Corky Pickering

It's the time of year when we have to turn the lights on when we get up. At least you do if you or your dog gets up at six o'clock. It's the same thing – you both have to get up. I like daylight at 5:30 in the summer. Whenever I get up in […]

Corky Pickering | Columnist Is it because I'm older and just don't care or is it the result of new technology?

I don't scare easily, but I just finished a book that scared the living daylights out of me.

Passwords. The bane of our existence, along with pin numbers and secret words. What are we supposed to do with all of them? You can have your computer save them or put them in the cloud. Then you only need to remember one password to access everything, right? Well, I don't trust it. Everything seems to get hacked eventually, so why not my password bank? Why bother trying to scam folks when you can empty out their bank and retirement accounts? I heard on NPR lately about a man with over $200M in bitcoins locked up because he lost his password.

Aside from all this unexpected fall heat, this week is my birthday. Nothing new about that. It's been happening every year. I received my first congratulatory text today at 5:55 a.m. from my oldest daughter. She always likes to be the first. Her brother's good wishes came in at 6:41, which is also impressively early. The grandkids clocked in too. I asked how old they thought I was, and my grandson said “63?” I said, “Older.” “64?” Then I told him my age, which is in the 70s, to which he replied – “I thought you were younger.” Gotta love those grandkids!

Is lighting important to you? It certainly is to me. Some folks could care less as long as they have enough light to see. But I have to have the right kind of lighting, or I'm not happy. I don't know if it's because of some artistic sensitivity or the fact that I like to […]

I finally received my latest piece of modern gadgetry. Amazon Prime got it to me in just over three weeks.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a small get-together we were planning with friends and neighbors at a “spot down by the river.” Well, it finally happened. And that “spot” was E's Locker Room. We had 14 folks (15 if our neighbor's mom could have made it – we missed you, Arlene). It was a fun time. The food was good and plentiful, and the weather cooperated (even if it did get a bit brisk after sundown). It appears that the opportunity for some long overdue payback for our neighbors' generosity was a success.

I received some bad news from the dentist during my last check-up. Subscribe to continue reading this article. Originally Published:

It is said that memory is the first thing to go when we get older (or is it the knees?). I wrote about memory over six years ago. I guess it's a good sign that I remembered. Human recollection can be extremely flawed, and even the legal world realized long ago that “eyewitness” testimony is often flawed.