Opening Day #3 - The Excitement Continues

Yes, it is opening day, again. April, it seems, is full of new beginnings and I am about to celebrate my third opening day of the young baseball season today.

Third?

Yup.

My first was when the Orioles opened the MLB season on April 2nd in Tampa.

My second was April 5th, when the Orioles opened the season at home in Orioles Park at Camden Yards.

My third is today, when the GORC Tigers, the T-ball Team for which I am an assistant coach open their season this afternoon. The day will be full of parades and fun and I even get to imitate the coach since he is out of town. I wonder if I can keep 10 rambunctious 4-6 year olds focused upon baseball for an hour? Time will tell.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Frustrating NFL--let it go!

It is still the first month of the major league baseball season and football will not go away. Even before the pennant races begin to take shape, I have to hear about the upcoming football season.

Do I really care, at this point, whether the Raven are the first Super Bowl winners to start the season on the road? No. It will be there when we get there. Football is not an everyday sport--it is an 18 week sprint that becomes all consuming. The schedule is out! There is a sense of drama for the thrill seekers in life.

If baseball players made the same money per game that league minimum rookie football players make, then the lowest paid baseball player would make $3.78 million! That is based upon the NFL leaguer rookie minimum of $420,000.

All this and football will not go away. Let baseball hold center stage fro a bit to enjoy some of the spotlight. I can actually afford to go to a few baseball games. One football game would cost more to attend than my season tickets to the Orioles!

I like football--but baseball is an everyday sport. Once a baseball game is over we spend a few hours analyzing it and then it is on to the next game. Football seemingly spends a week going over the game just played and then at the last minute turning attention to the game ahead.

There is a reason that Baseball is America's pastime!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Fly Away Day

I love that I am an early riser and usually get to greet the morning before the dawn. I love watching the world wake.

There are advantages to being an early riser and among them is that when family has an early morning flight to some exotic destination, like Texas, I get asked to shuttle them to the airport. I love driving in the early morning, before the traffic becomes crazy. And we are lucky in that we all live fairly close to the airport--so it is only a 15 or so minute drive.

So thins morning, I got to see some of my family and give them a send off in front of the terminal. Part of me always wished that I were flying with them to enjoy the adventure--but I know that someone has to stay behind.

And even after driving to retrieve them, and to the airport--now I am home for a moment, before beginning the crazed activities that have become my daily routine.

And they--are preparing to fly off on adventure along with my thoughts and prayers for a safe and fun trip.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Along the Roadside

Sometimes, as I am driving along almost mindlessly controlling the car and dreaming about things that I want to do or reflecting upon things I should have done, I get shocked back to reality about the circle of life.

No, it wasn't a particularly gruesome accident, like the one I passed last night just a mile from home in the middle of US 1.

I like birds--most of them anyway. Some of them are appointed to do jobs in nature that I would rather not think about. That is the scene I happened upon while rounding a clover leaf coming off a busy highway. Two, large, they are all large it seems, turkey vultures were alongside the off ramp, on the blind part of the curve, feasting upon the remains of some poor creature that was not able to safely cross the road.

It is a part of nature. Something needs to be there to clean up the remains of the unlucky. But to see the birds so close to the car--and they were fairly uncaring about the traffic as they tended to their job, was a sight that I don't usually witness. I see them soaring on the breeze or hanging out in a tree, but rarely if ever see them doing their jobs.

Can I fault them for doing what they were created to do? No. At least they know their jobs and they do them. They have a purpose--and they do it. Their survival depends upon being the clean-up crew of nature. Perhaps, I imagine, they even embrace their jobs.

If only people were so lucky to know their purpose and embrace their calling, no matter how it might appear to others.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

After Tax Day Blues

Thankfully, it is over for another year. The season of taxes has come and passed. I did not have to file for an extension, although I know some people who did.

I don't like paying taxes--although as my civic duty I recognize that I must pay taxes and settle up with the governments by every April 15th.

But I am always struck by the inequity of taxes and tax season. I woke this morning and read an article published in the NY Times titled A Tax System Stacked Against the 99 Percent. I actually do not know anyone who is not in the 99 percent.

After reflecting upon the tax season I realized that tax refunds are a way that the governments (in this case the U.S. and Maryland) make paying taxes seem less painful, by collecting too much and then giving it back to the taxpayer like some great gift at the end of the tax year.

The real problem with our tax system is that corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. According to the article, General Electric has become the symbol for multinational corporations that have their headquarters in the United States but pay almost no taxes — its effective corporate-tax rate averaged less than 2 percent from 2002 to 2012.  Think about it, if a company earning billions of dollars per year paid its fair share of taxes then personal income taxes might be reduced for all of us.

