I love this scene from The Godfather II. It’s Michael Corleone being scary calm.
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Frank’s World
Warren Zevon: Lawyers, Guns and Money
Read into this what you want. It’s worse.
Sometimes songs have a way of distilling an event down to its bitter essence.
Click here to see Lawyers, Guns, and Money
From Lawyers, Guns and Money
I’m the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
Now I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money…
I wore a jacket this morning when I walked Snickers the Wonder Dog for the first time in months.
I mark change like that.
Shirtsleeves. Jacket. Daylight. Moonlight.
It’s getting dark in the mornings now.
And I spent part of our walk thinking about getting a headlamp.
About snow.
About the onset of winter.
Employees notice subtle changes at your shop, too.
They might not say much, but they can sense when winter is coming.
I have little obsessions.
One of mine is about thru-hiking the A.T.
2,176.6 miles — Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine.
168 days from start to finish in a Green Tunnel.
Mostly uphill.
When I was a kid I used to think I could walk forever.
As I start my prep, I’m not so sure.
Only about 10% who start out to be thru-hikers make it to Katahdin.
I started this obsession, like many, when I read A Walk in the Woods.
Funniest book I ever read.
And one that made me think about a big adventure.
I wonder what any of us would say to summarize our lives.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever done?
(That would be a terrific interview question.)
I would hope the answer would be something big.
That involved taking a risk.
Or doing something hard.
Me?
A journey of 2,100 miles begins with walking Snickers the Wonder Dog.
Snickers the Wonder Dog went missing last night.
We let her out last night for her evening constitutional.
And like we’ve done for the past 10 years,
we waited for her to knock at the door and ask to be let in.
“Frank, I think Snickers took herself on a walk,” Sheryl said.
No worries. Every once in a while Snickers likes to go out on the front sidewalk.
After five minutes, Sheryl came back in.
“She’s gone.”
Sheryl set out on foot.
I took the car and drove the neighborhood.
Nothing.
The next 45 minutes included me driving out to the main road.
And hoping not to see anything. (People drive fast there.)
Finally a phone call.
“She’s down on Doral. Someone has her in their car.”
Apparently, a 17-year-old girl saw Snickers in front of our house.
Snickers didn’t have her Wonder Dog collar on.
So the girl thought Snickers was a lost dog.
So she got Snickers into her car.
And Snickers the Wonder Dog went on an adventure.
While Sheryl and I went into CSI: Missing Pets mode.
All’s well that ends well.
The girl who picked up Snickers meant well.
But you know what they say about good intentions.
I’ll save my heart attack for another day.
