Celebrations

Thursday will be my dad’s 70th birthday. We’re going to Tommy Chow’s in the City on Saturday to celebrate. I’ve never been there before. Bryan says it’s a pretty high-end place. It’s going to be a big party there. Betty asked me to make a toast. I’ve never done anything like that before, but I guess I’m not like most people in that I have no particular fear public speaking. I looked up “toasting” on the internet, I watched a few instructional videos. I wrote up a rough draft. I read it to Karen and Bryan and they both said they liked it. I may end up going with it as is. I really can’t think of anything else to add or revise.

I’m kinda holding my breath right now. The BART administration office is in the Kaiser building about 2 minutes away. There have been so many protests over that shooting I’m hoping today’s meeting won’t draw a huge crowd and affect anything here at work. Those people have a right to be outraged, though. How in the hell can a cop pull out his pistol supposedly mistake it for his tazer and shoot someone in the back? I’ve tried to think of a reasonable argument for how that could happen but in the end it always comes out that that cop must have been a fucking idiot.

It’s almost over for Karen’s ex. Last week he pled guilty to two counts of forced rape. He’ll be sentenced to five years, with about a year and a half already having been served. This may seem a little light for all the horrible things he did but he’ll still have to serve the balance of his sentence doing hard time in a state pen, starting with San Quentin. But I don’t believe rapists have it easy in ANY state pen. Also, apparently the beginning of the year a new law went into effect where violent offenders like him will have to wear an ankle bracelet for the rest of his life even after he’s released. I also was told that his sister and mother attempted to start a brawl in the courtroom after the plea was entered. How pathetic. And if that’s not all I understand that his mother ended up amassing about $250,000 in legal fees. What a fucking cancer this guy is.

Fox ran back-to-back episodes of 24 on back-to-back nights. So after only two nights we’re already 4 episodes into it. God, I missed this show. I’m already hooked in. This show is 31 flavors of Hollywood bullshit but what great entertainment.

Rickey Henderson was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today and I couldn’t be happier. This was his first year of eligibility and while it’s an honor to be voted into The Hall it is a particular honor to make it in on your first attempt. Rickey Henderson was the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. He could single-handedly change the face of a game. He holds career records for stolen bases and leadoff home runs. He’s a former MVP, an All-Star, was the cornerstone of the 1989 A’s World Championship team, and is a member of the 3,000 hit club.

I was lucky enough to be there when Rickey broke Lou Brock’s stolen base record to become the all-time stolen base leader. I was with my dad. We were in a sky box that day on the third base side of the field. It was a steal of third that was the record breaker. It was against the Yankees. He held the base over his head and declared to me, my dad, and everyone there, “I am the greatest of all time.”

Sure, Rickey was arrogant and surly. He was never a poster boy for the game like a Derek Jeter or a Ken Griffey, Jr, but he never got into trouble off the field, was never mixed up in any scandals, and his name has never been mentioned as a potential steroid user. This is the end he deserves.

I watched the first few minutes of Bush’s final press conference as president, and God bless him, he left us with one final Bushism. He used the word “misunderestimated”.

It’s ironic that the weather’s turned warm. I haven’t been walking the dogs because it’s been so cold. On “Dogs 101” on Animal Planet they said Chihuahuas don’t do well in cold weather and Charlie definitely hates the cold. He loves to plop himself down in front of the heater. So we decided to get some fruity doggy sweaters for them. And the next day the weather turns warm enough to walk them again without sweaters.