My thoughts of life

Dave Morey and Joe Starkey

Todd — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:32:19 GMT

OK, for those are you who still bother to read Tribe periodically (and my blog *g*), you may remenber my post back in December about two long time Bay Area broadcasters, Dave Morey & Joe Starkey who retired from their posts at KFOG and broadcasting 49er games respectively. I found out they've both been niominated for the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. If you want, you can vote for them at http://www.bayarearadio.org/ .

Is Tribe Dead?

Todd — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:44:38 GMT

I have to wonder. Lately I log on and rarely see new blog posts by my friends, when I used to see lots of them. The tribes I belong to that used to have a few new posts every day or two now have none. One or two tribes seem to be staying busy, but those are the exception. I've also noticed many tribes I used to check out have disappeared completely. A couple of my Tribe friends have recently blogged (when they were here) about how they're not coming here much anymore, if at all. With all the other social networks around, it seems Tribe has been passed by. And Tribe certainly hasn't helped themselves with all their downtime. Over the last year or two, I've lost count of the times I tried to view Tribe, only to get "Donut Freak Out" or "Tribe is down for unscheduled maintenance." Uh huh. So Tribe has only hurt themselves with all this downtime. They seem to have gotten their downtime stuff straightened out, but now nobody cares. It's too bad really. This used to be a fun place. But like all things Internet, things have changed. Back ten or twelve years ago, newsgroups were all the rage online. Most people have passed those by in favor of mailing lists, social networks and the like. Unless things change dramatically soon, I suspect Tribe will become one of those Internet "relics," things that were once fashionable but have gone out of style. Just like Netscape, Gopher, Archie, WebCrawler and countless others. Perhaps it is time to move on.

Really Scary news

Todd — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:40 GMT

And no I'm not talking about the stock market, I'm talking about a quote by California's Lt Governor John Garamendi to a blogging friend of mine. Last Friday at the SVEC luncheon in Santa Clara he told my friend who regularly blogs about high tech events that "California spends more on its prisoners than it does on its students." Is that SCARY or what?

My accountant has a blog

Todd — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:11:51 GMT

My accountant is way cool and he has an interesting blog that he posts on infrequently. A favorite of his is his "g2g love song list," which is a list of virtually every woman-woman love song ever done. Interesting list and one you can see at http://rabdrake.wordpress.com/ . And no I don't get a discount on my tax return for posting the URL. :p

Fire in the Neighborhood

Todd — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:58:47 GMT

It's almost 2 AM right now. What am I doing up and posting this time of night? Well my fiance & I were trying to sleep an hour & a half ago, and our dogs started going nuts. We then heard people yelling and what sounded to me like firecrackers or gunfire. We opened up a window. I looked to the right and saw flames. I took a closer look and discovered to my amazement and shock that a neighboring structure was engulfed in flames. It was far enough away that our house wasn't in any danger, and luckily fire trucks began arriving almost immediately. My fiance, her daughter & I just sat and watched the flames take down one structure and damage one or two others. I realized pretty quickly the firefighters would just let the structure burn and try to keep the fire from spreading too far. Fortunately, the house that was most damaged was unoccupied. Still it's an amazing and frightening thing to watch a fire take down any structure. This one took probably about 40 minutes. I went outside and walked to the next street to make sure my truck was okay. It was. As I looked around, I saw several fire trucks nearby. In all, I counted around 15 fire trucks. Clearly, this was a major fire, a three-alarm one if you will. The house next to the structure that burned down (an old windmill I think) itself was being remodeled, and I guess now the owners have to start over. Bummer. The clouds were moving in overhead, in advance of the storm that's hitting us in the morning. And of course, it started to rain after the fire was out. Timing is everything I suppose. ;) And now the firefighters are starting to pack up and go home. Probably a few trucks will stay here all night to make sure the fire doesn't start up again. I suspect we're not going to get much sleep tonight.

Sam I Am, or why the hell is a middle aged politician having sex with an 18 year old?

