i left my heart in san francisco...and met st. chad...

On Sundays, The New York Times is my guilty pleasure...although I've only ever been to New York City for a half day meeting...

But in the book section -- along with books -- there it was...something called One Day University.
Had I spent more time in classes during my final years and fewer in The Silhouette office writing articles and pasting up a paper, I could have enjoyed a full term full of classes about Linguistics.
Still, I've only ever once been asked for transcripts....the artilces got me most of my jobs.

But there it was...a Linguistics course....in San Francisco...about word origins...with a doc named Seth Lerer from Stanford. November may not be high season in the lovely city, but it is San Francisco....

When I mentioned it, my Mom said she might go too...a bonus since we haven't been able to get her to travel much since my Dad died.

My brother Paul and his fiance Chris decided to join us although we're counting down to The Lads' wedding in December...more about that later. They are way better travellers than Mom and I are. They're more adventurous...they have a better sense of direction...and they own a brilliant selection of guidebooks.

Chris found us the coolest hotel...the Hotel Carlton...

http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/carlton
Hotel Carlton1075 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94109, P: 415.673.0242, F: 415.673.4904, Reservations: 1.800.922.7586

It was an absolute find! Close to the BART lines and a nice walk from Union Square.
Mom walked it with us one night and she's a bit arthritic so it's easily doable.

They're a green hotel and the restaurant in the hotel serves a wicked breakfast that's worth staying in for much as I live for Mama's on Washington Square. There's a Rite Aid two blocks over (if your luggage goes on a side trip as ours did) and a great little grocer/liquour store deli a couple of blocks up called Sutton Fine Foods.

When you meet Theo at the desk, tell him his Canadian fan club (the one with the Hemingway cats) sent you. And let me know what you think...

So on to One Day University...
They were knew to me and while the Linguistics section got me, the other speakers I heard were great.

History: Hitler-The Man and the Mystery

Jonathan Steinberg, Penn

Astronomy: A Grand Tour of the Universe

Alex Filippenko, University of California

Linguistics: Inventing English: Where Our Words Come From

Seth Lerer, Stanford

Music: Beethoven's Ninth-the Story of a Masterpiece

Thomas Kelly, Harvard

Dr. Lerer didn't disapoointment...but neither did the others. Dr. Steinberg was brilliant...and Dr. Filippekno - introduced as the Robin Williams of the astronomy world will make you wonder why you never thought to do that with yogurt before....

But in my mind, the final speaker was the most gracious...

What I know about Beethoven, I learned from Schroeder...and candidly, I was planning to duck out.

I'm glad I stayed....

That Ninth Symphony owes its fine tradition (at least in part) to...wait for it...drinking songs. (My Dad was right...) And you don't want me to tip the hand about The Star Spangled Banner. It's hard to be the elegant gentlemen who follows the comedians but this gracious soul did just that. Look him up...

He's just scored a big victory for my trivia team! Small victory for him...huge for us...

But let me tell you about the high point of my trip...

I met two very good friends in that lecture hall. Bill and Janette are local to the area...and two of the nicest folks the Good Lord breathed life into. I met Janette on the morning break and we just hit it off. We spent much of the rest of the day together and these kind folks got me back downtown. When you're a nervous navigator - as I sometimes am - their kindness was a godsend.

The brilliant conversation was an added bonus...and we've been keeping that up!

Here's the other thing...these two have been married...a long time. They have children and grandchildren...but nothing Hollywood has ever shot matches the glow they get when they look at each other across a room. While Janette was talking to one of the speakers, I asked Bill how they met...and he got this little smile and said he'd spotted her on campus at Berkley...and that was it. And his eyes danced as he said that.

So the next time you read about bad news, remember that there are wonderful people writing good news stories with their actions every day of the week...and feel free to be one of them!!

Oh right...St. Chad...

It rained while we were there...a lot...like build an ark rain.

Still, my brave Mother joined us for a trip to the Castro to my favourite book store.

http://www.booksinc.net/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeinfo

I like the one on Market Street...which has one of the best staff of readers going!

