Category: Miscellany

THE POPE DIED… AGAIN

by slake, posted in Miscellany

Pope Francis died April 21, 2025. He was 88 years old and had been very ill for a long time. He was known as “The People’s Pope,” and many videos of him blessing very sickly children have been playing on TV. His funeral was conducted in late April, and the Conclave to elect a new Pope begins today.

I was reminded of the events of August and September, 1978, when I was much younger. I attended a Board of Directors Meeting. In the interest of economy, I roomed with another officer of the state professional association which I served. Carole was a lovely young woman, and we got along well. When we woke up the first meeting day, we turned the news on and learned that Pope Paul VI had died. He had been Pope for fifteen years. We shared a cup of coffee and talked about his death, got dressed and spent the rest of the long day in meetings.

Some six weeks later, we again roomed together. Again, we were attending a Board of Directors Meeting of the same professional association but in a different city in Texas. When we woke up on the first morning, we learned that the new Pope, John Paul I, had died after serving only thirty-three days. It was quite a remarkable coincidence, as Board Meetings were rare, and Carole and I had never before roomed together, and Popes always served long terms. The last time there had been three different Popes in a single year was way back in 1605.

Carole and I resolved, in the interest of papal longevity, never to room together again. Pope John Paul I was succeeded by Pope John Paul II who lived until 2005. He was critically wounded in an assassination attempt in 1981, but survived and served twenty-seven years as Pope.

OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING

by slake, posted in Miscellany

April 19, 2025 is the thirtieth anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history… the truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

168 lives were lost including 19 children and babies housed in a day care nursery on the first floor. 850 people sufferred injuries. The principal bomber was a young man, but he had help. I refuse to call their names. They are scum to me, like so many young killers who think they know better than everyone else and justify their cowardly killing of the vulnerable through some miserable internal sick rationale. I cannot describe the depth of the contempt in which I hold such deluded, selfish killers.

At that time, I was doing a lot of work in OK City as a reimbursement consultant and account manager in a local hospital. I traveled there regularly, staying overnight for four nights in a local hotel. I reviewed patient medical records to ensure that the hospital was being reimbursed accurately for the care it gave to patients. The hospital employed a young lady to pull and organize the records for my review. She was a pleasant young woman, sweet, conscientious, gracious and always had the records and a smile ready for me.

I was in Baton Rouge that week when I heard about the bombing. I had no idea of casualties, but I stopped for a moment and thanked God for the OK City hospital where I worked and the many dedicated healers it employed. I knew they were crackerjack… that they would be up to the challenge if they received any casualties from the bombing. Later, of course, I realized that every hospital in OK City must have been swamped with casualties.

I think it must have been at least 2-3 weeks before I returned to OK City. By that time, law enforcement had worked out most of the major events of the bombing and had the principal actors in custody. When I picked up my rental car at the airport, I noted that the key next to mine on their keyboard belonged to the principal attorney for the young bomber who parked the truck in front of the federal building. That went on for months… the key business.

Oklahoma City was not a large city at that time, claiming a population of 461,000 citizens. Most of them sufferred consequence from the bombing. 7,000 people lost their workplaces. 462 were left homeless. 300 buildings were damaged or destroyed. 30 children were orphaned. 219 children lost at least one parent.

The most touching photograph that I saw was a heartbreaking photo that showed a firefighter, Chris Fields, cradling a precious baby girl. She was dead. I still get emotional over it. If I remember correctly, I saw the photo on TIME MAGAZINE, but it won the Pulitzer and was published all over the U.S. and probably the world. It can be found on the internet. The baby girl had turned one year old the day before.

When I returned to OK City, I learned that a woman in the nursing hierarchy at the hospital had an appointment scheduled in the Murrah Building some 2 minutes before the explosion. She ran late for the appointment and was just leaving her car and walking toward the building when it exploded. She lived because of a random interruption.

I also learned that the sweet young lady who pulled charts for me lost her brother in the bombing. I was told that he was the young Marine found very late in the recovery process in the basement of the Federal Building.

I still curse the bombers to Hell.

MORE ADVICE – INVESTING

by slake, posted in Miscellany

I considered including a few pieces of advice on investing in my previous advice blog, but decided I probably had more to say about the subject than would fit. As it turns out, I probably have more to say than I can or should fit into this blog, so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

First of all, I am an amateur investor. I have no credentials, street creds, special training or education in investing. I’ve never taken a finance or economics course. I’ve never read books on the subjects. But I’ve done it for my family for decades with reasonably good results. As my CPA would say, “I don’t swing for the fences, rather, I try to get on base and patiently and methodically work my way around the diamond.” I am a conservative investor. I am not a trader, although, I do trade, but very rarely. I offer a few words of wisdom about investing which I consider to be sound advice.

