I wasn’t thinking when I made the appointment with a young man who was looked for a way to crack into the intelligence business. I had a scheme that might work to do that, and could use the help with the expanded portfolio I have at the office, but there are a lot of uncertainties, […]

(Speaker Boehner re-laying the sod in the House yesterday. Photo House of Representatives.) It is a lot like that old joke about the landscaping crew from Hamtramk. They had been off for the holidays and drinking a lot of distilled potato peelings. The days off meant that some training had to be re-instituted: “Green Side Up!” […]

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon; The flames of Love extinguished, and fully past and gone: Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold, that loving Breast of thine; That thou canst never once reflect On Old long syne. CHORUS: On Old long syne my Jo, On Old long syne, That thou […]

(Spartans QB Andrew Maxwell drops back to pass in the 17-16 squeaker win over the TCU Horned Toads. Photo Matt Kartozian/USA Today Sports.) It was a good Saturday down at the farm. The skies cleared and the dusting of snow was gone. I shopped for local food at Croftburn Market, joined the local health club […]

“Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use.” – Wikipedia How the hell did the entire cities of Flint and Detroit become brownfields sites? -Socotra (From Top Left: Downtown skyline as seen from the a bridge over the Flint River on the campus of University of Michigan- Flint, GM Powertain […]

(Spirit of Detroit. Photo 2011 Socotra) I am not in denial. But I am equally not in De Nile, though it feels like an equally big and inexorable river pulling us toward some really big body of water. But hey, we are NOT going to talk about the cliff. I have never seen anything like […]

(Photo of Doc Boucher, my orthodontist, and the suburban Detroit house where he shot his ex-wife and son to death. Photo AP Wire Service 1968.) Well, we just about have this weird year in the bag now.  Stormin’ Norman Schwartzkopf left us yesterday, one of the many memorable characters who impacted my life in the […]

I swear I am checking the company e-mail and am totally focused on business matters. I took advantage of that laser-like focus when my eyes popped open at one-thirty and could not get back to sleep. I listened to CBC 1 channel out of Edmonton on the iPad in bed, hoping something decent would happen. […]

(Lennie and Jamie exchange meaningful looks.) It was a marvelous Christmas outing. I went to the movies with ENS Socotra. This may not strike you as something unusual enough to talk about on the one-day hang-over holiday. There were some things that could not fit into the schedule that I really wanted to do, but […]

(Christmas still life, with fire and Ivy League kindling. Photo Socotra). I envied the Russians next door. They have made a new wood-burning stove in their dining room, and the cherry glow of the fire makes it the warm centerpiece of the whole house. I should have had the chimney guy out to check mine, […]