2021, A New Hope

  I have to admit, Giving Tuesday annoys me more than inspires me.  I did see one think online (a GoFundMe for a local community member who wants to install communication boards in school playgrounds) that did inspire me to give on the 334th day of 2021.  But I usually sit Giving Tuesday out, and give most of the other 364 days of the year!  On 11/30/2021, November comes to and end and I have Giving Hopes.  I hope some who do not usually give were inspired to give today, but I hope people continue to give every day of the year and not just on a contrived day.  I hope that, as we try to return to "business as usual" that people have more to give.  But, remember, it's just as much of a blessing to give a small bit out of scarcity than it is to give out of abundance.  Maybe more!  So, as we enter the Holiday Season, the season of giving, please give to those who need.  Every small bit helps (and the larger bits help even more!)

  The 333rd (nice palindrome) day of 2021 is also "Throw Out Your Leftovers Day."  Chris Carter told me so on the morning of 11/29/2021.  BUT, we did not throw out any leftovers today.  We ATE THEM!  Well, all three of my meals today were comprised of leftovers.  Leftover cold pizza for breakfast (of champions!), Thanksgiving leftovers (the last of them!) for lunch, and then leftover Italian (yum!) for dinner.  Nothing wrong with leftovers or having leftover hopes.  Not hopes from before that are still hanging around, but hope that leftovers keep well, heat well, and taste good!  They sure did today!

  11/28/2021 is the First Night of Hanukkah.  I liked that it coincided with the first Sunday of Advent so there were candles in the AM and PM.  But, in the PM of the 332nd day of 2021 there was also latkes!  I have latke hopes tonight which are really Hanukkah hopes.  I hope that you all enjoyed your evenings, whether you celebrated or not.  And, if you had latkes (as we did), I hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed the ones Sarah made for us - YUM!  HAPPY HANUKKAH!

  Although we eschew Black Friday, we lean in to Small Business Saturday.  And, on the 331st day of 2021, we DID shop.  At the Dry Cleaner, at local stores on the Main Street (Haddon Ave.) in Collingswood, and we got dinner from a local Italian Restaurant.  Yes, I have Small Business Hopes on 11/27/2021.  I hope that the "small guys" see a lot of support from our community this holiday season.  They need it!

  I don't think I have ever participated in the post-Thanksgiving retail ritual that is known as Black Friday.  I can appreciate that it is a time when many Americans have a day off and thoughts turn to the holidays so they rush to the mall and help retailers move to profit status for the year (i.e. from the red to the black).  BUT, as much as I like people, I HATE crowds, and even moreso dislike frenzied crowds.  So, from the Movie Days with George right after College (I think our record was five in one day and, yes, we paid for them all!) to the 330th day of 2021 when I just hung around the house, enjoyed my family, relaxed, and got some family TV time, I am happy not to be a participant in Black Friday.  I do, on 11/26/2021, have Black Friday hopes.  I hope that all of the small businesses who need it, especially after this pandemic, experience sales this weekend that move them from the red to the black.  I hope that the crowds were less frenzied an...

On the 329th day of 2021, I am thankful for a lot.  Yes, 11/25/2021 is Thanksgiving and I am so thankful that were were able to gather as a family in York, PA.  I am thankful that Sarah's 100-yr old grandmother was able to join us and is recovering amazingly from her broken hip.  I am thankful that Alexa asked three of her Penn friends who had nowhere to spend Thanksgiving to join us, and they did!  Yes, I have tons of Thanksgiving hopes.  I hope Alexa's friends felt welcomed and enjoyed the day.  I hope that Sarah's grandmother continues her recovery.  I hope that we all can remember that it is out of abundance that we can enjoy this day and that we should do all we can to share and spread that abundance amongst others.  I also hope we can remember that this holiday's roots are based on settlers taking land that belonged to others.  While I love the traditions of family, friends, food, and football, I acknowledge the concerning events that o...

A funny thing happened on the 328th day of 2021.  I was walking from the garage, to the Franklin Building on 11/24/2021 and I saw a long-time colleague for the first time in....well....it feels like forever (WAY before the pandemic).  As we were talking, she asked me, "so when are you retiring?"  Now, I have been thinking a lot about retirement in the past six months, but NOT MINE, retirement of others.  I do not know if it is Covid, Timing, the impending leadership change at Penn, or other factors, but it sure feels as if a lot of my long-time colleagues (and mentors) have been retiring recently.  So I have a lot of retirement hopes.  I surely hope that those who are retiring have a great next chapter of their lives.  Filled with things they WANT to do, not those that they HAVE to do.  I hope that Penn can withstand the loss of all of the institutional history and knowledge that departs with those who are leaving.  I hope that I can keep in ...

