May 16, 2005
The graduation bar-b-que on Friday afternoon was a ton of fun. Catered by Brandon and Route 66 Catering, the owner Brandon cooked up homemade beans (this alone won him my lifelong loyalty), beef, chicken, homemade potato salad and cold slaw. It was the best, especially since the last bar-b-que I had was when one of our advertisers treated the TW staff and it was so bad I can’t even begin to tell you. I made the first toast and told about all of the people who counted Thomas Charles out, and ended with the line, "Like my Kingman cowboy cousins tell me, the wildest colts make the best horses." To which Robert Chenalt and several other hell raising friends of my son’s said, "Man, I'm using that line!" Ha.

Had dinner last night at Josephine’s on Humphrey. Great meal. Just Kathy, Tomcat and the Dad. I had the pork mole, T.Boy had the salmon and Kath had a nice salad, plus wine and dessert ($98 plus $20 tip, house account). Really nice time. Went back to the Iranian Country Inn (not really, but that’s what I kept calling it, much to the irritation of my liberal wife) and watched Life Aquatic with Bill Murray. Thomas loves this movie. I thought it was very uneven and loopy, but then I think cutoffs at graduation is over the line.

On Saturday morning, Tomas and I met Carole and Bill Glenn at Martan's. We also met Chuck and Patty Holmes, oldtime KDKB people and friends of Carole's and Kathy's. Chuck just got a new gig at a medical company that makes the machines that make heart stents, etc. Chuck bragged that, "The owners invested $1,000 five years ago and they billed $5 mil last year and they’ll bill $18 mil this year."

To this, I said, "that’s the opposite of our company. We invested way more and today we’re billing way less." Carole and I laughed the loudest because we know it’s more true than I’d like to admit. (actually we invested about $600,000 five years ago and we billed $1.2 mil last year and we’ll bill around $1.5 mil this year). Carole paid for breakfast over my protestations.

On Sunday morning I played basketball on campus with Jake the Snake and Tomas. I got creamed in every game we played (21, horse, around the world). The only saving grace is I didn’t wrench my back).

We got up Sunday at the Iranian Country Inn and walked over to Macy’s Bakery on Beaver Street and had some java and toast ($12 cash). Dropped T-Bell off at about 11 and got home at one. Great weekend.

"Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings."
—C.D. Jackson