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Welcome to the real world of business!

A few years ago, Lynnda and I were on vacation in mid-July with our youngest son and his family. Lauren, his second oldest was getting ready to go off to college. She was working a part-time summer job. During the vacation she announced she wanted to quit because, “They want me to work three days in a row.” My son responded, “Lauren, that is what it is like in the real world. Your mother and I work five days a week and sometimes on Saturdays.” Lauren stared at her dad. “I don’t know how you do it!” Lauren has grown a lot in the last four years. She worked summer ...

Watching magic being made one step at a time

I’ve been watching magic happen right before my eyes. My husband, Mike, doesn’t make his living as a magician, but that doesn’t mean he gives his craft any less effort when the occasion calls for him to invest some of his time and creativity. There are certain groups, businesses and organizations who ask him to perform for them on an annual basis. The Oglebay Mansion, for example, features his show every Christmas season. Now, as the school year is winding down, Mike is scheduled to perform at an elementary school in West Virginia;s Northern Panhandle in the coming week. ...

Hydrogen hype is no substitute for common sense energy policy

We shouldn’t pretend green hydrogen is the future just because Europe is wasting billions on it. Department of Energy Secretary Wright said concerning hydrogen, “it’s time to look at the facts.” Facts don’t favor green hydrogen, which is why the DOE will examine “co-financing, offtake agreements and good engineering” in deciding whether to continue spending $7 billion on hydrogen hubs. Let’s start with the basics: today, 99% of hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, and more specifically natural gas and coal. Green hydrogen is less than 1% of our energy use, and it ...

Honor Mom on Mother’s Day and every day

How old am I? Recently, Prince Harry was seeking to repair any damage to the family that his book may have caused and also, he did not feel there was enough security being offered for him and his family while in England. One of the reasons he wants to reconcile is because he does not know how long his father has to live with his fight with cancer. One of the big stories over the past few years was that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were quitting their duties as the royal family. I don’t know how many times that has happened, but I know they are not the first. Yet still the act, the ...

Life lessons learned from great teachers, our moms

I was one lucky kid. My mom was a great teacher, and I was fortunate enough to have her teaching me before she ever ran a classroom of her own. Sadly, my mom, Grace Compston, died nearly nine years ago. As Mother’s Day approached this year and I found myself thinking about her, my thoughts turned to all that I learned from her — both as a child and as an adult. What are some of the most important lessons you learned from your mother? When I think back, I can hear Mom’s voice singing in many of my earliest memories of her. Whether we were at church where she sang hymns ...

Changing our region for the better with workers and technology

It is hard to believe the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977, almost 50 years ago. The droids (robots) were important characters. People talked to the droids as they would with any human. The droids in Star Wars do tasks like humans do today. Some of you may remember The Jetsons, a TV cartoon in the 1960s about a family living 100 years in the future. They had a flying car. Their housekeeper was a robot who did the cooking, laundry and house cleaning. My wife, Lynnda wants to have a robot to do household tasks. The closest we have is a couple of circle bot carpet sweepers. What ...