Gaffe Prone

No, I’m not talking about Uncle Joe.  I am referring to myself.  I broke one of the basic rules of Marketing 101 in my last post.  I mentioned my fashion line inspired by my childhood pet turtle Oscar but failed to quote the brand name, which is Oscar de la Reptile.

We went to the Oakland Hills Hotel Saturday to spend some time with the fam.  We were treated to filet mignon, roast fingerling potatoes and a fantastic asparagus salad.  LA had picked up some Rombauer Zin and I pried open my wallet and brought Ridge's East Bench Zinfandel.  I had just gotten a haircut that day, so before we left, I asked my wife how it looked.  She said it was “flat and splotchy”.  I’ve come to rely on her candor after 31 years of marriage.

The next day we were invited to Greek Easter at TCG’s and had some top-notch chow and drinks, including Ouzo.  I had referred to it as Greaster in my 4/3/18 post, but I don’t recall throwing that term around Sunday. However, I did treat everyone to my Scarface at Thanksgiving routine, which I had debuted at The Exec’s Easter brunch last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7TsX2HvL7k

Uncle Joe

He’s in it to win it.  And he’ll be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021.  This is not a job for an old man.  Nor is it the job for the mayor of a small Midwestern city or several House reps with inflated egos. But we gotta somehow send the current loon in the White House back to NYC. Watch this space for future incisive political commentary.

With the shoulder on the fritz, I’ve been going to the posh club to do some water walking or recumbent bike. Boring! I saw an add there for a “repair and defend facial”.  I could use one of those because my skin care routine is best described as fuhgeddaboudit.

I was taken aback to see the headline "It’s over for Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale".  I have been surprised by the lack of durability in celebrity relationships before, but I thought this was a match made in heaven.  At least for Pete.

In other celeb news, Miranda Lambert named her fashion line after her horse. I named mine after my pet turtle.  Oscar has been six inches under in the backyard of my Latrobe, PA house since 1964, but he lives on in haute couture.

Taylor Swift has a new single and Avengers: Endgame is ready to blow up the box office.  I give two shits.  Wake me up when it’s over.

My birthday is next week.  No need for gifts.  Cash via PayPal is all I ask for.  And the wife’s bday is the day after mine.  Her gift is retirement, as of late June. I have to slog it out in the telecom world for a few more years. Don’t cry no tears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_uyq8oGDvU

Social Butterfly

That’s me in a nutshell.  I’ll give you the lowdown in chronological order and perhaps throw in some celebrity news in this edition.

I just got back from breakfast with The Hotelier and his wife.  We headed to their turf and met at KitchenTown.  The web site says “KitchenTown is a global innovation platform helps develop, commercialize and launch, impact driven food products.” I appreciate that but all I really wanted was a couple eggs over easy with bacon and toast. Ok, it is 2019 and everything has a spin. Fortunately, I was able to get what I wanted with their American Breakfast, or as Don Blankenship calls it, America Person Breakfast.

Yesterday we went to an afternoon engagement party for the son of The Banker.  It was held in their recently re-modeled home and they got a great day for it.  The sun shone on the deck all day, which worked out with the requested all white attire.  I do not have a pair of white pants – I’m surprised that most people do – but my khakis made the effort to go as light as possible.  They had a couple specialty cocktails, including a white chocolate martini.  Those things tend to frighten me so I had a beer.  There was some primo chow that was presented right around the start of the Warrior’s game so I grabbed a plate and a ringside seat to watch with the Banker and his parents. The Durant/Beverley pas de deux was good for a few laughs.

https://deadspin.com/the-beef-between-kevin-durant-and-patrick-beverley-will-1834031977

Last Saturday, The Exec and I headed up to the city to meet up with the wives, who were having some girl time up there in the afternoon.  We went to B44 and were not disappointed.  We did the cheese plate and some gambas al ajillo for starters.  I had a tasty roast halibut and my wife and the Exec split the Arros Negre.  Tot deliciós

I was slightly motivated to write a post the day after this event, but wasn’t quite able to pull it off, so I’ll throw in the next paragraph written a week ago as a complete non sequitur.  There really are no rules to blogging.

I wasn’t planning on writing a post today but on my way back from Draeger’s I decided you deserved one.  I was there to get ingredients for Coq au Riesling, which I’ve mentioned here.  I had mistakenly stated that is was a Nigella Lawson recipe in a previous post.  She has one, but the one I use is from the NYT.  Get off the dime, look it up, and make something decent for dinner for once in your life.  Sometimes you need a little tough love.

OK, so the last recent social event I will write about is the 60th birthday celebration of #1 a few weeks ago.  They were in town for the Utah wedding of their older son.  TCG and his wife put on a great spread and we had our version of Family Feud to bust on the birthday boy’s chops.  I skipped out a little early due to wing issues.

The latest and greatest is that the wing is improving but I am not out of the woods.  I’ve done 3 of 8 PT visits and I’ll be getting an MRI this week. I’m thinking of starting a Go Fund Me page to cover my co-pays.

The moron Trump plans to send refugees to sanctuary cities, with SF being his #1 target.  He says it is totally legal, but opinions differ.  I read the term “performative cruelty“ a lot in articles about The Orange Duce.  Speaking of orange, did you see him trying to say “origins” a while back.  It came out “oranges”.  OK, your turn. Say anonymous origins five times fast.

We’ll close on a Kardashian note, because why not.  You may have seen the recent headline "Kim Kardashian Is Studying to Become a Lawyer, Wants to Take the Bar in 2022", especially if you tune into my generally snarky FB page.  In any case, I do not see this happening, although I did kid my brother to brace himself for some competition.  I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, my brother has one of the finest legal minds in his neighborhood.