Happy New Year, Leo McGarry Style

Lots of people have New Year's Eve traditions: eating special foods; opening the door at midnight to let the 'bad' out and the 'good' in; attending the same NYE party with the same people every year; singing 'Auld Lang Syne' at midnight... 

Me? Not so much. My husband and I sometimes spend the time with family or friends, but typically we're comfortably at home, with the cats, some snacks and wine, and relax our way to the ball drop.

Last night (OK, most of the day, who am I kidding?) I watched several episodes of the second term of the Bartlet administration. That's right - Jed, and CJ, and Toby, and Josh, and Leo, and the rest of the gang are being replayed on HLN's 'The West Wing' marathon. 

The network originally ran the series at Christmas, and I was delighted to receive such a gift; it's one of my favorite shows ever. The writing; the complex characters and their relationships; the perfect cast to bring them to life; and even the 'accidental' theme song, which has been playing in my head since around 5 Am. Unlike most songs that attack me during the early hours, I'm not eager to chase this one away.

Having the episodes available again - and picking up almost at the point where I left off last time? Another gift. Having them available on New Year's Eve, when we put ourselves through the introspection -prospection routine? Priceless. 

The episode that most struck a chord with me was last night's '365 Days' -  with the return of former Chief of Staff Leo McGarry - on the day after Bartlet's final State of the Union address. They wanted him back, after his heart attack and surgery. Everyone wanted to pick his brain on whatever crises they were dealing with, wanted him in the Situation Room, they all wanted him, but no one had a clue what they wanted from him.

Leo sat in a small office, devoid of decoration, nearly devoid of furniture. Sitting on the floor were tapes of Bartlet's inaugurals and State of the Union addresses. Leo sat in the chair, door open, watching one after another. Staffers wandered in and out, promising to get together with him, to plan, to catch up. The most memorable of the drive-bys was with the very neurotic Toby Ziegler, who wrote Bartlet's speeches.

Later, McGarry and Bartlet had dinner, alone in the residence, and at some point, he swung the conversation to the SOTU, and how it missed the mark. He shared examples, from his day of watching the videos, of promises made and not kept, and when Bartlet pushed back, Leo pushed harder. One of the best lines? Paraphrasing here, but Leo emphatically told Bartlet that he doesn't owe a thing to the Democratic Party, he owes everything to the American people. 

That line is one that I'll likely refer back to this year, what with the new Congress, and who knows how many presidential campaign announcements - how long before we get one? And, of course, it applies across the board: to both parties, and to local, state, and national issues.  

The show wrapped up with the senior staff summoned back to work by the President, and led to Leo's office. After a brief explanation from Bartlet on why they were there - to hear from an old friend - Leo updated his whiteboard from 365 days to 364 days left. He pointed out that they had all spent their days reacting to things, not proactively doing things.

He asked what they thought was important, and started listing their ideas: things left out of the SOTU, or that had been dropped over time. Things that motivated, energized, and inspired them. The things that mattered to them. 

I hope, as we sit at our literal or figurative whiteboards, we're able to fill them with things that motivate, energize, inspire, and matter to us, and that in some way, we share our journeys in 2023.

Happy New Year to you and yours. 

Wondering on Wednesday (v159)

Lo and behold, it's the last Wednesday of 2018 already - how did that happen?

I have to wonder whether anyone else noticed a certain calm today. You know, the kind of calm we have when the president is not watching Fox and tweeting policy statements, personal attacks, and personnel decisions?  The kind of calm that causes others to tweet more softly into the night? The kind of calm that will almost certainly be shattered within hours?

Today the president fulfilled one of the expectations of the office: he made a visit to US troops overseas, making a surprise visit to Iraq. The only real surprise was the timing; it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that he'd go, and he as much as said so in comments after his disastrous trip to Paris to 'celebrate' the anniversary of the end of World War I and then for his failure to participate in Veterans' Day ceremonies when he got back home. He's a very busy man, he's told us, so we appreciate that he did this, finally - although I wonder whether he could have held out much longer.

