Category: DailySocotra

The Green Turtle

“They say creative destruction is a process by which capitalism selectively destroys things,” I said to the enormous green turtle, who was standing in front of the new building across North Glebe Road and gesturing to the oncoming traffic. “What?” said the turtle, voice muffled by the green fabric of the costume. I moved a […]

Bowling Alone

I don’t know if I could pull off a story thismorning, what with Wikipedia going dark, and the ominous black mask over theGoogle logo on the mighty search engine. Check it out: (Masked Google Logo echoes corporate protest to corporate aggression. Photo belongs to them, please don’t hurt me.) This is what greets the world […]

Bad Decisions

  I was up early enough to write something profound this morning. I thought about what precisely that might the dwarves in South Carolina are up to, or when a recess appointment is constitutional when technically the Senate isn’t in recess. I just couldn’t dredge up the interest. Instead, I looked for restaurants in little […]

Luckiest Man in China, Part 2

Restaurant Week at Willow was in full swing. Mac and I sat way down the bar from Old Jim and his bride Mary, and a bunch of civilians- including an irritating party from DARPA who talked too much—were clogging the aisles. The point to Restaurant Week is to offer great deals on a fixed price […]

The Luckiest Man in China

“So, who is it that is killing the scientists of Iran?” I asked Mac. We were seated way down the bar from the Amen Corner, and it felt unusual. Unbalanced. John-with-and-H was seated next to us. Apparently he is keeping his distance from Old Jim, who was occupying his usual seat, but entertaining some civilian […]

The Last Picture Show

It is Friday the 13th. I don’t know if you put much stock in the old tale of woe that comes on this combination of days: there are three of them coming at us in 2012, and this is the first. There is some squirrely stuff going on, now that I have a chance to […]

Decisions

(Spike and Vic at the breakfast table in the Little Village by the Bay last week.) I liked that Mercedes GLK350 well enough that I actually looked for one in the Certified Pre-owned section of the local dealer- the one I walk by when I hoof it to the office. I was lucky- there is […]

Sunset

(The plates went into the Bay right here, off the breakwater. Photo Socotra) I am dazed. The clock radio was playing classical music, as it normally does with the alarm, and I was inhaling the first Dazbog-brand coffee of the morning before I actually looked at the clock and discovered it was a little after […]

Comparison Drive

I am a car guy, a hazard of growing up in the Detroit of a certain age, and naturally have welcomed the opportunity to experience a variety of top-sellers in the marketplace recently. An alert reader sent a query this morning about my rating of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it is a welcome change […]

Taking Leave

Gentle Readers, family and friends, There are two ways to do this, and being me, of course I am not going to chose. I’ll give you both. I will start with the mystical version, then provide the more staid official one that may, with some modification, make the papers. Let me be clear and make […]