Where's The New Stuff??

I'm resting my pen for this week. Promise to be back with a mightier force than Ernesto this Monday.

Cheers and have a safe Labor Day Weekend!!

Family Leaves It's Mark On Wallla Walla

Actually no member of our family was in American in 1887, it was put up when my Dad did a remodel of the building a few years ago. Still it's kind of cool to have the family name displayed so prominently on Main Street in Walla Walla.

Tracy Taylor Has Returned

KJR 950's Mitch Levy used to have some great schtick with traffic reporter Tracy Taylor. Tracy then went off to other pursuits. Last year she returned to the area and to her old job, but the old routines are gone.

Sonics Near Deal??

Mitch Levy said on KJR Sportradio 950 in this morning's show, that last night, while watching the Seattle Storm on ESPN TV, that the play by play announcer said something to the effect that Super Sonics may be close to a deal on an arena in the greater Puget Sound area. The ESPN announcer attributed the story to unknown sources so now is definitely not the time to jump for joy. Levy's partner Steve Sandmeyer said that the Storm may be split from the Sonics and would therefore stay in town, that was again, a rumor. The subject apparently was broached when the announcer for the nationally televised play off game said that star Lauren Jackson would not be a part of the team if they move to Oklahoma City. We will see how this plays out.

Hawks Soar To Win

I had a great headline "Seahawks Corral Colts" but it was used by the Times before I could use it. The Seahawks beat the Indianapolis Colts 30-17 in a game that mostly feature reserve players. Many of those players will not make the team and have to make a living in a way that will not risk mangling their bodies. The Seahawk firstline defense showed that it has much to work on as the Colt's second string offense came on strong at some points. Time is getting short for the Hawks to start working on those bugs.

ICON Long Distance--A Class Company

It was almost exactly 10 years ago that I was hired to the Sales staff at ICON an acronym for International Communications Network. I had learned of this company while working for the competition. Frequently calling on potential business customers in the Seattle area, many would say how happy they were with ICON. It was an exciting place to work, located right downtown in the Westin Building, an office tower connected by skybridge to the twin hotel towers.
The employees of ICON were mostly 20 and 30 somethings, hip, attractive and dedicated to making the company the best in the business. The mission was to sell telecom services to businesses, mostly in the greater Puget Sound area. Their were also offices in Portland and Spokane, then eventually in Boise. The "dot com" boom (the phenomenal growth of Computer related companies) was going on as well as the ascendency of Starbuck's and other local companies. It was a fun time to be working in Seattle. I would ride in to downtown everyday on a Metro Bus, no need to worry about gas and parking costs.
ICON had great perks, good bonuses and was a real learning experience. I have kept in touch with many of my co workers. 2 summers ago we had a reunion picnic that was very well attended.

Wa Hi Grad Makes The Show!

Wa Hi Grad Eric O'Flaherty is now pitching for the Seattle Mariners. The left hander was called up from Tacoma Wednesday. In Eric's senior season, he was Big Nine pitcher of the year with a 5-2 record, a 1.99 ERA and 83 strike outs. 

Walla Walla Is Now Wall To Wall Wineries

That's kind of a tongue twister!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane

I come in a little better here. 

Class Of '76--30 Years Later

You should be find me on the right in a blue shirt. 

Wa Hi Class Reunion--The Rundown

Deb and I kicked off Reunion Weekend in style by checking in to the La Quinta, located in the center of town on second street. Things had changed since the 20th when we stayed at my parents house on Palouse. Friday night after we checked in we met up with my brother Steve, the only family member now still living there. Dinner was at the Mill Creek Brewhouse, a cozy hangout where the traditional mixer was to take place. Since this was my third reunion, I can tell you that there always is and always will be a mixer. It consists of a noisy room with all your old classmates, you see people you haven't seen in 10, 20 or in this case 30 years and exchange handshakes and warm hugs.
We had wine tasting Saturday afternoon, if you have not been to Walla Walla in the last couple of years, wine tasting is not hard, the city has turned into almost one gigantic winery. I had noticed that Saturday morning as I walked down to Starbucks. Yes, there is a Starbucks in Walla Walla. At this rate Waitsburg and College Place should both have one soon. Deb and I chose Bergevin-Lane (one of the newer wineries) and 7 Hills, which was run by a friend of my family. We were happy to taste and purchase a bottle from each.
Dinner and dancing was on tap for Saturday night. We started off with the traditional picture. Every year we take a picture and for some reason, I never see it again. I guess by the end of the evening there is so much going on that buying merchandise is not the order of the evening.
There was a lovely tribute table to the classmates lost along the way. Like always, I was saddened to find someone there who I did not realize had died. Along with bad news, there where some good news also. Some of my classmates where looking and doing better than they had in years. It probably may not be appropriate to mention names here, but you get the idea. Many people who had not aged much in the first 20 years did look much older this time around so I can't help but wonder if it may be my turn at the 40th.
The weekend was topped off with a picnic on the Wa Hi campus, Mr Neher, our principal joined us and another picture was taken. This picture will look much different as we were in our summer clothes. The make up and jewelry where off. I may post some pictures in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Seahawks Debut Draws Yawns

The Seattle Seahawks exhibition debut was less than impressive as the NFC's number one offense could only muster 3 points. The 'Hawks dropped a 13-3 contest,last Saturday against a Cowboy team without star receiver Terrell Owens. The Cowboys played their reserve quarterback throughout the contest.

