This is a new site highlighting my autobiography with my name David B Katague spelled backwards. The photo above is Chateau Du Mer Beach House in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines. Photo taken in the Spring of 2012.
A Pompano at the Door: A Morning I Will Never Forget
This morning began like any other, until it didn’t.
When I opened my door this morning, there was a package waiting for me. Inside: a perfectly fried pompano, steaming white rice, and bok choy. No note. No name. Just one of my favorite fish dishes, prepared with care and intention.
For a moment, I simply stood there, surprised and a little puzzled. I called the front desk to ask if I had a visitor earlier that morning. They checked. No record. No outside guest. No delivery log.
That’s when a quiet realization settled in:this had to be an inside job.
As I prepared to head over to Newton’s Restaurant for my take-home brunch buffet, my mind was already full, wondering who would know my love for pompano, and who would take the time to do something so thoughtful without seeking credit. Gratitude and curiosity followed me as I stood in line, packing my brunch containers.
And then, one of those moments that stays with you.
Just as I finished filling my first dish, a voice behind me asked softly:
“Did you like the pompano?”
I turned around, and there she was, Martha Rodriguez, one of my favorite servers here at The Heritage Downtown.
I didn’t hesitate. I hugged her and thanked her profusely. The mystery was solved, but the meaning of the moment only deepened.
Martha told me that pompano is her daughter’s favorite fish, and when she bought one for her family, she decided to purchase an extra, for me. No announcement. No expectation. Just a simple, generous act of kindness.
In all my years of living, writing, and observing human nature, I have learned this: True kindness is almost always quiet.
This was not about the fish, though it was delicious. It was about being seen. Remembered. Thought of.
Acts like this remind me why The Heritage Downtown, Walnut Creek, is not just where I live, it is home. This is an active senior living community, yes, but more importantly, it is a place where the kitchen staff, servers, and support teams bring their humanity to work every single day.
To Martha, and to all the kitchen and serving crew at THD: thank you. Thank you for the meals, the smiles, the conversations, and the countless small kindnesses that often go unnoticed, but never unfelt.
This one, I will never forget. And Martha, once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Tears of Joy, I am feeling now, as I write this posting. Below are articles, I have written and experience the Act of Kindness I have received from Friends and Strangers!
My Articles Related to the Act of Kindness and Pompano:
This Posting is inspired from my recent reading on Psychology Today as well as the the question I was often asked from several of my Fellow THD residents:
David, How Long Have you been Married?
I could personally identify with the tone of this article, after being married for over 63 years to one person
Marriage isn't just a legal status. Research shows it triggers universal personality shifts that make couples more dependable but less social and patient.
Marriage is more than a change in legal status; it is a catalyst for significant psychological transformation. According to a study tracking 169 newlyweds over 18 months, the first two years of marriage fundamentally alter core personality traits.
Men generally become more conscientious and dependable, while women experience increased emotional stability, reporting lower levels of anxiety and anger. However, this transition often leads to a decrease in "openness" as couples settle into domestic routines and a decline in extroversion as they prioritize their partner over their broader social circles.
These shifts appear to be a universal part of the marital experience, occurring regardless of age, whether a couple lived together beforehand, or if they have children. As the "courtship mask" of the early relationship fades, partners often become less patient and more disagreeable with one another. Because these personality changes are largely unavoidable, experts suggest that long-term success depends on more than just compatibility. Instead, the survival of a marriage relies on the active development of self-control and the practice of forgiveness to navigate the inevitable changes in how partners relate to each other.
Source: Lavner, J. A., Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. Personality change among newlyweds: Patterns, predictors, and associations with marital satisfaction. Developmental Psychology.
Meanwhile, here's my personal reflection on the above Topic: A Wisdom Learned after being Married for over 63 Years
When I first married, I believed, quietly, confidently that I more or less knew who I was. I had opinions shaped by years of work, success and failure, convictions earned the hard way, and emotional habits I mistook for wisdom. Marriage didn’t challenge those beliefs all at once. It did something far more effective. It lived with them. I was only 23 years old, then.
Marriage has a way of revealing the self you didn’t know you were still carrying. Not the polished public self, but the private one, the impatient one, the defensive one, the one that wants to be right more than it wants to be understood. No career review, therapy session, or solitary reflection ever held up that mirror for me the way marriage did.
