West Coast Dirge

Those of you who are familiar with my current situation know that I have relocated to California as of 3 weeks ago, "awaiting further instructions." At the behest of my friend Jason, I have decided to resume my journal activities. Calling it 'blogging' would make it sound too dignified, as if it had some kind of journalistic quality to it. We all know better than that. A lot has happened over the past month or so. I sold my house in Michigan, unloaded at least 70% of my belongings via the Salvation Army and a pretty interesting garage sale. I bid/bade/boded(?) farewell to homeownership and Ann Arbor, and hopped aboard a Northwest Airlines jet back to LAX. Since getting back to Southern California, where I am staying with my parents (hopefully for not much longer), I have seen some pretty momentous things, not the least of which is UCLA's incredible run through the 2006 NCAA Tourney. It was truly a tournament run that exceeded all expectations. "UNBELIEVABLE" The defining moment of the 6 games played was the March 23 UCLA-Gonzaga game, where UCLA miraculously rallied from 17 points down to defeat a very talented Gonzaga team. The Gonzaga Bulldogs were led by All-American Adam Morrison, who will forever be remembered for crying uncontrollably with 22 seconds remaining in the game. I wonder if that episode cost Morrison votes in the Wooden and Naismith Awards for Player of the Year, which were awarded this past week. The best memory I will take from the game was of UCLA guard Arron Afflalo coming over to Morrison to help him up from the floor of Oakland Arena after time had expired. To me, that epitomizes class and sportsmanship, which is a heckuva a lot more than I can say about the way the Florida team handled 'winning.' Since last week's National Championship game, I have been maintaining a very low and humble profile. Yesterday, I joined Jason and his lovely wife Michele for dinner at Johnny Carino's an upstart Italian franchise that had a new store in Simi Valley, not far from the Reagan Library. As usual, it was fun watching a married couple interact. After dinner, I was able to catch this very eloquent sunset, although my camera phone doesn't quite do it justice.