Au Revoir To Washington State Political Report

My favorite political blog is going offline. Washington State Political Report will no longer be written after Friday according to Carl Ballard. Just wanted to say a big thank you to Carl for an informative and entertaining web page.

What Other Bloggers Say

David Zarkin, cousin and nephew to the D. Barers (Lee, Tod, etc) usually writes about old bad movies, today he cuts his teeth on politics with this column on the defeat of Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman.


Early Lieberman Political ObitOne of the more entertaining summer shows has been the unraveling of Connecticut Sen. Joe Liberman’s political career. Burger King has a closeout special on the Joe dolls that repeat “You have a right to disagree with me.” Arrogance, stupidity or both are the questions on how Joe got sucked into the vortex that had him mouthing confusing epitaphs in the closing days of the campaign against a political novice.Were his aides so oblivious to reality or did he ignore them or both? These are questions we may study in coming years if we give a rip.It wasn’t just the Iraq debacle that linked Joe at the neocon hip with George Almighty worthy of a kiss on the cheek from the chimp in charge. Alioto and Roberts were fresh on the front page when Joe said “looks good to me.”Joe claimed he represented diversity in the Democratic Party with his unquestioned allegiance to the Rumsfield-Cheney war scheme, but he represented only the wingnut Republicans.He lifted the burden off our shoulders in the final days of his clumsy campaign by assuring us that we could disagree with his stance on Iraq without thunderbolts coming from on high. What a huge relief. What a pain in the butt, overblown windbag ego. Joe is the Iraq war guy which is now a huge civil war that prevents the administration from brokering a peace in Palestine which puts into question whether he gives a fig about Isreal. One more bites the dust.

Wa-Hi Memory--The Return Of Burl Barer

The Class of '76, Walla Walla High School will return to it's old stomping ground this week to celebrate it's 30 year reunion. This memory was not from my senior year, but my sophomore year. My cousin Burl had left KOL radio and had decided that for the time being, he would go out on some independant ventures. He struck up a partnership with Alex Merklingar on a project known as Mind Development Inc. Burl would tour the Northwest holding seminars. He came to Walla Walla I believe in the spring of '74 to teach a seminar at what was then the Black Angus-Marcus Whitman Hotel--the town's premier venue.
Burl was also able to hold a lecture at our school where he had graduated in '65. Burl's incredible talent was getting a group of restless high school students to give him their undivided attention.
Burl cut an interesting figure, his hair was shoulder length, he had on jeans and a denim jacket with a rose on the chest. Of course in a couple of years everyone would dress like that or similar.
He had us sit on the floor, we had to uncross our legs and arms and then put our thumb against our first two fingers. We would close our eyes and then count backwards from 10 to 1. We would visualize a bouquet of roses in a vase. The vase would change sizes and shapes, Burl said that was because we where getting interference from other's thoughts. The theory behind that is in a certain mental state your mind can do much more than you can perceive.

Pam Waechter--A Tribute

I did not know Pam Waechter, the Community leader who was murdered in last Friday's attack at the Jewish Federation in Downtown Seattle. I found this article written before the tragedy and wanted to publish it.
Meet Pam Waechter
"Pam Waechter, Annual Campaign Director
If someone asks you who Pam Waechter is, and you’re in a hurry, it’s probably a better idea to summarize what she hasn’t done for Seattle’s Jewish community—because the list of what she has done is so long. Both as a consummate professional and as a dedicated volunteer, Pam has a long and illustrious habit of making a real difference.
Pam, who’s worked at the Federation for eight years and volunteered for it before that on the Community Outreach Taskforce, is known by Federation staff and volunteers alike as an extremely organized, get-it-done professional. Her colleagues describe her thus:UpbeatEnthusiasticClassyCalm in the face of a stormKeeps her head when all around her are losing theirsFunny
Why did Pam join the Federation staff? “I wanted to help make the Federation more open and inclusive—help connect people.” That makes perfect sense—Pam’s first position here was Outreach Coordinator. Since then, she’s served stints as Director of Special Events, Development Officer and Assistant Director of Annual Giving, before assuming her new post as Annual Campaign Director."

Mariners Looking At Hiring Sportscaster Reynolds

The Seattle Mariners are looking at the possibility of hiring popular sports analyst
Harold Reynolds. Reynold was an excellent player and considered a role model for his off the field charity work when he played for the M's. The hitch is that Reynolds was relieved of his duties at ESPN amid charges of sexual harassment.
There is no way at this time to find out the validity of these charges. The thing of concerns here is the message that get sent if the Mariners hire him.
A baseball team is a public entity and as such or even more are the people who bring broadcast it, namely the announcers who are the connection we fans have to the team. To hire Reynold at this time can send the message of the propagation of the "old boy network".
Reynolds' evaluation of the situation was that he "gave a woman a hug and it was misinterpreted" not likely. I think to warrant dismissal for such offense there would have to be evidence of a pattern of behavior. Even so, most would be aware which co-workers are the most personable or compatible.
I am not writing this to be hanging judge or to prejudge this case. He could have been trapped or set up. I just think that we should consider all sides before making a decision.