The Ancient One is Back on the Boards

Well, rehearsals have gone well and The Ancient One has begun to believe that he really is Grandpa Martin Vanderhof in Hart and Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize winning play, You Can't Take it With You. (YCTIWY) This production opens Friday at Manhattan Beach Community Church and will be there for 5 performances (October 15, 16, 17, 22 & 23). This character and play are so much fun. And it has been wonderful working as part of such a great ensemble cast.

Below is the official cast photo, thanks to the talents of photographer Stephan Cooper:

And, in a moment of blatant self-promotion, The Ancient One offers up another of Cooper's photos, taken during a dress rehearsal:

So, if you have some time and want to see the MBCC production of YCTIWY, you can make reservations by calling Nancye at (310) 379-3139. 

Remember that Grandpa says,  "Life is pretty simple if you just relax."  So come on out and relax. . .and laugh. . .and say hi to The Ancient One after the show.

Back on the Street Where I Live

We have returned from a wonderful 5 day trip to Wilmington/Newark, Delaware; the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania; and Brooklyn, New York. Even a rather sideways landing at LAX tonight could not dampen the joy we have felt the past few days spending time and the Passover Seders with Daughter Alicia. . .and the side trip yesterday to Brooklyn to see #1 son Bill and Mel and our granddaughters Jolee and Shayna.

There will be later posts about different parts of the trip (along with a few photos). But now to get some rest and prepare to attend the LA Dodgers' home opener tomorrow afternoon. And then dress rehearsals for my next on stage appearance in Everyman, The Musical at California State University, Dominguez Hills. We open Friday night and run for 2 weekends.

Such a wonderful week and so much more to come. But it does feel good to be back on the street where I live preparing to get some sleep in my own bed. Good night all! More soon.

It’s a New Day and a New Era

My first presidential election was 1960 and I proudly cast my ballot for John F. Kennedy. It was a transforming election; JFK was the first Catholic elected President of the U.S. He brought class to Washington. And although he was taken from us too soon to have a major, direct impact on national policy and culture, Lyndon Johnson was successful in bringing about much of what Kennedy had laid out, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which led to a changing of the demographics of American voters and helped establish the framework that made possible the outcome of the 2008 election.

Today is the beginning of another new era, the result of last November's election. Today was President Barack Obama's inauguration. He is the first person of color to hold the highest office in the land. And it has been a very emotional day. Not just for me but, apparently, for most Americans. Every seasoned commentator I have heard on TV today has said that there never has been an inauguration like this one. The last estimate I heard was that there were about 1.9 million people attending the event in Washington. There was laughter and tears. It must have been the biggest party ever seen in this country.

Obama's inaugural address was brilliant. To use a phrase I think I first uttered after hearing JFK address the American people on January 20, 1961, we now have a President who is both literate and literary. But I truly believe the changes that are coming are more than just in the improvement of the language and style of our new leader. While skeptical when he announced his candidacy 2 years ago, I have come to believe that Obama is a man of substance, in his view of governing, his policy preferences and his temperament.

In spite of the derision of his early work in community organizing by partisan opponents, it is that experience that taught him to listen and to trust people to give back to their country. As editor of the Harvard Law Review, the young Obama could have clerked for a Supreme Court justice or had his choice of jobs in prestigious law firms when he graduated from law school. But he chose to go back to Chicago and work with the community; he believed in people and he worked to convince them that they could empower themselves. When he stands up there and tells the crowds, "this is all about you", I believe him. He has walked that walk.

So I am looking forward to the next 8 years as we work our way out of the economic morass that Obama has inherited. I am looking forward to again having leaders who listen and who want this country to earn the friendship and respect of people and leaders from around the world. I know we are better than the public face of the outgoing administration. I am confident that Barack Obama will steadily lead us in a renewal of all that is good about America. Amen!

A New Year, Anniversary and HDTV

It must have been a good New Year's celebration. It's been a week since I last wrote anything. And it has been a good and busy week. New Year's Eve was spent with friends; movie (Frost/Nixon), dinner and back to our house for desert and greeting 2009.

