LET'S START THE DAY by wishing the happiest of birthday celebrations to three of the most interesting people I know: Lori Anderson Schmucker, Stacy Beintema and Dharma Barsotti. Lori, a long time "secret pal" from my high school days at Pleasanton's Amador Valley High who is involved in everything from School Security and Muni Services to Mary Kay Cosmetics (in addition to being a full-time wife and mother); Stacy, a close friend and the former warden at Stockton, CA's Willow Glen, who now is a key supporter of other people's birthdays through her work with the American Cancer Society; and Dharma, a once scrawny kid running around backstage at concerts during my BGP days, who has now, among his other artistic endeavors, has built for himself a reputation as the master of creative environments and decorative splendor. The world is constantly changing and not always for the better, but of these two facts I will always be certain - the world as we know it is certainly a richer and more colorfull place because of these three individuals, and I will always be grateful that each of them crossed my path. Happy Birthday, gang...
MORNING BEVERAGE: Finally someone has come up with an answer to the supersillious waste of time the national political arena has become. In response largely to the well intentioned but calamitously mismanaged Tea Party circus, a group of folks from around the US have joined together to form The Coffee Party. No joke, this. In an attempt to keep the focus of radical, often incoherent mouthpiece organizations like Tea Party and MoveOn.org on topic, The Coffee Party asserts to keep the national debate on the issues instead of ten word answers and catchy slogans; the thought being to engage a conversation with the sensible 80% of citizens in the middle of the political spectrum and leave the 10% on either end to themselves, wasting time on talk radio and cable tv. And it looks like this puppy's got some legs. After just a few weeks, The Coffee Party boasts more than 160,000 members on FaceBook and has had premiere coverage in both Newsweek and The Nation, while with almost a year in existence, The Tea Party boasts just over 110,000, and the majority of the press has passed them by; not because there is a bias but because their Convention flopped and now even the untre-Conservative wing of the 'Pubs are using them for fodder at cocktailparties (no pun intended). For the first time in almost two years, since the passing of former Meet the Press host Tim Russert, it feels that someone has the backs of common sense Americans and not just the yahoo wackos on the far right and left. I am sure Timmy is smiling...
SPREADING THE WORD: My thanks to friend Colleen Costello-Kreidler, another dish from the "Don" days, who quite unintentionally, I'm sure, hooked me up with the NING Network, an "immersion-based" social network of passions, interests and vocations. Take a look at NING.com, what I believe to be the future of the Internet. There will certainly be more on this in the days to come. Colleen, a fine writer at SDSU and now in Davis, CA., who is still putting pen to paper (I hope!), is married to award winning scribe (Six Good Innings* was selected as Top 10 Sports Books of the Year by Booklist) / morning talk show host (The Rise Guys Show, Sports 1140 AM KHTK) Mark Kreidler. I am wondering if young Patrick and Ryan have their futures mapped out, as ink does seem to be in the genes. Though the word is Ryan swims like a fish and Patrick swings from the right side of the plate in a way NoCal hasn't seen since Matty Williams was guarding the hotbox for the Gnats two decades ago. Where does the time fly?...
SPREADING PT. II: Many thanks for those of you who leave comments about The Lounge on my FB page, but I'd really love it if you'd leave them here at The3Dot and maybe we can build a group of regulars and get a discussion going. More heads are always better than one. And yeah, in the historic words of Alan Whatshisname...Tell a Friend!...
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday Recap
MANY OUTSTANDING MOMENTS during Granpda Weekend. Aiden hangin' with Huck; like Rick and Louis at the end of Casablanca, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The heart-melting smile the first time the little cowboy turned the light switch off by himself (it doesn't take much to entertain a 10 month old). The classic Bubblebath/Rubber Ducky Hour to bring a quiet end to each day. But for this extended four-day weekend, nothing topped the precursor to yesterday's mid-morning nap. 10:30 hits and like clockwork, a rabid case of the "crankies" set in...imagine Chucky having a really bad day. But a diaper change and a chilled bottle of 2010 Infamil Private Reserve...which usually sends him right into Sandmanland and...Mr. Cranky Pants still wants more. So, I fix him another bottle and when I return, he's not the least bit interested; instead, perfectly content to lay in my arms and have me rock him to sleep with a couple of less-than-stellar James Taylor covers, Long Ago and Far Away and Sweet Baby James. Fortunately, the lad has no musical ear yet, so my ick-apella lullabys were enough to put him to sleep...and I got to walk around the rest of the day with a case of the uber-warm fuzzies...
