November 2022

Greetings, All:

I once jokingly remarked that I didn’t know if I could put one more thing in my brain, the way one tries to stuff an additional item of clothing into a piece of travel luggage. As the years pass, and the neurons in your brain fire up memories, new and old knowledge, creative thoughts, and solutions to problems, it makes sense to rid yourself of needless information (calculus, ha) and negative impulses that don’t serve you. 

I feel as I grow older my thoughts convert from thoughts of the life I feel I was meant to live to the legacy I’ll leave behind. I try not to focus on things I can’t control, but on things that are most important to me. I’d always heard that if something is important enough to you, it’ll make itself visible in your life. (Didja ever hear the story of how my wife and I met?) Ultimately, what makes you YOU is the convergence of what’s most meaningful to you. It fuels every action and reaction. 

My wife and I recently returned from our first vacation in 3 years. I love to travel. It’s at once stimulating and restful. I enjoy taking the time to soak in the new environment and culture; I’m not in a rush to run from tourist site to tourist site. I’d much rather sit and talk to locals and learn what’s important to them. 

When I’m on vacation, I’m submerged in the now. 

It’s when I remember that you have to live in the very now, even when it is ordinary and quiet because the now is very special. It’s the only thing that’s true. What has passed is past, and our memories of it gradually degrade and betray us. What has yet to pass is the future, and as we should know by now is never guaranteed. Now is all that is real.

When I’m away, somehow I’m learning something each day, and I let go of the stresses of daily life that in the end don’t matter very much.

The holiday season is quickly approaching. Give yourself a gift, the present moment. Too many of us reject that gift. We continue to think of it long ago. We dream of or fear a distant future. We are distracted or preoccupied and miss what is happening around us. It’s the quiet evenings at home with a family that we should be present for. It’s an ordinary present that we should cherish. Because it’s all we have.

If you want to talk about passing on a legacy, that’s the best you can do. If you want to be admired, be a good person. Live life by a rare spirit. Be in control of yourself. Be generous. Every day, even if no one gives you credit. Then you’ll be worthy of lasting and permanent interest.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone.

* Urban planners are increasingly thinking of cities less as rain jackets—designed to whisk water away as fast as possible before it has a chance to accumulate—and more as sponges. By deploying thirsty green spaces and digging huge dirt bowls where water can gather and percolate into underlying aquifers, “sponge cities” are making rain an asset to be exploited instead of expelled. Where once there were forests and fields and wetlands that would soak up the rain, these have been paved over and replaced with surfaces that do not absorb rain, hard materials like concrete sidewalks, asphalt roads, and roofs, which funnel runoff into gutters, storm drains, and sewers. (WIRED)

* The NARs’ index tracking pending home sales, which measures contract signings, fell 10.2% from the month prior in September, according to seasonally-adjusted data published yesterday. Consensus estimates gathered by FactSet had anticipated a smaller drop of 2% from the month prior. September’s decline was both the greatest month-over-month drop and the lowest index level since April 2020. Newly constructed home sales fell 11% in September. Let's hope the  Fed sees this data!