(193,1,'2009-12-15 23:48:51','2009-12-16 07:48:51','I was watching \"The Wizard of Oz\" the other night when it came to the part where Dorothy told the Scarecrow, \"I think I\'ll miss you most of all,\" and it got me to thinking.\n\nWhen we move away from California, probably sometime next year, what will I miss the most?\n\nIt\'s actually an easy call. Only one thing even comes to mind when I think of all the people and places, all the sights seen and unseen in the state where I was born.\n\nI\'ll miss Dodger Stadium.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_192\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Heaven in Chavez Ravine\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-192\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Dodger_Stadium_at_Night_-_September_2002-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Heaven in Chavez Ravine\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI thought about it the other day, and I realized I have probably gone to baseball games at Dodger Stadium more than 200 times in the 20 years I have been here.\n\nOther than home or work or church, I don\'t know that there\'s anywhere else I have gone more than 200 times. There certainly isn\'t anyplace else I would rather have gone. I\'ve seen exhibition games, regular season games and playoff games there, and I have seen the best baseball has to offer.\n\nI saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch a no-hitter in 1990, although I missed Kevin Gross\'s no-hitter that same summer because I had a night off for a date. I actually missed Dennis Martinez pitching a perfect game -- aargh! -- against the Dodgers the next summer because I had a weekend off.\n\nI got the chance to do something wonderful for myself and my children in 2001 and 2002. I purchased four single-game tickets in a silent auction to benefit the La Canada High School Band. The tickets were box seats in the very first row just beyond the dugout on the third-base side. The first year I took Virgile and two of his friends, and the next year I took Pauline, her future husband Ryan and my friend Mick Curran.\n\nThe most humorous part of all of it was that I have been going to baseball games for more than 50 years and have never had a foul ball hit to me. Virgile got two in the first five innings in our front-row seat.\n\nMaybe you have to live in Southern California and be a Dodger fan to appreciate how wonderful the stadium is. There aren\'t a ton of luxury boxes, and the stadium is nearly 50 years old so it lacks the gimmicks a lot of newer ones have. But between the balmy weather, the great view out past the fence and the voice of Vin Scully, there really is no place in the world like it.\n\nRy Cooder\'s wonderful album, \"Chavez Ravine,\" tells the story of Mexicans in Los Angeles and of the thriving neighborhood that was destroyed to make room for the stadium. In the climactic song, his Latino character sings of heaven:\n\n<em>\"... and if you wanna know where I\'m gonna go when I hit my last home run ... third base, Dodger Stadium.\"</em>\n\nMe too.','','','inherit','open','open','','190-revision-2','','','2009-12-15 23:48:51','2009-12-16 07:48:51','',190,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=193',0,'revision','',0),(194,1,'2009-12-20 00:05:01','2009-12-20 08:05:01','My wife and I will be flying into the Washington, D.C., area Wednesday night to spend two weeks in the East for Christmas.\r\n\r\nI suppose it\'s a good thing we weren\'t arriving tonight. The D.C. area got hit with the biggest December snowstorm in measured history, with nearly two feet of snow on the ground in many parts of the area. Ironically, the storm might not be considered a blizzard, since it apparently didn\'t meet all the criteria.\r\n\r\n<em>The winds didn\'t reach 35 mph.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_195\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"An old fashioned snowstorm\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-195\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/snow-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"An old fashioned snowstorm\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nAll I can say after looking at dozens of the pictures on the <a title=\"Washington Post\" href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com\" target=\"_self\">Washington Post</a> website is \"Wow.\"\r\n\r\nAs you know, both of my children are living and working in the D.C. area now, and I would be willing to bet that for two kids who grew up in California and the South of France, this is probably the biggest snowstorm they have ever seen. I\'m not sure about my son, who did spent part of a winter in Russia, but I\'m pretty sure Pauline never saw anything like this in Cameroon.\r\n\r\nI\'ve seen a couple that were bigger than this during the two years in lived in northern Colorado, including waking up the day after Christmas in 1987 to find there were already 20 inches of snow on the ground and the storm was getting even more intense.\r\n\r\nThere\'s something about snow -- especially when you don\'t have to be out in it -- that\'s really wonderful. You can sit by the fire drinking hot chocolate and when you go to the window to look outside, everything seems so clean and pure.\r\n\r\nOf course, by the time we get to Washington, the snow will either be melted or old and dirty.\r\n\r\nIt could be yellow, for all I care. I\'ve seen plenty of snow in my life. I\'m going to Washington to see my kids.\r\n\r\nThey\'re what matters to me.','Snowstorm brings back memories','','publish','open','open','','snowstorm-brings-back-memories','','','2009-12-20 00:05:01','2009-12-20 08:05:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=194',0,'post','',0),(195,1,'2009-12-19 23:55:18','2009-12-20 07:55:18','','snow','An old fashioned snowstorm','inherit','open','open','','snow','','','2009-12-19 23:55:18','2009-12-20 07:55:18','',194,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/snow.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(196,1,'2009-12-20 00:04:43','2009-12-20 08:04:43','My wife and I will be flying into the Washington, D.C., area Wednesday night to spend two weeks in the East for Christmas.\n\nI suppose it\'s a good thing we weren\'t arriving tonight. The D.C. area got hit with the biggest December snowstorm in measured history, with nearly two feet of snow on the ground in many parts of the area. Ironically, the storm might not be considered a blizzard, since it apparently didn\'t meet all the criteria.\n\n<em>The winds didn\'t reach 35 mph.</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_195\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"An old fashioned snowstorm\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-195\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/snow-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"An old fashioned snowstorm\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" />[/caption]\n\nAll I can say after looking at dozens of the pictures on the <a title=\"Washington Post\" href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com\" target=\"_self\">Washington Post</a> website is \"Wow.\"\n\nAs you know, both of my children are living and working in the D.C. area now, and I would be willing to bet that for two kids who grew up in California and the South of France, this is probably the biggest snowstorm they have ever seen. I\'m not sure about my son, who did spent part of a winter in Russia, but I\'m pretty sure Pauline never saw anything like this in Cameroon.\n\nI\'ve seen a couple that were bigger than this during the two years in lived in northern Colorado, including waking up the day after Christmas in 1987 to find there were already 20 inches of snow on the ground and the storm was getting even more intense.\n\nThere\'s something about snow -- especially when you don\'t have to be out in it -- that\'s really wonderful. You can sit by the fire drinking hot chocolate and when you go to the window to look outside, everything seems so clean and pure.\n\nOf course, by the time we get to Washington, the snow will either be melted or old and dirty.\n\nIt could be yellow, for all I care. I\'ve seen plenty of snow in my life. I\'m going to Washington to see my kids.\n\nThey\'re what matters to m','','','inherit','open','open','','194-revision','','','2009-12-20 00:04:43','2009-12-20 08:04:43','',194,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=196',0,'revision','',0),(197,1,'2009-12-20 23:46:20','2009-12-21 07:46:20','Some years back, Stephen King decided he had told all the stories he wanted to tell and he said he would stop writing novels.\r\n\r\nIt turned out he was wrong, and I\'m glad he was. While there are some stories he tells that are overly familiar and reminiscent of earlier, better novels, he has turned out a few in recent years that have been very impressive. I enjoyed both \"Cell\" and \"Duma Key\" a lot, but neither of them really compares to his newest work, \"Under the Dome.\"\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-199\" title=\"under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" />It\'s another of the thousand-page plus books King does so well, like \"The Stand\" and \"It,\" in which he deals with big subjects. This one is particularly relevant in the post-911 years, and it basically shows how people very easily trade freedom for security when faced with the threat of the unknown. The story is of a small Maine town that one day -- out of nowhere -- finds itself covered by an impenetrable dome.\r\n\r\nNothing comes in, nothing goes out. And even though the people under the dome are able to communicate with people on the outside, it\'s almost shocking how quickly they decide they aren\'t really part of the United States anymore. A sort of fascism takes over, with the strongman a town selectman who has very few scruples when it comes to getting his way.\r\n\r\nOf course the supernatural comes into play eventually. It is after all a King novel, and there really isn\'t any logical way to explain a dome that can\'t be penetrated even by nuclear weapons just appearing out of nowhere.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s fascinating about the story is the way some people rise to the occasion and others don\'t. And even those who do step up, some do the right thing and others try to take advantage of the situation. It\'s a fascinating story that will probably require a miniseries to tell it. King\'s greatest work, \"The Stand,\" was an eight-hour miniseries, while \"It\" took four hours and could easily have filled six.\r\n\r\nNobody is ever going to call King a \"great\" writer, although his non-fiction book \"On Writing\" showed that he is probably much underrated in that area. He is and always has been a great storyteller, though, and I hope he has a lot more stories to tell before the well runs dry.','\'Under the Dome\' is classic Stephen King','','publish','open','open','','under-the-dome-is-classic-stephen-king','','','2009-12-20 23:46:20','2009-12-21 07:46:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=197',0,'post','',0),(198,1,'2009-12-20 23:11:23','2009-12-21 07:11:23','Some years back, Stephen King decided he had told all the stories he wanted to tell and he said he would stop writing novels.\n\nIt turned out he was wrong, and I\'m glad he was. While there are some stories he tells that are overly familiar and reminiscent of earlier, better novels, he has turned out a few in recent years that have been very impressive. I enjoyed both \"Cell\" and \"Duma Key\" a lot, but neither of them really compares to his newest work, \"Under the Dome.\"\n\nIt\'s another of the thousand-page plus books King does so well','','','inherit','open','open','','197-revision','','','2009-12-20 23:11:23','2009-12-21 07:11:23','',197,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=198',0,'revision','',0),(199,1,'2009-12-20 23:39:55','2009-12-21 07:39:55','','under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover','','inherit','open','open','','under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover-3','','','2009-12-20 23:39:55','2009-12-21 07:39:55','',197,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(200,1,'2009-12-20 23:46:04','2009-12-21 07:46:04','Some years back, Stephen King decided he had told all the stories he wanted to tell and he said he would stop writing novels.\n\nIt turned out he was wrong, and I\'m glad he was. While there are some stories he tells that are overly familiar and reminiscent of earlier, better novels, he has turned out a few in recent years that have been very impressive. I enjoyed both \"Cell\" and \"Duma Key\" a lot, but neither of them really compares to his newest work, \"Under the Dome.\"\n\n<img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-199\" title=\"under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-full-cover\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" />It\'s another of the thousand-page plus books King does so well, like \"The Stand\" and \"It,\" in which he deals with big subjects. This one is particularly relevant in the post-911 years, and it basically shows how people very easily trade freedom for security when faced with the threat of the unknown. The story is of a small Maine town that one day -- out of nowhere -- finds itself covered by an impenetrable dome.\n\nNothing comes in, nothing goes out. And even though the people under the dome are able to communicate with people on the outside, it\'s almost shocking how quickly they decide they aren\'t really part of the United States anymore. A sort of fascism takes over, with the strongman a town selectman who has very few scruples when it comes to getting his way.\n\nOf course the supernatural comes into play eventually. It is after all a King novel, and there really isn\'t any logical way to explain a dome that can\'t be penetrated even by nuclear weapons just appearing out of nowhere.\n\nWhat\'s fascinating about the story is the way some people rise to the occasion and others don\'t. And even those who do step up, some do the right thing and others try to take advantage of the situation. It\'s a fascinating story that will probably require a miniseries to tell it. King\'s greatest work, \"The Stand,\" was an eight-hour miniseries, while \"It\" took four hours and could easily have filled six.\n\nNobody is ever going to call King a \"great\" writer, although his non-fiction book \"On Writing\" showed that he is probably much underrated in that area. He is and always has been a great storyteller, though, and I hope he has a lot more stories to tell before the well runs dry.','','','inherit','open','open','','197-revision-2','','','2009-12-20 23:46:04','2009-12-21 07:46:04','',197,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=200',0,'revision','',0),(201,1,'2009-12-23 08:58:05','2009-12-23 16:58:05','Today we fly.\r\n\r\nIt\'s two days before Christmas, and of course it doesn\'t seem that much like the holiday season here in Southern California.\r\n\r\nWe spent the day Monday wrapping up the remainder of our Christmas shopping, and today we travel east on Southwest Airlines. Or is it southwest on Eastern Airlines? These days I have trouble keeping my directions straight. Wherever it is we\'re going, we will be with the people we love and that\'s what matters most. We\'ll see Virgile and Sterling, Pauline and Ryan and the Amazing Baby for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning present-opening.\r\n\r\nIt will be interesting. Little Maddie is walking like a pro and talking more than she did when we saw her in November, but she is still at a stage in her life -- 15 months -- where she won\'t remember any of this in a few years. At some point during the holidays, we\'ll have four generations of our family together and it will be wonderful.\r\n\r\nAs I get older, I find myself more sentimental about things like that, especially looking at the road behind me instead of the road ahead. Maddie is 1 year old in daunting times. Her mother was a year old during Ronald Reagan\'s first year as president, I was a year old during the Korean War and my mother was a year old just before the Great Depression started. Indeed, when I look at the generation of my family that is no longer around, my grandmother and grandfather were a year old two years before the Spanish-American War.\r\n\r\nI think the first Christmas I remember was when I was 4 years old. My mother had purchased one of those great old Lionel electric train sets for me, back in the day before they were made out of plastic. It was probably the nicest Christmas gift I ever received as a child, and it was a wonderful feeling to come down from upstairs in my grandparents\' house on Christmas morning to see it set up under the tree.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_202\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lionel trains\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-202\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/HO_Layout_1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Lionel trains\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nI never had a really elaborate setup, primarily because there was no place I could leave my train set up permanently. Still, I have many fond memories of it.\r\n\r\nI wish I remembered more about those years and the ones that followed, but so many of my Christmas memories are just images from a slide show, things like having trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve ... or going to church in the icy cold ... or driving around to see all the homes that had been decorated for the holidays.\r\n\r\nThis year I\'ll be doing something very familiar for the first time. My daughter Pauline really liked the family tradition of my dad reading \"The Night Before Christmas\" aloud on Christmas Eve, so she recently informed me that she had purchased a book so that I could read it to little Maddie (and eventually the brothers and sisters that will follow her).\r\n\r\nNext Christmas -- probably one Maddie still won\'t remember -- she will celebrate it in Indonesia, where Pauline and Ryan are going for their third tour in the Foreign Service. Sterling and Virgile will be in Athens, Greece, on their first tour.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know where Nicole and I will be. Maybe one of those two places ... or maybe here. Or possibly South Carolina or Tennessee ... or maybe Virginia again.\r\n\r\nI\'m kind of at the point where it doesn\'t much matter <em>where</em> Christmas is.\r\n\r\nI just want to celebrate it with the people I love.','Christmas isn\'t places, it\'s people','','publish','open','open','','christime-isnt-places-its-people','','','2009-12-23 08:58:54','2009-12-23 16:58:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=201',0,'post','',0),(202,1,'2009-12-23 08:45:41','2009-12-23 16:45:41','','HO_Layout_1','Lionel trains','inherit','open','open','','ho_layout_1','','','2009-12-23 08:45:41','2009-12-23 16:45:41','',201,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/HO_Layout_1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(203,1,'2009-12-23 08:58:02','2009-12-23 16:58:02','Today we fly.\n\nIt\'s two days before Christmas, and of course it doesn\'t seem that much like the holiday season here in Southern California.\n\nWe spent the day Monday wrapping up the remainder of our Christmas shopping, and today we travel east on Southwest Airlines. Or is it southwest on Eastern Airlines? These days I have trouble keeping my directions straight. Wherever it is we\'re going, we will be with the people we love and that\'s what matters most. We\'ll see Virgile and Sterling, Pauline and Ryan and the Amazing Baby for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning present-opening.\n\nIt will be interesting. Little Maddie is walking like a pro and talking more than she did when we saw her in November, but she is still at a stage in her life -- 15 months -- where she won\'t remember any of this in a few years. At some point during the holidays, we\'ll have four generations of our family together and it will be wonderful.\n\nAs I get older, I find myself more sentimental about things like that, especially looking at the road behind me instead of the road ahead. Maddie is 1 year old in daunting times. Her mother was a year old during Ronald Reagan\'s first year as president, I was a year old during the Korean War and my mother was a year old just before the Great Depression started. Indeed, when I look at the generation of my family that is no longer around, my grandmother and grandfather were a year old two years before the Spanish-American War.\n\nI think the first Christmas I remember was when I was 4 years old. My mother had purchased one of those great old Lionel electric train sets for me, back in the day before they were made out of plastic. It was probably the nicest Christmas gift I ever received as a child, and it was a wonderful feeling to come down from upstairs in my grandparents\' house on Christmas morning to see it set up under the tree.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_202\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lionel trains\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-202\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/HO_Layout_1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Lionel trains\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI never had a really elaborate setup, primarily because there was no place I could leave my train set up permanently. Still, I have many fond memories of it.\n\nI wish I remembered more about those years and the ones that followed, but so many of my Christmas memories are just images from a slide show, things like having trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve ... or going to church in the icy cold ... or driving around to see all the homes that had been decorated for the holidays.\n\nThis year I\'ll be doing something very familiar for the first time. My daughter Pauline really liked the family tradition of my dad reading \"The Night Before Christmas\" aloud on Christmas Eve, so she recently informed me that she had purchased a book so that I could read it to little Maddie (and eventually the brothers and sisters that will follow her).\n\nNext Christmas -- probably one Maddie still won\'t remember -- she will celebrate it in Indonesia, where Pauline and Ryan are going for their third tour in the Foreign Service. Sterling and Virgile will be in Athens, Greece, on their first tour.\n\nI don\'t know where Nicole and I will be. Maybe one of those two places ... or maybe here. Or possibly South Carolina or Tennessee ... or maybe Virginia again.\n\nI\'m kind of at the point where it doesn\'t much matter <em>where</em> Christmas is.\n\nI just want to celebrate it with the people I love.','Christime isn\'t places, it\'s people','','inherit','open','open','','201-revision','','','2009-12-23 08:58:02','2009-12-23 16:58:02','',201,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=203',0,'revision','',0),(204,1,'2009-12-23 08:58:05','2009-12-23 16:58:05','Today we fly.\r\n\r\nIt\'s two days before Christmas, and of course it doesn\'t seem that much like the holiday season here in Southern California.\r\n\r\nWe spent the day Monday wrapping up the remainder of our Christmas shopping, and today we travel east on Southwest Airlines. Or is it southwest on Eastern Airlines? These days I have trouble keeping my directions straight. Wherever it is we\'re going, we will be with the people we love and that\'s what matters most. We\'ll see Virgile and Sterling, Pauline and Ryan and the Amazing Baby for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning present-opening.\r\n\r\nIt will be interesting. Little Maddie is walking like a pro and talking more than she did when we saw her in November, but she is still at a stage in her life -- 15 months -- where she won\'t remember any of this in a few years. At some point during the holidays, we\'ll have four generations of our family together and it will be wonderful.\r\n\r\nAs I get older, I find myself more sentimental about things like that, especially looking at the road behind me instead of the road ahead. Maddie is 1 year old in daunting times. Her mother was a year old during Ronald Reagan\'s first year as president, I was a year old during the Korean War and my mother was a year old just before the Great Depression started. Indeed, when I look at the generation of my family that is no longer around, my grandmother and grandfather were a year old two years before the Spanish-American War.\r\n\r\nI think the first Christmas I remember was when I was 4 years old. My mother had purchased one of those great old Lionel electric train sets for me, back in the day before they were made out of plastic. It was probably the nicest Christmas gift I ever received as a child, and it was a wonderful feeling to come down from upstairs in my grandparents\' house on Christmas morning to see it set up under the tree.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_202\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lionel trains\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-202\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/HO_Layout_1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Lionel trains\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nI never had a really elaborate setup, primarily because there was no place I could leave my train set up permanently. Still, I have many fond memories of it.\r\n\r\nI wish I remembered more about those years and the ones that followed, but so many of my Christmas memories are just images from a slide show, things like having trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve ... or going to church in the icy cold ... or driving around to see all the homes that had been decorated for the holidays.\r\n\r\nThis year I\'ll be doing something very familiar for the first time. My daughter Pauline really liked the family tradition of my dad reading \"The Night Before Christmas\" aloud on Christmas Eve, so she recently informed me that she had purchased a book so that I could read it to little Maddie (and eventually the brothers and sisters that will follow her).\r\n\r\nNext Christmas -- probably one Maddie still won\'t remember -- she will celebrate it in Indonesia, where Pauline and Ryan are going for their third tour in the Foreign Service. Sterling and Virgile will be in Athens, Greece, on their first tour.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know where Nicole and I will be. Maybe one of those two places ... or maybe here. Or possibly South Carolina or Tennessee ... or maybe Virginia again.\r\n\r\nI\'m kind of at the point where it doesn\'t much matter <em>where</em> Christmas is.\r\n\r\nI just want to celebrate it with the people I love.','Christime isn\'t places, it\'s people','','inherit','open','open','','201-revision-2','','','2009-12-23 08:58:05','2009-12-23 16:58:05','',201,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=204',0,'revision','',0),(205,1,'2009-12-27 16:03:26','2009-12-28 00:03:26','When this decade started, my life was very different.\r\n\r\nI was in my fourth year as a newspaper columnist, enjoying my job more than I ever had at any time. I had just turned 50, but I felt pretty good about it. My wife and I had enjoyed our vacation the previous summer at a Club Med in Moorea, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_206\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The longest decade\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-206\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/parker-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"The longest decade\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOur daughter was a sophomore at UCLA, and our son was in his first year of high school.\r\n\r\nThe country was still in what people now call a \"pre-911 mentality,\" and the biggest issue was whether Bill Clinton had destroyed his legacy with his Monica Lewinsky escapades. The stock market was soaring, with the NASDAQ due to peak above 5,000 in March 2000.\r\n\r\nMost folks outside of Chicago had never heard of Barack Obama and most folks outside her own family had never heard of Sarah Palin.\r\n\r\nWas it really only 10 years ago?\r\n\r\nAnd have we really reached the end of a decade called the \"aughts?\" It\'s strange how things come around. When I was a kid in school, we used to read about a decade called the \"gay nineties.\" And one called the \"roaring twenties.\" We didn\'t realize we were growing up in the \"fabulous fifties\" and the swinging sixties.\"\r\n\r\nI wonder what we\'ll call the one that\'s ending right now.\r\n\r\nIt really hasn\'t been a bad decade for me and mine. Sure, there were some serious setbacks on the job front, but my lovely wife and I are still married, still in love and working on our 18th year of marriage. Our children are finished with school and are both married and into their careers. Pauline has already given us our first grandchild, and little Maddie has quickly become a bright light in our world.\r\n\r\nThe coming decade will bring retirement and relocation, more time for each other and more time to do things we enjoy. I\'m looking forward to it, because I think I can honestly say that during the 40 years or so I have been an adult, each decade of my life has been better than the one preceding it.\r\n\r\nLife has been good to me that way.','Decades keep getting better and better','','publish','open','open','','decades-keep-getting-better-and-better','','','2009-12-27 16:03:26','2009-12-28 00:03:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=205',0,'post','',0),(206,1,'2009-12-27 15:28:58','2009-12-27 23:28:58','','parker','The longest decade','inherit','open','open','','parker','','','2009-12-27 15:28:58','2009-12-27 23:28:58','',205,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/parker.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(207,1,'2009-12-27 15:29:20','2009-12-27 23:29:20','When this decade started, my life was very different.\n\nI was in my fourth year as a newspaper columnist, enjoying my job more than I ever had at any time. I had just turned 50, but I felt pretty good about it. My wife and I had enjoyed our vacation the previous summer at a Club Med in Moorea, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_206\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The longest decade\"]<img src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/parker-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"The longest decade\" title=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-206\" />[/caption]\n\nOur daughter was a sophomore at UCLA, and our son was in his first year of high school.\n\nThe country was still in what people now call a \"pre-911 mentality,\" and the biggest issue was whether Bill Clinton had destroyed his legacy with his Monica Lewinsky escapades. The stock market was soaring, with the NASDAQ due to peak above 5,000 in March 2000.\n\nMost folks outside of Chicago had never heard of Barack Obama and most folks outside her own family had never heard of Sarah Palin.\n\nWas it really only 10 years ago?','','','inherit','open','open','','205-revision','','','2009-12-27 15:29:20','2009-12-27 23:29:20','',205,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=207',0,'revision','',0),(208,1,'2009-12-27 16:02:34','2009-12-28 00:02:34','When this decade started, my life was very different.\n\nI was in my fourth year as a newspaper columnist, enjoying my job more than I ever had at any time. I had just turned 50, but I felt pretty good about it. My wife and I had enjoyed our vacation the previous summer at a Club Med in Moorea, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_206\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The longest decade\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-206\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/parker-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"The longest decade\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" />[/caption]\n\nOur daughter was a sophomore at UCLA, and our son was in his first year of high school.\n\nThe country was still in what people now call a \"pre-911 mentality,\" and the biggest issue was whether Bill Clinton had destroyed his legacy with his Monica Lewinsky escapades. The stock market was soaring, with the NASDAQ due to peak above 5,000 in March 2000.\n\nMost folks outside of Chicago had never heard of Barack Obama and most folks outside her own family had never heard of Sarah Palin.\n\nWas it really only 10 years ago?\n\nAnd have we really reached the end of a decade called the \"aughts?\" It\'s strange how things come around. When I was a kid in school, we used to read about a decade called the \"gay nineties.\" And one called the \"roaring twenties.\" We didn\'t realize we were growing up in the \"fabulous fifties\" and the swinging sixties.\"\n\nI wonder what we\'ll call the one that\'s ending right now.\n\nIt really hasn\'t been a bad decade for me and mine. Sure, there were some serious setbacks on the job front, but my lovely wife and I are still married, still in love and working on our 18th year of marriage. Our children are finished with school and are both married and into their careers. Pauline has already given us our first grandchild, and little Maddie has quickly become a bright light in our world.\n\nThe coming decade will bring retirement and relocation, more time for each other and more time to do things we enjoy. I\'m looking forward to it, because I think I can honestly say that during the 40 years or so I have been an adult, each decade of my life has been better than the one preceding it.\n\nLife has been','','','inherit','open','open','','205-revision-2','','','2009-12-27 16:02:34','2009-12-28 00:02:34','',205,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=208',0,'revision','',0),(209,1,'2009-12-28 07:21:26','2009-12-28 15:21:26','I love <a title=\"Jib Jab\" href=\"http://www.jibjab.com\" target=\"_self\">Jib Jab</a>.\r\n\r\nIt has been one of my favorite humor sites ever since \"This Land is My Land\" in 2004, with George W. Bush and John Kerry slugging it out to see who would win the election.\r\n<div style=\"background-color: #e9e9e9; width: 425px;\"><object id=\"A64060\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" /><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" /><param name=\"scaleMode\" value=\"showAll\" /><param name=\"allowNetworking\" value=\"all\" /><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" /><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed id=\"A64060\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allownetworking=\"all\" scalemode=\"showAll\" quality=\"high\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center; width: 435px; margin-top: 6px;\">Try JibJab Sendables® <a href=\"http://sendables.jibjab.com/ecards\">eCards</a> today!</div>\r\n</div>\r\nThere have been others since then, and one thing we can always count on from the Jib Jabbers is a yearly wrap-up.\r\n\r\nHere\'s 2009, with everything from the death of Michael Jackson to the breakup of Jon and Kate and the adventures of the Octomom and Mark Sanford (no, not together).\r\n\r\nEnjoy.','Jib Jab for the best look at 2009','','publish','open','open','','jib-jab-for-the-best-look-at-2009','','','2010-01-10 22:42:38','2010-01-11 06:42:38','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=209',0,'post','',0),(210,1,'2009-12-28 07:20:04','2009-12-28 15:20:04','I love <a title=\"Jib Jab\" href=\"http://www.jibjab.com\" target=\"_self\">Jib Jab</a>.\n\nIt has been one of my favorite humor sites ever since \"This Land is My Land\" in 2004, with George W. Bush and John Kerry slugging it out to see who would win the election.\n<div style=\"background-color: #e9e9e9; width: 425px;\"><object id=\"A64060\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" /><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" /><param name=\"scaleMode\" value=\"showAll\" /><param name=\"allowNetworking\" value=\"all\" /><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" /><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed id=\"A64060\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allownetworking=\"all\" scalemode=\"showAll\" quality=\"high\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\n<div style=\"text-align: center; width: 435px; margin-top: 6px;\">Try JibJab Sendables® <a href=\"http://sendables.jibjab.com/ecards\">eCards</a> today!</div>\n</div>\nThere have been others since then, and one thing we can always count on from the Jib Jabbers is a yearly wrap-up.\n\nHere\'s 2010, with everything from the death of Michael Jackson to the breakup of Jon and Kate and the adventures of the Octomom and Mark Sanford (no, not together).\n\nEnjoy.','','','inherit','open','open','','209-revision','','','2009-12-28 07:20:04','2009-12-28 15:20:04','',209,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=210',0,'revision','',0),(211,1,'2010-01-04 11:39:41','2010-01-04 19:39:41','<em>\"Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThe biggest mistake some people make -- the biggest mistake I\'ve made -- is looking at love from the \"moons, Junes and Ferris wheels\" side, listening to the final words of almost any fairy tale.\r\n\r\n<em>\"And they lived happily ever after ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nUh, sorry, but it doesn\'t often work that way. You can stay together and be basically happy, but there are always going to be ups and downs. I remember Myrna Loy and Fredric March in the wonderful old movie \"The Best Years of Our Lives\" telling their daughter that there had been times in their 20-plus year marriage that they had hated each other and other times they had to fall in love all over again.\r\n\r\n<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/8DH70wYWsK0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/8DH70wYWsK0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nI don\'t know why people expect anything different. There are days when I\'m pretty lovable and there are other days when I\'m such an asshole I hate myself. I\'m not sure there was ever a more beautiful verse written that Paul\'s comments about love in First Corinthians.\r\n\r\nLove bears all things.\r\n\r\nLove endures all things.\r\n\r\nLove never fails.\r\n\r\nThat means no matter how bad a day someone is having, no matter what things they might say to you, if you love them you keep on loving them. That\'s why an important part of the marriage ceremony is accepting your mate for better or for worse.\r\n\r\nLet\'s be honest. The only reason marriages fail is because one party or the other stops loving. That\'s not to say you can\'t walk away when you love someone. That\'s exactly what I did in my first marriage. I loved her, but I knew she wasn\'t going to love me anymore, so self-preservation drove me away.\r\n\r\nThat marriage didn\'t last five years.\r\n\r\nMy second one -- my life marriage -- is working on its 18th year now, and to be honest, there have been every bit as many ups and downs. But there has been no lack of commitment on either side, and there is no lack of love.\r\n\r\nIn the end, Paul had it right.\r\n\r\nLove <em>never</em> fails.','Love certainly isn\'t any fairy tale','','publish','open','open','','love-certainly-isnt-any-fairy-tale','','','2010-01-04 11:39:41','2010-01-04 19:39:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=211',0,'post','',0),(212,1,'2010-01-04 11:22:09','2010-01-04 19:22:09','<em>\"Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.\"</em>\n\nThe biggest mistake some people make -- the biggest mistake I\'ve made -- is looking at love from the \"moons, Junes and Ferris wheels\" side, listening to the final words of almost any fairy tale.\n\n\"And they lived happui','','','inherit','open','open','','211-revision','','','2010-01-04 11:22:09','2010-01-04 19:22:09','',211,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=212',0,'revision','',0),(213,1,'2010-01-04 11:39:36','2010-01-04 19:39:36','<em>\"Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.\"</em>\n\nThe biggest mistake some people make -- the biggest mistake I\'ve made -- is looking at love from the \"moons, Junes and Ferris wheels\" side, listening to the final words of almost any fairy tale.\n\n<em>\"And they lived happily ever after ...\"</em>\n\nUh, sorry, but it doesn\'t often work that way. You can stay together and be basically happy, but there are always going to be ups and downs. I remember Myrna Loy and Fredric March in the wonderful old movie \"The Best Years of Our Lives\" telling their daughter that there had been times in their 20-plus year marriage that they had hated each other and other times they had to fall in love all over again.\n\n<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/8DH70wYWsK0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/8DH70wYWsK0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nI don\'t know why people expect anything different. There are days when I\'m pretty lovable and there are other days when I\'m such an asshole I hate myself. I\'m not sure there was ever a more beautiful verse written that Paul\'s comments about love in First Corinthians.\n\nLove bears all things.\n\nLove endures all things.\n\nLove never fails.\n\nThat means no matter how bad a day someone is having, no matter what things they might say to you, if you love them you keep on loving them. That\'s why an important part of the marriage ceremony is accepting your mate for better or for worse.\n\nLet\'s be honest. The only reason marriages fail is because one party or the other stops loving. That\'s not to say you can\'t walk away when you love someone. That\'s exactly what I did in my first marriage. I loved her, but I knew she wasn\'t going to love me anymore, so self-preservation drove me away.\n\nThat marriage didn\'t last five years.\n\nMy second one -- my life marriage -- is working on its 18th year now, and to be honest, there have been every bit as many ups and downs. But there has been no lack of commitment on either side, and there is no lack of love.\n\nIn the end, Paul had it right.\n\nLove <em>never</em> fails.','Love certainly isn\'t any fairy tale','','inherit','open','open','','211-revision-2','','','2010-01-04 11:39:36','2010-01-04 19:39:36','',211,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=213',0,'revision','',0),(214,1,'2010-01-10 22:37:06','2010-01-11 06:37:06','<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1924853&amp;fullscreen=1\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1924853&amp;fullscreen=1\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nIt\'s the end of the world as we know it.\r\n\r\nI really like the <a title=\"College Humor\" href=\"http://www.collegehumor.com\" target=\"_self\">College Humor</a> Website, and this film -- set to REM\'s \"It\'s the End of the World ...\" -- is really funny. It even manages to throw in another of my favorites -- zombies -- at the end.\r\n\r\nNot much more to say.\r\n\r\nJust check it out and enjoy it.','Feeling fine at the end of the world','','publish','open','open','','feeling-fine-at-the-end-of-the-world','','','2010-01-10 22:37:06','2010-01-11 06:37:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=214',0,'post','',0),(215,1,'2010-01-10 18:01:39','2010-01-11 02:01:39','About 10 years ago, I was in a sports memorabilia store looking at autographed baseballs.\r\n\r\nI was more of a collector then than I am now -- my remaining collection is in a case that holds 12 balls -- and I was considering purchasing balls signed by Frank Robinson and Johnny Bench.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-216\" title=\"0606johnny_bench\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" /></a>\"Oh, you like the old timers,\" the attractive young sales clerk said to me.\r\n\r\nOld timers? I almost screamed. Bench didn\'t reach the majors until after I graduated from high school. Had I really lived that long as an adult, that a great player reached the big leagues, had his entire career and been retired long enough to be an \"old timer?\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s the same thing with movies, television and music. \"Star Wars\" and \"Jaws\" aren\'t old-time classics to me, and neither are \"Happy Days\" and \"Welcome Back Kotter.\" Bob Seger and Journey aren\'t old-time rockers.\r\n\r\nAre they?\r\n\r\nIf those are the old timers now, then where does that leave Joe Dimaggio (whose autograph I<em> do</em> have), \"Casablanca,\" \"I Love Lucy\" and Elvis Presley? Prehistoric? From a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth?\r\n\r\nIn recent years I\'ve been collecting DVDs of some of the classic sci-fi films of the \'50s -- movies like \"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,\" the original \"The Day the Earth Stood Still\" and numerous others. I\'m sure kids look at those movies now and laugh because the special effects are so cheesy, but I wonder if they\'re looking at movies like the newest \"Star Trek\" -- which I enjoyed -- and laughing because they know the special effects are all done by computers and blue screens.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-217\" title=\"star_wars_iv\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" /></a>My good friend Mike Haskins wishes we could return to a day when baseball players had to get jobs in the off-season. I\'m not sure we were better off then, but at least when ballplayers made $8,000 a year, they seemed more human to us.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a certain unreality to life as we head into the second decade of the 21st century. It used to be that we could look at a family on television -- be they Bradys, Cleavers or Cunninghams -- and recognize only a slightly idealized version of families we actually knew. But now everything is so exaggerated that we can\'t see ourselves in the picture at all.\r\n\r\nProbably the last <em>real</em> family on television was the Conner family -- Dan, Roseanne and their kids, who lived real lives, who fought with each other and ragged each other and still managed to love each other.\r\n\r\nHow did we go from Laverne &amp; Shirley, working-class girls who lived in a crummy basement apartment in Milwaukee, to the six \"Friends\" with New York apartments anyone not named Trump would have had trouble affording.\r\n\r\nMaybe it\'s that movies and television used to turn a mirror on our lives and now they try and help us escape our lives.\r\n\r\nYeah, I guess I am an old timer.','Tough to realize that old-timer quality','','publish','open','open','','tough-to-realize-that-old-timer-quality','','','2010-01-10 18:02:38','2010-01-11 02:02:38','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=215',0,'post','',0),(216,1,'2010-01-10 17:47:32','2010-01-11 01:47:32','','0606johnny_bench','','inherit','open','open','','0606johnny_bench','','','2010-01-10 17:47:32','2010-01-11 01:47:32','',215,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(217,1,'2010-01-10 17:52:42','2010-01-11 01:52:42','','star_wars_iv','','inherit','open','open','','star_wars_iv','','','2010-01-10 17:52:42','2010-01-11 01:52:42','',215,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(218,1,'2010-01-10 17:53:07','2010-01-11 01:53:07','About 10 years ago, I was in a sports memorabilia store looking at autographed baseballs.\n\nI was more of a collector then than I am now -- my remaining collection is in a case that holds 12 balls -- and I was considering purchasing balls signed by Frank Robinson and Johnny Bench.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-216\" title=\"0606johnny_bench\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" /></a>\"Oh, you like the old timers,\" the attractive young sales clerk said to me.\n\nOld timers? I almost screamed. Bench didn\'t reach the majors until after I graduated from high school. Had I really lived that long as an adult, that a great player reached the big leagues, had his entire career and been retired long enough to be an \"old timer?\"\n\nIt\'s the same thing with movies, television and music. \"Star Wars\" and \"Jaws\" aren\'t old-time classics to me, and neither are \"Happy Days\" and \"Welcome Back Kotter.\" Bob Seger and Journey aren\'t old-time rockers.\n\nAre they?\n\nIf those are the old timers now, then where does that leave Joe Dimaggio (whose autograph I<em> do</em> have), \"Casablanca,\" \"I Love Lucy\" and Elvis Presley? Prehistoric? From a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth?\n\nIn recent years I\'ve been collecting DVDs of some of the classic sci-fi films of the \'50s -- movies like \"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,\" the original \"The Day the Earth Stood Still\" and numerous others. I\'m sure kids look at those movies now and laugh because the special effects are so cheesy, but I wonder if they\'re looking at movies like the newest \"Star Trek\" -- which I enjoyed -- and laughing because they know the special effects are all done by computers and blue screens.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-217\" title=\"star_wars_iv\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" /></a>My good friend Mike Haskins wishes we could return to a day when baseball players had to get jobs in the off-season. I\'m not sure we were better off then, but at least when ballplayers made $8,000 a year, they seemed more human to us.','','','inherit','open','open','','215-revision','','','2010-01-10 17:53:07','2010-01-11 01:53:07','',215,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=218',0,'revision','',0),(219,1,'2010-01-10 17:25:15','2010-01-11 01:25:15','<embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1924853&amp;fullscreen=1\" wmode=\"transparent\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\"></embed>\n\n?','','','inherit','open','open','','214-revision','','','2010-01-10 17:25:15','2010-01-11 01:25:15','',214,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=219',0,'revision','',0),(220,1,'2010-01-10 18:01:02','2010-01-11 02:01:02','About 10 years ago, I was in a sports memorabilia store looking at autographed baseballs.\n\nI was more of a collector then than I am now -- my remaining collection is in a case that holds 12 balls -- and I was considering purchasing balls signed by Frank Robinson and Johnny Bench.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-216\" title=\"0606johnny_bench\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" /></a>\"Oh, you like the old timers,\" the attractive young sales clerk said to me.\n\nOld timers? I almost screamed. Bench didn\'t reach the majors until after I graduated from high school. Had I really lived that long as an adult, that a great player reached the big leagues, had his entire career and been retired long enough to be an \"old timer?\"\n\nIt\'s the same thing with movies, television and music. \"Star Wars\" and \"Jaws\" aren\'t old-time classics to me, and neither are \"Happy Days\" and \"Welcome Back Kotter.\" Bob Seger and Journey aren\'t old-time rockers.\n\nAre they?\n\nIf those are the old timers now, then where does that leave Joe Dimaggio (whose autograph I<em> do</em> have), \"Casablanca,\" \"I Love Lucy\" and Elvis Presley? Prehistoric? From a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth?\n\nIn recent years I\'ve been collecting DVDs of some of the classic sci-fi films of the \'50s -- movies like \"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,\" the original \"The Day the Earth Stood Still\" and numerous others. I\'m sure kids look at those movies now and laugh because the special effects are so cheesy, but I wonder if they\'re looking at movies like the newest \"Star Trek\" -- which I enjoyed -- and laughing because they know the special effects are all done by computers and blue screens.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-217\" title=\"star_wars_iv\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" /></a>My good friend Mike Haskins wishes we could return to a day when baseball players had to get jobs in the off-season. I\'m not sure we were better off then, but at least when ballplayers made $8,000 a year, they seemed more human to us.\n\nThere\'s a certain unreality to life as we head into the second decade of the 21st century. It used to be that we could look at a family on television -- be they Bradys, Cleavers or Cunninghams -- and recognize only a slightly idealized version of families we actually knew. But now everything is so exaggerated that we can\'t see ourselves in the picture at all.\n\nProbably the last <em>real</em> family on television was the Conner family -- Dan, Roseanne and their kids, who lived real lives, who fought with each other and ragged each other and still managed to love each other.\n\nHow did we go from Laverne &amp; Shirley, working-class girls who lived in a crummy basement apartment in Milwaukee, to the six \"Friends\" with New York apartments anyone not named Trump would have had trouble affording.\n\nMaybe it\'s that movies and television used to turn a mirror on our lives and now they try and help us escape our lives.\n\nYeah, I','','','inherit','open','open','','215-revision-2','','','2010-01-10 18:01:02','2010-01-11 02:01:02','',215,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=220',0,'revision','',0),(221,1,'2010-01-10 18:01:39','2010-01-11 02:01:39','About 10 years ago, I was in a sports memorabilia store looking at autographed baseballs.\r\n\r\nI was more of a collector then than I am now -- my remaining collection is in a case that holds 12 balls -- and I was considering purchasing balls signed by Frank Robinson and Johnny Bench.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-216\" title=\"0606johnny_bench\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0606johnny_bench-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" /></a>\"Oh, you like the old timers,\" the attractive young sales clerk said to me.\r\n\r\nOld timers? I almost screamed. Bench didn\'t reach the majors until after I graduated from high school. Had I really lived that long as an adult, that a great player reached the big leagues, had his entire career and been retired long enough to be an \"old timer?\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s the same thing with movies, television and music. \"Star Wars\" and \"Jaws\" aren\'t old-time classics to me, and neither are \"Happy Days\" and \"Welcome Back Kotter.\" Bob Seger and Journey aren\'t old-time rockers.\r\n\r\nAre they?\r\n\r\nIf those are the old timers now, then where does that leave Joe Dimaggio (whose autograph I<em> do</em> have), \"Casablanca,\" \"I Love Lucy\" and Elvis Presley? Prehistoric? From a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth?\r\n\r\nIn recent years I\'ve been collecting DVDs of some of the classic sci-fi films of the \'50s -- movies like \"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,\" the original \"The Day the Earth Stood Still\" and numerous others. I\'m sure kids look at those movies now and laugh because the special effects are so cheesy, but I wonder if they\'re looking at movies like the newest \"Star Trek\" -- which I enjoyed -- and laughing because they know the special effects are all done by computers and blue screens.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-217\" title=\"star_wars_iv\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/star_wars_iv-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" /></a>My good friend Mike Haskins wishes we could return to a day when baseball players had to get jobs in the off-season. I\'m not sure we were better off then, but at least when ballplayers made $8,000 a year, they seemed more human to us.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a certain unreality to life as we head into the second decade of the 21st century. It used to be that we could look at a family on television -- be they Bradys, Cleavers or Cunninghams -- and recognize only a slightly idealized version of families we actually knew. But now everything is so exaggerated that we can\'t see ourselves in the picture at all.\r\n\r\nProbably the last <em>real</em> family on television was the Conner family -- Dan, Roseanne and their kids, who lived real lives, who fought with each other and ragged each other and still managed to love each other.\r\n\r\nHow did we go from Laverne &amp; Shirley, working-class girls who lived in a crummy basement apartment in Milwaukee, to the six \"Friends\" with New York apartments anyone not named Trump would have had trouble affording.\r\n\r\nMaybe it\'s that movies and television used to turn a mirror on our lives and now they try and help us escape our lives.\r\n\r\nYeah, I guess I am an old timer.','Tough to realize that old-timer quality','','inherit','open','open','','215-revision-3','','','2010-01-10 18:01:39','2010-01-11 02:01:39','',215,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=221',0,'revision','',0),(222,1,'2010-01-10 22:36:27','2010-01-11 06:36:27','<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1924853&amp;fullscreen=1\" /><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1924853&amp;fullscreen=1\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\n\nIt\'s the end of the world as we know it.\n\nI really like the <a title=\"College Humor\" href=\"http://www.collegehumor.com\" target=\"_self\">College Humor</a> Website, and this film -- set to REM\'s \"It\'s the End of the World ...\" -- is really funny. It even manages to throw in another of my favorites -- zombies -- at the end.\n\nNot much more to say.\n\nJust check it out and enjoy it.','','','inherit','open','open','','214-revision-2','','','2010-01-10 22:36:27','2010-01-11 06:36:27','',214,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=222',0,'revision','',0),(223,1,'2009-12-28 07:21:26','2009-12-28 15:21:26','I love <a title=\"Jib Jab\" href=\"http://www.jibjab.com\" target=\"_self\">Jib Jab</a>.\r\n\r\nIt has been one of my favorite humor sites ever since \"This Land is My Land\" in 2004, with George W. Bush and John Kerry slugging it out to see who would win the election.\r\n<div style=\"background-color: #e9e9e9; width: 425px;\"><object id=\"A64060\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" /><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" /><param name=\"scaleMode\" value=\"showAll\" /><param name=\"allowNetworking\" value=\"all\" /><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" /><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" /><param name=\"src\" value=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed id=\"A64060\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"templateID=203931&amp;service=sendables.jibjab.com&amp;partnerID=JibJab\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allownetworking=\"all\" scalemode=\"showAll\" quality=\"high\" wmode=\"transparent\"></embed></object>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center; width: 435px; margin-top: 6px;\">Try JibJab Sendables® <a href=\"http://sendables.jibjab.com/ecards\">eCards</a> today!</div>\r\n</div>\r\nThere have been others since then, and one thing we can always count on from the Jib Jabbers is a yearly wrap-up.\r\n\r\nHere\'s 2010, with everything from the death of Michael Jackson to the breakup of Jon and Kate and the adventures of the Octomom and Mark Sanford (no, not together).\r\n\r\nEnjoy.','Jib Jab for the best look at 2009','','inherit','open','open','','209-revision-2','','','2009-12-28 07:21:26','2009-12-28 15:21:26','',209,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=223',0,'revision','',0),(224,1,'2010-01-11 21:20:14','2010-01-12 05:20:14','Do any of us have home towns anymore?\r\n\r\nToday I attended the funeral of my friend and former neighbor Pat Rizzotto, who lived the last 61 of his 95 years on Fernside Drive in La Canada, California. He was my neighbor for the 16 years I lived at 1234 Fernside, the longest I have ever lived anywhere in my 60 years on Earth.\r\n\r\nI spent a large chunk of my childhood living in Huber Heights, Ohio, and my teen years and young adult ones living in Northern Virginia. When I was 32, it was the beginning of a nine-year period in which I lived in seven states from one coast to the other pursuing my career as a journalist.\r\n\r\nCalifornia has been my home for the last 20 years, the way I always intended it would be. I was born here, and even though I didn\'t make it back until I was 40, this was where I always wanted to be. I married the love of my life and helped raise two wonderful children here. I coached youth sports here and had a vegetable garden; all very middle class, all very home town stuff.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s strange. We may have great memories as adults, but it often seems the memories that really resonate in our souls are the ones we made when we were younger. My best friend in the world lives seven miles away in Pasadena, but most of our best memories are from when we lived two blocks apart in Fairfax, Va. He came to California to strike it rich in the movies, and I came to the Southland instead of San Francisco because he was here.\r\n\r\nI swore I could never live in Northern Virginia again -- too many bad memories, particularly of the first marriage -- but most of the people I love in this world either live there or will be there part of the time. My two children will travel the world, but they\'ll be in the D.C. area every few years for language training or other reasons in their careers as diplomats. And of course that means little Maddie, my wonderful granddaughter, and the other grandchildren who will follow her will be there too.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-225\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"Our future home?\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" /></a>So if I may wax poetic for a moment, I hear Virginia calling me home, and I wonder if it really was my home all along.\r\n\r\nWe were thinking of retiring to South Carolina or Tennessee, but it looks as if our recent trip east changed our plans. We visited the new Del Webb community outside Fredericksburg, Va., and we liked almost everything we saw. The community is called Celebrate, and it\'s part of a massive tourism project called Celebrate Virginia.