Friday Donuts

Friends, Adjectives are powerful diagnostic tools. They serve to identify any ailment, real or imagined. Whether you’re green, gleeful, or glamorous, there’s a modifier for your condition. Can’t find the right adjective? Recruit a noun to play the role. Nouns moonlighting as adjectives expand the palate of possibilities. When people call me “donut boy”, the pastry in their diagnosis describes my disorder. What adjective (or attributive noun) best fits your momentary malady? Whatever it is, I hope the prognosis is positive. Happy Friday!

  Friends, Want to feel smart? Tell ChatGPT to change something it wrote. Not only will it agree with you like a sycophant, but it will also tell you all the reasons you're right. I must admit that after a couple of hours one begins to wonder how sincere the feedback really is. To paraphrase the new generation, Chat is a sweat that likes to glaze – and no, the term has no connection to delicious, glazed donuts. But I digress. Getting back to smart, one of the smartest people I know – my youngest, Rafael (4.0 GPA at Mines), is doing an internship in Tokyo and sent me a photo yesterday of the donuts he brought in to work today – no, he didn't time travel, there's just a 14-hour time difference. Fortunately, it’s still early in Colorado, so I think I’ll go get me one before I get too busy and forget. 'Bye now! Happy Friday!

Friends, I don’t consider today to be unlucky. Of course, I’m open to changing my mind should evidence to the contrary surface. When I was younger (I won’t admit how old), I espoused some beliefs that have proven wrong over time: There was a non-zero chance that when you flush an airplane toilet somebody 10,000 feet below you might get offed by a frozen turd. It seemed reasonable that the loud sucking flush sound was due to the contents being dumped from the plane. Ham and hot dogs were synthesized from chemicals, and as such, “factory meat” was an acceptable part of a cruelty-free "vegetarian" diet. Their homogeneous consistency and packaging seemed to support this hypothesis. Vampires could be deterred from biting me in my sleep by wrapping a blanket around my neck. At a minimum, their attempt to unwrap the blanket would wake me and give me a fighting chance to ward them off. Countless misheard lyrics I sang with so much conviction. For instance, “… you’ve got a tub, I see ...

Friends, The desire to be right can close our minds to divergent (and, heaven forbid, superior) points of view. We build echo chambers, carefully curating views that support our own and dismissing differing voices out of hand. When opinion is mistaken for fact, inconvenient truths are easily discarded. And so, we dig in our heels and trade healthy debate for hate. Ironically, it is quite possible no two people would agree on everything. I think maturity and respect are the key to growth. Leaving the comfort of one's own biases and deeply held beliefs and truly listening is not easy, but it's a necessary start. Of course, a raspberry pistachio donut always helps. Happy Friday! A healthy exchange of ideas – and a raspberry pistachio donut

Friends, I was 24 the first time I was offered a penny for my thoughts. At the time, the novel expression brought me back from my musings and it has stuck with me ever since. Today, as I remove Penny Lane from my playlist and replace it with Nickelback, it occurs to me that now may be a good time to binge watch Penny Dreadful on Paramount Plus. I ponder the penny pinchers’ move, perhaps these bad pennies are penny wise, pound foolish. Let's hope it doesn't drop a penny on prices. Meanwhile, all I can do is bite into my donut and close my eyes. Mmmm… worth every penny. Happy Friday!

Friends, Context drives behavior. Dancing at a party is a lot less awkward than dancing at the office. Singing in the shower is a lot less intimidating than singing on stage. Eating a beignet sounds so much fancier than eating a donut. Lately, I find I enjoy standing at the very edge of the jet bridge before stepping onto the plane. Imagining what it would be like if the plane were not there. My body tensing-up as self-preservation kicks-in. My fear of falling preventing me from getting so close to that edge. Same air bridge, different context. I pause long enough to look through the tiny crack and take that step on board – can’t hold-up the line too long. No big deal. Happy Friday!