16 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
1. Grandson Eli starts the Memory game with me. (He likes to go first. And to make up the rules too.)
2. Eli, legitimately, crushes me in the first game.
3. In game two, Eli (barely) loses. Has minor ‘meltdown’ (formerly referred to as a ‘tantrum’).
(OK. The pictures aren’t as good as Ellen takes. But you get the point.)
My question is about winning and losing.
09 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
Tags
Our family tends to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, weddings (one of those coming up soon) and other good occasions for about a week for each one. And so Saturday started the week of celebration for Ryan Orgad’s first birthday. The actual day is Thursday, but we always get these things started early.
Mostly, I’ll let Ellen’s pictures below tell Sunday’s story, but there is one piece I want to add:
Before Annie was born, Ellen and I were talking about what our hopes were for our first born. I remember saying, “I hope he/she has a wonderful smile.” If you’ve followed Annie these three plus decades, you know that indeed happened.
But so did something else. Annie married Edan Orgad who has his own wonderful smile. And then they had three kids in five years, each of them came with a wonderful smile too.
Enjoy the photos:
30 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
Do you have (or know someone who has) a laptop computer that is not being used?
How about an iPad, a tablet, or even an e-reader (Kindle, etc.)?
You can put your ‘used’ technology to good use by donating it to The Rainforest Academy in rural Belize. Your donation will help young people who do not presently have access to technology.
28 Monday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
12. “You may be Big Brother, and I may be Little Brother right now. But one day, when I am 2 inches taller than you and outweigh you by 16 pounds, you will be Elder Brother, and I will be Younger Brother.”
Submitted by Land Weyland of Chino, California.
When I asked Land if he was Big Brother, Little Brother, Elder Brother, and/or Younger Brother, he wrote:
24 Thursday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
21 Monday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
Readers of MillersTime know I enjoy offering contests of various types.
Today I am posting one that everyone can enjoy, with no need for any expertise at all.
I’m looking for the Best Caption for the photo below of grandson Eli, who is five, tho he looks enormous, as he plays with/looms over his 10-month old brother Ryan.
06 Sunday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends, Go Sox
Tags
2014 Ring & Flag Ceremony, Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, Fenway's Finest, The "Bricks", The Family
April 4, 2014 – At Fenway Park to Celebrate the 2013 Magical Season
Outside Fenway:
Inside Fenway:
On the Field:
02 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in Family and Friends, Go Sox
The story behind the picture:
Most folks who follow the Red Sox and keep an eye on the President thought that the Sox visit to the White House was to recognize the magical year my heroes had going from last to first. And most of the press focused on Papi taking a “selfie” with Obama.
However, I can reveal here on MillersTime that that was only part of the story.
My good friend and buddy Nelson, through his beisbol contacts, arranged for my two heroes (backed by the entire Red Sox team) to personally wish me a Happy Birthday.
How’s that for friendship?
25 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted in Articles & Books of Interest, Family and Friends
No.
I’m not referring to either of the recent Atlantic Monthly articles that seem to have opposite conclusions: Hanna Rosen’s Hey! Parents, Leave Those Kids Alone or Alfie Kohn’s The Over-Protected Kid.
I’m referring to a short New Yorker article entitled New Parenting Study Released with this opening paragraph:
A recent study has shown that if American parents read one more long-form think piece about parenting they will go fucking ape shit.
Read it through yourself, being sure to get to the last couple of paragraphs.
17 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
So much to appreciate and to celebrate:
* One daughter, after three months of training and along with some friends, completed her first 1/2 marathon, cheered on by her husband, her three children, and her mother.
* One daughter left Miami after two and a half years and arrived in Kansas City to join her fiance and to complete the final ten weeks of her job with the Knight Foundation, before celebrating her June 21, 2014 wedding.
* Soon to retire from her 42 years working in the public interest world, Ellen — wife, mother, grandmother — is profiled in Chronicle of Philanthropy, witnesses one daughter’s first 1/2 marathon run, spends extended time with her three grandchildren, and squeezes in time to find a possible dress for her other daughter’s wedding.
