Father’s Day, 2021

Growing up, my father and I had a strained relationship. He was fanatically neat and organized, I was (and am) content to live in “controlled chaos”. We were never close, nor did we do things many sons and fathers do. I can count maybe a half dozen things we did together in all those years from seeing a 49er game to my going with him on a trip to Las Vegas in the early 80s to attend a Mobil Oil Convention.

Used Car Bleg

By lex, on October 27th, 2011

So, it’s been a while since the Eldest Daughter totaled her last vehicle. And we’re in the market for a replacement. Which don’t get me started. But elsewise how does she get to work? Is the argument.

Our budget is around $10k, give or take, so we’re obviously in the used car hunt. Maybe go as high as $15K for the right vehicle. It would have to be economical to own and operate, ideally less than 100,000 miles on the body and engine. Automatic transmission required, ABS brakes and air bags essential, strong safety ratings a plus. Doesn’t need to go fast, doesn’t need to be flashy. Flashy she can buy for herself, some day.

Been looking at mid-2000 series Honda Accords. Have also started to look at same vintage Toyota Prius(es). I’ve never looked at owning a hybrid before, since I personally luxuriate in 8-cylinder engines. But ED is in a slightly different place financially than is your correspondent, and the idea of long gaps between gas station stops is potentially compelling.

I seem to recall having heard/read about occasionally surprising maintenance costs, and think I once heard something about useful battery life, etc.

You’re a pretty savvy group when it comes to such: Recommendations?

Doesn’t have to be a specific VIN, but would like to hear your thoughts on make and model.

The Elephant in the Room

By lex, on April 10th, 2011

So, I’m of course missing our little chats. Running a blog is a little like sponsoring a coffee house conversation: I get to pick up topics that interest me, throw them over the transom and see who bites, how many times. There is an element of ego involved too: We count comment threads for a reason, and most of us are interested in our daily hit counts. For a few thousand looks a day these our efforts seem to make a kind of sense to a world where time is money. If it were five or a few dozen, we would judge our efforts here a failure and move on to other endeavors.

Because it does take time, and time spent here quite obviously is time unspent elsewhere. Not exercising, not working, not reading thoughtfully. Not being a father.

Happy Birthday Dad

By lex, on November 9th, 2012

From Chris(SNO)-

Today is the first day I won’t be able to wish him a “Happy Birthday” over the phone via FaceTime, or the Stone-Age method of actually calling. It’s been a very strange experience. We had the standard father-son relationship with hunting trips when we could, talked about life during down times, and of course all things aviation/Navy related. We shared stories and asked what was different and how he did this or I did that. I had hoped to take him in a helicopter for one of his birthdays or as a Christmas gift to show him what flying really is! Joking of course, I just had to give him and his jet buddies a playful jab. As I continue to learn more about what goes into being an aviator, ground jobs and working with other military branches, I find myself wanting to pick up the phone to call him for guidance or just to complain about the day and hear “how it used to be in my time”. I’ll never forget the expertise and words of wisdom he imparted on me in regards to family, friends, and work. I hope to some day be half the man he was. I would like to end with my father’s favorite quote, modified slightly, from Gladiator, “If you find yourself alone, flying in CAVU skies with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead!” Happy Birthday Old Man! *Raises a pint of Guinness and a shot of Jameson*

Shakespeare’s

By lex, on October 30th, 2012

Hey everyone!

Friday November 9th is my dad’s birthday and in honor of it my mom would like to get a group together of anyone and everyone who is in San Diego and wants to get a beer (Guinness, of course). The plan is Shakespeare’s Pub on 3701 India St.

San Diego, CA 92103 around 5:30PM and planning to stay until 7 or 8PM. We would love it if whoever can swing it can come by, although we understand not everyone lives in San Diego so we aren’t expecting much.

Also, each of us kids plans on posting a little something on the blog for his birthday so we’re hoping you guys might check that out when the time comes.

Thanks always- Kat

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05-23-20 I thought I had gotten all we could get from the Wayback Machine, but I came across a couple more. As to what the “kids” planned on posting, just as 8 years ago, wait and see 😉 

And of course the meet at Shakespeare’s was 8 years ago, not this November 9th, although maybe we should have another one in honor of Hizzoner? 

