The Joy Of Parenthood & Beyond
I write this as the proud father of two grown daughters and absolutely giddy grandfather of four impossibly charming granddaughters, ranging in age from 6 to 15. (Any mistakes I make can be attributed to inhaling too many estrogen molecules. It was worse when our household also included
Cheap Is As Cheap Does
I was at a daughter’s house recently when she talked about an HVAC service firm that a day before had fixed her balky air conditioning system amid the sweltering summer heat. It was a company I recommended to her because I knew the owner and
Look Who’s Still Working
Those of you who have most of your life ahead of you will long remember the year 2020 as when the world turned upside down. Millions of people in our country have gotten sick and tens of thousands have died. Those of us who haven’t
True Grit
One of the reasons why trade workers are in short supply is because the trades have a reputation as being “gritty” work. The word gritty in this context gets interpreted as hard and dirty. I won’t sugarcoat it. To some extent, this is true. Trade
Did You Know College Scholarships Are Taxable?
I didn’t, not until reading an article that appeared in the May 23, 2020 edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The U.S. Tax Code runs to tens of thousands of pages in volumes that occupy an entire bookshelf in tax accountant offices. Even the
Numbers Tell A Story
I read a lot, always have. Much of my reading is to satisfy personal interests and has little application to my professional life, but I always have my eyes peeled for bits of information that are relevant to the things I write about for trade
Charlie Horton’s Legacy
The name Charlie Horton means nothing to most of you reading this. But he meant a lot to me, and he was a great friend of the trades, so I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce him to you. Charlie was the founder of
A Pause That Refreshes
Even the stormiest clouds can have silver linings. I can’t think of many good things coming out of the Covid pandemic, but there is one that may be applicable to some of you reading this. College and university campuses across the country have shut down.
The Service Trades Are Still Hiring
The coronavirus pandemic has brought our country – the world in fact – to its knees in a way almost nobody alive has witnessed in our lifetimes. Too many people are getting sick and dying, and our economy is facing its biggest challenges since the