We are just about to leave the Montreal Sheraton for the airport.  Next stop?  Vancouver. I had an unexpectedly great lunch yesterday in Montreal.  First, thanks to Olivia, Montreal Sheraton Le Centre's VIP Services Manager, who provided a birthday gift.  That's a bottle of Sangiovese and pastries below, which were a total surprise and most thoughtful gift.  Olivia greeted us at the lounge with a big smile and somehow knew it was my birthday.  She is a huge asset to this hotel for treating her VIP Bonvoe customers with  a very special touch. Looking down from the above view, you can see Stanley Street.  Around the mid-point on the left side are our previous Chinese, Korean and Japanese restaurants.  Walking up the street, a right turn will lead you to Reubens. Ordered a Reuben's original:  smoked meats on rye bread, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian tangy dressing.  With the birthday gift wine, plus a bottle of beer, had my...

Sundays are sometimes spiritual and occasionally reflective.  So today I'll look at my 84 years of life in that manner because it took 42 years of development to allow for the latter 42 years of progress. To begin; I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and was a little more than a year old when my mother held me in her arms and pointed to the smoke emanating from Pearl Harbor on 7December1941.  Of course I don't remember any of that, and not much about World War II either. Growing up in the "fishing village" of Kakaako, which is now at the edge of the expanding Ward complex of high rises, life was easy. After graduating from McKinley High School, I went to Stanford University, departing in 1962 with a degree in chemical engineering, to work for C. Brewer as a sugar trainee at the Hutchinson Sugar Company.   I made this "sacrifice" because most of my close friends chose to join the first year of the Peace Corps.  They went off to places in Africa and the South Pacif...

According to NBC News :  major winter storms to wallop two-thirds of U.S., could bring heavy snow and hazardous ice.  About 45 million from Kansas to Maryland should brace for blizzards and thunderstorms. Also from NBC News:   Alcoholic drinks   should carry cancer risk warning labels , U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a report. Medical experts who cheered the announcement shared   what to know about the risks of drinking .   Alcohol already carries a warning label about risk of birth defects.  The more you drink, the higher the risk of cancer. Tomiko Itooka of Japan, the oldest person in the world, passed away on December 29 at the age of 116.  She was born in 1908.  Loved bananas and Japanese drink Calpis.  The oldest person now is  116-year old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas   (below ).  Only two years ago, another nun, Sister André of France, born Lucile Randon, died at the age of 118 as the olde...