(Pasta E Pagioli)   It was a day filled with small triumphs and minor inconsequential tragedies. It was a near thing, watching the skies yesterday afternoon, to get the Harley over to the gas station for the annual safety inspection.   Earlier, I found that Ben the Moroccan barber had decided to come to work; […]

(Eastern Market Guted. Video Capture courtesy of Allbritton Communications Company)   I don’t know if the Eastern Market fire was deliberately set or not. That is not my business.   I do know that the two arson investigators, who claimed it was, were pulled off the detail and are now driving around checking on fire […]

(The Fabulous Bettie Page in her 80s) So I was running late, like big surprise, and realized I had to swing past the front desk and drop the Japanese slasher film in the mailbox to go back to NetFlix.   That would seem to be straightforward enough, but Rhonda is normally on shift there, and […]

(Machine Girl Movie Poster)   It is the Fall Pledge Drive on National Public Radio, my preferred source of disinformation. I listen to it most of the day, except for Tuesday evenings, which I reserve for the NetFlix movies that come every month and I have resolved to do something about.   The guilt is […]

(Bosun’s Pipe from the Age of Sail)   I am one of several admirers in town of the current Defense Secretary, Mr. Bob Gates.   I don’t think anyone really expected that a Air Force Reserve officer and career CIA analyst would turn out to be one of the most effective leaders in the history […]

(The Tall Man Wants You to Walk! and Starting Line)   I wheeled up to the farm in the Bluesmobile as the light was beginning to fade to deeper gray under gray skies with gray chill drops still falling.   I was amazed to see no less than six deer in the nearer pasture. They […]

(Progress)   Friday is when you want to announce these sorts of things. No one is paying attention, since they are more interested in getting to the weekend or squishing around on the completely soaked carpet in an office facility in Fairfax next to the third-floor women’s rest room.   I don’t mean to say […]

(eZPass toll Plaza)   The space-time discontinuity ended abruptly as he nose of the Bluesmobile approached the I-270 split at the 11:00 o’clock position on the Beltway. It is free to travel this way, and hence it is prone to clogging on work days.   The wired and wonderful sensation of absolute freedom dancing along […]

(“A”- “L” at the 40th Reunion) After I exercised my cell phone lifeline to my pal Muhammed in the parking lot, I steeled myself to do what needed to be done.   None of my asshole buddies were going to be at the 40th reunion- only the person with whom I had been closer than […]

(Letter Jackets, Old and New)   Unhinged in time as I was, the act of walking into the hotel lobby in the town near Grabbingham where I grew up was not as hard as I had anticipated. I was in jeans and a pullover sweater. It was cold Up North, and I push the Bluesmobile […]