I was listening to an old On Being interview with Mary Oliver, the poet who died last week. In the interview, she advocated for everyone to have a spiritual life, that having a spiritual life is the perfect way to deepen and enhance the way a person interacts with the world. But I’m sure many people don’t know what that means. I sure didn’t. Does that mean we need to subscribe to religion?

There are people out there whose sole focus is to get you to love them. So they do things that they think will make you love them; they will ask about your life, the records you’ve been into, the food you like, the meaning of your life. And then there are people who want to inspire hatred toward themselves. They are the ones who troll, who post nasty comments on the YouTube channels of children.

+++ title = “01” date = 2019 +++ I was working on a consulting project last year in which one of the words used to describe our eventual work was “innovative”. I’ve always liked how that word sounds, but haven’t been able to always fully define it. Society likes it too, because it’s written everywhere in an attempt to make jobs sound more modern, or something. Wikipedia says innovation is a new method, idea, or product.

Today, I received a package in the mail that I’ve been waiting for since the new year started. I wasn’t quite sure when it would arrive, and I checked the mail incessantly. There was no tracking number or notification service letting me know when it would be out for delivery. Well, it arrived today. I nearly tackled the mailman. Inside of the package were four books, full of words that I’d already read… because I’d written them.

Escalators: stand to the right, walk to the left. Until someone forgets this unspoken and unposted rule, and stands jutting out a little bit into the left side of the moving stairs. It’s impolite, it breaks the norm… but then, the escalator is short, and the ride is only a few more seconds. Saying something to the esca-lefter would be assertive, but would save me about two extra seconds, at this point.