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…
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…
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…
The Tattoo of Life We are all a product of what life has dealt us over the years. Some people wear it on their face with their wrinkles showing the hardships they have endured. Other people show the wear and tear on their souls where it is not as obvious at first, but comes through equally clearly after time spent with them. I think we all know people that have become embittered with age. They…
Whose Father Do You Think Would Be Madder? Back in the days before political correctness was the necessity it is today, I heard my redneck Chairman (RIP) comment about a married couple who worked for us that came from different ethnic backgrounds. It is one of the funnier yet most biting comments I have ever heard that effectively denigrated two ethnicities all at once. I am hesitant these days to repeat the comment except in…
Our Political Banana Peel Back in college, one of my buddies loved the comedian Don Rickles. For those of you who remember him, his schtick was focused on denigrating people of all ethnicities and creeds. Everyone was a hockey puck to him (I never realized a hockey puck was such a lowly item). He had a comment that has always made me laugh. He would find somebody in the audience that he found funny-looking and…
Wearing Your Underwear on the Outside Yesterday, an immigrant brought to this country at a toddler with his twin brother and who has spent the past twenty years as an officer and gentleman in the U.S. Army (as has his twin brother) was maliciously and wantonly accused by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee of being a disloyal possible double agent for Ukraine. Why was this accomplished and highly decorated war veteran and…
The San Francisco Treat Several months ago I happened to ask my wife to make some Rice-A-Roni for me for dinner. Neither she nor her brother (who was helping with the cooking) took the request literally and they ended up making rice with some spices and other additions that seemed to them to be a far fresher and more interesting dish than anything that might come out of a box. Rice-A-Roni was invented sixty years…
Does Dying Really Hurt? Lawrence stood well over four feet tall. That was his protective armor against a world that enjoyed denigrating people over physical attributes like height, over which people had very little governance. If he had said he was well over five feet tall, that would have been defensive and not at all funny. If he had noted that he was proud to be a short person he would have sounded both defensive…
A Confederacy of Trumpsters I’m hoping that John Kennedy Toole does not roll over in his grave with my borrowing a few words from his posthumous Pulitzer-Prize-Winning work of fiction (one of only four posthumous awards in over one hundred years). I can’t help myself with this title, it came to me tonight as I’ve been listening to the latest shenanigans of the Ukraine-based Impeachment Inquiries in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even Lindsey Graham…