities.


Classical musicians perform with sheet music in front of them. TV anchors certainly don't memorize their scripts. President Obama uses a teleprompter to deliver some powerful, thoughtful speeches. In my mind, the use of a teleprompter is not a deal-breaker. In fact, if used correctly, it can enhance a performance or a message. It's a communications tool, nothing more or less.


As long as Springsteen is actually singing the songs and not lip-syncing or relying on over-the-top digital effects, I have no problem if he utilizes a prompter. In a day and age of processed vocals and "musicians" who can't really play an instrument, I think implying that Springsteen is short-changing the audience is ridiculous. Even with a teleprompter, the integrity of his performances far exceeds that of many entertainers half his age. Springsteen is fit, still near the top of his game, and certainly not embarrassing himself on stage.


Until the day comes when he can no longer strum his Telecaster or he begins falling off stages, the "boss" is still the boss. He still connects with the audience and makes people feel very good.

'Luck' a tragic mistake for HBO

I am a fan of HBO. Most of the programming is marked by a level of quality that commercial television has not been able to match. Shows on the premium channel tend to be more realistic. The writing is sharper. The sets are more elaborate and historically accurate when appropriate. There is a progressive, even educational quality to HBO shows that you won't find on free networks. The documentaries exceed what you might see on PBS.


HBO is not afraid to push the envelope. Mature, cutting-edge subject matter should be able to be crafted and aired without pressures from sponsors or the censorship police. Because HBO makes its money from subscribers and not advertisers, there is a lot of creative and editorial freedom that is evident in the shows and documentaries that it produces. 


All of that came crashing down recently with a show called Luck. The drama series is nearing the end of its first season. It has high-profile actors like Dustin Hoffman. The theme centers on horse racing and the corruption that surrounds it. The show was renewed for a second season and was in the middle of production when HBO suddenly announced today that it is canceling the program.


Three horses have died during the filming of Luck. Opinions vary on what actually caused their deaths, but there is no denying that the horses were tied to the production of the HBO show.


I am glad that HBO pulled the show off the air as a result of the pressure from PETA and other animal rights organizations that helped bring the horse deaths to light. I am not pleased, however, that HBO embarked on a show that became all too realistic, where the putting down of these animals carelessly mimicked the fictional storyline. In addition, HBO did not come clean soon enough about the tragedies. If not for PETA, the show would have gone on and more horses might have died.


I only watched one episode of Luck, long before it was known that horses were actually dying in real life and not just fictionally on screen. Despite HBO promoting the heck out of the show and some critics claiming it was one of the best dramas HBO has ever produced, I found Luck gave me a bad vibe and fell far short of what attracted me to shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. Along with it being virtually impossible to follow and a tad boring, Luck had an intangible air to it that was unsettling to me, and I don't mean in an artful way. Something just felt wrong about the whole concept. As a result, I gave up on the show early on.


Of course, three dead horses connected to a now canceled HBO show doesn't even begin to address the real problem of the horse-racing industry, which in my opinion is no better than illegal dog fighting. Whether legal or not, profiting from these atrocities is an outrage.


HBO did the right thing in canceling Luck and probably lost millions of dollars in doing so, but might have lost millions more from people like me who would have canceled their subscriptions if the show wasn't nixed. Unfortunately, the chronic gamblers and business entities who support the horse racing industry have no such motivation to shut down that so-called sport.