The first night back, I can't sleep. Or maybe I can't tell what sleep is anymore, such has been the languor of our days. The three-hour time change has something to do with it, but so does the preponderance of mammals on our bed. Only one of the two dogs, but both of the cats are very much in evidence. All have missed us, it is clear. One cat purrs like a small power plant, and the other does very much the same, until they collide and hiss like steam pipes exploding. It's 12 midnight, it is 1 AM, Read more [...]

Consider that at the very moment I set out for the Menlo Park Veterans Affairs Hospital...I was thinking about serious things, like commitment. You know, like doing things properly, all the way, which includes getting there...wherever 'there' is...on time. I had cut it rather thin on the promptness side. Having dawdled away the morning. Well, not quite all of it, but enough of it to shave down the time I was supposed to commit to my short story. Which got short shrift, the short story did, 'forcing Read more [...]

How much driving is enough? If you don't do a lot, and for some reason think you should do more, how much more should you do? Drive, drive, drive. Is that enough? What about Healdsburg? Is that enough driving? From this fair suburb, it is 100 or more miles to that good Sonoman place. Shouldn't that suffice? What if, at the last minute, your spouse throws you an automotive curveball, vis-à-vis dropping her off in the hilly center of San Francisco? Is that enough? Or is that too much? Einstein Read more [...]

There was a time when I rode Amtrak's Coast Starlight to Seattle. But it was another time. I was younger, my body more resilient and generally stronger. Not to mention my balance which was better too. It's wonderful to have perspective. If one really has it. Mostly, I feign it. The San Jose Amtrak station was my point of departure from 1997 on, when I began taking the overnight train north. In that era, the Union Pacific regularly messed with the Starlight, sending it into sidings for hours while Read more [...]

When the sky darkens, and an actual rainstorm drenches the Bay Area, something in me comfortably settles into a sense of normalcy. Yes, there is a brief 'thank God,' but not for long. Being thankful acknowledges the grave abnormality that has become normal, and I want to pretend. So what else to do with an actual rainstorm, but plunge into San Francisco Bay, more or less, aboard a Golden Gate Ferry? A long-overdue visit to the Marin Mishpacha, Gabriella and her daughter Daria. Which is quite a schlep, Read more [...]

To understand this day, consider its origins. The Quicken helpline. Which is to say, a long chat with someone in South Asia. The matter at hand being my financial management software. Not that me and financial management can logically be included in the same breath. Nevermind. One tries. And the idea is that one pays Quicken, a fair amount on an annual basis for their specialized Rental Manager software...to manage such things for me. Which means that it is not an unreasonable assumption that this Read more [...]