Don’t invest any monies you can’t afford to lose. There are no sure things. Don’t believe anyone who says otherwise.

Don’t believe anyone who promises a specific rate of return on stocks. In particular, don’t believe anyone who guarantees a rate of return greater than 7-8%. No one knows with certainty. There is risk involved in investing in stocks. There is also reward.

Don’t chase returns. This used to be sound advice, and I happen to believe it still is, but I’m aware that some well-publicized traders have been amazingly successful, at least in the short term, using this method with the Big 7 during the past year. Not me. I don’t do that. I believe that in-depth research of credible web sites and other resources can ultimately lead to success, but one can never be sure.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I believe in starting off with index funds and mutual funds managed by reputable investment companies, so that you’re investing in a number of securities at the same time. Some will end up winners, and some will end up as losers, but with solid management, the winners should eventually outpace the losers. I never buy one individual stock, If I buy a stock, I also buy a few other well-researched stocks to soften the blow of any one that turns out to be a poor investment.

When I started off, I invested in two or three individual stocks. I became impatient with them and ended up selling them all within two years. Big Mistake. I had done my research better than I had realized, but I lost faith in the stocks. One of them was Apple. The others also turned out to be long term winners. I then invested in mutual funds. Most of them turned out well, and I still own most of them. But of course, none of them turned out as well as Apple.

Choose the right kind of account to accommodate the stock. One of the worst mistakes I made was to place an oil & gas limited partnership stock in an IRA. I ended up having to pay considerable taxes when I sold the stock. It generated considerable taxes because it generated considerable income while it was growing unchecked in the IRA. Overall, it was a real winner, but it would have been even better if I hadn’t had to pay all those penalties and interest. Darn. Learned my lesson there.

Choose index funds and mutual funds with reasonable expense ratios. Pay attention to how and when expenses are deducted from your positions. Estimate what expenses will cost you. Don’t overpay.

Diversify, diversify, diversify.

I invest conservatively in bonds, but I don’t understand them well enough to recommend them to you.

Don’t invest until you understand what you are doing.

Don’t invest until you understand the terminology used in your research. You can’t understand what you’re reading or watching if you don’t understand the terminology. There is considerable jargon to learn. It’s a whole new language. And it grows daily. I regularly look up the meaning of new terms.

Accept that some of us are financially oriented, and some of us will never get it… maybe not even with extraordinary effort to do so. Don’t invest if you don’t get it!

If you don’t invest, then you either need to generate considerable income working or do an extraordinary job of controlling expenses and saving so as to set aside adequate funds for retirement. Controlling expenses and maximizing savings enhances rewards gained from any investment strategy.

Be very careful if you hire a professional to manage your investments. Understand how and when they take their commission. Be familiar with their return history. Understand the concept of “churning.” Don’t hire your brother-in-law. Don’t hire someone if you can do it for yourself.  Fire your manager if you no longer trust him. Don’t be shy.

Keep up with the market. Invest the time. I still watch Bloomberg and CNBC and read Business Insider at least 8 hours a week, usually more. I watch the other channels, too, from time to time, but I avoid them when they are spending too much time on politics and other non-business subjects. I lose patience with channels that either don’t identify the credentials of their so-called guest experts or that don’t leave the credentials posted long enough for me to internalize them. I avoid anchors who spend time interviewing fellow business anchors and commentators from the same channel. I want to hear from primary and knowledgeable sources. I avoid anchors who deliberately lead their guest commenters to espouse specific political philosophies. I avoid anchors who give me too much opinion and not enough facts. If an anchor claims that certain legislation will be good for the coal-mining industry profits, then I want to see charts and graphs that back up those claims. And the charts and graphs should be based on reputable sources. I pay little attention to charts and graphs that don’t identify where the data comes from.

I keep up with the non-business news, paying particular attention to weather, scientific discoveries, newly-enacted legislation and other factors that influence the market.

Remember, don’t invest if you don’t get it. It’s too big a risk. Good Luck.

PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR THE YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED

by slake, posted in Miscellany

I admit that times have changed drastically since I was young, and that certain maxims that I was raised to believe and follow are long past useless. But I offer a handful of lessons that I believe are still worthwhile:

