Long May You Dance

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Travel | 4 Comments

Matt Harding’s videos of himself dancing all over the world make you want to jump up and dance… in your office, in the street, in your home, anywhere. Matt started doing these videos in 2005, but my favourite is the 2008 video, which has people everywhere wildly joining in with him. It’s priceless and so very happy-making. Thanks, Matt, you are one big goofy fab trip, long may you dance. The website www.wherethehellismatt.com tells you all about it.

Looking Up and Down

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Environment | 6 Comments

Maybe things will start to look up here on earth if we each could spend a little time looking up.  Professor Andrea Ghez of UCLA Galactic Center Group has been looking up for a long time.  She is developing high spatial resolution imaging techniques to see things in our galaxy and far out into space previously not visible with traditional imaging technology.  Her work in observing space at infrared wavelengths may well prove the hypothesis that there is a massive black hole at the center of our galaxy.  Don’t panic, we still have a few billion years in which to come up with a Plan B.  Read more

Simply Giving Thanks

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Group Posts | 2 Comments

The uniquely American celebration of Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.  When I started to write this blog I was trying to list all of the things I am thankful for.  Then it occurred to me how simple this annual celebration is.  Just before winter comes we are prompted to reflect on the all the wonderful stuff we have been given that blesses us physically and spiritually.

Times are tough, but we can choose not to dwell on the difficulties for a little while and simply enjoy and be thankful.  Let’s gather with our “families”—the definition is as broad and diverse as the world we inhabit—get out the board games, play cards, talk, laugh and share with everyone, youngest to oldest, and simply enjoy this precious time we have together.

I am thankful that this blog gave me the opportunity to think about the meaning of my favorite holiday.

Hunting, Gathering and Investing

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Environment | 6 Comments

Indian Summer has arrived on the great northern plains; the days are golden and warm. There are many hypotheses for the origin of the time of the year known as “Indian Summer.” The one I like best describes the sudden reappearance of warm sunny days after the first frost when native North Americans gathered in their corn and squash for the coming winter.

Fall is a reflective time and this year I am prompted to consider my New Year’s resolution and see how well I have done with my year of secondhand living. I did buy a new top from Target in August. The one I was wearing bore the results of a “missing mouth with coffee cup” accident in my office and I had a client meeting that afternoon. Apart from that I have bought no new clothes, no new shoes, no new things for the house. Read more

Fall-ing

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Politics | 7 Comments

The trees are changing colours in the upper Midwest.  Fall is here (or Autumn as I like to say) and I find myself without the usual melancholia that heralds this dramatic seasonal shift.   This year I feel an excitement and anticipation in the air that has perked me right up.  Could it be love? No, I do not have a new man in my life, but it feels a lot like falling head over Manolos.

How is this feeling possible?  Wars are endless, American politics have never been more desperate and a worldwide financial crisis threatens, but I have fallen in love with possibilities and my view of the world matches the vibrant colors of the season.  I am lit up like a maple at the prospects of what can happen over the next few months. Read more

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Reinvention | 8 Comments

Haven’t we all fantasized about suddenly and magically being able to exploit some hidden attribute to the astonishment and envy of our friends?  Leap on stage and play brilliant jazz piano, grab the mike and really rock a song like Amy Winehouse or Sassy Vaughn, or in a critical lifesaving moment, fluently burst into the right foreign language—all without the years of practice, not to mention having the actual talent in the first place. Waltermittyosis is a condition that I am certain affects 99 percent of the population.  What about the other one percent?  They include the aforementioned chanteuses, Marion McPartland, Diana Krall and thousands of well-studied multilinguists—all who know what it takes to get to Carnegie Hall.

I have always wanted to have some form of certification for the type of legal work I do.  Read more

Everything on a Stick

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Politics | 6 Comments

September in Minnesota usually means we have had our one last howl at summer—the Minnesota State Fair—and we are becoming a little morose at the promise of winter. This year though, we have the Republican National Convention to prolong our collective noisemaking, some howling and some cheering. I will be among the howlers.

For the uninitiated I should explain that the Minnesota State Fair is essentially an edible experience that hopefully does not lead to gastronomic bypass surgery. Eating at the fair is the most physically daring feat we can do: our version of polar bear hugging. Fair food is deep-fried, battered and deep-fried, or battered and deep-fried, then fixed on a stick. Read more

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