Bompah - Keepah's diary

Obsolete

2012-01-30T21:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sixty years old. It didn't seem like a big deal back in August when it happened. Forty was a big deal but not sixty. A couple of days ago I was talking about aging with Gloria, my son's mother-in-law and one of the wisest people I know. Specifically, I mentioned that as much as I've learned about the craft of radio performance over forty-three years of it, none of the younger people I work

Riding the CTA

2011-09-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a native Californian. Until two months ago when I arrived in Chicago with no car I have never ridden a bus or train except as a rare lark. Now public transportation is my only means of getting from here to there. Fortunately, the Chicago Transit Authority is rightly celebrated as being one of the best transit systems in the world. You can get anywhere, from here to there... and then from

Chicago Is...

2011-09-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

I've been in Chicago for two months now. I'll be moving into the house we've rented later this week. It's a beautiful old home on a beautiful old street. I can't wait for Carolann and the girls to join me here. The city is gorgeous in summer but yesterday, a change blew in from Great Lake Michigan. The hot, muggy days and nights that greeted me on my arrival suddenly turned to a hint of Fall

City of the Big Shoulders

2011-07-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sixteen days after my arrival in the town that Carl Sandburg dubbed the "City of the Big Shoulders" I am still fascinated; still excited. It's July and Chicagoans are just adorable. The blistering, humid heat makes everybody on foot soak through their shirts in less than a block, though it is only 8 a.m. Most of us lug computer bags and backpacks as we walk the streets of Chicago. Most

Real Estate Ads

2011-06-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months of unemployment I've had conversations with potential employers that never quite came to fruition but got close enough to send me online to look at homes for sale or rent in other cities. In checking the real estate sites nationwide, left coast to right, I have found a common thread: Nutballs. I suppose that's harsh. It's certainly not nice though I hope it has a

"It breaks your heart."

2011-06-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

A writer who loves baseball must be careful. It's too easy to slip into flowery purple prose about the game and I'm already prone to over-writing. Besides, the love of baseball has already been written with soul-stirring elegance by the likes of Roger Kahn, Roger Angell, Red Smith, George Will, Jim Murray, Joshua Prager, Ken Burns and many others. This morning I started re-watching the Ken

Pomp and Circumstance

2011-06-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

The proper title of the piece is Pomp and Circumstance March 1 in D. It was composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1901 and takes its name from Act III, Scene III in Shakespeare's Othello: "Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife, The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!" Today we know it as The

Phone books, Girl Scout cookies and circumcision

2011-05-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Remember telephone books? Well, of course you do. Just because anybody anywhere in the world can be found in fifteen seconds on a computer or mobile phone doesn't mean we're finished with phone books. We can't be, we get four or five of them on our doorstep every year. I followed a fascinating conversation on Facebook this morning which began with the news announcement that San Francisco has

Snarkiness is an American royal pain

2011-04-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

The royal wedding of William and Catherine was achieved today amid all the pomp and over-the-top ceremony the world expects of such events and I think it's wonderful. We can well use more royal romance and less political bickering and personal nastiness. What really has me close to the boiling point is the contentious snarkiness I've been reading and hearing for the past few days from Americans

Morning song, the reason for the road

2011-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Morning is God's way of gently shaking me awake with a smile and saying, "Get up, knothead. You're not finished yet." I love mornings, by God. Always have. And by morning I mean a half hour or so before dawn. It's the grand reawakening of my little corner of the world. Sunrise, birds, the dew; the works. Sunrise outside my home in Southern California is always spectacular. Sunrise everywhere

The wacko neighbor next door

2011-03-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a dog lover. They not only make me happy, they inspire me to try to be a better man. What other animal is always thrilled to see you, no matter how grumpy or mean you might be? Name one other creature whose only desire is to love and be loved in return? I think dogs are God's gift to us as a reminder of how He loves us unconditionally. (And yes, I know "dog" is "God" spelled backward but

Crippling honesty from the eight-year-old

2011-03-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

These are the precise words we exchanged not five minutes ago: Isaiah: (Hollering from downstairs.) "Grandpa!" Me: "What?" Isaiah: "Can we take the dogs for a walk and maybe go around the block or down to the park? I'm just asking." I half-hear him, half-think for only a moment. Me: "Maybe. That sounds like a good idea. Let me finish a couple of things. Then I'll think about it." Isaiah: (

