Volodymyr Zelensky and HR

Beside having risen to being a modern day hero, the president of Ukraine shows that there’s much more in a human being than their background appears to be or than their initial impression might help foretell their true potential. 

Going from acting to national leadership isn’t new, Reagan did it in America before Zelensky, but fell way short from the quality or the approval ratings of the current Ukrainian head of state. 

From a December 2021 low point of 31%, his approval rating almost tripled to 90% after the invasion of his country and his impressive courage in facing his enemy. So my question is how do we measure or estimate a politician’s potential based on what we can observe prior to an election? 

In the case of Zelensky, one could speak of “revelation”. In the majority of cases, however, we are generally widely disappointed by politicians that seem only able to “sell themselves”, but freeze up as soon as they’re on the job, problem arise and can’t muster the courage and determination to solve them. 

Is the Ukrainian president the sole exception to that rule? I think so. Is there something our Human Resources departments could learn from this remarkable transformation? Probably! 

Regardless, I took the time to watch the three first episode of “Servant of the People” and could see the rehearsal value of that show to his role as president. I won’t watch the 48 remaining episode, but will be marked forever by Zelensky’s unbelievable journey from comedian to fearless and awe-inspiring leader… 

Skiing while it’s still possible…

I’ve recently skied in terrible conditions, with temperatures over freezing in the morning and reaching up to 66 degrees during the day. 

Skiing was good during one to two hours and after that it literately was “rotten snow”, not just your garden-variety slush. Why did I do that? 

The answer is very simple, as I’ve said many times, but jokingly, “Our ski turns are counted…” Well, this Bible-like words of wisdom aren’t a joke, the earth is warming fast, too fast in fact for our own good.

This happens as an ice shelf the size of New York City just collapsed in East Antarctica, an area that had long been thought to be stable. That coincided with freakish warm spell, last week, when temperatures soared to 66 degrees (19 Celsius) warmer than normal.

So now, you may understand why I ski as much as I can while skiing remains available as a form of recreation...

Why kick Alina Kabaeva out of Switzerland?

I've been criticized for my blog on Putin’s girl friend hiding in Switzerland as being a trivial topic in the midst of a raging war, but it’s a perfect example of huge potential leverage. 

Consider this: 

Firstly, in spite of heavy personal security, this woman and her children are susceptible of kidnapping or murder by some activist that want to put pressure to bear on Putin. How would you feel if you were the mayor of say, Verbier, the posh Swiss ski resort if she were hiding there? Of course there is ski resort’s economic and prestigious benefits of hosting such a VIP, but it might costs much more than it brings to the small mountain community, because after all we’re talking about the companion and kids of a terrorist. 

Secondly, if the Swiss government was to tell Putin, “Look, we’re concerned about Ms. Kabaeva’s security, can you please remove her from our country?” It would strike a chord and make Putin think twice about the personal consequences of what he’s doing to Ukraine. 

As combats are reaching a stalemate, it’s important to bring pressure to bear on the Russian dictator and if he doesn’t care about the thousands Russian soldiers dead or wounded, having to worry more about his family might take part of his deadly attention off from Ukraine. 

In a terrorist situation like this one, there is no detail unimportant, and if it can make Putin bend, it should be used or at the very least tried. Again, this is called leverage.

Free ski lesson on a chairlift

Last week, I was loading a chairlift next to an older guy about my age. He or his buddies brought the safety bar down, which I never do (it’s not a Park City tradition) and on that 6 passenger high-speed lift there was no footrest.

So I let my feet dangle a bit is some kind of a swinging motion without touching anyone else’s skis. Seeing this, the old guy grumbled (His tone and demeanor were dead serious, not joking at all): “Don’t you touch my skis, I just tuned them; I’m a ski tuner!” 

I answered: “That’s not at all my intent. Where do you tune skis?” He responded: “At the Deer Valley ski rental department, but I’m also a ski instructor and a ski patrol here at Park City!” I was thinking, “Jack of all trades and master of none!” but I didn’t utter a would. 

Unrelentless, he continued: “When I teach skiing I tell my student all the good manners, including not wiggling their skis while riding the chair…” Tired of hearing that old fart, I said: “I’m too old to be lectured, will you stop?” 

Stubbornly, and desperately wanting to have the last word, the old man muttered: “I guess we won’t ride the chairlift together again?” But I finally got to have the last word when I quipped: “You’re damned right!”

