Aloha, Aloha

Those of you who have been accustomed to a quick weekend trip to Hawaii from the uncluttered Oakland Airport are going to miss one of your favorite get-away airlines.
Aloha Airlines, headquartered in Honolulu, shut down its passenger operations today after 61 years in business.
In addition to its daily flights throughout the islands of Hawaii, the [...]

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Another Day, Another Dollar Gone

This is the first of a few wasted days and wasted nights.
It’s income tax season and millions of Americans like me are going nuts trying to figure out how to fill out those pesky forms and compute our taxes.
Somehow, the forms and instructions seem to become more complicated as time passes. Now, in addition to [...]

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Weekend Semi-Tech Talk

For the past several weeks, I’ve been using Windows Live Writer to write and publish blog posts.
I switched from Word 2007’s blog feature because it had become unbearably unstable. The program would crash at inappropriate times, requiring in some cases a complete restart. If any of you use Vista, you’ll know that it’s slow [...]

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Internet Addiction Anyone?

Do you suffer from a bunch of these symptoms?

Neglect of basic drives, Loss of a sense of time, Withdrawal, Anger, Tension, Depression, Desire for more computer equipment, Arguing, Lying, Social Isolation, Fatigue

If so, you may have a psychiatric condition known as compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder.
So says the American Psychiatric Foundation in a recent article that I [...]

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Get Your Nipple Rings Removed Here!

I’m going to expose my lingering puritan upbringing and ask a stupid question.
Will someone please explain why a 37-year old woman is still wearing nipple rings?
Shouldn’t a person be somewhat grown-up by then? Is there ever a time in America when we accept adulthood and put aside our childish ways?
I am far from being a [...]

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Don’t Fence Me In

Mt. Diablo High School in Concord wants to build a fence around its campus to keep hookey players in and outsiders out. The City Council is prepared to spend $43,000 on the project.
The story struck a spark in me because I was once a professional hookey player. My career began in the 10th grade when [...]

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The Thin Red Line

Is there a line that reporters and media types should not step across when questioning third parties about political candidates?
Absolutely, and that line was crossed Tuesday when Evan Strange, a representative of a college newspaper, asked Chelsea Clinton if the Monica Lewinsky scandal had tarnished Hillary’s ability to function as a strong president.
The incident occurred [...]

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