Friday, March 15, 2024

Jobs I Have Done for Money

1. Parking lot paver helper at A-1 Paving and Striping. I was 13 years old and shoveled hot asphalt (I still have scars on my wrists from the hot asphalt walling down in my gloves.) under the Florida sun for my Uncle Harry. I made $2 per hour and thought I was rich. That was the summer of 1982.

2. Parking lot striper helper. When I was 14 Larry Savage of Savage Striping in Sunnyvale, California hired me to help him lay out the chalk lines on parking lots so he could paint the lines. (He had learned the trade from my Uncle Harry Powers in the 1970s. Uncle Harry died a couple of months ago. I took my son Basil to his funeral in Visalia, California. After the funeral I drove him to Harris Ranch for a steak so he could learn to better love California.) It was a hard job but it was fun. Larry also played the drums at Bethel Christian Center, the church my dad pastored in Palo Alto, California from 1969 to 1979.

3. Sandwich-maker at Mr. Dunderbak's in Tampa, Florida. I was fifteen years old and knew nothing useful. They taught me to make sandwiches quickly. My fave sanwich to make was called the Blue Blue Max (corned beef, weinkraut, swiss cheese & 1000 Island dressing on the bottom with pastrami, blue cheese dressing, lettuce & tomato on top.) It was about ten years before I learned that the sandwich was named for a German military medal. And, no, I never tasted the more than 100 different beers Mr. Dunderbak's sold.

4. Painter's helper. My brother Mark, owner of Karnes Painting in Cupertino, Califoria hired me to sand cabinets so he could paint them. I think I was 16 years old.

5. Soldier. I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve when I was 17 years old. (My parents would not sign the papers to let me join the Marine Corps or the Regular Army.) I did basic combat training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. (That is the same place my grandfather, Clovis Cagle, did his basic combat training during the First World War.) I served as a Chaplain Assistant in the 349th Combat Support Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. At that time it was the only hospital unit in the U.S. Army with combat honors. (During WWII all the doctors, nurses, medics, pharmicists, clerks, ambulance drivers, mechanics, and cooks fixed bayonets and repelled the Imperial Army of Japan in order to defend the patients in hospital.)

6-10. During the year I was a reservist I had a few jobs. I worked as an electrician's helper (I dug ditches and pulled wire, mostly. It was a fun job.), a night watchman, a clerk at a gorcery store, and a machine operator at a bindery. The jobs at the grocery store and as a night watchman were concurrent. I was fired from both for sleeping on the job. I learned a lesson from that: a person should not work 16 hours per day. That same year I got a Christmas job at Barnie's Coffee and Tea. It was a wonderful job and I learned so much; all about the different coffee and tea growing regions all around the world, how to operate those giant pressurized steam machines for making espresso (Today Starbuck's uses push-button machines but in 1986 a barista had to build up pressure and adjust the knobs by touch and sound), the differences between Kenya AAA, Indonesia Blue Sumatra, and Kona Extra Fancy coffee beans.

11. In 1987 I got an appointment to the Regular Army's 101st Airborne Division. I was thrilled. I did so many amzing and wonderful things there I can not decribe them all but perhaps the most fun I had in that division was as a mail clerk: I rode a motorcycle, had mail in my saddle bags, and a SAW on my back.

12-14. When I got out of the army in 1990 I, really, did not know what to do. I got a job as the over-night manager of a Cirle K store in Atascadero, California for a little while but I had to move north to Sunnyvale, California early in 1991 because my marriage fell apart and I was afraid I migh have to kill my wife's lover. I got a job as a night auditor at a hotel for a few months but soon after that went to work as a bookkeeper for by brother Ken and my brother-in-law Dan at their company CGI Paininting in Mountain View, California. 15-16. During the 4 years and 10 months I was a bookkeeper at CGI Painting I also worked as a security guard at Space Systems/Loral. OH! I almost forgot that I worked as a bounty hunter's helper during that same time. I thought it would be exciting but I realized pretty quickly that I didn't want to shoot someone because he missed a court date for a stolen car. Also, the bounty hunter I was working for wasn't very good, so we didn't make much money.

17. After that I got a job collecting bills for Viking Freight in San Jose, California. It was, I thought, the end of my life. I was broke (my sister bought me a shirt to wear to work), my kids were living with their drug addict mother, and about 6 weeks after they hired me, Viking fired me. I do not blame them because I really had no idea what I was doing.

18. Fortunatley, I knew I wasn't long for Viking Freight and applied for a job as the Assistant Manager of The Oaks Theater in Cupertino, California. (During the 1990s my frinds and I used to go to the Oaks all the time. I am surprised it is gone now.) I worked there for a few months. Steve Wozniak was a regular. He would bring his kids to see movies there 3 or 4 times a month.

19. Then I had a job as an expediter for McMillan Electric in San Francisco. Wow, I was horrible at that job. I didn't know the first thing about what I was doing. But niether did my boss. And niether did his boss. I never should have been hired. Within six months I was fired, my boss was fired, and his boss was fired.

20. Then, one day, after I had been living with and cooking for my friends George and Aaron one of them suggested I get a job cooking. Having watched a lot of Jacques Pepin and his daughter Claudine on George and Aaron's television I knew I wasn't a good enough to work in a restaurant kitchen I did the next best thing: I got a job at a Williams-Sonomoa retail store in San Francisco. WOW! What fun that was. I got to know the chef at McCormick and Kuletto's(He would get angry several time a month and throw his 8" All-Clad Master-Chef pan against the wall and I would sell him a new one.), the drummer from Cake (he is a total foodie and liked torts more than cakes),and Michael Bauer, the long time San Francisco restaurant critic.