\r\n\r\nThe houses aren\'t expensive, at least by California standards. The house we\'ll probably buy has 1,680 square feet plus a two-car garage, and it\'s selling for about half a million dollars less than we got for our smaller house on Fernside Drive last year.\r\n\r\nYou see, my dear friend Pat was right.\r\n\r\nTen years ago or so, we were talking about how ridiculous housing prices had become in California. He told me that back in 1952, three years after he had moved to La Canada, the house next door -- the one my family currently occupied -- had gone on the market when the first owner moved out.\r\n\r\n\"I wanted to buy it,\" he said. \"I knew it would be a good investment. But they wanted $15,000 for it and I was only making $50 a week.\"\r\n\r\nI envied his roots. Imagine living more than 60 years in the same house. My late grandparents did it in Crestline, Ohio, and my mother has lived in our Virginia home for 47 years this month.\r\n\r\nIf we move to Fredericksburg later this year, I\'ll have to live to be 108 to equal that.\r\n\r\nBut even if I do, I\'m not sure I\'ll ever think of it as my home town.\r\n\r\nI will, however, finally accept the fact that Virginia is my home state.','A question of home towns, home states','','publish','open','open','','the-confusion-of-home-towns-home-states','','','2010-01-11 21:20:40','2010-01-12 05:20:40','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=224',0,'post','',0),(225,1,'2010-01-11 21:08:43','2010-01-12 05:08:43','','VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL','','inherit','open','open','','va-3551-washington-03-pigil','','','2010-01-11 21:08:43','2010-01-12 05:08:43','',224,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(226,1,'2010-01-11 21:19:41','2010-01-12 05:19:41','Do any of us have home towns anymore?\n\nToday I attended the funeral of my friend and former neighbor Pat Rizzotto, who lived the last 61 of his 95 years on Fernside Drive in La Canada, California. He was my neighbor for the 16 years I lived at 1234 Fernside, the longest I have ever lived anywhere in my 60 years on Earth.\n\nI spent a large chunk of my childhood living in Huber Heights, Ohio, and my teen years and young adult ones living in Northern Virginia. When I was 32, it was the beginning of a nine-year period in which I lived in seven states from one coast to the other pursuing my career as a journalist.\n\nCalifornia has been my home for the last 20 years, the way I always intended it would be. I was born here, and even though I didn\'t make it back until I was 40, this was where I always wanted to be. I married the love of my life and helped raise two wonderful children here. I coached youth sports here and had a vegetable garden; all very middle class, all very home town stuff.\n\nBut it\'s strange. We may have great memories as adults, but it often seems the memories that really resonate in our souls are the ones we made when we were younger. My best friend in the world lives seven miles away in Pasadena, but most of our best memories are from when we lived two blocks apart in Fairfax, Va. He came to California to strike it rich in the movies, and I came to the Southland instead of San Francisco because he was here.\n\nI swore I could never live in Northern Virginia again -- too many bad memories, particularly of the first marriage -- but most of the people I love in this world either live there or will be there part of the time. My two children will travel the world, but they\'ll be in the D.C. area every few years for language training or other reasons in their careers as diplomats. And of course that means little Maddie, my wonderful granddaughter, and the other grandchildren who will follow her will be there too.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-225\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"Our future home?\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" /></a>So if I may wax poetic for a moment, I hear Virginia calling me home, and I wonder if it really was my home all along.\n\nWe were thinking of retiring to South Carolina or Tennessee, but it looks as if our recent trip east changed our plans. We visited the new Del Webb community outside Fredericksburg, Va., and we liked almost everything we saw. The community is called Celebrate, and it\'s part of a massive tourism project called Celebrate Virginia.\n\nThe houses aren\'t expensive, at least by California standards. The house we\'ll probably buy has 1,680 square feet plus a two-car garage, and it\'s selling for about half a million dollars less than we got for our smaller house on Fernside Drive last year.\n\nYou see, my dear friend Pat was right.\n\nTen years ago or so, we were talking about how ridiculous housing prices had become in California. He told me that back in 1952, three years after he had moved to La Canada, the house next door -- the one my family currently occupied -- had gone on the market when the first owner moved out.\n\n\"I wanted to buy it,\" he said. \"I knew it would be a good investment. But they wanted $15,000 for it and I was only making $50 a week.\"\n\nI envied his roots. Imagine living more than 60 years in the same house. My late grandparents did it in Crestline, Ohio, and my mother has lived in our Virginia home for 47 years this month.\n\nIf we move to Fredericksburg later this year, I\'ll have to live to be 108 to equal that.\n\nBut even if I do, I\'m not sure I\'ll ever think of it as my home town.\n\nI wi','','','inherit','open','open','','224-revision','','','2010-01-11 21:19:41','2010-01-12 05:19:41','',224,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=226',0,'revision','',0),(227,1,'2010-01-11 21:20:14','2010-01-12 05:20:14','Do any of us have home towns anymore?\r\n\r\nToday I attended the funeral of my friend and former neighbor Pat Rizzotto, who lived the last 61 of his 95 years on Fernside Drive in La Canada, California. He was my neighbor for the 16 years I lived at 1234 Fernside, the longest I have ever lived anywhere in my 60 years on Earth.\r\n\r\nI spent a large chunk of my childhood living in Huber Heights, Ohio, and my teen years and young adult ones living in Northern Virginia. When I was 32, it was the beginning of a nine-year period in which I lived in seven states from one coast to the other pursuing my career as a journalist.\r\n\r\nCalifornia has been my home for the last 20 years, the way I always intended it would be. I was born here, and even though I didn\'t make it back until I was 40, this was where I always wanted to be. I married the love of my life and helped raise two wonderful children here. I coached youth sports here and had a vegetable garden; all very middle class, all very home town stuff.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s strange. We may have great memories as adults, but it often seems the memories that really resonate in our souls are the ones we made when we were younger. My best friend in the world lives seven miles away in Pasadena, but most of our best memories are from when we lived two blocks apart in Fairfax, Va. He came to California to strike it rich in the movies, and I came to the Southland instead of San Francisco because he was here.\r\n\r\nI swore I could never live in Northern Virginia again -- too many bad memories, particularly of the first marriage -- but most of the people I love in this world either live there or will be there part of the time. My two children will travel the world, but they\'ll be in the D.C. area every few years for language training or other reasons in their careers as diplomats. And of course that means little Maddie, my wonderful granddaughter, and the other grandchildren who will follow her will be there too.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-225\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VA-3551-Washington-03-PIGIL-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"Our future home?\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" /></a>So if I may wax poetic for a moment, I hear Virginia calling me home, and I wonder if it really was my home all along.\r\n\r\nWe were thinking of retiring to South Carolina or Tennessee, but it looks as if our recent trip east changed our plans. We visited the new Del Webb community outside Fredericksburg, Va., and we liked almost everything we saw. The community is called Celebrate, and it\'s part of a massive tourism project called Celebrate Virginia.\r\n\r\nThe houses aren\'t expensive, at least by California standards. The house we\'ll probably buy has 1,680 square feet plus a two-car garage, and it\'s selling for about half a million dollars less than we got for our smaller house on Fernside Drive last year.\r\n\r\nYou see, my dear friend Pat was right.\r\n\r\nTen years ago or so, we were talking about how ridiculous housing prices had become in California. He told me that back in 1952, three years after he had moved to La Canada, the house next door -- the one my family currently occupied -- had gone on the market when the first owner moved out.\r\n\r\n\"I wanted to buy it,\" he said. \"I knew it would be a good investment. But they wanted $15,000 for it and I was only making $50 a week.\"\r\n\r\nI envied his roots. Imagine living more than 60 years in the same house. My late grandparents did it in Crestline, Ohio, and my mother has lived in our Virginia home for 47 years this month.\r\n\r\nIf we move to Fredericksburg later this year, I\'ll have to live to be 108 to equal that.\r\n\r\nBut even if I do, I\'m not sure I\'ll ever think of it as my home town.\r\n\r\nI will, however, finally accept the fact that Virginia is my home state.','The confusion of home towns, home states','','inherit','open','open','','224-revision-2','','','2010-01-11 21:20:14','2010-01-12 05:20:14','',224,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=227',0,'revision','',0),(228,1,'2010-01-12 22:01:13','2010-01-13 06:01:13','','baby','','inherit','open','open','','baby','','','2010-01-12 22:01:13','2010-01-13 06:01:13','',229,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(229,1,'2010-01-12 22:12:45','2010-01-13 06:12:45','I defy anyone to interact with a baby and not feel good about the world.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-228\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Pauline and baby Maddie\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>I spent the better part of two weeks with my lovely daughter and my wonderful granddaughter, and I feel extremely happy that I have been able to share so much of Maddie\'s first 16 months on Earth.\r\n\r\nTen days in Beijing, three weeks in Los Angeles, two weeks in Washington State and two weeks in Northern Virginia isn\'t bad, although the odds are pretty good that I won\'t be able to spend any more time with her in person in 2010. We won\'t be going back to Virginia until autumn at the earliest, and Maddie and her parents will be leaving for three years in Indonesia in late June.\r\n\r\nOnce Nicole is retired, we expect to be traveling to see each of our kids and their families at least once at every posting they have as Foreign Service officers. We\'re only one out of two so far -- we visited Pauline and her family in China but not in Cameroon. Whether we make all the postings from now on depends at least a little on where they go. We\'ll visit Virgile at his first posting in Greece, but if he winds up in some -stan country after that, we\'re not promising anything.\r\n\r\nOf course once Virgile and Sterling start giving us grandchildren, all bets are off.\r\n\r\nPauline and Ryan are talking about having a second child during the tour in Indonesia, but I think Maddie will still be the star of the show for a few more years at least. She\'s walking, talking and doing a pretty good impression of reading books (she turns the pages and points at the pictures). She has also learned to applaud and say \"Bravo,\" which is pretty impressive.\r\n\r\nIn the picture above, she had her first visit to the Kennedy Center for a special children\'s show.\r\n\r\nBy all accounts, she enjoyed herself.\r\n\r\nI\'m sure everyone with her did as well.\r\n\r\nHow could they not?','Life is wonderful with grandchildren','','publish','open','open','','life-is-wonderful-with-grandchildren','','','2010-01-12 22:12:45','2010-01-13 06:12:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=229',0,'post','',0),(230,1,'2010-01-12 22:12:15','2010-01-13 06:12:15','I defy anyone to interact with a baby and not feel good about the world.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-228\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Pauline and baby Maddie\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>I spent the better part of two weeks with my lovely daughter and my wonderful granddaughter, and I feel extremely happy that I have been able to share so much of Maddie\'s first 16 months on Earth.\n\nTen days in Beijing, three weeks in Los Angeles, two weeks in Washington State and two weeks in Northern Virginia isn\'t bad, although the odds are pretty good that I won\'t be able to spend any more time with her in person in 2010. We won\'t be going back to Virginia until autumn at the earliest, and Maddie and her parents will be leaving for three years in Indonesia in late June.\n\nOnce Nicole is retired, we expect to be traveling to see each of our kids and their families at least once at every posting they have as Foreign Service officers. We\'re only one out of two so far -- we visited Pauline and her family in China but not in Cameroon. Whether we make all the postings from now on depends at least a little on where they go. We\'ll visit Virgile at his first posting in Greece, but if he winds up in some -stan country after that, we\'re not promising anything.\n\nOf course once Virgile and Sterling start giving us grandchildren, all bets are off.\n\nPauline and Ryan are talking about having a second child during the tour in Indonesia, but I think Maddie will still be the star of the show for a few more years at least. She\'s walking, talking and doing a pretty good impression of reading books (she turns the pages and points at the pictures). She has also learned to applaud and say \"Bravo,\" which is pretty impressive.\n\nIn the picture above, she had her first visit to the Kennedy Center for a special children\'s show.\n\nBy all accounts, she enjoyed herself.\n\nI\'m sure everyone with her did as well.\n\nHow could they not?','','','inherit','open','open','','229-revision','','','2010-01-12 22:12:15','2010-01-13 06:12:15','',229,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=230',0,'revision','',0),(231,1,'2010-01-16 16:02:10','2010-01-17 00:02:10','What happens if what you\'re good at is something you don\'t want to do?\r\n\r\nMy friend Mick -- my closest friend of going on 45 years now -- expressed two career goals when we were growing up together in Virginia. He wanted to play center field for the Yankees and barring that, he wanted to be the world\'s first pregnant man.\r\n\r\nTwo lofty goals.\r\n\r\nMick wasn\'t quite as iconoclastic as John Cusack\'s Lloyd Dobler character in \"Say Anything:\"\r\n\r\n<em>\"I don\'t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don\'t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don\'t want to do that.\"</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_232\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Wizard of Mick?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-232\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe didn\'t want to work in an office, though, and he absolutely did not want to be a teacher. More than once when we were younger, I heard him express the classic line that \"those who can\'t do, teach.\"\r\n\r\nI usually added the Woody Allen line, \"And those who can\'t teach, teach gym.\"\r\n\r\nWell, when Mick was in his mid twenties, he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. The only problem was that he hadn\'t found any bubblin\' crude to finance the trip.\r\n\r\nAfter sporadic successes trying to become the next Robert Towne or William Goldman, Mick wound up teaching screenwriting at two Southern California community colleges.\r\n\r\nBy all accounts, he\'s a great teacher -- on the Mr. Chips level. His students adore him and his classes are usually oversubscribed. On the rate-your-professor sites, he gets almost unanimous praise. He\'s even someone of a fatherly sex symbol to the young girls -- and maybe even some of the young boys -- in his classes.\r\n\r\nI took his screenwriting class one year, and even though I knew him very well and understood all his tricks and gimmicks, I was very impressed by the way he kept things moving and kept people involved. It was a weird semester, I suppose. He actually had to let down gently one woman who wanted him to provide genetic material so that she could have a baby.\r\n\r\nNow<em> that\'s</em> a great teacher.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_234\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Brokemick Mountain?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brokemick.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-234\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brokemick-300x272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"272\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe two pictures included with this post were created by one of his more recent students for Facebook. Mick is a serious person, so these pictures have certainly embarrassed him. But he has shown a good sense of humor about it, whether it\'s his insertion into a picture of the Lollipop Guild from the \"Wizard of Oz\" or into the Ennis role in \"Brokeback Mountain.\"\r\n\r\nWe kid because we love.\r\n\r\nHis student, Chris Leavins, clearly has a lot of imagination, and despite all the kidding, it\'s obvious that he has a great deal of respect for Mick.\r\n\r\nAs I said, he\'s a great teacher with a lot of heart.','You don\'t have to love it to be good at it','','publish','open','open','','you-dont-have-to-love-it-to-be-good-at-it','','','2010-01-16 16:02:10','2010-01-17 00:02:10','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=231',0,'post','',0),(232,1,'2010-01-16 15:30:35','2010-01-16 23:30:35','','lollipop','The Wizard of Mick?','inherit','open','open','','lollipop','','','2010-01-16 15:30:35','2010-01-16 23:30:35','',231,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(233,1,'2010-01-16 15:39:10','2010-01-16 23:39:10','What happens if what you\'re good at is something you don\'t want to do?\n\nMy friend Mick -- my closest friend of going on 45 years now -- expressed two career goals when we were growing up together in Virginia. He wanted to play center field for the Yankees and barring that, he wanted to be the world\'s first pregnant man.\n\nTwo lofty goals.\n\nMick wasn\'t quite as iconoclastic as John Cusack\'s Lloyd Dobler character in \"Say Anything:\"\n\n<em>\"I don\'t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don\'t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don\'t want to do that.\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_232\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Wizard of Mick?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-232\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe didn\'t want to work in an office, though, and he absolutely did not want to be a teacher. More than once when we were younger, I heard him express the classic line that \"those who can\'t do, teach.\"\n\nI usually added the Woody Allen line, \"And those who can\'t teach, teach gym.\"\n\nWell, when Mick was in his mid twenties, he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. The only problem was that he hadn\'t found any bubblin\' crude to finance the trip.\n\nAfter sporadic successes trying to become the next Robert Towne or William Goldman, Mick wound up teaching screenwriting at two Southern California community colleges.\n\nBy all accounts, he\'s a great teacher -- on the Mr. Chips level. His students adore him and his classes are usually oversubscribed. On the rate-your-professor sites, he gets almost unanimous praise. He\'s even someone of a fatherly sex symbol to the','','','inherit','open','open','','231-revision','','','2010-01-16 15:39:10','2010-01-16 23:39:10','',231,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=233',0,'revision','',0),(234,1,'2010-01-16 15:58:56','2010-01-16 23:58:56','','brokemick','Brokemick Mountain?','inherit','open','open','','brokemick','','','2010-01-16 15:58:56','2010-01-16 23:58:56','',231,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brokemick.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(235,1,'2010-01-16 16:02:04','2010-01-17 00:02:04','What happens if what you\'re good at is something you don\'t want to do?\n\nMy friend Mick -- my closest friend of going on 45 years now -- expressed two career goals when we were growing up together in Virginia. He wanted to play center field for the Yankees and barring that, he wanted to be the world\'s first pregnant man.\n\nTwo lofty goals.\n\nMick wasn\'t quite as iconoclastic as John Cusack\'s Lloyd Dobler character in \"Say Anything:\"\n\n<em>\"I don\'t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don\'t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don\'t want to do that.\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_232\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Wizard of Mick?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-232\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lollipop-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe didn\'t want to work in an office, though, and he absolutely did not want to be a teacher. More than once when we were younger, I heard him express the classic line that \"those who can\'t do, teach.\"\n\nI usually added the Woody Allen line, \"And those who can\'t teach, teach gym.\"\n\nWell, when Mick was in his mid twenties, he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. The only problem was that he hadn\'t found any bubblin\' crude to finance the trip.\n\nAfter sporadic successes trying to become the next Robert Towne or William Goldman, Mick wound up teaching screenwriting at two Southern California community colleges.\n\nBy all accounts, he\'s a great teacher -- on the Mr. Chips level. His students adore him and his classes are usually oversubscribed. On the rate-your-professor sites, he gets almost unanimous praise. He\'s even someone of a fatherly sex symbol to the young girls -- and maybe even some of the young boys -- in his classes.\n\nI took his screenwriting class one year, and even though I knew him very well and understood all his tricks and gimmicks, I was very impressed by the way he kept things moving and kept people involved. It was a weird semester, I suppose. He actually had to let down gently one woman who wanted him to provide genetic material so that she could have a baby.\n\nNow<em> that\'s</em> a great teacher.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_234\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Brokemick Mountain?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brokemick.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-234\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/brokemick-300x272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"272\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe two pictures included with this post were created by one of his more recent students for Facebook. Mick is a serious person, so these pictures have certainly embarrassed him. But he has shown a good sense of humor about it, whether it\'s his insertion into a picture of the Lollipop Guild from the \"Wizard of Oz\" or into the Ennis role in \"Brokeback Mountain.\"\n\nWe kid because we love.\n\nHis student, Chris Leavins, clearly has a lot of imagination, and despite all the kidding, it\'s obvious that he has a great deal of respect for Mick.\n\nAs I said, he\'s a great teacher with a lot of heart.','You don\'t have to love it ','','inherit','open','open','','231-revision-2','','','2010-01-16 16:02:04','2010-01-17 00:02:04','',231,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=235',0,'revision','',0),(236,1,'2010-01-18 20:04:33','2010-01-19 04:04:33','Maybe we should stop talking about the middle class.\r\n\r\nThe wonderful <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/01/bass-boats-and-queer-marriage.html\" target=\"_self\">Joe Bageant</a>, author of \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" says there really isn\'t any such thing. If you remove people who aren\'t participating in the workforce -- the unemployed and the retired -- there are really only two classes.\r\n\r\nThere are the people who write the paychecks and the people who receive them.\r\n\r\nThere are certainly some people who receive paychecks -- pro athletes, etc. -- who have a lot more money than some of the small businessmen who write them, but for the most part, you\'re either your own boss or you aren\'t. You either have to do what someone else says or you don\'t.\r\n\r\nLet\'s call them the ruling class and the working class.\r\n\r\nAs a journalist, I worked for other people for nearly 30 years. I had some of the most wonderful bosses I could have imagined and some of the most terrible. My last boss -- the only one in my career who ever fired me -- was the only one I actually think might have been a borderline psychopath. It shouldn\'t be any big surprise that he is doing very well in our economy, an economy former French President Jacques Chirac actually referred to as \"<em>capitalisme sauvage</em>.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I need to translate that one for you.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-237\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" /></a>I haven\'t made 5 cents in the last two years -- I\'m writing a book that I hope will sell -- but I\'m my own boss and my stress levels are so much lower than they were that it\'s difficult to imagine. Just not having to look at my former boss\'s face every day was probably worth 20 blood pressure points to me.\r\n\r\nDid you know that in 1789, when our country adopted its Constitution, 95 percent of American men were their own bosses? Most of them were farmers or artisans, and everything was on a much smaller scale, but it sounds absolutely wonderful. That\'s pretty much the way things were until the Industrial Revolution, which was when we also stopped educating people to think and started teaching them to follow orders.\r\n\r\nImagine a country in which people worked for themselves and the only stresses they had were of their own creation. Of course it\'s impossible in a country of 308 million people, just as it\'s impossible for everyone in the country to decide at the same time to eat healthy and shop only at organic food stores.\r\n\r\nWe can only accept a small percentage of people choosing to be independent at any one time, and it\'s a lot easier for folks like me to stay at home when we weren\'t the primary breadwinner in our family in the first place.\r\n\r\nBut yes, it is truly wonderful to know I never have to work for a paycheck ever again -- unless I choose to.','Only 2 classes -- bosses and workers','','publish','open','open','','only-two-classes-anymore-bosses-and-workers','','','2010-01-18 20:05:29','2010-01-19 04:05:29','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=236',0,'post','',0),(237,1,'2010-01-18 20:01:33','2010-01-19 04:01:33','','Slide3','','inherit','open','open','','slide3','','','2010-01-18 20:01:33','2010-01-19 04:01:33','',236,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(238,1,'2010-01-18 20:04:16','2010-01-19 04:04:16','Maybe we should stop talking about the middle class.\n\nThe wonderful <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/01/bass-boats-and-queer-marriage.html\" target=\"_self\">Joe Bageant</a>, author of \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" says there really isn\'t any such thing. If you remove people who aren\'t participating in the workforce -- the unemployed and the retired -- there are really only two classes.\n\nThere are the people who write the paychecks and the people who receive them.\n\nThere are certainly some people who receive paychecks -- pro athletes, etc. -- who have a lot more money than some of the small businessmen who write them, but for the most part, you\'re either your own boss or you aren\'t. You either have to do what someone else says or you don\'t.\n\nLet\'s call them the ruling class and the working class.\n\nAs a journalist, I worked for other people for nearly 30 years. I had some of the most wonderful bosses I could have imagined and some of the most terrible. My last boss -- the only one in my career who ever fired me -- was the only one I actually think might have been a borderline psychopath. It shouldn\'t be any big surprise that he is doing very well in our economy, an economy former French President Jacques Chirac actually referred to as \"<em>capitalisme sauvage</em>.\"\n\nI don\'t think I need to translate that one for you.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-237\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" /></a>I haven\'t made 5 cents in the last two years -- I\'m writing a book that I hope will sell -- but I\'m my own boss and my stress levels are so much lower than they were that it\'s difficult to imagine. Just not having to look at my former boss\'s face every day was probably worth 20 blood pressure points to me.\n\nDid you know that in 1789, when our country adopted its Constitution, 95 percent of American men were their own bosses? Most of them were farmers or artisans, and everything was on a much smaller scale, but it sounds absolutely wonderful. That\'s pretty much the way things were until the Industrial Revolution, which was when we also stopped educating people to think and started teaching them to follow orders.\n\nImagine a country in which people worked for themselves and the only stresses they had were of their own creation. Of course it\'s impossible in a country of 308 million people, just as it\'s impossible for everyone in the country to decide at the same time to eat healthy and shop only at organic food stores.\n\nWe can only accept a small percentage of people choosing to be independent at any one time, and it\'s a lot easier for folks like me to stay at home when we weren\'t the primary breadwinner in our family in the first place.\n\nBut yes, it is truly wonderful to know I never have to work for a paycheck ever again -- unless I choose to.','','','inherit','open','open','','236-revision','','','2010-01-18 20:04:16','2010-01-19 04:04:16','',236,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=238',0,'revision','',0),(239,1,'2010-01-18 20:04:33','2010-01-19 04:04:33','Maybe we should stop talking about the middle class.\r\n\r\nThe wonderful <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/01/bass-boats-and-queer-marriage.html\" target=\"_self\">Joe Bageant</a>, author of \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" says there really isn\'t any such thing. If you remove people who aren\'t participating in the workforce -- the unemployed and the retired -- there are really only two classes.\r\n\r\nThere are the people who write the paychecks and the people who receive them.\r\n\r\nThere are certainly some people who receive paychecks -- pro athletes, etc. -- who have a lot more money than some of the small businessmen who write them, but for the most part, you\'re either your own boss or you aren\'t. You either have to do what someone else says or you don\'t.\r\n\r\nLet\'s call them the ruling class and the working class.\r\n\r\nAs a journalist, I worked for other people for nearly 30 years. I had some of the most wonderful bosses I could have imagined and some of the most terrible. My last boss -- the only one in my career who ever fired me -- was the only one I actually think might have been a borderline psychopath. It shouldn\'t be any big surprise that he is doing very well in our economy, an economy former French President Jacques Chirac actually referred to as \"<em>capitalisme sauvage</em>.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I need to translate that one for you.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-237\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" /></a>I haven\'t made 5 cents in the last two years -- I\'m writing a book that I hope will sell -- but I\'m my own boss and my stress levels are so much lower than they were that it\'s difficult to imagine. Just not having to look at my former boss\'s face every day was probably worth 20 blood pressure points to me.\r\n\r\nDid you know that in 1789, when our country adopted its Constitution, 95 percent of American men were their own bosses? Most of them were farmers or artisans, and everything was on a much smaller scale, but it sounds absolutely wonderful. That\'s pretty much the way things were until the Industrial Revolution, which was when we also stopped educating people to think and started teaching them to follow orders.\r\n\r\nImagine a country in which people worked for themselves and the only stresses they had were of their own creation. Of course it\'s impossible in a country of 308 million people, just as it\'s impossible for everyone in the country to decide at the same time to eat healthy and shop only at organic food stores.\r\n\r\nWe can only accept a small percentage of people choosing to be independent at any one time, and it\'s a lot easier for folks like me to stay at home when we weren\'t the primary breadwinner in our family in the first place.\r\n\r\nBut yes, it is truly wonderful to know I never have to work for a paycheck ever again -- unless I choose to.','Only two classes anymore -- bosses and workers','','inherit','open','open','','236-revision-2','','','2010-01-18 20:04:33','2010-01-19 04:04:33','',236,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=239',0,'revision','',0),(240,1,'2010-01-18 20:04:52','2010-01-19 04:04:52','Maybe we should stop talking about the middle class.\r\n\r\nThe wonderful <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/01/bass-boats-and-queer-marriage.html\" target=\"_self\">Joe Bageant</a>, author of \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" says there really isn\'t any such thing. If you remove people who aren\'t participating in the workforce -- the unemployed and the retired -- there are really only two classes.\r\n\r\nThere are the people who write the paychecks and the people who receive them.\r\n\r\nThere are certainly some people who receive paychecks -- pro athletes, etc. -- who have a lot more money than some of the small businessmen who write them, but for the most part, you\'re either your own boss or you aren\'t. You either have to do what someone else says or you don\'t.\r\n\r\nLet\'s call them the ruling class and the working class.\r\n\r\nAs a journalist, I worked for other people for nearly 30 years. I had some of the most wonderful bosses I could have imagined and some of the most terrible. My last boss -- the only one in my career who ever fired me -- was the only one I actually think might have been a borderline psychopath. It shouldn\'t be any big surprise that he is doing very well in our economy, an economy former French President Jacques Chirac actually referred to as \"<em>capitalisme sauvage</em>.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I need to translate that one for you.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-237\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" /></a>I haven\'t made 5 cents in the last two years -- I\'m writing a book that I hope will sell -- but I\'m my own boss and my stress levels are so much lower than they were that it\'s difficult to imagine. Just not having to look at my former boss\'s face every day was probably worth 20 blood pressure points to me.\r\n\r\nDid you know that in 1789, when our country adopted its Constitution, 95 percent of American men were their own bosses? Most of them were farmers or artisans, and everything was on a much smaller scale, but it sounds absolutely wonderful. That\'s pretty much the way things were until the Industrial Revolution, which was when we also stopped educating people to think and started teaching them to follow orders.\r\n\r\nImagine a country in which people worked for themselves and the only stresses they had were of their own creation. Of course it\'s impossible in a country of 308 million people, just as it\'s impossible for everyone in the country to decide at the same time to eat healthy and shop only at organic food stores.\r\n\r\nWe can only accept a small percentage of people choosing to be independent at any one time, and it\'s a lot easier for folks like me to stay at home when we weren\'t the primary breadwinner in our family in the first place.\r\n\r\nBut yes, it is truly wonderful to know I never have to work for a paycheck ever again -- unless I choose to.','Only two classes now -- bosses and workers','','inherit','open','open','','236-revision-3','','','2010-01-18 20:04:52','2010-01-19 04:04:52','',236,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=240',0,'revision','',0),(241,1,'2010-01-18 20:05:13','2010-01-19 04:05:13','Maybe we should stop talking about the middle class.\r\n\r\nThe wonderful <a title=\"Joe Bageant\" href=\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/01/bass-boats-and-queer-marriage.html\" target=\"_self\">Joe Bageant</a>, author of \"Deer Hunting With Jesus,\" says there really isn\'t any such thing. If you remove people who aren\'t participating in the workforce -- the unemployed and the retired -- there are really only two classes.\r\n\r\nThere are the people who write the paychecks and the people who receive them.\r\n\r\nThere are certainly some people who receive paychecks -- pro athletes, etc. -- who have a lot more money than some of the small businessmen who write them, but for the most part, you\'re either your own boss or you aren\'t. You either have to do what someone else says or you don\'t.\r\n\r\nLet\'s call them the ruling class and the working class.\r\n\r\nAs a journalist, I worked for other people for nearly 30 years. I had some of the most wonderful bosses I could have imagined and some of the most terrible. My last boss -- the only one in my career who ever fired me -- was the only one I actually think might have been a borderline psychopath. It shouldn\'t be any big surprise that he is doing very well in our economy, an economy former French President Jacques Chirac actually referred to as \"<em>capitalisme sauvage</em>.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I need to translate that one for you.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-237\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Slide3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" /></a>I haven\'t made 5 cents in the last two years -- I\'m writing a book that I hope will sell -- but I\'m my own boss and my stress levels are so much lower than they were that it\'s difficult to imagine. Just not having to look at my former boss\'s face every day was probably worth 20 blood pressure points to me.\r\n\r\nDid you know that in 1789, when our country adopted its Constitution, 95 percent of American men were their own bosses? Most of them were farmers or artisans, and everything was on a much smaller scale, but it sounds absolutely wonderful. That\'s pretty much the way things were until the Industrial Revolution, which was when we also stopped educating people to think and started teaching them to follow orders.\r\n\r\nImagine a country in which people worked for themselves and the only stresses they had were of their own creation. Of course it\'s impossible in a country of 308 million people, just as it\'s impossible for everyone in the country to decide at the same time to eat healthy and shop only at organic food stores.\r\n\r\nWe can only accept a small percentage of people choosing to be independent at any one time, and it\'s a lot easier for folks like me to stay at home when we weren\'t the primary breadwinner in our family in the first place.\r\n\r\nBut yes, it is truly wonderful to know I never have to work for a paycheck ever again -- unless I choose to.','Only 2 classes now -- bosses and workers','','inherit','open','open','','236-revision-4','','','2010-01-18 20:05:13','2010-01-19 04:05:13','',236,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=241',0,'revision','',0),(245,1,'2010-01-23 00:49:25','2010-01-23 08:49:25','A good writer can make you wish you were part of the setting in which he writes, like Dave Barry in Miami or Ridley Pearson in Seattle or Stephen King in those great little Maine towns where such horrible things happen.\r\n\r\nPat Conroy\'s books have made me absolutely love the South Carolina Low Country. I have wished many times I had grown up in Charleston or the islands just off the Carolina coast, and \"Carolina\" has always meant \"South\" to me.\r\n\r\nA great writer, though, a great writer can make you love places you hate. One of my recent favorites, Greg Iles, has made me wish I lived in Natchez, Miss., which is exceedingly strange to me. But worst of all, Dan Jenkins has made me love Texas -- and I hate Texas.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_246\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"263\" caption=\"Dan Jenkins\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RR-Dan-Jenkins.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-246\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RR-Dan-Jenkins-263x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor the most part, Jenkins writes funny books. He is one of the greatest sportswriters -- particularly about college football and golf -- that this country has ever produced, but it\'s in his novels that he allows his sense of whimsy really to run free.\r\n\r\nNo one skewers the self-made giants of the sports world the way he does, and no one has had a better sense of humor than Jenkins, who was born in 1929 in Fort Worth, Texas.\r\n\r\nHollywood hasn\'t done a whole lot with his books. Michael Ritchie messed up his great football novel \"Semi Tough,\" making it as much about EST and other \'70s self-actualization movements as it was about football. HBO did a fair job of making two of his novels -- \"Baja Oklahoma\" and \"Dead Solid Perfect\" -- into cable movies, and the former was actually one of Julia Roberts\' pre-stardom turns.\r\n\r\nFort Worth itself -- or as Jenkins would say, its ownself -- has been a character in at least half a dozen of his novels. Jenkins attended Paschal High and Texas Christian University there, and he was a kid in the late \'30s when TCU had its best football teams before 2009.\r\n\r\n\"Baja Oklahoma\" is my favorite of his books, and I\'ve read it at least a dozen times. HBO\'s version wasn\'t quite as good -- they couldn\'t handle the idea of a drug dealer who wasn\'t a bad guy -- but it still climaxed with a terrific title song written by Jenkins himself.\r\n\r\n<em>\"... it\'s Baja Oklahoma, but it\'s Texas in your soul.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI wish I lived in Baja Oklahoma.','Baja Oklahoma, but Texas in your soul','','publish','open','open','','baja-oklahoma-but-texas-in-your-soul','','','2010-01-23 00:49:25','2010-01-23 08:49:25','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=245',0,'post','',0),(242,1,'2010-01-19 21:42:02','2010-01-20 05:42:02','I lost a dear friend today, even though he and I never met.\r\n\r\nAnyone who loves to read will know what I mean when I tell you I was saddened by the death of author Robert B. Parker in Boston at age 77. First off, I had no idea he was that old. I discovered Parker\'s books 35 years ago when I read his first Spenser novel; little did I know the writer was already 42.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_243\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"260\" caption=\"Robert B. Parker\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-243\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"190\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI bought the first couple of Spenser novels through a membership in the Mystery Guild, and I purchased the next five or six when they came out in paperback form.\r\n\r\nEventually, though, Spenser and his adventures meant so much to me that I couldn\'t wait for the paperback editions. I started buying them in hardback and I never stopped. I read the last one, \"The Professional,\" only a few months ago.\r\n\r\nI\'ve read most of his other novels, although his other two detective series, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall, weren\'t as compelling to me.\r\n\r\nWhat I\'ll always remember about Parker was that he was a true romantic. His novel \"Hope and Glory,\" which was not a detective novel but a story of a young man defined by love, is one that has stayed with me.\r\n\r\nSpenser (we never did learn his first name) was a detective in the tradition of Philip Marlowe, tough on the surface but with a big heart underneath. He respected the law, but was willing to break it for what he often considered a greater justice, and he was honest to a fault. The novels were the basis of a television series -- \"Spenser for Hire\" -- that lasted three seasons in the \'80s, but Robert Urich was never Spenser to me. I seem to recall reading an interview once in which Parker compared Spenser to Robert Mitchum, but that might just be my faulty memory.\r\n\r\nI could go into a lot more detail, but I won\'t.\r\n\r\nI\'ll just say that there are a handful of authors whose work I eagerly await, and Parker was pretty close to the top of that list.\r\n\r\nMy life will be a little less enjoyable without any more Spenser novels to read.\r\n\r\nWell done, Dr. Parker. May you rest in peace.','World a little gloomier without Parker','','publish','open','open','','world-a-little-gloomier-without-parker','','','2010-01-19 21:42:02','2010-01-20 05:42:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=242',0,'post','',0),(243,1,'2010-01-19 21:28:46','2010-01-20 05:28:46','','s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large','Robert B. Parker','inherit','open','open','','s-robert-b-parker-large','','','2010-01-19 21:28:46','2010-01-20 05:28:46','',242,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(244,1,'2010-01-19 21:41:11','2010-01-20 05:41:11','I lost a dear friend today, even though he and I never met.\n\nAnyone who loves to read will know what I mean when I tell you I was saddened by the death of author Robert B. Parker in Boston at age 77. First off, I had no idea he was that old. I discovered Parker\'s books 35 years ago when I read his first Spenser novel; little did I know the writer was already 42.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_243\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"260\" caption=\"Robert B. Parker\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-243\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/s-ROBERT-B-PARKER-large.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"190\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI bought the first couple of Spenser novels through a membership in the Mystery Guild, and I purchased the next five or six when they came out in paperback form.\n\nEventually, though, Spenser and his adventures meant so much to me that I couldn\'t wait for the paperback editions. I started buying them in hardback and I never stopped. I read the last one, \"The Professional,\" only a few months ago.\n\nI\'ve read most of his other novels, although his other two detective series, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall, weren\'t as compelling to me.\n\nWhat I\'ll always remember about Parker was that he was a true romantic. His novel \"Hope and Glory,\" which was not a detective novel but a story of a young man defined by love, is one that has stayed with me.\n\nSpenser (we never did learn his first name) was a detective in the tradition of Philip Marlowe, tough on the surface but with a big heart underneath. He respected the law, but was willing to break it for what he often considered a greater justice, and he was honest to a fault. The novels were the basis of a television series -- \"Spenser for Hire\" -- that lasted three seasons in the \'80s, but Robert Urich was never Spenser to me. I seem to recall reading an interview once in which Parker compared Spenser to Robert Mitchum, but that might just be my faulty memory.\n\nI could go into a lot more detail, but I won\'t.\n\nI\'ll just say that there are a handful of authors whose work I eagerly await, and Parker was pretty close to the top of that list.\n\nMy life will be a little less enjoyable without any more Spenser novels to read.\n\nWell do','','','inherit','open','open','','242-revision','','','2010-01-19 21:41:11','2010-01-20 05:41:11','',242,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=244',0,'revision','',0),(246,1,'2010-01-23 00:40:20','2010-01-23 08:40:20','','RR-Dan-Jenkins','Dan Jenkins','inherit','open','open','','rr-dan-jenkins','','','2010-01-23 00:40:20','2010-01-23 08:40:20','',245,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RR-Dan-Jenkins.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(247,1,'2010-01-23 00:48:32','2010-01-23 08:48:32','A good writer can make you wish you were part of the setting in which he writes, like Dave Barry in Miami or Ridley Pearson in Seattle or Stephen King in those great little Maine towns where such horrible things happen.\n\nPat Conroy\'s books have made me absolutely love the South Carolina Low Country. I have wished many times I had grown up in Charleston or the islands just off the Carolina coast, and \"Carolina\" has always meant \"South\" to me.\n\nA great writer, though, a great writer can make you love places you hate. One of my recent favorites, Greg Iles, has made me wish I lived in Natchez, Miss., which is exceedingly strange to me. But worst of all, Dan Jenkins has made me love Texas -- and I hate Texas.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_246\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"263\" caption=\"Dan Jenkins\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RR-Dan-Jenkins.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-246\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RR-Dan-Jenkins-263x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor the most part, Jenkins writes funny books. He is one of the greatest sportswriters -- particularly about college football and golf -- that this country has ever produced, but it\'s in his novels that he allows his sense of whimsy really to run free.\n\nNo one skewers the self-made giants of the sports world the way he does, and no one has had a better sense of humor than Jenkins, who was born in 1929 in Fort Worth, Texas.\n\nHollywood hasn\'t done a whole lot with his books. Michael Ritchie messed up his great football novel \"Semi Tough,\" making it as much about EST and other \'70s self-actualization movements as it was about football. HBO did a fair job of making two of his novels -- \"Baja Oklahoma\" and \"Dead Solid Perfect\" -- into cable movies, and the former was actually one of Julia Roberts\' pre-stardom turns.\n\nFort Worth itself -- or as Jenkins would say, its ownself -- has been a character in at least half a dozen of his novels. Jenkins attended Paschal High and Texas Christian University there, and he was a kid in the late \'30s when TCU had its best football teams before 2009.\n\n\"Baja Oklahoma\" is my favorite of his books, and I\'ve read it at least a dozen times. HBO\'s version wasn\'t quite as good -- they couldn\'t handle the idea of a drug dealer who wasn\'t a bad guy -- but it still climaxed with a terrific title song written by Jenkins himself.\n\n<em>\"... it\'s Baja Oklahoma, but it\'s Texas in your soul.\"</em>\n\nI wish I lived in Baja Oklahoma.','','','inherit','open','open','','245-revision','','','2010-01-23 00:48:32','2010-01-23 08:48:32','',245,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=247',0,'revision','',0),(248,1,'2009-12-09 00:48:21','2009-12-09 08:48:21','If we were going to make a list of the greatest directors in film history, some of the names that would be mentioned might be Ford, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Hawks and others.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_176\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"231\" caption=\"Victor Fleming with Vivien Leigh\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-176\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/gone-with-the-wnd-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"Victor Fleming with Vivien Leigh\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nA name that wouldn\'t make some of those short lists would be Victor Fleming, but the California native -- he was born in La Canada in 1989 -- had the honor of directing maybe the two most beloved movies in history.\r\n\r\nFleming directed \"The Wizard of Oz\" and \"Gone With the Wind,\" which were both released in 1939, a year many people still consider the best in the history of Hollywood. Ironically, he wasn\'t the initial director on either. It was in GWTW that it caused the most furor. The original director was George Cukor, who was considered a \"women\'s director.\" Producer David O. Selznick was reportedly unhappy with the pace of Cukor\'s work, and replaced him with Fleming.\r\n\r\nIronically, Cukor might have made that short list at the beginning, directing movies like \"The Philadelphia Story\" and \"Adam\'s Rib.\"\r\n\r\nFleming not only didn\'t make a lot of films after GWTW, he didn\'t even live that long. He died in 1949 and the age of 59.\r\n\r\nSo in some ways, he is almost a forgotten footnote.\r\n\r\nBut just think about it. Within the space of a year or so, he directed two movies that quite possibly are what Hollywood was all about -- \"The Wizard of Oz\" and \"Gone With the Wind.\"\r\n\r\nNot a bad legacy at all.','Not on the list, but a legend anyway','','inherit','open','open','','175-revision-3','','','2009-12-09 00:48:21','2009-12-09 08:48:21','',175,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=248',0,'revision','',0),(294,1,'2010-03-27 21:00:41','2010-03-28 04:00:41','It hasn\'t been a great month for this site, but I do have an excuse. I\'ve spent at least part of 12 different days this month on the other side of the country, far from my computer.\r\n\r\nIn fact, we just returned from Georgia a couple of hours ago after being in Griffin all week to close on our retirement home and start making plans for the way we\'ll decorate it. It\'s times like these that my lovely wife Nicole is really in her element. She really enjoys all the planning and decorating; indeed, she got so wrapped up in designing the room that will be her home office that she stayed up all night Tuesday night.\r\n\r\nThat\'s right, all night.\r\n\r\nI found out some interesting things myself. I had my BlackBerry with me in Georgia, and I was fooling around on the Internet and called up this site. \"One Voice\" is actually set up pretty well for mobile phones, PDAs, etc., although the video links I\'ve used from YouTube don\'t seem to show up.\r\n\r\nWe\'ll have to work on that.\r\n\r\nSorry this is such a nothing post. It\'s mostly just to let y\'all know I haven\'t abandoned you.\r\n\r\nApril will be a <em>much</em> better month.','Back from Georgia after another visit','','publish','open','open','','back-again-from-georgia-after-another-visit','','','2010-03-27 21:01:12','2010-03-28 04:01:12','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=294',0,'post','',0),(251,1,'2010-01-25 20:42:56','2010-01-26 04:42:56','I\'m 60 years old, and tomorrow I will have a colonoscopy for the first time -- about 10 years late.\r\n\r\nI did have a sigmoidoscopy -- the minor-league version -- five or six years ago, but for whatever reason, I haven\'t been ready for The Show.\r\n\r\nUntil now. In November I had a slightly scary experience involving blood coming from somewhere you don\'t expect it to, and I spent nearly 10 hours in the emergency room. It turned out to be a mild case of colitis, but the doctor told me I should <em>not</em> skip my colonoscopy again this year.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_252\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Informal colonoscopy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/colonoscopy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-252\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/colonoscopy-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t particularly enjoyed the sigmoidoscopy, but at least it hadn\'t been as unpleasant an experience for me as it was for my friend Mitch. When Mitch had his first sigmoidoscopy, the doctor told him he had never seen anyone whose muscles were so tightly clenched and so difficult to test.\r\n\r\nIt\'s all starting to happen for the baby boomers -- hair loss, weight gain, bodies starting gradually to fall apart.\r\n\r\nWho would have thought it? I look in the mirror and I still see the same face I saw at 30. Apparently my eyesight and my looks are deteriorating at approximately the same rate, which is wonderful. It would be really difficult to have great vision and notice the sagging under my eyes, the wrinkles and the age spots.\r\n\r\nSo I\'ll take the precautions I should and get my colon tested. I don\'t want to let it go and wind up wearing a colostomy bag, and I certainly don\'t want anything like what happened to the guy in the photo to happen to me.\r\n\r\nJust being 60 is tough enough.','Time for one of life\'s lesser experiences','','publish','open','open','','time-for-one-of-lifes-lesser-experiences','','','2010-01-25 20:42:56','2010-01-26 04:42:56','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=251',0,'post','',0),(252,1,'2010-01-25 20:24:00','2010-01-26 04:24:00','','colonoscopy','Informal colonoscopy','inherit','open','open','','colonoscopy','','','2010-01-25 20:24:00','2010-01-26 04:24:00','',251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/colonoscopy.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(253,1,'2010-01-25 20:42:51','2010-01-26 04:42:51','I\'m 60 years old, and tomorrow I will have a colonoscopy for the first time -- about 10 years late.\n\nI did have a sigmoidoscopy -- the minor-league version -- five or six years ago, but for whatever reason, I haven\'t been ready for The Show.\n\nUntil now. In November I had a slightly scary experience involving blood coming from somewhere you don\'t expect it to, and I spent nearly 10 hours in the emergency room. It turned out to be a mild case of colitis, but the doctor told me I should <em>not</em> skip my colonoscopy again this year.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_252\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Informal colonoscopy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/colonoscopy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-252\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/colonoscopy-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI hadn\'t particularly enjoyed the sigmoidoscopy, but at least it hadn\'t been as unpleasant an experience for me as it was for my friend Mitch. When Mitch had his first sigmoidoscopy, the doctor told him he had never seen anyone whose muscles were so tightly clenched and so difficult to test.\n\nIt\'s all starting to happen for the baby boomers -- hair loss, weight gain, bodies starting gradually to fall apart.\n\nWho would have thought it? I look in the mirror and I still see the same face I saw at 30. Apparently my eyesight and my looks are deteriorating at approximately the same rate, which is wonderful. It would be really difficult to have great vision and notice the sagging under my eyes, the wrinkles and the age spots.\n\nSo I\'ll take the precautions I should and get my colon tested. I don\'t want to let it go and wind up wearing a colostomy bag, and I certainly don\'t want anything like what happened to the guy in the photo to happen to me.\n\nJust being 60 is tough enough.','Time for one of life\'s less','','inherit','open','open','','251-revision','','','2010-01-25 20:42:51','2010-01-26 04:42:51','',251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=253',0,'revision','',0),(254,1,'2010-02-05 21:12:34','2010-02-06 05:12:34','<em>\"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you\'re kind, amazing things will happen.\"\r\n</em><strong>-- CONAN O\'BRIEN, January 22, 2010</strong><em> </em>\r\n\r\nThat has got to be the damnedest quote I\'ve ever seen, particularly in the circumstances under which it was delivered.\r\n\r\nIt certainly doesn\'t fit in with the mood of the country today, where America is as badly divided as I have seen it in my lifetime. There are times these days when I really do feel as if we are living in two countries, one which seems open to the future and one that seems desperate to return to the past.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-255\" title=\"america_divided1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"282\" /></a>The opening speech at this weekend\'s Tea Party convention in Nashville, by former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., showed just how divided we are.\r\n\r\nTancredo decried multiculturalism and said basically that the only reason Barack Obama had been elected president was that voters didn\'t have to pass a civics test before casting their vote.\r\n\r\nThe Tea Partiers banned the local newspaper, <em>The Tennessean</em>, from covering the convention because of so-called \"liberal bias,\" but the international media was all over the story, with the <em>London Times</em> reporting on Tancredo\'s vicious speech.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a lot of anger -- a lot of hate -- out there these days, which is what makes O\'Brien\'s beautiful statement on his last night as host of the Tonight Show all the more poignant.\r\n\r\nOne would think if anyone had a right to be angry these days, it would be O\'Brien, whose tenure in the job he always wanted lasted only seven months. But in a world where TV shows are cancelled after only one or two episodes these days, maybe seven months is a long time.