Meditation and cosmic energy

For those of us who don’t meditate or are considering the practice and even just beginning it, the end result of doing it is very difficult to grasp especially in view of the difficulties inherent with the activity. 

Ever since I considered doing it, I was looking for the “benefit or benefits” that I would gain from it, but could never find a satisfactory answer or even conceptualize where it might take me. 

After more than two years of continuous and dedicated practice, I believe that I finally understand better what it brings to me. First a unification of my mind and body and then a sense that I can now blend with nature, the universe and its cosmic forces. 

Wow! This might sound a bit pretentious and “out-there”, but I now begin to grasp what the finality of meditating really is. Hopefully, I’ll be able to fill you in with more descriptive details some time down the road...

Losing patience with Alina Kabaeva

In my blog from March 12, I had brought up the case of Alina Kabaeva, Putin’s lover, hiding in Switzerland with four of the dictator’s kids whom he has never officially recognized. 

Now, there is some action afoot to get her out of her luxurious Swiss Chalet and back to Russia. A petition to kick her out of the country has already collected over 70,000 signatures. Specifically the petition is demanding she be expelled from Switzerland and deported to Russia. 

This petition was launched by citizens in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine two weeks ago, calling for Swiss authorities to kick Kabaeva out of Switzerland and deport her back to Russia. “It's time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer,”the strongly-worded petition said. 

The petition continues: “Given the volume of sanctions placed on Russia', Swiss authorities continue to host her and her family at a time when Putin 'is destroying the lives of millions. For the first time in modern history, your country has violated its neutrality, which it did not even do against Nazi Germany. And now you are allowing his favorite mistress and her children to hide within the borders of your state.” 

If Switzerland ignore that complain, it will obviously continues to host an accomplice of Putin's regime. Many fear that Putin’s carefully hidden assets may mean Kabaeva and her family have been able to escape the sanctions announced by the Swiss Federal Council in February. 

Along the same lines, it should also be noted that the West has so far not sanctioned Alina Kabaeva, who makes $10 million a year as the chairman of the board of directors at National Media Group, a major TV and newspaper conglomerate that’s also a Kremlin’s mouthpiece. The petition, was posted in in German, French and English. 

I too think that it’s time for her to return to Russia! 

Shorter skis don’t like speed

Even since carving skis have taken over the snow, ski lengths have plummeted. 

Long gone are the days every "macho" man skied on a 207 cm. Today, the general rule is for your skis to measure somewhere between one’s chin and the top of the head. 

Sure, expert level, younger skiers may often opt of skis slightly above their head. But with the shortening comes a trickier longitudinal stability, particularly at high-speeds that can push the fast skier “over the handlebar”. 

Believe me, I’ve experienced the incident a few times, so I know what I’m talking about. It’s not really fun and I don’t recommend it. 

All this to say the morale of that ski story, is that with today’s skis, it’s essential to stay perfectly centered or reduce the speed and possibly opt for longer boards!

Which bureaucrats are worst: American or French?

Since my wife and I moved to America some 45 years ago, we had several years of work within France which entitled us to a tiny retirement that should have been accessible to us upon reaching retirement age in the USA. 

The bilateral agreement between the two countries is a bit complicated and the process took a variable amount of time between our two applications. I got the ball rolling first in October of 2013 by filling a special US Social Security form, that after it had been checked and approved by the American retirement administration would be forwarded to France. 

Just four month latter, by February 2014, France notified me that it received it and sent me a long list of documents to prepare and forward to their State Retirement System. I went through the exercise, and by the end of April 2014, I received my first check. I thought the process was long, burdensome, but not impossible. 

Fast forward to November 2017 when it was my wife’s turn to begin the same process. She filled and send her initial application to the US Social Security Administration. By that time, Trump was in the White House and everyone in the Administration was spooked by the new dictator-president, many had resigned their posts and weren’t replaced, so work piled up. 

The resulting delay forced us to take several trips to the Social Security offices in Salt Lake to no avail, until, two and a half year later, in June of 2020, the French advised her that it finally had received the green light for America. She had still to go through the filing process, and kept her finger crossed… 

When she failed to hear back from France after several months, we contacted France, and after a lot of back and forth, we understood that they had LOST her file. So, not a bunch to get discouraged, we recontacted the Social Security on May 2021, for renewing the whole process (we’re now under full Covid pandemic) and waited, and waited. 

