Bonne Chance @ DAHplaytime

Marketing wine is not for the faint-hearted, or stupid | STEVE HEIMOFF| WINE BLOG

2011-09-29T08:44:50-07:00

Marketing wine is not for the faint-hearted, or stupid | STEVE HEIMOFF| WINE BLOG.

Not news, but a good reminder. If you plan to be a success in the future, it's better NOT to be a failure today.

Monkey a There There

2011-08-19T11:33:38-07:00

Monkey: What're you doing here?

DAH: I live here.

Monkey: Not much lately. I've been lonely. Where've you been?

DAH: Well, most of May I was in the British Isles with Mum and CHance.

Monkey: I remember. You didn't take me.

DAH: No, sorry about that. We did discuss it.

Monkey: I'm sure.

DAH: The day we got back from that trip, I started rehearsals for the Central Coast Shakespeare Festival.

Monkey: I know this already, too.

DAH: And that took up six evenings plus Sunday afternoon every week. We just closed the season last weekend.

Monkey: Uh, huh.

DAH: Oh, and I tucked in work travel to San Francisco and Walla Walla, too.

Monkey: While your "How Busy Be DAH" report is thrilling, it isn't exactly news.

DAH: Well, you asked.

Monkey: I asked "What're you doing here?" and "Where've you been?"

DAH: Yeah. And I told you.

Monkey: I didn't mean here here.

DAH: Then what did you mean mean?

Monkey: Sarcasm is wasted on monkeys. Remember that.

DAH: Sorry, but what did you mean?

Monkey: You've been gone from this process. Gone from this life. I wasn't asking about your physical presence. I was asking about your real life.

DAH: So, more why than what.

Monkey: Right, because sometimes with you there's no there there.

DAH: Like Gertrude Stein said of Oakland.

Monkey: Whatever.

DAH: The "so what" and "why it matters."

Monkey: That's it. So, where've you been?

DAH: I get busy. I get anxious. And I occasionally lose track of my "why it matters" and invest all in the immediate urgency.

Monkey: That seems like a poor choice.

DAH: I don't always know that I'm making that choice.

Monkey: That's why you ought to spend more time with me.

DAH: You're right.

Monkey: Damn straight. I'll help make sure there's a there in your there.

DAH: Thank you.

Monkey: You're welcome.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime.com. He's there. So is Monkey.

Dreary Week in DAH-man-land

2011-04-07T17:03:36-07:00

DAH: So, how's your week going?

Monkey: "How's my week going?" How do you think my week's going? I'm a sock monkey. I just sit here until you talk to me.

DAH: Yeah, OK. So, how's it going?

Monkey: Fine. Are you bored, or what?

DAH: No, not bored.

Monkey: So, what?

DAH: Uninspired and under-accomplished.

Monkey: You? The oh-so-busy DAH-boy? Not getting anything done?

DAH: Not getting anything worthwhile done.

Monkey: I'm just sitting here, watching you work, hour after hour, day after day, you sitting at your computer, you talking on the phone, you (occasionally) getting up and going somewhere to do something, and you're telling me none of that was worthwhile?

DAH: I didn't feel like I accomplished anything.

Monkey: Pathetic.

DAH: And don't call me "DAH-boy." Call me "DAH-man."

Monkey: I will not. That doesn't make you any less pathetic.

DAH: Maybe not, but it does make me feel more mature.

Monkey: Have your mature-self give a little thought to the importance of just doing what you must, day by day.

DAH: If only there were some bigger emergency, or fire drill, to raise the stakes a bit.

Monkey: Urgency and adrenalin are not key features of "accomplishing something that matters," not in monkey-land, anyway.

DAH: Not in DAH-man-land, either.

Monkey: So just do what you have to do. If you're not bored, you must have things you need to do.

DAH: And I'm doing them.

Monkey: And don't they matter?

DAH: They just don't seem urgent and essential, not this week.

Monkey: Stop thinking in circles. What's that Garrison Keillor thing you're always saying?

DAH: "You can only do so much. But you have to do that much."

Monkey: There you go.

DAH: But what about the other Garrison Keillor thing I'm always saying?

Monkey: What's that?

DAH: "They're doing their best. They don't know that their best isn't good enough."

Monkey: That's Garrison Keillor? Are your sure?

DAH: What if that's me? Doing my best, but it isn't good enough?

Monkey: Then you're screwed.

DAH: That's what I thought. Thanks.

Monkey: Don't mention it.

