Renton, WA

Grandma and Grandpa’s house was only a mile away in town behind the High School. It wasn’t long before we were riding our bikes back and forth. About mid way was Rutherford’s Triple X Drive-In on Sunset and Rainier. I have fond memories with friends enjoying the 2 for 1 Champ Burger special with fries and a root beer listening to Duane Eddy blaring Rebel Rouser on the jukebox.

Our neighborhood grocer was Ted’s. After school or doing my paper route I’d meet up with my pals for some penny candy or a bottle of pop. Mom or Dad would send us there about once a week for something but especially for the lunch meats and cheeses. No one I have ever known truly loved a great delicatessen more than Dad. Ted wrapped it up with wax and butcher paper and tied it with string. He'd pull a note card out from the drawer and write it down with a short pencil he kept perched behind his right ear. Dad would settle up later.

Ted Sipila was an iconic Renton character (and we had several in those days), with his skinny mustache, white apron, and the short stub of a cigar in the corner of his mouth. He always had one more thing to say then he'd laugh as we headed out the door. “Now don’t forget to say hi to your Dad!”

I remember causing a major stir one day on a Sunday drive with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle George. I wanted to stop at Dag’s and get a hamburger. Grandma and Grandpa never had a hamburger. In fact my Grandfather I don’t think ever had a meal other than what my Grandmother made for him, unless they had dinner with family or friends and those were rare occasions. They were quite perplexed.

But I got my way, thanks to Grandma, and had my 19¢ Beefy Boy burger. Mom on the other hand was not old school and for this little town she was a hurricane, a notable progressive and sometimes considered a radical futurist by some. Very social, Mom loved entertaining, parties, theater, art, Broadway Musicals, taking up causes, politics, and happy hour.

On Sunday nights if Dad didn’t have to work he’d take us to the Roxy Theater where we saw our fair share of westerns, detectives, and WWII movies. He'd often said, “I like movies about things that could really happen.”

We had a lot of laughs watching movies like Disney’s The Absent Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog, and Son of Flubber starring Fred MacMurray. Speaking of things Dad thought could really happen, he was always concerned my brother Steve might actually blow the house up one day with his scientific experiments in the basement. Steve and neighborhood friend Gene built a radio telescope made from a big umbrella, aluminum foil, and a modified Heathkit shortwave radio. Turning the tuning knob created loud oscillating sounds that interrupted television reception within 500 feet and sounded like a science fiction movie. Wouldn’t you know it, one night out in the backyard listening intently for messages from space we had a major power outage. Dad (and a few neighbors) were certain Steve and Gene caused the blackout that darkened our area of town.

A lot of what needed to be done for the family and our home in those day's was on the barter system. Dad was a master at it and we got everything from our teeth taken care of at the dentist, a new roof on the house, cars repaired, the kitchen painted, and new carpet including installation by trading for music lessons.

It was a fun day honoring the past and pondering the future. Afterall, I'm a small town guy living in a great big amazingly amazing digital world. I enjoy the journey now more than ever before and the endless possibilities still ahead. Earlier in my life I spent way too much time trying to get to some place so I could become the me I really wanted, like it was a destination. Today, I'm filled with gratitude. There is no place I need to get to, I’m already here. It was a good day turning 62.

It's time to crack open a Guinness I think, St. Patrick's Day is upon us! This is a wee bit of a random post, but I was thinking this week about holidays like "good ole’ St. Paddy’s Day" and the memories I’ve collected along my travels over the years around this Gaelic holiday and the Irish.

Some have faded, others stick around, new and old, I find I’ve acquired quite a kaleidoscope. These aren’t about the meaning of the holiday in as much as what I think about when St. Patrick’s Day shows up. I'm sure this dates me, but oh well, I have a lot of dates...

In no particular order...

The Quiet Man. Starring John Wayne as a retired boxer who moves back to his village in Ireland. The first time I saw this movie was at a drive in with my cousins around 1960. I was bored to tears. I rediscovered the movie years later and became a huge fan. I love Maureen O’Hara, Arthur Shields, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, etc. Nobody tells a story like the Irish.


Bing Crosby in Going My Way and The Bells of St Mary’s. I’ve always connected with the Irish in their ability to take a hard knock story yet smile and joke about it. Bing was awesome in these movies with an optimism beyond the challenges of the times.