\r\n\r\nMy guess is Conan didn\'t play too well in Tea Party America, but we already know David Letterman isn\'t one of their favorites after his run-in with Sarah Palin.\r\n\r\nI just wonder sometimes if we really are one country anymore.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in a so-called \"blue state\" for the last 20 years, and the chances are very good that I will be moving to a state that has voted for a Democrat for president only once since 1964.\r\n\r\nThe irony is that the part of Virginia in which I grew up has become reasonably liberal -- or at least moderate -- and of course there are parts of California that are as red as the reddest conservative state.\r\n\r\nI still think that working people are pretty much the same everywhere, but that we have been turned against each other by powerful people with selfish agendas. In a country where the top 1 percent make as much money between them as the bottom 50 percent, it\'s in their interests to keep that bottom 50 percent from figuring out how much power they actually have.\r\n\r\nI think if they ever do figure it out, we might be able to save our country.\r\n\r\nOtherwise we\'re just on the way to becoming another oligarchy.','America getting more and more divided','','publish','open','open','','america-becoming-more-and-more-divided','','','2010-02-05 21:13:02','2010-02-06 05:13:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=254',0,'post','',0),(255,1,'2010-02-05 20:58:57','2010-02-06 04:58:57','','america_divided1','','inherit','open','open','','america_divided1','','','2010-02-05 20:58:57','2010-02-06 04:58:57','',254,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(256,1,'2010-02-05 21:11:59','2010-02-06 05:11:59','<em>\"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you\'re kind, amazing things will happen.\"\n</em><strong>-- CONAN O\'BRIEN, January 22, 2010</strong><em> </em>\n\nThat has got to be the damnedest quote I\'ve ever seen, particularly in the circumstances under which it was delivered.\n\nIt certainly doesn\'t fit in with the mood of the country today, where America is as badly divided as I have seen it in my lifetime. There are times these days when I really do feel as if we are living in two countries, one which seems open to the future and one that seems desperate to return to the past.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-255\" title=\"america_divided1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"282\" /></a>The opening speech at this weekend\'s Tea Party convention in Nashville, by former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., showed just how divided we are.\n\nTancredo decried multiculturalism and said basically that the only reason Barack Obama had been elected president was that voters didn\'t have to pass a civics test before casting their vote.\n\nThe Tea Partiers banned the local newspaper, <em>The Tennessean</em>, from covering the convention because of so-called \"liberal bias,\" but the international media was all over the story, with the <em>London Times</em> reporting on Tancredo\'s vicious speech.\n\nThere\'s a lot of anger -- a lot of hate -- out there these days, which is what makes O\'Brien\'s beautiful statement on his last night as host of the Tonight Show all the more poignant.\n\nOne would think if anyone had a right to be angry these days, it would be O\'Brien, whose tenure in the job he always wanted lasted only seven months. But in a world where TV shows are cancelled after only one or two episodes these days, maybe seven months is a long time.\n\nMy guess is Conan didn\'t play too well in Tea Party America, but we already know David Letterman isn\'t one of their favorites after his run-in with Sarah Palin.\n\nI just wonder sometimes if we really are one country anymore.\n\nI\'ve lived in a so-called \"blue state\" for the last 20 years, and the chances are very good that I will be moving to a state that has voted for a Democrat for president only once since 1964.\n\nThe irony is that the part of Virginia in which I grew up has become reasonably liberal -- or at least moderate -- and of course there are parts of California that are as red as the reddest conservative state.\n\nI still think that working people are pretty much the same everywhere, but that we have been turned against each other by powerful people with selfish agendas. In a country where the top 1 percent make as much money between them as the bottom 50 percent, it\'s in their interests to keep that bottom 50 percent from figuring out how much power they actually have.\n\nI think if they ever do figure it out, we might be able to save our country.\n\nOtherwise we\'re just on the way to becoming another oligarchy.','America is becoming more and more','','inherit','open','open','','254-revision','','','2010-02-05 21:11:59','2010-02-06 05:11:59','',254,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=256',0,'revision','',0),(257,1,'2010-02-05 21:12:34','2010-02-06 05:12:34','<em>\"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you\'re kind, amazing things will happen.\"\r\n</em><strong>-- CONAN O\'BRIEN, January 22, 2010</strong><em> </em>\r\n\r\nThat has got to be the damnedest quote I\'ve ever seen, particularly in the circumstances under which it was delivered.\r\n\r\nIt certainly doesn\'t fit in with the mood of the country today, where America is as badly divided as I have seen it in my lifetime. There are times these days when I really do feel as if we are living in two countries, one which seems open to the future and one that seems desperate to return to the past.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-255\" title=\"america_divided1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/america_divided1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"282\" /></a>The opening speech at this weekend\'s Tea Party convention in Nashville, by former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., showed just how divided we are.\r\n\r\nTancredo decried multiculturalism and said basically that the only reason Barack Obama had been elected president was that voters didn\'t have to pass a civics test before casting their vote.\r\n\r\nThe Tea Partiers banned the local newspaper, <em>The Tennessean</em>, from covering the convention because of so-called \"liberal bias,\" but the international media was all over the story, with the <em>London Times</em> reporting on Tancredo\'s vicious speech.\r\n\r\nThere\'s a lot of anger -- a lot of hate -- out there these days, which is what makes O\'Brien\'s beautiful statement on his last night as host of the Tonight Show all the more poignant.\r\n\r\nOne would think if anyone had a right to be angry these days, it would be O\'Brien, whose tenure in the job he always wanted lasted only seven months. But in a world where TV shows are cancelled after only one or two episodes these days, maybe seven months is a long time.\r\n\r\nMy guess is Conan didn\'t play too well in Tea Party America, but we already know David Letterman isn\'t one of their favorites after his run-in with Sarah Palin.\r\n\r\nI just wonder sometimes if we really are one country anymore.\r\n\r\nI\'ve lived in a so-called \"blue state\" for the last 20 years, and the chances are very good that I will be moving to a state that has voted for a Democrat for president only once since 1964.\r\n\r\nThe irony is that the part of Virginia in which I grew up has become reasonably liberal -- or at least moderate -- and of course there are parts of California that are as red as the reddest conservative state.\r\n\r\nI still think that working people are pretty much the same everywhere, but that we have been turned against each other by powerful people with selfish agendas. In a country where the top 1 percent make as much money between them as the bottom 50 percent, it\'s in their interests to keep that bottom 50 percent from figuring out how much power they actually have.\r\n\r\nI think if they ever do figure it out, we might be able to save our country.\r\n\r\nOtherwise we\'re just on the way to becoming another oligarchy.','America becoming more and more divided','','inherit','open','open','','254-revision-2','','','2010-02-05 21:12:34','2010-02-06 05:12:34','',254,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=257',0,'revision','',0),(295,1,'2010-03-27 21:00:37','2010-03-28 04:00:37','It hasn\'t been a great month for this site, but I do have an excuse. I\'ve spent at least part of 12 different days this month on the other side of the country, far from my computer.\n\nIn fact, we just returned from Georgia a couple of hours ago after being in Griffin all week to close on our retirement home and start making plans for the way we\'ll decorate it. It\'s times like these that my lovely wife Nicole is really in her element. She really enjoys all the planning and decorating; indeed, she got so wrapped up in designing the room that will be her home office that she stayed up all night Tuesday night.\n\nThat\'s right, all night.\n\nI found out some interesting things myself. I had my BlackBerry with me in Georgia, and I was fooling around on the Internet and called up this site. \"One Voice\" is actually set up pretty well for mobile phones, PDAs, etc., although the video links I\'ve used from YouTube don\'t seem to show up.\n\nWe\'ll have to work on that.\n\nSorry this is such a nothing post. It\'s mostly just to let y\'all know I haven\'t abandoned you.\n\nApril will be a <em>much</em> better month.','Back again from Georgia after another visit','','inherit','open','open','','294-revision','','','2010-03-27 21:00:37','2010-03-28 04:00:37','',294,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=295',0,'revision','',0),(300,1,'2010-03-31 19:14:55','2010-04-01 02:14:55','Imagine a show that included the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and Marvin Gaye.\r\n\r\nRock \'n\' roll heaven, indeed. But then add Gerry and the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, all at the height of their popularity.\r\n\r\nOh, yeah. And then add Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes and the Rolling Stones.\r\n\r\nIt\'s almost unimaginable to picture the T.A.M.I. Show, which on October 29, 1964, graced the stage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Seven of the 11 acts have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I had heard of the performance, which was made into a movie that had a limited release, but I never saw it until today. For some reason, it was never released for home video and rarely played on television until it was made into a DVD this year.\r\n\r\nIt\'s odd to look at the screaming audience of teenage girls and realize all of them are at least in their 60\'s now. It\'s sort of like meeting an old man and having him tell you he was at Woodstock. There\'s a cognitive dissonance that it\'s hard to get past.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_301\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"247\" caption=\"James Brown in 1964\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/061225_james_brown_rip_b.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-301\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/061225_james_brown_rip_b-247x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt has long been known that the real show-stopping performance in Santa Monica was by James Brown, and indeed, the Rolling Stones were reportedly very annoyed at having to follow him onstage.\r\n\r\nHe was a little older than the other performers -- 31 in 1964 -- and it was obvious that the Hardest Working Man in Show Business was at the peak of his powers. Most of the Southern California teens in the auditorium probably hadn\'t had all that much exposure to his music -- Motown was just getting big, and Brown was harder-edged than that -- but there was no question he won them over.\r\n\r\nFor as little known as it is, the T.A.M.I. Show -- it stood for Teen Age Music International, later changed to Teenage Awards Music International -- was probably the greatest aggregation of talent in one show until Woodstock five years later.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a great show, and damn, the music always does take me back.\r\n\r\nIt always does make me feel better.\r\n\r\nIt\'s almost automatic.','\'T.A.M.I Show\' a great \'forgotten\' concert','','publish','open','open','','t-a-m-i-show-a-great-forgotten-concert','','','2010-03-31 19:14:55','2010-04-01 02:14:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=300',0,'post','',0),(263,1,'2010-02-20 22:56:06','2010-02-21 06:56:06','','3g252j3c','The old Delt house at GWU','inherit','open','open','','3g252j3c','','','2010-02-20 22:56:06','2010-02-21 06:56:06','',264,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(264,1,'2010-02-20 23:19:13','2010-02-21 07:19:13','The first time I saw this building, I was 19 years old and I thought it was the coolest place in the world.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_263\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"211\" caption=\"The old Delt house at GWU\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-263\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt was September 1969 and I had just gone back to college for my second try, commuting from home to George Washington University in the Washington neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom.\r\n\r\nI had had a miserable three semesters at the University of Virginia, where I had started when I was 17 going on 13. At least that was where my social maturity level was. I wasn\'t a good fit with what a lot of people called one of the top party schools in the country, so I tried an urban school that was heavily populated with Jewish kids from New York and the other mid-Atlantic states.\r\n\r\nThe building on the right, which looks old and run-down now, was almost brand-new that fall. It housed Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and the brothers of the fraternity noticed me -- and were impressed -- by my performance in a pickup football game on the quad. They invited me to pledge, which might have been the single greatest thing that had happened to me up to that point in my life.\r\n\r\n<em>Things hadn\'t been all that exciting up till then.</em>\r\n\r\nThe next three months or so were a wonderful experience, although I sort of messed things up by enjoying fraternity life too much and not concentrating on my classes. I have so many amazing memories from that time -- late-night Diplomacy games, the eating contest (which no one ever won), some great parties and yes, even some hazing.\r\n\r\nI met the lovely Betsy Custis at a Delt party and dated her for much of that fall. Just before Christmas, I met Shelley Marcus, and we wound up being each other\'s first love in the spring of 1970.\r\n\r\nAlas, my grades were too bad and I never made it past pledging. Eight years later, at George Mason University, I was part of a group that founded a chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon on campus, and Sig Ep became my lifetime fraternity.\r\n\r\nBut I was older then, and I was married. It wasn\'t the same thrill as it had been walking into the Delt house on a Saturday night, or standing in the basement with the other members of my pledge class. The brothers were meeting one floor up, and we had been ordered to stand in a line and be completely silent.\r\n\r\nThat didn\'t last long.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know who it was who started it, but for some great and wonderful reason, starting softly and getting louder, we started singing Donovan\'s \"Mellow Yellow.\"\r\n\r\n<em>\"I\'m just mad about saffron ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nGood times?\r\n\r\nNo, great times.','Old memories are some of the best ones','','publish','open','open','','old-memories-are-some-of-the-best-ones','','','2010-02-20 23:19:13','2010-02-21 07:19:13','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=264',0,'post','',0),(265,1,'2010-02-20 23:18:15','2010-02-21 07:18:15','The first time I saw this building, I was 19 years old and I thought it was the coolest place in the world.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_263\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"211\" caption=\"The old Delt house at GWU\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-263\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt was September 1969 and I had just gone back to college for my second try, commuting from home to George Washington University in the Washington neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom.\n\nI had had a miserable three semesters at the University of Virginia, where I had started when I was 17 going on 13. At least that was where my social maturity level was. I wasn\'t a good fit with what a lot of people called one of the top party schools in the country, so I tried an urban school that was heavily populated with Jewish kids from New York and the other mid-Atlantic states.\n\nThe building on the right, which looks old and run-down now, was almost brand-new that fall. It housed Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and the brothers of the fraternity noticed me -- and were impressed -- by my performance in a pickup football game on the quad. They invited me to pledge, which might have been the single greatest thing that had happened to me up to that point in my life.\n\n<em>Things hadn\'t been all that exciting up till then.</em>\n\nThe next three months or so were a wonderful experience, although I sort of messed things up by enjoying fraternity life too much and not concentrating on my classes. I have so many amazing memories from that time -- late-night Diplomacy games, the eating contest (which no one ever won), some great parties and yes, even some hazing.\n\nI met the lovely Betsy Custis at a Delt party and dated her for much of that fall. Just before Christmas, I met Shelley Marcus, and we wound up being each other\'s first love in the spring of 1970.\n\nAlas, my grades were too bad and I never made it past pledging. Eight years later, at George Mason University, I was part of a group that founded a chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon on campus, and Sig Ep became my lifetime fraternity.\n\nBut I was older then, and I was married. It wasn\'t the same thrill as it had been walking into the Delt house on a Saturday night, or standing in the basement with the other members of my pledge class. The brothers were meeting one floor up, and we had been ordered to stand in a line and be completely silent.\n\nThat didn\'t last long.\n\nI don\'t know who it was who started it, but for some great and wonderful reason, starting softly and getting louder, we started singing Donovan\'s \"Mellow Yellow.\"\n\n<em>\"I\'m just mad about saffron ...\"</em>\n\nGood times?\n\nNo, great times.','','','inherit','open','open','','264-revision','','','2010-02-20 23:18:15','2010-02-21 07:18:15','',264,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=265',0,'revision','',0),(266,1,'2010-02-20 23:19:15','2010-02-21 07:19:15','The first time I saw this building, I was 19 years old and I thought it was the coolest place in the world.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_263\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"211\" caption=\"The old Delt house at GWU\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-263\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3g252j3c-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt was September 1969 and I had just gone back to college for my second try, commuting from home to George Washington University in the Washington neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom.\n\nI had had a miserable three semesters at the University of Virginia, where I had started when I was 17 going on 13. At least that was where my social maturity level was. I wasn\'t a good fit with what a lot of people called one of the top party schools in the country, so I tried an urban school that was heavily populated with Jewish kids from New York and the other mid-Atlantic states.\n\nThe building on the right, which looks old and run-down now, was almost brand-new that fall. It housed Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and the brothers of the fraternity noticed me -- and were impressed -- by my performance in a pickup football game on the quad. They invited me to pledge, which might have been the single greatest thing that had happened to me up to that point in my life.\n\n<em>Things hadn\'t been all that exciting up till then.</em>\n\nThe next three months or so were a wonderful experience, although I sort of messed things up by enjoying fraternity life too much and not concentrating on my classes. I have so many amazing memories from that time -- late-night Diplomacy games, the eating contest (which no one ever won), some great parties and yes, even some hazing.\n\nI met the lovely Betsy Custis at a Delt party and dated her for much of that fall. Just before Christmas, I met Shelley Marcus, and we wound up being each other\'s first love in the spring of 1970.\n\nAlas, my grades were too bad and I never made it past pledging. Eight years later, at George Mason University, I was part of a group that founded a chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon on campus, and Sig Ep became my lifetime fraternity.\n\nBut I was older then, and I was married. It wasn\'t the same thrill as it had been walking into the Delt house on a Saturday night, or standing in the basement with the other members of my pledge class. The brothers were meeting one floor up, and we had been ordered to stand in a line and be completely silent.\n\nThat didn\'t last long.\n\nI don\'t know who it was who started it, but for some great and wonderful reason, starting softly and getting louder, we started singing Donovan\'s \"Mellow Yellow.\"\n\n<em>\"I\'m just mad about saffron ...\"</em>\n\nGood times?\n\nNo, great times.','Old memories are some of the best ones','','inherit','open','open','','264-autosave','','','2010-02-20 23:19:15','2010-02-21 07:19:15','',264,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=266',0,'revision','',0),(267,1,'2010-02-22 20:12:20','2010-02-23 04:12:20','I haven\'t known all that many movie stars in my life.\r\n\r\nThe one I did know, I didn\'t know he had been in the movies until I had known him for a while. If that sounds odd -- and it seems as if there are too many \"knows\" in the sentence -- you have to understand the situation. I came to Southern California in the spring of 1990 to cover professional sports for a newspaper in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles. At my first few Dodger games, I noticed that there was a <em>lot</em> of media in the clubhouse after games.\r\n\r\nThere were all sorts of newspaper reporters, some television guys and more than a few radio reporters. Some of them worked for local radio stations and some for national networks. Biff Elliot was an older man -- 66 at the time; I was 40 -- and he was stringing for CBS Radio. He\'d go into the clubhouse after games, get some sound bites from the players and then upload them to CBS for play all over the country.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_268\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"100\" caption=\"Biff Elliott\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biff.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-268\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biff.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"124\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIf you know sports journalism, you know that print reporters tend to look down on the electronic media. It takes a lot more creativity to write a game story than just to stick a microphone in and get some quotes. Biff was seen as kind of goofy for the long, involved questions he would ask, but he was a nice guy and I never ragged on him the way some people did.\r\n\r\nLater that summer, I was covering the then-Los Angeles Rams at their practice facility in Anaheim. The routine was pretty standard. Reporters wandered in at 11 or so, and waited for the team to break from its morning practice at noon so that we could get interviews.\r\n\r\nFor some reason, I don\'t remember why, I found myself having a conversation with Biff one morning as we waited for practice to end. I was amazed by what a fascinating life he had led. He had been an actor in both television and movies from the early 1950s to the mid 1980s, and he had some famous friends -- Jack Lemmon, Tennessee Williams and Clifford Odets.\r\n\r\nHe told me a story of how he had basically sat beside Odets\' deathbed in the final days of the playwright\'s life. I wish I remembered more about what he told me, but it was 20 years ago and I\'m nearly as old now as he was then.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_269\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Biff&#39;s greatest role\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Biff_Elliot.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-269\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Biff_Elliot-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe told me had had played the lead in \"I The Jury,\" a 3-D movie made about Mickey Spillane\'s famous detective, Mike Hammer, and that he had made guest appearances on most of the great television shows of the \'50s and \'60s.\r\n\r\nI was enthralled, and 40 minutes passed very quickly. When the Rams were breaking from practice, Biff turned to me and said, \"Thank you for listening to me.\"\r\n\r\nI was surprised to hear it, but I responded quickly. \"No, it was my pleasure.\"\r\n\r\nHe looked at me gratefully. \"You see, when you get older, you get the feeling that a lot of people wish you would just go away.\"\r\n\r\nI stopped covering professional sports in the mid \'90s, and I haven\'t seen Biff since then. I looked him up on the Internet Movie Database, and at least according to <a title=\"Biff Elliott\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254187/\" target=\"_self\">IMDB</a>, he\'s still alive and going on 87.\r\n\r\nI wouldn\'t have any idea how to get in touch with him, and I doubt he would remember me if I did, but I\'ll never forget him.\r\n\r\nHe\'s <em>my</em> movie star.','Finding stars in the strangest places','','publish','open','open','','finding-stars-in-the-strangest-places','','','2010-02-22 20:12:20','2010-02-23 04:12:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=267',0,'post','',0),(268,1,'2010-02-22 19:58:06','2010-02-23 03:58:06','','biff','Biff Elliott','inherit','open','open','','biff','','','2010-02-22 19:58:06','2010-02-23 03:58:06','',267,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biff.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(269,1,'2010-02-22 20:06:28','2010-02-23 04:06:28','','Biff_Elliot','Biff\'s greatest role','inherit','open','open','','biff_elliot','','','2010-02-22 20:06:28','2010-02-23 04:06:28','',267,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Biff_Elliot.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(270,1,'2010-02-22 20:11:29','2010-02-23 04:11:29','I haven\'t known all that many movie stars in my life.\n\nThe one I did know, I didn\'t know he had been in the movies until I had known him for a while. If that sounds odd -- and it seems as if there are too many \"knows\" in the sentence -- you have to understand the situation. I came to Southern California in the spring of 1990 to cover professional sports for a newspaper in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles. At my first few Dodger games, I noticed that there was a <em>lot</em> of media in the clubhouse after games.\n\nThere were all sorts of newspaper reporters, some television guys and more than a few radio reporters. Some of them worked for local radio stations and some for national networks. Biff Elliot was an older man -- 66 at the time; I was 40 -- and he was stringing for CBS Radio. He\'d go into the clubhouse after games, get some sound bites from the players and then upload them to CBS for play all over the country.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_268\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"100\" caption=\"Biff Elliott\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biff.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-268\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biff.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"124\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf you know sports journalism, you know that print reporters tend to look down on the electronic media. It takes a lot more creativity to write a game story than just to stick a microphone in and get some quotes. Biff was seen as kind of goofy for the long, involved questions he would ask, but he was a nice guy and I never ragged on him the way some people did.\n\nLater that summer, I was covering the then-Los Angeles Rams at their practice facility in Anaheim. The routine was pretty standard. Reporters wandered in at 11 or so, and waited for the team to break from its morning practice at noon so that we could get interviews.\n\nFor some reason, I don\'t remember why, I found myself having a conversation with Biff one morning as we waited for practice to end. I was amazed by what a fascinating life he had led. He had been an actor in both television and movies from the early 1950s to the mid 1980s, and he had some famous friends -- Jack Lemmon, Tennessee Williams and Clifford Odets.\n\nHe told me a story of how he had basically sat beside Odets\' deathbed in the final days of the playwright\'s life. I wish I remembered more about what he told me, but it was 20 years ago and I\'m nearly as old now as he was then.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_269\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Biff&#39;s greatest role\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Biff_Elliot.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-269\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Biff_Elliot-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe told me had had played the lead in \"I The Jury,\" a 3-D movie made about Mickey Spillane\'s famous detective, Mike Hammer, and that he had made guest appearances on most of the great television shows of the \'50s and \'60s.\n\nI was enthralled, and 40 minutes passed very quickly. When the Rams were breaking from practice, Biff turned to me and said, \"Thank you for listening to me.\"\n\nI was surprised to hear it, but I responded quickly. \"No, it was my pleasure.\"\n\nHe looked at me gratefully. \"You see, when you get older, you get the feeling that a lot of people wish you would just go away.\"\n\nI stopped covering professional sports in the mid \'90s, and I haven\'t seen Biff since then. I looked him up on the Internet Movie Database, and at least according to <a title=\"Biff Elliott\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254187/\" target=\"_self\">IMDB</a>, he\'s still alive and going on 87.\n\nI wouldn\'t have any idea how to get in touch with him, and I doubt he would remember me if I did, but I\'ll never forget him.\n\nHe\'s <em>my</em> movie star.','','','inherit','open','open','','267-revision','','','2010-02-22 20:11:29','2010-02-23 04:11:29','',267,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=270',0,'revision','',0),(271,1,'2010-02-27 14:50:54','2010-02-27 22:50:54','Memory is the strangest thing, but some of the things we remember ought to tell us to be very, very careful.\r\n\r\nIt\'s particularly true with television, which seems to hammer memories of totally trivial things deep into our subconscious mind. For example, I didn\'t even like the television show \"The Brady Bunch,\" but I have no trouble remembering all the words to the theme song.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_272\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Unforgettable?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-272\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThere\'s just no reason for that.\r\n\r\nNor is there any reason that when I\'m listening to the Sixties channel on my Sirius/XM radio, I can remember the lyrics to almost every song I heard more than five times back then -- whether I liked it or not.\r\n\r\nIt\'s even true of the Seventies.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Indiana wants me, but I can\'t go back there ...\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Everybody was kung-fu fighting ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nYet almost every time I leave the house with two or three errands to run, I forget whatever it was I needed to take along for one of them. I suppose part of it might be the difference between short-term memory and long-term memory, but it <em>offends</em> me that I would have no trouble remembering the names of the members of the Jackson Five.\r\n\r\nThere are two people in the world other than myself whose Social Security numbers I know from memory, and one of them is someone I haven\'t seen for nearly 28 years. I remember the phone numbers of my two closest friends from high school, and that was more than 40 years ago.\r\n\r\nMy head is so full of <em>garbage</em> that it\'s a wonder I remember my own name sometimes.\r\n\r\nI was answering a message from an old friend who said she didn\'t remember that she had met someone who was another friend of mine. I didn\'t remember exactly when we had met or what movie it was we all saw together, but I had a picture in my mind of the theater where we saw the movie.\r\n\r\nStrange? I don\'t know anymore. I know I have absolutely no memory of the year I spent in fifth grade (1959-60), but I have some fairly vivid memories of third grade two years earlier. Go figure.\r\n\r\nOf course, third grade was the first time I ever got trashed by a girl I liked.\r\n\r\nThose memories <em>never</em> go away.','Is there anything stranger than memory?','','publish','open','open','','is-there-anything-stranger-than-memory','','','2010-02-27 14:50:54','2010-02-27 22:50:54','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=271',0,'post','',0),(272,1,'2010-02-27 14:39:00','2010-02-27 22:39:00','','6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi','Unforgettable?','inherit','open','open','','6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi','','','2010-02-27 14:39:00','2010-02-27 22:39:00','',271,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(273,1,'2010-02-27 14:49:55','2010-02-27 22:49:55','Memory is the strangest thing, but some of the things we remember ought to tell us to be very, very careful.\n\nIt\'s particularly true with television, which seems to hammer memories of totally trivial things deep into our subconscious mind. For example, I didn\'t even like the television show \"The Brady Bunch,\" but I have no trouble remembering all the words to the theme song.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_272\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Unforgettable?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-272\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere\'s just no reason for that.\n\nNor is there any reason that when I\'m listening to the Sixties channel on my Sirius/XM radio, I can remember the lyrics to almost every song I heard more than five times back then -- whether I liked it or not.\n\nIt\'s even true of the Seventies.\n\n<em>\"Indiana wants me, but I can\'t go back there ...\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Everybody was kung-fu fighting ...\"</em>\n\nYet almost every time I leave the house with two or three errands to run, I forget whatever it was I needed to take along for one of them. I suppose part of it might be the difference between short-term memory and long-term memory, but it <em>offends</em> me that I would have no trouble remembering the names of the members of the Jackson Five.\n\nThere are two people in the world other than myself whose Social Security numbers I know from memory, and one of them is someone I haven\'t seen for nearly 28 years. I remember the phone numbers of my two closest friends from high school, and that was more than 40 years ago.\n\nMy head is so full of <em>garbage</em> that it\'s a wonder I remember my own name sometimes.\n\nI was answering a message from an old friend who said she didn\'t remember that she had met someone who was another friend of mine. I didn\'t remember exactly when we had met or what movie it was we all saw together, but I had a picture in my mind of the theater where we saw the movie.\n\nStrange? I don\'t know anymore. I know I have absolutely no memory of the year I spent in fifth grade (1959-60), but I have some fairly vivid memories of third grade two years earlier. Go figure.\n\nOf course, third grade was the first time I ever got trashed by a girl I liked.','','','inherit','open','open','','271-revision','','','2010-02-27 14:49:55','2010-02-27 22:49:55','',271,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=273',0,'revision','',0),(274,1,'2010-02-27 14:50:55','2010-02-27 22:50:55','Memory is the strangest thing, but some of the things we remember ought to tell us to be very, very careful.\n\nIt\'s particularly true with television, which seems to hammer memories of totally trivial things deep into our subconscious mind. For example, I didn\'t even like the television show \"The Brady Bunch,\" but I have no trouble remembering all the words to the theme song.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_272\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Unforgettable?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-272\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6a00d8345206dd69e200e5506ca0428833-800wi-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere\'s just no reason for that.\n\nNor is there any reason that when I\'m listening to the Sixties channel on my Sirius/XM radio, I can remember the lyrics to almost every song I heard more than five times back then -- whether I liked it or not.\n\nIt\'s even true of the Seventies.\n\n<em>\"Indiana wants me, but I can\'t go back there ...\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Everybody was kung-fu fighting ...\"</em>\n\nYet almost every time I leave the house with two or three errands to run, I forget whatever it was I needed to take along for one of them. I suppose part of it might be the difference between short-term memory and long-term memory, but it <em>offends</em> me that I would have no trouble remembering the names of the members of the Jackson Five.\n\nThere are two people in the world other than myself whose Social Security numbers I know from memory, and one of them is someone I haven\'t seen for nearly 28 years. I remember the phone numbers of my two closest friends from high school, and that was more than 40 years ago.\n\nMy head is so full of <em>garbage</em> that it\'s a wonder I remember my own name sometimes.\n\nI was answering a message from an old friend who said she didn\'t remember that she had met someone who was another friend of mine. I didn\'t remember exactly when we had met or what movie it was we all saw together, but I had a picture in my mind of the theater where we saw the movie.\n\nStrange? I don\'t know anymore. I know I have absolutely no memory of the year I spent in fifth grade (1959-60), but I have some fairly vivid memories of third grade two years earlier. Go figure.\n\nOf course, third grade was the first time I ever got trashed by a girl I liked.\n\nThose memories <em>never</em> go away.','Is there anything stranger than memory?','','inherit','open','open','','271-autosave','','','2010-02-27 14:50:55','2010-02-27 22:50:55','',271,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=274',0,'revision','',0),(302,1,'2010-03-31 19:14:55','2010-04-01 02:14:55','Imagine a show that included the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and Marvin Gaye.\n\nRock \'n\' roll heaven, indeed. But then add Gerry and the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, all at the height of their popularity.\n\nOh, yeah. And then add Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes and the Rolling Stones.\n\nIt\'s almost unimaginable to picture the T.A.M.I. Show, which on October 29, 1964, graced the stage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Seven of the 11 acts have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I had heard of the performance, which was made into a movie that had a limited release, but I never saw it until today. For some reason, it was never released for home video and rarely played on television until it was made into a DVD this year.\n\nIt\'s odd to look at the screaming audience of teenage girls and realize all of them are at least in their 60\'s now. It\'s sort of like meeting an old man and having him tell you he was at Woodstock. There\'s a cognitive dissonance that it\'s hard to get past.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_301\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"247\" caption=\"James Brown in 1964\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/061225_james_brown_rip_b.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-301\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/061225_james_brown_rip_b-247x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt has long been known that the real show-stopping performance in Santa Monica was by James Brown, and indeed, the Rolling Stones were reportedly very annoyed at having to follow him onstage.\n\nHe was a little older than the other performers -- 31 in 1964 -- and it was obvious that the Hardest Working Man in Show Business was at the peak of his powers. Most of the Southern California teens in the auditorium probably hadn\'t had all that much exposure to his music -- Motown was just getting big, and Brown was harder-edged than that -- but there was no question he won them over.\n\nFor as little known as it is, the T.A.M.I. Show -- it stood for Teen Age Music International, later changed to Teenage Awards Music International -- was probably the greatest aggregation of talent in one show until Woodstock five years later.\n\nIt\'s a great show, and damn, the music always does take me back.\n\nIt always does make me feel better.\n\nIt\'s almost automatic.','\'T.A.M.I Show\' a great \'forgotten\' concert','','inherit','open','open','','300-revision','','','2010-03-31 19:14:55','2010-04-01 02:14:55','',300,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=302',0,'revision','',0),(281,1,'2010-03-01 23:05:49','2010-03-02 07:05:49','My dad was ill for most of the last five years of his life.\r\n\r\nIndeed, there were times that if good medical care had been more than a few minutes away, he might not have made it. That\'s why one piece of advice he gave me has really stuck with me -- to make sure when we decided where we were going to retire that there was good medical care close at hand.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why when we shifted our attention away from Virginia and looked farther south, when we were trying to decide between Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Fort Mill, S.C., we realized that neither of them passed a very important test. Even though Mt. Juliet is just outside Nashville and Fort Mill is five miles or so from Charlotte, N.C., neither had what my wife wanted as far as health care.\r\n\r\nWe have had a Blue Cross HMO for most of our marriage. For a good part of the time, it worked out fine. But as we have gotten older, as we have had more need for specialists and we have occasionally had trouble getting referrals. So Nicole decided that she wants to shift to Kaiser Permanente for our retirement, and neither Tennessee nor South Carolina has Kaiser.\r\n\r\nGeorgia, however, does.\r\n<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nGeorgia also has a <a href=\"http://www.pulte.com/delwebb/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\">Del Webb community</a> just south of Atlanta -- about 35 miles south -- that has fantastic home prices.\r\n\r\nWe\'re going to be able to get more house than we would have had in Virginia for about $40,000 less than we would have spent up there.\r\n\r\nThe community is built around a golf course, which really appeals to me, and one very nice side benefit is that for the first time in nearly 30 years, I\'ll be living within a half day\'s drive of my very good friend Bill Madden. He\'s in North Florida, and I figure he ought to be able to come up for golf once or twice a month.\r\n\r\nIt will be strange to be back in the East. I have lived in the Pacific Time Zone for nearly 22 years, and the last time I lived in the East was 1984, when I was in Anderson, S.C.\r\n\r\nOne thing is sort of odd. I have lived in so many places in my lifetime that I have no idea where I would want to be buried. I might be cremated, but I\'d hate to have my kids having to lug my ashes around the world. I don\'t think I\'d impose that on anyone.\r\n\r\nSo Georgia?\r\n\r\nCould be interesting.\r\n\r\nI\'ll definitely have to become a Braves fan, but there\'s no way I\'m going to root for the Falcons, the Hawks or the Thrashers.\r\n\r\nBut hey, how \'bout them Dawgs!','Looks like Georgia is on my mind','','publish','open','open','','looks-like-georgia-is-on-my-mind','','','2010-03-01 23:19:15','2010-03-02 07:19:15','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=281',0,'post','',0),(282,1,'2010-03-01 23:05:01','2010-03-02 07:05:01','My dad was ill for most of the last five years of his life.\n\nIndeed, there were times that if good medical care had been more than a few minutes away, he might not have made it. That\'s why one piece of advice he gave me has really stuck with me -- to make sure when we decided where we were going to retire that there was good medical care close at hand.\n\nThat\'s why when we shifted our attention away from Virginia and looked farther south, when we were trying to decide between Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Fort Mill, S.C., we realized that neither of them passed a very important test. Even though Mt. Juliet is just outside Nashville and Fort Mill is five miles or so from Charlotte, N.C., neither had what my wife wanted as far as health care.\n\nWe have had a Blue Cross HMO for most of our marriage. For a good part of the time, it worked out fine. But as we have gotten older, as we have had more need for specialists and we have occasionally had trouble getting referrals. So Nicole decided that she wants to shift to Kaiser Permanente for our retirement, and neither Tennessee nor South Carolina has Kaiser.\n\nGeorgia, however, does.<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nGeorgia also has a Del Webb community just south of Atlanta -- about 35 miles south -- that has fantastic home prices.\n\nWe\'re going to be able to get more house than we would have had in Virginia for about $40,000 less than we would have spend up there.','','','inherit','open','open','','281-revision','','','2010-03-01 23:05:01','2010-03-02 07:05:01','',281,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=282',0,'revision','',0),(283,1,'2010-03-01 23:19:11','2010-03-02 07:19:11','My dad was ill for most of the last five years of his life.\n\nIndeed, there were times that if good medical care had been more than a few minutes away, he might not have made it. That\'s why one piece of advice he gave me has really stuck with me -- to make sure when we decided where we were going to retire that there was good medical care close at hand.\n\nThat\'s why when we shifted our attention away from Virginia and looked farther south, when we were trying to decide between Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Fort Mill, S.C., we realized that neither of them passed a very important test. Even though Mt. Juliet is just outside Nashville and Fort Mill is five miles or so from Charlotte, N.C., neither had what my wife wanted as far as health care.\n\nWe have had a Blue Cross HMO for most of our marriage. For a good part of the time, it worked out fine. But as we have gotten older, as we have had more need for specialists and we have occasionally had trouble getting referrals. So Nicole decided that she wants to shift to Kaiser Permanente for our retirement, and neither Tennessee nor South Carolina has Kaiser.\n\nGeorgia, however, does.\n<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nGeorgia also has a <a href=\"http://www.pulte.com/delwebb/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx\">Del Webb community</a> just south of Atlanta -- about 35 miles south -- that has fantastic home prices.\n\nWe\'re going to be able to get more house than we would have had in Virginia for about $40,000 less than we would have spent up there.\n\nThe community is built around a golf course, which really appeals to me, and one very nice side benefit is that for the first time in nearly 30 years, I\'ll be living within a half day\'s drive of my very good friend Bill Madden. He\'s in North Florida, and I figure he ought to be able to come up for golf once or twice a month.\n\nIt will be strange to be back in the East. I have lived in the Pacific Time Zone for nearly 22 years, and the last time I lived in the East was 1984, when I was in Anderson, S.C.\n\nOne thing is sort of odd. I have lived in so many places in my lifetime that I have no idea where I would want to be buried. I might be cremated, but I\'d hate to have my kids having to lug my ashes around the world. I don\'t think I\'d impose that on anyone.\n\nSo Georgia?\n\nCould be interesting.\n\nI\'ll definitely have to become a Braves fan, but there\'s no way I\'m going to root for the Falcons, the Hawks or the Thrashers.\n\nBut hey, how \'bout them Dawgs!','Looks like Georgia is on my mind','','inherit','open','open','','281-autosave','','','2010-03-01 23:19:11','2010-03-02 07:19:11','',281,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=283',0,'revision','',0),(284,1,'2010-03-01 23:05:49','2010-03-02 07:05:49','My dad was ill for most of the last five years of his life.\r\n\r\nIndeed, there were times that if good medical care had been more than a few minutes away, he might not have made it. That\'s why one piece of advice he gave me has really stuck with me -- to make sure when we decided where we were going to retire that there was good medical care close at hand.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why when we shifted our attention away from Virginia and looked farther south, when we were trying to decide between Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Fort Mill, S.C., we realized that neither of them passed a very important test. Even though Mt. Juliet is just outside Nashville and Fort Mill is five miles or so from Charlotte, N.C., neither had what my wife wanted as far as health care.\r\n\r\nWe have had a Blue Cross HMO for most of our marriage. For a good part of the time, it worked out fine. But as we have gotten older, as we have had more need for specialists and we have occasionally had trouble getting referrals. So Nicole decided that she wants to shift to Kaiser Permanente for our retirement, and neither Tennessee nor South Carolina has Kaiser.\r\n\r\nGeorgia, however, does.<object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" 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/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/gyIt3atHEjQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nGeorgia also has a Del Webb community just south of Atlanta -- about 35 miles south -- that has fantastic home prices.\r\n\r\nWe\'re going to be able to get more house than we would have had in Virginia for about $40,000 less than we would have spend up there.','Looks like Georgia is on my mind','','inherit','open','open','','281-revision-2','','','2010-03-01 23:05:49','2010-03-02 07:05:49','',281,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=284',0,'revision','',0),(303,1,'2010-04-02 20:36:31','2010-04-03 03:36:31','I\'m sort of fascinated with the<a title=\"Apple\'s iPad\" href=\"http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/\" target=\"_self\"> iPad</a>, which will be released tomorrow by Apple.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_304\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"204\" caption=\"Apple&#39;s iPad\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/overview_safari_20100225.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-304\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/overview_safari_20100225-204x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'m not going to buy one right away -- for the same reason I have never bought a car the first year it\'s out. I figure there will always be bugs to be worked out, and besides, switching to an Apple product will be a big change for me. I have used PC\'s ever since I bought my first computer in 1989.\r\n\r\nThat one was a doozy, with a 286 processor and no hard drive. That\'s right, no hard drive. Everything had to be saved to 5.25-inch floppy disks.\r\n\r\nIt\'s interesting. Except for losing a special offer I received in the mail, I probably would have used Apple products all along. When I was working for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1985, I received an offer as a journalist to buy the newest Apple computer -- I think it was the II-C, or something like that.\r\n\r\nIt would have cost me $2,500, but I wouldn\'t have had to make any down payment. In those days I was all about the \"EZ credit terms.\"\r\n\r\nAt any rate, I lost the paper that the offer was written on, and it was four years and two more stops before I bought my first computer.\r\n\r\nI\'m writing this on a PC, and my five-year-old laptop is a PC as well. I\'ve used Macs at work from time to time, but I\'ve never been as fascinated with them as some people are. I know my wife loves them, but they\'re better for a lot of the things she has to do and I don\'t do -- calculations and graphics.\r\n\r\nMe, I\'m happy with being able to go on the Internet, use Microsoft Word and play a little <a title=\"Civilization IV\" href=\"http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy\" target=\"_self\">Civilization IV</a> from time to time.\r\n\r\nBut the iPad does fascinate me. It weighs 1.5 points, is half an inch thick and the top of the line model sells for $849.\r\n\r\nIt does a lot of the same things an iPhone does, but there again, I don\'t have an iPhone. I\'m a BlackBerry person, and I truly love my BlackBerry Storm.\r\n\r\nStill, I figure sometime this summer I might pick one up.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t had a new toy for a while.','iPad might turn me into an Apple user','','publish','open','open','','ipad-might-turn-me-into-an-apple-user','','','2010-04-02 20:36:31','2010-04-03 03:36:31','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=303',0,'post','',0),(285,1,'2010-03-12 19:15:22','2010-03-13 03:15:22','So where exactly is Griffin, Ga.?\r\n\r\nThat\'s a question I would have had no chance of answering without Map Quest before last week. I still haven\'t been there, but I think I\'ve been within five miles or so.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_286\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"South central on the map\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/griffinmap.gif\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-286\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/griffinmap-300x228.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNicole and I made the trek across the country, courtesy of frequent flier miles and some exceedingly strange flights and found the home where we hope to spend the remainder of our lives. It was certainly odd to have to fly to Atlanta by way of San Diego (it\'s a 28-minute flight from LAX), but what part of free don\'t you understand?\r\n\r\nOddly, we found ourselves in Georgia on a NASCAR weekend, looking at a home that is less than 10 miles from Atlanta Motor Speedway. It won\'t really matter. Most of the big super speedways are only in use three or four weekends a year, and who knows, we might actually want to go to a race one of these years.\r\n\r\nOne thing is truly amazing about Georgia compared to where we\'ve been living. The cost of living is ridiculously low, starting with home prices. The home we\'re buying is about 50 percent less than it would be in a comparable Del Webb community in California, and indeed, we got more house than we were considering in Virginia for a price 25 percent lower.\r\n\r\nWe didn\'t check out prices on a lot of things, but gas prices are about 40-50 cents a gallon lower than they are here in California. That will matter some, but once we\'re retired, I don\'t know how much driving we\'ll be doing.\r\n\r\nOne thing that\'s wonderful is that we\'ll not only be able to pay cash for the house, we\'ll also have money left over for the decorating Nicole wants to do.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_287\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sun City Peachtree\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-287\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI love the fact that the houses are built around an 18-hole golf course, even though the lot we bought will not have a golf course view. I\'m looking forward to playing two or three times a week, although I\'m a little nervous about having to find new golfing buddies after all these years.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. From the late \'70s until 1990, I seemed to be moving to a different state every other year. But now the thought of moving seems strange. I\'ve been in the L.A. area for 20 years now, and we probably would have stayed in California except that our retirement money will go much further in the South.\r\n\r\nIt\'ll be nice to be closer to the rest of my family again, although I have to be honest. For me, home and family is wherever Nicole is.\r\n\r\nI\'m just glad she likes the idea of moving to Georgia.','We\'ve found our home south of Atlanta','','publish','open','open','','weve-found-our-home-south-of-atlanta','','','2010-03-12 19:15:22','2010-03-13 03:15:22','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=285',0,'post','',0),(286,1,'2010-03-12 18:51:25','2010-03-13 02:51:25','','griffinmap','South central on the map','inherit','open','open','','griffinmap','','','2010-03-12 18:51:25','2010-03-13 02:51:25','',285,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/griffinmap.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(287,1,'2010-03-12 19:06:28','2010-03-13 03:06:28','','GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL','Sun City Peachtree','inherit','open','open','','ga-1039-cg-suncitypeachtreemain-01-pigil','','','2010-03-12 19:06:28','2010-03-13 03:06:28','',285,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(288,1,'2010-03-12 19:15:11','2010-03-13 03:15:11','So where exactly is Griffin, Ga.?\n\nThat\'s a question I would have had no chance of answering without Map Quest before last week. I still haven\'t been there, but I think I\'ve been within five miles or so.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_286\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"South central on the map\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/griffinmap.gif\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-286\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/griffinmap-300x228.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNicole and I made the trek across the country, courtesy of frequent flier miles and some exceedingly strange flights and found the home where we hope to spend the remainder of our lives. It was certainly odd to have to fly to Atlanta by way of San Diego (it\'s a 28-minute flight from LAX), but what part of free don\'t you understand?\n\nOddly, we found ourselves in Georgia on a NASCAR weekend, looking at a home that is less than 10 miles from Atlanta Motor Speedway. It won\'t really matter. Most of the big super speedways are only in use three or four weekends a year, and who knows, we might actually want to go to a race one of these years.\n\nOne thing is truly amazing about Georgia compared to where we\'ve been living. The cost of living is ridiculously low, starting with home prices. The home we\'re buying is about 50 percent less than it would be in a comparable Del Webb community in California, and indeed, we got more house than we were considering in Virginia for a price 25 percent lower.\n\nWe didn\'t check out prices on a lot of things, but gas prices are about 40-50 cents a gallon lower than they are here in California. That will matter some, but once we\'re retired, I don\'t know how much driving we\'ll be doing.\n\nOne thing that\'s wonderful is that we\'ll not only be able to pay cash for the house, we\'ll also have money left over for the decorating Nicole wants to do.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_287\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sun City Peachtree\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-287\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GA-1039-CG-SunCityPeachtreeMain-01-PIGIL-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI love the fact that the houses are built around an 18-hole golf course, even though the lot we bought will not have a golf course view. I\'m looking forward to playing two or three times a week, although I\'m a little nervous about having to find new golfing buddies after all these years.\n\nIt\'s funny. From the late \'70s until 1990, I seemed to be moving to a different state every other year. But now the thought of moving seems strange. I\'ve been in the L.A. area for 20 years now, and we probably would have stayed in California except that our retirement money will go much further in the South.\n\nIt\'ll be nice to be closer to the rest of my family again, although I have to be honest. For me, home and family is wherever Nicole is.\n\nI\'m just glad she likes the idea of moving to Georgia.','We\'ve found our home ','','inherit','open','open','','285-revision','','','2010-03-12 19:15:11','2010-03-13 03:15:11','',285,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=288',0,'revision','',0),(289,1,'2010-03-13 19:30:01','2010-03-14 03:30:01','I am always amazed by how lucky I am to be a grandparent in the 21st century.