(466,1,'2010-06-08 17:38:00','2010-06-09 00:38:00','[caption id=\"attachment_462\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The stars at night ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0095.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-462\" title=\"DSC_0095\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0095-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n<em>\"There\'s no better place than Texas to start over.\"</em>\n<strong>-- JOHN CONNELLY</strong>\n\nWhen I came to Texas, I had been retired for more than two years, albeit somewhat involuntarily. But my career had lacked real meaning for years before that. I had been doing something I loved -- writing a regular column -- until 2001, but that had been taken away from me and I had been doing something since then that was really just work.\n\nBut ever since I arrived here in the Hill Country, things have been changing for me. Not only have I been losing weight and getting into shape, I have been undergoing an awakening of my spirit that I could never have predicted.\n\nNow I am no longer retired.\n\nNow I expect that for the remainder of my life, whether it be 10, 20 or 40 years or more, I will be doing work that comes directly from the heart and can truly make a difference in the world.\n\nI have been writing ferociously for a week, and for the last five days I have been podcasting as well. The podcasts are a way I can reach people who may respond more to a spoken message than to a written one, and starting tomorrow I\'m going to be doing two different kinds of podcasts a day.\n\nThe first will be a short one, one geared toward use in other media. This type will be one minute long, titled \"A Minute with Mike,\" and the idea will be that even a minute can make a big difference.\n\nThe second will be the ones I\'ve been doing so far, generally about five minutes in length. We\'ll be calling them \"Carpe Diem,\" although I was seriously considering \"Cave Canem\" as well. Nobody knows Latin anymore.\n\nThey\'ll all be found on my <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">One Voice</a> podcast site at Liberated Syndication. I hope you\'ll check them out and enjoy them.\n\nAnd even though they started here in Texas, where I started over, I promise they will continue after I return home to California.','Texas has been a great place to start again','','inherit','open','open','','463-revision-3','','','2010-06-08 17:38:00','2010-06-09 00:38:00','',463,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=466',0,'revision','',0),(467,1,'2010-06-09 13:11:28','2010-06-09 20:11:28','We hear a lot of talk these days about \"bucket lists.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember exactly where the term started, but I do recall there was a movie a few years back starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in which two oldsters decided they would knock off their bucket list before they died.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure the term comes from \"kicking the bucket,\" although right now I feel too lazy to look it up. Besides, if it doesn\'t, it should.\r\n\r\nMy wonderful daughter Pauline did a bucket list a few years ago, and it was a long one with plenty of things she wanted to accomplish, other things she wanted to experience and places she wanted to visit during the rest of what I hope will be a very long life. I was fascinated by her list, although I have never really gotten around to making one myself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_468\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bucket list baseball in Houston\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0087.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-468\" title=\"DSC_0087\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0087-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe closest thing I have myself is my baseball list, with my goal of seeing a game in every major league city. I\'ve written about that recently, so I don\'t feel the need to go into it too deeply again. I\'m knocking off Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Phoenix this summer, which is cool. The toughest remaining part will be the Northern swing through Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, and that will have to wait for another year.\r\n\r\nI still intend to learn to surf, and the fact that I\'m getting myself into shape this year will make that a great deal easier to pursue once I\'m back in California. I would like to take flying lessons, although that may be something I\'ll have to defer because of the risk involved.\r\n\r\nBut that sort of bucket list isn\'t what I\'m really looking for. That\'s full of things about <em>me</em> and for <em>me</em>. And while that\'s nice, I really do want to shift at least part of the focus to what I can do for <em>other</em> people.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->My friend Larry Pollard from <a title=\"All Voices\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com\" target=\"_self\">All Voices</a> makes trips to Jamaica and Haiti to help people both materially and spiritually. He lives in Georgia, and when Nicole and I move there next year, I\'m hoping we can get involved at least somewhat with something like that. I want to start doing regular volunteer work, and I think I would be happy if at least part of the work involved was physical labor.\r\n\r\nYes, I\'m (somewhat) old and (borderline) decrepit physically, but I am getting into better shape for the long haul, and when I wrote down an insight I received today, it was all about work.\r\n\r\n<em>\"If you want to understand your place in the world, start each day with some sort of physical labor.\"</em>\r\n\r\nWe are so out of balance -- most of us, anyway -- between our physical self and our mental self. My late grandfather spent most of his life working at blue-collar, laborer jobs, and he was strong and healthy into his eighties. In fact, he was repainting his house and re-shingling his roof on the far side of 75.\r\n\r\nHe didn\'t need to \"work out\" or go to a gym to keep from getting fat. His <em>workouts</em> were hard work.\r\n\r\nMy life has been almost exactly the opposite. I probably couldn\'t have painted a house or shingled a roof at age 25, let alone 75, but now I\'m getting up every morning at 6 a.m., getting dressed and shoveling horse manure in the pre-dawn light.\r\n\r\nAnd I\'ve never been happier with myself.\r\n\r\nGo figure.\r\n\r\nMaybe this is the beginning of a beautiful bucket list.','\'Bucket list\' about more than just fun things','','publish','open','open','','bucket-list-about-more-than-just-fun-things','','','2010-06-09 13:11:28','2010-06-09 20:11:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=467',0,'post','',0),(468,1,'2010-06-09 12:31:58','2010-06-09 19:31:58','','DSC_0087','Bucket list baseball in Houston','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0087','','','2010-06-09 12:31:58','2010-06-09 19:31:58','',467,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0087.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(469,1,'2010-06-09 13:10:03','2010-06-09 20:10:03','We hear a lot of talk these days about \"bucket lists.\"\n\nI don\'t remember exactly where the term started, but I do recall there was a movie a few years back starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in which two oldsters decided they would knock off their bucket list before they died.\n\nI\'m pretty sure the term comes from \"kicking the bucket,\" although right now I feel too lazy to look it up. Besides, if it doesn\'t, it should.\n\nMy wonderful daughter Pauline did a bucket list a few years ago, and it was a long one with plenty of things she wanted to accomplish, other things she wanted to experience and places she wanted to visit during the rest of what I hope will be a very long life. I was fascinated by her list, although I have never really gotten around to making one myself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_468\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bucket list baseball in Houston\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0087.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-468\" title=\"DSC_0087\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0087-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe closest thing I have myself is my baseball list, with my goal of seeing a game in every major league city. I\'ve written about that recently, so I don\'t feel the need to go into it too deeply again. I\'m knocking off Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Phoenix this summer, which is cool. The toughest remaining part will be the Northern swing through Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, and that will have to wait for another year.\n\nI still intend to learn to surf, and the fact that I\'m getting myself into shape this year will make that a great deal easier to pursue once I\'m back in California. I would like to take flying lessons, although that may be something I\'ll have to defer because of the risk involved.\n\nBut that sort of bucket list isn\'t what I\'m really looking for. That\'s full of things about <em>me</em> and for <em>me</em>. And while that\'s nice, I really do want to shift at least part of the focus to what I can do for <em>other</em> people.\n\nMy friend Larry Pollard from <a title=\"All Voices\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com\" target=\"_self\">All Voices</a> makes trips to Jamaica and Haiti to help people both materially and spiritually. He lives in Georgia, and when Nicole and I move there next year, I\'m hoping we can get involved at least somewhat with something like that. I want to start doing regular volunteer work, and I think I would be happy if at least part of the work involved was physical labor.\n\nYes, I\'m (somewhat) old and (borderline) decrepit physically, but I am getting into better shape for the long haul, and when I wrote down an insight I received today, it was all about work.\n\n<em>\"If you want to understand your place in the world, start each day with some sort of physical labor.\"</em>\n\nWe are so out of balance -- most of us, anyway -- between our physical self and our mental self. My late grandfather spent most of his life working at blue-collar, laborer jobs, and he was strong and healthy into his eighties. In fact, he was repainting his house and re-shingling his roof on the far side of 75.\n\nHe didn\'t need to \"work out\" or go to a gym to keep from getting fat. His <em>workouts</em> were hard work.\n\nMy life has been almost exactly the opposite. I probably couldn\'t have painted a house or shingled a roof at age 25, let alone 75, but now I\'m getting up every morning at 6 a.m., getting dressed and shoveling horse manure in the pre-dawn light.\n\nAnd I\'ve never been happier with myself.\n\nGo figure.\n\nMaybe this is the beginning of a beautiful bucket list.','','','inherit','open','open','','467-revision','','','2010-06-09 13:10:03','2010-06-09 20:10:03','',467,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=469',0,'revision','',0),(470,1,'2010-06-10 11:04:43','2010-06-10 18:04:43','I used to hate to walk.\r\n\r\nI always figured if the Good Lord had intended for us to walk, he wouldn\'t have given us the \'69 Camaro. If I walked somewhere, it was because my car had broken down or there weren\'t any roads.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Roads? Where we\'re going, we don\'t need roads!\"</em>\r\n\r\nSorry, I was channeling Doc Brown there for a second or two. I think you get the point. I didn\'t like walking, and dressing it up by calling it hiking or power walking didn\'t make it any more attractive to me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_471\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Beginning and finish line\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-471\" title=\"Texas 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut all that has changed here in South Texas.\r\n\r\nI have been hiking nearly every day, and my hikes are getting longer. Whether it\'s my back or whatever other possible reason, I\'m still having trouble with hikes that require a lot of climbing and/or descending.\r\n\r\nSo I\'ve mapped out my own daily hike along the road into Hill Country State Natural Area. The route I have been doing is about four miles, but after today\'s hike, I measured and expanded it with my car so that the next time I do it, it will be about 5 1/4 miles.\r\n\r\nI start in from the main gate, and as you can see, there is a small descent. And since what goes down must come up -- not always true, but here it is -- it means that the toughest part for me is right at the end, where for the last several hundred yards, I find myself walking up a small incline.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->I walk down the road and into the park, and when I reach the halfway point, it\'s marked off by a gate at the end of this particular trail.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_472\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The halfway point ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-012.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-472\" title=\"Texas 012\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-012-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThat\'s where I stop for a few seconds, take out my water bottle and drink. I usually feel at this point like pouring some of the water over my head, but I\'m a little reluctant to do that since I might short out my earphones that have been feeding the best of my iPod to me and keeping me going.\r\n\r\nThe iPod is one of three non-hike-related items I always carry with me. I\'ve got it loaded with music and comedy routines, as well as six or seven audio books, so that I can listen to whatever I want.\r\n\r\nI actually don\'t choose. I set it on Shuffle, and I promise myself I\'m going to listen to whatever comes up. That often means the Beach Boys\' \"God Only Knows\" is followed by Dave Attell making dick jokes and then something from the soundtrack of \"Miss Saigon.\"\r\n\r\nYes, I even have some show tunes on my iPod.\r\n\r\nWhen I\'m about a third of the way back -- two thirds of the way through my hike when it\'s four miles -- I stop and take my only real break.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_473\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Time for a break\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-473\" title=\"Texas 011\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-011-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBandera Creek is a really nice place to sit for a few minutes and eat my mid-morning snack, which usually consists of either a low-far cheese stick or some sort of energy bar.\r\n\r\nToday it was a Clif mini-bar, crunchy peanut butter, 100 calories. I sat there for 10 minutes and made it last as long as a three-course meal. It\'s amazing how much more enjoyment can be gained from food when you eat it slowly and take very small bites.\r\n\r\nCreekside is where the other two things I always bring along on my hikes usually come into play. My little Moleskine notebook, which I labeled \"Truths: Volume 1,\" always comes out of my pocket at this point, and I jot down the thoughts that have been coming to me all through the hike.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the best part of it. Even though my iPod is supplying a soundtrack directly into my head, being out in nature and not talking at all seems to open my mind to inspiration. The notebook gives me a chance to make sure I write it all down.\r\n\r\nSome days I use my third item, but I didn\'t today. It\'s my pocket size digital voice recorder, on which I\'ve been making the twice-daily <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">podcasts</a> I have been posting at Liberated Syndication. The one-minute \"A Minute With Mike\" podcasts and the five-minute \"Carpe Diem\" ones aren\'t always made there, but they are usually inspired by some of the thoughts I jot down as I sit by the creek and watch the water run.\r\n\r\nThen I get up and complete my walk, which between four miles and the break has been coming in at about an hour and 40 minutes. Once I add that extra 1 1/4 miles, it\'ll go past two hours.\r\n\r\nI\'m starting to realize it\'s the most essential two hours of the day for me, both here Deep in the Heart or wherever I will be spending the rest of my life.','Long and winding road is a wonderful hike','','publish','open','open','','long-and-winding-road-is-a-wonderful-hike','','','2010-06-10 11:04:43','2010-06-10 18:04:43','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=470',0,'post','',0),(471,1,'2010-06-10 09:58:32','2010-06-10 16:58:32','','Texas 009','Beginning and finish line','inherit','open','open','','texas-009','','','2010-06-10 09:58:32','2010-06-10 16:58:32','',470,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(472,1,'2010-06-10 10:25:27','2010-06-10 17:25:27','','Texas 012','The halfway point ...','inherit','open','open','','texas-012','','','2010-06-10 10:25:27','2010-06-10 17:25:27','',470,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-012.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(473,1,'2010-06-10 10:41:07','2010-06-10 17:41:07','','Texas 011','Time for a break','inherit','open','open','','texas-011','','','2010-06-10 10:41:07','2010-06-10 17:41:07','',470,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-011.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(474,1,'2010-06-10 11:04:16','2010-06-10 18:04:16','I used to hate to walk.\n\nI always figured if the Good Lord had intended for us to walk, he wouldn\'t have given us the \'69 Camaro. If I walked somewhere, it was because my car had broken down or there weren\'t any roads.\n\n<em>\"Roads? Where we\'re going, we don\'t need roads!\"</em>\n\nSorry, I was channeling Doc Brown there for a second or two. I think you get the point. I didn\'t like walking, and dressing it up by calling it hiking or power walking didn\'t make it any more attractive to me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_471\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Beginning and finish line\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-471\" title=\"Texas 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut all that has changed here in South Texas.\n\nI have been hiking nearly every day, and my hikes are getting longer. Whether it\'s my back or whatever other possible reason, I\'m still having trouble with hikes that require a lot of climbing and/or descending.\n\nSo I\'ve mapped out my own daily hike along the road into Hill Country State Natural Area. The route I have been doing is about four miles, but after today\'s hike, I measured and expanded it with my car so that the next time I do it, it will be about 5 1/4 miles.\n\nI start in from the main gate, and as you can see, there is a small descent. And since what goes down must come up -- not always true, but here it is -- it means that the toughest part for me is right at the end, where for the last several hundred yards, I find myself walking up a small incline.\n\n<!--more-->I walk down the road and into the park, and when I reach the halfway point, it\'s marked off by a gate at the end of this particular trail.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_472\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The halfway point ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-012.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-472\" title=\"Texas 012\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-012-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThat\'s where I stop for a few seconds, take out my water bottle and drink. I usually feel at this point like pouring some of the water over my head, but I\'m a little reluctant to do that since I might short out my earphones that have been feeding the best of my iPod to me and keeping me going.\n\nThe iPod is one of three non-hike-related items I always carry with me. I\'ve got it loaded with music and comedy routines, as well as six or seven audio books, so that I can listen to whatever I want.\n\nI actually don\'t choose. I set it on Shuffle, and I promise myself I\'m going to listen to whatever comes up. That often means the Beach Boys\' \"God Only Knows\" is followed by Dave Attell making dick jokes and then something from the soundtrack of \"Miss Saigon.\"\n\nYes, I even have some show tunes on my iPod.\n\nWhen I\'m about a third of the way back -- two thirds of the way through my hike when it\'s four miles -- I stop and take my only real break.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_473\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Time for a break\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-473\" title=\"Texas 011\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-011-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBandera Creek is a really nice place to sit for a few minutes and eat my mid-morning snack, which usually consists of either a low-far cheese stick or some sort of energy bar.\n\nToday it was a Clif mini-bar, crunchy peanut butter, 100 calories. I sat there for 10 minutes and made it last as long as a three-course meal. It\'s amazing how much more enjoyment can be gained from food when you eat it slowly and take very small bites.\n\nCreekside is where the other two things I always bring along on my hikes usually come into play. My little Moleskine notebook, which I labeled \"Truths: Volume 1,\" always comes out of my pocket at this point, and I jot down the thoughts that have been coming to me all through the hike.\n\nThat\'s the best part of it. Even though my iPod is supplying a soundtrack directly into my head, being out in nature and not talking at all seems to open my mind to inspiration. The notebook gives me a chance to make sure I write it all down.\n\nSome days I use my third item, but I didn\'t today. It\'s my pocket size digital voice recorder, on which I\'ve been making the twice-daily <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">podcasts</a> I have been posting at Liberated Syndication. The one-minute \"A Minute With Mike\" podcasts and the five-minute \"Carpe Diem\" ones aren\'t always made there, but they are usually inspired by some of the thoughts I jot down as I sit by the creek and watch the water run.\n\nThen I get up and complete my walk, which between four miles and the break has been coming in at about an hour and 40 minutes. Once I add that extra 1 1/4 miles, it\'ll go past two hours.\n\nI\'m starting to realize it\'s the most essential two hours of the day for me, both here Deep in the Heart or wherever I will be spending the rest of my life.','','','inherit','open','open','','470-revision','','','2010-06-10 11:04:16','2010-06-10 18:04:16','',470,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=474',0,'revision','',0),(475,1,'2010-06-11 16:05:51','2010-06-11 23:05:51','I\'m afraid I may have crossed over the line from pleasantly aging to crazy old coot today, and I have a feeling it might have happened all at once.\r\n\r\nWe had been visiting Garner State Park in Uvalde County -- one of my very favorite Texas destinations so far -- for a hike, and we were gathering our stuff together to return to the ranch. I found my little notebook, my voice recorder, my iPod, my camera, my water bottle and my jacket, but for the life of me, I couldn\'t find my glasses.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_477\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Brautiful Garner State Park\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-477\" title=\"srl1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"166\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had taken them off earlier, and I was pretty sure I had put them on the dashboard. I looked there and couldn\'t find them, so I checked to see if they had slipped to the floor. They hadn\'t, so I searched my jacket pockets to no avail.\r\n\r\nI walked over to the picnic table and looked around, and I walked the area gingerly in case they had fallen onto the ground.\r\n\r\n\"I guess they\'re gone,\" I said.\r\n\r\nNot great, but no big deal. The glasses I had lost were my <em>old</em> driving glasses, which I have continued to wear since getting the new ones because the photo-gray \"sunglass\" feature is much better on the old ones.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->I figured losing the glasses might have been God\'s way of telling me it was time to start wearing the newer ones, which I had brought with me to Texas and left in my trailer back at the ranch. Since I was a passenger in the van and not the driver, I could easily function without my glasses for an hour.\r\n\r\nSo we started back to the ranch. I wasn\'t thrilled I had lost my glasses, but I certainly wasn\'t going to let it bother me.\r\n\r\nHalfway back, I realized something. To put it bluntly, I realized that I was a total moron.\r\n\r\nI was wearing my glasses. I had been wearing my glasses the entire time I had been looking for them.\r\n\r\nNot on the top of my head. Not perched on my forehead.\r\n\r\nI had been wearing them in the exact way glasses are meant to be worn, and the entire time I was looking for them, my vision was better because I had them on. The folks I was with were surprised because they thought the pair I had been searching vainly for was a second pair, not the pair I was obviously wearing.\r\n\r\nOops.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_478\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"101\" caption=\"Gabby Hayes\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-478\" title=\"phpUux931\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"101\" height=\"125\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had officially become a crazy old coot, the sort of guy who yammers on and on and makes no sense at all.\r\n\r\nIt reminded me of Bob Greene\'s wonderful book, <a title=\"The 50-Year Dash\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/50-Year-Dash-Bob-Greene/dp/0385493010\" target=\"_self\">\"The 50-Year Dash,\" </a>in which he wrote of the difference between how we view ourselves and how our younger co-workers view us once we turn 50.\r\n\r\nGreene said that while the average 50-year-old may look in the mirror and see Harrison Ford or Tom Selleck looking back at him, his 25-year-old co-worker is looking at him and seeing <a title=\"Gabby Hayes\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_%22Gabby%22_Hayes\" target=\"_self\">Gabby Hayes</a>.\r\n\r\nIt has been a while since I was 50, but as I have been losing weight and getting into shape the last six weeks, I have started to enjoy my reflection in the mirror a little more.\r\n\r\nNot anymore.\r\n\r\nAfter what happened today, I\'ll look at myself in the mirror and expect the guy looking back at me to start spouting off:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Consarn it, Hoppy.\"</em>','Slipping over the edge into \'old coot\' territory','','publish','open','open','','slipping-over-the-edge-into-old-coot','','','2010-06-11 16:06:30','2010-06-11 23:06:30','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=475',0,'post','',1),(476,1,'2010-06-11 15:42:58','2010-06-11 22:42:58','','phpUux931','','inherit','open','open','','phpuux931','','','2010-06-11 15:42:58','2010-06-11 22:42:58','',475,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux931.jpeg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(477,1,'2010-06-11 15:43:42','2010-06-11 22:43:42','','srl1','Brautiful Garner State Park','inherit','open','open','','srl1','','','2010-06-11 15:43:42','2010-06-11 22:43:42','',475,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(478,1,'2010-06-11 15:54:14','2010-06-11 22:54:14','','phpUux931','Gabby Hayes','inherit','open','open','','phpuux931-2','','','2010-06-11 15:54:14','2010-06-11 22:54:14','',475,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(479,1,'2010-06-11 16:05:50','2010-06-11 23:05:50','I\'m afraid I may have crossed over the line from pleasantly aging to crazy old coot today, and I have a feeling it might have happened all at once.\n\nWe had been visiting Garner State Park in Uvalde County -- one of my very favorite Texas destinations so far -- for a hike, and we were gathering our stuff together to return to the ranch. I found my little notebook, my voice recorder, my iPod, my camera, my water bottle and my jacket, but for the life of me, I couldn\'t find my glasses.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_477\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Brautiful Garner State Park\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-477\" title=\"srl1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"166\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI had taken them off earlier, and I was pretty sure I had put them on the dashboard. I looked there and couldn\'t find them, so I checked to see if they had slipped to the floor. They hadn\'t, so I searched my jacket pockets to no avail.\n\nI walked over to the picnic table and looked around, and I walked the area gingerly in case they had fallen onto the ground.\n\n\"I guess they\'re gone,\" I said.\n\nNot great, but no big deal. The glasses I had lost were my <em>old</em> driving glasses, which I have continued to wear since getting the new ones because the photo-gray \"sunglass\" feature is much better on the old ones.\n\n<!--more-->I figured losing the glasses might have been God\'s way of telling me it was time to start wearing the newer ones, which I had brought with me to Texas and left in my trailer back at the ranch. Since I was a passenger in the van and not the driver, I could easily function without my glasses for an hour.\n\nSo we started back to the ranch. I wasn\'t thrilled I had lost my glasses, but I certainly wasn\'t going to let it bother me.\n\nHalfway back, I realized something. To put it bluntly, I realized that I was a total moron.\n\nI was wearing my glasses. I had been wearing my glasses the entire time I had been looking for them.\n\nNot on the top of my head. Not perched on my forehead.\n\nI had been wearing them in the exact way glasses are meant to be worn, and the entire time I was looking for them, my vision was better because I had them on. The folks I was with were surprised because they thought the pair I had been searching vainly for was a second pair, not the pair I was obviously wearing.\n\nOops.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_478\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"101\" caption=\"Gabby Hayes\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-478\" title=\"phpUux931\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"101\" height=\"125\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI had officially become a crazy old coot, the sort of guy who yammers on and on and makes no sense at all.\n\nIt reminded me of Bob Greene\'s wonderful book, <a title=\"The 50-Year Dash\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/50-Year-Dash-Bob-Greene/dp/0385493010\" target=\"_self\">\"The 50-Year Dash,\" </a>in which he wrote of the difference between how we view ourselves and how our younger co-workers view us once we turn 50.\n\nGreene said that while the average 50-year-old may look in the mirror and see Harrison Ford or Tom Selleck looking back at him, his 25-year-old co-worker is looking at him and seeing <a title=\"Gabby Hayes\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_%22Gabby%22_Hayes\" target=\"_self\">Gabby Hayes</a>.\n\nIt has been a while since I was 50, but as I have been losing weight and getting into shape the last six weeks, I have started to enjoy my reflection in the mirror a little more.\n\nNot anymore.\n\nAfter what happened today, I\'ll look at myself in the mirror and expect the guy looking back at me to start spouting off:\n\n<em>\"Consarn it, Hoppy.\"</em>','Slipping over the edge into \'old coot\'','','inherit','open','open','','475-revision','','','2010-06-11 16:05:50','2010-06-11 23:05:50','',475,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=479',0,'revision','',0),(480,1,'2010-06-11 16:05:51','2010-06-11 23:05:51','I\'m afraid I may have crossed over the line from pleasantly aging to crazy old coot today, and I have a feeling it might have happened all at once.\r\n\r\nWe had been visiting Garner State Park in Uvalde County -- one of my very favorite Texas destinations so far -- for a hike, and we were gathering our stuff together to return to the ranch. I found my little notebook, my voice recorder, my iPod, my camera, my water bottle and my jacket, but for the life of me, I couldn\'t find my glasses.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_477\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Brautiful Garner State Park\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-477\" title=\"srl1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/srl1-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"166\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had taken them off earlier, and I was pretty sure I had put them on the dashboard. I looked there and couldn\'t find them, so I checked to see if they had slipped to the floor. They hadn\'t, so I searched my jacket pockets to no avail.\r\n\r\nI walked over to the picnic table and looked around, and I walked the area gingerly in case they had fallen onto the ground.\r\n\r\n\"I guess they\'re gone,\" I said.\r\n\r\nNot great, but no big deal. The glasses I had lost were my <em>old</em> driving glasses, which I have continued to wear since getting the new ones because the photo-gray \"sunglass\" feature is much better on the old ones.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->I figured losing the glasses might have been God\'s way of telling me it was time to start wearing the newer ones, which I had brought with me to Texas and left in my trailer back at the ranch. Since I was a passenger in the van and not the driver, I could easily function without my glasses for an hour.\r\n\r\nSo we started back to the ranch. I wasn\'t thrilled I had lost my glasses, but I certainly wasn\'t going to let it bother me.\r\n\r\nHalfway back, I realized something. To put it bluntly, I realized that I was a total moron.\r\n\r\nI was wearing my glasses. I had been wearing my glasses the entire time I had been looking for them.\r\n\r\nNot on the top of my head. Not perched on my forehead.\r\n\r\nI had been wearing them in the exact way glasses are meant to be worn, and the entire time I was looking for them, my vision was better because I had them on. The folks I was with were surprised because they thought the pair I had been searching vainly for was a second pair, not the pair I was obviously wearing.\r\n\r\nOops.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_478\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"101\" caption=\"Gabby Hayes\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-478\" title=\"phpUux931\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/phpUux9311.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"101\" height=\"125\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had officially become a crazy old coot, the sort of guy who yammers on and on and makes no sense at all.\r\n\r\nIt reminded me of Bob Greene\'s wonderful book, <a title=\"The 50-Year Dash\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/50-Year-Dash-Bob-Greene/dp/0385493010\" target=\"_self\">\"The 50-Year Dash,\" </a>in which he wrote of the difference between how we view ourselves and how our younger co-workers view us once we turn 50.\r\n\r\nGreene said that while the average 50-year-old may look in the mirror and see Harrison Ford or Tom Selleck looking back at him, his 25-year-old co-worker is looking at him and seeing <a title=\"Gabby Hayes\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_%22Gabby%22_Hayes\" target=\"_self\">Gabby Hayes</a>.\r\n\r\nIt has been a while since I was 50, but as I have been losing weight and getting into shape the last six weeks, I have started to enjoy my reflection in the mirror a little more.\r\n\r\nNot anymore.\r\n\r\nAfter what happened today, I\'ll look at myself in the mirror and expect the guy looking back at me to start spouting off:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Consarn it, Hoppy.\"</em>','Slipping over the edge into \'old coot\'','','inherit','open','open','','475-revision-2','','','2010-06-11 16:05:51','2010-06-11 23:05:51','',475,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=480',0,'revision','',0),(481,1,'2010-06-12 17:28:55','2010-06-13 00:28:55','If there\'s one thing I have been learning recently, it is that people usually tend to live up or down to the expectations we have of them.\r\n\r\nIf there\'s a better argument than that for treating people well, I can\'t imagine what it is.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_483\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lovely South Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-483\" title=\"Texas 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor the last 10 days, here in the beauty of the South Texas countryside, I have been reacting to other people on a more positive level than ever before in my life. When I\'m out hiking, I wave and smile to everyone I encounter. When there\'s the possibility for any sort of conversation, I take it and make the most of it. When my encounter ends, I have invariably been urging them to \"have a wonderful day.\"\r\n\r\nI can tell you right now.\r\n\r\nIt works.\r\n\r\nMore people have been smiling at me, acting happy and pleasant around me and just being upbeat in general than I have ever seen before. I haven\'t had much chance to use these new feelings with the people I know best, because I haven\'t been interacting with them much from here in South Texas. But in the chances I have had, I know I have surprised some of them.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nStrangely, it reminded me of an encounter I had three years ago at my 40th high school reunion. My wife and I were talking with the lovely Dale Morgan, who has been the person who has held our class together through all the years. Nicole and Dale were looking at a picture of me from 1967.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_482\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hot or not? 1967\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/me.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-482\" title=\"me\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/me-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s this picture here, and when I saw it for the first time in nearly 40 years, I had two reactions. The first one was, \"Boy, was I skinny.\" And the second was, \"Hey, I didn\'t look as bad as I always thought I did.\"\r\n\r\nDale\'s reaction, and I think she was mostly being nice since she was talking to my wife, was, \"He was hot.\"\r\n\r\nI laughed when I heard that, and mentioned how none of the beautiful girls from our class had gone on even one single date with me.\r\n\r\nHer answer was only three words. \"You never asked.\"\r\n\r\nSadly, the answer would have been no if I had asked most of them, because I would have asked in such a way that made it very clear I was a pathetic, needy, unconfident dweeb.\r\n\r\nIf I had been different then, if I had been the person I am now, I\'m sure I would have gotten some different answers. When you are confident in yourself, outgoing, friendly and genuinely interested in the other person as a person, you get more of a positive response from them.\r\n\r\nIf only it didn\'t work both ways. I was so genuinely <em>bad</em> in most of my personal relationships when I was younger that it was a wonder I had any friends at all. I used sarcasm and putdowns to make myself feel better at the expense of others, and it isn\'t as if it went unnoticed. The wives of my two closest friends in the world both pointed out to me at one time or another than I could be sort of an asshole when I wasn\'t careful.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why I was always suspicious of George W. Bush. Once I heard that he loved to give demeaning little nicknames to people, I know something about him that I didn\'t like. That\'s how people like Bush -- and like me -- made themselves feel better, by putting other people down.\r\n\r\nBut there\'s more to the expectations thing.\r\n\r\nI treated my first wife like a slut, encouraging her weaknesses, so she acted like one. Even with my second wife, who I love very much, I treated her as someone who was weak and who needed my help, so she became weak.\r\n\r\nNow that I\'m in Texas and we\'ve been apart for the last six weeks, Nicole is seeing once again what a strong, capable person she is. I believe -- and certainly hope -- that in the long run, our marriage will be stronger for it.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really pretty simple.\r\n\r\nTreating people well -- and expecting the best of them -- is really the only way to live.','People live up -- or down -- to our expectations','','publish','open','open','','people-live-up-or-down-to-our-expectations','','','2010-06-12 17:28:55','2010-06-13 00:28:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=481',0,'post','',1),(482,1,'2010-06-12 17:06:27','2010-06-13 00:06:27','','me','Hot or not? 1967','inherit','open','open','','me','','','2010-06-12 17:06:27','2010-06-13 00:06:27','',481,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/me.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(483,1,'2010-06-12 17:20:31','2010-06-13 00:20:31','','Texas 004','Lovely South Texas','inherit','open','open','','texas-004','','','2010-06-12 17:20:31','2010-06-13 00:20:31','',481,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-004.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(484,1,'2010-06-12 17:28:15','2010-06-13 00:28:15','If there\'s one thing I have been learning recently, it is that people usually tend to live up or down to the expectations we have of them.\n\nIf there\'s a better argument than that for treating people well, I can\'t imagine what it is.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_483\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lovely South Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-483\" title=\"Texas 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor the last 10 days, here in the beauty of the South Texas countryside, I have been reacting to other people on a more positive level than ever before in my life. When I\'m out hiking, I wave and smile to everyone I encounter. When there\'s the possibility for any sort of conversation, I take it and make the most of it. When my encounter ends, I have invariably been urging them to \"have a wonderful day.\"\n\nI can tell you right now.\n\nIt works.\n\nMore people have been smiling at me, acting happy and pleasant around me and just being upbeat in general than I have ever seen before. I haven\'t had much chance to use these new feelings with the people I know best, because I haven\'t been interacting with them much from here in South Texas. But in the chances I have had, I know I have surprised some of them.\n\nStrangely, it reminded me of an encounter I had three years ago at my 40th high school reunion. My wife and I were talking with the lovely Dale Morgan, who has been the person who has held our class together through all the years. Nicole and Dale were looking at a picture of me from 1967.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_482\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hot or not? 1967\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/me.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-482\" title=\"me\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/me-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s this picture here, and when I saw it for the first time in nearly 40 years, I had two reactions. The first one was, \"Boy, was I skinny.\" And the second was, \"Hey, I didn\'t look as bad as I always thought I did.\"\n\nDale\'s reaction, and I think she was mostly being nice since she was talking to my wife, was, \"He was hot.\"\n\nI laughed when I heard that, and mentioned how none of the beautiful girls from our class had gone on even one single date with me.\n\nHer answer was only three words. \"You never asked.\"\n\nSadly, the answer would have been no if I had asked most of them, because I would have asked in such a way that made it very clear I was a pathetic, needy, unconfident dweeb.\n\nIf I had been different then, if I had been the person I am now, I\'m sure I would have gotten some different answers. When you are confident in yourself, outgoing, friendly and genuinely interested in the other person as a person, you get more of a positive response from them.\n\nIf only it didn\'t work both ways. I was so genuinely <em>bad</em> in most of my personal relationships when I was younger that it was a wonder I had any friends at all. I used sarcasm and putdowns to make myself feel better at the expense of others, and it isn\'t as if it went unnoticed. The wives of my two closest friends in the world both pointed out to me at one time or another than I could be sort of an asshole when I wasn\'t careful.\n\nThat\'s why I was always suspicious of George W. Bush. Once I heard that he loved to give demeaning little nicknames to people, I know something about him that I didn\'t like. That\'s how people like Bush -- and like me -- made themselves feel better, by putting other people down.\n\nBut there\'s more to the expectations thing.\n\nI treated my first wife like a slut, encouraging her weaknesses, so she acted like one. Even with my second wife, who I love very much, I treated her as someone who was weak and who needed my help, so she became weak.\n\nNow that I\'m in Texas and we\'ve been apart for the last six weeks, Nicole is seeing once again what a strong, capable person she is. I believe -- and certainly hope -- that in the long run, our marriage will be stronger for it.\n\nIt\'s really pretty simple.\n\nTreating people well -- and expecting the best of them -- is really the only way to live.','','','inherit','open','open','','481-revision','','','2010-06-12 17:28:15','2010-06-13 00:28:15','',481,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=484',0,'revision','',0),(485,1,'2010-06-13 08:21:07','2010-06-13 15:21:07','It is completely amazing to feel good <em>all</em> the time, as I have for the last 11 days.\r\n\r\nI certainly don\'t mean physically, although even that is improving rapidly. A month ago, I couldn\'t hike three miles without feeling exhausted. Now I\'m doing 5 1/4 miles early in the morning and feeling great (with a couple of minor exceptions). I have started carrying a tube of Ben-Gay along on my hike, and when I stop on the way back for my snack and some thinking, I rub it on my left oblique until I can feel it burning.\r\n\r\nMy left side is a lot weaker than my right, and if that big muscle doesn\'t stop barking sooner or later, I might have it surgically removed. Then there\'s my left Achilles tendon, which is never going to be completely normal again.\r\n\r\nBut even when I hurt, it doesn\'t bother me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_471\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Beginning and finish line\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-471\" title=\"Texas 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThere are at least five or six places I could cut my hike short, but I don\'t do it. I don\'t hike just for the hiking, and cutting it short would cheat me out of all the other benefits of it -- the thinking, the creativity and especially the closeness to God and nature.\r\n\r\nThis morning I was feeling particularly good, and I was thinking about how wonderful this summer has been for me. The chance to step outside my life, as it were, and fix the things that were wrong.\r\n\r\nI owe so much to my wife for her willingness to let me do this. Nicole is my joy, and the fact that we are able to spend this time about without worrying whether we will still love each other when I return home has worked wonders for me.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nWhen I pray, as I do most mornings, I always start with the same line:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Dear Lord, thank you for my life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAnd today I ended with a different line:\r\n\r\n<em>\"And thank you for the most wonderful summer of my life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAs I walked up the final hill at the end of my 5 1/4 miles, the music from the shuffle in my iPod was really terrific. First was Sarah Brightman\'s soaring rendition of \"Time to Say Goodbye,\" and as I crested the hill and saw my car a couple of hundred feet off, Waylon and Willie went into \"Good Hearted Woman.\"\r\n\r\nThe serendipity was enough to make me laugh.','When every day is a good day, life is amazing','','publish','open','open','','when-every-day-is-a-good-day-life-is-amazing','','','2010-06-13 08:21:32','2010-06-13 15:21:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=485',0,'post','',0),(486,1,'2010-06-13 08:20:36','2010-06-13 15:20:36','It is completely amazing to feel good <em>all</em> the time, as I have for the last 11 days.\n\nI certainly don\'t mean physically, although even that is improving rapidly. A month ago, I couldn\'t hike three miles without feeling exhausted. Now I\'m doing 5 1/4 miles early in the morning and feeling great (with a couple of minor exceptions). I have started carrying a tube of Ben-Gay along on my hike, and when I stop on the way back for my snack and some thinking, I rub it on my left oblique until I can feel it burning.\n\nMy left side is a lot weaker than my right, and if that big muscle doesn\'t stop barking sooner or later, I might have it surgically removed. Then there\'s my left Achilles tendon, which is never going to be completely normal again.\n\nBut even when I hurt, it doesn\'t bother me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_471\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Beginning and finish line\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-471\" title=\"Texas 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere are at least five or six places I could cut my hike short, but I don\'t do it. I don\'t hike just for the hiking, and cutting it short would cheat me out of all the other benefits of it -- the thinking, the creativity and especially the closeness to God and nature.\n\nThis morning I was feeling particularly good, and I was thinking about how wonderful this summer has been for me. The chance to step outside my life, as it were, and fix the things that were wrong.\n\nI owe so much to my wife for her willingness to let me do this. Nicole is my joy, and the fact that we are able to spend this time about without worrying whether we will still love each other when I return home has worked wonders for me.\n\nWhen I pray, as I do most mornings, I always start with the same line:\n\n<em>\"Dear Lord, thank you for my life.\"</em>\n\nAnd today I ended with a different line:\n\n<em>\"And thank you for the most wonderful summer of my life.\"</em>\n\nAs I walked up the final hill at the end of my 5 1/4 miles, the music from the shuffle in my iPod was really terrific. First was Sarah Brightman\'s soaring rendition of \"Time to Say Goodbye,\" and as I crested the hill and saw my car a couple of hundred feet off, Waylon and Willie went into \"Good Hearted Woman.\"\n\nThe serendipity was enough to make me laugh.','','','inherit','open','open','','485-revision','','','2010-06-13 08:20:36','2010-06-13 15:20:36','',485,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=486',0,'revision','',0),(487,1,'2010-06-13 08:21:07','2010-06-13 15:21:07','It is completely amazing to feel good <em>all</em> the time, as I have for the last 11 days.\r\n\r\nI certainly don\'t mean physically, although even that is improving rapidly. A month ago, I couldn\'t hike three miles without feeling exhausted. Now I\'m doing 5 1/4 miles early in the morning and feeling great (with a couple of minor exceptions). I have started carrying a tube of Ben-Gay along on my hike, and when I stop on the way back for my snack and some thinking, I rub it on my left oblique until I can feel it burning.\r\n\r\nMy left side is a lot weaker than my right, and if that big muscle doesn\'t stop barking sooner or later, I might have it surgically removed. Then there\'s my left Achilles tendon, which is never going to be completely normal again.\r\n\r\nBut even when I hurt, it doesn\'t bother me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_471\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Beginning and finish line\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-471\" title=\"Texas 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThere are at least five or six places I could cut my hike short, but I don\'t do it. I don\'t hike just for the hiking, and cutting it short would cheat me out of all the other benefits of it -- the thinking, the creativity and especially the closeness to God and nature.\r\n\r\nThis morning I was feeling particularly good, and I was thinking about how wonderful this summer has been for me. The chance to step outside my life, as it were, and fix the things that were wrong.\r\n\r\nI owe so much to my wife for her willingness to let me do this. Nicole is my joy, and the fact that we are able to spend this time about without worrying whether we will still love each other when I return home has worked wonders for me.\r\n\r\nWhen I pray, as I do most mornings, I always start with the same line:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Dear Lord, thank you for my life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAnd today I ended with a different line:\r\n\r\n<em>\"And thank you for the most wonderful summer of my life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAs I walked up the final hill at the end of my 5 1/4 miles, the music from the shuffle in my iPod was really terrific. First was Sarah Brightman\'s soaring rendition of \"Time to Say Goodbye,\" and as I crested the hill and saw my car a couple of hundred feet off, Waylon and Willie went into \"Good Hearted Woman.\"\r\n\r\nThe serendipity was enough to make me laugh.','When every day is a good day, life is amazing','','inherit','open','open','','485-revision-2','','','2010-06-13 08:21:07','2010-06-13 15:21:07','',485,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=487',0,'revision','',0),(488,1,'2010-06-15 16:05:17','2010-06-15 23:05:17','','values_sm_1','Values','inherit','open','open','','values_sm_1','','','2010-06-15 16:05:17','2010-06-15 23:05:17','',489,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/values_sm_1.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(489,1,'2010-06-15 16:07:24','2010-06-15 23:07:24','Does everyone have basic values?\r\n\r\nOne of the complaints a lot of people used to have about Bill Clinton was they said he didn\'t <em>stand</em> for anything, that he could triangulate any issue -- no matter how simple of complex -- to put himself in the best position to get votes.\r\n\r\nWell, even if you accept Clinton in that light, he had values.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_488\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Values\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/values_sm_1.gif\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-488\" title=\"values_sm_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/values_sm_1-300x297.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nConsider these -- personal achievement, economic rewards, personal recognition and success.\r\n\r\nAll of those are values, and many of us who were to list what matters to us would have at least one or two of those things on our list.\r\n\r\nAs part of my Summer of Awakening here at Rancho Cortez in Bandera, Texas, I have been listening to a very fine life coach talk about values. <a rel=\"external nofollow\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6080384/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sZWlhZnJhbmNpc2NvLmNvbQ==\">Leia Francisco </a>of Kerrville was talking today about Identifying Core Values, and how knowing our own core values can help us stay true to what matters to us.\r\n\r\n<a rel=\"external nofollow\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6080384/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zaW1vbndvcmtzaG9wcy5jb20v\">Sydney Simon</a>, a values expert, says a value has three ingredients.\r\n\r\n1. You choose them freely. Your values cannot be forced upon you.\r\n\r\n2. You prize your values, especially core values.\r\n\r\n3. You act on your values repeatedly. They become habit to you.\r\n\r\nWe were given a list to choose from, a list ranging from A (achievement, adventure, authenticity) to W (wisdom). They could conceivably have put Zest for living on the list to cover the gamut, but they didn\'t.\r\n\r\nA few of the things on the list didn\'t really seem like values to me -- \"playfulness?\" -- but different things matter to different people.\r\n\r\nWe were asked to narrow our list to 10 things and then to five, and those five were called our true core values.\r\n\r\nSome of the winnowing out process was easy. Some things on the list didn\'t matter to me much if at all -- adventure, beauty, economic rewards, orderliness, playfulness, risk taking and tradition -- and with some of the others, they seemed like three or four ways of saying the same thing.\r\n\r\nI know there are differences between integrity, honesty and ethical living, but are they enough to make more than one of them your core values?\r\n\r\nI had seven that mattered a lot to me, and just because humor and health/fitness didn\'t make the final cut doesn\'t mean I don\'t value both and consider them important to pursue.\r\n\r\nBoth of those were in a serious three-day battle for the fifth and final spot in the core, and they lost out to \"contributing my talents, ideas, energy ...\"\r\n\r\nMy first four might as well be written in stone.\r\n\r\nFamily, friendship, spirituality and integrity.\r\n\r\nMy most important role in this world is as a husband and a father, and my greatest treasures are my family and my lifelong friends. The next two things are -- I hope -- what make me the man I am and the man I am in the process of becoming.\r\n\r\nTake some time yourself to consider your own values. I\'m not urging anyone to be more like me. I\'m sure there are perfectly good, happy people with some very different core values.\r\n\r\nBut unless you know what your own core values are, unless you honor them in your daily life, it\'s tough even to know who you really are.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody ought to at least know who they are.\r\n\r\n<em>***</em>\r\n\r\n<em>This was initially posted at AllVoices.com.</em>','It\'s our values that tell us who we really are','','publish','open','open','','its-our-values-that-tell-us-who-we-really-are','','','2010-06-15 16:07:24','2010-06-15 23:07:24','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=489',0,'post','',0),(490,1,'2010-06-15 16:07:12','2010-06-15 23:07:12','Does everyone have basic values?\n\nOne of the complaints a lot of people used to have about Bill Clinton was they said he didn\'t <em>stand</em> for anything, that he could triangulate any issue -- no matter how simple of complex -- to put himself in the best position to get votes.\n\nWell, even if you accept Clinton in that light, he had values.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_488\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Values\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/values_sm_1.gif\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-488\" title=\"values_sm_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/values_sm_1-300x297.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nConsider these -- personal achievement, economic rewards, personal recognition and success.\n\nAll of those are values, and many of us who were to list what matters to us would have at least one or two of those things on our list.\n\nAs part of my Summer of Awakening here at Rancho Cortez in Bandera, Texas, I have been listening to a very fine life coach talk about values. <a rel=\"external nofollow\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6080384/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sZWlhZnJhbmNpc2NvLmNvbQ==\">Leia Francisco </a>of Kerrville was talking today about Identifying Core Values, and how knowing our own core values can help us stay true to what matters to us.\n\n<a rel=\"external nofollow\" href=\"http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6080384/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zaW1vbndvcmtzaG9wcy5jb20v\">Sydney Simon</a>, a values expert, says a value has three ingredients.\n\n1. You choose them freely. Your values cannot be forced upon you.\n\n2. You prize your values, especially core values.\n\n3. You act on your values repeatedly. They become habit to you.\n\nWe were given a list to choose from, a list ranging from A (achievement, adventure, authenticity) to W (wisdom). They could conceivably have put Zest for living on the list to cover the gamut, but they didn\'t.\n\nA few of the things on the list didn\'t really seem like values to me -- \"playfulness?\" -- but different things matter to different people.\n\nWe were asked to narrow our list to 10 things and then to five, and those five were called our true core values.\n\nSome of the winnowing out process was easy. Some things on the list didn\'t matter to me much if at all -- adventure, beauty, economic rewards, orderliness, playfulness, risk taking and tradition -- and with some of the others, they seemed like three or four ways of saying the same thing.\n\nI know there are differences between integrity, honesty and ethical living, but are they enough to make more than one of them your core values?\n\nI had seven that mattered a lot to me, and just because humor and health/fitness didn\'t make the final cut doesn\'t mean I don\'t value both and consider them important to pursue.\n\nBoth of those were in a serious three-day battle for the fifth and final spot in the core, and they lost out to \"contributing my talents, ideas, energy ...\"\n\nMy first four might as well be written in stone.\n\nFamily, friendship, spirituality and integrity.\n\nMy most important role in this world is as a husband and a father, and my greatest treasures are my family and my lifelong friends. The next two things are -- I hope -- what make me the man I am and the man I am in the process of becoming.\n\nTake some time yourself to consider your own values. I\'m not urging anyone to be more like me. I\'m sure there are perfectly good, happy people with some very different core values.\n\nBut unless you know what your own core values are, unless you honor them in your daily life, it\'s tough even to know who you really are.\n\nAnd everybody ought to at least know who they are.\n\n<em>***</em>\n\n<em>This was initially posted at AllVoices.com.</em>','It\'s our values that tell us who we really are','','inherit','open','open','','489-revision','','','2010-06-15 16:07:12','2010-06-15 23:07:12','',489,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=490',0,'revision','',0),(491,1,'2010-06-15 16:53:48','2010-06-15 23:53:48','<em>\"If I don\'t make it to the big leagues, if I never win a Grammy, I\'m gonna be just fine, \'cause I know exactly who I am.