When I married my “starter wife” (defined in “The Fly,” below) I was not yet 30 and in more ways than one was just getting acquainted with the various responsibilities of life as an adult. I was living in Washington, D.C., at the time, but was preparing to leave on my first Foreign Service assignment […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/baby-grand-piano-7065475-1.jpg160107Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-04-24 17:48:072020-05-17 17:55:59Pianos and Diaper Buckets: The Perils of Intercontinental Moves
“Track record.” This expression bugs us at Pen-for-Rent. It pops up everywhere that people wish to point out an individual’s history of accomplishments – in other words, his/her “record.” Why “track record”? Is the discussion about a race horse? That’s right, it appears that it was folks involved in horse racing who contributed this shopworn […]
I wrote this article in December 2015 for the 2016 edition of the annual Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce directory (aka the Santa Rosa Community Resource and Business Guide), which was published this week. Text begins beneath photo “Charming” … “tempting” … “idyllic” … “stunning” … “a jewel” … “a delight” … “great for families […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Courthouse-SQ3.jpg5761024Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-04-10 17:00:062020-04-05 22:07:01Courthouse Square Reunified – More Than the Sum of Two Halves
A book whose contents I’ve been editing on and off over the past year and a half has now been published. Pancheri – Our Story is the life’s avocational work of an extraordinary guy, now a friend, Gene Pancheri, a retired chemical engineer living in Cincinnati, who discovered his family’s roots in a sub-Alpine valley […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Pancheri-book.php_.jpeg320315Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-04-03 19:54:432016-08-08 14:45:37Seven Centuries of 'Sex, Lies But No Videotape'
My last Foreign Service overseas assignment was to Japan in 1985. This was no ordinary assignment to our embassy in Tokyo or one of the U.S. consulates around the country. No, this assignment was to the U.S. Pavilion at an international exposition, Tsukuba Expo ’85 (http://bit.ly/1RweFds), held that summer in Tsukuba Science City, 35 miles […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/th-1.jpeg299245Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-03-27 18:40:252020-04-05 22:07:45'One of the Cowboy States'
The Donald and Il Duce: A more than passing resemblance? Hearing the name of Donald Trump, the blowhard candidate, makes me think of a Yiddish word, trumpenik, that my grandfather would use from time to time about someone he regarded as a lowlife. I looked it up online and found this (http://bit.ly/1pvJWXB) in connection with […]
Clients often tell me I’ve captured their voice in, for example, ghost-written speeches or newspaper opinion pieces (op-eds). The funny thing is that I have no idea how to capture someone’s voice and never spend time or effort trying to do so. What I do instead is simply write as clearly, concisely and engagingly as […]
Bank Bridge over the Griboyedov Canal, one of many canals in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), sometimes called “the Venice of the North.” As a young Foreign Service officer, I arrived in Leningrad in early July 1976 to begin a two-year assignment at the U.S. consulate-general in that city, the second-largest in the USSR. I flew […]
The following incident took place one evening in 1972 in our apartment, when I was working in my first Foreign Service post at the U.S. embassy in Brasilia. My wife (clarification: my “starter wife,” as a funny friend likes to call a first spouse to whom one is no longer wed) had gone to bed […]
Lyrics that I dreamed up for the benefit of our kids at Christmastime 1977 when I was working at the U.S. consulate-general in Leningrad, USSR. We had just washed our (very dirty) blue Saab. These lyrics were originally published in the Neva Neva News, the occasional newsletter of the consulate-general staff. Sung to the tune of the […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/saab-900-2002.jpg7681024Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2015-12-23 18:29:122020-04-05 22:10:03What Car Is This?
Pianos and Diaper Buckets: The Perils of Intercontinental Moves
/0 Comments/in Brazil, Family, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielWhen I married my “starter wife” (defined in “The Fly,” below) I was not yet 30 and in more ways than one was just getting acquainted with the various responsibilities of life as an adult. I was living in Washington, D.C., at the time, but was preparing to leave on my first Foreign Service assignment […]
Track Record
/0 Comments/in Humor, Language, Thoughts, Writing & editing /by Howard Daniel“Track record.” This expression bugs us at Pen-for-Rent. It pops up everywhere that people wish to point out an individual’s history of accomplishments – in other words, his/her “record.” Why “track record”? Is the discussion about a race horse? That’s right, it appears that it was folks involved in horse racing who contributed this shopworn […]
Courthouse Square Reunified – More Than the Sum of Two Halves
/2 Comments/in California, History, North Bay, Places I've lived, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielI wrote this article in December 2015 for the 2016 edition of the annual Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce directory (aka the Santa Rosa Community Resource and Business Guide), which was published this week. Text begins beneath photo “Charming” … “tempting” … “idyllic” … “stunning” … “a jewel” … “a delight” … “great for families […]
Seven Centuries of ‘Sex, Lies But No Videotape’
/0 Comments/in History, Humor, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielA book whose contents I’ve been editing on and off over the past year and a half has now been published. Pancheri – Our Story is the life’s avocational work of an extraordinary guy, now a friend, Gene Pancheri, a retired chemical engineer living in Cincinnati, who discovered his family’s roots in a sub-Alpine valley […]
‘One of the Cowboy States’
/0 Comments/in Humor, Japan, Places I've lived, Recollections, Russia-USSR /by Howard DanielMy last Foreign Service overseas assignment was to Japan in 1985. This was no ordinary assignment to our embassy in Tokyo or one of the U.S. consulates around the country. No, this assignment was to the U.S. Pavilion at an international exposition, Tsukuba Expo ’85 (http://bit.ly/1RweFds), held that summer in Tsukuba Science City, 35 miles […]
‘Trumpenik’
/0 Comments/in Language, Recollections, Thoughts /by Howard DanielThe Donald and Il Duce: A more than passing resemblance? Hearing the name of Donald Trump, the blowhard candidate, makes me think of a Yiddish word, trumpenik, that my grandfather would use from time to time about someone he regarded as a lowlife. I looked it up online and found this (http://bit.ly/1pvJWXB) in connection with […]
Capturing a Voice
/0 Comments/in Writing & editing /by Howard DanielClients often tell me I’ve captured their voice in, for example, ghost-written speeches or newspaper opinion pieces (op-eds). The funny thing is that I have no idea how to capture someone’s voice and never spend time or effort trying to do so. What I do instead is simply write as clearly, concisely and engagingly as […]
Surreal Welcome to Leningrad
/2 Comments/in History, Places I've lived, Recollections, Russia-USSR /by Howard DanielBank Bridge over the Griboyedov Canal, one of many canals in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), sometimes called “the Venice of the North.” As a young Foreign Service officer, I arrived in Leningrad in early July 1976 to begin a two-year assignment at the U.S. consulate-general in that city, the second-largest in the USSR. I flew […]
The Fly
/0 Comments/in Brazil, Family, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielThe following incident took place one evening in 1972 in our apartment, when I was working in my first Foreign Service post at the U.S. embassy in Brasilia. My wife (clarification: my “starter wife,” as a funny friend likes to call a first spouse to whom one is no longer wed) had gone to bed […]
What Car Is This?
/0 Comments/in Holidays, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections, Russia-USSR, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielLyrics that I dreamed up for the benefit of our kids at Christmastime 1977 when I was working at the U.S. consulate-general in Leningrad, USSR. We had just washed our (very dirty) blue Saab. These lyrics were originally published in the Neva Neva News, the occasional newsletter of the consulate-general staff. Sung to the tune of the […]