\r\n\r\nMy granddaughter was born on the other side of the world, but I heard her voice before she had been in this world for 10 minutes. She slept on my chest when she was only 10 days old, and I have received constant updates through Facebook and e-mails for the last year and a half. I have actually had the opportunity to spend about nine weeks with her so far -- in Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, D.C. -- and little Maddie never fails to amaze me.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_290\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie and Pauline\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/baby.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-290\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/baby-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course, neither does her mother.\r\n\r\nI can honestly say I have never seen anyone show more patience, more love and more consistency with an infant than Pauline has. She and her husband Ryan have done everything they can to make Maddie feel both loved and safe, and it shows.\r\n\r\nOne thing I really appreciate is that she seems to love books, even though she can\'t read yet. She sits and turns the pages herself, and when I was visiting at Christmas, she brought book after book for me to read to her. Since she will be growing up overseas for at least two years out of every three, she probably won\'t pick up the unfortunate habit of watching American television.\r\n\r\nMaddie was walking before she was a year old, and she is talking up a storm now. When you look into her eyes, you can tell there\'s someone home there. I have a feeling she will grow up to be a very intelligent young lady.\r\n\r\nGiven the mother, the grandmother and the great grandmother she has, three amazing women, I don\'t see how she could possbly be anything else.','Amazing baby definitely growing up fast','','publish','open','open','','amazing-baby-definitely-growing-up-fast','','','2010-03-13 19:30:01','2010-03-14 03:30:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=289',0,'post','',0),(290,1,'2010-03-13 19:22:59','2010-03-14 03:22:59','','baby','Maddie and Pauline','inherit','open','open','','baby-2','','','2010-03-13 19:22:59','2010-03-14 03:22:59','',289,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/baby.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(291,1,'2010-03-13 19:29:28','2010-03-14 03:29:28','I am always amazed by how lucky I am to be a grandparent in the 21st century.\n\nMy granddaughter was born on the other side of the world, but I heard her voice before she had been in this world for 10 minutes. She slept on my chest when she was only 10 days old, and I have received constant updates through Facebook and e-mails for the last year and a half. I have actually had the opportunity to spend about nine weeks with her so far -- in Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, D.C. -- and little Maddie never fails to amaze me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_290\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maddie and Pauline\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/baby.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-290\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/baby-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOf course, neither does her mother.\n\nI can honestly say I have never seen anyone show more patience, more love and more consistency with an infant than Pauline has. She and her husband Ryan have done everything they can to make Maddie feel both loved and safe, and it shows.\n\nOne thing I really appreciate is that she seems to love books, even though she can\'t read yet. She sits and turns the pages herself, and when I was visiting at Christmas, she brought book after book for me to read to her. Since she will be growing up overseas for at least two years out of every three, she probably won\'t pick up the unfortunate habit of watching American television.\n\nMaddie was walking before she was a year old, and she is talking up a storm now. When you look into her eyes, you can tell there\'s someone home there. I have a feeling she will grow up to be a very intelligent young lady.\n\nGiven the mother, the grandmother and the great grandmother she has, three amazing women, I don\'t see how she could possbly be anything else.','','','inherit','open','open','','289-revision','','','2010-03-13 19:29:28','2010-03-14 03:29:28','',289,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=291',0,'revision','',0),(292,1,'2010-03-14 22:49:37','2010-03-15 05:49:37','I\'m disappointed.\r\n\r\nI had actually started to believe you could find <em>anything</em> on the Internet.\r\n\r\nBack in the \'70s, I think it was, I saw an amazing cartoon in <em>Playboy</em>. Maybe the funniest one-panel cartoon I have ever seen in my life. It showed a young boy coming home from school. He\'s in the kitchen doorway and he sees his mother laying back on the kitchen table with the milkman on top of her, doing what comes naturally.\r\n\r\nThe kid\'s response was classic:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Hey, we eat on that table!\"</em>\r\n\r\nI thought about it yesterday for the first time in maybe 30 years. Just remembering it made me laugh, and I was hoping to find it on the \'net so that I could share it with you.\r\n\r\nNo luck, though.\r\n\r\nI\'m disappointed.','Not everything can be found on Internet','','publish','open','open','','not-everything-can-be-found-on-internet','','','2010-03-14 22:49:37','2010-03-15 05:49:37','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=292',0,'post','',0),(293,1,'2010-03-14 22:48:43','2010-03-15 05:48:43','I\'m disappointed.\n\nI had actually started to believe you could find <em>anything</em> on the Internet.\n\nBack in the \'70s, I think it was, I saw an amazing cartoon in <em>Playboy</em>. Maybe the funniest one-panel cartoon I have ever seen in my life. It showed a young boy coming home from school. He\'s in the kitchen doorway and he sees his mother laying back on the kitchen table with the milkman on top of her, doing what comes naturally.\n\nThe kid\'s response was classic:\n\n<em>\"Hey, we eat on that table!\"</em>\n\nI thought about it yesterday for the first time in maybe 30 years. Just remembering it made me laugh, and I was','','','inherit','open','open','','292-revision','','','2010-03-14 22:48:43','2010-03-15 05:48:43','',292,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=293',0,'revision','',0),(296,1,'2010-03-27 21:00:41','2010-03-28 04:00:41','It hasn\'t been a great month for this site, but I do have an excuse. I\'ve spent at least part of 12 different days this month on the other side of the country, far from my computer.\r\n\r\nIn fact, we just returned from Georgia a couple of hours ago after being in Griffin all week to close on our retirement home and start making plans for the way we\'ll decorate it. It\'s times like these that my lovely wife Nicole is really in her element. She really enjoys all the planning and decorating; indeed, she got so wrapped up in designing the room that will be her home office that she stayed up all night Tuesday night.\r\n\r\nThat\'s right, all night.\r\n\r\nI found out some interesting things myself. I had my BlackBerry with me in Georgia, and I was fooling around on the Internet and called up this site. \"One Voice\" is actually set up pretty well for mobile phones, PDAs, etc., although the video links I\'ve used from YouTube don\'t seem to show up.\r\n\r\nWe\'ll have to work on that.\r\n\r\nSorry this is such a nothing post. It\'s mostly just to let y\'all know I haven\'t abandoned you.\r\n\r\nApril will be a <em>much</em> better month.','Back again from Georgia after another visit','','inherit','open','open','','294-revision-2','','','2010-03-27 21:00:41','2010-03-28 04:00:41','',294,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=296',0,'revision','',0),(297,1,'2010-03-29 20:36:15','2010-03-30 03:36:15','','DSC_0208','From the front to the back','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0208','','','2010-03-29 20:36:15','2010-03-30 03:36:15','',298,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_0208.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(298,1,'2010-03-29 20:48:04','2010-03-30 03:48:04','It\'s a very strange feeling to sit on the floor in an empty house and know that you will be one of the first two people ever to live in it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_297\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"From the front to the back\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_0208.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-297\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_0208-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy wife and I bought a house last week, a brand new house in which we hope to live for the rest of our lives. No one else has ever lived in it and no one will for as long as we\'re there. We will design it to our own style -- actually Nicole will design it to her own style, but that\'s fine with me -- and we will enjoy the heck out of it.\r\n\r\nThere\'s plenty of room for children and grandchildren to visit, even if we are only planning to use one of the two extra bedrooms as a guest room. We\'ll have two bedrooms, two offices and plenty of space for living in the rest of the house.\r\n\r\nIf you look all the way to the back of the photo, you\'ll see that we also have a sun room. It\'s a good-sized room -- about 150 square feet -- and it\'ll be a nice place to relax at the end of the day.\r\n\r\nThe only strange part of it all is that it will be nearly a year until we actually occupy the house. We\'ll be spending the next summer, fall and winter here in California and then moving across the country to our new home in Georgia early next year.\r\n\r\nIt\'s odd. I actually met several of our neighbors and talked with them, but it will be a tremendous accomplishment if I remember their names until next year.\r\n\r\nBy the time we move, I will have spent nearly 21 years living in Southern California. I spent 15 years planning to work my way across the country and accomplishing it, and I never imagined that I would ever move back. But California in 2010 isn\'t what it was 40 years ago or even 20, and except for a few things, I don\'t think I will miss it all that much.\r\n\r\nNo, I think I will enjoy living in Georgia a lot.\r\n\r\nThe people are very nice, and in the two visits we have made this month, Nicole and I have seen nothing but hospitality and graciousness.\r\n\r\nI think a little of that is just what we need.','A new home, a blank canvas to fill','','publish','open','open','','a-new-home-a-blank-canvas-to-fill','','','2010-03-29 20:48:04','2010-03-30 03:48:04','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=298',0,'post','',0),(299,1,'2010-03-29 20:47:32','2010-03-30 03:47:32','It\'s a very strange feeling to sit on the floor in an empty house and know that you will be one of the first two people ever to live in it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_297\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"From the front to the back\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_0208.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-297\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_0208-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy wife and I bought a house last week, a brand new house in which we hope to live for the rest of our lives. No one else has ever lived in it and no one will for as long as we\'re there. We will design it to our own style -- actually Nicole will design it to her own style, but that\'s fine with me -- and we will enjoy the heck out of it.\n\nThere\'s plenty of room for children and grandchildren to visit, even if we are only planning to use one of the two extra bedrooms as a guest room. We\'ll have two bedrooms, two offices and plenty of space for living in the rest of the house.\n\nIf you look all the way to the back of the photo, you\'ll see that we also have a sun room. It\'s a good-sized room -- about 150 square feet -- and it\'ll be a nice place to relax at the end of the day.\n\nThe only strange part of it all is that it will be nearly a year until we actually occupy the house. We\'ll be spending the next summer, fall and winter here in California and then moving across the country to our new home in Georgia early next year.\n\nIt\'s odd. I actually met several of our neighbors and talked with them, but it will be a tremendous accomplishment if I remember their names until next year.\n\nBy the time we move, I will have spent nearly 21 years living in Southern California. I spent 15 years planning to work my way across the country and accomplishing it, and I never imagined that I would ever move back. But California in 2010 isn\'t what it was 40 years ago or even 20, and except for a few things, I don\'t think I will miss it all that much.\n\nNo, I think I will enjoy living in Georgia a lot.\n\nThe people are very nice, and in the two visits we have made this month, Nicole and I have seen nothing but hospitality and graciousness.\n\nI think a little of that is just what we need.','','','inherit','open','open','','298-revision','','','2010-03-29 20:47:32','2010-03-30 03:47:32','',298,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=299',0,'revision','',0),(304,1,'2010-04-02 20:24:37','2010-04-03 03:24:37','','overview_safari_20100225','Apple\'s iPad','inherit','open','open','','overview_safari_20100225','','','2010-04-02 20:24:37','2010-04-03 03:24:37','',303,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/overview_safari_20100225.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(305,1,'2010-04-02 20:36:28','2010-04-03 03:36:28','I\'m sort of fascinated with the<a title=\"Apple\'s iPad\" href=\"http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/\" target=\"_self\"> iPad</a>, which will be released tomorrow by Apple.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_304\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"204\" caption=\"Apple&#39;s iPad\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/overview_safari_20100225.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-304\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/overview_safari_20100225-204x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m not going to buy one right away -- for the same reason I have never bought a car the first year it\'s out. I figure there will always be bugs to be worked out, and besides, switching to an Apple product will be a big change for me. I have used PC\'s ever since I bought my first computer in 1989.\n\nThat one was a doozy, with a 286 processor and no hard drive. That\'s right, no hard drive. Everything had to be saved to 5.25-inch floppy disks.\n\nIt\'s interesting. Except for losing a special offer I received in the mail, I probably would have used Apple products all along. When I was working for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1985, I received an offer as a journalist to buy the newest Apple computer -- I think it was the II-C, or something like that.\n\nIt would have cost me $2,500, but I wouldn\'t have had to make any down payment. In those days I was all about the \"EZ credit terms.\"\n\nAt any rate, I lost the paper that the offer was written on, and it was four years and two more stops before I bought my first computer.\n\nI\'m writing this on a PC, and my five-year-old laptop is a PC as well. I\'ve used Macs at work from time to time, but I\'ve never been as fascinated with them as some people are. I know my wife loves them, but they\'re better for a lot of the things she has to do and I don\'t do -- calculations and graphics.\n\nMe, I\'m happy with being able to go on the Internet, use Microsoft Word and play a little <a title=\"Civilization IV\" href=\"http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy\" target=\"_self\">Civilization IV</a> from time to time.\n\nBut the iPad does fascinate me. It weighs 1.5 points, is half an inch thick and the top of the line model sells for $849.\n\nIt does a lot of the same things an iPhone does, but there again, I don\'t have an iPhone. I\'m a BlackBerry person, and I truly love my BlackBerry Storm.\n\nStill, I figure sometime this summer I might pick one up.\n\nI haven\'t had a new toy for a while.','iPad might turn me into an Apple user','','inherit','open','open','','303-revision','','','2010-04-02 20:36:28','2010-04-03 03:36:28','',303,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=305',0,'revision','',0),(306,1,'2010-04-03 20:31:58','2010-04-04 03:31:58','I\'ve got a new key on my keyring, although the door it opens is more than 2,300 miles away.\r\n\r\nAs I\'ve written before, Nicole and I won\'t be moving into our new house until next spring. Still, she\'s enjoying the heck out of all the decorating she\'s planning, working with <a title=\"Kate Dague Interiors\" href=\"http://www.katedagueinteriors.com/\" target=\"_self\">her decorator </a>from long distance. They\'re picking out colors for paint, styles for drapes and almost everything else you can imagine. Much of the actual work won\'t be done until next winter, so I\'m sure it will be perfectly planned by then.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_307\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Home Sweet Home\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0205.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-307\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0205-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe house itself is wonderful, but what really fascinates me the most is returning to the South.\r\n\r\nI have spent about a third of my life living in Virginia and the Carolinas, and there really is something different -- something special -- about what for lack of a better term I\'ll call Southern hospitality. We spent three hours in a furniture store in Griffin, and even though we weren\'t buying anything, the lady whose job was selling furniture seemed to really enjoy just talking with Nicole the whole time.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure we <em>will</em> be buying some things there when the time comes.\r\n\r\nMy wife was very impressed with how <em>nice</em> everyone was, even though we were obviously not from around there. I think once they knew we thought enough of the area to be moving there for our retirement, they decided we were OK.\r\n\r\nI\'m counting the days till next March, and when I do, I occasionally pull out my key ring and look at the house key I won\'t be using until then.\r\n\r\nIt\'ll keep.','Key a reminder of what will be coming','','publish','open','open','','key-a-reminder-of-what-will-be-coming','','','2010-04-03 20:31:58','2010-04-04 03:31:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=306',0,'post','',0),(307,1,'2010-04-03 20:17:44','2010-04-04 03:17:44','','DSC_0205','Home Sweet Home','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0205','','','2010-04-03 20:17:44','2010-04-04 03:17:44','',306,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0205.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(308,1,'2010-04-03 20:31:29','2010-04-04 03:31:29','I\'ve got a new key on my keyring, although the door it opens is more than 2,300 miles away.\n\nAs I\'ve written before, Nicole and I won\'t be moving into our new house until next spring. Still, she\'s enjoying the heck out of all the decorating she\'s planning, working with <a title=\"Kate Dague Interiors\" href=\"http://www.katedagueinteriors.com/\" target=\"_self\">her decorator </a>from long distance. They\'re picking out colors for paint, styles for drapes and almost everything else you can imagine. Much of the actual work won\'t be done until next winter, so I\'m sure it will be perfectly planned by then.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_307\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Home Sweet Home\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0205.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-307\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0205-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe house itself is wonderful, but what really fascinates me the most is returning to the South.\n\nI have spent about a third of my life living in Virginia and the Carolinas, and there really is something different -- something special -- about what for lack of a better term I\'ll call Southern hospitality. We spent three hours in a furniture store in Griffin, and even though we weren\'t buying anything, the lady whose job was selling furniture seemed to really enjoy just talking with Nicole the whole time.\n\nI\'m pretty sure we <em>will</em> be buying some things there when the time comes.\n\nMy wife was very impressed with how <em>nice</em> everyone was, even though we were obviously not from around there. I think once they knew we thought enough of the area to be moving there for our retirement, they decided we were OK.\n\nI\'m counting the days till next March, and when I do, I occasionally pull out my key ring and look at the house key I won\'t be using until then.\n\nIt\'ll keep.','','','inherit','open','open','','306-revision','','','2010-04-03 20:31:29','2010-04-04 03:31:29','',306,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=308',0,'revision','',0),(309,1,'2010-04-04 21:21:51','2010-04-05 04:21:51','Opening Day.\r\n\r\nIt can mean a lot of things, but to most people, the words mean the first day of the baseball season, the day on which all 30 teams still have hope that they\'ll put it all together and make it to the playoffs, if not all the way to the World Series.\r\n\r\nI love baseball, probably more than anything in my life that isn\'t a person, and I\'ve been thinking all day about what I would say to convey that. But so many people write so many things that sound so damned pompous about baseball. I think the single coolest quote I ever read about the game was from former Commissioner Bart Giamatti.\r\n\r\n<em>\"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat was a cool quote, better than anything I could ever imagine saying myself.\r\n\r\nI have followed baseball since 1957, the last year three teams played in New York City. The first game I ever saw pitted the New York Giants against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, a ballpark that was torn down more than 40 years ago. It didn\'t have a warning track. When outfielders got near the wall, they found themselves on an upward incline. Since it\'s harder to run uphill, I imagine they must have hated it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_310\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"245\" caption=\"1969 Opener in D.C.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-310\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969-245x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI remember two opening days, in back-to-back seasons.\r\n\r\nIn 1984, when I was working in South Carolina, I attended a rainy opener at Atlanta\'s Fulton County Stadium. Philadelphia\'s Steve Carlton shut out the Braves and then didn\'t talk to the media, as was his wont. Four summers later, I saw Carlton at an exhibition game in Denver when he was trying to hang on. He talked plenty then.\r\n\r\nIn 1983, the year before, I was covering the Gastonia Expos of the South Atlantic League. Roger Kahn of \"Boys of Summer\" fame was a part-owner of the visiting Columbia Mets. I was interviewing him, but it was too cold for him at Sims Legion Park, so we went to my house five minutes away and he drank most of a fifth of my vodka while I interviewed him.\r\n\r\nThose are my memories, memories I treasure.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure I\'ll love baseball long after I\'ve forgotten about almost everything else I\'ve ever known.\r\n\r\nIt\'s like Jim Bouton wrote in the final paragraph of \"Ball Four,\" quoting former pitcher Jim O\'Toole:\r\n\r\n<em>\"You spend all those years gripping a baseball and then you find out it was the other way around.\"</em>','Baseball is back and the world is good','','publish','open','open','','baseball-is-back-and-the-world-is-good','','','2010-04-04 21:21:51','2010-04-05 04:21:51','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=309',0,'post','',0),(310,1,'2010-04-04 21:20:49','2010-04-05 04:20:49','','490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969','1969 Opener in D.C.','inherit','open','open','','490px-richard_nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_senators_game_1969','','','2010-04-04 21:20:49','2010-04-05 04:20:49','',309,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(311,1,'2010-04-04 21:21:46','2010-04-05 04:21:46','Opening Day.\n\nIt can mean a lot of things, but to most people, the words mean the first day of the baseball season, the day on which all 30 teams still have hope that they\'ll put it all together and make it to the playoffs, if not all the way to the World Series.\n\nI love baseball, probably more than anything in my life that isn\'t a person, and I\'ve been thinking all day about what I would say to convey that. But so many people write so many things that sound so damned pompous about baseball. I think the single coolest quote I ever read about the game was from former Commissioner Bart Giamatti.\n\n<em>\"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.\"</em>\n\nThat was a cool quote, better than anything I could ever imagine saying myself.\n\nI have followed baseball since 1957, the last year three teams played in New York City. The first game I ever saw pitted the New York Giants against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, a ballpark that was torn down more than 40 years ago. It didn\'t have a warning track. When outfielders got near the wall, they found themselves on an upward incline. Since it\'s harder to run uphill, I imagine they must have hated it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_310\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"245\" caption=\"1969 Opener in D.C.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-310\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/490px-Richard_Nixon_throwing_out_opening_pitch_at_Senators_game_1969-245x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI remember two opening days, in back-to-back seasons.\n\nIn 1984, when I was working in South Carolina, I attended a rainy opener at Atlanta\'s Fulton County Stadium. Philadelphia\'s Steve Carlton shut out the Braves and then didn\'t talk to the media, as was his wont. Four summers later, I saw Carlton at an exhibition game in Denver when he was trying to hang on. He talked plenty then.\n\nIn 1983, the year before, I was covering the Gastonia Expos of the South Atlantic League. Roger Kahn of \"Boys of Summer\" fame was a part-owner of the visiting Columbia Mets. I was interviewing him, but it was too cold for him at Sims Legion Park, so we went to my house five minutes away and he drank most of a fifth of my vodka while I interviewed him.\n\nThose are my memories, memories I treasure.\n\nI\'m pretty sure I\'ll love baseball long after I\'ve forgotten about almost everything else I\'ve ever known.\n\nIt\'s like Jim Bouton wrote in the final paragraph of \"Ball Four,\" quoting former pitcher Jim O\'Toole:\n\n<em>\"You spend all those years gripping a baseball and then you find out it was the other way around.\"</em>','Baseball is back and the world is good','','inherit','open','open','','309-revision','','','2010-04-04 21:21:46','2010-04-05 04:21:46','',309,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=311',0,'revision','',0),(312,1,'2010-04-08 19:45:58','2010-04-09 02:45:58','<em><strong>\"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.\"</strong></em>\r\n<strong>-- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V about 1601</strong>\r\n\r\nI had a transformative experience last night, and because of it, the world looks like a very different place today.\r\n\r\nI recognize that first sentence might sound a little goofy, but mostly because I am accustomed to looking at life from a very different place. A very boring place. I believe in bank accounts, doctors, medicine, playing by the rules and living by the odds. I trust in things I can see and touch and I\'m more cynical than I was when I was younger.\r\n\r\nCertainly none of that prepared me for last night.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been seeing a psychologist weekly to deal with issues from my past, and we reached a point where he recommended that I try something different. He told me that he had met with a<a title=\"Shamanism\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism\" target=\"_self\"> shaman</a> to work to peel away layers of old hurts. It sounded strange to me at first, but I respect my therapist and he told me it had worked for him.\r\n\r\nSo I met Mary Raymakers of <a title=\"Children of the Sun\" href=\"http://www.childrenofthesun.com/main.html\" target=\"_self\">Children of the Sun Healing Therapies</a>. She explained to me that all of us are surrounded by energy fields, and that the pains and traumas we undergo in life cause \"cuts\" in those energy fields. Once they\'re cut, the pains and traumas just sit there and poison your life. Her job is to work with you to remove those poisons and rebuild your energy.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_315\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"158\" caption=\"Inca healing\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-315\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"160\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe theory comes from the ancient Incans. It certainly sounded strange to me, but she explained that my role in this would actually take a great deal of work. I would have to spend two hours or more remembering various traumas and then breathing in deeply through my nose and breathing out deeply through my mouth.\r\n\r\nAt first I couldn\'t imagine it doing me any good.\r\n\r\nI was a complete skeptic.\r\n\r\nThen I started breathing. I started thinking about the various traumas in my life, breathing in deeply and then expelling the air as strongly as I could. I found myself going from one thing to the next and dealing with them. My arms and legs felt heavy, and I found myself crying more than once.\r\n\r\nStrangely, though, I was feeling better.\r\n\r\nOnce I was past each thing -- issues that had bothered me for years -- I could look back at them dispassionately. It felt as though they had lost the power to bother me.\r\n\r\nBy the end of the session, after working hard for nearly 2 1/2 hours, I felt different. I felt better than I had felt in years.\r\n\r\nIt has been nearly 24 hours since the session ended and I feel great. I feel like I\'m going to be able to get back to work on my book and finish it, and I don\'t feel any of the regrets that have bothered me so much the last few years. I can look at the few things I have done really well -- being a good parent, writing my column for five years -- and celebrate them instead of being bothered by the things I didn\'t do.\r\n\r\nI feel good about the future, whether it\'s another 10 years or another 40 or more. I\'m glad to be alive.\r\n\r\nAll because of something I would never have considered possible until I tried it. There really <em>are</em> more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in my philosophy.','Alternative healing causes great feelings','','publish','open','open','','alternative-healing-causes-great-feelings','','','2010-04-08 19:45:58','2010-04-09 02:45:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=312',0,'post','',1),(313,1,'2010-04-08 16:51:54','2010-04-08 23:51:54','<em><strong>\"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.\"</strong></em>\n<strong>-- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V about 1601</strong>\n\nI had a transformative experience last night, and because of it, the world looks like a very different place today.\n\nI recognize that first sentence might sound a little goofy, but mostly because I am accustomed to looking at life from a very different place. A very boring place. I believe in bank accounts, doctors, medicine, playing by the rules and living by the odds. I trust in things I can see and touch and I\'m more cynical than I was when I was younger.\n\nCertainly none of that prepared me for last night.','','','inherit','open','open','','312-revision','','','2010-04-08 16:51:54','2010-04-08 23:51:54','',312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=313',0,'revision','',0),(314,1,'2010-04-08 18:12:24','2010-04-09 01:12:24','<em><strong>\"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.\"</strong></em>\n<strong>-- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V about 1601</strong>\n\nI had a transformative experience last night, and because of it, the world looks like a very different place today.\n\nI recognize that first sentence might sound a little goofy, but mostly because I am accustomed to looking at life from a very different place. A very boring place. I believe in bank accounts, doctors, medicine, playing by the rules and living by the odds. I trust in things I can see and touch and I\'m more cynical than I was when I was younger.\n\nCertainly none of that prepared me for last night.\n\nI\'ve been seeing a psychologist weekly to deal with issues from my past, and we reached a point where he recommended that I try something different. He told me that he had met with a<a title=\"Shamanism\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism\" target=\"_self\"> shaman</a> to work to peel away layers of old hurts. It sounded strange to me at first, but I respect my therapist and he told me it had worked for him.\n\nSo I met Mary Raymakers of <a title=\"Children of the Sun\" href=\"http://www.childrenofthesun.com/main.html\" target=\"_self\">Children of the Sun Healing Therapies</a>. She explained to me that all of us are surrounded by energy fields, and that the pains and traumas we undergo in life cause \"cuts\" in those energy fields. Once they\'re cut, the pains and traumas just sit there and poison your life. Her job is to work with you to remove those poisons and rebuild your energy.\n\nIt certainly sounded strange to me, but she explained that my role in this would actually take a great deal of work. I would have to spend two hours or more remembering various traumas and then breathing in deeply through my nose and breathing out deeply through my mouth.','','','inherit','open','open','','312-revision-2','','','2010-04-08 18:12:24','2010-04-09 01:12:24','',312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=314',0,'revision','',0),(315,1,'2010-04-08 19:28:19','2010-04-09 02:28:19','','shield','Inca healing','inherit','open','open','','shield','','','2010-04-08 19:28:19','2010-04-09 02:28:19','',312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(316,1,'2010-04-08 19:45:53','2010-04-09 02:45:53','<em><strong>\"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.\"</strong></em>\n<strong>-- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V about 1601</strong>\n\nI had a transformative experience last night, and because of it, the world looks like a very different place today.\n\nI recognize that first sentence might sound a little goofy, but mostly because I am accustomed to looking at life from a very different place. A very boring place. I believe in bank accounts, doctors, medicine, playing by the rules and living by the odds. I trust in things I can see and touch and I\'m more cynical than I was when I was younger.\n\nCertainly none of that prepared me for last night.\n\nI\'ve been seeing a psychologist weekly to deal with issues from my past, and we reached a point where he recommended that I try something different. He told me that he had met with a<a title=\"Shamanism\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism\" target=\"_self\"> shaman</a> to work to peel away layers of old hurts. It sounded strange to me at first, but I respect my therapist and he told me it had worked for him.\n\nSo I met Mary Raymakers of <a title=\"Children of the Sun\" href=\"http://www.childrenofthesun.com/main.html\" target=\"_self\">Children of the Sun Healing Therapies</a>. She explained to me that all of us are surrounded by energy fields, and that the pains and traumas we undergo in life cause \"cuts\" in those energy fields. Once they\'re cut, the pains and traumas just sit there and poison your life. Her job is to work with you to remove those poisons and rebuild your energy.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_315\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"158\" caption=\"Inca healing\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-315\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"160\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe theory comes from the ancient Incans. It certainly sounded strange to me, but she explained that my role in this would actually take a great deal of work. I would have to spend two hours or more remembering various traumas and then breathing in deeply through my nose and breathing out deeply through my mouth.\n\nAt first I couldn\'t imagine it doing me any good.\n\nI was a complete skeptic.\n\nThen I started breathing. I started thinking about the various traumas in my life, breathing in deeply and then expelling the air as strongly as I could. I found myself going from one thing to the next and dealing with them. My arms and legs felt heavy, and I found myself crying more than once.\n\nStrangely, though, I was feeling better.\n\nOnce I was past each thing -- issues that had bothered me for years -- I could look back at them dispassionately. It felt as though they had lost the power to bother me.\n\nBy the end of the session, after working hard for nearly 2 1/2 hours, I felt different. I felt better than I had felt in years.\n\nIt has been nearly 24 hours since the session ended and I feel great. I feel like I\'m going to be able to get back to work on my book and finish it, and I don\'t feel any of the regrets that have bothered me so much the last few years. I can look at the few things I have done really well -- being a good parent, writing my column for five years -- and celebrate them instead of being bothered by the things I didn\'t do.\n\nI feel good about the future, whether it\'s another 10 years or another 40 or more. I\'m glad to be alive.\n\nAll because of something I would never have considered possible until I tried it. There really <em>are</em> more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in my philosophy.','Alternative healing causes great feelings','','inherit','open','open','','312-revision-3','','','2010-04-08 19:45:53','2010-04-09 02:45:53','',312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=316',0,'revision','',0),(317,1,'2010-04-14 22:29:12','2010-04-15 05:29:12','If there\'s a great pleasure that a lot of people never get to enjoy these days, it\'s discovering a new author.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_318\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"218\" caption=\"Harlan Coben\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/harlancoben3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-318\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/harlancoben3-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSince many people don\'t read for fun anymore, they never have happen what happened to me twice last month. When I was flying back and forth to Atlanta, I found myself looking for books to read on the plane. Since then I have been devouring Harlan Coben\'s books about sports agent/detective Myron Bolitar and Michael Connolly\'s books about LAPD detective Harry Bosch.\r\n\r\nI\'m actually surprised I never got around to either of them before this, but I\'m enjoying the heck out of both. This was especially important to me because of the recent death of an author I have been reading for the last 35 years. Losing Robert B. Parker and the Spenser novels will leave a major void in my reading, but I\'ll fill it with Coben and Connolly for now.\r\n\r\nOne thing I\'ve found as a lifelong reader is that there are always new authors, not to mention old ones I just don\'t know.\r\n\r\nReading really is wonderful.','New authors always a pleasure to find','','publish','open','open','','new-authors-always-a-pleasure-to-find','','','2010-04-14 22:29:12','2010-04-15 05:29:12','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=317',0,'post','',0),(318,1,'2010-04-14 22:28:46','2010-04-15 05:28:46','','harlancoben3','Harlan Coben','inherit','open','open','','harlancoben3','','','2010-04-14 22:28:46','2010-04-15 05:28:46','',317,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/harlancoben3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(319,1,'2010-04-14 22:27:33','2010-04-15 05:27:33','If there\'s a great pleasure that a lot of people never get to enjoy these days, it\'s discovering a new author.\n\nSince many people don\'t read for fun anymore, they never have happen what happened to me twice last month. When I was flying back and forth to Atlanta, I found myself looking for books to read on the plane. Since then I have been devouring Harlan Coben\'s books about sports agent/detective Myron Bolitar and Michael Connolly\'s books about LAPD detective Harry Bosch.\n\nI\'m actually surprised I never got around to either of them before this, but I\'m enjoying the heck out of both. This was especially important to me because of the recent death of an author I have been reading for the last 35 years. Losing Robert B. Parker and the Spenser novels will leave a major void in my reading, but I\'ll fill it with Coben and Connolly for now.\n\nOne thing I\'ve found as a lifelong reader is that there are always new authors, not to mention old ones I just don\'t know.\n\nReading really is wonderful.','','','inherit','open','open','','317-revision','','','2010-04-14 22:27:33','2010-04-15 05:27:33','',317,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=319',0,'revision','',0),(320,1,'2010-04-15 20:50:56','2010-04-16 03:50:56','It has been a long time since I\'ve been out on the golf course.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure the last time I played was in late January. I know I had to cancel once in February and then twice in March because of our trips to Georgia. It\'s a shame, because one of the few things I really enjoy these days is spending time on the links (as real golfers call it). It isn\'t so much that I play well -- I usually don\'t -- but more that golf courses are usually some of the most beautiful settings in urban or suburban areas.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"No. 7 at Empire Lakes\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0114.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-321\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0114-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s also because golf seems to be one of the only opportunities I have to spend time with my friend Mick anymore.\r\n\r\nHe\'s so busy working two jobs to pay the bills that he has very little time just to relax and have any fun, and playing golf together once a month or so gives us the chance to sit together in a golf cart and talk for seven or eight hours.\r\n\r\nIt\'s something that will end when Nicole and I move to Georgia next year, and the thought that I might not get to spend any more time with someone who has been my best friend for 45 years is kind of sad.\r\n\r\nSo we\'re going out to Empire Lakes tomorrow. It\'s our favorite golf course; indeed, the third member of our group -- our friend Chuck -- loves the course so much he wants to have some of his ashes scattered there. When he dies, of course.\r\n\r\nAt any rate, I doubt I\'ll play well after not swinging a club for more than 2 1/2 months.\r\n\r\nIt doesn\'t matter, though.\r\n\r\nI don\'t go there for the golfing.','Back to the links after a long layoff','','publish','open','open','','back-to-the-links-after-a-long-layoff','','','2010-04-15 20:50:56','2010-04-16 03:50:56','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=320',0,'post','',0),(321,1,'2010-04-15 20:45:25','2010-04-16 03:45:25','','DSC_0114','No. 7 at Empire Lakes','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0114-2','','','2010-04-15 20:45:25','2010-04-16 03:45:25','',320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0114.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(322,1,'2010-04-15 20:50:22','2010-04-16 03:50:22','It has been a long time since I\'ve been out on the golf course.\n\nI\'m pretty sure the last time I played was in late January. I know I had to cancel once in February and then twice in March because of our trips to Georgia. It\'s a shame, because one of the few things I really enjoy these days is spending time on the links (as real golfers call it). It isn\'t so much that I play well -- I usually don\'t -- but more that golf courses are usually some of the most beautiful settings in urban or suburban areas.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"No. 7 at Empire Lakes\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0114.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-321\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC_0114-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s also because golf seems to be one of the only opportunities I have to spend time with my friend Mick anymore.\n\nHe\'s so busy working two jobs to pay the bills that he has very little time just to relax and have any fun, and playing golf together once a month or so gives us the chance to sit together in a golf cart and talk for seven or eight hours.\n\nIt\'s something that will end when Nicole and I move to Georgia next year, and the thought that I might not get to spend any more time with someone who has been my best friend for 45 years is kind of sad.\n\nSo we\'re going out to Empire Lakes tomorrow. It\'s our favorite golf course; indeed, the third member of our group -- our friend Chuck -- loves the course so much he wants to have some of his ashes scattered there. When he dies, of course.\n\nAt any rate, I doubt I\'ll play well after not swinging a club for more than 2 1/2 months.\n\nIt doesn\'t matter, though.\n\nI don\'t go there for the golfing.','','','inherit','open','open','','320-revision','','','2010-04-15 20:50:22','2010-04-16 03:50:22','',320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=322',0,'revision','',0),(323,1,'2010-04-18 20:45:32','2010-04-19 03:45:32','<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/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\"That Thing You Do\" was written 30-odd years after the heyday of the one-hit wonders of the 1960s, but the beauty of it is that it would have fit into 1962 almost perfectly.\r\n\r\nIt was such a different time, and it really was a more innocent time to be a teenager. I was 12 that summer, and I listened to my AM radio as if it were giving me the wisdom of the ages.\r\n\r\n1962 was the second summer of the New Frontier, and it was still months till the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember that \"high-flying\" WING/AM counted down the Top 40 every weekday, and I was glued to my radio from 2-5 every afternoon to hear it. We had moved to a different neighborhood that year, and I didn\'t really have any friends to play sports with. The summer of \'62 was all about the tunes for me.\r\n\r\nI remember how complicated I thought my life was in 1962. I had finally reached puberty, and I was madly in love with the beautiful Diane McClish, who had been my \"girlfriend\" briefly when I was 7, and the exotic Claudia Dunaway. Neither one of them wanted anything to do with me.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the only people I remember wanting to hang out with me were the two school bullies. One of them actually told me in October he was going to kill me, and the other used to sneak up on me and punch me. The irony was that even though he was bigger than I was, he always brought along one or two of his minions to hold my arms.\r\n\r\nThe first guy was scary and I took him very seriously. He was 6-foot-2 in the eighth grade and basically what we would call a mean redneck these days. My salvation was that I knew we were moving from Ohio to Virginia in January and I only had to stay out of his way for three months.\r\n\r\nAs you can see, I did.','In 1962, tunes were the saving grace','','publish','open','open','','in-1962-tunes-were-the-saving-grace','','','2010-04-18 20:47:53','2010-04-19 03:47:53','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=323',0,'post','',0),(324,1,'2010-04-18 16:57:26','2010-04-18 23:57:26','<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/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\"That Thing You Do\" was written 30-odd years after the heyday of the one-hit wonders of the 1960s, but the beauty of it is that it would have fit into 1962 almost perfectly.\n\nIt was such a different time, and it really was a more innocent time to be a teenager. I was 12 that summer, and I listened to my AM radio as if it were giving me the wisdom of the ages.\n\n1962 was the','','','inherit','open','open','','323-revision','','','2010-04-18 16:57:26','2010-04-18 23:57:26','',323,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=324',0,'revision','',0),(325,1,'2010-04-18 20:44:03','2010-04-19 03:44:03','<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/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\"That Thing You Do\" was written 30-odd years after the heyday of the one-hit wonders of the 1960s, but the beauty of it is that it would have fit into 1962 almost perfectly.\n\nIt was such a different time, and it really was a more innocent time to be a teenager. I was 12 that summer, and I listened to my AM radio as if it were giving me the wisdom of the ages.\n\n1962 was the second summer of the New Frontier, and it was still months till the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember that \"high-flying\" WING/AM counted down the Top 40 every weekday, and I was glued to my radio from 2-5 every afternoon to hear it. We had moved to a different neighborhood that year, and I didn\'t really have any friends to play sports with. The summer of \'62 was all about the tunes for me.\n\nI remember how complicated I thought my life was in 1962. I had finally reached puberty, and I was madly in love with the beautiful Diane McClish, who had been my \"girlfriend\" briefly when I was 7, and the exotic Claudia Dunaway. Neither one of them wanted anything to do with me.\n\nIn fact, the only people I remember wanting to hang out with me were the two school bullies. One of them actually told me in October he was going to kill me, and the other used to sneak up on me and punch me. The irony was that even though he was bigger than I was, he always brought along one or two of his minions to hold my arms.\n\nThe first guy was scary and I took him very seriously. He was 6-foot-2 in the eighth grade and basically what we would call a mean redneck these days. My salvation was that I knew we were moving from Ohio to Virginia in January and I only had to stay out of his way for three months.\n\nAs you can see, I did.','In 1962','','inherit','open','open','','323-revision-2','','','2010-04-18 20:44:03','2010-04-19 03:44:03','',323,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=325',0,'revision','',0),(326,1,'2010-04-18 20:45:32','2010-04-19 03:45:32','<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/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/fzllVlzzeuo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\"That Thing You Do\" was written 30-odd years after the heyday of the one-hit wonders of the 1960s, but the beauty of it is that it would have fit into 1962 almost perfectly.\r\n\r\nIt was such a different time, and it really was a more innocent time to be a teenager. I was 12 that summer, and I listened to my AM radio as if it were giving me the wisdom of the ages.\r\n\r\n1962 was the second summer of the New Frontier, and it was still months till the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember that \"high-flying\" WING/AM counted down the Top 40 every weekday, and I was glued to my radio from 2-5 every afternoon to hear it. We had moved to a different neighborhood that year, and I didn\'t really have any friends to play sports with. The summer of \'62 was all about the tunes for me.\r\n\r\nI remember how complicated I thought my life was in 1962. I had finally reached puberty, and I was madly in love with the beautiful Diane McClish, who had been my \"girlfriend\" briefly when I was 7, and the exotic Claudia Dunaway. Neither one of them wanted anything to do with me.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the only people I remember wanting to hang out with me were the two school bullies. One of them actually told me in October he was going to kill me, and the other used to sneak up on me and punch me. The irony was that even though he was bigger than I was, he always brought along one or two of his minions to hold my arms.\r\n\r\nThe first guy was scary and I took him very seriously. He was 6-foot-2 in the eighth grade and basically what we would call a mean redneck these days. My salvation was that I knew we were moving from Ohio to Virginia in January and I only had to stay out of his way for three months.\r\n\r\nAs you can see, I did.','In 1962, tunes were the saving grace','','inherit','open','open','','323-revision-3','','','2010-04-18 20:45:32','2010-04-19 03:45:32','',323,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=326',0,'revision','',0),(327,1,'2010-04-21 21:52:27','2010-04-22 04:52:27','Sometimes things happen in our lives that we don\'t expect, and they push us to solutions we could never imagine.\r\n\r\nFor most of the last 40 years, I have had to battle my weight. Until I was 21, I never had any problem. I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound. Part of it was probably my metabolism, but the biggest reason was just that I spent a lot of time in physical activity -- basketball, football, etc. Just before my 21st birthday, though, I realized that I had gone from my normal weight of about 175 pounds to almost 190.\r\n\r\nIt was the first time I had ever felt heavy, and I took the weight off over the next couple of months by playing basketball two or three hours every afternoon instead of going to classes.\r\n\r\nGood move for my health, stupid move overall.\r\n\r\nOnce I wasn\'t in school, I got a job -- a sedentary job -- working in a bank. Within a year I weighed 200 pounds and the struggle had begun.\r\n\r\nThe irony of it is, as much time as I spent back then trying to get under 200 -- and succeeding in 1985, 1989 and 1992 -- now it will take a major effort to get anywhere close to that. A few months ago, I weighed 280 pounds, which is way too much when you\'re 60 years old and are only about 5-foot-10.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really a terrible place to be, because let\'s face it. People who are as much overweight as I am generally don\'t live to be that old. I have high blood pressure, I\'m at serious risk for diabetes and I\'m putting a tremendous strain on my heart, lungs and legs. I also have a very serious case of sleep apnea. I have gotten down to 270, but I really don\'t seem to be able to do what I\'ve done before -- get serious about diet and exercise for 4-6 months.\r\n\r\nThe irony is that my eating problem has always been the classic one. I didn\'t eat to fill a hole in my stomach; I ate to fill a hole in my heart because I wasn\'t happy with myself as a person. Well, the last few weeks I have actually been feeling pretty good about myself. Except for the weight, of course.\r\n\r\nMy wife made a suggestion that bothered me at first, but when I started looking into it, I became more enthusiastic.\r\n\r\nShe said I should go to camp.\r\n\r\nI immediately felt 12 years old.\r\n\r\nSome of the most enjoyable weeks of my childhood were spent at three different summer camps -- Camp Kern and Camp Templed Hills in Ohio and a camp in Pennsylvania for which the name just flew right out of my head. Kern was a YMCA camp that I attended at ages 10 and 11, while Templed Hills was a church camp where I spent a week each summer when I was 11 and 12.\r\n\r\nThe one in Pennsylvania was also a church camp, I attended as a camper for two or three summers in my early teens and then for one week as a counselor when I was 16.\r\n\r\nI always had a great time, and my only regret was that it was always for just one week.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_329\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Yoga on horseback\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-329\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis one is going to be very different. It\'s a fitness camp in Texas, and I will be there for two months starting at the beginning 0f May. I\'ll be on a strict diet and I will be exercising three or four times a day. Sounds more like a boot camp, but surprisingly, I\'m looking forward to it. One of the great things about camp when I was a kid was getting away from everything for a week and just being able to enjoy myself.\r\n\r\nThat isn\'t exactly what I\'ll be doing here, but I do expect to do something entirely different and very rare. I will in effect be stepping outside my life for two months, getting a chance to do healthy things and maybe getting some of the poisons out of my system.\r\n\r\nI\'ll actually be working on the ranch for about 10 hours a week, sweeping out horse barns and various other chores. I\'ll be up at 6:30 most days and in bed by 10 p.m.\r\n\r\nPretty different.\r\n\r\nIt will be very strange to be apart from Nicole for two months. We\'re in our 18th year of marriage, and only once have we been separated for as much as one month. I will definitely miss her, and I will be eager to return home in July.\r\n\r\nBut drastic problems require drastic solutions, and this might be my last chance to get my weight -- and my health -- under control. I\'m going to have to live into my eighties to see little Maddie graduate from college, and that\'s something I definitely want.\r\n\r\nI would also love to someday celebrate 50 years of marriage with my wife, the love of my life, and we will both have to live till almost age 93 for that to happen.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very strange. I never wanted to be old; I always thought if I lived 75 years in decent health, that would be plenty for me. But not anymore. There are people I love dearly, and I want to be around as long as I can for them.\r\n\r\nSo I guess I\'m going to camp.','A chance to solve some real problems','','publish','open','open','','a-good-chance-to-solve-some-real-problems','','','2010-04-21 21:52:49','2010-04-22 04:52:49','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=327',0,'post','',0),(328,1,'2010-04-21 20:22:04','2010-04-22 03:22:04','Sometimes things happen in our lives that we don\'t expect, and they push us to solutions we could never imagine.\n\nFor most of the last 40 years, I have had to battle my weight. Until I was 21, I never had any problem. I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound. Part of it was probably my metabolism, but the biggest reason was just that I spent a lot of time in physical activity -- basketball, football, etc. Just before my 21st birthday, though, I realized that I had gone from my normal weight of about 175 pounds to almost 190.\n\nIt was the first time I had ever felt heavy, and I took the weight off over the next couple of months by playing basketball two or three hours every afternoon instead of going to classes.\n\nGood move for my health, stupid move overall.\n\nOnce I wasn\'t in school, I got a job -- a sedentary job -- working in a bank. Within a year I weighed 200 pounds and the struggle had begun.\n\nThe irony of it is, as much time as I spent back then trying to get under 200 -- and succeeding in 1985, 1989 and 1992 -- now it will take a major effort to get anywhere close to that. A few months ago, I weighed 280 pounds, which is way too much when you\'re 60 years old and are only about 5-foot-10.\n\nIt\'s really a terrible place to be, because let\'s face it. People who are as much overweight as I am generally don\'t live to be that old. I have high blood pressure, I\'m at serious risk for diabetes and I\'m putting a tremendous strain on my heart, lungs and legs. I also have a very serious case of sleep apnea. I have gotten down to 270, but I really don\'t seem to be able to do what I\'ve done before -- get serious about diet and exercise for 4-6 months.\n\nThe irony is that my eating problem has always been the classic one. I didn\'t eat to fill a hole in my stomach; I ate to fill a hole in my heart because I wasn\'t happy with myself as a person. Well, the last few weeks I have actually been feeling pretty good about myself. Except for the weight, of course.','','','inherit','open','open','','327-revision','','','2010-04-21 20:22:04','2010-04-22 03:22:04','',327,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=328',0,'revision','',0),(329,1,'2010-04-21 21:45:27','2010-04-22 04:45:27','','Yoga-on-the-trail-6','Yoga on horseback','inherit','open','open','','yoga-on-the-trail-6','','','2010-04-21 21:45:27','2010-04-22 04:45:27','',327,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(330,1,'2010-04-21 21:52:11','2010-04-22 04:52:11','Sometimes things happen in our lives that we don\'t expect, and they push us to solutions we could never imagine.\n\nFor most of the last 40 years, I have had to battle my weight. Until I was 21, I never had any problem. I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound. Part of it was probably my metabolism, but the biggest reason was just that I spent a lot of time in physical activity -- basketball, football, etc. Just before my 21st birthday, though, I realized that I had gone from my normal weight of about 175 pounds to almost 190.