Power lunching at Garibaldi's

Carson City Manager John Berkich and soon-to-be interim manager Andy Burnham were in Garibaldi's for lunch on Thursday, no doubt preparing for the transition to a new city manager.

It was no surprise to me that Andy was tapped to be interim city manager until a replacement is found for John. I've known Andy for 13 years, since he was working for Jim Vasey on the Genoa Lakes project. Andy served as public works director for Douglas County and he was one of the key players behind the county's master plan. I've always found him knowledgeable and easy to get along with. Carson City could do a lot worse than Andy at the helm.

I shook John's hand on Thursday and wished him luck at his new job. If Carson was complex, Reno has got to be 10 times as complicated.

On Sunday, we celebrated Jennifer Hollister's 40th birthday at the Gold Canyon Steak House in Dayton. In addition to myself, her parents, Gim and Joyce Hollister, and our dear friend, former Nevada Appeal news editor Angel Dey, and her son, 4-year-old Nick, were at the table.

About halfway through our meal, JohnD and Kay Winters arrived at the restaurant for dinner. The Winterses are old friends of the Hollister family and it was good to see them.

They were in time to applaud young Nick after he sang happy birthday to Jennifer.

Judith Harris sent me a nice thank-you note for putting in the item about the Dayton State Park last week.

" I want you to know that you have a loyal readership being built in Los Angeles as well (at least 5)," she wrote. "As I send your articles down to my in-laws."

My favorite cop show is "CSI: Las Vegas." While I can forgive the often lackadaisical way they gather evidence from people without even asking, much less getting a warrant, I wish they would consult a local when it comes to place names.

I thought they had finally gotten around to saying the name of the state right (not always, but a good majority of the time), when someone said the name of one of my favorite eastern Nevada towns, Ely.

Nevadans know Ely is pronounced Elee, but when one character said Eli, I nearly had a fit.

So I e-mailed the show offering my services free of charge to help with the pronunciation of other Nevada towns such as Beatty, Panaca and even Tonopah.

Tuesday morning I saw two coyotes scoot across Highway 50 on their way to some distant appointment. They looked positively playful as they chased one another into the snow-covered sage in Mound House.

Playful is not the word for the group of a half-dozen people I saw trek across the parking lot of Greater Nevada Credit Union during a let-up in the morning snow. Usually I can guess what people are doing, but this group crossed the parking lot headed toward the JC Penny's and then 15 minutes later returned going the other way.

Maybe they just wanted to get in a morning slog.

I can't tell my wife I love her in an e-mail because her company's firewall stops anything that says love. Instead I have to use an l and some characters, as if I were writing a swear word.

On the Internet, love is a four-letter word.

Kurt Hildebrand is former managing editor of the Nevada Appeal. Reach him at 887-2430, ext. 402 or e-mail him at kurt@tahoe.com