Adios 2020

I have a little time for one of those rambling end of the year letters. Have an appointment in an hour but will try to not be too circuitous and hit most of my spots.

First get the political out of the way. Don't have much but I agree with Mitch McConnell for once on this one. I am not in favor of a cross the boards 2k disbursement to all Americans. I understand why the democrats agreed with the President, to triangulate the Republican Senate. But I still think it is fiscally irresponsible.

How about a 2k disbursement to Americans that actually need it, not to wealthy ones who don't? I don't need it, nor do many of you. If you do, you do and I am in favor of helping you but if you don't it will merely increase our national debt at a time where it is already too large. Means testing? Of course that didn't help the PPP money from filling the larders of the fat cat billionaires either.

Having said that, the GOP wanting to tie the stimulus package to a Section 230 repeal bill that would allow Trump to continue to lie on social media unchallenged is ludicrous.

Big thank you to Crooks and Liars for once again posting me today.

Now that I got that out of the way let me just say that there are a lot of people I need to thank this year, stating with my wife Leslie for putting up with my crap and sticking by my side for another year. Loving me for all of my deficiencies and cooking me up some of the greatest fare a man could ever desire.

I want to thank my cancer doctors and nurses, Dr. Carol Salem and her staff for keeping me whole and not taking my bladder and prostate away. I want to thank Deb Haydis for keeping my medical insurance together. Dr. Seymour Myers for being my G.P. for over forty two years.

My friends. There are so many of you and I can't name you all without missing some but let me start. Lena, closest thing to my sister in San Diego. Ronnie. Big Dave. Ken, my photography teacher and comrade and more. Bill and Cam. Daly City Mike (or was it San Mateo, I always forget?) Melissa. Renee and Vern. Retha and Doug. Rick. Lois and Bob. My blood family. Barbara, Johnnie, Liz, Rachel, Zach. Shela. Andrew. Corrie. Shawn. Ricardo. Dominick. Horsley. Neil. Scott. Wanda. Jerri. Mary. Valerie. Pat M. Mark. Bruce. To all of those of you that love me, know that I love you too and I feel it in spades during a year like this. Don. Isak. Bob K. Linda and Joseph. Jeff. Dave. Robin. Kip. Bill. Roger. Robert. Debbie. Beth. Ken. David. Barry. Jeff and Gena. Tony, Paul, Jay, Joel, Alex and the boys at coffee. Jon. Kip. Jim. Mike. Paul B.. Vlad and Natasha. Brigitte. Jamie and Kathie. Dixon and Connie. Jennifer and Ron next door.Tom P., who always takes care of me when things are falling apart. Todd. Brian and Steph, Beth and Leven. Rosemary and April. Kim. Don S. Stephen. Dain and Sue, Steve Stoops. Doug. Terry. Jan. Jeter. Steph. Bradford. Vickie. Steve Saylor. RoxAnn. Paul. Brett. Kent. Stan and Tracy. Lynne and Richard. Ida. Millard. Sandra and Brian. Jennifer and Wicki. Helen. Wilbur. Will. Jean. Bill. Mark. Jonathan. John Morris. As I said, way too many to list and my apologies to those important folks that I forgot to mention. All of my daily blast readers, all of my lurkers, thank you! 

The reality is that I have the greatest collection of pals a guy could ever ask for. You have all been there for me, in good times and bad and it is so appreciated. This year was one of the toughest in memory but I somehow got through it and so did you.

I wrote Rosemary this morning and said Goodbye and a big fuck you to the year that never was... But maybe that is unduly harsh, how about a certain sadness and farewell to those that could not survive the journey and plaudits to those of us who managed to find a way to stay safe and make it work, masks and social distancing and martial law and shitty business and all the pain in the ass parts aside.

It is amazing. We are in the midst of a titanic plague and yet we are still standing and better days are in sight. We have all found a way to somehow make it work, with each other's help of course. Let's not forget that. We will one day emerge, humbled, appreciative and my hope is with a greater love and empathy for each other.

In summation, begone with you 2020 and do not ever darken our doorstep again! Do not let the door hit you in the ass. I would like to say it was fun but it wasn't. Let's try to make 2021 a little better. Happy New Year everybody.

thanks Jonathan!