We couldn’t visit the physical office and had to rely on phone, internet or chat inquiries which were next to impossible and had almost given up, when this very week we were told by France that, once more, that they had finally received the green light for America. We only hope these wonderful bureaucrats won’t lose the application a second time!

When 3G comes to an end

March 2022 is the end of 3G as we knew it in the United States. My French countrymen are luckier, they’ll keep theirs through 2028! 

I knew this already when my solar panel supplier told me a few months ago that his company was scrambling to find and implement a 5G monitoring system to replace the original 3G's, which they haven't been able to secure as of yet. 

More recently, and to my total bafflement, my 4G smart phone came to a screeching halt as far as internet reception was concerned and began having trouble with texting. 

After cursing at my device and thinking of getting a new 5G right away, instead of waiting for this summer as planned, I looked into its settings and found out that they were adjusted to 3G, so no wonder I was kept out of internet service. 

I made the change and, voilà, I’m now running on 4G/LTE which explains why since I bought that phone in July of 2019, I had not be happy with its crawling (3G) speed (about 20 times slower), so that part is finally taken care of and I can wait for this summer to get a new phone. 

Welcome to 5G, I’m now ready for it!

Russia's nuclear targets in America

Putin, like other dictators or would-be dictators (like Trump), is a bully and doesn’t hesitate to blackmail other nations. 

That’s exactly what he did when he proclaimed he was putting his nuclear force on alert after the West reacted vehemently to his murderous invasion of Ukraine. 

As Dr. Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution who was maligned by Trump when she was was her advisor on Russia, said, “This is not that dissimilar from what Kim Jong-un is doing in North Korea, as he tries to demonstrate that he has the ability to engage in nuclear blackmail.” 

Putin’s blackmail is working extremely well by freezing his western opponent in place. 

Intuitively, should Putin decide to send some nukes over to us, one would think he’d target first our Capital City, New York or Los Angeles, but this is not necessarily the aim of a first strike by the Russians. 

Instead, nuclear weapon silos buried in northern Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota that were thought to be the first targets during the Cold War could be again, the first in line, not a perspective Mountain States people look forward to. 

These states are much more than empty land waiting for doomsday. They’re hubs of transit, energy, and agriculture. They’re home to over 9 million people, millions of acres of tribal lands, endangered species, and some of the US’ most recognizable landmarks. 

This region is nicknamed the “nuclear sponge” is shorthand for these five states where US Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) are based in underground silos. 

In the event of a massive nuclear attack from Russia, these states would, just like a sponge, mop-up many of Russia’s missiles that would be hurried to take out the US land-based missile force before they could be launched.

Spring’s magic side

Spring happened yesterday while I was skiing with my grandson. 

From the valley, skiing didn’t look promising at all and after we skied the lower part of the mountain, over frozen tracked snow and bumps, it really began to seem like a terrible idea. 

Then we climbed to the top and found great powder snow and skied our heart content. 

This goes to say that it might have been a miracle of Spring, but most likely, those were the ever changing nature and conditions of skiing that never reveals itself fully until you are committed to doing it!

Birds of feather

Listed below are some of the people getting along well with Putin. Let’s try to see what make them appreciate each other. This isn’t a joyful exercise at all, but it’s just meant to shed some light on why some celebrities have fallen for the Russian monster-dictator. 

Bashar al-Assad 

After 11 years of war and destruction help by the Russians, Bashar al-Assad’s army has launched a recruitment drive for Putin, the lethal price for Moscow’s rescue of the Syrian leader. 

Silvio Berlusconi 

The two share a worldview, with the ex-Italian premier endorsing the Kremlin’s actions in Syria and Ukraine 

Gérard Depardieu 

French actor Gérard Depardieu, who’s been saying great things about his friend Vladimir Putin and has become a Russian citizen, just recently slightly changed his tune and came out against the war in Ukraine and called for negotiations. 

Bernie Ecclestone 

The ex-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has often spoken highly of President Putin, with the pair sharing a long friendship and came recently out to Putin’s defense following the Russian leader’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Jean-Claude Killy 

My childhood’s hero who worked closely with Putin during Sochi said: "He's straight, he has a big heart, he makes very good decisions. He's very smart. I think he's poorly treated today in the world. I feel bad about it. I feel very sorry about him because I believe it is unfair. It's politically a mistake not to keep Russia in our arms, It's a big mistake." I suspect Killy was well compensated for his work at Sochi... 