  1. When purchasing an appliance or piece of furniture used to store or keep stuff in, including foodstuffs, one should consider going tall. Floor space is usually limited and its use should be maximized. For instance, while a tabletop style desk is very attractive, it is not very practical. My desk (which admittedly is old-fashioned like me) is stuffed with business and correspondence files, office supplies and personal items I like to keep handy but out of sight. In the long run, having the extra storage space is worth the extra expense. The same holds true for refrigerators, freezers, shelves, etc.
  2. Try to handle routine e-mail, text messages and snail mail only once… at least until you get older and need more time to settle on the correct action. Mail comes in every day. Try not to let it stack up. Handle it. Legal documents or those with serious import deserve a more thoughtful approach and a little extra time. But don’t let it drag on.
  3. Keep a TO DO LIST. Update it daily.
  4. Unless you’re a teenager, invest in quality, classic clothes, not one year wonders. They cost a little more on sale, but you’ll get a lot more mileage out of them.
  5. Organize personal and business files with tax reporting in mind. This includes hardcopy, digital and telephone files. Determine ahead of time where and how the bulk of your communications and financial and business files and records are to be kept. I keep annual records for taxes as well as what I refer to as legacy files which cover multiple years like insurance policies and investments. I keep legal files (wills and proxies) and medical files. I’m not perfect, but I’m getting better at this. Organization is crucial, especially as one ages. Discipline pays off. Less time is lost in searching for documents. Trust me. No matter how organized you are, over the years, you’ll spend an incredible amount of time searching for documents.
  6. Keep important records safe from fire, theft, flood, computer crash and all types of loss or misplacement.
  7. If you are married or have a child, execute a will, no matter how young you are.
  8. Prepay final arrangements when you reach 65 years of age, if not before.
  9. Exercise regularly.
  10. Save for your retirement from the get go. If you are in your twenties, it’s conceivable that you could live twice as long as you anticipate.
  11. And don’t forget the old saw: If I’d known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of my teeth!

Good Luck.

PISSED OFF SURGEON CONTEMPLATING MY DEMISE?

by slake, posted in Miscellany

I have worked closely with many physicians during my career in acute health care. They were all highly intelligent. Most enjoyed a large degree of common sense… only a few did not.

Once, when I was just starting out in management, I worked with a hesitant physician. He confounded me when he handed me a patient’s medical record and asked me what I thought was wrong with that particular patient. Of course, I had an opinion, but I responded in the only way legally possible.  I told him that I wouldn’t dare to tell him, a physician, what was wrong with the patient… and referred him to another physician who had an interest in such cases.

Once, when I was in a large, meeting of the various Executives and Administrators, Chiefs of (Medical) Staffs and Senior Support Staff of affiliated hospitals, a surgeon I had worked with for many years and I got a little crossways on an issue, and he came close to yelling at me. We were both reasonable people, and I respected him highly. We quickly resolved our differences. The meeting broke up soon after, and I gathered my stuff to return to my office. The surgeon headed around the huge Board Room table, called my name and asked me to wait up. As he approached, his right hand was extended, headed for my throat. The crazy thought crossed my mind that he might be angry enough to choke me. But I never really thought he would do such. I stayed still… didn’t flinch when his hand circled my throat. Everyone was looking at us.

“You’ve got something in your throat.” Sure enough I could feel his fingers examine something. He smiled and advised me not to worry, that “no one dies of thyroid cancer in this day and age.” Subsequently he performed a partial thyroidectomy on me for a benign adenoma.

OBITUARIES

by slake, posted in Miscellany

I try to read my hometown newspaper at least once a month. More and more, I’m drawn to the OBITUARIES. People whom I knew when I lived in the small town are beginning to die off. I hate to see them go. Most were wonderful people, some were real characters, and their life stories are utterly fascinating.

More and more, I realize just how unaware I was growing up. The OBITUARIES are filling in a lot of gaps that I didn’t know I had. The small town is still educating me.

The life stories of those I knew as students in school are of particular interest, so far mostly those who were older than me. I always felt that my education in that little town was particularly good, and more and more, the obituaries are confirming my opinions. There was little local industry other than farming and ranching and a state university within commuting distance. Many students left after graduation.  Those who stayed lived active full lives, often taking leadership roles in the community, even while making a living. They served their community and their churches well.

Fellow students who left the little town usually moved to bigger cities, both in Texas and across the U.S. Many went on to college: Texas A & M, Sam Houston State College, the University of Texas; Southwest Texas State and other universities both in and out of state. An astonishing number achieved advanced degrees.

Many men served in the military, both those who stayed and those who left. Almost every adult man I knew growing up had served in World War II. Some were bona fide heroes as their tombstones and obituaries attest. Many local men I never knew gave the ultimate sacrifice. Some of the younger men did not survive Korea and later Viet Nam. They were all great patriots. They did what their country asked of them, regardless of how they felt about the wars. Some of them and their families still suffer after effects.

Many of those who left the little town became quite successful… some of them serving in senior leadership positions in industries all over the world, especially in the oil and gas industry. They married spouses from all over and raised families.

It makes me inordinately proud that there was a time when I called most of these men and women ‘friend.’

THE WORLD’S BEST FLIP PHONE

by slake, posted in Miscellany

Before I owned a Smartphone, I owned a Flip phone… a very good flip phone. I selected it carefully, planning to use it for years. It worked fine, great even, and I enjoyed using it. It was small, convenient, sturdy and protected in its own attached hard-shell plastic case. It didn’t break whenever I dropped it. Even better, it fit perfectly into my cross-body bag. It even met military specifications.

