A New Year!

Sooooo, it is a New Year and for a variety of reasons 2011 seems already like so much better and brighter a year. It seems like a long time that I have entered a new year with so much optimism. The economy seems to be getting slightly better even though we appear to have not really dealt with all of the problems that brought us here. I am frightened about what the government will or will not do this year but am choosing to believe that they will find a way to be brave, make hard decisions and request and lead the American people in a new direction. Perhaps that is silly.

We just finished what we think is our last New Years Eve party with Camp Arcadia staff. We had a nice run. I think 5 out of the last 6 years we have had Arcadia staff or campers spending New Years at our house and perhaps a few days before or after. We are tired but it was once again a good but exhausting time. The good news is, no one died. The bad news is that our house was somewhat trashed, we shepherded over some 20 year olds drinking, some people were smoking cigarettes on our back porch and smokers always make me sad. But once again, even not knowing all the people in our house I was heartened by what a nice group of people we know and what nice families they must come from. Once again, hope for the future.

My TCU Horned Frogs (my alma mater) went undefeated and untied and will have to settle for 2nd or 3rd in the final standings. It was really fun seeing them hold up so well against a really good Wisconsin team. I was worried they would be proven to be pretenders but they are so well coached and recruit so well that they appear to be building a nice program that so far has avoided even a hint of scandal. Their dominance of everyone who they played and their relative class in winning was heartening. Taking so much pleasure in the play of a team I last saw play 28 years ago seems a little pathetic but I take my victories where I find them. I do not think that is unusual. I wore my TCU hat all day yesterday and cheered loudly for them. I had friends out at the came and I think it was a huge victory for a school with 8000 undergrads. We will see how they do in two years in their new contrived conference of the Big East. I do not know whether their quarterback Andy Dalton is a pro but he seemed like a very nice young man. I do not remember another red headed pro quarterback. Perhaps too nice. I am predicting that their receiver Jeremy Kerley will have a nice pro career.

I am currently watching my Rams trying to play their way into the playoffs and right now, at the end of the first quarter it looks grim and we look a little out classed but what a season they have had with their rookie quarterback. It once again gives hope for 2011.

The practice of law looks a lot more interesting this year then it has for a long time. We will see if that lasts.

More then anything else I have the support of wonderful friends and family and no matter how 2011 works out I know that I am blessed. That is a little sappy for me, but what the hell. It is a new year. God's Blessings on all of you, let's make this an awesome year. Tomorrow, the Christmas letter (or more properly Epiphany Letter gets republished. It will give you something to look forward to.

Notes From Michigan

Soooo... missives from vacation tend to be... lethargic, laconic and lots of other things meaning to express to a general lack of....doing-ness. I have been parked up in beautiful Arcadia Michigan at the Becker summer compound. Two kids, one wife, two dogs and a variety of house guests throughout the week. There is always the illusion that there will be some contemplative time and the fact is that it is just an illusion... and that it might be an out and out lie.

The first two days were filled once again with Arcadia Daze. Fior those of you unfamiliar it is a two day event in Arcadia Michigan including a craft show, a parade and two nights of drinking in the city park which is fenced off with snow fence. "Drink in a pen with your friends". It does not get any better. $2.50 for a can of beer. A DJ playing in the pavilion and every manor of poor, fat, northern Michigan white trash. It cannot be under estimated the poor quality of people who generally attend. Many of them are my friends. Because there is Camp Arcadia up here the Daze tends to be a reunion event and there will be 50 or more camp people wandering around the pen. It is not as fun as it was formerly because now we have a house and most of the people come and drink there before, and sometimes after, the Daze. Mixed blessings.

On Saturday night we cooked out with Pastor and Mrs. Tiemann. They drove in from Rochester New York just for the weekend to cut their lawn and putz around in their garden and check on their house. There are some medical issues at home which are keeping them away this summer but they are parents of one of my best friends and are just some really fine people. We cooked bratwurst. t\They were happy. Me too. There is something about an old Lutheran Pastor. A certain obstinance and crustiness if they have been allowed longevity. And this one married above his station in life. Good company and I like having my kids get to know them. Truly a different era.