Of Fish and Men

2011-02-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

My dad, Don Williams, was born and raised in Wyoming. About fifty-five years ago he and his dad taught me to fish swift trout streams in blinding snowstorms. I fished the Yellowstone River for the first time when I was only four or five. It was January in the mid-1950s, a stiff wind and vicious, blowing snow stung my tender cheeks and scared me. I grabbed my daddy's leg. He briefly

21st Century Kindergarten

2011-02-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

Our five-year-old grandson, Tyler, is in kindergarten. (Generic Kindergarten class of 1956. I'm not in this picture.) I actually remember my kindergarten days pretty clearly. Back then, in 1956, the kindergarten teachers had two classes each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was in Mrs. Armstrong's early class. It was an action-packed three hours of finger-painting, stacking

Eyerocks, by Cheri

2011-01-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

We all want to leave something behind. We desperately want to have mattered. We want to believe that our lives were not coincidental and that somebody, a few years after we're gone, might be grateful that we passed this way. Most of us can leave our footprints in the sands of time just by leading good lives and enriching the lives of those who love us. Surely, that's enough. We don't

Early morning mental gymnastics

2011-01-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

I slept until almost 7 a.m. this morning. That's two hours later than usual. When I do that my body feels a bit lighter and less achy but it takes awhile for my brain to engage. I feel a little foggy-headed. But I've done this long enough to proceed with my early morning routine on cruise control. I took the dogs outside and waited for them to finish their morning ablutions. Upon my

These dogs...

2011-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

I’m watching our girls as they sleep off their stress. I picked them up an hour ago from the groomer. They cried when I left them and they cried even louder when I returned. They were thrilled that I had come back for them. Home again, I let them out of their carriers and they smothered me with frantic, tail-wagging kisses even though I’m the guy who had left them in cages with a stranger.

Auld lang syne, my dear

2010-12-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

I have never understood why people make a big deal out of the arrival of a new year. It's not a grumpy old fart thing. I've just never seen the significance of celebrating the arrival of another new day. It happens every 24 hours. But once each year it happens and people go crazy drinking and hugging and kissing each other and often total strangers. I have nothing against drinking or

Stuff

2010-12-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

As I type these words I am awaiting a knock at the door from the repo man. He's coming to get my beloved motor home. Unemployed for four months now, I must let her go. (I say "her" because men always give cars, boats and RVs women's names. We love them, ya know? We really, really do. But at this point I'm glad I never named her.) It's just a thing. Just stuff. Frankly, I'll be glad to have it

Art Linkletter would be proud

2010-12-18T09:11:00.000-08:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe that. So, today I'm going to spare you 959 words. Our five-year-old grandson is learning to spell. Doing exceptionally well, too. Right up to that last letter.

Up on the houstop reindeer pause...

2010-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

(This is an annual re-publication of my holiday warning I issue to friends and strangers alike every year at this time. Please take heed. Stay off the roof!) December 8th is an anniversary for me. This time it will mark twenty years since the day I fell off the roof of our house while putting up Christmas lights. I only fell eight or ten feet and I managed my fall. Knowing that I

Circles of Influence

2010-11-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Had lunch with Dwight Case yesterday. We met at one of those fabulous intimate, classy joints along Ventura Blvd. -- this one in Studio City -- on a perfect, sunny and mild Southern California autumn day. Dwight knows everybody in the place, of course, including the owner, with whom he has established a warm relationship fostered over nearly 40 years of business/social events. I arrived first

Spring forward, Fall back; rinse and repeat

2010-11-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend is the end of Daylight Saving Time. Please note, it's "saving," not "savings" with an "s" on the end. You can't put daylight or time in a bank to be withdrawn and spent in the future. That would be very cool but it doesn't work that way. Time doesn't care who you are, what you do, what you think or how you use the finite number of breaths and heartbeats given to you on this

The Adventures of Captain Underpants

2010-10-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

Saturdays are Grandpa and Isaiah days. Carolann works. Isaiah's dad works. So, it's just the eight-year-old and me. This past Saturday I was preparing to fix us lunch when Isaiah marched into the kitchen and proudly proclaimed, "I AM CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!" I didn't turn around to look at him right away because this is the sort of goofy thing I've come to expect of young boys, having been

I just broke a cfl bulb!!!

