D – Professional Image – In the beginning it is everything, and in the end it is more. At the start it is dress and comportment, diction and style. In the interim it is simply very important. Finally it is your legacy, and it is probably you.

E – Choose a Job You Love – If money is not the main object always choose a job you love. Sometimes here you can even consider a lateral move. If the salary is preeminently relevant, then it is more complicated. Then you might need us.

F – www.saleryexpert.com – If money is the priority perhaps you start here. You need to know your real value. Be careful and be conservative. After you know it, forget it for awhile.

G – Application Forms are Legal Documents – They can (and should, and sometimes do) hold you responsible for what you put down on your application. An employer can fire you ten days, or even 10 years, later if they find you lied. History can bite. Be careful and be right.

H – The Latest Parachute – In this age of telescoping time the latest edition is the currency of choice. With a changing world the update can be crucial. It is not only the color, it is the currency, in more ways than one. What Color Is Your Parachute? 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008? It’s relevant.

I – Fill It Out At Home – Whenever possible take the form home. Bring it home, fill it out, bring it back. Accuracy counts. Thinking counts. Honesty counts. And you can be held accountable. Speed and convenience are not the object – getting and keeping the position are.

J – Transferable Skills – Throughout your career you should put emphasis on acquiring transferable competences. They are marketable and increase your value. We are not talking trade secrets here, but the tools of trade. They should be stressed in interviews, résumés, and self-evaluation.

K – Job Satisfaction – Evaluate and balance carefully this consideration. It is worth a lot, but it is not everything, and it shifts considerably with mood. Jobs and careers tend to be long term, but this aspect is often viewed short term. Be careful and be balanced.

L – Transition Strategies – Often, if there is no immediate imperative, time can be taken with transition strategies. Thoughtful and deeper considerations can be mulled and put into play thus leading to more productive change. Planning rather than speed can pay off.

Continued below / Originally appeared in Tricolors Magazine October 10, 2006 / CQ 682 / © 2006 / TPS

M – Compensation Considerations – A counselor here is frequently cost effective. It is an area fraught with misjudgments and lack of precise information. Step into this realm with a slow and careful gait. Dispassionate impartiality is what you should strive for. Difficult.

N – Specific Examples – Be concrete. Train yourself to give specific examples in your answers to questions. Always have particular illustrations of your main attributes in mind before you are asked any questions. Reply with numbers and instances.

O – Re-adaptation – Change is a constant. Adapt and readapt. If you are a little older try to think a little younger. The way it has always been done is not always the only way, nor even necessarily the best way. Still, sometimes it is. Know why.

P – Color Coding – Be organized and appear organized. Color coding is one way. Numbers and charts are another. There are some exceptions in the creative fields, but to seem organized is, in most areas, a big plus. Being so is even more so.

Q – Gender Relations – A minefield! A mind field! A mine. We are all human and we are all equal. Remember and respect that, and remember the Golden Rule. No problem.

R – Mention Money Last – Keep it imprecise and in a range in the beginning. Almost never mention it in the first contact and seldom even mention it in the first interview. Save it for the contract negotiations – if you get that far.

S – Know Your Value – Most people get this one wrong. Most people think they are worth more than they really are, and a few people think they are worth less. Get this one right. Be objective. HR people are usually fair, and you normally have to get past them to get to the real interview.

T – Fringe Benefits: Everybody is interested in them, but don’t be too interested. Here is where your company research can pay off and you can know some answers without asking. Save your questions till the second or third interview (contract negotiations).

Originally appeared in Tricolors Magazine October 10, 2006 / CQ 683 / © 2006 / TPS

Right on the Ile de la Cité, the very heart of Paris, turn your back on Notre-Dame and walk a block. It is a long block because it is the Préfecture of Police. Now you have found the Palais de Justice – the courtyard is impressive, but ignore it. Go inside! Just one block away from Notre-Dame you have found the only religious structure in all of Paris that truly rivals Notre-Dame itself. Sainte-Chapelle, a jewel of Gothic art almost beyond measure. A spire to inspire and 15 stained glass windows to transfix. Go inside! From the inside a kaleidoscope of light and colors that may be beyond compare in the entire world. The Rose Window at sunset is close to unbelievable and tells the story of the Apocalypse. The arches transfigure. Louis IX (Saint Louis) built the chapel in 1248 to house the Crown of Thorns and other major relics. Transcendent.