\n\nIt was the first time I had ever felt heavy, and I took the weight off over the next couple of months by playing basketball two or three hours every afternoon instead of going to classes.\n\nGood move for my health, stupid move overall.\n\nOnce I wasn\'t in school, I got a job -- a sedentary job -- working in a bank. Within a year I weighed 200 pounds and the struggle had begun.\n\nThe irony of it is, as much time as I spent back then trying to get under 200 -- and succeeding in 1985, 1989 and 1992 -- now it will take a major effort to get anywhere close to that. A few months ago, I weighed 280 pounds, which is way too much when you\'re 60 years old and are only about 5-foot-10.\n\nIt\'s really a terrible place to be, because let\'s face it. People who are as much overweight as I am generally don\'t live to be that old. I have high blood pressure, I\'m at serious risk for diabetes and I\'m putting a tremendous strain on my heart, lungs and legs. I also have a very serious case of sleep apnea. I have gotten down to 270, but I really don\'t seem to be able to do what I\'ve done before -- get serious about diet and exercise for 4-6 months.\n\nThe irony is that my eating problem has always been the classic one. I didn\'t eat to fill a hole in my stomach; I ate to fill a hole in my heart because I wasn\'t happy with myself as a person. Well, the last few weeks I have actually been feeling pretty good about myself. Except for the weight, of course.\n\nMy wife made a suggestion that bothered me at first, but when I started looking into it, I became more enthusiastic.\n\nShe said I should go to camp.\n\nI immediately felt 12 years old.\n\nSome of the most enjoyable weeks of my childhood were spent at three different summer camps -- Camp Kern and Camp Templed Hills in Ohio and a camp in Pennsylvania for which the name just flew right out of my head. Kern was a YMCA camp that I attended at ages 10 and 11, while Templed Hills was a church camp where I spent a week each summer when I was 11 and 12.\n\nThe one in Pennsylvania was also a church camp, I attended as a camper for two or three summers in my early teens and then for one week as a counselor when I was 16.\n\nI always had a great time, and my only regret was that it was always for just one week.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_329\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Yoga on horseback\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-329\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis one is going to be very different. It\'s a fitness camp in Texas, and I will be there for two months starting at the beginning 0f May. I\'ll be on a strict diet and I will be exercising three or four times a day. Sounds more like a boot camp, but surprisingly, I\'m looking forward to it. One of the great things about camp when I was a kid was getting away from everything for a week and just being able to enjoy myself.\n\nThat isn\'t exactly what I\'ll be doing here, but I do expect to do something entirely different and very rare. I will in effect be stepping outside my life for two months, getting a chance to do healthy things and maybe getting some of the poisons out of my system.\n\nI\'ll actually be working on the ranch for about 10 hours a week, sweeping out horse barns and various other chores. I\'ll be up at 6:30 most days and in bed by 10 p.m.\n\nPretty different.\n\nIt will be very strange to be apart from Nicole for two months. We\'re in our 18th year of marriage, and only once have we been separated for as much as one month. I will definitely miss her, and I will be eager to return home in July.\n\nBut drastic problems require drastic solutions, and this might be my last chance to get my weight -- and my health -- under control. I\'m going to have to live into my eighties to see little Maddie graduate from college, and that\'s something I definitely want.\n\nI would also love to someday celebrate 50 years of marriage with my wife, the love of my life, and we will both have to live till almost age 93 for that to happen.\n\nIt\'s very strange. I never wanted to be old; I always thought if I lived 75 years in decent health, that would be plenty for me. But not anymore. There are people I love dearly, and I want to be around as long as I can for them.\n\nSo I guess I\'m going to camp.','','','inherit','open','open','','327-revision-2','','','2010-04-21 21:52:11','2010-04-22 04:52:11','',327,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=330',0,'revision','',0),(331,1,'2010-04-21 21:52:27','2010-04-22 04:52:27','Sometimes things happen in our lives that we don\'t expect, and they push us to solutions we could never imagine.\r\n\r\nFor most of the last 40 years, I have had to battle my weight. Until I was 21, I never had any problem. I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound. Part of it was probably my metabolism, but the biggest reason was just that I spent a lot of time in physical activity -- basketball, football, etc. Just before my 21st birthday, though, I realized that I had gone from my normal weight of about 175 pounds to almost 190.\r\n\r\nIt was the first time I had ever felt heavy, and I took the weight off over the next couple of months by playing basketball two or three hours every afternoon instead of going to classes.\r\n\r\nGood move for my health, stupid move overall.\r\n\r\nOnce I wasn\'t in school, I got a job -- a sedentary job -- working in a bank. Within a year I weighed 200 pounds and the struggle had begun.\r\n\r\nThe irony of it is, as much time as I spent back then trying to get under 200 -- and succeeding in 1985, 1989 and 1992 -- now it will take a major effort to get anywhere close to that. A few months ago, I weighed 280 pounds, which is way too much when you\'re 60 years old and are only about 5-foot-10.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really a terrible place to be, because let\'s face it. People who are as much overweight as I am generally don\'t live to be that old. I have high blood pressure, I\'m at serious risk for diabetes and I\'m putting a tremendous strain on my heart, lungs and legs. I also have a very serious case of sleep apnea. I have gotten down to 270, but I really don\'t seem to be able to do what I\'ve done before -- get serious about diet and exercise for 4-6 months.\r\n\r\nThe irony is that my eating problem has always been the classic one. I didn\'t eat to fill a hole in my stomach; I ate to fill a hole in my heart because I wasn\'t happy with myself as a person. Well, the last few weeks I have actually been feeling pretty good about myself. Except for the weight, of course.\r\n\r\nMy wife made a suggestion that bothered me at first, but when I started looking into it, I became more enthusiastic.\r\n\r\nShe said I should go to camp.\r\n\r\nI immediately felt 12 years old.\r\n\r\nSome of the most enjoyable weeks of my childhood were spent at three different summer camps -- Camp Kern and Camp Templed Hills in Ohio and a camp in Pennsylvania for which the name just flew right out of my head. Kern was a YMCA camp that I attended at ages 10 and 11, while Templed Hills was a church camp where I spent a week each summer when I was 11 and 12.\r\n\r\nThe one in Pennsylvania was also a church camp, I attended as a camper for two or three summers in my early teens and then for one week as a counselor when I was 16.\r\n\r\nI always had a great time, and my only regret was that it was always for just one week.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_329\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Yoga on horseback\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-329\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Yoga-on-the-trail-6-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis one is going to be very different. It\'s a fitness camp in Texas, and I will be there for two months starting at the beginning 0f May. I\'ll be on a strict diet and I will be exercising three or four times a day. Sounds more like a boot camp, but surprisingly, I\'m looking forward to it. One of the great things about camp when I was a kid was getting away from everything for a week and just being able to enjoy myself.\r\n\r\nThat isn\'t exactly what I\'ll be doing here, but I do expect to do something entirely different and very rare. I will in effect be stepping outside my life for two months, getting a chance to do healthy things and maybe getting some of the poisons out of my system.\r\n\r\nI\'ll actually be working on the ranch for about 10 hours a week, sweeping out horse barns and various other chores. I\'ll be up at 6:30 most days and in bed by 10 p.m.\r\n\r\nPretty different.\r\n\r\nIt will be very strange to be apart from Nicole for two months. We\'re in our 18th year of marriage, and only once have we been separated for as much as one month. I will definitely miss her, and I will be eager to return home in July.\r\n\r\nBut drastic problems require drastic solutions, and this might be my last chance to get my weight -- and my health -- under control. I\'m going to have to live into my eighties to see little Maddie graduate from college, and that\'s something I definitely want.\r\n\r\nI would also love to someday celebrate 50 years of marriage with my wife, the love of my life, and we will both have to live till almost age 93 for that to happen.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very strange. I never wanted to be old; I always thought if I lived 75 years in decent health, that would be plenty for me. But not anymore. There are people I love dearly, and I want to be around as long as I can for them.\r\n\r\nSo I guess I\'m going to camp.','A good chance to solve some real problems','','inherit','open','open','','327-revision-3','','','2010-04-21 21:52:27','2010-04-22 04:52:27','',327,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=331',0,'revision','',0),(332,1,'2010-04-22 20:42:52','2010-04-23 03:42:52','Going to the movies used to be such a big part of my life.\r\n\r\nIf a major movie was coming out, I always used to try and see it the very first weekend, even if it was something that didn\'t excite me that much. I saw two of the first three \"Star Wars\" movies the first day they were out, and all three of the original Indiana Jones films. It mattered to me because I wanted to be able to talk about them with my friends. Movies were shared cultural experiences, at least as long as I was in the group they were aimed at.\r\n\r\nBut I\'m not part of that group anymore. I haven\'t seen any of the \"Pirates of the Caribbean\" films, or the \"Transformer\" movies, or any of the three \"Lord of the Rings\" epics. In fact, I haven\'t seen five of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_333\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Avatar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avatar-movie-poster.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-333\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avatar-movie-poster.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"299\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis year, when \"Avatar\" was such a huge phenomenon, I missed it. As it passed \"Titanic\" to become the highest grosser of all time, I avoided it. Part of it is that I\'ve never really enjoyed the whole 3D thing, but the biggest thing is that I\'m just not that enthralled with movies that are probably 90 percent CGI.\r\n\r\nI was happy to see \"Avatar\" top \"Titanic,\" because it always sort of annoyed me that a movie that I considered pretty mediocre was the No. 1 movie of all time. Not enough to sit through 2 hours and 42 minutes of 3D, though.\r\n\r\nBut this week \"Avatar\" came out on DVD, and I\'m finally getting the chance to see it.\r\n\r\nThere is no question it is beautifully done, and if the story seems to drag a little at times, the scenery does a great job of making up for it.\r\n\r\nI\'m glad I finally got it see it.','\'Avatar\' looks great on DVD, HDTV','','publish','open','open','','avatar-looks-great-on-dvd-hdtv','','','2010-04-22 20:42:52','2010-04-23 03:42:52','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=332',0,'post','',0),(333,1,'2010-04-22 20:31:02','2010-04-23 03:31:02','','avatar-movie-poster','Avatar','inherit','open','open','','avatar-movie-poster','','','2010-04-22 20:31:02','2010-04-23 03:31:02','',332,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avatar-movie-poster.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(334,1,'2010-04-22 20:41:56','2010-04-23 03:41:56','Going to the movies used to be such a big part of my life.\n\nIf a major movie was coming out, I always used to try and see it the very first weekend, even if it was something that didn\'t excite me that much. I saw two of the first three \"Star Wars\" movies the first day they were out, and all three of the original Indiana Jones films. It mattered to me because I wanted to be able to talk about them with my friends. Movies were shared cultural experiences, at least as long as I was in the group they were aimed at.\n\nBut I\'m not part of that group anymore. I haven\'t seen any of the \"Pirates of the Caribbean\" films, or the \"Transformer\" movies, or any of the three \"Lord of the Rings\" epics. In fact, I haven\'t seen five of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_333\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Avatar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avatar-movie-poster.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-333\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avatar-movie-poster.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"299\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis year, when \"Avatar\" was such a huge phenomenon, I missed it. As it passed \"Titanic\" to become the highest grosser of all time, I avoided it. Part of it is that I\'ve never really enjoyed the whole 3D thing, but the biggest thing is that I\'m just not that enthralled with movies that are probably 90 percent CGI.\n\nI was happy to see \"Avatar\" top \"Titanic,\" because it always sort of annoyed me that a movie that I considered pretty mediocre was the No. 1 movie of all time. Not enough to sit through 2 hours and 42 minutes of 3D, though.\n\nBut this week \"Avatar\" came out on DVD, and I\'m finally getting the chance to see it.\n\nThere is no question it is beautifully done, and if the story seems to drag a little at times, the scenery does a great job of making up for it.\n\nI\'m glad I finally got it see it.','','','inherit','open','open','','332-revision','','','2010-04-22 20:41:56','2010-04-23 03:41:56','',332,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=334',0,'revision','',0),(397,1,'2010-05-23 17:57:58','2010-05-24 00:57:58','I went to Austin today, partly to break the routine on my day off and partly to buy myself a University of Texas hoodie.\r\n\r\nI love hoodies, and the only one I have is too heavy to wear except when it\'s really cold. I had one from my fraternity that I wore for about 10 years, until it was tattered and torn and my wife was begging me to get rid of it. So I hopped into my car and headed across Texas to visit UT.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s the first thing you think of when you think of the University of Texas?\r\n\r\nIf you\'re not from Texas, it\'s most likely something to do with sports. The Longhorns are consistent national title contenders in football, excellent in basketball and they actually won the College World Series in baseball this year.\r\n\r\nBut if you\'re an American of a certain age, you might remember something else. Someone else.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_398\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"The Texas tower\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ut-tower.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-398\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ut-tower-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was 16 on August 1st, 1966, when the news reports came out of Austin. A man named <a title=\"Charles Whitman\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman\" target=\"_self\">Charles Whitman</a> had climbed the clock tower in the middle of the UT campus, armed with several weapons, and had begun shooting at students in the courtyard below.\r\n\r\nBefore it was over, before he was taken down by a police officer, Whitman had killed 16 people and wounded 30 others.\r\n\r\nTo a nation, a generation that had been shocked by the Kennedy assassination in Dallas less than three years earlier, this was something different. Presidents get killed for a reason, even if we don\'t know what the reason is. Most folks who are murdered, there\'s a reason for it.\r\n\r\nThis was different. There was no apparent reason for any of the deaths. It wasn\'t as if Whitman had wanted to kill one person and cover up his motive by taking others along with them.\r\n\r\nIt was a senseless crime.\r\n\r\nIn a way, it was the beginning of all the senseless crimes that have followed, the beginning of all the stuff that has happened over the last 40 years or so that has left more and more people feeling like they can\'t even control their own lives.\r\n\r\nTwo generations of students have attended UT since 1966, and many of the kids matriculating now have parents who were born in the years since Whitman climbed the tower.\r\n\r\nSeveral books were written about the events, but no one was ever really able to come up with any rationale other than the fact that Whitman suffered from a malignant brain tumor that certainly was affecting his moods. Eventually, of course, Hollywood got involved, and in 1975, Kurt Russell starred in a made-for-television movie called <a title=\"The Deadly Tower\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072852/\" target=\"_self\">\"The Deadly Tower.\"</a>\r\n\r\nForty-four years later, there is a plaque commemorating the heroes who took Whitman down, or who helped save the wounded. It has been a long time, and we forget these things.\r\n\r\nBut the tower still stands, Deep in the Heart of Texas, and it might just be where America started sliding down that slippery slope.','In Austin, the tower still reminds us','','publish','open','open','','in-austin-the-tower-still-reminds-us','','','2010-05-23 17:57:58','2010-05-24 00:57:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=397',0,'post','',0),(398,1,'2010-05-23 17:18:49','2010-05-24 00:18:49','','ut-tower','The Texas tower','inherit','open','open','','ut-tower','','','2010-05-23 17:18:49','2010-05-24 00:18:49','',397,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ut-tower.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(400,1,'2010-05-24 15:57:28','2010-05-24 22:57:28','When you reach a certain age, and you hear from old friends, the news is just as likely to be bad as good.\r\n\r\nYou\'re not hearing about great grades in school, a new job or a new love. As often as not, the news is of deaths in the family, jobs that have been lost or outsourced or long-time relationships that have come to a sad end.\r\n\r\nSometimes it\'s even one friend telling you another has died.\r\n\r\nI went hiking in San Antonio today just after getting some sad news from a friend I haven\'t seen in nearly 40 years. She used to hang out with us in the early \'70s, until she met the love of her life and withdrew from our group. I believe they lived together for some years before they made it legal, so I don\'t know how long they were actually married.\r\n\r\nI actually don\'t know much yet at all. I only know the terrible sadness that comes when love slides into indifference. I know that when love dies, it\'s usually not when people are yelling at each other and angry all the time. It\'s when there is nothing left to say and little or no desire to say it. The end of my failed first marriage was punctuated more by long silences than by anything else.\r\n\r\nOf course I was 29 then, and if I didn\'t believe anything good would ever happen to me again, I knew that there was plenty of time. My friend is in her late 50s, and her relationship was far longer than mine.\r\n\r\nWhenever I think of relationships ending, I think of Harry Chapin\'s wonderful song, \"Last Stand.\" Of course Harry died nearly 30 years ago, but I love this YouTube video of his former bandmates performing it.\r\n\r\n<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/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\r\n\r\nA beautiful song, some sad thoughts.\r\n\r\nTo my friend, hold fast. It will get better.','Some sad news from an old friend','','publish','open','open','','some-sad-news-from-an-old-friend','','','2010-05-24 15:57:28','2010-05-24 22:57:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=400',0,'post','',0),(341,1,'2010-04-23 20:33:16','2010-04-24 03:33:16','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkiyK3Vkj0\r\n\r\nDuring the five years I wrote a newspaper column, the local PBS station -- KVCR in Riverside -- did a profile on me for their show \"Evening Edition.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s actually only six minutes long, but it was my 15 minutes of fame.','My 15 minutes','','publish','open','open','','my-15-minutes-2','','','2010-04-23 20:33:16','2010-04-24 03:33:16','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?page_id=341',0,'page','',0),(342,1,'2010-04-23 20:32:34','2010-04-24 03:32:34','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkiyK3Vkj0\n\nDuring the five years I wrote a newspaper column, the local PBS station -- KVCR in Riverside -- did a pro\n\n','My 15 minutes','','inherit','open','open','','341-revision','','','2010-04-23 20:32:34','2010-04-24 03:32:34','',341,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=342',0,'revision','',0),(343,1,'2010-04-23 20:52:36','2010-04-24 03:52:36','I don\'t usually post things on this site in more than one place, but the effort it took to be able to post this video makes me want to get the most mileage I can out of it.\r\n\r\nI have been trying to post it on YouTube for the better part of two years, and it was finally this week that I got it into a length and a format that would work. Even then, I had to try three times to upload it before I stopped getting error messages.\r\n\r\nIt\'s sort of an ego thing. Folks who know me know that I wrote a newspaper column for five years from 1996-2001, and that they were the years I enjoyed most in my 29-year career in the newspaper business. In the fourth year of my tenure, a local television station in the Inland Empire did a profile on me for their news show \"Evening Edition.\"\r\n\r\nAfter it aired, they gave me a DVD of the entire half-hour show on Riverside-based KVCR.\r\n\r\nHere\'s the video:\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkiyK3Vkj0','My own personal 15 minutes of fame','','publish','open','open','','my-own-personal-15-minutes-of-fame','','','2010-04-23 20:52:36','2010-04-24 03:52:36','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=343',0,'post','',0),(344,1,'2010-04-23 20:52:14','2010-04-24 03:52:14','I don\'t usually post things on this site in more than one place, but the effort it took to be able to post this video makes me want to get the most mileage I can out of it.\n\nI have been trying to post it on YouTube for the better part of two years, and it was finally this week that I got it into a length and a format that would work. Even then, I had to try three times to upload it before I stopped getting error messages.\n\nIt\'s sort of an ego thing. Folks who know me know that I wrote a newspaper column for five years from 1996-2001, and that they were the years I enjoyed most in my 29-year career in the newspaper business. In the fourth year of my tenure, a local television station in the Inland Empire did a profile on me for their news show \"Evening Edition.\"\n\nAfter it aired, they gave me a DVD of the entire half-hour show on Riverside-based KVCR.\n\nHere\'s the video:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkiyK3Vkj0','','','inherit','open','open','','343-revision','','','2010-04-23 20:52:14','2010-04-24 03:52:14','',343,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=344',0,'revision','',0),(345,1,'2010-04-25 20:27:09','2010-04-26 03:27:09','Well, I\'m getting ready for Texas.\r\n\r\nIn four days I\'m going to get into my Hyundai Tucson, point the nose east and drive to Bandera, Texas, a small town that calls itself the \"Cowboy Capital of the World.\" I\'ll be taking along clothes, toiletries, etc., to last me two months at <a title=\"Rancho Cortez\" href=\"http://www.ranchocortez.com/home\" target=\"_self\">Rancho Cortez</a>. In addition, I\'ll be taking along the new workout clothes, hiking boots, swimsuit, etc., that I bought this weekend.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_346\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Water Aerobics\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pool-Exercises2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-346\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pool-Exercises2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"197\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis is it.\r\n\r\nI am an extremely fortunate man in several respects. First that I had a wife supportive enough of me to let me disappear for two months and work on my life. Second that I had enough money to afford it. When I used to read about famous people going off to spas or \"fat farms,\" I always thought that expenses like that were for people who had more money than they needed.\r\n\r\nWell, I\'m not in that position. I just decided that this was a crucial enough situation that I had to spend some of the money I had saved to do it.\r\n\r\nSo when I leave on Thursday, I\'ll head to Phoenix and then turn south toward Las Cruces, N.M., El Paso, Texas, and on to Bandera near San Antonio. Mapquest says its a little more than 1,300 miles, which means giving myself three full days to drive there will make it a little bit of a leisurely drive.\r\n\r\nI won\'t be getting completely away from it all. I\'m taking my laptop and I\'ll make use of the wireless Internet, and I don\'t go anywhere without my BlackBerry.\r\n\r\nBut what really matters is getting into a good routine of eating healthy and exercising. Only one of the 21 weekly meals includes tofu, so I can either learn to like it or skip Sunday lunch. The thing that really blows me away when I look at the schedule is that there are six different exercise periods each day -- morning, afternoon and evening. Hikes, swimming, weight training and more.\r\n\r\nI figure it\'ll either get me fit or put me in a wheelchair.','Texas trip looming on Eastern horizon','','publish','open','open','','texas-trip-looming-on-eastern-horizon','','','2010-04-25 20:27:09','2010-04-26 03:27:09','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=345',0,'post','',0),(346,1,'2010-04-25 20:23:15','2010-04-26 03:23:15','','Pool-Exercises2','Water Aerobics','inherit','open','open','','pool-exercises2','','','2010-04-25 20:23:15','2010-04-26 03:23:15','',345,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pool-Exercises2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(347,1,'2010-04-25 20:26:55','2010-04-26 03:26:55','Well, I\'m getting ready for Texas.\n\nIn four days I\'m going to get into my Hyundai Tucson, point the nose east and drive to Bandera, Texas, a small town that calls itself the \"Cowboy Capital of the World.\" I\'ll be taking along clothes, toiletries, etc., to last me two months at <a title=\"Rancho Cortez\" href=\"http://www.ranchocortez.com/home\" target=\"_self\">Rancho Cortez</a>. In addition, I\'ll be taking along the new workout clothes, hiking boots, swimsuit, etc., that I bought this weekend.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_346\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Water Aerobics\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pool-Exercises2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-346\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Pool-Exercises2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"197\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis is it.\n\nI am an extremely fortunate man in several respects. First that I had a wife supportive enough of me to let me disappear for two months and work on my life. Second that I had enough money to afford it. When I used to read about famous people going off to spas or \"fat farms,\" I always thought that expenses like that were for people who had more money than they needed.\n\nWell, I\'m not in that position. I just decided that this was a crucial enough situation that I had to spend some of the money I had saved to do it.\n\nSo when I leave on Thursday, I\'ll head to Phoenix and then turn south toward Las Cruces, N.M., El Paso, Texas, and on to Bandera near San Antonio. Mapquest says its a little more than 1,300 miles, which means giving myself three full days to drive there will make it a little bit of a leisurely drive.\n\nI won\'t be getting completely away from it all. I\'m taking my laptop and I\'ll make use of the wireless Internet, and I don\'t go anywhere without my BlackBerry.\n\nBut what really matters is getting into a good routine of eating healthy and exercising. Only one of the 21 weekly meals includes tofu, so I can either learn to like it or skip Sunday lunch. The thing that really blows me away when I look at the schedule is that there are six different exercise periods each day -- morning, afternoon and evening. Hikes, swimming, weight training and more.\n\nI figure it\'ll either get me fit or put me in a wheelchair.','','','inherit','open','open','','345-revision','','','2010-04-25 20:26:55','2010-04-26 03:26:55','',345,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=347',0,'revision','',0),(348,1,'2010-04-26 16:26:45','2010-04-26 23:26:45','I am extremely impressed with <a title=\"Netflix\" href=\"http://www.netflix.com\" target=\"_self\">Netflix</a>, although not for the reasons you might think.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/netflix_logo.gif\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-349\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/netflix_logo.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"177\" height=\"55\" /></a>Most of you are probably familiar with Netflix, which does a terrific job of renting movies on DVD over the Internet. My daughter and her husband have been members for a long time, and they have been able to get DVDs of the movies they want to see no matter where in the world they find themselves for her job through the Department of State.\r\n\r\nI\'m not a big rental guy. If I like a movie enough, I usually buy the DVD, but I signed up for Netflix two years ago. For whatever reason, I just didn\'t use the account very much. I was paying $9.99 a month, but I was watching less than one movie a month via Netflix, so I decided to cancel my account.\r\n\r\nHere\'s where Netflix gets really impressive.\r\n\r\nI signed in to my account, went to the appropriate place on the website and found a choice you rarely see -- Cancel My Account.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if you\'ve ever been a member of America Online or other web-based businesses, but they are devilishly hard to cancel. You can make all sorts of changes, but to actually cancel your account, you have to call a real person, wait through all the holds and then listen while they do their level best to talk you out of it.\r\n\r\nNot Netflix.\r\n\r\nI had to answer two questions, basically about why I was quitting and then click on an icon.\r\n\r\nNo more Netflix.\r\n\r\nI\'ll tell you what, though. I would recommend them to anyone, and if I reached a point where I thought I would use the account more, I would not hesitate to join again.\r\n\r\nNow all I\'ve got to do is return this DVD that\'s been sitting on my desk since Christmas.\r\n\r\nI wonder what movie it was.','Netflix is a customer-friendly business','','publish','open','open','','netflix-is-a-customer-friendly-business','','','2010-04-26 16:26:45','2010-04-26 23:26:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=348',0,'post','',0),(349,1,'2010-04-26 16:26:04','2010-04-26 23:26:04','','netflix_logo','','inherit','open','open','','netflix_logo','','','2010-04-26 16:26:04','2010-04-26 23:26:04','',348,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/netflix_logo.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(350,1,'2010-04-26 16:26:29','2010-04-26 23:26:29','I am extremely impressed with <a title=\"Netflix\" href=\"http://www.netflix.com\" target=\"_self\">Netflix</a>, although not for the reasons you might think.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/netflix_logo.gif\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-349\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/netflix_logo.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"177\" height=\"55\" /></a>Most of you are probably familiar with Netflix, which does a terrific job of renting movies on DVD over the Internet. My daughter and her husband have been members for a long time, and they have been able to get DVDs of the movies they want to see no matter where in the world they find themselves for her job through the Department of State.\n\nI\'m not a big rental guy. If I like a movie enough, I usually buy the DVD, but I signed up for Netflix two years ago. For whatever reason, I just didn\'t use the account very much. I was paying $9.99 a month, but I was watching less than one movie a month via Netflix, so I decided to cancel my account.\n\nHere\'s where Netflix gets really impressive.\n\nI signed in to my account, went to the appropriate place on the website and found a choice you rarely see -- Cancel My Account.\n\nI don\'t know if you\'ve ever been a member of America Online or other web-based businesses, but they are devilishly hard to cancel. You can make all sorts of changes, but to actually cancel your account, you have to call a real person, wait through all the holds and then listen while they do their level best to talk you out of it.\n\nNot Netflix.\n\nI had to answer two questions, basically about why I was quitting and then click on an icon.\n\nNo more Netflix.\n\nI\'ll tell you what, though. I would recommend them to anyone, and if I reached a point where I thought I would use the account more, I would not hesitate to join again.\n\nNow all I\'ve got to do is return this DVD that\'s been sitting on my desk since Christmas.\n\nI wonder what movie it was.','','','inherit','open','open','','348-revision','','','2010-04-26 16:26:29','2010-04-26 23:26:29','',348,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=350',0,'revision','',0),(351,1,'2010-04-27 18:25:18','2010-04-28 01:25:18','It\'s funny how language changes over the years, how some words go from innocuous to slightly naughty or vice versa.\r\n\r\nI\'m reminded of the old story from about a hundred years ago, when a father called his son in to talk about language.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Son, there are two words I want you never to use.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"What are they?\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"They\'re lousy and swell.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"Fine, what are they?\"</em>\r\n\r\nWhen I was a kid, the word \"gay\" meant happy. As I have aged, it has come to mean a different kind of happy.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_352\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Scouts in Bondage\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/slide_6355_84396_large.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-352\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/slide_6355_84396_large-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was reading <a title=\"Huffington Post\" href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/the-funniest-unintentiona_n_551567.html\" target=\"_self\">Huffington Post</a> the other day when I saw a fascinating humor piece about the 11 unintentionally funniest sex titles. Of course nearly all of them are older books, and the one called \"Drummer Dick\'s Discharge\" looks like it might be close to a hundred years old.\r\n\r\nAnother uses the word \"boner\" in its older meaning as a mistake or a joke, and yet another plays off what used to be a fairly common name for cats.\r\n\r\nAs for the one pictured here, I have no idea what the meaning of \"bondage\" was that could have worked in a regular story about boy scouts. All I can say is, during my days as an assistant scoutmaster for my Eagle Scout son, there was never anything remotely resembling bondage.\r\n\r\nHey, I\'m a 60-year-old straight white guy, and even though I\'ve got a pretty good sense of humor, it took me a while to catch on to words like \"bad\" and \"phat.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s like somebody told me back in 1970. Hip expressions usually start in the black community, then move to white college kids. Eventually white high school kids start using them and then they make their final pilgrimage to use by rednecks.\r\n\r\nThat\'s why 30 years after I first heard the expression, \"Right on,\" it was huge in the redneck community.\r\n\r\nThat seems both swell and lousy to me.','Where do all the words eventually go?','','publish','open','open','','where-do-all-the-words-eventually-go','','','2010-04-27 18:25:18','2010-04-28 01:25:18','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=351',0,'post','',0),(352,1,'2010-04-27 18:17:27','2010-04-28 01:17:27','','slide_6355_84396_large','Scouts in Bondage','inherit','open','open','','slide_6355_84396_large','','','2010-04-27 18:17:27','2010-04-28 01:17:27','',351,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/slide_6355_84396_large.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(353,1,'2010-04-27 18:25:15','2010-04-28 01:25:15','It\'s funny how language changes over the years, how some words go from innocuous to slightly naughty or vice versa.\n\nI\'m reminded of the old story from about a hundred years ago, when a father called his son in to talk about language.\n\n<em>\"Son, there are two words I want you never to use.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"What are they?\"</em>\n\n<em>\"They\'re lousy and swell.\"</em>\n\n<em>\"Fine, what are they?\"</em>\n\nWhen I was a kid, the word \"gay\" meant happy. As I have aged, it has come to mean a different kind of happy.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_352\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Scouts in Bondage\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/slide_6355_84396_large.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-352\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/slide_6355_84396_large-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was reading <a title=\"Huffington Post\" href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/the-funniest-unintentiona_n_551567.html\" target=\"_self\">Huffington Post</a> the other day when I saw a fascinating humor piece about the 11 unintentionally funniest sex titles. Of course nearly all of them are older books, and the one called \"Drummer Dick\'s Discharge\" looks like it might be close to a hundred years old.\n\nAnother uses the word \"boner\" in its older meaning as a mistake or a joke, and yet another plays off what used to be a fairly common name for cats.\n\nAs for the one pictured here, I have no idea what the meaning of \"bondage\" was that could have worked in a regular story about boy scouts. All I can say is, during my days as an assistant scoutmaster for my Eagle Scout son, there was never anything remotely resembling bondage.\n\nHey, I\'m a 60-year-old straight white guy, and even though I\'ve got a pretty good sense of humor, it took me a while to catch on to words like \"bad\" and \"phat.\"\n\nIt\'s like somebody told me back in 1970. Hip expressions usually start in the black community, then move to white college kids. Eventually white high school kids start using them and then they make their final pilgrimage to use by rednecks.\n\nThat\'s why 30 years after I first heard the expression, \"Right on,\" it was huge in the redneck community.\n\nThat seems both swell and lousy to me.','Where do all the words eventually g','','inherit','open','open','','351-revision','','','2010-04-27 18:25:15','2010-04-28 01:25:15','',351,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=353',0,'revision','',0),(354,1,'2010-04-28 23:02:42','2010-04-29 06:02:42','I have been wanting to get an e-book reader ever since my daughter Pauline showed me her Kindle last year.\r\n\r\nI actually had one of the earliest readers, the Sony Rocket Reader, back in early 2001. My friend Mick Curran and I were getting a book published by Mighty Words, one of the first of the e-book ventures. We each made about $2,000 on \"The Woman in the Box,\" but the site didn\'t succeed and I think much of its content eventually wound up way back in the storage sites of Barnes &amp; Noble.\r\n\r\nYou may recall the fuss at the time. Stephen King published a novella -- I think it was called \"Riding the Bullet\" -- for e-books. The story eventually wound up in one of his collections, and e-books sort of went into hiatus for a while.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-355\" title=\"barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader-252x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"252\" height=\"300\" /></a>Now there are three competing models -- Amazon has the Kindle, Sony has its own model and Barnes &amp; Noble has the <a title=\"Nook\" href=\"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?cm_mmc=Redirect-_-nook.com-_-Storefront-_-nook\" target=\"_self\">Nook</a>.\r\n\r\nI decided my trip to Texas would be a pretty good time to get one. Since I\'m going to be away for two months, I\'ll have lots of time to read.\r\n\r\nI got a Nook, and they even gave me \"Pride &amp; Prejudice,\" \"Little Women\" and \"Dracula\" for free.\r\n\r\nThat\'s a pretty good start, and most of the best-sellers go for about half the price they do in hard-cover. They\'re about the same cost as a paperback edition, although they take up less space.\r\n\r\nReading has always been one of the truly great joys of my life, and there are few ways in which my children have made me happier than the fact that they both love to read.\r\n\r\nMy little granddaughter Maddie loves books too.\r\n\r\nShe\'s got good genes from her mother and her grandmother.\r\n\r\nAs I read some books on my Nook, I\'ll let you know what the experience is like.\r\n\r\nI\'m looking forward to it. Then again, I seem to be looking forward to a lot these days.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really a nice feeling.','A book in a Nook might really cook','','publish','open','open','','a-book-in-a-nook-might-really-cook','','','2010-04-28 23:02:42','2010-04-29 06:02:42','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=354',0,'post','',0),(355,1,'2010-04-28 22:58:13','2010-04-29 05:58:13','','barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader','','inherit','open','open','','barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader','','','2010-04-28 22:58:13','2010-04-29 05:58:13','',354,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(356,1,'2010-04-28 23:02:16','2010-04-29 06:02:16','I have been wanting to get an e-book reader ever since my daughter Pauline showed me her Kindle last year.\n\nI actually had one of the earliest readers, the Sony Rocket Reader, back in early 2001. My friend Mick Curran and I were getting a book published by Mighty Words, one of the first of the e-book ventures. We each made about $2,000 on \"The Woman in the Box,\" but the site didn\'t succeed and I think much of its content eventually wound up way back in the storage sites of Barnes &amp; Noble.\n\nYou may recall the fuss at the time. Stephen King published a novella -- I think it was called \"Riding the Bullet\" -- for e-books. The story eventually wound up in one of his collections, and e-books sort of went into hiatus for a while.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-355\" title=\"barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/barns-noble-nook-ebook-reader-252x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"252\" height=\"300\" /></a>Now there are three competing models -- Amazon has the Kindle, Sony has its own model and Barnes &amp; Noble has the <a title=\"Nook\" href=\"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?cm_mmc=Redirect-_-nook.com-_-Storefront-_-nook\" target=\"_self\">Nook</a>.\n\nI decided my trip to Texas would be a pretty good time to get one. Since I\'m going to be away for two months, I\'ll have lots of time to read.\n\nI got a Nook, and they even gave me \"Pride &amp; Prejudice,\" \"Little Women\" and \"Dracula\" for free.\n\nThat\'s a pretty good start, and most of the best-sellers go for about half the price they do in hard-cover. They\'re about the same cost as a paperback edition, although they take up less space.\n\nReading has always been one of the truly great joys of my life, and there are few ways in which my children have made me happier than the fact that they both love to read.\n\nMy little granddaughter Maddie loves books too.\n\nShe\'s got good genes from her mother and her grandmother.\n\nAs I read some books on my Nook, I\'ll let you know what the experience is like.\n\nI\'m looking forward to it. Then again, I seem to be looking forward to a lot these days.\n\nIt\'s really a nice feeling.','','','inherit','open','open','','354-revision','','','2010-04-28 23:02:16','2010-04-29 06:02:16','',354,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=356',0,'revision','',0),(357,1,'2010-05-15 16:29:28','2010-05-15 23:29:28','I certainly never planned on spending two weeks in Texas before I began posting on my stay, but I brought a different computer than the one I had been using and it took me this long to get back online.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_358\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Back in the saddle again\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-008.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-358\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-008-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI really wish I had been able to post before this; a lot of interesting things have been happening.\r\n\r\nI have shoveled several hundred pounds of manure, I have spent nearly two hours on horseback and I have gotten about a third of the way to my goal of losing 50 pounds in the two months I\'m here.\r\n\r\nI awaken every morning at 6, get dressed and head over to the horse barn to start shoveling manure in the dark. It\'s not<em> that</em> dark, but by the time I\'m done each day I have a good understanding of why some folks are referred to as \"shitkickers.\" The shoes I wear for that job aren\'t being worn for anything else, and when I\'m finished here, I\'ll throw them away.\r\n\r\nI spend most of my time either exercising or reading. I\'ve made it through most of Michael Connolly\'s Harry Bosch novels and I have been listening to a lot of country music around the ranch.\r\n\r\nI have been missing my wife a lot, and I\'m not sure that the separation isn\'t exacerbating some of the differences between us. Whether it has been my first marriage or my current one, I\'ve been very aware that absence does not make the heart grow fonder when it comes to the women who have loved me.\r\n\r\nI\'m apparently more the \"out of sight, out of mind\" type.\r\n\r\nAt this point, I think the only choice I have is to hang in there.','Mixed feelings after two weeks away','','publish','open','open','','mixed-feelings-after-two-weeks-away','','','2010-05-15 16:29:28','2010-05-15 23:29:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=357',0,'post','',0),(358,1,'2010-05-15 16:04:21','2010-05-15 23:04:21','','Picture-008','Back in the saddle again','inherit','open','open','','picture-008','','','2010-05-15 16:04:21','2010-05-15 23:04:21','',357,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-008.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(359,1,'2010-05-15 15:59:38','2010-05-15 22:59:38','I certainly never planned on spending two weeks in Texas before I began posting on my stay, but I brought a different computer than the one I had been using','','','inherit','open','open','','357-revision','','','2010-05-15 15:59:38','2010-05-15 22:59:38','',357,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=359',0,'revision','',0),(360,1,'2010-05-15 16:28:45','2010-05-15 23:28:45','I certainly never planned on spending two weeks in Texas before I began posting on my stay, but I brought a different computer than the one I had been using and it took me this long to get back online.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_358\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Back in the saddle again\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-008.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-358\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-008-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI really wish I had been able to post before this; a lot of interesting things have been happening.\n\nI have shoveled several hundred pounds of manure, I have spent nearly two hours on horseback and I have gotten about a third of the way to my goal of losing 50 pounds in the two months I\'m here.\n\nI awaken every morning at 6, get dressed and head over to the horse barn to start shoveling manure in the dark. It\'s not<em> that</em> dark, but by the time I\'m done each day I have a good understanding of why some folks are referred to as \"shitkickers.\" The shoes I wear for that job aren\'t being worn for anything else, and when I\'m finished here, I\'ll throw them away.\n\nI spend most of my time either exercising or reading. I\'ve made it through most of Michael Connolly\'s Harry Bosch novels and I have been listening to a lot of country music around the ranch.\n\nI have been missing my wife a lot, and I\'m not sure that the separation isn\'t exacerbating some of the differences between us. Whether it has been my first marriage or my current one, I\'ve been very aware that absence does not make the heart grow fonder when it comes to the women who have loved me.\n\nI\'m apparently more the \"out of sight, out of mind\" type.','','','inherit','open','open','','357-revision-2','','','2010-05-15 16:28:45','2010-05-15 23:28:45','',357,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=360',0,'revision','',0),(361,1,'2010-05-16 08:06:05','2010-05-16 15:06:05','','Picture-037','I Love My Wife','inherit','open','open','','picture-037','','','2010-05-16 08:06:05','2010-05-16 15:06:05','',362,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(362,1,'2010-05-16 08:41:26','2010-05-16 15:41:26','<em>\"What is this thing called love?\"</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_361\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"I Love My Wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-361\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the late 1970s, when I was still somewhere on the far side of innocence and naivete, I remember seeing a humorous Broadway musical titled \"I Love My Wife.\"\r\n\r\nIt was a typical -- for that time -- look at what was known by various terms as \"swinging\" or \"wife swapping,\" and of course it ended with the main character realizing that for all he liked to look at other women, he loved his wife and he didn\'t want to cheat on her.\r\n\r\nIn the end, he was a good husband.\r\n\r\nThe kind of husband I always thought I would be, the kind I always wanted to be.\r\n\r\nYet I have failed once at marriage, and I fear beyond fear that I am slipping into a second failure, even though I have never cheated.\r\n\r\nOf course, there\'s cheating ... and there\'s cheating.\r\n\r\nMy lovely wife of 17 1/2 years is very unhappy with me right now. She says that I\'m not affectionate, that we don\'t do things together and that I would rather be alone than spend time with her. The sad thing is, even though I don\'t think of myself in any of those ways, my actions speak very loudly in those areas.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_364\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"On Broadway\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/200px-LoveMyWifeLogo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-364\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/200px-LoveMyWifeLogo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"191\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nJust the fact that I have essentially fallen apart the last two years and am now working to put myself back together, and that I am doing it 1,300 miles and three states from home says a lot. And the fact that my not being at home is a huge weight -- no pun intended -- off Nicole\'s shoulders says even more.\r\n\r\nI understand it. As much as it hurts, I understand it. When you love someone enough to marry them, seeing them fail or fall apart must hurt tremendously. I\'m certain that the main reason my first marriage failed was that my wife looked at me four years into our marriage and saw that I had not really matured at all.\r\n\r\nFor all I can say and have said about infidelity ruining our marriage, my cheating -- in the form of not progressing with life -- did every bit as much damage as her sexual trysts.\r\n\r\nOver the last year or so, Nicole has been doing more and more things to protect herself in the event I really do go over the cliff. I absolutely can\'t blame her, and I understand -- I really do -- why she no longer trusts me or sees me as the man she fell in love with and married.\r\n\r\nThe strangest part of it is that I have actually been feeling as if I\'m on something of an upturn lately. I have been feeling better about myself and I fully expect to have my weight under control by the time I leave the ranch at the end of June.\r\n\r\nOne way or another, it will matter.\r\n\r\nOne way or another, I will find a way to be the man I want to be again.','When the image doesn\'t match the reality','','publish','open','open','','when-the-image-doesnt-match-the-reality','','','2010-05-16 08:41:26','2010-05-16 15:41:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=362',0,'post','',0),(363,1,'2010-05-16 08:15:50','2010-05-16 15:15:50','<em>\"What is this thing called love?\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_361\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"I Love My Wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-361\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn the late 1970s, when I was still somewhere on the far side of innocence and naivete, I remember seeing a humorous Broadway musical titled \"I Love My Wife.\"\n\nIt was a typical -- for that time -- look at what was known by various terms as \"swinging\" or \"wife swapping,\" and of course it ended with the main character realizing that for all he liked to look at other women, he loved his wife and he dheidn\'t want to cat on her.\n\ndn\'t want to che','','','inherit','open','open','','362-revision','','','2010-05-16 08:15:50','2010-05-16 15:15:50','',362,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=363',0,'revision','',0),(364,1,'2010-05-16 08:25:38','2010-05-16 15:25:38','','200px-LoveMyWifeLogo','On Broadway','inherit','open','open','','200px-lovemywifelogo','','','2010-05-16 08:25:38','2010-05-16 15:25:38','',362,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/200px-LoveMyWifeLogo.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(365,1,'2010-05-16 08:40:52','2010-05-16 15:40:52','<em>\"What is this thing called love?\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_361\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"I Love My Wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-361\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Picture-037-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn the late 1970s, when I was still somewhere on the far side of innocence and naivete, I remember seeing a humorous Broadway musical titled \"I Love My Wife.\"\n\nIt was a typical -- for that time -- look at what was known by various terms as \"swinging\" or \"wife swapping,\" and of course it ended with the main character realizing that for all he liked to look at other women, he loved his wife and he didn\'t want to cheat on her.\n\nIn the end, he was a good husband.\n\nThe kind of husband I always thought I would be, the kind I always wanted to be.\n\nYet I have failed once at marriage, and I fear beyond fear that I am slipping into a second failure, even though I have never cheated.\n\nOf course, there\'s cheating ... and there\'s cheating.\n\nMy lovely wife of 17 1/2 years is very unhappy with me right now. She says that I\'m not affectionate, that we don\'t do things together and that I would rather be alone than spend time with her. The sad thing is, even though I don\'t think of myself in any of those ways, my actions speak very loudly in those areas.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_364\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"200\" caption=\"On Broadway\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/200px-LoveMyWifeLogo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-364\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/200px-LoveMyWifeLogo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"191\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nJust the fact that I have essentially fallen apart the last two years and am now working to put myself back together, and that I am doing it 1,300 miles and three states from home says a lot. And the fact that my not being at home is a huge weight -- no pun intended -- off Nicole\'s shoulders says even more.\n\nI understand it. As much as it hurts, I understand it. When you love someone enough to marry them, seeing them fail or fall apart must hurt tremendously. I\'m certain that the main reason my first marriage failed was that my wife looked at me four years into our marriage and saw that I had not really matured at all.\n\nFor all I can say and have said about infidelity ruining our marriage, my cheating -- in the form of not progressing with life -- did every bit as much damage as her sexual trysts.\n\nOver the last year or so, Nicole has been doing more and more things to protect herself in the event I really do go over the cliff. I absolutely can\'t blame her, and I understand -- I really do -- why she no longer trusts me or sees me as the man she fell in love with and married.\n\nThe strangest part of it is that I have actually been feeling as if I\'m on something of an upturn lately. I have been feeling better about myself and I fully expect to have my weight under control by the time I leave the ranch at the end of June.\n\nOne way or another, it will matter.\n\nOne way or another, I will find a way to be the man I want to be again.','When the image doesn\'t match the reality','','inherit','open','open','','362-revision-2','','','2010-05-16 08:40:52','2010-05-16 15:40:52','',362,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=365',0,'revision','',0),(366,1,'2010-05-17 08:37:57','2010-05-17 15:37:57','There is something ineffably sad about old abandoned movie theatres.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_367\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The last picture show?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0313.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-367\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0313-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLarry McMurtry captured it so well in his wonderful novel, <a title=\"The Last Picture Show\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067328/\" target=\"_self\">\"The Last Picture Show,\"</a> made into an excellent film by Peter Bogdanovich in 1971. Shooting in little Archer City, Texas, the director used the closed \"picture show\" as a metaphor for a dying small town and indeed, a dying time.\r\n\r\nSaturday afternoon I was shooting some photos of the partly dead, partly dying old downtown in Hondo, Texas, when I saw the Rave Theater. At first glance it looked as if the last film through the projector was \"Jaws\" or \"Star Wars,\" and it made me think.\r\n\r\nI wondered how many generations of South Texas kids had visited the Rave, and how many could look back now on memorable nights in their lives, and I thought about some of the memorable nights in my own life spent in other theaters in other cities.\r\n\r\nMy first date with the lovely Cheryl Newman was a movie and so was my last one. I remember standing outside a Washington, D.C., theater in the freezing cold with Shelley Marcus as we waited to see \"M*A*S*H.\"\r\n\r\nI remember my first date with my first wife -- a midnight show of \"American Graffiti\" in September 1973. I believe it was the fifth or sixth time I had seen the film, one of my favorites. I remember our last \"date\" too, an evening out six years later to see Burt Reynolds and Jill Clayburgh in \"Starting Over\" while our marriage was crumbling around us.\r\n\r\nI remember all sorts of movies with all sorts of women in the 12 years between my two marriages, and I remember taking my wonderful Nicole to see \"Gas Food Lodging\" on a night she was so happy she skipped when she crossed Wilshire Boulevard.\r\n\r\nMovies matter. During the early days of our marriage, when Nicole and I were still working to get to know each other, she told me she hadn\'t been looking to get married, that she only wanted someone to go to the movies with. I could certainly understand that. Going to the movies ought to be a communal experience.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/last.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-368\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/last.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"96\" height=\"140\" /></a>I thought about all these things as I looked at the Rave, and then I realized something. As run-down and battered as the building looked, the name of the movie on the marquee wasn\'t something from a generation ago.