We were blessed to be able to go to a wonderful wedding yesterday for another one of my remarkable nephews and his equally remarkable bride. The wedding ceremony was held outside under perfect conditions, where the bride and groom shared a beautiful set of vows with each other. After a fun outdoor reception, it was … Continue reading A Hidden Challenge of Being the Bride and Groom
We are nearly two weeks into the semester, and once again I am blessed with a wonderful group of students. They are engaged, curious, friendly, respectful, and just seem happy to be here. I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago that this was the start of my 36th year at Villanova. So … Continue reading As If I Needed to Be Reminded That I’m Old
This story has been making its way around social media over the past week, so some of you may already be familiar with it. From my perspective, it falls into the category of "Outrageous Behavior". As you can see from the image above, this story revolves around a couple (Doug and Dedra) who recently got … Continue reading How to End a Friendship
Across the U.S., colleges are getting ready to start a new academic year. For recent high school graduates, and their parents, it is a momentous occasion. For many of these students, it will be their first time away from parental supervision, and for some of the parents, it will be the first time they won't … Continue reading To Track or Not to Track?
Eleven years ago New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an opinion piece titled "We're No. 1(1)!" The title was in reference to a Newsweek ranking of the 100 best countries in the world. The U.S. didn't even make the top 10; we came in at No. 11. Not bad, but it seems that for … Continue reading We’re Number 11, Again! 😦
It seems like just yesterday we were talking about Y2K problems, yet the freshmen who arrived on campus yesterday weren't even born by the time Y2K fizzled out. And it doesn't seem that long ago since I graduated from college in 1979. It's hard to imagine that was over 40 years ago. But here we … Continue reading Welcome Class of 2025!
Being disinvited to the party of the year. I'm talking about the recent 60th birthday party bash that was recently held at Martha's Vineyard for former President Barack Obama. Originally, the guest list included 475 people, but then with the growing spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, people were concerned with both the … Continue reading What’s Worse Than Not Being Invited to the Party of the Year?
Today's CBS Sunday Morning show had an episode: "Helping students cope with the pressure to succeed." Quick summary: Experts say that students from high achieving schools, who are privileged in terms of educational opportunities, are at greater risk of substance abuse, depression, and anxiety than the national norm, because of an unrelenting, insidious pressure to … Continue reading The Pressure Is Real
I’m sure most of it was Restaurant Server 101 sort of stuff: greeting us with a smile confirming our order before she left the table returning promptly with our drinks cleaning the table when a very small part of one of the drinks spilled over the top quickly finding us a table inside to move … Continue reading This Is What Good Customer Service Looks Like
I have written a few times about how much I enjoy using the Nextdoor app, but after reading a few posts from the Best of Nextdoor Twitter account, I realized we live in a pretty boring neighborhood. Here are some examples of the messages people have posted in their local Nextdoor app, courtesy of the … Continue reading I Must Live in a Boring Neighborhood
Borden's Blather 