And then an anniversary! Donna and I were married on New Year's Day in 1981. She has put up with me for 28 years which is no small feat to which both she and previous wives can attest. Basically, it was a quiet day. No offspring around this year. We did get out to dinner although our preferred restaurant was closed.

We also began the search for an appropriate anniversary gift. Many years ago we established a tradition of buying a mutual gift rather than giving each other separates gifts on this momentous day. Usually it takes several days or weeks before the purchase is made.

This year we decided to join the 21^st century and buy a High Definition television set (HDTV). We visited several stores and learned about such things as LCD v. plasma, 1080p v. 770p and 120 Hz v. 60 Hz. Then we started revisiting stores, leaving one when the salesperson who only wanted to sell us the most expensive brand proceeded to lie to us and say that an opposing store did not sell the brand we were interested in (although I had seen that brand at the opposition the day before). We moved on and ended up at our friendly Costco where, much to my surprise, we found the most knowledgeable, least pushy sales person. Needless to say, we bought ourselves a 42" LCD, 1080p, 120 Hz set at Costco (with the added n bonus of an additional 2 year warranty at no extra cost).

Once home, Donna and I started the unpacking/setting-up process. Luckily, son Seth stopped buy which sped things up dramatically and we are now enjoying high definition television. It is a far cry from the 10" Philco my father brought home in 1948 when an appliance store owner client of his couldn't pay his legal fees and provided us with the "first TV on the block" instead. (In those days we watched a lot of test patterns and I remember watching the Howdy Doody show and Milton Berle's comedy hour sponsored by Texaco. It was long before coaxial cables and live TV and all the new fangled stuff.)

Hopefully, I will not become too enamored of the new TV; that might take me even further away from my writing. Now that the anniversary gift is taken care of, I plan to get back to regular posts and more focus on family history, events and photos. And knowing how my mind works (or doesn't work), I might even repeat some things I've said in the nearly 2 years I've been a member of the blogosphere.

So welcome to 2009 and thank you for stopping by and checking on what The Ancient One has to say. If you're in the neighborhood, come see our new TV.

Smoke Gets In. . .

That's how it felt to The Ancient One when he woke up this morning; smoke getting in the eyes, the nose, the lungs. And we're the lucky ones. We live about 30 miles from the nearest of the major fires in Southern California this weekend. We are safe albeit downwind from the Yorba Linda/Corona/Chino Hills, etc fire. With the Santa Ana winds gusting, we knew that others were suffering by the smell and our stinging eyes

Actually, we did have a fire here in Rancho Palos Verdes yesterday. About 10 acres burned in a canyon near City Hall but no buildings were involved and firefighters had it out in about 1½ hours. We saw the smoke and smelled that one too. Below are a couple of pictures I took this morning on my daily walk. Remember, this is more than 30 miles downwind.

First, a shot from the same vantage point of the banner at the top of this blog:

And, a canyon along the way:

Right now our thoughts and prayers are with the tens of thousands people uprooted from their homes. And the hundreds of families who have no home to return too, over 500 of them from one trailer park in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley. (photo below after the fire had passed and continued on its way)

We are hoping that the winds die down and the humidity goes up to assist the firefighters who are out there in the firestorms trying to get the upper hand. In the more than 26 years The Ancient One has lived in Southern California, these fires are absolutely the scariest events; much scarier than all but the biggest of earthquakes.

Code Red?

In hospital parlance "Code Red" means fire. This morning, while I was working out in the cardiac rehab center at the hospital, a voice announced over the PA system, "Code Red, Code Red. Seventh Floor Nurses' Lounge. Microwave." For some reason, that announcement touched everybody's funny bone and the room (patients and nurses alike) burst into laughter. As far as I know, the fire was extinguished before there was any significant damage.

Burnt toast anyone?

A Whole Lot of Shaking Going On!

There was The Ancient One this morning, sitting in seat #2 in the jury box in a courtroom . . . on the set of TV series Boston Legal at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, CA. The witness being questioned had just made an "earth shaking" response to a question from one of the defense attorneys. And the room began to shake. Silence for a moment. Then the actress in the witness chair shouted, "What's going on?" A crew member calmly responded, "An earthquake." Designated crew members ushered us out of the studio in an orderly fashion. A few minutes later, we were sent off to an early and extended lunch period, only to be readmitted to the sound stage 1½ hours later after a thorough safety inspection.