I learned quickly that love does not erase our psychological wiring; it activates it.
The small moments were the most instructive. How I reacted when plans changed. How I responded to criticism I didn’t think was fair. How silence could feel safer than vulnerability. Marriage exposed patterns I had carried for decades without naming them. And once named, they could no longer hide.
What surprised me most was how deeply marriage reached into my past. Conflicts were rarely just about the present moment; they were echoes of earlier lessons about control, independence, and self-protection. Marriage didn’t create those tensions, it revealed them. It forced me to ask whether I wanted to remain emotionally intact or emotionally honest.
Over time, I noticed something else: marriage reshaped my sense of identity. Decisions that once belonged solely to me now required conversation, patience, and compromise. At first, this felt like a loss. Later, it felt like an expansion. I was no longer performing a version of myself; I was becoming one.
Marriage demanded skills I had never needed to master alone listening without preparing a rebuttal, apologizing without qualifying it, staying present when withdrawal felt easier. These were not romantic achievements. They were psychological ones.
And perhaps the most humbling lesson of all was this: growth in marriage is uneven. Sometimes I moved forward. Sometimes I resisted. Sometimes my partner grew faster than I did, forcing me to confront stagnation I would have otherwise ignored. Marriage, I’ve learned, is not about mutual perfection, it is about mutual patience.
Looking back, I no longer see marriage as a destination or a settled state. I see it as an ongoing psychological apprenticeship. It doesn’t promise comfort, but it offers something rarer: the opportunity to become more self-aware, more emotionally literate, and if we allow it, more fully human.
Marriage did not change who I was overnight. It simply made it impossible for me to stay the same.
MEANWHILE. Here's some notable quotes on marriage:
Important marriage quotes
highlight love, forgiveness, friendship, commitment, and growth, emphasizing it as a journey of imperfect people learning to enjoy differences, a partnership requiring effort, and a profound bond that deepens over time. Key themes include finding joy in companionship, the ongoing practice of love, and building a life greater than the sum of two individuals.
On Love & Friendship:
"A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers." - Ruth Bell Graham
"Marriage, ultimately, is the practice of becoming passionate friends." - Harville Hendrix
"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides."- Unknown
"Love is a friendship set to music." - Augustus William Hare
On Effort & Commitment:
"A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other." - Unknown
"A great marriage isn't something that just happens; it's something that must be created." - Fawn Weaver
"Marriage is not a noun; it's a verb. It isn't something you get. It's something you do. It's the way you love your partner every day."- Barbara De Angelis
"A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short." - André Maurois
My Quote of the Day:
“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” Anonymous
My Photo of the Day:
Wedding Day, May 8, 1957, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines
Finally, here are the top Five News of the Day:
1. Major global events roundup — A daily summary of the most significant overnight national and global news.
2. NASA’s Artemis 2 test — NASA begins a critical wet dress rehearsal fueling test for the Artemis 2 moon mission, advancing preparations for the next crewed lunar flight.
3. Australian Open breakthrough — Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic to win the Australian Open men’s title, completing his career Grand Slam at a young age.
4. Zaporizhzhia hospital attack — Russian forces reportedly bomb a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, injuring civilians amid the ongoing conflict.
5. 2026 Grammy Awards happening today — The 66th Annual Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles with live performances, red carpet, and major nominees in music’s biggest night.
A Personal Reflection After Years of Watching Human Nature
I recently read a Wall Street Journal article by Kate Murphy titled “Why Do Some People Just Click?” It explores what scientists call interpersonal synchrony, the subtle, often unconscious way people fall into rhythm with one another. As I read it, I found myself nodding repeatedly, not because the science was surprising, but because it gave language to something I have been witnessing for most of my adult life.
After more than fifteen years of blogging and many decades of simply paying attention, I’ve seen this phenomenon play out in conference rooms, hospital corridors, parish halls, family gatherings, and chance conversations with strangers. Sometimes you meet someone and within minutes it feels as if the conversation has already been underway for years. Other times, just as quickly, you sense friction, discomfort, or an unspoken resistance. Nothing dramatic is said, yet everything is communicated.
Looking back, I can now see how often my own life has been shaped by these moments of clicking.
