Friendship

I just saw in the University of Richmond magazine that Ken Oberg passed away in March. He was my fraternal "big brother" when we were Pi Kappa Alphas together in college. He was a close friend and mentor to me in college. The last time I saw him was at his wedding--not sure of the date but not too long after my graduation. Over the years I tried tracking him without success until now.

In college frat connections were a huge part of my life and afterwards I stayed in touch with many for a few years. 50+ years later I've lost contact with practically all of them. I have learned some of them are dead, mostly through the college magazine notes. It reminds me how as we go through life many close friendships get formed and then fade away over time. 

After college my 20 year career with Chubb allowed me a chance to form relationships within the company all over the country. But 30+ years later most of them have also faded into the past. Now as we struggle through Covid, friendships developed during 38 years in Atlanta seem to be distancing.

I recently bought a condo in Phoenix thinking I will move there later to be close to my stepson. I wonder if my Atlanta connections will also fade away. I hope not.  

Cataract Surgery Reflections

 I recently had cataract surgery and elected to have multi-focal lenses. These should improve both distance and close vision to the point where the patient doesn't need any glasses or contacts to restore normal vision. I wore contacts/glasses for 60 years. My goal was always to see clearly without glasses. For about 30 years rigid contacts worked fine. Then reading vision deteriorated unless I wore reading glasses with contacts. Since I was near sighted I have always been able to easily read without contacts/glasses. I ultimately went to rigid bifocal contacts but not without a long struggle. Finally mastered them and that enabled me to avoid glasses for many years. 

Over time a combination of multi-day/overnight bike rides began to interfere. Pollen season also meant giving up rigid contacts unless you like riding with sand in your eye. Although rigid bifocal contacts provided normal far and near vision, things were getting complicated. I had also been told during eye exams that I would ultimately be a candidate for cataract surgery.

I began wearing glasses more often and noticed my right eye vision seemed worse than my left. My prescription had expired and I decided to visit new optometrist who had become a good cycling friend. He strongly recommended cataract surgery and his preferred surgeon's office is around the corner from my residence. He had told me that multi-focal lenses might eliminate glasses/contacts altogether.

I had surgery on my right eye, and the day after surgery I was advised vision in that eye was good enough to fly a plane. I could also read with no issues. I went forward with surgery on my left eye even though that cataract was much less advanced compared to the right. Had the same result and after two months don't need contacts or glasses to see normally. During my last check up it was recommended to use inexpensive distance glasses to improve clarity when driving at night so that's where I am.

Cataracts are an age-related condition that happens to everyone who lives long enough. Multi-focal lenses are relatively new and cost more than the types of lenses previously available. For me it is worth the out-of-pocket cost. I think ultimately they will become the norm completely covered by most insurance. For me it was worth the price to see normally without contacts/glasses. I hope to live long enough so my cost will exceed what I would have paid for contacts/glasses.  

Thoughts on an Insurance Career

52 years ago today I began my career in the insurance industry. Most individuals do not grow up dreaming of working in the insurance business, and I was one of them. I originally wanted to be a major league baseball player, but a talent deficit nixed that early. In high school I thought about following my father's to become a druggist (that's what they were called back then). My father was a second generation pharmacist and my mother had been a nurse so I thought heredity was favorable. Before dying he suggested that running a drug store was more of a retail business and if really interested in pharmacy I should consider research. But high school chemistry convinced me this acorn fell too far from the tree. During college objective was to successfully graduate without much thought to an occupation. I figured a college graduate with no draft commitment in 1968 would enable me to find something.

During college I worked part-time at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles looking up driving records. During my senior year realizing I needed a job I began interviewing. Working for a state government along with being an economics major convinced me that working for an organization committed to making a profit offered more opportunity. I interviewed a medium sized insurance company (Chubb) and because of my DMV experience I came across as someone who understood the insurance industry. They offering me a personal lines underwriting trainee position in New York City, and I jumped at a chance to work and live in America's financial capital.

I've previously blogged about my career at Chubb. While an insurance career does not seem glamorous compared to others, insurance is the grease that allows our economy to function. Try getting a mortgage or financing a car without it. In most states you can't even register a car without liability insurance. Those are just a few examples. I spent half my career with Chubb and the other half with several insurance agencies. I watched this industry undergo a lot of changes over the years, but my perspective is once you have sufficient insurance experience it's pretty easy to find work and employment. The times I went looking for a job it usually took very little time to secure something.

So as long as society has to manage risk there will be a place for insurance. The business is not without some bumps in the road. Many people regard insurance as a necessary evil, taking too much in premium and paying out too little in claims. They think insurance companies have deep pockets but very short arms. Some insurance employees especially those handling claims approach clients wondering how they are trying to cheat the insurance company to regain dollars they feel should never have been paid as premiums in the first place. To be successful in this business it helps to be empathetic but fairly thick skinned.