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI am the sum of all my parts.\r\n\r\nWe all are.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_492\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sum of all my parts\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-070.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-492\" title=\"Texas 070\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-070-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI am the result of grandparents who loved me, of a mother and father who loved me enough to raise me right (even if I didn\'t always see it) and a brother and three sisters who have grown into extremely impressive adults.\r\n\r\nI have learned from close friends, and I have been blessed to have several friendships that could be considered lifelong. I have friends who, as the late <a title=\"Let Time Go Lightly\" href=\"http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/harry_chapin/let_time_go_lightly.html\" target=\"_self\">Harry Chapin</a> put it so eloquently, \"can see where you are and they know where you\'ve been.\"\r\n\r\nI have a wife who has been God\'s greatest gift to me, and I have two children who are honestly so wonderful I fear they may not be from this planet. I have a granddaughter who is showing signs of being every bit as alien, and both of my children have managed to marry terrific spouses.\r\n\r\nBut it isn\'t just the good people and the good experiences that have made me the person I am. Every failed relationship, every error I have made, has contributed, and it is only now, after I have finally been able to let go of all those disappointments, that I truly understand the benefits even of heartbreak.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->I have worked for good bosses and bad ones. I have had good jobs and bad jobs.\r\n\r\nAnd all of them have meant something to me. As the Jessica Andrews song from about 10 years ago quoted at the beginning says, I know exactly who I am.\r\n\r\nGod\'s gift to me two weeks ago tomorrow -- the gift that changed me forever -- has been that understanding. I now longer mourn my failures and my weaknesses; I accept what has happened and work to improve myself.\r\n\r\nAnd I have accepted what I <em>can</em> do as well.\r\n\r\nOne person at a time, one act at a time, I will do what I can to heal the world.\r\n\r\nThat\'s who I am, who I was meant to be.\r\n\r\nThe sum of all my parts.','All of us are the sum of all our parts','','publish','open','open','','all-of-us-are-the-sum-of-all-our-parts','','','2010-06-15 16:53:48','2010-06-15 23:53:48','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=491',0,'post','',0),(492,1,'2010-06-15 16:31:43','2010-06-15 23:31:43','','Texas 070','Sum of all my parts','inherit','open','open','','texas-070','','','2010-06-15 16:31:43','2010-06-15 23:31:43','',491,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-070.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(493,1,'2010-06-15 16:53:04','2010-06-15 23:53:04','<em>\"If I don\'t make it to the big leagues, if I never win a Grammy, I\'m gonna be just fine, \'cause I know exactly who I am.\"</em>\n\nI am the sum of all my parts.\n\nWe all are.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_492\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sum of all my parts\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-070.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-492\" title=\"Texas 070\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-070-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am the result of grandparents who loved me, of a mother and father who loved me enough to raise me right (even if I didn\'t always see it) and a brother and three sisters who have grown into extremely impressive adults.\n\nI have learned from close friends, and I have been blessed to have several friendships that could be considered lifelong. I have friends who, as the late <a title=\"Let Time Go Lightly\" href=\"http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/harry_chapin/let_time_go_lightly.html\" target=\"_self\">Harry Chapin</a> put it so eloquently, \"can see where you are and they know where you\'ve been.\"\n\nI have a wife who has been God\'s greatest gift to me, and I have two children who are honestly so wonderful I fear they may not be from this planet. I have a granddaughter who is showing signs of being every bit as alien, and both of my children have managed to marry terrific spouses.\n\nBut it isn\'t just the good people and the good experiences that have made me the person I am. Every failed relationship, every error I have made, has contributed, and it is only now, after I have finally been able to let go of all those disappointments, that I truly understand the benefits even of heartbreak.\n\n<!--more-->I have worked for good bosses and bad ones. I have had good jobs and bad jobs.\n\nAnd all of them have meant something to me. As the Jessica Andrews song from about 10 years ago quoted at the beginning says, I know exactly who I am.\n\nGod\'s gift to me two weeks ago tomorrow -- the gift that changed me forever -- has been that understanding. I now longer mourn my failures and my weaknesses; I accept what has happened and work to improve myself.\n\nAnd I have accepted what I <em>can</em> do as well.\n\nOne person at a time, one act at a time, I will do what I can to heal the world.\n\nThat\'s who I am, who I was meant to be.\n\nThe sum of all my parts.','','','inherit','open','open','','491-revision','','','2010-06-15 16:53:04','2010-06-15 23:53:04','',491,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=493',0,'revision','',0),(494,1,'2010-06-17 16:44:03','2010-06-17 23:44:03','I think it takes serious nerve -- but in a good way -- to name a town \"Utopia.\"\r\n\r\nUtopia, Texas, isn\'t actually a town. It\'s officially a \"census-designated place\" that had a population of 241 in the 2000 census. That\'s not very many people, and I can\'t imagine that more people wouldn\'t want to live in a place with that sort of name.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_495\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Utopia golf\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/utopia-golf.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-495\" title=\"utopia golf\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/utopia-golf-300x119.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"119\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut the best part of Utopia -- at least for me -- is Utopia Golf.\r\n\r\nYou\'ve certainly heard of oxymorons -- military intelligence, jumbo shrimp -- but to me the words \"utopia\" and \"golf\" are words that go together with an amazing amount of serendipity.\r\n\r\nIf you\'ve ever read David Cook\'s book,<a title=\"Links of Utopia\" href=\"http://www.linksofutopia.com/cms/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Golf\'s Sacred Journey,\"</a> you\'re familiar with the Utopia golf course. It isn\'t that the course itself is anything special; it\'s nine holes that you repeat to play a full 18.\r\n\r\nThe fairways have more of a pasture feel to them, although they are cut short. They\'re a little bumpy for fairways, and the greens aren\'t the smoothest I\'ve ever seen.\r\n\r\nWhen I set out to play 18 holes today, I had big plans. I was going to walk the course and carry my clubs on my back. As it turned out, the walking wasn\'t a big deal; the carrying just about killed me. After nine holes, which I played very poorly, I staggered into the clubhouse and asked for a cart.\r\n\r\nI had shot 52 for my first nine holes, which wasn\'t horrible since I hadn\'t played for about three months, but when I went back out in the cart I shot 42 and then followed it with 45 for an 18-hole score of 87.\r\n\r\nAs I said, I\'ve played better courses, but it\'s tough to beat an 18-hole weekday price of $14 plus another $10 for the cart.\r\n\r\nSo I\'ll go back.\r\n\r\nHeck, it\'s Utopia.','Tough to beat playing golf in Utopia','','publish','open','open','','tough-to-beat-playing-golf-in-utopia','','','2010-06-17 16:44:03','2010-06-17 23:44:03','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=494',0,'post','',1),(495,1,'2010-06-17 16:12:47','2010-06-17 23:12:47','','utopia golf','Utopia golf','inherit','open','open','','utopia-golf','','','2010-06-17 16:12:47','2010-06-17 23:12:47','',494,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/utopia-golf.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(496,1,'2010-06-17 16:42:42','2010-06-17 23:42:42','I think it takes serious nerve -- but in a good way -- to name a town \"Utopia.\"\n\nUtopia, Texas, isn\'t actually a town. It\'s officially a \"census-designated place\" that had a population of 241 in the 2000 census. That\'s not very many people, and I can\'t imagine that more people wouldn\'t want to live in a place with that sort of name.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_495\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Utopia golf\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/utopia-golf.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-495\" title=\"utopia golf\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/utopia-golf-300x119.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"119\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut the best part of Utopia -- at least for me -- is Utopia Golf.\n\nYou\'ve certainly heard of oxymorons -- military intelligence, jumbo shrimp -- but to me the words \"utopia\" and \"golf\" are words that go together with an amazing amount of serendipity.\n\nIf you\'ve ever read David Cook\'s book,<a title=\"Links of Utopia\" href=\"http://www.linksofutopia.com/cms/\" target=\"_self\"> \"Golf\'s Sacred Journey,\"</a> you\'re familiar with the Utopia golf course. It isn\'t that the course itself is anything special; it\'s nine holes that you repeat to play a full 18.\n\nThe fairways have more of a pasture feel to them, although they are cut short. They\'re a little bumpy for fairways, and the greens aren\'t the smoothest I\'ve ever seen.\n\nWhen I set out to play 18 holes today, I had big plans. I was going to walk the course and carry my clubs on my back. As it turned out, the walking wasn\'t a big deal; the carrying just about killed me. After nine holes, which I played very poorly, I staggered into the clubhouse and asked for a cart.\n\nI had shot 52 for my first nine holes, which wasn\'t horrible since I hadn\'t played for about three months, but when I went back out in the cart I shot 42 and then followed it with 45 for an 18-hole score of 87.\n\nAs I said, I\'ve played better courses, but it\'s tough to beat an 18-hole weekday price of $14 plus another $10 for the cart.\n\nSo I\'ll go back.\n\nHeck, it\'s Utopia.','','','inherit','open','open','','494-revision','','','2010-06-17 16:42:42','2010-06-17 23:42:42','',494,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=496',0,'revision','',0),(497,1,'2010-06-19 05:27:08','2010-06-19 12:27:08','I am somewhat disappointed in myself this morning. I don\'t know if I was flying too close to the sun and my wings melted or if I just failed to remember my own flawed humanity, but for the first time in 18 days, I\'m feeling a little bit down on myself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_498\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Enchanted Rock, Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-498\" title=\"004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2-300x247.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"247\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMaybe part of it was yesterday\'s hike. I have been hiking by myself and enjoying the wonders of nature here in the Hill Country of Texas. Hiking alone allows me to set my own pace and also enables me to tune out the outside world and let my thoughts run freely.\r\n\r\nBut yesterday we went to Enchanted Rock State Natural area north of Fredericksburg, and I stretched the envelope of my comfort zone until it ripped.\r\n\r\nEnchanted Rock isn\'t Mount Whitney, but it\'s still a place where they sell t-shirts so people can boast that they climbed it. It\'s a climb of 425 feet in just one kilometer (.6 miles, for my American friends), which makes it pretty steep.\r\n\r\nI climbed it -- fairly easily, actually -- and then went on to the second part of the hike, which is a loop trail around the bottom, maybe 4.5 miles or so. By then we were in the heat of the day, and there is very little shade along the loop.\r\n\r\nBy the time we finished (about three hours after starting part one of the hike), I felt sore, tired and irritable. Maybe partly because of that, I sent a mean e-mail to my lovely wife in response to something she had written that had ticked me the wrong way.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->I won\'t go into her reaction, other than to say it was perfectly reasonable (even if anatomically impossible). I will say that for the first time in 18 days, I felt I had seriously fallen down on my mission and failed badly. The problem is that I am still battling this nutty fault of mine in which I react badly if I think I am being <em>told</em> what to do.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t true, of course, and Nicole is concerned that I am reacting well to everyone but her.\r\n\r\nWhat she might not see is that if that is true, it\'s primarily because she -- and probably our two children -- are the only people whose good wishes I value so much as to be affected by what they say and think of me.\r\n\r\nNicole is wonderfully supportive and encouraging. In fact, much of what I know about being supportive and encouraging, I learned from her. But for her never to annoy me, she would have to be a disciple and not a wife. I certainly don\'t want that.\r\n\r\nSo the key for me will be apologizing sincerely and moving forward. Letting go of past errors doesn\'t mean not apologizing for them; it means learning the lesson they have to teach us and then not wallowing in the bad feelings.\r\n\r\nWallowing is <em>so</em> self-centered.\r\n\r\n<em>Oh, poor poor pitiful me.</em>\r\n\r\nSo I will pick myself up, move forward and try to be especially nice to my wife, who deserves it.\r\n\r\nAnd I\'ll stay away from that loop trail.','A slip, a fall and learning from the experience','','publish','open','open','','a-slip-a-fall-and-learning-from-the-experience','','','2010-06-19 05:27:08','2010-06-19 12:27:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=497',0,'post','',2),(498,1,'2010-06-19 05:10:06','2010-06-19 12:10:06','','004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2','Enchanted Rock, Texas','inherit','open','open','','004_400_cu_enchanted_rock_from_pavilion_2','','','2010-06-19 05:10:06','2010-06-19 12:10:06','',497,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(499,1,'2010-06-19 05:26:50','2010-06-19 12:26:50','I am somewhat disappointed in myself this morning. I don\'t know if I was flying too close to the sun and my wings melted or if I just failed to remember my own flawed humanity, but for the first time in 18 days, I\'m feeling a little bit down on myself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_498\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Enchanted Rock, Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-498\" title=\"004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/004_400_CU_Enchanted_Rock_from_pavilion_2-300x247.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"247\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMaybe part of it was yesterday\'s hike. I have been hiking by myself and enjoying the wonders of nature here in the Hill Country of Texas. Hiking alone allows me to set my own pace and also enables me to tune out the outside world and let my thoughts run freely.\n\nBut yesterday we went to Enchanted Rock State Natural area north of Fredericksburg, and I stretched the envelope of my comfort zone until it ripped.\n\nEnchanted Rock isn\'t Mount Whitney, but it\'s still a place where they sell t-shirts so people can boast that they climbed it. It\'s a climb of 425 feet in just one kilometer (.6 miles, for my American friends), which makes it pretty steep.\n\nI climbed it -- fairly easily, actually -- and then went on to the second part of the hike, which is a loop trail around the bottom, maybe 4.5 miles or so. By then we were in the heat of the day, and there is very little shade along the loop.\n\nBy the time we finished (about three hours after starting part one of the hike), I felt sore, tired and irritable. Maybe partly because of that, I sent a mean e-mail to my lovely wife in response to something she had written that had ticked me the wrong way.\n\n<!--more-->I won\'t go into her reaction, other than to say it was perfectly reasonable (even if anatomically impossible). I will say that for the first time in 18 days, I felt I had seriously fallen down on my mission and failed badly. The problem is that I am still battling this nutty fault of mine in which I react badly if I think I am being <em>told</em> what to do.\n\nIt wasn\'t true, of course, and Nicole is concerned that I am reacting well to everyone but her.\n\nWhat she might not see is that if that is true, it\'s primarily because she -- and probably our two children -- are the only people whose good wishes I value so much as to be affected by what they say and think of me.\n\nNicole is wonderfully supportive and encouraging. In fact, much of what I know about being supportive and encouraging, I learned from her. But for her never to annoy me, she would have to be a disciple and not a wife. I certainly don\'t want that.\n\nSo the key for me will be apologizing sincerely and moving forward. Letting go of past errors doesn\'t mean not apologizing for them; it means learning the lesson they have to teach us and then not wallowing in the bad feelings.\n\nWallowing is <em>so</em> self-centered.\n\n<em>Oh, poor poor pitiful me.</em>\n\nSo I will pick myself up, move forward and try to be especially nice to my wife, who deserves it.\n\nAnd I\'ll stay away from that loop trail.','A ','','inherit','open','open','','497-revision','','','2010-06-19 05:26:50','2010-06-19 12:26:50','',497,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=499',0,'revision','',0),(500,1,'2010-06-20 07:05:09','2010-06-20 14:05:09','When it comes to being a father, I\'m lucky that karma somehow overlooked me.\r\n\r\nOtherwise, my kids would both be drug addicts covered with tattoos and would constantly be saying, \"(Bleep) you, Dad,\" or maybe even ignoring me.\r\n\r\nBut God is good, and I know he truly understands what is in our hearts. The lesson I learned from the way I treated my own father -- who died in March 2008 -- is understanding that when parents make mistakes, it is because they are only human. They\'re almost always making those mistakes out of love and they often make them because of the own (human) limitations.\r\n\r\nUnless a parent is just a bad person, spite is rarely involved.\r\n\r\nIt certainly wasn\'t with my dad. He was a wonderful man who was always there when I really needed him, and that\'s something that cannot be overestimated in its importance. If our personalities clashed, it was partly a result of the times (I was a teenager in the \'60s) and at least partly because of my own flaws.\r\n\r\nI can only imagine how difficult it must have been to parent a child who for whatever reason couldn\'t be happy and couldn\'t fulfill his own potential. I say I can only imagine it because my own children have been just the opposite, and it certainly isn\'t due to me.\r\n\r\nPauline and Virgile have both transitioned from wonderful children to wonderful adults, and I am so proud of them I can barely contain myself. Pauline and her family leave tomorrow for two years in Indonesia, and Virgile and his wife are completing their traing and leaving for two years in Greece later this summer.\r\n\r\nMe, I\'m just watching.\r\n\r\nAnd enjoying the heck out of it all.','On Fathers Day, a little bit of understanding','','publish','open','open','','on-fathers-day-a-little-bit-of-understanding','','','2010-06-20 07:05:09','2010-06-20 14:05:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=500',0,'post','',0),(501,1,'2010-06-20 07:04:41','2010-06-20 14:04:41','When it comes to being a father, I\'m lucky that karma somehow overlooked me.\n\nOtherwise, my kids would both be drug addicts covered with tattoos and would constantly be saying, \"(Bleep) you, Dad,\" or maybe even ignoring me.\n\nBut God is good, and I know he truly understands what is in our hearts. The lesson I learned from the way I treated my own father -- who died in March 2008 -- is understanding that when parents make mistakes, it is because they are only human. They\'re almost always making those mistakes out of love and they often make them because of the own (human) limitations.\n\nUnless a parent is just a bad person, spite is rarely involved.\n\nIt certainly wasn\'t with my dad. He was a wonderful man who was always there when I really needed him, and that\'s something that cannot be overestimated in its importance. If our personalities clashed, it was partly a result of the times (I was a teenager in the \'60s) and at least partly because of my own flaws.\n\nI can only imagine how difficult it must have been to parent a child who for whatever reason couldn\'t be happy and couldn\'t fulfill his own potential. I say I can only imagine it because my own children have been just the opposite, and it certainly isn\'t due to me.\n\nPauline and Virgile have both transitioned from wonderful children to wonderful adults, and I am so proud of them I can barely contain myself. Pauline and her family leave tomorrow for two years in Indonesia, and Virgile and his wife are completing their traing and leaving for two years in Greece later this summer.\n\nMe, I\'m just watching.\n\nAnd enjoying the heck out of it all.','','','inherit','open','open','','500-revision','','','2010-06-20 07:04:41','2010-06-20 14:04:41','',500,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=501',0,'revision','',0),(502,1,'2010-06-21 16:52:38','2010-06-21 23:52:38','I don\'t know that anything good ever comes from two people in a marriage being apart for an extended period of time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_503\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Missing her\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-088.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-503\" title=\"Texas 088\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-088-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy first marriage was probably doomed to fail from the start, but when we started having voluntary separations for the convenience of one or the other of us, it certainly accelerated the process.\r\n\r\nSince Nicole and I got married in 1992, our only lengthy times apart have been when she is one business trips, and never for longer than 30 days.\r\n\r\nUntil now. My trip to Texas has been extremely productive in terms of what I have tried to accomplish, and it has been life changing in some respects, but Nicole and I have been apart for nearly eight weeks and I don\'t think that has been a good thing.\r\n\r\nIt\'s my fault, of course. There were changes I needed to make in my life and I was not doing a good job of accomplishing them at home. In fact, I had pretty well fallen apart since my journalism career had ended abruptly in January 2008.\r\n\r\nSo I came to Texas and things started working. In fact, so many wonderful things have happened here that I will go home a much stronger person and be much more capable of being a good husband and being happy with myself for the years ahead.\r\n\r\nBut the danger you always face when you separate voluntarily -- no matter what the purpose -- is that the other person might realize exactly how annoying you are and that it isn\'t as bad without you as they thought it would be.\r\n\r\nI always regretted the separations in my first marriage and figured I would learn from them.\r\n\r\nIt tells me how far I still have to go as a person that I didn\'t.','We don\'t always learn when we think we do','','publish','open','open','','we-dont-always-learn-when-we-think-we-do','','','2010-06-21 16:52:38','2010-06-21 23:52:38','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=502',0,'post','',1),(503,1,'2010-06-21 16:29:56','2010-06-21 23:29:56','','Texas 088','Missing her','inherit','open','open','','texas-088','','','2010-06-21 16:29:56','2010-06-21 23:29:56','',502,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-088.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(504,1,'2010-06-21 16:52:18','2010-06-21 23:52:18','I don\'t know that anything good ever comes from two people in a marriage being apart for an extended period of time.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_503\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Missing her\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-088.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-503\" title=\"Texas 088\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-088-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy first marriage was probably doomed to fail from the start, but when we started having voluntary separations for the convenience of one or the other of us, it certainly accelerated the process.\n\nSince Nicole and I got married in 1992, our only lengthy times apart have been when she is one business trips, and never for longer than 30 days.\n\nUntil now. My trip to Texas has been extremely productive in terms of what I have tried to accomplish, and it has been life changing in some respects, but Nicole and I have been apart for nearly eight weeks and I don\'t think that has been a good thing.\n\nIt\'s my fault, of course. There were changes I needed to make in my life and I was not doing a good job of accomplishing them at home. In fact, I had pretty well fallen apart since my journalism career had ended abruptly in January 2008.\n\nSo I came to Texas and things started working. In fact, so many wonderful things have happened here that I will go home a much stronger person and be much more capable of being a good husband and being happy with myself for the years ahead.\n\nBut the danger you always face when you separate voluntarily -- no matter what the purpose -- is that the other person might realize exactly how annoying you are and that it isn\'t as bad without you as they thought it would be.\n\nI always regretted the separations in my first marriage and figured I would learn from them.\n\nIt tells me how far I still have to go as a person that I didn\'t.','','','inherit','open','open','','502-revision','','','2010-06-21 16:52:18','2010-06-21 23:52:18','',502,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=504',0,'revision','',0),(505,1,'2010-06-23 13:37:44','2010-06-23 20:37:44','I was never a huge fan of \"Seinfeld,\" but I\'ll admit there have always been things about it that make me laugh.\r\n\r\nOne of those things is Jerry Stiller as George Costanza\'s father Frank. I always liked the Festivus episode, especially the part about the airing of grievances, but the one that never fails to leave me clutching my sides is when Frank is working on his temper and has come up with the mantra of \"Serenity Now.\"\r\n\r\nAt first he\'s saying it calmly, but by the end of the episode he\'s shouting it to himself in an angry voice.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_506\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Frank Costanza&#39;s Festivus card\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/festivus.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-506\" title=\"festivus\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/festivus-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTo me in addition to being hilarious, it also shows just how hard it is sometimes to be human. No matter how much you feel like you\'ve learned, no matter how certain you are of the right thing to do and no matter how hard you work to do it, being human means you\'re going to fall short and let yourself -- and other people -- down at times.\r\n\r\n<em>\"During the past year, you have disappointed me in the following ways ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nSounds just like Thanksgiving or Christmas in a lot of families, including just about every movie made in the last 20 years about grown children returning home for the holidays.\r\n\r\nThe fact is, we hurt the people we love more than anyone else.\r\n\r\nBut that\'s because they care what we think and vice versa. There is no one in this world whose good opinion of my I value more than my wife\'s opinion, and that isn\'t just because it makes things more peaceful at home.\r\n\r\nIt\'s because at least theoretically, the person you love enough to marry is the one who knows you better than anyone else in the world, so if your wife thinks you\'re a <em>schmuck </em>-- or a smuck, as a close friend of mine used to say -- then there\'s a good chance you are one.\r\n\r\nA schmuck, not a smuck.\r\n\r\nSo when I mess up, all I can do is apologize, put it behind me and try not to do it again.\r\n\r\nAnd go around muttering \"serenity now\" until I feel better.','Life\'s lessons to be learned from Frank Costanza','','publish','open','open','','lifes-lessons-to-be-learned-from-frank-costanza','','','2010-06-23 13:37:44','2010-06-23 20:37:44','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=505',0,'post','',0),(506,1,'2010-06-23 13:16:57','2010-06-23 20:16:57','','festivus','Frank Costanza\'s Festivus card','inherit','open','open','','festivus','','','2010-06-23 13:16:57','2010-06-23 20:16:57','',505,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/festivus.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(507,1,'2010-06-23 13:37:06','2010-06-23 20:37:06','I was never a huge fan of \"Seinfeld,\" but I\'ll admit there have always been things about it that make me laugh.\n\nOne of those things is Jerry Stiller as George Costanza\'s father Frank. I always liked the Festivus episode, especially the part about the airing of grievances, but the one that never fails to leave me clutching my sides is when Frank is working on his temper and has come up with the mantra of \"Serenity Now.\"\n\nAt first he\'s saying it calmly, but by the end of the episode he\'s shouting it to himself in an angry voice.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_506\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Frank Costanza&#39;s Festivus card\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/festivus.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-506\" title=\"festivus\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/festivus-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nTo me in addition to being hilarious, it also shows just how hard it is sometimes to be human. No matter how much you feel like you\'ve learned, no matter how certain you are of the right thing to do and no matter how hard you work to do it, being human means you\'re going to fall short and let yourself -- and other people -- down at times.\n\n<em>\"During the past year, you have disappointed me in the following ways ...\"</em>\n\nSounds just like Thanksgiving or Christmas in a lot of families, including just about every movie made in the last 20 years about grown children returning home for the holidays.\n\nThe fact is, we hurt the people we love more than anyone else.\n\nBut that\'s because they care what we think and vice versa. There is no one in this world whose good opinion of my I value more than my wife\'s opinion, and that isn\'t just because it makes things more peaceful at home.\n\nIt\'s because at least theoretically, the person you love enough to marry is the one who knows you better than anyone else in the world, so if your wife thinks you\'re a <em>schmuck </em>-- or a smuck, as a close friend of mine used to say -- then there\'s a good chance you are one.\n\nA schmuck, not a smuck.\n\nSo when I mess up, all I can do is apologize, put it behind me and try not to do it again.\n\nAnd go around muttering \"serenity now\" until I feel better.','','','inherit','open','open','','505-revision','','','2010-06-23 13:37:06','2010-06-23 20:37:06','',505,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=507',0,'revision','',0),(508,1,'2010-06-24 17:09:31','2010-06-25 00:09:31','You know it\'s going to be a different kind of day when you see a cow trotting down the street avoiding traffic.\r\n\r\nNot that there\'s that much traffic in Utopia, but at least two or three cars and trucks were stopping to keep from hitting the cow, who was acting like he -- or she -- owned the road.\r\n\r\nI\'ve had a couple of rough days recently, but there is something basically wonderful about knowing that you\'re on your way to spending a day on the golf course. At home I play maybe once a month with my friends Mick and Chuck, but today was my second Thursday in a row on the course getting a different kind of exercise as a break from my routine at Rancho Cortez.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_509\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Utopian cow\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-104.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-509\" title=\"Texas 104\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-104-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs much as I\'m benefitting from the exercise, I have been in almost constant pain of one sort or another for the last week or so. I can\'t complain. I am within breathing distance of reaching my major goal of losing 50 pounds in two months, but I\'m definitely paying the price for it.\r\n\r\nSo today I took a break from my hiking -- averaging 8 miles a day for the first three days this week -- and decided to play golf.\r\n\r\n<em>Did you walk the course?</em>\r\n\r\nYes and no. I used a cart, but my exercise monitor still said I took about 11,000 steps in the six hours or so I played.\r\n\r\nAs much as I enjoy playing with my friends, there\'s one wonderful benefit of playing alone that I have been really enjoying. When I don\'t have to talk with anyone else, I put my ear buds in, hook up my iPod and listen to music the whole time.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a wonderful feeling to be on the course, looking up at the bright blue Texas sky and be listening to music at the same time.\r\n\r\nOf course I also keep my notebook with me and try to think profound thoughts. So many things have been coming to me lately, the times I fail to have my little notebook along and use it are few and far between.\r\n\r\nSorry if this sounds goofy, but today one of the notes I made was about how being on a golf course on a beautiful day almost seems to cleanse my soul.\r\n\r\nI felt so much better, and I played OK too. The one round I finished, I shot an 88, which is pretty good for me. I also birdied the par five fifth hole both times I played it, and barely missed a 15-foot putt that would have given me my first eagle ever.\r\n\r\nLife is good, and the problems that have been bothering me the last couple days seem so much more bearable.\r\n\r\nI hope the cow made it home OK.','Soul cleansing, golf and not-so-sacred cows','','publish','open','open','','soul-cleansing-golf-and-not-so-sacred-cows','','','2010-06-24 17:09:31','2010-06-25 00:09:31','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=508',0,'post','',0),(509,1,'2010-06-24 16:47:46','2010-06-24 23:47:46','','Texas 104','A Utopian cow','inherit','open','open','','texas-104','','','2010-06-24 16:47:46','2010-06-24 23:47:46','',508,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-104.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(510,1,'2010-06-24 17:09:10','2010-06-25 00:09:10','You know it\'s going to be a different kind of day when you see a cow trotting down the street avoiding traffic.\n\nNot that there\'s that much traffic in Utopia, but at least two or three cars and trucks were stopping to keep from hitting the cow, who was acting like he -- or she -- owned the road.\n\nI\'ve had a couple of rough days recently, but there is something basically wonderful about knowing that you\'re on your way to spending a day on the golf course. At home I play maybe once a month with my friends Mick and Chuck, but today was my second Thursday in a row on the course getting a different kind of exercise as a break from my routine at Rancho Cortez.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_509\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Utopian cow\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-104.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-509\" title=\"Texas 104\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-104-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs much as I\'m benefitting from the exercise, I have been in almost constant pain of one sort or another for the last week or so. I can\'t complain. I am within breathing distance of reaching my major goal of losing 50 pounds in two months, but I\'m definitely paying the price for it.\n\nSo today I took a break from my hiking -- averaging 8 miles a day for the first three days this week -- and decided to play golf.\n\n<em>Did you walk the course?</em>\n\nYes and no. I used a cart, but my exercise monitor still said I took about 11,000 steps in the six hours or so I played.\n\nAs much as I enjoy playing with my friends, there\'s one wonderful benefit of playing alone that I have been really enjoying. When I don\'t have to talk with anyone else, I put my ear buds in, hook up my iPod and listen to music the whole time.\n\nIt\'s a wonderful feeling to be on the course, looking up at the bright blue Texas sky and be listening to music at the same time.\n\nOf course I also keep my notebook with me and try to think profound thoughts. So many things have been coming to me lately, the times I fail to have my little notebook along and use it are few and far between.\n\nSorry if this sounds goofy, but today one of the notes I made was about how being on a golf course on a beautiful day almost seems to cleanse my soul.\n\nI felt so much better, and I played OK too. The one round I finished, I shot an 88, which is pretty good for me. I also birdied the par five fifth hole both times I played it, and barely missed a 15-foot putt that would have given me my first eagle ever.\n\nLife is good, and the problems that have been bothering me the last couple days seem so much more bearable.\n\nI hope the cow made it home OK.','','','inherit','open','open','','508-revision','','','2010-06-24 17:09:10','2010-06-25 00:09:10','',508,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=510',0,'revision','',0),(511,1,'2010-06-25 11:17:11','2010-06-25 18:17:11','<em>\"What do you do when your dreams come true and it\'s not quite what you planned?\"\r\n</em><strong>-- DON HENLEY</strong>\r\n\r\nThere\'s an implication here that I find really interesting and always have, that we dream of our future when we\'re young and then live with those dreams for the rest of our life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_512\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Texas sky\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-106.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-512\" title=\"Texas 106\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-106-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThat\'s all very well and good, but if I had stayed with the dreams I had when I was 17, my life would have been very different in ways I can barely comprehend anymore.\r\n\r\nTwo years ago, at my father\'s funeral, I was having one of those strange conversations I always seem to have with people, mostly because I have a tendency to ask weird questions.\r\n\r\nI asked my first cousin Marti, who is nine months younger than I am, if her life had turned out the way she had thought it would.\r\n\r\nHer first response was that of course it hadn\'t, because she never would have thought when she was young that she would ever have left Ohio. She grew up near Columbus, and two of her three siblings have basically lived their lives within 150 miles of their home town.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know what I would or wouldn\'t have expected, but I honestly would never have believed I would have lived in six or seven additional states and one foreign country after graduating from high school. I would never have believed I would be married twice or that I would have had a life-changing experience -- in Texas, of all places -- in my 61st summer.\r\n\r\nI suppose the real answer in all of this is that we always have to remain open to the possibility that our dreams might change, and then be flexible enough to adapt when they do.\r\n\r\nAnd if we\'re truly lucky, we don\'t even remember all the things of which we dreamed when we were young.','Dreams don\'t always come true, but who cares?','','publish','open','open','','dreams-dont-always-come-true-but-who-cares','','','2010-06-25 11:17:11','2010-06-25 18:17:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=511',0,'post','',0),(512,1,'2010-06-25 11:01:55','2010-06-25 18:01:55','','Texas 106','Texas sky','inherit','open','open','','texas-106','','','2010-06-25 11:01:55','2010-06-25 18:01:55','',511,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-106.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(513,1,'2010-06-25 11:16:18','2010-06-25 18:16:18','<em>\"What do you do when your dreams come true and it\'s not quite what you planned?\"\n</em><strong>-- DON HENLEY</strong>\n\nThere\'s an implication here that I find really interesting and always have, that we dream of our future when we\'re young and then live with those dreams for the rest of our life.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_512\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Texas sky\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-106.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-512\" title=\"Texas 106\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Texas-106-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThat\'s all very well and good, but if I had stayed with the dreams I had when I was 17, my life would have been very different in ways I can barely comprehend anymore.\n\nTwo years ago, at my father\'s funeral, I was having one of those strange conversations I always seem to have with people, mostly because I have a tendency to ask weird questions.\n\nI asked my first cousin Marti, who is nine months younger than I am, if her life had turned out the way she had thought it would.\n\nHer first response was that of course it hadn\'t, because she never would have thought when she was young that she would ever have left Ohio. She grew up near Columbus, and two of her three siblings have basically lived their lives within 150 miles of their home town.\n\nI don\'t know what I would or wouldn\'t have expected, but I honestly would never have believed I would have lived in six or seven additional states and one foreign country after graduating from high school. I would never have believed I would be married twice or that I would have had a life-changing experience -- in Texas, of all places -- in my 61st summer.\n\nI suppose the real answer in all of this is that we always have to remain open to the possibility that our dreams might change, and then be flexible enough to adapt when they do.\n\nAnd if we\'re truly lucky, we don\'t even remember all the things of which we dreamed when we were young.','','','inherit','open','open','','511-revision','','','2010-06-25 11:16:18','2010-06-25 18:16:18','',511,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=513',0,'revision','',0),(515,1,'2010-06-27 15:10:42','2010-06-27 22:10:42','Some names are totally evocative of the Old West.\r\n\r\nThere\'s Dodge City, Tombstone, the Abilene Trail and a host of others, but thanks to a popular old song, there are few names that paint more vivid pictures than Laredo, Texas.\r\n\r\n<em>\"... as I was out walking the streets of Laredo ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nI have visited numerous places in the two months I have been in Texas, from El Paso to Houston, from Corpus Christi to Dallas and Fort Worth, but Laredo fascinated me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_516\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Streets of Laredo\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Streets-Laredo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-516\" title=\"Streets Laredo\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Streets-Laredo-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s on the Mexican border, about 180 miles away, so I decided to spend a Sunday and see if I could soak up some old-time Western atmosphere.\r\n\r\nWhat a disappointment.\r\n\r\nMore than anything else, Laredo is now a border town where thousands of Mexican citizens come across the border to shop. What used to be the downtown area now consists of crowded streets with all sorts of businesses offering bargains.\r\n\r\nThe suburbs looked more like other parts of Texas I\'ve seen, but nothing all that special.\r\n\r\nI never did \"spy a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen.\"\r\n\r\nOh, well.\r\n\r\nIf there weren\'t disappointments, life would be pretty bland.','\'Streets of Laredo\' look like everywhere else','','publish','open','open','','streets-of-laredo-look-like-everywhere-else','','','2010-06-27 15:10:42','2010-06-27 22:10:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=515',0,'post','',0),(516,1,'2010-06-27 15:04:14','2010-06-27 22:04:14','','Streets Laredo','Streets of Laredo','inherit','open','open','','streets-laredo','','','2010-06-27 15:04:14','2010-06-27 22:04:14','',515,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Streets-Laredo.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(517,1,'2010-06-27 15:10:13','2010-06-27 22:10:13','Some names are totally evocative of the Old West.\n\nThere\'s Dodge City, Tombstone, the Abilene Trail and a host of others, but thanks to a popular old song, there are few names that paint more vivid pictures than Laredo, Texas.\n\n<em>\"... as I was out walking the streets of Laredo ...\"</em>\n\nI have visited numerous places in the two months I have been in Texas, from El Paso to Houston, from Corpus Christi to Dallas and Fort Worth, but Laredo fascinated me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_516\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Streets of Laredo\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Streets-Laredo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-516\" title=\"Streets Laredo\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Streets-Laredo-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s on the Mexican border, about 180 miles away, so I decided to spend a Sunday and see if I could soak up some old-time Western atmosphere.\n\nWhat a disappointment.\n\nMore than anything else, Laredo is now a border town where thousands of Mexican citizens come across the border to shop. What used to be the downtown area now consists of crowded streets with all sorts of businesses offering bargains.\n\nThe suburbs looked more like other parts of Texas I\'ve seen, but nothing all that special.\n\nI never did \"spy a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen.\"\n\nOh, well.\n\nIf there weren\'t disappointments, life would be pretty bland.','','','inherit','open','open','','515-revision','','','2010-06-27 15:10:13','2010-06-27 22:10:13','',515,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=517',0,'revision','',0),(518,1,'2010-06-29 15:18:27','2010-06-29 22:18:27','','DSC_0001','Rivers running high','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0001','','','2010-06-29 15:18:27','2010-06-29 22:18:27','',519,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(519,1,'2010-06-29 15:40:26','2010-06-29 22:40:26','[caption id=\"attachment_518\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Rivers running high\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-518\" title=\"DSC_0001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe rivers are running a little higher after the rain the last couple of days here in South Texas.\r\n\r\nI\'m coming to the end of my two months here, although I\'m extending my stay by another 18 days to spend two weeks here with Nicole. I am eager to show her some of the places and things that have touched me during my time here, things that have changed me for the better.\r\n\r\nSome of the locations here will always be serene, happy places in my memory. Walking through Hill Country State Natural Area alone, with nothing but the sounds of nature around me, has done amazing things for my personal stress levels.\r\n\r\nToday I walked early in the day, which was good because it rained in the afternoon. It\'s odd after 24 years in Colorado, Nevada and Southern California to be in a place where it rains in the summertime. I suppose it will be good practice for retirement in Georgia.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->This summer has opened my mind to many things, but nothing has meant more to me than the gift I received from God earlier this month of being able to let go -- for good -- of all the regrets of my past that plagued me for so many years.\r\n\r\nI can look back dispassionately now, but mostly I look ahead toward all the things I want to accomplish in what I am hoping will be at least the final one-third of my life. I\'m 60, and if God will give me 30 more years to do the work he has charged me with, I will be a very happy man.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if coming to Texas was what did it for me, but I don\'t know that it wasn\'t either.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why long after I leave, I will still love Texas and what has happened to me here.','Two months in Texas a total awakening','','publish','open','open','','two-months-in-texas-a-total-awakening','','','2010-06-29 15:40:26','2010-06-29 22:40:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=519',0,'post','',0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (520,1,'2010-06-29 15:39:31','2010-06-29 22:39:31','[caption id=\"attachment_518\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Rivers running high\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-518\" title=\"DSC_0001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe rivers are running a little higher after the rain the last couple of days here in South Texas.\n\nI\'m coming to the end of my two months here, although I\'m extending my stay by another 18 days to spend two weeks here with Nicole. I am eager to show her some of the places and things that have touched me during my time here, things that have changed me for the better.\n\nSome of the locations here will always be serene, happy places in my memory. Walking through Hill Country State Natural Area alone, with nothing but the sounds of nature around me, has done amazing things for my personal stress levels.\n\nToday I walked early in the day, which was good because it rained in the afternoon. It\'s odd after 24 years in Colorado, Nevada and Southern California to be in a place where it rains in the summertime. I suppose it will be good practice for retirement in Georgia.\n\n<!--more-->This summer has opened my mind to many things, but nothing has meant more to me than the gift I received from God earlier this month of being able to let go -- for good -- of all the regrets of my past that plagued me for so many years.\n\nI can look back dispassionately now, but mostly I look ahead toward all the things I want to accomplish in what I am hoping will be at least the final one-third of my life. I\'m 60, and if God will give me 30 more years to do the work he has charged me with, I will be a very happy man.\n\nI don\'t know if coming to Texas was what did it for me, but I don\'t know that it wasn\'t either.\n\nThat\'s why long after I leave, I will still love Texas and what has happened to me here.','','','inherit','open','open','','519-revision','','','2010-06-29 15:39:31','2010-06-29 22:39:31','',519,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=520',0,'revision','',0),(521,1,'2010-06-29 15:41:35','2010-06-29 22:41:35','[caption id=\"attachment_518\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Rivers running high\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-518\" title=\"DSC_0001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe rivers are running a little higher after the rain the last couple of days here in South Texas.\n\nI\'m coming to the end of my two months here, although I\'m extending my stay by another 18 days to spend two weeks here with Nicole. I am eager to show her some of the places and things that have touched me during my time here, things that have changed me for the better.\n\nSome of the locations here will always be serene, happy places in my memory. Walking through Hill Country State Natural Area alone, with nothing but the sounds of nature around me, has done amazing things for my personal stress levels.\n\nToday I walked early in the day, which was good because it rained in the afternoon. It\'s odd after 24 years in Colorado, Nevada and Southern California to be in a place where it rains in the summertime. I suppose it will be good practice for retirement in Georgia.\n\n<!--more-->This summer has opened my mind to many things, but nothing has meant more to me than the gift I received from God earlier this month of being able to let go -- for good -- of all the regrets of my past that plagued me for so many years.\n\nI can look back dispassionately now, but mostly I look ahead toward all the things I want to accomplish in what I am hoping will be at least the final one-third of my life. I\'m 60, and if God will give me 30 more years to do the work he has charged me with, I will be a very happy man.\n\nI don\'t know if coming to Texas was what did it for me, but I don\'t know that it wasn\'t either.\n\nThat\'s why long after I leave, I will still love Texas and what has happened to me here.','Two months in Texas a total awakening','','inherit','open','open','','519-autosave','','','2010-06-29 15:41:35','2010-06-29 22:41:35','',519,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=521',0,'revision','',0),(522,1,'2010-07-01 15:59:02','2010-07-01 22:59:02','Two months down, 17 days to go here in Texas.\r\n\r\nI had hoped to lose 50 pounds in May and June, but I came up short. Just short. When I weighed myself this morning, I had lost 49.5 pounds since checking into Rancho Cortez on May 3rd.\r\n\r\nIt would be silly to be disappointed, and of course I\'m not. Fifty pounds was never a goal, but just a step along the way toward losing 100 pounds by the end of the calendar year, and even that is just a step along the way to doing something I have never done before -- maintaining my weight loss.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_523\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The trail was wet\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-115.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-523\" title=\"Texas 115\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-115-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo I went out today -- the start of my third month -- and got after it. I did a tough circuit training class and then went out for my daily hike.\r\n\r\nThere was one problem. It was raining. We\'re getting a lot of the weather being caused down at the Gulf by Hurricane Alex, and I wound up doing my hike in rain that ranged from drizzly to steady.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t easy to hike through puddles while using an umbrella, and I actually cut the final loop out of my hike, which made it about 4 1/2 miles instead of the standard 5 1/4.\r\n\r\nIt\'s OK, though. I\'m going to try and do the entire 12-mile hike between the Missions in San Antonio tomorrow, so I ought to save a little energy today.\r\n\r\nI\'m still hoping to drop another 10 pounds before I leave.\r\n\r\nActually 10.5, but who\'s counting?','Two months down, weight still dropping off','','publish','open','open','','two-months-down-weight-still-dropping-off','','','2010-07-01 15:59:02','2010-07-01 22:59:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=522',0,'post','',1),(523,1,'2010-07-01 15:37:47','2010-07-01 22:37:47','','Texas 115','The trail was wet','inherit','open','open','','texas-115','','','2010-07-01 15:37:47','2010-07-01 22:37:47','',522,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-115.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(524,1,'2010-07-01 15:58:54','2010-07-01 22:58:54','Two months down, 17 days to go here in Texas.\n\nI had hoped to lose 50 pounds in May and June, but I came up short. Just short. When I weighed myself this morning, I had lost 49.5 pounds since checking into Rancho Cortez on May 3rd.\n\nIt would be silly to be disappointed, and of course I\'m not. Fifty pounds was never a goal, but just a step along the way toward losing 100 pounds by the end of the calendar year, and even that is just a step along the way to doing something I have never done before -- maintaining my weight loss.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_523\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The trail was wet\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-115.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-523\" title=\"Texas 115\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-115-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo I went out today -- the start of my third month -- and got after it. I did a tough circuit training class and then went out for my daily hike.\n\nThere was one problem. It was raining. We\'re getting a lot of the weather being caused down at the Gulf by Hurricane Alex, and I wound up doing my hike in rain that ranged from drizzly to steady.\n\nIt isn\'t easy to hike through puddles while using an umbrella, and I actually cut the final loop out of my hike, which made it about 4 1/2 miles instead of the standard 5 1/4.\n\nIt\'s OK, though. I\'m going to try and do the entire 12-mile hike between the Missions in San Antonio tomorrow, so I ought to save a little energy today.\n\nI\'m still hoping to drop another 10 pounds before I leave.\n\nActually 10.5, but who\'s counting?','Two months down','','inherit','open','open','','522-revision','','','2010-07-01 15:58:54','2010-07-01 22:58:54','',522,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=524',0,'revision','',0),(525,1,'2010-07-03 16:46:01','2010-07-03 23:46:01','It\'s amazing for me to realize that tomorrow I will have completed my nine weeks of solitude here at Rancho Cortez.\r\n\r\nI\'ve still got two weeks to go before I leave for home, but Nicole arrives tomorrow to spend the next 14 days here with me. It will be wonderful to have her here, but it will be very different than it has been.\r\n\r\nFor one thing, it will be an opportunity for me to see if I really have progressed that much on an emotional and philosophical level. I believe I have, but it\'s easy to talk a good game about putting other people first when you\'re living alone. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I am a full-time married man again.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_526\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me after eight weeks\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-101.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-526\" title=\"Texas 101\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-101-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI have written before about what a unique opportunity it has been to step outside my life, as it were, for more than two months and do a reassessment of where I have been, where I am and what I want to do with the years I have left to me.\r\n\r\nThe one thing I am more sure about than anything is that I want to spend those years with Nicole. She has been a wonderful wife through both good times and not-so-good times, and she has stood by me at times when I let her down very badly.\r\n\r\nI have told her she is my favorite person in the entire world, and indeed in many ways she is my closest friend.\r\n\r\nThe next two weeks can be wonderful ones for her. Between work and all the other things going on in her life, she is dealing with more stress than I could handle -- and dealing with it well.\r\n\r\nStill, I\'d love to help her have two stress-free weeks here.\r\n\r\nThat\'s my goal.','Time alone is ending, time together to start','','publish','open','open','','time-alone-is-ending-time-together-to-start','','','2010-07-03 16:46:01','2010-07-03 23:46:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=525',0,'post','',0),(526,1,'2010-07-03 16:39:40','2010-07-03 23:39:40','','Texas 101','Me after eight weeks','inherit','open','open','','texas-101','','','2010-07-03 16:39:40','2010-07-03 23:39:40','',525,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-101.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(527,1,'2010-07-03 16:45:49','2010-07-03 23:45:49','It\'s amazing for me to realize that tomorrow I will have completed my nine weeks of solitude here at Rancho Cortez.\n\nI\'ve still got two weeks to go before I leave for home, but Nicole arrives tomorrow to spend the next 14 days here with me. It will be wonderful to have her here, but it will be very different than it has been.\n\nFor one thing, it will be an opportunity for me to see if I really have progressed that much on an emotional and philosophical level. I believe I have, but it\'s easy to talk a good game about putting other people first when you\'re living alone. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I am a full-time married man again.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_526\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me after eight weeks\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-101.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-526\" title=\"Texas 101\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-101-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have written before about what a unique opportunity it has been to step outside my life, as it were, for more than two months and do a reassessment of where I have been, where I am and what I want to do with the years I have left to me.\n\nThe one thing I am more sure about than anything is that I want to spend those years with Nicole. She has been a wonderful wife through both good times and not-so-good times, and she has stood by me at times when I let her down very badly.\n\nI have told her she is my favorite person in the entire world, and indeed in many ways she is my closest friend.\n\nThe next two weeks can be wonderful ones for her. Between work and all the other things going on in her life, she is dealing with more stress than I could handle -- and dealing with it well.\n\nStill, I\'d love to help her have two stress-free weeks here.\n\nThat\'s my goal.','','','inherit','open','open','','525-revision','','','2010-07-03 16:45:49','2010-07-03 23:45:49','',525,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=527',0,'revision','',0),(528,1,'2010-07-07 15:49:35','2010-07-07 22:49:35','It\'s 11 days until I finish my 11 weeks here in Texas, and although I have enjoyed almost every minute of it, my primary goal now is just to survive.