Car Culture Do you remember American Graffiti with Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus and Harrison Ford? It was 29-year-old George Lucas’ breakout directorial and screenwriting debut. It was set in 1962 Modesto, California. That feels perfectly normal and to be expected for this American coming-of-age classic, except that it was only filmed a decade after the time it was set, which makes me scratch my head about how Lucas and all of us could get so…
The Truth About Duluth Ever since I gave up on wearing tidy whiteys, which must now be over thirty years ago, I have been in search of the perfect underwear. That may sound like a mundane quest or one that should never have been in play, but the technology of clothing and materials has come a long way. We were all raised to think that only cotton could keep you comfortable, and that keeping it…
Bye-Bye Bernie I want to write a piece about the resurgence of Bernie Sanders in the latest polls. I want it to be a well-balanced discussion about the man, the politics and supporters that stalwartly stand behind the guy. I was torn between this title and the more obvious Weekend at Bernie’s. Since I’m publishing this piece on Sunday, the alternate title seemed initially more appropriate, but it was just too easy so I chose…
A Call to Greatness Today, while wandering through a Home Depot looking for flashlights and varmint spray I got a call from Lulu Publishing. They are the the self-publishing company that I have used to publish three books written mostly in 2017 when I had lots of time on my hands as the New York Wheel went into legal rigor mortis over the issue of construction costs, which were under firm completion-guaranteed fixed-price contract, but…
Boxing Day San Diego this morning seems stuck in that mix of sunny skies in one direction and threatening rain in another.I am adjusting more and more every day to my new existence out here and trying my best to think like someone who will be doing this for a long, long time. I am already well over any jet lag, which is to be expected since I didn’t jet out in the first place,…
The Jabrone Preamble As it turns out, there are Gibronis, Jibronis and Jabrones and they collectively attest to the power of urban lexicon. The differences between the words is pretty insignificant, even though some seem to want to parse that some are meant to declare rather than denigrate; designate, but not condemn. I find that all pretty funny and more indicative of our Uber-concerns about political correctness, or more accurately our fervent wish to not…
It Never Rains in California The song says it all. Seems it never rains in southern California Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before It never rains in California, but girl, don’t they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours We’ve had two days of dry overcast and today California explained reality to us. It started pouring rain in the wee hours. As with most things, we were the last to know the…
A Dog’s Life The main reason we drove 2,900 miles cross-country last week was to get our dog, Cecil to our new home in San Diego. Cecil is a Bichon Frise (pure breed as it turns out) who came to us as a rescue in August 2009. He was estimated to be two-years-old when we got him. That means he is about twelve years old now. He has a replacement leg ligament, from which he…
Catching Up I had lunch with an old friend today. In actuality, this was a guy who worked for me on two occasions and worked with me on another project where he was positioned to be my #2 guy. He last worked for me twelve years ago, so since we have stayed in regular touch with one another, it is fair to say we are friends more than colleagues. There is a point in time…
Youthful Exuberance Well, we did it. We drove 2,900 miles across country, arriving in Hidden Meadows at Casa Moonstruck at 7:00am precisely this morning. Hey, wait a minute, did I just say 7:00 AM? After driving 10.5 hours from New York to Knoxville covering 707 miles (avg. 67 mph), and 12 hours from Knoxville to OKC covering 864 miles (avg. 72 mph), we had planned to drive for just 8 hours to Santa Fe covering…