Todd — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:59:02 GMT

I'm unsure how many of you have been following the story of Sam Adams, an openly gay man who was elected mayor of Portland, Oregon last November. During the campaign, there were rumors he'd had sex with an 18 year old man named Beau Breedlove (what a great name..lol). Both Adams & Breedlove denied it and Adams wound up getting elected. This was a landmark election, it was the first time a gay man had been elected mayor in one of America's 40 largest cities. I'm sure he was considered a hero and role model to the gay/lesbian community. That was all well and good until it turns out Mr Adams lied. He did indeed have sex with Mr Breedlove and admitted it as well as admitting he told Mr Breedlove to lie too. Like a lot of Portlanders, I find this behavior disappointing. Maybe I'm a prude, but I have an issue with any middle aged man doing the nasty with someone 3 decades younger than them. To me it doesn't matter what gender or preference you are, it's just wrong to do this. Most Portlanders have called on Mr Adams to resign. Mr Adams has stubbornly refused to do so. He probably figures this will blow over and people will forget about it. Until his term is up and he seeks re-election. Or should that be "re-erection?" *g* What worries me (and I'm sure a lot of gay community members in Portland) is now all the right-wing intolerant fundamentalists will be able to say, "hey look at that faggot mayor in Portland, he had sex with a teen boy. Here's another example of how all gay men are deviant." <sigh> At least one thing Adams has done is put Portland in the national spotlight. Perhaps not in the way Adams would like Portland to get attention, but he's done it just the same. Good job there Sir. You've managed to put Portland smack dab in the middle of nationwide media attention. Another thing that bothers me about this guy. During his campaign, he made a point of borrowing an old Harvey Milk trick. When Milk ran for public office in SF in the 70s (and this is portrayed in the Milk movie), he would sometimes address people by saying, "I'm Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you." A powerful statement and one that gays in Sf rallied around. I guess Mr Adams figured it'd work for him too. Considering how things have now turned out, Harvey is probably spinning in his grave. Well, maybe not since Harvey was cremated. :) He may be slowly shaking his head on the other side. Which reminds me I hear the Milk movie garnered nine Academy Award nominations. But I digress. On an evening where the Illinois governor got his butt booted out of office because he tried to sell a Senate seat (to which I say "good riddance f***er"), another mayor is kicking back and thinking, "hey if Clinton can get away with this, so can I." He's probably right. I saw a comment on a blog somewhere about this whole scandal and the commenter said, "Portland is trying really hard to be as weird as San Francisco." Clearly, they're off to a great start.

Rain

Todd — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:53:56 GMT

I was musing this morning as I drove back from running an errand how the local weathermen always seem to regard rain as a bad thing. The last three days or so have been a little wet, but then again it's January and it's supposed to be rainy in SF! Although this January we had a string of ten days where it was in the 70s. Yeah I know, the temptation to say "global warming" is rampant. So the weather folk are saying "Oh lookie, GREAT weather." Gee no, clear weather in what's supposed to be a rainy month is NOT a good thing. It amazes me that TV weathermen must be instructed to say "oh this nice weather will continue for another week." And with the current weather pattern of light rain (or no rain), they're saying "Oh we'll get a break from this rainy pattern middle of the week. What rain? LOL The rain that has been falling has been relatively light. Three days of it and my truck's roof still has dirt on it. Before last Thursday, this January was shaping up as the driest one since they began keeping records. As it stands, we still have only had around an inch of rain this month. How is this a good thing? Will they think it's a good thing next summer when we have mandatory water rationing again? When the reservoirs are at half capacity? Hey at least we can go up to Mt Shasta to visit the former town that is now a dam. Maybe the water level will be so low that parts of the old town will surface? :) That sounds like fun. I think there's another town that became a dam near Napa. Same thing there. We can go visit one of the old town bridges that will peak just above the water level. *s* When I was in L.A. last month for Mary's daughter's graduation, I was floored to watch their local news and discover the lead story two nights straight was about "a huge winter storm" approaching L.A. This storm dropped maybe an inch of rain there. Yeah that's huge all right. No wonder folk around the country have a huge laugh when they hear about California weather. I wonder how most of us would deal with freezing rain or blizzards. Or heck, dealing with a storm that drops more than two or three inches of rain. It's been awhile since we've seen that. I'm discovering I don't watch the weather forecasts much these days. I'm too tempted to scream listening to another weatherperson telling us the virtues of dry weather during the rainy season.