\r\n\r\nMy body has reached a point of diminishing returns, I fear, and just about the only time I\'m pain-free anymore is when I\'m sleeping. If it isn\'t my obliques or my lower back, it\'s my weak ankle or the blisters I\'ve had on both feet for the last two weeks.\r\n\r\nSomehow, though, I keep plugging away. I shoveled manure and then hiked 4.5 miles this morning, and I played 18 holes of hole at Flying L Ranch in the afternoon. My weight is down 53 pounds, but my ability to exercise seems to be getting less and less every day.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_529\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"On the links at Flying L\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-529\" title=\"flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2-300x258.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"258\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThat\'s where golf does seem to come in handy. I\'ve played three times in the last eight days, and there\'s enough<em> fun</em> in the exercise and enough exercise in the fun to make it worthwhile.\r\n\r\nEvery time I have played here in Texas, whether at Flying L or down in Utopia, I have played by myself. I am amazed at how much more relaxing it is when I\'m not playing with other people, even when the other people are my friends.\r\n\r\nI\'m hopeful that the four days or so it will take to drive home will help me to feel better.\r\n\r\nUntil then, at least I can play golf.','Body may be failing, but there\'s still golf','','publish','open','open','','body-may-be-failing-but-theres-still-golf','','','2010-07-07 15:49:35','2010-07-07 22:49:35','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=528',0,'post','',0),(529,1,'2010-07-07 15:43:45','2010-07-07 22:43:45','','flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2','On the links at Flying L','inherit','open','open','','flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2','','','2010-07-07 15:43:45','2010-07-07 22:43:45','',528,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2.jpeg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(530,1,'2010-07-07 15:49:30','2010-07-07 22:49:30','It\'s 11 days until I finish my 11 weeks here in Texas, and although I have enjoyed almost every minute of it, my primary goal now is just to survive.\n\nMy body has reached a point of diminishing returns, I fear, and just about the only time I\'m pain-free anymore is when I\'m sleeping. If it isn\'t my obliques or my lower back, it\'s my weak ankle or the blisters I\'ve had on both feet for the last two weeks.\n\nSomehow, though, I keep plugging away. I shoveled manure and then hiked 4.5 miles this morning, and I played 18 holes of hole at Flying L Ranch in the afternoon. My weight is down 53 pounds, but my ability to exercise seems to be getting less and less every day.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_529\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"On the links at Flying L\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-529\" title=\"flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/flying-l-guest-ranch-golf-overview-2-300x258.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"258\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThat\'s where golf does seem to come in handy. I\'ve played three times in the last eight days, and there\'s enough<em> fun</em> in the exercise and enough exercise in the fun to make it worthwhile.\n\nEvery time I have played here in Texas, whether at Flying L or down in Utopia, I have played by myself. I am amazed at how much more relaxing it is when I\'m not playing with other people, even when the other people are my friends.\n\nI\'m hopeful that the four days or so it will take to drive home will help me to feel better.\n\nUntil then, at least I can play golf.','Body may be failing, but the','','inherit','open','open','','528-revision','','','2010-07-07 15:49:30','2010-07-07 22:49:30','',528,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=530',0,'revision','',0),(531,1,'2010-07-12 16:48:47','2010-07-12 23:48:47','In less than six days, I will pack my car, fill the gas tank and point it west for the three-day return trip to my life in Southern California.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_532\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Ready to go home\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-532\" title=\"Texas 010\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ll be leaving without most of the clothes I brought with me when I came to Texas at the end of April. My plan is that all the XXLs and XLs will be gone from my wardrobe with the exception of a couple of hoodies and jackets that I really like.\r\n\r\nI not only got rid of the size 42 jeans I came in, I\'ve also given away the 38s I bought after my initial weight loss. I\'ll ride home wearing a pair of size 36 Wranglers, jeans I hope will serve me for the next couple of months while my quest to get under 200 pounds continues.\r\n\r\nWhen I weighed in today, as I do every Monday morning here, I was down 55 pounds for the 10 weeks I have been in the program. That\'s either 220 pounds dressed or 217 undressed, and while I don\'t expect to keep losing 5.5 pounds a week, I do think I\'ll be crossing the legendary 200 barrier before the end of the summer.\r\n\r\nMy goal all along has been to lose 100 pounds, but I honestly don\'t know if at age 60, and with the muscle I have added from all my exercising here, if I have another 45 pounds of fat to lose.\r\n\r\nI know there\'s no hope of enough healthy weight loss to get down to 160, which I did twice in my thirties, and that means I\'ll never again wear the 30-inch jeans I last squeezed into in 1989.\r\n\r\nThat doesn\'t really matter, though. For all my optimism then, I suppose I knew deep down that I could never maintain the weight loss back then. This time, I know in my heart that once I am under 200 pounds, I am there to stay. I will never be fat again, because no matter what my body looks like, I no longer have a fat man\'s mentality.\r\n\r\nI\'m a little bit nervous about getting out of the routine here and getting back into my old life, but I know I can handle it.\r\n\r\nThings have changed -- for the better.\r\n\r\nAnd for good.','Heading for home and the old (new) life','','publish','open','open','','heading-for-home-and-the-old-new-life','','','2010-07-12 16:48:47','2010-07-12 23:48:47','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=531',0,'post','',1),(532,1,'2010-07-12 16:37:15','2010-07-12 23:37:15','','Texas 010','Ready to go home','inherit','open','open','','texas-010','','','2010-07-12 16:37:15','2010-07-12 23:37:15','',531,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(533,1,'2010-07-12 16:48:41','2010-07-12 23:48:41','In less than six days, I will pack my car, fill the gas tank and point it west for the three-day return trip to my life in Southern California.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_532\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Ready to go home\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-532\" title=\"Texas 010\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ll be leaving without most of the clothes I brought with me when I came to Texas at the end of April. My plan is that all the XXLs and XLs will be gone from my wardrobe with the exception of a couple of hoodies and jackets that I really like.\n\nI not only got rid of the size 42 jeans I came in, I\'ve also given away the 38s I bought after my initial weight loss. I\'ll ride home wearing a pair of size 36 Wranglers, jeans I hope will serve me for the next couple of months while my quest to get under 200 pounds continues.\n\nWhen I weighed in today, as I do every Monday morning here, I was down 55 pounds for the 10 weeks I have been in the program. That\'s either 220 pounds dressed or 217 undressed, and while I don\'t expect to keep losing 5.5 pounds a week, I do think I\'ll be crossing the legendary 200 barrier before the end of the summer.\n\nMy goal all along has been to lose 100 pounds, but I honestly don\'t know if at age 60, and with the muscle I have added from all my exercising here, if I have another 45 pounds of fat to lose.\n\nI know there\'s no hope of enough healthy weight loss to get down to 160, which I did twice in my thirties, and that means I\'ll never again wear the 30-inch jeans I last squeezed into in 1989.\n\nThat doesn\'t really matter, though. For all my optimism then, I suppose I knew deep down that I could never maintain the weight loss back then. This time, I know in my heart that once I am under 200 pounds, I am there to stay. I will never be fat again, because no matter what my body looks like, I no longer have a fat man\'s mentality.\n\nI\'m a little bit nervous about getting out of the routine here and getting back into my old life, but I know I can handle it.\n\nThings have changed -- for the better.\n\nAnd for good.','Heading for home and the old (new) lif','','inherit','open','open','','531-revision','','','2010-07-12 16:48:41','2010-07-12 23:48:41','',531,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=533',0,'revision','',0),(534,1,'2010-07-19 17:13:02','2010-07-20 00:13:02','','DSC_0278','','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0278','','','2010-07-19 17:13:02','2010-07-20 00:13:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0278.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(535,1,'2010-07-22 16:04:45','2010-07-22 23:04:45','One of the most difficult propositions when you have gone somewhere to establish good habits -- particularly new habits -- is maintaining them once you return home.\r\n\r\nI spent 11 weeks in Texas doing everything I could do change my life, from exercising every day to eating properly to maintaining a positive attitude. I was so eager to test my newfound resolve that I drove home -- nearly 1,550 miles -- in two days. I went from Bandera to Gallup, N.M., the first day and came the rest of the way on Saturday.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_539\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The stables\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-539\" title=\"DSC_0274\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDespite the fact that I hadn\'t been able to exercise at all my last couple of days in Texas thanks to a sore back, I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday and walked for an hour and a half. I haven\'t missed a day since, and although my route through Montrose is very different from my route in Hill Country State Natural Area, it has become a pleasant part of my morning each day this week.\r\n\r\nDiet hasn\'t been a big problem either. I have stayed under my 1,500 calorie limit every day and haven\'t felt the urge to go out for pizza more than once or twice.\r\n\r\n<em>The urge, that is. I haven\'t actually done it.</em>\r\n\r\nSo with those things in mind, the biggest adjustment is living with someone else again after several months of living alone. As I\'ve written before -- and certainly with whatever wisdom the failure of my first marriage gave me -- voluntary separations are rarely if ever positive things.\r\n\r\nWhen Nicole and I were apart, she became accustomed to doing a lot of things for herself, things that I was doing for her before I left. In the long run, that\'s a good thing, a positive thing.\r\n\r\nIn the short run, it\'s an adjustment.\r\n\r\nWe love each other, though, and if our expectations at getting back together were a little high, so be it. My brilliant wife compared it to visiting family at Christmas and wanting everything to be perfect; she knows and so do I that life is rarely perfect.\r\n\r\nIt is good, though.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s what really matters.','Returning home is time for adjustments','','publish','open','open','','returning-home-is-time-for-adjustments','','','2010-07-22 16:04:45','2010-07-22 23:04:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=535',0,'post','',0),(536,1,'2010-07-22 11:03:16','2010-07-22 18:03:16','One of the most difficult propositions when you have gone somewhere to establish good habits -- particularly new habits -- is maintaining them once you return home.\n\nI spent 11 weeks in Texas doing everything I could do change my life, from exercising every day to eating properly to maintaining a positive attitude. I was so eager to test my newfound resolve that I drove home -- nearly 1,550 miles -- in two days. I went from Bandera to Gallup, N.M., the first day and came the rest of the way on Saturday.\n\nDespite the fact that I hadn\'t been able to exercise at all my last couple of days in Texas thanks to a sore back, I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday and walked for an hour and a half. I haven\'t missed a day since, and although my route through Montrose is very different from my route in Hill Country State Natural Area, it has become a pleasant part of my morning each day this week.\n\nDiet hasn\'t been a big problem either. I have stayed under my 1,500 calorie limit every day and haven\'t felt the urge to go out for pizza more than once or twice.\n\n<em>The urge, that is. I haven\'t actually done it.</em>','','','inherit','open','open','','535-revision','','','2010-07-22 11:03:16','2010-07-22 18:03:16','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=536',0,'revision','',0),(537,1,'2010-07-22 11:52:37','2010-07-22 18:52:37','','DSC_0277','','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0277','','','2010-07-22 11:52:37','2010-07-22 18:52:37','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0277.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(538,1,'2010-07-22 11:56:02','2010-07-22 18:56:02','One of the most difficult propositions when you have gone somewhere to establish good habits -- particularly new habits -- is maintaining them once you return home.\n\nI spent 11 weeks in Texas doing everything I could do change my life, from exercising every day to eating properly to maintaining a positive attitude. I was so eager to test my newfound resolve that I drove home -- nearly 1,550 miles -- in two days. I went from Bandera to Gallup, N.M., the first day and came the rest of the way on Saturday.\n\nDespite the fact that I hadn\'t been able to exercise at all my last couple of days in Texas thanks to a sore back, I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday and walked for an hour and a half. I haven\'t missed a day since, and although my route through Montrose is very different from my route in Hill Country State Natural Area, it has become a pleasant part of my morning each day this week.\n\nDiet hasn\'t been a big problem either. I have stayed under my 1,500 calorie limit every day and haven\'t felt the urge to go out for pizza more than once or twice.\n\n<em>The urge, that is. I haven\'t actually done it.</em>\n\nSo with those things in mind, the biggest adjustment is living with someone else again after several months of living alone. As I\'ve written before -- and certainly with whatever wisdom the failure of my f','','','inherit','open','open','','535-revision-2','','','2010-07-22 11:56:02','2010-07-22 18:56:02','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=538',0,'revision','',0),(539,1,'2010-07-22 13:56:32','2010-07-22 20:56:32','','DSC_0274','The stables','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0274','','','2010-07-22 13:56:32','2010-07-22 20:56:32','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(540,1,'2010-07-22 13:58:48','2010-07-22 20:58:48','One of the most difficult propositions when you have gone somewhere to establish good habits -- particularly new habits -- is maintaining them once you return home.\n\nI spent 11 weeks in Texas doing everything I could do change my life, from exercising every day to eating properly to maintaining a positive attitude. I was so eager to test my newfound resolve that I drove home -- nearly 1,550 miles -- in two days. I went from Bandera to Gallup, N.M., the first day and came the rest of the way on Saturday.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_539\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The stables\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-539\" title=\"DSC_0274\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDespite the fact that I hadn\'t been able to exercise at all my last couple of days in Texas thanks to a sore back, I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday and walked for an hour and a half. I haven\'t missed a day since, and although my route through Montrose is very different from my route in Hill Country State Natural Area, it has become a pleasant part of my morning each day this week.\n\nDiet hasn\'t been a big problem either. I have stayed under my 1,500 calorie limit every day and haven\'t felt the urge to go out for pizza more than once or twice.\n\n<em>The urge, that is. I haven\'t actually done it.</em>\n\nSo with those things in mind, the biggest adjustment is living with someone else again after several months of living alone. As I\'ve written before -- and certainly with whatever wisdom the failure of my first marriage gave me -- voluntary separations are rarely if ever positive things.\n\nWhen Nicole and I were apart, she became accustomed to doing a lot of things for herself, things that I was doing for her before I left. In the long run','','','inherit','open','open','','535-revision-3','','','2010-07-22 13:58:48','2010-07-22 20:58:48','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=540',0,'revision','',0),(541,1,'2010-07-22 16:03:49','2010-07-22 23:03:49','One of the most difficult propositions when you have gone somewhere to establish good habits -- particularly new habits -- is maintaining them once you return home.\n\nI spent 11 weeks in Texas doing everything I could do change my life, from exercising every day to eating properly to maintaining a positive attitude. I was so eager to test my newfound resolve that I drove home -- nearly 1,550 miles -- in two days. I went from Bandera to Gallup, N.M., the first day and came the rest of the way on Saturday.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_539\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The stables\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-539\" title=\"DSC_0274\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC_0274-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDespite the fact that I hadn\'t been able to exercise at all my last couple of days in Texas thanks to a sore back, I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday and walked for an hour and a half. I haven\'t missed a day since, and although my route through Montrose is very different from my route in Hill Country State Natural Area, it has become a pleasant part of my morning each day this week.\n\nDiet hasn\'t been a big problem either. I have stayed under my 1,500 calorie limit every day and haven\'t felt the urge to go out for pizza more than once or twice.\n\n<em>The urge, that is. I haven\'t actually done it.</em>\n\nSo with those things in mind, the biggest adjustment is living with someone else again after several months of living alone. As I\'ve written before -- and certainly with whatever wisdom the failure of my first marriage gave me -- voluntary separations are rarely if ever positive things.\n\nWhen Nicole and I were apart, she became accustomed to doing a lot of things for herself, things that I was doing for her before I left. In the long run, that\'s a good thing, a positive thing.\n\nIn the short run, it\'s an adjustment.\n\nWe love each other, though, and if our expectations at getting back together were a little high, so be it. My brilliant wife compared it to visiting family at Christmas and wanting everything to be perfect; she knows and so do I that','','','inherit','open','open','','535-revision-4','','','2010-07-22 16:03:49','2010-07-22 23:03:49','',535,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=541',0,'revision','',0),(542,1,'2010-07-23 18:22:59','2010-07-24 01:22:59','','Surf\'s Up 011','Surf City USA','inherit','open','open','','surfs-up-011','','','2010-07-23 18:22:59','2010-07-24 01:22:59','',543,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-011.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(543,1,'2010-07-23 18:42:01','2010-07-24 01:42:01','[caption id=\"attachment_542\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Surf City USA\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-542\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 011\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-011-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSome months back, when I was still wearing my Fat Boy clothes, I wrote a couple of blogs about how I was going to learn to surf.\r\n\r\nNow I\'m ready.\r\n\r\nI went to Huntington Beach today to scope out the situation, and it was a very interesting time to visit <a title=\"Surf City\" href=\"http://www.surfcityusa.com/\" target=\"_self\">Surf City</a>. Starting next Saturday and running for nine days, Huntington Beach will play host to the <a title=\"Surfing\" href=\"http://www.usopenofsurfing.com/\" target=\"_self\">U.S. Open of Surfing</a>, which will bring together all the top surfers for a massive competition.\r\n\r\nThe facilities -- mostly some pretty massive grandstands -- are going up fast, and there were plenty of wet suits in the water today as folks appeared to be practicing their tricks.\r\n\r\nMe, I checked out the cost of surfboards -- most of the new ones were $600 and up and even the used ones were $300 or so. So I went on line later and found a Ventura company that sold me one for $105. It should arrive sometime next week, and soon after that, I\'ll try to find a place to learn how to use it.\r\n\r\n<em>Gee, I hope it isn\'t made out of styrofoam.</em>\r\n\r\nI ordered a paperback book from Amazon, and I picked up a <a title=\"Corky Carroll\" href=\"http://www.corkycarroll.com/\" target=\"_self\">Corky Carroll</a> video on \"Learn to Surf: The Safe, Fast and Easy Way.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_544\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"132\" caption=\"Corky Carroll\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/corky.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-544\" title=\"corky\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/corky.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"132\" height=\"99\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Easy is good,\" says legendary surfer Carroll.\r\n\r\nHeck, he\'s two years older than I am, although he has been surfing for about the last 50 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t have any illusions about this being easy. The last thing I taught myself to do was play golf, and even after about 15 years, I\'m still not all that good at the game.\r\n\r\nI don\'t expect to be able to do a lot of tricks, and I doubt I\'ll be driving up and down the coast looking for the biggest waves. I just want to be able to paddle out, turn around and raise. Heck, that\'s all there is to the coastline craze.\r\n\r\nThen if I can stay up and ride a wave in, I\'ll be a happy man.','It\'s time to ride, ride, ride the wild surf','','publish','open','open','','its-time-to-ride-ride-ride-the-wild-surf','','','2010-07-23 18:42:01','2010-07-24 01:42:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=543',0,'post','',1),(544,1,'2010-07-23 18:38:35','2010-07-24 01:38:35','','corky','Corky Carroll','inherit','open','open','','corky','','','2010-07-23 18:38:35','2010-07-24 01:38:35','',543,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/corky.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(545,1,'2010-07-23 18:41:55','2010-07-24 01:41:55','[caption id=\"attachment_542\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Surf City USA\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-542\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 011\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-011-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSome months back, when I was still wearing my Fat Boy clothes, I wrote a couple of blogs about how I was going to learn to surf.\n\nNow I\'m ready.\n\nI went to Huntington Beach today to scope out the situation, and it was a very interesting time to visit <a title=\"Surf City\" href=\"http://www.surfcityusa.com/\" target=\"_self\">Surf City</a>. Starting next Saturday and running for nine days, Huntington Beach will play host to the <a title=\"Surfing\" href=\"http://www.usopenofsurfing.com/\" target=\"_self\">U.S. Open of Surfing</a>, which will bring together all the top surfers for a massive competition.\n\nThe facilities -- mostly some pretty massive grandstands -- are going up fast, and there were plenty of wet suits in the water today as folks appeared to be practicing their tricks.\n\nMe, I checked out the cost of surfboards -- most of the new ones were $600 and up and even the used ones were $300 or so. So I went on line later and found a Ventura company that sold me one for $105. It should arrive sometime next week, and soon after that, I\'ll try to find a place to learn how to use it.\n\n<em>Gee, I hope it isn\'t made out of styrofoam.</em>\n\nI ordered a paperback book from Amazon, and I picked up a <a title=\"Corky Carroll\" href=\"http://www.corkycarroll.com/\" target=\"_self\">Corky Carroll</a> video on \"Learn to Surf: The Safe, Fast and Easy Way.\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_544\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"132\" caption=\"Corky Carroll\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/corky.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-544\" title=\"corky\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/corky.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"132\" height=\"99\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n\"Easy is good,\" says legendary surfer Carroll.\n\nHeck, he\'s two years older than I am, although he has been surfing for about the last 50 years.\n\nI don\'t have any illusions about this being easy. The last thing I taught myself to do was play golf, and even after about 15 years, I\'m still not all that good at the game.\n\nI don\'t expect to be able to do a lot of tricks, and I doubt I\'ll be driving up and down the coast looking for the biggest waves. I just want to be able to paddle out, turn around and raise. Heck, that\'s all there is to the coastline craze.\n\nThen if I can stay up and ride a wave in, I\'ll be a happy man.','It\'s time to ride, ride, ride the w','','inherit','open','open','','543-revision','','','2010-07-23 18:41:55','2010-07-24 01:41:55','',543,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=545',0,'revision','',0),(546,1,'2010-07-24 21:17:33','2010-07-25 04:17:33','<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" /><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Ygq0kn7ed7s&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Ygq0kn7ed7s&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nI have never been on a surfboard, but I am definitely getting surf fever.\r\n\r\nI had a conversation with my brother-in-law, who is about 10 years younger than I am, last night. He lives in Massachusetts now, but he grew up in San Diego and has been surfing for 35 years. Marty is going to be out here for the next two weeks, and he has promised me that if I drive down to San Diego -- about a two and a half hour trip -- he will give me some first-class surfing lessons.\r\n\r\nI am so<em> there</em>.\r\n\r\nIt actually won\'t be convenient to our schedules for me to do this until the second week of his visit, so I plan to take my board -- which should arrive sometime next week -- and go down to Huntington Beach and fool around a little. I\'ll watch my Corky Carroll DVD and at least learn how to paddle out.\r\n\r\nBy the end of the summer, I plan to be at least an inept surfer. Before I leave California next spring, I hope to be ept.\r\n\r\nYeah, I\'m 60.\r\n\r\nBut I am a younger and younger 60 with every pound I lose, with every walk I take, with every weight I lift.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if I\'ll ever shoot my age on a golf course, but I guarantee that before I\'m through, I will be able to stand up on a surfboard and ride a wave all the way in.\r\n\r\nIt\'s the only way I\'ll ever douse this fever.','Surf fever is definitely making its mark on me','','publish','open','open','','surf-fever-is-definitely-making-its-mark-on-me','','','2010-07-24 21:17:33','2010-07-25 04:17:33','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=546',0,'post','',0),(547,1,'2010-07-24 21:16:54','2010-07-25 04:16:54','<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" /><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Ygq0kn7ed7s&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Ygq0kn7ed7s&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nI have never been on a surfboard, but I am definitely getting surf fever.\n\nI had a conversation with my brother-in-law, who is about 10 years younger than I am, last night. He lives in Massachusetts now, but he grew up in San Diego and has been surfing for 35 years. Marty is going to be out here for the next two weeks, and he has promised me that if I drive down to San Diego -- about a two and a half hour trip -- he will give me some first-class surfing lessons.\n\nI am so<em> there</em>.\n\nIt actually won\'t be convenient to our schedules for me to do this until the second week of his visit, so I plan to take my board -- which should arrive sometime next week -- and go down to Huntington Beach and fool around a little. I\'ll watch my Corky Carroll DVD and at least learn how to paddle out.\n\nBy the end of the summer, I plan to be at least an inept surfer. Before I leave California next spring, I hope to be ept.\n\nYeah, I\'m 60.\n\nBut I am a younger and younger 60 with every pound I lose, with every walk I take, with every weight I lift.\n\nI don\'t know if I\'ll ever shoot my age on a golf course, but I guarantee that before I\'m through, I will be able to stand up on a surfboard and ride a wave all the way in.','','','inherit','open','open','','546-revision','','','2010-07-24 21:16:54','2010-07-25 04:16:54','',546,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=547',0,'revision','',0),(548,1,'2010-07-25 17:51:53','2010-07-26 00:51:53','','maddie4','The Amazing Baby','inherit','open','open','','maddie4','','','2010-07-25 17:51:53','2010-07-26 00:51:53','',549,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/maddie4.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(549,1,'2010-07-25 19:12:04','2010-07-26 02:12:04','[caption id=\"attachment_548\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Amazing Baby\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/maddie4.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-548\" title=\"maddie4\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/maddie4-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor all its negatives, there are some things amazing and wonderful about technology.\r\n\r\nYesterday evening, through the miracle of Skype, my wife and I were able to carry on a 20-minute conversation -- complete with video -- with our daughter Pauline and our granddaughter Maddie from 14 time zones away.\r\n\r\nI even did a video capture, but I\'m showing you this somewhat older picture instead because I don\'t want to be the type of grandfather who humiliates his granddaughter by putting a picture of her in a diaper out there on the Internet for all to see.\r\n\r\nIt took a while for me as an old guy to be able to work out the Skype thing. I had a headset that was a combination of headphones and a microphone, and it took me forever -- or so it seemed -- to realize I had to plug them into two different jacks, one to listen and one to talk.\r\n\r\nIn the end, though, it was wonderful. I hadn\'t seen Maddie since Christmas, which is about when this picture was taken. Not only has she grown a lot since then, she has expanded her vocabulary exponentially. When asked how old she is, she responds, \"Almost two.\" She even recognizes me as \"grandpa,\" which is quite an accomplishment since she has three grandfathers in two countries.\r\n\r\nI\'m really counting on Skype now that Maddie and her parents are in Indonesia for the next two years. It will probably be early 2012 before we get over there to visit, and it\'s a long way for them to come home for R&amp;R. Maddie might be nearly three and a half before I actually see her in person again.\r\n\r\nIt\'s times like this that the world seems larger and larger. In another three weeks, Virgile and his wife Sterling will be in Greece to start their two-year tour there. With our children so many thousands of miles away, and with most of our other living relatives either back East or over in France, things have gotten really spread out.\r\n\r\nMoving to Georgia next spring will help a little. For one thing, the 14 time zones that now separate us from Indonesia will go down to 11.\r\n\r\nThank goodness for Skype.','It\'s a long, long way to Indonesia and Greece','','publish','open','open','','its-a-long-long-way-to-indonesia-and-greece','','','2010-07-25 19:12:04','2010-07-26 02:12:04','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=549',0,'post','',0),(550,1,'2010-07-25 19:11:45','2010-07-26 02:11:45','[caption id=\"attachment_548\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Amazing Baby\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/maddie4.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-548\" title=\"maddie4\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/maddie4-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor all its negatives, there are some things amazing and wonderful about technology.\n\nYesterday evening, through the miracle of Skype, my wife and I were able to carry on a 20-minute conversation -- complete with video -- with our daughter Pauline and our granddaughter Maddie from 14 time zones away.\n\nI even did a video capture, but I\'m showing you this somewhat older picture instead because I don\'t want to be the type of grandfather who humiliates his granddaughter by putting a picture of her in a diaper out there on the Internet for all to see.\n\nIt took a while for me as an old guy to be able to work out the Skype thing. I had a headset that was a combination of headphones and a microphone, and it took me forever -- or so it seemed -- to realize I had to plug them into two different jacks, one to listen and one to talk.\n\nIn the end, though, it was wonderful. I hadn\'t seen Maddie since Christmas, which is about when this picture was taken. Not only has she grown a lot since then, she has expanded her vocabulary exponentially. When asked how old she is, she responds, \"Almost two.\" She even recognizes me as \"grandpa,\" which is quite an accomplishment since she has three grandfathers in two countries.\n\nI\'m really counting on Skype now that Maddie and her parents are in Indonesia for the next two years. It will probably be early 2012 before we get over there to visit, and it\'s a long way for them to come home for R&amp;R. Maddie might be nearly three and a half before I actually see her in person again.\n\nIt\'s times like this that the world seems larger and larger. In another three weeks, Virgile and his wife Sterling will be in Greece to start their two-year tour there. With our children so many thousands of miles away, and with most of our other living relatives either back East or over in France, things have gotten really spread out.\n\nMoving to Georgia next spring will help a little. For one thing, the 14 time zones that now separate us from Indonesia will go down to 11.\n\nThank goodness for Skype.','','','inherit','open','open','','549-revision','','','2010-07-25 19:11:45','2010-07-26 02:11:45','',549,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=550',0,'revision','',0),(551,1,'2010-07-27 19:05:51','2010-07-28 02:05:51','','Surf\'s Up 002 (2)','My surfboard','inherit','open','open','','surfs-up-002-2','','','2010-07-27 19:05:51','2010-07-28 02:05:51','',552,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-002-2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(552,1,'2010-07-27 19:21:09','2010-07-28 02:21:09','[caption id=\"attachment_551\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"My surfboard\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-002-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-551\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 002 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-002-2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTwo words I never expected to write.\r\n\r\n<em>My surfboard</em>.\r\n\r\nMy surfboard arrived today, courtesy of Federal Express, and if there was one surprise to me, it was how amazingly<em> light</em> it is. I had a few accessories I had to go out and buy -- some Mrs. Palmer\'s board wax, a rash guard (which is sort of like the top half of a really light wet suit) and, get this, a leash.\r\n\r\nThe leash is sort of like a bungee cord. One end hooks into a spot near the back end of the board, and the other gets velcroed around one of my ankles. The idea is that when I fall off the board, it won\'t get too far away from me. I suppose that could be a mixed blessing; it could snap back and hit me in the head. I\'ll bet even as light as it is, that wouldn\'t feel real good.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been reading James Maclaren\'s book \"Learn to Surf,\" although I haven\'t gotten around to watching my Corky Carroll video yet. I\'ve got the better part of a week before I go down to San Diego for my first day of lessons, and the biggest temptation will be to take my board down to Surf City and try it out.\r\n\r\nI think I\'ll wait.\r\n\r\nProbably.','First day in the surf getting closer and closer','','publish','open','open','','first-day-in-the-surf-getting-closer-and-closer','','','2010-07-27 19:21:09','2010-07-28 02:21:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=552',0,'post','',0),(553,1,'2010-07-27 19:20:11','2010-07-28 02:20:11','[caption id=\"attachment_551\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"My surfboard\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-002-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-551\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 002 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Surfs-Up-002-2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nTwo words I never expected to write.\n\n<em>My surfboard</em>.\n\nMy surfboard arrived today, courtesy of Federal Express, and if there was one surprise to me, it was how amazingly<em> light</em> it is. I had a few accessories I had to go out and buy -- some Mrs. Palmer\'s board wax, a rash guard (which is sort of like the top half of a really light wet suit) and, get this, a leash.\n\nThe leash is sort of like a bungee cord. One end hooks into a spot near the back end of the board, and the other gets velcroed around one of my ankles. The idea is that when I fall off the board, it won\'t get too far away from me. I suppose that could be a mixed blessing; it could snap back and hit me in the head. I\'ll bet even as light as it is, that wouldn\'t feel real good.\n\nI\'ve been reading James Maclaren\'s book \"Learn to Surf,\" although I haven\'t gotten around to watching my Corky Carroll video yet. I\'ve got the better part of a week before I go down to San Diego for my first day of lessons, and the biggest temptation will be to take my board down to Surf City and try it out.\n\nI think I\'ll wait.','','','inherit','open','open','','552-revision','','','2010-07-27 19:20:11','2010-07-28 02:20:11','',552,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=553',0,'revision','',0),(554,1,'2010-07-29 18:53:26','2010-07-30 01:53:26','I was sad to learn recently that former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, 79, was suffering from memory loss.\r\n\r\nFolks have been throwing the \"A\" word around, and it\'s quite possible the memory loss is a symptom of Alzheimer\'s Disease. It\'s sad, but more because if you live long enough, you have all sorts of indignities visited upon you before you die.\r\n\r\nSmith probably isn\'t the greatest college basketball coach ever -- it\'s tough to argue with the late John Wooden on that score -- but he has more victories than any other coach in NCAA Division I, and I never met anyone in nearly 20 years of covering sports who was any classier an individual.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/images.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"156\" height=\"209\" /></a>He never took credit for his success, crediting his players first and always. Indeed, when UNC named its new basketball field house after him, he protested that it would have been better to name it after the players.\r\n\r\nI came into contact with him several times when I worked in the Carolinas, but the one time that really stayed with me was a personal encounter I had with him during the NCAA sub-regionals in 1986 at Weber State.\r\n\r\nIt was Friday, the day between the first-round games and the second-rounders, and the four teams that had won on the first day were meeting the media in press conferences. One of the big topics that year was the fact that UNC\'s senior class that year was the first one under Smith that had yet to reach a Final Four.\r\n\r\nI asked the question of Brad Daugherty. \"Are you guys feeling any additional pressure from all the talk about that?\"\r\n\r\nSmith jumped in and interrupted. \"I don\'t think that\'s a fair question,\" he said. \"How many other teams here have been to the Final Four the last three years?\"\r\n\r\nI didn\'t need to point out that Louisville\'s Denny Crum, whose team would win the title that year, had been there during that time span. The moment had passed and the question didn\'t get answered.\r\n\r\nThe Tar Heels won their Saturday game to advance to the next weekend, and the question didn\'t come up in the post-game press conference. But as I was walking off to write my story, someone came up to me.\r\n\r\n\"I owe you an apology,\" Dean Smith said.\r\n\r\nI was stunned. \"Coach, you don\'t owe me anything.\"\r\n\r\n\"No,\" he said. \"I do. The question you asked yesterday was a fair one, but I\'ve been really worried about these kids feeling all that pressure, so I interrupted you. I want to apologize for that.\"\r\n\r\nI thanked him. We shook hands and he returned to his team.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t the last time I ever saw Smith. In 1989 I was covering the University of Nevada Reno, and we had a road trip to play North Carolina at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carolina won easily, of course, but I spent my post-game time in the UNR locker room and didn\'t talk to the legendary coach.\r\n\r\nI doubt he would have remembered our encounter.\r\n\r\nI, on the other hand, have never forgotten it.\r\n\r\nGodspeed, Coach Smith.','My personal memory of a legendary man','','publish','open','open','','my-personal-memory-of-a-legendary-man','','','2010-07-29 18:53:26','2010-07-30 01:53:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=554',0,'post','',0),(555,1,'2010-07-29 18:38:35','2010-07-30 01:38:35','','images','','inherit','open','open','','images','','','2010-07-29 18:38:35','2010-07-30 01:38:35','',554,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/images.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(556,1,'2010-07-29 18:52:51','2010-07-30 01:52:51','I was sad to learn recently that former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, 79, was suffering from memory loss.\n\nFolks have been throwing the \"A\" word around, and it\'s quite possible the memory loss is a symptom of Alzheimer\'s Disease. It\'s sad, but more because if you live long enough, you have all sorts of indignities visited upon you before you die.\n\nSmith probably isn\'t the greatest college basketball coach ever -- it\'s tough to argue with the late John Wooden on that score -- but he has more victories than any other coach in NCAA Division I, and I never met anyone in nearly 20 years of covering sports who was any classier an individual.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/images.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"156\" height=\"209\" /></a>He never took credit for his success, crediting his players first and always. Indeed, when UNC named its new basketball field house after him, he protested that it would have been better to name it after the players.\n\nI came into contact with him several times when I worked in the Carolinas, but the one time that really stayed with me was a personal encounter I had with him during the NCAA sub-regionals in 1986 at Weber State.\n\nIt was Friday, the day between the first-round games and the second-rounders, and the four teams that had won on the first day were meeting the media in press conferences. One of the big topics that year was the fact that UNC\'s senior class that year was the first one under Smith that had yet to reach a Final Four.\n\nI asked the question of Brad Daugherty. \"Are you guys feeling any additional pressure from all the talk about that?\"\n\nSmith jumped in and interrupted. \"I don\'t think that\'s a fair question,\" he said. \"How many other teams here have been to the Final Four the last three years?\"\n\nI didn\'t need to point out that Louisville\'s Denny Crum, whose team would win the title that year, had been there during that time span. The moment had passed and the question didn\'t get answered.\n\nThe Tar Heels won their Saturday game to advance to the next weekend, and the question didn\'t come up in the post-game press conference. But as I was walking off to write my story, someone came up to me.\n\n\"I owe you an apology,\" Dean Smith said.\n\nI was stunned. \"Coach, you don\'t owe me anything.\"\n\n\"No,\" he said. \"I do. The question you asked yesterday was a fair one, but I\'ve been really worried about these kids feeling all that pressure, so I interrupted you. I want to apologize for that.\"\n\nI thanked him. We shook hands and he returned to his team.\n\nIt wasn\'t the last time I ever saw Smith. In 1989 I was covering the University of Nevada Reno, and we had a road trip to play North Carolina at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carolina won easily, of course, but I spent my post-game time in the UNR locker room and didn\'t talk to the legendary coach.\n\nI doubt he would have remembered our encounter.\n\nI, on the other hand, have never forgotten it.\n\nGodspeed, Coach Smith.','','','inherit','open','open','','554-revision','','','2010-07-29 18:52:51','2010-07-30 01:52:51','',554,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=556',0,'revision','',0),(614,1,'2010-09-05 20:15:28','2010-09-06 03:15:28','[caption id=\"attachment_613\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sunset in Surf City\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-stuff-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-613\" title=\"Recent stuff 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-stuff-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNicole and I just finished a wonderful weekend in Surf City, also known as Huntington Beach, California.\r\n\r\nIt\'s probably my last beach weekend, especially if we are going to be fortunate enough to leave for Georgia at the end of October. Huntington Beach has always been my favorite, ever since I lived six miles up Beach Blvd. from Surf City when I first came to California.\r\n\r\nI made a little more progress in my quest to learn to surf, but suffered a major setback when I didn\'t do a good enough job of fastening my board to the top of my car for the trip home. Let\'s just suffice it to say the surfing lessons I\'m hoping to take later this month will have to be with a rented board.\r\n\r\nI let that ruin my mood for a few hours, which shows what a jerk I can be sometimes.\r\n\r\nBut I decided it was still a wonderful weekend, and that being happy is really only a decision.\r\n\r\nIf you choose to be happy, you ought to be.\r\n\r\nI choose to be happy.\r\n\r\nAfter all, I just spent three pretty nice days with the woman I love.','A wonderful weekend, with one small glitch','','publish','open','open','','a-wonderful-weekend-with-one-small-glitch','','','2010-09-05 20:15:28','2010-09-06 03:15:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=614',0,'post','',0),(613,1,'2010-09-05 20:07:53','2010-09-06 03:07:53','','Recent stuff 009','Sunset in Surf City','inherit','open','open','','recent-stuff-009','','','2010-09-05 20:07:53','2010-09-06 03:07:53','',614,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-stuff-009.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(558,1,'2010-08-02 09:58:40','2010-08-02 16:58:40','Is it really August already?\r\n\r\nWhen I was younger, August was always a bittersweet month. It was the home stretch of summer vacation, the last three or four weeks before school was going to start again. In Ohio and Virginia, where I lived for all of my School Days, the air used to get cooler at night late in the month, a sign that fall was coming and everything was returning to the normality of the school year.\r\n\r\nSummer vacation was ending.\r\n\r\nOf course, once you\'re out of school and working, the summer vacation that seems to stretch on forever no longer really exists. You get your week or two off from work, but the rest of the summer is pretty much like the rest of the year only hotter. Instead of being a special season, summer actually takes on sort of an annoying quality because heat and humidity aren\'t as much fun when you\'re wearing a tie, battling rush hour and stressing out over a job.\r\n\r\nI always thought Europeans had it a lot better than we did when it came to summer. In France, for example, the country pretty much shuts down in August and everyone goes on holiday for a month. The reasoning is that four weeks or so off in summertime makes people more efficient the rest of the year, and I think there\'s a lot to be said for that sort of thinking.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_559\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The French on holiday\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-french-on-holiday-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-559\" title=\"the-french-on-holiday-1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-french-on-holiday-1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nYes, the beaches get awfully crowded.\r\n\r\nCertainly, some cities are almost deserted.\r\n\r\nSome Americans are appalled by the thought that folks pretty much have to take their vacations at the same time, that there\'s a loss of freedom in being told that August is the month of vacation. But I\'m pretty sure there\'s also at least a certain amount of envy to think that people can take an entire month off from work. In this country you pretty much have to work someplace for at least 10 or 15 years before you get that much vacation time, and even then, it\'s tough to get away from the job for three or four weeks at a time.\r\n\r\nAs I\'ve been getting older, I find myself wondering what it\'s all about anyway. If we\'re working harder to make more money so that we can buy more <em>things</em>, it all seems pretty misguided to me. I don\'t know if having a 50-inch television screen makes you that much happier than having a 37-inch screen once you get past the original excitement of it.\r\n\r\nIt\'s still the same crap on television, no matter how big your screen is.\r\n\r\nWe spent $25,000 -- the most we\'ve ever spent -- to buy a car last year. Would we have have been twice as happy with a $50,000 car (or half as happy with a $12,500 car)?\r\n\r\nI kind of doubt it.\r\n\r\nWould we be happier if we could take the entire month of August off every year?\r\n\r\nThat\'s an entirely different question. When you have even a month of vacation, it stretches out ahead of you as if it will go on forever. And when it gets near the end, you\'re ready to go back to school ... or to work.\r\n\r\nActually, there are millions of Americans who don\'t really get any vacation at all. They\'re working in menial McJobs, and either they\'re not accumulating any vacation time or they\'re not staying at any one job long enough to qualify.\r\n\r\nThey\'re not working to live, they\'re just living to work.\r\n\r\nTo them, August is just hot.','As summer winds down, August is an odd month','','publish','open','open','','as-summer-winds-down-august-is-an-odd-month','','','2010-08-02 09:58:40','2010-08-02 16:58:40','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=558',0,'post','',0),(559,1,'2010-08-02 09:46:51','2010-08-02 16:46:51','','the-french-on-holiday-1','The French on holiday','inherit','open','open','','the-french-on-holiday-1','','','2010-08-02 09:46:51','2010-08-02 16:46:51','',558,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-french-on-holiday-1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(560,1,'2010-08-02 09:58:09','2010-08-02 16:58:09','Is it really August already?\n\nWhen I was younger, August was always a bittersweet month. It was the home stretch of summer vacation, the last three or four weeks before school was going to start again. In Ohio and Virginia, where I lived for all of my School Days, the air used to get cooler at night late in the month, a sign that fall was coming and everything was returning to the normality of the school year.\n\nSummer vacation was ending.\n\nOf course, once you\'re out of school and working, the summer vacation that seems to stretch on forever no longer really exists. You get your week or two off from work, but the rest of the summer is pretty much like the rest of the year only hotter. Instead of being a special season, summer actually takes on sort of an annoying quality because heat and humidity aren\'t as much fun when you\'re wearing a tie, battling rush hour and stressing out over a job.\n\nI always thought Europeans had it a lot better than we did when it came to summer. In France, for example, the country pretty much shuts down in August and everyone goes on holiday for a month. The reasoning is that four weeks or so off in summertime makes people more efficient the rest of the year, and I think there\'s a lot to be said for that sort of thinking.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_559\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The French on holiday\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-french-on-holiday-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-559\" title=\"the-french-on-holiday-1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-french-on-holiday-1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nYes, the beaches get awfully crowded.\n\nCertainly, some cities are almost deserted.\n\nSome Americans are appalled by the thought that folks pretty much have to take their vacations at the same time, that there\'s a loss of freedom in being told that August is the month of vacation. But I\'m pretty sure there\'s also at least a certain amount of envy to think that people can take an entire month off from work. In this country you pretty much have to work someplace for at least 10 or 15 years before you get that much vacation time, and even then, it\'s tough to get away from the job for three or four weeks at a time.\n\nAs I\'ve been getting older, I find myself wondering what it\'s all about anyway. If we\'re working harder to make more money so that we can buy more <em>things</em>, it all seems pretty misguided to me. I don\'t know if having a 50-inch television screen makes you that much happier than having a 37-inch screen once you get past the original excitement of it.\n\nIt\'s still the same crap on television, no matter how big your screen is.\n\nWe spent $25,000 -- the most we\'ve ever spent -- to buy a car last year. Would we have have been twice as happy with a $50,000 car (or half as happy with a $12,500 car)?\n\nI kind of doubt it.\n\nWould we be happier if we could take the entire month of August off every year?\n\nThat\'s an entirely different question. When you have even a month of vacation, it stretches out ahead of you as if it will go on forever. And when it gets near the end, you\'re ready to go back to school ... or to work.\n\nActually, there are millions of Americans who don\'t really get any vacation at all. They\'re working in menial McJobs, and either they\'re not accumulating any vacation time or they\'re not staying at any one job long enough to qualify.\n\nThey\'re not working to live, they\'re just living to work.\n\nTo them, August is just hot.','As summer winds down, August is an odd month','','inherit','open','open','','558-revision','','','2010-08-02 09:58:09','2010-08-02 16:58:09','',558,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=560',0,'revision','',0),(561,1,'2010-08-03 20:53:28','2010-08-04 03:53:28','','La Jolla Surfing 007','A single step','inherit','open','open','','la-jolla-surfing-007','','','2010-08-03 20:53:28','2010-08-04 03:53:28','',562,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(562,1,'2010-08-03 21:13:34','2010-08-04 04:13:34','[caption id=\"attachment_561\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A single step\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-561\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 007\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI don\'t have the best reputation as an athlete when it comes to my wife.\r\n\r\nShe has seen me attempt to learn to ski and fail, and she has seen me attempt to snorkel and fail. So it was natural that she was curious about my first attempt to learn surfing.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember her exact question, but it was something along the lines of this:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Was it a total failure?\"</em>\r\n\r\nActually, no. It was a slow start, to be sure, but there was nothing about it that made me not want to keep trying and ultimately succeed.\r\n\r\nI drove down the coast to La Jolla this morning with the promise of a free surfing lesson from a pretty good teacher. My brother-in-law Marty Malin grew up in Southern California and has been surfing for about 35 years. Just to let you know how dedicated he is, he lives on the East Coast now and actually surfs in Massachusetts.\r\n\r\nWell, he surfs in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Massachusetts coast.\r\n\r\nWe went to the beach today, and as it turned out, the time of day was less than ideal for accomplishing too much. The tide was coming in, and conditions were kind of choppy. Mostly I learned to paddle out, and then how to ride waves in on my belly and manage to keep from falling off the board.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_563\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A false start\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-016.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-563\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 016\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-016-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs you can see from this photo, that took a while to learn.\r\n\r\nThe person you can see in the picture is actually Marty, who was standing near the board. I believe I\'m somewhere under the board in the Pacific Ocean.\r\n\r\nI think that was the moment at which the little voice of negativity in my head spoke up.\r\n\r\n<em>Mike, you\'re 60 years old. What the heck are you doing?</em>\r\n\r\nTrying again was what I was doing. Surfing is something that has fascinated me pretty much all my life, and if it\'s ironic that I\'m finally trying to do it during my final summer in California, so be it. The desire to learn to surf is one of the reasons I have lost 75 pounds this summer and am working with the goal of losing another 25 before I stop.\r\n\r\nShortly after that ducking, I started getting a little better at managing to stay on the board on the way in. I rode one wave all the way in, actually scraping my right forearm on the beach and scraping up Marty\'s longboard.\r\n\r\nHey, he didn\'t tell me to hop off when I got in that close.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_564\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Catching a wave (sort of)\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-041.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-564\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 041\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-041-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut a little later in the day, just before we finished up, I managed to catch one wave perfectly and zoomed in toward the beach on my belly. I was amazed at how fast I was going, and pleased that I managed to keep my balance and stay on.\r\n\r\nI could only imagine how great it would have felt to stand up and ride the wave in, but that will come.\r\n\r\nWas it a total failure?\r\n\r\nNot at all, and I\'m not at all discouraged. I\'m looking forward to my next time out there, maybe as soon as next week.\r\n\r\nI\'ve got a long way to go, but the point is going to come at which I\'ll stand up on the board and stay standing.\r\n\r\nA journey of a thousand waves begins with a single stand.\r\n\r\nOr something like that.','My surfer\'s journey starts with some small progress','','publish','open','open','','my-surfers-journey-starts-with-some-small-progress','','','2010-08-03 21:13:34','2010-08-04 04:13:34','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=562',0,'post','',1),(563,1,'2010-08-03 21:02:51','2010-08-04 04:02:51','','La Jolla Surfing 016','A false start','inherit','open','open','','la-jolla-surfing-016','','','2010-08-03 21:02:51','2010-08-04 04:02:51','',562,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-016.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(564,1,'2010-08-03 21:09:48','2010-08-04 04:09:48','','La Jolla Surfing 041','Catching a wave (sort of)','inherit','open','open','','la-jolla-surfing-041','','','2010-08-03 21:09:48','2010-08-04 04:09:48','',562,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-041.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(565,1,'2010-08-03 21:13:34','2010-08-04 04:13:34','[caption id=\"attachment_561\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A single step\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-561\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 007\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t have the best reputation as an athlete when it comes to my wife.\n\nShe has seen me attempt to learn to ski and fail, and she has seen me attempt to snorkel and fail. So it was natural that she was curious about my first attempt to learn surfing.\n\nI don\'t remember her exact question, but it was something along the lines of this:\n\n<em>\"Was it a total failure?\"</em>\n\nActually, no. It was a slow start, to be sure, but there was nothing about it that made me not want to keep trying and ultimately succeed.\n\nI drove down the coast to La Jolla this morning with the promise of a free surfing lesson from a pretty good teacher. My brother-in-law Marty Malin grew up in Southern California and has been surfing for about 35 years. Just to let you know how dedicated he is, he lives on the East Coast now and actually surfs in Massachusetts.\n\nWell, he surfs in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Massachusetts coast.\n\nWe went to the beach today, and as it turned out, the time of day was less than ideal for accomplishing too much. The tide was coming in, and conditions were kind of choppy. Mostly I learned to paddle out, and then how to ride waves in on my belly and manage to keep from falling off the board.