When we first exited the sound stage, there was little information. Cell phones were on everybody's ears. But circuits were over loaded. The Ancient One tried to call Donna but kept getting error messages. Then his phone rang. It was a call from son Bill in New York. He was calling to see if the California Cohanim were okay. Then he informed me that the quake was reported as being a 5.6 with an epicenter in Chino Hills, about 29 miles from downtown L.A. (and probably 15-20 miles from the studio).

What a curious wonder we discover in our modern technology. After experiencing the shaking of the quake, I learn the details on a mobile phone call from the other side of the country as Bill reports what he is watching CNN.

There is something oddly exciting in going through a quake at a dramatic moment in the filming of an episode of a TV Series on a studio sound stage. When we all returned from lunch and returned to the set, there was this strange feeling that something had changed, that not everybody was as focused on their work as they were in the morning before there was "a whole lot of shaking going on."

A Day at the Races

Yesterday we were the guests of Bob Beck and the folks from Oak Harbor Financial at the Del Mar Race Track Turf Club. A wonderful day that was very much appreciated.

Donna and her dad looked very relaxed and happy. . .and that was before their horse won the 2^nd race.

And, in a rare moment trying to be a sports photographer, I can tell that the winner is #1:

Thank you Bob and Millie et al. We had a great time.

Ouch!

There I sat in my car at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening waiting for a red light to change to green when. . . A jolting crash! I bounced a bit although , for the most part, I was firmly held in place by the seat belt. Someone had rear-ended my car. That "Ouch!" was my car complaining about the damage to its tail.

I got out, as did the other driver, and surveyed the damage. I suggested that we pull the cars out of traffic into a nearby gas station driveway and exchange information and she agreed. The woman was so apologetic and kept telling me that it was all her fault and how badly she felt. We exchanged information, i.e. driver's licenses, car registrations, insurance cards. Before we went on out way, she thanked me for being so calm and not screaming at her. I shrugged; blowing off steam would only create stress for me and I stopped doing that, for the most part, after my open heart surgery nearly 4 years ago. Besides I suspect that I was in a bit of a state of shock at that moment and the amount of damage did not look too severe. (Of course, that probably means that the cost of repairs will be extremely high.)

Now the really stressful part begins. Dealing with insurance companies, getting estimates, filling out and filing reports, having the car repaired. It's all just another "ouch!" that life throws our way.

Tim Russert (1950-2008)

I guess it was about 1:00 p.m. (PDT) today when I heard that Tim Russert, chief of NBC's Washington Bureau, had died suddenly. The news nearly immobilized me! I spent the next several hours sitting teary-eyed in front of the TV watching MSNBC and learning about his life from people mainly in the worlds of news and politics. Why have I been so affected by the death of someone I know only from the television screen?

Because of my own background, I am a bit of a political news junkie. But I am driven to distraction by most political commentators and pundits who seem to be more enamored of their own agendas than they are by learning and sharing what is happening around us in the political world. There are very few outstanding political analysts who find answers without becoming overly adversarial toward those they interview. Tim Russert was among the best; he was a pleasure to watch and I always learned something from him, his guests, and his interview subjects.

Watching analysis of election returns just will not be the same without Russert. In the past 6 months, his Saturday program on MSNBC has provided most of the intelligent discussion I have heard about the presidential primaries. His moderating of Meet the Press always was masterful. His knowledge and incredible good humor seemed to rub off on those around him. Maybe that is why his death feels like losing a member of the family.

Rest in peace Tim! I hope those who follow in your footsteps will demonstrate some of what you offered us. You will be missed!

The View From La Venta. . .

We attended the wedding of Jessica Kiss and T.J. VanMarter this afternoon at the La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception/dinner following was most enjoyable.

In the 26+ years The Ancient One has lived on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, this was the first time he had been to La Venta. Although the day was a bit hazy, the view from the Inn looking up the coastline along the beach cities (Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach) was spectacular, even when seen though the lens of a cell phone camera.

Enjoy the view!

At the Top of Disney Hall. . .

