Interesting that as I was finishing my earlier blog piece about my grandparents — my iPod shuffled into a Grateful Dead rendition of “Amazing Grace”… a fantastic live piece that I recommend…
The Grateful Dead…
General
Crossed Fingers
Retail’s Not Thankful. Wal-Mart and other discounters hope for the best, despite the shorter shopping season. [The Motley Fool]
Death
Maybe I’m missing something.. but in my own case, my first experience with death was when my grandfather – Eldon Moreman – passed away when I was fourteen years old. My father was the one that told my brother and I that morning.. I’ll never forget what happened… it was sudden and unexpected..
My grandmother passed years later, in 1996.. it was more expected.. she was 82 and was suffering from some heart problems – she had a heart attack about eighteen months prior to this and had been recommended by her physician to have a valve replacement.. she chose not to risk the surgery.. a decision that we never doubted was the right one to make….
But as much as we expected that she would pass one day, it still marks one of the worst days of my life… I spoke at her funeral – you can read my eulogy in the ‘Writings’ section….
To this day, almost twenty-nine years after I met them for the first time as a newborn, my grandparents remain – short of my parents – the most influential people in my life…
Stephanie Kesler: “For many of us, our first adult experience with the process of death occurs when one our parents dies. I know this sounds bizarre, but I think their experience of death is perhaps one of their last gifts to us.” [Scripting News]
Finally!
Impressive that this has finally come to an end after many many years — but now Circuit City is doing it.. bleck!
Unbelievable
Three Charged With Stealing 30,000 Credit Reports. James B. Comey, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said it was the largest identity theft case in U.S. history, with initial losses pegged at $2.7 million. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]
The Department of Homeland Security
Impressive that he was finally able to convince Congress to get this bill passed and signed into law — and a win that I’m very happy to see.. but I’m not sold on Tom Ridge as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Certainly this will be interesting to watch.
Bush Signs Bill for New Dept. and Picks Ridge as Its Secretary. President Bush signed a bill today creating a Cabinet-level agency aimed at protecting the country from terrorists, and he nominated Tom Ridge as its first secretary. By David Stout. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]
RIP
Political philosopher John Rawls has died. Political philosopher John Rawls has died: Today’s edition of The Harvard Gazette contains this report that the author of “A Theory of Justice” died yesterday at the age of 81. [How Appealing]