The Otto in Us All Today, as I wandered around NYC, I went to go see A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks. Hanks has been the American cinematic Everyman for many years and as he ages along with the rest of us Baby Boomers (Hanks is two years younger than me) he is increasingly playing older roles, which seems both appropriate and very sensible. I don’t know how beloved he is to Millennials, but…
Friday the 13th 2023 has two months on the Gregorian calendar that have a Friday that falls on the 13th day of the month. Those occur in January and October this year and western superstition deem them to be unlucky days. The history of this unlucky heritage seems to stem from Norse mythology and focuses around a dinner party among twelve of the Norse gods that was crashed by Loki, the shape-shifter god that has…
The Cocoon I spoke to Kim today as the Atmospheric Rivers buffeting Central and Southern California raged on. She was hunkering down during the storm. We have been very fortunate in San Diego relative to other areas of California for many reasons. To begin with, the impact of the long term draught has not been as severe in our area than it has been in the more northern parts of the state. We have not…
The Hot Seat Today I am sitting in the breakfast room wearing a blue suit and tie, like I did for the better part of forty-five years during my working life on Wall Street. As much as I am unused to strapping on my business armor at this point in life, I ws never that bothered by dressing the part during my working life. I had gone to four years of prep school during my…
The Hot Seat Today I am sitting in the breakfast room wearing a blue suit and tie, like I did for the better part of forty-five years during my working life on Wall Street. As much as I am unused to strapping on my business armor at this point in life, I ws never that bothered by dressing the part during my working life. I had gone to four years of prep school during my…
Seeing the World There are only a few pieces of promotional mail that I bother with. One of those that I can’t seem to ignore is that National Geographic Expeditions magazine. The magazine is a pretty fancy piece of literature that must be expensive to produce and is therefore probably not just sent out randomly. I must be of the preferred customer list as both a long-time subscriber to their magazine and an occasional buyer…
Garden Tours I first drove up to this house on Christmas Day, 2011, so eleven yeas ago. I was on my motorcycle and brother-in-law Jeff was on his bike and we we tooling around looking at what Zillow said was on offer in the general vicinity. Kim, Thomas (his official name at the time) and I had driven down from San Francisco over the course of a week and looked for what I guess we…
Illegitimi Non Carborundum I took Latin for four years of high school and I learned lots of Latin words and expressions, many of which are used in the practice of the law. I have found my Latin education to be useful in the way everyone says it will be helpful, as an aid to understanding the English language and the various roots and derivations of words that have found their way into the English language.…
The Best of Times The New Year always brings out of the woodwork all manner of articles reflecting on the past and the future. The ones I read most closely are those that deal with the here and now. Today I read a Times Op/Ed piece entitled so as to highlight what the writer feels that we are living in the best times that have ever existed, what he called “the best time to be…
Lazy Daze There is a large cocktail party underway in the House of Representatives Chamber in the U.S. Capital today. I say that because it is past 5:00pm in Washington D.C., so officially into Happy Hour, and the scene on the floor of the House is not so much chaotic as without any discernible direction. At a cocktail party, once you have a drink in hand, you wander around aimlessly, chit-chatting your way around the…