OVERVIEW With this, I am starting a new Travel Guide flavor, the Micro Travel Guide. These will cover shorter, less dramatic trips - yet ones that are still worthy of a serious mention, and also a place you might just want to check out. Like Oceanside, CA. Our visit was personal in nature - that being, meeting the new son of some close...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I'll be publishing a micro Travel Guide for Oceanside soon. Until then, you've got to see the baby! If you've read this blog even once or twice, you know that I have concerns (OK, grave concerns) about our future. There's the climate crisis. Wealth inequality. Justice inequality. Inflation. Education. Our woeful infra...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS This (kind of) just in: major congrats to Ketanji Brown Jackson for her appointment to the Supreme Court. Shame on the 47 Republican Senators who did not vote for this eminently qualified individual; what a disgrace and history will not forget their unjustified disrespect. A friendly reminder that Antonin Scalia was c...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS As I get my feet back on the ground here in SF, today's post is short (OK, for me) but not on a sweet subject. I lament the signing by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week of the infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill. The bill prohibits teachers from discussing the sexuality or gender identity of children before the 4th gr...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS In a mountain getaway made unusual by both a touch o' the virus and also the surprise guest appearance of the Manor's namesake, I wrapped it with a great weekend, including a sweet visit to Lake Placid yesterday for lunch. Thank you to Dr. Shelly Murphy for opening up the Manor to me, and what a blast being able to ha...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Now fully recovered from my time with our friend COVID-19, I give you some random thoughts that came to mind during my quarantine this week in the High Peaks of The Adirondacks. COVID-19 and Me My bout with the virus was not too bad. In fact, if you're going to come down with COVID-19, I encourage you to do it while i...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Shocker, but being here on the East Coast makes me nostalgic. But having COVID-19 and being quarantined at Murphy Manor all this week has given me some extra time to go on and on even more than normal! I mean like holy shit on and on. Here, in a blog post nobody (and I mean nobody) is asking for, is the story of the b...

No humor this morning. I, as were many, was shocked to hear of the death of Taylor Hawkins, drummer for Foo Fighters. What a tremendous loss. The outpouring of grief from many quarters tells you all you need to know about him. Foo Fighters have, since their beginning as Dave Grohl's solo project in the wake of another, earlier, tragedy...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Sure, many would expect carefree blog posts, what with me visiting the High Peaks of The Adirondack Mountains for the next 11 days. Sorry to disappoint you, but you may be able to relate. Because more and more, I am hearing my closest friends say this or something similar: stop the world I want to get off. I certainly...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (Editor's Note: Better late than never). OMFG the ties are really non-existent now (especially with Jay Howling going full-on cult, but more on that in a later post), but I'll be damned if I don't always enjoy blowing in to my hometown of Albany, New York. I always do the same things - drive by the house in which I gr...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS In this grim (but miraculously mostly unified) world, let's look at how the catastrophe in Ukraine could end positively. While the horrific slaughter of Ukrainian civilians can never be corrected or forgotten, this could all end OK - hear me out. As I've said once or twice before, you've got to dream it before you can...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS No clever post today. Instead, I am asking anyone that is reading this to send whatever they can to Ukraine. As is nearly everyone, I continue to be extremely impressed by the leadership we've seen from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His speech to Congress on Wednesday was powerful, as is his country's amazi...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS It was just a short two years ago today (exactly) that I heard Mayor London Breed on my car's radio, ordering all businesses to close immediately, due to this new thing called Covid-19. At the time, I was literally pulling in to Joe's of Westlake for a daytime piss-up with fellow retiree Arthur. I remember being turne...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS To welcome you to Monday, I will shock you with now two consecutive non-political, non-old man whining posts. Last Friday, it was USB charging nirvana, and today, I will share with you my first experience Saturday at SF's spectacular Chase Center. I was the guest of the very kind Andre Aurich at the Golden State Warri...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS (Editor's Note: yes, I am aware there is a war taking place, an awful war. I'm sure I'll write more about it and I mean no disrespect to the entire situation by the trivial subject matter today or at any time in the future. What a fucking disaster for the Ukrainians and the world.) To those of you that imagine my self...