In my professional years, I noticed how certain colleagues could work together almost effortlessly. Meetings flowed. Decisions felt clear. There was a shared cadence in how problems were approached. At the time, we might have called it chemistry or mutual respect. Only later did I realize that we were, quite literally, in sync, mirroring speech patterns, pacing, even silences. The work felt lighter because the human connection was aligned.
But I have also lived the other side of this.
I have experienced relationships, professional and personal, where that same synchrony accelerated tension. When people click too quickly, differences can be overlooked, assumptions go unchallenged, and emotions intensify before wisdom has time to catch up. With age, I’ve learned that clicking can be a fast track not only to intimacy, but also to disappointment or drama.
When I was younger, I trusted the feeling almost completely. If the connection felt right, I assumed it was right. Time has tempered that instinct. Today, I notice the click, but I don’t rush to interpret it. Experience has taught me that rhythm is not the same as shared values, and ease is not the same as depth.
What resonated most deeply in Murphy’s article was the idea that synchrony happens largely outside our awareness. That explains why these encounters can feel almost spiritual in nature, something beyond logic, beyond control. And yet, the older I get, the more I believe we are called not just to experience connection, but to discern it.
As a Roman Catholic and as someone who has spent years reflecting on human fear, continuity, and meaning, I now see clicking as an invitation rather than a conclusion. An invitation to listen more closely. To slow down. To ask whether this harmony leads toward truth, compassion, and growth or merely comfort.
There is also hope here. Synchrony, the article notes, can be nurtured through presence and attentive listening. That aligns with what life has taught me: the deepest connections I’ve known were not always instant, but they became profound because both people chose to stay attentive, patient, and open.
After years of watching people and myself, I no longer romanticize the click. I respect it. I notice it. And I place it within a larger story that only time can reveal.
Sometimes the music starts immediately. Sometimes it takes a while. And sometimes, wisdom lies in knowing when to listen rather than join in.
That, at least, is what these years have taught me.
Meanwhile, here's the AI Overview:
It has been scientifically measured the state of interpersonal synchrony, where two people subconsciously align their biological and neurological rhythms.
Recent research in 2026 and late 2025 highlights several key reasons why this happens:
1. Neural Synchrony (Interbrain Coupling)
When you click with someone, your brains literally sync up.
Wired Alike: People who naturally "get" each other often have similar brain structures in social regions, a phenomenon called homophily.
Shared Perception: Close social networks show similar neural activity when processing stories or making sense of the world.
Predictive Ease: When syncing, your brain's "prediction error" is minimized, making the interaction feel effortless rather than laborious.
2. Fast Conversation Response Times
A major indicator of clicking is the speed of dialogue.
250-Millisecond Gap: Research from Dartmouth College shows that "clicking" is predicted by incredibly fast response times.
Sentence Finishing: Pairs who click often close the standard gap between speakers, nearly finishing each other's sentences.
3. Biological Mirroring
Beyond conversation, your bodies perform "deep-seated method acting".
Physiological Alignment: You may uncannily sync up heart rates, blood pressure, pupil dilation, and hormonal activity.
Emotional Channeling: Subconsciously mirroring subtle facial twitches allows you to actually feel the other person's happiness or anxiety.
4. Psychological Accelerators
Certain behaviors and environments fast-track the "click":
Vulnerability: Sharing meaningful or "gut-level" remarks creates an environment of trust that fosters instant connection.
Language Style Matching (LSM): People who unconsciously mirror each other's use of function words (like "and," "the," or "it") feel more connected.
Shared Humor: Shared laughter acts as a "secret signal" that you see the world the same way.
Proximity: Physical closeness and unplanned, ordinary exchanges (like sitting near someone in a class) create the "social glue" for a click to occur.
These articles explain the scientific reasons behind instant connection, detailing neural synchronization, conversation speed, physiological mirroring, and psychological elements such as vulnerability and shared language.
1. U.S. government partially shuts down — Congress failed to pass a spending bill on time, leading to another federal government shutdown. Critical agencies could see interruptions, impacting services and funding until a new budget is approved.
2. DOJ releases final tranche of Epstein case files — The U.S. Justice Department finalized its long-running review and released 3.5 million pages of records related to Jeffrey Epstein’s network and activities.