  It's Tuesday, so the Covid Dashboard for Penn was updated on the 327th of 2021.  And, while things still look pretty good at Penn on 11/23/2022, the fact remains there has been an uptick of cases.  This leads me to have Covid-19 related hopes.  I hope that kids continued to get vaccinated and adults get their boosters.  I hope that the upcoming Thanksgiving travel does not contribute to a spike.  I hope that the winter sports seasons at Colls HS as well as on Penn's Campus can go forth without a hitch.  I hope nothing disrupts the series of Winter concert and events I am awaiting (at Anna's HS).  I just hope things can continue to improve and we can continue to inch back.

  11/22/2021 is the start of a short holiday week.  AND, I was on PTO on the 326th day of 2021 as well.  So, it was a peaceful day.  And, during the day, I noted that it is also Stop the Violence Day and it had me thinking about my hopes for keeping the peace.  I hope (AND PRAY) for an end of the violence in our cities, especially Philadelphia, my birth, work, and soul home.  I pray for peace and the end of violence across the globe, especially where those most vulnerable are stuck in the middle and so negatively affected.  I hope (and pray) that these people with violence in their hearts can see the light and start to understand that the issues we have in today's society are solved with empathy, understanding, love and peace.  END THE VIOLENCE!

Guess what?  The 325th day of 2021 is National Stuffing Day!  I love stuffing.  And with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I am looking forward to stuffing (and POTATO FILLING!) in my future.  I have stuffing hopes on 11/21/2021.  I hope this week goes by quickly, bringing Thanksgiving Dinner into our lives and I hope that dinner has a lot of stuffing.  And I hope for leftovers too!  YUM!

  Today, 11/20/2021, is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (#TDOR).  So, on the 324th day of 2021, my hopes are simply transgender hopes.  I hope that things can improve in this country and in the world.  I mean there are a lot of improvements needed, but tonight's hopes are simply for more understand, more love, more empathy, more equality, more caring, SPECIFICALLY for transgender individuals.  I mean we can all benefit from love, empathy, equality, and caring, but transgender individuals need it more.  I pledge to do it - can you?

  I am wracking my brain, on the 323rd day of 2021, to remember the last time (before today, 11/19/2021) that I have been in a hotel room.  Our summer vacation to CA in 2019 was in a VRBO and we were supposed to stay in a hotel before our Seattle VRBO, but a Southwest Airline cancellation took care of that one.  It must have been the Hampton in for a Labor Day but before 2019 or maybe it was April 2017 when I went to Ellucian Live, but whenever it was, it has been forever since we were in a hotel room.  And so I have hotel hopes this evening.  I hope we can be in a hotel room much quicker than it took to get us here.  I hope that Alexa and her FH Team sleep well so they can perform well in Nationals tomorrow.  And I hope I get a good night sleep!  

At my core, I am an advisor.  That's why, even when I started my project work and it was fewer hours, I felt something was missing.  Luckily, the College of Arts and Sciences allows me to be a Pre-Major Advisor and I truly value the chance to talk to students orienting at Penn, looking to declare a major, and just talk about anything on their mind.  I do, however, really miss speaking with the students at the Nursing School.  This is why I am glad for Facebook, which keeps me in touch with a lot of my former advisees and I have been known to converse with them over Messenger :).  But, on the 322nd day of 2021, I got to meet with a former advisee IN PERSON.  Nice dinner at New Deck and great conversation on 11/18/2021.  The best advising sessions are ones in which I get as much advice from my advisee as they do from me.  And this was one of those sessions.  I think we both left feeling a lot better than before we had arrived.  Yes, I have...

I have to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed at times during the 321st day of 2021.  On 11/17/2021 I had a ton of work meetings, a ton of work tasks, a long PTA Meeting, and just a lot of other things swirling in my head.  Worries about the state of the world we live in, worries about the effects of Covid, not only on people's physical health but the increased evidence that is affecting people's mental well being.  So, I did what I knew I had to do.  Stopped, relaxed, and took a few deep breaths.  I have deep breath hopes tonight, hopes that I can remember that, no matter how crazy things feel, how busy things are, that the importance of staying centered ad de-stressed (not distressed) cannot be underestimated.  SO, we should all stop when things feel overwhelming and .... take a deep breath.  I hope it helps you as much as it helped me today and I hope I never forget to breathe deeply.