And while he had originally intended to spend 16 days or so basking in the Florida sunshine with his dues-paying friends at Mar-a-Lago, those plans got squashed when he brought about partial government shutdown. Oh wait - I wonder, are there people reading who might think the shutdown is the fault of anyone other than the president? The guy who said he'd be proud to shut it down? I hope not; after all, it's been beaten in to our heads since the election that we needed to respect him, and so I'm taking him at his word on this one. At his first word, I mean.

I'm not sure when the president will be able to get to Florida, whether he'll be able to be there for his New Year's Eve party or if he'll still be sitting all alone in the Oval Office waiting for the Dems to call. We do know that ticket prices have gone up again, as they did last year, for the bash - which I'd find disappointing if I were having to pay extra but not getting to be within earshot of the POTUS.

We got two different Christmas messages from the president. The first was simple, and complete and needed nothing, coming from this man so usually full of himself.

Merry Christmas!

And then, hours later, as if he realized that he had sold himself short, and us too, he used Christmas as a weapon against his two favorite foes:

I hope everyone, even the Fake News Media, is having a great Christmas! Our Country is doing very well. We are securing our Borders, making great new Trade Deals, and bringing our Troops Back Home. We are finally putting America First. MERRY CHRISTMAS! #MAGA

In between, we learned that because of the Democrats,

It's a disgrace what's happening in our country. But other than that, I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.

With those season's greetings now enshrined in our history, I can only wonder what he'll wish us in his New Year's Eve message?

Wondering, on Wednesday (v42)

Are you tired of year-in-review (YIR) posts and articles and emails yet, or do you still have some slim thread of tolerance for them?

I confess I haven't paid attention to half of the YIR notifications I've seen. I've been getting them for a several weeks now, it seems. I think some of them arrived shortly after the Thanksgiving tryptophan was finally out of my system.

The early arrivals leave me wondering, this Wednesday, how the authors would feel if something huge happened before the end of the year, leaving their YIR in shambles.You know, some horrible tragedy (heaven forbid) or some wonderful news like a major celebrity wedding, or the discovery of a new planet, or a famous politician's birth certificate or green card, or something like that.

Kind of like what happens when we have early voting well in advance of election day, which leaves open the possibility that a dead person could win by a landslide, or some similar bizarre occurrence. That would likely mean that a court would probably have to determine the winner. And we all know how that works out, right?

Given that my own attention span for these things is slim, I'll keep my YIR brief.

Before the end of New Year's Eve Day, I'll have had three major milestones this year:  my 25th anniversary at my day job; my wedding, and my husband's retirement.

On my 24th work anniversary, I did a post about the foolishness of the Tax-Free NY program, wondering why it was necessary for me to pay taxes as an employee of a 78 year old company, when some new kid can move in to the Empire State, hire me and I would not have to pay income taxes for ten years.  I thought it was unfair to me, and of course unfair to my company as well.

I just checked the STARTUP NY website, which is the official home of the tax free project, and realized that, for my Central New York region, the selling points for our Quality of Life include two pictures, one of fishing in the Salmon River, the other of Chittenango Falls. What's more, three other regions also feature water activities as one of their two pictures.

I'm wondering, are we trying to lure fishing-related industries here? Trying to net a big one, maybe?

The last of the three  milestones, my husband's retirement, happens officially next year, but for all practical intents and purposes, it's happening on 12/31. In the morning, we'll get ready for work and head off on the commute together, for the last time.

I'm wondering, if I'm honest, how much things will change. I've got a few more years to work, although the jury's out on exactly how many.  A lot of that depends on how much of a mess the current Congress and POTUS make of our somewhat encouraged economy, and what happens next year when the new gang is elected.  Will we be trickling down?  Will everyone be making double their current wage (if things go up in tandem with increases in the minimum wage)? Will my 401(k) keep growing, and will Social Security be gone when I get there?  So much to wonder about, with no answers anywhere in sight.

