Craig Ruvere

29Oct 2013 by CJ

Adultery shows just how little we care about each other

It’s incredibly frustrating and utterly disrespectful that nothing in life is truly “private” any more. Spam email is one of my biggest annoyances – for on any given day my inbox is littered with dozens of unsolicited emails that require my personal time to unsubscribe to. Doesn’t seem fair, but then again who ever said that life was. Lately I’ve noticed countless emails for Medicare enrollment and motorized scooters (come on – I’m only 38 years old!); travel deals and concert tickets; and most recently dating sites for all races, genders, ages and fetishes. Frightening really. But today I received spam mail with a subject line I recognized immediately from a column I wrote back in July of 2009. AshleyMadison.com is a dating site geared towards those men and women…

28Oct 2013 by CJ

Life is a revolving door – make the most of the time you’re here

Life & Living

This weekend I happily played the role of chauffeur to and from Newark International Airport. On Saturday I dropped off my in-laws for a week-long stay in Colorado, and on Sunday I picked up a dear friend returning from a pleasurable trip to Germany. Different airlines; different terminals; same lousy airport to try and navigate through. This coming and going is probably insignificant to most – as traveling across the country or across the globe is not an infrequent occurrence for business or recreational purposes. But for some reason, on this particular weekend, I began to look at things a little more metaphorically. My chauffeur services reminded me just how often people come and go from our lives. It’s a sad reality, but nothing stays the same in life –…

25Oct 2013 by CJ

Being thankful for the things you already have

Generosity & Kindness

This week started off with what I suspected to be allergies, but unfortunately it turned out to be a cold. I hate when I’m sick - so does my wife. For I readily admit that I turn into a 5 year old boy – whining and looking for coddling as often as possible. To spare her some of my germs – and my constant snoring due to sinus congestion – I’ve spent the last few nights sleeping in our guest room. Lonely, yes, but why should we both be tired in the morning? Last night, for some reason, I just couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was only breathing out of one nostril! It was during my time in the darkness, my…

21Oct 2013 by CJ

In life never settle for less than you deserve

Life & Living, Youth

I recently came across this anonymous quote and wanted to share it with all of you: “I've made mistakes in my life. I've let people take advantage of me and I've accepted way less than I deserve. But, I've learned from my bad choices and even though there are some things I can never get back and people who will never be sorry, I know better next time and I won't settle for anything less than I deserve.” I was struck most profoundly by the line – “I won’t settle for anything less than I deserve.” Far too often we convince ourselves that we must accept our current circumstances – that there’s nothing more we should expect out of life. We grow complacent and secure in our environments, but are…

18Oct 2013 by CJ

Teacher evaluations should be adopted by all employers

Information & Education, Life & Living

Many of you are probably unaware of this, but teachers in New Jersey must now adhere to a rigorous evaluation process (instituted by Governor Chris Christie and his team) in order to measure their overall effectiveness in the classroom. While evaluations, in both the private and public sectors, have been practiced religiously for decades, I’m not sure they’ve ever been utilized to this degree. Over the duration of the school year, teachers will find themselves observed 18 times in 10 months – rated as effective or ineffective. When the final results are tallied, enough ineffective scores are grounds for dismissal. This evaluation process got me to thinking – why isn’t the rest of the working world adopting such a lofty measurement system? I’ll tell you why. Because if this evaluation…