\r\n\r\nIt was \"Iron Man 2,\" and even though there was only one show a night at 7 p.m. six nights week (closed on Tuesdays), the Rave was obviously hanging in there.\r\n\r\nI had to smile.\r\n\r\nThere was something very right about that.','\'Picture shows\' tell story of our lives','','publish','open','open','','picture-shows-tell-story-of-our-lives','','','2010-05-17 08:37:57','2010-05-17 15:37:57','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=366',0,'post','',0),(367,1,'2010-05-17 08:04:56','2010-05-17 15:04:56','','DSC_0313','The last picture show?','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0313','','','2010-05-17 08:04:56','2010-05-17 15:04:56','',366,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0313.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(368,1,'2010-05-17 08:35:02','2010-05-17 15:35:02','','last','','inherit','open','open','','last','','','2010-05-17 08:35:02','2010-05-17 15:35:02','',366,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/last.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(369,1,'2010-05-17 08:37:23','2010-05-17 15:37:23','There is something ineffably sad about old abandoned movie theatres.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_367\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The last picture show?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0313.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-367\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0313-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLarry McMurtry captured it so well in his wonderful novel, <a title=\"The Last Picture Show\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067328/\" target=\"_self\">\"The Last Picture Show,\"</a> made into an excellent film by Peter Bogdanovich in 1971. Shooting in little Archer City, Texas, the director used the closed \"picture show\" as a metaphor for a dying small town and indeed, a dying time.\n\nSaturday afternoon I was shooting some photos of the partly dead, partly dying old downtown in Hondo, Texas, when I saw the Rave Theater. At first glance it looked as if the last film through the projector was \"Jaws\" or \"Star Wars,\" and it made me think.\n\nI wondered how many generations of South Texas kids had visited the Rave, and how many could look back now on memorable nights in their lives, and I thought about some of the memorable nights in my own life spent in other theaters in other cities.\n\nMy first date with the lovely Cheryl Newman was a movie and so was my last one. I remember standing outside a Washington, D.C., theater in the freezing cold with Shelley Marcus as we waited to see \"M*A*S*H.\"\n\nI remember my first date with my first wife -- a midnight show of \"American Graffiti\" in September 1973. I believe it was the fifth or sixth time I had seen the film, one of my favorites. I remember our last \"date\" too, an evening out six years later to see Burt Reynolds and Jill Clayburgh in \"Starting Over\" while our marriage was crumbling around us.\n\nI remember all sorts of movies with all sorts of women in the 12 years between my two marriages, and I remember taking my wonderful Nicole to see \"Gas Food Lodging\" on a night she was so happy she skipped when she crossed Wilshire Boulevard.\n\nMovies matter. During the early days of our marriage, when Nicole and I were still working to get to know each other, she told me she hadn\'t been looking to get married, that she only wanted someone to go to the movies with. I could certainly understand that. Going to the movies ought to be a communal experience.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/last.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-368\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/last.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"96\" height=\"140\" /></a>I thought about all these things as I looked at the Rave, and then I realized something. As run-down and battered as the building looked, the name of the movie on the marquee wasn\'t something from a generation ago.\n\nIt was \"Iron Man 2,\" and even though there was only one show a night at 7 p.m. six nights week (closed on Tuesdays), the Rave was obviously hanging in there.\n\nI had to smile.\n\nThere was something very right about that.','','','inherit','open','open','','366-revision','','','2010-05-17 08:37:23','2010-05-17 15:37:23','',366,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=369',0,'revision','',0),(370,1,'2010-05-17 17:58:32','2010-05-18 00:58:32','I wonder why so many of us spend so much more time thinking about what we don\'t have than what we do have.\r\n\r\nThis afternoon I stayed in the pool alone after a water aerobics class and just let the water soak all my negative thinking, all my frustrations, out of my body. I was completely underwater up to my chin and I stayed at that level, watching the deep blue water shimmering in front of my face. And as corny as it sounds, I spent half an hour thinking about my life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_371\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Family is a blessing\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-371\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI thought about the fact that I have a wonderful wife, one who has stayed with me for better or for worse for more than 17 years now. Nicole sometimes worries that we don\'t have enough interests in common, but we love each other and we have made it through most of the tough times and ought to have some good times ahead.\r\n\r\nOne thing we do have in common is that we have raised two amazing children together. This is an area in which I have been truly blessed. Not only do both of my children love me and think I was a good parent, both of them are happily married, already started in good careers and on their way to great lives.\r\n\r\nThat\'s wonderful in itself, but when you consider the fact that neither one of my children have ever given me even one day of heartache, I am absolutely incredibly lucky.\r\n\r\nYes, my career ended two years before I had hoped it would, and it ended somewhat unceremoniously, but I was a journalist for 29 years and there were more years in which my job was a joy than there were years that it wasn\'t. In the course of covering sports, entertainment and business as well as writing a column for five years, I had the opportunity to go places most people never get to go.\r\n\r\nI covered baseball games in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco, Anaheim and Los Angeles -- hundreds of them -- and pro and college football games in great stadiums from coast to coast, from the Coliseum in Los Angeles to the Meadowlands in New York. I\'ve been to a Super Bowl, a World Series and bowl games from Atlanta to Pasadena.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_372\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Another generation\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-372\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhether it has been the world of sports, entertainment or politics, I have met some amazing people, many of whom are no longer with us. I sat with the late Roger Maris for an hour at a minor-league baseball game and talked with him about hitting 61 home runs in 1961 and the frustration that came after.\r\n\r\nI interviewed the late Peter Ustinov almost at the end of his great acting career, and I talked with Doris \"Granny D\" Haddock as she was starting her walk across the country at age 90 for campaign-finance reform.\r\n\r\nI covered three national political conventions and a major earthquake.\r\n\r\nI saw a lot of places I never figured to visit, places like Bozeman, Mont., Pocatello, Ida., and Manhattan, Kan. I did something you could never do anymore, covering 23 miles and making a flight out of Spokane, Wash., that was scheduled to leave in 23 minutes. It left on time and I made it just as the door was closing.\r\n\r\nI never did find out if Avis found its rental car.\r\n\r\nI have wonderful parents who stood by me through all sorts of heartache and three sisters and a brother who have loved me more than I ever deserved.  I have good friends who go back more than 40 years, who know me know and who knew me then.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_374\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The heart of it all\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0410.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-374\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0410-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut for all the wonderful things I have in my life, at the heart of it all is Nicole.\r\n\r\nShe is the most brilliant woman -- actually, the most brilliant person -- I have ever known. She has an amazing mind, yet still manages to see things as if through the eyes of a child. She has been without exception a wonderful wife; indeed, she puts my poor efforts to be a good husband to shame.\r\n\r\nShe is the first thing I think about when I awaken in the morning and is the last person in my thoughts before I fall asleep at night.\r\n\r\nI can barely remember a time when I didn\'t love her, and I know that no matter what happens, there will never be a time in the rest of my life when I no longer love her.\r\n\r\nI really am blessed.\r\n\r\nI always have been.\r\n\r\nI just didn\'t know it.','Life can be as good as we make it','','publish','open','open','','life-can-be-as-good-as-we-make-it','','','2010-05-17 17:58:32','2010-05-18 00:58:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=370',0,'post','',0),(371,1,'2010-05-17 17:04:18','2010-05-18 00:04:18','','DSC_0433','Family is a blessing','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0433','','','2010-05-17 17:04:18','2010-05-18 00:04:18','',370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(372,1,'2010-05-17 17:32:04','2010-05-18 00:32:04','','DSC_0119-2','Another generation','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0119-2','','','2010-05-17 17:32:04','2010-05-18 00:32:04','',370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(373,1,'2010-05-17 17:37:45','2010-05-18 00:37:45','I wonder why so many of us spend so much more time thinking about what we don\'t have than what we do have.\n\nThis afternoon I stayed in the pool alone after a water aerobics class and just let the water soak all my negative thinking, all my frustrations, out of my body. I was completely underwater up to my chin and I stayed at that level, watching the deep blue water shimmering in front of my face. And as corny as it sounds, I spent half an hour thinking about my life.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_371\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Family is a blessing\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-371\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI thought about the fact that I have a wonderful wife, one who has stayed with me for better or for worse for more than 17 years now. Nicole sometimes worries that we don\'t have enough interests in common, but we love each other and we have made it through most of the tough times and ought to have some good times ahead.\n\nOne thing we do have in common is that we have raised two amazing children together. This is an area in which I have been truly blessed. Not only do both of my children love me and think I was a good parent, both of them are happily married, already started in good careers and on their way to great lives.\n\nThat\'s wonderful in itself, but when you consider the fact that neither one of my children have ever given me even one day of heartache, I am absolutely incredibly lucky.\n\nYes, my career ended two years before I had hoped it would, and it ended somewhat unceremoniously, but I was a journalist for 29 years and there were more years in which my job was a joy than there were years that it wasn\'t. In the course of covering sports, entertainment and business as well as writing a column for five years, I had the opportunity to go places most people never get to go.\n\nI covered baseball games in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco, Anaheim and Los Angeles -- hundreds of them -- and pro and college football games in great stadiums from coast to coast, from the Coliseum in Los Angeles to the Meadowlands in New York. I\'ve been to a Super Bowl, a World Series and bowl games from Atlanta to Pasadena.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_372\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Another generation\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-372\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhether it has been the world of sports, entertainment or politics, I have met some amazing people, many of whom are no longer with us. I sat with the late Roger Maris for an hour at a minor-league baseball game and talked with him about hitting 61 home runs in 1961 and the frustration that came after.\n\nI interviewed the late Peter Ustinov almost at the end of his great acting career, and I talked with Doris \"Granny D\" Haddock as she was starting her walk across the country at age 90 for campaign-finance reform.\n\nI covered three national political conventions and a major earthquake.\n\nI saw a lot of places I never figured to visit,','','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision','','','2010-05-17 17:37:45','2010-05-18 00:37:45','',370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=373',0,'revision','',0),(374,1,'2010-05-17 17:51:21','2010-05-18 00:51:21','','DSC_0410','The heart of it all','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0410','','','2010-05-17 17:51:21','2010-05-18 00:51:21','',370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0410.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(375,1,'2010-05-17 17:58:08','2010-05-18 00:58:08','I wonder why so many of us spend so much more time thinking about what we don\'t have than what we do have.\n\nThis afternoon I stayed in the pool alone after a water aerobics class and just let the water soak all my negative thinking, all my frustrations, out of my body. I was completely underwater up to my chin and I stayed at that level, watching the deep blue water shimmering in front of my face. And as corny as it sounds, I spent half an hour thinking about my life.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_371\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Family is a blessing\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-371\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0433-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI thought about the fact that I have a wonderful wife, one who has stayed with me for better or for worse for more than 17 years now. Nicole sometimes worries that we don\'t have enough interests in common, but we love each other and we have made it through most of the tough times and ought to have some good times ahead.\n\nOne thing we do have in common is that we have raised two amazing children together. This is an area in which I have been truly blessed. Not only do both of my children love me and think I was a good parent, both of them are happily married, already started in good careers and on their way to great lives.\n\nThat\'s wonderful in itself, but when you consider the fact that neither one of my children have ever given me even one day of heartache, I am absolutely incredibly lucky.\n\nYes, my career ended two years before I had hoped it would, and it ended somewhat unceremoniously, but I was a journalist for 29 years and there were more years in which my job was a joy than there were years that it wasn\'t. In the course of covering sports, entertainment and business as well as writing a column for five years, I had the opportunity to go places most people never get to go.\n\nI covered baseball games in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco, Anaheim and Los Angeles -- hundreds of them -- and pro and college football games in great stadiums from coast to coast, from the Coliseum in Los Angeles to the Meadowlands in New York. I\'ve been to a Super Bowl, a World Series and bowl games from Atlanta to Pasadena.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_372\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Another generation\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-372\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0119-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhether it has been the world of sports, entertainment or politics, I have met some amazing people, many of whom are no longer with us. I sat with the late Roger Maris for an hour at a minor-league baseball game and talked with him about hitting 61 home runs in 1961 and the frustration that came after.\n\nI interviewed the late Peter Ustinov almost at the end of his great acting career, and I talked with Doris \"Granny D\" Haddock as she was starting her walk across the country at age 90 for campaign-finance reform.\n\nI covered three national political conventions and a major earthquake.\n\nI saw a lot of places I never figured to visit, places like Bozeman, Mont., Pocatello, Ida., and Manhattan, Kan. I did something you could never do anymore, covering 23 miles and making a flight out of Spokane, Wash., that was scheduled to leave in 23 minutes. It left on time and I made it just as the door was closing.\n\nI never did find out if Avis found its rental car.\n\nI have wonderful parents who stood by me through all sorts of heartache and three sisters and a brother who have loved me more than I ever deserved.  I have good friends who go back more than 40 years, who know me know and who knew me then.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_374\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The heart of it all\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0410.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-374\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0410-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut for all the wonderful things I have in my life, at the heart of it all is Nicole.\n\nShe is the most brilliant woman -- actually, the most brilliant person -- I have ever known. She has an amazing mind, yet still manages to see things as if through the eyes of a child. She has been without exception a wonderful wife; indeed, she puts my poor efforts to be a good husband to shame.\n\nShe is the first thing I think about when I awaken in the morning and is the last person in my thoughts before I fall asleep at night.\n\nI can barely remember a time when I didn\'t love her, and I know that no matter what happens, there will never be a time in the rest of my life when I no longer love her.\n\nI really am blessed.\n\nI always have been.\n\nI just didn\'t know it.','','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision-2','','','2010-05-17 17:58:08','2010-05-18 00:58:08','',370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=375',0,'revision','',0),(376,1,'2010-05-18 19:27:10','2010-05-19 02:27:10','<em>\"Kill \'em all and let God sort \'em out.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- MERCENARY SLOGAN</strong>\r\n\r\nMost of us have never killed anyone, nor would we ever kill anyone.\r\n\r\nYet over the last 40 years, most of us have slipped into America\'s live-and-let-die culture to the point where we support at least one sort of killing.\r\n\r\nWhat do I mean? Well, how many of us will say something to the effect of \"I don\'t believe in -----, but I don\'t want to impose my morality on other people\" and really mean it?\r\n\r\nThink about it. There are at least four -- maybe even five -- different issues that I would call \"life issues,\" and very few of us are truly consistent on them. It took me decades to get to the point where I feel I have a consistent position that is morally sound.\r\n\r\nThe issues are abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, euthanasia (admittedly pretty close to the third one) and thanks to George W. Bush, pre-emptive war. In all five of them, we make the choice to kill -- or at least to terminate the lives of -- people.\r\n\r\nLet\'s start with the toughest one.\r\n\r\nIt\'s obvious that abortion is a difficult issue, and there is a legitimate question at stake over whether unwanted babies have lives worth living. It\'s also doubtful that making abortion illegal would end all abortions, although advances in birth control are certainly making it easier for intelligent women to avoid unwanted pregnancies.\r\n\r\nBut tens of millions of lives have been ended by abortions since <em>Roe V. Wade</em> in the early \'70s, and the worst thing about it is that they have been sanctioned by the government. No matter what people argue about women and the right to choose to have an abortion, I believe that if abortion were illegal, there would be fewer of them.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/LifeMattersBlueLogo.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-377\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/LifeMattersBlueLogo-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" /></a>I think the tide is turning on this one, although very slowly. I have known plenty of women who have said they would never personally have an abortion, but others should have the right.\r\n\r\nThat\'s innately illogical, and let\'s leave it at that for now.\r\n\r\nCapital punishment is also a tough one for some people, but I prefer the New Testament point of view and believe that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. I\'ll hang my hat on the saying that only God should decide who lives and who dies.\r\n\r\nWhen I think about assisted suicide, I think of how hard Christopher Reeve fought to live until a cure for paralysis was found, and when I think of euthanasia, I think of how my late father rejoiced in every additional day he had with his family.\r\n\r\nPre-emptive war is the easy one for me. America used to be John Wayne, and the Duke never shot first. You worry about someone nuking us, and all you have to realize is that if we lose one city, whoever nuked us gets their country turned into a parking lot.\r\n\r\nTo me it\'s all about respecting life, about making decisions that come down on the side of exalting our life force instead of cheapening it.\r\n\r\nThese days our whole culture is about death and dying. Wouldn\'t it be nice to get back to a point where it was about life and living?','We should make decisions for life','','publish','open','open','','we-should-make-decisions-for-life','','','2010-05-18 19:27:10','2010-05-19 02:27:10','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=376',0,'post','',0),(377,1,'2010-05-18 19:17:58','2010-05-19 02:17:58','','LifeMattersBlueLogo','','inherit','open','open','','lifemattersbluelogo','','','2010-05-18 19:17:58','2010-05-19 02:17:58','',376,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/LifeMattersBlueLogo.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(378,1,'2010-05-18 19:26:49','2010-05-19 02:26:49','<em>\"Kill \'em all and let God sort \'em out.\"</em>\n<strong>-- MERCENARY SLOGAN</strong>\n\nMost of us have never killed anyone, nor would we ever kill anyone.\n\nYet over the last 40 years, most of us have slipped into America\'s live-and-let-die culture to the point where we support at least one sort of killing.\n\nWhat do I mean? Well, how many of us will say something to the effect of \"I don\'t believe in -----, but I don\'t want to impose my morality on other people\" and really mean it?\n\nThink about it. There are at least four -- maybe even five -- different issues that I would call \"life issues,\" and very few of us are truly consistent on them. It took me decades to get to the point where I feel I have a consistent position that is morally sound.\n\nThe issues are abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, euthanasia (admittedly pretty close to the third one) and thanks to George W. Bush, pre-emptive war. In all five of them, we make the choice to kill -- or at least to terminate the lives of -- people.\n\nLet\'s start with the toughest one.\n\nIt\'s obvious that abortion is a difficult issue, and there is a legitimate question at stake over whether unwanted babies have lives worth living. It\'s also doubtful that making abortion illegal would end all abortions, although advances in birth control are certainly making it easier for intelligent women to avoid unwanted pregnancies.\n\nBut tens of millions of lives have been ended by abortions since <em>Roe V. Wade</em> in the early \'70s, and the worst thing about it is that they have been sanctioned by the government. No matter what people argue about women and the right to choose to have an abortion, I believe that if abortion were illegal, there would be fewer of them.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/LifeMattersBlueLogo.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-377\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/LifeMattersBlueLogo-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" /></a>I think the tide is turning on this one, although very slowly. I have known plenty of women who have said they would never personally have an abortion, but others should have the right.\n\nThat\'s innately illogical, and let\'s leave it at that for now.\n\nCapital punishment is also a tough one for some people, but I prefer the New Testament point of view and believe that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. I\'ll hang my hat on the saying that only God should decide who lives and who dies.\n\nWhen I think about assisted suicide, I think of how hard Christopher Reeve fought to live until a cure for paralysis was found, and when I think of euthanasia, I think of how my late father rejoiced in every additional day he had with his family.\n\nPre-emptive war is the easy one for me. America used to be John Wayne, and the Duke never shot first. You worry about someone nuking us, and all you have to realize is that if we lose one city, whoever nuked us gets their country turned into a parking lot.\n\nTo me it\'s all about respecting life, about making decisions that come down on the side of exalting our life force instead of cheapening it.\n\nThese days our whole culture is about death and dying. Wouldn\'t it be nice to get back to a point where it was about life and living?','','','inherit','open','open','','376-revision','','','2010-05-18 19:26:49','2010-05-19 02:26:49','',376,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=378',0,'revision','',0),(379,1,'2010-05-19 17:20:45','2010-05-20 00:20:45','When is a state park not a state park?\r\n\r\nIn Texas, at least, state parks are called \"state natural areas,\" and in my first three weeks in Texas, I have seen two pretty nice ones. Two weeks ago, we went to Garner, where there was a wonderful dance floor all the way back in 1941. Today we visited<a title=\"Lost Maples State Natural Area\" href=\"http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lost_maples/\" target=\"_self\"> Lost Maples</a>, which some folks consider one of the very nicest SNAs/state parks in the Lone Star State.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_380\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"On the road\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-380\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0011-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIf you look at the link above, you\'ll see that Lost Maples is incredibly beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing. But on this late spring day, when we arrived a little after 9:30 a.m., it was a little bit foggy, a little bit drizzly and pretty much the only color was green.\r\n\r\nWe were there for a medium-long hike, and we took the East Loop, which starts out nice and level and then has a fairly steep climb of about 500 feet. Those are the hikes that are most difficult for me, with my 60-year-old knees and the extra weight I\'m carrying.\r\n\r\nBut I had made up my mind that I was going full tilt today, and it worked out well. We hiked for about 3 1/2 hours, covering a little more than six miles. A fairly slow pace, but the rocks during the climb -- both up and down -- were slippery from the drizzle and we had to be careful.\r\n\r\nI got some wonderful pictures at the top, looking down on the first part of the trail.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_381\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A breathtaking view\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-381\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0006-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was certainly happy at that point to be at the top looking back down than at the bottom looking up.\r\n\r\nThings are going great here, at least within the expectations I arrived with. I have lost 20 pounds in my first 16 days, putting me 40 percent of the way toward my goal. But the biggest surprise of all came when I had my blood pressure checked in the late afternoon.\r\n\r\nI have hypertension, and I have been taking blood pressure medicine for at least 10 years. When I\'m doing well, it brings my pressure down into what might be called \"high normal\" range.\r\n\r\nThis afternoon it was 91/65, a number I don\'t think I\'ve seen since my twenties.\r\n\r\nIt may be a fluke, and I need to remember it\'s still a medicine-aided number, but it made me feel great.\r\n\r\nThat\'s good enough for now, even if we never did find those lost maples.','Beautiful park makes for great hiking','','publish','open','open','','beautiful-park-makes-for-great-hiking','','','2010-05-19 17:20:45','2010-05-20 00:20:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=379',0,'post','',0),(380,1,'2010-05-19 17:01:54','2010-05-20 00:01:54','','DSC_0011','On the road','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0011','','','2010-05-19 17:01:54','2010-05-20 00:01:54','',379,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0011.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(381,1,'2010-05-19 17:13:06','2010-05-20 00:13:06','','DSC_0006','A breathtaking view','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0006','','','2010-05-19 17:13:06','2010-05-20 00:13:06','',379,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0006.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(382,1,'2010-05-19 17:19:53','2010-05-20 00:19:53','When is a state park not a state park?\n\nIn Texas, at least, state parks are called \"state natural areas,\" and in my first three weeks in Texas, I have seen two pretty nice ones. Two weeks ago, we went to Garner, where there was a wonderful dance floor all the way back in 1941. Today we visited<a title=\"Lost Maples State Natural Area\" href=\"http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lost_maples/\" target=\"_self\"> Lost Maples</a>, which some folks consider one of the very nicest SNAs/state parks in the Lone Star State.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_380\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"On the road\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0011.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-380\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0011-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf you look at the link above, you\'ll see that Lost Maples is incredibly beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing. But on this late spring day, when we arrived a little after 9:30 a.m., it was a little bit foggy, a little bit drizzly and pretty much the only color was green.\n\nWe were there for a medium-long hike, and we took the East Loop, which starts out nice and level and then has a fairly steep climb of about 500 feet. Those are the hikes that are most difficult for me, with my 60-year-old knees and the extra weight I\'m carrying.\n\nBut I had made up my mind that I was going full tilt today, and it worked out well. We hiked for about 3 1/2 hours, covering a little more than six miles. A fairly slow pace, but the rocks during the climb -- both up and down -- were slippery from the drizzle and we had to be careful.\n\nI got some wonderful pictures at the top, looking down on the first part of the trail.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_381\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A breathtaking view\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-381\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0006-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was certainly happy at that point to be at the top looking back down than at the bottom looking up.\n\nThings are going great here, at least within the expectations I arrived with. I have lost 20 pounds in my first 16 days, putting me 40 percent of the way toward my goal. But the biggest surprise of all came when I had my blood pressure checked in the late afternoon.\n\nI have hypertension, and I have been taking blood pressure medicine for at least 10 years. When I\'m doing well, it brings my pressure down into what might be called \"high normal\" range.\n\nThis afternoon it was 91/65, a number I don\'t think I\'ve seen since my twenties.\n\nIt may be a fluke, and I need to remember it\'s still a medicine-aided number, but it made me feel great.\n\nThat\'s good enough for now.','','','inherit','open','open','','379-revision','','','2010-05-19 17:19:53','2010-05-20 00:19:53','',379,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=382',0,'revision','',0),(383,1,'2010-05-20 17:46:29','2010-05-21 00:46:29','My old friend Mick Curran, who has been my friend since he was a little Mexican boy in 1965, e-mailed me the other day to see how I was doing down here Deep in the Heart.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_384\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Old Gringo\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0139.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-384\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0139-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI told him I couldn\'t complain -- I try, but no one listens -- and that things were going reasonably well in my efforts to get rid of the 50-60 pounds of ugly fat I\'ve been lugging around.\r\n\r\nHe said he has been suffering from migraines.\r\n\r\nI was very sympathetic. Been there, done that. I gave him the advice my doctor once gave me in dealing with those nasty headaches.\r\n\r\nHe told me that he had a sure-fire way to get rid of them. He said whenever he got a migraine, he would go home, undress, go into a dark bedroom and put his head between his wife\'s breasts until the headache went away.\r\n\r\nIt sounded like good advice, so I tried it.\r\n\r\nWhen I saw him two weeks later, he asked me if his advice had helped at all.\r\n\r\n\"Doc,\" I said. \"It was great. Worked like a charm. And by the way, you have a beautiful house.\"','Getting rid of headaches can be fun','','publish','open','open','','getting-rid-of-headaches-can-be-fun','','','2010-05-20 17:46:29','2010-05-21 00:46:29','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=383',0,'post','',0),(384,1,'2010-05-20 17:38:49','2010-05-21 00:38:49','','DSC_0139','Old Gringo','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0139','','','2010-05-20 17:38:49','2010-05-21 00:38:49','',383,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0139.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(385,1,'2010-05-20 17:45:36','2010-05-21 00:45:36','My old friend Mick Curran, who has been my friend since he was a little Mexican boy in 1965, e-mailed me the other day to see how I was doing down here Deep in the Heart.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_384\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Old Gringo\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0139.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-384\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0139-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI told him I couldn\'t complain -- I try, but no one listens -- and that things were going reasonably well in my efforts to get rid of the 50-60 pounds of ugly fat I\'ve been lugging around.\n\nHe said he has been suffering from migraines.\n\nI was very sympathetic. Been there, done that. I gave him the advice my doctor once gave me in dealing with those nasty headaches.\n\nHe told me that he had a sure-fire way to get rid of them. He said whenever he got a migraine, he would go home, undress, go into a dark bedroom and put his head between his wife\'s breasts until the headache went away.\n\nIt sounded like good advice, so I tried it.\n\nWhen I saw him two weeks later, he asked me if his advice had helped at all.\n\n\"Doc,\" I said. \"It was great. Worked like a charm. And by the way, you have a beautiful house.\"','Getting rid of headaches can be ','','inherit','open','open','','383-revision','','','2010-05-20 17:45:36','2010-05-21 00:45:36','',383,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=385',0,'revision','',0),(386,1,'2010-05-21 11:21:25','2010-05-21 18:21:25','','DSC_0013','Down 21 in 18 days','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0013','','','2010-05-21 11:21:25','2010-05-21 18:21:25','',387,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(387,1,'2010-05-21 11:48:11','2010-05-21 18:48:11','I really hate having my picture taken.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_386\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 21 in 18 days\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-386\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPart of the problem has always been that I had features that I didn\'t think photographed well -- my hair, for instance. I\'ve solved that problem in recent years by getting my hair cut almost to the scalp once or twice a year.\r\n\r\nBut the one feature I couldn\'t hide was the extra weight I was carrying. I found myself looking back longingly at the pics taken when I was 20 years old, 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds. Of course in those, my hair often looked odd.\r\n\r\nI just wasn\'t designed to be photogenic.\r\n\r\nBut in recent years, things got worse and worse. My belly got bigger and fat appeared in places it never had before. In a couple of instances, I think, my fat even had fat.\r\n\r\nAs I mentioned in an earlier post, I hit 280 earlier this year, which is at least 70-80 pounds more than I should weigh if I want to be a healthy man.\r\n\r\nI managed to work it down close to 270 on my own, but I was still just above that level when I weighed in here at <a title=\"Rancho Cortez\" href=\"http://www.ranchocortez.com/about\" target=\"_self\">Rancho Cortez</a> on May 3rd for the beginning of a 59-day stay. The plan was to lose 50 pounds and go home at about 220 with some good habits established and only a little further to go to be where I needed to be.\r\n\r\nAfter 18 days, I don\'t know if I\'ll reach my goal, but I know I am on track enough that I have a good chance of accomplishing it. I\'m down to about 250, a loss of 21 pounds, and I am pretty solidly into the eating routine. I\'m working my way into the exercise program, which usually consists of five or six different classes or activities every day.\r\n\r\nToday for the first time I\'ll do five things -- mucking out the stables, hiking, strength training, water aerobics and stretching.\r\n\r\nEverything on the schedule except kickboxing.\r\n\r\nI\'m pleased enough with my progress to post a picture of me taken about an hour ago. I\'m still big. I\'m still fat, but I think I\'m getting ready to leave the neighborhood of obese.\r\n\r\nI don\'t plan to make a return trip.','Every picture really does tell a story','','publish','open','open','','every-picture-really-does-tell-a-story','','','2010-05-21 11:48:11','2010-05-21 18:48:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=387',0,'post','',0),(388,1,'2010-05-21 11:44:49','2010-05-21 18:44:49','I really hate having my picture taken.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_386\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 21 in 18 days\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-386\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPart of the problem has always been that I had features that I didn\'t think photographed well -- my hair, for instance. I\'ve solved that problem in recent years by getting my hair cut almost to the scalp once or twice a year.\n\nBut the one feature I couldn\'t hide was the extra weight I was carrying. I found myself looking back longingly at the pics taken when I was 20 years old, 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds. Of course in those, my hair often looked odd.\n\nI just wasn\'t designed to be photogenic.\n\nBut in recent years, things got worse and worse. My belly got bigger and fat appeared in places it never had before. In a couple of instances, I think, my fat even had fat.\n\nAs I mentioned in an earlier post, I hit 280 earlier this year, which is at least 70-80 pounds more than I should weigh if I want to be a healthy man.\n\nI managed to work it down close to 270 on my own, but I was still just above that level when I weighed in here at <a title=\"Rancho Cortez\" href=\"http://www.ranchocortez.com/about\" target=\"_self\">Rancho Cortez</a> on May 3rd for the beginning of a 59-day stay. The plan was to lose 50 pounds and go home at about 220 with some good habits established and only a little further to go to be where I needed to be.\n\nAfter 18 days, I don\'t know if I\'ll reach my goal, but I know I am on track enough that I have a good chance of accomplishing it. I\'m down to about 250, a loss of 21 pounds, and I am pretty solidly into the eating routine. I\'m working my way into the exercise program, which usually consists of five or six different classes or activities every day.\n\nToday for the first time I\'ll do five things -- mucking out the stables, hiking, strength training, water aerobics and stretching.\n\nEverything on the schedule except kickboxing.\n\nI\'m pleased enough with my progress to post a picture of me taken about an hour ago. I\'m still big. I\'m still fat, but I think I\'m getting ready to leave the neighborhood of obese.\n\nI don\'t plan to make a return trip.','','','inherit','open','open','','387-revision','','','2010-05-21 11:44:49','2010-05-21 18:44:49','',387,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=388',0,'revision','',0),(389,1,'2010-05-21 11:45:02','2010-05-21 18:45:02','I really hate having my picture taken.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_386\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 21 in 18 days\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-386\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0013-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPart of the problem has always been that I had features that I didn\'t think photographed well -- my hair, for instance. I\'ve solved that problem in recent years by getting my hair cut almost to the scalp once or twice a year.\r\n\r\nBut the one feature I couldn\'t hide was the extra weight I was carrying. I found myself looking back longingly at the pics taken when I was 20 years old, 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds. Of course in those, my hair often looked odd.\r\n\r\nI just wasn\'t designed to be photogenic.\r\n\r\nBut in recent years, things got worse and worse. My belly got bigger and fat appeared in places it never had before. In a couple of instances, I think, my fat even had fat.\r\n\r\nAs I mentioned in an earlier post, I hit 280 earlier this year, which is at least 70-80 pounds more than I should weigh if I want to be a healthy man.\r\n\r\nI managed to work it down close to 270 on my own, but I was still just above that level when I weighed in here at <a title=\"Rancho Cortez\" href=\"http://www.ranchocortez.com/about\" target=\"_self\">Rancho Cortez</a> on May 3rd for the beginning of a 59-day stay. The plan was to lose 50 pounds and go home at about 220 with some good habits established and only a little further to go to be where I needed to be.\r\n\r\nAfter 18 days, I don\'t know if I\'ll reach my goal, but I know I am on track enough that I have a good chance of accomplishing it. I\'m down to about 250, a loss of 21 pounds, and I am pretty solidly into the eating routine. I\'m working my way into the exercise program, which usually consists of five or six different classes or activities every day.\r\n\r\nToday for the first time I\'ll do five things -- mucking out the stables, hiking, strength training, water aerobics and stretching.\r\n\r\nEverything on the schedule except kickboxing.\r\n\r\nI\'m pleased enough with my progress to post a picture of me taken about an hour ago. I\'m still big. I\'m still fat, but I think I\'m getting ready to leave the neighborhood of obese.\r\n\r\nI don\'t plan to make a return trip.','','','inherit','open','open','','387-revision-2','','','2010-05-21 11:45:02','2010-05-21 18:45:02','',387,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=389',0,'revision','',0),(390,1,'2010-05-21 18:06:21','2010-05-22 01:06:21','I was surprised to see that tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the video game Pac-Man.\r\n\r\nIt was almost exactly half my life ago -- I\'m 60 now, I was 30 then -- and I wasn\'t having the best year of my life. My first wife and I had separated in January and I was dealing with the debris of failure in the most significant relationship I had ever attempted. I was working pretty hard, with a full-time job, a part-time job and 10 or 12 credits of college work.\r\n\r\nI was dealing with dating for the first time in more than five years, and it was definitely a weird experience. I was getting myself into trouble by spending more money than I was making.\r\n\r\nI should have known. In my final job interview for my first full-time job as a reporter, the managing editor asked me what I expected as far as a salary. I told him I didn\'t care, as long as it was enough to live on.\r\n\r\n<em>\"How about </em>almost<em> enough to live on?\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat was when I should have run out of the office screaming, straight to truck-driving school.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_391\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\" caption=\"Pac-Man\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-391\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man-260x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI never had enough money, but it was surprising how often I found a few quarters to play <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man\">Pac-Man</a>. It was a fascinating game, the first real video game that didn\'t involve shooting at something or playing some type of sport.\r\n\r\nAll you had to do was move your man effectively enough to keep from being eaten.\r\n\r\nIt was the first video game that seemed to appeal to girls as well as boys, and after all these years it remains the game with the highest product identification. There were numerous descendants, with Ms. Pac-Man the best of them.\r\n\r\nI was never that great at it, although I know there were times I tried hard enough that I saw the characters in my dreams. The same thing used to happen to me after playing Tetris.\r\n\r\nIt has been a long time since I\'ve played it, although I do remember putting a quarter into a Ms. Pac-Man machine some months back while I was waiting for my car to be washed.\r\n\r\nSome kids never grow up.','It was 30 years ago tomorrow ...','','publish','open','open','','it-was-30-years-ago-tomorrow','','','2010-05-21 18:06:21','2010-05-22 01:06:21','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=390',0,'post','',0),(391,1,'2010-05-21 17:55:20','2010-05-22 00:55:20','','pac-man','Pac-Man','inherit','open','open','','pac-man','','','2010-05-21 17:55:20','2010-05-22 00:55:20','',390,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(392,1,'2010-05-21 18:05:43','2010-05-22 01:05:43','I was surprised to see that tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the video game Pac-Man.\n\nIt was almost exactly half my life ago -- I\'m 60 now, I was 30 then -- and I wasn\'t having the best year of my life. My first wife and I had separated in January and I was dealing with the debris of failure in the most significant relationship I had ever attempted. I was working pretty hard, with a full-time job, a part-time job and 10 or 12 credits of college work.\n\nI was dealing with dating for the first time in more than five years, and it was definitely a weird experience. I was getting myself into trouble by spending more money than I was making.\n\nI should have known. In my final job interview for my first full-time job as a reporter, the managing editor asked me what I expected as far as a salary. I told him I didn\'t care, as long as it was enough to live on.\n\n<em>\"How about </em>almost<em> enough to live on?\"</em>\n\nThat was when I should have run out of the office screaming, straight to truck-driving school.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_391\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\" caption=\"Pac-Man\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-391\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man-260x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI never had enough money, but it was surprising how often I found a few quarters to play <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man\">Pac-Man</a>. It was a fascinating game, the first real video game that didn\'t involve shooting at something or playing some type of sport.\n\nAll you had to do was move your man effectively enough to keep from being eaten.\n\nIt was the first video game that seemed to appeal to girls as well as boys, and after all these years it remains the game with the highest product identification. There were numerous descendants, with Ms. Pac-Man the best of them.\n\nI was never that great at it, although I know there were times I tried hard enough that I saw the characters in my dreams. The same thing used to happen to me after playing Tetris.\n\nIt has been a long time since I\'ve played it, although I do remember putting a quarter into a Ms. Pac-Man machine some months back while I was waiting for my car to be washed.\n\nSome kids never grow up.','','','inherit','open','open','','390-revision','','','2010-05-21 18:05:43','2010-05-22 01:05:43','',390,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=392',0,'revision','',0),(393,1,'2010-05-22 19:02:11','2010-05-23 02:02:11','Another Saturday night ...\r\n\r\nDoes there always come a time in your life when you no longer think of Saturday night as \"date night,\" or even as anything special?\r\n\r\nFor most of my single years -- especially the 12 or so between my two marriages -- I worked on Friday nights and had Saturday nights off. That\'s the way it is for a lot of sportswriters; Friday nights are busy, Saturday nights not so much. And on several of the stops along my career highway, I wasn\'t enjoying my Saturdays all that much.\r\n\r\nI don\'t think I had one date during my nine months in South Carolina, and I seem to recall my first year in St. Louis being a relative wasteland in that area as well. As Woody Allen once quipped in<a href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069097/\"> \"Play it Again Sam,\"</a> my sex life was turning into the petrified forest.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_395\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Play it Again Sam\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/play_it_again_sam.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-395\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/play_it_again_sam-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDuring my first marriage and the early years of my second marriage, we usually went out on Saturday night. Most of the time it was dinner and a movie, although sometimes we ate at home and then went to the movie after dinner.\r\n\r\nBut movies started getting really expensive. They\'re at the point now where two tickets to a first-run film cost more than buying it on DVD a few months later, and it just isn\'t as important to me as it once was to see a movie when it first comes out.\r\n\r\nHeck, I still haven\'t seen any of the three \"Lord of the Rings\" movies, and after busting my hump in the \'80s to see \"Empire Strikes Back\" and \"Return of the Jedi\" on the first day they were out, I not only saw the last three \"Star Wars\" movies on DVD, I didn\'t watch the last one until I\'d had the DVD for more than a year.\r\n\r\nSaturday night eventually became a night to rest and recover for the week ahead. Instead of living for the weekend, I was doing what I could to recharge my batteries on the weekend.\r\n\r\nHere in Texas, that has been essential. I\'ve been dieting all week and exercising from Monday through Saturday. By the end of the day Saturday, I\'m exhausted. I fall into bed with a novel, sleep in on Sunday morning and then spend Sunday storing up energy for Monday, when it starts all over again.\r\n\r\nAnother Saturday night ...\r\n\r\nA blessing of a different sort.','A Saturday night of a different sort','','publish','open','open','','a-saturday-night-of-a-different-sort','','','2010-05-22 19:02:11','2010-05-23 02:02:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=393',0,'post','',0),(394,1,'2010-05-22 18:05:16','2010-05-23 01:05:16','Another Saturday night ...\n\nDoes there always come a time in your life when you no longer think of Saturday night as \"date night,\" or even as anything special?','','','inherit','open','open','','393-revision','','','2010-05-22 18:05:16','2010-05-23 01:05:16','',393,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=394',0,'revision','',0),(395,1,'2010-05-22 18:45:13','2010-05-23 01:45:13','','play_it_again_sam','Play it Again Sam','inherit','open','open','','play_it_again_sam','','','2010-05-22 18:45:13','2010-05-23 01:45:13','',393,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/play_it_again_sam.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(396,1,'2010-05-22 19:01:42','2010-05-23 02:01:42','Another Saturday night ...\n\nDoes there always come a time in your life when you no longer think of Saturday night as \"date night,\" or even as anything special?\n\nFor most of my single years -- especially the 12 or so between my two marriages -- I worked on Friday nights and had Saturday nights off. That\'s the way it is for a lot of sportswriters; Friday nights are busy, Saturday nights not so much. And on several of the stops along my career highway, I wasn\'t enjoying my Saturdays all that much.\n\nI don\'t think I had one date during my nine months in South Carolina, and I seem to recall my first year in St. Louis being a relative wasteland in that area as well. As Woody Allen once quipped in<a href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069097/\"> \"Play it Again Sam,\"</a> my sex life was turning into the petrified forest.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_395\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Play it Again Sam\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/play_it_again_sam.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-395\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/play_it_again_sam-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDuring my first marriage and the early years of my second marriage, we usually went out on Saturday night. Most of the time it was dinner and a movie, although sometimes we ate at home and then went to the movie after dinner.\n\nBut movies started getting really expensive. They\'re at the point now where two tickets to a first-run film cost more than buying it on DVD a few months later, and it just isn\'t as important to me as it once was to see a movie when it first comes out.\n\nHeck, I still haven\'t seen any of the three \"Lord of the Rings\" movies, and after busting my hump in the \'80s to see \"Empire Strikes Back\" and \"Return of the Jedi\" on the first day they were out, I not only saw the last three \"Star Wars\" movies on DVD, I didn\'t watch the last one until I\'d had the DVD for more than a year.\n\nSaturday night eventually became a night to rest and recover for the week ahead. Instead of living for the weekend, I was doing what I could to recharge my batteries on the weekend.\n\nHere in Texas, that has been essential. I\'ve been dieting all week and exercising from Monday through Saturday. By the end of the day Saturday, I\'m exhausted. I fall into bed with a novel, sleep in on Sunday morning and then spend Sunday storing up energy for Monday, when it starts all over again.\n\nAnother Saturday night ...\n\nA blessing of a different sort.','','','inherit','open','open','','393-revision-2','','','2010-05-22 19:01:42','2010-05-23 02:01:42','',393,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=396',0,'revision','',0),(399,1,'2010-05-23 17:57:46','2010-05-24 00:57:46','I went to Austin today, partly to break the routine on my day off and partly to buy myself a University of Texas hoodie.\n\nI love hoodies, and the only one I have is too heavy to wear except when it\'s really cold. I had one from my fraternity that I wore for about 10 years, until it was tattered and torn and my wife was begging me to get rid of it. So I hopped into my car and headed across Texas to visit UT.\n\nWhat\'s the first thing you think of when you think of the University of Texas?\n\nIf you\'re not from Texas, it\'s most likely something to do with sports. The Longhorns are consistent national title contenders in football, excellent in basketball and they actually won the College World Series in baseball this year.\n\nBut if you\'re an American of a certain age, you might remember something else. Someone else.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_398\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"The Texas tower\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ut-tower.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-398\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ut-tower-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was 16 on August 1st, 1966, when the news reports came out of Austin. A man named <a title=\"Charles Whitman\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman\" target=\"_self\">Charles Whitman</a> had climbed the clock tower in the middle of the UT campus, armed with several weapons, and had begun shooting at students in the courtyard below.\n\nBefore it was over, before he was taken down by a police officer, Whitman had killed 16 people and wounded 30 others.\n\nTo a nation, a generation that had been shocked by the Kennedy assassination in Dallas less than three years earlier, this was something different. Presidents get killed for a reason, even if we don\'t know what the reason is. Most folks who are murdered, there\'s a reason for it.\n\nThis was different. There was no apparent reason for any of the deaths. It wasn\'t as if Whitman had wanted to kill one person and cover up his motive by taking others along with them.\n\nIt was a senseless crime.\n\nIn a way, it was the beginning of all the senseless crimes that have followed, the beginning of all the stuff that has happened over the last 40 years or so that has left more and more people feeling like they can\'t even control their own lives.\n\nTwo generations of students have attended UT since 1966, and many of the kids matriculating now have parents who were born in the years since Whitman climbed the tower.\n\nSeveral books were written about the events, but no one was ever really able to come up with any rationale other than the fact that Whitman suffered from a malignant brain tumor that certainly was affecting his moods. Eventually, of course, Hollywood got involved, and in 1975, Kurt Russell starred in a made-for-television movie called <a title=\"The Deadly Tower\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072852/\" target=\"_self\">\"The Deadly Tower.\"</a>\n\nForty-four years later, there is a plaque commemorating the heroes who took Whitman down, or who helped save the wounded. It has been a long time, and we forget these things.\n\nBut the tower still stands, Deep in the Heart of Texas, and it might just be where America started sliding down that slippery slope.','In Austin, the tower still reminds us','','inherit','open','open','','397-revision','','','2010-05-23 17:57:46','2010-05-24 00:57:46','',397,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=399',0,'revision','',0),(401,1,'2010-05-24 15:56:27','2010-05-24 22:56:27','When you reach a certain age, and you hear from old friends, the news is just as likely to be bad as good.\n\nYou\'re not hearing about great grades in school, a new job or a new love. As often as not, the news is of deaths in the family, jobs that have been lost or outsourced or long-time relationships that have come to a sad end.\n\nSometimes it\'s even one friend telling you another has died.\n\nI went hiking in San Antonio today just after getting some sad news from a friend I haven\'t seen in nearly 40 years. She used to hang out with us in the early \'70s, until she met the love of her life and withdrew from our group. I believe they lived together for some years before they made it legal, so I don\'t know how long they were actually married.\n\nI actually don\'t know much yet at all. I only know the terrible sadness that comes when love slides into indifference. I know that when love dies, it\'s usually not when people are yelling at each other and angry all the time. It\'s when there is nothing left to say and little or no desire to say it. The end of my failed first marriage was punctuated more by long silences than by anything else.\n\nOf course I was 29 then, and if I didn\'t believe anything good would ever happen to me again, I knew that there was plenty of time. My friend is in her late 50s, and her relationship was far longer than mine.\n\nWhenever I think of relationships ending, I think of Harry Chapin\'s wonderful song, \"Last Stand.\" Of course Harry died nearly 30 years ago, but I love this YouTube video of his former bandmates performing it.\n\n<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/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nA beautiful song, some sad thoughts.