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Growing up, my best buddy Mike and I were game fanatics. Every weekend, we would spend our days playing Sorry, Stratego, The Game of Life, Parcheesi, Battleship, Risk, Mancala, Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, etc. When we had exhausted all the board game options, we would crack open our battered addition of “According to Hoyle,” learn the […]

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” –Janet Kilburn Phillips One of the reasons I stopped traveling as much in Europe is that I got completely “churched out.” It’s like Ronald Reagan once said, “A tree is a tree, how many more do you need to look at?” By my fifth trip to Europe, I […]

“A pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.” –Rex Stout It took me a few minutes of pondering to unpack Stout’s quote above. A pessimist always expects the worst, so by contrast, a surprise to them would be something positive. Okay, got it. On the flip side, an optimist expects the […]

“Sometimes the best things are right in front of you; it just takes some time to see them.” – Gladys Knight Every year, my wife and I look forward to our big international trip. Couldn’t we just save money and travel locally? Of course we could. The place where we live, California, is a beautiful […]

“You are you wherever you go.” – My friend, Tim Armacost One of my favorite parts of travel is how it brings out some of my best qualities: resilience, curiosity, spontaneity, organization, humor, and enthusiasm. But along with physical bags, travel also insists that I schlep along some of my less-desirable “emotional baggage”: judgment, irritation, […]

“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak There are two types of surprises: welcome and unwelcome. Because they are, by definition, “surprises,” both experiences tend to arrive unexpectedly, seemingly out of the blue. Take for example, the first time I visit Moody Gardens. Brought here by a Houston-based client […]

“Be loyal to those who are loyal to you. And respect everyone, even your enemies and competition.” —–John Cena As I stand there on the beach, tiny shovel in hand, I’m having trouble respecting my competition. I mean, why are all these people getting in my space? I’m just trying to stake out my spot. […]

“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” –Heraclitus Can you really “expect the unexpected”? I think you can be “open” to new experience. You can cultivate a flexibility toward change. But isn’t the “unexpected,” by definition, about surprise, about […]

I wonder when it happened that I became an old person – or at least, a person who enjoys “old people” activities. I’ll admit it: Of late, I’ve come to appreciate the pleasures of sitting on a comfy couch, sipping hot tea and solving crossword puzzles. I’ve come to admire a well-planned garden. And apparently, […]

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald If you watch any congressional hearing, at some point you’ll inevitably hear a congressman ask the person on the stand, “What’s your answer sir, Yes […]