TODAY'S RAMBLINGS What a great weekend. Thank you to Arthur and Mrs. Crup for hosting the Killer BBQ party on Saturday, and it was then a musical Sunday, spent with the inestimable Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in the supernatural Stern Grove here in SF. I Love Rock & Roll, indeed, and thanks Fi and Hunter for the invite! FYI the 62 year...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today, and for a refreshing change, I'll keep it light. I can feel America's and the world's problems disappearing, as I simply choose not to pay any attention to them! Plus, it's the weekend. There have been a lot of great comedic movies. There are classics from the earliest days of film, and throughout movie history...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS After the encyclopedic ("verbose" is likely the better adjective) Front Range Travel Guide, both you and I could use a short blog post today. No problem. (Warning: disclaimer only applies to this section) On Monday, I read a very powerful and also disturbing article, in the current issue of Esquire. I want to share it...

This part of the world, consisting of Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Boulder, some real mountain towns, and then the Rocky Mountains that are due west of it all are referred to as "The Front Range", short for "The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains". While Denver is a worthy and wonderful city, our focus this time was Rocky Mo...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Well, it was one for the ages. Friday's kick-off party was wonderful, at a venue as cool as it was unique. The wedding itself? It deserves its own blog post, which may or may not happen. I will say my affection for this entire mob of Michaels has never been stronger. Love was certainly in the air, but rather than emot...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS We are very close to the family of the bridegroom at this weekend's wedding in Boulder. As I've mentioned recently, his parents, "Polly" and Neumann Michaels, now divorced, are long-time friends of ours. While the dynamic and dimension of my relationship with the two of them has changed greatly over nearly 40 years, t...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I am frankly at my wit's end (no cracks) regarding this whole vaccination thing. I think if I were given a magic wand and allowed to change any one thing in America, it would be to eliminate the politicization of science and expertise. I'm fed up. Of course, the biggie is Climate Change. The fact that some (although i...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS After a pretty easy flight to DEN, we made our way to Estes Park yesterday, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was via a Killer luncheon at the posh Niwot home of Primo and "Polly". Their new outdoor lounge and spa, as expected, were gorgeous, and it's a good thing, too, what with all of the leisure time ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS On Sunday, we head to Colorado: the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, to be more precise. It's another week+ trip for us, and for a change, Julie is not working during any of it. And by any definition, it's a nice itinerary. But it's extra special because it's built around the wedding of the Steamboat Springs indust...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS While I am in favor of a safety net closer to Norway's than Alabama's, I believe there are limits to how much the Federal government can (or should) indebt our future generations to create that net. But we also have a wealth inequality situation here in America that is without modern precedent. Something's gotta give....

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS We're back in SF after a superb long weekend in Oceanside, which is about a 45 minute drive north of downtown San Diego. Major thanks to our very gracious hosts, the speed racer and noted TV installer Andy Jones, and the increasingly pregnant Libby Baines Jones. We ate, we drank, and we toured the surrounding area, bu...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS We are off to San Diego later today to visit the posh new digs of dear friends Andy and Libby Baines Jones. These guys bailed on our beloved SF for what? The best weather in the US? More room for less money? No homeless people outside your door? Sure, they're having a baby and all, but what's so wrong about the kid gr...

In response to the deafening clamor from exactly nobody, I give you the eagerly anticipated (also by exactly nobody) next edition: Portico Darwin: The Cookbook Volume II. You can view and download the Cookbook at the link; it will take 15 pages if you print it out. If I don't mind saying so (and you know I don't), it's another winner, ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS This past Monday afternoon and evening, The Pandemic ended. Yes, it's over. At least for me. No, not because I've been vaccinated (I have) or because we hit some arbitrary number by July 4th set by Papa Joe or even my man Dr. Anthony Fauci (we didn't). And no, it's not because I live in San Francisco, which has a supe...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (Note to self: don't write blog posts after partying at Mad Oak. My post Friday morning had more typos than you deserve. Apologies. Here's a copy hopefully free of boo-boos.) No politics on a holiday Monday. Instead, the GOP to which I'm referring is coverage of the pretty much non-stop Grand Old Party that went on in...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS One of the many clichés I often employ is that two (or even more!) things seemingly in conflict can be true at once. Call it nuance, and I've even written a post on it previously. Loving America is all about nuance, not dogma. Here are 3 vivid examples of that. Bill Maher and The Progress We've Made I hope everyone wi...