2010-10-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Now I’ve done it. After living a good, clean life for nearly six decades I’ve thrown it all away. Well, I didn’t throw it, exactly, I just knocked it off the kitchen counter onto the floor. It shattered on impact. The warning on the bulb’s housing read: CONTAINS DANGEROUS MERCURY POISONING. DISPOSE ACCORDING TO LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS. Yes, of course I panicked! My

The nice police

2010-09-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know why we sugar coat things these days. For some reason the word "cripple" is distasteful so we now say "disabled." Frankly, I don't see how that's any better. I guess the nice police figure it implies strength within infirmity. It excuses us our physical and mental shortcomings. It helps us pretend we are not less than complete; we cripples are just as good as anybody else, even

The seven-year-old diplomat

2010-09-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Post-It Note found on our grandson's bedroom door this morning...

Summer

2010-09-01T11:40:00.001-07:00

What is it about summer that fills and yet drains us? You say it’s the heat and certainly that defines it. It’s the close intensity of the sun through a hazy sky. Sharp shadows. Fuzzy memories. Summer was our youthful promise of immortality. It began at the exact moment of the final school bell in early June. It proceeded through endless days of hitting baseballs and jarring polliwogs

The lonely road

2010-07-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Many years ago my world ended at the age of 30. It happened the day I moved out of my house, away from my wife and four-year-old son, and into a drab apartment. Divorce happens and when one is young it truly seems to be the end of all that matters.Happily, we are profoundly ignorant in youth.These days, nearly 30 years later, I travel with my darling Carolann and our precious girls, Cricket

Box o' troubles

2010-07-24T07:44:00.001-07:00

I have an odd affinity for wooden boxes. I have some nice ones, too. Some are old and ornate, some are not so old and plain, but they hold my treasures. I keep all sorts of mementos in a couple of them but most of them are empty. Well, not quite. The biggest one holds my hopes and dreams. Today I’ve decided to designate one of my beautiful wooden boxes as my troubles box. It’s

Wanderers Anonymous

2010-07-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

My name is Dave and I have wanderlust.I inherited this compulsion from my father, the late Don Williams. He lived for the fever. It was unyielding.He would throw a few things into a bag and hit the road alone with only a moment's notice to his wife. She learned to be okay with that. It was who he was. He needed to chase the horizon every few weeks or he would surely wilt and become a

Bugs

2010-07-17T11:11:00.001-07:00

Mel Gibson is a bug. He needs to be squished. He is famously handsome, funny, lovable, talented and wealthy. Which is why he must now be squished. It's what we do to our icons, right? We make 'em bigger than life, take away their material needs and leave them alone to wrestle with their emotional needs. It's the deal with the devil, the price of fame and fortune. And then, when they

Sting of the road

2010-07-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled by the fever of wanderlust.I am dazzled and excited every morning I awaken someplace new.Like most RV vacationers, Carolann and I think about full-timing when we're able to retire. Wandering at will, from here to there and then someplace else; it seems like the perfect reward for two lives well-lived.We've punched our workday time clocks for forty years. We've each loved,

A chirpy "Good morning!"

2010-06-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

I awoke in an unusually good mood today. I'm really happy. There's no particular reason for it and it's not that I ever wake up grumpy, because I don't. I just awoke super smiley today, that's all. I went to the grocery store at about 9:30 a.m. In the parking lot I approached a woman leaving the store, pushing a basket and apparently in deep concentration. She seemed oblivious to

"Liar at checkstand four!"