Original appearance June 25, 2005, © 2005 / SAINTE-CHAPELLE, (CHURCH) / 2 BLVD DU PALAIS, 75001 / 01 53 73 78 50 R / CIP 128, OO 03, RD 25, YP 30/14-25

OKAY THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT WILL BE SHORT. LET’S START WITH THE GREAT: DOMINIQUE. LET’S END WITH THE MIXED: FRANCE. AND, MY OH MY, WHAT AN IN-BETWEEN: TANYA, SHEILA, DESIREE, DANNY, MOTHER, FATHER, SISTERS (AND OH HOW I WISHED FOR A BROTHER WHICH I FINALLY GOT AT THE AGE FIFTY SOMETHING), KOALA, NIKITA. TEN MORE PEOPLE, MOSTLY WOMEN, AND A THOUSAND OTHER PLACES, MOSTLY GOOD. ENGLAND, NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, DEMING, FRANCE AND HEAVEN (AKA MY MOUNTAINS, THE SIERRA NEVADA). SOME GREAT, MOSTLY GOOD, A LITTLE BAD. AS ALWAYS, IN MY LIFE, A B+. BUT, IN ONE WORD? DOMINIQUE.

Original appearance April 17, 2007 / CIP2 575 / © 2007 / SHE

Original impressions from the very earliest days. Before there was A Cowboy in Paris I used to write letters. I recently came across this from one of them I wrote to someone who was going to come and visit:

Be prepared for a magnificent city – the boulevards are wide, the monuments awesome, the little streets charming, the history oozing and the cathedrals superb.

A little, and I do mean little, word of caution – everything is little here. The rooms, the cars, the people, the city, the appliances, the streets (but not the boulevards), virtually every object of everyday life is small by American standards. It is charming but tough on the elbows. The major exception to this rule is the prices. The supermarkets are small but the prices are big. The food is better, noticeably fresher and tastier, but the farmers are very heavily subsidized and the consumer pays. Everything is more expensive in Paris - except walking, and walking makes it all worthwhile.

Speaking of walking, don’t even think of driving. Parking is impossible, gas is prohibitive, streets are narrow, and, to put it politely, askew. There is no North, South, East or West, no rhyme or reason, direction or distance. On top of that the word maniac was first used to describe the first Parisian who drove, and things have gotten a lot worse since then. Every Parisian driver has but one rule – me first and fastest.

All that said, I can’t tell you how truly exquisite the city is. Superlatives pale in the glow of the City of Lights. Here’s to seeing it all from the top of the Eiffel Tower, a treat for me that I have saved for your visit.

Original appearance April 17, 2007 / CIP2 579 / © 2007 / CIP

Just the names, M’am – a cowboy has to talk straight: Edward Witten, Stephen Hawking, Mark Hadley, Christopher Fuchs, John Mather, George Smoot, Lawrence Krauss, Martin Rees, Brian Greene, Lee Smolin, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Werner Heisenberg, Isaac Newton, Max Planck, George Bernhard Riemann, Andrew Strominger, John Wheeler, John Nash, Bill Bryson, Ken Wilber, Rodney Brooks, Gordon Kane, Barton Zwiebach Raphael Bousso, Matt Crenson, M.C. Escher, Immanuel Kant, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Blaise Pascal, Lord Kelvin, Marcel Proust, Roger Penrose, Clifford Pickover, Dennis Overbye

I have read of, about, or by all of the above. I always try to give credit where credit is due, and acknowledge attribution when I should, but sometimes I either don’t know or I forget. If I didn’t attribute, and the idea is good, and the subject matter is physics, it probably originated, and or is bent out of shape, and amended from one of the above.

