With Kim away in Wabash this weekend and me taking the family (Carolyn, John, Charlotte & Evelyn) up to L.A. for the weekend, there remains the issue of “What About Buddy?” We are very attached to this little 7-pound fur-ball that can’t keep his yap shut. Our Buddy program consists of flying in Natasha to sit for long vacations, taking Buddy to Colean’s doggy day and overnight care and local kids who are looking to…
July is turning out to be the month of theme parks for me. Disney, Eagle Gold Mine (a stretch…but sort of), Santa Monica Pier and today, Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We did the Universal Studio Tour and Park last summer so this will complete two of the three suite (Carolyn tells me that next year we have to do Paramount). It’s nice and warm here in LA, not oppressively hot, but still sunny and warm.…
Back in 1971 when I was living in Rome, one of my good pals was Tom Wohlmut. Tom’s father was a top executive at getting oil, effectively running Getty Italiana. Technically, John Paul Getty Jr., J. Paul Getty’s dilettante son was the President, but Getty senior leaned on Wohlmut as one of his trusted lieutenants. This is also the same period covered by the tragic events of 1971 when his second wife Talitha was found…
Cathexis is a psychoanalytic term meaning the investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, idea, or activity. It originates, like so many words, from the Greek kathexis (which means “holding” or “occupation”). To “cathect” something is to invest psychic energy in it, to become emotionally attached to or fixated on it. The term is largely confined to psychoanalytic and academic psychology contexts today and you won’t hear it much in everyday speech,…
San Francisco has always enjoyed the reputation of a highly desirable city. It seems forever that I’ve heard people say they would love to live in San Francisco. If only there were the kinds of job opportunities that could keep them here. Back in the day, San Francisco was the big West Coast commercial city from which trade with Asia and the East Coast of the United States took place. We know that the state…
I’m 72 years old, started riding motorcycles in Rome, Italy at the age of 14 (legal for any motorcycles up to 50 cc’s) and have been riding more or less continuously for 58 years now. Like most activities in our lives, the level of my engagement with motorcycling has ebbed a flowed a bit over the years, but mostly it has been my favorite and most engaging activity that gives me pleasure and, dare I…
Disneyland came into existence just when I was born. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California, and is the only Disney theme park personally built and opened under Walt Disney’s direct supervision. Walt got the idea in the late 1930s/40s while watching his daughters play at amusement parks and wishing there was a place parents could enjoy too. He wanted something clean, family-friendly, and immersive, unlike the seedy carnival parks of the era.…
For people of a certain age and temperament, there is a wonderful Chris Farley and David Spade movie called Tommy Boy, made in 1995. The duo are on an epic roadtrip to sell brake pads and Tommy (Farley) has a hard time containing his natural exuberance. Spade, on the other hand is a cynical young man who finds everything Tommy does as some combination of distasteful and idiotic. In one scene, Tommy is trying to…
On this early July morning, Kim was getting her morning coffee and, sure as June Gloom goes away by July 1, so the Argentine red ants that have marched their way up from Patagonia have returned for another summer of fun, watching Kim pull out the stops with all her anti-ant programs. Kim will not kill a spider, but she gives no quarter to ants. They are her mortal enemy because ants impugn her good…
Today is our first activity day of summer vacation with our grandkids. One of the things we like to do every year is go to the San Diego County fair at the Del Mar fairgrounds. Like much of California, San Diego County is truly a blend of urban coastal elite areas with expensive homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean and rural ranch country where cattle and coyotes are still the main topics of conversation. In between…