A very rare and dangerous thing happened in my hometown late last night. We were actually under a tornado threat. A few miles south of us, houses were being sheered apart by the apparent twisters. I received a warning through my Weather Channel Sidebar Gadget. I grabbed a flashlight, battery-powered radio, and headed upstairs to stay close to the kids. The rain was torrential, but the wind was oddly still. We watched out the windows intently for any changes in look, sound or sense of the storm. We would, if needed, scoop the children up & whisk them to the basement.

The local all-news radio station did a great job of keeping the information constant & current. Our satellite TV signal was knocked offline earlier, so the radio was my source of information. While still under the official tornado alert, I switched on our bedroom TV to see if the signal had resumed. It had, and I was anxious to see a Doppler radar image of the storm mass. It would visually show if the storm had passed our home, and if there were more cells heading in our direction.

To my total horror, NBC, CBS & FOX were airing normal late-night programming… without a storm warning, scroller or information overlay of any sort. Only ABC, who was airing ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live‘ added up-to-date storm information overlayed around the comedy show. Conan was smiling and laughing it up, and the local NBC station didn’t inform the local audience that they were possibly in grave danger. I switched from channel to channel for about 20 minutes - Only ABC acknowledged that there was a dangerous weather system approaching the viewing area. Eventually, as the National Weather Service was downgrading the storm warning, the other channels had sporadic coverage, but the local stations, representing the major networks let me & the viewing public down, and in a potentially dangerous way.

Thank you WJLA TV 7 in Washington, DC. You served your viewing audience appropriately & responsibly last night. I will not watch the other channels for weather or news again. I will register my official complaints as well.

Twice this week, we were approaching an intersection near the home of friends. In both cases, we visited the two different house only once, and neither visit was terribly recent. We met & had a playdate at Ethan’s house about 6 weeks ago. Ethan’s mother is a very old friend of Kathy from their Long Island days in the 1970s. Peter’s classmate Matthew had a birthday party at his house back in March that Peter attended.

We were nearing the intersection at which we would turn at to get to Ethan’s house, but from the complete opposite direction that we approached to go to his house weeks ago. I pointed to the left and asked Peter who lived down this way. Without hesitation, he excitedly shouted “Ethan!” He was right - and I was shocked. He had been there once - and never from that direction.

Remembering this last week, we neared the traffic light close to Matthew’s house - again from the opposite direction we would normally come. “Peter, who lives down here?”, I asked. “Matthew!” he shouted.

When an old (and brilliant father of 4) family friend met Peter for the first time a few months ago, and was told that Peter had developmental delays, he was surprised. He paused, looked at Peter in the eyes, and emphatically told us that this child is processing everything.

Until this week, I didn’t realize it, but Peter knows EXACTLY where he is at all times. Processing, indeed!

As an early birthday present to Emma, we took her to Claire’s at the mall to have her ears pierced. She has been asking about the possibility of having it done for months now, and we decided that it would make a good birthday present from Mom & Dad. With her birthday falling so close to Memorial Day (the traditional opening of ‘Pool Season’), we decided that we would have the piercing done early so that her ears will have weeks of healing & ’setting’ before she jumps into a public swimming pool.

Emma’s birth stone is the emerald, so her ears are now sporting a teeny “crystal emerald” - your guess is as good as mine!

Another milestone & rite of passage for Emma Mankin.

Lately, I find myself startled at how well, clear & correct Peter’s language skills can be. Last night, he was playing a Blue’s Clues PC game on our old computer. One month ago, he had no mouse skills at all (often trying and failing to control anything). Within a weeks time, he was pointing, clicking and double clicking appropriately. He stepped away from the computer, came over to me & said, “The CD is broken, Dad. The CD is broken”. When I looked over at the computer, the CD drawer was open, and his game was, therefore, interrupted. He was independently playing, using newly-developed skills, interacting appropriately with the game’s prompts, reasoning out the puzzles put forth - AND verbally expressed a problem to me accurately.

Keep going, Peter!
(but stay away from eBay ’till you’re six)

When I was growing up in Lakewood, New Jersey, my best friend was Tom Moore. Tom lived a few blocks away, was a year younger, and was generally made of ‘completely different stuff’ than I. Therefore, we got along famously. His home was my second home, his brother was my non-related brother, his mom was my other mom, and so on.

After high school, I left the New Jersey Shore - Tom stayed and built his business, married a Jersey Shore girl, and had two sons. As the years rolled by, I saw Tom occasionally, but once I married and started my family in Virginia (and my remaining relatives in NJ had passed away), trips home become scarce.

