About a year ago I had surgery to remove cataracts.  This morning I visited my eye surgeon for a follow-up.  He noticed there was an eyelash in my right eye and asked me if I would like him to remove it.  I said, “Sure.” 

He then gave me a release form to sign and date.  He told me that whenever he does any “procedure” he first needs a signed release form, even for something as minor as removing an eyelash. That’s the rule. 

I said, “That’s sounds like an unnecessary rule.” 

He agreed.  Then we had a brief discussion about the usefulness (or pointlessness) of certain rules. 

This started me thinking… We are all governed by many, many rules.  For example, traffic lights:  red means “stop,” green means “go,” and orange means “go faster.”  While there is a good reason to follow all (or most) of the rules of driving, we often find ourselves following rules that no longer serve any useful purpose. 

Years ago, I noticed that an employee in my accounting department was on the phone collecting data and writing it down on paper. She had been with my company for two decades. 

“Helen,” I said, “why are you doing it that way?” 

“Because that’s how you told me to do it,” she said. “Don’t you remember, Alan?  I’m following your exact instructions.”  

While she was undoubtedly correct, I had given her those instructions eight years earlier, before we had computers.  I hadn’t thought to update my instructions, which she continued to follow. She was spending an extra hour or two every day — still working under the original rules. 

The list of rules in our lives seems to always expand and never contract.  Rules seldom go away, even if they are entirely out of date or counterproductive. But if rules are meant to improve our lives – to keep us safe, or make us more productive — shouldn’t they evolve along with our changing lives? 

From this I have learned that: 

1. We should be careful in setting rules. 

1. We should encourage ourselves and others to question rules and consider whether they continue to be useful. 

Those are my rules on rules.  The only two, I think, that always matter. 

Will you follow them? 

Alan 

I hate moving to a new house.

Strategically this means I disappear at 8:30 am on the day of the move, just as the movers arrive, and I reappear later in the day at our new location once everything has been unloaded.  So that you don’t have to guess about the situation that provoked this blog, I’ll tell you –in a month or so, Daveen and I are moving to another house.  Hip hip hooray.

But my goal in life, always, is to be pragmatic.

For that reason, today I’m thinking about all the advantages of the new house, rather than what I will miss about the old house.  For example, the new house has a much larger backyard, and we should be able to actually park our cars in the garage. Also, we won’t live on a street bordering Southern California brush that is easily combustible (an area my insurance company considers a fire risk).

I borrowed the title of this blog from a Stephen Stills song.  It was on his 1970 debut album by the same name.  He called it “a good times song, just a bit of fun,” But I think it also holds an important truth and is very good advice.

Perhaps my dislike of moving involves my selective dislike of change.  But life is always about change.  We choose some of those changes, others are thrust upon us.  As a pragmatist, I know that change is very often a good thing.

This past week I’ve been reading the new Walter Isaacson book about Elon Musk (which is a Musk read).  (Groan received.)  When all of Musk’s activities are added together (including Tesla, which I drive, and SpaceX, which my son-in-law worked for until he burned out on 80-hour work weeks), Musk is undoubtedly the most prolific human agent of change in modern times.  While I wouldn’t want to work for him, or live with him, I’m happy to enjoy the products of his energy and vision.

So my advice to myself is that if certain changes are inevitable in my life, such as the impending move, I should just relax and enjoy it.

Will I enjoy our new house as much as I’ve enjoyed the house I’ve lived in for almost seven years?

Ask me in 2024.

Alan

A little-known fact is that Pittsburgh has more bridges (446) than Venice, Italy.  If you’re ever a contestant on Jeopardy that bit of trivia may be important to you.

What do I do on vacation?  See the sights along with about 100 other passengers on American Cruise Lines ship Heritage.  I am now the proud owner of a miniature Louisville Slugger baseball bat bought at the factory (it takes a machine 48 seconds to produce a bat.  It took a human 30 minutes.  Clearly automation in manufacturing is alive, well, and growing.)

In Paducah, Kentucky we visited The National Quilt Museum.  Surprisingly, I really liked ten or twelve of the (modern) quilts.  That compares with my liking only four or five old master paintings at the British National Art Gallery.

Yesterday evening, from 9:15 pm until 2:15 am I was a patient at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, where I was diagnosed with something I’ve never experienced before – a urinary tract infection.  The attending doctor said that this often came with age, so I’ve decided to grow younger.  Please let me know if you have a suggestion that will work.

This evening there is an NFL football game at the stadium that sits about a quarter mile from our cruise ship.  At three in the afternoon, they were already closing off access roads, and many fans were at the stadium.  I guess Pittsburgh fans are truly supportive of their team.

Daveen and I walked about a mile to the local Rite Aid to pick up my prescription for an antibiotic, and the folks walking on the street here seem quite friendly and happy to chat.

The sidewalks are old, but Pittsburgh is a much older city than Los Angeles, where I have enjoyed living for more than 83 years.

One of the couples sitting with us for meals also enjoys Jeopardy, but I suspect that is where our similarities end.

My favorite part of any vacation is walking into my bedroom at home.  That’s a good thing because I’m home a lot more than I’m away.

We will return to Los Angeles tomorrow evening.  Airline flights across country still amaze me.

Alan