2010-06-20T09:28:00.001-07:00

I went grocery shopping yesterday and saved $29.75. I know I did because it says so right on the bottom of the receipt just above the place where the receipt urges me to take a customer survey online and become eligible to win $100. When did grocery stores become so damned chummy? A little small talk with the checker is nice but I don't need to have an ongoing personal relationship with

RV lifestyles of the rich and fru-fru

2010-06-17T17:40:00.001-07:00

Have you ever walked through one of those million dollar motorhomes?I dig the on-board washer and dryer. The spectacular sound system and the 52-inch HDTV screen that magically slides up out of the furniture are very cool. For the life of me I can't understand why you would want marble counter tops and gold and crystal chandeliers on a mirrored ceiling in a recreational vehicle but that's just a

To kill a mockingbird

2010-06-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

3:12. Must sleep. Can't. Must. It's hot. Throw off the bedspread. Can't feel the fan. Such a pretty sound. But it's so loud. How can it go on like that all night? And so loud? Most birds don't make any noise at night. None. Sun goes down, they shut up. This one's different. Don't think about it. Don't think about anything. Think about something else. I forgot to clean the porch, the

"...and it does the rest!"

2010-05-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

I swear to you, this is a true story. I'm telling it with no embellishment, exactly as it happened not five minutes ago. You think advertising isn't effective? It's 6:13 on a Saturday morning. I know that precisely because I was starting my coffee maker and it has a clock on it. Seven-year-old Isaiah appears, rubbing his eyes and telling me he sprained his groin while sleeping. I

Kids just don't get it.

2010-05-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Life is difficult. It's complicated. Kids don't understand that. Well, why would they? We handle all the complicated stuff for them. They just play. That's their job and most of them do it exceedingly well. You can even say they're experts at it. The sad thing is that we were all kids once but for some reason as we get older and the world gets more complex we think we need to find more

RV versus Tent Camping

2010-05-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from my RV travel blog: Thataway Road.)I don't make the distinction.Like most people I started camping as a kid in a tent in dirt campgrounds with my dad, mom and younger sister. Sometimes my dad and I would go, just the two of us. We'd hike and fish and sleep on the ground under a gazillion stars without the tent or even the campground. Those times are cherished memories. But, now

My dad, the inventor

2010-05-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Nearly sixty years ago my dad did something that seems pretty goofy now, but at the time we were all amazed and impressed. He was very proud of himself.This was back in the fifties when TV was black-and-white, we only had two or three channels and a huge number of American households didn't even have a TV yet. Nobody had more than one. That would have been as silly and pointless as having

Saturday morning...

2010-05-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

It's the pause in our week. It's the moment we put down our worries, responsibilities and busy thoughts. Just for a moment. -- My hummingbird is sipping nectar from the backyard feeder I filled last week. He goes away and comes back for seconds. -- The barbecue smoker stands proud and manly on its pad, ready for the lovely babyback ribs it will soon receive and slowly perfect over the long,

My Travelogue: An important memory!

2010-05-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Everywhere Carolann and I go in our motorhome or Lance truck camper I keep a travelogue. It's sort of a combination diary/travel guide. It reminds me of the places we've been, the experiences we've shared and the things I've learned but might forget if I don't write them down.This entry, written eleven years ago, falls into that last category: lessons remembered.* * * * * * * * * *July

They call me "Hoss."

2010-05-08T14:49:00.001-07:00

Did you ever have a nickname? Did you ever want one? I'm betting the answer is yes to at least one of those questions, although most people never have a nickname that sticks and is used more or less by everybody they know. For the sake of the discussion here I'm not talking about diminutive forms of your actual given name like Rosie for Rosemary or Dick for Richard. (Now, there's a discussion

Shake, Rattle and Roll: The Williams Family Wild West Roundup

2010-05-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

My favorite vacation is the one we took about 13 or 14 years ago. It was our first motorhome adventure and in spite of some fairly significant problems along the way, I was hooked. RV travel, I decided, is the only way to live.I was a popular radio personality in Sacramento in those days and managed to talk an RV dealer into giving me a brand new 38-foot gas-powered Class A motorhome to

What goes around...