We attended the Kindred Spirits fundraising concert last night at Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

This was our first visit to Disney Hall and we had a bird's eye view sitting in the next to last row of the balcony. It did provide a fascinating view of the concert hall:

The concert itself was outstanding although I do not intend to review it here. We were treated to musical performances by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony conducted by Dr. Noreen Green; Cantors Ilan Davidson, Alberto Mizrahi, Alisa Pomerantz-Boro and David Propis; and the Mass Choir from the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles. There were also spoken word presentations by: Ed Asner, Mike Burstyn, Valerie Harper, Rev. Dr. John Joseph Hunter, and Millie Perkins. An advance article about the concert appeared locally in The Jewish Journal.

Thank you to Cantor Davidson of Temple Beth El in San Pedro, and his committee, for a beautiful, inspiring, spiritual, ecumenical evening. Kindred Spirits and its efforts are worthy of our support.

The Summer of '84

I haven't written much about family lately and then I came across this picture:

The time: 1984. The place: Our first home in Palos Verdes. The people: A young version of our family. (After all it was 24 years ago). That's The Ancient One during his "bearded era" holding Alicia (age 3). A very young Donna, the happy mother, has Seth (age 1) in her lap. In back is 17 year old Bill who was with us for the summer from his home with his mother in Honolulu. This picture brings back a flood of memories; there is a lot of "back story," as they say.

The careful observer, for example, might ask why teenager Bill is wearing a white shirt and tie in the middle of the summer in southern California. He was in uniform! He had a summer job at the nearby Thrifty Drug Store as a "hand dip." That means he spent his working hours scooping out Thrifty ice cream for cones that sold at a nickel a scoop. He didn't get a lot of pay for this but he had to look good. By the way, this is also the summer Bill got his California driver's license (but that is another story).

It was also the summer of the 1984 Olympic Games here in L.A. Ah yes, that was the best driving I ever had in the area. It seems that all local folks went on vacation during the games to avoid the traffic. Local factories closed down so they would avoid contributing to the expected gridlock. The result: extremely light traffic during the Olympics. It was glorious.

Just prior to the games, the Olympic torch had been carried around the world, ending up in the L.A. area where some lucky people were selected to run/jog a short leg with the torch. It was scheduled to pass a half-block from our house, coming by on Hawthorne Boulevard. Donna and I took Alicia and Seth to see the torch as it passed. (Bill was at work hand dipping at the time.) Well, you could hear it coming long before you could see it; sirens, loud music, all sorts of noise. And there it was. Donna, Alicia, and the then not so Ancient One jumped up and down and cheered as it passed. Seth; well there he was in his stroller. . .fast asleep. The torch passed and he never stirred; he never saw it. (It probably didn't matter because it is unlikely that, being only one, he would have remembered the event.

Also, it turned out that even though he was working, Bill was not left out of the festivities. It seems that all the runners were given a replica of the torch after they finished their leg. The fellow we saw ended his portion of the run right near the Thrifty's where Bill worked. He carried it into the store and he let the hand dips (and others, I am sure) each hold it for a few seconds. Bill had his Olympic moment.

Those are just a few of the memories of the summer of '84 evoked by an old photograph sitting on a kitchen counter.

Middle of May Musings

It seems like more than just 4 days since my last post. The middle 1/3 of the month of May has been a potpourri of events, activities and happenings that have kept The Ancient One very busy indeed.

There have been the CCPT auditions and callbacks. In addition to a hoped for role in To Kill a Mockingbird, I am taking on a first-ever theater task for me this summer as I assist Director Heidi Dotson as a Producer for the Children's Popcorn Theatre production of Sluefoot Sue and Pecos Bill. It should be interesting.

There have been numerous events surrounding Alicia's completion of her 2 Masters Degrees including a Saturday evening reception/ceremony and Monday's graduation at Hebrew Union College's Los Angeles campus. To celebrate her accomplishments as well as Seth's new teaching credential and "permanent substitute for the rest of this school year" as drama teacher at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, we hosted a party on Sunday evening. It seemed like at least a 100 people were here at the house (and in the yard) drawn from family, friend and the worlds of both Alicia and Seth as well as older brother Bill (even though he could not get here from New York). Then yesterday, Alicia left on a 2 week trip to Germany.