DAH: Maybe next week will be better. Maybe next week I'll feel more necessary.

Monkey: And maybe pigs will fly.

DAH: Maybe they will.

Monkey: You can but hope, DAH-man.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com

This began as a Facebook status update but something went horribly wrong and it got way too long.

2011-02-27T08:47:31-08:00

I'm reading Youngme Moon's "Different" (non-fiction, business book) and I'm thrilled and depressed by it, all at once. About business, sure, but personal options, too. So, here's the list of things, in order, I blame for my current exhiliration and despair: Kermit Lynch, Jerry Brown and his new dog "Sutter" (a Welsh Corgi), Jay McInerney, the unwooded Santa Rita Hills Chardonnays of Greg Brewer, Derrick Schneider (with the complicity of the San Francisco Chronicle), K & L Wines, Randall Grahm, the Spanish Padres who planted what we call "Mission" grapes at the California Missions in the 18th Century, the pop-up retailing phenomenon, unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, PRWCA's Zin Man (who looks and sounds like my grandfather, according to my mother, and I agree), Cambria's Pewter Plough Playhouse, and Youngme Moon ... especially Youngme Moon because I'm reading her with all the urgencies and ideas of the other stuff top-of-my-mind. It's really quite maddening. What next! Oh, also, I overuse commas, and that bugs me. Hemingway hardly ever relied on the comma.

Quizzle: A conclusion is the place you got tired of thinking. Bonne Chance, Too?

2010-12-28T12:10:14-08:00

Monkey: Hey, hey, hey! Who are you? Or, maybe, WHAT are you?

A Stranger: A Stranger.

Monkey: Well, you're certainly strange. Are you a sock monkey?

A Stranger: I am souk, but no mounkee.

Monkey: Whoa. Weird accent, dude.

A Stranger: I am no dood.

Monkey: Figure of speech, buddy. Where're you from?

A Stranger: I am be veezeetor.

Monkey: A visitor? That's not a place.

A Stranger: Ees good as any odor.

Monkey: I smell you friend. Well, welcome to Bonne Chance, Too! DAH isn't around right now, if you're looking for him.

A Stranger: Not look for DAH. What ees dees "Bone Chons Two?"

Monkey: Bonne Chance was 777 Live Oak Avenue in Ukiah, where we used to live. We hated to leave that house, and all our friends, but we like it here, too. Thus, "Bonne Chance, Too!"

A Stranger: Doos you tink lightning strikes twice?

Monkey: DAH would say that lightning strikes lots of times, if you make yourself a lightning rod.

A Stranger: Lightning rod doos what?

Monkey: Makes the lightning come to you.

A Stranger: Ees you no skeered?

Monkey: Sure, calling down the lightning might be scary, but if you don't call it, you have no hope of controlling it. Me and DAH, we want to capture the lightning, ride the lightning. You know, have adventures! DAH always says, "None of us is getting out of here alive, so we might as well make the most of it."

A Stranger: Dees my home now.

Monkey: Excuse me?

A Stranger: Me like capture new oppertooniddy. Me like Bone Chons, too!

Monkey: So, OK, we have plenty of room. And DAH likes whimsical things. But you're going to need a name. "A Stranger" and "A veezeetor" don't cut it.

A Stranger: What call me den?

Monkey: We'll call you "Quizzle" 'cause you're puzzling to me.

A Stranger: "Kwizzelle?"

Monkey: No, "Quizzle."

A Stranger No More: OK, me Quizzle now at Bonne Chance, Too.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime.com. Monkey is. Quizzle came out of the closet (thank you, Chris)

Monkey Book Back-up

2010-12-02T15:57:23-08:00

Monkey: What're you doing with that pile of books?

DAH: I'm trying to decide what to read next.

Monkey: You already have twelve books next to the bed.

DAH: Well, I guess I'm not really reading all those.

Monkey: They all have bookmarks in them.

DAH: I STARTED reading them all, and I haven't given up on them.

Monkey: There's a few more "started" books stacked downstairs.

DAH: I really ought to bring those back upstairs.

Monkey: How many in this pile you just made?

DAH: Seven.

Monkey: And those others on your desk?

DAH: They're not in the pile.

Monkey: And those others on your desk?

DAH: Eight, nine.

Monkey: Tell me about some of them. I'll help you choose.

DAH: Which ones?

Monkey: Begin at the beginning -- top of the pile.

DAH: "Four Fish" by Paul Greenburg.

Monkey: What's that about?

