The Big Ass Effect Before you get too excited, let me explain that yesterday I hosted a Zoomathon for my American Flyers Motorcycle Club, who formally celebrates its Silver (25th!) Anniversary this month. There were eighteen participating callers with a total of thirty-four attendees plus two (Nik and Charlene) who I inadvertently left out in the Zoom waiting room, failing to admit them after I had admitted three tranches of other entrants waiting. Oops. I…
Needless Mark-up I hear that Neiman Marcus is likely to declare bankruptcy soon as the latest signal that the retail business sector is the next in what promises to be an ongoing array of zombie business segments in the new normal. This morning I heard a retail analyst talking about it. He was actually quite balanced about it all. Clearly Neiman Marcus is an iconic brand that has been around for 113 years. It originated…
Haircuttery I think of my quarantine as having started after returning prematurely from New York and having swung and missed on my trip to London (a trip, I might add, which would have been a complete waste of time and effort because that expert witness case settled favorably). I flew back to San Diego on Wednesday, March 10th with a prickly feeling on the back of my neck like I had just escaped the Coronavirus.…
The Man with the Pan You all know by now that I am the proud owner of a like-new 2019 BMW R1250GS Adventure motorcycle. You also may recall that I am still stumbling around with the registration process out here in California (or even in New York for that matter) given the COVID-19 closure of all DMV facilities. Given what we all know to be the experience at whatever DMV we go to, it will…
The Ass in the Hat The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, so we stay in the house all that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Kim. We sat there we two, and I said ‘how I wish we had something to do.’ And then something went BUMP! How that bump made us jump! And we saw him! The Ass in the Hat. And he said to us, ‘why…
Giveth and Taketh I have a complicated life right now for several seemingly silly reasons. The first involves my newly acquired motorcycle and the other involves my newly acquired car. Let’s start with the car. I have been leasing new cars for many years now. I am simply not a fan of residual value prognostication and much prefer to pay a budgeted amount over three or four years and be done with the whole affair.…
A Golden Opportunity Back in February when our two friends Gary and Oswaldo were staying with us for a few weeks, an interesting thing happened. One of the reasons they chose that time (literally right after we made our final escape from New York City) to come and stay with us was that Oswaldo likes to be helpful and he wanted to assist Kim in the moving preparations. He did just that. Oswaldo is an…
Rocks in the Head I have always had a thing for rocks. I collect geodes. Lots of geodes. My favorite antiquities are pre-Columbian art, especially the pumice stone statues (one standing woman and two heads) and the pumice stone footed dish. The sculptures I have preferred to collect are usually a composite of rocks and metal. I have my Socrates in Ithaca and my buffalo here in San Diego. I think the reason I favored…
Waiting for Popovers It’s Sunday morning, Easter Sunday to be exact. It’s a grey day so far here in San Diego, but as I have learned, that can change quickly, hopefully for the better. Dark Sky, MyRadar and The Weather Channel (a subsidiary of IBM) are of little help as they show no particular weather front over or near us. I am tempted to say that this weather seems to be flying below the radar.…
My Easter Bonnet I must start today with this EXTRA story. I have been reasonably disciplined in only posting one story per day for the last several months, but at the moment feel compelled to write this extra story. This morning is again a blustery weather day here in San Diego. I have an app on my devices that is called Dark Sky (a very ominous name made more ominous in these days of overthinking…