21. One day during my lunch break at Williams-Sonoma I was reading (It was paper back then.) SF Weekly and saw an ad looking for someone to sell advertising. I applied and a week later I was selling ads at SF Weekly. My clients included West Marine, the U.S. Army, a bunch of private schools, a witch supply store, several psychics, a half dozen prostitutes, a couple of jewlers, and some restaurants (including Bucca di Beppo)



22-24. From there I went to San Jose Magazine (It no longer exists) where I established their classified advertising department, then San Jose Metro (It barely exists. When I worked there it had 80 to 100 pages now it is barely 24 pages.), then I made a jump to online adversting at a company called NetTaxi, a company started by the scion of the Bonano crime family. They don't do much anymore, there is a skelleton site at that URL bow but at onetime I had Princess Cruise Lines, a bunch of online casinos, Harvey's (It is part of Caesar's now.), Bacardi Rum, H. Upmann Cigars, Bombay Gin, Dodge Ram (Yes, Ram used to be an American company), a bunch of internet related companies such as McAfeeSkyy Vodka, and a a couple of universities. I didn't know it was mob related business until I went to a meeting of gambling executives in Palm Springs. When I got back to San Jose I asked my boss, "Are Joe and Bobby part of that Bonano Family." He said, "I don't want to say, but my resignation is effective Friday." So I resigned, too. (I do miss it though. Wow, it was nice to fly around the country and take clients out to eat in limousines, and have my boss come by and lay a stack of 100's on my desk every few days.)

25. From there I went to Homestead.com They were a weird company. They did not know what kind of company they were. I thought they were in the media business but they thought they were in the business of changing the world. They were were nice to me, even giving me a 60 cup coffee urn to keep in my cubicle and tickects to Giant's games. A few times they brought in a chef just to make me dinner because I was always there so late. What did I do that caused them to be so nice to me? I brought in the clients. Some of the clients I brought in were Godiva Chococolate (part of the Campbell's Soup), Frito-Lay, Clorox, and the NHL. But they never acted like advertisers were important. Then, one day, they told me they were getting rid of the whole advertising department and offered me two other jobs that had nothing to do with what I was good at. I took a few days to think about it and decided to quit.
26. I was unemployed for a about a 2 months but got a job selling Yellow Pages ads (There are still companies around that use the name "yellow pages" but they aren't the old official phone company yellow pages.) at ATT. Again I was selling advertising. There were always clashes. For example, I would sell an ad for 15 or 20% more than normal and they would freak out. "We're a regulated industry! You can't do that!" and "You can't work late! This is a union shop!" "Why are you here? You aren't schedlued to start for another hour?" It was total culture clash. Then 9/11 happened and almost half my clients cancelled all their advertising.


So, I went to a radio station owned by CBS. Oh, my gosh! What a horrible job that was. In 4 months I only recruited a handful of new advertisers (a shoestore, a jewelry store, Carol Doda's Champaigne and Lace lingerie store, a car dealership, and a few other local businesses) and half of them cancelled after a couple of weeks. It was the first time I felt like I was hurting my clients by getting them to advertise with me. Then my boss lied to me and the rest of the advertising department during a meeting and I called him on it. They fired me.



About a week later a guy I worked with at CBS got a job at AllDorm and asked me to work for him. Then he was fired and I was promoted. My team brought in so much business it was amazing. Dole, Pizza Hut, Carnival Cruises, Snickers, Volkswagen, Soloflexx, and others. But it was a struggling company and there was some kind of legal hassle between them and a competitor that resulted in the company disolving then a 2010 lawsuit between one of AllDorm's founders and that competitor. I left AllDorm when Anselm (Every time I have mentioned the little boy) was just two or three years old.

Then I went to work for Prodesse Property, the property management company my then wife was working for. I worked for Prodesse for a couple of years. It was fun managing a a big apartment complex but it wS in San Jose and my wife want to live closer to her new job at Stanford. So I quit and we moved to Mountain View. I spent the next two years homeschooling Anselm Samuel and my wife slipped into serious and scarry depression. (All kinds of horrible things happened during those couple of years.)

My next job was for another property management company managing a 25 unit apartment complex in Willow Glen and my wife got sicker and sicker. And with two kids and a sick wife I failed my employer. I was fired.

Sometime around this time I worked for my friend Jeff selling leads to car dealrs but I don't reember the name of the company. It was only for a couple of months. Then I got a job selling cars. Sadly, I was selling Fiats which means I wasn't selling enough cars to make any money. My wifedivorced me and the car dealership closed and I got a job trying to sell group advertising to lawyers. It wasn't a good match and I left there to go door to door to door selling solar electricity to homeowners in the Tri-valley area. Very quickly I was promted twice but one day I went to work and my boss was at the front door handing out last paycheck to all the employees. We were out of business.

Then I got a job cleaning houses.

Then I got a job selling money for Westlake. I was doing okay but then they cut the commission rate and raised the lending requirements which drastically cut my income so I quit.

Then I got a job working in the membership office at the San Jose YMCA. It was a fun job. And perfect for me since I was living in a truck at the time and the showers were convenient.

Then, about 10 years ago, I took the test to be a substitute teacher. I worked for lots and lots of public schools (My fave were in Gilroy and Palo Alto.) but now, for the last year and a half, I have been working for an amazing private school in San Jose where I teach history, economics, AP U.S. Gov't, and (as of January 2024) chemistry.

Well, I think that is my whole career to this point.

Coast to Coast

I was leaving the gym the other night (I like the steam room) and accidently hit the "search" button on my steering wheel. The next thing I know, I'm listening to Coast to Coast but it wasn't Art Bell (He's been dead for 20 years.)it was some other guy talking about the Rothschilds and global conspiracy.

