bob

Day the world shut down
Or was it just very boring?

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When I was a kid without a doubt …

Sunday was the boringest day.

The reason?

For one, everything closed down. Stores weren’t open and the television shows were bad. By bad I mean they weren’t Saturday morning cartoons. In sum, the world shut down on Sunday.

Compare that to today when Sunday is pretty much just another day. Or so it seems. Yes, you can’t reach any number of business or government entities over the phone — but more or less its not all that different than the other days. Not to mention that the screen viewing options are limitless every day of the week or any time of the day.

Thinking back …

I’m wondering now if Sunday’s were so boring because of this: church. Between the hour it took to get ready and get everyone in the car, plus add the frequent occasions where, not being able to do that (on time) we slipped from the 10 o’clock mass to the 11:30 (or even the 1 pm on very lethargic days), then factor in the plus one hour service followed by the drive home: not only was the service a real snoozer, by the time we arrived back home the day was pretty much done.

Moral of story: As much as I loathed going to church growing up, today I attribute it my high tolerance of boredom to my ability to think deep. Thank you boring Sundays, I’ll always have a fond spot for you in my heart.

Who knew: Sunday is the busiest day of the week for internet use.

Remember the Rule of the Ninja: Never fear, never doubt, and never over think.

— Ranger Rudi

Freeing your hands
And your mind

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I‘m not saying you can’t have great ideas …

with your phone in hand.

But how would you know?

The truth is the phone is always with us, either in our pocket or in our hand and always (or too often) in our mind. The expectation of our availability to the phone and the phones availability to us is beyond anything we could have ever contemplated, say, prior to 1999.

The result?

I feel like the phone controls me now more than my wrist watch. Texts, emails and calls require, if not immediate responses — they infiltrate into your mind and erase your entry into deeper more groundbreaking thoughts.

Perhaps my greatest regret in life is that I didn’t find an avocation (and skillset) that required me to work with my hands. As much as I depend on my phone, I’d like to depend on my hands more and just put the phone down.

Medical diagnosis: Using a phone for hours on end can lead to conditions such as a repetitive stress injury known as stenosing tenosynovitis or trigger thumb. 

Try not to overthink a song. Go with what pops in your head, run with it, and don’t stop until you cross the finish line.

— Bobby Angel

You’ve got junk mail
And how it's multiplied in modern times

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Is anyone else …

Inundated with junk mail?

Junk mail is the 9th deadly sin (for those who send it)

I remember the bygone days when we could simply rip it up. Yes, it was a bother, and yes it was a waste of trees and no, I very rarely (actually never) replied. But like a lot of things when I look back all I can think is — how quaint. Compare it to today where I managed multiple email accounts each of which is fed with a steady drip of messages that I don’t even have to open up to know they are trash. And there are the phone calls. One after the next to the point whenever I get a call at all I’ve defaulted to answering, “No, I’m not interested in my vehicle’s extended warrantee.” To be honest, sometimes I feel sorry for the people on the other line. As much as it’s a bother to me, for them it’s their life, call after call trying to get someone to bite. Such is the state of the modern world. We’ve developed all this information to bring the world to the tip of our hands, only to fritter it away by clogging it all up with an onslaught of spam.

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Estimate: 33 percent of all mail delivered worldwide is junk mail.

Well howdy folks, and I’m completely freaked out. And you know why. The fringe middle. The silent majority. Why are they so quiet?

— Buck Buckner

Campfire Questions
And why the answers don't matter

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Some questions are best asked …

Around the campfire.

The answer may surprise you

The reason why depends on a number of things. What’s said around the campfire stays around the campfire has to be high on the list. Part truth serum and part ring of trust, there’s an unspoken rule around the campfire that whatever you say there is between the people present and the crackling embers, and rendered in the end to a pile of flakey ash. Another reason may be the ambiguous nature of the answer, or its complexity, or a general acknowledgement that whatever was asked could never be fully solved or understood, just pondered out loud around the popping embers and flame. Maybe, too, it’s the relaxation reflex that kicks in, allowing the conversation to twist and turn in any number of directions without care or concern if the question gets fully explored, or maybe instead opens doors to new questions or quandaries that weren’t directly asked. The truth about the campfire: It has a mysterious way. It lends itself to nonlinear thinking and pregnant pauses of saying nothing at all.

A campfire question is less about the answer than allowing the mind wander to wherever it needs to go.

I don’t know much, but I’m inclined to spill whatever I do out at the campfire

— Old Miner

Dear Shareholders
And steering committee

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Every year Berkshire and Hathaway …

Gather to talk about their oodles of money.

That’s great, and I don’t mean to condemn.  But where are those same stakeholders and steering committees convening when it comes to preservation of our natural resources? 

The campfire is always crackling and visitors are always welcome at Campfire Park

— Cowboy at the Campfire