EppsNet

Happy Mothers Day

by Paul Epps on 9 May 2020

I have so many dreams of my own, and I remember things from my childhood, from when I was a girl and a young woman, and I haven’t forgotten a thing. So why did we think of Mom as a mom from the very beginning? She didn’t have the opportunity to pursue her dreams, and all by herself, faced everything the era dealt her, poverty and sadness, and she couldn’t do anything about her very bad lot in life other than suffer through it and get beyond it and live her life to the very best of her ability, giving her body and her heart to it completely. Why did I never give a thought to Mom’s dreams?

— Kyung-sook Shin, Please Look After Mom

Related Posts

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

Souplantation, 1978-2020

by Paul Epps on 8 May 2020

Souplantation store front. La Cañada, California.

Souplantation is closing all of its restaurants permanently, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

I was probably one of their last customers . . . we had dinner at the Irvine location a few days before restaurants had to close for in-person dining. The place was at least 70 percent empty at that time. It is hard to believe we’ll never be able to go there again.

Souplantation was one of our favorite family restaurants, maybe the number one favorite. This feels like the death of a family member . . . so many Souplantation memories . . .

RIP Souplantation

I’m Going to Start Robbing Banks

by Paul Epps on 1 May 2020

Why do you rob banks?
Because that’s where the money is.

— Willie Sutton (probably apocryphal)

I’m going to start sticking up banks. Not long ago, if you walked into a bank wearing a mask over your face, someone would immediately reach for an alarm or a gun. Now it’s required.

I could walk in and clean out the teller before anyone suspects a thing.

I think I’ll hone my craft first by knocking off a few gas stations and convenience stores.

“Can you describe the suspect?”

“I can’t, officer. He was wearing a mask.”

One Thing Is Certain

by Paul Epps on 1 May 2020

I used to write for a news magazine and most big analytical stories would end like this: ‘X might happen or Y might happen, but one thing is certain: things will never be the same.’ Then, once time had passed, things would be the same

Over and over

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) March 29, 2020

Ship It

by Paul Epps on 26 Apr 2020

How the Media Completely Blew the Trump Ventilator Story

by Paul Epps on 19 Apr 2020

FEMA acted quickly — much faster than is possible in the regular process — to get so-called notifications to purchase to ventilator manufacturers, so they could start work and hold their inventory, which ensured it wasn’t lost to foreign countries. The Defense Production Act was invoked with General Motors to get production moving as quickly as possible, and not back-loaded later in the summer.

“We are going to be swimming in ventilators.”

Last year, according to administration figures, the country produced 30,000 ventilators. This year, it’s going to produce something on the order of 200,000, and they are already coming in. “The balance now is growing daily,” the White House adviser says of the federal stockpile. “We are going to be swimming in ventilators.”

By any measure, that’s a success, certainly compared with where we thought we’d be less than a month ago. If the media weren’t so devoted to gotcha idiocy, more people might know about it.

— “How the Media Completely Blew the Trump Ventilator Story”, National Review

Goofus and Gallant on COVID-19

by Paul Epps on 19 Apr 2020

Goofus: I am stuck. I’ll never make it through this situation, and even if I do, I won’t be as successful as I was before. This is a downward spiral.

Gallant: I am Growing. I am making progress – sometimes gradually and other times rapidly – with learning new skills and developing better habits. I am becoming stronger through these trying times, and so are many others in my work organization and community.

Goofus: I am fragmented. I’m being pulled in too many directions to be truly helpful to anyone.

Gallant: I am Integrating. I am drawing upon a broad reservoir of resources from my varied experiences, which can help me navigate new challenges. My authenticity and vulnerability can help me to build deeper connections and establish healthy boundaries with trusted colleagues during trying times.

Goofus: I am incapable. I don’t have enough courage to meet this challenge, and I don’t have the resources to help anyone else in a significant way.

Gallant: I am engaging in Virtuous action. Every day I rise to meet the unanticipated challenges I face. I will seek opportunities to provide compassionate care for others during trying times. I will maintain my integrity, by sincerely trying to activate my best self during trying times.

Goofus: I am diminished. I’m not handling this as well as my coworkers, peers, or relatives. Everybody seems to have things under control except for me.

Gallant: I am Elevating my self-worth. I focus on my own goals and growth, appreciating my personal journey, and savoring opportunities to contribute to my family, organizations and community. In trying times, I resist the urge to demean or compare myself to others. I am strengthened by becoming my personal best – showing up, being present, and making an honest effort to achieve collective goals and higher ideals.

Benediction

by Paul Epps on 19 Apr 2020

I acknowledge my sadness and fear and anxiety. Grant me the courage to be a better version of myself, and the hope to be virtuous to others, to be resilient in the face of tragedy.

Anne Frank on Twitter

by Paul Epps on 19 Apr 2020

Whoa, I saw Anne Frank trending on Twitter and I thought something happened to her . . .

Nobody is Fine Anymore

by Paul Epps on 6 Apr 2020

Coronavirus

How are you doing? Remember when you’d automatically say “Fine”? Now nobody is fine.

We’re all programmed from our caveman days with a fight-or-flight system, but there’s a big difference between a predator stepping out in front of us and COVID-19.

They’re both threats, but the predator is what we’d call an acute short-term threat. This is really what our system was developed to handle. There’s something there, I have to do something now and you do something.

With COVID the threat is chronic. It’s there all the time. Not only is it chronic, it’s undefined, it’s ambiguous, and it’s not even just the virus. It’s the economic impact of the virus, it’s the lifestyle changes, it’s the isolation, it’s the not being able to hug people we would like to hug, that is all feeding into this threat system.

We really evolved to take on short-term acute threats. We attack it, we deal with it, or we run away. Either way, within a short period of time, the incident may be over and then we can relax and get down from it. But in a situation like the COVID situation we’re in now, we don’t even know how long this is going to go on, and it’s a threat at multiple levels, very significant levels for a very long time. So it’s a chronic threat of the most extreme kind and that is not what our system was designed to handle.

My Boyhood Sports Icons Are Dying: Al Kaline

by Paul Epps on 6 Apr 2020

Al Kaline played all 22 years of his career as a right fielder for the Detroit Tigers, played in 18 All-Star games, won 10 Gold Gloves, a World Series in 1968, had 3,007 hits, 399 home runs, a .297 batting average and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

He died today at the age of 85.

On his 80th birthday, he said: “To this day, I can’t believe the life I’ve had. I wanted to be a baseball player — and do the one thing I was good at.

“Even now, I love it so much.”

RIP Al Kaline

Meditation

by Paul Epps on 3 Apr 2020

I’ve taken up meditation. Or rather I’ve taken to calling taking naps “meditation.” What’s the difference? You close your eyes, clear your mind . . . same goddamn thing.

Gimme Some Truth

by Paul Epps on 22 Mar 2020

I’m sick and tired of hearing things from
Uptight short-sighted narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

I’m sick to death of seeing things from
Tight-lipped condescending mama’s little chauvinists
All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

I’ve had enough of watching scenes from
Schizophrenic egocentric paranoiac primadonnas
All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

— John Lennon, “Gimme Some Truth”

CNN anchors

More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of: Virus Preparation Critics

by Paul Epps on 19 Mar 2020

I’m hearing a lot of people questioning why our country wasn’t better prepared for the coronavirus pandemic.

Which countries were prepared? Can you get me a list?

Were you prepared for everything that’s happened in your life? You weren’t? Do you consider yourself inadequate? Were you prepared for tragedy?

Who is prepared for the unimaginable?

Coronavirus

We Won’t Get Flued Again

by Paul Epps on 2 Mar 2020

Coronavirus: World must prepare for pandemic, says WHO — BBC News

Some People Need More Help to Calm Down

by Paul Epps on 27 Feb 2020

Ric Flair‘s son, Reid Flair, died of an overdose of heroin, Klonopin and Xanax. It seems like one alone would be sufficient but he evidently needed more help than most people to calm down!

(The death occurred in 2013 but I just read about it this week.)

A Couple of News Items Out of USC

by Paul Epps on 24 Feb 2020

Students from U.S. families with an annual income of $80,000 or less with typical assets will attend USC tuition-free.
The Trojans cancelled the scheduled Sept. 4, 2021 football game vs. UC Davis. UC Davis is the kind of FCS (i.e., minor league) program that SEC schools love to load up their non-conference schedules with. The only three FBS schools never to have played an FBS program are USC, Notre Dame and UCLA. To me, that is a point of pride. I was very disappointed when I heard they scheduled the game and I’m glad they cancelled it.

Russia Trying to Help Sanders Campaign?

by Paul Epps on 24 Feb 2020

Bernie Sanders briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help his presidential campaign — Washington Post

Wait, I thought the precedent set under the Obama administration was to not brief the campaign and get an illegal warrant to surveil staffers?

HW’s Whiskey Reviews: Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye

by Hostile Witness on 19 Feb 2020

I know it’s customary in talking about whiskey to talk about “notes” of vanilla, toffee, hammers, etc.

But let me just say that I like my whiskeys the way I like my women: dark and rich.

Rating:

EppsNet Restaurant Reviews: Sasabune

by Paul Epps on 19 Feb 2020

The innovation is the warm, vinegar-flavored rice and the wide, almost circular cut of the fish. Also, unlike Oshima (in this reviewer’s opinion, the best sushi establishment in Orange County), the chef did not have such a pronounced accent that I couldn’t understand what he was saying when he presented the fish.

Try to maintain your equanimity when you see the bill, which for us came to about $120 per person (no sake or other beverages), so you don’t look like a rube.

Rating: