My wife Lita and I had the amazing good fortune to secure first class tickets on Emirates Air from Seattle to Dubai, leaving this month. Why is that wonderful? Because first class tickets cost $26,100 per person round trip and we are getting them free through our frequent flier miles. On top of that, this is not like most other airlines. The tickets include a complimentary chauffeur driven pickup at home to SeaTac airport. When we arrive a chauffeur driven…
Eric Hartmann was a German fighter pilot during World War II and was the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew in 1404 combat missions and engaged in aerial combat 825 times while serving as a fighter with the Luftwaffe. His record was 352 aerial victories involving shooting down an enemy aircraft. At the same time Hartman forced to crash land his fighter 14 times. However this was not due to being shot down or forced…
Joseph D. Jamail is an 88 year old trial lawyer from Houston Texas. Last week Joe and Ron Krist, another Houston lawyer spoke at the International Accademy of Trial Lawyers at a meeting in Newport, California, Lita and I attended. I’ve known Joe and Ron for a number of years through professionalorganizations we belong to and both are extraordinary story tellers. They had the audience entertained and laughing. Forbes Magazine gives Joe’s wealth at $1.5 billion. His 1985 verdict for his…
The Citigroup Center is a skyscraper located on Lexington Avenue in New York City. It is one of the ten tallest skyscrapers in New York City. Standing 59 fours high is 915 feet into the sky. The structural engineer was William LeMessuirier (pronounced "La Measure"). The building has a very distinctive 45° angle and it rests upon four massive 114 feet tall stilts located at the center of each side rather than the corners. This unique design was required because it had to be…
My father in law, Hollis Barnett died on March 22nd 1990. He was a unique and wonderful man. You canread about his extraordinary wife Betty Barnett and more about this couple whoI grew to love. https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2010/03/i-write-this-in-memory-of-my-wifes-father-hollis-hall-barnett-whodied-in-puyallup-washington-on-march-22-1990-at-the-a.html Hollis Hall Barnett died in Puyallup, Washington on March 22, 1990 at the age of 83. Hollis was born inBuckley, Washington on May 3, 1907 and spent his younger years at Mt. Rainier National Park where his father, Herman "Herm" Burke Barnett, was a…
I was reading an article about a man in show business who is a master pickpocket among other talents. It described a woman accusing him of having stolen missing rings during a performance and how he dealt with it. The article said "he was using an old sales technique called 'feel, felt, found' in responding" I had a vague recollection of reading about this technique before, but couldn't remember what it meant so I looked it up. What I learned…
Defeated candidate Mitt Romney and his wife have opened up to the media regarding their views on his loss to Mr. Obama. Mr Romney blamed the vote of blacks and Hispanics as the cause of his losing. His wife Ann pointed to the misrepresentations of the news media as the cause of his loss. When I read this in the newspaper I thought about Adlai Stevenson's response when he was asked how he felt after losing his race for president. He…
My maternal grandfather Peter (Petar) Babarovich was born April 12, 1861 inthe village of Splitska on the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea. He died inAnacortes, Washington March 5, 1935. For his family history see: http://www.paulluvera.com/weblog/2011/03/peter.html The picture is of my maternal grandparents Peter and Marija. They had seven children all of whom, except my mother Mary, were born in ona small island Brac off the coast near Split, Croatia. I've written about the families journey from the old country to America before as…
On Friday February 27th 1981 I had the good sense to marry Lita Theresa Barnett. From that day to this we have been together virtually twenty four hours a day because we are not only partners in life, we are also partners in law. That means for the past 32 years we have worked and lived together. We really should be honoring a 64 year marriage since we have never left each others side since our marriage. Winston Churchill once wrote…
Pope Benedict gave his two weeks notice. He going to resign. The first pope to do so in some six hundred years. I admit I was never a fan of the present pope and even less of the previous one. In fact, the only pope in my life time I thought was extraordinary and who should be declared a saint was John 23rd. In my view, Benedict and his predecessor John Paul II were arch conservatives who caused much pain and damage…