I remember the first time I heard that show. It was sometime in 1997, '98, or'99, and I was driving down the San Juaquin Valley on Hwy 99 to see my parents. (I just found out that my Uncle Fred's place out near Ivanhoe where my parents spent some of their last years, before they got too old and sick, is vacant. I'm thinking about making an offer.) It was captivating. Over the years the show talked about space aliens, Atlantis, the CIA plot to kill JFK, and dozens of other conspiracy theories. It was nuts. The one thing I liked about Art Bell was that he was never critical of his guests. He would just let them say whatever their bizaare theory was and act like they weren't crazy but were, really, scholars and experts. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad the show survived it's founder.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

The Boys and a Shooting Club

Basil has been accepted by all of the universities to which he applied but he is really only interested in two: Cal Maritime (business/logistics) and San Jose State (accounting). Personally, I hope he chooses Cal Maritime. The student body and the teachers seem much less radicaly leftist than the student body and teachers at San Jose State. Maybe the accounting department won't be too yucky. But I think he is looking at the cost of housing at Cal Maritime as opposed to living with me or his mom here in San Jose.

Anselm is under the arctic ice right now. (I got a notice from the commander of the pacific submarine forces.) He's been at sea for a month and won't be back until April.

Today during the meatfare lunch after liturgy Fr. Basil said he wants to go shooting with kathleen and I because he inherited all his dad's guns and hasn't shot them in years and years. So I asked when. He said after Pascha. And a whole bunch of other people said they want to go, too. And someone suggested a parish shooting club, and Fr. Basil said "YES!". So it looks like we are going to have a parish shooting club.

Oh! That reminds me, Kathleen bought a new gun a couple of weeks ago. It's a Sig Sauer P365.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

A Debt

In 1997 or 1998 I was managing the door at at SF Weekly's music awards show at Bimbo's 365 Club. A bunch of people, the "entourage" of one of the bands being honored, tried to get past me. I said something like, "I'm sorry. You don't have tickets. You can't come in." They said something like "We're going in, anyway." Annie Jensen, the girl with me at the door was scared and I told her to stand back as I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a horrible fight. Honestly, as much as I used to enjoy fighting back then, I didn't think I was going to win this one. They were a dozen and I was only one. Then a 7 foot tall black man stepped up behind me and asked, "Is there a problem here?" I didn't know he was working for me (No one told me). I didn't even know he was there but my boss had hired him to protect me as I protected the door. He saw a problem and was willing to fight for me. With that question, "is there a problem here", and a terrifying glance he made the threatening throng at the door evaporate. A few years ago I heard he died. I wish I knew his name. I am wondering, do any of my old friends (Wendy Fairbanks, Catherine Draper, Troy Larkin)from SF Weekly know his name? A super tall nightclub bouncer in SF? I understand he usually worked at Slims, Bimbo's, Voodoo Lounge, Utah, DNA Lounge, the Fillmore, and the Cat Club. Before I am too old to remember I'd like to pray for him since he rescued me that night.

Friday, January 05, 2024

Christmas on Madison Avenue

As you know, from 1997 to 2004 I was an advertising executive. And though it has been 20 years since I worked in the industry I do still enjoy a good Christmas commercial. (Raise your hand if you have fond memories of Santa riding the Norelco shaver through the snow, the ringing of the Andre commercial, or the weirdness of the Harvey's Bristol Cream ads.) In my opinion, these are the top ten English language Christmas ads of 2023, not counting ads that are promoting charities.

10. There are two ads on this list that feature slippers. This is the first of them. Macy's "For After Work"

9. Amazon "Joy Ride". The older I get the more weepy I get when I see old people remembering their youth. Amazon "Joy Ride"

8. There is no snow in this ad because the company only operates in Florida. I especially love that the dog knows where to go to get fed. And, gosh, look at that crown roast of pork! Publix "Merry Christmas to you and yours"

7. Puppies and kittens. Enough said. Pet Smart "Make Merry Memories"

6. Beautiful people driving beautiful cars to beautiful places to be together. Mercedes-Benz "With Love"

5. Now, it is true that this advertisement came out five years ago but I only saw it running on FaceBook a couple of weeks ago. The number one thing an ad should do is make the viewer want to buy the product. After seeing this ad I thought, "Oh, I should wear cravats." And then I thought, "Oh, those little flat hats and those slippers would be perfect for cold winter nights." And then i thought, "Crikey, I think I need everything in that ad!" Peter Christian "Spirit of Christmas".

4. OMGosh! Is that really John Travolta playing Santa Claus?

3. If you know much about Michael Bublé you will chuckle at the little jokes in this ad. Also, browned butter. That was funny. Asda "Career Change"

2. "Who gives presents to Santa?" It is the question that launches a mother daughter giving trip. Boots "Give Joy"

1. A friend of mine, a very old woman named Charlotte had dementia. At Christmas parties she would sit someplace quiet in the house. I would sit by her at those parties and let her talk about things and people I knew nothing about. She died in 2023. This ad made me think of her and the Chevy Suburban, one of the best cars ever made in America. Chevrolet "A Holiday to Remember"

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Christmas Movies

I used to love watching Christmas Movies with my boys when they were little. I miss those years. This year I am planning on watching all of these: Love Actually (2003), The Muppets Christmas Carrol (1992), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carrol (1963), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), A Christmas Carrol (1951), Die Hard (1988), Santa Claus is Commin' to Town (1964), The Little Drummer Boy (1967), Christmas with the Kranks (2004), Cricket on the Hearth (1967), A Christmas Story (1983), Elf (2003), White Christmas (1954), The Santa Clause (1994), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1967), Remember the Night (1940), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989, Home Alone (1990), A Very Murray Christmas (2015), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Merry Christmas (2004), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), and The Santa Clause 2 (2002). I am curious to know, dear reader, what would you add to my Christmas movie list?

