And this is just a small part of Murphy Manor!

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I flew from the gorgeous, new-ish (and nearly empty) Harvey Milk Terminal 1 from SFO to ALB on Saturday. For an airport, T1 at SFO is wonderful. Plus, the new AA Admiral's Club there is about as good as it gets (domestic benchmark = Alaska Airlines at SEA). Easy-peasy into ALB via a packed ORD, and in to the Serviceab...

TODAY’S RAMBLINGS As I embark in a few moments on the 3rd (here's the first and the second) of about a zillion wacky things I'm doing this year, I find myself feeling a massive amount of gratitude for being able to retire or at least semi-retire. I'd like to express that gratitude, but in a different way. I think the topic of this blog...

Housekeeping: I've added headers because I'm OCD! There's today's post, feedback from subscribers, and the music section ("KLUF" is another outcropping of my vivid [drug- and alcohol-addled?] imagination). Thank you for reading. TODAY'S RAMBLINGS Those that know me know that I like to push books on my friends - like all of the time. So...

While it may seem ludicrous splurging on a fat-cat hotel a scant 5 minutes from one's home, it is not to your inveterate traveler friend, Portico Darwin. This past weekend, Julie, me, and senior exec/real estate mogul Ol' Purple Label spent 3 glorious (and sodden) nights at Cavallo Point: The Lodge at Golden Gate, and I will say after ...

Sometimes, I'll just let someone much smarter than I carry the load. I give you Scott Galloway, a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, and a general badass (look him up and listen to his podcasts and/or watch his YouTube vids). To me, his blog post is about the power of love and time - but what did you draw from it? https://w...

On December 15, 2000, dear friend Arthur, my better half and wife Julie, and I attended an Everclear concert at The Warfield in San Francisco. They were touring in support of the second volume of their "Songs From an American Songbook" albums. Good show, not great (the official term is "Serviceable") but out of it came my nom de plume,...

Obnoxious? Yes. Of course, you could always start your own blog and use your own rating system . . . You can count on seeing these often. About hotels. Headphones. National Parks. Maybe even the occasional scoundrel. I've given examples! Diamond Certified: typically a travel and occasionally, a restaurant or gear, rating. It is the pin...

Portico Darwin is back - subscribe at the bottom of this message to my new blog to get the latest on gear, books, music, travel, dining, intoxicants, recipes, and current events. Anything political will be reason-, fact-, and evidence-backed. Every few days, I'll be posting something that caught my eye or ear or more. My ego gone wild?...