2010-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

“Your sons weren’t made to like you. That’s what grandchildren are for.” – Jane Smiley The boy is seven. He hangs his clothes on the floor with no regard for whether they are clean or dirty. He leaves string cheese wrappers in the family room, never learns to turn off the TV, frequently forgets to flush the toilet and makes his own breakfast, leaving half of his chocolate milk on the

In the heart of a campfire

2010-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

If I was honest enough to remember the whole truth, I’d probably recall some very uncomfortable or even miserable experiences while dirt-camping as a kid. But why would I want to do that? Anybody who intentionally spends hundreds of dollars plus weeks in excited preparation for the opportunity to sleep on the ground, live in a perpetual cloud of dust and mosquitoes, eat food from a

Freddie and the Prophet

2010-03-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

I met Freddie back in the sixties when we were both children growing up far too slowly for our satisfaction and far too quickly for our own good. When I say we were children I mean we were entering the human equivalence of chrysalis, the state of transformation. (I prefer that metaphor to the more common, clinical and somewhat icky term, “puberty”.) Fred wrote today of having an

Stuff I'm trying to assimilate today

2010-03-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

I took the dogs outside just as daylight began to suggest itself. The birds were chattering like a gaggle of Wall Streeters in thousand dollar suits. I wonder what they’re going on about? And it occurred to me how empty and meaningless the world would seem without that dawn bird chatter. Big Tiny Little died the day before yesterday. He was a trad jazz piano player. One of the best, ever. Made

The parakeet story

2010-02-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

Everybody has a true life story or two which need telling, if only as a soul-cleansing confession. Here’s mine: Some years ago Carolann and I agreed to take care of a parakeet for our friends while they went on vacation. I know what you’re thinking and so did I. Who needs baby sitters for a bird? You clean the cage, leave plenty of food and water and then go on vacation without giving the bird a

Swedish meatballs

2010-02-19T06:37:00.000-08:00

Pardon my French, but what in H-E-double-hockey-sticks is wrong with recipe writers?Yesterday I had a craving for Swedish meatballs.I've been watching a lot of Winter Olympics cross-country skiing and while I feel a little sorry for the hapless Norwegians and their maddeningly inferior waxes, those crazy Swedes and their rhythmic, hypnotic, ponderous crab walks have swept me off my feet! So, I

The coolest generation

2010-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

"'Scuse me while I kiss the sky!"One day not too long ago I wandered into a 7-11 store and hid my smile from the clerk. He appeared to be on the fringe of his "golden years," rotund, gray and balding. He was the only guy in the place and had Jimi Hendrix blaring from his boombox behind the counter. I thought it was pretty funny that an old guy like him was digging Jimi. Then, what you have

Father knows best. Usually.

2010-02-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

I have a mental block about when I lost my dad, Don Williams.I can never remember the exact date nor even the year for sure, but I think it was eight years ago this month, February of 2002. I guess I just don't want to think about that.I still miss him terribly.I miss his kind, warm smile and the feel of his arms around me. I can remember the sweet smell of his pipe and cigars as surely as if

Making reservations for the cackle factory...

2010-02-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

For some inexplicable reason I awoke this morning at 4:48 with this song running through my head: There’s a hold up in the Bronx,Brooklyn’s broken out in fights!There’s a traffic jam in HarlemThat’s backed up to Jackson Heights!There’s a scout troop short a child,Kruschev’s due at Idlewild!! CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU??!! If you never heard those words, it doesn’t matter. Move on and have a great day

Am I blue?

2010-02-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” — Will Rogers Summer days in the Sacramento Valley are scorchers. Back in the 1950s and 60s when I was growing up we didn’t have air conditioning. Nobody did. Our home had a swamp cooler on the roof directly over the hallway to the bedrooms, adjacent to the kitchen. The hallway had a gray tile floor. Not nice

Surviving childhood

2010-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

One of the things we aging boomers love to talk about is how much safer the world used to be when we were kids. It was in some respects. Mostly, though, I wonder how we survived.As kids in the 1950s and 60s we were allowed to roam our entire neighborhoods from sunup to sundown free and unfettered from fear of death or abduction. Nobody was ever snatched off the street. That possibility never even

At home with the Cleavers

2010-01-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

Carolann and I were watching TV the other evening when our seven-year-old grandson, Isaiah, asked if he could join us. It was close to his bedtime and I figured he’d be bored to death by the movie we were watching anyway so his Nana told him yes but said he would have to be quiet so we could hear the movie. Isaiah’s a great kid, he really is. He’s a little squirmy. He did start making some