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_563\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A false start\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-016.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-563\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 016\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-016-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs you can see from this photo, that took a while to learn.\n\nThe person you can see in the picture is actually Marty, who was standing near the board. I believe I\'m somewhere under the board in the Pacific Ocean.\n\nI think that was the moment at which the little voice of negativity in my head spoke up.\n\n<em>Mike, you\'re 60 years old. What the heck are you doing?</em>\n\nTrying again was what I was doing. Surfing is something that has fascinated me pretty much all my life, and if it\'s ironic that I\'m finally trying to do it during my final summer in California, so be it. The desire to learn to surf is one of the reasons I have lost 75 pounds this summer and am working with the goal of losing another 25 before I stop.\n\nShortly after that ducking, I started getting a little better at managing to stay on the board on the way in. I rode one wave all the way in, actually scraping my right forearm on the beach and scraping up Marty\'s longboard.\n\nHey, he didn\'t tell me to hop off when I got in that close.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_564\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Catching a wave (sort of)\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-041.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-564\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 041\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-041-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut a little later in the day, just before we finished up, I managed to catch one wave perfectly and zoomed in toward the beach on my belly. I was amazed at how fast I was going, and pleased that I managed to keep my balance and stay on.\n\nI could only imagine how great it would have felt to stand up and ride the wave in, but that will come.\n\nWas it a total failure?\n\nNot at all, and I\'m not at all discouraged. I\'m looking forward to my next time out there, maybe as soon as next week.\n\nI\'ve got a long way to go, but the point is going to come at which I\'ll stand up on the board and stay standing.\n\nA journey of a thousand waves begins with a single stand.\n\nOr something like that.','My surfer\'s journey starts with some small progress','','inherit','open','open','','562-revision','','','2010-08-03 21:13:34','2010-08-04 04:13:34','',562,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=565',0,'revision','',0),(566,1,'2010-08-04 23:01:59','2010-08-05 06:01:59','','Dodger Stadium 001','Blue Heaven','inherit','open','open','','dodger-stadium-001','','','2010-08-04 23:01:59','2010-08-05 06:01:59','',567,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Dodger-Stadium-001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(567,1,'2010-08-04 23:11:40','2010-08-05 06:11:40','[caption id=\"attachment_566\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Blue Heaven\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Dodger-Stadium-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-566\" title=\"Dodger Stadium 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Dodger-Stadium-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOver the course of the last 21 years, I have probably seen nearly 200 baseball games at Dodger Stadium.\r\n\r\nIt has always been one of the loveliest ballparks in the country, both for its classical look and for the setting it occupies, with the mountains in the background and the landscape all around it, just two or three miles from downtown Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nI have watched games from pretty much everywhere in the park, from the upper deck nosebleed seats to the front row of box seats on the third base side to the press box.\r\n\r\nTonight I think the odds are pretty good that I might have seen my last game in Blue Heaven.\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t been there for a couple of years, and I saw tonight\'s game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres courtesy of my good friend Wayne Shinsato, who has partial season tickets. I don\'t know if I\'ll get back before the end of the season, and we are planning to move to Georgia before the 2011 season starts.\r\n\r\nI remember my first visit. It was Fourth of July weekend in 1978, and my first wife and I were visiting my friend Mick, who was out here for graduate school. We got tickets in the very last row of seats at the end of the grandstand in left field and saw the game between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves. I was a fairly rabid Cincinnati fan at that time, so I didn\'t like the Dodgers much at all.\r\n\r\nTwenty-one years living here changed that, of course.\r\n\r\nI\'m a Dodger fan and probably will be for the rest of my life.\r\n\r\nIt was wonderful to see the game, which the Dodgers won, 9-0, behind a two-hit shutout by Vincente Padilla. If it was my last game here, it was a good one to end on.\r\n\r\nIt\'s probably what I\'ll miss most when we leave L.A.','Was it my final visit to Dodger Stadium?','','publish','open','open','','was-it-my-final-visit-to-dodger-stadium','','','2010-08-04 23:11:40','2010-08-05 06:11:40','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=567',0,'post','',0),(568,1,'2010-08-04 23:10:56','2010-08-05 06:10:56','[caption id=\"attachment_566\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Blue Heaven\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Dodger-Stadium-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-566\" title=\"Dodger Stadium 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Dodger-Stadium-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOver the course of the last 21 years, I have probably seen nearly 200 baseball games at Dodger Stadium.\n\nIt has always been one of the loveliest ballparks in the country, both for its classical look and for the setting it occupies, with the mountains in the background and the landscape all around it, just two or three miles from downtown Los Angeles.\n\nI have watched games from pretty much everywhere in the park, from the upper deck nosebleed seats to the front row of box seats on the third base side to the press box.\n\nTonight I think the odds are pretty good that I might have seen my last game in Blue Heaven.\n\nI hadn\'t been there for a couple of years, and I saw tonight\'s game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres courtesy of my good friend Wayne Shinsato, who has partial season tickets. I don\'t know if I\'ll get back before the end of the season, and we are planning to move to Georgia before the 2011 season starts.\n\nI remember my first visit. It was Fourth of July weekend in 1978, and my first wife and I were visiting my friend Mick, who was out here for graduate school. We got tickets in the very last row of seats at the end of the grandstand in left field and saw the game between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves. I was a fairly rabid Cincinnati fan at that time, so I didn\'t like the Dodgers much at all.\n\nTwenty-one years living here changed that, of course.\n\nI\'m a Dodger fan and probably will be for the rest of my life.\n\nIt was wonderful to see the game, which the Dodgers won, 9-0, behind a two-hit shutout by Vincente Padilla. If it was my last game here, it was a good one to end on.\n\nIt\'s probably what I\'ll miss most when we leave L.A.','','','inherit','open','open','','567-revision','','','2010-08-04 23:10:56','2010-08-05 06:10:56','',567,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=568',0,'revision','',0),(569,1,'2010-08-05 20:54:02','2010-08-06 03:54:02','Somehow, I seem to have fallen into a new lifestyle.\r\n\r\nI remember hearing that if you do something long enough, it becomes a habit. Then if you have a habit long enough, it becomes your lifestyle.\r\n\r\nI think walking every day -- walking at least five or six miles -- has become my lifestyle.\r\n\r\nIt was one thing to do it at the fitness ranch in Texas. I was paying a lot of money to learn how to take care of myself there, and I walked nearly every day for 11 weeks. Even at Rancho Cortez, though, I occasionally took days off. I came home 19 days ago, weighing 213 pounds, down from 280 earlier in the spring. I was pleased and I fully intended to continue my weight loss, but it wasn\'t easy to figure out how and where I was going to hike.\r\n\r\nI started walking through Montrose up to the 210 freeway, but it wasn\'t as much fun as it had been walking in the countryside in Texas. But I plugged ahead every day without ever skipping one. Even on the days I was doing other things -- like my surfing lesson earlier this week -- I still found time before leaving to hike.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_561\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A single step\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-561\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 007\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs of today, I have hiked every day of the 19 I have been at home. Today I walked five miles around the Rose Bowl this morning with my friend Mick, and then I went back out and hiked a little more than three miles on my regular route this afternoon.\r\n\r\nMy weight loss has continued. Today I weighed in at 204, which means I have lost an additional nine pounds since coming home. It also means I\'m just five pounds away from being under 200 for the first time in more than nine years.\r\n\r\nIt\'s weird to think I have lost nearly 80 pounds and am still over 200, but there\'s no use in being upset about the past. Yes, my weight was worse than ever earlier this year. I was stressed, and in the past, when I was stressed, I ate too much and exercised too little.\r\n\r\nBut now things are different.\r\n\r\nNow I have a new lifestyle.\r\n\r\nI love it.','Good habits are turning into a good (new) lifestyle','','publish','open','open','','good-habits-are-turning-into-a-good-new-lifestyle','','','2010-08-05 20:54:02','2010-08-06 03:54:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=569',0,'post','',2),(570,1,'2010-08-05 20:53:21','2010-08-06 03:53:21','Somehow, I seem to have fallen into a new lifestyle.\n\nI remember hearing that if you do something long enough, it becomes a habit. Then if you have a habit long enough, it becomes your lifestyle.\n\nI think walking every day -- walking at least five or six miles -- has become my lifestyle.\n\nIt was one thing to do it at the fitness ranch in Texas. I was paying a lot of money to learn how to take care of myself there, and I walked nearly every day for 11 weeks. Even at Rancho Cortez, though, I occasionally took days off. I came home 19 days ago, weighing 213 pounds, down from 280 earlier in the spring. I was pleased and I fully intended to continue my weight loss, but it wasn\'t easy to figure out how and where I was going to hike.\n\nI started walking through Montrose up to the 210 freeway, but it wasn\'t as much fun as it had been walking in the countryside in Texas. But I plugged ahead every day without ever skipping one. Even on the days I was doing other things -- like my surfing lesson earlier this week -- I still found time before leaving to hike.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_561\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A single step\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-561\" title=\"La Jolla Surfing 007\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/La-Jolla-Surfing-007-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs of today, I have hiked every day of the 19 I have been at home. Today I walked five miles around the Rose Bowl this morning with my friend Mick, and then I went back out and hiked a little more than three miles on my regular route this afternoon.\n\nMy weight loss has continued. Today I weighed in at 204, which means I have lost an additional nine pounds since coming home. It also means I\'m just five pounds away from being under 200 for the first time in more than nine years.\n\nIt\'s weird to think I have lost nearly 80 pounds and am still over 200, but there\'s no use in being upset about the past. Yes, my weight was worse than ever earlier this year. I was stressed, and in the past, when I was stressed, I ate too much and exercised too little.\n\nBut now things are different.\n\nNow I have a new lifestyle.\n\nI love it.','','','inherit','open','open','','569-revision','','','2010-08-05 20:53:21','2010-08-06 03:53:21','',569,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=570',0,'revision','',0),(571,1,'2010-08-07 23:11:02','2010-08-08 06:11:02','It\'s easy to get carried away with comments and pictures about my wonderful little granddaughter, but I certainly never want to overlook exactly how amazing I think her mother is.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_572\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Chief Consul Pauline Kastner in Surabaya\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-572\" title=\"40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy daughter Pauline, who had one of those momentous birthdays earlier this week, is only on her third tour as an officer in the Foreign Service. Despite that, she is already chief consul in the largest consulate in Indonesia, living in a city the size of Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nDon\'t tell me the Department of State doesn\'t know what it\'s got in her.\r\n\r\nI have always been proud of her, but I swear, she gets more impressive every year. She has done an incredible job of balancing her job responsibilities with her family life. She has been a wonderful mother to little Maddie, while still doing good enough work to get top-flight performance evaluations.\r\n\r\nYou certainly can\'t overlook how beautiful she is, either.\r\n\r\nPauline is someone who has worked very hard to make herself into the person she is, and one of the reasons I\'m hoping to live as long as possible is that I want to see all the impressive things she will do in the course of the next 25 or 30 years.\r\n\r\nThere couldn\'t be a better daughter in the world, and no, I\'m not biased.\r\n\r\nI\'m right.','A few words about the best daughter in the world','','publish','open','open','','a-few-words-about-the-best-daughter-in-the-world','','','2010-08-07 23:11:02','2010-08-08 06:11:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=571',0,'post','',0),(572,1,'2010-08-07 23:02:58','2010-08-08 06:02:58','','40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n','Chief Consul Pauline Kastner in Surabaya','inherit','open','open','','40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n','','','2010-08-07 23:02:58','2010-08-08 06:02:58','',571,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(573,1,'2010-08-07 23:10:25','2010-08-08 06:10:25','It\'s easy to get carried away with comments and pictures about my wonderful little granddaughter, but I certainly never want to overlook exactly how amazing I think her mother is.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_572\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Chief Consul Pauline Kastner in Surabaya\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-572\" title=\"40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/40369_451299257847_161970137847_6180440_903380_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy daughter Pauline, who had one of those momentous birthdays earlier this week, is only on her third tour as an officer in the Foreign Service. Despite that, she is already chief consul in the largest consulate in Indonesia, living in a city the size of Los Angeles.\n\nDon\'t tell me the Department of State doesn\'t know what it\'s got in her.\n\nI have always been proud of her, but I swear, she gets more impressive every year. She has done an incredible job of balancing her job responsibilities with her family life. She has been a wonderful mother to little Maddie, while still doing good enough work to get top-flight performance evaluations.\n\nYou certainly can\'t overlook how beautiful she is, either.\n\nPauline is someone who has worked very hard to make herself into the person she is, and one of the reasons I\'m hoping to live as long as possible is that I want to see all the impressive things she will do in the course of the next 25 or 30 years.\n\nThere couldn\'t be a better daughter in the world, and no, I\'m not biased.','','','inherit','open','open','','571-revision','','','2010-08-07 23:10:25','2010-08-08 06:10:25','',571,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=573',0,'revision','',0),(574,1,'2010-08-10 17:18:46','2010-08-11 00:18:46','','Walking 004','The beginning ... and the end','inherit','open','open','','walking-004','','','2010-08-10 17:18:46','2010-08-11 00:18:46','',575,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(575,1,'2010-08-10 17:36:47','2010-08-11 00:36:47','It isn\'t always easy to transfer good habits from one venue to another.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_574\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beginning ... and the end\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-574\" title=\"Walking 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI have managed to maintain the hiking -- and the dieting -- since my return from Texas without much difficulty. I have walked an average of 5-6 miles a day without missing a single day, and my weight is down from 213 to 201 and should drop under 200 within the next few days.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t been accomplishing much else, though. I have been home for three weeks and I have all but stopped my podcasts. I don\'t know if I\'m not feeling the inspiration, or if I just haven\'t been putting enough effort into it.\r\n\r\nMost of my morning hikes start in the first picture here -- at the top of the hill on Valderas Drive. It\'s where they also end, which means the last few hundred yards of my hike each day are the steepest climb of the entire hike.\r\n\r\nI walk into Montrose and walk down Honolulu Avenue, past the shops and restaurants and on out Honolulu toward the freeway. On a normal day, I end up walking a little more than three miles out and a little more than three miles back.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a start.\r\n\r\nI\'ve just got to start taking my voice recorder and my little notebook along with me. I have a feeling there\'s inspiration here in California, just like there was in Texas.\r\n\r\nI just need to look a little harder for it.','Time to do more than just hike and diet','','publish','open','open','','time-to-do-more-than-just-hike-and-diet','','','2010-08-10 17:36:47','2010-08-11 00:36:47','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=575',0,'post','',0),(576,1,'2010-08-10 17:35:48','2010-08-11 00:35:48','It isn\'t always easy to transfer good habits from one venue to another.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_574\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beginning ... and the end\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-574\" title=\"Walking 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have managed to maintain the hiking -- and the dieting -- since my return from Texas without much difficulty. I have walked an average of 5-6 miles a day without missing a single day, and my weight is down from 213 to 201 and should drop under 200 within the next few days.\n\nI haven\'t been accomplishing much else, though. I have been home for three weeks and I have all but stopped my podcasts. I don\'t know if I\'m not feeling the inspiration, or if I just haven\'t been putting enough effort into it.\n\nMost of my morning hikes start in the first picture here -- at the top of the hill on Valderas Drive. It\'s where they also end, which means the last few hundred yards of my hike each day are the steepest climb of the entire hike.\n\nI walk into Montrose and walk down Honolulu Avenue, past the shops and restaurants and on out Honolulu toward the freeway. On a normal day, I end up walking a little more than three miles out and a little more than three miles back.\n\nIt\'s a start.\n\nI\'ve just got to start taking my voice recorder and my little notebook along with me. I have a feeling there\'s inspiration here in California, just like there was in Texas.\n\nI just need to look a little harde','','','inherit','open','open','','575-revision','','','2010-08-10 17:35:48','2010-08-11 00:35:48','',575,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=576',0,'revision','',0),(577,1,'2010-08-10 17:36:49','2010-08-11 00:36:49','It isn\'t always easy to transfer good habits from one venue to another.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_574\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beginning ... and the end\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-574\" title=\"Walking 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Walking-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have managed to maintain the hiking -- and the dieting -- since my return from Texas without much difficulty. I have walked an average of 5-6 miles a day without missing a single day, and my weight is down from 213 to 201 and should drop under 200 within the next few days.\n\nI haven\'t been accomplishing much else, though. I have been home for three weeks and I have all but stopped my podcasts. I don\'t know if I\'m not feeling the inspiration, or if I just haven\'t been putting enough effort into it.\n\nMost of my morning hikes start in the first picture here -- at the top of the hill on Valderas Drive. It\'s where they also end, which means the last few hundred yards of my hike each day are the steepest climb of the entire hike.\n\nI walk into Montrose and walk down Honolulu Avenue, past the shops and restaurants and on out Honolulu toward the freeway. On a normal day, I end up walking a little more than three miles out and a little more than three miles back.\n\nIt\'s a start.\n\nI\'ve just got to start taking my voice recorder and my little notebook along with me. I have a feeling there\'s inspiration here in California, just like there was in Texas.\n\nI just need to look a little harder for it.','Time to do more than just hike and diet','','inherit','open','open','','575-autosave','','','2010-08-10 17:36:49','2010-08-11 00:36:49','',575,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=577',0,'revision','',0),(578,1,'2010-08-11 19:25:45','2010-08-12 02:25:45','Diets always fail.\r\n\r\nBy most accounts, of every 100 pounds lost in the United States by dieters, 90 are gained back within the next 12 months.\r\n\r\nI can definitely vouch for that. In 1985, I lost 84 pounds. Four years later, I lost essentially the same 84 pounds. But earlier this year, I not only found myself carrying those same pounds around, I was close to 40 pounds heavier than I had ever been in my life.\r\n\r\nI was the poster child for dieting failure, even though at one time or another I had probably lost 300 pounds without ever weighing as much as 300. But I was 60 years old, I weighed 280 pounds and my wife was probably<em> this close</em> to telling me to hit the road, Jack.\r\n\r\nAnd my name isn\'t even Jack.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_579\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Under 200 for the first time in nine years\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Self-portraits-006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-579\" title=\"Self portraits 006\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Self-portraits-006-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIf I knew one thing, it was that simply going on another diet was the last thing I needed to do. It hadn\'t been as easy in recent years to lose weight, but even if it was, every previous time I did it, I gained back every pound and then some.\r\n\r\nWhat I really needed to do was change my life.\r\n\r\nI had always viewed dieting in the same way as those people who look at their lives as journeys. If you\'re trying to get somewhere, then the simple act of getting there makes you let down. The previous times I lost weight, I viewed the process as one of deprivation. I believed that once I got there, I could return to normal and start eating again.\r\n\r\nThis time the goal was to change my life.\r\n\r\nI wanted to accomplish two things. I wanted to get rid of the excess weight that was damaging my health and I wanted to establish some sort of exercise as a permanent part of my life.\r\n\r\nIn the short term, I had three goals:\r\n\r\n1. Get my weight below 200 pounds, once and for all.\r\n\r\n2. Lose enough inches around my waist that I could go from the 42-inch waist pants I had been wearing to the four pairs of Ralph Lauren Polo chinos I hadn\'t been able to wear since 1996, when my weight was as low as 186 pounds. Those chinos had a 33-inch waist.\r\n\r\n3. Lose 100 pounds.\r\n\r\nToday I achieved the first of those three goals. My bathroom scale this morning said I weighed 199 pounds; I celebrated by going out and walking eight miles.\r\n\r\nI\'m on the verge of the second goal as well. I tried on a pair of the pants and I was actually able to get them closed. I <em>could</em> wear them, although it will take another five pounds or so of weight loss for them to be comfortable.\r\n\r\nI\'m still 19 pounds -- maybe two months -- from the third goal, but reaching 180 won\'t be any sort of arrival. I still plan to walk every day and go to the YMCA two or three times a week to work out, and I still plan to eat no more than about 1,500 calories a day.\r\n\r\nYou see, I have learned my lesson.\r\n\r\nAs I wrote earlier, it isn\'t a diet. It\'s a lifestyle.\r\n\r\nBut I have to admit, 199 feels great.','A goal achieved, but there\'s no reason to stop','','publish','open','open','','a-goal-achieved-but-theres-no-reason-to-stop','','','2010-08-11 19:25:45','2010-08-12 02:25:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=578',0,'post','',0),(579,1,'2010-08-11 19:10:25','2010-08-12 02:10:25','','Self portraits 006','Under 200 for the first time in nine years','inherit','open','open','','self-portraits-006','','','2010-08-11 19:10:25','2010-08-12 02:10:25','',578,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Self-portraits-006.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(580,1,'2010-08-11 19:24:57','2010-08-12 02:24:57','Diets always fail.\n\nBy most accounts, of every 100 pounds lost in the United States by dieters, 90 are gained back within the next 12 months.\n\nI can definitely vouch for that. In 1985, I lost 84 pounds. Four years later, I lost essentially the same 84 pounds. But earlier this year, I not only found myself carrying those same pounds around, I was close to 40 pounds heavier than I had ever been in my life.\n\nI was the poster child for dieting failure, even though at one time or another I had probably lost 300 pounds without ever weighing as much as 300. But I was 60 years old, I weighed 280 pounds and my wife was probably<em> this close</em> to telling me to hit the road, Jack.\n\nAnd my name isn\'t even Jack.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_579\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Under 200 for the first time in nine years\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Self-portraits-006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-579\" title=\"Self portraits 006\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Self-portraits-006-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf I knew one thing, it was that simply going on another diet was the last thing I needed to do. It hadn\'t been as easy in recent years to lose weight, but even if it was, every previous time I did it, I gained back every pound and then some.\n\nWhat I really needed to do was change my life.\n\nI had always viewed dieting in the same way as those people who look at their lives as journeys. If you\'re trying to get somewhere, then the simple act of getting there makes you let down. The previous times I lost weight, I viewed the process as one of deprivation. I believed that once I got there, I could return to normal and start eating again.\n\nThis time the goal was to change my life.\n\nI wanted to accomplish two things. I wanted to get rid of the excess weight that was damaging my health and I wanted to establish some sort of exercise as a permanent part of my life.\n\nIn the short term, I had three goals:\n\n1. Get my weight below 200 pounds, once and for all.\n\n2. Lose enough inches around my waist that I could go from the 42-inch waist pants I had been wearing to the four pairs of Ralph Lauren Polo chinos I hadn\'t been able to wear since 1996, when my weight was as low as 186 pounds. Those chinos had a 33-inch waist.\n\n3. Lose 100 pounds.\n\nToday I achieved the first of those three goals. My bathroom scale this morning said I weighed 199 pounds; I celebrated by going out and walking eight miles.\n\nI\'m on the verge of the second goal as well. I tried on a pair of the pants and I was actually able to get them closed. I <em>could</em> wear them, although it will take another five pounds or so of weight loss for them to be comfortable.\n\nI\'m still 19 pounds -- maybe two months -- from the third goal, but reaching 180 won\'t be any sort of arrival. I still plan to walk every day and go to the YMCA two or three times a week to work out, and I still plan to eat no more than about 1,500 calories a day.\n\nYou see, I have learned my lesson.\n\nAs I wrote earlier, it isn\'t a diet. I','','','inherit','open','open','','578-revision','','','2010-08-11 19:24:57','2010-08-12 02:24:57','',578,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=580',0,'revision','',0),(581,1,'2010-08-11 20:38:38','2010-08-12 03:38:38','I don\'t think I had seen <a title=\"Easy Rider\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/\" target=\"_self\">\"Easy Rider\"</a> for at least 35 years when I picked it up on Blu-Ray DVD the other day.\r\n\r\nIt fascinates me that so many of the influential movies of my youth (and before) are showing up in 40th anniversary editions, or 45th, or 50th ... or even in the cases of \"Gone With the Wind\" and \"The Wizard of Oz,\" 70th.\r\n\r\n\"Easy Rider\" was different, though. It was the film that actually changed Hollywood for a while, until Steven Spielberg and George Lucas changed it back. For five or six years after its 1969 release, there were all sorts of fascinating films that were never going to make a lot of money, but that definitely added to the pantheon of great American cinema.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/images.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-582\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"188\" /></a>There are no heroes in \"Easy Rider;\" its two main characters -- Wyatt and Billy -- make the money for their cross-country journey by selling drugs. Other than their desire to be free, neither of them has any particular goal in life.\r\n\r\nMost people remember the movie for Jack Nicholson\'s supporting role. This was the part that made Nicholson a star, and he stepped into leading roles shortly after that with \"Five Easy Pieces.\" He definitely has the most memorable line in the movie.\r\n\r\n<em>\"You know, this used to be a helluva good country.\"</em>\r\n\r\nIt\'s the shocking ending -- which I will not reveal here -- that sticks in most people\'s memory.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s that line that stays with me in these days of tea parties and anti-government rhetoric.\r\n\r\n<em>\"This used to be a helluva good country.\"</em>','\'Easy Rider\' marked a real milestone in movies','','publish','open','open','','easy-rider-marked-a-real-milestone-in-movies','','','2010-08-11 20:38:38','2010-08-12 03:38:38','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=581',0,'post','',0),(582,1,'2010-08-11 20:31:18','2010-08-12 03:31:18','','images','','inherit','open','open','','images-2','','','2010-08-11 20:31:18','2010-08-12 03:31:18','',581,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/images.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(583,1,'2010-08-11 20:38:07','2010-08-12 03:38:07','I don\'t think I had seen <a title=\"Easy Rider\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/\" target=\"_self\">\"Easy Rider\"</a> for at least 35 years when I picked it up on Blu-Ray DVD the other day.\n\nIt fascinates me that so many of the influential movies of my youth (and before) are showing up in 40th anniversary editions, or 45th, or 50th ... or even in the cases of \"Gone With the Wind\" and \"The Wizard of Oz,\" 70th.\n\n\"Easy Rider\" was different, though. It was the film that actually changed Hollywood for a while, until Steven Spielberg and George Lucas changed it back. For five or six years after its 1969 release, there were all sorts of fascinating films that were never going to make a lot of money, but that definitely added to the pantheon of great American cinema.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/images.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-582\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"188\" /></a>There are no heroes in \"Easy Rider;\" its two main characters -- Wyatt and Billy -- make the money for their cross-country journey by selling drugs. Other than their desire to be free, neither of them has any particular goal in life.\n\nMost people remember the movie for Jack Nicholson\'s supporting role. This was the part that made Nicholson a star, and he stepped into leading roles shortly after that with \"Five Easy Pieces.\" He definitely has the most memorable line in the movie.\n\n<em>\"You know, this used to be a helluva good country.\"</em>\n\nIt\'s the shocking ending -- which I will not reveal here -- that sticks in most people\'s memory.\n\nBut it\'s that line that stays with me in these days of tea parties and anti-government rhetoric.\n\n<em>\"This used to be a helluva good country.\"</em>','','','inherit','open','open','','581-revision','','','2010-08-11 20:38:07','2010-08-12 03:38:07','',581,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=583',0,'revision','',0),(584,1,'2010-08-12 19:02:01','2010-08-13 02:02:01','I was watching one of my old favorite movies on DVD and it reminded me how much I love France.\r\n\r\nIn the first hour of \"Around the World in 80 Days,\" David Niven and Cantinflas are soaring over the French countryside in a hot-air balloon. I\'ve never flown over France in anything but a jet airliner, so I haven\'t seen that view, but I have visited the country four times -- in 1977, 1994, 2001 and 2009 -- and I think I love it more every time I go.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_585\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beautiful French countryside\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-585\" title=\"DSC_0097\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember the name of this village we visited late in the spring of 2009, but I remember the wonderful meal we had and how incredible the countryside looked.\r\n\r\nIn this country, particularly here in California, something a hundred years old is ancient. But in France it isn\'t unusual at all to see buildings that have stood for 500 or even 1,000 years. When I visited France in 1994, my wife took me to <a title=\"Carcassonne\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne\" target=\"_self\">Carcassonne</a>, a medieval forstress that dates back to the seventh century A.D.\r\n\r\nThe fortress itself is only for tourists now, but the city around it has buildings older than anything in the Western Hemisphere.\r\n\r\nWe hear a lot in this country about how rude the French are and how much they dislike Americans, but I have been there four times and no one has ever been anything other than nice to me.\r\n\r\n<em>Mike, you have a French wife.</em>\r\n\r\nTrue, and both of my children were born there as well. But I had never met Nicole in 1977 and the children hadn\'t even been born yet the first time I visited. I spent a week in Paris with only my college French and my Berlitz phrase book to guide me, and I can honestly say people were perfectly wonderful to me.\r\n\r\n<em>You probably told them you were Canadian.</em>\r\n\r\nNo, but I didn\'t act like I was superior to them on the basis of being American. I showed them how much I appreciated their country, which I really do.\r\n\r\nIt\'s amazing how nice people can be when you let them know you respect them.','Sometimes I really wish I were in France','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-i-really-wish-i-were-in-france','','','2010-08-12 19:02:01','2010-08-13 02:02:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=584',0,'post','',0),(585,1,'2010-08-12 18:46:56','2010-08-13 01:46:56','','DSC_0097','The beautiful French countryside','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0097','','','2010-08-12 18:46:56','2010-08-13 01:46:56','',584,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(586,1,'2010-08-12 19:01:33','2010-08-13 02:01:33','I was watching one of my old favorite movies on DVD and it reminded me how much I love France.\n\nIn the first hour of \"Around the World in 80 Days,\" David Niven and Cantinflas are soaring over the French countryside in a hot-air balloon. I\'ve never flown over France in anything but a jet airliner, so I haven\'t seen that view, but I have visited the country four times -- in 1977, 1994, 2001 and 2009 -- and I think I love it more every time I go.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_585\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beautiful French countryside\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-585\" title=\"DSC_0097\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t remember the name of this village we visited late in the spring of 2009, but I remember the wonderful meal we had and how incredible the countryside looked.\n\nIn this country, particularly here in California, something a hundred years old is ancient. But in France it isn\'t unusual at all to see buildings that have stood for 500 or even 1,000 years. When I visited France in 1994, my wife took me to <a title=\"Carcassonne\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne\" target=\"_self\">Carcassonne</a>, a medieval forstress that dates back to the seventh century A.D.\n\nThe fortress itself is only for tourists now, but the city around it has buildings older than anything in the Western Hemisphere.\n\nWe hear a lot in this country about how rude the French are and how much they dislike Americans, but I have been there four times and no one has ever been anything other than nice to me.\n\n<em>Mike, you have a French wife.</em>\n\nTrue, and both of my children were born there as well. But I had never met Nicole in 1977 and the children hadn\'t even been born yet the first time I visited. I spent a week in Paris with only my college French and my Berlitz phrase book to guide me, and I can honestly say people were perfectly wonderful to me.\n\n<em>You probably told them you were Canadian.</em>\n\nNo, but I didn\'t act like I was superior to them on the basis of being American. I showed them how much I appreciated their country, which I really do.\n\nIt\'s amazing how nice people can be when you let them know you respect them.','','','inherit','open','open','','584-revision','','','2010-08-12 19:01:33','2010-08-13 02:01:33','',584,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=586',0,'revision','',0),(587,1,'2010-08-13 11:11:42','2010-08-13 18:11:42','Heroes come and heroes go, and at some point in your life you realize<a title=\"Heroes\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077669/\" target=\"_self\"> a hero ain\'t nothing but a sandwich</a>.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure when it was I realized that being a good player in a professional sport didn\'t necessarily make someone a person worthy of admiring. Maybe it dates back to the early \'70s when basketball player Spencer Haywood made a great statement about heroism.\r\n\r\nHe said that athletes weren\'t heroes. He said parents raising four kids and giving them good values on poverty-level incomes were the real heroes.\r\n\r\nI think it was after that that I stopped calling Pete Rose -- yes, Pete Rose -- my hero and just started referring to him as my favorite player. I admire the way he played the game, the effort he always gave. I certainly didn\'t admire the fact that he said the only book he ever read was \"The Pete Rose Story.\"\r\n\r\nBy the early \'90s, when Rose was long gone from baseball and had exposed himself as somewhat of a scumbag anyway, I was in the market for a new favorite player. For some reason, I settled on Atlanta\'s Chipper Jones. For most of the last 15 years, Jones has been my favorite player, to the point where I always look at the box scores to see what he did the night before, and I usually try to have him on my fantasy baseball teams.\r\n\r\nI admired the way he played the game, and I particularly liked the fact that he stayed with one team throughout his entire career. When he won the batting title in 2008, at the pretty advanced age of 36, I was happy for him. He had a mediocre season last year and wasn\'t doing much better this year, and I admired the fact that he said if he couldn\'t play at a level that made him proud, he would retire and walk away from the rest of his big contract.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_589\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Chipper Jones&#39; injury\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jones081210.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-589\" title=\"jones081210\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jones081210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe other night he got hurt, and even though he expressed optimism about the injury, it turned out he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament. It\'s ironic that the injury, which might end his career, was the same one he had at age 22 that caused him to delay his rookie season by a year.\r\n\r\nIs Chipper Jones finished at age 38?\r\n\r\nI hope not, but I know he\'s probably very near the end of his career. Maybe he can rehab his knee enough to play one more season and go out on his terms. That would be nice, especially since I\'ll be living in Georgia next year and hope to make it to Atlanta for a few games.\r\n\r\nAt any rate, I\'m going to need a new favorite player soon. I\'m thinking maybe Jason Heyward or Brian McCann.','Is another \'hero\' nearing the end of the line?','','publish','open','open','','is-another-hero-nearing-the-end-of-the-line','','','2010-08-13 11:11:42','2010-08-13 18:11:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=587',0,'post','',0),(588,1,'2010-08-13 10:21:15','2010-08-13 17:21:15','Heroes come and heroes go, and at some point in your life you realize<a title=\"Heroes\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077669/\" target=\"_self\"> a hero ain\'t nothing but a sandwich</a>.\n\nI\'m not sure when it was I realized that being a good player in a professional sport didn\'t necessarily make someone a person worthy of admiring. Maybe it dates back to the early \'70s when basketball player Spencer Haywood made a great statement about heroism.\n\nHe said that athletes weren\'t heroes. He said parents raising four kids and giving them good values on poverty-level incomes were the real heroes.\n\nI think it was after that that I stopped calling Pete Rose -- yes, Pete Rose -- my hero and just started referring to him as my favorite player. I admire the way he played the game, the effort he always gave. I certainly didn\'t admire the fact that he said the only book he ever read was \"The Pete Rose Story.\"\n\nBy the early \'90s, when Rose was long gone from baseball and had exposed himself as somewhat of a scumbag anyway, I was in the market for a new favorite player. For some reason, I settled on Atlanta\'s Chipper Jones. For most of the last 15 years, Jones has','','','inherit','open','open','','587-revision','','','2010-08-13 10:21:15','2010-08-13 17:21:15','',587,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=588',0,'revision','',0),(589,1,'2010-08-13 11:04:23','2010-08-13 18:04:23','','jones081210','Chipper Jones\' injury','inherit','open','open','','jones081210','','','2010-08-13 11:04:23','2010-08-13 18:04:23','',587,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jones081210.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(590,1,'2010-08-13 11:11:01','2010-08-13 18:11:01','Heroes come and heroes go, and at some point in your life you realize<a title=\"Heroes\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077669/\" target=\"_self\"> a hero ain\'t nothing but a sandwich</a>.\n\nI\'m not sure when it was I realized that being a good player in a professional sport didn\'t necessarily make someone a person worthy of admiring. Maybe it dates back to the early \'70s when basketball player Spencer Haywood made a great statement about heroism.\n\nHe said that athletes weren\'t heroes. He said parents raising four kids and giving them good values on poverty-level incomes were the real heroes.\n\nI think it was after that that I stopped calling Pete Rose -- yes, Pete Rose -- my hero and just started referring to him as my favorite player. I admire the way he played the game, the effort he always gave. I certainly didn\'t admire the fact that he said the only book he ever read was \"The Pete Rose Story.\"\n\nBy the early \'90s, when Rose was long gone from baseball and had exposed himself as somewhat of a scumbag anyway, I was in the market for a new favorite player. For some reason, I settled on Atlanta\'s Chipper Jones. For most of the last 15 years, Jones has been my favorite player, to the point where I always look at the box scores to see what he did the night before, and I usually try to have him on my fantasy baseball teams.\n\nI admired the way he played the game, and I particularly liked the fact that he stayed with one team throughout his entire career. When he won the batting title in 2008, at the pretty advanced age of 36, I was happy for him. He had a mediocre season last year and wasn\'t doing much better this year, and I admired the fact that he said if he couldn\'t play at a level that made him proud, he would retire and walk away from the rest of his big contract.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_589\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Chipper Jones&#39; injury\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jones081210.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-589\" title=\"jones081210\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/jones081210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe other night he got hurt, and even though he expressed optimism about the injury, it turned out he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament. It\'s ironic that the injury, which might end his career, was the same one he had at age 22 that caused him to delay his rookie season by a year.\n\nIs Chipper Jones finished at age 38?\n\nI hope not, but I know he\'s probably very near the end of his career. Maybe he can rehab his knee enough to play one more season and go out on his terms. That would be nice, especially since I\'ll be living in Georgia next year and hope to make it to Atlanta for a few games.\n\nAt any rate, I\'m going to need a new favorite player soon. I\'m thinking maybe Jason Heyward or Brian McCann.','','','inherit','open','open','','587-revision-2','','','2010-08-13 11:11:01','2010-08-13 18:11:01','',587,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=590',0,'revision','',0),(591,1,'2010-08-15 13:20:50','2010-08-15 20:20:50','My wife and I started watching \"Lou Grant\" on DVD the other night, and after we finished the first episode, Nicole asked me what seemed like an odd question.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Doesn\'t it make you feel sad?\"</em>\r\n\r\nShe was referring to the fact that I had been a journalist for nearly 30 years before my career ended abruptly nearly three years ago. I said no, that I had come to terms with what had happened, but in the last couple of days, I have realized there actually was some<em> there</em> there, unlike with the city of Oakland.\r\n\r\nI have been sad about the newspaper business, but not because my own career ended when it did. I really <em>have</em> come to terms with that. But what I\'m having quite a few sad thoughts about is that it doesn\'t seem to be just my career that went away. I\'m beginning to think that newspapers really are starting to die out.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_593\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s later than you think.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-593\" title=\"51bcjtBAkcL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve been re-reading <a title=\"Late Edition\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Late-Love-Story-Bob-Greene/dp/0312375301\" target=\"_self\">\"Late Edition,\"</a> a book on the subject by one of my favorite writers. Bob Greene was one of the top columnists in the country for more than 30 years, and he tells the story of his first job as a copy boy at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, a paper that died in 1985. One of the first and most fascinating facts that he points out is that in 1950, newspapers had 123 percent penetration into American households. More than one newspaper per household; quite a few families got both a morning and an evening paper.\r\n\r\nAs of 2004, that number was down to 49 percent and I\'m sure it\'s even lower now.\r\n\r\nNewspapers are dying, and the worst thing about it is that the people running them are doing their damnedest to kill them off even faster. Instead of fighting back with better quality, they\'re surrendering to the Internet, to podcasts, to Twitter and everything else, dumbing down their product to where people can legitimately ask why bother.\r\n\r\nThe last boss I had -- not so coincidentally the worst one -- loved to blather on about how we weren\'t in the newspaper business, we were in the communication business and it didn\'t matter how we communicated as long as we reached people and made money doing so.\r\n\r\n<em>What a maroon.</em>\r\n\r\nYou\'ve got that right, voice in my head. A few years ago, the <em>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</em>, a pretty fair newspaper in its time, went to Web only publishing in an effort to stay in business. Of course, the <em>P-I</em> cut its staff of reporters, photographers and editors from 166 to 30. Think they\'re still covering Seattle? Probably not so well.\r\n\r\nIt would be easy to say the problem is just part of a bigger one, that people don\'t <em>read</em> as much as they used to. That\'s maybe the scariest thing of all. Reading books is one of the best indicators of whether someone is intelligent or capable of critical thinking. Show me somebody who doesn\'t read and I\'ll show you someone who has to prove to me they\'re intelligent.\r\n\r\nI literally cannot imagine life without reading.\r\n\r\nI have a 13-year-old nephew who has a pretty fine brain in his head, and I was definitely pleased -- and not at all surprised -- when his mother told me he reads something like a book a day.\r\n\r\nThere is hope as long as there are kids like him.\r\n\r\nOf course, by the time he\'s grown up, books may be harder and harder to find, because there are a lot fewer people like him than there are people who see reading as some sort of chore.\r\n\r\nOf course, there have always been a lot of those people.\r\n\r\nWe just never used to celebrate them.','Without newspapers, what will happen to us?','','publish','open','open','','without-newspapers-what-will-happen-in-our-world','','','2010-08-15 13:21:27','2010-08-15 20:21:27','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=591',0,'post','',0),(592,1,'2010-08-14 21:12:13','2010-08-15 04:12:13','My wife and I started watching \"Lou Grant\" on DVD the other night, and after we finished the first episode, Nicole asked me what seemed like an odd question.\n\n<em>\"Doesn\'t it make you feel sad?\"</em>\n\nShe was referring to the fact that I had been a journalist for nearly 30 years before my career ended abruptly nearly three years ago. I said no, that I had come to terms with what had happened, but in the last couple of days, I have realized there actually was some<em> there</em> there, unlike with the city of Oakland.\n\nI have been sad about the newspaper business, but not because my own career ended when it did. I really <em>have</em> come to terms with that. But what I\'m having quite a few sad thoughts about is that it doesn\'t seem to be just my career that went away. I\'m beginning to think that newspapers really are starting to die out.\n\nI\'ve been re-reading <a title=\"Late Edition\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Late-Love-Story-Bob-Greene/dp/0312375301\" target=\"_self\">\"Late Edition,\"</a> a book on the subject by one of my favorite writers. Bob Greene was one of the top columnists in the country for more than 30 years, and he tells the story of his first job as a copy boy at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, a paper that died in 1985. One of the first and most fascinating facts that he points out is that in 19','','','inherit','open','open','','591-revision','','','2010-08-14 21:12:13','2010-08-15 04:12:13','',591,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=592',0,'revision','',0),(593,1,'2010-08-15 13:15:22','2010-08-15 20:15:22','','51bcjtBAkcL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_','It\'s later than you think.','inherit','open','open','','51bcjtbakcl-_bo2204203200_pisitb-sticker-arrow-clicktopright35-76_aa300_sh20_ou01_','','','2010-08-15 13:15:22','2010-08-15 20:15:22','',591,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(594,1,'2010-08-15 13:19:52','2010-08-15 20:19:52','My wife and I started watching \"Lou Grant\" on DVD the other night, and after we finished the first episode, Nicole asked me what seemed like an odd question.\n\n<em>\"Doesn\'t it make you feel sad?\"</em>\n\nShe was referring to the fact that I had been a journalist for nearly 30 years before my career ended abruptly nearly three years ago. I said no, that I had come to terms with what had happened, but in the last couple of days, I have realized there actually was some<em> there</em> there, unlike with the city of Oakland.\n\nI have been sad about the newspaper business, but not because my own career ended when it did. I really <em>have</em> come to terms with that. But what I\'m having quite a few sad thoughts about is that it doesn\'t seem to be just my career that went away. I\'m beginning to think that newspapers really are starting to die out.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_593\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s later than you think.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-593\" title=\"51bcjtBAkcL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been re-reading <a title=\"Late Edition\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Late-Love-Story-Bob-Greene/dp/0312375301\" target=\"_self\">\"Late Edition,\"</a> a book on the subject by one of my favorite writers. Bob Greene was one of the top columnists in the country for more than 30 years, and he tells the story of his first job as a copy boy at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, a paper that died in 1985. One of the first and most fascinating facts that he points out is that in 1950, newspapers had 123 percent penetration into American households. More than one newspaper per household; quite a few families got both a morning and an evening paper.\n\nAs of 2004, that number was down to 49 percent and I\'m sure it\'s even lower now.\n\nNewspapers are dying, and the worst thing about it is that the people running them are doing their damnedest to kill them off even faster. Instead of fighting back with better quality, they\'re surrendering to the Internet, to podcasts, to Twitter and everything else, dumbing down their product to where people can legitimately ask why bother.\n\nThe last boss I had -- not so coincidentally the worst one -- loved to blather on about how we weren\'t in the newspaper business, we were in the communication business and it didn\'t matter how we communicated as long as we reached people and made money doing so.\n\n<em>What a maroon.</em>\n\nYou\'ve got that right, voice in my head. A few years ago, the <em>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</em>, a pretty fair newspaper in its time, went to Web only publishing in an effort to stay in business. Of course, the <em>P-I</em> cut its staff of reporters, photographers and editors from 166 to 30. Think they\'re still covering Seattle? Probably not so well.\n\nIt would be easy to say the problem is just part of a bigger one, that people don\'t <em>read</em> as much as they used to. That\'s maybe the scariest thing of all. Reading books is one of the best indicators of whether someone is intelligent or capable of critical thinking. Show me somebody who doesn\'t read and I\'ll show you someone who has to prove to me they\'re intelligent.\n\nI literally cannot imagine life without reading.\n\nI have a 13-year-old nephew who has a pretty fine brain in his head, and I was definitely pleased -- and not at all surprised -- when his mother told me he reads something like a book a day.\n\nThere is hope as long as there are kids like him.\n\nOf course, by the time he\'s grown up, books may be harder and harder to find, because there are a lot fewer people like him than there are people who see reading as some sort of chore.','','','inherit','open','open','','591-revision-2','','','2010-08-15 13:19:52','2010-08-15 20:19:52','',591,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=594',0,'revision','',0),(595,1,'2010-08-15 13:20:51','2010-08-15 20:20:51','My wife and I started watching \"Lou Grant\" on DVD the other night, and after we finished the first episode, Nicole asked me what seemed like an odd question.\n\n<em>\"Doesn\'t it make you feel sad?\"</em>\n\nShe was referring to the fact that I had been a journalist for nearly 30 years before my career ended abruptly nearly three years ago. I said no, that I had come to terms with what had happened, but in the last couple of days, I have realized there actually was some<em> there</em> there, unlike with the city of Oakland.\n\nI have been sad about the newspaper business, but not because my own career ended when it did. I really <em>have</em> come to terms with that. But what I\'m having quite a few sad thoughts about is that it doesn\'t seem to be just my career that went away. I\'m beginning to think that newspapers really are starting to die out.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_593\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s later than you think.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-593\" title=\"51bcjtBAkcL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been re-reading <a title=\"Late Edition\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Late-Love-Story-Bob-Greene/dp/0312375301\" target=\"_self\">\"Late Edition,\"</a> a book on the subject by one of my favorite writers. Bob Greene was one of the top columnists in the country for more than 30 years, and he tells the story of his first job as a copy boy at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, a paper that died in 1985. One of the first and most fascinating facts that he points out is that in 1950, newspapers had 123 percent penetration into American households. More than one newspaper per household; quite a few families got both a morning and an evening paper.\n\nAs of 2004, that number was down to 49 percent and I\'m sure it\'s even lower now.\n\nNewspapers are dying, and the worst thing about it is that the people running them are doing their damnedest to kill them off even faster. Instead of fighting back with better quality, they\'re surrendering to the Internet, to podcasts, to Twitter and everything else, dumbing down their product to where people can legitimately ask why bother.\n\nThe last boss I had -- not so coincidentally the worst one -- loved to blather on about how we weren\'t in the newspaper business, we were in the communication business and it didn\'t matter how we communicated as long as we reached people and made money doing so.\n\n<em>What a maroon.</em>\n\nYou\'ve got that right, voice in my head. A few years ago, the <em>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</em>, a pretty fair newspaper in its time, went to Web only publishing in an effort to stay in business. Of course, the <em>P-I</em> cut its staff of reporters, photographers and editors from 166 to 30. Think they\'re still covering Seattle? Probably not so well.\n\nIt would be easy to say the problem is just part of a bigger one, that people don\'t <em>read</em> as much as they used to. That\'s maybe the scariest thing of all. Reading books is one of the best indicators of whether someone is intelligent or capable of critical thinking. Show me somebody who doesn\'t read and I\'ll show you someone who has to prove to me they\'re intelligent.\n\nI literally cannot imagine life without reading.\n\nI have a 13-year-old nephew who has a pretty fine brain in his head, and I was definitely pleased -- and not at all surprised -- when his mother told me he reads something like a book a day.\n\nThere is hope as long as there are kids like him.\n\nOf course, by the time he\'s grown up, books may be harder and harder to find, because there are a lot fewer people like him than there are people who see reading as some sort of chore.\n\nOf course, there have always been a lot of those people.\n\nWe just never used to celebrate them.','Without newspapers, what will happen in our world?','','inherit','open','open','','591-autosave','','','2010-08-15 13:20:51','2010-08-15 20:20:51','',591,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=595',0,'revision','',0),(596,1,'2010-08-15 13:20:50','2010-08-15 20:20:50','My wife and I started watching \"Lou Grant\" on DVD the other night, and after we finished the first episode, Nicole asked me what seemed like an odd question.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Doesn\'t it make you feel sad?\"</em>\r\n\r\nShe was referring to the fact that I had been a journalist for nearly 30 years before my career ended abruptly nearly three years ago. I said no, that I had come to terms with what had happened, but in the last couple of days, I have realized there actually was some<em> there</em> there, unlike with the city of Oakland.\r\n\r\nI have been sad about the newspaper business, but not because my own career ended when it did. I really <em>have</em> come to terms with that. But what I\'m having quite a few sad thoughts about is that it doesn\'t seem to be just my career that went away. I\'m beginning to think that newspapers really are starting to die out.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_593\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s later than you think.