TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <6 Minute Read Happy Friday, and this is the fifth installment of Maybe It Was Destiny. Preface and Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 CHRISTMAS DRUG WITHDRAWAL Among the worst memories of the company's early days was Christmas 2002, spent in paradise, A.K.A. The Bracebridge Dinner at The Ahwahnee Hotel, in Yosem...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 2 Minute Read Happy Wednesday and while you've been doing whatever it is that you've been doing, Julie and I have been actively managing the household of our pals Louise Lederhosen and Byron Browne IV. In other words, we're housesitting at their swank pad in western San Francisco whilst they're screwing off in Africa ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 1 Minute Read I had a fun piece on SF's Westside planned for today's post, but of course, that will have to wait. With Papa Joe, in perhaps one of his last lucid moments, dropping out of the 2024 Presidential election, I perhaps am speaking for many with my reaction. I CAN FUCKING BREATHE AGAIN. And Joe Biden saved hi...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 6 Minute Read Happy Friday, and this is the fourth installment of Maybe It Was Destiny. Preface and Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 MAGILLA GUERILLA It all started so positively in early 2002. Scott Edwards drafted a direct mail letter (still a viable medium at this time) that I mailed to an address list purchased from ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <2 Minute Read Special thanks to Politico for this. They compiled the list below of VP candidate J.D. Vance's comments to date about Dear Leader Trump. This man simply has no principles - none. To say the following, and then accept an invitation to join the Republican Presidential ticket? In fact, I don't believe Trum...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (I wrote this just before someone took a shot at Trump. How appropriate.) 3 Minute Read Happy Monday and this is not what you think. Today, I lament the loss of SF's beloved Stern Grove Festival. Oh, it's still taking place, in the Sigmund Stern Grove (pictured above), located in southern San Francisco at the corner o...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 4 Minute Read Happy Friday, and this is the third installment of Nobody CaresMaybe It Was Destiny. Preface and Chapter 1 Chapter 2 IT WAS SCOTT EDWARDS (AND PLEATHER, AND PEET KRAKOW) Sure, I like music, the gear for it, and later, I even connected a computer to a TV. Big fucking deal. None of that would have mattered...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Welcome to Wednesday and some outrage. It's real, pissed-off outrage, but with a happy ending, or at least a useful suggestion. But first, a warning: Those who find complaints from overly pampered old white men distasteful might want to put this down and pick up a book instead. And this glass of whine w...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <1 Minute Read Happy Monday, and I hope you enjoyed the quasi long weekend. Reconnecting with my British friend and former colleague Randy Smee has been great and it has stirred once again the Anglophile in me. And audiophile, as you'll see. So you can thank Randy for inspiring today's largely Darwin-free blog. Well, ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 4 Minute Read Happy Friday, and this is the second installment of Maybe It Was Destiny. Preface and Chapter 1 THE ROOTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MADNESS Growing up in Albany, NY, one's dreams are by nature somewhat stunted; still, I dreamt big as a kid. One constant fantasy was starting a company. Whatever that meant. I viv...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 1 Minute Read Happy Wednesday, and let me be clear: I mean no offense to anyone - religious or secular - with today's post. But in celebration of America's founding on the 4th of July, I am pushing back on the ongoing insistence that I observe Jesus Christ as some kind of a God. Taken to the extreme, and with the weir...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 3 Minute Read Happy Monday, and this is my fantasy. Barack Obama was dreading this and hoped beyond hope it could be avoided. But last Thursday's horror show of a debate meant he had been called upon by his party to ask his friends Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to step aside. He brought some helpers to ensure it would g...