Rain stories, part one

2010-01-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

I love rain. I don’t love driving or walking in it, of course, but sitting inside in a cozy, warm house while God cleans and replenishes our world is high on my list of the best things in life. If there’s a fireplace in the room it goes up another notch or two. Yesterday though, I had to drive to work in a pounding rain — highly unusual in Southern California and all the more dangerous for that

The loving "ism"

2010-01-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Racism; deplorable. Sexism; unacceptable. Ageism; adorable. I recently annoyed some friends in an email chat group by expressing my irritation at the proliferation of jokes about old people. They think I’m overreacting. It’s no big deal, people have always made fun of old folks, right? People still tell race jokes, too, but at least we know that’s disrespectful and wrong. Look at what I just

Old dog, new economy

2010-01-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

I’ve been spoiled my whole life. Never been poor. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, no more than being poor is. It is simply our circumstance for a million reasons, including dumb luck - good, tragic or in-between. I’ve never been truly wealthy but until very recently I never had to pinch pennies, either. And, brother, I did not! About a year ago I lost my job and spent three months collecting

A child for life

2009-12-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

Late on Christmas Eve my grandson spotted an intruder in our home.I suppose "intruder" isn't exactly the right word since this old man was welcome and expected. Still, we never knew what time he will arrive and he never bothers to knock on the door or announce himself. Isaiah was awakened by his dad about 11:30. They crept silently down the stairs and peeked around the corner into the parlor.And,

Dearest friends and family,

2009-12-23T13:44:00.001-08:00

So many of you have warmed our hearts and graced our home with your beautiful Christmas cards, family photos, personal notes and newsletters over the past couple of weeks I confess I have been enjoying them with a dollop of guilt. It has been a tough year for Carolann and me financially and nothing stresses the heart and soul more than worrying about how to buy food, juggle the bills and remain

Things you'll remember: Part Two

2009-12-02T05:01:00.000-08:00

Nothing lasts forever. Except, perhaps, forever. Before I got onto that honey bee tangent I was talking about the things from our lives which are rapidly passing into memory. And, in a mere generation even the memory will be gone. Technology does that. It creates new ways of doing old things and mind-blowing new things most of us could never imagine. That's cool stuff but what's even better, I

Things you'll remember: Part One

2009-11-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

I just read an amazing article about the Top 25 Things Vanishing From America. Some of them are obvious: fax machines, homes without cable TV, drive-in theaters, etc. These are mostly gadgets and ways of doing things that technological advancements have improved into oblivion. Pit toilets is on the list. I won't miss those, will you? Other things on the list will be certainly missed by those of

Advanced parenting

2009-11-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

My son Jeremy stopped by yesterday and today at our request for assistance. He’s almost thirty-three years old. He’s a husband and dad, he’s got a degree in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly and years of experience as a professional theater technical director. He’s a former Disney Imagineer and is currently a lighting and special effects specialist for the Disneyland Hotel. I, on the

Where's my TV guide?

2009-10-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I suppose this falls into the category of not appreciating the marvels of modern technology just as we all curse the microwave from time to time for making us wait four minutes to do what it took our moms all day to do. But, dammit, I want to know where my TV shows are and when they start again and why they just up and disappear for six months at a time after only four new episodes!Back in the

Redefining relevance

2009-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

At twenty I attacked my life dreams the way I had pounced on Christmas presents just a few years earlier. The future was forever.By thirty I had created a family, a strong identity and an impressive professional reputation. The world was my oyster. Turning forty brought me the good-natured joshing of my many friends, family and colleagues who had come to admire and respect me. I was at the top of

Spontaneous felicity

2009-10-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

There is nothing in life more exciting than impulsive action.It's that phone call you get on a dull Saturday afternoon from a good friend directing you to "grab a toothbrush and a clean shirt, we're headed to Tahoe to raise a little hell!"It's deciding to call a few people and tell them to come on over right now because you're going to grill some meat and make some margaritas. It's deciding to go

A real pain in the @ss

2009-09-19T16:22:00.000-07:00