Bookshelves

These are very cool, aren't they?

Hockey

This has been a magical season for the New Jersey Devils -- they reached the playoffs for the first time in many years. During those years the team usually ended up in last place. (I rooted for them nonetheless.) Now the Devils are poised for glory.

At the start of this season odds for the Devils making it to the Stanley Cup finals were 5,000 to 1. Today, they're 6 to 1. Amazing play and surprising success changed everyone's view of the team. They're now respected for youthful energy, incredible speed and advanced skills. The Devils set an all-time NHL record for most wins in one month (eleven in November).

The regular season ends next week and playoffs follow. It'll be exciting so tune in and cheer with me.

April Fool's Day Joke

Another April Fool's Day, another successful April Fool's joke.

Most of my past April Fool's jokes have been visual pranks -- a squirrel invading our home through an open window (plush animal), a scary man in a trench-coat and hat peering through a backyard window (mannequin), a four-foot tall pirate ship in the bathtub (inflated balloon). 

This year I thought it'd be fun to try something different -- an auditory prank. One using sound. You have to keep your target off-balance. Since Robin expects a joke today and is on high-alert looking for one, I can't repeat myself.

So I found a YouTube video of a cat meowing loudly. I snuck into the basement and put my computer under the stairs. Then pressed "play" and went upstairs to watch television.

Ten minutes later Robin walks into the room, stops and says 

"Do you hear something?"

"I don't hear anything."

"Really? Listen! I hear a cat. Don't you hear that?"

"Nope."

Robin checks the windows. Opens the front and back door. Then she narrows her search at the basement door.

"Ralph! There's an ANIMAL in the basement!!"

"Let's go down and take a look.'

I descend the stairs while Robin follows me. She tentatively comes halfway down.

"Don't worry" I say, "it's probably just an April Fool's joke."

Robin face turned from scared to agitated in an instant. Then the cursing started...

Understanding Your Parents

I just solved a mystery that'd confused me for decades.

In childhood we see but don't always understand our parents' behavior. Their motivations often elude us. That was the case when I observed my normally-thrifty mother spend money every year buying sets of uncirculated coins from the U.S. Mint. The "United States Proof Sets," encased in plastic, include that year's penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar and dollar. I discovered dozens of these in my father's belongings recently when cleaning out his stuff.

As a child I was a coin-collector myself so the concept of collecting coins wasn't foreign to me but my attraction to coins was their aesthetic value. For example, my favorite coin (from Germany) has fancy writing on the SIDE of the coin. How cool is that? Other coins also have intriguing designs.

My mother had no interest in coins' artwork so that wasn't her reason for collecting. Nor was investment value. The value of coins depends on two things: condition and scarcity. While the condition of coins in these sets is "mint" (never handled by humans) they are certainly not rare. Millions were minted and sold meaning they'd never acquire any real value.

No, the reason lay elsewhere. I pondered my mother's uncharacteristic behavior for decades. Only now, after sustained consideration and mature insight do I understand it.

To grasp what was going on, you have to put yourself in the head of an insecure immigrant. As young adults my parents desperately strove to assimilate, to become Americans. They wanted the idyllic life of an American family. My father took courses to lose his German accent; my parents finished the basement of our small house with a wooden bar and decorated it with alcoholic advertisements (e.g., Rheingold) to host drunken parties with their neighbors. Stuff like that.

Viewed in this context, my mother's coin-buying suddenly makes sense. She was not purchasing coins; she was buying into the idea of America. Her puchases were an expression of faith in a country she and my father embraced wholeheartedly. 

Patriotism is uncommon now but back then, especially in immigrant groups, it was pervasive. Standing apart from American culture was dangerous; fitting in was safer. Demonstrating allegiance to our country's symbols, including its currency, is a form of cultural worship my parents engaged in. 

Now, finally, I get it. 

My Career

I was admitted to the Bar on March 23, 1983 -- which makes today the 40th anniversary of that event. (I actually started working as a lawyer earlier in September 1982.)

I announced my "retirement" a year-and-a-half ago but, honestly, it hasn't occurred yet. Winding down my law practice is taking longer than one might expect: there are too many complicated, long-term commitments to conclude quickly. I've had success, however, and now confidently predict final, real retirement by this Summer. I want a big party to celebrate this history of work and have already picked out a band. 

How long do you want your career to last?

Toughness

In last night's game Devils veteran Ondrej Palat caught a high stick in the mouth and was forced to leave the second period with knocked-out teeth and busted lips. But in the tradition of heroic hockey players Ondrej had his mouth sewn up in the locker-room and came back in the third period -- where he scored another key goal. This picture tells the story.

The Devils are TOUGH. 

"The U.S. and the Holocaust"

I've been terribly sick the past three weeks with RSV. The worst part of the illness is blurred vision. That's prevented me from reading and writing. Please forgive my absence from your blogs. I hope to return to commenting soon.

While sick I watched a new, 6-hour documentary from Ken Burns about the Holocaust ("The U.S. and the Holocaust," PBS, 2022). Its core message: Americans were fully informed of the tragedies committed in Europe during that period but chose, inexcusably, to turn a cold shoulder toward widespread suffering.

The documentary examines the dangers of appeasing evil and ignoring noxious beliefs (which persists today). You're also struck by the fragility of family as parents and children were cruelly separated from their loved ones. Finally the vast scale of the horrors of that time is hard to take in. Literally millions were murdered.

The 3-part series, while difficult to watch, changes your perspective on several important subjects, such as man's capacity for inhumane behavior.

(If you want to borrow the DVDs, just ask me.)