So while we were exploring (if you liked Goodnight Moon...you'll love Goodnight Bush...and yes...that Bush...) we parked Hopalong Mom in a chair. As I was walking up an aisle, I found a book about Saints (tell me my Father ain't hanging about...and I'll tell you why I know he is...)

The first up when Mom opened the book...St. Dymphna! Patron Saint of the insane (and most offices). I didn't know there was a nun who taught my Dad who had that name...'til Mom told me. I have to wonder about a postulant who opts for that handle...

Better still...

The patron saint of contested elections (contested being the key word here...)

ST. CHAD

He was an Irish archbishop in the seventh century...never got to Florida...never voted...

Proving God has a sense of humour...although you had to believe he did...

Aunt Cindy's Other Great Fans....

Meet the senior members of the black & white brigade -- Mizzu and Memphis. If you look closely at the paws, you'll see these charming girls are polydachtyls - they have extra toes. What's more unusual is that they have extras on all four paws.

You'll also hear these cats called Hemingway Cats. Ernest kept a colony at his home in Key West and as these cats are favourites of mariners (who believe that 'thumb' lets them catch rats that elude other cats) you'll often find them in port cities.

Just after Mizzie is done rubbing her hear on her 'nip, she'll flip onto her back and kick for a bit...

Mem and Mizz won't fight over anything...they'll wait each other out secure in the knowledge that there will always be more...

Mizzu guards her treasure....and after all that adventure, there's only one thing left to do....

To the Super Sleeper!

Aunt Cindy's Magic Catnip Pouches

My good friend Cindy is one of the most talented people I know...also, she's a church lady.

That's significant on a couple of fronts: first, because she makes - as she would call them - the most incredible selections of tasty treats for assorted church events. Also, she makes sandwiches....amazing and glorious sandwiches. Sometimes, we have office pot lucks just to coax Cindy into a sandwich frenzy. She humours us.

Like all good church ladies, she has ample gifts (and patience) so when craft season arrives, catnip pouches make an appearance. At Casa del Alderman (I'll have my Spanish correspondents check the spelling) catnip pouches are always a hit...and Cindy knows her feline nieces and nephews appreciate her talents. So when I tried to do her a favour by bringing her a BoSox shirt, she played it forward and sent me home with a treasure trove.

There are no safe places to hide magic cat pouches. Zippo. Nadda. I've tried...That having been said you can get a lotta laughs out of a tabby treasure hunt....
See for yourself....

Meet Furio Beans. A dashing lad of seven or so, he arrived a few years back with the name Buttons. Like all our pals, he was an experienced pet when he landed (note to file: if you're leaving your spouse never buy your kids a pet to remember you by...your spouse's next may associate the pet with the ex and our house is way full...plus there are two little kids out there who still think kitty ran away...) He distinguished himself by churlishly attacking some of his new siblings - hence Furio after the assasin on the Sopranos.

When he's not being the crabby tabby (and he is most often a good natured character), he stalks catnip. Up, down, under...no jar or shelf is safe. But he does enjoy it...and he shares....

Fishing in the Cooper Bowl kept him busy for a full evening...and when the pouches started hitting the floor (they're hitting the ground like bags of wet cement!!), it kept the black and white brigade further busy...

So after a tough day, the next time you're trying to relax, Master Beans suggests you stick your head in a bowl...and fish for catnip....

lawn sign diplomacy

The battle of the lawn signs continues...
One neighbour gets a sign for a party...a nearby neighbour gets a bigger one....or a pair...then somebody else a few doors down gets into the fray. Where do lawn signs go to die after the voting is done?

There's a house I drive by that seems to have it right: a sign from every party...every election. It's quite civil. I wonder what the volunteers and scrutineers think about it. The first sign planter must feel a little thrill when the sign goes into the lawn. The second sign plunker to the post must think it's either the other domestic partner or they've won a convert. What happens when the third one gets there and sees the first two? Maybe Arnold Ziffel lives there and just called the offices.

This morning, the tricolour sign armada stood proudly...Conservative (Reform Lite)...Liberal...NDP. Maybe the Greens and the Liberterians are slow getting out....I do miss the Rhinos...now they were a party.