It is great seeing all these people and it is also great when.... they leave. The camp runs family weeks all summer long which means people arrive on Saturday and stay to the next Saturday. We sit in our little house three blocks away in town and watch the people come and go and some are nice enough to stop by. there is always a St. Louis contingent and this year we had the Buemers, the Bergmans and their extended families in camp and also the Rozkem clan from Chicago. They came over and we drank while we watched my son and his friends move the beer they are brewing in our kitchen to "secondary fermentation". It tasted good.

The rest of the week has been spent swimming, laying around, touching base with work, walking around, driving around and generally, chilling. Chilling is good. The Dean at Camp this week is Scott Bruzek and he is talking about Justice and Mercy as a Christian. being a lawyer they are interesting discussions as it seems like all anyone ever tells me is about how they want "justice". It is interesting as a Christian to contemplate whether they are the same thing, or two sides of the same coin, or whether they run counter to one another. I am thinking that you cannot have one without the other. Anyway, that is what we do in the morning...talk about stuff like that. It makes me think outside myself though and that has to be good.

Wednesday we went to morning program and then with the Kuklas drove up to Glen Arbor and ate outside at Art's Tavern http://www.artsglenarbor.com/. Good burgers, great tater tots. Then we drove over to Traverse City and bought brian Kukla a "slack line" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacklining. then we saw "Inception". Then we had dinner with John at "The Blue Tractor"http://www.bluetractor.net/. Then we came home and went to bed sober. "Inception" was an interesting (albeit long) experience and I am still processing it. There were some really meaningful themes in it. The whole dream within a dream, world within a world thing is interesting... bit not intellectually interesting. It is interesting in a way like unicorns would be interesting (this from a man who believes someone died for his sins). I have never been a huge Di Caprio fan (at least after "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?") and this did nothing to dispel that. He can act but... so can a lot of people.

Thursday.... Thursday was a good day. Got good nights sleep Wednesday and then made the decision not to play golf. Arcadia has one of the best golf courses in the country in Arcadia Bluffs. http://www.arcadiabluffs.com/. It is an awesome course carved out of the dunes and it is way too much course for me. Soooo...I walked on the beach, took a nap, read another book, went swimming in the lake and then went and met the golfers as they were coming off the course and had a few drinks. Brilliant. I came back, we ate, we drank on the porch until late. Good day.

Friday. I cannot really remember Friday. We had a shrimp boil for dinner.

Saturday it rained. We walked the dogs. Had breakfast at The Bayside in Frankfort. A friend from DC was in and I had lunch with him at Riggers. I finished another book while the rest of the gang played gin. Don and I went and gambled at the Little River casino. I downloaded the new Joe Pug EP. We cooked some steaks. The people who were coming in the next week at camp started to come by. Matt Carlson, Kyle Dewees and his betrothed Leah Meier. The Gallos. It made me sad i was leaving. We drank a little more. I went to bed early.

I got up early Sunday morning and headed south at 6:00 A.M. planning on taking a long way home through Indy to Shapiros Deli. You just get on 31 outside of Arcadia and point your car south. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_31. Somehow while looking for directions to Shapiro's northern Indy location in carmel I didn't make the right merge and ended up on highway 20 for about 20 minutes before I even noticed it. I of course am an idiot. To get an idea why this place is worth the long detour: http://www.shapiros.com/locations.htm. I ate a huge corned beef sandwich and a potato pancake. I noshed on the road home from Indy. I was happy.

I got home to a house being repainted. 95 degree heat and listening to the Cardinals pounding the Pirates. it was a good holiday. Too busy. I did not get done any of the important things I intended like discussing my future vocation with my wife or even spending any time with my wife. We have got to be smarter about this stuff. Anyway...vacation 2010 in Michigan. BOOM! that just hap[pened.

Post Mortem: Arcadia Teen Week 2010, A Cry For Help!

1. No One Died!

2. I dropped another 5 LBS (Now weighing in at sporting 174.

3. No One Died (I am not getting enough props for that).

4. Figured Out I Have to Quit My Job Sooner Rather Then Later.

5. Had Great Time

I think that is a nut shell of the week. Got up there late Friday and drank too much at Riggers (formerly The Big Apple). Went to Counselor training on Saturday and then....drank too much at Riggers with the high school counselors and the prior weeks counselors (8th grade week) during the much heralded "crossover". Had a really nice worship service Sunday morning with all the people I drank with the night before which tends to be the best worship I do the whole year. There is something about having a service with people you really love. I realize that one of the things that makes this place great for me is that no one expects anything of me other then to be me. I have no deliverables for the week other then to be me... and not kill any kids. In light of my feelings that my partners have no interest at all in me being me and are only interested in my deliverables (harvestable organs) this feels empowering. Or at least it sucks less. No... I think it feels (felt) good.

It is a nightmare being away from work for a week. No matter how good of a jobyou do covering bases part of what I do is being there when my clients need me. When I am not, thongs often do not go well. But I unplugged for a week and hung around with 11 kids. The hallmark to being in my group is the group motto, "When Things Get Hard We quit". Next year I will have it put in Latin on their t-shirts like a crest. Instead, my group, Group B had shirts that said B-Attidues: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". Matthew 3:5. One of my favorites from the Sermon On The Mount. Anyway, the kids did not seem to internalize my message of qutting and over all lassitude and they...they...well, I don't really want to talk about it....they won things.

They pulled together as a group, showed leadership, fortitude, everything a Becker lacks. It was...humiliating for me. Very nice group though populated by a Division I basketball prospect and three other Seniors and two musicians (one rocker and one sensitive indie boy) and just really nice people. It always amazes me how nice, talented, involved parents seem to have nice kids. It is excellent for me to sit around and talk religion, politics, morality, dating, education and anything else with them because they all tend to be reasonably well grounded. I like my kids a lot but it is humbling when your surrounded by 11 kids and think that it would not be a bad deal to call any of them your own.

Bottom line...great week. Helps put life in perspective and in a time when everyopne i hanging their heads talking about the economy and limited prospects and selling out our children with our debt... I think that we do not have so much to worry about. The kids are all right. Arguably, so are we.

The kids arrive Sunday starting at about 2:00. I went home and napped. They arrive and we mill around as they register trying to figure out who is in our group. I knew i had a couple of musicians, a real jock, a cottage colony kid (2) and otherwise they were indistinguishable for me.

Teen Week Ahead Of Time

Sooooo.....tomorrow I head to beautiful Camp Arcadia Michigan to do my annual week at teen camp. The Camp, against the advice of it's counsel allows me to come up there once a year and spend the week with 11 predominantly white, predominantly middle class, predominantly Lutheran, predominantly from two caring parent households to help.... help them do what exactly. They tend to be well adjusted, smart and have a healthier spiritual life then me.

But perhaps that is the point. because when you are a teen, Sophomore-Senior, your life is just starting to spin out of control and seem confusing. So you throw them in with a 48 year old man who has marginally successfully raised three children (almost) and you see if they can "get it". But what does "get it" mean? Does it mean that if their pathetic counselor can shamble through life without a major faux pas then perhaps they can muddle through on their own? that is not an inspiring message.

There are a lot of other "counselors" up there with me along with one Minister and one professional counselor to supervise us and make sure we do as little permanent damage as possible. Everyone brings something different to the table. Some of them are very spiritual people. Some of them are... much younger then me. A lot of them seem very smart. Some love teen agers. Some have very high energy. Some are just really good, solid people. I like to think they invite me because I am none of those things.

I always have group B, for Becker. My theme is always the same. Ministry through brokenness. If God can use me to serve other people, with all my well documented problems, prejudices, weaknesses and sins then certainly he can use them towards his plan. This year i have bought t-shirts for the little monsters in group B that say B-Attitude, Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". No one is poorer in spirit then the members of group B. I tell the kids from the start, "Remember, your in group B! When things get hard.... we quit." And we do. No one sits around like my group. I can take the most motivated kid in the world and by the end of the week they can sit and bite an apple and watch it turn brown It is a gift I have and I try not to abuse it.

Through the week we try and move the kids from wherever they are in their faith life and their personal life to somewhere a little better. Empower them with something, if nothing else with an odd adult who has taken a sudden, unnatural interest in their life. It seems to work. Arcadia in the summer is one of the most beautiful places in the world and they will spend 25% of their time on a big cement porch about 30 feet from Lake Michigan. they talk about God, school, their siblings, their parents, alcohol, sex, music, abuse, gossip, cliques, politics, violence, guns, free speech, curfews, television, masturbation, movies, make up, clothes, food, Church (which rarely comes up when discussing God), boys, girls, sex again and hopefully finishing with God and maybe even being a Lutheran. But maybe not too.

And everyone acts really nice, almost all the time.

So whether it works for them or not, it works for me. I probably is time more then anything else to let 11 poor, innocent kids heal me again. if your able, pray for them.

New Years 2010: And The Beat Goes On!

Sooooo we always end our year with a series of bangs rather then a series of whimpers. December, once it hits is pretty much a write off with scheduled trip to Chicago recurring each year along with wife's birthday, Christmas, mother in laws birthday, new Years...etc... You get the idea. Along with all of the scheduled events comes the never ending carousel of end of the year happy hours, Christmas parties at work and client parties where attendance can be "mandatory". it is hard to get anything done and when you have ADD as badly as i do, "hard" becomes "impossible".

Still what a great season. The high points for me were two annual bashes that Sandy and I host, one on Christmas Eve and one on New Years Eve. A lot of food is cooked, a lot of wine and beer are bought, some is delivered and most of it is consumed. The events appear to be about consumption. Conspicuous consumption. But we try and make ourselves believe that it is all really just about family and friends. We inherited the Christmas Eve party from my brother in law and sister in law when they left town. It is a Dierberg/Becker affair with a lot of friends thrown in who have shown up over the years. At this point the party goes back at least 15 years and i think we have been hosting for 3 or 4. I lose track. it is a great event with beef tenderloin, chick-fil-et nuggets, little smokies, sausage, cheese, salted nuts and booze. This year it ended about 12:30 and we got in bed about 1:30. Thus started the sleepless week.

One would think that party is enough. Especially with sandy working again almost full time and having an elevated stress level but nooooooo.... we need to have another blow out on New Years Eve. For the last several years our son has been on staff at Camp Arcadia, up in Arcadia Michigan. We used to go to camp there every summer before buying a house up there but with Jon being on staff we have hosted an annual New years Eve Party/Staff reunion. It is a blow out and the staff members, (all between 19 and 24 or so) start arriving on new years eve, eve and we don't lose them all until today....January 2nd. It is an open question as to how many people are here but they come from all over country, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Chicago, Ohio (Chicago is a State) and clog our street with their cars as they eat, drink, play and sleep at our house. The party itself requires that cooking start the day before and we are constantly amazed at what people of that generation can eat. We have found that if we put it out, they eat it. The only exceptions to this rule at this point appear to be a Hautley Pimento Cheese (No Offense to the Hautleys) and fruitcake. Everything else gets devoured including pork tenderloin, home made tamales, little smokies, chic-fil-et nuggets and vegetable trays and on and on.

This year the actual festivities started about 7 with a great deal of eating and then food kept getting put out. Normally our friends the Kukla's and Bentzingers sit with us around the kitchen as the kids and party kind of swirl around us. To venture into the basement where sweat, music and beer pong reign is a mistake for anyone older then 25. This year our normal old people friends were indisposed with other commitments. I was sad. But my wife, my friends and chance intervened and she surprised me with Kris and Steve Park flying in from Michigan. Over the evening we were also visited by the Koehns, the Carrons and delightfully, the Mogermans. It was a party. Along with a lot of bottles of beer and wine a full half barrel gets consumed at this little get together before the 30-40 kids sprawl somewhere to sleep.

We have been blessed over the years that no one has gotten hurt at this event but it always gives me pause. This year the party went pretty hard I am told till about 4 A.M. but I cashed out at about 3. People started to trickle out the next day but most of the people seem to stay around for a full day afterwards, just to aid their recovery. And this morning, mass exodus...mass clean up. We generally need to call in a Federal Haz/Mat Team and then get the clearance from the CDC out of Atlanta. It is a long process but normally by February our house is put back in order and the insurance claims have been paid. All in all, it is an exhausting way to end the year but an exhilarating way to start the new one.

The Diner Review will weigh in the best of 2009 over the next few days and ruminate on what 2010 will bring us. Beware. You have been warned.

Hiding In Michigan

"I have come here to get high, to do more then just get by, I have come to test the timber of my heart" Joe Pug/"Hymn 101"

Sooooo it is July. I snuck out of the Lou a day early since the office was officially "closed". The Banks were open, my clients were still broke but the office was "closed" so I bullied my brother in law and sister to leave early and take me to Michigan. I could have waited at home for my daughter to get home. She was in Oklahoma on a servant event with our church and allegedly had not potable water and a bevy of scorpions and snakes. That sounded suspiciously like my job but who am I to call her a liar? Anyway, my wife could picker up and they could drive up Saturday. Me, I needed to go to Michigan NOW!

After all it is only three weeks since they tried to arrest me. As a post script to that I have to tell you that Manistee County had indeed screwed up and I had paid the ticket and the great news is that I now can drive in Michigan again. My privilege to do so was "unrevoked". Imagine my relief. So I got in the car with them and hauled ass up here. We had no incidents and ate lake perch in Holland Michigan. We hit town around 11:00 P.M. and I found my house full of kids (19-26) drinking my beer and celebrating my arrival...by drinking my beer. It was a minor party. The next day when my brother in law went to golf I had him drop me off in Pierport and walked a few miles on the beach back to camp. I got sunburned and my whole body still aches.

But why Michigan? Well there are a lot of reasons:
1. We have been going to family camp up here for 14 years
2. I know lots of people here
3. Most of them are Lutherans which makes them:
a. boring
b. generally non threatening; and
c. very comfortable around a cold beer
4. My son has been working up here the last three summers.
5. The weather is flawless and Lake Michigan looks like the Caribbean (a very cold caribbean).
6. We have a house there now
7. The dogs (which my wife loves more then me) can come along
8. A lot of the people I know here I consider friends (they might not but I have found that is ok)
9. There is still a bar in town called The Big Apple and often we are able to drink their kegs of La batts, Budweiser and Bud Light dry.
10. The Big Apple has an internet jukebox.
11. Cell phone reception in Arcadia sucks
12. My kids love it here
13. Their are always at least 5 vacationing pastors to take my confession
14. You can talk about God and contemplate your faith....but you do not have to.
15. The Camp has events planned every night which you can attend...or not.
16. About this time of year the berry crop comes in.
17. I feel better here
18. I am far away from most people
19. I could go on and on.
20. I can work on that beer can pyramid I never got around to in college.
21. When you take your cans back you get 10 cents

It is a nice place to hide. My wife came on Saturday with the dogs, my daughter and one of her friends. My brother showed up with his wife. When they came I was sitting at Pastor Tiemann's house drinking my 3rd Bud Light of the afternoon. We ate. It was the 4th of July and they all went to see fireworks. We went home and my wife and I talked and was able to talk her into not leaving me again.

I really love my country. I am grateful to live here. The 4th of July with it's forced rah-rah, yay us mentality leaves me cold. I didn't go see fireworks because I go up here to get away from crowds. Besides, one of my dogs (the mentally ill older one) goes nuts during storms and any loud noises so we had to stay around and comfort it. We drank beer and went to bed.

On Sunday up here you have the chance to get up and go to this little Lutheran Church in the center of town. From our house I can here the bells as they chime off each hour. The church is old and small and pretty and if you pack it with a bunch of Germans it can realluy rock the house for "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". This is good stuff. John Nunes is up here this week as Dean (head spiritual guy) at the Camp and he is one of my favorite people. He makes me think big thoughts. It stretches me out in a non threatening way and is very different from being stretched out at work.

"I have come to be untroubled in my seeking.
I have come to see that nothing is for naught" Joe Pug/"Hymn 101"

Bottom lione for why I go to Michigan. I go to hide. Everyone should have a place to hide and if they can hide with friends then sometimes you get to recieve a little Grace (capital G Grace) right here on earth which....is sweet.

"Life is sweet, life is sweet, life is sweet, bittersweet, and days keep rolling along". Maria Mc Kee/"Life is Sweet"

I Am Of Course.... An Idiot

Sorry for my extended absence from this space. Summer is a nightmarish busy time. As I type this I am watching Governor Sanford melt down on the 24 hour news cycle thinking how sad it is on so many levels. How sad it is that this dogmatic, morally scolding conservative should have to be brought down in this way. How sad it is that we are all sinners and all only a few bad decisions away from a total meltdown. How sad it was that you knew when he disappeared that there was an illicit relationship with someone. You always hope that being brought low will make people more understanding of other people’s faults but people like Rush Limbaugh who have had difficulties with drug abuse and never stopped condemning others weaknesses in their hypocrisy does not give much hope. Other then his attempted refusal of TARP money I had never heard of the guy but he seems like a nice guy. They are running some his “Christian Values” campaign commercials right now and it is pretty painful. We force our politicians to pretend that they are without sin and it is really stupid. This is not just a Conservative thing or a Republican thing. It is a political thing and it is no wonder that these deeply flawed people rise to the top because anyone with any sense would not expose themselves to such an ultimately damning system of curring favor with special interest groups by publicly pretending to embrace their agenda. Now that i know what happened I am sick of the story. I hope he does not resign. I also hope he does not run for President, at least until he gets his shit together. Blah, blah, blah.

*****

So I got to spend a whole week with a bunch of teenagers up in Michigan. I drove 6 kids from St. Louis up there and they joined a group of about 160 kids at beautiful Camp Arcadia. As always it was sweet. I get to go up and they give me 11 kids for a week and put us through “the program”. Inevitably these are some of the best people I get to deal with all year long. Not the best teachers but the best people. It was a little creepy. Several kids had parents out of jobs or under employed. This obviously was causing added stress in their houses. We don’t sleep much when we are up there. I also don’t drink much or engage in any other of my many vices when there. Other then eating like a pig it is a place where I get a little cleansing. In light of how I treat my body day to day any cleaning would seem positive. It was sweet being away from work for a week and getting to know 11 kids who I did not know before gives me some meager hope for the future which is better then no hope at all.

****

On the way home from camp I only had two kids in the car with me and was in a hurry to get home (for no good reason). When driving south down the west coast of Michigan you take highway 31 and it is 70 mph the whole way other then a 30 mile or so stretch from Muskoegen to Holland where it intermittently drops to 55 and below. I was blowing along at 74 when pulled over. It never ceases to amaze me how sick to my stomach I get at the sight of flashing cherrys in the rear view. I always want to puke. The office was the kind of large, blue eyed Dutchman that you can only find in Holland Michigan and had probably been fairly formidable when playing middle line backer for Hope College. he was polite. He inquired if I had a good reason for speeding (I did not) and went back to run my plates and I assume write me a ticket. When he got out of the cruiser without his ticket clip board I thought perhaps he was going to let me skate but then he informed me that I had an old unpaid ticket in Michigan and therefore was no longer authorized to drive in the state. He also told me I would need to post a 205 dollar cash bond and asked if I had the cash and when I said no he politely said:
"Please step out of the car".
When I did so it was followed up by:
"Please place your hands on the vehicle".
At which time I realized he was about to arrest me. Keep in mind that I had a two week beard growing, no shoes and two minor children in the car. I began to speak telling him that although i knew he was just doing his job I needed him to help me out a little and he told me that he had no options but to take me in and book me and let me post a credit card bond "at the station". The kids in the car looked horrified but were trying to be polite. I could see a bank about 1/2 mile away and suggested i could drive to the ATM:
"I cannot allow that sir. You are not authorized to drive in the State of Michigan."
I smiled.
"How about if you just give me a ride?"
"Once I put you in the squad car you are arrested." He responded.
I stuck my head in the window at the two 16 year olds and asked if either had ever driven a stick and they both indicated the negative but i made my final play:
"How about if I teach one of the kids to drive a stick and you follow me to the bank?"
"I do not think that would be safe sir."
I pleasingly looked at him and said "I need a little grace here officer. I am confident that I can get him to learn quickly and get to the bank and post that cash bond".
He grudgingly allowed it and I hopped in the passenger seat. In the drivers seat was a panicked young man named Jeff Schultie who after a few simple instructions performed brilliantly. I think he only killed the car once and was able not only to get us there but also negotiated a Michigan U turn in the process. I went to the ATM and got the cash. He wrote the ticket and gave me receipt and then told me that although I was not authorized to drive in the State of Michigan it might not be in every one's best interests to have Jeff drive all the way to Indiana and he suggested that Jeff get me out of his county. Jeff did and then gratefully surrendered the wheel but i cannot say enough about the effort. For me it was just a totally humiliating fathers day. On the other hand I didn't have to fly back from Argentina and face the press like the governor of California. I guess it was not that humiliating.

***

Two weeks ago I was up in Lansing Michigan giving a commencement address. That will be posted tomorrow.