Thinking About Harvey Milk

Todd — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:31:45 GMT

Last night, I finally saw Milk, the movie about the life of gay rights activist and one time SF Supervisor Harvey Milk. Milk as I'm sure you all know was the first openly gay person elected to a major government office. And just so we're clear, yes I borrowed this from a blog review of the movie at http://www.buzzsugar.com/tag/Harvey+Milk. I agree with everything this blogger said about the movie. It was exceedingly well done and is a fitting tribute to Milk. If you haven't seen it yet, GO see it. I was living in San Diego back then, finishing up college at San Diego State when Dan White shot and killed him, along with George Moscone. While I'm not going to spoil the movie too much for those who haven't seen it yet, one topic the movie dealt with hit close to home. I'd forgotten that in mid 1978, John Briggs a conservative state legislator from Orange County sponsored a ballot measure (Proposition 6) that would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. It was defeated (thank Goddess) and likely was the first victory of many for gay rights activists. When I saw that portion of the movie, it reminded me of the liquor store I was working at in La Mesa (a city near San Diego) in 1978. My roommate and I both worked there and he became friends with one regular customer, a man who was a schoolteacher. One night, the man asked my roomie if he'd like to go bar hopping with him. My roomie was among other things, kind of geeky looking and also very naive. So the two of them went out. The next morning, I asked my roommate how things went. He said to me, "Oh I had this awful dream that he's gay!" I asked him why. And my roomate said, "Well he took me to a gay bar!" At which point, I resisted the urge to shake my head and laugh. I told him that what his friend had done was a really good indication that yes he was gay and to get over it seeing that my roomie got home safe and sound. I remember seeing that customer a couple days later walk up to the store and upon seeing us, turned around and walked away. We never saw him again. I never really stopped to figure out why until last night. Now I realize that he was out to us and if either of us mentioned it to anyone else, it would have gotten back to the school he worked at and he could have lost his job. San Diego was (and still is) a conservative area and three decades ago, admitting you were gay was tantamount to admitting you were a child molester. How incredibly sad. I have no idea whatever happened to that man or if he's even alive now. We've made progress since those days of conservative wackos like Mr Briggs and yet when something like Proposition 8 comes along and wins (albeit narrowly) it makes me wonder just how far we really have come. Once upon a time, I was one of those homophobes too. And then one day I realized "hey why do I feel this way? Gays and lesbians aren't any different from me. They have the same hopes and dreams and opinions that everyone else does." And so I changed my feelings about gays and lesbians. A movie like Milk makes you realize how far the gay rights movement has come, but when you leave the theater after the movie, you realize there's still a long way to go. All of my future stepkids are queer-identified and one has been attacked in SF more than once. Simply for looking different from others. And that's in San Francisco. I hate to think what might happen if they went to the Central Valley of California or anywhere that is less tolerant than here. Milk did pave the way and his legacy lives on in the work of others that were his friends. I wonder what he might say if he was around today. It would probably be something along the lines of "not ever giving up" and to continue to stick up for what you believe in. As for me, I do believe we have a new President being inaugurated on Tuesday. That in itself gives me some hope for the future.

Bye Dave and Joe!

