RichC | November 21, 2024
While Taylor was at his conference and staying with us the other week in Florida, we started talking about good friends … and “old friends” who are still good friends. My thoughts automatically go to my college friend Jeff and Taylor’s to his grade school friend Mike. One thing led to another and he pulled […]
RichC | November 11, 2024
My buddy Jeff decided to make a detour from his business appointment in NYC and drive to the end of Long Island “just” to grab a lobster roll and beer at the Shagwong tavern … because he is a lifetime Jimmy Buffett parrothead. I’m not sure there is a more devoted fan … unless it […]
RichC | October 16, 2024
Two years ago I read Peter Zeihan’s book, “The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization,” on my friend Jeff’s recommendation. We discussed a few thoughts over lunch (as usual) … but instead of a Kindle book for an upcoming trip, I opted to buy the used paperback book, […]
RichC | January 24, 2024
Although the time difference makes instant text communication a little more challenging than usual in staying in touch with my buddy Jeff, I’m still enjoying the interesting business travel he is starting early in 2024. I lost track of the number of countries will be in while making cybersecurity audits of client plants, but it […]
RichC | December 17, 2023
My buddy Jeff and I enjoy debating and learning from each other while sharing what we are reading. We are far from experts on anything (I should speak for myself), but that doesn’t stop us from opining. HA! Last week with the Federal Reserve “pausing” on interest rate hikes with inflation coming down and semi-telegraphed […]
RichC | September 4, 2023
Depressing for those of us who grew up in the Jimmy Buffett mindset and have enjoyed his music, concerts, ambitious lifestyle and attitude for our college and adult lives, but his passing on September 1, 2023 hit home. Unfortunately it is starting to feel like the norm (but 76 is way, WAY, too young)? I […]
RichC | August 17, 2023
My friend Jeff and I regularly talk about the books we are reading over lunch or on the back porch (too infrequent though) and he sent me one to read last week. I told him I would start as soon as I finished Pappy Boyington’s “Baa Baa Black Sheep” that I’m thoroughly enjoying. “Conservatism, A […]
RichC | December 15, 2022
First up, is a rainy photo of the second car that I rebuilt … but this 1974 Capri was really my first car since I bought it with my own money (paid $600 at a junkyard in 1978). The car I think of as my first car would be a 1967 Ford Custom 500 (link […]
RichC | November 3, 2022
Although it was not unexpected, my long time friend Jeff‘s father passed away last week. It was the way we all would want to die … "peacefully in our sleep at home." My memories of Alton Pitts are few since he lived in Florida, but the few I have are of kindness. I first met […]
RichC | October 29, 2022
My friend Jeff and I enjoy discussing and debating nearly every topic under the sun, but few subjects have held our attention over the decades like the impact of technology on society, geopolitics and how changing governments handle or don’t handle the demographics shifts. I tend to look at it from the perspective of an […]
RichC | June 2, 2022
The “bowling” comment I made a couple weeks ago triggered me thinking about what “junk” to put back in my office storage closet and what to toss. There are “functional” but OLD computers (with hard drives and too much CPP customer data), boxes of magazines … and more to the point … my old bowling […]
RichC | June 1, 2022
Who doesn’t enjoy of teasing friends back and forth over foodie items? Here’s one that I’m going to debate with my friend Jeff … as he has always been a “Tea drinker” and I’ve been a “Coffee guy.” I’ll start with my pro-military, flag-waving “patriotic Americans drink coffee” position, and I’m sure he’ll lay out […]
RichC | May 24, 2022
My buddy Jeff Pitts is my go-to source for interesting books to read. For my birthday this year (we had lunch last Friday … a Mexican restaurant, of course), he gave me an older 1950’s era book by Robert Ruark called “The Old Man and The Boy.” I passed on reading my other books and […]
RichC | February 9, 2022
Last week I had dinner with my buddy Jeff after taking him to pick up his car from a seat repair/re-upholstering job. He previously planned it so we could go to our “old” favorite Acapulco Mexican Restaurant (which is no longer tolerated as well in my digestive track as it was 20 years ago). He […]
RichC | October 1, 2021
What once was a weekly or at least bi-monthly lunch with my friend Jeff, has shifted to once every 3 months or so since COVID19. It’s not all due to the pandemic as changes in work habits and eating out habits has contributed to neglecting getting together. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to spend an hour […]
RichC | June 6, 2021
For years now … no, it is now decades … my buddy Jeff and I have gone out for lunch ever other week and almost exclusively to a Mexican restaurant … primarily for the chips and salsa (and relaxed conversation). Before that, we lived in different cities (he in Florida and then Alabama … and […]
RichC | December 31, 2020
I had lunch “out” this week with my good friend Jeff, although this routine has become very infrequent compared to previous years. Still, we had a chance to catch up, talk about politics (Ugh), the old-days backpacking in North Carolina (an old scanned photo for Throwback Thursday #TBT) … and I opened his cool gift […]
RichC | December 22, 2020