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Baking for Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving but Anselm is at sea and Basil is out of town visiting some of his Mom's relatives. So my step-children, Maximo and Sophia are helping me make the cranberry walnut pies and fruited molassas balls. (Of course, I forgot to get molassas and powdered sugar so Kathleen is at the store right now buying those ingredirents.) Earlier today I baked chocolate chip cookies for Maximo and Sophia and a berry pie for Kathleen. Before I go to sleep tonight I'll start brining the turkey and make the cranberry relish. It has been years since I've watched Macy's Thanksgiving parade. I think I'll get up early tomorrow and watch it.

Friday, November 10, 2023

This and That and getting ready for Christmas.

Since August of 2022 I've been teaching U.S. history, world history, economics, and U.S. government at Cambrian Academy in San Jose, California. (I'm also the coach of the clay target team.) It is, I think, only because of God that I was given this job just a few weeks after I wrote this.

I have almost finished buying Christmas presents. I have only two more people to buy for.

Basil has had the flu for the past week but as soon as he has recovered he and I will begin making the fruitcakes and the Christmas sausage. Hopefully, this week.

This was the first year in many that I did not go to Farmer Bob's to get pumpkins.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Oktoberfest

One of the fun things I do at work is that I play a little jodel (I know, it's swiss but they wear lederhosen and dirndle. on the screen for my students every morninng in October and give them a few extra credit points if they show me they've learned to jodel by the end of the the month.) Tey seem to enjoy it and some of them desperately need the points by the end of October, when the midterm exams happen.

Today, Kathleen and I shared a guest lecturer from F.E.E.. First he came to my school and spoke to my two classes of economice on business ethics, a lecture I would have titled The Beauty of Profit. It was truely was beautiful. I wish I had recorded it. After the presentation, when the guest lecturer had left to go to Kathleen's school, one of my students said, "It was like having Henry Hazlitt talk to us", and she was right.

At the end of the School day we took the lecturerer from F.E.E. out to dinner at Teske's Germania, a resturaunt in San Jose. (I was there once before, when I was 26 years old, that was more than half my life ago.) Kathleen ordered the Schweinshaxe. I ordered the Jagerschnitzel. When the dishes came to the table she was grossed out and didn't want to eat what she had ordered. So we traded dishes and, wow, I am glad we did! I have a new favorite food. When I came home I looked up the recipe online and it looks pretty easy to make. I am sure I will be able to convince her that it is good.

In other news, Son #3 called me from Peru. His submarine has been at sea for a couple of weeks, and i knew he was headed south, but I didn't know he was going to be stopping in at Peru. It sounds like he is working hard but having fun.

Son #4 is applying to universities. I think the four on his list are Hillsdale College (In America the words University and college are, mostly, interchageable.) California Maritime Academy, Montana State University, and San Jose State University. Personally, I wish he were not considering San Jose State but, I think he wants to live with his mother and save money on room and board. I'm much prefer he go to Hillsdale or Montana state where there are very active OCF chapters, or to Cal Maritime where the gradutes have the highest average starting salaries of any college in California, but I think he just sees the expense of room and board and wants to avoid it.

And finally, the highschool clay target shooting team I coach is in second place in our conference this season. That is much improved from #39 out of 54 that we placed last season. The team is really working hard and it shows.

Saturday, October 07, 2023

A Different Life

Today son #4 is 18 years old and I have no minor children. Since 1988 I have had, at least, one child under the age of majority. Son #1 died more than 10 years ago. Son #2 is missing. I do not know where he is but I love him. Son #3 is a sailor aboard a submarine somehwere in the south Pacific, son #4 is a college student here in San Jose, California. From the time they were born I had one mission: Keep them out of Hell and keep them out of prison. I do not know if I was sufccessful but I tried. All I can do now is pray.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Christmas List For the Man Who Has Everything, 2023

I started putting Christmas lists on here in 2017 because Kathleen (She is the woman to whom I am married!) said I am difficult to buy for. I didn't do one last year, so I figure, since a lot has changed since then, I should do one this year. Therefore, the list (in no particular order):

1. Does your man teach his students about politics, economics and history while he and they sit around an enourmous oaken table? Yes? Then he needs an inspiring bust of Cicero to put in the middle of that table.

2. Long ago when your man's Dad was old and dying he metioned that when he was a boy he had a little candle-powered boat made of tin. So, your man found a company that sold them, and he bought one for his Dad. His dad cried when he opened it but never felt well enough to walk the 30 yards to pond. His Dad died a few weeks later. His Mom gave the boat back to him and he played with it in the pool with his sons. But it was lost in a move and he hasn't seen it since about 2006.

3. He watches It's a Wonderful Life every year. Do you know why? Because of the Midland jump spark cigar lighter George Baily wishes on in Mr. Gowers' drugstore. They don't make new ones anymore but they are available on the secondary market. Just think of all the wishing you and he will be able to do together with one of these in the house.

4. He's needed new hubcaps for, at least, a year.

5. You know, he wears pretty nice shoes but there is no place to get them shined since Nordstorm went out of business in San Francisco and and the shoeshine stand on Market Street in the Financial District has been gone for years. So don't you think one of these shoe shine boxes would be nice.

6. Years ago a very rich woman (She owned a bank.) saw your man looking at a catalog of expensive bathroom stuff. She asked him, "do you know the difference between rich people and poor people?" He said he didn't so she told him. "Rich people won't spend more than twenty-five cents on a shower curtain." So, when he says he would love a new spatula he does not mean one of those $15-$30 spatulas at Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table. He means this spatula for less than $2.

7. Five words: Steer horns for the Subaru.

8. You know his razor isn't like other razors. It can cut fingers off if you don't keep an eye on it. It can cut though those flimsy vinyl toiletry bags just as easily. Your man needs a sturdy leather or waxed canvass toilety bag with lots of pockets for all the essentials.