BB

Friday Musings 06_16_2006

Posted by lex, on June 16, 2006

Been a while, hadn’t it? And silence! You in the back row, about to open your mouth and say, “Rhythms!”

In due time, I promise.

–

So, Thursday was the Kat’s sixth grade graduation. I don’t know about you, gentle reader, but in my day we didn’t graduate from sixth grade – we just stopped going to that class at the end of the year and started up seventh after an interposing summer respite. But they do sixth grade graduations here in California, and it was something of a sight to see.

Hitting the range

Posted by lex, on June 3, 2006

Shotguns this time, with SNO – who has somewhere along the line become a damn fine shot, passing up his old man like he was maybe standing still.

Not that I’ve got a problem with that.

Still – time to get going. ‘Cos those clay pigeons? They aren’t going to shoot themselves, now, are they?

Back To The Index 

Photos That Move Me

We have among us a Lexican who posts some very rare photos on our Facebook page. And a couple of days ago, he posted this.

I’ve been transfixed by the emotions that this photo captured. It is 1956, and a German father, after being in a Soviet Gulag for 10 or 11 years, is finally reunited with his daughter. She last saw him when she was a year old. The fact that he even returned is a miracle in itself. So many died in the Gulags from overwork, disease,  and starvation.

The California that I Remember…

I was born in Los Angeles in 1950. My father was born in Los Angeles in 1920. As he told me very little of his life, I learned a lot from his friends and relatives. Since he died, I have learned a bit more from my mother.

He went to UCLA, and to pay his way through college, he worked as a page for then NBC-Radio. Although a page, he was acquainted with a lot of the stars, such as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and others. I told my mother that it is a shame he didn’t write a book of his experiences.

Like a lot of young men of that time, shortly after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army in 1942 during his 3rd year at UCLA. He became a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, telling his mother that advancement was fast in the Airborne. My mother later asked him if he considered why advancement was so fast…

After the war, he had a hard time finding work before he took over his fathers import-export business, and my mother and I wonder why he didn’t use some of his contacts at NBC to get work there. Although I can’t see him as a studio exec.

His cousin there told me as boys they would ride their bicycles down the middle of Hollywood Blvd early in the morning. That’s hard to image today.

Thanksgiving Conversation

I would say that the typical family get together for  Thanksgiving has almost become a subject of comedy when it comes to conversations around the table. Google the subject and you will find literally dozens of posts on how to avoid the pitfall of political conversation among family who have converged from far and wide.

My family is a bit different.  First of all, you could count my extended family on less than the digits of  both hands (for most people). And with the death of my father a couple of years ago it is that much smaller.

Secondly we have never been so set in our ways as to shut off all communication with those who have different opinions.

So it came to pass (sounds a bit Biblical in that opening phrase) that my 93 year old mother and I had Thanksgiving dinner with some friends of many years as guests.

The guests were more of the leftish persuasion, having voted for Obama while my mother, an avid Trump hater, claims to be a conservative.

Me? Well, I supported Goldwater when I was 14 and walked precincts.

And the subject at our table this year?

Sex.

One thing my mother has in common with her friend on the other side of the political spectrum was an admiration for Charlie Rose. And I was thinking with the recent revelations to be a young woman and have to see Charlie exit the shower (with an invitation to join him!) well, that would be, as my late aunt from West Virginia would say, “enough to make a dog throw up”.

And then Harvey Weinstein?   There is nothing new about the “casting couch” and Hollywood – just read up on Louis B Meyer or Harry Cohn just as a couple of examples.  They keep falling these days. Here is the latest.

” I met them all. Some were vicious and crooked. But … you saw Hollywood with their eyes — an overcrowded brothel, a merry-go-round with beds for horses.”

Marilyn Monroe

I mentioned too that women – and men – use sex as a weapon.  Blackmail. It wouldn’t surprise me today that among all of the accusations flying, at least a few are seeing a cash reward.

The smarter people in Hollywood – or Washington – might want to adopt the Billy Graham rule, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. I don’t see a lot of that happening, but you never know. They laughed at Mike Pence in the campaign for his refusal to have dinner with any woman without his wife present.

They aren’t laughing now.

If you are a woman, Lex had a simple test on how to evaluate men.

That conversation was a lot more interesting than politics.