\n\nTo my friend, hold fast. It will get better.','','','inherit','open','open','','400-revision','','','2010-05-24 15:56:27','2010-05-24 22:56:27','',400,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=401',0,'revision','',0),(402,1,'2010-05-24 15:57:30','2010-05-24 22:57:30','When you reach a certain age, and you hear from old friends, the news is just as likely to be bad as good.\n\nYou\'re not hearing about great grades in school, a new job or a new love. As often as not, the news is of deaths in the family, jobs that have been lost or outsourced or long-time relationships that have come to a sad end.\n\nSometimes it\'s even one friend telling you another has died.\n\nI went hiking in San Antonio today just after getting some sad news from a friend I haven\'t seen in nearly 40 years. She used to hang out with us in the early \'70s, until she met the love of her life and withdrew from our group. I believe they lived together for some years before they made it legal, so I don\'t know how long they were actually married.\n\nI actually don\'t know much yet at all. I only know the terrible sadness that comes when love slides into indifference. I know that when love dies, it\'s usually not when people are yelling at each other and angry all the time. It\'s when there is nothing left to say and little or no desire to say it. The end of my failed first marriage was punctuated more by long silences than by anything else.\n\nOf course I was 29 then, and if I didn\'t believe anything good would ever happen to me again, I knew that there was plenty of time. My friend is in her late 50s, and her relationship was far longer than mine.\n\nWhenever I think of relationships ending, I think of Harry Chapin\'s wonderful song, \"Last Stand.\" Of course Harry died nearly 30 years ago, but I love this YouTube video of his former bandmates performing it.\n\n<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/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" /><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" /><embed type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/_WAgDE2ThQ8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"></embed></object>\n\nA beautiful song, some sad thoughts.\n\nTo my friend, hold fast. It will get better.','Some sad news from an old friend','','inherit','open','open','','400-autosave','','','2010-05-24 15:57:30','2010-05-24 22:57:30','',400,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=402',0,'revision','',0),(403,1,'2010-05-26 15:48:51','2010-05-26 22:48:51','I don\'t have a picture to use with today\'s post. I\'m not sure you would want to see one of me broken down and doubled over with pain, although the pain is already starting to get better.\r\n\r\nMy back started hurting late last week, mostly fatigue from the fact that I have been doing so much more this month than I have ever done before. Even during my marathon diet-and-exercise sessions in 1985 and 1989, I rarely exercised more than once a day. This month I have been working out two, three, four times a day and it was really starting to get to me.\r\n\r\nOn Saturday for the first time, I couldn\'t finish a hike.\r\n\r\nThen on Monday, when we hiked the San Antonio missions and finished up at the Alamo, I only managed two of the four legs of the 12-mile hike. Even then, I was clobbered. I was told in no uncertain terms to take two or three days completely off, to give my body a chance to regain some strength.\r\n\r\nThat didn\'t mean curling up with Ben &amp; Jerry\'s or heading out for barbecued ribs. I\'m still on the same diet, but for the last couple of days I have been sleeping more, laying around a lot more and regaining control of my muscles, such as they are.\r\n\r\nTomorrow I\'ll ease back into things and then plan on going full tilt again on Friday. I\'m still down 24 pounds in 23 days, so I\'m on target for my goal of 50 pounds in two months. I looked in the mirror this afternoon and I don\'t look too horrible, considering I still weigh nearly 250 pounds.\r\n\r\nThe one thing that <em>did</em> surprise me was my hair.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been seeing gray around the sides for a few years now, but the last month or so, I\'m seeing it all across the front and the top. I won\'t be surprised if I\'m completely gray by the end of the summer.\r\n\r\nNo problem.\r\n\r\nI\'ll gladly trade what\'s left of my brown hair for a pain-free back.','A weak back leads to days of rest','','publish','open','open','','a-weak-back-leads-to-days-of-rest','','','2010-05-26 15:48:51','2010-05-26 22:48:51','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=403',0,'post','',0),(404,1,'2010-05-26 15:48:04','2010-05-26 22:48:04','I don\'t have a picture to use with today\'s post. I\'m not sure you would want to see one of me broken down and doubled over with pain, although the pain is already starting to get better.\n\nMy back started hurting late last week, mostly fatigue from the fact that I have been doing so much more this month than I have ever done before. Even during my marathon diet-and-exercise sessions in 1985 and 1989, I rarely exercised more than once a day. This month I have been working out two, three, four times a day and it was really starting to get to me.\n\nOn Saturday for the first time, I couldn\'t finish a hike.\n\nThen on Monday, when we hiked the San Antonio missions and finished up at the Alamo, I only managed two of the four legs of the 12-mile hike. Even then, I was clobbered. I was told in no uncertain terms to take two or three days completely off, to give my body a chance to regain some strength.\n\nThat didn\'t mean curling up with Ben &amp; Jerry\'s or heading out for barbecued ribs. I\'m still on the same diet, but for the last couple of days I have been sleeping more, laying around a lot more and regaining control of my muscles, such as they are.\n\nTomorrow I\'ll ease back into things and then plan on going full tilt again on Friday. I\'m still down 24 pounds in 23 days, so I\'m on target for my goal of 50 pounds in two months. I looked in the mirror this afternoon and I don\'t look too horrible, considering I still weigh nearly 250 pounds.\n\nThe one thing that <em>did</em> surprise me was my hair.\n\nI\'ve been seeing gray around the sides for a few years now, but the last month or so, I\'m seeing it all across the front and the top. I won\'t be surprised if I\'m completely gray by the end of the summer.\n\nNo problem.\n\nI\'ll gladly trade what\'s left of my brown hair for a pain-free back.','','','inherit','open','open','','403-revision','','','2010-05-26 15:48:04','2010-05-26 22:48:04','',403,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=404',0,'revision','',0),(405,1,'2010-05-27 18:14:05','2010-05-28 01:14:05','This weekend is the one weekend of my two months in Texas that I regret not beging home in California.\r\n\r\nThis is the weekend my lovely daughter Pauline, my son-in-law Ryan and the Amazing Baby Maddie are visiting from Washington, D.C., shortly before leaving for three years in Indonesia. Pauline is in Southern California because one of her closest friends has something special happening -- some sort of shower, I think -- and they will be spending four days with Nicole.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_406\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My girls\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0115-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-406\" title=\"DSC_0115 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0115-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t as if we haven\'t seen them. We spent two weeks with them in Washington state last August and a weekend in California in November when they came for Virgile\'s wedding. Then we spent two weeks in Virginia with them over Christmas.\r\n\r\nBut at Maddie\'s age (20 months last week), she is changing so rapidly that we see something different every time.\r\n\r\nAnd to think that we\'ll see so little of her during the three years in Indonesia, that\'s really wrenching.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t just Maddie, either. I truly enjoy spending time with Pauline. My daughter has always been special, but watching her as a mother these last two years shows me what a truly amazing person she really is.\r\n\r\nI could not be more proud of her, and I will certainly be thinking of her this weekend as my personal Battle of the Bulge continues here in South Texas.','Amazing baby in SoCal -- and I\'m not','','publish','open','open','','amazing-baby-in-socal-and-im-not','','','2010-05-27 18:14:05','2010-05-28 01:14:05','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=405',0,'post','',0),(406,1,'2010-05-27 18:07:03','2010-05-28 01:07:03','','DSC_0115 (2)','My girls','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0115-2','','','2010-05-27 18:07:03','2010-05-28 01:07:03','',405,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0115-2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(407,1,'2010-05-27 18:13:24','2010-05-28 01:13:24','This weekend is the one weekend of my two months in Texas that I regret not beging home in California.\n\nThis is the weekend my lovely daughter Pauline, my son-in-law Ryan and the Amazing Baby Maddie are visiting from Washington, D.C., shortly before leaving for three years in Indonesia. Pauline is in Southern California because one of her closest friends has something special happening -- some sort of shower, I think -- and they will be spending four days with Nicole.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_406\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My girls\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0115-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-406\" title=\"DSC_0115 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0115-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt isn\'t as if we haven\'t seen them. We spent two weeks with them in Washington state last August and a weekend in California in November when they came for Virgile\'s wedding. Then we spent two weeks in Virginia with them over Christmas.\n\nBut at Maddie\'s age (20 months last week), she is changing so rapidly that we see something different every time.\n\nAnd to think that we\'ll see so little of her during the three years in Indonesia, that\'s really wrenching.\n\nIt isn\'t just Maddie, either. I truly enjoy spending time with Pauline. My daughter has always been special, but watching her as a mother these last two years shows me what a truly amazing person she really is.\n\nI could not be more proud of her, and I will certainly be thinking of her this weekend as my personal Battle of the Bulge continues here in South Texas.','','','inherit','open','open','','405-revision','','','2010-05-27 18:13:24','2010-05-28 01:13:24','',405,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=407',0,'revision','',0),(408,1,'2010-05-29 17:08:47','2010-05-30 00:08:47','When I was 22 -- I don\'t remember why -- it became the style to wear Frye boots.\r\n\r\nI bought a pair and wore them for the next couple of years. I was about as much of a cowboy as I was a Chinaman, but I enjoyed my boots until the heels wore down, they went into the back of my closet and eventually disappeared when my first wife and I moved to Vienna for two years.\r\n\r\nI always wondered what had happened to those boots. They had cost me $100, which when you figure in cost of living changes, remains the most money I have ever spent for anything that goes on my feet.\r\n\r\nNow that I\'m actually doing a little bit of cowboy stuff -- mucking out stables, riding horses -- I\'ve been thinking about maybe getting myself another pair while I\'m here in Texas. But unlike when I lived in the Washington, D.C., area and wore my boots to work with a suit, there are a lot of different kinds of boots in South Texas.\r\n\r\nThere are work boots, riding boots and a number of other kinds, all the way up to the sort of boots J.R. Ewing would have worn to the Cattleman\'s Ball. I saw some of those today at a store called Ranch at the Rim, which sells dressy cowboy duds at prices that are definitely upscale.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_409\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"203\" caption=\"Crocodile belly leather boots\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-409\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI had never heard of Lucchese boots, but there was a rack of them in every color, the most incredibly beautiful boots I had ever seen. I didn\'t think they were in my price range, but I had no idea how far outside it they were until I looked.\r\n\r\nThe cheapest ones on the rack were $899, and there were some that were well over a thousand dollars.\r\n\r\nAt that price, footwear ought to do something more for you than just let you walk on it.\r\n\r\nI know I\'ll never own a pair of Luccheses, not even the ones pictured that were available online for $749, made from \"crocodile belly leather,\" but I\'ll probably pick up a pair of much cheaper boots sometime during my two months Deep in the Heart.\r\n\r\nI\'m changing my life here. I might as well do a little bit for my image as well.','Maybe I\'ll really earn my boots this time','','publish','open','open','','maybe-ill-really-earn-my-boots-this-time','','','2010-05-29 17:08:47','2010-05-30 00:08:47','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=408',0,'post','',0),(409,1,'2010-05-29 17:00:42','2010-05-30 00:00:42','','yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507','Crocodile belly leather boots','inherit','open','open','','yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507','','','2010-05-29 17:00:42','2010-05-30 00:00:42','',408,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(410,1,'2010-05-29 17:07:58','2010-05-30 00:07:58','When I was 22 -- I don\'t remember why -- it became the style to wear Frye boots.\n\nI bought a pair and wore them for the next couple of years. I was about as much of a cowboy as I was a Chinaman, but I enjoyed my boots until the heels wore down, they went into the back of my closet and eventually disappeared when my first wife and I moved to Vienna for two years.\n\nI always wondered what had happened to those boots. They had cost me $100, which when you figure in cost of living changes, remains the most money I have ever spent for anything that goes on my feet.\n\nNow that I\'m actually doing a little bit of cowboy stuff -- mucking out stables, riding horses -- I\'ve been thinking about maybe getting myself another pair while I\'m here in Texas. But unlike when I lived in the Washington, D.C., area and wore my boots to work with a suit, there are a lot of different kinds of boots in South Texas.\n\nThere are work boots, riding boots and a number of other kinds, all the way up to the sort of boots J.R. Ewing would have worn to the Cattleman\'s Ball. I saw some of those today at a store called Ranch at the Rim, which sells dressy cowboy duds at prices that are definitely upscale.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_409\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"203\" caption=\"Crocodile belly leather boots\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-409\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/yhst-13741280055283_2101_13701507.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI had never heard of Lucchese boots, but there was a rack of them in every color, the most incredibly beautiful boots I had ever seen. I didn\'t think they were in my price range, but I had no idea how far outside it they were until I looked.\n\nThe cheapest ones on the rack were $899, and there were some that were well over a thousand dollars.\n\nAt that price, footwear ought to do something more for you than just let you walk on it.\n\nI know I\'ll never own a pair of Luccheses, not even the ones pictured that were available online for $749, made from \"crocodile belly leather,\" but I\'ll probably pick up a pair of much cheaper boots sometime during my two months Deep in the Heart.\n\nI\'m changing my life here. I might as well do a little bit for my image as well.','Maybe I\'ll really earn my boots this time','','inherit','open','open','','408-revision','','','2010-05-29 17:07:58','2010-05-30 00:07:58','',408,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=410',0,'revision','',0),(411,1,'2010-05-30 18:02:14','2010-05-31 01:02:14','It\'s Memorial Day Weekend here in South Texas, and the highways have been crowded with people heading out to enjoy themselves. The more time I spend here in the Lone Star State, the more I see the amazing diversity of the heritage so many Texans have.\r\n\r\nCome south and you\'ll find all sorts of cities with Spanish names, from El Paso in the west to Corpus Christi in the east, with all sorts of San something-or-others in between. But head a little to the northwest of San Antonio and you\'ll find a surprising number of towns with German names.\r\n\r\nNew Braunfels. Bergheim. Boerne. Groene.\r\n\r\nI drove to New Braunfels today to see hundreds of Texans enjoying themselves in the Guadalupe River. Some were riding rubber rafts, while others were lounging in inner tubes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_412\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Toobin&#39; on the Guadalupe\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0039.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-412\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0039-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHere in Texas, at least, they call it \"toobing.\" I\'m not sure why they changed the spelling, but I remember comedian Ron White\'s funny bit about toobin\' down some river for six hours, drinking beer and never once having to stop to pee.\r\n\r\nIt looked like a lot of fun, but I didn\'t have a swimsuit with me. I have a feeling that sometime between now and the end of June, when I pack up to return to California, I\'ll go back and try it.\r\n\r\nI love whitewater rafting, but this is almost the opposite of that. I have a feeling you would spend an afternoon in the river and hardly ever even move a muscle.\r\n\r\nFor someone who has been hiking and exercising as much as I have, that sounds wonderful.','Rollin\' on a river in South Texas','','publish','open','open','','rollin-on-a-river-in-south-texas','','','2010-05-30 18:02:14','2010-05-31 01:02:14','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=411',0,'post','',0),(412,1,'2010-05-30 17:47:00','2010-05-31 00:47:00','','DSC_0039','Toobin\' on the Guadalupe','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0039','','','2010-05-30 17:47:00','2010-05-31 00:47:00','',411,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0039.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(413,1,'2010-05-30 18:01:43','2010-05-31 01:01:43','It\'s Memorial Day Weekend here in South Texas, and the highways have been crowded with people heading out to enjoy themselves. The more time I spend here in the Lone Star State, the more I see the amazing diversity of the heritage so many Texans have.\n\nCome south and you\'ll find all sorts of cities with Spanish names, from El Paso in the west to Corpus Christi in the east, with all sorts of San something-or-others in between. But head a little to the northwest of San Antonio and you\'ll find a surprising number of towns with German names.\n\nNew Braunfels. Bergheim. Boerne. Groene.\n\nI drove to New Braunfels today to see hundreds of Texans enjoying themselves in the Guadalupe River. Some were riding rubber rafts, while others were lounging in inner tubes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_412\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Toobin&#39; on the Guadalupe\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0039.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-412\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0039-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHere in Texas, at least, they call it \"toobing.\" I\'m not sure why they changed the spelling, but I remember comedian Ron White\'s funny bit about toobin\' down some river for six hours, drinking beer and never once having to stop to pee.\n\nIt looked like a lot of fun, but I didn\'t have a swimsuit with me. I have a feeling that sometime between now and the end of June, when I pack up to return to California, I\'ll go back and try it.\n\nI love whitewater rafting, but this is almost the opposite of that. I have a feeling you would spend an afternoon in the river and hardly ever even move a muscle.\n\nFor someone who has been hiking and exercising as much as I have, that sounds wonderful.','','','inherit','open','open','','411-revision','','','2010-05-30 18:01:43','2010-05-31 01:01:43','',411,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=413',0,'revision','',0),(414,1,'2010-05-31 14:21:06','2010-05-31 21:21:06','','DSC_0044','Down 30 pounds in 28 days','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0044','','','2010-05-31 14:21:06','2010-05-31 21:21:06','',415,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0044.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(415,1,'2010-05-31 15:57:01','2010-05-31 22:57:01','[caption id=\"attachment_414\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 30 pounds in 28 days\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0044.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-414\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0044-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFour weeks down.\r\n\r\nThirty-one days to go.\r\n\r\nWe weigh in every Monday morning here at Rancho Cortez has been very satisfying, and after my first 28 days, I have dropped 30 pounds. Even better, I have lost an inch and a half off my neck and two and a half inches off my waist.\r\n\r\nI don\'t want to get carried away with happiness. I still weigh 242 pounds, which is very heavy for me. I need to get to less than 220 before I start feeling good and under 200 before I start feeling proud of myself.\r\n\r\nThere\'s no way I can lose 43 more pounds here in Texas, but there is a chance I can get below 220 before I start for home.. The thing is, even though I\'m eating between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day, I don\'t really feel like I\'m on a diet.\r\n\r\nIt\'s really more a question of making changes in my lifestyle. I haven\'t had any milk in the last four weeks, and I\'ve only had red meat (in small quantities) four times this month.\r\n\r\nThose are things that are going to have to become permanent, and so is the idea of eating differently. The center for Health Promotion &amp; Wellness at MIT has come up with a <a title=\"Hunger Scale\" href=\"http://medweb.mit.edu/pdf/hunger_scale.pdf\" target=\"_self\">Hunger Scale</a> that is really wonderful to use. With stages from 1 (so hungry you\'re ready to collapse) to 10 (so stuffed you\'re ready to collapse), the idea is that you should eat small enough amounts often enough to maintain yourself at around stage 5 (enough fuel to keep going, just starting to feel satisfied) and 6 (fully satisfied but not stuffed).\r\n\r\nThat\'s where I have been for almost all of the four weeks. I have actually skipped some meals and eaten a 100-calorie snack instead, and it\'s very rare for me to be so hungry I bemoan the fact that dinner is still an hour away.\r\n\r\nI feel extremely optimistic about maintaining this as a lifestyle. If I can exercise once a day as well as going for a short walk each day, and eat like this, there\'s really no reason I can\'t be healthy for the rest of my life.\r\n\r\nAnd doesn\'t that sound wonderful.','Four weeks down, a lifetime to go','','publish','open','open','','four-weeks-down-a-lifetime-to-go','','','2010-05-31 15:57:01','2010-05-31 22:57:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=415',0,'post','',0),(416,1,'2010-05-31 15:56:32','2010-05-31 22:56:32','[caption id=\"attachment_414\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Down 30 pounds in 28 days\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0044.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-414\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/DSC_0044-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFour weeks down.\n\nThirty-one days to go.\n\nWe weigh in every Monday morning here at Rancho Cortez has been very satisfying, and after my first 28 days, I have dropped 30 pounds. Even better, I have lost an inch and a half off my neck and two and a half inches off my waist.\n\nI don\'t want to get carried away with happiness. I still weigh 242 pounds, which is very heavy for me. I need to get to less than 220 before I start feeling good and under 200 before I start feeling proud of myself.\n\nThere\'s no way I can lose 43 more pounds here in Texas, but there is a chance I can get below 220 before I start for home.. The thing is, even though I\'m eating between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day, I don\'t really feel like I\'m on a diet.\n\nIt\'s really more a question of making changes in my lifestyle. I haven\'t had any milk in the last four weeks, and I\'ve only had red meat (in small quantities) four times this month.\n\nThose are things that are going to have to become permanent, and so is the idea of eating differently. The center for Health Promotion &amp; Wellness at MIT has come up with a <a title=\"Hunger Scale\" href=\"http://medweb.mit.edu/pdf/hunger_scale.pdf\" target=\"_self\">Hunger Scale</a> that is really wonderful to use. With stages from 1 (so hungry you\'re ready to collapse) to 10 (so stuffed you\'re ready to collapse), the idea is that you should eat small enough amounts often enough to maintain yourself at around stage 5 (enough fuel to keep going, just starting to feel satisfied) and 6 (fully satisfied but not stuffed).\n\nThat\'s where I have been for almost all of the four weeks. I have actually skipped some meals and eaten a 100-calorie snack instead, and it\'s very rare for me to be so hungry I bemoan the fact that dinner is still an hour away.\n\nI feel extremely optimistic about maintaining this as a lifestyle. If I can exercise once a day as well as going for a short walk each day, and eat like this, there\'s really no reason I can\'t be healthy for the rest of my life.\n\nAnd doesn\'t that sound wonderful.','','','inherit','open','open','','415-revision','','','2010-05-31 15:56:32','2010-05-31 22:56:32','',415,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=416',0,'revision','',0),(417,1,'2010-06-01 09:34:53','2010-06-01 16:34:53','Damn, is it June already?\r\n\r\nThe month of May has tended to be a good one for me. It\'s the month I have started nearly all of my successful diets -- is \"successful diets\" sort of an oxymoron? -- so I am definitely sort of sad to see it end.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_418\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s June (Carter Cash, with Johnny)\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-418\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis May was one of the best. Despite not starting till May 3rd, I lost 32.5 pounds, which means I reached 65 percent of my 50-pound goal for my two months in Texas and nearly a third of my long-term goal of dropping -- dare I say it? -- a hundred pounds.\r\n\r\nI haven\'t weighed 172 pounds since 1989. The last time I was significantly under 200 was in 1996, when I made it down to about 185, but I feel so damn good about the way things are going now that I have no doubt I can do it.\r\n\r\nThere are some other side benefits I expect to gain from this. I\'ll be able to pack away the CPAP machine I have been using for years to help with my sleep apnea. Once I\'m no longer overweight, apnea -- indeed, snoring -- just isn\'t going to be a problem anymore.\r\n\r\nIn addition, when Nicole and I move to Georgia next spring, I am going to start playing golf without a cart. Walking 18 holes may take a little bit longer, but it will be wonderful exercise and will help me keep my weight down.\r\n\r\nWhen this month ends, I will be getting ready to leave Texas and return home for the last nine months or so before we move to Georgia. I\'ll definitely be counting the days to that event; I have been about as entertained by urban Southern California as I care to be.','Whatever happened to May 2010?','','publish','open','open','','whatever-happened-to-may-2010','','','2010-06-01 09:34:53','2010-06-01 16:34:53','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=417',0,'post','',0),(418,1,'2010-06-01 05:32:17','2010-06-01 12:32:17','','618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969','It\'s June (Carter Cash, with Johnny)','inherit','open','open','','618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969','','','2010-06-01 05:32:17','2010-06-01 12:32:17','',417,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(419,1,'2010-06-01 05:35:34','2010-06-01 12:35:34','Damn, is it June already?\n\nThe month of May has tended to be a good one for me. It\'s the month I have started nearly all of my successful diets -- is \"successful diets\" sort of an oxymoron? -- so I am definitely sort of sad to see it end.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_418\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s June (Carter Cash, with Johnny)\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-418\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis May was one of the best. Despite not starting till May 3rd, I lost 32.5 pounds, which means I reached 65 percent of my 50-pound goal for my two months in Texas and nearly a third of my long-term goal of dropping -- dare I say it? --','','','inherit','open','open','','417-revision','','','2010-06-01 05:35:34','2010-06-01 12:35:34','',417,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=419',0,'revision','',0),(420,1,'2010-06-01 09:32:09','2010-06-01 16:32:09','Damn, is it June already?\n\nThe month of May has tended to be a good one for me. It\'s the month I have started nearly all of my successful diets -- is \"successful diets\" sort of an oxymoron? -- so I am definitely sort of sad to see it end.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_418\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"It&#39;s June (Carter Cash, with Johnny)\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-418\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/618px-johnnycashjunecartercash1969-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis May was one of the best. Despite not starting till May 3rd, I lost 32.5 pounds, which means I reached 65 percent of my 50-pound goal for my two months in Texas and nearly a third of my long-term goal of dropping -- dare I say it? -- a hundred pounds.\n\nI haven\'t weighed 172 pounds since 1989. The last time I was significantly under 200 was in 1996, when I made it down to about 185, but I feel so damn good about the way things are going now that I have no doubt I can do it.\n\nThere are some other side benefits I expect to gain from this. I\'ll be able to pack away the CPAP machine I have been using for years to help with my sleep apnea. Once I\'m no longer overweight, apnea -- indeed, snoring -- just isn\'t going to be a problem anymore.\n\nIn addition, when Nicole and I move to Georgia next spring, I am going to start playing golf without a cart. Walking 18 holes may take a little bit longer, but it will be wonderful exercise and will help me keep my weight down.\n\nWhen this month ends, I will be getting ready to leave Texas and return home for the last nine months or so before we move to Georgia. I\'ll definitely be counting the days to that event; I have been about as entertained by urban Southern California as I care to be.','','','inherit','open','open','','417-revision-2','','','2010-06-01 09:32:09','2010-06-01 16:32:09','',417,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=420',0,'revision','',0),(421,1,'2010-06-01 12:55:35','2010-06-01 19:55:35','','DSC_0047','Goo goo ga joob','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0047','','','2010-06-01 12:55:35','2010-06-01 19:55:35','',422,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(422,1,'2010-06-01 16:16:22','2010-06-01 23:16:22','[caption id=\"attachment_421\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Goo goo ga joob\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-421\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOh, dear Lord, my head totally looks like an egg.\r\n\r\nI did something today I haven\'t done in nearly 40 years. I went to a barber shop.\r\n\r\nI can\'t even remember when I stopped. I know in the \'70s, unisex hair salons started popping up, and instead of looking for a barber pole, I started getting my haircuts at places called Hair Factory or similar names.\r\n\r\nI spent a lot of money on haircuts over the years, mostly because I was never happy with the way my hair looked. Finally a couple of years ago I decided it was silly to keep worrying about it, so I made a decision. Once or twice a year, I go in and essentially have all my hair cut off.\r\n\r\nThen I let it grow till it starts to annoy me and I repeat the process. Until recently I was getting buzz cuts with the second-shortest clippers, but with my two most recent cuts -- including the one today -- I\'ve gone for the Full Monty.\r\n\r\nActually, that\'s an exaggeration. I suppose the Full Monty would be to have my head shaved, but the problem there is that when white guys have their heads shaved, they don\'t look cool like Michael Jordan.\r\n\r\nWe look like Mister Clean.\r\n\r\nActually, the picture here makes me look a little like one of those guys with connecting sideburns and mustache, but if you look more closely, you\'ll see that it really is a beard. It\'s just that the hair on my chinny chin chin is basically white.\r\n\r\nThe part of today I enjoyed was going to a real barber shop, complete with candy cane pole. It\'s only open four days a week, and the guy who owns the shop is the only person working there. He was probably a little older than I am, and it was really fun to talk with him about the old days before young girls <em>styled</em> men\'s hair, rather than just cutting it.\r\n\r\nBack in the day, my grandfather used to take me to his barber shop, where his favorite barber -- whose name I remember was Harvey -- used to give me buzz cuts. That was pretty much the way I wore my hair until I was 13.\r\n\r\nSomehow, though, things were different then.\r\n\r\nI swear my head didn\'t look like an egg when I was a kid.','I am the eggman, I am the eggman ...','','publish','open','open','','i-am-the-eggman-i-am-the-eggman','','','2010-06-01 16:16:22','2010-06-01 23:16:22','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=422',0,'post','',0),(423,1,'2010-06-01 13:26:02','2010-06-01 20:26:02','[caption id=\"attachment_421\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Goo goo ga joob\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-421\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOh, dear Lord, my head totally looks like an egg.\n\nI did something today I haven\'t done in nearly 40 years. I went to a barber shop.','','','inherit','open','open','','422-revision','','','2010-06-01 13:26:02','2010-06-01 20:26:02','',422,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=423',0,'revision','',0),(424,1,'2010-06-01 16:15:50','2010-06-01 23:15:50','[caption id=\"attachment_421\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Goo goo ga joob\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-421\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0047-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOh, dear Lord, my head totally looks like an egg.\n\nI did something today I haven\'t done in nearly 40 years. I went to a barber shop.\n\nI can\'t even remember when I stopped. I know in the \'70s, unisex hair salons started popping up, and instead of looking for a barber pole, I started getting my haircuts at places called Hair Factory or similar names.\n\nI spent a lot of money on haircuts over the years, mostly because I was never happy with the way my hair looked. Finally a couple of years ago I decided it was silly to keep worrying about it, so I made a decision. Once or twice a year, I go in and essentially have all my hair cut off.\n\nThen I let it grow till it starts to annoy me and I repeat the process. Until recently I was getting buzz cuts with the second-shortest clippers, but with my two most recent cuts -- including the one today -- I\'ve gone for the Full Monty.\n\nActually, that\'s an exaggeration. I suppose the Full Monty would be to have my head shaved, but the problem there is that when white guys have their heads shaved, they don\'t look cool like Michael Jordan.\n\nWe look like Mister Clean.\n\nActually, the picture here makes me look a little like one of those guys with connecting sideburns and mustache, but if you look more closely, you\'ll see that it really is a beard. It\'s just that the hair on my chinny chin chin is basically white.\n\nThe part of today I enjoyed was going to a real barber shop, complete with candy cane pole. It\'s only open four days a week, and the guy who owns the shop is the only person working there. He was probably a little older than I am, and it was really fun to talk with him about the old days before young girls <em>styled</em> men\'s hair, rather than just cutting it.\n\nBack in the day, my grandfather used to take me to his barber shop, where his favorite barber -- whose name I remember was Harvey -- used to give me buzz cuts. That was pretty much the way I wore my hair until I was 13.\n\nSomehow, though, things were different then.\n\nI swear my head didn\'t look like an egg when I was a kid.','','','inherit','open','open','','422-revision-2','','','2010-06-01 16:15:50','2010-06-01 23:15:50','',422,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=424',0,'revision','',0),(425,1,'2010-06-02 10:43:09','2010-06-02 17:43:09','','DSC_0002','The beauty of Texas','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0002','','','2010-06-02 10:43:09','2010-06-02 17:43:09','',426,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(426,1,'2010-06-02 11:08:45','2010-06-02 18:08:45','[caption id=\"attachment_425\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beauty of Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-425\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSouth Texas is just so beautiful.\r\n\r\nI have been doing a lot of driving around during my free time here just south of Bandera, and the one thing that just keeps impressing me is the beauty of all the open countryside around here.\r\n\r\nThere are all sorts of different types of road, ranging from Interstate highways and state routes to ranch roads and farm roads. When I drive back and forth to Bandera most days so that I can get cell phone reception to talk to Nicole, I\'m traveling on a two-lane road called Ranch Road 1077.\r\n\r\nI see the prettiest sights in the distance, and I keep stopping my car to take pictures. By the time I leave here at the beginning of July, I fully expect to have hundreds of shots with no people in them on my memory card.\r\n\r\nTexas may not be quite as diverse as California in its landscapes -- they\'ve got nothing like the Sierras here -- but there is a lot more of those landscapes in the largest state in the Lower 48. I haven\'t seen the beaches yet, but I\'ve pretty well decided that sometime this month, I\'ll drive down to Corpus Christi and check out the Gulf of Mexico.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Actually, I\'ve been planning my trip home around one of my lifelong dreams.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'ve written before that I want to see a baseball game in every major league city before I die, and I thought I might have a chance to add six more cities on the way home (looking at \"the way home\" loosely). I thought I could go through Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, but the Astros, the Royals and the Padres won\'t be at home at the right time.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And actually, I\'ve sort of done San Diego already. I saw a number of games at the old Jack Murphy Stadium, although I would like to see the lovely Petco Park before we move east.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For now, the plan is to see the Texas Rangers play the Chicago White Sox on July 2, the Colorado Rockies play the San Francisco Giants on July 4 and the Arizona Diamondbacks play the Chicago Cubs on July 6.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_427\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Coors Field in Denver\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-427\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'m really looking forward to seeing Coors Field in Denver.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have seen baseball in Denver, at Mile High Stadium, but it was Triple-A ball in 1988 when the Denver Bears played in the International League. Major league ball came to Colorado after I left; if Denver had enjoyed National League ball when I was still there, there\'s a really good chance I might never have moved away.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Getting to these three ballparks means that the old cities west of the Mississippi that I haven\'t covered will be Houston and Kansas City. I also still need to get to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Tampa and Miami to finish the deal.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Then, of course, I still need to get to Cooperstown too. The Baseball Hall of Fame is pretty close to the top of my list of places I still want to see in the world.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Not this trip, though.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Someday soon maybe.</p>','The beauty of Texas is just so large','','publish','open','open','','the-beauty-of-texas-is-just-so-large','','','2010-06-02 11:08:45','2010-06-02 18:08:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=426',0,'post','',0),(427,1,'2010-06-02 11:01:59','2010-06-02 18:01:59','','Coors_outside','Coors Field in Denver','inherit','open','open','','coors_outside','','','2010-06-02 11:01:59','2010-06-02 18:01:59','',426,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(428,1,'2010-06-02 11:07:50','2010-06-02 18:07:50','[caption id=\"attachment_425\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beauty of Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-425\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSouth Texas is just so beautiful.\n\nI have been doing a lot of driving around during my free time here just south of Bandera, and the one thing that just keeps impressing me is the beauty of all the open countryside around here.\n\nThere are all sorts of different types of road, ranging from Interstate highways and state routes to ranch roads and farm roads. When I drive back and forth to Bandera most days so that I can get cell phone reception to talk to Nicole, I\'m traveling on a two-lane road called Ranch Road 1077.\n\nI see the prettiest sights in the distance, and I keep stopping my car to take pictures. By the time I leave here at the beginning of July, I fully expect to have hundreds of shots with no people in them on my memory card.\n\nTexas may not be quite as diverse as California in its landscapes -- they\'ve got nothing like the Sierras here -- but there is a lot more of those landscapes in the largest state in the Lower 48. I haven\'t seen the beaches yet, but I\'ve pretty well decided that sometime this month, I\'ll drive down to Corpus Christi and check out the Gulf of Mexico.\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Actually, I\'ve been planning my trip home around one of my lifelong dreams.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'ve written before that I want to see a baseball game in every major league city before I die, and I thought I might have a chance to add six more cities on the way home (looking at \"the way home\" loosely). I thought I could go through Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, but the Astros, the Royals and the Padres won\'t be at home at the right time.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And actually, I\'ve sort of done San Diego already. I saw a number of games at the old Jack Murphy Stadium, although I would like to see the lovely Petco Park before we move east.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For now, the plan is to see the Texas Rangers play the Chicago White Sox on July 2, the Colorado Rockies play the San Francisco Giants on July 4 and the Arizona Diamondbacks play the Chicago Cubs on July 6.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_427\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Coors Field in Denver\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-427\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'m really looking forward to seeing Coors Field in Denver.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have seen baseball in Denver, at Mile High Stadium, but it was Triple-A ball in 1988 when the Denver Bears played in the International League. Major league ball came to Colorado after I left; if Denver had enjoyed National League ball when I was still there, there\'s a really good chance I might never have moved away.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Getting to these three ballparks means that the old cities west of the Mississippi that I haven\'t covered will be Houston and Kansas City. I also still need to get to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Tampa and Miami to finish the deal.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Then, of course, I still need to get to Cooperstown too. The Baseball Hall of Fame is pretty close to the top of my list of places I still want to see in the world.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Not this trip, though.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Someday soon maybe.</p>','','','inherit','open','open','','426-revision','','','2010-06-02 11:07:50','2010-06-02 18:07:50','',426,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=428',0,'revision','',0),(429,1,'2010-06-02 11:08:49','2010-06-02 18:08:49','[caption id=\"attachment_425\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beauty of Texas\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-425\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0002-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSouth Texas is just so beautiful.\n\nI have been doing a lot of driving around during my free time here just south of Bandera, and the one thing that just keeps impressing me is the beauty of all the open countryside around here.\n\nThere are all sorts of different types of road, ranging from Interstate highways and state routes to ranch roads and farm roads. When I drive back and forth to Bandera most days so that I can get cell phone reception to talk to Nicole, I\'m traveling on a two-lane road called Ranch Road 1077.\n\nI see the prettiest sights in the distance, and I keep stopping my car to take pictures. By the time I leave here at the beginning of July, I fully expect to have hundreds of shots with no people in them on my memory card.\n\nTexas may not be quite as diverse as California in its landscapes -- they\'ve got nothing like the Sierras here -- but there is a lot more of those landscapes in the largest state in the Lower 48. I haven\'t seen the beaches yet, but I\'ve pretty well decided that sometime this month, I\'ll drive down to Corpus Christi and check out the Gulf of Mexico.\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Actually, I\'ve been planning my trip home around one of my lifelong dreams.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'ve written before that I want to see a baseball game in every major league city before I die, and I thought I might have a chance to add six more cities on the way home (looking at \"the way home\" loosely). I thought I could go through Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, but the Astros, the Royals and the Padres won\'t be at home at the right time.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And actually, I\'ve sort of done San Diego already. I saw a number of games at the old Jack Murphy Stadium, although I would like to see the lovely Petco Park before we move east.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For now, the plan is to see the Texas Rangers play the Chicago White Sox on July 2, the Colorado Rockies play the San Francisco Giants on July 4 and the Arizona Diamondbacks play the Chicago Cubs on July 6.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_427\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Coors Field in Denver\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-427\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Coors_outside-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I\'m really looking forward to seeing Coors Field in Denver.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have seen baseball in Denver, at Mile High Stadium, but it was Triple-A ball in 1988 when the Denver Bears played in the International League. Major league ball came to Colorado after I left; if Denver had enjoyed National League ball when I was still there, there\'s a really good chance I might never have moved away.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Getting to these three ballparks means that the old cities west of the Mississippi that I haven\'t covered will be Houston and Kansas City. I also still need to get to Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Tampa and Miami to finish the deal.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Then, of course, I still need to get to Cooperstown too. The Baseball Hall of Fame is pretty close to the top of my list of places I still want to see in the world.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Not this trip, though.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Someday soon maybe.</p>','The beauty of Texas is just so large','','inherit','open','open','','426-autosave','','','2010-06-02 11:08:49','2010-06-02 18:08:49','',426,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=429',0,'revision','',0),(430,1,'2010-06-02 13:41:50','2010-06-02 20:41:50','Throughout my long life, I have almost always been skeptical when friends told me that had spoken with God ... or that they had had visions.\r\n\r\nThen everything changed.\r\n\r\nFor the last few weeks here at Rancho Cortez, I have been doing hypnotherapy to try and overcome some of my many personal flaws -- eating too much, being selfish, being lazy. My biggest problem has always been that I have been crippled by my past, constantly reliving my own failures and disappointments. I only half-jokingly told people that I had never really gotten over anything.\r\n\r\nI have felt for some time that I have things to say that could make a difference to people, but I have often held back -- or pulled my punches -- because I felt I was a totally flawed messenger. What the last month (and the coming one) have been about for me is overcoming those flaws so that I can be happy -- and make the people who love me happy -- for the rest of my life.\r\n\r\nAbout halfway through today\'s session, as I was going deeper into trance and listening to the positive affirmations the therapist was giving me, I began to feel a presence. Now depending on how you want to look at it, you can say that it was God or that it was the spark of God that lives within each one of us. Either way works for me.\r\n\r\nAs incredible as it may sound, God told me I was a worthwhile messenger and that I should tell as many people as possible what I believe. He told me -- and I use \"he\" only because \"she\" would sound odd and \"it\" would sound wrong -- that there was no reason to let what happened in the past cripple me and keep me from doing what I believe is right.\r\n\r\nIn essence -- and I know how egotistical this sounds -- God told me my message was a good one.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t as if any of it is original.\r\n\r\nThe message is to love God and to let go of past disappointments so that you can serve God and mankind by loving your neighbor and making the world a better place for the fact you lived. The world isn\'t about how much money you have or what religion you are or what your politics are. It\'s about love, and our goal ought to be to make as many people\'s lives better as we can.\r\n\r\nBelieve me, I feel sort of \"out there\" on a limb right now. It\'s very strange to be telling people I have known my whole life -- not to mention Facebook friends -- that I had a vision and that I have a message.\r\n\r\nI don\'t blame anyone for asking, \"who the heck do you think you are to tell me God\'s message?\"\r\n\r\nBut I\'m not going to let it stop me.\r\n\r\nEverything is different now.','Like a bolt from the blue, it all changes','','publish','open','open','','like-a-bolt-from-the-blue-it-all-changes','','','2010-06-02 13:41:50','2010-06-02 20:41:50','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=430',0,'post','',0),(431,1,'2010-06-02 13:41:01','2010-06-02 20:41:01','Throughout my long life, I have almost always been skeptical when friends told me that had spoken with God ... or that they had had visions.\n\nThen everything changed.\n\nFor the last few weeks here at Rancho Cortez, I have been doing hypnotherapy to try and overcome some of my many personal flaws -- eating too much, being selfish, being lazy. My biggest problem has always been that I have been crippled by my past, constantly reliving my own failures and disappointments. I only half-jokingly told people that I had never really gotten over anything.\n\nI have felt for some time that I have things to say that could make a difference to people, but I have often held back -- or pulled my punches -- because I felt I was a totally flawed messenger. What the last month (and the coming one) have been about for me is overcoming those flaws so that I can be happy -- and make the people who love me happy -- for the rest of my life.\n\nAbout halfway through today\'s session, as I was going deeper into trance and listening to the positive affirmations the therapist was giving me, I began to feel a presence. Now depending on how you want to look at it, you can say that it was God or that it was the spark of God that lives within each one of us. Either way works for me.\n\nAs incredible as it may sound, God told me I was a worthwhile messenger and that I should tell as many people as possible what I believe. He told me -- and I use \"he\" only because \"she\" would sound odd and \"it\" would sound wrong -- that there was no reason to let what happened in the past cripple me and keep me from doing what I believe is right.\n\nIn essence -- and I know how egotistical this sounds -- God told me my message was a good one.\n\nIt isn\'t as if any of it is original.\n\nThe message is to love God and to let go of past disappointments so that you can serve God and mankind by loving your neighbor and making the world a better place for the fact you lived. The world isn\'t about how much money you have or what religion you are or what your politics are. It\'s about love, and our goal ought to be to make as many people\'s lives better as we can.\n\nBelieve me, I feel sort of \"out there\" on a limb right now. It\'s very strange to be telling people I have known my whole life -- not to mention Facebook friends -- that I had a vision and that I have a message.\n\nI don\'t blame anyone for asking, \"who the heck do you think you are to tell me God\'s message?\"\n\nBut I\'m not going to let it stop me.\n\nEver','','','inherit','open','open','','430-revision','','','2010-06-02 13:41:01','2010-06-02 20:41:01','',430,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=431',0,'revision','',0),(432,1,'2010-06-03 06:20:35','2010-06-03 13:20:35','','hands-of-support','We are part of a greater whole.','inherit','open','open','','hands-of-support','','','2010-06-03 06:20:35','2010-06-03 13:20:35','',433,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hands-of-support.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(433,1,'2010-06-03 06:23:19','2010-06-03 13:23:19','Why is the first step in becoming the people we want to be -- people who can ennoble the world -- making the decision to love God?\r\n\r\nBecause loving God, or worshipping God if you want to put it that way, teaches us that we are not the crown of creation, that there are forces in life that matter far more than our own little egos.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_432\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"We are part of a greater whole.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hands-of-support.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-432\" title=\"hands-of-support\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hands-of-support-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI have been and remain a Christian of the Roman Catholic variety, but I would never attempt to impose my specific religious beliefs on anyone. Many religions have contained resurrections stories, and gods from Isis to Adonis were believed to have died and returned from the dead.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t Christianity that ennobles us.\r\n\r\nIt\'s love.\r\n\r\nWhen we love God, whether that god is Jehovah or Allah or Gaia, we accept our own role in the overall scheme of things. We accept that we are part of a whole, and that we are at least partly responsible for the overall health and prosperity of that whole.\r\n\r\nChrist told us to \"love one another as I have loved you.\" (John 13:34) If we make the decision to put our lives second, at that moment we make the world a better place.\r\n\r\nIf we \"do unto others as (we) would have others do unto (us),\" (Matthew 7:12) and behave that way consistently, we come into contact with the divine spark within each of us and make our own world wonderful.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t a case of running around looking for good deeds to do or giving all your money away, although there isn\'t anything really wrong with looking to do good work. You don\'t need to abandon your own life and depend on \"the kindnesses of strangers,\" unless your name is Blanche DuBois.\r\n\r\nJust consider a few small ways you can start to change the world without tremendous effort on your part:\r\n\r\n-- Smile at the people you meet, and whenever possible, share a kind word with them. \"You look nice today,\" or \"I\'ve always admired how hard you work\" or even the ubiquitous \"Have a great day.\"\r\n\r\n-- Thank people sincerely for the things they do for you, and when they thank you, don\'t just mumble \"Sure\" or \"No problem,\" tell them, \"It\'s my pleasure.\"\r\n\r\n-- Stop being negative or sarcastic toward the people you know. Stop calling them by nicknames that demean them, and if someone says something obvious to you, don\'t say \"Ya think?\" as if they have wasted your time, say something like \"You\'re absolutely right.\" Make people happy that they know you.\r\n\r\nThose things all come from a spirit that doesn\'t believe it is the crown of creation. They come from a spirit that understands we are all part of a greater whole, and we all have our duty to help create a better life for everyone.\r\n\r\nThey\'re all part of the first step, of understanding that love ennobles us.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>This post was originally written for AllVoices.com.</em>','None of us are the crown of creation','','publish','open','open','','none-of-us-are-the-crown-of-creation','','','2010-06-03 06:23:19','2010-06-03 13:23:19','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=433',0,'post','',0),(434,1,'2010-06-03 06:22:49','2010-06-03 13:22:49','Why is the first step in becoming the people we want to be -- people who can ennoble the world -- making the decision to love God?\n\nBecause loving God, or worshipping God if you want to put it that way, teaches us that we are not the crown of creation, that there are forces in life that matter far more than our own little egos.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_432\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"We are part of a greater whole.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hands-of-support.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-432\" title=\"hands-of-support\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hands-of-support-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have been and remain a Christian of the Roman Catholic variety, but I would never attempt to impose my specific religious beliefs on anyone. Many religions have contained resurrections stories, and gods from Isis to Adonis were believed to have died and returned from the dead.\n\nIt isn\'t Christianity that ennobles us.\n\nIt\'s love.\n\nWhen we love God, whether that god is Jehovah or Allah or Gaia, we accept our own role in the overall scheme of things. We accept that we are part of a whole, and that we are at least partly responsible for the overall health and prosperity of that whole.\n\nChrist told us to \"love one another as I have loved you.\" (John 13:34) If we make the decision to put our lives second, at that moment we make the world a better place.\n\nIf we \"do unto others as (we) would have others do unto (us),\" (Matthew 7:12) and behave that way consistently, we come into contact with the divine spark within each of us and make our own world wonderful.\n\nIt isn\'t a case of running around looking for good deeds to do or giving all your money away, although there isn\'t anything really wrong with looking to do good work. You don\'t need to abandon your own life and depend on \"the kindnesses of strangers,\" unless your name is Blanche DuBois.\n\nJust consider a few small ways you can start to change the world without tremendous effort on your part:\n\n-- Smile at the people you meet, and whenever possible, share a kind word with them. \"You look nice today,\" or \"I\'ve always admired how hard you work\" or even the ubiquitous \"Have a great day.