Hitting the 5

Today Palmer and I will be driving down to Southern California, and I have decided to take the 5 freeway, instead of the 101. The 5 is less scenic, which goes through the Central Valley where there is nothing but flat farmland for miles and miles, than the 101, which snakes along the California coast.

We are undertaking this 6 hour drive for the sake of my dad, who is having his 70th birthday on Saturday. He keeps telling us how touched he is by the effort we are making on his behalf (my sister is driving down from Seattle!).

This coming from the man who has driven up to the Bay area and helped me move several times, driven to Florida several times to help my brother move, fixed all of our cars, given all of us money, taken care of so many many practical things for us through the years. Although he may not be the most verbally affectionate of fathers (he did however once write me a poem), he shows his love in lots and lots of other ways. So considering all the stuff my dad has done for us through the years, well it is of course the very least we could do. Help him ring in the New Year in style.

Comments

mlb said…
Happy Birthday Billy! You make 70 look good.
December 29, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Jono said…
My father was the same way and I will always miss him.
December 30, 2011 at 2:13 PM
trump said…
Happy holidays to you. Richard
December 30, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dett í, ofan á, úr, út

I´m not sure if someone had dett í (gotten drunk), or if það bara dett ofan á (it just sort of happened), or if some dett úr (forgot), but at any rate, my household goods dett út (have disappeared). Let's review the chronology here. Early August packers from the shipping company arrive at the apartment in Moraga. They load my 4 large plastic containers and 8 cardboard boxes, plus one baby crib, into their truck. I watch my things depart. In September, I ask the friendly girl (Magie is her name) if she happens to know when I might expect my stuff. Late September she tells me. I am most impressed. Extremely so. Mid October rolls around, and I have not gotten a call. And it occurs to me that I am going to be traveling through November. Hmm. So I call again. Well, yes, she tells me, looks like your shipment should arrive on the 31st of October. Now here I admit that maybe I was a little lacks. I had a lot to do before my trip, and so when they did not call me, I did not follow
Read more

Twitterverse

Although this is a function of the specific feeds I have chosen to follow, I have observed that Icelanders are much funnier on Twitter than Americans are. Americans tweet their opinions on political matters in categorical, condemnatory terms, or they use Twitter to bolster their professional expertise, a la LinkedIn. So kudos to the Icelanders for understanding the potential of the medium and maximizing it.
Read more

The sky weeps

For the last few days, the sky here in the San Francisco Bay has been filled with smoke, blown this way from a fire 100 miles away. At least 40 people died in that fire, a whole town destroyed, and many others missing. One reporter described the sky over the town as raining down ash. On this day, the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War I, the news in the US is filled with stories of the man who calls himself President, unwilling to step out into the rain to lay a wreath. Unwilling to partake in our communal, world wide weep. And I'm thinking about my trip to Iceland on Thursday, of the carbon dioxide the plane will be spewing into the sky. My third round trip from SF to Iceland this year, and I don't have anyway to make up for my carbon footprint. But in all honesty, I'm also wondering how bad the weather will be, if I'll have to be out braving wind and snow for the shot the documentary film maker wants, of me walking around outside. Will the landscape reme
Read more