One weekend when I was back home after a long and difficult week of travel, I got up very early and started laundry. I travelled a great deal at that time, and clean clothes were always a treat. I was tired and made a big mistake. When I transferred my wet clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. I found my precious flip phone in a soggy pocket. I felt sick. The phone contained literally hundreds of personal and business telephone numbers for loved ones, friends, family, clients and consultants. I dreaded having to enter all those numbers manually into a new phone.

I allowed the phone to dry out. I didn’t know then that embedding it in dry rice might help the process… I simply air dried it. Finally I turned it back on and braced myself for bad news.

IT WORKED JUST FINE! It never missed a step. A few years later I was forced by society and convenience to replace it with a Smartphone. I still love that sturdy little Flip phone.

WHAT THE WIND BLEW IN & ANOTHER SURPRISE

by slake, posted in Miscellany
Female swimmer

Years ago, Chocoholic and I spent a few days at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. One morning we changed into our swimsuits and went to the pool. It was a windy day. We both swam laps for exercise in the icy water. I love to swim. I’m a slow, but steady swimmer. When I was done, I climbed out of the pool, dried off and relaxed on a chaise lounge.

The wind picked up and blew a piece of paper to me that stuck to my chest. I peeled it off. It was a $20 bill.

A winner, in Vegas! Yea!

A few years ago, we met friends in Venice and joined a cruise in the Mediterranean. Chocoholic and I arrived the night before and stayed in a small hotel near St. Mark’s Square. We walked to a nearby trattoria for an early dinner. We were the only patrons, and there was only a single waiter present, a young man, much younger than us.

We enjoyed our pizza. When we asked for the check, the waiter said there was no charge. That was a big surprise. I asked him why no charge, and he responded, because it’s for you. That was another big surprise, but I had no more questions. We gave him a very nice tip and returned to our hotel.

I never figured out why he didn’t charge us. We’re not famous or beautiful or unique in any way, but we enjoyed our dinner and the hospitality.

 

HOW NOT TO COOK POTATOES

by slake, posted in Miscellany

SPOILER ALERT: The following sounds suspiciously like a rant.

I’m a news junkie. I try to keep up. I follow food, health and medicine; war, catastrophes and disasters; writing and publishing; business, finance & investments; and baseball. Too many so-called “news articles” these days waste my time.

Many articles deliberately don’t get to the point until one has scrolled through endless paragraphs of detailed background. While the background is usually quite worthwhile, it suits me better to have it slotted after the advertised point as I’m usually already aware of the background. Too many articles never get to the advertised point, they just ramble. Click bait still occasionally lures me into opening new tabs with endless advertisements for whatever I don’t need, but I’m wising up about them. And bait and switch articles promise specific items of interest but never deliver. And then there is the recent plethora of articles that inform me of each and every freaking thing the well-meaning author assumes that I’m doing wrong.

For example, a fictional headline might read: “ONE HUNDRED MISTAKES YOU MAKE COOKING POTATOES!” I naively figure that given a veritable landslide of instructions to follow, at least a few will prove worthwhile, but, no! Each and every one turns out to be far too simplistic. Only a complete dolt would make such idiotic mistakes… like cooking a potato that has obviously been invaded by a big fat wiggly worm. Come on, guys. Give your readers credit for possessing a modicum of common sense!

Stop wasting our time.

Sorry… I couldn’t help myself. It was indeed a rant.

 

A SNOWY CHRISTMAS DAY IN HOUSTON

by slake, posted in Miscellany

Years ago, it snowed in Houston on Christmas Eve, a very BIG DEAL. Early Christmas morning, Chocoholic and Jack, our beloved Black Lab, and I drove to a nearby park. The day was grey and overcast, and the snow was still on the ground. We took a box of crackers and cans of cat food to feed the ducks and the feral cats.

I held the crackers and Jack’s leash while Chocoholic took the cat food and the can opener over to the place where the cats hung out. As he began opening cans, we noticed a gentleman coming toward us off the pier, obviously intent on greeting Beautiful, Never Met a Stranger Jack. Jack was a big dog. He took off toward him in a flash. I flew through the air (full horizontal, Scout’s Honor!) and landed on my back, my breath knocked out of me. The box burst open and crackers rained down around my head. Jack instantly transferred his attention from the man to the crackers. I lay there, catching my breath while Jack’s massive jaw gobbled up crackers around my head. “SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!” He consumed at least half a box of crackers while Chocoholic and the other gentleman helped me to my feet. I was unhurt.

Unfortunately there was little Christmas cheer left for the ducks, but Chocoholic, Jack and I had a most memorable White Christmas. I wish you all the Happiest of Holidays.