The Incredibleness Will Not Stop!

INCREDIBLENESS...IZZAT A WORD?

If it isn't, it certainly should be. It pretty much describes the nature of things right now. We seem to be doing more different things, in more different places, with more different people than ever. No more sitting around all day in a chair, staring off into space. Bear with me as I attempt to relate a few recent activities....

A MEMORABLE DAY WITH MEMORABLE FRIENDS

Sometimes you have a friend who is so close that you can go months, even years without direct contact, and when you do talk or get together, it's just like you saw them yesterday. For me, a person who fits that bill is Alex Hutras. We worked together starting in 1983 at Children's Hospital SF, then San Jose Medical Center, California Pacific, and Mt. Diablo. Sometimes I was "The Boss", sometimes he was. It never seemed to cause any real problems, we just switched around and went on with the tasks at hand. Outside of work, Alex was one of the originators of "Dinner with the Gang", and was a faithful participant until he retired seven years ago. He and his bride of 54 years, the lovely Rita (and no, she is not a meter maid) moved to New Mexico, and built a bocce ball, uh, court, er, lane? Whaddaya call it? Anyway, you know what I mean. I never failed to learn stuff from Alex each time we worked together, and I can safely say he made me a better manager in every case.

The time arrived for Alex and Rita to vacation in California, so the Gang rallied to put together an event befitting the importance of their visit. JP graciously offered his home, expertise, and moussaka. We were privileged to include Chef Alison as a Special Guest. Sue, Virgil, Tanya (Paul was unfortunately ill), Jane, Cheryl, Yours Truly, and of course JP and Cora all provided food, beverages and serving implements, and we enjoyed an impressive spread of fine eats.

But the main point was not food (what?) but our honored guests. And once again, Alex and I (and in fact everyone) were able to just start up conversations like we had been together the day before yesterday. Needless to say, it was a rare and unbelievably enjoyable reunion. And an added bonus was that it was a bit of a reunion for everyone with the old Bob/Irv, who replaced that schlocky dude who showed up at the monthly dinners and just kinda sat there like a big lump of doo doo. I can tell you, he is damn glad to be back.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT; BAGPIPES!

Sharp readers (come on, you know who you are) will recall the story of the Stenzel Twins, two amazing ladies who endured lives of cystic fibrosis and survived to receive lung transplants. They wrote a book about their incredible lives (The Power of Two which will be a feature-length documentary, coming soon to a theater or drive-in near you (NOT). One of the sisters, Isa, took up bagpipes since she now has the breathing power to do so. And it takes a bit of breath, not to mention overall strength and musical talent, to operate one of those babies. She was selected to perform the National Anthem at the opening ceremony of last summer's Transplant Games, where she medaled in swimming as well. Also, recall that Isa belted out a few notes at the UCSF Heart and Lung Transplant Support Group, which is where the entire room full of people sat, grinning like idiots, as that interesting and LOUD music filled the room. And probably the rest of 10 Long, too.
OK, yes, I will admit we are big Isa and Ana fans, having known them from TRIO ever since we started going. When I heard about the upcoming performances of the Stewart Tartan Pipes and Drums, I managed to convince Dear Cheryl that she would enjoy it. Imagine the volume of 16 pipers and like six drummers if just one blew us away. Loving loud noise as I do (racing cars, rock 'n' roll, planes taking off, thunder, etc) I was quite excited. We journeyed to the Episcopal church in Saratoga for the concert, and were not disappointed. Accompanied by the drums, a brass ensemble, a string group, Scottish dancers and a drum major it was quite a spectacle. We highly recommend it; if you ever get a chance, do it.

After a post-performance congratulatory chat with Isa and husband Andrew, we enjoyed a terrific dinner at Left Bank in Santana Row. Luckily, we avoided the chic and expen$ive stores and arrived back to our humble home happy, if a bit deaf. In my case, even more so than normal...Huh? What did I say? I couldn't hear myself. But my fondest memories of races include temporary hearing loss after several hours of exposure to those sweet sounds. Now I include a big bagpipe event in the category of my favorite loud experiences.

AND THEN WE...HEY, WAIT A SECOND!

Jeez, I see several of you nodding off out there. That can only mean you are either up past your bedtime (of 8:30 pm) or I am boring the living s**t outta you with all this Alex and bagpipe stuff. That tells me I have way too much happy and interesting (?) crap to share in one sitting. So, yes, even Your Editor/Publisher needs his beauty sleep despite the fact that we here at the Trib have looming and ironclad deadlines to meet. Uh, no we don't. I was simply looking for a bit of sympathy. We publish when something notable actually happens, or sometimes not.

I will bravely declare this a Two Part Blog Post, and leave you to your own devices. Until the next thrilling issue, I wish everyone a fun and safe Holiday $hopping Season.

Bob/Irv