Todd — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:13:05 GMT

Ah..my first blog of the new year. And in it, I look back a few days and say goodbyes to two SF Bay Area broadcasters who "retired" last month. Any broadcaster who retires or walks away from their job is extremely rare. Having once been a radio announcer in Oregon many years ago, I can say with certainty it happens maybe once a decade. Anyone who gets in radio does because they love it, not because they make money at it or get job security. As a DJ, you're only as good as your most recent ratings are. Hell, not even that any more. If the station you work for gets new owners and decides to change the format, you're out the door. Or if management decides they don't like you any more, you can be gone. You get the picture. I have a friend I worked with at San Diego State's radio station who has done an oldies show for over three decades. That's pretty damn amazing too. The DJ's that stay at one place forever are the ones who stand out. Dave Morey, who worked at KFOG in San Francisco since they started in 1982 was one of them. When I first moved to the Bay Area in 1981, he then worked at another SF station which changed format about a year later. And then I heard him at KFOG sometime later. All these years of listening to him, he became like a friend. I could always count on him to be on the air every weekday. He never sounded like some hotshot, he sounded like a regular guy on the air. Which I suspect was part of his success for so many years. It seems amazing he lasted for so long. I thought he'd be there forever, which of course is impossible but none of us wanted to think about what KFOG would be like without him doing the KFOG morning show. I'm glad I got him to autograph a CD for me at a live broadcast he did last summer. Dave has moved back to his home state of Michigan. He'll still do his famous "10@10," ten songs from one particular year so he's not gone completely from KFOG. Joe Starkey, who has done U of California football for decades (and also SF 49er games for the last 20 years or so) did his last 49er game on Dec. 27. It got to be too difficult for him to do a Cal Bear game on Saturday and then occasionally have to scramble to find a flight to whatever city the 49ers were playing in the next day. So he decided to give up doing 49er games. Again he'd done them so long I got very used to listening to him do the games. I remember listening to him broadcast Oakland Invader games back in the 80s and have listened to him do Cal games for just as long. Joe may not be the greatest play by play guy but he was the consummate reporter, kind of a "regular guy" like Dave and enjoyable to listen to. He'll still do Cal games, so like Dave he isn't totally gone from broadcast radio either. It will be weird next season to not hear him doing the 49er games though. Dave got choked up when he said his last goodbyes after his last show on KFOG and Joe did the same on his last 49er broadcast. Not difficult to understand why since this was their last times they got to do that. I'm sure I'll miss them both but life does go on. So with that in mind as I say goodbye to 2008 I also say goodbye to Dave & Joe and I say (to borrow Bob Hope's old song) "thanks for the memories."

Same old Lang Syne or OMG is New Years Eve almost here?

Todd — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:15:44 GMT

Yep it's the end of the year as we know it. Just a couple more days and we'll be partying like it's 2009 (with apologies to Prince). So everyone will be bringing out the champagne (or Martinelli's Sparkling Cider or whatever your beverage of choice) to toast the brand new year. Which of course, we'll quickly realize is pretty much like the year that just went by. But I digress. And I hope no media outlet has the balls to say.."2008..a year to remember." As if we could easily forget this year. Actually most of us want to. We're facing uncertain times, with the economy in the tank. We're hoping Obama can turn things around, the quicker the better for those out of work or facing that possibility. And after watching the 49ers win a nail-biter yesterday in person (and now my voice is half gone yelling yesterday), it fills me with hope that maybe just maybe my 49ers will start winning some games instead of blowing them left and right. Same with the Giants. They've made some moves. We'll see if they were the right ones this upcoming season. With all the reminiscing and hoping for better times it got me thinking to the whole New Years' Eve tradition. You know..the playing of Auld Lang Syne at midnight on NYE. Of course this year they're adding a leap second to it. Imagine the countdown: "10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1..1..HAPPY NEW YEAR!! *g* I'm old enough to remember when Guy Lombardo was still around and his band always was live on TV every New Years Eve. Even though Auld Lang Syne was already a popular song on New Years Eve, he generally is credited with starting that tradition. Guy was an interesting person. Not only was he an accomplished musician, he also was a hydroplane racer. He even won a couple big races and apparently made enough of an impact in that sport to be voted into the Hydroplane Hall of Fame a few years back. I mean most of you probably don't give a whit that he's in there, but I always find folk that are multi-talented in areas you don't expect to be worth mentioning. Once upon a time long ago now, Guy was New Years Eve personified. And who knows, maybe he's still leading a band on the other side. And while I'm at it, ever read the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne? It's like Jabberwocky, after the first stanza the lyrics are virtually unintelligible to the average American reader like me. I looked it up on Wikipedia. Good ol Wikipedia, what a great online reference. *s* The second stanza goes like this: And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp ! And surely I’ll be mine ! And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. The rough English translation of tjhat stanza makes it sound like a drinking song. Hey maybe that's why so many get drunk on NYE huh? :) The next stanza is: We twa hae run about the braes, And pu’d the gowans fine ; But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot, Sin auld lang syne. The rough English translation talks about running around the slopes and picking flowers. Hmmm how many of us have done THAT after drinking huh? Never thought about picking flowers, it's usually too dark. There are two more stanzas to the song. If you want to investigate more, look it up on Wikipedia. I guess if I'm singing it Wednesday night, I'll be like most folk and sing the first four lines over and over while drinking champagne and kissing every woman in sight. Oops better not say that, Mary might be reading this blog and get mad. hehe Somewhere I suspect Guy Lombardo is smiling. Happy New Year!

