Accidental Hearts Collection, Part 1

I collect images of accidental hearts.














When I see one, I photograph it and immediately send it to my wife. I think she appreciates the attention, although some of them are very odd looking.

I'll post these hearts here now too, along with other interesting images I capture as I test drive life.

Orchestra Conductor for a Day

Here's a cool idea: At the Community Women's Orchestra's forthcoming Chamber Music Soiree, on Sunday January 23, at 2:30 pm., you have a great opportunity to bid to conduct a piece with the orchestra next season.

It includes a private conducting lesson with award-winning conductor Dr. Kathleen McGuire. The Conductor-for-a-Day also gets a souvenir conductor's baton, a photo with the orchestra, and a video recording of the performance.

Even though it's an all-female orchestra, the Conductor-for-a-Day can be male or female. So give it a shot if you've always dreamed of standing up there running the musical show!

Chevy Volt Arrives in S.F. Bay Area

I normally drive a car before writing about it, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. I heard about the first Chevrolet Volt to be delivered in the San Francisco Bay Area and went to the new owner's blog. He had written all about the car and the process. Go see it for yourself. There was his email address, so I contacted Patrick Wang, and within the hour, we had made plans to meet.

Over coffee, Patrick told me all about his decision to buy the new plug-in hybrid Volt and then gave me a tour and a ride. Read all about it in the San Leandro Times.

In 25 words or less, it's a new way of driving, but feels familiar. It's an electric car for the first 30 to 50 miles, and then a gasoline engine kicks in to charge the battery for many more miles of motoring. I'm looking forward to driving one myself before too long.

Gerry Rafferty is Gone

Sad to see another musician of my generation die, but I read that Scottish singer Gerry Rafferty has left us, at only 63. Yes, he's a little older than I am, but I remember the sound of Baker Street and Right Down the Line in the late 1970's. The latter song has a wonderfully snappy bass line that sticks with you all day. And who can forget his slide-guitar-filled Stuck in the Middle with You when he was part of Stealer's Wheel? Not me.

Gerry apparently had a taste for the drink, and he eventually drowned in it. But those two songs live on in my iPod.

Gerry's not the first baby boomer to overdo it. Every day I marvel at my good fortune to have a healthy liver, teeth, skin, blood pressure, etc. But I'm not a famous rock star, either. It's regret, with a little envy mixed in, I guess.

Sugar Addiction for the Holidays

OOOOOOHHHH my the candy-coated chocolate morsels looked good in that giant glass bowl as I poured seven bags of them together on December 31st. It was a glorious mixture of plain, peanut, dark chocolate, pretzel, almond...

It's been our tradition for years to watch movies and eat candy and treats on New Year's Eve and this year, despite a slimming, healthful Summer and Fall, was starting out no differently.

As it turns out, I ate significantly less than usual this year, but still, that meant there were lots of leftover treats sitting there, calling my name. Today, January 4, I have called a halt to it. Well, almost--I ate a brownie at lunchtime...

I love sugar--especially chocolate--so I have to be careful. I feel better when I don't eat it, but it tastes so good.

Nothing clever or philosophical to say about it--no brilliant analysis, and not even guilt--it's just a fact--I'm addicted to sugar. I'm better off when I go cold turkey. Actually, some turkey would taste great about now...

Brown Again

Well, it's 2011 and the state of California has a new governor. I remember Jerry Brown from 1974 -- the blue Plymouth and low key approach seemed cool at the time. He was only 37 when he was elected, and now he's the oldest governor the state has ever had.

I say, let's see what this lifelong public servant can do to get us out of the mess we're in. I have no political skills whatsoever (although I always study the voter handbook before I vote). That means that I expect our leaders to go in there and do the job we've hired them to do. So I respect them for giving these huge challenges a shot but also think they're a little crazy (and probably egomaniacs too) to even try it.

More as it happens.

Governor Brown, Part II

Test Driving a Cold

Well, it's not always a picnic test driving life, is it? I'm experiencing a New Year's cold.

I could feel it coming on a few days ago but I hoped that a positive attitude and plenty of fluids (some containing alcohol) would do the trick, but they didn't. Thanks to NyQuil and DayQuil I'm semifunctional but I am spending the day reading a very thick book on the Beatles that I got for just over 11 bucks at Barnes & Noble.

I'm drinking large mugs of tea and taking frequent nibbles at the leftover assorted nuts and M&Ms from our New Year's Eve party. Sometimes, I'm supplying myself with a soundtrack by playing the relevant Beatles album on my iPod to accompany the book text. We're at the making of the White Album now.

I am lucky enough to be infrequently ill, so I can remember and connect with previous rare bouts of sickness whenever I'm under one. I will never forget the serious stay-in-bed flu that brought me my my first Spider-Man comic book--number 8--which started me on a long read of Spider-Man comic books (long since abandoned). In Beatle history, that was when She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand were both on the AM radio.

Flashing up to early 1968 I had another cold. This time, I climbed on the flat roof of our house and surveyed the neighborhood moodily. For some reason, Dionne Warwick's rendition of Theme from the Valley of the Dolls is connected with this moment in time. I have a tape recording of songs and talk off KFRC 610 AM from January 26, 1968. Number one that week? Love is Blue (remember that?).

I look forward to test driving something more pleasant tomorrow.