Sunday, February 9, 2025
Picure it - Super Bowl Sunday on Tulip Street
Friends gather to eat and drink and pretend to be butch by screaming and yelling during the most hyped sporting event in the world.
"Some will win... Some will loose... Some are born to sing the blues..."
Photos will be here eventually
The San Diego Zoo has moved their -annual Food, Wine & Brew Festival from the Fall to the Spring. If you have never attended this event you really should. Besides having the Zoo beautifully decorated and lit up at night, there is food and libations galore. The VIP tickets get you in an hour before the crowds plus other perks which believe me is worth the extra dollars. It makes for a fun evening all to support the San Diego Zoo. Andrew and I will be there, flashing lights and all.
Information and Tickets
February 6, 2025
Much like my rhetoric on "Buttheads" not all perps of villainy are in Florida, but in the case of Shrimp Fraud, Tampa Bay leads the parade. What is most interesting to me is that there is so much news buzz about something as American as advertising "gold" and selling "brass." The recent Shrimp Fraud revelations have probably been going on a long time and it seems that those who perpetrate it follow one of President Trump's key standards... 'proceed until apprehended.' They are counting on the fact that, once presented to your table, most of us couldn't tell a gulf shrimp from one flown in from Columbia. And of course there are impacts. Family-owned shrimp businesses operating out of the Port of Tampa and all over the Gulf coast are struggling to survive while local restaurants bamboozle customers into thinking locally caught shrimp are being served. But our savvy food inspectors have new tools now to detect this fraud. Quick DNA testing can detect the points of origins for most of the shrimp sold in America as well as other species... and they now claim that more than 93% of the shrimp sold in America are from foreign waters. Everyone wants to save a buck and our seafood restaurants are no exception. Slap a little tartar sauce and paprika on a previously frozen cod fillet and voila... you have a grouper sandwich. Serve it with a beer and a plate piled high with fries and most folks wouldn't know the difference. Does anyone think the government will do anything about this? Probably not. In Trump terms that would constitute government overreach. So unless the seafood frauds make you sick... buyer beware.
Terry Ernest - January 29, 2025
If you notice my face, I am an almost perfect amalgam of my dad and mom. Based on that, I expect to live to about 84 ⅞. And that's an important number because that is about all I am budgeted for. Today I celebrate my birthday along with Mozart and my Great Aunt Bessie. She was my paternal grand father's sister. I never got to know her because she apparently only lived for three months back in 1893. But I am sure if she had survived into adulthood there would be just that much more family love to share. The interesting thing about family relations, the older you get the more you seem to want to know, at least a little bit, about those who came before you. Together with Andrew for 24 years, I strive to live each day such that I feel good and have the energy to make each day special for the both of us. While the calendar isn't always a friend, our drive to live each day as best we can keeps us on an even keel. That, together with the love and support of family and friends, we keep moving always forward.
Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes and in closing may I say .. I hope you look this good when you are sixty-thirteen.
Terry Ernest January 27, 2025
Well it is finally over. Biden and Harris are out and Trump and Vance are in. In a somber ceremony, under the Capital rotunda, a series of finely written speeches and more sermon like ecumenical and Jewish prayers were offered to bring hope and resolve to the new administration. Carrie Underwood, realized a technical snafu with her music and instead of waiting, Carrie sang "America the Beautiful" acapella. She engaged the crowd for a few seconds to join her and then sang but one chorus. She certainly made the most of that brief but excellent moment. Trump took center stage again as tenor Christopher Maccio sang the national anthem during which everyone in the room put their hand over their hearts except Trump... who chose to salute instead. A very Trump moment indeed. Baron and Melania looked on... so proud5
As the oaths of office were taking place, Melania held the stack of Bibles for her husband but he never put his hand on them and Justice Roberts didn't seem to mind as he swore Trump in. I expect Trump was afraid his hand might catch fire. No doubt he had his other hand behind his back, fingers crossed. Then it was time to hear from the 47th President himself. And Trump's speech did not disappoint. It was mostly about him and what he has already done day one and what he will do in the coming days. He made some bold announcements about his plans for America most of which are likely to be fought out in the judicial system like only two genders and redefining the 14th amendment. Frankly he could have shaved a good fifteen minutes from his speech if he had just turned around and slapped Biden a few times while sneering in derision rather than his diatribe of humiliation.
Too bad they decided to move the inaugural ceremony indoors. Trump won't be able to claim that there were a million people in attendance, like he did in 2016. Or will he?
But in all fairness and in keeping with New Year's Resolution #5, Andrew and I will try to keep an open mind and wait to be pleasantly surprised as the Trump team Makes America Great Again.
Terry Ernest - January 20, 2025
The last week of Santa Anna winds have certainly taken their toll on Southern California. Songs will be written to eulogize the unimaginable fires and devastation in LA. And while we have been, heretofore, saved from smoke and fire, the single digit humidity that we have had has just about sucked the moisture out of everything, including my nose. Of note is that we haven't had measurable rain for almost 10 months now, and just to keep our lovely garden from turning all brown, we are risking an almost certain double or triple frowny face on our next water bill. And the worst is yet to come. Homeowners and auto insurance rates are going to go way up. Many current policies will not be renewed and many will be lucky to get any kind of insurance at all. Can't wait to see what Governor Newsom will have to say about all that. We already heard what Trump has to say.
Sad that it takes another catastrophe to make us once again realize that what happened in LA could happen most anywhere and if you are not prepared... it will certainly suck.
Terry Ernest - January 14, 2025
January 1, 2025
Picture it! San Diego, first day of the new year. We survived all the local New Year's Eve fireworks and yahoos shooting their guns in the air (we hope it was in the air) until the wee hours of this morning. Andrew is down with a bug of some kind and I am doing my darnedest not to catch it. While we may be off to a slow start, 2025 will be a stellar year. It's bright and sunny this morning, 60 degrees and there is a threat of smoked turkey in our immediate future.
follow up
Terry Ernest - January 1, 2025
Andrew and I are working on our 24th year together and despite the world order, or dis-order, we will do whatever we can to make it another great year. As always, our New Year wishes extend to all of our friends and family. We love them, support them and respect their right to make what they will with their own lives.
There is a lot of chatter all over the world heralding every conceivable speculation as to how our world will change under the Trump/Musk administration. As for me, with Trump in the center seat, and Musk's money running the show, 2025 will be a crapshoot. I do have faith that there are sufficient watchdogs to ensure some degree of moral parity between the faithful and the faithless. And that we will be spared from the fires of nuclear incineration. Short of that, all bets are off regarding American prosperity. While it's not quite the time to bury our treasures in the back yard the thought has crossed our minds... which we will keep open and flexible for as long as we can. We expect 2025 is going to be a bumpy ride. But then...bumpy rides can be fun too!
The notion of making and keeping New Year's Resolutions isn't completely moronical. One must have some goals else stagnate in the status quo. Some can endure that way, most cannot. Hence the creation of things we 'resolve' to do. And like I do every year, here is my list of things I will strive to achieve in 2025.
Terry Ernest - December 31, 2024
Join us for a fun weekend as we celebrate Lao New Year at the Center for Performing Arts in Escondito.
Every weekend in April is a Lao New Year celebration somewhere. At the Wat Lao Buddharam in San Diego, their weekend will be filled with traditional Lao New Year ceremony and pageantry. Lots of food and fun, fresh squeezed sugar cane and Chai Iced Tea... but as you would expect, no alcohol.