THE OSCARS FOR this family is as follows: didn't watch it, weren't all that interested in who won. I remember back in the days when Oscar Night was a "big" deal; in fact maybe the first actual "Must See TV". Mostly I remember the hosts. I recall Bob Hope when I was younger, then the Carson Years of the late 70's/early 80's, followed by the Billy Crystal/Whoopi Goldberg 90's, probably the longest stretch of great Oscar nights, highlighted of course by Crystal's opening sequences that were always funnier and more creative than any of the movies nominated. If the Academy was smart, they'd pay Crystal whatever he wanted, give him 100% control and sign him to a lifetime contract. As for last night, my thanks to gal pal Patty Santin for her live updates via FB chat while I was sitting at the keyboard catching up on work I put off to spend the last four days with Mr. Smiley Face...
AL GORE DEPT: Here in IF, two years ago we had our last substantial snowfall on June 11. Last year, May 21. Yesterday, March 7, was our third consecutive day with temps over 35 and the second in a row over 40, and in every yard on our street, it was hard to find more than a melting snowman's worth of the white stuff. Being a NoCal boy, I'm as happy as Tiger Woods in a hotel room full of b-cup bleach blondes, but I am wondering how the anti-GW crowd will explain this one. Maybe passing it off as a reasonable result from all the extra driving we've been doing since our community-minded friends at the oil companies lowered pump prices to less than $3 a gal? Uh....yeah! I am sure the eco-folks are glad the guys at ExMob are finally starting to see the light...
NEXT UP, MARCH MADNESS: Today, my 13 year old heads back to school, while the 11, 15, and 17 year olds have the day off. Reason: The elementary and high schools on this side of the Snake are on Trimesters, while the Junior High, located directly next to and across the street, respectively, from each, is on a Semester schedule. Public Education at its finest...Always a day late and several million dollars short, our local, county, and state governments, along with a couple of dozen large corps are hosting a mini economic summit and jobs faire at the Civic Aud. here in IF today. Among the scheduled speakers will be Idaho Governor Butch Otter and IF Mayor Jared Fuhriman. Coming on the heels of last week's Labor Dept. announcement that new job losses were 7.2% less than expected last month, do ya think if they'd had job faires like this all over the US two years ago, we might have avoided this whole economic slump all together? Personally, I think if the gov required the banks to either lend every last cent of bailout money to businesses for expansion or give it back, with interest, we'd have all been back in black months ago...Final madness of the month: my good friend Stacy Beintema, late of arch rival Foothill High in Pleasanton and the Grupe Co. of Stockton, CA, where in 1984 she lured me into the maelstrom of property management when I began my slow departure from the peace and quiet of the rock and roll biz, turns...a year older...on the 15th. Once again, the Ides have it, and I'd say she's doing ok. A retired SJCO cop for a hub (and a fabo guy in his own right), two awesome kids (one war hero and one recent Fresno St. grad who is taking the "girls always fall in love with men just like their daddy" WAY too seriously), and a fulfilling career helping people stay alive at the American Cancer Society. Not bad for a salty (not) old gal who still doesn't look a day over 35. Happy Birthday, B...
THIS WEEKEND WAS also my brother Bob's 48th birthday. He, his lovely wife Susan, and their daughter Alex celebrated a week early in Maui, where they took a much needed vaca. Not surpisingly, I received notice on their 3rd day in paradise that they had been "Bartmaned" again. It seems everytime these two leave the continental US, disaster ensues. Nine years ago, nary a month after their wedding, they hopped a honeymoon flight to Ireland (the lengths my lil' bro will go to play a new golf course!). In the middle of their trip...9-11. Last Saturday, it was the Chilean earthquake and the very real, albeit temporary, threat of tsunami waves overrunning the islands. In the end it was an oddly enjoyable afternon for them and the thousands of other tourists bunking beachside to pack up, cart their rental cars up to high ground and watch the tide come in and out until the all-clear was given. The NTSB has politely requested the next time they are looking for a get away spot, they should try Kansas. Happy Brithday, Bubba...
AND SO ANOTHER week begins. Senioritis has already started setting in on school teachers (along with some students), geese are starting to head back to Canada, ticked they missed the Olympics, and I'm sticking pins in voodoo dolls of my friends back in Cali who are enjoying their home golf courses while, because of the snow that remains, I'm lucky to scare up a good game of Wii Golf. But we live, we love and we pray for the best, all the while remembering how blessed we are just to be able to experience the madness.
