This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

This is one of several departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit, which could mean I am a dictator.  So be it.

The others are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of “Just Saying.”

So, here are more “inquiring minds” issues.

HOW IN THE WORLD DOES…the Internet allow you to ask a question such as this – what do I do to restore the linkage between my laptop and my printer – and get an answer in seconds?

I need to ask my grandson, a technology expert, to get the answer.

Our printer is one from H-P, so, with some hesitancy, my wife and I chose to consult on-line with H-P staff.  They were able to give us great help, plus advise us on general improvements related to our equipment, including additional security protections. 

Good work, even on-line, which normally is more frustrating than helpful.

AND HOW IN THE WORLD DOES…the Internet, in only seconds, give me exactly what I want to know when I ask who won professional golf tournaments last weekend?

I only need to type in a few words and up come the results.

For example, I wondered this morning how three players from Oregon did in the U.S. Amateur.  Took me only moments to find out.  Unfortunately, none of three made match play.

As I think about the Internet, my mind goes back to the time when all of us had bookshelves full of encyclopedias.  No longer.  And no need.