Another Christmas Eve is here

Todd — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:07:00 GMT

Yep another holiday season is in the books, although it's one the retailers all want to forget. The news today is saying this will probably be the worst holiday retail season since they started keeping records almost four decades ago. On the one hand I say good, because Christmas is allegedly supposed to be about the birth of Jesus Christ, not about greed. On the other, I along with lots of others worry because it means the next few months are going to be grim economically for all of us. And heck, evidence seems to point to Jesus being born in the spring. Christmas may very well have evolved from the Pagan holiday of Yule. The Jewish people have Hanukkah (and a belated Happy Hanukkah to those you celebrating it). Every religion seems to have some kind of winter holiday. Interesting huh? I think back today on so many Xmas Eve's I've celebrated. And I've always mused on how Xmas Eve is probably the "quietest" night of the year followed in a week by New Years' Eve, likely the wildest night of the year. The two do have similarities. Most stores close early on both nights and are closed the next day. Bars & restaurants stay open late. Xmas Eve is a time for celebrating with friends & family. I think about one Xmas Eve I spent in an apt in SF with my mom. It was an apartment where businessmen usually stayed and my mom found out about it through a friend. No one was using it over Xmas, so we got to stay there. I still remember waking up Xmas morning, turning on a radio and hearing Peggy Lee's version of Jingle Bells. Or the Xmas Eve 4 decades ago tonight when Apollo 8 orbited the moon. Or the Xmas Eves I donated part of my day to serve meals at the AIDS Emergency Fund Xmas Eve dinners in downtown SF. Great fun. But if you don't have any friends or place to go Xmas Eve, you're kind of stuck I suppose. I spent a few holidays alone. Either I volunteered somewhere or spent it with other "holiday orphans." I even one year celebrated what my Jewish friends call a "Jewish Xmas," going to a movie early on Xmas day. I do have relatives, but I stopped celebrating the holidays with them years ago. Too many holidays long ago where a cpl of them would drink way too much and make rude comments about me or my stepdad using the holiday as a time to try and pick a fight. I'm sure they thought I was weird for effectively telling them to get lost but it's their problem, not mine. *s* I have another group of relatives but most of them are wrapped up in their lives and have no time for me. Hey, their loss. <shrug> And now that I'm with Mary, I have a family again. A family of brothers and sisters, not all of whom get along (go figure huh? *s*), a cpl critters and various nieces. I noticed an acquaintance is having a holiday munch in a restaurant tomorrow. Not too many years ago, he'd be the one who had people to be with Xmas day and I didn't. And now the tables are turned. I find that a bit ironic. I suppose it's all about how you treat others and how they treat you. Speaking of which, may you all treat each other well and have a great holiday.

