Tuesdays with Mary

Tuesday, September 3, 2024 I’ve been thinking about onerous Terms and Conditions again; the good news is it seems we might be approaching an opportunity to regain sanity where these things are concerned.  The icky news, did you see the latest from Disney and Disney+?  If you’ve ever wondered what you’re accepting when you click through and accept, this set of alleged facts will really catch your attention. The non-Disney characters in this story are Jeffrey Piccolo and his wife Kanokporn Tangsuan.  Tangsuan, who had severe food allergies, and her husband visited the Disney World resort in Florida in late [...]

Tuesday, August 27, 2024 I’ve been thinking about the long awaited and very welcome words said Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: “The time has come…” for the group to begin reducing interest rates, as early as next month.  For those of you who have been hanging on, getting by and hoping for relief for the past two and a half years, it appears your patience will soon be rewarded. Let’s look at what we know and how you can prepare. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming [...]

Tuesday, August 20, 2024 I’ve been thinking about the real estate market in the Midwest. Did you see the latest Realtor.com report of where the hot markets are currently? It looked at market demand and market pace in 300 communities and found that five of the top 10 hottest markets are in the Midwest. In matters of affordability and quality of life, it’s hard to beat the Midwest. Five years ago, I moved from the bustling and ever-growing Dallas metro area to a lovely small community in the upper Midwest. We’re a tourist destination, with only 3,500 permanent residents. Yet [...]

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 I’ve been thinking about the new trend in adventure travel, or what we used to call staying in a hotel. Not that long ago, in the before times, it was usually a straightforward proposition and experience. Different classes of hotels, and sometimes individual properties themselves, would have their set of services and amenities that could almost always be safely relied upon . It seems COVID changed all that; I hope not forever. Travel during the pandemic, whether necessary for work or chosen voluntarily for personal trips, was understandably a roll of the dice. Most hotels located [...]

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 I’ve been thinking about your secret code or phrase for security purposes.  If you haven’t yet established one with key people in your life (both personal and professional) please do. The deepfakes are running rampant.  It seems no one is exempt, whether you’re somebody’s beloved Grammy or an executive at Ferrari.  Did you see the latest? An executive at Ferrari was contacted via WhatsApp by someone pretending to be the company’s CEO asking, “Hey, did you hear about the big acquisition we’re planning?  I could need your help.”  The conversation continued back and forth for a [...]

Tuesday, July 30, 2024 I’ve been thinking about our collective, strange, seemingly ever-present and unusual mixture of ennui and agitation about the state of things now and where they are headed.  Bestselling books have been written about the cause of this, and I don’t disagree with many of their conclusions about technology, disconnectedness, and institutional disappointments.  But what is the nature of our own individual sense of discomfort, and what can we do about it? “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace [...]

Tuesday, July 16, 2024 I’ve been thinking about the famous phrase One Country, One Destiny. When your heart wants to harden and close, I hope you will sweat, strain and toil to keep it open. When despair tries to dominate your thoughts, I pray you can aggressively seek out and find a hope that nourishes. If you’ve lost touch with a friend or loved one because your politics seemed unnavigable together, I hope you might reach out and remind each other that love is vast and wonderous and far more important than even the staunchest of differing opinions. Our neighbors [...]

Tuesday, July 9, 2024 I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my second favorite equation in life.  It’s one I revisit often as a reminder to myself.  I also offer it to others, from time to time, whenever someone finds themselves in one situation, but wants to move into a different one.  The equation goes like this: Consistency over Time = Results or C x T = R.  It’s simple, elegant and has the advantage of being true to nearly any scenario. Too often we try to take giant swings toward radical change, only to realize soon after that we [...]

Tuesday, July 2, 2024 I’ve been thinking about our co-workers and colleagues and what to do when they come to us in frustration. If you’re a manager, it probably happens more than you’d like. The shy almost inaudible knock at the door.  Then they don’t quite enter when you look up and greet them. Instead, they ask with hesitation “… Have you got a minute?” The tone suggests it’s OK if you do not, in fact, have a minute … but that tone is misleading. Always say yes, and then settle in, it’s going to be more than a minute.  [...]

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 I’ve been thinking about topics versus outcomes when it comes to court cases. It’s SCOTUS opinion-palooza season, the time when we get a flurry of significant and high-profile opinions toward the end of the court’s term.  And while as of the time of this writing, we don’t yet have opinions handed down on our two Chevron Doctrine cases, several opinions that have been issued recently are worth a look, because it’s hard to miss the emerging pattern. Notice that in each of these cases there is a topic.  In fact, it is probably the topics that [...]