We are interrupting our regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this important announcement. As I've said before, Biden is too old and should have stepped aside. He didn't and here we are. It took last night for me to realize the Democratic party leadership backing Papa Joe is almost as mindless as the Republican leaders sticking wi...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <2 Minute Read + a Long External Article I bet you didn't envision a post on homosexuality today, did you? And that's not all: What I present is as disturbing as anything I've ever published. And no, it's not me coming out as gay. What follows is not mine nor anything about me. I didn't write it, and as I've read and ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 2 Minute Read Happy Monday, and no, today's topic was not just an excuse to run an adorable baby picture of myself. Instead, it is to remind you that the entire world is simply not having enough babies, adorable or otherwise. Most of the rich world is getting older, fast, and that's not a good thing. I have been seein...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Happy Friday, and with the likely exception of a particular North Carolinian blog troll, many going into the weekend are asking themselves: Oh, Portico, please tell us where you source your t-shirts! If I must, and I'll even include a bonus fashion item at the end, one sure to thrill many. As always, th...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 3 Minute Read I can make the argument that Willie Mays is the American icon. As you may know, he passed yesterday, at age 93. I cried. I am doing something I have not done to date in these august pages, that being repeating a previous post. Here is the genius of Willie Mays, in his own words, which I originally publis...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Serenity now, indeed. And Happy Monday. Yes, we are still a few months out and anything can happen. But there are many reports that a 2nd Trump presidency is likely, this from The Economist among them. So many are asking Nobody in their right mind is asking, "Oh, Portico, please share your random emotio...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 2 Minute Read + External Videos and Articles! Happy Friday and sorry, but I am going to bang on yet again about cars and that they suck. But today, I offer evidence (that you can review over the weekend!) for something I've said for a long time: A central factor in our country's malaise was building everything for car...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Happy Hump Day, and yes, that is an old photo that I've used here before. It is of a large General Electric home appliance and television factory, in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1960s. For now, please keep it in mind as you read today's . . . creative post. I've always had a distaste for gambling. Whil...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 1 Minute Read Happy Monday, and let me help you with a must for the summer, at least for me, and I believe I am uniquely qualified. Because apart from owning a business for years in the field, I am generally obsessed with music and its twin, gear for its proper reproduction. Indeed, I have previously written long and ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Happy Friday and I am in the middle of an interesting book, written by Charles Duhigg, entitled Supercommunicators. I can heartily recommend it to anyone who interacts with others, personally or professionally. So, you know, everybody. I am kidding, but not really, as the book drives home the importance...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <2 Minute Read The big news here in San Francisco over the last week or so is that our beloved but defunct Anchor Brewing has been purchased, and will be reborn. Better still, the new owner sounds like a modern-day Fritz Maytag, the washing machine scion who owned and ran the brewery during its heyday, from 1965 throu...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <2 Minute Read Sorry to do this on a Monday. While I've done an OK job tamping down most of my feverish political rants for almost two years now, I've about fucking had it. You either believe in America and its system of laws and norms, or you do not. So seeing many leading Republicans demean our courts and the outcom...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <1 Minute Read (+ 18 Minute Video) Happy Friday. If you hang around me for very long, Scott Galloway(pictured above)almost certainly will come up. That's because I find this entrepreneur/professor/observer to be wiser than most on many subjects, ranging from the rich (like himself) needing to pay more taxes, to the co...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <3 Minute Read Today, I am going to talk about something I have not previously, that being the panic attacks I've had for most of my adult life. Have you ever had a panic attack? They come in different flavors, but if you have or have had them, there is no mistaking one. For me, it's an uncontrollable freefall that ca...

I walk often in the National Cemetery located within The Presidio, and this is my short video/audio tribute to the fallen. It's best if you can listen, as well as watch. Memorial Day Every Day It is also for my Uncle Jack, my mother's younger and only brother, an Air Force pilot who was shot down during the Korean War. He was spoken of...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS <4 Minute Read Happy Friday and Happy Summer. Disney was clearly aware that Memorial Day Weekend kicks off summer, and thus are wise to debut their new documentary about The Beach Boys today, on Disney+. Because what the hell says summer like The Beach Boys? (Kids, believe me: Not much.) But I digress, because thanks ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 3 Minute Read Wow, am I glad to no longer be in the residential A/V game. Or a Sonos customer. As I've mentioned once or twice endlessly, I owned an integration firm that designed and installed the technology in fine homes for almost 17 years. Now, a company that was initially a savior and then a no-brainer go-to for ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS 2 Minute Read Happy Monday, and if you had even half as much fun as I did over the weekend, you're probably ready for some reality. So today I am focusing on the world in which we live - not one that isn't coming back. The High Interest Rates Aren't High This nutty expectation of ultra-low interest rates must end. Int...