One concern I have about the insurance industry is how much their advertising focuses on price and saving money. Insurance is an intangible in that when you buy it you don't get anything but a promise outlined in a contract that is not easily understood. If you have a claim it's not always clear what you can expect to receive. There are basically three things a company can offer, price (premium), quality (coverage) and customer service. Almost any company can do one of these better than their competition. Many can do two of these very well, but no organization can consistently offer the lowest price, the highest quality AND the best service. People pick what's most important to them and often it's price because they don't expect quality and service. That's too bad because often those are really more important. The industry itself is guilty because most of the time they do not effectively demonstrate the importance of quality and service.

I'm no longer active in the insurance industry, mainly because I enjoy semi-retirement, learning and applying new things in the fields of exercise science and gerontology. It certainly helps that I can take college course in these subject tuition free since I am over 62 and  live in Georgia. I enjoyed my insurance career and feel fortunate to have embarked on it even if it was by accident.

Segregation Revisited

I grew up during the 1950's and early 60's in Danville, Virginia. I believe Danville was one of the most segregated cities in America. As the "last capitol of the confederacy" I sometimes felt  back then the civil war was simply a temporary truce. Southern resentment was widespread; when the last union veteran  died before the last Confederate, I heard someone say, "At least we outlived the bastards."** Segregation in Danville existed everywhere as there were separate neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, bathrooms, water fountains, etc. Growing up I had little interaction with African-Americans so the whole segregation concept had no real impact on me. We were told things were "separate and equal." I accepted that even though in the People's Drug Store my father managed, blacks could not sit at the lunch counter; they could only order "to go" standing at the end of the counter.

Around 1961 sit ins began at several lunch counters. My father asked the People's headquarters in Washington for guidance and was told, we're not sure, use your own best judgement. He decided to open the counter to everyone, and it seemed to go calmly at Peoples although waitresses served blacks with paper plates, cups, and plastic utensils instead of normal washable items. My father died in late 1962 and by the following spring demonstrations were escalating. Demonstrators were beaten and arrested almost daily but the local newspaper did not acknowledge anything had even occurred. Finally the Danville white library closed to prevent blacks from using it. The library was housed in the Sutherlin mansion, the Confederate capitol site from April 3--10, 1865. Since I loved using the library I decided to use the black library. I finally realized segregated facilities in Danville were "separate but NOT equal."  Even after the white library was reopened all the tables and chairs had been removed. The summer of 1963 was tumultuous in Danville, but study history and you will find plenty of previous local atrocities and violence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I finished high school the next year with 3 black students in a school of around 2,000 and recall the scorn and ridicule they endured. I then went off to and graduated from an all white college. Demonstrations and desegregation efforts intensified during the 1960's, but had little effect on me personally. After college I went to work in New York and was asked why southerners disliked blacks sometimes by the same people who expressed dislike for Italians and other immigrants. During that time and for decades afterwards I judged people by their demeanor and character. Color is not a reliable indicator of whether someone was a decent person or an ass.

Recent events reconfirm to me that growing up white instead of black was an advantage especially in Danville. The recent turmoil over police actions resulting in deaths of  George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and others along with the public response to these type situations over many decades reminds me that racism and discrimination have existed in America over 400 years. It's taken many different forms, but to me it is like a crock pot slow cooking constantly and at times boiling over.

Unfortunately, I don't have a solution except living my life treating others as I would want them to treat me. I certainly have empathy for anyone treated unjustly. That doesn't help the overall picture, but it does help keep my own conscience intact.


** Years later it was determined the last verifiable confederate veteran died in 1951, while the last verifiable union veteran died in 1956  At the rate monuments are now being questioned and removed, we may wind up a nation of pedestals.

Lance Armstrong--Revisited

I watched all 4 hours of the Lance Armstrong documentary. I began following Lance when he won the World Championship in 1993 as a 21 year old prodigy. About the only new information for me was his admission about using PEDs at 21. It's been 7 years since Lance formally admitted the doping allegations that dogged him since his first Tour win in 1999. During this documentary when asked about relevance, he said, "I am relevant." I certainly agree with that;  Lance did exponentially fuel interest in cycling in America and the world, he demonstrated that significant resources could keep cyclists ahead of those trying to regulate the sport, and like many other famous individuals, the fall from grace can be pretty brutal both financially and emotionally.

There's no question Lance paid a huge financial price. Many people will disagree, but I think he has for the most part paid the emotional price. He bullied a lot of people--both friends and foes--and I am not sure where his relationships stand with many of those folks. But you know what--it's none of my business. The one area of his impact that I would like to see resurrected is the impact he had on the cancer community. While the documentary displayed encounters with that effort, it suggested that stopped when he was asked to step away from his foundation. However, I've read articles that indicate Lance still remains available to that community. These articles were written by members of the Indiana hospital oncology staff where he received treatment, and were done with no fanfare on his part.

