David Foster's Divorce--Encountering Bad Faith for the First Time

I ran over to a doctors appointment on 5th and 71st yesterday, and when I got there I found out my doctor had moved to 11th and Broadway...a fact his staff had neglected to mention to me. My appointment was at 3 and I arrived at 2:56 in my running stuff with only a credit card. I hopped in a cab on Fifth Ave and was at 11th and Bway at 3:09. That's straight down Fifth Ave. Scared the shit out of me. Normally, you'd sooner shoot yourself than take a cab down Fifth Avenue on a weekday...except that I had no choice in this case. But yesterday we barely slowed down.

OK, I guess it's helpful to Obama to close in on the magical 60 senators, but really, it's kind of embarrassing to have some one with such low candlepower publicly become a Democrat. I mean, the guy can't finish sentences. Could we require that he go back to school for a few months before he's let out in public again?

It's not an uncommon sight to get on a NYC subway and see some one reading their dog-eared bible. I always feel pity for these folks--to waste all the energy on inferior literature. Really--I think the Manhattan Yellow Pages yield more meaning, after serious study, than the Old Testament. I've heard some of my quasi-tolerant friends try to argue that the OT is the "how not to" guide that's somehow answered by the "how to" of the New Testament. This sounds like a wild-assed justification to get around a book where fathers regularly give away their daughters to rape in order to save their property. I've never seen a set of writing that offers less moral guidance than the Old Testament. Really--for those of you lost on the subways, trying to make sense of this mottled collection of borrowed myth, try Barry Unsworth's "Sacred Hunger," or Thomas Hardy--or the Phone Book. You'll learn more on one trip on the 1 train downtown t

One of the first towns you get to after Springer is Fontana Dam--typically around day 8 if you're making any time. We hit the National Square Dancing Championship in that town, and spent a night with hundreds of couples in hooped skirts...weird first stop. It's also a place for a logical first mail drop, if you're doing that, so after the first stint on the trail it has the effect of bringing you back to reality. Then, you've got the long graded uphill going into the Smokies (Federal Park land is always easier hiking because they try to comply with some version of ADA rules, meaning that trails can't be more than a certain grade)...beautiful, though. The trails are hugely rutted in the Park...overhiked and a lot of erosion. We hiked one day in running water up to our thighs. This is also one of the places where leantos are more or less required, as a way to keep the bears and hikers separated. Generally, though, leantos on the AT suck. Stay out of the lean

"Would it be possible to get the flourless chocolate cake with just a tiny bit of flour? Thanks so much!"

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) got it into it's head maybe 25 years ago that HR should be "strategic." They've held on to this mantra with a tenacity that's admirable, when you look at all the evidence to the contrary. Strategic HR management is bad for SHRM members, employees, management, and capital. No one wins when HR is at the senior management table. Did I leave any constituencies out? Let's see. Customers? Bad for them. Society at large? Bad for us. So, why don't we just admit that this is a bad idea, and let companies and institutions--and the pour HR managers themselves who seem to be in a perpetual fog--rely on peer-to-peer relations to build true corporate strength. What will happen? Stock prices will go up (as they have every time the first step of laying off VP-level HR leadership is taken). The quality of new hires will increase as the focus switches back to core skills and less on the "process.

We were in one of those sad arts & crafts stores in Fair Haven, VT, and noticed a pre-printed note pad on the discount pile--you know the type. This one said "What Would Jesus Do?", and it was replete with a drawing of the big guy, fully prepared to offer whatever advice you required. Could there be anything more ridiculous? First of all, Jesus could do miracles--stupid ones, albeit, but miracles nonetheless. We can't. So, what good would his advice be? And, second. Look at the outcome.