Bob and Debbie Conroy - Enjoying the Journey Together!

Les barbares sont à la porte.   Get your act together Europe!

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!

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 th...

Football is like a bad joke with fans (fans is short for fanatics) cheering for their surrogates to inflict brutality on others. Not far removed from the days of the Roman gladiators.  As always, follow the money. It is the advertising dollars spent by the alcohol cartel that provides the money and the spin to keep it going.

When you feel the sting of the whip on your back does it matter if the whip is held by management or labor?  I have worked for many styles of management and to name a few: benevolent, respectful, absent, incompetent and evil. Regardless of the type of management, the whip was in play. I was a union member (Retail Clerks Local 876 AFL-CIO) while working for a grocery chain in Michigan from 1969 -1976. This merely transferred some control of the whip handle from management to the union but the sting was the same. There was some else, that was at first subtle, but over time was undeniable. The union rules required that the individual submits to the will of the masses and that was always the lowest common denominator. Initiative and hard work was “busting rate” and overtly punished. This inherently impacts an individual’s self-esteem and eventually devalues them to the status of a mere cog to be controlled – and always with a whip. Now that I am self-employed I see that the whi...

Debbie and I had lunch at a coffee shop by the FAIR Plan office. It was not a Starbucks so I was curious if the customers were just as stereotypical as at a Starbucks. There were–just with less Apple products. Also nobody with thick-rimmed square-framed glasses holding tiny lenses with their hair pasted into a carefully created tousled look. There was the aging (65ish) male hippie with a very long braided ponytail of gray-silver hair. Every coffee shop in the world has one of these guys.  His companion appeared to be less hippie-like as she had dyed blond hair,  plenty of makeup and dressed “business casual”. They scarcely spoke as they sipped their coffee. A couple sat by a fireplace in separate armchairs in lieu of the more intimate sofa. I speculated they were on a first date. He had a loud voice that allowed anyone to listen in if so inclined. After hearing a few sentences it was apparent he was an “all about me” blowhard. He dominated their conversation and she made...

You are what you read and I like to read. Here is my list of my “must read again” books and authors: Atlas Shrugged , by Ayn Rand. In this fictional novel, Rand explains her philosophy of Objectivism. She describes a society collapsing as the government increasingly and ineffectively asserts control and the most productive citizens go on strike in protest. It is no longer fiction! The Source , by James Michener. This is historical fiction that traces the descendants of a family from prehistoric times to the 1960’s in what is now Israel.  A great insight into the birth of the many religions that started or matured in the region.  Battle Cry of Freedom , by James McPherson. There is no possible way to understand current American politics without a complete understanding of all aspects of the Civil War.  This is a comprehensive review of the events that led up to the war in a style similar to a modern day weekly news magazine but with the advantage of the passage of ti...