Let's clear up a couple of things right away. This Travel Guide sounds grand in scope, but it really covers only Las Cruces, New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and 3 National Parks, two of which are located in southern New Mexico, the other in, yes, west Texas. So apart from its copious length, it's not that grand. Next: it's doubtful many ar...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS You are in for a real treat: as today is a travel day - we are heading back to SF - my post will be short. But first, some brief-ish housekeeping: • Here is our photo album from the trip, for those that have too much time on their hands. I would be remiss if I did not thank Dr. Davis Fladgate and Mrs. Melynda Fladgate...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Phew! Tupper Lake may have been a social whirlwind, but we're talking about a National Park road trip whirlwind here in southern New Mexico and west Texas since Friday! Of course there's a complete Travel Guide forthcoming, but here are some tidbits to tide you over. Overall, what a great itinerary. We really loved ev...

If you remain concerned that there were nefarious activities by the Democratic party or anyone to steal the 2021 election for Joe Biden, I urge, no beg, you to read this article, published at The Atlantic's website yesterday. I read it last night, and thought it so important, I almost sent it then. Here is the link, and a PDF of the ar...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Perhaps it's the desert air or something else here in the beautiful enclave of Picacho Hills, but journalism, or specifically, what is and what isn't journalism, has been on my mind a lot lately. I will repeat something I say often. Journalism is a profession, like any other. Just like people go to MIT to become great...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS What is it like here at the expansive and oft-sumptuous home of Dr. and Mrs. Davis Fladgate? I've summarized my typical day here previously, and I can assure you nothing has changed (I even re-stocked the Weissbier late Monday and my Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 continues to impress). But I will now add some inside info...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today's post will be of the mercifully short variety because it's me simply sharing a revelation. This revelation came to me while listening to The Economist's superlative US news podcast, "Checks and Balance" on Sunday. For the record, it was here, on my walk Sunday morning. This week's coverage on the podcast was on...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (Editor's note: I am a capitalist, through and through. One of my favorite books is "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. I started a successful business from scratch. In other words, while I may align with Bernie, Elizabeth, Alexandria, and Scandinavia on many things, assuming I do on everything would be a mistake. So with t...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today we fly from San Francisco to El Paso, via the important US transportation hub, Las Vegas. From El Paso, and with Julie's father, the noted educator and political commentator Dr. Davis Fladgate somewhat ably doing the driving, we'll head to the good doctor's desert playground in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It's two w...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS One of my many passions is urban development and transportation. I've read a number of books on the subject (I just posted the list at my website), and I've arrived at this conclusion: The development of our built environment around cars and not people, which began right around the end of World War II, is central to o...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Facebook. Instagram. WhatsApp. That's what I wanted for the title of today's post, but I can't use the strikethrough formatting in the subject line. Whatever today's post is called, I hope you'll consider deleting these apps from your phones and your lives. Dramatic? I don't think so. I believe Facebook has uniquely e...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Last time, Heather Cox Richardson (kudos again to Primo Harvey, PhD for introducing me to this brilliant scholar). This time, the inestimable George Packer. You can't say I'm not trying. Mr. Packer has a new book, and there's an essay based upon it in this month's Atlantic. For those of you without a subscription, the...

This was unexpected and it turned out to be a very fun, and also educational, trip. Armed with the musically challenged Hunter Deuce and little else, yours truly decamped for downtown Sonoma in Mr. Deuce's swish new ride. This was an impromptu visit, and about the krijillionith time visiting for both of us. We've shredded it up here to...