What I don't wonder about, though, is whether this is the right decision for him, and for us. After 20 years at his second career, he's done enough, and had enough, and I want him to be around when I eventually make the decision to retire. We are better when we're happy, and we're happier when we're better.

I'm sure I'll have a twinge or two of something (I'm not sure yet exactly what), come January 4th when I have to go to work and My Sweet Baboo doesn't. But then, that's something for the 2016 YIR.

A final note:  I would be remiss if I didn't talk at at least a little about this blog. Thanks to all who've hung in there with me over the past few years -- I appreciate your tolerance, your interest, and your feedback. To new readers, thanks for giving me a chance. Your feedback is also warmly welcomed.

Here are the top five posts from 2015, all of which are part of two new themes I introduced this year:

1. My Middle-Aged White Lady Perspective: Don't Apologize for the Truth
2. Wondering, on Wednesday (v30)
3. Wondering, on Wednesday (v29)
4. Wondering, on Wednesday (v28)
5. My Middle-Aged White Lady Perspective: Words Matter

I'll still be a middle-aged white lady next year, and I'm sure I'll still be wondering, when Wednesdays roll around.

Hope to see you then!

Wondering, on Wednesday (v16)

So, it's New Year's Eve, and you all know what that means: champagne, confetti, noisemakers, and stuff like that. And resolutions.

Ah, resolutions.  Those 'commitments' we make to ourselves,and  post on social media, asking family and friends to PROMISE to help us stick with them.

Or, if you're the introverted type, maybe you scribble yours down on small pieces of paper, commit them to memory, and eat the evidence.

Or, boldly put them in a jar, in plain sight, your words encouraging (taunting?) you each time you walk by.


We're all familiar with the old standbys: quitting smoking; saving money; losing weight; being kind to old people and strangers; cutting out the swearing; going to church.

Joining a gym is another big one, although many fewer people actually go to a gym than join one. According to a report on NPR the average Planet Fitness has about 6,500 members, but can hold only abut 300 at a time, fortunately. The report also noted that these places count on the inactive members to subsidize the active ones. (Hey -wait a minute - that sounds just like the health insurance scam that Gruber guy got in trouble for!)

Another modern thing to do is to sign up for one of those websites where you publish your commitment and then have to pay others if you don't uphold your end of the bargain, or otherwise be publicly shamed. And while I'm wondering, on this last Wednesday of 2014, why anyone would do that and whether people who do actually stick with it any longer than people stick with the gyms they resolve to join, I know that it's not for me.

I don't consistently make New Year's resolutions; I don't always tell  people when I do, and I don't always keep them.  How's that for honesty?

Instead, I try to focus on things, or maybe try something, rather than resolving to do something. To me, the latter seems too much like performance management, and less like personal development.

Here's my working list for 2015, which is apt to fluctuate over time, or on a whim:

• I'll likely attempt some kind of 30-day fitness challenge to work on my abs, butt, and arms, but I'm going in with the full realization that I'll still have abs, a butt, and arms when I'm done. 
• I'll try and lift my face with more smiles than frowns.
• I'll try to eat less, but not less well.
• I'll try to be more engaged in my physical community, not just my online community. There are times when the sword (or rake, or shovel, or going to a meeting or a protest) is actually mightier than the pen - I'm sure of it.
• I will try and read more books, if for no other reason than our house is full of them. And I will try and listen to more music (see reason above). 
• I will try and breathe more deeply, and take in more of that which surrounds me. 

The point of being resolute at the beginning of a year is to try and make things better somehow, as if we cannot possibly be accepting of ourselves as we are. As I look at my list, I think the things that I've written down are reasonably accepting, reasonably moderate, with no concrete deadlines or anything. And I'm OK with that. 

The only one I'm going to be really firm on is this: 

• I'm going to figure out exactly how to put my coffee mug in the microwave so that the handle is accessible when the turntable stops.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, accepting, moderate, and happy New Year!