Rambling Thoughts on a Friday Morning

1.

We have a terrific new family at DRIVE! The daughter is 25% Chinese, 25% Filipina, 50% American bred mongrel, she is smart and gorgeous. The dad is a successful engineer, the son of an Army Drill Sgt who was a WWII, Korean War and Viet Nam Vet. He and his brother spent their high school years at Fort Ord. He told me his Dad never raised his voice at home (probably because he spent his days yelling a young troopers) but was strict about the condition of their closets, beds, clothes,their shoes had to be shined daily and in the 70’s the two boys got their haircuts at the Army barber shop on base! He added his Chinese mom never bought a whole chicken or chicken breasts at the Base Exchange; they ate only livers, necks, gizzards and backs. He said the first time he had a chicken breast he had no idea what it was. Great family, great kid, All American!

2.

We have now moved into full Christmas display mode. The house is decorated inside and out, Saturday the patio gets the full treatment. The theme this year is blue lights and more blue lights everywhere. I hate putting up Christmas lights thanks to my old man who was obsessed with them. More on this later with pix.

3.

I was starving yesterday afternoon. I drove over to the Rhineland Deli on TO Boulevard. As was gazing at the menu I spotted a sandwich I hadn’t had in years. It brought back memories of my childhood and hanging out with my grandfather. The old Judge’s favorite sandwich was liverwurst, onions, mayo, mustard and lettuce. I ordered up a half sandwich on rye. In a few minutes the counter man handed me my sandwich, the liverwurst was 2 inches thick and the whole damn thing weighed at least a pound. I ate it at 1:30, now almost 17 hours later, I’m still full and I had nothing for dinner last night. I’d guess my cholesterol jumped 50 points. It was really, really, really good!

4.

Growing up in a place where below zero temps were daily occurrences in the winter and spending much of my life in Boston where winter temps were only marginally warmer. I can’t believe how cold it gets in Southern California, the other morning it was a bone chilling 51 degrees, it was so cold on the patio as I was drinking coffee and reading the paper, I had to put on a winter coat. Oh, I forgot, nobody in North Dakota or Boston can even sit outside on the patio in December.

5.

I seriously don’t think I could survive without heated seats in my car, chilly in the morning, turn on the seats, you don’t need the heater drying your eyeballs out, just nice warmth on your ass and legs. Bless the Swedes for inventing them. By the way, you can’t believe how great a heated steering wheel is! I have become a total wuss!

6.

Best clothing discovery for when its too warm for a sweater, even a cotton sweater. Wear a waffle weave long underwear shirt…they look good, come in a bunch of colors and they are cheap. I paid 14 bucks for a dark blue Ralph Lauren at Stein Mart. The chubby lady who lives across the street told me it looked great and Mary Magdalene next door said I looked like “arm candy”. At my age, to women under 40 I’m invisible and both those babes are well over 50!