One does not have to see or spend time with a dear friend often to be close. Tom and his sons came to Virginia last week. College scouting for the oldest son & Washington, DC sightseeing for all were the main reasons for the trip, but it gave Tom & me an opportunity to see each other again, and for me to meet his sons as young men now - not as little boys (as I had last seen them).

Tom got to meet my children as well. Remember the comment about ‘being made of different stuff’? Tom’s family is delightful - raised with different stuff, no doubt. His sons have his wit and charisma - it will take them far.

Justin and Casey are fine young men - and Tom is the same. We laughed as we recounted endless stories and characters from our youth. Although 40 years have passed, the stories and memories were as fresh as if they occurred last week.

It is clearly the quality of a friendship, not the frequency of visits, that define its depth.

“Pooky Ports & Prints” is alive & well after all these years!
(don’t ask - you wouldn’t understand anyway - trust me)

It’s a very touching event in my house that happens each night. After hours of loud banter between Emma and Peter, Emma sits in the big chair in Peter’s room and reads him a bedtime story. This is followed by a lullaby and Peter is left alone, where he “reads” a book until he’s asleep.

For 5 minutes, you’d swear you were watching The Waltons.

We have spell checkers built into nearly everything we ever use to enter information via a keyboard. Normally, inaccurate input equals bad results. Remember the phrase from a childhood game of Monopoly, “Bank error in your favor - Collect $200″? This recent purchase at our grocery store must have been the result of a clerk entering the wrong unit price. (I doubt that 4 cents per pound is what they had in mind). We had pork barbecue for days - all for 17 cents!

Our school district had its Spring Break this past week. The kids were home on their ‘down time’, which of course is the exact opposite for parents - we go into overdrive keeping the children occupied and entertained. We organized a few play dates with Peter’s classmates from his preschool class. On Tuesday, we met at Charlie’s house, and the kids had a great time. We (parents) felt it was beneficial for the kids to see each other in order to keep the continuity of their interactions rolling through the week off. Yesterday was our turn to host the gathering. Peter’s classmates all had a chance to see Peter’s house & play with his toys. In attendance were Charlie, his little brother Alex, Matthew and Heather. Of course, there were moms & dads there too. My espresso machine got to crank out a few lattes for the big folks, and the kids had their favorite snacks on hand as well.

All the kids get along beautifully. They are a joy to watch interact, but nothing tickles me more than hearing Peter call his friend Heather, “Header”.

Back in 1981, I picked up a sturdy used wooden chair to serve at my reed-making desk. It was the start of my 15 year career as principal oboist of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, DC. Playing was constant and frequently grueling (routinely 2+ hour long concerts, and sometimes more than 1 per day while touring). Reed making was a constant. When in college, I used the same chair for those 4 years, and never removed the reed string tied to the chair’s back for reed tying. After 4 years of school, I accumulated quite a clump of string. This current clump of knots represents just about every reed I have made for the last 27 years! The thickness of the string collection is not evident by this photo, as the knots stretch from the top of the rung to a position well below the layers of draped threads.

I attended my first Specialty Coffee trade show yesterday. Washington hosted a Coffee Fest trade show for coffee industry folks, and I was able to make my way in and mingle with some pretty important folks in the worldwide coffee scene. In addition to chatting with equipment suppliers & manufacturers, I was able to watch world-class baristas do their thing in both latte art competitions and while making drinks for the attendees.

I tasted coffees roasted by the top names in the country, and made on the most elaborate & best espresso machines on the planet. I was extremely pleased to find out that the coffee I roast & brew at home (whether on my Bunn ES-1A espresso machine, Cory vacuum pot, French Press, or whatever) is right on the mark with the best of the best (in my humble opinion!) I had espresso shots from Counter Culture Coffee, Intelligencia and the like. The only shot of espresso that stopped me dead in my tracks was from Zoka of Seattle - their coffee was ‘best in show’ in my book. It was a real standout, and I know where the bar is set now.

I finally got to meet someone I have known for almost 2 years through online forums & correspondences. Reinaldo Miguel (aka Michael or Kuban111) is a home coffee roaster & in-house barista like me, and we finally got to shake hands in person & spend the afternoon checking out the show’s exhibits together. Michael, his lovely wife Ale, their acquaintance Andrey and I walked & talked (and drank, of course) coffees & espresso shots from around the world together.

I can’t wait for Coffee Fest 2009!