THE OSCARS FOR this family is as follows: didn't watch it, weren't all that interested in who won. I remember back in the days when Oscar Night was a "big" deal; in fact maybe the first actual "Must See TV". Mostly I remember the hosts. I recall Bob Hope when I was younger, then the Carson Years of the late 70's/early 80's, followed by the Billy Crystal/Whoopi Goldberg 90's, probably the longest stretch of great Oscar nights, highlighted of course by Crystal's opening sequences that were always funnier and more creative than any of the movies nominated. If the Academy was smart, they'd pay Crystal whatever he wanted, give him 100% control and sign him to a lifetime contract. As for last night, my thanks to gal pal Patty Santin for her live updates via FB chat while I was sitting at the keyboard catching up on work I put off to spend the last four days with Mr. Smiley Face...
AL GORE DEPT: Here in IF, two years ago we had our last substantial snowfall on June 11. Last year, May 21. Yesterday, March 7, was our third consecutive day with temps over 35 and the second in a row over 40, and in every yard on our street, it was hard to find more than a melting snowman's worth of the white stuff. Being a NoCal boy, I'm as happy as Tiger Woods in a hotel room full of b-cup bleach blondes, but I am wondering how the anti-GW crowd will explain this one. Maybe passing it off as a reasonable result from all the extra driving we've been doing since our community-minded friends at the oil companies lowered pump prices to less than $3 a gal? Uh....yeah! I am sure the eco-folks are glad the guys at ExMob are finally starting to see the light...
NEXT UP, MARCH MADNESS: Today, my 13 year old heads back to school, while the 11, 15, and 17 year olds have the day off. Reason: The elementary and high schools on this side of the Snake are on Trimesters, while the Junior High, located directly next to and across the street, respectively, from each, is on a Semester schedule. Public Education at its finest...Always a day late and several million dollars short, our local, county, and state governments, along with a couple of dozen large corps are hosting a mini economic summit and jobs faire at the Civic Aud. here in IF today. Among the scheduled speakers will be Idaho Governor Butch Otter and IF Mayor Jared Fuhriman. Coming on the heels of last week's Labor Dept. announcement that new job losses were 7.2% less than expected last month, do ya think if they'd had job faires like this all over the US two years ago, we might have avoided this whole economic slump all together? Personally, I think if the gov required the banks to either lend every last cent of bailout money to businesses for expansion or give it back, with interest, we'd have all been back in black months ago...Final madness of the month: my good friend Stacy Beintema, late of arch rival Foothill High in Pleasanton and the Grupe Co. of Stockton, CA, where in 1984 she lured me into the maelstrom of property management when I began my slow departure from the peace and quiet of the rock and roll biz, turns...a year older...on the 15th. Once again, the Ides have it, and I'd say she's doing ok. A retired SJCO cop for a hub (and a fabo guy in his own right), two awesome kids (one war hero and one recent Fresno St. grad who is taking the "girls always fall in love with men just like their daddy" WAY too seriously), and a fulfilling career helping people stay alive at the American Cancer Society. Not bad for a salty (not) old gal who still doesn't look a day over 35. Happy Birthday, B...
THIS WEEKEND WAS also my brother Bob's 48th birthday. He, his lovely wife Susan, and their daughter Alex celebrated a week early in Maui, where they took a much needed vaca. Not surpisingly, I received notice on their 3rd day in paradise that they had been "Bartmaned" again. It seems everytime these two leave the continental US, disaster ensues. Nine years ago, nary a month after their wedding, they hopped a honeymoon flight to Ireland (the lengths my lil' bro will go to play a new golf course!). In the middle of their trip...9-11. Last Saturday, it was the Chilean earthquake and the very real, albeit temporary, threat of tsunami waves overrunning the islands. In the end it was an oddly enjoyable afternon for them and the thousands of other tourists bunking beachside to pack up, cart their rental cars up to high ground and watch the tide come in and out until the all-clear was given. The NTSB has politely requested the next time they are looking for a get away spot, they should try Kansas. Happy Brithday, Bubba...
AND SO ANOTHER week begins. Senioritis has already started setting in on school teachers (along with some students), geese are starting to head back to Canada, ticked they missed the Olympics, and I'm sticking pins in voodoo dolls of my friends back in Cali who are enjoying their home golf courses while, because of the snow that remains, I'm lucky to scare up a good game of Wii Golf. But we live, we love and we pray for the best, all the while remembering how blessed we are just to be able to experience the madness.
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