Potpourri for $100, Please, Alex

And the picture above is actually potpourri that is available on-line for much less than $100. Sorry, Alex.

---I had to read this twice in this morning's LA Times Sports section. There is a sports writer by the name of Mike Penner. He has been a beat reporter for the Angels. He's covered tennis and the Olympics---the usual gamut for a staff writer.

But, this morning, he has a column in which he says goodbye to the readers as Mike Penner. After a few weeks, he will return to his job as Christine Daniels. Yep, he's going to complete the transgendering journey. From soup to, pardon the expression, nuts. He writes about how he broke this news to his editor, his colleagues, and his friends. It's actually an amazing story. I can't imagine the amount of courage that will take. I have no idea how I would deal with it if someone I worked with made that choice.

I didn't do so well in my first ever encounter with a transexual. It was eight years ago in the Beverly Hills apartment building we were getting kicked out of because they were upgrading to condos. Other than our next door neighbor Kato Kaelin, we had very little contact with the other tenants, except for silent nods in the elevator. But, as soon as the eviction notices hit, the place turned into Mayberry. Everybody started talking to everybody, exchanging everything from real estate agent names to recipes for fruit compote.

So, during that era of extreme community, I am in the super market one afternoon. I see one of the neighbors that I had always noticed from a distance. She ran over to me, so we could verbally disembowel the landlord one more time. Once she got past that subject, she started talking to me about her job, her dog, her hobbies, etc.

One thing she didn't talk to me about was her Adam's Apple. Which was of apparent obvious interest to me. Because I couldn't stop staring at it. And then I saw the hands. They were huge. A female basketball player, no doubt.

It was an Edith Bunker moment for me.

Oh.

Ooohh.

Ooooohhhhh!

What the heck did I know? I was from Mount Vernon, New York.

Sad to say I got out of that conversation. Quickly. I made up some sorry excuse like....my prosthetic leg is starting to itch.

I never saw "Nancy" again.

I think I'd do a lot better now.

---In a totally bizarre segueway, I read on the very same page of today's sports page that KFWB, starting with tonight's game, will abandon their delay system when broadcasting Dodger games on the radio. Now, Dodger fans who like to simulcast won't be totally confused for the two innings they are actually in their seats.

Dinner last night: leftover pot roast and potatoes.