Friday Donuts

Friends, Expectations and reality don’t always align. When I noticed the layered salt deposits forming on the brim of my running cap I envisioned a pleasing texture and patina would eventually cover the whole article --if only I resisted the urge to wash it. A few months later, it’s clear the experiment has failed and the unsanitary results should be burned. Or, take these words emblazoned on a commercial vehicle: “FIRE WATER SMOKE MOLD”. I half-expected an itinerant shaman promoting alcohol and smoking fungi as tools for a vision quest. The disappointing truth, it turns out, the company specializes in damage restoration. I find the best way to overcome such cognitive dissonances is to take a breath, bite into a donut and laugh your unreasonable expectations out of the room. Happy Friday! The Well Aged Cap The Itinerant Shaman

Friends, The English language has over 170 thousand words, not counting obsolete and derivative words. With so many words to choose from, selecting the right one can be challenging. The choice between a ten-cent and a fifty-cent word often comes down to the writer’s intent. Informing (or disinforming) the reader vs. amusing (or aggrandizing) the writer. Striking the right balance between clarity and elegance is hard enough without the allure of highfalutin, unnecessary words tempting us to literary lechery (apologies for succumbing to temptation). While the writer’s word choice can hint at their motivation, whether a word is right or not comes down to legibility. If the reader enjoys an article, who cares how much the writer paid for their words. Kind of like a good donut: if it tastes great, who cares about the ingredients. Happy New Year!      The wrong photo ;-)

  Friends, As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to remember and be grateful for another year of life – there’s much for which to be grateful. Sure, some things could have gone better (they always can), but on balance things were good. At the González household, the cathartic process of capturing this year’s essence to burn at midnight is wrapping-up. This year’s theme, “Covid Games from home” uses Squid games (Netflix’s unlikely breakaway hit) as a way to mock the two main Covid variants of concern (Delta and Omicron) and commiserate about working from home with all the weirdness it carries along. Comfy slippers combined with dressing-up from the waist up for zoom meetings (not to mention the quarantine fifteen). As I hope for lots of snow and no wind (lest we need to call an audible on the midnight burn) my thoughts turn to my friends in Boulder county and hopes for a quick recovery. May 2022 bring an end to confinement and lots of opportunities to share donuts. Happy Friday!

Friends, On this Christmas Eve, I wish you peace, love and donuts. Peace that overcomes useless anxiety, unproductive worry and unnecessary stress. Love that unites family, friends and foreigners. Donuts to share and bring joy to big and small. P.S. As I wrote this, I was reminded of Steve Martin’s five Christmas wishes . If you haven’t seen it (a) where have you been and (b) enjoy the clip. Happy Friday!

Friends, Many modern problems seem to be the byproduct of having too much of a good thing. A few examples for your consideration: Light pollution and sleep deprivation . The ability to see at night is good. Until the 19th century, night time activities were a luxury. Candles were expensive, so people took spectacular views of the Milky Way and a good night’s sleep for granted. The great Pacific garbage patch . Plastic is good. It solves the age-old problem of expensive, unwieldy and brittle packaging. Unfortunately, it’s so cheap and durable it ends-up everywhere, forever -even a floating island that’s almost as big as Alaska. Obesity and it’s disease entourage . Energy-rich, nutrient-packed foods, like sugars and fats, solve mankind’s age-old food scarcity and subsistence living problem a little too well. Our bodies store the surplus for a rainy day that seldom comes. I suppose moderation is the moral of the story. Enjoy your Friday donut (190-300 calories), but maybe hold-off on that

  Friends, Why is click bait so disappointing? I suppose it comes down to misleading claims and unrealistic expectations. When you watch someone making something, you expect the finished product to be, well, amazing — especially if the headline has a superlative thrown-in. I try to avoid being drawn-in, however, when my irrational desire to get rid of all notification badges on my apps kicks-in I sometimes catch myself watching auto-played Facebook videos I know are likely to end in a whimper. Videos with titles like “amazing technology”, “the end result” or “clever ideas”. Perhaps the most misleading claims are those that imply that I, the common viewer, will somehow be able to make my own artistic furnishings and accessories after watching a 7 minute time lapse video of what is clearly a skilled craftsman working many hours with specialized machinery. Don’t get me wrong, some are fascinating, but I’m not likely to make a fine Corinthian leather chaise lounge anytime soon.   What’s no