DAH: Its subtitle is "The future of the last wild food" and it's about the oceans, and their ongoing potential to provide fresh fish. It's organized around sections about four fish: salmon, tuna, bass, and cod.

Monkey: Next.

DAH: What? This is a great book. I've already started it.

Monkey: You've already started all of them. You need a long train trip or something for "Four Fish." You're going to read it all at once, skim it, or forget about it.

DAH: Maybe …

Monkey: Next!

DAH: "Frank: The Voice" by James Kaplan. It's a new biography of Frank Sinatra. It's had great reviews.

Monkey: How long is it?

DAH: More than 700 pages.

Monkey: Too long. Next!

DAH: "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier. It's a novel about this fossil-hunting woman in England.

Monkey: Like "Bones" on TV?

DAH: Not at all. It's historical fiction. It looks thoughtful and moving.

Monkey: And sounds boring. Next!

DAH: "Free For All" by Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp. It's about Joe Papp and The Public Theater in New York.

Monkey: It looks long, too.

DAH: Almost 600 pages.

Monkey: Too long. Next! No, wait. Just give me a quick overview of the rest of your pile.

DAH: "Blood, Iron, and Gold" by Christian Wolmar, about how railroads changed the world. "Cloudstreet" by Tim Winton, a novel about these two families thrown together in one house. And "In Search of Bacchus" by George M. Taber, about wine tourism around the world, moving from country to country.

Monkey: Start with the Bacchus one.

DAH: Why?

Monkey: Because it sounds like you could read about one country, then drop it for a while, without feeling like you had to start over.

DAH: You think I'm better off with episodes than epics?

Monkey: These days, yeah. You have too many balls in the air. You can't focus. That's why you have so many books going at once.

DAH: It's nice to have different books for different moods.

Monkey: Yes, it is. And it's nice to make choices that won't frustrate and dissappoint. Discreet episodes and projects until you're ready to bite off something bigger.

DAH: Are we talking just about books?

Monkey: We're talking about whatever you like, DAH. You choose what works for you. The world can be your oyster!

DAH: And you're my monkey.

Monkey: At least until the wind changes.

DAH is David Anthony Hance. Monkey's not Mary Poppins.

Wine Sock Monkey from Walla Walla, which should be Walla Walla Walla for triple the fun

2010-11-16T15:30:21-08:00

Monkey: I can't believe it!

DAH: What now?

Monkey: Another monkey!

DAH: Ah, the monkey wine sock.

Monkey: Monkey wine sock?

DAH: It's from Fred.

Monkey: Who's Fred?

DAH: Or "World Wide Fred" or "Fred & Friends" … I'm not exactly clear on their name.

Monkey: Fred, fred, FRED! Who's Fred?

DAH: The company that sells this wine sock monkey. Check out their website: HERE.

Monkey: Sorry, I don't surf. So this "fred" gave you this new monkey?

DAH: No, Fred made the monkey.

Monkey: STOP! I don't want to hear any creationist mumbo-jumbo about making monkeys. We've already had this conversation. I just AM, and we just ARE.

DAH: The sock wine monkey was a gift from AMP.

Monkey: A gift? You didn't even ask for it?

DAH: Well, I guess I sorta did by always talking to you.

Monkey: That's right, blame the Monkey!

DAH: I wasn't trying to blame anyone.

Monkey: Ha! But if I just AM, and we just ARE, then everything must be someone's fault!

DAH: That seems like faulty logic, but I'm a little tired, so I'll just let it slide.

Monkey: Like socks on a shiny smooth floor?

DAH: Maybe.

Monkey: You'd blithely strut and slide on my emergent monkey antecedents?

DAH: You don't have any aunties, and we're not getting into evolution, either.

Monkey: So, what's this AMP that gave unto you the wine monkey sock? Some kind of over-caffeinated god?

DAH: My friend, Allison, from Walla Walla.

Monkey: That sounds made-up. Did you just make that up?

DAH: Which? My friend, or Allison, or Walla Walla?

Monkey: Knowing you, as I do, maybe all three. But I was referring to "Walla Walla" … that sounds made-up.

DAH: I told Allison we should petition to add a Walla, to make it Walla Walla Walla. Everything's better in threes.

Monkey: You say that, but you seem to lack religious conviction.

DAH: I've never been convicted of anything.

Monkey: Not to your knowledge, maybe. But there are monkey tribunals of which you know nothing.

DAH: See? Three again! Tri - Bunal!