Original appearance April 17, 2007 / CIP2 578 / © 2007 / OAR

Less monuments, more moments. Less people, more philosophy. Less celebrity and more celebrating. Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata or Stephen Hawking’s ‘Grand Design.’ Big Bangs, the metric system and Möbius Strips. Cancer, Cern, physics and Alzheimer’s. Language and false friends – subjects all. The attribution will still be there, but the idea will be paramount. Less biographical and more philosophical. Hot ideas only because I’m passionate about them, not because they are hot. Idiots and ideas, but mostly, and hopefully, with a little ‘i’. We need more pronouns like we, and she, and even he. That one letter pronoun is overused, overcapitalized and underworthy. Concepts and notions of continental proportions – usually in sporadic, 5 paragraph meter.

Original appearance April 17, 2007 / CIP2 574 / © 2007 / CIP

Home away from home. Actually my favorite place in France is often the last place I visited, but this is even a little more special. It reminds me of Yosemite – my home, before Paris, for the last 25 years. It was glacially formed just like Yosemite and thus it’s topography and life style, it’s people and rhythm, it’s fauna and flora are all in sync with home. It features the largest natural lake in France (Lac du Bourget) and has been dotted with thermal spas since Roman times. Casinos, racetracks, and lake cruises flesh out the offerings. This place is my notion of A number 1. Then and now it even appealed to the carriage trade. Quite a few years ago it seems it used to attract one ‘Countess of Balmoral’. She visited on more than one occasion. Turns out it was Queen Victoria secretly slumming incognito.

And as an update, Yes, it was where we went on our honeymoon, March-April, 2007, - the Queen and I.

Original appearance Jan 10, 2006, © 2006 / ELSEWHERE / OUTSIDE PARIS / STILL IN FRANCE / SAVOY / SPA / AIX LES BAINS / CIP 156, OO 06, RD 10, YP 30/3-10

Aha! Just when you thought: “Fine! He promises A New Cowboy in Paris and then what happens? Nothing! Almost three weeks of nothing!! He promises us A New Beginning on March 21st and here it is, almost ½ of April gone, (okay, okay. 1/3rd ), and nothing! Nada!! Rien!!!” What he didn’t tell you was he was getting married on March 27th. He was going on a honeymoon on March 29th. He was returning on April 8th. And here it is April 9th – A Renewed Beginning. The rest of today’s entry he actually wrote before he left and he saved it for after he returned. So the old title (on the 21st) also still works: “A New Beginning …./…. The New Is The Old and Vice Versa.”

Original appearance April 9, 2007 / CIP2 581 / © 2007 / CIP

An open letter to: Witten, Hawkins, Hadley, Fuchs, Mather, Smoot, Krauss, Rees, Greene, Smolin et al.

Some years ago, nearer the dawn of the computer age, I served as a bridge between programmers and users. ‘Nerds and Not’ may have been another way to put it. They spoke two different languages. Neither could understand virtually a word of what the other said. The distance between binary and singularity was infinite.

Now I am nearing the end of my active mind. I would like to offer a few thoughts I have been juggling for many years to someone who certainly could evaluate them, and perhaps even deepen them. I do not pretend to be a physicist, but I remain convinced that sometimes a layman is dumb enough to make a contribution. We mortals can sometimes see both the forest and the trees.

A culled list of some of my musings. Some questions, no answers and surely a few idiocies:

1 What if a Möbius strip is the shape of everything?

2 What if Time and Temperature are inversely proportional to Mass and Energy?

3 What if opposites aren’t – what if far is near?

4 Does it begin and end in a Planck length? And is that the new beginning?

5 Does the pride or hubris of pure physics interfere with the search for verifiable hypothesis via alternate disciplines?

6 Do quantum jitters reappear at the edges of our universe?

7 If #2 above is true, does that cast light on why light cannot escape a black hole?

8 Is musical rhythm, consonance, harmony, and/or discordance and dissonance mathematically relevant to our inquiry?

9 What if 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 10 were all there was?

10 What if you were Mr. Einstein and I was Mr. Kaluza and it was 2019?

If you are still reading, Thank you for your time.

Original appearance April 9, 2007 / CIP2 576 / © 2007 / OAR