🇺🇸 Domestic Protests
3. Widespread anti-ICE protests across the United States — More than 300 demonstrations are planned in all 50 states this weekend, part of a campaign demanding radical immigration enforcement reforms amid recent controversy over federal agent conduct.
🌍 International Conflict
4. Deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza — Israeli air attacks have killed at least 30 Palestinians, including children and police officers, marking one of the deadliest days in the ongoing conflict.
🇺🇸 U.S. Elections & Congress
5. Key special election underway in Texas — A special congressional election could flip control of the House of Representatives, narrowing the Republican majority as Democrats contest the seat.
This posting is inspired from my recent readings on the economy from the WSJ, the other day. It is a continuation of my recent posting on the weakening of the US dollar.
What a Weak Dollar Means for Everyday Americans
When we talk about the U.S. dollar getting weaker, it often sounds abstract something that matters to Wall Street traders, global investors, or economists arguing on cable news. But as Greg Ip points out in his recent Wall Street Journal column, “Weaken Dollar Fits Trump Plan,” currency strength isn’t just an academic debate. It eventually shows up in very ordinary places: the grocery store, the gas pump, retirement accounts, and even how secure people feel about the country’s place in the world.
For everyday Americans, a weaker dollar is less about charts and more about lived experience.
The Price Tag We Notice First
The most immediate impact of a weaker dollar is onprices. When the dollar buys less overseas, imports cost more here at home. That doesn’t just mean luxury goods or foreign cars. It includes everyday items, electronics, clothing, household goods, and even food ingredients that come from abroad.
Inflation doesn’t always arrive with a bang. Sometimes it sneaks in quietly: smaller packages, higher “temporary” prices, fewer sales. For retirees, fixed-income households, and anyone living carefully within a budget, those small changes add up quickly.
In theory, wages could rise to offset this. In reality, they often lag behind.
Who Benefits and Who Doesn’t
Supporters of a weaker dollar argue that it helps American manufacturers by making U.S. products cheaper overseas. That can be true. Exporters may see stronger demand, and certain industrial jobs could benefit.
But the gains aren’t evenly distributed. Many Americans no longer work in export-heavy industries. They work in services, healthcare, retail, education sectors that don’t automatically benefit from a cheaper dollar but still feel the sting of higher prices.
So while the policy may help some regions and industries, it can leave many households wondering why their costs are rising faster than their paychecks.
Savings, Retirement, and Peace of Mind
For older Americans, especially retirees, a weakening dollar raises another concern: the value of savings.
When inflation rises or confidence in the currency slips, savings accounts, bonds, and fixed pensions lose purchasing power. You may still have the same number of dollars, but they don’t go as far. That creates anxiety, particularly for people who planned carefully and played by the rules their entire lives.
Markets don’t like uncertainty, and neither do people trying to make their money last.
Travel, Gas, and the World Beyond Our Borders
There’s also the psychological impact. Americans traveling abroad notice immediately when their dollars don’t stretch as far as they used to. Gas prices can rise as oil, priced globally, becomes more expensive in dollar terms. These aren’t abstract effects, they’re moments when people feel the dollar’s weakness in real time.
And beyond the wallet, there’s something else at stake: confidence. For decades, the dollar symbolized American stability and leadership. When that strength fades, it can feel like something deeper is slipping as well.
A Trade-Off We’re All Part Of
Greg Ip’s article makes clear that a weaker dollar isn’t accidental, it aligns with a broader economic strategy focused on trade balances and domestic production. But strategies always involve trade-offs.
For everyday Americans, the question isn’t whether a weaker dollar helps someone. It’s whether it helps enough people, and whether the costs higher prices, financial uncertainty, and diminished global confidence are worth it.
Economic policy ultimately lands at kitchen tables, not trading desks. And it’s there, in quiet calculations about groceries, rent, savings, and the future, that the true meaning of a weaker dollar is felt.
If the Dollar Keeps Sliding: What 2026 May Look Like for Americans
Looking ahead to 2026, the question is no longer whether the dollar is weaker, that reality is already settling in. The more pressing question is what happens if the slide continues, not for a few months, but as a defining feature of the economic landscape.
History tells us that currency shifts don’t announce themselves dramatically. They reshape daily life slowly, persistently, and often unevenly.