Monkey: Shut up.

DAH is David Anthony Hance. Monkey is.

No new "me" just MinkeeLALA from Seattle

2010-10-26T17:06:19-07:00

Monkey: So, what's this I hear about a new me?

DAH: There's only one you, for me, you know.

Monkey: You say that, then off you go to Seattle.

DAH: CHance and I went to Seattle last week, right.

Monkey: And where was I?

DAH: Sitting on the little sofa in our upstairs bedroom at home.

Monkey: And where was Chaussette de Singe?

DAH: Sitting next to you. Listen, CHance thought about bringing you, but decided there wasn't going to be much for you to do on this trip.

Monkey: So it was a monkey-less trip?

DAH: Yeah. Sorry.

Monkey: What about a new me?

DAH: What about what?

Monkey: You've replaced me, you traitor, you turncoat. You have a new monkey!

DAH: Oh, you mean MinkeeLALA.

Monkey: Minkie-la-la?

DAH: No, MinkeeLALA. Imagine Molly Shannon doing an over-the-top imitation of Peter Sellers in that Pink Panther movie where he can't pronounce the word "monkey" intelligibly.

Monkey: I don't know what you're talking about.

DAH: Well, never mind.

Monkey: Never mind your new little friend!?!? Ha!

DAH: Jealousy doesn't become you.

Monkey: You think you can just replace me! I won't go without a fight!

DAH: I'm not replacing you. Just adding to the family.

Monkey: You should talk to me! You could have asked me. How did you think I would feel? Did you even pause to think about me?

DAH: What about Chaussette? I don't remember being consulted.

Monkey: That's different. That was MY choice.

DAH: That's a bit of a double standard. You get to make choices without discussion, but I'm denigrated for so doing.

Monkey: Not at all, Mr. Fancy-talking-smarty-pants. I know what's right. I know what's fair. I know what's best. Nothing double about that.

DAH: And what am I? Chopped liver?

Monkey: We monkeys prefer a creamier pate.

DAH: All about you, eh?

Monkey: What choice do I have? I'm only me.

DAH: True. True.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime.com

Bon Chance at DAHplaytime Good Luck Tip O'The Week: Recognize Your Mistakes

2010-10-19T11:15:42-07:00

I heard something in passing on the radio this morning, while enjoying a pretty darn good breakfast buffet at Seattle's Inn at Harbor Steps. The radio announcer said something like: "It's best to try lots of things, make lots of mistakes, recognize those mistakes, and move on."

I like that. And the key is to recognize mistakes quickly. Or to recognize those efforts that aren't going to yield desired results (so, not really mistakes, but, rather, things that won't work). Choose the winners and invest in those.

This is so much easier than it sounds. I know that employers do this. That's why they try to have a short 30-90 day) introductory period for new employees, during which time either side can say, "Sorry, this isn't working" without significant consequence.

My personal problem is that I work in the wine business, in which adding a new wine takes a lot longer than adding a new employee. Instead of 90 days, it might be 900. Which gives us plenty of time to get attached to that wine, whether it proves to be a winner or not.

But it's so important to recognize the non-winners early, before investing too much in them. And it's so hard to maintain the passion and enthusiasm that success usually depends upon, while at the same time being ever-vigilant and prepared to cut your losses.

Still, it's essential to making your own good luck that you identify those "mistakes" early ... those things that aren't going to get you where you need to go. Watch for them, and be prepared to act. Invest in your winners, not the things you simply wish were winners. Your luck will be better.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime.com

Bonne Chance @ DAHplaytime.com Good Luck Tip O'The Week! SHRUG IT OFF!

2010-10-12T11:03:44-07:00

A key trait of lucky people (those that both perceive themselves to be lucky, and are perceived to be lucky by others) is the ability to shrug off today's disasters. We know that today's disaster is temporary. Yes, we all encounter challenges, difficulties, and set-backs. To make your own luck, shrug off the bad stuff, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.

Tom Perls of Boston University's New England Centenarian Study (reported in THE WEEK October 15, 2010) suggests, of those living to 100 years and older, "Our subjects are generally extroverted and gregarious and have a stable social network … furthermore, they're aren't neurotic … they don't bemoan life's difficulties; they are masters at the art of letting go."

Maybe deliberate optimism contributes to a long life as well as good luck. And maybe long-life and good-luck travel hand in hand.

I remind myself to "shrug it off" with the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Make your spirits high, shrug off the old nonsense, get lucky and live long.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime.com