It's also been an intense "medical" period for the family. Back on March 28, I posted about my brother Andy's quadruple bypass surgery and his wife Sandy's hospitalization with MRSA. Fortunately, they found the right anti-biotic to which her infection responded a few days later. But it was 7 weeks before Andy was able to be awake and breathing on his own for any length of time. Finally, he is doing well in rehabilitation and late last week I was able to talk with him for the first time since the surgery. A great weight was lifted from my heart when I heard his voice.

Two weeks ago, my older sister Bobby, who lives in the Detroit area, had shoulder replacement surgery (a relatively new procedure). She is now doing very well in rehabilitation and is delighted with the near disappearance of what had been years of incessant pain. She can't wait to reach the point of having full use of both arms again.

And then today; Donna went in to have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee. It went well and quickly and the entire time at the hospital was only about 5 hours. She is home and resting. Hopefully it will be many years before she will have to go back for knee replacement surgery.

Our two visits to Dodger Stadium were discussed earlier here and here. And there were even a couple of other events I may talk about later. Well, I guess that's it for our Middle-of-the-Month-of-May-Madness. Soon to bed; after all, I was up at 4:00 a.m. today and it could take days for this old body to recover.

It's An eWaste Day

Today was the annual roundup of hazardous waste and electronics in our community; a day when we can feel like we are acting just a bit responsibly in relation to the environment.

Following up on last week' garage sale, I loaded our old, inoperable, obsolete computer and other electronic equipment into the car (back seat and trunk) to take to City Hall where the collection was taking place.

Once there, the line and unloading worked with assembly line efficiency.

Then I headed back home knowing that all that equipment was no longer in our garage and would not end up in a landfill. While I was impressed with how efficiently the process went today, I wish the line of cars had been much longer.

A Good Ole American Garage Sale

There's nothing quite like a garage sale! Donna's a big advocate of holding one every year or so. The Ancient One? Let's just say that he isn't quite as enthusiastic about preparing for them as is his bride.

Along with 2 of our neighbors, we had a big garage sale last Saturday. It was several months in the making as Donna decided to clear out, and hopefully sell, many years accumulation of all those things in our garage which we previously could not bring ourselves to throw out. On Saturday morning our driveway was filled with children's toys (our kids are almost 25 and 27); hundreds of old vinyl LP phonograph records (when did you last even see a turntable?); books gathered and kept by 3 generations of our families; pieces of furniture that had seen better decades; old fans and humidifiers; a 20 year old 15 speed trail bike; and all sorts of glass, plastic and metal ware. I could go on and on.

The ads and signs were placed and the people came. I am convinced that the purpose of a garage sale has nothing to do with selling things. If one applied a "labor theory of value" to the event, the gross revenue would probably equal about 10 cents for every hour of preparation. But, I do confess, it was Donna's labor, not mine. And she kept the proceeds to add to a "trip to Italy" fund she has started. For The Ancient One, the main enjoyment of the day was meeting all sorts of interesting people.

There were folks from the neighborhood, some of whom I would wave on my morning walk but had never met before. There were families with wee little one who brought all my grandfatherly instincts. There was the mother trying to help her 10 year old daughter understand how music could come out of those old vinyl disks. There was a delightful fellow of my own age wearing the classiest pair of red western boots I had ever seen. There were people representing all the hues and colors one sees in the population of the greater Los Angeles area and conversations in more than a few languages in which I have little or no literacy. It was just a wonderful day that even this curmudgeonly soul enjoyed immensely. A few items and a bit of cash actually changed hands.

After it was over, all that remained from each of the houses holding sales was piled in our driveway to be carted off by The Salvation Army yesterday afternoon, as prearranged. Except, when we got home last night, most of the stuff was still there. It seems that The Salvation Army is a bit more picky about what makes it on to their trucks than they used to be. Now we have to devise plan B to rid our driveway and household of that which took years for us to decide was disposable. But that too shall happen.

As I look back on the personal feelings generated last Saturday, I guess I would add garage sales to "mom, baseball and apple pie" as one of those things that are truly American!