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today, I will try to divert our attention at least for a few minutes from the all-too-real horrors of Ukraine with a visit from the (thankfully all-too-fake) conservative pundit, Seamus Colonnity. For those not paying close attention to this newsletter, Mr. Colonnity is an occasional visitor here, borrowed from Christ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS In a switch sure to disappoint many, there will be no proper Travel Guide for our trip to Houston, which ended yesterday with a nice flight home in the big, beautiful Polaris seats United has on their refurbished widebody planes. Because sadly, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to duplicate our experience in ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS We flew in for what can only be described as a Texas-sized event, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It is 28 days, and each day is like a Super Bowl. Do some poking around at their website if you don't believe that. Plus, being in the warm embrace of my cousin Dr. Shelly Murphy (who disguises herself as Kelly J. L...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Well, it's a wrap. My first and likely only art exhibition was held last night at The Funston House in our beloved Presidio. For a change, I'll be brief and limit my comments to just two things. Gratitude and thanks. The event came off as we had hoped it would. Frankly, it came off far, far better than I had hoped. Th...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS This being the eve of the big Clufff & KLUF art event, I figured many would like a detailed description and critical essay of each of the 82 of Charlie's works we'll be exhibiting. But then Dr. Doreen Downs came over to dinner and I decided to write this instead. Today, I'd like to share - in alphabetical order to tam...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Leave it to me to publish something that could be construed as supportive of Putin the day before he invades Ukraine (!). I want to repeat: his invasion is illegal and wrong, full stop. These are dark days and the tone here reflects that. But . . . I will stand by the point I was trying to make. We expanded NATO right...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I don't believe in the invasion of one sovereign nation by another, and I certainly don't condone the actions of Trump's puppetmaster, Vladimir Putin. I also think this will go down as a large blunder by the Russian dictator, and that he's going to find himself bogged down by both the war and the economic sanctions th...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today, I will vent on something that's bothered me for years. Before, I didn't have a forum where I could publicly air these sorts of grievances. That's no longer an issue - lucky you. OK - what has bothered me for years? Junk mail. Why does the United States government, A.K.A. you and me, subsidize junk mail? At leas...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS The word for today is schadenfreude. As most know, it's a German word that refers to the emotion of taking pleasure in another's misfortune. Like the jolt of joy most will feel when Trump and his family are led away in leg irons. But I digress. Instead, today I am referring to the perverse pleasure I'm getting seeing ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS There's been an interesting thread on Twitter, I believe started by my quasi-hero Joe Scarborough, regarding what years "The Baby Boom" generation were born. More precisely, the latter years. For certain, there can be no debate about when the Baby Boom began - it's based upon when our boys came home from World War II ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS . . . in this case it is absolutely, positively true. I woke up Saturday, and was greeted by this gift: After Pak and Beeple, What’s Next for NFT Collectors? Art Made With a Paintbrush I mean, like, wow. This is precisely what my cousin, Charles Clough is doing. He is offering real paintings with his NFTs. Here's a li...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Anyone that knows me and/or reads this blog is likely aware I do not like Facebook, nor its subsidiary tentacles Instagram and WhatsApp. No, that's not right. I just don't like them: I believe they are amongst the most dangerous companies to have ever existed. The damage they've done to the commonwealth is immeasurabl...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS My old man-ness knows no bounds. I will prove that, yet again, today. But there's some value-add, too, although in a decidedly niche subject. I came across this photo - it is from early 1978, and was taken as part of the CBS Network's 50th anniversary celebration that year. In case you have a hard time making out the ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS . . . steal from the best. I occasionally like to share things I find impactful, from people far smarter than I. Perhaps you can read this and ponder its points this week? Because with the Republicans censuring Kinzinger and Cheney on Friday, something's gotta give. The January 6, 2021 insurrection and attempted coup ...

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Today, I'll traverse various areas of the oft-treacherous cancel culture region of the US. Are these proverbial offings specious? I would love to hear your own thoughts on one or all 3 of these situations. Joe Rogan The recent dust-up over Joe Rogan, his misinformation regarding vaccines, the fallout from it, and the ...