Good night moon!

As I walked back to my cottage from the Broadmoor bar in the wee hours of Sunday morning I could not help but notice the full moon's light diffused by the water vapor in the Colorado sky much like the mist in a G Harvey painting. It was peeking just over the roof of one of the hotel buildings and was reminding me of the readings of "Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Clement Hurd" that was our standard procedure before our children's bedtime.

This week I was lucky enough to see Chelsea in California and Charlie visiting Powderhorn from Oklahoma. Perhaps that is why the old stories come to mind. Chelsea is pursuing her dreams in LA land and after stepping off the plane from Houston I can see why - 20+ degree temperature difference. Chelsea always takes good care of me and she picked me up from the Westin Bonaventure and drove us to Wurstkuche over by Little Tokyo. Chelsea and I navigated to our destination much like a falcon zeroes in on its prey, circling, and circling, and then pouncing on it. Blame it on the GPS. In any event Wurstkuche is a must visit with its variety of natural sausages and German & Belgian beers. The atmosphere reminds one of the bratwurst joints near Wrigley Field in Chicago. Austin Blues tri-pepper was the winner although the buffalo & pork with chipotle pepper was close. Rattlesnake, rabbit, and jalapeño pepper is OK if you like turkey sausage, otherwise I would pass. Chelsea dropped me at Chavez Ravine for the Giants vs. Dodgers. The Dodgers won 2-0 but like most skybox business outings there was not much game watching. It is a great stadium but there was a sparse crowd. That is understandable as I do not think there are any good baseball teams left and certainly none that are capable of capturing the imagination of the fans. I was entertained by the best air guitar show I have seen by a young Dodger fan on the fan cam during the seventh inning stretch. Charlie thinks it is Guitar Hero training - maybe so.

I slept a little late this morning after a tiring week of travel. I left Houston for Tokyo on Sunday morning around 10 AM and returned by 2 PM Tuesday. One night in the hotel and 28 hours of flying out of 52 hours gone. After a couple of hours of business discussions we ate sushi and Kobe beef at Teppanyaki and drank beer, wine and sake. By 10:30 PM I could not keep my eyes open but by 4 AM I could not sleep. After a walk around Tokyo I went to the Okura museum where there was a special exhibit of Japanese steel. If you are a Kill Bill fan you would love this exhibit.

Are you a dreamer? Quote of the day from the old lady advising her young friend, Alex, in the Flashdance movie.

"Dreaming is great but it is time to do something about your dreams."

The most quoted line from the movie is "When you give up your dreams you die." These lines came from different characters but I think I would summarize: Dream, Act, Persevere. And that is from catching ten minutes of a movie and not even under the influence.

The seven words you do not want to hear shouted from a distance as you step out into the dark in the mountains are: "There is a bear over there, sir!". I spent a great deal of time discussing politics, golf, Tour de France, etc. with the Broadmoor bartender over a few beers tonight. Essentially I left beers for bears as I immediately saw a tipped over trash can. It was too dark to see very far so I went in the direction of the voice and the employee said that a mother and cub were behind me but that I could walk in the direction of my cottage. I headed that direction while I heard the occasional bang of garbage cans. The cottage is off a dark path along the 18th fairway and when I reached the cottage I decided to watch to see if the bears would pass the cottage. After a few minutes a dark shape and two small shapes emerged out of the dark and turned to approach me. At that point I thought it best to unlock my door in case a more secure position was needed. I had left the TV on and as soon as I opened the door some roaring and growling emanated from the room. That seemed to stop the bears from approaching and after a minute they disappeared into the night.

And that is the story of the Three Bears. So I begin my blog with a children's story and end it in a similar fashion. Good night, sleep tight, and live happily ever after.