Here is an activity not to do...

Type up something from a hard copy, not looking at the screen, while having your fingers exactly one key to the right of where they are supposed to be. The results are amusing, to say the least.

It's Friday...And Ted Kennedy is still dead.

There are very few people you will hear me say, "I am glad he is gone." When Idi Amin died, he was not a threat to the common good anywhere. But Kennedy was a toxin in the body politic and his passing came none too soon.

Sure, we should not wish Hell on anyone, and I don't for Ted Kennedy. I even would like for him to bypass Purgatory if possible. But the man, his sanctimony, his poisonous rhetoric, his petty nastiness...good riddance Ted, good riddance.

Hot.

Hot. Hot. Hot.

Ah, it must be summer time. I would enjoy this heat more if I had not fried my eyes in the sun serving two days as a stroke and turn judge at a championship swimming meet without sunglasses (dum dum dum dum dumb!) in Ukiah. Ukiah, by the way, is an interesting place. Beautiful countryside, lots of rednecks and old hippies, good beer, good wine, heat.

Sometimes the heat can be oppressive. It was this weekend. But I will say this: that ice cold martini Saturday night was about the best I have ever had. Chilly. Crisp. Clean. Ahhh...with an olive or three.

Northern California, for all its problems, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Driving over the estuary of the Napa, Sonoma and Petaluma Rivers, through the Alexander Valley, following the Russian River up to Hopland and Ukiah, the eye is treated to a staggering variety of shapes, textures and colors. And we were in one narrow sliver (the prettiest sliver, as far as I am concerned: the inland coastal valleys). To think that we could have picked any other of the stunning slivers of this part of the state (high dessert, rugged coastline, central valley, Sierra Foothills, Cascades, etc.) reminds me of how any comparison with any other state is preposterous.

Ah, but the heat...