  It had been 619 days since I had been in College Basketball's Most HISTORIC Gym.  Yes, 11/16/2021 was my return to the Palestra and the first game was, fitting a Women's Basketball Game.  Yes, on the 320th day of 2021 was also the first time in (a palindromically pleasing) 626 days that the Penn Women's Basketball Team played in the Palestra.  And they won!  And the Men's Team followed and won as well!  I have so many Palestra Hopes this evening.  Hopes for many more games and many more wins for Penn Basketball this year (and next).  I hope that the Palestra remains safe and that we can continue to spend our afternoon and evenings there.  GO QUAKERS!!

  It turns out that 11/15/2021 is National Philanthropy Day.  And that made me think, on the 319th day of 2021, about all the areas of my life where philanthropy creeps in.  From volunteering in my community, at my Church, and at Penn, to the numerous places where I try to help organizations raise money, from being a PennsWay Coordinator, to working in Stewardship at Church, to the small amounts of funds that we can donate ourselves.  I love this quote here about philanthropy and I have philanthropic hopes.  I hope that I can keep working with groups to help them raise money and I hope that I, too, can find worthy recipients of our own funds.  Because, if we all give to those who need it more than we do, then we become a better society as a whole.  I hope this can happen more.

11/14/2021 is the 318th day of 2021.  And, just as 3/18 is my birthday, day #318 gave me a present!   The opening game of the Penn Women's Basketball Season.  A WIN at the University of Hartford.  So I am filled with Women's Basketball Hopes.  Hoping for a great season.  Hoping all of the Covid protocols are followed and everyone is safe.  Hoping I can make as many games as I can (first Home game is TUESDAY!)  And hoping to be back in the Palestra, with the Penn Band, enjoying some great basketball.  GO QUAKERS!

On the 317th day of 2021 I was ultra observant of those around me.  Because 11/12/2021 is World Kindness Day and today I hope that kindness counts.  I have to admit that I did not see as much kindness as I would have hoped.  In fact, I saw some people espousing anti-kindness (hey, man, why must you flip out on a poor driver having issues making a left into heavy traffic???)  So I hope that, as the world starts to heal from Covid (it has to happen soon, right???) that the world also becomes a kinder place.  Kindness, Empathy, Peace, Love.... hope we can have more of this.  I am trying to do my part, I hope we all can and, gradually, things will get better.

We've made it to Friday!  11/12/2021.  And, once again, this Friday, day 316 of 2021, is the end of a long, long, week.  T.G.I.F.  And that means I have Friday Hopes.  I hope I find some time to relax this weekend, even though the To-Do lists are quite long (already ran the OMAYSC Gym Night tonight).  Sadly, I hope I can catch up on some work this weekend so that next Friday, the week does not feel as long.  T.G.I.F.!

  What a Veterans Day we had on the 315th day of 2021.  SRFS, in our new Student Service Center, welcomed our Veteran Students for an Open House as a thank you and to make sure they were aware of the space Penn now has to support veterans at Penn.  I am very proud of the event that Lynne, Stephanie, Isabel, Jeff, and team put together and I was happy, on 11/11/2021, that I was able to come down and show my gratitude as well.  I have Veterans Day Hopes.  From the Bechtel Boys (love this picture each year, thanks Mom!), to Uncle Ron's service, to all of my FB friends who have served (and there are a lot of them).  I hope they know that their service and their sacrifices are acknowledged and appreciated.  And I hope we can have an even bigger and better open house next year!

  You can tell from my post below that I received sad news on the 314th day of 2021.  I checked Twitter (not sure why) on 11/10/2021 and saw that Jim Gardner announced that, at the end of 2021, he will stop anchoring the 11PM Action News and, at the end of 2022, he will stop anchoring the 6PM as well.  Now, the saying goes it is better to leave too soon than too late and Jim Gardner is still the class of them all.  But I will miss him so much.  The world is changing, even before Covid, rapidly and many times disturbingly.  But Jim Gardner was always the class of the show.  Calm, Honest, Soothing, and injected humor at the right time.  He is the Papa Smurf of Phila. Local News.  We will miss him greatly and I am already mourning the loss, a year before it will even fully happen.  I have Action News hopes.  I hope that Jim enjoys his retirement, his scaling back, but I also hope that Action News can continue to be the trustworthy, con...

  It is National Scrapple day on 11/9/2021.  So I spent some of the 313th day of 2021 wishing I had some Scrapple to eat.  With apologies to Michael, tonight I have Scrapple Hopes.  Maybe we'll get to a diner this weekend for breakfast at any tine.  And I hope it includes Scrapple!

