Martin Pease

I met a local celebrity last Saturday, at a Walgreens in the city of my birth. My family and I were in town because I had some business there, so we made it a reason to see my immediate family as well. The Walgreens used to be on the corner, across the street, but for some reason they moved and now that's an auto parts store. Weird. Anyways, this fellow is a journalist, author, pundit, entertainer and archiver of pop culture ephemera from decades gone by. I like his work quite a bit and read his blog pretty much daily. We had to stop to get baby formula. Walking in, I noticed this gentleman going inside. He drives a distinctive car, so I was pretty sure it was him, and there was some slight embarrassment as I hesitated and let him go in first, even though I should have entered first. Once inside, I introduced myself and we chatted about his work. He was very friendly, and didn't brush me off, and he was the same in person that he appears online- smart, friendly and gregario...

This post is an update to So Close . A sad update, with a twist ending! So about a week after the original post went up, I get another call from the dealership. The car is here! Come on down and begin your happy trails to motoring wonderment! I go, and there she sits, even better than I imagined. The color is shining in the clear, cold April air. I instruct my bank account to carry the bundle of sticks up the mountain. But. A dark premonition creeps in around the daylight of hope. There was one feature I absolutely required in this car, a specific configuration of seats to accommodate all my many clones. After 4 months, it would be disaster if the car was not equipped just so. To set my fear at ease, I go to the door for the back seats, open and- Of course it's wrong. It's the wrong seats. The fancy captain's chairs are there, instead of the less fancy but more useful bench. The flunky at the dealership who's job it is to input the order into the computer did it...