Rusty the Wonder Dog

Todd — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:45:17 GMT

I always wondered where the term "wonder dog" came from when I saw it in old movies. They were usually old adventure movies where the cast is announced and last but not least they say "and Spike the wonder dog." I never quite understood this "wonder dog" thing until I met Rusty. Yep, that's him in the picture. Part Jack Russell terror..er terrier *s* and part minature pinscher (we think). He can be a monster one minute, a total sweetheart the next. He definitely is not a boring critter. Mary got him about two years ago. His original family couldn't (or wouldn't) take care of him and was about to take him to the pound when Mary got him. Jack Russells (full or part breed) require a lot of attention and aren't for the faint-hearted. *g* I can think of coiuntless times he's kept us on our toes. There's the night we came home and Rusty was in the back yard barking at a skunk! Even pouring cold water on him while the skunk amusedly watched didn't faze him. Fortunately the skunk didn't zap him, he may have gotten a chuckle out of our attempts to calm him down. Or Rusty's attempts to "outdo" the neighbor's dog, a beautiful large white dog who can do any trick Rusty can do better. Which I'm sure annoys the hell out of Rusty. And equally annoying is Rusty's penchant for running up the hill as soon as he gets out the door. He waits for me to leisurely walk up the hill (why waste energy running) and then comes running back down again. All these things and yet I still adore him. Pretty amazing for a guy who was (and still is) a cat lover. I always maintained dogs were totally cool, but I grew up with a cat and I still adore them. I've come to realize cats AND dogs are totally cool. Now if I could just get Rusty to purr. *g*

Brisbane at ChristmasTime

Todd — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:16:22 GMT

This photo is on a web site about the lighted stars that appear on people's houses in the town of Brisbane. It's located literally on the border of San Francisco. And I'm sure Brisbane, Australia is their sister city. *s* Mary & I took a drive there tonight because I wanted to see the stars. Neither of us had ever been there before and we discovered a quaint little town (well maybe not so little) hidden in the hills overlooking 101. And yes, LOTS of stars, all of them beautiful. This custom got started many years ago when a man who lived in the town began building them for his neighbors. He died a couple years ago, but his stars (and likely those made by many others) still remain. This is one of the joys of living now in SF, exploring the towns nearby like Brisbane. There's also South San Francisco which is the next town south along 101 and is celebrating its centennial this year. They've had had a "100" sign lit up in the hills above that city all year long. BTW, the URL that goes along with this picture about the Brisbane stars is http://panza.smugmug.com/gallery/2417966_bWgza#126803676_fUbJp-S-LB

Bush & the Shoe-Thrower

Todd — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:53:48 GMT

An Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at Georgie boy? Wow..I'd love to buy this guy a drink! *g* http://laughingsquid.com/iraqi-journalist-throws-his-shoes-at-george-w-bush-in-baghdad/

Henry Paulson's brother and the Portland Beavers

Todd — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:34:04 GMT

Turns out our outgoing Treasury Secretary has a brother named Merritt who owns the minor leage Portland beavers baseball team and is trying to get the city of Portland to build him a new baseball-only stadium for the Beavers to play in and convert the park where the Beavers currently play (PGE Park) to a soccer-only stadium. Merritt is asking for 85 million, which is quite a bit less than the amount Henry Paulson asked for to bail out the banks, etc. Isn't it nice to know Henry isn't the only Paulson asking for money? :) http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1228884915291671.xml&coll=7

Anyone Know What Kind of Weed This is?

Todd — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:30:41 GMT

The weed in this picture seems to be endemic to San Francisco (i've seen it in yards all over the south end of SF) and it grows in the late fall and winter months. In the springtime, the weed becomes a tall plant with colored "balls" on the top which when squeezed ooze out an unpleasant substance that some are allergic to. I've dug up lots of them in my back yard lately and I wondered if anyone who lives around here knows what the heck it is. :)

Are You Ready for Some (more) Football?

Todd — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:43:48 GMT

Sports fans, I give you the UFL (United Football League). Still one more pro football league that starts play next summer. Clearly, having indoor football in the spring & summer ain't enough. They'll play Thursday & Friday nights (hmm guess the high school games will have to be played Friday afternoon). http://www.ufl-football.com/home

