Stories by: Chuck Yoke

In the novel From Russia with Love, author, Ian Fleming, describes the waiting platform for the Orient Express as throbbing with the “tragic poetry of departure”. Whether we are the ones boarding the train or the ones standing on the platform watching others depart, the act of departure often brings feelings of emptiness, loneliness and sadness.

Growing up in a family with a strong work ethic, I often heard variations of the phrase "keep your head out of the clouds and your feet on the ground." To my parents, if you had your head in the clouds you were a dreamer wasting your life on fantasies and unrealistic goals. The successful were those who had their feet firmly planted on the ground of reality.

I received an interesting e-mail the other day. It was an advertisement for a Web site (i.e. spam) that supposedly offered Swiss watches for sale. Now I get a lot of this type of spam every day, but there was one thing that set this one apart -- it was from me!