Category Archives: Idle Ruminations

My new ride is a technology trip

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Jim

Buying a new car used to be an exhilarating experience: gleaming metal, that new-car smell and the sensation of commanding a more capable machine. I’m finding it a little more complicated. My first new car in 17 years is an … Continue reading →

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The old headquarters building

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Jim

They’re renovating the building where I spent most of my career. The former Illinois Bell Telephone headquarters in downtown Chicago was sold some years ago. It’s about to re-emerge as an updated office tower and just landed a law firm … Continue reading →

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Communicating during a strike

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Jim

In 1968 I celebrated Labor Day in the middle of a strike. I was hired by Illinois Bell Telephone’s public relations department when I got out of the Navy in April of that year, shortly after a five-month strike began. … Continue reading →

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The drama of the HOA

Posted on August 31, 2023 by Jim

I joined a growing trend three years ago when I sold my sprawling house in Albuquerque and built a smaller home in an active-adult community in nearby Los Lunas. Folks my age are living longer than previous generations and active-adult … Continue reading →

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The hidden promise of artificial intelligence

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Jim

Futurists and science-fiction writers have been warning us about artificial intelligence for years. Movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey advanced the notion that computers eventually will be smarter than we are and ultimately will take over. Open the pod bay doors, Hal. … Continue reading →

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St. Pat’s in the desert

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Jim

One of the few things I miss about my hometown of Chicago is St. Patrick’s Day. Even though my ancestry is Scottish and Hungarian, every Chicagoan is Irish on St Pat’s Day and that’s what makes it special.  Not that … Continue reading →

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January at the gym

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Jim

It’s the first week in January and I am delighted that the gym in my over-55 community is not crowded.  I’m not a big fitness buff, mind you. Fitness, yes; buff, hardly. I began hitting the gym regularly when the … Continue reading →

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Credibility is not rocket science

Posted on August 27, 2022 by Jim

I’ve been watching with bemusement as one American institution after another loses its credibility with the public. Fewer people believe much of what they hear from authority figures and I can’t blame them. I’m interested in this because I spent … Continue reading →

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Confessions of a recovering opinion pollster

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Jim

When I get curious about a controversial political issue (okay, that ‘s redundant) one of the first things I do is check the public opinion polls. That’s because I’m a recovering opinion pollster. One of the most satisfying jobs in my public … Continue reading →

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Watching history repeat

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Jim

I enjoy history, but the disadvantage of being a history buff is getting flashbacks to centuries past whenever I read the news. History repeats itself, often at the hands of people who failed to learn its lessons. Some current issues … Continue reading →

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