I hope that Lance Armstrong will take his incredible survivorship story to re-inject himself back into that role. If the foundation he started won't take him back, he is relevant enough to start a new path. Leave the lifetime ban in place; there's too much doping going on at the master's competition level. As for sponsors,, I think Lance has enough assets to live comfortably. When it comes to PEDs in cycling do not kid yourself; while cycling has been under scrutiny since Tom Simpson died on Mount Ventoux 53 years ago this stuff has been happening in almost every sport since at least 1900.

As for my original thought in 2013 about Lance running for governor of Texas someday, he has previously said that's no longer on his radar screen. However, he has proven that he can change his mind--about most any issue.
 

Back to the future--Luna Lake

Luna Lake was one of the few "happening places" if you were growing up in Danville during the 1950"s. Besides all the water, tower diving/jumping and swimming there was an open pavilion with a dance floor and juke box. Plenty of kids type food in and around the complex. Swimming was probably my father's main recreation and going to Luna Lake was about the only family activity that involved all of us at some place away from home.

I learned to swim and got my first American Red Cross life saving certificate there. A lot of my time was spent around the tower shown above. Rumor had it there use to be three levels until a guy known as Nick the Greek dove from the third level and died upon hitting the bottom. Whether true or not that level was gone before my time. I remember being afraid about diving off the top tower, until a friend yelled at me while I was on the shore "Watch this" and dove off. When he surfaced I yelled back "I can do that" swam out, climbed up, and dove off.

In the 50's we didn't own a car so we either hitched rides or rode the Danville transit bus. The bus ride from north Danville involved a bus transfer and then a one mile walk down Kemper Road. It was easier walking down to there compared to walking up, but often the trip involved a bus ride out and a car ride back. Swimming and diving were two athletic things I could do better than most of my friends so during the summer it seemed like I lived at Luna Lake.

We finally got a car in 1960, and about then our family joined Glen Oak Country Club which was well off any bus route. Some of the same friends I hung with at Luna Lake also became members, and I also met a number of new friends, mainly cute girls. I sometimes wondered why we joined a country club when no one played golf, but too much fun stuff was going on there for me to ask questions.

Luna Lake faded into my past and eventually closed in the 1960's. When I reflect on those times I suspect it declined in part due to the pressures of desegregation, but that's not really talked about. I do remember how divided Danville was over that issue back then.

The photo I copied is from a post by my facebook friend Von Cannon. I'm perplexed because it has a notation of 2/22/87. I think Luna Lake closed long before then. The notation mentions an icy slide  and a reopening in a few months. I don't remember the slide, but I think this photo was taken before 1987, and it does look like a winter photo. In 2014 and 2016 while in Danville I cycled to the site. I had to look carefully to find any evidence Luna Lake was ever there.

Nevertheless, I;ll remember the good times I had at Luna Lake.

Covid 19

We live in an interesting time: a pandemic spreading  around the globe,  fueled by social media has caused,  fear, anxiety and strange behavior. If I were 44 instead of 74 I'd be inclined to come in contact with the virus, spend my time quarantined, and then be done with it since science suggests once contracted a person is immune. Even at 74, I'm most likely in good enough to survive, but feel the need to do my part to "flatten the curve" which seems like the primary thing we``` can do to slow down the spread.

During the first week lots of items disappeared from merchandiser shelves. I understand hand sanitizer but not sure why toilet paper is in such high demand. Looking over Amazon it's apparent that Angel Soft, Charmin and Cottonelle are very popular since they are all unavailable. Lends credence to the saying "life is too short for cheap toilet paper."

Looking at the brighter side, there are some positive side effects.
1. Reduced traffic.
2. Increased fostering of dogs (not so much cats).
3. Learning to live without sports, concerts and other gatherings
4. Expansion of on line learning tools.
5. More time to socialize with family members. One post said without TV sports they noticed a spouse in the room; seemed like a nice person."
6. Frequent, proper hand washing.

They are others. One thing I am sure of, we will get through this and learn valuable lessons that can help improve the overall quality of life.

Inside the Actor's Studio

James Lipton, the long time host of this program died this week. He always ended this program by asking guests the same 10 questions. Here they are along with my own responses.

1. What is your favorite word? Movement.
2. What is your least favorite word? Politician.
3. What turns you on? Learning.
4. What turns you off? Forgetting.
5. What sound or noise do you love?  Songs by Harry Chapin, Jim Croce or James Taylor.
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Rap songs.
7. What is your favorite curse word? God dammit.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? College professor.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Dentist.
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? How did you get past security?