9. He doesn't smoke often but, sometimes, when your man travels he would like to take his pipes with him. Unfortuntely, the zipper on the pipe case his son gave him broke several years ago. He needs a new one.

10. He has some scottish ancestors, you know. So don't you think he should learn to play the bagpipes?

11. It has been over a decade since my mother died. I have her last two Bibles. One she had from the early 1970s or maybe earlier, I am not sure. One she had the last three years of her life, it was large print for she was losing her ability to see. The last one is in good shape nd has a few passages underlined or highlighted, but the older one is the one that has all her notes in it. The prayers and notes and sayings in the margins are precious to me. There are verses she has underlined that cause me to staop and say, "Why did she underline this?" and I will look at it for a 1/2 an hour or more trying to think what did this mean to her, what should it mean to me? I came across this a few months ago: "When the Devil reminds you of your past remind him of his future." Well, if there is a gift worth giving, it is the rebinding of my Mother's Bible.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

A Vision

I want to write this down before I forget it completely. Already the words are getting confused in my memory.


Holy Tikhon of Zdonsk

Last night was standing in the nave of St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga. My mind was wondering and I was praying for my children instead of praying the communal prayers being sung by the choir. Suddenly it was like I was having a dream and St. Tikhon of Zdonsk was standing in front of me. And he said something like "Remind the Holy Synod of Metroplitan Leonty" or "Tell the Holy Synod to remember Metropolitan Leonty". Then the vision was gone but I was shaking a little and crying.


Metropolitan Leonty at Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco, 1955.

As soon as the service was over I found Fr. Basil in the church hall and told him what had happened and asked him what I should do. I didn't know anything about St. Tikhon of Zdonsk excpt that I saw his icon and have heard is name mentioned during Saturday night vigils. And, other than having seen a photograph of Metropolitan Leonty and having read his name somewhere I knew nothing about him. I didn't even know he had been the primate of the OCA. I told this to Mitered Archpriest Basil, and as I was a telling him I started crying and shaking again. He told me then that the Holy Synod is trying to decide whether or not Metropolitan Leonty should be recognized as a saint in the Orthodox Church. And he crossed himself and said "I believe this" and said he would relay the message to the Holy Synod.

Needless to say, when I got home from church last night I read everyting about these men I could find online.

Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Honeymoon and Covid

We went on a cruise to Alaska. We flew from San Jose to Seattle, where we got on the ship, the M.S. Westerdam. Our first stop was in Juneau where we visted St Nicholas Orthodox Church (They currenty do not have a rector and are surviving on reader services and occasional clergy visits), and then Glacier Bay, then Sitka where we visted St Michal Orthodox Church and were blessed to venerate a relic of St Herman. The ships next stop was Ketchican, where we went fishing.

We caught amazing number of fish, and Kathleen caught the largest one, a 34" Silver Coho.
We had 180 pounds of various species of salmon flash frozen and shipped to us, even one chum salmon which we will feed to the dog.


The next stop was Victoria, BC but we did not get off the ship. That was the night Kathleen started coughing. The next morning we got off the ship in Seattle and Kathleen had a fever. Our hotel, the Mayflower Park Hotel was very comfortable and the staff was very helpful. As soon as I told them my wife was sick they had a room ready for us, letting us check in 7 hours early.

Kathleen spent a miserable night. I walked to a nearby drug sstore to get her medicine but it did not do much. The next morning I was coughing too. By the time Basil Wenceslas picked us up at the airport in San Jose on the 31st of June we both had fevers. When we got home we went strait to bed. The next morning we both tested positive for covid. Then the next day Basil tested positive. All three of us got perscriptions for paxlovid that day. As of Sunday (today is Tuesday the 8th of August.) we are both testing negative and Kathleen says she is 80% recovered. She began teaching her fall semester yesterday. Today was the first day I was able to get out of bed. I can't taste anything except for salt and citrus, or smell anything except for what I think is a hallucination (burning wood), and my sense of balance is off, and I am partially deaf. Hopefully, that all corrects soon. I go back to work tomorrow so today I spent writing my course syllabi. Basil is doing worse than Kathleen and I. This is his third time to have covid.

Thursday, July 20, 2023

A Man Under Authority

A centurian asked Jesus for a miracle. Jesus said he would be right there to heal the centurian's servant. The centurian said, "No, Lord. I am a man with autority. I know how these things work. Just say the word and my servant will be healed." Jesus spoke and the servant was healed.

Long ago, in the 1980s, I was a soldier in the 502nd Air Assault Infantry Regiment, which is part of the 101st Airborne Division. A few of our sergeants were combat veterans from the Vietnam War. But none of our officers had seen combat except for one captain. He was 15 years older than any of the other captains in the regiment and medals covered him: The Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, as well as decorations from the Chancellor of Germany, the President of the French republic, the King of Thailand, and the President of the Republic of Vietnam. Unlike the other 22 captains in the regiment he had been an enlisted man, a sergeant, during the Vietnam War.

I was only a Private First Class but I worked for the adjutant on the colonel's staff so I knew all the officers in the regiment. There was one lieutenant who was a Christian. There was a major who loved the Lord and with whom I sang Handel's Messiah one year. He and I would have been friends but he was an officer and I was enlisted. There was one captain who very ostentatiosly proclaimed his Christianity, as though he thought it would make people think he was a better man than he was. There was the colonel, he was a Christian of some sort, and attended the protestant chapel service every Sunday (it was on his official schedule). But there was my captain, who you think I would have known better than all the others because he was actually my commander. But he was quiet. When he came into the headquarters he didn't talk to anyone but would quickly walk to the colonel's office and make his report or recieve his orders. Always, on his way out of the headquarters he would stop by my desk and ask, "Soldier, do you have everything you need to do your job?" then go back to doing what ever he spent his days doing. I never saw him smile. The only time I saw him angry was when the lieutenant in charge of the mortar platoon said his men were too tired to complete a task. (That lieutenant was forced to resign his commission.) Though he worked us hard, that captain was absolutely loved by all his men.