OJ

Todd — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:52:35 GMT

The news over the weekend that OJ was sentenced to anywhere from 9 to 33 years in prison for his attempted robbery, etc in Vegas brought back some personal memories of OJ. OJ the football player, OJ the actor & sportscaster, and OJ the infamous trial celebrity. I suppose now the Goldmans and Nicole Brown's family finally get some closure. I found it interesting that one online sports columnist commented that nobody really cared about his latest trial. I'm not sure I totally agree with that, I think most people greeted it with either a "Good, he finally is in jail" or a collective "eh." Hmm maybe some people didn't give a rats behind what happened to him. When I was in high school in the San Fernando Valley a few decades ago (*g*), OJ had a house in the hills above Encino. The high school president and one or two other high school officers were in the market one day and saw him. They asked him if he would speak to our high school and he said "Sure." He'd been playing for the Buffalo Bills about three years or so at this point, so he was at the height of his career. I think he figured he'd tell them that and be off on his way. Well the school president kept pursuing him about it until finally he said "Okay, I'll do it." So we had a big assembly for him, we all got time off from school to walk over to the stadium for his speech. The high school band played, the principal (an ex high school football coach himself) said some words and introduced him. He came off of course as a charming speaker, even alluded to the bad picture of him in the local high school paper saying, "And I'm gonna kill the person who put that crappy picture of me in the paper." To the best of my knowledge, that person remains unharmed to this day. :) I saved the article, figuring someday it might be worth some money. Of course, when I pulled it out during the murder trial, it was ruined. grrrrr..there was 3 or 4 hundred dollars on Ebay down the drain. I even remember driving down the 405 between the Valley & Santa Monica one day in the 70s and seeing a car whiz by with the license plate "MRS OJ." Well yeah that was OJ's first wife driving that car. I also remember seeing OJ walk by my car one day at Balboa Park, a huge park in Encino with basketball and tennis courts. Again, this was while his career with the Bills was at its peak. Those Bills teams for the most part weren't very good. He ended his career back here in San Francisco, where he'd played high school and community college football before getting the Heisman Trophy at USC. Yes he went on to make some movies, even was a Monday Night Football announcer and NBC commentator. By the time the 1990s rolled around, he wasn't doing much acting or sports reporting. There of course always was and always will be doubt about whether he killed Nicole Brown & Ron Goldman. He was acquitted of those crimes. He wasn't so lucky this time. While some will claim "payback," I don't think so. The judge in the robbery trial made it clear it wasn't about payback. There was enough evidence to convict him. And there wasn't in the previous trial. End of story. Let others argue about whether or not he did it. Point is, now he's in jail and probably will be to the end of his days. Maybe in a few years, he'll be relevant enough that some bored columnist somewhere will take the trip to Nevada to interview him. But I doubt it.

Prop 8 - The Musical

Todd — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:41:56 GMT

This is freakin great: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones .

Black Friday Indeed

Todd — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:29:15 GMT

After reading this story, I'm really glad to know the spirit of greed is alive and well even in this recessionary shopping season: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/28/national/a080140S70.DTL&feed=rss.news

Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

Todd — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:37:52 GMT

This is borrowed from my Tribe friend Alecs. This is one of the most courageous commentaries I've seen as to why the passage of Prop 8 was a bad, bad thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVUecPhQPqY

Obama WINS

Todd — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:06:49 GMT

YES! Wow, what an evening it has been. Watching the election returns this afternoon & evening was at times nail biting. But pretty quickly it was clear Obama was gaining and would win. As more and more states turned blue, I became confident. But like so many of us, I wouldn't take anything for granted. My fiance and I went over to a local bookstore for an election night party. We watched Obama take another state. At eight PM, the West Coast polls closed. Five minutes later, California went blue and we all erupted into loud cheers and clapping. Amazing how as soon as the polls here were closed, the networks projected victory. Of course Oregon and Washington followed suit. The election has turned into a rout. Earlier tonight my fiance and I watched the scene from Chicago. She commented that it seemed like New Years Eve there. I said that it IS indeed New Years Eve for all of them, the 'eve" before the dawn of a new era. I felt McCain's concession speech was very gracious and likely one of the best I've ever seen. Obama's speech was upbeat and fiery, just like so many others have been. Yes Obama is African American, so what? When I see him, I see a man who can turn our country around, not some black guy. He faces a mountain of problems when he takes over. He cannot change them all by himself. But he at least offers us all hope and the possibility we can make things better. That's enough for me right now. And speaking of New Years Eve, this past NYE, my fiance and I were standing near Pier 39 waiting for midnight and the fireworks. We saw a woman nearby who chanted "Obama!" She joked that she could take the night off from campaigning. I'm wondering where she is tonight. Hopefully celebrating with all the other local Obama supporters and somewhere they're setting off fireworks of their own. As well they should.