Steven Seagal 

Another buddy actor, he’s sparked fury after claiming both sides of the Ukraine war are 'one family' and blaming an 'outside entity' for spreading propaganda against the Russian invasion. The 69 year old actor, a friend of Putin, was granted Russian citizenship in 2016 

Donald Trump 

In the struggle uniting the free world against an autocrat's lawless aggression, Trump sided with Putin, calling him a "genius". Since his political career began, Trump has backed Putin in ways connected directly to the Russian's quest to subjugate that country. 

Eric Zemour 

The populist and anti-Muslim French presidential candidate has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Putin and rejected the idea of welcoming Ukrainian refugees. His popularity seems to be slumping as a result. 

Have I forgotten someone?

Building good habits

There's nothing original in stating that our lives often are the sum or our personal habits, whether good or bad, so it might be a good idea, as we go along to add good habits and weed out bad ones as we progress into our lives. 

The difficulty in selecting habits is first to be aware of what we have that helps us or hinder us, work when possible on improving the good and little by little focusing on the bad ones and turning them around. 

This isn’t easy as some folks say and if you can recall most people might tell you that it takes “21 days” to form a habit, as Dr. Maxwell Maltz suggested in his 1960 book “Psycho-Cybernetics”. At the time Maltz didn’t make this claim but rather referenced this number as an observable metric in both himself and his patients. 

He then wrote: “These, and many other commonly observed phenomena, tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to gel.” 

However, a more recent study published in 2009 in the European Journal of Social Psychology, stated that it takes from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit, and about an average, of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. 

Obviously, this ultimately depends on the habit considered. As for me, I wish I had paid much more attention to habits, good and bad, when I was younger…

Rough season, rough skiing, good experience!

As our ski season is turning into spring, and after experiencing some of the worst winter at Park City, both in terms of a rather dry winter and terrible management from Vail Resorts, we had to ski, as a result, on moguls like we’ve never seen before and on poorly covered and marginally groomed runs with twigs, rock and a collection of dangerous obstacles. 

The latter part in fact prove to be a godsend, as it reacquainted me with skiing less than familiar terrain which represented a new challenge and forced me out of my routine. I think I speak not just for myself, but also for some skiers who were confronted to the same, difficult conditions and have used them to gain more skills. 

We just had to pay more attention, work harder and be much more engaged with our skiing. This goes a long way in proving that there’s always a “silver lining” when conditions are tough and with them, an opportunity to better ourselves!

When snow turns really bad!

On Tuesday, after a great ski day the day before, my wife and I decided to go skiing together. At the same time I also had promised my skiing-starved friend Marcel Grivel-Delillaz that “I’d make a few turn for him!” We should have gone in the morning, but couldn’t leave till the afternoon when the temperature would hit 49! 

So after getting some new snow over the weekend, whatever was left on the runs turned into “sticky snow” and without getting to deep into the mechanics of what’s happening under our feet, we had conditions that are known as “wet friction”, a fancy term that means there’s high moisture content in the snow creating threads of water called capillaries that attach to the base and slowed us down to a crawl. 

You know what I’m talking about, just like when two pieces of wet glass are press against each other; this creates suction and the two pieces of glass stick together like glue! Normally and in small quantities, water like lubricant against the hard snow crystals, but when there’s too much water, it suddenly begins to slow you down. 

There are waxes against it, but we didn’t have any on our bases, so after two terrible runs we headed back home. As for Marcel’s turns, I’ll get those done next time I’m out skiing!

Two years into the pandemic

It’s already two years ago that ski lifts stopped operating in Park City and elsewhere in the United States as the country entered a total lock-down.

That day on March 16, we took our daughter back to the airport as she was returning to Washington, D.C. At the beginning, we were told this might last 4 to 6 weeks and then life would resume normally. The only thing we committed to do, as a family, was to be careful and stay alive, which until now has worked well. 

We didn’t know then that it would take another two years and almost one million death in the USA, maybe 6 to 10 million worldwide, for us to somehow emerge from that situation, and I’m still hearing it might not be over yet, so we remain prudent and keep paying attention to what’s going on around us!

Skidded turns anyone?

When you read any current article on skiing technique, carving seems to appear as being the holly grail of my favorite sport. 