A few of us in the office know each other well enough to talk about how we vote (we're not competitive about how we poll...and we're all shrewd enough to be a bit cynical about all of the options we have). One of my favourite Conservatives (I have a large collection of Conservative friends...not so many of the Reform stripe) who is clever enough to realize that the lunatics currently running the blue asylum are not as progressive as those the overthrew offered an intriguing thought today: what if a good bunch of us vote Green? His logic was this: we're going to get the same collection of dullards we have now so if we all vote Green, it will send a message that the environment is a serious concern for Canadians.

In essence, the current crew of politicians simply want a sustainable gig (that's almost environmental) so if they see we're voting Green, odds are good they'll take up that cause. I thought that was a brilliant observation. We were voting Green to help them get their deposits back and keep them coming out to play. They seem sane and polite. We want to encourage that and clean fuel...
Plus, my friend Dan the Libertarian isn't running this time. I'd want him to get his deposit back as well....

i admit it...i'm watching the alleged debate from points south

Gee whiz, but I hope they won't take my passport for this...
I can name all the leaders -- Gilles included -- but the Canuck crew is blessedly boring (except possibly for the fellow who cribbed from the Aussie PM -- crickey!). Our only female leader has a law degree and way more than half a brain.

I wanted to see the shiny Alaskan dollie...
She actually does a reasonable Tina Fey...and she smiles as she's mentioning soccer parents.
I like the moderators who keep asking both of the Vice-Presidential candidates to answer the original questions rather than ripping and pontificating. And when did we start referring to potential Presidents as 'John' and 'Barack'?

What happened in Alaska that we can't say a word ending in 'g' -- runnin' with John (I hope that's not literal, bless their hearts, because he's not up for that...)
OH DEAR LORD SHE'S SAYIN' NEW-QUE-LEUR.....AND EYE-RACK...
What are we gonna do if she offends the EYE-TALIANS...or maybe she'll play to their soccer Moms.
(I'm thinkin' the Italian soccer Moms can take her....)

Smoke and mirrors...bobbing and weaving...
These moderators are better than dog trainers for bringing these candidates back to the ring and making them focus.

How do her lips stay that shiny after she's been talkin' all this time?
Lacquer, it's not just for big hair and stainin' the picnic table any more.

o canada...or melamine: it's not just for pet food anymore...

When melamine turned up in a slew of pet food in 2007, the revelation provoked the ire of pet owners and North American consumers...and with the same nasty chemical turning up in dairy products and poisoning Chinese children, the cynic in me says that Chinese authorities might well take a different approach to 'investigating.'

I don't even dislike melamine -- other than as a food stuff. I'm pretty sure I own fondue plates (vintage 70s in that mustard yellow that was all the rage the first time fonduing was in vogue). I think I saw melanime on the countertops at Graceland where -- might I say -- it was charming (with appliances I remember seeing on Let's Make a Deal).

Remember, when it was pet food, the 'inspectors' said there wasn't any proof that the addition really had occurred in China...there were middlemen don't you know. Just to be clear, that was the same polite deflection offered a decade before when Haitian children were poisoned by the addition of glycol -- basic antifreeze -- to a cough medicine. Feel free to plumb the 60 Minutes archives for confirmation. The World Health Organization (WHO) took up the cause on behalf of those children but found the factory alleged to have produced the concoction was gone -- just like the car Flounder borrowed from his brother Fred in Animal House....

If you think this about chest thumping and point fingers east, think again.

While Menu Foods took the brunt of the public flogging, a lot of 'premium' name foods got caught in that net. The same folks who offer you smiling vets suggesting they have a better idea what to feed pets are owned by a consortium that produces -- toothpaste (although not the kind you use for Fido and Fluffy).

Mercifully, the collies and cat colony here weren't eating any of the contaiminated lines.
That having been said, when I tried to track down the producers to whom I have funnelled a bucketload of cash over many, many years, it proved a tricky proposition. The bigger the name, the bigger the smoke screen. (Note to file: never let your MBAs create your public face...you'll end up lookin' like Tammy Faye Baker after a rainstorm - God rest her soul)

I like to think consumers aren't stupid...even the crazy ones -- like me -- who dote on their pets.

