On The Fly

Embarcadero - San Francisco “Isn't it nice that people who prefer Los Angeles to San Francisco live there?” Recently, during a weekend get-a-way to San Francisco, while strolling along the Embarcadero, we ran across this street sign and Lori spontaneously said, “Take a picture of that sign and send it to Russ - he will know who that is for sure.” My response, “Ok, who is Herb Caen ?” “I remember reading his daily syndicated column living in Los Angeles,” said Lori. “He was a California icon.” A quick Google search, turns out, Caen was journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He wrote, just shy of 1,000 words a day from 1938-1997 about; local events, social and political happenings, and offbeat narratives that made him a household name throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. A special Pulitzer Prize called him the "voice and conscience" of San Francisco. Huh - I never would have known. “All of this gets written, two-fingered, on an old Royal typewriter,” ...

The Harvest Moon is your gateway to fall. That crisp, fresh, colorful time of year.  For folks in the Northern Hemisphere, the 2013 autumnal equinox comes on September 22 , so the September 19 full moon counts as the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon. If you have not seen it be sure to step outside tonight and witness the majesty of nature (provided you have clear skies, of course). Wow! Can you believe summer is over, this year has simply flown by.  It’s early morning and already I’m noticing sunrise creeps over the horizon later and later. Siri tells me, “Sunrise was at 6:35 a.m. today.”  The shorter days bring cooler weather. Soon we will don our jackets for a trip to the market. During the summer, you could enjoy sunrise at 5:42 a.m. (for those who were up). For readers of this blog my summer was an active one. An Alaska cruise vacation , bicycling, morning and evening walks, hiking, visits to the ballpark , and of course this years pièce de résistance , our ...

Southwest Airlines There were no television screens, the flights attendants handled the safety demonstration with no video, and seated around me were multitudes of young people with an iPad, Smartphone, laptop, or some portable electronic device. We had just reached 10,000 feet from our takeoff at San Diego International Airport. The attendants voice comes on the intercom, “You can now use your electronic devices.” Casually I opened the inflight magazine and begin to thumb through the articles. What’s this - Free WiFi complements of DISH Network, watch inflight TV on your portable device. “Baseball Everywhere” is the commercial you hear repeatedly when MLB advertises their AT Bat App, they are not kidding. As of July 2, 2013 - “DISH (NASDAQ:DISH), the leading pay-TV provider, today announced “ TV Flies Free ” marking the first time TV entertainment is free for passengers aboard Southwest Airlines® (NYSE:LUV). Beginning today for Southwest Customers using iPhone®, iPad® an...

Oakland Coliseum Baseball is a game of numbers, or is it? The leaves on the maple trees on our street have begun to drop, the lingering daylight is beginning to recede, light rains cool the air, its inevitable, the first sign that fall is on it’s way. Kids are back in school, Labor Day is upon us, and my Cubs, with 25 regular season games left have virtually no chance (again) at the playoffs (see Catching Lightning ). Wait till next year. The lazy days of summer are but a memory and the 2013 baseball season  is winding down. Will this season prove that big money buys a pennant winner, or just lucrative losers? This year I chalked up another stadium on my list of major league baseball parks visited (complete list below). After reading the book Money Ball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game , seeing the Oakland Athletics was a must. It's the story of how Billy Bean, General Manager of the Oakland A's changed the game of baseball using the statistical work of Bill James...