Soon

They are all gathering in San Francisco for the wedding of the year. I've heard from my sister that her daughter and family have arrived. I just spoke with my sister-in-law that they are there from Virginia, as are her family from Kansas and Oregon. Adrian and I will be driving up tomorrow. All this because my eldest nephew, Mark, is marrying Trina on Saturday. Hurray. Pictures to come.

On Wednesday I went in to The Times (I really want to say that I went to work, but that is so not true anymore.) 10 of my friends are leaving IT because of a recent buyout offer. They had a party for the 10 before my lunch with Per and Tom. The picture on the right is of my cohort in most of my crimes, Dianne - supervisor of the group we worked closely with, Tech Support; Kristina is taking the buyout - manager of the IT Advertising group; and Bob is our CIO/Vice President. Bob gave a brief talk, mentioning everybody and wishing them good luck. He said they should come back to visit from time to time. After all, Peggy comes back almost weekly, maybe than can come by now and then. :)

Pinaki pointed out that we never got a picture together when we were together on Sunday. Therefore, the picture on the left. It was good to see everyone and have lunch with my friends.

I finished two mystery/thrillers. I couldn't get a picture of one. It is Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin. I'd heard a couple of podcasts at the end of last year with mystery writers talking about how happy they were that Rankin has a new book out. I'm not sure why I thought this was his new book. It was a little out of date for something set in current times. I think it was the fact they didn't use cell phones as well as they should. Seemed like they were new. I didn't realize this was ten years old until I looked for the picture. It's a good mystery of this policeman genre. I like Rebus. He's very human. But I thought the book deserved a picture. I'd saved this picture from an article about the 10 best bakeries in Paris. I think it was Paris. If so, 10 best boulangaries is probably more like it. I can almost smell that bread.

I also read the book on the left, Bad Luck and Trouble. This is a series I don't think I've read before. Jack Reacher is the protagonist. He is an old special ops kind of guy who has gone totally off the grid. He is pulled back into an event with his old team. And really, that's it. Being off the grid is the most fun thing. Don't get me wrong. It's well written. I loved listening to it. His life and interaction with his old friends is the most fun. They are pulled into an event, which gives them lots to do and stuff to resolve. I'll look for other Jack Reacher books. I'm sure he's been involved with a lot of other events.

Being the Goat

What a fascinating book. Charlatan tells about John Brinkley, the king of flim-flam and junk medicine. His claim to fame was the use of goat testicles to cure all manner of ailments: impotency, prostate problems, decreased vigor due to age and, even, gray hair. He plied his trade (I almost said he practiced medicine, but that would be wrong) in the 20's and 30's. You would not believe what people would pay during the depression to have him slice them open to drop in slices of goat.

The story is also about the man who pursued him and tried to put him out of business, Morris Fishbein. Brinkley was an amazing man. Sure he was disreputable. He was also like the energizer bunny. No matter what Fishbein did, he perservered. He used new found marketing techniques and newly discovered radio to boost his fleecing ability. Silver tongued and wily. A good combination for the one who possesses it, not so good for the poor guy on the table.

The author wrote at the end about how those people were gullible, but we shouldn't read this and feel so superior. We have more safe-guards these days to protect us against our lesser natures, but we can still get caught by a late night flim-flam man in an infomercial.

Easter with Pinaki

Pinaki is visiting The Times from IBM in India. He is alone and I know how even the most resourceful among us can miss companionship when alone away from home. We decided to meet on Sunday and go where ever he wanted. The beach. I loved to go to the beach with my brother Jeff when we were in high school, but that was a long time ago.

It was a beautiful, hot day. I'm sure it was in the high 80's, low 90's, even at the beach. Pinaki saw a volleyball game as we walked to the shore and decided to join the guys. He's very good. Much better than his team mates, in my opinion. Do you see that lunge for the ball in the top left picture? It was fun to watch him hustling out there. The sand was blistering hot, but, you know, he's from India, for heaven's sake. What's a little heat among friends?

Neither of us were dressed to go into the water, but we both rolled up our pant legs and got a taste of the Pacific. Pinaki commented on how cold it is. Bad move. I droned on about the dropoff of the continental shelf, heat retention, on and on and on. But it's true. The water at the beaches on the West Coast is cold, no matter how hot the day is.

We drove north on Pacific Coast Highway. Traffic was horrible. Pinaki needed to get back to the hotel to do some work, so I cut across one of the passes that would take us to the 101. It reminded me of the road to Ooty, very curvy. It was two lanes, so that was an improvement and it didn't have any potholes (not thanks to our mayor, I'm sure) so that was an improvement. We got to see a lot of beautiful big homes along the way. Poor Pinaki heard one too many times about the people from the Tribune who went to Bangalore and asked to see the homes where the rich people live. India has not learned how to do this conspicuous consumption stuff. Oh sure, the maharajas and that ilk had palaces. But these huge houses were much more plentiful on our ride through the mountains. The hills were green, but the houses were not "green."

Moral Disorder

This is the book I read for the book club I didn't find. I did find the location today. Who knew that Vroman's had expanded to the other side of the movie theater? I do now. The sad thing is that I really liked this book. I would have liked to discuss it with a bunch of fellow readers. This tells a semi-autobiographical (it is persumed) story of Margaret Atwood, her life with her married lover, over-active sister and scientist parents. It is short stories that are about the same people. My favorite story was her fascination with an English teacher who helps her learn about reading poetry. It almost tells why book clubs are good. Sometimes the poet or the author has hidden meanings. Sometimes you get it, most of the time I don't. I wish I had her teacher with me when I was listening to this book. I enjoyed it on whatever level of understanding that I got to. I also liked that fact that she broke up with her boyfriend because he just didn't get the poetry thing. Been there.

I'm usually so caught up in reading non-fiction that I need a break to clear my mind. Mysteries and espionage are the usual suspects. It's difficult to find a novel without the help of a book club. But I've been reminded how much I enjoy them. I guess I need to take a look at The Times Book Prize nominees for fiction. They probably have some good stories there.

I'm listening to the podcast of this week's New Yorker. One of the articles is "Just the Facts, Ma'am", by Jill Lepore: Fake memoirs, factual fictions, and the history of history. That was interesting. And I've been thinking about incomplete histories and how easy it is to distort history (even unintentionally.) Two of my current history books have intersected. They are, of course, Mencken and Charlatan. Charlatan is about medical con men in the beginning of the last century, especially one named John Brinkley. Brinkley is pursued by an editor from the Journal of the American Medical Association, Morris Fishbein. Fishbein's confederate in in this pursuit is none other than H.L. Mencken. That is never mentioned in the very long book I'm reading about that man. Nor does the author mention that he is an A-1 hypochondriac. I am learning about his over zealous libido. So, the biography is not really distorted, it just doesn't cover this long chapter in Mencken's life. Or, probably more truthfully, how his life interesected with this very long chapter in Fishbein's life.

I spent yesterday at The Times, meeting with a bunch of people who are leaving due to the buyout. And one who isn't because David Hiller, the publisher talked with him and thought he should stay. Yes, that is a familiar story with a different ending. Many people are leaving at the end of next week. I'll be back next Wednesday to say goodbye. Then it's off to Mark's wedding. Woo-hoo!