Sunday, April 10, 2016

TODAY, MET KEVIN HART (THE COMEDIAN/ACTOR). AND A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENED


I interviewed Kevin Hart for a few minutes this morning at 9 a.m. in Downtown L.A. before he led a workout for 1000 people. He's a big workout fanatic and has an "ambassador" deal with Nike that has him and a group of trainers and a DJ with blaring rap music going all over the country and leading Sunday morning workouts. So I stayed around for the workout, which was a bunch of burpees, pushups, lunges, etc. It was done on a grassy lawn right across from the LA City Hall building, which is behind us in the photo. 

The exercises were exhausting if you went all-out as Kevin instructed us. They were not a problem for me; I plowed right through them, although about half of the crowd gassed-out and slowed down quickly .

When it's over, a young dude, who looked like he was about in his mid- to late 20s, comes up to me and says "you're an inspiration! "

I have no idea what he means. I see that he's wearing a Nike shirt. So I think that maybe he's with Nike Inc, Kevin Hart's sponsor, and it's his job to tell everybody that they are an inspiration

But no. He starts to say "you're an inspiration because…

Oh no-- is he going to say THAT? Before he says it, I look around at the crowd. I see no one else with gray hair. I see no one else seemingly above the age of 30.

So here it comes: I am an inspiration because I am old. OLD. It has come to that.

I ask young dude how old he is. He says he's 30. He's not a college kid -- he's 30 years old, 30 -- a grown-ass man! And I am now so old -- so clearly, obviously, irrefutably older than him or anyone else — almost double his age! -- that I now officially have become an inspiration just for not keeling over and requiring CPR! 

It has come to that.

This is way worse than the first day that someone calls you "sir" or "ma'am."

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

I'M A STAR IN MY OWN DRONE MOVIE


When GoPro is not enough.....      Cape productions (cape.com) shot a one-minute music video of me and guide Billy Haupert at Squaw Valley a couple of weeks ago. I look terrible next to him, but was going so fast that I was crying. Cape charges $100 to film you and edit it to music (but I got the journalists' rate: $0)   Check it out: 

Saturday, April 2, 2016

TALKING HER WAY THROUGH JOSHUA TREE


Everyone in my family says that I "use" them as props in my stories. I cannot lie; you hang out with me and you get written about. This week's lucky winner is my sister Cindy. She and my brother-in-law Chris (that's them with me below) took me on a cool hike in Joshua Tree National Park a few months ago  and naturally a story for the L.A. Times came out of it. I think what Cindy says in it conveys a refreshing message for women and couples and relationships. If you think so, pass it around to couples and women you know. Check it out: 










Friday, April 1, 2016

50 YEARS AGO, SHE CHANGED THE WORLD FOR WOMEN: BOBBI GIBB, THE FIRST WOMAN TO RUN THE BOSTON MARATHON

BOBBI GIBB didn't intend to make a statement at the 1966 Boston Marathon, or to become a hero of the women's movement. She just loved running -- a rather odd thing in an era, the 60s, when women didn't do sports or were even allowed to run distances over 1.5 miles. Any longer was thought to injure their reproductive organs. But when her application to run the 1966 Boston Marathon was rejected because it was a "men's only event" according the race director, Gibb got ticked-off. Now she realized that she had to run in order to make a point:  Women can run — and run well. In fact, women could do anything hey wanted; all the restrictions and stereotypes of women in that era were bogus. If Gibb could  finish and finish well, she would inspire women to throw off their shackles and men to encourage them. Here is the story of the 50th Anniversary of her barrier-breaking run: