Good, Better, The Best -- About This Blog

This eclectic blog is based on a simple foundation of two ideas: that we all encounter many wonderful things and experiences in our life, and that these things should be noted so others can share them.

It is about the appreciation of life.

It isn't about being an optimist, either. We all encounter more than enough bad things in life. But if we can pass on an experience, a bit of reading, a photo, a recipe, then we can enrich each other .

Our tastes differ from yours. We're heavily media and print-oriented. We like travel, food, reading, magazines, dogs and a great deal more.

If you have chanced upon this blog at this stage, you're arrival is probably a bit premature. We haven't yet written enough blog entries to make your sightseeing here worth much of your time. Over the months, that will change. And the identity of this blog can only take shape as it grows and as we all discover it.

If there's something you really like, feel free to write a message and share your discovery with others.

[A note about the photo above and about other photos you'll see in this blog: Vast stretches of text without any graphics can be very boring, so I thought I would intersperse this blog with a selection of photos I have taken over the past few years. The picture above is of Konan Benjamin, and was taken in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. I had just photographed two of the country's three most important traditional figures -- the King and the Queen Mother. A third figurte knmown as "The Soul of the Nation" did not make an appearance, so I decided to create a representation of him with a model. The model, of course, is Benjamin.]

On Haircuts

Over the past few years I have been decidedly unenthusiastic about haircuts and have gone around looking as though ny hair had been combed by a mixmaster. Paying $16 for a quick snip job at Suoercuts that left me still looking unkempt didn't thrill me.

A friebd introduced me to a babershop here in Oakland where yesterday I got one of the best haircuts I have ever had -- the last one this good was twenty years or so ago at the Jakarta Mandarin Hotel !

The place where I got this latest gtreat haircut is called The Executive Hair Salon, and it is on 345 13th Street in Oakland, California (94602) Their phone number is 510-625-9111. The fellow who cut my hair is named Mahad. He spent at least an hour, and when he waas done there wasn't a hair out of place 1

Maybe it seems odd to rave about a haircut, but when I din something good in life I really want to pass the word on about it. My real problem is that there is so much that is good around me that I haven't got enough time to note all these things.

This barbershop may seem like strictly a "Black" barbershop, but it isn't. They cut black hair, white hair, gray bhair, young hair hunting foir a stlish look, old fuddy-duddy hair like mine (and I am still wanting to look just A LITTLE stylish. If you are Caucasian, don't get up tight about patronizing this barbershop. They'll cut your hair better than most people have ever had their hair cut -- and they only charge 415.

I Can Walk AQgain

Hey, folks -- I haven't been active in the last few months because my left hip had deteriorated to the point that I almost could not walk. All my energies were involved in daily activities like cooking meals, paying bills, etc., and taking care of my wife, who is disabled. The pain in my left hip had become so great that even with medication I had to quit teaching at school for several months. I am happy to report, though, that my hip replacement operation on 19 December was so successful that a month later I am able to walk, sometimes without a cane.

Fifty years ago if this had happened I would have had to spend the rest of my life in bed because hip replacement operations didn't exist. Hooray for modern medicine. And hooray for medical insurance and Medicare.