Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips I receive a Fiskars tool for cutting open those annoying plastic packages. I often find that the best Christmas gifts of my life are (1) unexpected and (2) inexpensive. Such happened this year. The photo here shows such a gift from this year. It is a cutting tools from Fiskars. It cuts […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Often, a seemingly illogical action has logic when something else is in play. One way to learn of what else is in play is to ask. I have a yellow shirt. Someone gave this to me a few years ago. I hate the yellow shirt because I think the color is awful. […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Today is Thanksgiving Day in America. I am thankful that my three sons, all in their 20s, still talk to me. I am thankful that my oldest son married a young woman who thinks enough of me to let me spend time with their children, my grandchildren.

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips We need a touchscreen television that interacts just like an iPad. At least we need one in my house. I have the original iPad with WiFi only. I like it and have learned a lot by having it. My main use for it is: Showing kids’ videos to my grandson (2 1/2 […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips A short thought about “play.” I like to play with my grandson. When I thought about this, I realized that this is one of the few things I do in life where the word “play” appears. Another place is when I play the guitar. I enjoy that as well. One outcome of […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Life takes a wonderful pause – my daughter-in-law gave birth to a beautiful little girl – Leah. This is the first girl born into my line of the family in about 75 years. The wait was worth it. For historical reference, see when my grandson was born.

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips I reminisce about tracing paper. When I was a kid, I would trace things. Now that I think about it, I recall tracing some things when I was in graduate school working on a PhD. Whoa. Anyways, I would trace things. These things were for school projects most of the time, but […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips It was the spring of 2006. I had been in California visiting the Contractor for several days. I flew home on Friday, caught the usual cab, and walked into an empty house. Adam, my youngest son, was playing in the high school jazz band. He was playing bass while his friend Arash […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips summary I live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. To be more specific, I live in Reston, Virginia – a planned community. This is a good place to live, have a family, find good jobs, good medical care, good entertainment, and so on. Just Google for “Reston 50 best places” […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Well meaning managers often start new activities. The activities are not sustainable, and the well meaning manager gains a reputation as a liar. I am a grandparent. I have one grandson who is now 23 months old (I have to put up a new photo of him sometime :-). Grandparents engage in […]

[Read more →]