Better Betty Management Kim is away this week. Betty is confused. Betty is always a little bit confused, but she is especially confused this week. On a normal day when she is not sleeping, she will wander from here to there in the house with a modicum of purpose, seeking something I presume to be Kim’s presence. It reassures her that Kim is nearby. Lots of people, including Kim, anthropomorphize that as Betty’s love for…
The Day the Earth Stood Still I’m not that much on science fiction in my movie-going preferences, but there are some films that you can’t help but remember. One of the most famous commands in the history of film, one that is right up there with “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”, is that 1951 SciFi memento, “Klaatu Barada Nikto” that Patricia Neal is supposed to say to Gort, the robot with the power to…
Rejection and Regret You know I am an eternal optimist and while some might think that is either naive or tactically artificial (like Donald Trump claiming to always be a winner and never a loser), I actually believe that my system creates excess serotonin and that seems to be something that happens overnight. I am serious about that, why else would I be such a difficult and cranky person at night (never engage me in…
The Distant Ocean When service people come to this house of ours on the hilltop, as one HVAC specialist did just yesterday, they invariably stand and look out at our views, especially towards the ocean, and comment on what a great view we have. We do have a great view and both Kim and I do not take it for granted. On almost every day, one of us will comment to the other about the…
Home Alone Who doesn’t love the original 1990 Macaulay Culkin movie with such greats as Joe Pesci, John Candy and Catherine O’Hara? The idea of a kid left alone and on his own devices over the holidays is a hilarious premise, made all the funnier by the ne’er-do-well assailants slipping, falling and setting themselves on fire as they try to best the kid left Home Alone. Well, I have been left home alone for the…
Masculinity is a Prison That title was the t-shirt worn at the family gathering in Utah last week by Kim’s 6’6”, 300-pound rugby-playing nephew who literally wears size 16 shoes. His name is Josh and he and his 6’4”, 340-pound, also rugby-playing, brother, Will are either the last gasp of the Gen X crowd or the first entrants into the Millennial cohort, depending on how you slice the generational cake. Both of these guys are…
A Not-So-Happy Meal During our go-home day after a long 2,200-mile roadtrip with my daughter and her family and two granddaughters, all sitting amongst piled-up luggage and miscellaneous souvenirs (including one particularly sweet rusted metal armadillo with a bobble-head that was purchased in an old Route 66 way-station) in a rented dirty white church van that had served us well, Kim started out with a desperate cry for a stop at Starbucks. I had a…
Marketing 101 I don’t know about you, but I am getting more and more cell phone marketing calls by the day. The old standards include something about my Google Business Listing needing to be upgraded, a desperate need to lend me money either for my business under some sort of free government benefit regime or just to consolidate my debts, my car warranty running out (that one always wants me to say “well, go catch…
Living with a BooBoo It’s been two days since I sliced off the top of my thumb with a really sharp Japanese sickle blade and my left thumb has mostly stopped throbbing, but is still very much bandaged up for protection while that nasty wound heals. The good news is that it was a very clean slice that took off a wedge chapped piece of the gardening glove I was wearing and a small piece…
Recall? Recall?! I’m sure you remember that scene from the 1979 coming-of-age classic Breaking Away, which was set in Bloomington, Indiana. In it, a graduating local high school student, who loves bicycle racing forms a local “Cutters” team to compete against the Indiana University frat boys. His father is a local used car dealer and ex-cutter himself, who sells junkers to the naive local student body. The scene that I always remember as so memorable…