*And I, Richard — husband, father and GrandPapa- – and partner in the establishment and operation of a school for troubled kids and their families for 32 years, spent the weekend in New Orleans. There, along with four other founders of The Family Foundation, Inc. and The Frost School, I participated in planning for the Foundation’s expanded mission for its final ten years, and successfully found a bit of time for the delights of New Orleans.
Definitely a weekend to remember.
16 Sunday Mar 2014
Posted in Family and Friends, Go Sox
24 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Family and Friends
Ellen posted the following on her blog at Sunlight Foundation today:
It’s time for some personal and professional transparency.
After a long, challenging and very satisfying career in public interest work, I have decided that it’s time to retire. When I was a young congressional staffer, I thought changing the world was going to be a sprint. In the middle of my career, when I launched the Center for Responsive Politics and then started Public Campaign, I thought it was going to be a marathon and you just had to be a long distance runner; so I trained up for that. Now, after eight years building and running the Sunlight Foundation, I now see this process as a relay race — and one where I’m glad to say there are many other great people running alongside me, including the terrific team we have built here at Sunlight. It’s truly extraordinary. And it’s time to pass the baton.
I recently informed the Sunlight board of my intention to step down by the end of 2014. The board has appointed a search committee, and a job description for interested applicants for the Executive Director position will be posted soon. Before I leave, I’m going to make sure that Sunlight is in the strongest shape possible for my successor, because the work we do here is absolutely vital.
Sunlight’s uses of open data and the web have created an exploding interest in civic technologies as tools for accountability. Our mantra around openness and transparency — not just for governments but for society as a whole — have taken root and are becoming the norm. Our open (by default) data, software and platforms have pioneered a new standard for many organizations. And Sunlight’s vision to use technology to enable more complete, equitable and effective democratic participation has inspired many throughout the world.
I couldn’t be more pleased or grateful to all who have worked with me at Sunlight toward all these accomplishments. I especially want to single out and thank Mike Klein, Sunlight’s co-founder, who was an unwavering partner and personal inspiration during my tenure. I also couldn’t be more grateful for all the extraordinary support we’ve received, both large and small, for this work.
I truly believe that open and equal access to information is the bedrock of democracy. Without it, citizens cannot make informed decisions. With it, citizens learn who and what they can trust. This belief has always been the passion of my life as it will always be the Sunlight Foundation’s goal.
11 Tuesday Feb 2014
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends
Tags
"Beyond the Beautiful Forevers", Bengaluru/Bangalore, Chennai/Madras, Gujarat, India, Kolkata/Calcutta, Kutch, Mumbai/Bombay, The Experiment in International Living
In January, Ellen and I were in India, Ellen as a co-host for a conference in Bengaluru (Bangalore) on corruption and transparency and both of us for a celebration of 50 years knowing and being part of an Indian family.
For me, there have always been two Indias, and I think Ellen has captured some of both in her photos below and in a slide show of additional pictures.
09 Monday Dec 2013
Those of you who have nothing better to do than read MillersTime may have seen my post last week (Shameless Promotion) where in I touted my wife’s Sunlight Foundation. I wrote about how anyone can designate her organization to receive 0.5% of the cost of all eligible purchases from Amazon (or these contributions could be directed to any of the more than one million organizations participating in this Amazon Smile ‘give back’ program).
A number of you objected to supporting Amazon in any way, writing that this mammoth organization’s business practices among other things contribute to putting independent bookstores out of business, hurt local taxation, and take traffic away from local businesses.
My view was that as long as people are buying from Amazon, why not have some of the cost of those purchases, even though it is a very minor amount, be contributed to local or national charities?
It did not take long for one of my daughters (ERM) to set me straight on Amazon’s Smile Program and this issue. In an email the day I posted Shameless Promotion, she told me to read the first four paragraphs of a post by Lucy Bernholz of Philanthropy Wonk, which I quote here:
03 Tuesday Dec 2013
Tags
Amazon's Smile Program, Charitable Giving, Ellen Miller, Money and Politics, Open Govenrment, Open Secrets, Public Campaign, The Center for Responsive Politics, The Sunlight Foundation, Transparency
Have I got a deal for you!
If you use Amazon for on-line shopping, you can have them automatically support your favorite charity (their participating charities now number almost one million). They will contribute 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charity/charities you so designate.
