The Big Uneasy I’ve never been to New Orleans, which is amazing because there aren’t many places in the U.S. or abroad that I’ve missed visiting. I don’t know when I first heard the nickname The Big Easy, but I’m guessing it was about the time the James Conaway novel by that name was published in 1970, or at least by the time Dennis Quaid played Remy McSwain in the 1986 movie, again of the…
Run Away, Run Away I have managed to avoid listening to the broadcasts of the Senate Impeachment trial which began today. Granted, the opening statements are not expected to be high drama and the meat of the trial, but as I tune in tonight to catch up on the day I note a few important things. To begin with its 9:30pm and they are still going strong with their statements and amendments votes. They have…
Kublai Khan and Citizen Kane I’ve had quite a weekend. One day was totally dedicated to my kids and grandkids. They wanted to check out the American Dream, which is the newest metro-area attraction brought to you by the people who brought the Mall of America to Minnesota. That’s a family called the Ghermezian’s, and they bought the old Xanadu project that got mothballed in the 90’s. Xanadu was intended to parlay a location near…
Birth of a Movement I am coming up on my 66th birthday next week. That used to be a relative nondescript milestone, but now, thanks to the shifting retirement standards of social security which make me a part of the first cohort to get pushed back on their retirement date by a full year. I am now technically eligible for “full retirement benefits” as of January 30, 2020. Those who are sixty now will wait…
Compiling Life In May we have the Silver Anniversary Ride of my motorcycle club. I founded the group with four others and we have had about sixty rides over those twenty-five years. Not everyone has made every ride, and members have come and gone, but there is a core group that still rides and a few others that no longer ride, but like to gather with us nonetheless. By my count we have had 80…
Lev and Igor’s Great Adventure When Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman we’re arrested by the FBI at Dulles Airport in October we all took mild notice. No one was surprised that Rudy Giuliani was associating with guys who looked and acted like thugs. In some ways, the mug shots of the two did little to help us take them seriously. Igor looked shellacked with his Gordon Gecko Brylcreamed hair and puffy Russian face. Lev was…
Let’s Get Physical With the move to San Diego there are many tasks and transitions needed to make everything flow smoothly. Kim and I have the good fortune to be in good health. I am in surprisingly good health given my size and my ongoing lifestyle choices. My family and I joke about how 23&Me designates me as being predisposed to be a performance athlete. I care little about that, but I certainly do prefer…
Il Brigante My son Thomas and I had dinner tonight at a favorite restaurant that was nearby the condo I owned and lived in for ten years. That was from when Thomas was nine until nineteen years old. It was the home he spent time with me from when he was in fourth grade at Little Red until he was a freshman at Big Red. Compare that to my older children. My oldest never lived…
Library Fines Every day I read the daily briefings from the New York Times (6am), Washington Post (1pm) and the Financial Times (in the wee hours). I subscribe yo the Wall Street Journal, but they don’t send me a daily briefing (I’ll have to look into that). I see articles from them all and more including USA Today, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and others through Apple News summary all day long on my…
Cleaning Up During my adult life (meaning post-college), a span of forty-four years, I have not lived alone for very long. I am what they call a serial monogamist. I don’t understand people who enjoy playing the field. I can only handle one relationship at a time, but I have a strong need to be in a primary relationship. I am on my third and last marriage. I can be so certain about that…