I won't slash the stinkers who didn't reply (some of their MBAs are nasty lawyers, I suspect...)
I will admit that I have cats on their prescription food which concerns me a little..
Better still, I have found a little digging gets you to companies who are domestic...some close to home...who are only to happy to answer questions...

One firm -- while very responsive -- couldn't confirm the source of their ingredients.

The folks at Nutram (produced in beautiful downtown Beamsville, Ontario) were only too happy to provide detailed lists of ingredients when I asked. They invited us to drop in too (which is a fine excuse to go visit some very nice local wineries...) They're pretty close to having a formula for everyone (I say this as the not-entirely-proud human companion of a cat with irritable bowel whose delicate digestive system is serious business...) http://www.nutram.com/

The collies and most of our cats gnosh Nutram kibble...but like all siblings, they refuse to embrace consensus. As luck would have it, our pals at Ryan's pets often have sample bags...send me your furry, your particular...your unbelievably finicky....and we stumbled on a new option -- Orijen http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/about/. Bless 'em, they have sample bags...and when we busted 'em open the black and whites (Memphis, Mizzu and Clemson) and their tabby ringleader (Furio Beans) thought we were offering treats. The sample bags are great -- you can try them without having to make a fifty dollar commitment. Better still, mixing them with existing options doesn't involve something akin to training for an ironman competition.

We've actually had retailers point out that Canadian brands are a little more expensive. While we love our vet (she's a goddess...make no mistake), five bucks a bag versus days in vet ICU (which means the goddess and her kind staff are on extra duty they don't charge enough for) is an economic proposition Keynes himself would question. I trust too, that if anything at my local producers goes doolally (as the Irish cousins say), Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May won't be covering up the bodies. Call me an optimist....

We stumbled on another hilarious -- and seriously popular -- treat after our first visit to Bark and Fitz. It's a chi-chi kind of place (which creeps us us out a little...) but they have good stuff (the little pink coats and boots notwithstanding).

They turned us on to Barking Mad liver treats. Foster (the Marrobone addict) isn't sold but Amber and Shadow drool when they hear the bag. These guys aren't just great producers, they have a brilliant web site -- and I'm waiting for t-shirts. http://www.barkingmadlife.com/

Foster is our fussy (and slightly off beat) associate. He's the bellweather -- much as Mikey was in the Life commercial. He will eat the liver cookies from Bark and Fitz -- and most of our park pals go bonkers for these. Word of warning: they're rich...and too many resulting in something akin to greased lightning.

Fozzie's other great delight -- and an unexpected one at that -- Shrimp and Grits biscuits that I found in Norcross, Georgia, at Precious Pets. I figured the old boy would turn up his nose but he
was delighted http://www.preciouspetsga.com/ Word of warning: you need the Georgia bit in there or you'll get pet jewels...a pet cemetary (apologies to Stephen King) and a boarding facility. As a bonus, the little strip mall where you'll find this (20 minutes out of Atlanta) is a treasure trove: a fabulous Italian restaurant...a British store (with great tea and Coronation Street collectables) AND a little cafe that serves Sweet Tea and fried green tomatoes (have them together). Norcross is a historic junction that was key in the Civil War so you'll find lots of great plaques and information while you're there...(but Fozzie says the cookies are the high point)...

So while the Georgia imports aren't quite local, they're local to the point of sale...and they're from a small firm that uses stuff like grits...and shrimp...where the proprietors will put you on their email list and remember you when you make return visits...

Hey wait...that's commerce like Grandma and Grandpa knew it...hmm...and they recycled too....

an homage to uncle howard...a middle name for dan rand

Uncle Howard is one of my favourite colleagues...and a always a contender in the dead pool.
He chastised me for my candidate rating system...he says he needs to speak for the rightish (but not hawkish) crowd. The Stephen Colbertists....

Post away campers...how do you rate 'em?

Dan is penning an epoch...that might be an epic...he needs a middle name for a character...
Not the Palin kind...

What about Sophie...
Fredo won't do for a girl (and it doesn't scream longevity...)
Delilah has her charms...

What is it...
And why is that stuck in the middle for you...