He was loved because he was humble. He knew his power over us. He knew his responsibility to us. He never abused us but made us perform to the highist standards, much higher than the army-wide standards. I would sometimes hear the captains bragging to each other about how good their companies were. My captain never braggged. He didn't have to. The records were clear. His company had highest PT scores, the highes SQT Scores, the most days in the field, the highst marsmanship scores.... He just stood there and listened to the other captains brag on their men. I never felt like the the standards he set for us were so he would look good to the colonel or the other officers in the regiment. I think all we soldiers knew he demanded so much from us so we would survive on the battlefield, because he had survived on the battlefield.

He was Baptist. He attended a little Baptist church in Clarksville, Tennessee. He never talked about it. He didn't keep a Bible on his desk like the ostentatious captain did. He didn't talk about Jesus to his men. But he went to church every every Sunday morning, as I learned when I heard some of the other officers talking about why my captain wouldn't go out drinking with them on Saturday nights. Did I mention he was humble? There were 4 lieutenant colonels, and 7 majors in the regiment who outranked him, but as a Distingushed Member of the Regiment the captain should have always been seated beside the colonel at any dinner. But one time the adjutant (he was new in the position and didn't listen to me or the sergeant in charge of protocol) seated him below the majors. The colonel, of course, corrected the adjutant, and the adjunt apologized all over himself. What did the captain say? "Don't worry about it. We all put our pants on one leg at a time."

I sometimes think that the captain was a man like Holy Czar Nicholas was. Instead of letting his men bow to him, the Saint would hold an icon of the Savior before his men so they would bow to the Lord instead. That is what people who have authority and understand authority do; direct attention to the One who really has authority, who is the source of authority. And Jesus gave his life for us. And in a desperate attempt to to save his people, the Czar humilated himslf by abdicating. And my captain made no big deal of his rank or reputation but reminded one who gave offense that we are all just men.

Monday, July 17, 2023

A Marriage and an Engagement

Kathleen and I were married yesterday at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga, California.



And today, my son Anselm Samuel asked Tiffany Patterson to be his wife. She said yes.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Wedding Rehearsal

The rehersal was tonight at St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga. The chanter, the reader, the priest, the sponsors, and us. After the rehearsal Kathleen and I said our confessions, then we joined the others in the church hall for Togo's sandwiches.

Thursday, July 06, 2023

A wedding and other things

Kathleen and I got the wedding license last week. The service has been scheduled for July 16. My boss asked me to stay on for another year and teach the same subjects. Anselm recieved his dolphins and got promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class. Basil is still going to Evergreen Valley Community College and is gtting his documents ready to apply next month to Hillsdale College and Cal Maritime for Fall 2024.

Kathleen and Basil and I wanted to go to a San Jose Giants baseball game on July 4 but this is their year to play in Fresno. o, after looking around at all the parades and concerts and fire works shows we decided to see the San Francisco Symphony and fireworks at Shoreline Amphitheater. It was utterly beautiful.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Radio, Shotguns, and Marriage

I read yesterday that car makers are going to stop putting A.M. radios in cars because the electric motors interfere with reception. I think I dislike electric cars even more now than I already did.

Speaking of radio, I really miss the days when I was a teenager in Florida. I used to lie on the floor doing my school work and listen to WCIE (Where Christ is Everything) out of Lakeland. I'd hear preachers such as Chuck Swindoll, J. Vernon McGee, Karl Strader, and late in the night I'd listen to the music program, The Haven of Rest with Ray Ortland. One of my favorite shows on WCIE was James Dobson's Focus on the Famly and others.

I haven't been listening to radio much for the last few years. I tried to listen to KQED, the local NPR affiliate but it has become nothing but filth. I did an expiriment to see if I could drive from home to work or from work to home without hearing a story promoting drag queens, homosexuality, abortion, or or the mutilation of childrens sex organs (they call it gender affirming care). The drive between work and home is about 15 minutes one way. Every morning and every afternoon I heard of of the vile promotions. On some drives I'd hear two or three. Gone are the days of listening to KQED and hearing Linda Worthheimer, Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, Garison Keilor, Bob Edwards, Click and Clack, and To The Best of Our Knowledge with Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamps. At least, KQED still has TechNation with Moira Gunn.

I've tried listening to KSFO an conservative talk station but they are so angry and I don't see Conservativeism that way. We are happy becuse we know the truth and see a path to a bright future. I just don't dig the negativity.

And there is no country music anymore.

Kathleen, Fr. Basil and I have set the wedding date for July 16. I'll be a married man again soon. And Anslem Samuel told me he is going to ask his girlfried to marry him.

My school's shotgun team had the last shoot of the season today. We finished 39 out of 51. I am very proud of them.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Getting Ready

Kathleen and I made Paskha tonight. We have seven terra cotta pots in the fridge. Looking at the work and church schedule, I can't see where I am going to have time to make the kulich. I'm sure it will work out somehow. I found out that Basil Wenceslas is bringing a girl to the Paschal Divine Liturgy. I'm making a pascha basket for her, too.

