Is our tourism sign down?

I find it odd that the Director at Nevada Commission on Tourism is not interested in networking on Linked In.  Why is he there in the first place.  And then not to use a viable social platform to, say, maybe, reach out to potential markets?  It's like our economic development team not looking to develop our economic base (oh, wait, I'll have to get back to you on that!).

Ah, the irony of it all!

Catalyst or Victim...Time for Nevada to Choose

Casinos in Nevada continue to be a bad bet.  Not only are they taking a beating from the financial depression we are in the middle of as we bounce along the bottom as well as the continued proliferation of online and Indian gaming, the IRS continues to put a squeeze on winnings while making it harder to write off losses.  

I am not a gambler, though I do have money in the nation's largest combined gambling den/brothel (Wall Street).  Nevada leaders need to wake up and make the investment necessary to move our state forward in the business world. 

Economies and their dynamics change.  Our state can either be a champion or victim of it. I love the quality of life that Northern Nevada affords us.  What can we do to create the same quality for next-generation employers and employees?

Friendships that endure the test of time

I joined my wife on a business trip back to Manhattan last week, the city of my birth. I am a very proud New Yorker, feel it is truly the most cosmopolitan and accepting city on the planet. Ellis Island set this tone over a century ago, for the entire metropolitan area. The true highlight was reconnecting with college friends, and I do mean friends a bond that endures the test of time.

To this end, I went to college at a small liberal arts school in Northern New Jersey, William Paterson College (now William Paterson University). I can say, without reservation, the best formative years of my early life. The single biggest reason as I look back are the friends I made during that time. I have had thousands of acquaintances over the years, but very few true friends.

Out of the group, I was the one that made the sojourn west, was not good at keeping in contact as life happened and I lost touch. Let's think about that...losing touch. It's far more than not being in conscious contact...I lost touch with values that I learned being around my friends. The value of relationships, camaraderie, kinship. I reached out a few times over the years and reconnected on trips back east, just not often enough. True, social networks have made it easier to find people again...it did for me.

The point is, after decades of being apart, I was welcomed in their homes and lives as if only a day had passed. Though I may not have expressed it our shown it in my absence, I have a true, unconditional love for my college friends and always have. That feeling was never more solidified when we hugged and talked about our lives together and since. I have a new found commitment to continue our bond, along with a rekindled energy missing since that time in my life.

True friendships endure the test of time, give us the passion for life and a validation that we matter.

To my friends...my love

Something Has To Give!

 After watching yet another infuriating piece on the banking industry continuing to fight homeowners trying to save their homes by modifying their loans through modifications, I have to ask, what IS the right thing to do.  Hundreds of billions of dollars went to bail out these dysfunctional institutions, yet they are unwilling to use our money to right the wrongs they played a major part in.  Where is the justification of not working with a current owner to reduce their principal balance to the market (as they so readily did with their securities (in the other direction))?  They instead find it more prudent to sell below that amount through foreclosure.

I am not one of those that used my home for an ATM machine.  We bought our home at the right time, watched the equity rise nearly 80% than fall to 70% of what we originally paid..  Should we, like so many others, stop making payments to get the bank’s attention?  Should we ALL stop making payments to get the financial system’s attention?  Government continues to talk of assistance, but only increases their assault on our privacy, rights and our constitution.  Enough already.  Something has to give

It's Good to be Home!

 

           OR

        

 After recently returning from visiting family in LA, all the reasons I live here and not there came rushing at me the moment we got off the plane and started driving from Burbank Airport to Granada Hills.

My Aunt and Uncle have lived in their house here since moving from the Bronx in 1953.  As we live in a very mobile society, they come from a time that people very rarely left their neighborhoods.  Granada Hills back then was out the northern limit of LA County, surrounded by orange groves with few homes (they moved in to the new development in town).  Granada Hills has some famous sons:  John Elway (the other slow white Bronco, not the one in the police chase in the 90's) and Cheech Marin (just back on tour with Tommy Chong, fresh out of the pen!).

Don't get me wrong, I love my family.  It was great to see all the cousins and knock around for a few days (we have a 4 day rule for visiting and visitors, as well).  It's just the in-your-face reminder of what SoCal has become.  I always quip that California would be great if it weren't for the people (SoCal, actually).  After living in Scottsdale for over a decade the moving to the beauty of the Sierra Foothills on the outskirts of Reno (Phoenix/Scottsdale became all that is wrong with SoCal), it gives you perspective: Quality of Life vs. Lifestyle, What you have vs. what you want, Living vs. Existing.

We have a lot to be thankful for living where we do.

It's good to be home!

The Night Sky Is Brighter, Our Hearts Heavier

Though I have had my share of losses, both family and friends, what to say and how to feel is never easy.  Mourning is for the living, a way of getting through the emptiness left.  The impact, no matter how jaded or strong one is, powerful and painful.

Our best efforts are to live our lives as courageously and strong as we can, appreciate every day, every morning, every night sky.

It is one of only a few moments that makes us really focus on what is truly important.  Sheryl Crow wrote, "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you have".  In it's most simplest form, that is happiness.

Jen and I were fortunate to have Michele Cervantes in our lives, though for a brief few years.  Our time here is fuller because of both Michele and Ken in our lives.  Let us all carry on in Michele's memory, always a warm smile, absent of judgment or malice.

May you guide us in our path towards the example you set.