A Wonderfully Staged Sweeney Todd

We saw the "revival" version of Sweeney Todd today at the Ahmanson Theatre. While I avoided the film version, this is the 4^th staging of this "musical thriller" I have seen in the past 24 years. And this particular version is truly unique.

This production was directed by John Doyle, whose work is described on the TCG website as a "dazzling reinvention of a magnificent musical thriller—where the band of devilish characters are all musicians..." It was fascinating to watch as the actors, all of whom were on stage for the entire production, also provided the music with each member of the ensemble playing one or more instruments at some point in the play. The outstanding cast, pictured below, was headed by Judy Kaye as Mrs. Lovett and David Hess as Sweeney Todd.

As a sometimes actor myself, I was exhausted by the amount of work each of the company members carried out during the performance: acting, singing, providing music, moving set pieces, and on and on. Doyle's blocking was extremely intricate. It was almost like watching a human jigsaw puzzle being created and then rearranged over and over as the action was revealed to the audience. I can only imagine the amount of work that went into bringing such an intricate rendition of this great musical to life.

It was an extremely enjoyable afternoon at the theatre. Bravo to the director and cast!

Tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse

There was a full lunar eclipse tonight that was, for the most part, visible here on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. I tried to get some pictures and offer up the following that start from the full eclipse and end when the full moon has just about returned. Light clouds made it impossible to get photos of the time leading up to the full blocking of the moon.

I had hoped for better shots but the light and rapidly moving clouds made taking pictures difficult. Maybe I'll do better when the next full lunar eclipse occurs in 2010.

Memories of jogging and marathons. . .

It's strange how the mind works. There I was just driving along and suddenly the word "marathon" popped into my mind. And then it brought back memories of the years I lived in Springfield, Illinois and old friends in the Springfield Roadrunners' Club and the 3 marathons which I entered and finished. As I recall. The Springfield Roadrunners organized somewhere in the mid-1970's. I am not clear on the exact year but it might have been about 1974 (+/- 1 year). As I started writing this, I was surprised to find, as signified by the link above, that the club still exists, and has a website which appears to have been created in 2000. None of the names I came across on that site were familiar to me and that seems logical since I left Springfield early in 1982. But that's not where I thought I was going with this.

I'm trying to remember why I started jogging. It may have been recommended by my primary care physician; in those days I think we called him a family practice doctor, Stuart Yaffe. He wanted me to lose weight (and I weighed less then than I do today) and mentioned that he jogged most days in Washington Park, about a block from the old house I had recently bought. And so I started. And as it built up I started running in local 5K and 10 K races. Not very fast but respectable finishing times and I did earn an occasional age-group ribbon. I started getting Runner's World magazine which was not nearly as flashy as it is today. But from reading it, I decided I wanted a pair of New Balance shoes. But they were relatively new on the market and not to be found within striking distance of Springfield. As it happened, I was scheduled to go to Boston and, while there, I bought a pair of NB 320s (I think that was the model number) and to my knowledge was the first person in Springfield to own a pair of New Balance.

Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to train and run a marathon. And eventually I did run in 3: The Marathon Marathon at Indiana State University in Terre Haute; the Drake Relays Marathon in Des Moines, Iowa, and one whose sponsorship I can't remember that was on the grounds of Allerton Park and Retreat Center which was a continuing education center of the University of Illinois near Monticello, IL. And I trained hard. . .well as hard as a somewhat overweight guy in his mid-30s could train. And occasionally I overdid it. At one point I was the local expert on plantar fasciitis, sometimes called a "heel spur," which in my case was incredible pain along the tissue of the bottom of my foot that connect the heel bone to the toes. Actually, as I recall, rest was the best way to treat this pain but that was not a viable choice when training for a marathon. But I survived the inflammation and did complete all 3 races.

I did find a good description of the Marathon Marathon (sponsored logically enough by Marathon Oil) on the blog A Portrait Of The Runner As A Thirtyish Man.) While I did finish in well over 4 hours, it was a painful experience. The temperature on the day I ran was in the low 90s. I was made ill by the smell of creosote soaked ties in a railroad yard along the route. I did hit the proverbial wall and hurt so badly I should have quit. But I was too stubborn to do so and, with a fair amount of walking instead of running, finally made it to the finish line where I was immediately carried into a first aid tent and treated for heat exhaustion. Perhaps the highlight of the day was on the drive back to Springfield when we stopped at an A&W Root Beer stand where I had the best root beer float I ever had. I can still taste it today, more than 30 years later.


