Insuring Eternity Back in the late 1970’s when I was beginning my career in banking, I was traveling across New England almost every week, visiting a combination of banks and insurance companies to sell them our banking services. I was a member of FI or financial institutions side of the bank. For some strange reason, the FI side of banking was always the red-headed step-child of the banking business compared to the corporate side. The…
COVID Schmovid I have just travelled through seven different global airports on eight different flights, spending some fifty hours in airplane cabins with their recirculated air, over the past few weeks. We stayed in seven different hotels and ate in something like thirty different restaurants ranging from an elegant Middle Eastern Lebanese restaurant on the Nile to Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navonna in Rome, all the way to a Martian Dome eating hall at…
Into the Ozone I am a big fan of technology, and especially the communications vehicles like email and text. In fact, since I consider communications the heart of human interaction and evolution, I am especially enamored with how, in my lifetime, our ability to communicate with one another has evolved to the point of her perfection. I only moderate that view with the term “near” since I’m sure that there are some that think we…
Coptic Coupling Tonight, Mike, Melissa, Kim and I decided that we would do a simple sandwich dinner at the lobby bar. That was a well conceived plan that bore little resemblance to what actually happened. To begin with what we thought was a lobby bar that offered bar food or sandwiches turned out to be a lobby bar that offered a full menu from one of the restaurants. In theory that shouldn’t be a problem,…
Stanley Tucci Go Home There are certain actors and actresses that everyone likes. That can’t be said for all actors and actresses. I have always found it interesting that while Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner have drawn lots of controversy, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have stayed above it all and are beloved by all. That’s all a little easier to understand with star-quality actors and actresses who get paparazzied to death on a daily…
The Best Seat Ever I am, once again midway over the Atlantic Ocean on my way to Europe. For the first time, Kim and I are flying directly to Europe from San Diego. We are on our way to Egypt and Jordan for a few weeks of pure tourism. We are with Mike and Melisa and have all decided that the best way to do this is to fly to Rome and spend a few…
Superbloom of Bust There is a natural phenomenon here is Southern California that occurs every few years. The “Golden” state is mostly covered with semi-arid landscape that I like to call chaparral. It creates a lovely golden backdrop on which outcroppings of green scrub oaks and such get highlighted. The other thing that happens is that the weeds that are native to California decide that it’s time to declare their presence the way weeds do,…
Wadi Bashing What a shame that everything is not perfect at all times in our lives. Most of us come to expect and deal with the imperfection on a day-to-day basis, but on vacation it suddenly takes on expanded importance. We got “dumped” here at the Wadi Rum Sun City Camp at 1 PM today. Other than taking a hike, we had pretty much done everything that Wadi Rum has to offer. I wish I…
A Ticket to the Circus The circus is a very American institution and is a part of our cultural way of life. To be fair, the circus predates America and goes back as far as the Roman Empire. If we define the circus too narrowly to be all about clowns, trained animals ranging from elephants to small dogs and even fleas, and acrobats of all kinds, we might be too limited. Most circuses have musicians,…
Breakfast Hack This weekend, Kim’s nephew Josh, his wife Haj and their kids JJ and Leila are staying with us in order to launch a day at Legoland. Josh’s older brother Will is also staying even though he is more a local than not since he lives in Ocean Beach. The good news is that Kim and I get a pass on the whole Legoland deal and are only hosting breakfast and dinner with the…