Category: Life Events

Over the past year or so that I have been writing for the OB Rag I have mentioned one or two of my grandchildren in the course of discussion. I have three beautiful daughters, and they have gifted me with 9 grandchildren and some of those have given me 4 great-grandchildren. Out of those children that are eligible for college, all of them are currently enrolled in the California Higher Education programs.

Last week I posted an article written by my oldest grandson, Josh, as to why he was proud to be an American, and why he feels somewhat “tarnished” today. I have always known that he was very bright, yet if you look at his past his actions sometimes belied that intelligence. I think it is fair to say that he is growing up, and the beautiful creative mind that has been stifled is being unleashed.

Josh has had a relationship with his girlfriend Cherie for close to seven years. When she came into their relationship she had a very young daughter and Josh treated her as if she was his. (I have to admit that for a time I wondered if she was his child. She wasn’t.) Two years after they got together they had a child together and people, including this grandmother, asked if they were going to get married. The answer was “no” and has continued to be “no”. But something happened last week that has Josh thinking – and writing – again.

These words are in memory
of a dear friend whom I met in 1975
through my soul mate Nancy
who also is no longer alive
although they both will
exist forever, in my inner being, spirit wise.
And as it is with life,
I could have never known
back then
that this new friend,
Charlie McKain, Lucky,
would represent the kind of
human progress
in which he has been
involved in
(my mother, by the way,
is turning in her grave
with that ordering of words
as she was the queen of the preposition) –

Local media has covered the construction of the replica of the galleon Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo used when he sailed into San Diego Bay back in 1542. The San Diego Maritime Museum – in conjunction with the City and Port of San Diego – are sponsoring the building of the boat modeled after the San Salvador, itself built 500 years ago on the shores of Mexico, over at Spanish Landing. Begun in February 2011, the ship is now a quarter completed – with the plan to have it finished by November 2013.

One of the big threads in the story of this ship being built is how it’s being built. Not only are ten different kinds of wood being used – hauled in from Africa and South America, and other places – , and not only are the workers using the same technology – outside of the power tools, but the new San Salvator is being built mainly by San Diego volunteers. This is the big story here.

By Center on Policy Initiatives / May 7, 2012

Press conference planned for Wednesday to urge City Council action.

San Diego residents whose neighborhoods are blighted with foreclosed houses will join Councilmember David Alvarez in a press conference Wednesday urging action against banks that cause the problem.

The Center on Policy Initiatives will release new poll results from the public opinion research firm Grove Insight showing widespread support among city voters for an ordinance fining banks that failed to maintain the properties they own.

A world biking event is coming to the Ocean Beach Rec Center on May 9th. The traveling event called “Biking for Baseball” is cruising into OB and San Diego on that day, as the longest charity bike ride in the world.

Its sponsors are stopping at every city that has a major league baseball team, hoping to energize each community by raising funds and awareness for youth mentoring programs.

Here is the remainder of a report from NBC San Diego:

The event really goes the distance — with participants bicycling across 27 cities in the U.S. for charity. It’s known as the longest charity bike ride in the world, because after all is said and done, the bike ride spans 11,000 miles.

Ocean Beach’s own Pizza Port pulled off three wins during this past weekend’s World Beer Cup. Pizza Port won a Gold: its Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter; in the coffee beer category.

Plus, it won a Silver: Tarantulas 2.0; American-style black ale. And a Bronze award: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Ale; American-style stout. Pizza Port won nearly one-fifth of all the awards by San Diego breweries.

Here’s the remainder of the report from the U-T San Diego:

This year’s World Beer Cup lived up to its international name, with winners coming from all corners of the globe — including San Diego County, where breweries took 16

Woke up on April 18th
at about 9:04.
It was my birthday.
Number 74.
Stepped my big old feet
down upon the floor,
reached down to pick up
a paper clip or something
that caught my eye
next to my bedroom door
and all of a sudden I felt
a wee tug of my sacroiliac
and then my back
seemed like it was being attacked
by an alligator
in a biting contest, Jack!
I hit the deck
like a concrete filled sack,
writhing on the carpet,
moaning in tongues,

Who would have thought that a mature babe like me would fall “head over heels in love” with a man much younger than me? A man, by most standards, that fits the ”tall, dark and handsome” description. A man that is polite; humorous, amorous, concerned about the welfare of people he knows, and would willingly do anything for someone that needed help.

He sounds ideal so what’s the problem? Simply put, he is not interested in me; not because of the age difference because that doesn’t seem to matter. Not because we are not compatible, because we have a great time together; not because our sex life is bad, because it is great, but because he has been burned before and is afraid it will happen again. He promised himself that he would never, ever, make another commitment to a woman, and he wants to stick to that promise. It became such an issue that he decided not to see me again. Ever. He felt that I was becoming too attached – I was – and he was afraid of that attachment. And, although he has sort of admitted it – he, too, was becoming attached.

By Allison Linn / msnbc / April 25, 2012

Shacking up. It’s not just for the kids anymore.

The number of people over age 50 who are living together romantically has more than doubled in a decade, from 1.2 million in 2000 to 2.75 million in 2010, according to an analysis of government data done by Bowling Green State University.

The 50-plus group represents nearly one-third of the approximately 7.5 million people of all ages who were living together in 2010, the researchers found.

But while young people tend to be testing the waters for marriage, experts say older people aren’t necessarily living together as a step toward tying the knot. They’re doing it for the money.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / April 15, 2012

A few days ago, between classes, I ran to the Women’s Room, previously known as the Lady’s Room — until we were liberated from ladylike notions. Or so we thought. Maybe they’ll redo the door signs if Mitt Romney wins the presidency.

In the meantime, I had to get to class, but having birthed a child and lived half a century I had a greater need to pee.

Which I did, surprising myself with a faint moan I had neither intended to release nor felt vibrating past my gullet. Too distracted to give it much thought, I exited the stall, washed my hands, poked at a loose strand of hair, and then I noticed:

Four stalls, three empty. Three sinks. One pregnancy test package insert on the counter. And one faint moan that might have been mine, but was not.

When I was of traditional college age, I invested no thought in motherhood, other than to declare myself unfit for it for several years, and then disinterested for many more. I did, however, eventually succumb to the grandiose and mundane thoughts of parenting, so I found a proper partner and engaged in the physical performance of a lifetime, repeatedly reconfiguring my body to accommodate a growing second. And I never quite managed to put myself back together again. I don’t care what the glitterati say; we are never who we were before producing a child, physically and otherwise.

By Veteran of First Dates

After my San Diego divorce in the early part of this century, and then after a few false-starts in dating other women, I finally set out to date with a more self-conscious awareness.

Being in my mid-fifties, it was not easy to meet people – not being a bar kind of guy -, and after exhausting friends of friends, friends of family, former girlfriends, going on one blind date, participating in one of those “quick dating” rounds at a restaurant, I came to realize that there must be better and more modern ways to meet women – and men – in this society.

And there is. It’s called internet dating.

OCEAN BEACH –Bankers representing News Corporation announced that its Fox News division had agreed to purchase The OB Rag, a local news website based in San Diego.

“With this acquisition,” News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch said in a prepared statement, “News Corp silences an increasingly important voice for social justice and expands its local coverage to boot.”