Not so fast! Thanks to Vail Resorts total incompetence in terms of mountain management and trail grooming, we had moguls all over Park City as we’ve never seen before. Not just moguls, but bumps or all sizes and shapes visible on most runs that telegraph their out-of-sync presence to our legs. 

Now, if you’ve never tried it before, try to “carve” on such surfaces, be my guest and good luck! This is where the unsung, but so critical element of skiing technique comes into play: skidding. 

The skidded turn, even more so than carving, is the foundational technique of skiing with its cortege of side-slipping technique in all possible forms and intensity imaginable. If modern skiers doesn’t master those, they won’t fare too well on bumpy, icy, or cruddy snows. 

Just take the time to observe a pair of ski used by freestyle “bump skiers” and you’ll catch my rift in a hurry… I know what I’m talking about, I have to skis these almost daily!

Are you feeling tired?

I recently saw a show on Swiss television about feeling tired, in which Georges Vigarello, an 80 year old popular French historian and sociologist was pushing his book on feeling tired. 

Beside being also an academic, Vigarello’s main research interests include the sociology of the body, the history of hygiene, the representations of the body over the years, and the social dimensions of sport. A nice guy, but that didn’t bring anything interesting to the table, except that it piqued my interest for the subject of feeling tired. 

As strange as it may seem, it’s been a very long time since I can remember having felt tired. Of course, I’m retired so I work much less than before and don’t suffer from too much stress, but I also don’t travel extensively like I used to, so that must account for that huge difference. 

What is true is that when I’m done reading at 10 pm, I feel exhausted, not just from reading, but from a long day that began between 5 or 6 am, so nothing exceptional about it. I remember that when I was a kid, anything that I didn’t like, tired me immensely, like chores, real work and school. 

Then, during most of my adult life, stress took the relay of making me feel sick, uncomfortable and wishing I’d be something else and doing something different. Since I’m retired however and except for some bedtime exhaustion, I never feel tired anymore, and this is one good thing about growing old!

Neutralizing Putin…

The more humanity wait to capture and neutralized Putin, the more deaths on both sides of Ukraine and Russia will continue to pile up.

I believe this should be the main thinking and focus at the moment, and many bright minds should be able to come up with a plan to capture the man (and/or his family), neutralize him, and stop the massacre sooner than later. 

His cronies and other military strong men will immediately see the righting on the wall, cease and desist. Waiting any longer might in fact be bad news, because the more we postpone what should be the inevitable, the more the wounded lion will be mad and the more extreme his moves might be, especially considering the terrorizing nuclear arsenal at his disposal. 

I hope this is the civilized world’s current plan of action, and it’s not yet the case, it should become its utmost priority...

What should we do with Putin?

Putin is a dangerous monster and something should be done about him sooner than later. Yet, the options are few and all are not really easy to implement. For the moment, no European or NATO nation wants to engage him for fear of escalation including a threat of nuclear response. Sanctions can only do so much and the man doesn’t seem to care anyway. 

Of course, there’s the $1 million bounty offered by Alex Konanykhim, leader of a Russian software company, for the capture and arrest of the tyrant, but I assume that the ex-KGB operative knows how to protect himself. There’s also all these oligarchs that supported him and are now feeling the squeeze and might change their tune about their country’s leader. 

Finally, there's Putin’s young companion, the 39 year old Alina Kabaeva and their four young kids are reportedly hiding in Switzerland since the start of the Ukraine war, staying in a “luxury and very private” chalet in some undisclosed location, perhaps in Tessin. She too and her kids could become a logical and powerful target in positively trapping the Russian dictator.

Yet, there must be many more creative and effective solutions to this pressing need, especially in view of Carlos Ghosn's evasion from Japan or of the Russian interventions against Putin’s enemies in London. 

What's your suggestion?

Death of a snowblower

The day began auspiciously with 8 inches of new snow when I started my old Honda snowblower and that true joy lasted a few more minutes until my 31 year old machine literally died, well surrounded by my own hands. 

It had worked faithfully and reliably for so many years that I felt that it was about time the old blower could finally catch its final breath and get some well deserve rest and let its soul go back to Japan. 

I immediately drove to Home Depot to shop for a replacement, but didn’t like the season’s left-over machines that I saw there, so I finished clearing up my snow by hand with my shovel. 

I might go back to a genuine Honda, because I’m sure it might last me until I blow-up my own engine and probably beyond...

