(Thomas Polgar (far right) takes command of the CIA station in Saigon, January 1972. At left is former Station Chief Ted Shackley, heading back to a new assignment in Washington. In the middle is General Creighton Abrams, head of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam). The re-entry thing after the trip has been a challenge. I […]

(Edwin Wilson in retirement. Photo courtesy the Wilson family.) I got a note from Mac that there were some stories to be told this morning. I will stop by his place this afternoon to hear more, and in preparation I looked up the obit for Edwin Wilson, and did a version of it for the […]

(The rear exposure of the spectacular re-modeling of Raven and Big Mama’s house in the Little Village by the Bay). It is the usual time and I am up doing the usual thing. It would seem like the last five days did not happen in the same space-time continuum in which I find myself lodged; […]

I was scanning the electronic pages of the NY Times this morning and found a gem. If I were of a mind, I might take offense at the scrap of Papyrus that quotes Jesus as mentioning his wife. The Times was all over it: “This Sept. 5, 2012 photo released by Harvard University shows a […]

Left Coast Guy is one of my better pals, and I noticed to my surprise the other day that we have known each other for almost 35 years. He has a serenity in his thought process that I often envy, and a gentle manner even when he is applying careful critical thinking to the issues […]

(Captain Harry Wales of 662 Squadron, 3RD Regiment, Royal Air Force) I am sitting at the laptop with my face in the rictus of a smile (the skin on my face is still burned from the tailgate at College Park on Saturday) thinking about it all. Game Day was an all-day drunken debauch, and then […]

It is game day Saturday, Maryland vs. U-Conn, and what I knew was going to happen after the insane week of proposal writing, happened.   I fell asleep shortly after eight- a pleasant thing- but not so pleasant when my eyes popped open at one-thirty. I was wide awake and could not get back to […]

I am a little smaller this morning, not so pumped up. We deliver a proposal to the Government this morning, first thing, and as I write the boxes that contain the binders are waiting in Gaithersburg to be driven down to Ballston for further transport and delivery to Joint Base Bolling-Anacostia.   Aside from the […]

(Jubilant jihadi celebrates at the US Consulate in Benghazi. Photo Reuters).   I am listening to an NPR fund drive, streaming live from a city where I don’t live, and the jolly money-raisers comment wryly that they cannot stand the political advertising on every other media link, and that only public radio can provide the […]

(Viewing the 9/11 Memorial from the perspective of LCDR Otis “Vince” Tolbert’s grave. Photo Socotra, 9/11/12).   I waited until the actual minute of the impact that Flight 77 hit the building had passed. Then I gathered my crap together for the day and drove over to Ft Myer, which nestles around the west side […]