Columnists

Morgan Hill's Shadow Mountain Baptist Church (17810 Monterey Road) recently announced several special events.

A vital component of effective community leadership is getting feedback from the people who are most impacted by the quality of that leadership. Leaders need to know if what they are doing is working and taking the community in the right direction. If it isn’t working, they need to know the reasons for that failure. They also need to be open to hearing ideas from the public that can improve their organizations.

Come and walk on the ocean floor and experience a colorful, spiritual adventure that is also dramatic, romantic, mysterious and entertaining. This is what the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers in all its wonder. This is a place to savor and enjoy over and over again.

The year was 1991 and it could be summed up in one word: Anticipation. It was exciting, but I knew it would take time for the San Jose Sharks to build some credibility, to build a team that was a contender for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

There’s an old saying that tells us a dog is man’s best friend. But new statistics indicate that this just ain’t so anymore. Today, the pet dog population in the United States is more than 67 million. But listen to this; there are more than 83 million cats living with human companions. Those darn cats. Somehow, they snuck up and took over as the most popular pet in America. Only fish outnumber them (there are an estimated 170 million pet fish in the United States), but that’s only because a lot of fish can fit in one small aquarium. So it seems that cats have it when it comes to being “top dog” in our homes.

You know that indefinable allure you feel toward something you don’t have? But you want? Sure, we’ve all salivated over that certain “je ne sais quoi” epitomized by expensive homes and automobiles or luxury trips to exotic lands. I get that. But really. An old teacup and saucer? Perhaps I should explain.

It’s beginning to look like California will get bullet trains after all, but it won’t be quite as grandiose a system as what the state’s High Speed Rail Authority at first wanted or what voters approved in the 2008 Proposition 1A.

I’ve complained for years about the scourge of ballot-box budgeting – that’s when voters approve propositions that earmark government revenue for specific purposes, circumventing the normal budget process involving the state legislature.