Remembering Dad: The Newspaper Beating

I don’t know what compelled me to sit on the porch and yell "Mr. and Mrs. Elephant" at Mr. and Mrs. Anderson as they were leaving their house and getting into their car that day. I do know, however, that I regretted it the moment I saw them heading across the street toward our house.

Inner Struggles

Principled guards fidget again.
Conscience beckoned from deep within.
Natures coming into sight. 
Is right best? Is best right?

Conflict

My nature, my will,
my conscience confronts.
Soldiers lie dead
stricken in spot.
Lightning crashes around!
Dangerous dark clouds
hinder lights of yore.
Funnels swoop down
to alter what was
with neither reason
nor rhyme.

Envisioning Infinity

“This is some kind of joke,” I thought to myself as I approached the check-in counter at the Infinity Hotel because it seemed that was the only part of it that existed. If it weren’t real, though, surely I would have seen disgruntled people leaving, but the seemingly endless line had just kept moving. I approached the man behind the counter, and told him that it seemed like I had waited in line forever.

“It was much longer than forever,” he replied. And from that point, the conversation just became more confusing.

Meet Goldwing Tom

I rode a Goldwing, and my name is Tom, but I did not get my nickname because of my devotion to Honda. It was a matter of timing. The story is in the post How I Became Goldwing Tom. 

My name is Tom Koecke. I have always seen things a bit differently than most people. I have also written many short articles and posts over the years. Many of those articles were lost when content farms that I wrote on closed down without notice. Many of them are still on paper and haven't made it onto my blogs. 

The Pains of Learning ( Newsletter - Issue 296 in June 2000)

When I was in the third grade, a couple of buddies and I were goofing around during math. Mrs. Olson called the three of us up to get hacks. Joe got the first one as Blaine and I awaited our turns. The whack of the paddle across Joe's posterior didn't catch our attention quite as much as her breaking the paddle. When she replaced her paddle two days later, it would have been unjust to spank me. I did my work and kept my mouth shut. By today's standards, this would be considered abusive. It did affect my psyche. All the way into college, I did math during math courses -- all because of the hack that Mrs. Olson didn't give me.

Marketing Bankruptcy (Newsletter: Issue 295 in May 2000)

In the '80s, we began recommending non-obligatory agreements with full disclosure as the way to recover unsecured money in bankruptcy. Hardly anyone listened. Within a few years Voluntary Repayment Agreements (VRAs) started being used. By this time, we were recommending that members who were no significant collection problems be offered retention of their lines of credit in exchange for VRAs. Hardly anyone listened. To date, our Bankruptcy Program clients have recovered hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars using this strategy.

The Kids Are Back! (August 1999)

Note: This was originally an article in the Newsletter that our company published. This particular article was in Issue 286 from August 1999.

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As hard as it is to raise two daughters (one a teenager, and the other on the verge), it is always harder for me when they leave for the east coast to visit their mother during the summer. The 46 consecutive weeks of "I need this" and "I want that" should probably prelude a welcome 6-week break, but there's a hollow feeling when the kids are gone.

A Parrothead Looks at 40 (January 1998)

Note: This is an article written for the Newsletter, which was a monthly publication put out by the family business. It was published in January 1998.

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I recently found a lode of music that included an 8-track recording of a live performance by Jimmy Buffett called You Had to be There. It sent me into another Parrothead phase.

For those of you who don't know what a Parrothead is, it is simply a devout Jimmy Buffett fan. He has looked at life humorously through his music for more than 30 years. Being a Parrothead requires an attitude that life is good even when things aren't.