My 2^nd Marathon was the one held in conjunction with the Drake Relays. A history of its first 25 years can be found here. It started near the State Capitol in downtown Des Moines and the course wound up to the stadium at Drake University. The race ended inside the stadium just prior to the final events of the Relays. And I was lucky. With a time just under 3:45, I was one of the last runners allowed to finish inside the stadium. It was the highlight of my "athletic career;" entering a stadium filled with nearly 20,000 track fans and doing a finishing lap around the track being cheered by the real athletes warming up on the infield for their own races. As I recall, I was so high, I grinned all the way back to Springfield after the race.

I can't find any references to the marathon held in Allerton Park. I know that there were many of us from the Springfield Roadrunners who participated. I was having a rough time during the final 1/3 of the course when a fellow Springfield Roadrunner, who had finished well ahead of me, showed up at my side somewhere between 22 and 23 mile markers and ran along cheering me on to the finish line. He was a pleasant fellow named John Block, who not only was a good runner but he served as Secretary of Agriculture in Illinois and in Washington, D.C. under President Ronald Reagan. I will always remember John because without him I never would have finished that marathon.

Of all the races I ran, mostly at the 5 and 10K distances, I remember more detail about the marathons. I remember friends like Stu Yaffe, John Block and Carmen Chapman. I remember the trips with club members to the races and especially meals in St. Louis, probably the best carbohydrate loading city in the country for fans of pasta and great Italian food.

When I moved to southern California in 1982, I tried to keep up my running but it gradually faded away, a victim of my knees and the very hilly roads of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. I did run one 10K race after moving here and by the undulating end I knew that it was probably my last competition. And it was. But I still have many good memories.

An afterthought – when I started running in the 1970s, there were occasional articles that no one who had ever run and finished a marathon ever had a heart attack. Well, that was a myth that was put to rest. And I am also proof that it was a myth, having had a mild heart attack 11 years ago, an angioplasty and insertion of a stent a year after that and, 3 years ago (August 30, 2004) an emergency triple coronary bypass operation. Yet, I am healthier today than I have been in decades and I do give the years of my distance running part of the credit for my simply being alive today; that and some phenomenal doctors and a great hospital.

Sy Brenner at 85

We returned from San Diego this afternoon where we celebrated the 85^th birthday of Sy Brenner and the 58^th anniversary of his marriage to Resa. What a weekend, that was full of surprises for Sy.

The least of Sy's achievements is that he is my father-in-law. More important is that he is husband to Resa; father to Donna, Ron and Mo; Zaidi (grandfather) to Bill, Alicia, Seth, Megan, Sara and Dylan; great-grandfather to Jolee and Shayna.

Most of his adult life, Sy was a salesman, carrying several lines of children's clothing and selling to stores throughout the Southwest. When I met him in the early '70s, he wasn't on the road any more but was located in downtown Los Angeles at the Mart. When I married Donna in 1981, he welcomed me into the family as if I had always been a member (which isn't too far from the truth. . . but that is for another time).

In the last 15+ years, Sy's life has been dominated by use of his experience as a POW in World War II as a means to personalize history to young people in classrooms in both the LA and San Diego areas, helping educate military trainees on the prisoner experience, and the writing of a book on his life as a POW which eventually will be published and shared with all who might care.

For me, Sy has been as much a friend as a father-in-law, after all he is only 15½ years my senior. What Sy has meant to his grandchildren was reflected in "Instant Zaidi" which was written by my son Bill (aka on the net as BillyBlog) [Maybe Bill will post it on his blog.]

Below, I add some pictures from the party last night at Jamacha Junction in the San Diego/El Cajon area.

Grandchildren (from left) Alicia, Sara, Megan, Seth & Dylan

From left: Marilyn and Nephew Alan Simon, Resa, Sy and Rev. Bill Mahaedy

The whole party