My old and dear friend Jim Cochrane died ... oh wow, it’s been a month now ... and it’s a testament to how badly and widely he’s been missed that his friends are still on about it four weeks later. He was a young man ... well, since he was precisely 3 months older than me, I insist on it being termed Young ... but at 51, I think a general ( Read more... )

So, recently, El Jay made a change that really bugged me. The pan-and-scan bar (for lack of knowing the proper term) located at the bottom of each page was suddenly gone. Ugh, I had just posted one of my typical, multi-part, photo-heavy el jay series - this one quite a departure from my norm - a 14-year-old story I'd written of a trek through ( Read more... )

As Isaac returns from his jaunt to South Dakota, the 14-year-old Yellowstone Expedition of 1997 finally concludes ...

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Hello again - it's time for PART THREE of my Turn-Back-The-Clock 1997 Adventure in Yellowstone. Meanwhile, in real time, Isaac is checking out the progress (or lack thereof) on the crazy Crazy Horse Memorial up near Mount Rushmore, meant to be the Lakota response to the desecration of their Black Hills with the towering heads of the heads of that ( Read more... )

Alrighty, campers -

Here's Part TWO of the Yellowstone Expedition - where we leave behind the Black Hills that, at this very moment, my pal and serial-ex, Isaac, is exploring ... and venture forth across the wilderness - 14 years ago - to the fabled Yellowstone of the untamed West!

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Hey readers (if there are any of you left here on good old el jay ( Read more... )

Last week I visited New York City for the first time in 22 years. Having grown up there, and immediately after high school having bid a none-too-fond farewell to its gritty, decrepit, aggressive, Dickensian culture and habitat (not to mention my parents), I haven’t really seen a need to return. In the mid-80’s, I took friends and lovers and kids ( Read more... )

I think I'm gonna join the bandwagon and drop el jay. I don't see a point in posting here if no one's reading it, and it's no longer fun if zero of my friends ever post here (or so rarely or so few it's just plain silly ( Read more... )

I had a ball, and I wasn’t expecting to. There was a crack crew attending to all the party work, and I was free to be feted and wined and dined and guested of honor all night long. Better yet, I came away with the impression my guests all had a wonderful time as well. And so I considered the party a rousing success.But in the morning, my lack of ( Read more... )

It's named for the Bonita Tower of the Disneyland Hotel, which in turn was named for Bonita Wrather - wife of the builder and long-time owner of the Disneyland Hotel.

Bonita EffectNoun ( Read more... )