The First [of Already Had Enough] Day[s] of School

A brief glimpse into our tax dollars trying to work:

Me: "So how have your first few days of school been going?"
Nic: "I hate it! They're always saying 'No' to me. I just want to sit in the front of the class and tell jokes."
Wifie: "Well, now. There aren't many places that aren't going to say 'No' to that."
Nic: "Well, then I say they're all fired!"

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A Tribute
Da Hoov: 1993-2008

The day I got him, I was buying cat food for Pip, the (then) family cat, in the Burien (WA) days. In one of the pet store bins was a splitting image of the puppy version of the Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary entry illustration -- that I recalled from second grade -- for "Spaniel". I then remembered that I always wanted a Spaniel. He had no papers, but his markings were good enough to argue that he was far from the Heinz 57 variety (a point groomers over the years had galvanized). So I was curious as to the behind-the-scenes story. The shop owner said that little guy had been the pick of the litter to carry on the legacy for the previous owner, who initially chose to keep him along with the mother. But when the previous owner's new landlord allowed only one dog, s/he had to make a concession. The puppy drew the short straw. So with the benefit of a dog with no papers and good markings, and knowing what a pedigreed dog can fetch, I figured I wouldn't pay a cen...

Good Mourning

In February 2014, legendary New York sportswriter Marty Noble wrote about the passing of legendary New York Mets announcer and Baseball Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner: "The radio and television programming was characterized by those speaking as 'a celebration,' and it was. I understand the concept; celebrate rather than mourn. But how difficult it was to see his passing as anything other than miserably sad...He had a good, long life. But I wanted it to be longer by 30 years, or at least by two months, so I could see him one more time and absorb one more anecdote..." And in February 2019, we can say the same for Flora DeBonis Pikul: sister, mother, godmother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, great-great-aunt, cousin, friend and so on. Now Marty Noble was talking about a sports figure, a celebrity. And you could argue that Grandma was a celebrity. She had a star quality. She had her 15 minutes of fame: a grand-prize winner on the "Concentration...

I left my inhibitions in San Francisco

[Left, i.e., disregarded, neglected] Seems, as with the incomparable Tony Bennett, my eternal fling with San Francisco remains strong. This time, it was ringing in the New Year with Cake at The Warfield Theater with my bro (the wife declined due to scheduling conflicts), BFAM and his wife. Again, one for the books. Now, many have either seen/heard first- or second-hand my past SF experiences dating back to 1988, each filled with some level of joy and/or wonder. It was looking pretty iffy at this concert experience in that it didn't echo that of Sia concert at Bimbo's in April '06 when Sia herself gave me (and only me) a big hug outside her tour bus after the show, or the Les Claypool concert at The Fillmore where my date scored backstage passes in December '00. First off this time, Cake lead singer John McCrea lives in Oakland, so he probably took the BART, given his dervish tendencies. Secondly, he was nowhere to be seen; just the bassist with whom BFAM and wife...

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