Skiing my age might get tougher…

Because my life is simple and easy, I make a point of “skiing my age” each winter season and yesterday was the day I just reached 74 ski forays to just match my age. 

Was is more difficult than in previous years? In a sense it was, because of a relatively poor ski season in terms of snow coverage and because, let’s face it, my body needs a bit more propping to get out in the cold as it becomes a lot more attractive to stay home when the weather or the conditions are less than inciting. 

It’s in fact the first time that I must agree that while it might work on paper, we’ll need to have ski seasons long enough, in the future, to fit a growing number of ski outings in and a body that resists the temptation of staying home and can still withstand the aching and aging joints, the softening muscles, a less assured balance and a prudence that slowly turns into fear. 

So far, I’m still willing, able and ready to face these challenges, so let see how reality will match the intent!

The horror of destruction

I don’t like demolition, particularly when it involves objects that serve a purpose and when it’s done for no other reasons than to hurt and cause suffering to others. 

Just like I don’t like to see house taken down to make place for newer and bigger ones, I can’t stand any vandalism of any sort and have a very strong hatred of those behind any act of destruction. 

It takes so much time to design, build and maintain certain objects or buildings, and requires so much precious energy and resources that it constitutes, in my mind, a form a wanton waste that’s of criminal nature and should be always be punished harshly anywhere it takes place.

At the moment, I’m thinking of course of the war in Ukraine in which Putin is destroying everything in sight, not to mention of course killing innocent civilians and soldiers defending themselves. 

There should be a special place in hell (if there’s one) and some very harsh punishment for destroyers like Putin and others who take a sadistic pleasure in undoing what took so long to envision, design and build...

Remaining hopeful…

In these days of war, following a long pandemic, discouragement is easy to let in, take over our lives and darken our days. 

Remaining hopeful and optimistic is much more difficult and requires a concerted effort if we don’t want to sink into resignation or even despair. I am no exception to these feelings, I don’t enjoy them and I’m trying to find ways to neutralize them.

Of course, I realize the cyclical nature of life, of our feelings and know that after the rain, sunshine will return, but it’s always hard to keep in mind. I also remember to be grateful for being alive and having a family that’s both healthy and comfortable, and ask myself what can I do, to cleanse my mind and get a more positive and enthusiastic outlook. 

Again, I do that in large part by taking stock of all the good things that are part of my daily life and remind me that I’m very lucky indeed. This is were I remember that my daily struggles and challenges are nothing compared to those encountered by many people who aren’t as fortunate as I am. 

I also remind myself about all the things I still need to do during the rest of my life, including fun stuff, challenging tasks and personal growth. Finally, I try to discipline myself by absorbing a limited amount of negative news and keeping bad thoughts out of my mind whenever I can. 

Instead, I look for more inspiring news and stories and seek contact with optimistic and hopeful people to strengthen and elevate my view of the world...

How to enrich one's common sense

The more I move forward into my life, the more I realize the fundamental importance of common sense. 

This is especially true in these times of misinformation, conspiracy theories and addiction to social media and trendy behaviors. In fact information or education, for that matter, have little to do with common sense. 

As my countryman Victor Hugo is rumored to have said: “Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education.” I am therefore convinced that it’s incumbent on all of us to dig deeper into common sense and to hone our skills into that rich resource. 

So how do I think we ought to strengthen our capacity for common sense? My immediate answer would be for skiing, golfing or writing: Practice, practice, practice. 

So if I have it right, how should I proceed? I believe that first and foremost, we must try to solve our problems or answer our questions, ourselves first. Tapping into our experience and intuition will get us started in formulating an opinion, an idea and ultimately, a solution. 

Then I check with commonly available tips on the subject or problem, and unless the recommendations I find are enriching my solutions, I generally ignore them, because mine are custom made for me, my values and my goals.

Things we should be able to ask a friend…

We all have friends and we value them at different levels depending on the depth of our friendship. Yet, when something warrants it, I don’t see why we could not contact these friends and ask them for help in a tone and intensity that should match that of the relationship we have with them. 

No matter what is the nature of our demand, it will with certainly impose something on our friends and we should be cognizant of that fact, hence adjust the way in which we ask what we wish. It is very hard to guess exactly what our friends will think or feels when they hear our demand, and the best alternative is to fully place ourselves into their very shoes. 