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.”
~ William Butler Yeats


Arthur Guinness (the 1st one) was born in 1725 in Cellbridge County Kildare. He was a land Stewart and brewed beer for workers of the estate. When the landowner died in 1752 he left 100 pounds to Arthur who went to Leixlip in County Kildare in 1756 and set up his first brewery. The rest is history. Guiness

Pierce Brosnan one of my favorite James Bond actors (Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day) became an American citizen in 2004, and let us not forget Remington Steele! Yet I remember the dark story of The Matador and (for some reason) I am still so attracted to the movie, Dante’s Peak.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands in May/June 2006...

Oscar Wilde is one of the most successful writers ever. The Picture of Dorian Gray was amongst his most renowned works and his only published novel. He was such a decadent cause and shrouded in controversy. That’s probably what attracted me to him in the first place!

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~ George Bernard Shaw

I saw a program on PBS one night a few years ago and it profoundly moved me. Excavations at the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang province of China revealed over 100 well preserved mummies that were 2,000 to over 4,000 years old. They were blond and red haired with blue eyes and their DNA traced to Gaelic origins.

Paul David Hewson better known as Bono of the U2 group was born in Dublin in Ireland. He’s also dabbled in movies and is also known for his humanitarian work.

Grace Kelly was from a wealthy family yet failed admission to college because of poor math skills. Disappointing her parents she pursued an acting career and went on to the silver screen to do such memorable roles in Hitchcock classics like Dial M for Murder, and Rear Window. She became a top Hollywood Actress and in 1956 married Prince Rainier of Monaco.

John F. Kennedy became the first and only Irish-American Catholic President Of The United States of America. Born May 29, 1917, JFK served in WWII with distinction and was more than a tremendous inspiration to me growing up and still lives in my heart today. Looking back it seems amazing he was only 43 years old when he ran for office against Nixon.

Finnegans Wake is a timeless read. I consider Joyce among my dearest friends on the bookshelf. James Joyce

Frank McCourt like social media itself is the best friend I ever had and never met in person. Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man... absolutely brilliant and to me, “Oh so Irish.” If there was ever a greater storyteller, a master of the run on sentence (other than James Joyce), please let me know.

The peoples of Ireland have given us many gifts for more century's than we can remember. They are family to all of us who live on this tiny little planet called Earth. Bless you all on this day of remembrance and thank you St. Patrick for being one with courage to point us to a better future.

Enjoy the green beer, the plaids, the shamrocks, and all the wonderful stories of pots of gold at rainbows end and leprechauns. We all get to be a little bit Irish on March 17th...

Clay Shirky gave the keynote address at the 2011 Penn State TLT Symposium (the symposium for teaching and learning with technology). I appreciate Clay for his keen insight and his ability to articulate how socially adopted advancements in technology change the social and economic landscape. Simply put, when we change the way we communicate we change the way we behave.

It's a great conversation, I highly recommend it.

In the last few moments Clay sums it up with...
It’s not just about adding some new tools to an existing ecosystem.
It’s about building a new ecosystem.

And that’s exactly our challenge isn’t it? Many see the broken and wonder who's going to fix it while others are relieved it's finally broken and engage the possibility of a new opportunity and future. What is that? I’m not sure, yet the truth is we crossed the infamous bridge into the 21st Century and we now find ourselves in a new social context. The many to the many (and that never happened on a global scale before).

So now that we're all here in the big 21 I wonder why some of us still act as if it's going to remain the same, especially those that hold out for a return to the way it was. That ain't possible. It can’t happen. Sometimes I think we accepted the technology (for the toys and fun we have with them), yet we're a little slow accepting the responsibility that came with the gift.

We are now the purveyors of content, the creators, the agents of change, the authors, the producers, the entertainers, and the thought provokers. As amateurs I pray we do something quite different and better than the media we are often quick to judge.

They is now us.

I don’t pretend to have the answers (and that's a total relief to me and I hope it is for you too!) but I suspect in 5 years we’ll be looking back at now as them olden days. We're in the midst of a paradigm shift and it won't be business as usual 5 years from now (expecting different results) with a few more gadgets, apps, and gizmo's added on to make it a little more fun and entertaining.

We changed.