Saturday, April 01, 2023

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pascha Eggs

Every year up till now I put a couple of Reese's egg-shaped peanut butter cups in the Pascha basket but this year, because of Hershy's anti-human stance I refuse to buy anything made of their chocolate. So Basil came over today and we made our own. I bought molds, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. I figured, since all the videos I watched on Youtube that show how to make them were 20 to 30 minutes long we could start at 4pm, be done by 5pm, and be at church at 6pm. I was wrong. It took four hours to make six of the things. The nice thing is that Cyndi and Kathleen spent a lot of time talking while Basil and I worked in the kitchen. It was also nice to use the copper and ceramic double boiler I bought for Cyndi a decade ago.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

The Clay Target Team

I don't think I've mentioned this before: I'm the coach of my school's clay target team. Late last month Basil went with me to Nevada to buy ammo and we got stuck in a giant record-breaking snowstorm. It took us 19 hours to get from Reno to San Jose, a drive that normally takes 5 or 6 hours.

Yesterday was the team's first practice. They did better than I expected and they had a lot of fun.

In other news: Anselm Samuel's submarine put into port in Guam a couple of days ago. They were not there long. Only about 30 hours; just long enough to load up on food and head back out to sea. I spoke to him briefly. He sounded very tired.

Monday, February 20, 2023

A Day in Napa

Kathleen and I went to see Ottmar Liebert and Luna Nega at the Blue Note in Napa yesterday. It was much fun to see in person a band I first heard of back in 1994 when Columbia House sent me a CD. It is very rare that I go to a live music performance but I really like very much Ottmar Liebert's music. It was surpising to see him as an old man. The only picture I had ever seen of him was on the CD cover from 30 years ago. But I just saw my old drives license from back then and I'm old now, too.

The Blue Note was a nice place. I would not be opposed to seeing other performers there, but it is a long drive from San Jose. If I go to Napa again I'll stay overnight in a hotel.

Tuesday, February 07, 2023

Feeling Better

Kathleen, Basil, and I were sick for the whole month of January. Basil had covid. Kathleen the flu that turned into bronchitis. I just had fevers aches and pains. It has been tough going to work every day but neither of us can get subs to cover for us; Kathleen because she is on special assignment from her school district and me because I teach at a private school. Two days ago, on the(Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee) was the first time since Christmas we've been to confession and communion.

In other news: Work is going well. Three of my students were inducted into the National Honor Society and I have three students signed up for the clay target shooting team (Yes, there is a state-wide high school league) of which I am the coach. .

Saturday, January 07, 2023

The Past

Fifty three years ago, August 1969 to be more exact, my biological mother was murdered. Until tonight I never knew her name. Her name was Cletha.

Friday, December 30, 2022

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The festivities have been beautiful. We missed Royal hours on Friday but Vigil on Saturday and Divine Liturgy on Sunday were greatly joyful. A fun thing is that our friend Rowan from church joined us for Christmas dinner. It was just Kathleen, Basil, Rowan, and I for Christmas dinner. And the dinner itself was simple compared to past Christmas dinners: Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, peanut butter pie, cranberry walnut pie, fruitcake, au gratin potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, a port wine cheese ball, and pheasant pâté made from pheasants we shot.

On the second day of Christmas Kathleen and I went to Lake Pillsbury in the Mendocino National Forest to shoot wood ducks. But we saw no wood ducks but we saw tule elk. One bull had a harem of more than sixty cows and a huge set of antlers. No, we didn't shoot any of the elk. They are protected and rare. We stayed at lake Pillsbury three nights. There was lots and lots of rain.

Now we are back in San Jose and are preparing for the next semester. It will by my first time teaching economics. I'm excited.

Friday, December 23, 2022

Two nights till Christmas

Wednesay was they last day of the semester. The only Christmasy things I did with my students were that in the last few days of the semester I read Tony's Bread to them one day and cut up pannetone for them. None of them had ever tasted it so that was fun. And I read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomy (I don't like the second edition as much as the first. The first had bigger pages.)to them on another day. That had 1/2 the class crying. And then, on Finals Week (only three days, actually.) I gave them all a copy of In Hoc Anno Domini from the Wall Street Journal.

Basil came over a few different times during Advent and helped me bake fruit cakes. I gave one to each of the eleven other teachers at my school, and just this morning, mailed off a bunch of them to friends and family all over the country. And he came over and helped my grind and stuff the Christmas sausage. He is such a good boy.

I was going to go to Royal Hours at the cathedral in San Francisco tonight but I have too much to do. I have two pies in the oven, presents to wrap, and a pheasant pâté to make tonight.

About a week before my son Anselm's boat left for the deep blue sea, I sent three fruitcakes with instructions not to open until Christmas, to the skipper of the boat. One for the skipper, one for the COB, and one for Anselm Samuel. I hope they got to him before they left port. Oh, well. I have been told that if they didn't get to the boat before it left San Diego they will be waiting for them at their next port of call.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Finals Week

It is late Monday night in Finals Week. I gave the Final Exam to my civics (mostly political philosophy and economics in the Fall semester) and A.P. Government students today. They did pretty well. I am happy for them. They all turned in the term papers last Friday. One girl did an amazing job. I think her paper is publishable, and I'm going to send it off to a journal and see if I can't help her get sonme serious attention. Her research and synthesis abilities are amazing. She would be such an amazing politics scholar or historian but she wants to major in math or chemistry. Maybe, if I can get her published I can convince her to pursue philoshopy. Probably not though. She is Singaporean and her parents want her to get a B.S. in Chemistry and then go to Med school or get into a bio-chem Ph.D. program.

I've been pheasant hunting twice since Thanksgiving. I have a freezer full of dead birds but one was so beautiful I am having it taxidermied. Sadly, I had no idea that dry ice is considered a hazardous material and that I would have to pay mucho dinero to ship the bird to the taxidermist in Idaho because of the dry ice. I think I would have spent less mony if I had hired someone local. Oh well. Live and learn.