Of course, the more you know them, their typical reactions, their idiosyncrasies and pet-peeves, the better equipped we’ll be able to understand them, the less difficult (I haven’t said “easy”) this will be. The request has to be respectful and more importantly leave enough room for the friends to ignore, deny or just partially fulfill it.

Like with anything involving some guess work, there is no guarantee the demand will succeed or the friendship won’t be affected, but if the request is both reasonable, valid and most importantly is fully warranted, I believe it’s always worth risking it...

Thinner snow cover ever?

This winter has been mostly bad, yet I’ve managed to make some good turns because of my optimistic and tenacious disposition. 

I managed to find snow where there was some, I reconciled myself with huge fields of moguls and I never gave up. 

So in spite of a thin snow cover, of a virtual snow drought most of the season and of a disastrous mountain and snow management by Vail Resorts, I’ve god my share of good skiing.

I could jump to conclusions and say that my experience proves that skiing is mostly mental and can be achieve with very little snow and a great attitude, and I just have. 

So, from now on, I’m focused on skiing as much as I possibly can and not get hurt till the very end of this winter season that I feel so grateful to be able to partake into...

Putin’s next nefarious move?

While the Russian invasion has relied so far on the use of conventional weapons, the mercurial Putin has painted himself into a corner, and has become a forever-pariah, with no good exit strategy in sight. 

My concern is that if the dictator gets desperate or even just ticked off at something for no particular good reason, he might use one of his low-yield atomic weapons to full destroy Kyiv or some ammunition depots in Poland, if not drop a bomb over some American target. 

This is my main worry if and when Putin is backed into a corner, finally realizes that he cannot win, so that his only move left is to unleash his nuclear stockpile so that everyone else will lose as well. 

Hard no to resist this temptation when you’re are single-minded on winning, unstable, and control some 6,000 nuclear weapons. Such a move would automatically generate a similar response from NATO and might begin a new Armageddon. 

Putin will be left with the dubious legacy of destroying part of humanity, but on the positive and equally dubious side, saving a surviving portion of humanity from climate change thanks to his nuclear winter…

What can we do to help Ukraine? (continued)

Yesterday, I asked the question, “What can we do to help stop the madness in Ukraine?” 

As promised, I’d tell you what I would do on a personal level. I have a friend who has a friend, a very good friend in fact, and that special friend is Vladimir Putin. 

So I thought to myself: “What would I do if my buddy were Putin?” Well, the answer is pretty obvious. I assume I’d be pretty upset at what’s going on in Ukraine and would ask that friend: “What’s happening to you buddy, have you gone crazy?” knowing full well that this special friendship would be on the line. 

So I contacted that person and asked him to do just that. I don’t know yet if will go ahead or if he’s done it, but he got my suggestion. If my friend asked Putin, the latter might have answered “Don’t you see what these Nazis are doing to the Russian living in that backward country? Don’t I have the right to protect my citizens and put these peasants back into line?” You get my rift...

If my friend is as smart as I know him to be, can effectively talk to Putin, is convincing enough and let him see a silver lining should his army turn around and go back to Russia, we might witness a miracle, so that’s what I just tried. 

Sure, two things can happen; he might say to my friend “Get lost!” and there goes the friendship, or listen and do something positive. We can use a miracle, even if it’s a small one. 

I haven’t heard anything back from that friend, but I remain patient and confident.

What can we do to help Ukraine?

Besides giving money or shelter (to the refugees) what else can we, as individuals, do to move the needle in favor of Ukraine. 

One tough question indeed. 

Has any one a unique, strategic idea to share that could lessen or stop the effect of the Russian invasion? 

There must be tactics, moves or other stratagems that could either save that country or alleviate its current suffering.

What are your thoughts or suggestions on the matter? Please share them here if you have some. In turn, 

I’ll let you know what I have done...

What is happiness?

Happiness is a hard state to define. 

While it could be a combination of health, relationships, activity we love or place of residence, it is overshadow by a gray, fuzzy factor called luck. 

Like luck to be endowed with a formidable DNA that keeps us strong and healthy, luck to be born in a peaceful and wealthy country, or as important, luck to be naturally born smart and curious as a way to help one’s development. 

So the acquisition of happiness isn’t at all simple, fair or logical. It also often takes much time and I would say many years, or perhaps, a lifetime to reach that enviable state of mind. 

Would you agree with this view?