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-593\" title=\"51bcjtBAkcL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/51bcjtBAkcL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve been re-reading <a title=\"Late Edition\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Late-Love-Story-Bob-Greene/dp/0312375301\" target=\"_self\">\"Late Edition,\"</a> a book on the subject by one of my favorite writers. Bob Greene was one of the top columnists in the country for more than 30 years, and he tells the story of his first job as a copy boy at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, a paper that died in 1985. One of the first and most fascinating facts that he points out is that in 1950, newspapers had 123 percent penetration into American households. More than one newspaper per household; quite a few families got both a morning and an evening paper.\r\n\r\nAs of 2004, that number was down to 49 percent and I\'m sure it\'s even lower now.\r\n\r\nNewspapers are dying, and the worst thing about it is that the people running them are doing their damnedest to kill them off even faster. Instead of fighting back with better quality, they\'re surrendering to the Internet, to podcasts, to Twitter and everything else, dumbing down their product to where people can legitimately ask why bother.\r\n\r\nThe last boss I had -- not so coincidentally the worst one -- loved to blather on about how we weren\'t in the newspaper business, we were in the communication business and it didn\'t matter how we communicated as long as we reached people and made money doing so.\r\n\r\n<em>What a maroon.</em>\r\n\r\nYou\'ve got that right, voice in my head. A few years ago, the <em>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</em>, a pretty fair newspaper in its time, went to Web only publishing in an effort to stay in business. Of course, the <em>P-I</em> cut its staff of reporters, photographers and editors from 166 to 30. Think they\'re still covering Seattle? Probably not so well.\r\n\r\nIt would be easy to say the problem is just part of a bigger one, that people don\'t <em>read</em> as much as they used to. That\'s maybe the scariest thing of all. Reading books is one of the best indicators of whether someone is intelligent or capable of critical thinking. Show me somebody who doesn\'t read and I\'ll show you someone who has to prove to me they\'re intelligent.\r\n\r\nI literally cannot imagine life without reading.\r\n\r\nI have a 13-year-old nephew who has a pretty fine brain in his head, and I was definitely pleased -- and not at all surprised -- when his mother told me he reads something like a book a day.\r\n\r\nThere is hope as long as there are kids like him.\r\n\r\nOf course, by the time he\'s grown up, books may be harder and harder to find, because there are a lot fewer people like him than there are people who see reading as some sort of chore.\r\n\r\nOf course, there have always been a lot of those people.\r\n\r\nWe just never used to celebrate them.','Without newspapers, what will happen in our world?','','inherit','open','open','','591-revision-3','','','2010-08-15 13:20:50','2010-08-15 20:20:50','',591,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=596',0,'revision','',0),(597,1,'2010-08-18 19:31:46','2010-08-19 02:31:46','In 1985, I decided to get into shape for the first time in my adult life.\r\n\r\nI was working in St. Louis at the time, and I was 35 years old. I had been letting my weight get out of control for a few years and I weighed 243 pounds. I decided that it was time to do something about it, and on May 1, I started a program of diet -- eating no more than about 1,000 calories a day -- and exercise that lasted six months. I lost 84 pounds, and actually found myself weighing less than I did when I was 16 years old.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t keep the weight off, and I had to do it all over again four years later when I was living in Reno. I think I lost 82 pounds that time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_598\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 85 pounds in four months\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-598\" title=\"Miscellaneous 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe problem both times, and later times when I lost lesser amounts of weight in shorter diets, was that I always saw a diet as depriving myself and I always looked at my goal as a sort of finish line.\r\n\r\nI\'ve written before about what I\'ve been doing this year, so I\'m not going to go into a lot of detail in this post. I\'m writing today to celebrate the fact that as of today, less than four months into my lifestyle change of 2010, I surpassed the 1985 total today. As of this morning, I have dropped 85 pounds.\r\n\r\nSince I started at a much higher number, I\'m only down to 195 this time.\r\n\r\nThere\'s no way in the world I\'ll get anywhere near 159 this time. I\'m 60 years old and I would be totally happy to get down to 180 and stay there.\r\n\r\nIt\'s staying there that matters.\r\n\r\nI have changed some of my lifelong habits permanently. No more candy bars, a lot less dairy and grain products. I have walked five or six miles a day every day since I returned home from Texas, and I plan to continue that.\r\n\r\nThe way I see it, I got another chance.\r\n\r\nI\'m smart enough not to waste it this time.','A milestone of sorts; 85 pounds down','','publish','open','open','','a-milestone-of-sorts-85-pounds-down','','','2010-08-18 19:31:46','2010-08-19 02:31:46','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=597',0,'post','',0),(598,1,'2010-08-18 19:18:14','2010-08-19 02:18:14','','Miscellaneous 004','Down 85 pounds in four months','inherit','open','open','','miscellaneous-004','','','2010-08-18 19:18:14','2010-08-19 02:18:14','',597,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-004.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(599,1,'2010-08-18 19:31:37','2010-08-19 02:31:37','In 1985, I decided to get into shape for the first time in my adult life.\n\nI was working in St. Louis at the time, and I was 35 years old. I had been letting my weight get out of control for a few years and I weighed 243 pounds. I decided that it was time to do something about it, and on May 1, I started a program of diet -- eating no more than about 1,000 calories a day -- and exercise that lasted six months. I lost 84 pounds, and actually found myself weighing less than I did when I was 16 years old.\n\nI didn\'t keep the weight off, and I had to do it all over again four years later when I was living in Reno. I think I lost 82 pounds that time.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_598\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 85 pounds in four months\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-598\" title=\"Miscellaneous 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-004-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe problem both times, and later times when I lost lesser amounts of weight in shorter diets, was that I always saw a diet as depriving myself and I always looked at my goal as a sort of finish line.\n\nI\'ve written before about what I\'ve been doing this year, so I\'m not going to go into a lot of detail in this post. I\'m writing today to celebrate the fact that as of today, less than four months into my lifestyle change of 2010, I surpassed the 1985 total today. As of this morning, I have dropped 85 pounds.\n\nSince I started at a much higher number, I\'m only down to 195 this time.\n\nThere\'s no way in the world I\'ll get anywhere near 159 this time. I\'m 60 years old and I would be totally happy to get down to 180 and stay there.\n\nIt\'s staying there that matters.\n\nI have changed some of my lifelong habits permanently. No more candy bars, a lot less dairy and grain products. I have walked five or six miles a day every day since I returned home from Texas, and I plan to continue that.\n\nThe way I see it, I got another chance.\n\nI\'m smart enough not to waste it this time.','A milestone of sorts; 85','','inherit','open','open','','597-revision','','','2010-08-18 19:31:37','2010-08-19 02:31:37','',597,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=599',0,'revision','',0),(600,1,'2010-08-19 20:49:44','2010-08-20 03:49:44','','Surf\'s Up 001','Surf City','inherit','open','open','','surfs-up-001','','','2010-08-19 20:49:44','2010-08-20 03:49:44','',601,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Surfs-Up-001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(601,1,'2010-08-19 21:07:20','2010-08-20 04:07:20','If this isn\'t the strangest summer here in Southern California ...\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_600\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Surf City\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Surfs-Up-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-600\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Surfs-Up-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI went to Surf City today without my board, figuring I would get back to the beach and get a little bit familiar with the ocean again before going back with my board the first part of next week.\r\n\r\nIt has been really hot here the last two or three days after what I\'m told was a very mild summer up till now. We don\'t use air conditioning, and it still seems too warm to sleep really well until 3 or 4 a.m. Yesterday we went out to Empire Lakes to play golf and it must have been 100 degrees.\r\n\r\nSo today I figured I would go down and do my walking at Huntington Beach. Just before I left, Nicole suggested I might as well take my swimsuit. I agreed, and when I got there, I changed into my suit and went onto the beach.\r\n\r\nWhen I went into the water, I got a nasty shock.\r\n\r\nIt was cold.\r\n\r\nDamned cold.\r\n\r\nIf the water is this cold in the middle of August -- and it was pretty cold two weeks ago in La Jolla too -- I have a feeling I really am going to have to invest in a wet suit before I get serious about moving further along in my surfing.\r\n\r\nYes, it is a strange summer.','It\'s really hot, so why is the water so cold?','','publish','open','open','','its-really-hot-so-why-is-the-water-so-cold','','','2010-08-19 21:07:20','2010-08-20 04:07:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=601',0,'post','',0),(602,1,'2010-08-19 21:07:03','2010-08-20 04:07:03','If this isn\'t the strangest summer here in Southern California ...\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_600\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Surf City\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Surfs-Up-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-600\" title=\"Surf\'s Up 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Surfs-Up-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI went to Surf City today without my board, figuring I would get back to the beach and get a little bit familiar with the ocean again before going back with my board the first part of next week.\n\nIt has been really hot here the last two or three days after what I\'m told was a very mild summer up till now. We don\'t use air conditioning, and it still seems too warm to sleep really well until 3 or 4 a.m. Yesterday we went out to Empire Lakes to play golf and it must have been 100 degrees.\n\nSo today I figured I would go down and do my walking at Huntington Beach. Just before I left, Nicole suggested I might as well take my swimsuit. I agreed, and when I got there, I changed into my suit and went onto the beach.\n\nWhen I went into the water, I got a nasty shock.\n\nIt was cold.\n\nDamned cold.\n\nIf the water is this cold in the middle of August -- and it was pretty cold two weeks ago in La Jolla too -- I have a feeling I really am going to have to invest in a wet suit before I get serious about moving further along in my surfing.\n\nYes, it is a strange summer.','','','inherit','open','open','','601-revision','','','2010-08-19 21:07:03','2010-08-20 04:07:03','',601,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=602',0,'revision','',0),(603,1,'2010-08-20 12:17:32','2010-08-20 19:17:32','When I was a kid growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I heard a lot about how things would be in the distant future.\r\n\r\nOf course we would have flying cars and disposable clothes, and we would be vacationing -- if not on the moon -- at least on space-station hotels.\r\n\r\nNone of those things ever happened, but there were things we got that they never predicted -- home computers, fax machines, cellular telephones, the Internet. And one thing that seems to be coming along now that <em>was</em> predicted is being able to make telephone calls with video attached.\r\n\r\nI know the capability for that has been around for some time. I know businesses use video conferencing to save on the time and expense of travel. But for ordinary folks, the coming of things like<a title=\"Skype\" href=\"http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home\" target=\"_self\"> Skype</a> have made a tremendous amount of difference in both the cost and the quality of long distance calls.\r\n\r\nWe discovered Skype a couple of years ago when our daughter Pauline was stationed in Beijing. Actually, she told us about it. Skype is one of those sites that uses VOIP (voice over Internet protocols) to enable people to make calls that used to cost dollars per minute for pennies. Pauline would call us from China and we would talk for half an hour to 45 minutes for a total cost of less than a dollar.\r\n\r\nBy contrast, when my first wife was in Beijing on temporary duty in late 1978, we shared one 10-minute phone call during the three months she was there. It cost $100.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-001.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-604\" title=\"Miscellaneous 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>Now Pauline is stationed in Surabaya, Indonesia, more than 10,000 miles and 14 time zones away from our home in Southern California. We talk once a week, and just like before, it costs less than a dollar each time we talk.\r\n\r\nThe video isn\'t always terrific, and there is occasionally a lag of a second or so in the sound.\r\n\r\nBut our daughter is halfway around the world from us, and we get to look at her face -- and the face of our little granddaughter -- every single week.\r\n\r\nYou have to have grown up in a different time, a time when \"long-distance telephone calls\" were a big deal, when you hurried through what you had to say and didn\'t waste time just chatting because you didn\'t want a nasty surprise when your monthly phone bill came.\r\n\r\nActually, it never made sense that long distance cost more, especially once people were able to dial the numbers direct. And now, on both my home phone and my cellular phone, domestic long distance calls are included in my monthly minutes at no extra chanrge.\r\n\r\nThat\'s all well and good, but it isn\'t Skype.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t looking at my beautiful daughter and my lovely granddaughter and seeing just how well they\'re doing and how happy they\'re feeling.\r\n\r\nThat\'s truly a wonderful part of my distant future.','No flying cars, but video calls can be wonderful','','publish','open','open','','no-flying-cars-but-video-calls-can-be-wonderful','','','2010-08-20 12:17:32','2010-08-20 19:17:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=603',0,'post','',0),(604,1,'2010-08-20 12:07:34','2010-08-20 19:07:34','','Miscellaneous 001','','inherit','open','open','','miscellaneous-001','','','2010-08-20 12:07:34','2010-08-20 19:07:34','',603,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(605,1,'2010-08-20 12:16:56','2010-08-20 19:16:56','When I was a kid growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I heard a lot about how things would be in the distant future.\n\nOf course we would have flying cars and disposable clothes, and we would be vacationing -- if not on the moon -- at least on space-station hotels.\n\nNone of those things ever happened, but there were things we got that they never predicted -- home computers, fax machines, cellular telephones, the Internet. And one thing that seems to be coming along now that <em>was</em> predicted is being able to make telephone calls with video attached.\n\nI know the capability for that has been around for some time. I know businesses use video conferencing to save on the time and expense of travel. But for ordinary folks, the coming of things like<a title=\"Skype\" href=\"http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home\" target=\"_self\"> Skype</a> have made a tremendous amount of difference in both the cost and the quality of long distance calls.\n\nWe discovered Skype a couple of years ago when our daughter Pauline was stationed in Beijing. Actually, she told us about it. Skype is one of those sites that uses VOIP (voice over Internet protocols) to enable people to make calls that used to cost dollars per minute for pennies. Pauline would call us from China and we would talk for half an hour to 45 minutes for a total cost of less than a dollar.\n\nBy contrast, when my first wife was in Beijing on temporary duty in late 1978, we shared one 10-minute phone call during the three months she was there. It cost $100.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-001.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-604\" title=\"Miscellaneous 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Miscellaneous-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>Now Pauline is stationed in Surabaya, Indonesia, more than 10,000 miles and 14 time zones away from our home in Southern California. We talk once a week, and just like before, it costs less than a dollar each time we talk.\n\nThe video isn\'t always terrific, and there is occasionally a lag of a second or so in the sound.\n\nBut our daughter is halfway around the world from us, and we get to look at her face -- and the face of our little granddaughter -- every single week.\n\nYou have to have grown up in a different time, a time when \"long-distance telephone calls\" were a big deal, when you hurried through what you had to say and didn\'t waste time just chatting because you didn\'t want a nasty surprise when your monthly phone bill came.\n\nActually, it never made sense that long distance cost more, especially once people were able to dial the numbers direct. And now, on both my home phone and my cellular phone, domestic long distance calls are included in my monthly minutes at no extra chanrge.\n\nThat\'s all well and good, but it isn\'t Skype.\n\nIt isn\'t looking at my beautiful daughter and my lovely granddaughter and seeing just how well they\'re doing and how happy they\'re feeling.\n\nThat\'s truly a wonderful part of my distant future.','','','inherit','open','open','','603-revision','','','2010-08-20 12:16:56','2010-08-20 19:16:56','',603,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=605',0,'revision','',0),(606,1,'2010-08-23 20:26:10','2010-08-24 03:26:10','It\'s difficult, but I\'m trying to get everything onto an even keel.\r\n\r\nI have done two things -- two important things well -- since returning from Texas a little more than five weeks ago. I have continued losing weight and I have exercised every single day since I got home. Some days it isn\'t easy. Today was one of those days, and I literally had to force myself to go out after dinner and walk 3 1/2 miles.\r\n\r\nI upgraded my surfboard today, getting rid of the short board that really wasn\'t going to work for me and buying a used eight-footer that ought to serve me fairly well. It\'s heavier and more solid than the first one, and I\'m looking forward to getting out and seeing what it can do for me.\r\n\r\nWhat has frustrated me, though, is that I haven\'t been doing a whole lot of writing or podcasting since I\'ve returned.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_607\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"One starfish at a time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/starfishCM_450x450.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-607\" title=\"starfishCM_450x450\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/starfishCM_450x450-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut yesterday I started working on that, too. I started a new blog site -- <a title=\"One Minute With Mike\" href=\"http://oneminutewithmike.blogspot.com\" target=\"_self\">One Minute With Mike</a> -- and I\'ve written two posts for it. If I can get that writing on track, I can really start to accomplish something.\r\n\r\nI always keep coming back to the starfish motif, the idea that we can tackle seemingly impossible tasks one step at a time, and even if we can\'t save everyone, we can make a difference to the people we do reach.\r\n\r\nIt really is quite simple:\r\n\r\n-- Love God to understand your place in the world.\r\n\r\n-- Let go of any and all regrets from your past.\r\n\r\n-- Love your neighbor as yourself. Do your best to put other people first.\r\n\r\nIf you do those three things, you immediately become a positive force, a transformational force, in the world.','A new project should get me back on the right track','','publish','open','open','','a-new-project-should-get-me-back-on-the-right-track','','','2010-08-23 20:26:10','2010-08-24 03:26:10','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=606',0,'post','',0),(607,1,'2010-08-23 20:22:56','2010-08-24 03:22:56','','starfishCM_450x450','One starfish at a time','inherit','open','open','','starfishcm_450x450','','','2010-08-23 20:22:56','2010-08-24 03:22:56','',606,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/starfishCM_450x450.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(608,1,'2010-08-23 20:25:26','2010-08-24 03:25:26','It\'s difficult, but I\'m trying to get everything onto an even keel.\n\nI have done two things -- two important things well -- since returning from Texas a little more than five weeks ago. I have continued losing weight and I have exercised every single day since I got home. Some days it isn\'t easy. Today was one of those days, and I literally had to force myself to go out after dinner and walk 3 1/2 miles.\n\nI upgraded my surfboard today, getting rid of the short board that really wasn\'t going to work for me and buying a used eight-footer that ought to serve me fairly well. It\'s heavier and more solid than the first one, and I\'m looking forward to getting out and seeing what it can do for me.\n\nWhat has frustrated me, though, is that I haven\'t been doing a whole lot of writing or podcasting since I\'ve returned.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_607\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"One starfish at a time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/starfishCM_450x450.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-607\" title=\"starfishCM_450x450\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/starfishCM_450x450-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut yesterday I started working on that, too. I started a new blog site -- <a title=\"One Minute With Mike\" href=\"http://oneminutewithmike.blogspot.com\" target=\"_self\">One Minute With Mike</a> -- and I\'ve written two posts for it. If I can get that writing on track, I can really start to accomplish something.\n\nI always keep coming back to the starfish motif, the idea that we can tackle seemingly impossible tasks one step at a time, and even if we can\'t save everyone, we can make a difference to the people we do reach.\n\nIt really is quite simple:\n\n-- Love God to understand your place in the world.\n\n-- Let go of any and all regrets from your past.\n\n-- Love your neighbor as yourself. Do your best to put other people first.\n\nIf you do those three things, you immediately become a positive force, a transformational force, in the world.','','','inherit','open','open','','606-revision','','','2010-08-23 20:25:26','2010-08-24 03:25:26','',606,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=608',0,'revision','',0),(609,1,'2010-08-27 21:08:24','2010-08-28 04:08:24','','scg','Sun City Peachtree\'s golf course','inherit','open','open','','scg','','','2010-08-27 21:08:24','2010-08-28 04:08:24','',610,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/scg.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(610,1,'2010-08-27 21:22:55','2010-08-28 04:22:55','[caption id=\"attachment_609\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sun City Peachtree&#39;s golf course\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/scg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-609\" title=\"scg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/scg-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI am <em>so</em> ready to move to Georgia.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if it will be next March, or next January or maybe even this November when it happens -- Nicole and I are deep in negotiations -- but after more than 20 years of endless summers, I have definitely been about as entertained by Los Angeles as I care to be.\r\n\r\nToday we drove down to Newport Beach, and a trip that took us 45 minutes or so on the way down took more than twice as long on the way back. And it wasn\'t even rush hour. It was just L.A. traffic.\r\n\r\nGeorgia has been on my mind ever since March, when we visited and bought a house in the Del Webb <a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://delwebb.com/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Sun City Peachtree</a> community. Our beautiful house cost us less than half of what the same house in a California Del Webb community would have cost us, and it has been sitting empty for the last six months.\r\n\r\nOf course, that was always the plan. We intended to move to Georgia in March 2011, but it\'s getting more and more difficult to stay away. Our apartment here in Glendale is nice, but the only air conditioning is in the living room and the last few nights have reminded me of my stuff St. Louis apartment in the mid \'80s.\r\n\r\nI\'m sure it\'s every bit as hot in Georgia, but two words make all the difference.\r\n\r\n<em>Central air.</em>\r\n\r\nBesides, the sooner we move, the less likely I am to end up with too many decorations for my office in Georgia. I already have shadow boxes, posters, framed artwork, wood pieces commemorating my time in Texas and my nascent surfing career. Oh, and my autographed uniform jerseys signed by Chipper Jones and John Elway.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_611\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Our new home in March 2010\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0205.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-611\" title=\"DSC_0205\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0205-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe picture here is our lovely house as it looked six months ago. I\'m pretty sure we have a lawn now; at least we\'ve been paying to irrigate it all spring and summer.\r\n\r\nThe front room will be Nicole\'s office, and the upper windows in the middle are just for show. It\'s a one-story house, which is probably for the better when you figure it\'s going to be our retirement home. I\'ve got no problem with stairs at age 60, but who knows how I\'ll feel about it 10 or 20 years from now.\r\n\r\nIt really is a wonderful house and it will be a wonderful home for the two of us.\r\n\r\nI just hope we can get there soon.','Dreaming of Georgia as the time to move gets closer','','publish','open','open','','dreaming-of-georgia-as-the-time-to-move-gets-closer','','','2010-08-27 21:22:55','2010-08-28 04:22:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=610',0,'post','',0),(611,1,'2010-08-27 21:19:11','2010-08-28 04:19:11','','DSC_0205','Our new home in March 2010','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0205-2','','','2010-08-27 21:19:11','2010-08-28 04:19:11','',610,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0205.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(612,1,'2010-08-27 21:22:08','2010-08-28 04:22:08','[caption id=\"attachment_609\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sun City Peachtree&#39;s golf course\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/scg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-609\" title=\"scg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/scg-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am <em>so</em> ready to move to Georgia.\n\nI don\'t know if it will be next March, or next January or maybe even this November when it happens -- Nicole and I are deep in negotiations -- but after more than 20 years of endless summers, I have definitely been about as entertained by Los Angeles as I care to be.\n\nToday we drove down to Newport Beach, and a trip that took us 45 minutes or so on the way down took more than twice as long on the way back. And it wasn\'t even rush hour. It was just L.A. traffic.\n\nGeorgia has been on my mind ever since March, when we visited and bought a house in the Del Webb <a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://delwebb.com/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Sun City Peachtree</a> community. Our beautiful house cost us less than half of what the same house in a California Del Webb community would have cost us, and it has been sitting empty for the last six months.\n\nOf course, that was always the plan. We intended to move to Georgia in March 2011, but it\'s getting more and more difficult to stay away. Our apartment here in Glendale is nice, but the only air conditioning is in the living room and the last few nights have reminded me of my stuff St. Louis apartment in the mid \'80s.\n\nI\'m sure it\'s every bit as hot in Georgia, but two words make all the difference.\n\n<em>Central air.</em>\n\nBesides, the sooner we move, the less likely I am to end up with too many decorations for my office in Georgia. I already have shadow boxes, posters, framed artwork, wood pieces commemorating my time in Texas and my nascent surfing career. Oh, and my autographed uniform jerseys signed by Chipper Jones and John Elway.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_611\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Our new home in March 2010\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0205.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-611\" title=\"DSC_0205\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0205-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe picture here is our lovely house as it looked six months ago. I\'m pretty sure we have a lawn now; at least we\'ve been paying to irrigate it all spring and summer.\n\nThe front room will be Nicole\'s office, and the upper windows in the middle are just for show. It\'s a one-story house, which is probably for the better when you figure it\'s going to be our retirement home. I\'ve got no problem with stairs at age 60, but who knows how I\'ll feel about it 10 or 20 years from now.\n\nIt really is a wonderful house and it will be a wonderful home for the two of us.\n\nI just hope w','','','inherit','open','open','','610-revision','','','2010-08-27 21:22:08','2010-08-28 04:22:08','',610,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=612',0,'revision','',0),(615,1,'2010-09-05 20:14:43','2010-09-06 03:14:43','[caption id=\"attachment_613\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sunset in Surf City\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-stuff-009.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-613\" title=\"Recent stuff 009\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-stuff-009-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNicole and I just finished a wonderful weekend in Surf City, also known as Huntington Beach, California.\n\nIt\'s probably my last beach weekend, especially if we are going to be fortunate enough to leave for Georgia at the end of October. Huntington Beach has always been my favorite, ever since I lived six miles up Beach Blvd. from Surf City when I first came to California.\n\nI made a little more progress in my quest to learn to surf, but suffered a major setback when I didn\'t do a good enough job of fastening my board to the top of my car for the trip home. Let\'s just suffice it to say the surfing lessons I\'m hoping to take later this month will have to be with a rented board.\n\nI let that ruin my mood for a few hours, which shows what a jerk I can be sometimes.\n\nBut I decided it was still a wonderful weekend, and that being happy is really only a decision.\n\nIf you choose to be happy, you ought to be.\n\nI choose to be happy.','A wonderful weekend, with one small glitch','','inherit','open','open','','614-revision','','','2010-09-05 20:14:43','2010-09-06 03:14:43','',614,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=615',0,'revision','',0),(616,1,'2010-09-11 17:41:04','2010-09-12 00:41:04','','DSC_0430','The kid at 181','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0430','','','2010-09-11 17:41:04','2010-09-12 00:41:04','',617,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0430.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(617,1,'2010-09-11 18:23:06','2010-09-12 01:23:06','I suppose I could say the last pound is the hardest one to lose, but I don\'t really think of the 100th as the last one.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_616\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The kid at 181\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0430.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-616\" title=\"DSC_0430\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0430-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor the last three or four days, I have weighed 181 pounds (except for one day I bounced up to 182). That means I\'m down 99 pounds since late April, and the fanciful goal I set for myself of losing a hundred pounds is about as close to being achieved as it can be.\r\n\r\nBut I never really thought of weighing 180 as the end of this. For one thing, I have made a point to myself of saying that the changes I have made this year are not temporary ones for the sake of losing weight, but permanent ones for the sake of changing my life.\r\n\r\nI certainly don\'t plan to start eating \"normally\" again. That\'s the mistake I made in past years, and that\'s why despite getting down to 159 in both 1985 and 1989, I weighed 280 pounds a little less than five months ago. I made the decision this time that I had eaten the last Milky Way bar of my life, and that fast food was also something of which I wouldn\'t be partaking anymore.\r\n\r\nI fully intend to count calories -- both the ones going in and the ones I\'m burning -- for the rest of my life, or at least until I know that I won\'t relapse and start gaining weight again. I fully intend to step on the scale -- and to record the results -- every morning for the rest of my life as well.\r\n\r\nBut 180? Hey, it\'s a lot better than 280, but by the weight charts I grew up on, 180 is still overweight. Right now at 181, my Body Mass Index is 25.2. I need to lose three more pounds to have it down to a number that is no longer considered overweight.\r\n\r\nRealistically, I need to get my weight down to 170 and work to maintain it there. That means I have lost 99 pounds out of a needed 110, which puts me at the 90 percent mark of the work I need to do.\r\n\r\nNinety percent is pretty good, but it\'s the final 10 percent that will really matter.\r\n\r\nTally ho!','Almost there? Maybe, but not that close yet','','publish','open','open','','almost-there-maybe-but-not-that-close-yet','','','2010-09-11 18:23:06','2010-09-12 01:23:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=617',0,'post','',0),(618,1,'2010-09-11 18:22:40','2010-09-12 01:22:40','I suppose I could say the last pound is the hardest one to lose, but I don\'t really think of the 100th as the last one.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_616\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The kid at 181\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0430.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-616\" title=\"DSC_0430\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0430-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor the last three or four days, I have weighed 181 pounds (except for one day I bounced up to 182). That means I\'m down 99 pounds since late April, and the fanciful goal I set for myself of losing a hundred pounds is about as close to being achieved as it can be.\n\nBut I never really thought of weighing 180 as the end of this. For one thing, I have made a point to myself of saying that the changes I have made this year are not temporary ones for the sake of losing weight, but permanent ones for the sake of changing my life.\n\nI certainly don\'t plan to start eating \"normally\" again. That\'s the mistake I made in past years, and that\'s why despite getting down to 159 in both 1985 and 1989, I weighed 280 pounds a little less than five months ago. I made the decision this time that I had eaten the last Milky Way bar of my life, and that fast food was also something of which I wouldn\'t be partaking anymore.\n\nI fully intend to count calories -- both the ones going in and the ones I\'m burning -- for the rest of my life, or at least until I know that I won\'t relapse and start gaining weight again. I fully intend to step on the scale -- and to record the results -- every morning for the rest of my life as well.\n\nBut 180? Hey, it\'s a lot better than 280, but by the weight charts I grew up on, 180 is still overweight. Right now at 181, my Body Mass Index is 25.2. I need to lose three more pounds to have it down to a number that is no longer considered overweight.\n\nRealistically, I need to get my weight down to 170 and work to maintain it there. That means I have lost 99 pounds out of a needed 110, which puts me at the 90 percent mark of the work I need to do.\n\nNinety percent is pretty good, but it\'s the final 10 percent that will really matter.\n\nTally ho!','','','inherit','open','open','','617-revision','','','2010-09-11 18:22:40','2010-09-12 01:22:40','',617,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=618',0,'revision','',0),(619,1,'2010-09-13 15:54:55','2010-09-13 22:54:55','','Recent 913 001','Maddie from Indonesia','inherit','open','open','','recent-913-001','','','2010-09-13 15:54:55','2010-09-13 22:54:55','',620,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-913-001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(620,1,'2010-09-13 16:13:46','2010-09-13 23:13:46','[caption id=\"attachment_619\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie from Indonesia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-913-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-619\" title=\"Recent 913 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-913-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShe\'s almost 2.\r\n\r\nWhen you ask my granddaughter Madison Nicole how old she is, that\'s the answer she gives.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Almost 2.\"</em>\r\n\r\nIn fact, pretty Maddie will be 2 in six more days, and in that short time she has already lived in three different countries. Maddie was born in Beijing, spent a year in Washington, D.C., and now is enjoying life in Surabaya, Indonesia.\r\n\r\nThat kid is going to have one fascinating life.\r\n\r\nYou can\'t imagine how wonderful it is when we connect on our weekend calls. Maddie\'s little face lights up when the video connection is made and she says, \"Hi, grandpa!\"\r\n\r\nI\'ve written about the wonders of Skype before, and it really is amazing to be able to make phone calls with video across 14 time zones. It can get sort of annoying when the video sort of freezes up, but I\'m probably asking for too much for it to be perfect all the time. Calls are dropped occasionally, but no more often than cellphone calls were a few years ago.\r\n\r\nWhat fascinates me, what is so different from my relationship with my grandparents when I was her age (back in 1952), is that I will be able to see her, hear her and watch as she grows from week to week. When we talked the other night, she showed me a game that she and her parents are playing. Pauline and Ryan put Maddie into an empty laundry basket and rock it back and forth while singing \"Row, row, row your boat.\"\r\n\r\nThis time she got into the basket and Pauline rocked her while I did the singing.\r\n\r\nThis is so much fun.','Keeping in close touch with the Amazing Baby','','publish','open','open','','keeping-in-close-touch-with-the-amazing-baby','','','2010-09-13 16:13:46','2010-09-13 23:13:46','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=620',0,'post','',0),(621,1,'2010-09-13 16:12:50','2010-09-13 23:12:50','[caption id=\"attachment_619\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie from Indonesia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-913-001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-619\" title=\"Recent 913 001\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Recent-913-001-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nShe\'s almost 2.\n\nWhen you ask my granddaughter Madison Nicole how old she is, that\'s the answer she gives.\n\n<em>\"Almost 2.\"</em>\n\nIn fact, pretty Maddie will be 2 in six more days, and in that short time she has already lived in three different countries. Maddie was born in Beijing, spent a year in Washington, D.C., and now is enjoying life in Surabaya, Indonesia.\n\nThat kid is going to have one fascinating life.\n\nYou can\'t imagine how wonderful it is when we connect on our weekend calls. Maddie\'s little face lights up when the video connection is made and she says, \"Hi, grandpa!\"\n\nI\'ve written about the wonders of Skype before, and it really is amazing to be able to make phone calls with video across 14 time zones. It can get sort of annoying when the video sort of freezes up, but I\'m probably asking for too much for it to be perfect all the time. Calls are dropped occasionally, but no more often than cellphone calls were a few years ago.\n\nWhat fascinates me, what is so different from my relationship with my grandparents when I was her age (back in 1952), is that I will be able to see her, hear her and watch as she grows from week to week. When we talked the other night, she showed me a game that she and her parents are playing. Pauline and Ryan put Maddie into an empty laundry basket and rock it back and forth while singing \"Row, row, row your boat.\"\n\nThis time she got into the basket a','','','inherit','open','open','','620-revision','','','2010-09-13 16:12:50','2010-09-13 23:12:50','',620,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=621',0,'revision','',0),(622,1,'2010-09-15 20:26:44','2010-09-16 03:26:44','I don\'t know if this will be the last time I write about my change in lifestyle, but I do feel like it\'s time for a sort of summing up.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0029.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-623\" title=\"DSC_0029\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0029-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Not my heaviest, but pretty heavy in June 2009\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>For the last two days, I have weighed 179 pounds, which is 101 pounds lighter than I was a little less than five months ago. I didn\'t weigh 280 in the picture on the right, which was taken in Nice, France, a little less than a year and a half ago, but I was clearly pretty heavy.\r\n\r\nI had never weighed as much as I did earlier this year, and quite frankly, I didn\'t know what I could do about it. The last time I had anything resembling a successful diet was nine years ago, when I had gotten my weight down to 199.\r\n\r\nThe last time I had been as low as 179 was 1989, when I had dieted down from 240 to 159 before I started gaining weight again.\r\n\r\nI had weighed about 230 when I got fired in January 2008, and I didn\'t handle it well. Over the next two years or so, I put on 50 pounds and couldn\'t seem to motivate myself to take it off.\r\n\r\nAnyone who reads this blog knows the story of my trip to Texas, but I don\'t know if I mentioned that my realistic hope was to get my weight down to 220 or so. I never imagined that Rancho Cortez would enable me to make such significant changes that I could lose <em>all</em> my excess weight before the end of the summer.\r\n\r\nThe biggest hurdle I had to overcome was the idea of giving up a couple of hours a day -- <em>every day</em> -- to exercise. Just to show you how successful I have been, I returned home from Texas on July 18th and I have only had two days since then that I didn\'t get out and walk.\r\n\r\nThat has made all the difference in the world, along with the fact that I have stayed under 1,500 calories without fail, even on days when I ate my meals in restaurants.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_624\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"179 pounds\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/End-of-diet-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-624\" title=\"End of diet 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/End-of-diet-004-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI weighed 216 when I left Texas, which was already a pretty amazing success, but I have lost another 37 pounds in the two months or so that I\'ve been home.\r\n\r\nAs of today, my diet is over.\r\n\r\nI\'m not really going to try to lose any more weight.\r\n\r\nBut that doesn\'t mean I\'m loading up on Milky Way bars or heading out to eat barbecue. I still plan to eat sensibly in the 1,500 calorie range, and I am absolutely going to keep exercising every day.\r\n\r\nYou see, the mistake I made before was I looked at my diet as a destination.\r\n\r\nNow I know it\'s a journey, and it will have to continue as a lifestyle.\r\n\r\nA hundred and one pounds.\r\n\r\nDamn.','The diet is over but the lifestyle change continues','','publish','open','open','','the-diet-is-over-but-the-lifestyle-change-continues','','','2010-09-15 20:26:44','2010-09-16 03:26:44','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=622',0,'post','',0),(623,1,'2010-09-15 20:03:57','2010-09-16 03:03:57','','DSC_0029','','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0029','','','2010-09-15 20:03:57','2010-09-16 03:03:57','',622,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0029.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(624,1,'2010-09-15 20:21:45','2010-09-16 03:21:45','','End of diet 004','179 pounds','inherit','open','open','','end-of-diet-004','','','2010-09-15 20:21:45','2010-09-16 03:21:45','',622,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/End-of-diet-004.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(625,1,'2010-09-15 20:26:27','2010-09-16 03:26:27','I don\'t know if this will be the last time I write about my change in lifestyle, but I do feel like it\'s time for a sort of summing up.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0029.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-623\" title=\"DSC_0029\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0029-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Not my heaviest, but pretty heavy in June 2009\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>For the last two days, I have weighed 179 pounds, which is 101 pounds lighter than I was a little less than five months ago. I didn\'t weigh 280 in the picture on the right, which was taken in Nice, France, a little less than a year and a half ago, but I was clearly pretty heavy.\n\nI had never weighed as much as I did earlier this year, and quite frankly, I didn\'t know what I could do about it. The last time I had anything resembling a successful diet was nine years ago, when I had gotten my weight down to 199.\n\nThe last time I had been as low as 179 was 1989, when I had dieted down from 240 to 159 before I started gaining weight again.\n\nI had weighed about 230 when I got fired in January 2008, and I didn\'t handle it well. Over the next two years or so, I put on 50 pounds and couldn\'t seem to motivate myself to take it off.\n\nAnyone who reads this blog knows the story of my trip to Texas, but I don\'t know if I mentioned that my realistic hope was to get my weight down to 220 or so. I never imagined that Rancho Cortez would enable me to make such significant changes that I could lose <em>all</em> my excess weight before the end of the summer.\n\nThe biggest hurdle I had to overcome was the idea of giving up a couple of hours a day -- <em>every day</em> -- to exercise. Just to show you how successful I have been, I returned home from Texas on July 18th and I have only had two days since then that I didn\'t get out and walk.\n\nThat has made all the difference in the world, along with the fact that I have stayed under 1,500 calories without fail, even on days when I ate my meals in restaurants.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_624\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"179 pounds\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/End-of-diet-004.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-624\" title=\"End of diet 004\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/End-of-diet-004-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI weighed 216 when I left Texas, which was already a pretty amazing success, but I have lost another 37 pounds in the two months or so that I\'ve been home.\n\nAs of today, my diet is over.\n\nI\'m not really going to try to lose any more weight.\n\nBut that doesn\'t mean I\'m loading up on Milky Way bars or heading out to eat barbecue. I still plan to eat sensibly in the 1,500 calorie range, and I am absolutely going to keep exercising every day.\n\nYou see, the mistake I made before was I looked at my diet as a destination.\n\nNow I know it\'s a journey, and it will have to continue as a lifestyle.\n\nA hundred and one pounds.\n\nDamn.','','','inherit','open','open','','622-revision','','','2010-09-15 20:26:27','2010-09-16 03:26:27','',622,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=625',0,'revision','',0),(626,1,'2010-09-17 21:39:16','2010-09-18 04:39:16','I had a big disappointment today.\r\n\r\nI had tickets to see one of my favorite comedians, Kathleen Madigan, at the Grove in Anaheim. First Nicole told me she had to work and couldn\'t go with me.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQmIlP0aoqg\r\n\r\nSo I decided to go alone. It\'s about 45 miles down to the Grove, which is where we saw Jim Gaffigan in a hilarious concert last year, and knowing Los Angeles traffic, I left at about 5:20 p.m. for an 8 p.m. concert. I figured I would be down there by 7 and could actually walk a little for exercise before going inside.\r\n\r\nGuess again. By 6:30 I hadn\'t even made it a third of the way there, and both possible routes I could take from where I was were jammed up with a combination of accidents and Friday-night traffic. So I turned around and came home. It took me about 40 minutes to get back, so I was in the car for nearly two hours without accomplishing anything except making myself feel bad.\r\n\r\nI am so tired of Los Angeles that sometimes I feel like screaming.\r\n\r\nI can\'t believe I have lived here for more than 20 years.\r\n','L.A. traffic puts the kibosh on a fun evening','','publish','open','open','','l-a-traffic-puts-the-kibosh-on-a-fun-evening','','','2010-09-17 21:39:16','2010-09-18 04:39:16','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=626',0,'post','',0),(627,1,'2010-09-17 21:38:26','2010-09-18 04:38:26','I had a big disappointment today.\n\nI had tickets to see one of my favorite comedians, Kathleen Madigan, at the Grove in Anaheim. First Nicole told me she had to work and couldn\'t go with me.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQmIlP0aoqg\n\nSo I decided to go alone. It\'s about 45 miles down to the Grove, which is where we saw Jim Gaffigan in a hilarious concert last year, and knowing Los Angeles traffic, I left at about 5:20 p.m. for an 8 p.m. concert. I figured I would be down there by 7 and could actually walk a little for exercise before going inside.\n\nGuess again. By 6:30 I hadn\'t even made it a third of the way there, and both possible routes I could take from where I was were jammed up with a combination of accidents and Friday-night traffic. So I turned around and came home. It took me about 40 minutes to get back, so I was in the car for nearly two hours without accomplishing anything except making myself feel bad.\n\nI am so tired of Los Angeles that sometimes I feel like screaming.\n\nI can\'t believe I have lived here for more than 20 yea','','','inherit','open','open','','626-revision','','','2010-09-17 21:38:26','2010-09-18 04:38:26','',626,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=627',0,'revision','',0),(628,1,'2010-09-18 15:21:29','2010-09-18 22:21:29','I got some wonderful news from my wife yesterday.\r\n\r\nNicole came home from work and said, \"We can give notice. We can leave for Georgia at the beginning of November.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_629\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"From front to back\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0208.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-629\" title=\"DSC_0208\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0208-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOur beautiful new house outside Griffin, Ga., has been sitting empty since we closed on it at the end of March. The original plan wasn\'t to occupy it until next March, but as the months passed, I think both of us simply became more and more ready to be there.\r\n\r\nThe view in this picture is from the entry foyer, looking back through the dining room, the living room and the sun room to the back of the house. The view out the back window is of a hillside at the back of our lot and then another house behind it.\r\n\r\nIt really is a beautiful house and it\'s part of a beautiful community. I don\'t know if I ever would have imagined myself living in a retirement community, but there are so many nice things about <a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://delwebb.com/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Sun City Peachtree</a> that I feel very fortunate to have the chance for us to spend our retirement years there.\r\n\r\nOf course I\'ve been \"retired\" for nearly three years now, and Nicole is planning to work full-time for a while yet by telecommuting and then part-time for some time after that. I think that\'s terrific, because it will ease the transition for here, and once we get to Georgia, I\'m hoping to find something to occupy my time, whether it\'s part-time work or simply volunteering.\r\n\r\nIn a way, a very real one, it\'s a fresh start. I\'m reminded of the wonderful Jimmy Buffett song \"Come Monday,\" especially one line of it:\r\n\r\n<em>\"California has worn me quite thin ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nThere is something about my native state, and particularly Los Angeles, that really does wear on you. I loved living in La Canada Flintridge for 16 years, because it seemed almost like a secluded little town even though it was less than 15 miles from downtown L.A.\r\n\r\nBut since we sold our house and moved into an apartment, it hasn\'t been quite the same. I am definitely ready to have a yard again, and to grow a garden and put food on the table with my own hands.\r\n\r\nI am ready to be in Georgia.\r\n\r\nSix more weeks.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnepPZChA5U','Some good news, and Georgia gets closer','','publish','open','open','','some-good-news-and-georgia-gets-closer','','','2010-09-18 15:21:29','2010-09-18 22:21:29','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=628',0,'post','',0),(629,1,'2010-09-18 14:55:23','2010-09-18 21:55:23','','DSC_0208','From front to back','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0208-2','','','2010-09-18 14:55:23','2010-09-18 21:55:23','',628,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0208.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(630,1,'2010-09-18 15:21:21','2010-09-18 22:21:21','I got some wonderful news from my wife yesterday.\n\nNicole came home from work and said, \"We can give notice. We can leave for Georgia at the beginning of November.\"\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_629\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"From front to back\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0208.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-629\" title=\"DSC_0208\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0208-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOur beautiful new house outside Griffin, Ga., has been sitting empty since we closed on it at the end of March. The original plan wasn\'t to occupy it until next March, but as the months passed, I think both of us simply became more and more ready to be there.\n\nThe view in this picture is from the entry foyer, looking back through the dining room, the living room and the sun room to the back of the house. The view out the back window is of a hillside at the back of our lot and then another house behind it.\n\nIt really is a beautiful house and it\'s part of a beautiful community. I don\'t know if I ever would have imagined myself living in a retirement community, but there are so many nice things about <a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://delwebb.com/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Sun City Peachtree</a> that I feel very fortunate to have the chance for us to spend our retirement years there.\n\nOf course I\'ve been \"retired\" for nearly three years now, and Nicole is planning to work full-time for a while yet by telecommuting and then part-time for some time after that. I think that\'s terrific, because it will ease the transition for here, and once we get to Georgia, I\'m hoping to find something to occupy my time, whether it\'s part-time work or simply volunteering.\n\nIn a way, a very real one, it\'s a fresh start. I\'m reminded of the wonderful Jimmy Buffett song \"Come Monday,\" especially one line of it:\n\n<em>\"California has worn me quite thin ...\"</em>\n\nThere is something about my native state, and particularly Los Angeles, that really does wear on you. I loved living in La Canada Flintridge for 16 years, because it seemed almost like a secluded little town even though it was less than 15 miles from downtown L.A.\n\nBut since we sold our house and moved into an apartment, it hasn\'t been quite the same. I am definitely ready to have a yard again, and to grow a garden and put food on the table with my own hands.\n\nI am ready to be in Georgia.\n\nSix more weeks.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnepPZChA5U','Some good news, and ','','inherit','open','open','','628-revision','','','2010-09-18 15:21:21','2010-09-18 22:21:21','',628,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=630',0,'revision','',0),(631,1,'2010-09-20 22:08:19','2010-09-21 05:08:19','I was listening to a Genius mix on iTunes, which I find fascinating. I pick a song and then iTunes puts together a playlist from my other music of 24 other songs that somehow relate to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_632\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Harry Belafonte\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-632\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve got more than 5,000 songs on my computer, so there are some fascinating choices. The particular playlist I had, which started with a Pete Seeger song, also included a couple of Harry Belafonte classics from the \'50s -- \"Jamaica Farewell\" and \"Island in the Sun.\"\r\n\r\nI was surprised at my reaction to them. They\'re both songs I have always loved, but for some reason tonight I got tears in my eyes and started thinking about my dad.\r\n\r\nIt has been 2 1/2 years since my father died at the age of 82, and I find myself thinking about him more and more as I get older. It is one of the tragedies of my life that I never really connected with him during my childhood, that I rarely appreciated him for what he was and seemed far too willing to criticize him for what he wasn\'t.\r\n\r\nOne thing I still remember -- more than 50 years later -- was how our house was always full of good music. I heard all the Harry Belafonte songs I love now when I was 6 or 7 years old. My dad played them, along with Pete Seeger and all sorts of other wonderful stuff I\'m sure I have long since forgotten.\r\n\r\nWhen I hear \"Jamaica Farewell,\" it\'s almost like I\'m back in our little house on Harshmanville Road in Huber Heights, Ohio, the first house my parents owned. I remember the art on the walls and the music from the hi-fi. I never heard much \'50s rock \'n\' roll during the 1950s, although for some reason I do remember \"The Purple People Eater.\"\r\n\r\nThe first year I remember listening to rock music was 1962, when I was 12 and I had won a small table radio by selling a lot of band candy. By then I was 12 and having all sorts of problems. I think it was a lot simpler when I was 7 and listening to my dad\'s music.','Lovely Belafonte songs bring back some memories','','publish','open','open','','lovely-belafonte-songs-bring-back-some-old-memories','','','2010-09-20 22:08:49','2010-09-21 05:08:49','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=631',0,'post','',0),(632,1,'2010-09-20 21:59:27','2010-09-21 04:59:27','','images','Harry Belafonte','inherit','open','open','','images-3','','','2010-09-20 21:59:27','2010-09-21 04:59:27','',631,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(633,1,'2010-09-20 22:08:05','2010-09-21 05:08:05','I was listening to a Genius mix on iTunes, which I find fascinating. I pick a song and then iTunes puts together a playlist from my other music of 24 other songs that somehow relate to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_632\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Harry Belafonte\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-632\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve got more than 5,000 songs on my computer, so there are some fascinating choices. The particular playlist I had, which started with a Pete Seeger song, also included a couple of Harry Belafonte classics from the \'50s -- \"Jamaica Farewell\" and \"Island in the Sun.\"\n\nI was surprised at my reaction to them. They\'re both songs I have always loved, but for some reason tonight I got tears in my eyes and started thinking about my dad.\n\nIt has been 2 1/2 years since my father died at the age of 82, and I find myself thinking about him more and more as I get older. It is one of the tragedies of my life that I never really connected with him during my childhood, that I rarely appreciated him for what he was and seemed far too willing to criticize him for what he wasn\'t.\n\nOne thing I still remember -- more than 50 years later -- was how our house was always full of good music. I heard all the Harry Belafonte songs I love now when I was 6 or 7 years old. My dad played them, along with Pete Seeger and all sorts of other wonderful stuff I\'m sure I have long since forgotten.\n\nWhen I hear \"Jamaica Farewell,\" it\'s almost like I\'m back in our little house on Harshmanville Road in Huber Heights, Ohio, the first house my parents owned. I remember the art on the walls and the music from the hi-fi. I never heard much \'50s rock \'n\' roll during the 1950s, although for some reason I do remember \"The Purple People Eater.