Owning a Permanent Seat in Contractor Hell But Hoping For A Place in Heaven For My Trouble

Gutting the bathroom on the rental house in Mountain View. That was not fun, not done well, and cost what I used to think was a small fortune. But I'm sure it helped the contractor a lot who put so little in and got so much out of the job!

It is not good to complain about having stuff, because the majority of the people in the world have next to nothing. In America, we've reversed that and instead of living to get by: we pretty much live and work for our stuff.

In the case of rental property it is even more unseemly to complain. Because owning rental property means, in the eyes of many, that you have wealth. I find that pretty close to hilarious these days, now that I inherited some "income property" from my father. In fact, I've decided if I ever get to live my life over again, rather than own rental property I would rather sleep in my car. In Mumbai.

Terror Victims: a Cop and a Little Boy

Saying goodbye to MIT officer Sean Collier today in Massachusettes.

MIT and the city of Boston said goodbye to Officer Sean Collier today. In addition to the hundreds  injured and maimed, Collier is believed to be the fourth person killed by the two Islamic extremist brothers on their rampage last week. He was 26 years old.

The youngest victim, Martin Richard, eight years old, was buried on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Nothing anyone has said so far has made this comprehensible to me.

When a Bike Ride Takes on A Special Meaning

Riding bikes with nephews James and Timothy.

The devastating injuries caused by the terrorists to the victims in Boston have made me think an awful lot about the skills of doctors. I cannot in any way compare my own medical issue with what they are facing: but doctors did save my ability to walk a decade ago.

Just about every day, as I walk, bend, rake, sweep, ride my bike, go to the gym and garden, believe me--I think about this.

The End of Two Terrorists in an Ongoing War

It won't be over for the victims and their families for a long, long time.

Now that these two young terrorists have been dispensed with--one dead and one who will have to work his dreary way through our justice system--the FBI and all the other letter-heavy agencies in our government owe us the bad guys behind these two evil-doers.

The elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, said on social media that the main thing(s) in life were  "career and money," which suggests the very likely possibility he did this for the latter. Follow the money and it will lead us to those who ordered this, and those who ordered this must also face justice.

Friends & Family Fight Explosive Boston Hate

My friend Josh's mother Holly and me in her lovely Washington D.C. home the day I left to take a new job at WESH-TV in Florida.

We heard the news of the terrible attack in Boston just before I headed back to the San Francisco peninsula from my visit to Los Angeles. 

It made me glad that I had gone to LA in the first place. Though I flew down there for business--in this case to help promote my new book--another key reason for the trip was to see old friends. Boston was a good reminder that nothing in life--even life itself--comes with a guarantee.

Introducing the Ms. Gimpy-Mr. Peanut Fledgling!

Fort Chapman welcomes Junior Jay.

I have noticed over the last six weeks or so the behaviors of Ms. Gimpy and Mr. Peanut have changed and this led me to deduce they had a nest, The same thing happened last year, but I never saw any baby jays appear. My sister suggested to me that I might have seen the new young offspring and not recognized them, since young birds begin to fledge when they are just about full size and thus would look just like any other Scrub Jay I might see around. 

The idea. That I wouldn't recognize a new jay in my yard!

Today: I was really lucky. I happened to be in the right place to meet Junior Jay, fledgling of Ms. Gimpy and Mr. Peanut, on one of his first outings.

Silicon Valley Foodies Vs. The Revenooer

Google's famous "triumverate" of geniuses--Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin--in front of Google's HQ in Mountain View, California, in Google's new self-driving vehicle.

The amazing company Google may end up having more in common with the cartoon characters Barney Google and his pal Snuffy Smith than they ever imagined. In the cartoon world of Barney and Snuffy, residents of a hillbilly village spend much of their time hiding their local stills from the tax men, known as "revenooers" in the parlance.

Now it seems, companies like Google, Facebook and others in Silicon Valley who dare to serve free gourmet meals to their employees, may end up fighting the IRS over this untaxed food benefit.

Margaret Thatcher: Leading From the Front

Lady Margaret Thatcher October 13 1925-April 8, 2013.

I was sorry to hear today of the death of the great Margaret Thatcher, a woman who led Britain out of its labor-oriented, 1930s-style past and prepared it to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

There was none of this "leading from behind" nonsense with Prime Minster Thatcher, the longest-serving British Prime Minster of the twenthieth century and the only woman to serve in that office. She was out there on the leading edge taking positions she believed in. Her country is the better for it.