I was dragging a bit on the 312th day of 2021.  That is because 11/8/2021 was the first Monday after the change back to Standard Time.  If you ask me, we should stay in DST all year long.  I HATE when it gets dark at 4:59PM....it'll be worse when I leave work at 5:30 and it is dark and dreary.  So I have hopes for time.  I hope DST comes soon - I need the light!  However, I also hope we have enough time to get all we need done on this project before we go live (BEFORE the change to DST).  How can I want time to fly and drag at the same time?  Conflicting hopes.

  The 311th day of 2021 is a Sunday.  And, on 11/7/2021, I am a bit conflicted.  Sundays start out great.  Getting to sleep a bit longer than a usual day, but not fully since we start at Church (also great).  And I always have a long list of things I want to get done on Sundays.  And I get some, but not all, of them done.  But, as Sundays come to a close, I start to focus more on what I DIDN'T get done instead of what was completed.  I have Sunday Hopes.  I hope I can focus on the positive, I hope I did not leave too many tasks for the upcoming week, and I hope my Monday (which always follows Sunday) is a good one.  On to the upcoming week!

  Homecoming 2021 was on the 310th day of 2021 so we spent most of 11/6/2021 on Penn's Campus.  Homecoming is an interesting day for me, since I never really left Penn, it often does not feel special.  But this year was very different.  Maybe it is because we missed last year due to the pandemic and this was the first time seeing a lot of people in person.  Maybe it's because I got to meet so many of the parents I only knew from the Penn Parents FB Group.  Maybe it's because it was the 4th game in a row we attended and I really liked watching Alexa and Sarah playing in the Band together.  But this year felt special!  Alumni young and old came by, it was so good to see them and hear about what they have been doing.  So, I have Homecoming Hopes.  I hope that we can continue to gather on campus (and in other places) and that we can keep catching up with each other.  I have really enjoyed in person again, and I hope that this can contin...

  The 309th day of 2021 is National Donut Day!  On 11/5/2021 I have Donut Hopes.  My favorite donut memories are with Alexa and Anna at the PTA's Donuts with Dad.  I hope my girls always want to have a donut with their dear old dad.  I also hope that the co-worker who won the Federal Donuts gift card for PennsWay this week enjoys her donuts.  I am trying to watch what I eat a little better these days, so I did not have a donut today, hope I can have one soon.

  I did not hear Chris Carter say it in the morning of 11/4/2021, but apparently the 308th day of 2021 is National Candy Day.  Not sure why it's 4 days after Halloween, but I did notice we still have candy left.  This is even after I handed out candy to the Band at Field Rehearsal last night.  I have candied hopes on this day.  Hopes that kids are rationing their Halloween take well, hopes that we can find other places to give out our treats, and hopes that the few (full-sized) bars we end up with do not add too many pounds to my frame!  YUM.  And I cannot think about candy without thinking about my favorite song from the Archies!  Yum! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o&ab_channel=RaynorBear%27sCave

  It was chilly on the evening of the 307th day of 2021.   11/3/2021 found me at Franklin Field with the Penn Band, preparing for Homecoming.  It was cold, but we had fun and we prepared for the lying down Pennsylvania, Script Penn, and the like.  I have Script Penn hopes tonight.  I hope that the show goes well on Saturday, I am hoping that the students stayed warm enough and remember where they need to be on Saturday.  And I hope to see all my Band alum friends and enjoy them in the n n.   GO QUAKERS!

  I need to start off tonight's post with an apology - this post will be far less optimistic than most of them.  Because, on the 306th day of 2021, I have political hopes, but also political fears.  I am not liking what I am seeing in the election returns here in NJ and in VA as well.  I share my daughter's concerns that this country takes one step forward and then two huge steps back.  I hope that things will get better but I fear the politics in the US are broken.  Democracy depends on an educated populous and there are too many people swayed by fear, lies, and mere positions on a ballot instead of researching who the people are for whom they are voting.  As Josh Lyman said in the West Wing, you're supposed to vote for the person not the party.  But that does not happen anymore.  And that's just as bad with the South Jersey Democratic Machine as it is for the people who pull the GOP level for hateful, hurtful candidates.  It's Election...

I like to talk.  And, since I have a booming voice, often, when I talk, other voices may get drowned out.  SO, on the 305th day of 2021, I found myself in a position where I needed to listen.  And because I listened (actively) on 11/1/2021, when I did speak, it was effective, even though I tried to modulate my volume.  I therefore am filled with listening hopes.  Active listening is SO important.  I hope I can continue to remember that and listen more and talk less.  Not sure I can do it, but I sure can try!