\"\n\nThe first year I remember listening to rock music was 1962, when I was 12 and I had won a small table radio by selling a lot of band candy. By then I was 12 and having all sorts of problems. I think it was a lot simpler when I was 7 and listening to my dad\'s music.','Lovely ','','inherit','open','open','','631-revision','','','2010-09-20 22:08:05','2010-09-21 05:08:05','',631,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=633',0,'revision','',0),(634,1,'2010-09-20 22:08:19','2010-09-21 05:08:19','I was listening to a Genius mix on iTunes, which I find fascinating. I pick a song and then iTunes puts together a playlist from my other music of 24 other songs that somehow relate to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_632\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Harry Belafonte\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-632\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve got more than 5,000 songs on my computer, so there are some fascinating choices. The particular playlist I had, which started with a Pete Seeger song, also included a couple of Harry Belafonte classics from the \'50s -- \"Jamaica Farewell\" and \"Island in the Sun.\"\r\n\r\nI was surprised at my reaction to them. They\'re both songs I have always loved, but for some reason tonight I got tears in my eyes and started thinking about my dad.\r\n\r\nIt has been 2 1/2 years since my father died at the age of 82, and I find myself thinking about him more and more as I get older. It is one of the tragedies of my life that I never really connected with him during my childhood, that I rarely appreciated him for what he was and seemed far too willing to criticize him for what he wasn\'t.\r\n\r\nOne thing I still remember -- more than 50 years later -- was how our house was always full of good music. I heard all the Harry Belafonte songs I love now when I was 6 or 7 years old. My dad played them, along with Pete Seeger and all sorts of other wonderful stuff I\'m sure I have long since forgotten.\r\n\r\nWhen I hear \"Jamaica Farewell,\" it\'s almost like I\'m back in our little house on Harshmanville Road in Huber Heights, Ohio, the first house my parents owned. I remember the art on the walls and the music from the hi-fi. I never heard much \'50s rock \'n\' roll during the 1950s, although for some reason I do remember \"The Purple People Eater.\"\r\n\r\nThe first year I remember listening to rock music was 1962, when I was 12 and I had won a small table radio by selling a lot of band candy. By then I was 12 and having all sorts of problems. I think it was a lot simpler when I was 7 and listening to my dad\'s music.','Lovely Belafonte songs bring back some old memories','','inherit','open','open','','631-revision-2','','','2010-09-20 22:08:19','2010-09-21 05:08:19','',631,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=634',0,'revision','',0),(635,1,'2010-09-24 15:35:02','2010-09-24 22:35:02','I have never been a particularly lucky golfer, and my game could best be described as mediocre even on a good day.\r\n\r\nBut I never expected that doing something really good for myself would hurt my golf game.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very strange, but since I returned from Texas and since I have continued to lose weight (104 pounds as of today), my golf swing has gone all to hell. I don\'t know if it\'s because my arms are thinner ... or because I don\'t have to swing across a big gut ... or what, but I have played pretty badly for the last few months. I had reached a point in my game where I almost always broke 100, and where I had a fighting chance to break 90, but since returning from Texas, three of the five rounds I\'ve played have ended with scores in three digits.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really frustrating to have that kind of setback, and what it has done has made me enjoy golf a lot less at a time when I\'m getting ready to move into a home in a golf-course community. How\'s that for irony?\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_636\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The 8th green, or maybe the 9th\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0269.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-636\" title=\"DSC_0269\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0269-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI originally thought that once we moved to Georgia, I would play golf three or four times a week. But now that I\'ve gotten so much into walking for my health, and since I have such big plans as far as gardening, I find myself thinking that getting out onto the course once or twice a week will be plenty.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny, though. No matter how badly things are going, there is usually one good moment -- one good shot -- that leaves a golfer eager to get back out there. For me it came on the 17th hole at Empire Lakes, a tough par three that goes about 190 yards with a big sand trap right in front of the green.\r\n\r\nI hit a good first shot and was just off the green, but in deep rough. My second shot was mediocre, and it left me on the green about 30 feet from the hole.\r\n\r\nMy putt -- the one I hoped just to get close -- was a little too fast and probably a little off line as well. But about two-thirds of the way along, it hit a pebble someone had left on the green. The ball popped into the air briefly and kept going, but its speed had slowed a little and its trajectory had changed as well.\r\n\r\nIt rolled directly at the hole and dropped in for a par.\r\n\r\nI had to laugh. Things like that just <em>don\'t</em> happen to me.\r\n\r\nI guess I won\'t give up on the game yet.','It\'s the rare moments that keep me coming back','','publish','open','open','','its-the-rare-moments-that-keep-me-coming-back','','','2010-09-24 15:35:02','2010-09-24 22:35:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=635',0,'post','',0),(636,1,'2010-09-24 15:27:10','2010-09-24 22:27:10','','DSC_0269','The 8th green, or maybe the 9th','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0269','','','2010-09-24 15:27:10','2010-09-24 22:27:10','',635,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0269.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(637,1,'2010-09-24 15:34:11','2010-09-24 22:34:11','I have never been a particularly lucky golfer, and my game could best be described as mediocre even on a good day.\n\nBut I never expected that doing something really good for myself would hurt my golf game.\n\nIt\'s very strange, but since I returned from Texas and since I have continued to lose weight (104 pounds as of today), my golf swing has gone all to hell. I don\'t know if it\'s because my arms are thinner ... or because I don\'t have to swing across a big gut ... or what, but I have played pretty badly for the last few months. I had reached a point in my game where I almost always broke 100, and where I had a fighting chance to break 90, but since returning from Texas, three of the five rounds I\'ve played have ended with scores in three digits.\n\nIt\'s really frustrating to have that kind of setback, and what it has done has made me enjoy golf a lot less at a time when I\'m getting ready to move into a home in a golf-course community. How\'s that for irony?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_636\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The 8th green, or maybe the 9th\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0269.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-636\" title=\"DSC_0269\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DSC_0269-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI originally thought that once we moved to Georgia, I would play golf three or four times a week. But now that I\'ve gotten so much into walking for my health, and since I have such big plans as far as gardening, I find myself thinking that getting out onto the course once or twice a week will be plenty.\n\nIt\'s funny, though. No matter how badly things are going, there is usually one good moment -- one good shot -- that leaves a golfer eager to get back out there. For me it came on the 17th hole at Empire Lakes, a tough par three that goes about 190 yards with a big sand trap right in front of the green.\n\nI hit a good first shot and was just off the green, but in deep rough. My second shot was mediocre, and it left me on the green about 30 feet from the hole.\n\nMy putt -- the one I hoped just to get close -- was a little too fast and probably a little off line as well. But about two-thirds of the way along, it hit a pebble someone had left on the green. The ball popped into the air briefly and kept going, but its speed had slowed a little and its trajectory had changed as well.\n\nIt rolled directly at the hole and dropped in for a par.\n\nI had to laugh. Things like that just don\'t happen to me.','','','inherit','open','open','','635-revision','','','2010-09-24 15:34:11','2010-09-24 22:34:11','',635,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=637',0,'revision','',0),(638,1,'2010-09-26 22:47:58','2010-09-27 05:47:58','It\'s funny how sometimes we meet the most interesting people without even meaning to.\r\n\r\nI met Susan Nikas in late 2003 when I was working on a project on California\'s highly expensive workers compensation system. She was the owner of a ceramics business in San Dimas, Calif., and her business had been absolutely clobbered by the rising cost of her workers compensation insurance.\r\n\r\nHer problems became the focus of my project, the example I used to make the issue easier for my readers to understand. When the story ran, she was pleased with the job I had done and she sent me a compact disc. She had told me she was part of a bluegrass group called Clay County, she the CD was an album of the group\'s music.\r\n\r\nI played it and thought it was pretty good, but it somehow got put aside and I didn\'t think about it for a while.\r\n\r\nThis spring and summer, when I was loading all my music into my computer for inclusion on my 160-gigabyte iPod, I cam across the CD again. For the first time, I wondered if the group had made other albums. I checked on<a title=\"Amazon\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com\" target=\"_self\"> Amazon</a>, and was pleasantly surprised to find several other Clay County CDs as well as two apparently made by Nikas as a solo artist after the group disbanded.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_639\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Susan Nikas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-639\" title=\"Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI picked up two of the other Clay County CDs and one by Nikas herself. Then I downloaded the other solo album from iTunes, so I now have 60-70 songs by Nikas and her group.\r\n\r\nShe is the lead singer on nearly all of them, and while her voice certainly would never be called classically beautiful, she sings well and her voice is interesting and intelligent.\r\n\r\nOne recent song I really like is off the album pictured here. It\'s called \"We Go Marching On,\" which is something of a folk roots song with political lyrics. It has its say in a pretty effective way about the seemingly endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t seen Nikas since I wrote the story, but I hope she sees this blog and learns how much I\'ve enjoyed her music.\r\n\r\nIt\'s definitely different, definitely cool.','We find interesting people in the oddest places','','publish','open','open','','we-find-interesting-people-in-the-oddest-places','','','2010-09-26 22:47:58','2010-09-27 05:47:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=638',0,'post','',0),(639,1,'2010-09-26 22:42:31','2010-09-27 05:42:31','','Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg','Susan Nikas','inherit','open','open','','hard_times_bad_times_broadjam_lg','','','2010-09-26 22:42:31','2010-09-27 05:42:31','',638,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(640,1,'2010-09-26 22:47:40','2010-09-27 05:47:40','It\'s funny how sometimes we meet the most interesting people without even meaning to.\n\nI met Susan Nikas in late 2003 when I was working on a project on California\'s highly expensive workers compensation system. She was the owner of a ceramics business in San Dimas, Calif., and her business had been absolutely clobbered by the rising cost of her workers compensation insurance.\n\nHer problems became the focus of my project, the example I used to make the issue easier for my readers to understand. When the story ran, she was pleased with the job I had done and she sent me a compact disc. She had told me she was part of a bluegrass group called Clay County, she the CD was an album of the group\'s music.\n\nI played it and thought it was pretty good, but it somehow got put aside and I didn\'t think about it for a while.\n\nThis spring and summer, when I was loading all my music into my computer for inclusion on my 160-gigabyte iPod, I cam across the CD again. For the first time, I wondered if the group had made other albums. I checked on<a title=\"Amazon\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com\" target=\"_self\"> Amazon</a>, and was pleasantly surprised to find several other Clay County CDs as well as two apparently made by Nikas as a solo artist after the group disbanded.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_639\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Susan Nikas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-639\" title=\"Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hard_Times_Bad_Times_Broadjam_lg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI picked up two of the other Clay County CDs and one by Nikas herself. Then I downloaded the other solo album from iTunes, so I now have 60-70 songs by Nikas and her group.\n\nShe is the lead singer on nearly all of them, and while her voice certainly would never be called classically beautiful, she sings well and her voice is interesting and intelligent.\n\nOne recent song I really like is off the album pictured here. It\'s called \"We Go Marching On,\" which is something of a folk roots song with political lyrics. It has its say in a pretty effective way about the seemingly endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan.\n\nI haven\'t seen Nikas since I wrote the story, but I hope she sees this blog and learns how much I\'ve enjoyed her music.\n\nIt\'s definitely different, definitely cool.','','','inherit','open','open','','638-revision','','','2010-09-26 22:47:40','2010-09-27 05:47:40','',638,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=640',0,'revision','',0),(641,1,'2010-09-27 22:56:00','2010-09-28 05:56:00','So much for a mild summer.\r\n\r\nMy final summer in California was one of the mildest on record, but as often happens here in the Southland, the weather doesn\'t get really nasty until it\'s technically autumn.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_642\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Hot hot hot\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-642\" title=\"r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge-300x149.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"149\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe temperature today in Los Angeles -- nearly a week into autumn -- was at least 113 degrees.\r\n\r\nI say at least because the official thermometer at USC peaked at 113 degrees and then stopped working.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t the hottest day ever in Southern California. A few years back when I was working in Ontario, our temperature got up to 117, and the all-time record for the region was set at Woodland Hills in July 2006 when the mercury hit 119.\r\n\r\nBut 113 with four days left in September?\r\n\r\nDamn, that\'s nasty.\r\n\r\nI am so ready for Georgia.','It may not be summer, but it\'s hot hot hot','','publish','open','open','','it-may-not-be-summer-but-its-hot-hot-hot','','','2010-09-27 22:56:00','2010-09-28 05:56:00','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=641',0,'post','',0),(642,1,'2010-09-27 22:52:31','2010-09-28 05:52:31','','r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge','Hot hot hot','inherit','open','open','','r-los-angeles-record-heat-huge','','','2010-09-27 22:52:31','2010-09-28 05:52:31','',641,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(643,1,'2010-09-27 22:55:20','2010-09-28 05:55:20','So much for a mild summer.\n\nMy final summer in California was one of the mildest on record, but as often happens here in the Southland, the weather doesn\'t get really nasty until it\'s technically autumn.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_642\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Hot hot hot\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-642\" title=\"r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r-LOS-ANGELES-RECORD-HEAT-huge-300x149.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"149\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe temperature today in Los Angeles -- nearly a week into autumn -- was at least 113 degrees.\n\nI say at least because the official thermometer at USC peaked at 113 degrees and then stopped working.\n\nIt wasn\'t the hottest day ever in Southern California. A few years back when I was working in Ontario, our temperature got up to 117, and the all-time record for the region was set at Woodland Hills in July 2006 when the mercury hit 119.\n\nBut 113 with four days left in September?\n\nDamn, that\'s nasty.\n\nI am so ready for','','','inherit','open','open','','641-revision','','','2010-09-27 22:55:20','2010-09-28 05:55:20','',641,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=643',0,'revision','',0),(644,1,'2010-09-30 20:33:07','2010-10-01 03:33:07','','Texas stuff 197','This exit for Happy','inherit','open','open','','texas-stuff-197','','','2010-09-30 20:33:07','2010-10-01 03:33:07','',645,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Texas-stuff-197.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(645,1,'2010-09-30 20:45:27','2010-10-01 03:45:27','If you want to be happy for the rest of your life ...\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_644\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"This exit for Happy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Texas-stuff-197.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-644\" title=\"Texas stuff 197\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Texas-stuff-197-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n... you just have to get off the interstate.\r\n\r\nI played golf in Utopia this summer, relaxed for a few minutes in Eden and drove right through Happy on the way to Tucumcari, N.M.\r\n\r\nIf you know the geography, or maybe if you just saw the fairly obscure <a title=\"Happy, Texas\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162360/\" target=\"_self\">movie</a>, you probably realize that I\'m talking about towns in Texas, none of them really big enough to qualify as cities. Indeed, in Utopia I actually saw a cow walking -- do cows walk? -- down the main drag.\r\n\r\nWhat surprised me the most about Texas, what surprised me the most about Georgia when my wife and I visited there twice this spring to buy the house to which we\'ll retire in another four weeks, is that both places really seemed to give the lie to an old expression I had always believed.\r\n\r\n<em>\"People are pretty much the same all over.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThe thing is, they\'re not.\r\n\r\nI\'m convinced that for the most part, people who don\'t live in the \"great cities\" are, well, they\'re nicer. They might have a bit of a complex about how they\'re viewed by the so-called \"important\" people, but in general they\'re nicer to their neighbors and more tolerant of differences than you might expect.\r\n\r\nI grew up in one of the great cities in the world -- the suburbs of Washington, D.C. -- and I have spent the last 20 years living in another of the world\'s premier cities. I never imagined that I would come to love rural Texas as much as I did, or that I would find myself so totally thrilled with living in the Georgia countryside.\r\n\r\nI guess Happy -- or happiness -- is wherever you find it.\r\n\r\nYou just have to keep your eyes open.','Want to be happy? Just get off the interstate','','publish','open','open','','want-to-be-happy-just-get-off-the-interstate','','','2010-09-30 20:45:27','2010-10-01 03:45:27','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=645',0,'post','',0),(646,1,'2010-09-30 20:45:14','2010-10-01 03:45:14','If you want to be happy for the rest of your life ...\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_644\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"This exit for Happy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Texas-stuff-197.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-644\" title=\"Texas stuff 197\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Texas-stuff-197-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n... you just have to get off the interstate.\n\nI played golf in Utopia this summer, relaxed for a few minutes in Eden and drove right through Happy on the way to Tucumcari, N.M.\n\nIf you know the geography, or maybe if you just saw the fairly obscure <a title=\"Happy, Texas\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162360/\" target=\"_self\">movie</a>, you probably realize that I\'m talking about towns in Texas, none of them really big enough to qualify as cities. Indeed, in Utopia I actually saw a cow walking -- do cows walk? -- down the main drag.\n\nWhat surprised me the most about Texas, what surprised me the most about Georgia when my wife and I visited there twice this spring to buy the house to which we\'ll retire in another four weeks, is that both places really seemed to give the lie to an old expression I had always believed.\n\n<em>\"People are pretty much the same all over.\"</em>\n\nThe thing is, they\'re not.\n\nI\'m convinced that for the most part, people who don\'t live in the \"great cities\" are, well, they\'re nicer. They might have a bit of a complex about how they\'re viewed by the so-called \"important\" people, but in general they\'re nicer to their neighbors and more tolerant of differences than you might expect.\n\nI grew up in one of the great cities in the world -- the suburbs of Washington, D.C. -- and I have spent the last 20 years living in another of the world\'s premier cities. I never imagined that I would come to love rural Texas as much as I did, or that I would find myself so totally thrilled with living in the Georgia countryside.\n\nI guess Happy -- or happiness -- is wherever you find it.\n\nYou just have to keep your eyes open.','Want to be happy? Just get off the interstate','','inherit','open','open','','645-revision','','','2010-09-30 20:45:14','2010-10-01 03:45:14','',645,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=646',0,'revision','',0),(647,1,'2010-10-01 17:19:43','2010-10-02 00:19:43','It\'s finally October.\r\n\r\nIt\'s finally a month that begins with me in the same old place, but will end with me in a new home on the other side of the country. We might not have our furniture by October 31st, but if we don\'t, we\'ll have it the next day.\r\n\r\nHallelujah!\r\n\r\nIt\'s very strange to me. After all the years I dreamed of living in California, and after the decade (the \'80s) that I spent working my way across the country to get here, it\'s puzzling that I find myself so desperate to leave -- and probably never return.\r\n\r\nOf course, California is a very different place than it was when I arrived in 1990, not to mention the first time I visited in 1978 and of course not to mention the first six months of my life I spent here 60 years ago. Los Angeles, in particular. L.A. is becoming almost post-apocalyptic in its traffic and over-crowding, and even though we had a very mild summer this year, when the temperature hit 113 the other day, it seemed so typical.\r\n\r\nThe irony of it all is that in my quest to reach California, I never imagined myself living in L.A.\r\n\r\nMy goal was always to live in the Bay Area, and I came close twice. I was almost hired twice in 1988 by the <em>Marin Independent Journal</em> as a sportswriter and the job I accepted in Ontario in 1990 was an inferior position to the one I had in Reno. It\'s tough to say I regret the way things worked out. I certainly had some good years at the<em> Daily Bulletin</em>, and if I hadn\'t come south, I never would have met Nicole. But the final stop of my career -- the 18-year stop -- is a perfect example of how we have to take the bad along with the good.\r\n\r\nThere are definitely places in California I will miss.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_648\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Morro Bay -- America&#39;s Gibraltar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-648\" title=\"states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve written before about how much I love Huntington Beach, and my one trip to Yosemite five years ago was absolutely wonderful.\r\n\r\nBut one of my favorite places is a place I only knew because of a Beach Boys song ...\r\n\r\n<em>\"... have you ever been north of Morro Bay ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nNicole and I spent a wonderful weekend at Morro Bay nearly five years back. I don\'t know if it was just the ambiance, or just that we had a very nice weekend together, but I absolutely loved Morro Bay.\r\n\r\nIt\'s four hours from here, and there is still a part of me that wants to drive up there some day in the next three weeks and just walk around one last time.\r\n\r\nMaybe I\'ll do it.\r\n\r\nOf course I love San Francisco too, and I will always treasure the hike to Kearsage Pass that Nicole, Virgile and I took over the July 4th weekend in 2006.\r\n\r\nI will not, however, miss Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nNot even a little.','Some good, some bad, but eager to be leaving','','publish','open','open','','some-good-some-bad-but-looking-forward-to-leaving','','','2010-10-01 17:20:07','2010-10-02 00:20:07','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=647',0,'post','',0),(648,1,'2010-10-01 17:14:05','2010-10-02 00:14:05','','states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay','Morro Bay -- America\'s Gibraltar','inherit','open','open','','states-2007-1191073980-morro-bay','','','2010-10-01 17:14:05','2010-10-02 00:14:05','',647,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(649,1,'2010-10-01 17:19:08','2010-10-02 00:19:08','It\'s finally October.\n\nIt\'s finally a month that begins with me in the same old place, but will end with me in a new home on the other side of the country. We might not have our furniture by October 31st, but if we don\'t, we\'ll have it the next day.\n\nHallelujah!\n\nIt\'s very strange to me. After all the years I dreamed of living in California, and after the decade (the \'80s) that I spent working my way across the country to get here, it\'s puzzling that I find myself so desperate to leave -- and probably never return.\n\nOf course, California is a very different place than it was when I arrived in 1990, not to mention the first time I visited in 1978 and of course not to mention the first six months of my life I spent here 60 years ago. Los Angeles, in particular. L.A. is becoming almost post-apocalyptic in its traffic and over-crowding, and even though we had a very mild summer this year, when the temperature hit 113 the other day, it seemed so typical.\n\nThe irony of it all is that in my quest to reach California, I never imagined myself living in L.A.\n\nMy goal was always to live in the Bay Area, and I came close twice. I was almost hired twice in 1988 by the <em>Marin Independent Journal</em> as a sportswriter and the job I accepted in Ontario in 1990 was an inferior position to the one I had in Reno. It\'s tough to say I regret the way things worked out. I certainly had some good years at the<em> Daily Bulletin</em>, and if I hadn\'t come south, I never would have met Nicole. But the final stop of my career -- the 18-year stop -- is a perfect example of how we have to take the bad along with the good.\n\nThere are definitely places in California I will miss.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_648\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Morro Bay -- America&#39;s Gibraltar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-648\" title=\"states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve written before about how much I love Huntington Beach, and my one trip to Yosemite five years ago was absolutely wonderful.\n\nBut one of my favorite places is a place I only knew because of a Beach Boys song ...\n\n<em>\"... have you ever been north of Morro Bay ...\"</em>\n\nNicole and I spent a wonderful weekend at Morro Bay nearly five years back. I don\'t know if it was just the ambiance, or just that we had a very nice weekend together, but I absolutely loved Morro Bay.\n\nIt\'s four hours from here, and there is still a part of me that wants to drive up there some day in the next three weeks and just walk around one last time.\n\nMaybe I\'ll do it.\n\nOf course I love San Francisco too, and I will always treasure the hike to Kearsage Pass that Nicole, Virgile and I took over the July 4th weekend in 2006.\n\nI will not, however, miss Los Angeles.\n\nNot even a little.','','','inherit','open','open','','647-revision','','','2010-10-01 17:19:08','2010-10-02 00:19:08','',647,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=649',0,'revision','',0),(650,1,'2010-10-01 17:19:43','2010-10-02 00:19:43','It\'s finally October.\r\n\r\nIt\'s finally a month that begins with me in the same old place, but will end with me in a new home on the other side of the country. We might not have our furniture by October 31st, but if we don\'t, we\'ll have it the next day.\r\n\r\nHallelujah!\r\n\r\nIt\'s very strange to me. After all the years I dreamed of living in California, and after the decade (the \'80s) that I spent working my way across the country to get here, it\'s puzzling that I find myself so desperate to leave -- and probably never return.\r\n\r\nOf course, California is a very different place than it was when I arrived in 1990, not to mention the first time I visited in 1978 and of course not to mention the first six months of my life I spent here 60 years ago. Los Angeles, in particular. L.A. is becoming almost post-apocalyptic in its traffic and over-crowding, and even though we had a very mild summer this year, when the temperature hit 113 the other day, it seemed so typical.\r\n\r\nThe irony of it all is that in my quest to reach California, I never imagined myself living in L.A.\r\n\r\nMy goal was always to live in the Bay Area, and I came close twice. I was almost hired twice in 1988 by the <em>Marin Independent Journal</em> as a sportswriter and the job I accepted in Ontario in 1990 was an inferior position to the one I had in Reno. It\'s tough to say I regret the way things worked out. I certainly had some good years at the<em> Daily Bulletin</em>, and if I hadn\'t come south, I never would have met Nicole. But the final stop of my career -- the 18-year stop -- is a perfect example of how we have to take the bad along with the good.\r\n\r\nThere are definitely places in California I will miss.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_648\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Morro Bay -- America&#39;s Gibraltar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-648\" title=\"states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/states-2007.1191073980.morro-bay-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve written before about how much I love Huntington Beach, and my one trip to Yosemite five years ago was absolutely wonderful.\r\n\r\nBut one of my favorite places is a place I only knew because of a Beach Boys song ...\r\n\r\n<em>\"... have you ever been north of Morro Bay ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nNicole and I spent a wonderful weekend at Morro Bay nearly five years back. I don\'t know if it was just the ambiance, or just that we had a very nice weekend together, but I absolutely loved Morro Bay.\r\n\r\nIt\'s four hours from here, and there is still a part of me that wants to drive up there some day in the next three weeks and just walk around one last time.\r\n\r\nMaybe I\'ll do it.\r\n\r\nOf course I love San Francisco too, and I will always treasure the hike to Kearsage Pass that Nicole, Virgile and I took over the July 4th weekend in 2006.\r\n\r\nI will not, however, miss Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nNot even a little.','Some good, some bad, but looking forward to leaving','','inherit','open','open','','647-revision-2','','','2010-10-01 17:19:43','2010-10-02 00:19:43','',647,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=650',0,'revision','',0),(651,1,'2010-10-09 11:54:56','2010-10-09 18:54:56','It has been a very long time since I cared enough about a movie to make the effort to see it the day it was released.\r\n\r\nIn fact, it had been almost two years since I had gone to the movies at all before yesterday. They are just too many irritating things about the experience these days, from $9.50 tickets for <em>bargain matinees</em> to $7 for medium popcorn to 20-30 minutes of pre-movie advertising. Throw in the fact that most movies aren\'t that interesting anymore and it\'s way too easy to wait six months or so for the DVD to come out.\r\n\r\nBut for some reason, I really wanted to see<a title=\"Secretariat\" href=\"http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/secretariat/?cmp=dmov_dpic_sec_psg_title_secretariat%20movie_Extl\" target=\"_self\"> \"Secretariat.\"</a>\r\n\r\nPart of it was that I remember the horse so well. I remember 1973, watching Big Red win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. I\'ll never forget his 31-length victory in the Belmont, watching him thunder down the stretch with no other horses even visible on the television screen. It\'s the only athletic accomplishment I can watch on video even 37 years later and get chills. Someone -- I think it was ESPN -- rated the greatest athletic performances of the 20th century, and ranked that race second behind Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a single NBA game.\r\n\r\nESPN ranked Secretariat the 35th greatest athlete of the 20th century; I think Sports Illustrated ranked him in the top 10.\r\n\r\nI suppose this movie wouldn\'t have been made except for the success of \"Seabiscuit\" a few years back. Hollywood has such a tendency to look at what worked in the past and keep redoing it, but in this case at least, I\'m glad the movie got made. I\'m sure a lot of folks who never knew anything about the great racehorse will now know his story, and watching Secretariat pull away to an unbelievable lead in the backstretch of the Belmont never gets old no matter how many times I see it.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c_ylcxgCaI\r\n\r\n\"He is running like a tremendous machine.\" Those were the words of race announcer Chic Anderson as Secretariat put challenger sham away in the Belmont. One of the things the movie fails to mention is that after finishing a strong second in both of the first two Triple Crown races, Sham couldn\'t sustain the killing pace in the Belmont and wound up finishing last in the field of five.\r\n\r\nThe greatest moment for me in the movie was almost a throwaway. Trainer Pancho Martin, who was convinced he had the better horse in Sham, loved the fact that the pace was so fast early in the Belmont. He was convinced that Secretariat would fade over the 1 1/2 mile distance. But when the great horse just ran away from Sham as if he had found an overdrive gear, when he extended his head to five, 10, 15, 20 lengths, Martin has only two words.\r\n\r\n<em>\"That\'s impossible.\"</em>\r\n\r\nSecretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the second-place horse. His time of 2:24 for the distance is still the world record on dirt more than 37 years later. It might be horse racing\'s most unbreakable record.\r\n\r\nMovies are best when they touch something deep inside us. When I sat in my parents\' family room and watched the Belmont Stakes in 1973, I was 23 years old with my whole life in front of me. I certainly had no way of knowing I was watching the most amazing performance I would ever see.\r\n\r\nIn fact, I might have echoed Pancho Martin.\r\n\r\nThat\'s impossible.\r\n\r\nOnly both of us were wrong.','A great performance means a great movie','','publish','open','open','','a-great-performance-means-a-great-movie','','','2010-10-09 11:54:56','2010-10-09 18:54:56','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=651',0,'post','',1),(652,1,'2010-10-09 11:54:44','2010-10-09 18:54:44','It has been a very long time since I cared enough about a movie to make the effort to see it the day it was released.\n\nIn fact, it had been almost two years since I had gone to the movies at all before yesterday. They are just too many irritating things about the experience these days, from $9.50 tickets for <em>bargain matinees</em> to $7 for medium popcorn to 20-30 minutes of pre-movie advertising. Throw in the fact that most movies aren\'t that interesting anymore and it\'s way too easy to wait six months or so for the DVD to come out.\n\nBut for some reason, I really wanted to see<a title=\"Secretariat\" href=\"http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/secretariat/?cmp=dmov_dpic_sec_psg_title_secretariat%20movie_Extl\" target=\"_self\"> \"Secretariat.\"</a>\n\nPart of it was that I remember the horse so well. I remember 1973, watching Big Red win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. I\'ll never forget his 31-length victory in the Belmont, watching him thunder down the stretch with no other horses even visible on the television screen. It\'s the only athletic accomplishment I can watch on video even 37 years later and get chills. Someone -- I think it was ESPN -- rated the greatest athletic performances of the 20th century, and ranked that race second behind Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a single NBA game.\n\nESPN ranked Secretariat the 35th greatest athlete of the 20th century; I think Sports Illustrated ranked him in the top 10.\n\nI suppose this movie wouldn\'t have been made except for the success of \"Seabiscuit\" a few years back. Hollywood has such a tendency to look at what worked in the past and keep redoing it, but in this case at least, I\'m glad the movie got made. I\'m sure a lot of folks who never knew anything about the great racehorse will now know his story, and watching Secretariat pull away to an unbelievable lead in the backstretch of the Belmont never gets old no matter how many times I see it.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c_ylcxgCaI\n\n\"He is running like a tremendous machine.\" Those were the words of race announcer Chic Anderson as Secretariat put challenger sham away in the Belmont. One of the things the movie fails to mention is that after finishing a strong second in both of the first two Triple Crown races, Sham couldn\'t sustain the killing pace in the Belmont and wound up finishing last in the field of five.\n\nThe greatest moment for me in the movie was almost a throwaway. Trainer Pancho Martin, who was convinced he had the better horse in Sham, loved the fact that the pace was so fast early in the Belmont. He was convinced that Secretariat would fade over the 1 1/2 mile distance. But when the great horse just ran away from Sham as if he had found an overdrive gear, when he extended his head to five, 10, 15, 20 lengths, Martin has only two words.\n\n<em>\"That\'s impossible.\"</em>\n\nSecretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the second-place horse. His time of 2:24 for the distance is still the world record on dirt more than 37 years later. It might be horse racing\'s most unbreakable record.\n\nMovies are best when they touch something deep inside us. When I sat in my parents\' family room and watched the Belmont Stakes in 1973, I was 23 years old with my whole life in front of me. I certainly had no way of knowing I was watching the most amazing performance I would ever see.\n\nIn fact, I might have echoed Pancho Martin.\n\nThat\'s impossible.\n\nOnly both of us were wrong.','','','inherit','open','open','','651-revision','','','2010-10-09 11:54:44','2010-10-09 18:54:44','',651,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=652',0,'revision','',0),(653,1,'2010-11-07 07:54:36','2010-11-07 15:54:36','It has been a while.\r\n\r\nCalifornia is in the rear-view mirror; it has been nine days since I left the state of my birth, the state where I have spent the last 20 years. Our furniture and possessions have arrived in Georgia, thanks to the wonderful folks at Gemini United.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_654\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Unloading in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Texas-367.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-654\" title=\"Texas 367\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Texas-367-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe brought 8,200 pounds of stuff with us from California, and my guess is that somewhere between a third and a half of the weight was in books. It\'s funny. I have actually spent a lot of time and effort reducing the number of books I own -- many have been given to libraries, Goodwill, etc. -- but there really is only so much cutting one can do before getting rid of books that really matter.\r\n\r\nAt any rate, I am going to have a wall of bookcases in my office in our new home and that will be very nice.\r\n\r\nSo our possessions are in our new home.\r\n\r\nBut we\'re not.\r\n\r\nNicole is back in California finishing up some work things before she returns to start telecommuting from across the country, and I am in Virginia visiting my mother for two weeks. It\'s nice to be home in the house I grew up in and to see that some things really don\'t change over the years.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a comfort in that.\r\n\r\nStill, I\'m really looking forward to leaving my childhood home for my retirement home.\r\n\r\nLife, as they say, goes on.','From California to Georgia .. to Virginia?','','publish','open','open','','from-california-to-georgia-to-virginia','','','2010-11-07 07:54:36','2010-11-07 15:54:36','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=653',0,'post','',1),(654,1,'2010-11-07 07:24:21','2010-11-07 15:24:21','','Texas 367','Unloading in Georgia','inherit','open','open','','texas-367','','','2010-11-07 07:24:21','2010-11-07 15:24:21','',653,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Texas-367.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(655,1,'2010-11-07 07:32:06','2010-11-07 15:32:06','It has been a while.\n\nCalifornia is in the rear-view mirror; it has been nine days since I left the state of my birth, the state where I have spent the last 20 years. Our furniture and possessions have arrived in Georgia, thanks to the wonderful folks at Gemini United.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_654\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Unloading in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Texas-367.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-654\" title=\"Texas 367\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Texas-367-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe brought 8,200 pounds of stuff with us from California, and my guess is that sme','','','inherit','open','open','','653-revision','','','2010-11-07 07:32:06','2010-11-07 15:32:06','',653,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=655',0,'revision','',0),(656,1,'2010-12-04 17:53:27','2010-12-05 01:53:27','','20101202_16','Autumn in Georgia','inherit','open','open','','20101202_16','','','2010-12-04 17:53:27','2010-12-05 01:53:27','',657,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101202_16.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(657,1,'2010-12-04 18:07:18','2010-12-05 02:07:18','[caption id=\"attachment_656\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Autumn in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101202_16.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-656\" title=\"20101202_16\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101202_16-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n<em>\"Michigan seems like a dream to me now ...\"</em>\r\n\r\n\"America\" was always one of my favorite Paul Simon songs, from the first time I heard it in the spring of 1968, but my own dreams lay farther west.\r\n\r\n<em>\"California seems like a dream to me now ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nIt is very odd. For 20 years I lived within an hour of the Pacific Ocean, in a land of (almost) eternal sunshine where the temperature rarely dropped much below 50 degrees. I played golf 12 months a year and I rarely needed more than a windbreaker when I went out walking.\r\n\r\nBut when I think of places I frequented -- places like the Glendale Galleria, like Empire Lakes Golf Course, like Dodger Stadium -- for many years, I realize these are now far-off places more than 2,200 miles away. They\'re places I will probably never see again.\r\n\r\nLos Angeles now joins the list of places like Reno, Nev., Greeley, Colo., St. Louis, Mo., and other cities -- places where I once lived.\r\n\r\nAnd yes, in a very real way it really does seem like a dream to me now.\r\n\r\nMy best friend in the world, Mick Curran, remains in California. We have been friends for more than 45 years, and we will certainly stay in touch, but I recognize the very real possibility that we will never stand face to face again. He used to tell me I tried to live two separate personae, as a California native and as a Southern boy. I was born in California in 1949, although I never really lived there until I was 40. And I was raised in Virginia and lived as an adult in both Carolinas.\r\n\r\nLiving in Georgia now, I feel right.\r\n\r\nI feel like I\'m home.\r\n\r\nAnd if California seems like a dream to me, it is at least a pleasant one.','After all these years, I feel like I\'m home','','publish','open','open','','after-all-these-years-i-feel-like-im-home','','','2010-12-04 18:07:18','2010-12-05 02:07:18','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=657',0,'post','',0),(658,1,'2010-12-04 18:07:09','2010-12-05 02:07:09','[caption id=\"attachment_656\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Autumn in Georgia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101202_16.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-656\" title=\"20101202_16\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101202_16-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n<em>\"Michigan seems like a dream to me now ...\"</em>\n\n\"America\" was always one of my favorite Paul Simon songs, from the first time I heard it in the spring of 1968, but my own dreams lay farther west.\n\n<em>\"California seems like a dream to me now ...\"</em>\n\nIt is very odd. For 20 years I lived within an hour of the Pacific Ocean, in a land of (almost) eternal sunshine where the temperature rarely dropped much below 50 degrees. I played golf 12 months a year and I rarely needed more than a windbreaker when I went out walking.\n\nBut when I think of places I frequented -- places like the Glendale Galleria, like Empire Lakes Golf Course, like Dodger Stadium -- for many years, I realize these are now far-off places more than 2,200 miles away. They\'re places I will probably never see again.\n\nLos Angeles now joins the list of places like Reno, Nev., Greeley, Colo., St. Louis, Mo., and other cities -- places where I once lived.\n\nAnd yes, in a very real way it really does seem like a dream to me now.\n\nMy best friend in the world, Mick Curran, remains in California. We have been friends for more than 45 years, and we will certainly stay in touch, but I recognize the very real possibility that we will never stand face to face again. He used to tell me I tried to live two separate personae, as a California native and as a Southern boy. I was born in California in 1949, although I never really lived there until I was 40. And I was raised in Virginia and lived as an adult in both Carolinas.\n\nLiving in Georgia now, I feel right.\n\nI feel like I\'m home.\n\nAnd if California seems like a dream to me, it is at least a pleasant one.','After ','','inherit','open','open','','657-revision','','','2010-12-04 18:07:09','2010-12-05 02:07:09','',657,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=658',0,'revision','',0),(659,1,'2010-12-05 16:35:21','2010-12-06 00:35:21','I\'m fairly convinced I must be losing my mind.\r\n\r\nHow could I possibly have forgotten that shopping malls are places to be avoided at all costs on weekends, particularly three weeks before Christmas?\r\n\r\nMy wife and I are still getting everything set up as part of our move to Georgia, and the cable from her computer tower to the monitor isn\'t quite long enough for her to have the monitor where she wants it on her desk. So I told her I would go to the Apple store and see about getting a longer cable.\r\n\r\nUnlike when we were in Glendale and there was an Apple store six miles away at the Galleria, the nearest Apple store is nearly 50 miles away on the north side of Atlanta. So not only did I have to drive there, I had to fight the traffic to find a parking space and then battle foot traffic into the Apple store.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_660\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"December at the mall.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CrowdedMall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-660\" title=\"CrowdedMall\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CrowdedMall-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDefinitely a thrill.\r\n\r\nIt was even more thrilling to find that the Apple people couldn\'t help me at all. Apparently they make only one length of cable from the monitor to the tower, and they don\'t even know of any third-party manufacturers who could solve my problem.\r\n\r\nBest Buy couldn\'t help me either, so it ended up as something of a lost afternoon.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t even see Santa.','Malls and December are a horrific mix','','publish','open','open','','malls-and-december-are-a-horrific-mix','','','2010-12-05 16:35:21','2010-12-06 00:35:21','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=659',0,'post','',0),(660,1,'2010-12-05 16:25:47','2010-12-06 00:25:47','','CrowdedMall','December at the mall.','inherit','open','open','','crowdedmall','','','2010-12-05 16:25:47','2010-12-06 00:25:47','',659,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CrowdedMall.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(661,1,'2010-12-05 16:35:10','2010-12-06 00:35:10','I\'m fairly convinced I must be losing my mind.\n\nHow could I possibly have forgotten that shopping malls are places to be avoided at all costs on weekends, particularly three weeks before Christmas?\n\nMy wife and I are still getting everything set up as part of our move to Georgia, and the cable from her computer tower to the monitor isn\'t quite long enough for her to have the monitor where she wants it on her desk. So I told her I would go to the Apple store and see about getting a longer cable.\n\nUnlike when we were in Glendale and there was an Apple store six miles away at the Galleria, the nearest Apple store is nearly 50 miles away on the north side of Atlanta. So not only did I have to drive there, I had to fight the traffic to find a parking space and then battle foot traffic into the Apple store.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_660\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"December at the mall.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CrowdedMall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-660\" title=\"CrowdedMall\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CrowdedMall-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDefinitely a thrill.\n\nIt was even more thrilling to find that the Apple people couldn\'t help me at all. Apparently they make only one length of cable from the monitor to the tower, and they don\'t even know of any third-party manufacturers who could solve my problem.\n\nBest Buy couldn\'t help me either, so it ended up as something of a lost afternoon.\n\nI didn\'t even see Santa.','Malls and December are a horrific mix','','inherit','open','open','','659-revision','','','2010-12-05 16:35:10','2010-12-06 00:35:10','',659,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=661',0,'revision','',0),(662,1,'2010-12-06 20:35:15','2010-12-07 04:35:15','It\'s so damn easy to hurt people\'s feelings, even when you have no intention of doing so.\r\n\r\nMy last three years in California were fairly miserable, although there were plenty of happy moments. But I was out of work, my 25-year fantasy baseball league fell apart and my weight got up to 280 pounds. I had to go to Texas to straighten out my life, and when I got back to Glendale in July, I was counting the days until my fresh start in Georgia.\r\n\r\nBut California was still a third of my life to date, and in many ways it was the very best third. The years 1990-2010 covered my marriage to the wonderful Nicole and my entire relationship with Pauline and Virgile, who are truly my pride and joy. They covered the five years I worked as a columnist and the two years I have been a grandfather to little Madison Nicole.\r\n\r\nIt also meant 15 years of golf outings at Empire Lakes, Royal Vista, Brookside, El Cariso and Alhambra, among others, with my golfing buddies Chuck Donofrio and Mick Curran. Mick has been my friend since I was 15, and although I didn\'t meet Chuck until 1993, he became the kind of friend that you just don\'t make as a middle-aged guy. I haven\'t played golf in six weeks, since the last time Chuck, Mick and I went out at Empire Lakes in Rancho Cucamonga, California.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been gazing at the course here at Sun City -- mostly the first tee and the ninth green -- but I have yet to try the course. Golf really isn\'t as much fun when you go out and play 18 holes by yourself. I learned that in Texas this summer.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_663\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Near the hole\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Texas-108.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-663\" title=\"Texas 108\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Texas-108-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ll probably play golf for as long as I\'m able. It\'s good exercise for a man in his 60s and I do enjoy the game. But I know I\'m never again going to have as much fun as I had for 15 years playing with Chuck and Mick, and I seriously doubt I live in the land of year-round golf anymore.\r\n\r\nWhen I went out to the drugstore tonight at 10 p.m., the temperature outside was 29 degrees. That\'s the lowest temperature it has been anywhere I have lived since the winter of 1989-90, my second winter in Reno. It didn\'t get much above 40 during the day, and it\'s not supposed to be much better than that for the next couple of days.\r\n\r\nI do love living in Georgia, but it ain\'t Eden.','I\'ll never have golfing buddies like them again','','publish','open','open','','ill-never-have-golfing-buddies-like-them-again','','','2010-12-06 20:35:15','2010-12-07 04:35:15','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=662',0,'post','',0),(663,1,'2010-12-06 20:29:29','2010-12-07 04:29:29','','Texas 108','Near the hole','inherit','open','open','','texas-108','','','2010-12-06 20:29:29','2010-12-07 04:29:29','',662,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Texas-108.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(664,1,'2010-12-06 20:35:06','2010-12-07 04:35:06','It\'s so damn easy to hurt people\'s feelings, even when you have no intention of doing so.\n\nMy last three years in California were fairly miserable, although there were plenty of happy moments. But I was out of work, my 25-year fantasy baseball league fell apart and my weight got up to 280 pounds. I had to go to Texas to straighten out my life, and when I got back to Glendale in July, I was counting the days until my fresh start in Georgia.\n\nBut California was still a third of my life to date, and in many ways it was the very best third. The years 1990-2010 covered my marriage to the wonderful Nicole and my entire relationship with Pauline and Virgile, who are truly my pride and joy. They covered the five years I worked as a columnist and the two years I have been a grandfather to little Madison Nicole.\n\nIt also meant 15 years of golf outings at Empire Lakes, Royal Vista, Brookside, El Cariso and Alhambra, among others, with my golfing buddies Chuck Donofrio and Mick Curran. Mick has been my friend since I was 15, and although I didn\'t meet Chuck until 1993, he became the kind of friend that you just don\'t make as a middle-aged guy. I haven\'t played golf in six weeks, since the last time Chuck, Mick and I went out at Empire Lakes in Rancho Cucamonga, California.\n\nI\'ve been gazing at the course here at Sun City -- mostly the first tee and the ninth green -- but I have yet to try the course. Golf really isn\'t as much fun when you go out and play 18 holes by yourself. I learned that in Texas this summer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_663\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Near the hole\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Texas-108.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-663\" title=\"Texas 108\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Texas-108-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ll probably play golf for as long as I\'m able. It\'s good exercise for a man in his 60s and I do enjoy the game. But I know I\'m never again going to have as much fun as I had for 15 years playing with Chuck and Mick, and I seriously doubt I live in the land of year-round golf anymore.\n\nWhen I went out to the drugstore tonight at 10 p.m., the temperature outside was 29 degrees. That\'s the lowest temperature it has been anywhere I have lived since the winter of 1989-90, my second winter in Reno. It didn\'t get much above 40 during the day, and it\'s not supposed to be much better than that for the next couple of days.\n\nI do love living in Georgia, but it ain\'t Eden.','I\'ll neve','','inherit','open','open','','662-revision','','','2010-12-06 20:35:06','2010-12-07 04:35:06','',662,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=664',0,'revision','',0),(665,1,'2010-12-10 07:54:51','2010-12-10 15:54:51','','20101210_42','16th green at Sun City Peachtree','inherit','open','open','','20101210_42','','','2010-12-10 07:54:51','2010-12-10 15:54:51','',666,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_42.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(666,1,'2010-12-10 08:26:08','2010-12-10 16:26:08','[caption id=\"attachment_665\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"16th green at Sun City Peachtree\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_42.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-665\" title=\"20101210_42\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_42-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was on a golf course yesterday for the first time in nearly two months, but I didn\'t take my clubs.\r\n\r\nThat may sound strange, but I borrowed a cart and drove around the 18 holes at<a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://www.canongategolf.com/index.cfm?menu=5983\"> Sun City Peachtree</a>, which will be my home golf course now and presumably for much of the rest of my life.\r\n\r\nI had been planning to wait to join -- this isn\'t the best weather for golf -- but I wondered if there might be some sort of special membership deal at this time of year and decided to check it out. To my delight, there was one. I was able to join without paying the $750 membership fee and in addition get the first two months of dues for free.\r\n\r\nThere are two levels of membership. At the associate level -- the one I chose -- I\'ll pay $119 a month and then play golf any weekday for $8 (plus $14 for a cart) or any weekend for $10 (plus the cart) as often as I want. The full membership level is $209 a month and golf is free except for the cart fee.\r\n\r\nIf you do the math, you have to play golf 11-12 times a month just to break even on the higher fee. That\'s why at least for now, I\'m perfectly happy with the associate membership.\r\n\r\nThe course itself is interesting. In the cold of December, the grass is a faded, washed-out shade of green, but from what I\'ve been told, that\'s typical of Bermuda grass at this time of year. In the summer it\'ll be a deep, beautiful green. The length of 5,849 from the white tees and 6,340 from the blues isn\'t all that long, but remember, this is a course that was build in a retirement community. Not too many of us are booming it 300 yards off the tees (as if I ever did).\r\n\r\nSomeone told me it\'s a relatively friendly course from tee to green, but that putting is very difficult and it\'s not at all uncommon to three- or even four-putt if you aren\'t careful.\r\n\r\nWhen I rode the course yesterday afternoon, the temperature was about 40 degrees. I\'m pretty sure I\'ve never played in temperatures that cold except for possibly the two rounds I played with Bill Madden in Virginia in January 2002. I know just from the driving yesterday -- the cart, not with my driver -- that I should plan to wear gloves to play in the cold weather.\r\n\r\nOne thing is definitely going to be interesting. This is the first time in my life I will have the opportunity to play regularly (I\'m planning on twice a week). Theoretically, at least, that should give me a chance to improve my game and achieve at least some small level of consistency.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a pretty course.\r\n\r\nIt\'s going to be a nice life.','A first look at my new home golf course','','publish','open','open','','a-first-look-at-my-new-home-golf-course','','','2010-12-10 08:26:08','2010-12-10 16:26:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=666',0,'post','',0),(667,1,'2010-12-10 08:25:46','2010-12-10 16:25:46','[caption id=\"attachment_665\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"16th green at Sun City Peachtree\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_42.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-665\" title=\"20101210_42\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_42-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was on a golf course yesterday for the first time in nearly two months, but I didn\'t take my clubs.\n\nThat may sound strange, but I borrowed a cart and drove around the 18 holes at<a title=\"Sun City Peachtree\" href=\"http://www.canongategolf.com/index.cfm?menu=5983\"> Sun City Peachtree</a>, which will be my home golf course now and presumably for much of the rest of my life.