The article continues to postulate that if a majority of the people believe that the tax system is unfair, then our sense of national solidarity and cohesion will be harmed. It also postulates:

We could have a tax system that encourages good things like hard work and thrift and discourages bad things, like rent-seeking, gambling, financial speculation and pollution. Such a tax system could raise far more money than the current one — we wouldn’t have to go through all the wrangling we’ve been going through with sequestration, fiscal cliffs and threats to end Medicare and Social Security as we know it. We would be in sound fiscal position, for at least the next quarter-century.

I think I'd like to give it a try. Life during a sequestered government is bad and only getting worse.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - April 15, 2013

1. It is tax day. I finally got mine done! Yay. Nothing like waiting until almost the last minute. I'll try to do better next year.

2. What a fabulous weekend. Although I didn't travel anywhere, a lot of productive work was done around the house and in the gardens.

3. It seems that every springtime I appreciate all over again how the green almost overnight fills in the bare spaces on the trees.

4. Sitting on the deck, sipping wine, talking to Chris and Mom and Dad as evening falls with a
roaring fire in the fire pit. What could be better?

5. Here is an interesting fact: on this date in 1964 the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened.

6. Lacrosse is becoming a very popular sport in our family. Not only does Ethan play, but my nephew Jake plays as well. I may need to buy a stick and learn the rules.

7. It is mid-April already and springtime is just getting started. I am going to need to pack a lot into the next six months.

8. Today is the 101st anniversary of the wreck of the Titanic.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

After the Party is Over

Yesterday marked the end of the family birthday season which began during late-September. We celebrate 11 birthdays during the seven month run--not to mention many more extended family and friend birthdays.

Tail end charlie, as we refer to him, is Ethan. We try to make his season ending birthday special and yesterday was no exception.

The day began on the ball fields--I was being an assistant coach for Jax's t-ball team, while Ethan was off to a lacrosse game. I was able to watch the second half of E's lacrosse and was very impressed. His team was playing on the main stadium field at Cardinal Spaulding--a long was from the back dirt lots of last year. Sadly, his team squandered a four goal lead and wound up scoring late to secure a tie. But he played well getting a few good stick checks and catching a ball on an attack. He is actually the player in the center, in green, mostly shadowed by the player in white. The sun was washing out my viewfinder so I didn't get a great shot.

Then, after a short break, the party convened--also wrapped around sports. The theme was Washington Redskins football and the family played a football game in which the birthday boy scored the winning touchdown during overtime to secure the victory.

The party has lots of food and munchies and was punctuated at the end with the Orioles defeating the Yankees!

It was a great sports and party day.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Dreaming Saturday

I ran across this image--and it just made me stop.

Despite the weather being so much better lately, there is something about palm trees, beaches, and a clear moonlit sky that just appeals to the beach bum in me.

I wish that I had taken this image--not so much because it is a great image, but rather because I would have liked to be on that beach at that time and I am sure I would have a great memory or a great story to go with it.

As it is, though, I have a great story about this image based totally upon my imagination of how it would be, if . . .

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

And it is Back to Friday

Weeping Cherry on April 11, 2013

My life continues to scroll through the cycle of the week.

It is hard to believe that last Friday I was attending the Orioles home opening day to close out a week away from work--and this Friday I am back to the grind again of turning over the days to seemingly get to the weekend.

Somewhere in there I forgot to get my allergy shot. Not a good move considering that Spring has arrived in force.

I decided to document the springtime arrival in the blossoms on my weeping cherry tree. Even though my Dad took a better image during the day, in the sunlight, I wanted one taken about the same time of the day from the same location. It will remind me that even though, sometimes, each day seems to be a dreary repeat of the one before that there are differences that need to be identified and appreciated.

During the past week, I have been incredibly busy with family and baseball, and shopping--but at least last evening I was able to settle up with the taxman. While I was on the losing end again despite making significant changes last year, I feel a bit better because the difference was smaller. I was astounded, though, that while my income was less--my taxes were more. I don't like that direction too much. My assessment is that Maryland is becoming too expensive a place to live given the weather and service provided.

But, now it is Friday and the weekend is upon me. Busy--but more "me" time, hopefully.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Flowery Explosion

Weeping Cherry Tree, April 10, 2013

Everywhere it seems, springtime flowers are bursting forth as if they had been at the ready line waiting for the command to bloom. Even the weeping cherry tree in my yard has gone from nothing to bloom in less than four or so days. While not in full bloom, peak as they call it, the blossoms are clearly visible as the tree dons its springtime colors for our enjoyment.

I looked at pictures of the tree on April 8 2012 and noted that it was in full and even past peak bloom.

Soon, I expect the wooded area around my house to break into full leaf and we will become, at least for the spring and summer, a secluded lot in the middle of suburbia.

It is astounding to see the world spring to life in color and blossom. The trees and bushes in bloom look like vanilla ice cream cones along the side of the roadway.

I have been enjoying my rides to and from work and the other places I happen to visit just because each new turn brings more of the flowery explosion into view.

I enjoy stopping, even if only for a moment, just to take it all in and etch the beauty into my mind.

You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way. -- Walter Hagen
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD