This is not the man himself for this particular blog, but the person closest to him. I am the roommate/best friend he's spoken of many times on his blog. It falls to me to be the bringer of sad tidings. Len passed away late on the morning of January 3rd, 2005 from heart failure. Those who knew him and who's lives were touched by him will always be enriched. He meant the world to me and to my children. He was the kindest and best of men in every way and will be very sadly missed by all. ...

My thoughts and prayers go out to those devastated by "Charley". LLS

For the second time in the past week, there has been another news item about a local "parent" locking their child (children), in an automobile, on a hot sunny day. Her two kids didn't die. They were treated by the EMT's and are fine. However, this woman was immediately charged with child neglect. The incident that occured earlier in the week, where the child died, the parent wasn't charged with any crime. Late breaking news..... As I wrote earlier in the week, a "parent" forgot his ...

I had agonized the entire day about posting this particular topic, based on a specific, local news item. However, since the local radio talk show host has spent an entire hour on this topic, not to mention that this particular item is all over the local news, I am compelled to vent my frustration. There is a multitude of “common sense” issues that we, as adults, encounter every day. Unless you’re a complete idiot: you don’t stick your hand down the drain while the garbage disposal is run...

I am curious as to why everyone, the general public, the politicians as well as the media giants, are so intent on "finger pointing"? Has anyone ever considered that the events of 9/11 occured because of multiple faults, across multiple agencies, over multiple generations? If you are a conspiracy theorist, then you will make an attempt to zero-in on one individual, one agency or one administration. Are we (the US) that pompous to exclaim "No no, it certainly wasn't OUR fault!". Well...

Driving down the Interstate at 88 miles per hour, in a 65 miles per hour zone. Driving down the Interstate at 88 miles per hour, in a 65 miles per hour zone, at 2am in the morning. Driving down the Interstate at 88 miles per hour, in a 65 miles per hour zone, at 2am in the morning, with two bags of marijuana in your posession. Driving down the Interstate at 88 miles per hour, in a 65 miles per hour zone, at 2am in the morning, with two bags of marijuana in your posession and you're t...

I am in a melancholy mood. Our Icons are succumbing to their mortality. We have lost Harrison, Entwhistle, DeForest Kelley, Reagan, Hope and Brando in the last 12 months. Michael J. Fox has Parkinson's. And today I read that James Doohan, "Scotty" from the original Star Trek series, has Alzheimer's. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/weblogs/brain/archives/000531.html It makes me wonder who the "icons" will be 20, 30, 40 years from now. Spears? Slim Shady? LLS

I will state up front that I do not follow tennis. I follow tennis the way I follow golf and Nascar, in which the 'winners" are generally noted, but not necessarily my forte' in a discussion. The "winners" are simply filed away in the dark caverns of my brain, never again to see the light of day either in speech or in writing. Enter Maria Sharapova. The name has been liberally spilled all over the media lately, and I've been saying to myself, "Who is this?", as the name was new to me....

(Author's note: With any of my random, abstract thoughts, you can't just "browse". You have to read all of it. They may appear to be rambling at first, but all of my postings are intended to take a person from point "a" to point "b".) Nuradin Abdi was arrested this past week under allegations that he was planning to detonate an explosive device at an Ohio shopping mall. Abidi is a Somali National with ties to al Qaeda. During a press conference to announce Abidi's capture, Attorney ...

I have a hard time figuring out what the national media deems "important". I use to have a largely pessimistic attitude on human behavior as it applies to the media. The idea that we are all sheep, with the media talking heads being the shepherds....corralling the ideas and beliefs of the general population into THEIR pre-disposed beliefs and suppositions. A local radio talkshow host (kudos to Mac on 1140WRVA) insists that we aren't sheep. We're just ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). ...