Inflation That Doesn’t Feel Temporary
If the dollar continues to weaken through 2026, inflation may remain stubborn not necessarily spiking, but lingering. This is the most difficult kind of inflation for households to manage. Prices rise just enough to strain budgets, but not enough to trigger dramatic policy reversals.
Groceries, utilities, insurance, prescription drugs, and transportation costs could all creep higher. For working families, that means more trade-offs. For retirees and seniors living on fixed incomes, it means constantly recalculating what is “affordable” and what is no longer within reach.
This kind of economic pressure doesn’t make headlines every day but it quietly erodes peace of mind.
Interest Rates, Debt, and the Cost of Stability
A weaker dollar complicates interest-rate policy. If inflation remains elevated, the Federal Reserve may be reluctant to cut rates aggressively. That keeps borrowing costs high mortgages, credit cards, auto loans at a time when many households are already stretched.
For the federal government, continued dollar weakness could mean higher costs to service debt, especially if foreign investors demand better returns or diversify away from U.S. assets. That reality eventually feeds back into public policy: tighter budgets, fewer programs, and louder political fights over who pays the price.
Winners, Losers, and Uneven Recovery
There will be winners in a weaker-dollar 2026. Exporters, multinational corporations, and certain manufacturing sectors may thrive. Some regions could see job growth tied to reshoring and trade advantages.
But many Americans won’t feel those gains directly. The economy may technically grow whilehousehold confidence declines, a disconnect we’ve seen before. When people feel they are working harder just to stay in place, optimism fades regardless of GDP numbers.
Economic success that isn’t widely felt rarely feels legitimate.
America’s Place in a Changing World
Perhaps the most profound impact of a prolonged dollar slide is psychological. The dollar has long represented more than money; it symbolized reliability, leadership, and continuity.
If global markets increasingly hedge against U.S. currency risk turning to gold, regional trade agreements, or alternative currencies, America’s influence subtly diminishes. Not overnight. But gradually, quietly, and unmistakably.
For a country that once took its economic centrality for granted, that shift could be jarring.
A Test of Priorities
By 2026, Americans may be forced to confront a deeper question: What do we value more, short-term trade advantages or long-term stability?
A weaker dollar can be a tool. But tools must be used carefully, with an understanding of who bears the cost. When everyday life becomes more expensive and financial certainty feels fragile, patience wears thin.
Economic policy is never just about numbers. It is about trust, trust in institutions, trust in leadership, and trust that tomorrow will not be harder than today.
If the dollar continues to slide in 2026, that trust will be tested, not in boardrooms or trading floors, but in kitchens, pharmacies, and quiet conversations about the future.
And those conversations, more than any chart or index, will tell us whether the strategy was worth it.
Meanwhile, here's the AI Overview on the Above Topic:
A weak U.S. dollar, which is at a four-year low in early 2026, reduces purchasing power for Americans, making imports such as electronics, clothing, and food more expensive. While it boosts U.S. manufacturing by making exports cheaper, everyday consumers face higher inflation, more expensive foreign travel, and reduced savings value.
Impact on Daily Life
Higher Costs: Because the U.S. is reliant on imports, a weaker dollar acts like an "invisible tax," increasing costs for daily essentials, especially for low-income households.
Inflationary Pressure: A falling dollar adds to inflation by raising prices for imported goods and raw materials.
Travel Costs:Vacations to Europe or other foreign destinations become more expensive as the dollar buys less foreign currency.
Goods Priced in Dollars: Commodities like oil, coffee, and electronics tend to rise in price for Americans when the dollar dips, note U.S. News Money.
Potential Benefits
Boost to Manufacturing: U.S. exports become cheaper for foreign buyers, supporting domestic, particularly manufacturing, jobs.
Advantage for Exporters: Large American companies with significant overseas sales, such as The Coca-Cola Co or Caterpillar, may see increased profits.
Long-Term Implications
Lower Purchasing Power: If wages do not rise to meet the higher costs of imported goods, real incomes fall.
Asset Performance: While cash loses value, assets like real estate or stocks may provide protection against the resulting inflation.
Economic Confidence:A sharp, prolonged decline can sometimes signal an erosion of confidence in the U.S. economy, say reports in Prairie Public Broadcasting.