One more reason why you should all vote tomorrow

Todd — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:28:11 GMT

I just found out my future stepdaughter who goes to school in Southern California is driving up here to SF tonite so she can vote tomorrow. She forgot to turn in her absentee ballot, so she has to vote up here. It's a 7 or 8 hour drive for her, but she still feels it's important enough to drive here and then back to LA after voting! To that I say BRAVO! And after hearing about that, I ain't buying any excuse not to vote!

A couple of election sites

Todd — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:02:59 GMT

And to touch upon my election rant from last night, I give you these sites to check out: http://www.hulu.com/historic-campaign-ads : This site contains videos of famous old Presidential commercials, everything from "I Like Ike" in 1952, through John Wayne stumping for Ronny Reagan for California governor in 1966 to some Mondale/Reagan ads in 1984. Great stuff. And if you're hungry, check out the "Donuts and Bacon T-shirts at http://www.zazzle.com/donuts_and_bacon_taste_we_can_believe_in_blue_shirt-235503205979919999. *g*

Pre-election ramblings

Todd — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:56:25 GMT

So here we stand a few days away from what some are calling the biggest election in our lifetimes. And while the hype doesn't always meet the truth, next Tuesday's election is pretty damn big. We stand at the edge of potentially the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And since my parents who lived through a lot of it aren't around anymore, nor can I get in touch with them, I can't ask them what things were like back then. Well perhaps I can, but I suspect they wouldn't be able to tell me much I didn't already know. What frightens me more than anything else right now is the thought that Proposition 8 will win. I urge ALL of my California-based Tribe friends to vote NO on this measure. It's not that I disagree about the sacredness of marriage, it's that I'm strongly against discrimination in all shapes and forms. And make no mistake this ballot measure DISCRIMINATES against a group of people. You may dislike gays, that's OK. When I was much younger, I did too. Fortunately, I outgrew my homophobia. Good thing too since two of my future stepkids were gay before they decided to change gender. Yes that's right..change their gender. Their mom has always accepted and loved them no matter what. Her unconditional love is one of many things I admire about her. The groups that want to see a ban on gay marriage apparently don't understand anyone who is different from what they see as normal in their limited world. They would be extremely uncomfortable with my future stepkids. They talk about love & forgiveness but yet refuse to love anyone who doesn't accept their views. I used to be one of them too, but I got tired of their anti-gay messages. These groups talk about boycotting business who have contributed to the No on 8 Campaign. I'd love to know how they plan to boycott AT&T (phone company) and PG&E (Bay Area power company). Those two business alone contributed a lot of money to see this get defeated. Do these groups have a secret plan to avoid using their land lines and get off the power grid? I'd like to know! I'd love to stop using PG&E, but I've really gotten used to using power. I'm using my new cell phone more lately, but I still depend on Ma Bell a lot. The Yes on 8 people brag about all the money they've raised. I say what a shame. That money could have gone into something constructive, like more schools or parks or even a small business or two. I'm sure glad to see these folk have money to burn when more and more of us are getting laid off due to the bad economy. I'll say it again..VOTE NO on HATE..VOTE NO ON EIGHT. And there's the Presidential election. I remember the 1968 election (yeah I'm that frickin old!). I remember that some thought a third party candidate would win it. There was even a fictional book that came out where the election got thrown out and the House of Representatives finally had to elect somebody. Nixon of course won it in a squeaker and look how that turned out. I think of all the elections since then and it truly scares me to think McCain could win. I've never felt so passionate about an election and so scared about what might happen. But I digress. As Bono once said at a SF show 21 years ago, "I do go on a bit." *g* You may think I'm full of crap. That's your right. And I may say the same about you. That's one of the joys of a free country, the right to disagree. Whatever your affiliation, GO OUT AND VOTE next Tuesday!