\"\n\n-- Thank people sincerely for the things they do for you, and when they thank you, don\'t just mumble \"Sure\" or \"No problem,\" tell them, \"It\'s my pleasure.\"\n\n-- Stop being negative or sarcastic toward the people you know. Stop calling them by nicknames that demean them, and if someone says something obvious to you, don\'t say \"Ya think?\" as if they have wasted your time, say something like \"You\'re absolutely right.\" Make people happy that they know you.\n\nThose things all come from a spirit that doesn\'t believe it is the crown of creation. They come from a spirit that understands we are all part of a greater whole, and we all have our duty to help create a better life for everyone.\n\nThey\'re all part of the first step, of understanding that love ennobles us.\n\n***\n\nThis','None of us are the crown of creation','','inherit','open','open','','433-revision','','','2010-06-03 06:22:49','2010-06-03 13:22:49','',433,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=434',0,'revision','',0),(435,1,'2010-06-03 18:09:36','2010-06-04 01:09:36','','heaven-hell','Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?','inherit','open','open','','heaven-hell','','','2010-06-03 18:09:36','2010-06-04 01:09:36','',436,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(436,1,'2010-06-03 18:12:13','2010-06-04 01:12:13','<div id=\"summary\">\r\n\r\nIs there really a Heaven?\r\n\r\nIs there really personal and individual salvation that comes to those who believe the right things, who act upon those beliefs and lead righteous lives?\r\n\r\nThe answer I\'m going to give you might surprise you:\r\n\r\n<em>It doesn\'t matter.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_435\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-435\" title=\"heaven-hell\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNope, it doesn\'t matter at all whether we are striving toward salvation. In fact, my guess is that there\'s at least a chance that the whole idea of heaven, paradise, nirvana or whatever else you want to call it was created by man as an incentive to get people to behave themselves within the strictures of whatever religion they follow.\r\n\r\nIn some respects, at least as I understand it, Judaism has the healthiest view of an afterlife. At least as my father used to tell me, the idea in Judaism is that there may or may not be an afterlife, but we should behave ethically even if there is no ultimate reward.\r\n\r\nIn other words, virtue is its own reward.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI received the greatest blessing of my life yesterday when God spoke to me in a direct way He never has before. He didn\'t tell me any of the \"secrets\" of life, like what comes after death or why so many people like sushi, but He gave me an incredible gift when he removed 60 years of pain and regrets from my psyche and told me to do what I can to share what really matters.\r\n\r\nI know that sounds at least egotistical and maybe even crazy, but I am at complete peace with it. Actually, that\'s not true. I am so not at peace with it; I am totally on fire with the desire to write and talk and share, but in a good way.\r\n\r\nAs I said in earlier posts, the message I am starting to share is that if we love God, if we put our regrets and disappointments behind us and if we seriously work to present a positive, loving face to everyone we meet, we can change the world for the better.\r\n\r\nWe can begin to heal the world.\r\n\r\nNone of what I am saying is original. I don\'t presume to have invented any of these ideas, but I can tell you I will be nothing if not persistent and I am the right voice at the right time for this message.\r\n\r\nToday I went to Best Buy in San Antonio to pick up a small voice recorder so that I can begin doing podcasts. The cashier was young, apparently pretty new in his job and very nervous. He told me the previous customer had given him a hard time about something, and the more nervous he got, the more annoyed the customer became.\r\n\r\nI told him to relax, that I was in no hurry and I did my best to help him feel at ease. When he completed my transaction, I told him he had done a great job and that I hoped he would have a wonderful day.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t difficult at all.\r\n\r\nIt didn\'t cost me any additional money, and it didn\'t hurt in terms of time elapsed either, but I know I made a difference in that young man\'s life at least in the short run.\r\n\r\nIt was easy.\r\n\r\nIf we treat people well, if we put others first even if only in small situations, we ennoble ourselves and we make the world a better place.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very easy. Love God to understand that you are not the crown of creation, let go of your pain and regrets and do what you can to put other people\'s happiness ahead of your own.\r\n\r\nIn a very real way, it won\'t matter if there is a Heaven or not.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll be there already.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>This post was also published at AllVoices.com.</em>\r\n\r\n</div>','An afterlife? It shouldn\'t matter at all','','publish','open','open','','an-afterlife-it-shouldnt-matter-at-all','','','2010-06-07 15:08:36','2010-06-07 22:08:36','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=436',0,'post','',0),(437,1,'2010-06-03 18:12:03','2010-06-04 01:12:03','<div id=\"summary\">\n\nIs there really a Heaven?\n\nIs there really personal and individual salvation that comes to those who believe the right things, who act upon those beliefs and lead righteous lives?\n\nThe answer I\'m going to give you might surprise you:\n\n<em>It doesn\'t matter.</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_435\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-435\" title=\"heaven-hell\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNope, it doesn\'t matter at all whether we are striving toward salvation. In fact, my guess is that there\'s at least a chance that the whole idea of heaven, paradise, nirvana or whatever else you want to call it was created by man as an incentive to get people to behave themselves within the strictures of whatever religion they follow.\n\nIn some respects, at least as I understand it, Judaism has the healthiest view of an afterlife. At least as my father used to tell me, the idea in Judaism is that there may or may not be an afterlife, but we should behave ethically even if there is no ultimate reward.\n\nIn other words, virtue is its own reward.\n\nI received the greatest blessing of my life yesterday when God spoke to me in a direct way He never has before. He didn\'t tell me any of the \"secrets\" of life, like what comes after death or why so many people like sushi, but He gave me an incredible gift when he removed 60 years of pain and regrets from my psyche and told me to do what I can to share what really matters.\n\nI know that sounds at least egotistical and maybe even crazy, but I am at complete peace with it. Actually, that\'s not true. I am so not at peace with it; I am totally on fire with the desire to write and talk and share, but in a good way.\n\nAs I said in earlier posts, the message I am starting to share is that if we love God, if we put our regrets and disappointments behind us and if we seriously work to present a positive, loving face to everyone we meet, we can change the world for the better.\n\nWe can begin to heal the world.\n\nNone of what I am saying is original. I don\'t presume to have invented any of these ideas, but I can tell you I will be nothing if not persistent and I am the right voice at the right time for this message.\n\nToday I went to Best Buy in San Antonio to pick up a small voice recorder so that I can begin doing podcasts. The cashier was young, apparently pretty new in his job and very nervous. He told me the previous customer had given him a hard time about something, and the more nervous he got, the more annoyed the customer became.\n\nI told him to relax, that I was in no hurry and I did my best to help him feel at ease. When he completed my transaction, I told him he had done a great job and that I hoped he would have a wonderful day.\n\nIt wasn\'t difficult at all.\n\nIt didn\'t cost me any additional money, and it didn\'t hurt in terms of time elapsed either, but I know I made a difference in that young man\'s life at least in the short run.\n\nIt was easy.\n\nIf we treat people well, if we put others first even if only in small situations, we ennoble ourselves and we make the world a better place.\n\nIt\'s very easy. Love God to understand that you are not the crown of creation, let go of your pain and regrets and do what you can to put other people\'s happiness ahead of your own.\n\nIn a very real way, it won\'t matter if there is a Heaven or not.\n\nYou\'ll be there already.\n\n</div>','An afterlife? It shouldn\'t matter at','','inherit','open','open','','436-revision','','','2010-06-03 18:12:03','2010-06-04 01:12:03','',436,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=437',0,'revision','',0),(438,1,'2010-06-03 18:12:13','2010-06-04 01:12:13','<div id=\"summary\">\r\n\r\nIs there really a Heaven?\r\n\r\nIs there really personal and individual salvation that comes to those who believe the right things, who act upon those beliefs and lead righteous lives?\r\n\r\nThe answer I\'m going to give you might surprise you:\r\n\r\n<em>It doesn\'t matter.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_435\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-435\" title=\"heaven-hell\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNope, it doesn\'t matter at all whether we are striving toward salvation. In fact, my guess is that there\'s at least a chance that the whole idea of heaven, paradise, nirvana or whatever else you want to call it was created by man as an incentive to get people to behave themselves within the strictures of whatever religion they follow.\r\n\r\nIn some respects, at least as I understand it, Judaism has the healthiest view of an afterlife. At least as my father used to tell me, the idea in Judaism is that there may or may not be an afterlife, but we should behave ethically even if there is no ultimate reward.\r\n\r\nIn other words, virtue is its own reward.\r\n\r\nI received the greatest blessing of my life yesterday when God spoke to me in a direct way He never has before. He didn\'t tell me any of the \"secrets\" of life, like what comes after death or why so many people like sushi, but He gave me an incredible gift when he removed 60 years of pain and regrets from my psyche and told me to do what I can to share what really matters.\r\n\r\nI know that sounds at least egotistical and maybe even crazy, but I am at complete peace with it. Actually, that\'s not true. I am so not at peace with it; I am totally on fire with the desire to write and talk and share, but in a good way.\r\n\r\nAs I said in earlier posts, the message I am starting to share is that if we love God, if we put our regrets and disappointments behind us and if we seriously work to present a positive, loving face to everyone we meet, we can change the world for the better.\r\n\r\nWe can begin to heal the world.\r\n\r\nNone of what I am saying is original. I don\'t presume to have invented any of these ideas, but I can tell you I will be nothing if not persistent and I am the right voice at the right time for this message.\r\n\r\nToday I went to Best Buy in San Antonio to pick up a small voice recorder so that I can begin doing podcasts. The cashier was young, apparently pretty new in his job and very nervous. He told me the previous customer had given him a hard time about something, and the more nervous he got, the more annoyed the customer became.\r\n\r\nI told him to relax, that I was in no hurry and I did my best to help him feel at ease. When he completed my transaction, I told him he had done a great job and that I hoped he would have a wonderful day.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t difficult at all.\r\n\r\nIt didn\'t cost me any additional money, and it didn\'t hurt in terms of time elapsed either, but I know I made a difference in that young man\'s life at least in the short run.\r\n\r\nIt was easy.\r\n\r\nIf we treat people well, if we put others first even if only in small situations, we ennoble ourselves and we make the world a better place.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very easy. Love God to understand that you are not the crown of creation, let go of your pain and regrets and do what you can to put other people\'s happiness ahead of your own.\r\n\r\nIn a very real way, it won\'t matter if there is a Heaven or not.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll be there already.\r\n\r\n</div>','An afterlife? It shouldn\'t matter at all','','inherit','open','open','','436-revision-2','','','2010-06-03 18:12:13','2010-06-04 01:12:13','',436,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=438',0,'revision','',0),(439,1,'2010-06-03 18:12:58','2010-06-04 01:12:58','<div id=\"summary\">\r\n\r\nIs there really a Heaven?\r\n\r\nIs there really personal and individual salvation that comes to those who believe the right things, who act upon those beliefs and lead righteous lives?\r\n\r\nThe answer I\'m going to give you might surprise you:\r\n\r\n<em>It doesn\'t matter.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_435\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-435\" title=\"heaven-hell\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNope, it doesn\'t matter at all whether we are striving toward salvation. In fact, my guess is that there\'s at least a chance that the whole idea of heaven, paradise, nirvana or whatever else you want to call it was created by man as an incentive to get people to behave themselves within the strictures of whatever religion they follow.\r\n\r\nIn some respects, at least as I understand it, Judaism has the healthiest view of an afterlife. At least as my father used to tell me, the idea in Judaism is that there may or may not be an afterlife, but we should behave ethically even if there is no ultimate reward.\r\n\r\nIn other words, virtue is its own reward.\r\n\r\nI received the greatest blessing of my life yesterday when God spoke to me in a direct way He never has before. He didn\'t tell me any of the \"secrets\" of life, like what comes after death or why so many people like sushi, but He gave me an incredible gift when he removed 60 years of pain and regrets from my psyche and told me to do what I can to share what really matters.\r\n\r\nI know that sounds at least egotistical and maybe even crazy, but I am at complete peace with it. Actually, that\'s not true. I am so not at peace with it; I am totally on fire with the desire to write and talk and share, but in a good way.\r\n\r\nAs I said in earlier posts, the message I am starting to share is that if we love God, if we put our regrets and disappointments behind us and if we seriously work to present a positive, loving face to everyone we meet, we can change the world for the better.\r\n\r\nWe can begin to heal the world.\r\n\r\nNone of what I am saying is original. I don\'t presume to have invented any of these ideas, but I can tell you I will be nothing if not persistent and I am the right voice at the right time for this message.\r\n\r\nToday I went to Best Buy in San Antonio to pick up a small voice recorder so that I can begin doing podcasts. The cashier was young, apparently pretty new in his job and very nervous. He told me the previous customer had given him a hard time about something, and the more nervous he got, the more annoyed the customer became.\r\n\r\nI told him to relax, that I was in no hurry and I did my best to help him feel at ease. When he completed my transaction, I told him he had done a great job and that I hoped he would have a wonderful day.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t difficult at all.\r\n\r\nIt didn\'t cost me any additional money, and it didn\'t hurt in terms of time elapsed either, but I know I made a difference in that young man\'s life at least in the short run.\r\n\r\nIt was easy.\r\n\r\nIf we treat people well, if we put others first even if only in small situations, we ennoble ourselves and we make the world a better place.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very easy. Love God to understand that you are not the crown of creation, let go of your pain and regrets and do what you can to put other people\'s happiness ahead of your own.\r\n\r\nIn a very real way, it won\'t matter if there is a Heaven or not.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll be there already.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\nThis post was also published at AllVoices.com.\r\n\r\n</div>','An afterlife? It shouldn\'t matter at all','','inherit','open','open','','436-revision-3','','','2010-06-03 18:12:58','2010-06-04 01:12:58','',436,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=439',0,'revision','',0),(440,1,'2010-06-04 12:41:08','2010-06-04 19:41:08','<em>\"... to dance beneath the diamond sky with one arm waving free.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- BOB DYLAN</strong>\r\n\r\nI was walking on a hiking trail in Lost Maples State Natural Area here in South Texas when I tweaked my knee and decided to sit down for a while.\r\n\r\nThe atmosphere was incredible, and the sky was so clear I could see the half moon in the western sky at 10 a.m. I sat on a rock, pulled out my little notebook and started jotting down thoughts about happiness.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_441\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Get past &quot;me,&quot; put other people first\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-441\" title=\"opf-button\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button-300x271.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"271\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I realized almost instantly is that unless you allow it, there isn\'t anyone in the world who can prevent you from being happy. But along those same lines, the most useless piece of advice you can give anyone is to \"try and be happy.\"\r\n\r\nThe more any of us \"try to be happy,\" the more elusive happiness becomes. If I \"try to be happy,\" I eat too much, I indulge my senses or I spend money to buy <em>things</em>.\r\n\r\nAny of those actions might give me a temporary high, but those highs are nearly always followed by lows.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, if I set out to make the people around me happy, I usually don\'t feed them, stimulate their senses or spend money on them. I praise them, I help them accomplish things or I do something thoughtful for them.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nMaking them happy improves their mood and makes me happy as well.\r\n\r\nMaking other people happy makes them want to be around you, which is the real Law of Attraction. The whole \"secret\" mentality of attracting money or possessions by wishing for them is ridiculous. There isn\'t enough money in the world for everyone to be wealthy, and when you fail, they just tell you that you didn\'t try hard enough.\r\n\r\nThe true Law of Attraction is that the more you work to make other people happy, the more you will attract happiness to yourself.\r\n\r\nConsider sexual attraction. If you see sex as a conquest, as \"getting your rocks off\" or just, \"I\'d love to do her (or him),\" it\'s an empty act.\r\n\r\n<em>Although to give Woody Allen his due, as empty acts goes, it\'s not bad.</em>\r\n\r\nBut if sex is part of closeness, if you want to be with someone because the thought of making them happy is paramount in your mind, it can be a transcendent experience.\r\n\r\nIt really comes down to one thing:\r\n\r\nStop worrying about yourself.\r\n\r\nTo get back to the mantra of sorts I have been trying to get across the last few days, there are three steps:\r\n\r\n1. Love God so that you understand you are not the center of the universe, the crown of creation.\r\n\r\n2. Let go of past regrets and disappointments. Too many people live in the past or in the future. Live in the present and the future will take care of itself.\r\n\r\n3. Devote your energy to making the people around you happy. Don\'t spend any time trying to make yourself happy.\r\n\r\nThe first real dating relationship I ever had ended sadly for me, mostly because the lovely young lady I was seeing was too young for a real relationship.\r\n\r\nWhen she broke up with me, she said something wonderful:\r\n\r\n<em>\"You have done more things to make me happy than any boy I have ever known.\"</em>\r\n\r\nIt remains one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>Originally posted on AllVoices.com.</em>','You can\'t grab happiness, only share it','','publish','open','open','','you-cant-grab-happiness-only-share-it','','','2010-06-07 15:07:11','2010-06-07 22:07:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=440',0,'post','',0),(441,1,'2010-06-04 12:39:36','2010-06-04 19:39:36','','opf-button','Get past \"me,\" put other people first','inherit','open','open','','opf-button','','','2010-06-04 12:39:36','2010-06-04 19:39:36','',440,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(442,1,'2010-06-04 12:39:09','2010-06-04 19:39:09','<em>\"... to dance beneath the diamond sky with one arm waving free.\"</em>\n<strong>-- BOB DYLAN</strong>\n\nI was walking on a hiking trail in Lost Maples State Natural Area here in South Texas when I tweaked my knee and decided to sit down for a while.\n\nThe atmosphere was incredible, and the sky was so clear I could see the half moon in the western sky at 10 a.m. I sat on a rock, pulled out my little notebook and started jotting down thoughts about happiness.\n\nOne thing I realized almost instantly is that unless you allow it, there isn\'t anyone in the world who can prevent you from being happy. But along those same lines, the most useless piece of advice you can give anyone is to \"try and be happy.\"\n\nThe more any of us \"try to be happy,\" the more elusive happiness becomes. If I \"try to be happy,\" I eat too much, I indulge my senses or I spend money to buy <em>things</em>.\n\nAny of those actions might give me a temporary high, but those highs are nearly always followed by lows.\n\nOn the other hand, if I set out to make the people around me happy, I usually don\'t feed them, stimulate their senses or spend money on them. I praise them, I help them accomplish things or I do something thoughtful for them.\n\nMaking them happy improves their mood and makes me happy as well.\n\nMaking other people happy makes them want to be around you, which is the real Law of Attraction. The whole \"secret\" mentality of attracting money or possessions by wishing for them is ridiculous. There isn\'t enough money in the world for everyone to be wealthy, and when you fail, they just tell you that you didn\'t try hard enough.\n\nThe true Law of Attraction is that the more you work to make other people happy, the more you will attract happiness to yourself.\n\nConsider sexual attraction. If you see sex as a conquest, as \"getting your rocks off\" or just, \"I\'d love to do her (or him),\" it\'s an empty act.\n\n<em>Although to give Woody Allen his due, as empty acts goes, it\'s not bad.</em>\n\nBut if sex is part of closeness, if you want to be with someone because the thought of making them happy is paramount in your mind, it can be a transcendent experience.\n\nIt really comes down to one thing:\n\nStop worrying about yourself.\n\nTo get back to the mantra of sorts I have been trying to get across the last few days, there are three steps:\n\n1. Love God so that you understand you are not the center of the universe, the crown of creation.\n\n2. Let go of past regrets and disappointments. Too many people live in the past or in the future. Live in the present and the future will take care of itself.\n\n3. Devote your energy to making the people around you happy. Don\'t spend any time trying to make yourself happy.\n\nThe first real dating relationship I ever had ended sadly for me, mostly because the lovely young lady I was seeing was too young for a real relationship.\n\nWhen she broke up with me, she said something wonderful:\n\n<em>\"You have done more things to make me happy than any boy I have ever known.\"</em>\n\nIt remains one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.\n\n***\n\n<em>Originally posted on AllVoices.com.</em>','','','inherit','open','open','','440-revision','','','2010-06-04 12:39:09','2010-06-04 19:39:09','',440,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=442',0,'revision','',0),(443,1,'2010-06-04 12:41:09','2010-06-04 19:41:09','<em>\"... to dance beneath the diamond sky with one arm waving free.\"</em>\n<strong>-- BOB DYLAN</strong>\n\nI was walking on a hiking trail in Lost Maples State Natural Area here in South Texas when I tweaked my knee and decided to sit down for a while.\n\nThe atmosphere was incredible, and the sky was so clear I could see the half moon in the western sky at 10 a.m. I sat on a rock, pulled out my little notebook and started jotting down thoughts about happiness.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_441\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Get past &quot;me,&quot; put other people first\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-441\" title=\"opf-button\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button-300x271.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"271\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOne thing I realized almost instantly is that unless you allow it, there isn\'t anyone in the world who can prevent you from being happy. But along those same lines, the most useless piece of advice you can give anyone is to \"try and be happy.\"\n\nThe more any of us \"try to be happy,\" the more elusive happiness becomes. If I \"try to be happy,\" I eat too much, I indulge my senses or I spend money to buy <em>things</em>.\n\nAny of those actions might give me a temporary high, but those highs are nearly always followed by lows.\n\nOn the other hand, if I set out to make the people around me happy, I usually don\'t feed them, stimulate their senses or spend money on them. I praise them, I help them accomplish things or I do something thoughtful for them.\n\nMaking them happy improves their mood and makes me happy as well.\n\nMaking other people happy makes them want to be around you, which is the real Law of Attraction. The whole \"secret\" mentality of attracting money or possessions by wishing for them is ridiculous. There isn\'t enough money in the world for everyone to be wealthy, and when you fail, they just tell you that you didn\'t try hard enough.\n\nThe true Law of Attraction is that the more you work to make other people happy, the more you will attract happiness to yourself.\n\nConsider sexual attraction. If you see sex as a conquest, as \"getting your rocks off\" or just, \"I\'d love to do her (or him),\" it\'s an empty act.\n\n<em>Although to give Woody Allen his due, as empty acts goes, it\'s not bad.</em>\n\nBut if sex is part of closeness, if you want to be with someone because the thought of making them happy is paramount in your mind, it can be a transcendent experience.\n\nIt really comes down to one thing:\n\nStop worrying about yourself.\n\nTo get back to the mantra of sorts I have been trying to get across the last few days, there are three steps:\n\n1. Love God so that you understand you are not the center of the universe, the crown of creation.\n\n2. Let go of past regrets and disappointments. Too many people live in the past or in the future. Live in the present and the future will take care of itself.\n\n3. Devote your energy to making the people around you happy. Don\'t spend any time trying to make yourself happy.\n\nThe first real dating relationship I ever had ended sadly for me, mostly because the lovely young lady I was seeing was too young for a real relationship.\n\nWhen she broke up with me, she said something wonderful:\n\n<em>\"You have done more things to make me happy than any boy I have ever known.\"</em>\n\nIt remains one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.\n\n***\n\n<em>Originally posted on AllVoices.com.</em>','You can\'t grab happiness, only share it','','inherit','open','open','','440-autosave','','','2010-06-04 12:41:09','2010-06-04 19:41:09','',440,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=443',0,'revision','',0),(444,1,'2010-06-04 18:58:01','2010-06-05 01:58:01','Well, folks, we\'re podcasting again.\r\n\r\nI got into this pretty regularly last summer, and then fell out of the habit when I returned from Texas, first to California and then to Georgia.\r\n\r\nWell, as of today, March 31, 2011,<a title=\"A Minute With Mike\" href=\"http://aminutewithmike.podhoster.com/\" target=\"_self\"> \"A Minute With Mike\"</a> is back in business with a new host.\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\nCheck us out with our new company, Podhoster.com. We\'re taking the attitude that spending one good minute listening every day can give you food for thought for the rest of the day.\r\n\r\nHope you\'ll enjoy listening as much as I\'ll enjoy talking.','Back in the pod again','','publish','open','open','','pod-people','','','2011-03-31 20:19:41','2011-04-01 03:19:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?page_id=444',0,'page','',0),(445,1,'2010-06-04 18:56:01','2010-06-05 01:56:01','','cowboy','Yippe ki yay','inherit','open','open','','cowboy','','','2010-06-04 18:56:01','2010-06-05 01:56:01','',444,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(446,1,'2010-06-04 18:55:10','2010-06-05 01:55:10','Well, it had to happen. I just wish I hadn\'t taken so long to get started.\n\nOne Voice has gone multimedia as of June 4, 2010, with the publication of my very first podcast. I\'m hoping to podcast most days, with some of the material being spoken voice expansions of what you have already read here and the rest of it different and original material.\n\nClick on the <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">link</a> here and check it out.','Pod people','','inherit','open','open','','444-revision','','','2010-06-04 18:55:10','2010-06-05 01:55:10','',444,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=446',0,'revision','',0),(447,1,'2010-06-04 18:58:01','2010-06-05 01:58:01','[caption id=\"attachment_445\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Yippe ki yay\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-445\" title=\"cowboy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWell, it had to happen. I just wish I hadn\'t taken so long to get started.\r\n\r\nOne Voice has gone multimedia as of June 4, 2010, with the publication of my very first podcast. I\'m hoping to podcast most days, with some of the material being spoken voice expansions of what you have already read here and the rest of it different and original material.\r\n\r\nClick on the <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">link</a> here and check it out. The podcasts are free, and may ultimately be available through iTunes as well.\r\n\r\nFeedback is welcomed.','Pod people','','inherit','open','open','','444-revision-2','','','2010-06-04 18:58:01','2010-06-05 01:58:01','',444,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=447',0,'revision','',0),(448,1,'2010-06-04 19:07:49','2010-06-05 02:07:49','This will be a short post, more in the form of information to draw your attention to one of the new buttons near the top of the page.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_445\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Yippe ki yay\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-445\" title=\"cowboy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Pod people\" refers to the fact that One Voice now has gone multimedia. We\'re podcasting through Liberated Syndication, one of the top podcasting sites. You can get there through this <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">link</a>, or you can go to onevoice.libsyn.com and bookmark it.\r\n\r\nI hope to provide new podcasts most days, although some of them will simply be readings and expansions on topics covered here. Some of them will be entirely new and original material that you won\'t find anywhere else.\r\n\r\nThe podcasts can be downloaded for free, and I believe they will eventually be available on iTunes as well.\r\n\r\n<em>\"So, you think you\'re all bad or something now that you\'re podcasting?\"</em>\r\n\r\nNope, just having more fun than I ever thought I would.\r\n\r\nLife is a gas.','Yet another way to get our message','','publish','open','open','','yet-another-way-to-get-our-message','','','2010-06-04 19:07:50','2010-06-05 02:07:50','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=448',0,'post','',0),(449,1,'2010-06-04 19:07:23','2010-06-05 02:07:23','This will be a short post, more in the form of information to draw your attention to one of the new buttons near the top of the page.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_445\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Yippe ki yay\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-445\" title=\"cowboy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cowboy-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n\"Pod people\" refers to the fact that One Voice now has gone multimedia. We\'re podcasting through Liberated Syndication, one of the top podcasting sites. You can get there through this <a title=\"One Voice podcasts\" href=\"http://www.onevoice.libsyn.com\" target=\"_self\">link</a>, or you can go to onevoice.libsyn.com and bookmark it.\n\nI hope to provide new podcasts most days, although some of them will simply be readings and expansions on topics covered here. Some of them will be entirely new and original material that you won\'t find anywhere else.\n\nThe podcasts can be downloaded for free, and I believe they will eventually be available on iTunes as well.\n\n<em>\"So, you think you\'re all bad or something now that you\'re podcasting?\"</em>\n\nNope, just having more fun than I ever thought I would.\n\nLife is a gas.','','','inherit','open','open','','448-revision','','','2010-06-04 19:07:23','2010-06-05 02:07:23','',448,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=449',0,'revision','',0),(450,1,'2010-06-06 13:07:01','2010-06-06 20:07:01','Anyone has been reading these posts recently knows about the amazing experience I had earlier this week, the insights I received from God that have changed my life incredibly for the better.\r\n\r\nBut I need to clarify something.\r\n\r\nThe wisdom I received, and the mission it has given me, aren\'t the first time I have felt the presence of God in my life. Indeed, what the Lord gave me this week wasn\'t even the greatest gift I have received from him.\r\n\r\nMy greatest gift -- the most wonderful I have ever received -- came in September 1992 when I met my wife Nicole. And when I have said this week that everything is different now, that isn\'t true. My love for my wife and our wonderful children will never change. Nicole, Pauline and Virgile are my three favorite people in the world, and they are also the three people I admire the most.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_451\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"295\" caption=\"My wonderful wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-451\" title=\"The 2005 hike to Kearsarge Pass\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222-295x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy wife is an accomplished person on every level.\r\n\r\nShe is beautiful, sexy, athletic, loving and intelligent, and she was and remains the best thing that ever happened to me.\r\n\r\nShe married me because she thought I was special, and there have been too many times in the last 18 years when I have been anything but special. There were too many times when I put myself first.\r\n\r\nThat\'s what has changed.\r\n\r\nNo more regrets, no more being crippled by things that happened 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. My friend Mick and I were talking about people who live in the past, and he mentioned something the great C.S. Lewis said about time.\r\n\r\nHe said there are four types of time in which people live -- the past, the present, the near-term future and eternity.\r\n\r\nOf those four, Lewis said only two make sense.\r\n\r\nHe said we should live in the present as well as being aware of our role -- and our responsibility -- to eternity. A friend gave me a quote from the movie \"Gladiator,\" in which Maximus says, \"What we do in life echoes in eternity.\"\r\n\r\nI love that quote. It says so much.\r\n\r\nI hope with all my heart that my love for Nicole is worthy, that it will echo in eternity.\r\n\r\nShe means that much to me.','God has given me more than one gift','','publish','open','open','','god-has-given-me-more-than-one-gift','','','2010-06-06 13:07:01','2010-06-06 20:07:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=450',0,'post','',0),(451,1,'2010-06-06 12:42:04','2010-06-06 19:42:04','','The 2005 hike to Kearsarge Pass','My wonderful wife','inherit','open','open','','n713362066_474005_8222','','','2010-06-06 12:42:04','2010-06-06 19:42:04','',450,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(452,1,'2010-06-06 13:06:06','2010-06-06 20:06:06','Anyone has been reading these posts recently knows about the amazing experience I had earlier this week, the insights I received from God that have changed my life incredibly for the better.\n\nBut I need to clarify something.\n\nThe wisdom I received, and the mission it has given me, aren\'t the first time I have felt the presence of God in my life. Indeed, what the Lord gave me this week wasn\'t even the greatest gift I have received from him.\n\nMy greatest gift -- the most wonderful I have ever received -- came in September 1992 when I met my wife Nicole. And when I have said this week that everything is different now, that isn\'t true. My love for my wife and our wonderful children will never change. Nicole, Pauline and Virgile are my three favorite people in the world, and they are also the three people I admire the most.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_451\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"295\" caption=\"My wonderful wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-451\" title=\"The 2005 hike to Kearsarge Pass\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222-295x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy wife is an accomplished person on every level.\n\nShe is beautiful, sexy, athletic, loving and intelligent, and she was and remains the best thing that ever happened to me.\n\nShe married me because she thought I was special, and there have been too many times in the last 18 years when I have been anything but special. There were too many times when I put myself first.\n\nThat\'s what has changed.\n\nNo more regrets, no more being crippled by things that happened 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. My friend Mick and I were talking about people who live in the past, and he mentioned something the great C.S. Lewis said about time.\n\nHe said there are four types of time in which people live -- the past, the present, the near-term future and eternity.\n\nOf those four, Lewis said only two make sense.\n\nHe said we should live in the present as well as being aware of our role -- and our responsibility -- to eternity. A friend gave me a quote from the movie \"Gladiator,\" in which Maximus says, \"What we do in life echoes in eternity.\"\n\nI love that quote. It says so much.\n\nI hope with all my heart that my love for Nicole is worthy, that it will echo in eternity.\n\nShe means that much to me.','God has given me more t','','inherit','open','open','','450-revision','','','2010-06-06 13:06:06','2010-06-06 20:06:06','',450,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=452',0,'revision','',0),(453,1,'2010-06-06 13:07:08','2010-06-06 20:07:08','Anyone has been reading these posts recently knows about the amazing experience I had earlier this week, the insights I received from God that have changed my life incredibly for the better.\n\nBut I need to clarify something.\n\nThe wisdom I received, and the mission it has given me, aren\'t the first time I have felt the presence of God in my life. Indeed, what the Lord gave me this week wasn\'t even the greatest gift I have received from him.\n\nMy greatest gift -- the most wonderful I have ever received -- came in September 1992 when I met my wife Nicole. And when I have said this week that everything is different now, that isn\'t true. My love for my wife and our wonderful children will never change. Nicole, Pauline and Virgile are my three favorite people in the world, and they are also the three people I admire the most.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_451\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"295\" caption=\"My wonderful wife\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-451\" title=\"The 2005 hike to Kearsarge Pass\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n713362066_474005_8222-295x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy wife is an accomplished person on every level.\n\nShe is beautiful, sexy, athletic, loving and intelligent, and she was and remains the best thing that ever happened to me.\n\nShe married me because she thought I was special, and there have been too many times in the last 18 years when I have been anything but special. There were too many times when I put myself first.\n\nThat\'s what has changed.\n\nNo more regrets, no more being crippled by things that happened 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. My friend Mick and I were talking about people who live in the past, and he mentioned something the great C.S. Lewis said about time.\n\nHe said there are four types of time in which people live -- the past, the present, the near-term future and eternity.\n\nOf those four, Lewis said only two make sense.\n\nHe said we should live in the present as well as being aware of our role -- and our responsibility -- to eternity. A friend gave me a quote from the movie \"Gladiator,\" in which Maximus says, \"What we do in life echoes in eternity.\"\n\nI love that quote. It says so much.\n\nI hope with all my heart that my love for Nicole is worthy, that it will echo in eternity.\n\nShe means that much to me.','God has given me more than one gift','','inherit','open','open','','450-autosave','','','2010-06-06 13:07:08','2010-06-06 20:07:08','',450,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=453',0,'revision','',0),(454,1,'2010-06-06 16:50:41','2010-06-06 23:50:41','<em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_455\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"South Texas sunset\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0049.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-455\" title=\"DSC_0049\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0049-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a></em>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTo dream the impossible dream ...</em>\r\n\r\nEvery single day, I come to this site and delete spam comments that look real. They praise thesite and the writing in general terms, but they always include links to other sites where people can buy things, or look at porn or just waste time.\r\n\r\nTo give you an idea of the proportion of spam comments to real ones, there have been seven real comments to posts since I started this site, and 201 spam comments.\r\n\r\nYes, making a comment asks you to include your e-mail address, but I\'m the only one who ever sees it. I\'ll tell you a secret. I think if you included a fake e-mail, I would still have the chance to approve your comment and I would do it.\r\n\r\nYou see, I\'m a nice guy.\r\n\r\nAnd I want your feedback.\r\n\r\nSo please, if you feel like saying something, say it and enjoy yourself.','You never call, you never write','','publish','open','open','','you-never-call-you-never-write','','','2010-06-06 16:50:41','2010-06-06 23:50:41','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=454',0,'post','',0),(455,1,'2010-06-06 16:48:06','2010-06-06 23:48:06','','DSC_0049','South Texas sunset','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0049','','','2010-06-06 16:48:06','2010-06-06 23:48:06','',454,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0049.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(456,1,'2010-06-06 16:49:48','2010-06-06 23:49:48','<em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_455\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"South Texas sunset\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0049.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-455\" title=\"DSC_0049\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0049-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a></em>[/caption]\n\nTo dream the impossible dream ...</em>\n\nEvery single day, I come to this site and delete spam comments that look real. They praise thesite and the writing in general terms, but they always include links to other sites where people can buy things, or look at porn or just waste time.\n\nTo give you an idea of the proportion of spam comments to real ones, there have been seven real comments to posts since I started this site, and 201 spam comments.\n\nYes, making a comment asks you to include your e-mail address, but I\'m the only one who ever sees it. I\'ll tell you a secret. I think if you included a fake e-mail, I would still have the chance to approve your comment and I would do it.\n\nYou see, I\'m a nice guy.\n\nAnd I want your feedback.\n\nSo please, if you feel like saying something, say it and enjoy yourself.','','','inherit','open','open','','454-revision','','','2010-06-06 16:49:48','2010-06-06 23:49:48','',454,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=456',0,'revision','',0),(458,1,'2010-06-07 15:01:50','2010-06-07 22:01:50','[caption id=\"attachment_457\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The trail ahead\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-457\" title=\"DSC_0052\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife is a choice.\r\n\r\nIn fact, life is a series of choices, and we make so many choices that we\'re often choosing even when we\'re not aware of it.\r\n\r\nThe key -- the difficult part -- is to make as many of those decisions as we can consciously, and to avoid living our lives on automatic pilot.\r\n\r\nThe other night, when I was driving back from Houston on I-10, I wasn\'t paying attention to my speed, and a Fayette County sheriff relieved me of $176 for going 83 miles an hour in a 65 zone.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->Pretty annoying, huh?\r\n\r\nI was actually pleased he hadn\'t seen me half an hour earlier, when I was barreling along at 88-90. And once I thanked him for the speeding ticket, I made a conscious decision to drive the final 160 miles or so of my journey with my cruise control set at 65 mph.\r\n\r\n<em>It seems ironic to use \"conscious decision\" and \"cruise control\" in the same sentence, but two speeding tickets in one day would have been far worse.</em>\r\n\r\nThere are, of course, big decisions and little ones.\r\n\r\nIf you want to look at it a certain way, you could say that the big decisions set the overall tone for the type of person we want to be, and the small decisions are the day-to-day execution of that plan.\r\n\r\nTo me there are three big decisions -- love God for the understanding it grants you, let go of the past so that you can live fully in the moment and make an effort to be happy, positive and giving toward other people.\r\n\r\nThose three should be your constants, your True North as it is.\r\n\r\nBut going past that to the daily execution is what really matters. Every time we come into contact with another person, we make a number of decisions. First is the expression on our face and our body language; a smile and a feeling of openness makes a big difference. Second is what we say.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Hey, great to see you!\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat\'ll certainly get things off on the right foot.\r\n\r\nBe open, be honest, let the other person know that they matter to you and you care that they come away from this encounter feeling good. Get what you need from the meeting, but try and make sure the other person gets their needs fulfilled as well. Nobody will feel happy -- or good toward you -- if they feel like you have cheated them or otherwise worked them in some way.\r\n\r\nAnd when you\'re done, make a decision to say something nice for the other person to carry away from their meeting with you. You can hope they have a wonderful day, or just letthem know it\'s always nice to see them and that you wish them well.\r\n\r\nThen you start all over again.\r\n\r\nIf you\'re really helping to transform the world, the job never ends.','Life is a constant series of decisions','','publish','open','open','','life-is-a-constant-series-of-decisions','','','2010-06-07 15:01:50','2010-06-07 22:01:50','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=458',0,'post','',0),(459,1,'2010-06-07 15:01:38','2010-06-07 22:01:38','[caption id=\"attachment_457\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The trail ahead\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-457\" title=\"DSC_0052\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLife is a choice.\n\nIn fact, life is a series of choices, and we make so many choices that we\'re often choosing even when we\'re not aware of it.\n\nThe key -- the difficult part -- is to make as many of those decisions as we can consciously, and to avoid living our lives on automatic pilot.\n\nThe other night, when I was driving back from Houston on I-10, I wasn\'t paying attention to my speed, and a Fayette County sheriff relieved me of $176 for going 83 miles an hour in a 65 zone.\n\n<!--more-->Pretty annoying, huh?\n\nI was actually pleased he hadn\'t seen me half an hour earlier, when I was barreling along at 88-90. And once I thanked him for the speeding ticket, I made a conscious decision to drive the final 160 miles or so of my journey with my cruise control set at 65 mph.\n\n<em>It seems ironic to use \"conscious decision\" and \"cruise control\" in the same sentence, but two speeding tickets in one day would have been far worse.</em>\n\nThere are, of course, big decisions and little ones.\n\nIf you want to look at it a certain way, you could say that the big decisions set the overall tone for the type of person we want to be, and the small decisions are the day-to-day execution of that plan.\n\nTo me there are three big decisions -- love God for the understanding it grants you, let go of the past so that you can live fully in the moment and make an effort to be happy, positive and giving toward other people.\n\nThose three should be your constants, your True North as it is.\n\nBut going past that to the daily execution is what really matters. Every time we come into contact with another person, we make a number of decisions. First is the expression on our face and our body language; a smile and a feeling of openness makes a big difference. Second is what we say.\n\n<em>\"Hey, great to see you!\"</em>\n\nThat\'ll certainly get things off on the right foot.\n\nBe open, be honest, let the other person know that they matter to you and you care that they come away from this encounter feeling good. Get what you need from the meeting, but try and make sure the other person gets their needs fulfilled as well. Nobody will feel happy -- or good toward you -- if they feel like you have cheated them or otherwise worked them in some way.\n\nAnd when you\'re done, make a decision to say something nice for the other person to carry away from their meeting with you. You can hope they have a wonderful day, or just letthem know it\'s always nice to see them and that you wish them well.\n\nThen you start all over again.\n\nIf you\'re really helping to transform the world, the job never ends.','Life is a ','','inherit','open','open','','458-revision','','','2010-06-07 15:01:38','2010-06-07 22:01:38','',458,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=459',0,'revision','',0),(460,1,'2010-06-04 12:41:08','2010-06-04 19:41:08','<em>\"... to dance beneath the diamond sky with one arm waving free.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- BOB DYLAN</strong>\r\n\r\nI was walking on a hiking trail in Lost Maples State Natural Area here in South Texas when I tweaked my knee and decided to sit down for a while.\r\n\r\nThe atmosphere was incredible, and the sky was so clear I could see the half moon in the western sky at 10 a.m. I sat on a rock, pulled out my little notebook and started jotting down thoughts about happiness.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_441\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Get past &quot;me,&quot; put other people first\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-441\" title=\"opf-button\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/opf-button-300x271.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"271\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I realized almost instantly is that unless you allow it, there isn\'t anyone in the world who can prevent you from being happy. But along those same lines, the most useless piece of advice you can give anyone is to \"try and be happy.\"\r\n\r\nThe more any of us \"try to be happy,\" the more elusive happiness becomes. If I \"try to be happy,\" I eat too much, I indulge my senses or I spend money to buy <em>things</em>.\r\n\r\nAny of those actions might give me a temporary high, but those highs are nearly always followed by lows.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, if I set out to make the people around me happy, I usually don\'t feed them, stimulate their senses or spend money on them. I praise them, I help them accomplish things or I do something thoughtful for them.\r\n\r\nMaking them happy improves their mood and makes me happy as well.\r\n\r\nMaking other people happy makes them want to be around you, which is the real Law of Attraction. The whole \"secret\" mentality of attracting money or possessions by wishing for them is ridiculous. There isn\'t enough money in the world for everyone to be wealthy, and when you fail, they just tell you that you didn\'t try hard enough.\r\n\r\nThe true Law of Attraction is that the more you work to make other people happy, the more you will attract happiness to yourself.\r\n\r\nConsider sexual attraction. If you see sex as a conquest, as \"getting your rocks off\" or just, \"I\'d love to do her (or him),\" it\'s an empty act.\r\n\r\n<em>Although to give Woody Allen his due, as empty acts goes, it\'s not bad.</em>\r\n\r\nBut if sex is part of closeness, if you want to be with someone because the thought of making them happy is paramount in your mind, it can be a transcendent experience.\r\n\r\nIt really comes down to one thing:\r\n\r\nStop worrying about yourself.\r\n\r\nTo get back to the mantra of sorts I have been trying to get across the last few days, there are three steps:\r\n\r\n1. Love God so that you understand you are not the center of the universe, the crown of creation.\r\n\r\n2. Let go of past regrets and disappointments. Too many people live in the past or in the future. Live in the present and the future will take care of itself.\r\n\r\n3. Devote your energy to making the people around you happy. Don\'t spend any time trying to make yourself happy.\r\n\r\nThe first real dating relationship I ever had ended sadly for me, mostly because the lovely young lady I was seeing was too young for a real relationship.\r\n\r\nWhen she broke up with me, she said something wonderful:\r\n\r\n<em>\"You have done more things to make me happy than any boy I have ever known.\"</em>\r\n\r\nIt remains one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>Originally posted on AllVoices.com.</em>','You can\'t grab happiness, only share it','','inherit','open','open','','440-revision-2','','','2010-06-04 12:41:08','2010-06-04 19:41:08','',440,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=460',0,'revision','',0),(461,1,'2010-06-03 18:13:18','2010-06-04 01:13:18','<div id=\"summary\">\r\n\r\nIs there really a Heaven?\r\n\r\nIs there really personal and individual salvation that comes to those who believe the right things, who act upon those beliefs and lead righteous lives?\r\n\r\nThe answer I\'m going to give you might surprise you:\r\n\r\n<em>It doesn\'t matter.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_435\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Is therean afterlife? Does it matter?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-435\" title=\"heaven-hell\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/heaven-hell-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNope, it doesn\'t matter at all whether we are striving toward salvation. In fact, my guess is that there\'s at least a chance that the whole idea of heaven, paradise, nirvana or whatever else you want to call it was created by man as an incentive to get people to behave themselves within the strictures of whatever religion they follow.\r\n\r\nIn some respects, at least as I understand it, Judaism has the healthiest view of an afterlife. At least as my father used to tell me, the idea in Judaism is that there may or may not be an afterlife, but we should behave ethically even if there is no ultimate reward.\r\n\r\nIn other words, virtue is its own reward.\r\n\r\nI received the greatest blessing of my life yesterday when God spoke to me in a direct way He never has before. He didn\'t tell me any of the \"secrets\" of life, like what comes after death or why so many people like sushi, but He gave me an incredible gift when he removed 60 years of pain and regrets from my psyche and told me to do what I can to share what really matters.\r\n\r\nI know that sounds at least egotistical and maybe even crazy, but I am at complete peace with it. Actually, that\'s not true. I am so not at peace with it; I am totally on fire with the desire to write and talk and share, but in a good way.\r\n\r\nAs I said in earlier posts, the message I am starting to share is that if we love God, if we put our regrets and disappointments behind us and if we seriously work to present a positive, loving face to everyone we meet, we can change the world for the better.\r\n\r\nWe can begin to heal the world.\r\n\r\nNone of what I am saying is original. I don\'t presume to have invented any of these ideas, but I can tell you I will be nothing if not persistent and I am the right voice at the right time for this message.\r\n\r\nToday I went to Best Buy in San Antonio to pick up a small voice recorder so that I can begin doing podcasts. The cashier was young, apparently pretty new in his job and very nervous. He told me the previous customer had given him a hard time about something, and the more nervous he got, the more annoyed the customer became.\r\n\r\nI told him to relax, that I was in no hurry and I did my best to help him feel at ease. When he completed my transaction, I told him he had done a great job and that I hoped he would have a wonderful day.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t difficult at all.\r\n\r\nIt didn\'t cost me any additional money, and it didn\'t hurt in terms of time elapsed either, but I know I made a difference in that young man\'s life at least in the short run.\r\n\r\nIt was easy.\r\n\r\nIf we treat people well, if we put others first even if only in small situations, we ennoble ourselves and we make the world a better place.\r\n\r\nIt\'s very easy. Love God to understand that you are not the crown of creation, let go of your pain and regrets and do what you can to put other people\'s happiness ahead of your own.\r\n\r\nIn a very real way, it won\'t matter if there is a Heaven or not.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll be there already.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\n<em>This post was also published at AllVoices.com.</em>\r\n\r\n</div>','An afterlife? It shouldn\'t matter at all','','inherit','open','open','','436-revision-4','','','2010-06-03 18:13:18','2010-06-04 01:13:18','',436,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=461',0,'revision','',0),(462,1,'2010-06-08 16:24:27','2010-06-08 23:24:27','','DSC_0095','The stars at night ...','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0095','','','2010-06-08 16:24:27','2010-06-08 23:24:27','',463,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0095.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(463,1,'2010-06-08 17:38:03','2010-06-09 00:38:03','[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]\r\n\r\n<em>\"There\'s no better place than Texas to start over.\"</em>\r\n<strong>-- JOHN CONNELLY</strong>\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\nNow I am no longer retired.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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.\r\n\r\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','','publish','open','open','','texas-has-been-a-great-place-to-start-again','','','2010-06-08 17:38:03','2010-06-09 00:38:03','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=463',0,'post','',0),(464,1,'2010-06-08 16:31:37','2010-06-08 23:31:37','[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>','','','inherit','open','open','','463-revision','','','2010-06-08 16:31:37','2010-06-08 23:31:37','',463,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=464',0,'revision','',0),(465,1,'2010-06-08 16:38:34','2010-06-08 23:38:34','[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\nI never wanted to live in Texas, from the time I was little to the 1980s, when it seems to me like I worked everywhere else<em> except</em> Texas.','','','inherit','open','open','','463-revision-2','','','2010-06-08 16:38:34','2010-06-08 23:38:34','',463,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=465',0,'revision','',0),