\n\nI had been planning to wait to join -- this isn\'t the best weather for golf -- but I wondered if there might be some sort of special membership deal at this time of year and decided to check it out. To my delight, there was one. I was able to join without paying the $750 membership fee and in addition get the first two months of dues for free.\n\nThere are two levels of membership. At the associate level -- the one I chose -- I\'ll pay $119 a month and then play golf any weekday for $8 (plus $14 for a cart) or any weekend for $10 (plus the cart) as often as I want. The full membership level is $209 a month and golf is free except for the cart fee.\n\nIf you do the math, you have to play golf 11-12 times a month just to break even on the higher fee. That\'s why at least for now, I\'m perfectly happy with the associate membership.\n\nThe course itself is interesting. In the cold of December, the grass is a faded, washed-out shade of green, but from what I\'ve been told, that\'s typical of Bermuda grass at this time of year. In the summer it\'ll be a deep, beautiful green. The length of 5,849 from the white tees and 6,340 from the blues isn\'t all that long, but remember, this is a course that was build in a retirement community. Not too many of us are booming it 300 yards off the tees (as if I ever did).\n\nSomeone told me it\'s a relatively friendly course from tee to green, but that putting is very difficult and it\'s not at all uncommon to three- or even four-putt if you aren\'t careful.\n\nWhen I rode the course yesterday afternoon, the temperature was about 40 degrees. I\'m pretty sure I\'ve never played in temperatures that cold except for possibly the two rounds I played with Bill Madden in Virginia in January 2002. I know just from the driving yesterday -- the cart, not with my driver -- that I should plan to wear gloves to play in the cold weather.\n\nOne thing is definitely going to be interesting. This is the first time in my life I will have the opportunity to play regularly (I\'m planning on twice a week). Theoretically, at least, that should give me a chance to improve my game and achieve at least some small level of consistency.\n\nIt\'s a pretty course.\n\nIt\'s going to be a nice life.','','','inherit','open','open','','666-revision','','','2010-12-10 08:25:46','2010-12-10 16:25:46','',666,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=667',0,'revision','',0),(692,1,'2010-12-17 20:06:36','2010-12-18 04:06:36','I wish it felt more like Christmas.\r\n\r\nIt\'s eight days till the holiday, and I have absolutely no trace of the Christmas spirit. Part of it is that I\'m being told Christmas is a holiday for children and that adults who aren\'t spending the holiday with children shouldn\'t get excited about it. Ordinarily I\'d blow off comments like that -- I don\'t really agree with them -- but when the person saying them is the one person I\'ll be spending Christmas with, it\'s tough.\r\n\r\nA big part of the problem is that even though we\'ve been in Georgia for a month now, we\'re still a long way from being settled in. The painters come Monday, and once our walls are painted, we can start putting some stuff away and other stuff on the walls. We\'ll also have our new living room furniture delivered. Trust me. When you don\'t have furniture in your living room, it doesn\'t make much sense to put up a Christmas tree.\r\n\r\nOne thing I thought would help actually hasn\'t. We have a really cool sound system -- speakers in the ceiling -- in four different rooms in our house. As of today, I have my <a title=\"XM Radio\" href=\"http://www.xmradio.com/\" target=\"_self\">XM Radio</a> hooked up through the speakers, and as I type this in my office, I have Christmas music coming down from the ceiling. I thought that would lift my spirits, but as of yet, not so much.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_693\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Christmas 2009 in Virginia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DSC_0154.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-693\" title=\"DSC_0154\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DSC_0154-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPart of the problem is I\'m missing my kids.\r\n\r\nThis is the first Christmas that both Pauline and Virgile have been overseas, and with the move, we haven\'t had a whole lot of contact with them the last month or two. I\'m happy that Pauline, Ryan and Maddie are using some vacation time to fly from Indonesia to Greece to spend Christmas with Virgile and Sterling, but I really miss them.\r\n\r\nAs I wrote yesterday, last Christmas was a lot of fun in Virginia with the kids.\r\n\r\nI think I just need to try and figure out a way to help Nicole have a little more Christmas spirit.\r\n\r\nThat would definitely make me feel better.','Trying to get that Christmas feeling going','','publish','open','open','','trying-to-get-that-christmas-feeling-going','','','2010-12-17 20:06:36','2010-12-18 04:06:36','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=692',0,'post','',0),(669,1,'2010-12-10 17:30:47','2010-12-11 01:30:47','[caption id=\"attachment_670\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The ninth hole, a 98-yard par three\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_21.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-670\" title=\"20101210_21\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_21-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt was less than 24 hours since I signed up for membership when I loaded my clubs into the back of a cart and set out to play my first 18 holes at Sun City Peachtree.\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t played any golf since late October, and I wasn\'t playing all that well then, so I didn\'t know what to expect. But I was playing alone and I didn\'t feel any pressure.\r\n\r\nThe temperature was only about 45 degrees, which is colder than I\'m accustomed to, but I bought a pair of winter golf gloves and my hands were just fine.\r\n\r\nSCP is a fascinating course. It\'s not real difficult from tee to green, but the greens are some of the wildest I\'ve ever seen. I\'m not sure I\'ve ever played on a course where the greens undulated so much; I don\'t think there was even one in 18 holes that was completely level.\r\n\r\nI double bogeyed the first two holes, which was sort of an inauspicious start. But I parred the fifth hole, a 343-yard par four, and then parred eight and nine back-to-back to finish the front nine just eight over par. I had a pretty good shot at breaking 90, which is something I don\'t do all that often.\r\n\r\nBut as the afternoon got colder -- the sun went down when I was on the 16th hole -- I kind of wore down a little. After double bogeying only three of the first 15 holes, I stumbled down the stretch and doubled on two of the last three holes. The one that really hurt was 16, where I swear my bogey putt was halfway down the cup before it lipped out.\r\n\r\nI certainly wasn\'t unhappy with a 91, which is a decent score for me, and I think as I play more frequently, I\'ll start getting even better.\r\n\r\nOne of the coolest moments for me was standing at the tee box on the ninth hole and being able to see my house.\r\n\r\nHey, I\'m not Sarah Palin and it\'s not like seeing Russia, but knowing that I live within a good drive and a chip shot of a golf course is a great feeling.','Not a bad round for the first time out','','publish','open','open','','not-a-bad-round-for-the-first-time-out','','','2010-12-10 17:30:47','2010-12-11 01:30:47','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=669',0,'post','',0),(670,1,'2010-12-10 17:17:37','2010-12-11 01:17:37','','20101210_21','The ninth hole, a 98-yard par three','inherit','open','open','','20101210_21','','','2010-12-10 17:17:37','2010-12-11 01:17:37','',669,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_21.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(671,1,'2010-12-10 17:30:38','2010-12-11 01:30:38','[caption id=\"attachment_670\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The ninth hole, a 98-yard par three\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_21.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-670\" title=\"20101210_21\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_21-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt was less than 24 hours since I signed up for membership when I loaded my clubs into the back of a cart and set out to play my first 18 holes at Sun City Peachtree.\n\nI hadn\'t played any golf since late October, and I wasn\'t playing all that well then, so I didn\'t know what to expect. But I was playing alone and I didn\'t feel any pressure.\n\nThe temperature was only about 45 degrees, which is colder than I\'m accustomed to, but I bought a pair of winter golf gloves and my hands were just fine.\n\nSCP is a fascinating course. It\'s not real difficult from tee to green, but the greens are some of the wildest I\'ve ever seen. I\'m not sure I\'ve ever played on a course where the greens undulated so much; I don\'t think there was even one in 18 holes that was completely level.\n\nI double bogeyed the first two holes, which was sort of an inauspicious start. But I parred the fifth hole, a 343-yard par four, and then parred eight and nine back-to-back to finish the front nine just eight over par. I had a pretty good shot at breaking 90, which is something I don\'t do all that often.\n\nBut as the afternoon got colder -- the sun went down when I was on the 16th hole -- I kind of wore down a little. After double bogeying only three of the first 15 holes, I stumbled down the stretch and doubled on two of the last three holes. The one that really hurt was 16, where I swear my bogey putt was halfway down the cup before it lipped out.\n\nI certainly wasn\'t unhappy with a 91, which is a decent score for me, and I think as I play more frequently, I\'ll start getting even better.\n\nOne of the coolest moments for me was standing at the tee box on the ninth hole and being able to see my house.\n\nHey, I\'m not Sarah Palin and it\'s not like seeing Russia, but knowing that I live within a good drive and a chip shot of a golf course is a great feeling.','','','inherit','open','open','','669-revision','','','2010-12-10 17:30:38','2010-12-11 01:30:38','',669,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=671',0,'revision','',0),(672,1,'2010-12-11 20:20:49','2010-12-12 04:20:49','Elizabeth Edwards was buried in North Carolina today. I thought of her when I was moaning a little about the fact that today was my 61st birthday.\r\n\r\nEdwards was 61 when she died Tuesday, so it was sort of a case of considering the alternative.\r\n\r\nSixty-one is an awkward age, at least for me. I\'m certainly not middle-aged anymore -- I think 55 is about the top limit for that -- but I don\'t consider myself elderly either. My ass probably sags a little more than it used to, and I\'m noticing the first signs of a bald spot near the back of my head. But in general I don\'t look my age, and since I lost more than 100 pounds this year, I don\'t feel my age either.\r\n\r\nWhen I read about Edwards, the thing that always impressed me the most was how wonderful a relationship she had with her children. Reading what her oldest daughter Cate said about her at the funeral moved me greatly, and I sincerely hope I can be as unselfish and as concerned for others when my time comes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_673\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Old but happy?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101013_340.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-673\" title=\"20101013_340\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101013_340-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ve been working really hard this year at being happy with what my life is and not unhappy for what it isn\'t.\r\n\r\nThere are times that has been easier than others, and there are times it has been damned hard. My last three years in California were filled with so much angst because of the untimely way my journalism career ended, and even in Georgia, I feel like I\'m in a sort of limbo as we go through the process of furnishing our house.\r\n\r\nAs I look out into the living room, it\'s completely empty. We\'re waiting to have our furniture delivered until after the painters have a chance to do the walls. Even here in my own office -- a room I\'m going to really enjoy -- the decor is unfinished as we wait for bookcases to be built and delivered.\r\n\r\nThe only rooms that are sort of finished -- I say sort of because the painters still have to work their magic -- are our bedroom, Nicole\'s office and the breakfast nook.\r\n\r\nWe\'ll get there.\r\n\r\nBut I want to make my 62nd year on Earth one to remember. I went through some amazing changes in Texas, and I\'ve sort of left them on hold while we moved. I do want to start evangelizing, letting people know what I\'ve learned about the best way to be happy and make people around you glad that you\'re a part of their lives.\r\n\r\nI\'m going to make 2011 a really good year.\r\n\r\nAnd I\'m going to try and start early -- on Dec. 12.','Looking back at 61 years, ahead at the rest','','publish','open','open','','looking-back-at-61-years-ahead-at-the-rest','','','2010-12-11 20:20:49','2010-12-12 04:20:49','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=672',0,'post','',0),(673,1,'2010-12-11 20:13:01','2010-12-12 04:13:01','','20101013_340','Old but happy?','inherit','open','open','','20101013_340','','','2010-12-11 20:13:01','2010-12-12 04:13:01','',672,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101013_340.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(674,1,'2010-12-11 20:20:26','2010-12-12 04:20:26','Elizabeth Edwards was buried in North Carolina today. I thought of her when I was moaning a little about the fact that today was my 61st birthday.\n\nEdwards was 61 when she died Tuesday, so it was sort of a case of considering the alternative.\n\nSixty-one is an awkward age, at least for me. I\'m certainly not middle-aged anymore -- I think 55 is about the top limit for that -- but I don\'t consider myself elderly either. My ass probably sags a little more than it used to, and I\'m noticing the first signs of a bald spot near the back of my head. But in general I don\'t look my age, and since I lost more than 100 pounds this year, I don\'t feel my age either.\n\nWhen I read about Edwards, the thing that always impressed me the most was how wonderful a relationship she had with her children. Reading what her oldest daughter Cate said about her at the funeral moved me greatly, and I sincerely hope I can be as unselfish and as concerned for others when my time comes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_673\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Old but happy?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101013_340.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-673\" title=\"20101013_340\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101013_340-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been working really hard this year at being happy with what my life is and not unhappy for what it isn\'t.\n\nThere are times that has been easier than others, and there are times it has been damned hard. My last three years in California were filled with so much angst because of the untimely way my journalism career ended, and even in Georgia, I feel like I\'m in a sort of limbo as we go through the process of furnishing our house.\n\nAs I look out into the living room, it\'s completely empty. We\'re waiting to have our furniture delivered until after the painters have a chance to do the walls. Even here in my own office -- a room I\'m going to really enjoy -- the decor is unfinished as we wait for bookcases to be built and delivered.\n\nThe only rooms that are sort of finished -- I say sort of because the painters still have to work their magic -- are our bedroom, Nicole\'s office and the breakfast nook.\n\nWe\'ll get there.\n\nBut I want to make my 62nd year on Earth one to remember. I went through some amazing changes in Texas, and I\'ve sort of left them on hold while we moved. I do want to start evangelizing, letting people know what I\'ve learned about the best way to be happy and make people around you glad that you\'re a part of their lives.\n\nI\'m going to make 2011 a really good year.\n\nAnd I\'m going to try and start early -- on Dec. 12.','','','inherit','open','open','','672-revision','','','2010-12-11 20:20:26','2010-12-12 04:20:26','',672,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=674',0,'revision','',0),(675,1,'2010-12-12 11:48:39','2010-12-12 19:48:39','<em>In 1996, when I was getting ready to start what turned out to be a five-year stint as a newspaper columnist, I wrote to one of the legends of the business for advice.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Here\'s the response I got, through e-mail. A retyped version of this hangs on my wall in my office. It\'s one of my most treasured pieces of correspondence.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_676\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"One of the best ever\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/518K7EBFBRL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-676\" title=\"518K7EBFBRL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/518K7EBFBRL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMarch 18, 1996\r\n\r\nDear Michael,\r\n\r\nActually, there’s little I can tell someone about writing a column. But here are a few things that I think helped me:\r\n\r\n1.      Develop your own style. A columnist, like a novelist or a playwrite, has to have a distinctive voice. A regular reader should be able to tell it is you even without your byline.\r\n\r\n2.      Stick with what you know, especially in the beginning. You have to establish your credentials with the readers. So local stuff is probably best.\r\n\r\n3.      Get to the point fast and early. Writing a great lead is fine, but most readers don’t know a great lead from “once upon a time …”\r\n\r\n4.      If you have time, read a piece out loud before you turn it in. If it sounds stilted or forced, do some editing so it flows.\r\n\r\n5.      If you get the urge to use French words or phrases, bang your head against a wall until the urge passes.\r\n\r\n6.      Tragedy tells itself. It needs little help. The saddest sentence I can think of is only four words long: “A child is dead.”\r\n\r\n7.      Avoid the temptations of “multimedia.” It is flattering to be asked to make speeches and go on radio talk shows. But if these activities cut in on your column time or the time you need for yourself, don’t do them. Many promising columnists have burned out because they spread themselves too thin.\r\n\r\n8.      Draw a picture of a guy sitting in a little sailboat with slack sails. Have him rowing. Under it write these words: “When there ain’t no wind, row.” Hang it on your wall. In other words, you can’t wait for inspiration. And writer’s block is a luxury columnists can’t afford.\r\n\r\n9.      If you drink, wait for the weekend.\r\n\r\n10.  And remember, even if you become the best columnist in the world, it is something like being the tallest midget in the circus.\r\n\r\nThat’s more advice than I thought I had in me.\r\n\r\nGood luck,\r\n\r\nmike royko','Advice from a legend','','publish','open','open','','advice-from-a-legend','','','2010-12-12 11:48:39','2010-12-12 19:48:39','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?page_id=675',0,'page','',1),(676,1,'2010-12-12 11:47:53','2010-12-12 19:47:53','','518K7EBFBRL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_','One of the best ever','inherit','open','open','','518k7ebfbrl-_bo2204203200_pisitb-sticker-arrow-clicktopright35-76_aa300_sh20_ou01_','','','2010-12-12 11:47:53','2010-12-12 19:47:53','',675,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/518K7EBFBRL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-clickTopRight35-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(677,1,'2010-12-12 11:47:00','2010-12-12 19:47:00','In 1996, when I was getting ready to start what turned out to be a five-year stint as a newspaper columnist, I wrote to one of the legends of the business for advice.\n\nHere\'s the response I got, through e-mail. A retyped version of this hangs on my wall in my office. It\'s one of my most treasured pieces of correspondence.','Advice from a legend','','inherit','open','open','','675-revision','','','2010-12-12 11:47:00','2010-12-12 19:47:00','',675,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=677',0,'revision','',0),(699,1,'2010-12-20 19:04:32','2010-12-21 03:04:32','We all have our guilty pleasures when it comes to popular culture, things we love without really knowing why. Things we enjoy even though we know they\'re lowbrow or sometimes even low quality.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to television, there aren\'t many current shows I enjoy. In fact, there\'s only one show I have watched live -- as opposed to buying the DVDs -- in the last three or four years.\r\n\r\nI\'m a fan of<a title=\"24\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_%28season_8%29\" target=\"_self\"> \"24.\"</a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_700\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Jack&#39;s last roundup\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-700\" title=\"24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI didn\'t really start watching it live until the fourth or fifth season. Before that I caught up by buying the DVDs and sitting through hours at a time of Jack Bauer and his adventures.\r\n\r\nThe America of \"24\" is a much more interesting place than the real-life USA. In the first seven seasons of the show, the U.S. has had two different black presidents and one woman president. In addition, there have been nuclear weapons exploded on American soil and at least one biological weapons attack.\r\n\r\nAt the end of Season Seven, Jack Bauer was all but dead, with a longshot bone marrow transplant his only hope.\r\n\r\nSeason Seven took place in Washington, D.C., which at least got the show out of the ridiculous notion that you could get from any one point in Los Angeles to any other within 15 minutes.\r\n\r\nIn Season Eight, which I watched the first nine or 10 episodes of before missing the rest, New York is at risk.\r\n\r\nWhen I stopped watching, I knew the DVD would come out eventually. I picked it up this week and started watching it tonight. I\'ll have seen five episodes by the time I go to bed tonight. I\'ll finish by the end of the week.\r\n\r\nThen maybe I\'ll watch Season Seven again.\r\n\r\nI need to nurture my inner fascist.','Jack Bauer back for a round of guilty pleasures','','publish','open','open','','jack-bauer-back-for-a-round-of-guilty-pleasures','','','2010-12-20 19:04:32','2010-12-21 03:04:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=699',0,'post','',0),(679,1,'2010-12-12 18:29:02','2010-12-13 02:29:02','Most of us have many turning points in our lives.\r\n\r\nThings go right or they go wrong, or we make decisions between two options that send our lives in very different directions.\r\n\r\nSome of us look back on those decisions and wonder how different our lives might have been if we had made the opposite decisions of the ones we actually made.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_680\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"At 16, all the choices ahead of me.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Horse.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-680\" title=\"Horse\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Horse-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI believe we actually lead many lives, even though we are only aware of one of them. I think the choices we make send us in two different directions, and that there may actually be an alternate reality in which our life continues in the other direction.\r\n\r\nWhen I was 17, I had two choices as to where to go to college. I had been accepted at both the University of Virginia and at Oakland University in Michigan. I chose Virginia, and given my social immaturity, it turned out to be completely the wrong choice. My experience in Charlottesville in 1967-68 sent me into a seven- or eight-year tailspin that clearly affected the rest of my life.\r\n\r\nBut somewhere, perhaps in some alternate reality, I chose to go to school in Michigan.\r\n\r\nJust as in some alternate reality I chose not to marry Leslie Golman in 1975, or to go to work part-time at the <em>Washington Post</em> in 1980 instead of full-time at the <em>Alexandria Gazette</em>. Just as there was a reality in which I stayed in Colorado in 1988 instead of leaving for Reno.\r\n\r\nSometimes it\'s just a case of not knowing all the facts. When I was dating Cheryl Newman in late 1967 and early \'68, I thought she was two years younger than I was.. But I learned many years later that she was actually 14 instead of 16 when we were dating. That made the situation very different, and made her parents\' reaction much more logical. Something that hurt me very much would have made perfect sense to me instead.\r\n\r\nThis isn\'t to say that we live with regrets. It\'s much better to let go of the roads not taken and focus on living the best life we can in the reality we occupy.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s fun to realize that maybe -- in some alternate reality -- the roads we didn\'t take ... were taken.','What if the roads not taken ... were taken?','','publish','open','open','','what-if-the-roads-not-taken-were-taken','','','2010-12-12 18:29:02','2010-12-13 02:29:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=679',0,'post','',0),(680,1,'2010-12-12 18:10:10','2010-12-13 02:10:10','','Horse','At 16, all the choices ahead of me.','inherit','open','open','','horse-2','','','2010-12-12 18:10:10','2010-12-13 02:10:10','',679,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Horse.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(681,1,'2010-12-12 18:28:09','2010-12-13 02:28:09','Most of us have many turning points in our lives.\n\nThings go right or they go wrong, or we make decisions between two options that send our lives in very different directions.\n\nSome of us look back on those decisions and wonder how different our lives might have been if we had made the opposite decisions of the ones we actually made.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_680\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"At 16, all the choices ahead of me.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Horse.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-680\" title=\"Horse\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Horse-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI believe we actually lead many lives, even though we are only aware of one of them. I think the choices we make send us in two different directions, and that there may actually be an alternate reality in which our life continues in the other direction.\n\nWhen I was 17, I had two choices as to where to go to college. I had been accepted at both the University of Virginia and at Oakland University in Michigan. I chose Virginia, and given my social immaturity, it turned out to be completely the wrong choice. My experience in Charlottesville in 1967-68 sent me into a seven- or eight-year tailspin that clearly affected the rest of my life.\n\nBut somewhere, perhaps in some alternate reality, I chose to go to school in Michigan.\n\nJust as in some alternate reality I chose not to marry Leslie Golman in 1975, or to go to work part-time at the <em>Washington Post</em> in 1980 instead of full-time at the <em>Alexandria Gazette</em>. Just as there was a reality in which I stayed in Colorado in 1988 instead of leaving for Reno.\n\nSometimes it\'s just a case of not knowing all the facts. When I was dating Cheryl Newman in late 1967 and early \'68, I thought she was two years younger than I was.. But I learned many years later that she was actually 14 instead of 16 when we were dating. That made the situation very different, and made her parents\' reaction much more logical. Something that hurt me very much would have made perfect sense to me instead.\n\nThis isn\'t to say that we live with regrets. It\'s much better to let go of the roads not taken and focus on living the best life we can in the reality we occupy.\n\nBut it\'s fun to realize that maybe -- in some alternate reality -- the roads we didn\'t take ... were taken.','','','inherit','open','open','','679-revision','','','2010-12-12 18:28:09','2010-12-13 02:28:09','',679,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=681',0,'revision','',0),(682,1,'2010-12-13 13:35:59','2010-12-13 21:35:59','<em>\"I play golf in the 70s. If it gets any colder, I won\'t play.\"</em>\r\n\r\nIt\'s an old joke that sounds like something Henny Youngman might have said, but if I have to wait for 70-degree temperatures, it\'s going to be quite a while before I get out on the golf course again.\r\n\r\nToday was sunny out, and it looked like a great day to get in 18 holes. It was, and I did, but the temperature never made it above 28 degrees during the 2 1/2 hours I was playing. Add to that winds of 15-20 miles an hour that were knocking down some of my shots and sending others way off target, and it was a very challenging round. The best part of it was that it only took 2 1/2 hours, largely because from 1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., there was exactly one person playing golf on the entire Sun City Peachtree course.\r\n\r\nMe.\r\n\r\nIt was definitely a challenge. On Friday I played part of my round in shirtsleeves, but today I wore a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and a jacket the entire time. I had the hood up to protect my ears and I actually wore a ski mask for my nose and mouth as well. I don\'t know if I was golfing or robbing a filling station.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_683\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A freezing golfer\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101213_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-683\" title=\"20101213_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101213_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI played the entire round wearing gloves, but even so, by the back nine my hands were feeling like blocks of wood.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t play all that badly, although with three layers of clothing covering my arms and shoulders, I don\'t think I hit anything much farther than about 175 yards.\r\n\r\nOn Friday I shot 44 on the front nine and 47 on the back nine for 91.\r\n\r\nToday I struggled a little more on the front nine and shot 46, and it took a beautiful 23-foot putt to save par on the fourth hole to do that well. Friday I had managed to get through my round with nothing worse than a six and nothing worse than a double bogey, but today I had two sevens, one of them for a triple bogey on the 10th hole.\r\n\r\nI did putt better today. On Friday I three-putted four times and took 38 putts overall. Today I didn\'t three-putt at all and needed only 32 putts. One of them was a nice little 25-footer for a birdie three on the 15th hole.\r\n\r\nAll in all, I shot 91 again. My swing definitely seems to be recovering from the issues I had with it after losing more than 100 pounds this year.\r\n\r\nI practically froze my <em>tuchus</em> off, but it was still wonderful to be on the course for the second time in four days. If all goes well, I\'ll get out once or twice more this week.\r\n\r\nNo matter how cold it gets.','Cold? We don\'t need no stinking cold','','publish','open','open','','cold-we-dont-need-no-stinking-cold','','','2010-12-13 13:35:59','2010-12-13 21:35:59','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=682',0,'post','',0),(683,1,'2010-12-13 13:18:20','2010-12-13 21:18:20','','20101213_3','A freezing golfer','inherit','open','open','','20101213_3','','','2010-12-13 13:18:20','2010-12-13 21:18:20','',682,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101213_3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(684,1,'2010-12-13 13:35:32','2010-12-13 21:35:32','<em>\"I play golf in the 70s. If it gets any colder, I won\'t play.\"</em>\n\nIt\'s an old joke that sounds like something Henny Youngman might have said, but if I have to wait for 70-degree temperatures, it\'s going to be quite a while before I get out on the golf course again.\n\nToday was sunny out, and it looked like a great day to get in 18 holes. It was, and I did, but the temperature never made it above 28 degrees during the 2 1/2 hours I was playing. Add to that winds of 15-20 miles an hour that were knocking down some of my shots and sending others way off target, and it was a very challenging round. The best part of it was that it only took 2 1/2 hours, largely because from 1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., there was exactly one person playing golf on the entire Sun City Peachtree course.\n\nMe.\n\nIt was definitely a challenge. On Friday I played part of my round in shirtsleeves, but today I wore a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and a jacket the entire time. I had the hood up to protect my ears and I actually wore a ski mask for my nose and mouth as well. I don\'t know if I was golfing or robbing a filling station.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_683\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A freezing golfer\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101213_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-683\" title=\"20101213_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101213_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI played the entire round wearing gloves, but even so, by the back nine my hands were feeling like blocks of wood.\n\nI didn\'t play all that badly, although with three layers of clothing covering my arms and shoulders, I don\'t think I hit anything much farther than about 175 yards.\n\nOn Friday I shot 44 on the front nine and 47 on the back nine for 91.\n\nToday I struggled a little more on the front nine and shot 46, and it took a beautiful 23-foot putt to save par on the fourth hole to do that well. Friday I had managed to get through my round with nothing worse than a six and nothing worse than a double bogey, but today I had two sevens, one of them for a triple bogey on the 10th hole.\n\nI did putt better today. On Friday I three-putted four times and took 38 putts overall. Today I didn\'t three-putt at all and needed only 32 putts. One of them was a nice little 25-footer for a birdie three on the 15th hole.\n\nAll in all, I shot 91 again. My swing definitely seems to be recovering from the issues I had with it after losing more than 100 pounds this year.\n\nI practically froze my <em>tuchus</em> off, but it was still wonderful to be on the course for the second time in four days. If all goes well, I\'ll get out once or twice more this week.\n\nNo matter how cold it gets.','','','inherit','open','open','','682-revision','','','2010-12-13 13:35:32','2010-12-13 21:35:32','',682,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=684',0,'revision','',0),(685,1,'2010-12-15 14:59:17','2010-12-15 22:59:17','I was writing on Facebook about how strange it seems to me that my experience there has put me back into touch with friends I haven\'t seen for 20 or 30 years or even longer.\r\n\r\nOne of those friends responded to my comment by saying how much happier she was now, approaching age 50, than she was when she was 20. I had thought she was a pretty special person back then, but it didn\'t surprise me that she wasn\'t happy. If there\'s one thing I have learned in the last few years working on a book about my high school classmates, it\'s that life was a lot more complex even for the kids who seemed like they had everything going for them.\r\n\r\nOne girl I interviewed who had seemed to me like an absolute goddess told me that all through high school she had felt like she was stupid and ugly. It turned out she was dyslexic, a problem that wasn\'t as well understood in the mid \'60s.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_686\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Forty years later\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/classpic.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-686\" title=\"classpic\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/classpic-300x130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"130\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs for my friend from 1980, she was both beautiful and bright, but for whatever reason, she hadn\'t really found herself.\r\n\r\nHeck, does anybody really find themself at that age?\r\n\r\nI knew two 18-year-olds who seemed really happy, and both of them breezed through college in four years with honors, got great jobs and got happily married by their mid 20s.\r\n\r\nTo be fair, though, I\'m assuming a lot when I think my two kids didn\'t suffer through some of the same angst.\r\n\r\nThere is no question that age and experience teaches us that not everything we thought was crucially important really mattered as much as we thought. I know there was advice my mother gave me that I didn\'t heed that turned out to be absolutely correct.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, most of life\'s lessons seem to be ones we have to learn for ourself.\r\n\r\nI\'m glad Facebook has shown me one thing.\r\n\r\nMost of my friends, most of the folks who really mattered to me at one time or another, seem to have fairly happy lives.','Life\'s lessons come slowly and are hard won','','publish','open','open','','lifes-lessons-come-slowly-and-are-hard-won','','','2010-12-15 14:59:17','2010-12-15 22:59:17','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=685',0,'post','',0),(686,1,'2010-12-15 14:37:28','2010-12-15 22:37:28','','classpic','Forty years later','inherit','open','open','','classpic','','','2010-12-15 14:37:28','2010-12-15 22:37:28','',685,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/classpic.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(687,1,'2010-12-15 14:58:31','2010-12-15 22:58:31','I was writing on Facebook about how strange it seems to me that my experience there has put me back into touch with friends I haven\'t seen for 20 or 30 years or even longer.\n\nOne of those friends responded to my comment by saying how much happier she was now, approaching age 50, than she was when she was 20. I had thought she was a pretty special person back then, but it didn\'t surprise me that she wasn\'t happy. If there\'s one thing I have learned in the last few years working on a book about my high school classmates, it\'s that life was a lot more complex even for the kids who seemed like they had everything going for them.\n\nOne girl I interviewed who had seemed to me like an absolute goddess told me that all through high school she had felt like she was stupid and ugly. It turned out she was dyslexic, a problem that wasn\'t as well understood in the mid \'60s.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_686\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Forty years later\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/classpic.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-686\" title=\"classpic\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/classpic-300x130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"130\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs for my friend from 1980, she was both beautiful and bright, but for whatever reason, she hadn\'t really found herself.\n\nHeck, does anybody really find themself at that age?\n\nI knew two 18-year-olds who seemed really happy, and both of them breezed through college in four years with honors, got great jobs and got happily married by their mid 20s.\n\nTo be fair, though, I\'m assuming a lot when I think my two kids didn\'t suffer through some of the same angst.\n\nThere is no question that age and experience teaches us that not everything we thought was crucially important really mattered as much as we thought. I know there was advice my mother gave me that I didn\'t heed that turned out to be absolutely correct.\n\nUnfortunately, most of life\'s lessons seem to be ones we have to learn for ourself.\n\nI\'m glad Facebook has shown me one thing.\n\nMost of my friends, most of the folks who really mattered to me at one time or an','','','inherit','open','open','','685-revision','','','2010-12-15 14:58:31','2010-12-15 22:58:31','',685,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=687',0,'revision','',0),(709,1,'2010-12-24 19:34:37','2010-12-25 03:34:37','I always thought Christmas Eve was the best part of Christmas.\r\n\r\nFor most of the last 18 years, with a few exceptions, I have gone to midnight Mass. And the few I\'ve missed, I usually managed to find the Christmas Eve Mass from St. Peter\'s in Rome on television. Well, this year I\'m not getting to Mass and my television isn\'t hooked up. I\'m sitting here listening to George Strait singing \"I Can Still Make Cheyenne\" as I think about Christmases past and future.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_710\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Christmas Eve in Rome\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/334226720_45b2ce4175.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-710\" title=\"334226720_45b2ce4175\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/334226720_45b2ce4175-300x261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis has been a pretty miserable Christmas in some respects. My children are thousands of miles away -- seven time zones tonight and seven and 12 within 24 more hours when Pauline and her family return to Indonesia. It was wonderful to get to spend last Christmas with them in Virginia, but this one is more typical of what things will be like in the near future.\r\n\r\nOur only Christmas decoration this year is a wreath on the front of the house. We put most of our holiday decorations up for sale when we moved here, and if we\'re going to have a tree next year, we\'ll have to buy one.\r\n\r\nI turned off my iPod and switched to the Christmas channel on satellite radio just in time to hear the Beach Boys singing \"Santa Claus is Coming to Town\" in my ceiling speakers.\r\n\r\nYou know you\'re old when you remember when the Beach Boys were boys. Heck, how about just when they were all alive.\r\n\r\nFor some reason, I have been remembering Christmas 1971 lately. My parents and my siblings went on a trip to Russia and I was home alone. My friends Mick Curran and Christine Worth also were home with their families away, and I remember that the three of us got together at Mick\'s house and did a Christmas dinner.\r\n\r\nI remember almost none of the details. I was 22 that Christmas, younger than my children are now, and I\'m pretty sure it was the first Christmas that I didn\'t spend with my family.\r\n\r\nThere were plenty more of those, especially in my 30s as I moved west.\r\n\r\nIn fact, there were three in a row -- 1986-88 -- in Colorado and Reno when I spent the holiday completely alone. One of the strangest Christmases I remember was 1990 -- my first in California -- because just two weeks before Christmas, I survived an automobile accident that I probably shouldn\'t have survived. The passenger side of my two-seater car was crushed almost flat. I walked away from it.\r\n\r\nYeah, I\'ve had some good Christmases and some that were less than memorable.\r\n\r\nBut as long as there are people I love -- and people who love me -- there will be some good ones.\r\n\r\nMaybe I\'ll hook up the television after all and see if I can catch midnight mass from the Vatican.','Some good Christmases, some not so good','','publish','open','open','','some-good-christmases-some-not-so-good','','','2010-12-24 19:34:37','2010-12-25 03:34:37','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=709',0,'post','',0),(689,1,'2010-12-16 20:19:52','2010-12-17 04:19:52','It\'s going to be a strange Christmas.\r\n\r\nWe\'re still in the middle of the long process of moving in and setting up our new home in Georgia, so we aren\'t doing any decorating for Christmas. Nicole doesn\'t have any vacation time, so we aren\'t going anywhere. It\'ll be a lot different from last Christmas, which we spent in Virginia with both Pauline and Virgile while they were preparing for their two-year tours in Indonesia and Greece.\r\n\r\nOne thing that was very special about last year was that it was little Maddie\'s first real Christmas. We have lots of wonderful pictures of her with her presents, and I have terrific memories of reading to her. This year she\'s 2, but she is thousands of miles away.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_690\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Maddie is 2.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-690\" title=\"74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWatching her grow has been one of the most fascinating experiences of my life. Since I didn\'t enter Pauline and Virgile\'s lives until they were older, I missed out on all the amazing stuff that happens as kids from from infants into young children.\r\n\r\nThe strangest thing to me is that Maddie is so intelligent and alert and aware of her surroundings, but at 2, she is still at a stage in her life when she won\'t really remember any of this when she\'s older.\r\n\r\nOf course, the longer you live and the more memories you have, the more you forget. I\'ve come to realize I don\'t remember anything at all about my fifth grade year -- and I was 10 that year.\r\n\r\nI certainly intend to remember a lot more about Maddie\'s fifth grade year.\r\n\r\nIt\'ll probably be more interesting than mine was anyway.','Maddie\'s second real Christmas ... and I\'ll miss it','','publish','open','open','','maddies-second-real-christmas-and-ill-miss-it','','','2010-12-16 20:19:52','2010-12-17 04:19:52','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=689',0,'post','',1),(690,1,'2010-12-16 20:12:45','2010-12-17 04:12:45','','74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n','Maddie is 2.','inherit','open','open','','74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n','','','2010-12-16 20:12:45','2010-12-17 04:12:45','',689,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(691,1,'2010-12-16 20:19:27','2010-12-17 04:19:27','It\'s going to be a strange Christmas.\n\nWe\'re still in the middle of the long process of moving in and setting up our new home in Georgia, so we aren\'t doing any decorating for Christmas. Nicole doesn\'t have any vacation time, so we aren\'t going anywhere. It\'ll be a lot different from last Christmas, which we spent in Virginia with both Pauline and Virgile while they were preparing for their two-year tours in Indonesia and Greece.\n\nOne thing that was very special about last year was that it was little Maddie\'s first real Christmas. We have lots of wonderful pictures of her with her presents, and I have terrific memories of reading to her. This year she\'s 2, but she is thousands of miles away.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_690\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Maddie is 2.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-690\" title=\"74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/74016_461155262121_838372121_5314124_2706975_n-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWatching her grow has been one of the most fascinating experiences of my life. Since I didn\'t enter Pauline and Virgile\'s lives until they were older, I missed out on all the amazing stuff that happens as kids from from infants into young children.\n\nThe strangest thing to me is that Maddie is so intelligent and alert and aware of her surroundings, but at 2, she is still at a stage in her life when she won\'t really remember any of this when she\'s older.\n\nOf course, the longer you live and the more memories you have, the more you forget. I\'ve come to realize I don\'t remember anything at all about my fifth grade year -- and I was 10 that year.\n\nI certainly intend to remember a lot more about Maddie\'s fifth grade year.\n\nIt\'ll probably be more interesting than mine was anyway.','','','inherit','open','open','','689-revision','','','2010-12-16 20:19:27','2010-12-17 04:19:27','',689,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=691',0,'revision','',0),(693,1,'2010-12-17 20:02:32','2010-12-18 04:02:32','','DSC_0154','Christmas 2009 in Virginia','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0154','','','2010-12-17 20:02:32','2010-12-18 04:02:32','',692,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DSC_0154.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(694,1,'2010-12-17 20:06:25','2010-12-18 04:06:25','I wish it felt more like Christmas.\n\nIt\'s eight days till the holiday, and I have absolutely no trace of the Christmas spirit. Part of it is that I\'m being told Christmas is a holiday for children and that adults who aren\'t spending the holiday with children shouldn\'t get excited about it. Ordinarily I\'d blow off comments like that -- I don\'t really agree with them -- but when the person saying them is the one person I\'ll be spending Christmas with, it\'s tough.\n\nA big part of the problem is that even though we\'ve been in Georgia for a month now, we\'re still a long way from being settled in. The painters come Monday, and once our walls are painted, we can start putting some stuff away and other stuff on the walls. We\'ll also have our new living room furniture delivered. Trust me. When you don\'t have furniture in your living room, it doesn\'t make much sense to put up a Christmas tree.\n\nOne thing I thought would help actually hasn\'t. We have a really cool sound system -- speakers in the ceiling -- in four different rooms in our house. As of today, I have my <a title=\"XM Radio\" href=\"http://www.xmradio.com/\" target=\"_self\">XM Radio</a> hooked up through the speakers, and as I type this in my office, I have Christmas music coming down from the ceiling. I thought that would lift my spirits, but as of yet, not so much.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_693\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Christmas 2009 in Virginia\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DSC_0154.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-693\" title=\"DSC_0154\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DSC_0154-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPart of the problem is I\'m missing my kids.\n\nThis is the first Christmas that both Pauline and Virgile have been overseas, and with the move, we haven\'t had a whole lot of contact with them the last month or two. I\'m happy that Pauline, Ryan and Maddie are using some vacation time to fly from Indonesia to Greece to spend Christmas with Virgile and Sterling, but I really miss them.\n\nAs I wrote yesterday, last Christmas was a lot of fun in Virginia with the kids.\n\nI think I just need to try and figure out a way to help Nicole have a little more Christmas spirit.\n\nThat would definitely make me feel better.','','','inherit','open','open','','692-revision','','','2010-12-17 20:06:25','2010-12-18 04:06:25','',692,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=694',0,'revision','',0),(712,1,'2010-12-29 18:41:28','2010-12-30 02:41:28','I\'ve slipped a little in posting in recent days, but my blog is apparently becoming incredibly popular -- with the spammers.\r\n\r\nI wonder how stunning this sounds. In the months I have been writing \"One Voice,\" I have had 22 legitimate comments on articles I have written, and more than 1,200 spam comments I have blocked and deleted. In the five days since I last posted, I have deleted 70.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_713\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Late night White Christmas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101228_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-713\" title=\"20101228_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101228_2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe had a white Christmas here, the first time there has been snow on the ground at the place I have been living since the late \'80s. I spent four Christmases then -- from \'86 to \'89 -- living at altitude in Colorado and Nevada, and while I don\'t recall if there was snow on the ground on Dec. 25, it snowed <em>a lot</em> all four of those winters.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t as if we got a lot of snow here last weekend. As you can see from the photograph, there was accumulation of maybe half an inch, and there wasn\'t even that much in the front yard.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t a real exciting Christmas. We didn\'t decorate, we didn\'t shop and we didn\'t do anything special for Christmas dinner. Mostly we just got through the day. Sorry if that sounds depressing, but as holidays go, this wasn\'t a great one.\r\n\r\nAt least our house is shaping up. The painters finished last week, and we had some rugs and a couple more pieces of furniture delivered today. Aside from an empty living room -- we\'ll get that furniture next week -- probably the biggest thing that\'s missing is that we have nothing on the walls right now.\r\n\r\nI\'ll write about something more interesting tomorrow.\r\n\r\nI just needed to get something up here today.','White Christmas isn\'t necessarily an exciting one','','publish','open','open','','white-christmas-isnt-necessarily-an-exciting-one','','','2010-12-29 18:41:28','2010-12-30 02:41:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=712',0,'post','',0),(696,1,'2010-12-18 17:25:41','2010-12-19 01:25:41','For some reason, Christmas is the time of year when I become the most nostalgic about the past. And Christmas nostalgia almost always means one thing to me.\r\n\r\nCrestline.\r\n\r\nMy Christmases were never whiter, the air never colder and crisper and the Christmas cookies never better tasting than they were in the small town in north central Ohio where my grandparents lived and where my mother was born. My earliest Christmas memory is of 1953 -- I think -- when I found a Lionel electric train set waiting for me under the tree, but I also remember going to Christmas Eve services at the old church my grandmother attended and riding out to the newer homes on the west end of town to see the Christmas lights.\r\n\r\nCrestline was one of those wonderful little railroad towns that did so much for the troops during World War II. Bob Greene wrote a book about North Platte, Neb., and the canteen for soldiers who were passing through on their way to combat, but there were a lot more towns than North Platte doing the same thing. <a title=\"Crestline Canteen\" href=\"http://canteenbooks.com/Crestline_canteen.htm\" target=\"_self\">Crestline</a> served food and drinks to more than 1.2 million soldiers from 1942-46, and just like the other canteens, all the food was donated and given away for free.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_697\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Crestline canteen\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Crestline-painting.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-697\" title=\"Crestline painting\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Crestline-painting-300x154.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt makes me sad to think that I both loved and ridiculed Crestline so much when I was younger. I treasure the memories of the times I spent there, but I remember thinking how horrible it would be to live in a town that was too small even to have a fast-food restaurant until the 1970s.\r\n\r\nI usually spent two weeks there each summer, and I spent most of that time reading books I checked out of the small library and playing ball in the park. Crestline was small enough that I was able to walk everywhere I went, and I walked all the time. I remember picking up pop bottles and turning them in to get money to buy comic books and baseball cards. I wonder what happened to all those late \'50s and early \'60s comic books and baseball cards. They\'d probably be worth quite a bit now.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a great irony in the fact that all those times in Crestline, I dreamed of living in big cities, but after 20 years in one of the biggest -- Los Angeles -- my choice in retiring was to move to a small city in the South.\r\n\r\nGriffin is four times the size of Crestline, and it\'s just 10-15 minutes outside the Atlanta metropolitan area, but it has a lot more in common with Crestline than it does with Atlanta or Los Angeles.\r\n\r\nI wonder if that\'s why it feels like home to me.','Christmas always seems to make me feel nostalgic','','publish','open','open','','christmas-always-seems-to-make-me-feel-nostalgic','','','2010-12-18 17:25:41','2010-12-19 01:25:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=696',0,'post','',0),(697,1,'2010-12-18 17:16:56','2010-12-19 01:16:56','','Crestline painting','The Crestline canteen','inherit','open','open','','crestline-painting','','','2010-12-18 17:16:56','2010-12-19 01:16:56','',696,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Crestline-painting.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(698,1,'2010-12-18 17:25:33','2010-12-19 01:25:33','For some reason, Christmas is the time of year when I become the most nostalgic about the past. And Christmas nostalgia almost always means one thing to me.\n\nCrestline.\n\nMy Christmases were never whiter, the air never colder and crisper and the Christmas cookies never better tasting than they were in the small town in north central Ohio where my grandparents lived and where my mother was born. My earliest Christmas memory is of 1953 -- I think -- when I found a Lionel electric train set waiting for me under the tree, but I also remember going to Christmas Eve services at the old church my grandmother attended and riding out to the newer homes on the west end of town to see the Christmas lights.\n\nCrestline was one of those wonderful little railroad towns that did so much for the troops during World War II. Bob Greene wrote a book about North Platte, Neb., and the canteen for soldiers who were passing through on their way to combat, but there were a lot more towns than North Platte doing the same thing. <a title=\"Crestline Canteen\" href=\"http://canteenbooks.com/Crestline_canteen.htm\" target=\"_self\">Crestline</a> served food and drinks to more than 1.2 million soldiers from 1942-46, and just like the other canteens, all the food was donated and given away for free.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_697\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Crestline canteen\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Crestline-painting.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-697\" title=\"Crestline painting\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Crestline-painting-300x154.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt makes me sad to think that I both loved and ridiculed Crestline so much when I was younger. I treasure the memories of the times I spent there, but I remember thinking how horrible it would be to live in a town that was too small even to have a fast-food restaurant until the 1970s.\n\nI usually spent two weeks there each summer, and I spent most of that time reading books I checked out of the small library and playing ball in the park. Crestline was small enough that I was able to walk everywhere I went, and I walked all the time. I remember picking up pop bottles and turning them in to get money to buy comic books and baseball cards. I wonder what happened to all those late \'50s and early \'60s comic books and baseball cards. They\'d probably be worth quite a bit now.\n\nThere\'s a great irony in the fact that all those times in Crestline, I dreamed of living in big cities, but after 20 years in one of the biggest -- Los Angeles -- my choice in retiring was to move to a small city in the South.\n\nGriffin is four times the size of Crestline, and it\'s just 10-15 minutes outside the Atlanta metropolitan area, but it has a lot more in common with Crestline than it does with Atlanta or Los Angeles.\n\nI wonder if that\'s why it feels like home to me.','Christmas alw','','inherit','open','open','','696-revision','','','2010-12-18 17:25:33','2010-12-19 01:25:33','',696,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=698',0,'revision','',0),(700,1,'2010-12-20 18:53:30','2010-12-21 02:53:30','','24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479','Jack\'s last roundup','inherit','open','open','','24-season-8-posters-24-9140854-323-479','','','2010-12-20 18:53:30','2010-12-21 02:53:30','',699,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(701,1,'2010-12-20 19:04:25','2010-12-21 03:04:25','We all have our guilty pleasures when it comes to popular culture, things we love without really knowing why. Things we enjoy even though we know they\'re lowbrow or sometimes even low quality.\n\nWhen it comes to television, there aren\'t many current shows I enjoy. In fact, there\'s only one show I have watched live -- as opposed to buying the DVDs -- in the last three or four years.\n\nI\'m a fan of<a title=\"24\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_%28season_8%29\" target=\"_self\"> \"24.\"</a>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_700\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Jack&#39;s last roundup\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-700\" title=\"24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/24-Season-8-Posters-24-9140854-323-479-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI didn\'t really start watching it live until the fourth or fifth season. Before that I caught up by buying the DVDs and sitting through hours at a time of Jack Bauer and his adventures.\n\nThe America of \"24\" is a much more interesting place than the real-life USA. In the first seven seasons of the show, the U.S. has had two different black presidents and one woman president. In addition, there have been nuclear weapons exploded on American soil and at least one biological weapons attack.\n\nAt the end of Season Seven, Jack Bauer was all but dead, with a longshot bone marrow transplant his only hope.\n\nSeason Seven took place in Washington, D.C., which at least got the show out of the ridiculous notion that you could get from any one point in Los Angeles to any other within 15 minutes.\n\nIn Season Eight, which I watched the first nine or 10 episodes of before missing the rest, New York is at risk.\n\nWhen I stopped watching, I knew the DVD would come out eventually. I picked it up this week and started watching it tonight. I\'ll have seen five episodes by the time I go to bed tonight. I\'ll finish by the end of the week.\n\nThen maybe I\'ll watch Season Seven again.\n\nI need to nurture my inner fascist.','Jack Bauer back for a round of ','','inherit','open','open','','699-revision','','','2010-12-20 19:04:25','2010-12-21 03:04:25','',699,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=701',0,'revision','',0),(702,1,'2010-12-21 18:28:08','2010-12-22 02:28:08','[caption id=\"attachment_703\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The par-three second hole at SCP\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-703\" title=\"20101210_7\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_7-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt was warmer today, and except for a little drizzle in the morning it was dry, so I got out onto the golf course for the first time in eight days.