Category: Opinions

A moment of silence

A lot of really great players have passed through the San Francisco Giants clubhouse. A lot of warriors and plenty of freaks and some a little bit of both.

I was saddened this weekend at the surprise and as-yet-unexplained untimely passing of Rod Beck, who wore the Giants uni from ’91-’97. He was just 38.

He was a steely-eyed closer, something the Giants have been sorely lacking since the retirement of Robb Nen. (Hell, I can have a moment of silence just for Nen’s arm post 2002 World Series).

Beck was a hell of a pitcher and by all accounts a hell of a good man, giving back to the community and all about his family. He looked crazy, that was part of his appeal, but his stuff was wicked and he’s both fondly remembered and sorely missed.

Sorry it had to go this way, Shooter.

Ok, now that’s kind of cool

I weary of all the death, terror and destruction in the news these days. In fact, I don’t really read newspapers. I glance at them online, skip the bad stuff and look for interesting opinion pieces, celeb trash or “feel good” stories.

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has one of them thar “feel good” stories today.

Let me break it down.

It’s 1976. Palo Alto, California. A guy named Ronald Leung owns a car repair business. And he owns a sweet 1956 Ford Thunderbird with just 24,979 on the odometer.

Some yo-yo steals it. He files the report. No luck, it’s gone.

In the time since it’s been stolen, he’s had a couple kids, worked a job, retired and often thought about his car.

Fast forward to this week. Ronald gets a call yesterday. They found his car. And he gets to have it back!

Whoa.

Long story short, a lady in Ventura bought it on eBay and when she tried to register it, they found the true VIN and linked it back to Ronald, a car enthusiast, who filed all the right reports some 31 years ago.

Dude gets to go to So. Cal this weekend to get it. And it’s been fully restored and is in *cherry* condition.

What a fine drive home that’s going to be!

Yeah! That ROCKS! Getting to drive a machine like that makes even the nasty Grapevine seem like a lot of fun.

Enjoy the ride, Ronald!

To everyone else, have a great weekend!

(it’s a beaut)




Happy Summer Solstice

It is with melancholy that I greet the longest day of the year.

I know for lots of folks, this is a day of celebration. Like the folks mentioned in the article in today’s Las Cruces Sun News.

Beating a drum and greeting the sun actually sounds like a nicer way to spend the day than beating the keyboard and greeting the boss.

You have to know this about me: I love the summer. I mean LOVE. I mean obsessively love and I stingily count the days because I know soon enough it will be again be cold, and dark and I’ll leave work at 5:30 in pitch black wearing shoes that cover my liberated feet and *gasp* the socks come out of the drawer.

But today I’ll frolic like I’m at Stonehenge because today it’s warm, and beautiful. Flip flops adorn my feet. A summer dress swings about my fairly tanned rig. Today I’ll enjoy the light and not think about the dark that presses at the edges. In the next months I’ll gape at the heat and lament my lack of air conditioning and worry about how my furry cat and less furry man will endure this season’s heat.

Today, we rejoice!

(painting by Alison Pebworth, titled “Summer Solstice, Once Removed”)

I *told* you so!

I did so tell you so!

(what a little snot I am…hee!)

From this article in the Albququerque Tribune:

“Warning to you outdoorsy New Mexicans: Please don’t pet the bunnies.”

Or the squirrels. Or the rats. Or the other fluffy-but-not-cute plague and Hantavirus and now something called Tularemia ridden creatures.

In all seriousness, if you live in NM, read that article. It’s kind of scary. Rabbits are dying off left and right.

Is this one of those “what’s happening to the bees?” kind of things because folks, I’m getting concerned……..

Man, this is why I love New Mexico so much….

Because of things like this article which made its way into the somewhat respectable ABQjournal.

Titled “Courthouse Camera Catches Curious Image”, there is speculation that an errant image seen on security tapes might be a ghost. Furthermore, they think they know who the ghost might be.

And to the good folks of New Mexico it’s *totally plausible*….AND it made the newspaper!

I love that! I’m totally bought in! I’m the girl who thinks I could see a woodbending Jesus at Loretto. The one who has deeply inspected the chairs and the dark corners of the Double Eagle in Mesilla and who goes into the store (also in Mesilla) that once was the courthouse and tries to squint to see the ghosts of criminals who swung from the trees in the plaza.

I’m in! And now that I’ve seen the video, I’m even MORE bought in! Weird!!!!

(heck, this story even made the San Francisco Chronicle!)

Video here: