Category Archives: Deep Thoughts

Clever Brews

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For a while the buzz on the street was all about microbreweries and the thousands of local beers that were popping up all over the country. I never really thought much about how beers are a regional thing until I moved out of state the first time. Suddenly, several of the beer brands that I was used to seeing on the grocery shelves were no longer available. I especially noticed and missed the little green bottles that had Rolling Rock beer in them.

I just read an interesting story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a local brewery that is breaking all the rules and putting their beers into cans instead of bottles. They say that the cans offer several advantages that bottles don’t, such as cans being allowed in a lot of public places where glass containers are not allowed. Cans are better for the environment. Also, cans keep out the light, the number one enemy of beer flavor.

I also like the names of the beers they make and think they are really clever brewers: “Hell or High Watermelon Wheat” and “Brew Free! or Die IPA.” I just hope the beer tastes as good as I’m coming to expect.

Finding Time

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Yesterday I was in a rush all day and it seemed like everywhere I went I was stuck in long lines or the clerk had tons of interruptions that left me standing idle. I often wanted to check the time and possibly re-arrange my planned stops, but it was incredible to me to have such a hard time finding a clock.

It seems that when I was growing up having nice clocks scattered about the house was important. There were different clocks for every room in the house, and the most revered clock was the grandfather clock that was either in the entryway or living room of most people’s homes. Businesses had clocks everywhere too, often with logos of their own business or logos of their suppliers and vendors.

I still love the grandfather clock and the old fashioned mantle clock like my grandmother brought over to America with her on the Queen Elizabeth in the 1920’s. Her clock was one of the few treasures she brought over from England and we all loved the way it chimed the Westminster chimes every fifteen minutes, with different chimes on the quarter hour, the half hour, and the hour and reminded her of London.

When we move to the new house we have already planned to buy a grandfather clock and place it in the entryway so that everyone who comes to our home will see it and have the chance to experience the chimes of a treasured timepiece.

Criminal Minds

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Watched the rerun of Criminal Minds tonight that was about the Russian Mafia and bringing Kate Jackson from the original Charlies Angels show back to TV as a U. S. Senator.

The show had a lot of twists and turns, but honestly, I thought the storyline was pretty lame and unnecessarily gory. This season has not been as interesting as the first season, although the writers have tried to develop the ensemble of main characters more than the first season. It seems that the writers – or perhaps the network in directing the writers – has wanted to push the envelope on how macabre and gory they can get on network TV in today’s world. I don’t really like that approach and don’t think it is necessary for this series. If they continue in this direction next season I don’t think I’ll be watching it any more. I’m not a slasher movie fan and this is getting close to that.

Long Road Out of Eden

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One of my birthday presents was the new Eagles album, “Long Road Out of Eden.” I’ve heard one of the cuts on the radio, “Just Too Busy Being Fabulous,” which is a good song and an interesting commentary to people of my generation. So I cuoldn’t wait to hear the other songs on the double CD.

First time all the way through, my first impression was that the whole album sounded very typically Eagles. There were a couple songs that were easy on the ears and a couple that sounded a little edgey, and an instrumental that was absolutely haunting.

I had to listen to it a second time before I could say that I really like it. Now I am really starting to like a couple of the songs, especially “Waiting in the Weeds.” Now, I don’t really know what the song is totally about, but the tune is very catchy and I find myself humming along to it. I just need to listen for the words a little harder and figure it out. But overall, I like this album a lot.

Peace of Mind

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Yesterday was really nice. My birthday was fun and well celebrated by everyone at work and at home. It’s cool being the center of attraction for at least one day each year, isn’t it?

So today it’s back to reality and actually I’m shifting the focus away from me and onto my family. Trying to be very practical here, who knows how many more birthdays I’ll be able to celebrate? I mean, I’ve already lived more years than my father lived. Cancer took him from us and that threat is always on my mind. My father passed away too young, but he had written a will and made good arrangements to take care of his family with term life insurance and other solid estate plans.

Probably one of the most important types of insurance that he had was mortgage life insurance . With that big expensive house, there’s no way my mom could have kept up the house payments and maintenance on just her own income. By having the mortgage protection he made sure that mom and us kids had a roof over our heads because the mortgage was paid off in full when he passed away. I know he had peace of mind and my mom needed that help.

The other important insurance was the term life because there was enough money to pay the funeral expenses plus all the household expenses for more than a year after he passed. That gave mom enough time to take care of everything and then find a good job to go back to work full time when she was ready rather than desperately taking something at the worst possible time just to pay the bills.

Having seen this first hand has made me keenly aware of my own responsibilities to my family and I have done the same type of estate planning. Let’s hope it’s not needed for a long time yet, but if something does happen I know that my family has been provided for.