It was brilliant and as close to perfect as it gets in Northern Virginia. Mid Spring it was, still cool in the morning and just warming to shirtsleeves before lunch. The azaleas rioting in colors too vibrant to be real. Glorious. Alive in a way the city can never be, and before the hot humid […]

It is early and the coffee is beginning to work. I’m on the cusp here. The news washes over me as I think of what is to come on this freshly laundered day. The thunderstorms rolled through just as I was losing consciousness last night. The ozone is right this morning, and though humid it […]

The defending world champions, the Red Wings, are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round. They were the only reason to get out of bed in early Spring in Detroit. They were swept by Anaheim’s Mighty Ducks, who are owned by the Disney organization and named after a children’s movie. The also-rans […]

It’s the Boston Marathon today, the granddaddy of American Marathons. I salute all those who are running. I never got close to a time that would qualify for entry in the field when I could still run 26.2 miles, but I am proud that I ran seven of those races. Or at least I am […]

It is early Saturday. I have been a slug-a-bed and ooze out of there to make coffee just before 7:00. I congratulate myself. I am starting to tell the time in civilian. The coffee bubbles and there are a couple dozen e-mails in my queue this rainy Saturday. I’m a little behind and there is […]

It is not raining this morning, but the chipper woman on the radio is telling me that it will later. April showers and May flowers and all that. Things are changing. Our national attention deficit disorder is beginning to manifest itself. For the first time in months the lead story on Morning Edition is about […]

It will be a challenge to get through today, since my head did not hit the pillow last night until nearly midnight. I rose unwilling, head swirling with the news from Iraq. I looked out and saw that it is wet and cold and thoroughly nasty this morning. The commute is going to be awful […]

Iraq went to daylight savings time today. Our time change is still a few weeks away, taking an hour in the moring and granting one in the afternoon. Spring ahead, as they say to help us remember which way to turn the big hand. In Washing ton it makes everybody feel jet-lagged for a few […]

It’s April Fools and it is cold and it is payday and I think I am one of them. I am listening to the news about the van filled with women and children approaching a checkpoint. The media play on this, at least the English language version, is relatively sympathetic. Allowances should be made. The […]

It is the second full week of the war. Gen.Tommy R. Franks had his press conference yesterday morning. Tommy seemed calm and steady, not filled with bragadoccio like Stormin’ Norman Schwartkpf. Tommy spoke to the press at the remodeled vehicle repair building in Qatar yesterday about the war plan. He said the pundits were screwed […]