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Addiction, Obsession, Dependance, Preoccupation, Digital Umbilical Cord

One guess for what the title of my blog refers to today. Yep, we are talking about the smartphone. A blessing or a curse. A benefit or a detriment. An aid or a crutch.  All of the above. So, I was sitting in the mall the other day, doing a little people watching.  Lots of tourists in the town I’m in – Europeans, Americans, Russians, and Asians (and so on).  Truly a melting pot and that’s especially true in a retail mall where there is one universal behavior we all have in common – shopping. As I’m sitting there observing (please note I was not on my phone nor was I even holding it) I started to count how many people were visibly engaged with their smartphones – either actively using their phones while they were walking, or holding their phones in their hands while walking or standing, or where their phone was visibly showing on their person (in their pocket or sticking out of a purse or armband, etc.).  The final category was finding a person who was just walking wit...
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Home

Where do you call home?  I am living primarily overseas these days in Thailand.  A lovely country.  I must admit, though, I miss my home country, the United States.  From little things like the food I was used to eating not being available (although I have also experienced a lot of great new food here), not being able to communicate as clearly as I would like, availability of products and costs (some higher now and some lower), and of course the weather (yes, the US has heat and humidity but not pretty much every day like in Thailand.  And I’m from the part of the US where the weather is much drier).   But those things do not define what I would refer to as home.  When people ask me if I miss home, my response is always something like, “As long as I’m with my lovely wife, I’m home.  Wherever she is, that is home.”  And I mean that.  Some say that home is in the heart, and I believe that is at least partially true if not completely t...
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Turn Off Your Cell Phones!

My wife and I went to see some movies in the theater recently.  Every single time there were one or more people in the theater who felt compelled to whip out their phones during the movie and check their messages, the brightness of their phones penetrating the dark theater like a lightning bolt flashing across the sky.  Apparently, the commercial that the theaters always show about being polite by not talking and not checking your phone during the movie were lost on them.  Or perhaps they are just being selfish, self-centered, and rude, living in their own world with their own rules of self-convenience.  We were watching this one movie where there were literally only five people attending, including us and I thought, finally, no one will whip out their phone.  But no, the one person in the theater who came in late and sat two seats over from us (why she didn’t find a seat further away in a theater that was 99% empty I’ll never know) took out her phone at least f...
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Do You Feel Lucky?

Do you feel lucky?  Well, do ya…punk?  Sorry, couldn’t help myself.  That’s such an iconic line from Dirty Harry.  But to answer the question…yes!  Yes, I do feel lucky.  You see, I played a game of Yahtzee yesterday.  You know, the dice game?  If you don’t know it, check it out.  It’s a pretty fun family game that’s been around forever.  Anyway, my wife and I were playing and if you know anything about Yahtzee, you know that most of the time you are forced to take a big fat zero in the Yahtzee box.  Sorry, no 50 points for you.  And to rub salt into the wound, the score card would always taunt me with the section for listing up to three more Yahtzee’s, each worth 100 points.  For me, that space was always blank.  I think I can safely say that in the 40 plus years I have played Yahtzee, I have never gotten more than two Yahtzee’s, and rarely even get one. Sorry, for those of you who don’t know the game (who are you??)...
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The Mango Payoff

Today is Tax Day in the USA.  I wait patiently every year as this date creeps up closer and closer.  I have worked with the same Tax guy for almost 30 years who has helped me file my taxes.  For a fee of course.  I consider him a friend but there are sometimes when he drives me crazy.  Except for our actual tax appointment, he’s very busy and hardly ever responds when I call or send a text.  And then after our tax appointment, he’ll send my filing for review.  If I have a question or correction, he’ll respond, but usually days later.  I’ve gotten used to it but in that last month before April 15 I am always on edge until I get that email confirmation that my taxes have been filed and accepted. It’s also Songkran festival in Thailand which is the new year celebration in Thailand.  Everyone throws water at each other as if you are part of a great big water balloon or squirt-gun water fight, all in good fun.  But honestly, I’m not that exci...
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Let's Just Sing and Dance

We could learn something from birds.  As I sit out on my patio in the early morning just before the sun fully rises, I sip my coffee and listen to the stillness of the day.  And then, like a symphony starting slowly but then building, I hear the birds singing.  The song is different each day, but I’ve come to identify some of the usual players. There’s this one little, tiny bird who of course is the loudest and most consistent.  I call him the car alarm bird because his song is a consistent two note chirp – one low and one high.  Over and over. I don’t mind it so much except when it goes on and on – which sometimes it does.  Usually, however, he does his thing for a minute or two and then goes to the next house to do the same thing.  Kind of like a bird version of a rooster doing his cock-a-doodle do morning wake up call.   But other birds are more melodic.  Occasionally a couple of magpies will come over to the trees in my yard and do a...
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Where Did That Come From?

Anger is universal.  I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve went.  I’ve both given it and received it. I’ve seen it in the faces of protestors on the news across many countries.  In both times of war and in times of peace. Living in the USA, I saw it and living in Thailand, I saw it, too.  What is it inside us that causes humans to act in anger, hate, violence, selfishness, pride, jealously, and other awful behaviors like these? I’m sure there are many triggers and some might even say, justifications, for the cause of such actions, but the Bible simply calls these actions sin, and the cause of such sins is that which is inside us and is called original sin.  That is, what’s ingrained in our DNA – it’s who we are and what we are born with.  I have a friend in Thailand that’s recently had some troubles within his family, resulting in punches to the face, furniture being thrown and destroyed, and lots of angry shouting.  Hearing about it and being one step removed ...
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