With only a handful of meals out during this COVID19 year with my buddy Jeff this past year, I’ve learned to appreciate them even more than usual. We’ve been having lunch together each month or so as a way to stay connected for decades and for me adjusting to just emails and text messages is […]
RichC | April 13, 2020
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RichC | April 3, 2020
Above is a graphic sent by a friend, who knows of my long time Apple addiction … and it had me pondering the Steve Jobs vs Steve Wozniak struggle when trying to grow Apple Computer back in the early days (watch the Danny Boyle movie called Steve Jobs). One of the founders was an advocated […]
RichC | April 2, 2020
With “stay at home” orders issued for 3/4 of the U.S. population, my good friend Jeff Pitts has been obeying the directive and working from home. It is also giving him time to do those “I’ll get to it someday” chores like cleaning out a spare room and finally throwing stuff away. One of the […]
RichC | November 2, 2019
As we joke every year, Jeff has finally caught up to me in age … and is now 60 years old (he is 6 months younger than me). We do enjoy kidding each other and I know my life would not be as full without him around. He has most definitely in my life for […]
RichC | August 9, 2019
Currently, I pay for a few subscriptions. Some pricey (Wall Street Journal, Barrons, etc) because I avidly read them. Others, like monthly magazines, I continue to pay for and rarely get around to reading, especially online only subscriptions. Several others, I occasionally receive a link or click on one from those annoying “reader apps” that […]
RichC | March 21, 2019
My friend Jeff Pitts has been my closest friend ever since our college years at Ohio Northern University (also the only guest blogger so far). Besides college, he was on my bachelor party trip, years and years of hiking and camping … including a great trip to the Canadian Rockies with my son Taylor, who has […]
RichC | October 22, 2018
In 2016 my friend Jeff gave me his old grill as I finally gave up on our well loved and well used old aluminum shell grill. His was a 4 burner Charbroil propane model that I was able to cleaned up, converted to natural gas and add some new internal parts. It has worked great […]
RichC | June 6, 2017
One of the fun areas of IT that has been growing in recent years is the “maker community” of products for do-it-yourselfers. These devices range from the Raspberry Pi, Pi Zero, Photon, Arduino, etc. The movement is bringing electronics to those of us that have that tinkerer mindset, but it also extends the opportunity to […]
RichC | May 15, 2017
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RichC | April 19, 2017
My friend Jeff and I try to get together for a Friday lunch once or twice a month. We often discuss work, politics and management, particularly as it relates to his job and potential advancement … although we recognized the limited number of years for that second part. Anyway, one of the books he is […]
RichC | November 21, 2016
Last weekend my friend Jeff told me his old grill was mine for the taking, but that it was in need of some cleaning, some repair and new burners (besides the fire department tag it as unsafe for his apartment patio). I ordered new parts and a cover for under $50, repaired the rust holes […]
RichC | November 15, 2016
My good friend and old college buddy lives in an apartment which as been visited by the fire department — they tagged his door regarding the grill on his patio. Bad for him, good for me. All I had to do was go pick it up … glad I put the hitch on the BMW […]
RichC | February 20, 2014
Those who are regular readers of My Desultory Blog realize that besides posting commentary on newsy items, be it tech, cars, aviation, politics or whatever, that I also include personal entries and photos relating to my family. This blog, now 4000 posts, is a continuation of a journal that I started in 1977 as a […]
RichC | November 30, 2013
My friend Jeff and I had a chance to get today Friday afternoon and catch up on life. We enjoyed our semi-regular Mexican lunch and talked about work, church, family and our mutual amateur radio hobby. He’s been a Ham (N4XKJ) since we went to our first HamCation back when he was living in Orlando […]
RichC | October 18, 2010
My friend Jeff is a very fortunate amateur photographer since he is one of the few who own a fantastic Canon 5d Mark II. Although I only had a few minutes to play with it over lunch the other day, I enjoyed tinkering with the buttons and menus (there’s a big learning curve). He has […]
RichC | July 18, 2010
Although the Cincinnati Reds came up short in Sunday’s Ohio Northern University alumni baseball outing against the Colorado Rockies (final 0-1), I enjoyed spending the day at the Great American Ballpark with my my son and my close friend Jeff from ONU dorm days. Jeff Pitts is someone who has been there through thick and […]
RichC | December 18, 2008
Using Treo to “Press It” post a cellphone photo that only has a little personal meaning to a few of us … and my friend who sent us the cotton for our Christmas tree many years ago. EDIT: Hmm, PressIt didn’t work and will have to edit to post?
RichC | January 3, 2007
Wow … what a beautiful sunset. (click for full size) A friend mine is in the Canadian Rockies for a week and sent this photo just to be cruel. 😉 Actually, he is staying in Canmore, Alberta with his family, enjoying skiing and taking a photography course. I assume he’ll come back with a few […]
RichC | August 2, 2005
I had planned on updating our trip to the Canadian Rockies daily, but as with most vacations, the time went by way too fast, besides that, the days were long and tiring. My son and I flew into Calgary, Alberta the last week in July and were picked up by Jeff, a long time friend […]