Saturday night (this is Monday night) Kathleen's niece spent the night with us. She is a single mother, has a drug problem, and some mental health problems on top of that. It is difficult to know how to help her. We would adopt her baby but as long as she has him the State of Claifornia pays her money so she won't give him up. I am vey worried about that little boy. Tonight Basil and Kathleen helped me make the Christmas sausage. It is something we have been doing since Basil was a little boy of only 3 or 4 years. He is 17 now. Wow, where have the years gone?

Well, in the morning I have to give final exams to my U.S. History classes. I'd better get to bed.

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

The Day Before Thanksgiving

This week I gave all my students an extra credit assignment: Read three Thanksgiving Proclamations: George Washington (1789), Abraham Lincoln (1864), and Ronald Reagan (1988) then write a 6-10 page Chicago Style essay comparing and contrasting the proclamations. I gave them until next Monday to turn it in. Some of them have submitted their essays early, and they are beautiful.

Today I expalined to my stuents how NPR broadcasts Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish recipe every year, let them hear some recordings of the broadcast from years past, then let them taste it. I've heard the recipe many times over the last thirty years but this was the first time I ever made it. It tasted good and most of my students liked it.

Now I am baking two cranberry walnut pies. I just put them in the oven. Once I finish writing this post I'll get to work on two peanut butter chocolate pies (recipe below), and then I'll make pheasant pate (we have lots of pheasants in the fridge!) for tomorrow. We are going to be at the cathedral in San Francisco.


Peanutbutter Pie Recipe
Use two Keebler chocolate pie crusts or two Graham cracker pie crusts. The filling is one cup of creamy peanut butter, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar beaten together, then fold in 8 oz of cool whip (refrigerated but not frozen). The filling is enough for two pies. Top with whipped cream. I like to whip 8 oz of heavy cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. That way it doesn't separate as quickly as it would otherwise.

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Pheasant Shooting

It was a busy week. Basil had school (student), I had school (teacher), and Kathleen had school (teacher). Yesterday, Veterans Day we did not do our usual activities. Instead, I slept all day, Kathleen did stuff with her kids, and Basil did homework.

Today the three of us went pheasant hunting. The dogs were not doing their job; acting more like pets than working dogs, but we each got one pheasant. Later we had lunch in the clubhouse and Kathleen picked out a new shotgun. All our shotguns are a little bit to big for her so she tried out this Syren and really like it. Now I just need to save up the money for it.

Well the timer on the oven just went off so I better take the pheasant out.

Saturday, November 05, 2022

Fruitcakes and civilization

Kathleen and I made 10 more fruitcakes today. We were going to go pheasant hunting but it was raining this morning so we decided to stay home and bake. The house smells beautiful; like cinnamon, butter, and whiskey.

Last week it dawned on me that in my world history class (we have been reading the about the pagan world; the Indians, the Japanese, the Aztecs, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Akkadians, the Incas, the Nubians, the Minoans etc.) that the whole pre-Christian world (except the Hebrews), all of them practiced human sacrifice and canibalism. Right now we are on ancient Greece and we have just finished reading Hesiod's Theogony, a gruesome tale of murder, incest, infanticide, cannibalism, rape, and war. I think we will be right up to Caesar Augustus in early December. And then I will assign my world history students the Gospel of Mark. I didn't plan it this way but isn't it amazing to be able to make the transition from the horrors of the demon-ruled pagan history to the Christ-filled history of the years of our Lord right at Christmas time.

Sunday, October 23, 2022

So much news.

Well, dear reader, there is much that goes on in life. I'll start with work, which is going wonderfully. I teach two sections of U.S. history, and one section each of civics, world history, and A.P. goverrnment. It is so much fun I can hardly stand it. Here is an example: In my civics class I have had my students read Aristotle, Cicero, John Locke, parts of Isaiah, all of Judges, and the first two chapters of Forest McDonalnd's Novus Ordo Seclorum. I was going to have them read the third chapter, which deals with the economic ideas underpinning the American Revolution and our ConstItution but I realized that most of my students don't have the background to understand that chapter. So, what are we doing? We are reading childrens books together! Yes! I read A Year at Maple Leaf Farm to them and had them identify every instance of production, consupmption, capital preservation, life preservation, and conservation of natural resources. Then we did the samething with The Ox Cart Man but this time I told them to keep in mind John Locke's discusions of property, waste, savings, and surplus. Then, on Friday I assigned each of them one of Laura Ingalls Widler's Little House books and assigned them a 10 page essay (in Chicago Style) on the economic ideas contained in the books. And in addition to the classes I teach I am the faculty advisor to the gardening club and the internatinal relations club. It is just so much fun!

My son Basil Wenceslas (I think I mentioed in a previous post that the graduated from high school two years early) just registered for twoclasses (U.S. history and U.S. government) at EVCC. He says he is prepearing for transfer to the Maritime Academy but he just turned 17 and his plans might change. Also, he is my hunting buddy. We go pheasant hunting on Saturdays.

I have cooked two pheasants and pheasant sausauge, and have smoked pheasants in the fridge. The only thing is that I don't enjoy running the dogs. I think from now on I'll leave that to Kathleen. I can't manage the dogs and shoot at the same time, and she likes running the dogs and is better at it than I am. Basil just likes shooting and then rewarding the dogs when they bring him the pheasants.


Anselm has a girlfriend. I haven't met her but Athanasia has has met her and says the girl, (Woman actually, she is a 23 year old speech therapist.) is good to our son. But Anselm is about to go on a 7 month mission and we will see if the relationship will last; 7 months is a long time to a 23 year old.

I am making 12 more fruitcakes today. This brings the total up to 30. It is much fun and is probably my favorite Christmas tradition. I think I have enough dried fruit to make another 16 but I'll Not make them today; maybe next week. It is hard to believe I've been doing this for 11 years. While I am baking thim I am listening to a recording of the Fireside Christmas Stories. It isn't even Advent yet but I am already enjoying Christmas.