Monday, February 1, 2016

Conroyisms – Part 1

From the mind of Bob:

  • An apple a day is over 40,000 Calories a year.

  • If we are stardust, it is a good thing that it cools down before we use it.

  • Considering all of the things that could have gone wrong today but did not, it has been a good day. 

  • An exception to an exception is a rule and all rules are created this way. 

  • Making hydrogen into helium is quite simple if you start with a few thousand billion tons of hydrogen. 

  • Did Pascal ever bet on the horses?

  • Even Shakespeare made typos and grammatical errors but his became the preferred version.

  • A significant event can happen at any moment but it can take years to recognize it happened.

  • The greatest gift to give your descendants is a legacy of honor and integrity.

  • A consistent approach, while good for a pilot, will grind innovation into the ground.

  • A day spent golfing is lost forever.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

2016 Bucket List


  • I have all of the equipment at the agency to record, edit and publish videos.  This includes backgrounds in several colors including green as well as a professional lighting system. Watch out YouTube, here come the Conroys!

  • Next on the bucket list is getting my Amateur Radio license and setting up a broadcast studio.  The books have been ordered.  (Update: I passed the test for my Amateur Radio Technician license on 11/14/2015!) I am KE0GSH.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Vous êtes Charlie

Les barbares sont à la porte.  

Get your act together Europe!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

2015 how did that happen!

I took out a 30-year mortgage on my first house in 1973. The term ran to 2003 and that seemed so far in the future and impossible to comprehend.

That was three states and six houses ago.

Now 2003 seems like the distant past and impossible to comprehend!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Confluence of Thoughts

I am still haunted by a mental image of two coeds that passed by me on an early morning walk to the football stadium in Iowa City a few years ago. They were wasted –obviously intoxicated from a binge that started at least the night before. Their eyes were bloodshot, with pupils dilated, set in sullen grey sockets on their slack faces as they stumbled down the street. I just saw another version of that look at a microbrewery on the south side of Des Moines.

A microbrewery is not a typical hang spot for me but I was there for a meeting. I am a principal of a local flying club and the current board president selected this location due to the extreme cold at the airport hangers.

There were about ten people in the large tasting room when I arrived for the meeting. During the hour-long meeting about ten drinkers left at random times while another ten arrived in almost perfect synchronicity.

All but one was male, all were about 25-35 years old and well dressed. It was the look in their eyes that reminded me of those wasted coeds from years ago. The drinkers look haunted and driven by an external force as they walked in, got their favorite beer and sat in small groups. There was very little conversation. The point of being there was to drink and feed the beast within them.

A prevention specialist with Prairie Ridge Addiction Treatment Services in Mason City, Iowa was recently quoted, “Overall, only a third of Iowa alcohol users consume 90 percent of the alcohol and the top 10 percent hammer down 10 drinks a day…The majority of alcohol is consumed problematically, consumed in high-risk fashion…The Centers for Disease Control says it costs Iowa $1.9 billion in medical bills, treatment, and law enforcement….We know how to prevent this. The will is not there.”

If alcohol was invented today it would be regulated by the FDA, not by state liquor commission and boards collecting taxes on the backs of people with a disease. The alcohol cartel would not be able to profit from exploiting such a debilitating disease.