What's in Dave's Head

As we approach 2014 many of us will be making ambitious New Year’s resolutions.  It’s a rarity that we actually keep them.  But if we keep in mind people who have overcome obstacles to achieve their goals, it can serve to motivate us as we work to keep the promises we make to ourselves.  Think about Diana Nyad.  In September the  64-year-old succeeded in swimming from Cuba to Florida.  It took her 53 hours—and five tries—to make the 110-mile journey.  She had failed in her first four attempts, the first of which was 35 years ago, in 1978.  Her advice: Never give up, no matter how many times you have failed or how old you are.   Diana has become an inspirational figure for me.  I’m no great athlete and have never tried anything as challenging as swimming across the Florida Straits for more than two days straight in shark-infested, jellyfish-filled heavy seas.  I’m a regular guy who happens to love sports, particularly comp...

A feature article in the Dec. 22, 2013 Washington Post about Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, offers some lessons about perseverance and overcoming adversity.   The article notes that after a remarkable collegiate career and record-breaking rookie season in 2011, Newton had a disappointing season last year, when the Panthers went 7-9 and his performance regressed.  During the offseason Newton changed his approach to focus on improving his fundamentals and adapting to changing defensive schemes.  This year the Panthers are currently in first place in the NFC South division with an 11-4 record.  The intent of the article is to show that Newton’s off-season self-examination and willingness to change could be a tem plate for Washington’s beleaguered quarterback, Robert Griffin III.  Indeed, all of us should strive to look objectively in the mirror, take stock of where we are and make the necessary changes to get us to where we want to...

Christmas is my favorite time of year, by a long shot.  Like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , it’s a time for looking backward, forward and at the present.  It’s a time of bonding with family and friends.  And for me the mystery of salvation is uplifting and humbling.  Donna and I are spending lots of time with our kids.  Jack flew in from Los Angeles Friday evening with Klondike, his five-month-old toy American Eskimo.  Kate and Eileen and Eileen’s husband Andrew live nearby.  Everyone was over yesterday for our annual trim-the-tree party.  We also had an adventurous meeting between Klondike, who weighs seven pounds, and Eileen’s and Andrew’s pit bull/Rhodesian ridgeback mix. 2013 has been a challenging year for me and Donna.  The biggest setback was that I lost my job in a corporate reorganization.  Yet we both are healthy, we have many, many blessings to be thankful for and look forward to a fulfilling 2014.  We wish...

In my early teen years in Rockville my buddies and I would hitchhike along Rockville Pike on Saturdays —just down to Congressional Plaza, a couple miles south on Rockville Pike, or sometimes to Washington, D.C.  It was something to do for restless, suburban kids.  Hitchhiking was safe in those days, as was picking up hitchhikers.  If we ended up at Congressional, we would hang out at the People’s Drug Store, buying Slim Jims or cherry-flavored cigars—Swisher Sweets—or White Owl Tiparillos.  Usually I would go with Dave Kizler or Kevin Seavey.  The drug store also had a lunch counter (later, when I turned 16, I would work there as a short-order cook).  Rockville Pike, as now, was lined with car dealerships and all kinds of stores.  We would go to the Plymouth and Dodge dealer to check out the muscle cars—RoadRunners, Barracudas, Chargers.   Belby’s liquor store was near First Street at that time, further north from where it is...

My last post covered some of my experiences working on Cobham Park Farm in Virginia one summer.  Here I’ll share some of my experiences working with the cows. Cows are God’s creatures and as such we should give them their due.  Having said that, I will tell you that they are stupid—sort of large, non-flying, tasty stink bugs.  I happen to be a meat-eater.  On an intellectual, theoretical level, I suppose I am against eating animals.  Animals that are bred for human consumption are submitted to a rotten life and an inglorious death.  Still, I really enjoy plowing into a thick, juicy steak.  I’m not proud of it, but there you are. Unlike humans, or at least most humans, cows seem to have little self-awareness.  But they are like humans in that they lack an understanding of their fate.  What is clear to humans, namely, that we raise cows to be rendered into hamburgers and other delicious by-products, they just don’t get.  W...

Back when I was in college I spent my summers away from home—in Annapolis, in Chestertown and one summer in Albemarle County, Virginia on a farm where my cousin Donna and her husband at the time, Mitch, lived.  He was the farm manager. The farm, Cobham Park Farm, was a 1,600-acre tract.  It produced alfalfa, hay and firewood, and there were a couple hundred head of Black Angus cattle.  There were also a couple horses and various other animals and pets. On my one visit to the “big house,” the mansion built in 1856 where the owners, the Peter family, lived, I thought I had seen a deed map dating from the 1600s.  But when I looked online for information for this post, it looks like there are no records prior to 1722.  Starting that year, land patents were claimed.  Land grants were given starting in 1779.  You can see a list of those claiming patents, and for how many acres and quaint descriptions of the locations, at http://www.directlines...