\r\n\r\nIt actually isn\'t the weather that keeps me from playing. We have a lot of things going on with workmen at our house, so I have needed to stay close to home.\r\n\r\nToday was the third time I\'ve played Sun City Peachtree, my home course, and I\'m starting to get a feel for some of the quirks. I still haven\'t played the first hole, a 380-yard par four with a dogleg, in less than six strokes. That\'s annoying, but today I parred the second hole for the first time, which was nice.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been playing alone, which is sort of interesting. I got into the habit in Texas this summer at Utopia and Flying L, and this is a nicer course than either of those two.\r\n\r\nI hook up my iPod and listen to it throughout my round. I\'ve been joking about how eclectic my iPod is, and I think today I listened to Frank Sinatra, the Doors, Pete Seeger and George Strait within about a 15-minute period. I particularly enjoy it when I\'m waiting at the tee box; the music keeps me from getting impatient.\r\n\r\nI\'m pleased that I have been fairly consistent. Today I parred four holes and only double-bogeyed three, which meant I broke 90 for the first time on this course. That was nice, and it was warm enough today that I was able to play with just two layers of clothing instead of three. That meant a few of my shots actually topped 200 yards, and since a few of the par fours are short -- 301, 308 and 274 -- I was able to get on in two with my pitching wedge.\r\n\r\nThe toughest thing about this course is the greens, which are really challenging. That really bit me on the ninth hole, which is only 98 yards. I hit my tee shot two feet from the hole, but it was on a sloping part of the green and rolled 40 feet away. I three-putted for bogey.\r\n\r\nOne thing I really enjoy about playing alone is that being out on the course gives my mind free rein to wander and think about all sorts of things. The music helps with that; a lot of the time a song will get me thinking about what my life was like at the time the song was originally popular.\r\n\r\nToday I heard Alan Jackson\'s \"Remember When,\" which has one line that always resonates with me.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Remember when thirty seemed so old, now looking back it\'s just a stepping stone ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nI never felt older than when I turned 30. It was a month before my first wife and I separated for good, and my life was a shambles. I hadn\'t even started my first full-time job in journalism, and I felt like the whole world was slipping away from me.\r\n\r\nThings started getting better soon after that. I became editor of my college paper, president of my college fraternity and started dating someone really special.\r\n\r\nBut I don\'t think I ever felt young again.\r\n\r\nI have, however, reached a point where I don\'t feel old.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s almost as good.','A good round of golf can be very relaxing','','publish','open','open','','a-good-round-of-golf-can-be-very-relaxing','','','2010-12-21 18:28:08','2010-12-22 02:28:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=702',0,'post','',0),(703,1,'2010-12-21 16:22:31','2010-12-22 00:22:31','','20101210_7','The par-three second hole at SCP','inherit','open','open','','20101210_7','','','2010-12-21 16:22:31','2010-12-22 00:22:31','',702,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_7.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(704,1,'2010-12-21 18:27:10','2010-12-22 02:27:10','[caption id=\"attachment_703\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The par-three second hole at SCP\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-703\" title=\"20101210_7\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101210_7-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt was warmer today, and except for a little drizzle in the morning it was dry, so I got out onto the golf course for the first time in eight days.\n\nIt actually isn\'t the weather that keeps me from playing. We have a lot of things going on with workmen at our house, so I have needed to stay close to home.\n\nToday was the third time I\'ve played Sun City Peachtree, my home course, and I\'m starting to get a feel for some of the quirks. I still haven\'t played the first hole, a 380-yard par four with a dogleg, in less than six strokes. That\'s annoying, but today I parred the second hole for the first time, which was nice.\n\nI\'ve been playing alone, which is sort of interesting. I got into the habit in Texas this summer at Utopia and Flying L, and this is a nicer course than either of those two.\n\nI hook up my iPod and listen to it throughout my round. I\'ve been joking about how eclectic my iPod is, and I think today I listened to Frank Sinatra, the Doors, Pete Seeger and George Strait within about a 15-minute period. I particularly enjoy it when I\'m waiting at the tee box; the music keeps me from getting impatient.\n\nI\'m pleased that I have been fairly consistent. Today I parred four holes and only double-bogeyed three, which meant I broke 90 for the first time on this course. That was nice, and it was warm enough today that I was able to play with just two layers of clothing instead of three. That meant a few of my shots actually topped 200 yards, and since a few of the par fours are short -- 301, 308 and 274 -- I was able to get on in two with my pitching wedge.\n\nThe toughest thing about this course is the greens, which are really challenging. That really bit me on the ninth hole, which is only 98 yards. I hit my tee shot two feet from the hole, but it was on a sloping part of the green and rolled 40 feet away. I three-putted for bogey.\n\nOne thing I really enjoy about playing alone is that being out on the course gives my mind free rein to wander and think about all sorts of things. The music helps with that; a lot of the time a song will get me thinking about what my life was like at the time the song was originally popular.\n\nToday I heard Alan Jackson\'s \"Remember When,\" which has one line that always resonates with me.\n\n<em>\"Remember when thirty seemed so old, now looking back it\'s just a stepping stone ...\"</em>\n\nI never felt older than when I turned 30. It was a month before my first wife and I separated for good, and my life was a shambles. I hadn\'t even started my first full-time job in journalism, and I felt like the whole world was slipping away from me.\n\nThings started getting better soon after that. I became editor of my college paper, president of my college fraternity and started dating someone really special.\n\nBut I don\'t think I ever felt young again.\n\nI have, however','','','inherit','open','open','','702-revision','','','2010-12-21 18:27:10','2010-12-22 02:27:10','',702,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=704',0,'revision','',0),(705,1,'2010-12-23 10:08:30','2010-12-23 18:08:30','There was one thing my father always used to do that I thought was overly cautious.\r\n\r\nHe would wait at an intersection at times when I thought he should have gone, and when I asked him why he waited when he could easily have gone, he had a simple response.\r\n\r\n<em>\"It isn\'t whether there\'s time to make it or not, it\'s what happens if something goes wrong.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI thought about that yesterday when I went to the grocery store. I was coming up to the light at Martin Luther King Highway, which is called Expressway a little to the south in Griffin and Tara Boulevard 10 miles or so to the north heading into Atlanta. I usually have to sit at a red light there, but as I approached the intersection, the light was green. It hadn\'t just turned green, either.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_706\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Yes, it means &quot;stop,&quot; but ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-706\" title=\"9540\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"260\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIf I had been two seconds farther along the road, I would have had big trouble. As I neared the intersection, a driver in a pickup truck heading north toward Atlanta blasted through the intersection at about 60 miles an hour -- through a red light. I\'m not sure why he did it; he probably wasn\'t concentrating and didn\'t realize the light was red.\r\n\r\nFortunately, no one was crossing his path at the time.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny.\r\n\r\nMy dad died nearly three years ago, but he\'s still getting smarter every year.\r\n\r\nI hope my own son will feel the same way about me.','Overly cautious? Maybe not so much anymore','','publish','open','open','','overly-cautious-maybe-not-so-much-anymore','','','2010-12-23 10:08:30','2010-12-23 18:08:30','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=705',0,'post','',0),(706,1,'2010-12-23 09:50:24','2010-12-23 17:50:24','','9540','Yes, it means \"stop,\" but ...','inherit','open','open','','9540','','','2010-12-23 09:50:24','2010-12-23 17:50:24','',705,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(707,1,'2010-12-23 10:07:32','2010-12-23 18:07:32','There was one thing my father always used to do that I thought was overly cautious.\n\nHe would wait at an intersection at times when I thought he should have gone, and when I asked him why he waited when he could easily have gone, he had a simple response.\n\n<em>\"It isn\'t whether there\'s time to make it or not, it\'s what happens if something goes wrong.\"</em>\n\nI thought about that yesterday when I went to the grocery store. I was coming up to the light at Martin Luther King Highway, which is called Expressway a little to the south in Griffin and Tara Boulevard 10 miles or so to the north heading into Atlanta. I usually have to sit at a red light there, but as I approached the intersection, the light was green. It hadn\'t just turned green, either.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_706\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Yes, it means &quot;stop,&quot; but ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-706\" title=\"9540\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"260\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf I had been two seconds farther along the road, I would have had big trouble. As I neared the intersection, a driver in a pickup truck heading north toward Atlanta blasted through the intersection at about 60 miles an hour -- through a red light. I\'m not sure why he did it; he probably wasn\'t concentrating and didn\'t realize the light was red.\n\nFortunately, no one was crossing his path at the time.\n\nIt\'s funny.\n\nMy dad died nearly three years ago, but he\'s still getting smarter every year.','','','inherit','open','open','','705-revision','','','2010-12-23 10:07:32','2010-12-23 18:07:32','',705,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=707',0,'revision','',0),(708,1,'2010-12-23 10:08:32','2010-12-23 18:08:32','There was one thing my father always used to do that I thought was overly cautious.\n\nHe would wait at an intersection at times when I thought he should have gone, and when I asked him why he waited when he could easily have gone, he had a simple response.\n\n<em>\"It isn\'t whether there\'s time to make it or not, it\'s what happens if something goes wrong.\"</em>\n\nI thought about that yesterday when I went to the grocery store. I was coming up to the light at Martin Luther King Highway, which is called Expressway a little to the south in Griffin and Tara Boulevard 10 miles or so to the north heading into Atlanta. I usually have to sit at a red light there, but as I approached the intersection, the light was green. It hadn\'t just turned green, either.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_706\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Yes, it means &quot;stop,&quot; but ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-706\" title=\"9540\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9540.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"260\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf I had been two seconds farther along the road, I would have had big trouble. As I neared the intersection, a driver in a pickup truck heading north toward Atlanta blasted through the intersection at about 60 miles an hour -- through a red light. I\'m not sure why he did it; he probably wasn\'t concentrating and didn\'t realize the light was red.\n\nFortunately, no one was crossing his path at the time.\n\nIt\'s funny.\n\nMy dad died nearly three years ago, but he\'s still getting smarter every year.\n\nI hope my own son will feel the same way about me.','Overly cautious? Maybe not so much anymore','','inherit','open','open','','705-autosave','','','2010-12-23 10:08:32','2010-12-23 18:08:32','',705,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=708',0,'revision','',0),(710,1,'2010-12-24 19:13:33','2010-12-25 03:13:33','','334226720_45b2ce4175','Christmas Eve in Rome','inherit','open','open','','334226720_45b2ce4175','','','2010-12-24 19:13:33','2010-12-25 03:13:33','',709,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/334226720_45b2ce4175.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(711,1,'2010-12-24 19:33:59','2010-12-25 03:33:59','I always thought Christmas Eve was the best part of Christmas.\n\nFor most of the last 18 years, with a few exceptions, I have gone to midnight Mass. And the few I\'ve missed, I usually managed to find the Christmas Eve Mass from St. Peter\'s in Rome on television. Well, this year I\'m not getting to Mass and my television isn\'t hooked up. I\'m sitting here listening to George Strait singing \"I Can Still Make Cheyenne\" as I think about Christmases past and future.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_710\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Christmas Eve in Rome\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/334226720_45b2ce4175.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-710\" title=\"334226720_45b2ce4175\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/334226720_45b2ce4175-300x261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis has been a pretty miserable Christmas in some respects. My children are thousands of miles away -- seven time zones tonight and seven and 12 within 24 more hours when Pauline and her family return to Indonesia. It was wonderful to get to spend last Christmas with them in Virginia, but this one is more typical of what things will be like in the near future.\n\nOur only Christmas decoration this year is a wreath on the front of the house. We put most of our holiday decorations up for sale when we moved here, and if we\'re going to have a tree next year, we\'ll have to buy one.\n\nI turned off my iPod and switched to the Christmas channel on satellite radio just in time to hear the Beach Boys singing \"Santa Claus is Coming to Town\" in my ceiling speakers.\n\nYou know you\'re old when you remember when the Beach Boys were boys. Heck, how about just when they were all alive.\n\nFor some reason, I have been remembering Christmas 1971 lately. My parents and my siblings went on a trip to Russia and I was home alone. My friends Mick Curran and Christine Worth also were home with their families away, and I remember that the three of us got together at Mick\'s house and did a Christmas dinner.\n\nI remember almost none of the details. I was 22 that Christmas, younger than my children are now, and I\'m pretty sure it was the first Christmas that I didn\'t spend with my family.\n\nThere were plenty more of those, especially in my 30s as I moved west.\n\nIn fact, there were three in a row -- 1986-88 -- in Colorado and Reno when I spent the holiday completely alone. One of the strangest Christmases I remember was 1990 -- my first in California -- because just two weeks before Christmas, I survived an automobile accident that I probably shouldn\'t have survived. The passenger side of my two-seater car was crushed almost flat. I walked away from it.\n\nYeah, I\'ve had some good Christmases and some that were less than memorable.\n\nBut as long as there are people I love -- and people who love me -- there will be some good ones.\n\nMaybe I\'ll hook up the television after all and see if I can catch midnight mass from the Vatican.','','','inherit','open','open','','709-revision','','','2010-12-24 19:33:59','2010-12-25 03:33:59','',709,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=711',0,'revision','',0),(713,1,'2010-12-29 17:01:38','2010-12-30 01:01:38','','20101228_2','Late night White Christmas','inherit','open','open','','20101228_2','','','2010-12-29 17:01:38','2010-12-30 01:01:38','',712,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101228_2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(714,1,'2010-12-29 18:41:09','2010-12-30 02:41:09','I\'ve slipped a little in posting in recent days, but my blog is apparently becoming incredibly popular -- with the spammers.\n\nI wonder how stunning this sounds. In the months I have been writing \"One Voice,\" I have had 22 legitimate comments on articles I have written, and more than 1,200 spam comments I have blocked and deleted. In the five days since I last posted, I have deleted 70.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_713\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Late night White Christmas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101228_2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-713\" title=\"20101228_2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101228_2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe had a white Christmas here, the first time there has been snow on the ground at the place I have been living since the late \'80s. I spent four Christmases then -- from \'86 to \'89 -- living at altitude in Colorado and Nevada, and while I don\'t recall if there was snow on the ground on Dec. 25, it snowed <em>a lot</em> all four of those winters.\n\nIt wasn\'t as if we got a lot of snow here last weekend. As you can see from the photograph, there was accumulation of maybe half an inch, and there wasn\'t even that much in the front yard.\n\nIt wasn\'t a real exciting Christmas. We didn\'t decorate, we didn\'t shop and we didn\'t do anything special for Christmas dinner. Mostly we just got through the day. Sorry if that sounds depressing, but as holidays go, this wasn\'t a great one.\n\nAt least our house is shaping up. The painters finished last week, and we had some rugs and a couple more pieces of furniture delivered today. Aside from an empty living room -- we\'ll get that furniture next week -- probably the biggest thing that\'s missing is that we have nothing on the walls right now.\n\nI\'ll write about something more interesting tomorrow.\n\nI just needed to get something up here today.','','','inherit','open','open','','712-revision','','','2010-12-29 18:41:09','2010-12-30 02:41:09','',712,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=714',0,'revision','',0),(744,1,'2011-01-10 16:25:42','2011-01-11 00:25:42','[caption id=\"attachment_745\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"My little box\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110110_14.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-745\" title=\"20110110_14\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110110_14-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s a little box, hanging on my wall, with 12 nearly pristine looking baseballs.\r\n\r\nThere are 13 signatures on the balls, and 10 of them are in the baseball Hall of Fame. One other one probably will be someday, and the remaining two -- the ones who share a ball -- also shared one of the most important moments in baseball history.\r\n\r\nThe three across the top row are the true gems -- Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle.\r\n\r\nThe next three aren\'t much lesser lights -- Johnny Bench, Warren Spahn and Duke Snider.\r\n\r\nBob Feller, Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson occupy the third row, which is 9-for-9 Hall of Famers.\r\n\r\nChipper Jones and Ralph Kiner have the outside spots on the bottom row. Kiner is in the Hall already, and my guess is Chipper will be in about six or seven years.\r\n\r\nIt\'s the 12th ball that is the most fascinating to me. It contains the signatures of Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson, the man who threw the pitch and the man who hit it in 1951 for the Shot Heard Round the World. Despite Bill Mazeroski and  Kirk Gibson\'s later efforts, I still think it was the biggest home run in baseball history.\r\n\r\nMy interest in memorabilia has come relatively late in life. I never asked for autographs when I was a sportswriter. It would have been unprofessional, and because of that, I missed out on the chance to get signatures from former players I met for one-on-one interviews, among them Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter and Hank Aaron.\r\n\r\nI do have one autographed picture on my wall, of my old friend Walter Masterson as the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1948 All-Star Game.\r\n\r\nI miss Walter a lot. We were working on a book together, but didn\'t get a chance to finish it before he died in April 2008. The picture is a nice memento.\r\n\r\nIt\'s just like on my Facebook page, before they revised the profiles. I used to say that I loved my wife, my children, my granddaughter, my family, my friends ... and baseball.','Balls on the wall a reminder of one of life\'s joys','','publish','open','open','','balls-on-the-wall-a-reminder-of-one-of-lifes-joys','','','2011-01-10 16:25:42','2011-01-11 00:25:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=744',0,'post','',0),(716,1,'2011-01-01 14:11:27','2011-01-01 22:11:27','I meant to write this post yesterday, when it was still appropriate to wrap up the year that was coming to a close.\r\n\r\nOh, well.\r\n\r\nWhen I was growing up in the \'50s and \'60s, we used to talk about \"the year 2000\" was if it were some far-off, futuristic date. Now it\'s 11 years in the past, and I have a grandchild to whom the 20th century is just history.\r\n\r\nThe year just past was one with some fairly amazing highs and lows to it. There were times I wasn\'t certain I would make it to the end of the year, and there were other times when 2010 seemed like an incredible new start to me. There were times when I would have sworn my marriage wasn\'t going to survive the year, and others when I loved my wife every bit as much as I ever did.\r\n\r\nI began the year in California, the 20th New Year\'s Day I spent in the state where I was born. I ended it in Georgia, where I hope to spend the rest of whatever remains in my life. Will I have 20 more years? Maybe, but it isn\'t the quantity that matters as much as the quality.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_717\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Old friends and new ones\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_12.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-717\" title=\"20101202_12\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_12-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI spent two weeks at home in Virginia in early November, two weeks that turned out to mean a great deal to me.\r\n\r\nNot only did I get the chance to spend some time with my mother -- and who knows how many more chances there will be for that? -- I went to two reunions and saw college friends from my fraternity and from the newspaper staff that I hadn\'t seen in nearly 30 years.\r\n\r\nThere are few things in my life that have meant more to me than friendships. Getting the chance to spend time with folks who once mattered a great deal to me means more than I can ever really explain.\r\n\r\nI lost 112 pounds this year, and while I have gained a little of it back, I have promised myself I will never weigh 200 again. I want to get back into the 170s, which won\'t be all that difficult. I\'m starting today to wear my armband again and if it isn\'t raining tomorrow, I\'ll be out walking.\r\n\r\nWhere do I go from here?\r\n\r\nI have three goals for 2011 -- to be the very best husband I can be, to finish my book before the end of the winter and to stay in shape.\r\n\r\nI\'ll keep you posted on how I do.\r\n\r\nHappy New Year.','One year down, another one coming on stage','','publish','open','open','','one-year-down-another-one-coming-on-stage','','','2011-01-01 14:11:27','2011-01-01 22:11:27','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=716',0,'post','',1),(717,1,'2011-01-01 14:02:26','2011-01-01 22:02:26','','20101202_12','Old friends and new ones','inherit','open','open','','20101202_12','','','2011-01-01 14:02:26','2011-01-01 22:02:26','',716,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_12.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(718,1,'2011-01-01 14:11:03','2011-01-01 22:11:03','I meant to write this post yesterday, when it was still appropriate to wrap up the year that was coming to a close.\n\nOh, well.\n\nWhen I was growing up in the \'50s and \'60s, we used to talk about \"the year 2000\" was if it were some far-off, futuristic date. Now it\'s 11 years in the past, and I have a grandchild to whom the 20th century is just history.\n\nThe year just past was one with some fairly amazing highs and lows to it. There were times I wasn\'t certain I would make it to the end of the year, and there were other times when 2010 seemed like an incredible new start to me. There were times when I would have sworn my marriage wasn\'t going to survive the year, and others when I loved my wife every bit as much as I ever did.\n\nI began the year in California, the 20th New Year\'s Day I spent in the state where I was born. I ended it in Georgia, where I hope to spend the rest of whatever remains in my life. Will I have 20 more years? Maybe, but it isn\'t the quantity that matters as much as the quality.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_717\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Old friends and new ones\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_12.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-717\" title=\"20101202_12\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_12-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI spent two weeks at home in Virginia in early November, two weeks that turned out to mean a great deal to me.\n\nNot only did I get the chance to spend some time with my mother -- and who knows how many more chances there will be for that? -- I went to two reunions and saw college friends from my fraternity and from the newspaper staff that I hadn\'t seen in nearly 30 years.\n\nThere are few things in my life that have meant more to me than friendships. Getting the chance to spend time with folks who once mattered a great deal to me means more than I can ever really explain.\n\nI lost 112 pounds this year, and while I have gained a little of it back, I have promised myself I will never weigh 200 again. I want to get back into the 170s, which won\'t be all that difficult. I\'m starting today to wear my armband again and if it isn\'t raining tomorrow, I\'ll be out walking.\n\nWhere do I go from here?\n\nI have three goals for 2011 -- to be the very best husband I can be, to finish my book before the end of the winter and to stay in shape.\n\nI\'ll keep you posted on how I do.\n\nHappy New Year.','','','inherit','open','open','','716-revision','','','2011-01-01 14:11:03','2011-01-01 22:11:03','',716,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=718',0,'revision','',0),(719,1,'2011-01-02 16:46:04','2011-01-03 00:46:04','It rained all day yesterday, but today I was able to get a decent start on 2011. I walked for an hour and then went out and played 18 holes of golf.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_720\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Back out there walking.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_26.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-720\" title=\"20101202_26\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_26-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEven on the course, I did a good bit of walking. Since the course was wet, we had to keep our carts on the path, so anything hit out into the fairway meant walking to and from the shot.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t play that well, but I did have fun. I got the opportunity to use my <a title=\"Golf Buddy\" href=\"http://www.golfbuddyglobal.com/shop/p-13-golfbuddy-pro.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Golf Buddy</a> -- my Christmas present to myself -- for the first time. Our course here at SCP doesn\'t have the markers at 100, 150 and 200 that I\'m accustomed to; there\'s a stake at 150 on each hole and that\'s it.\r\n\r\nThe Golf Buddy is a range finder, and I can stand anywhere on a hole and see how far it is to the front, middle and back of the green. I can also use it to keep track of my score.\r\n\r\nThe 95 I shot was the worst of my four trips to the course. I shot 91, 91 and 89 the first three times, but it was really windy today and that certainly had an effect..\r\n\r\nAt this point I\'m not worried about what I shoot.\r\n\r\nIt\'s just great to be outdoors.','Working to get back into a good routine','','publish','open','open','','working-to-get-back-into-a-good-routine','','','2011-01-02 16:46:04','2011-01-03 00:46:04','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=719',0,'post','',1),(720,1,'2011-01-02 16:20:08','2011-01-03 00:20:08','','20101202_26','Back out there walking.','inherit','open','open','','20101202_26','','','2011-01-02 16:20:08','2011-01-03 00:20:08','',719,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_26.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(721,1,'2011-01-02 16:45:29','2011-01-03 00:45:29','It rained all day yesterday, but today I was able to get a decent start on 2011. I walked for an hour and then went out and played 18 holes of golf.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_720\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Back out there walking.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_26.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-720\" title=\"20101202_26\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20101202_26-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEven on the course, I did a good bit of walking. Since the course was wet, we had to keep our carts on the path, so anything hit out into the fairway meant walking to and from the shot.\n\nI didn\'t play that well, but I did have fun. I got the opportunity to use my <a title=\"Golf Buddy\" href=\"http://www.golfbuddyglobal.com/shop/p-13-golfbuddy-pro.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Golf Buddy</a> -- my Christmas present to myself -- for the first time. Our course here at SCP doesn\'t have the markers at 100, 150 and 200 that I\'m accustomed to; there\'s a stake at 150 on each hole and that\'s it.\n\nThe Golf Buddy is a range finder, and I can stand anywhere on a hole and see how far it is to the front, middle and back of the green. I can also use it to keep track of my score.\n\nThe 95 I shot was the worst of my four trips to the course. I shot 91, 91 and 89 the first three times, but it was really windy today and that certainly had an effect..\n\nAt this point I\'m not worried about what I shoto','','','inherit','open','open','','719-revision','','','2011-01-02 16:45:29','2011-01-03 00:45:29','',719,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=721',0,'revision','',0),(722,1,'2011-01-04 19:29:26','2011-01-05 03:29:26','[caption id=\"attachment_723\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Actual furniture in the living room\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110104_10.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-723\" title=\"20110104_10\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110104_10-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOur house is actually starting to look like our home.\r\n\r\nWe had our living room furniture delivered yesterday, and for the first time in more than a month and a half, there is actually workable, usable furniture in the living room. Another day or two and I might actually sit on the couch or one of the chairs.\r\n\r\nTomorrow we\'re having quite a bit of our artwork hung on our walls, and that will complete my office. Artwork means a different thing in that room than it will in the rest of the house. Instead of \"fine art,\" I have photographs, mementos of my career as a sportswriter, a framed autographed John Elway jersey, a few framed movie posters and my case with a dozen autographed baseballs.\r\n\r\nYou know, guy stuff.\r\n\r\nThis is the first time since I lived alone in 1992 that I\'ve been able to decorate a room of my own, and after all those years in journalism, I have plenty of stuff to decorate it with.\r\n\r\nIt really is starting to feel like home.','A lovely house is becoming a lovely home','','publish','open','open','','a-lovely-house-is-becoming-a-lovely-home','','','2011-01-04 19:29:26','2011-01-05 03:29:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=722',0,'post','',0),(723,1,'2011-01-04 19:15:40','2011-01-05 03:15:40','','20110104_10','Actual furniture in the living room','inherit','open','open','','20110104_10','','','2011-01-04 19:15:40','2011-01-05 03:15:40','',722,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110104_10.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(724,1,'2011-01-04 19:28:44','2011-01-05 03:28:44','[caption id=\"attachment_723\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Actual furniture in the living room\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110104_10.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-723\" title=\"20110104_10\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110104_10-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOur house is actually starting to look like our home.\n\nWe had our living room furniture delivered yesterday, and for the first time in more than a month and a half, there is actually workable, usable furniture in the living room. Another day or two and I might actually sit on the couch or one of the chairs.\n\nTomorrow we\'re having quite a bit of our artwork hung on our walls, and that will complete my office. Artwork means a different thing in that room than it will in the rest of the house. Instead of \"fine art,\" I have photographs, mementos of my career as a sportswriter, a framed autographed John Elway jersey, a few framed movie posters and my case with a dozen autographed baseballs.\n\nYou know, guy stuff.\n\nThis is the first time since I lived alone in 1992 that I\'ve been able to decorate a room of my own, and after all those years in journalism, I have plenty of stuff to decorate it with.\n\nIt really is s','','','inherit','open','open','','722-revision','','','2011-01-04 19:28:44','2011-01-05 03:28:44','',722,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=724',0,'revision','',0),(725,1,'2011-01-05 14:38:35','2011-01-05 22:38:35','[caption id=\"attachment_726\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of mementos.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-726\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy halls have been decked.\r\n\r\nOr is it my walls?\r\n\r\nWhatever. My office -- my own personal <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> -- had the walls decorated today with the photographs, souvenirs and mementos I have accumulated in 61 years on the planet and nearly 30 as a journalist.\r\n\r\nThe wall pictured is dominated by two things -- my autographed jersey of the greatest athlete I ever covered and the license plate that was on my Celica during the five years I was a newspaper columnist. There are also pictures and posters of beaches in Southern California, Hawaii and Tahiti and my dance hall plaque from Texas.\r\n\r\nTo the right are photos of Dodger Stadium and Houston\'s Minute Maid Park, a photo of my old friend Walter Masterson and a plaque of the best award I ever won.\r\n\r\nIn the shadow box along with the license plate are passes from some of the best events I covered -- the 1985 World Series, the 1985 Final Four, , a Rose Bowl, a Peach Bowl, the 1980 Democratic Convention and a few other odds and ends.\r\n\r\nI\'ve got 32 pictures of the people I love on another wall, as well as my case containing a dozen autographed baseballs, including names like Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Duke Snider, Johnny Bench and others.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_727\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of photos, etc.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-727\" title=\"20110105_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course there\'s my TV -- our old one, a 37-inch Toshiba -- and my Blu-Ray player, and my cabinets below that hold all sorts of other stuff.\r\n\r\nIt\'s weird to have almost everything that\'s mine except for my clothes in this one small room, but it\'s definitely a nice feeling to have a room that is <em>mine</em>.\r\n\r\nIt\'s also sort of a strange feeling to have my desk in the center of the room. It means that the wires for my computer, the printer and my desk lamp have to come across the floor from the outlet on the side, but they\'re in a place where I don\'t have to walk -- or trip -- over them.\r\n\r\nOur house really is shaping up.\r\n\r\nIt\'s going to be a wonderful place to spend the rest of our lives.','With the walls decorated, my office is very nice','','publish','open','open','','with-the-walls-decorated-my-office-is-something-nice','','','2011-01-05 14:38:58','2011-01-05 22:38:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=725',0,'post','',0),(726,1,'2011-01-05 14:16:30','2011-01-05 22:16:30','','20110105_1','My wall of mementos.','inherit','open','open','','20110105_1','','','2011-01-05 14:16:30','2011-01-05 22:16:30','',725,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(727,1,'2011-01-05 14:32:15','2011-01-05 22:32:15','','20110105_3','My wall of photos, etc.','inherit','open','open','','20110105_3','','','2011-01-05 14:32:15','2011-01-05 22:32:15','',725,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(728,1,'2011-01-05 14:38:13','2011-01-05 22:38:13','[caption id=\"attachment_726\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of mementos.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-726\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy halls have been decked.\n\nOr is it my walls?\n\nWhatever. My office -- my own personal <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> -- had the walls decorated today with the photographs, souvenirs and mementos I have accumulated in 61 years on the planet and nearly 30 as a journalist.\n\nThe wall pictured is dominated by two things -- my autographed jersey of the greatest athlete I ever covered and the license plate that was on my Celica during the five years I was a newspaper columnist. There are also pictures and posters of beaches in Southern California, Hawaii and Tahiti and my dance hall plaque from Texas.\n\nTo the right are photos of Dodger Stadium and Houston\'s Minute Maid Park, a photo of my old friend Walter Masterson and a plaque of the best award I ever won.\n\nIn the shadow box along with the license plate are passes from some of the best events I covered -- the 1985 World Series, the 1985 Final Four, , a Rose Bowl, a Peach Bowl, the 1980 Democratic Convention and a few other odds and ends.\n\nI\'ve got 32 pictures of the people I love on another wall, as well as my case containing a dozen autographed baseballs, including names like Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Duke Snider, Johnny Bench and others.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_727\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of photos, etc.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-727\" title=\"20110105_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOf course there\'s my TV -- our old one, a 37-inch Toshiba -- and my Blu-Ray player, and my cabinets below that hold all sorts of other stuff.\n\nIt\'s weird to have almost everything that\'s mine except for my clothes in this one small room, but it\'s definitely a nice feeling to have a room that is <em>mine</em>.\n\nIt\'s also sort of a strange feeling to have my desk in the center of the room. It means that the wires for my computer, the printer and my desk lamp have to come across the floor from the outlet on the side, but they\'re in a place where I don\'t have to walk -- or trip -- over them.\n\nOur house really is shaping up.\n\nIt\'s going to be a wonderful place to spend the rest of our lives.','','','inherit','open','open','','725-revision','','','2011-01-05 14:38:13','2011-01-05 22:38:13','',725,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=728',0,'revision','',0),(729,1,'2011-01-05 14:38:35','2011-01-05 22:38:35','[caption id=\"attachment_726\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of mementos.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-726\" title=\"20110105_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy halls have been decked.\r\n\r\nOr is it my walls?\r\n\r\nWhatever. My office -- my own personal <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> -- had the walls decorated today with the photographs, souvenirs and mementos I have accumulated in 61 years on the planet and nearly 30 as a journalist.\r\n\r\nThe wall pictured is dominated by two things -- my autographed jersey of the greatest athlete I ever covered and the license plate that was on my Celica during the five years I was a newspaper columnist. There are also pictures and posters of beaches in Southern California, Hawaii and Tahiti and my dance hall plaque from Texas.\r\n\r\nTo the right are photos of Dodger Stadium and Houston\'s Minute Maid Park, a photo of my old friend Walter Masterson and a plaque of the best award I ever won.\r\n\r\nIn the shadow box along with the license plate are passes from some of the best events I covered -- the 1985 World Series, the 1985 Final Four, , a Rose Bowl, a Peach Bowl, the 1980 Democratic Convention and a few other odds and ends.\r\n\r\nI\'ve got 32 pictures of the people I love on another wall, as well as my case containing a dozen autographed baseballs, including names like Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Duke Snider, Johnny Bench and others.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_727\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My wall of photos, etc.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-727\" title=\"20110105_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20110105_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course there\'s my TV -- our old one, a 37-inch Toshiba -- and my Blu-Ray player, and my cabinets below that hold all sorts of other stuff.\r\n\r\nIt\'s weird to have almost everything that\'s mine except for my clothes in this one small room, but it\'s definitely a nice feeling to have a room that is <em>mine</em>.\r\n\r\nIt\'s also sort of a strange feeling to have my desk in the center of the room. It means that the wires for my computer, the printer and my desk lamp have to come across the floor from the outlet on the side, but they\'re in a place where I don\'t have to walk -- or trip -- over them.\r\n\r\nOur house really is shaping up.\r\n\r\nIt\'s going to be a wonderful place to spend the rest of our lives.','With the walls decorated, my office is something nice','','inherit','open','open','','725-revision-2','','','2011-01-05 14:38:35','2011-01-05 22:38:35','',725,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=729',0,'revision','',0),(730,1,'2011-01-06 19:53:28','2011-01-07 03:53:28','<em>\"Hell\'s bells, honey. It\'s a big country.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat\'s a line from the final scene of a movie I love, Arthur Penn\'s \"Four Friends, which manages to be about friendship, love, the Sixties and America, which is a lot for one movie. The main character, Danilo, is an immigrant who loves America with the passion only an immigrant can. In that final scene, he and the woman he loves are talking about where they\'ll live.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-733\" title=\"404px-FourFriendsPoster\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster1-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a><em>\"It\'s a big country.\"</em>\r\n\r\nUntil I started thinking about it, I never really considered just how much of this big country I have experienced. I always knew I had been to a lot of states. I think I\'ve reached the point where there are only five I haven\'t spent at least some time in -- Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Mississippi. I figure now that I\'m living in Georgia, the chances are pretty good I\'ll make it to the two other Southern states. Alaska is interesting enough for a special trip, and if I get serious about finishing my tour of major league baseball cities, I\'ll have to go to Milwaukee.\r\n\r\nBut what the hell reason would I ever have for a trip to North Dakota?\r\n\r\nStill, a lot of people have traveled, and I\'m sure there are plenty of folks who have been to more than 45 states if they\'ve lived 61 or more years.\r\n\r\nBut I wonder how many of them have actually lived as many different places as I have without having any affiliation with the military. Even discounting the three states in which I lived during my first 10 years -- California, Illinois and Ohio -- I have lived in eight different states as an adult and worked in seven.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in four Southern states, one in the Midwest, one in the Rocky Mountain states and two in the Pacific Time Zone.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived at sea level and at altitude, and the 3 1/2 years I spent living at about 4,500 feet might have been my favorite years as far as climate and seasons.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in two of the states that are near the top of many people\'s lists as far as being fascinating places to live -- Colorado and California.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in the bluest of the blue states (California) and one that\'s closest to the reddest of the red states (South Carolina). Folks were plenty nice in both of them, Americans all, even if they wouldn\'t seem to like each other very much.\r\n\r\nI never lived in the one place I thought I wanted more than any other, but I\'ve visited San Francisco enough times to have experienced its rare beauty. I\'ve lived near two of my other favorite cities, Denver and Atlanta.\r\n\r\nYes, it\'s a big country.','It\'s a big country, and I\'ve seen a lot of it','','publish','open','open','','its-a-big-country-and-ive-seen-a-lot-of-it','','','2011-01-06 19:54:54','2011-01-07 03:54:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=730',0,'post','',0),(731,1,'2011-01-06 19:40:00','2011-01-07 03:40:00','','404px-FourFriendsPoster','Four Friends','inherit','open','open','','404px-fourfriendsposter','','','2011-01-06 19:40:00','2011-01-07 03:40:00','',730,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(732,1,'2011-01-06 19:53:07','2011-01-07 03:53:07','<em>\"Hell\'s bells, honey. It\'s a big country.\"</em>\n\nThat\'s a line from the final scene of a movie I love, Arthur Penn\'s \"F\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_731\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Four Friends\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-731\" title=\"404px-FourFriendsPoster\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n,\" which manages to be about friendship, love, the Sixties and America, which is a lot for one movie. The main character, Danilo, is an immigrant who loves America with the passion only an immigrant can. In that final scene, he and the woman he loves are talking about where they\'ll live.\n\n<em>\"It\'s a big country.\"</em>\n\nUntil I started thinking about it, I never really considered just how much of this big country I have experienced. I always knew I had been to a lot of states. I think I\'ve reached the point where there are only five I haven\'t spent at least some time in -- Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Mississippi. I figure now that I\'m living in Georgia, the chances are pretty good I\'ll make it to the two other Southern states. Alaska is interesting enough for a special trip, and if I get serious about finishing my tour of major league baseball cities, I\'ll have to go to Milwaukee.\n\nBut what the hell reason would I ever have for a trip to North Dakota?\n\nStill, a lot of people have traveled, and I\'m sure there are plenty of folks who have been to more than 45 states if they\'ve lived 61 or more years.\n\nBut I wonder how many of them have actually lived as many different places as I have without having any affiliation with the military. Even discounting the three states in which I lived during my first 10 years -- California, Illinois and Ohio -- I have lived in eight different states as an adult and worked in seven.\n\nI\'ve lived in four Southern states, one in the Midwest, one in the Rocky Mountain states and two in the Pacific Time Zone.\n\nI\'ve lived at sea level and at altitude, and the 3 1/2 years I spent living at about 4,500 feet might have been my favorite years as far as climate and seasons.\n\nI\'ve lived in two of the states that are near the top of many people\'s lists as far as being fascinating places to live -- Colorado and California.\n\nI\'ve lived in the bluest of the blue states (California) and one that\'s closest to the reddest of the red states (South Carolina). Folks were plenty nice in both of them, Americans all, even if they wouldn\'t seem to like each other very much.\n\nI never lived in the one place I thought I wanted more than any other, but I\'ve visited San Francisco enough times to have experienced its rare beauty. I\'ve lived near two of my other favorite cities, Denver and Atlanta.\n\nYes, it\'s a big country.','','','inherit','open','open','','730-revision','','','2011-01-06 19:53:07','2011-01-07 03:53:07','',730,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=732',0,'revision','',0),(735,1,'2011-01-09 08:49:32','2011-01-09 16:49:32','<em>“A nation’s productive—and moral, and intellectual—top is the middle  class. It is a broad reservoir of energy, it is a country’s motor and  lifeblood, which feeds the rest. The common denominator of its members,  on their various levels of ability, is: independence. The upper classes  are merely a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.”</em>\r\n<strong>-- AYN RAND, \"The Dead End\"</strong>\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t often that I would quote Ayn Rand, the patron saint of the greedhead crowd, about anything. So much of her work is about catering to the producers among us that I\'ve never felt she had any relevance to the common man.\r\n\r\nBut this quote, from one of her later, lesser works, seems to show a different sort of thinking.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_741\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"America&#39;s true Atlas is the middle class.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-741\" title=\"rockefeller_plaza\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rockefeller_plaza-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd as much as anything, it illustrates why our country made it through the Great Depression and doesn\'t seem to be doing as well with the Great Recession.\r\n\r\nIn the 1930s, when country after country in Europe was falling to fascist, totalitarian governments, the United States didn\'t. That\'s largely due to the fact that the American working class didn\'t consider itself working class, but middle class instead. Karl Marx wrote of the proletariat, but millions of Americans who fit Marx\'s teaching to a tee actually considered themselves middle class, or bourgeois.\r\n\r\nIf you were to ask 100 people of the street where they thought they fit in, 90 of them would say they considered themselves middle class. By contrast, when folks in England were polled on the same question, fully two-thirds said they considered themselves \"working class.\"\r\n\r\nSo what is \"middle class?\" The <a title=\"Middle Class\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class\" target=\"_self\">definition</a> seems to have a lot to do with lifestyle, and in this country particularly with home ownership. People who are middle class are those who have more of an emotional investment in their community and more of an interest in that community doing well and prospering.\r\n\r\nOne of the biggest problems we seem to be facing these days is that too much wealth has shifted away from the middle class. Since the mid 1970s, middle-class wages have been completely stagnant. Meanwhile, the flattening of income tax rates and other policies designed to favor the rich have resulted in an incredible amount of wealth being shifted to the top.\r\n\r\nMaybe every bit as big a problem has been a change in the way people view debt. One thing that used to be widespread was a great pride people could feel in not owing anyone anything. Now we have incredible consumer debt, and it isn\'t just mortgages or car loans. As of March 2010, the total amount of revolving debt in this country (98 percent of which is credit card debt) was $852.6 billion.\r\n\r\nIn households that have credit card debt, the average debt is $15,788.\r\n\r\nThe middle class is going down for the third time, and when that happens, much of the glue that holds America together will be gone. For all the eagerness to dismiss folks like Saturday\'s Arizona shooter as anomalies, but more and more, we\'re seeing that Henry David Thoreau was right. The mass of men <em>do</em> lead lives of quiet desperation, and when they become desperate enough, they become much less quiet.\r\n\r\nIf one thing is true, it\'s that being rich doesn\'t necessarily make you smart, and America\'s rich have always overreached. That\'s why it\'s so ridiculous to see people who have more money than they could spend in 96 lifetimes object to paying a reasonable amount in taxes or paying any estate taxes at all.\r\n\r\nThey may not realize it, but they\'re killing the goose.\r\n\r\nAnd when it\'s gone, we\'ll feed on each other.','Killing the middle class may destroy America','','publish','open','open','','killing-the-middle-class-may-destroy-america','','','2011-01-09 08:50:04','2011-01-09 16:50:04','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=735',0,'post','',0),(733,1,'2011-01-06 19:54:38','2011-01-07 03:54:38','','404px-FourFriendsPoster','','inherit','open','open','','404px-fourfriendsposter-2','','','2011-01-06 19:54:38','2011-01-07 03:54:38','',730,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(734,1,'2011-01-06 19:53:28','2011-01-07 03:53:28','<em>\"Hell\'s bells, honey. It\'s a big country.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat\'s a line from the final scene of a movie I love, Arthur Penn\'s \"F\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_731\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"202\" caption=\"Four Friends\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-731\" title=\"404px-FourFriendsPoster\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/404px-FourFriendsPoster-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n,\" which manages to be about friendship, love, the Sixties and America, which is a lot for one movie. The main character, Danilo, is an immigrant who loves America with the passion only an immigrant can. In that final scene, he and the woman he loves are talking about where they\'ll live.\r\n\r\n<em>\"It\'s a big country.\"</em>\r\n\r\nUntil I started thinking about it, I never really considered just how much of this big country I have experienced. I always knew I had been to a lot of states. I think I\'ve reached the point where there are only five I haven\'t spent at least some time in -- Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Mississippi. I figure now that I\'m living in Georgia, the chances are pretty good I\'ll make it to the two other Southern states. Alaska is interesting enough for a special trip, and if I get serious about finishing my tour of major league baseball cities, I\'ll have to go to Milwaukee.\r\n\r\nBut what the hell reason would I ever have for a trip to North Dakota?\r\n\r\nStill, a lot of people have traveled, and I\'m sure there are plenty of folks who have been to more than 45 states if they\'ve lived 61 or more years.\r\n\r\nBut I wonder how many of them have actually lived as many different places as I have without having any affiliation with the military. Even discounting the three states in which I lived during my first 10 years -- California, Illinois and Ohio -- I have lived in eight different states as an adult and worked in seven.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in four Southern states, one in the Midwest, one in the Rocky Mountain states and two in the Pacific Time Zone.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived at sea level and at altitude, and the 3 1/2 years I spent living at about 4,500 feet might have been my favorite years as far as climate and seasons.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in two of the states that are near the top of many people\'s lists as far as being fascinating places to live -- Colorado and California.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in the bluest of the blue states (California) and one that\'s closest to the reddest of the red states (South Carolina). Folks were plenty nice in both of them, Americans all, even if they wouldn\'t seem to like each other very much.\r\n\r\nI never lived in the one place I thought I wanted more than any other, but I\'ve visited San Francisco enough times to have experienced its rare beauty. I\'ve lived near two of my other favorite cities, Denver and Atlanta.\r\n\r\nYes, it\'s a big country.','It\'s a big country, and I\'ve seen a lot of it','','inherit','open','open','','730-revision-2','','','2011-01-06 19:53:28','2011-01-07 03:53:28','',730,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=734',0,'revision','',0),(736,1,'2011-01-07 07:42:49','2011-01-07 15:42:49','This quote isn’t used much, but from Ayn Rand’s “The Dead End”:\n\n“A nation’s productive—and moral, and intellectual—top is the middle  class. It is a broad reservoir of energy, it is a country’s motor and  lifeblood, which feeds the rest. The common denominator of its members,  on their various levels of ability, is: independence. The upper classes  are merely a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.”','','','inherit','open','open','','735-revision','','','2011-01-07 07:42:49','2011-01-07 15:42:49','',735,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=736',0,'revision','',0),(737,1,'2011-01-07 18:00:07','2011-01-08 02:00:07','[caption id=\"attachment_738\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"201\" caption=\"The Blind Side\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-738\" title=\"1 SHEET MASTER_Template\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI used to go to the movies a lot.\r\n\r\nDuring my single days, it wasn\'t at all unusual for me to see two or three movies a week, especially at times of year when a lot of good ones were released. I know I saw 50-100 movies almost every year, a number that has been shrinking drastically as I\'ve gotten older.\r\n\r\nIn the year just ended, I went to the movies once -- to see \"Secretariat.\"\r\n\r\n\"The Blind Side\" was a movie that sort of slipped through the cracks for me. I didn\'t see it in a theater, and I bought the DVD and took it to Texas with me last spring. I never watched it, though. I wound up sending it to my sister Laura as part of a care package to help her recuperate from surgery.\r\n\r\nSo I never saw Sandra Bullock\'s Oscar-winning performance it what was described as a pretty good, pretty inspirational football movie.\r\n\r\nUntil today, when I was in Walmart and saw a pretty good deal on some DVDs -- a package of two movies for $10. One was \"We Are Marshall,\" which I had already seen, and the other was \"The Blind Side.\"\r\n\r\nI decided to give it another chance, and I just finished watching the story of Michael Oher and the Memphis family who adopted him and helped him turn his life around.\r\n\r\nBullock was terrific -- extremely deserving of her Oscar -- and the movie was really enjoyable. I\'m not sure why it is, but for some reason lately, I find myself extremely susceptible to the tear-jerking moments in movies. Maybe I\'m just getting old.\r\n\r\nBut I still do love the movies.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure I always will.','\'Blind Side\' was worth the wait, worth the time','','publish','open','open','','blind-side-was-worth-the-wait-worth-the-time','','','2011-01-07 18:00:07','2011-01-08 02:00:07','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=737',0,'post','',0),(738,1,'2011-01-07 17:33:26','2011-01-08 01:33:26','','1 SHEET MASTER_Template','The Blind Side','inherit','open','open','','1-sheet-master_template','','','2011-01-07 17:33:26','2011-01-08 01:33:26','',737,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(739,1,'2011-01-07 17:59:07','2011-01-08 01:59:07','[caption id=\"attachment_738\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"201\" caption=\"The Blind Side\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-738\" title=\"1 SHEET MASTER_Template\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blindside-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI used to go to the movies a lot.\n\nDuring my single days, it wasn\'t at all unusual for me to see two or three movies a week, especially at times of year when a lot of good ones were released. I know I saw 50-100 movies almost every year, a number that has been shrinking drastically as I\'ve gotten older.\n\nIn the year just ended, I went to the movies once -- to see \"Secretariat.\"\n\n\"The Blind Side\" was a movie that sort of slipped through the cracks for me. I didn\'t see it in a theater, and I bought the DVD and took it to Texas with me last spring. I never watched it, though. I wound up sending it to my sister Laura as part of a care package to help her recuperate from surgery.\n\nSo I never saw Sandra Bullock\'s Oscar-winning performance it what was described as a pretty good, pretty inspirational football movie.\n\nUntil today, when I was in Walmart and saw a pretty good deal on some DVDs -- a package of two movies for $10. One was \"We Are Marshall,\" which I had already seen, and the other was \"The Blind Side.\"\n\nI decided to give it another chance, and I just finished watching the story of Michael Oher and the Memphis family who adopted him and helped him turn his life around.\n\nBullock was terrific -- extremely deserving of her Oscar -- and the movie was really enjoyable. I\'m not sure why it is, but for some reason lately, I find myself extremely susceptible to the tear-jerking moments in movi','','','inherit','open','open','','737-revision','','','2011-01-07 17:59:07','2011-01-08 01:59:07','',737,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=739',0,'revision','',0),