If you want to be in the picture, sit on this side of the table.
Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, Leonardo da Vinci, was born on this day in 1452. (died 1519).
Today is April 15, the day our tax returns are due to the IRS. It’s also the 103 anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and the 150th anniversary of the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Astute readers will remember that I don’t believe in coincidence. Julius Caesar may have had to beware the Ides of March. I think there’s good cause to beware the Ides of April.
Or perhaps it’s Beware the IRS in April.
On Sunday, my wife, the younger son and I took an impromptu road trip to Washington, DC. No, we weren’t visiting the IRS.
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Astute readers will recall that some 29 years and two weeks-ish ago, I proposed under the cherry blossoms. It was the perfect day with perfect weather.
As an aside, you just need to know that I’m still darned good with this event stuff.
Sunday was also a perfect day with the perfect weather. We got to the Jefferson Memorial around 6:00 p.m.
True, we should have been there sooner, but traffic heading up I-95 was a challenge. More than once we considered turning around. But by the time we made it to just below Fredericksburg, my stubborn gene kicked in and I refused to surrender. It was a good call.
Parking was also a bit of a challenge, or so we thought. We had Siri find us a parking lot, but as we were turning the corner, a car pulled out and we got on the street parking. Remember, I don’t believe in coincidence.
The other challenge, after nearly three hours of sitting in the car was finding a convenient restroom. Actually it was finding any restroom. Starbucks was closed, so we finally turned toward the lobby of an upscale hotel. We told the 15-year-old just to walk like we knew what we were doing. We got in and out with hotel staff even greeting us and telling us to have a good day. I wasn’t even carrying a clipboard. (Points to those who get the movie reference).
The walk around the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin was every bit as wonderful as we had anticipated. It is possible that there were more people than cherry blossoms, but we didn’t care. We were also reminded about how truly diverse the population of Washington, DC is.
It was late and we were all tired, so we didn’t actually do the loop around The Washington Monument like I had wanted to. We’ll go back for that. The home schooler will be studying world history next year, so there are museums to visit.
As usual, I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post. I’ve been in one of those I want to retire but how can I sustain my income moods this week. I don’t have the answer to that.
Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing has been talking a lot lately about finding your audience and finding the right niche.
Much like this post, mine seems to be a bit all over the place.
Do I refine this blog to a specific topic and attempt to market and sell only that? Do I start a new blog? Do I give up the concept of blogging altogether?
One of Iny’s exercises is to write down on one sheet your passions and on another your expertise, then you compare the two.
Seriously, my answers were all over the map. And I didn’t find any intersections.
I’m interested in too many things. I talked recently about distractions.
It’s difficult to focus when your passions are the distractions.
Julia Child said:
Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.
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