Here are a couple of stories that, when strung together, I hope will make an important point.
Last Thursday, I was on a conference call to a guy in New York who was helping a colleague and me develop a new Web-based project.
One of the actions we had not yet taken was to announce the name of the project. Inside the office, it was not a secret but little was known about it. So, it became known in our office and to the New York advisor as Project X.
"In order to move this along," said Mr. New York, "one of the things we really need to do is give it a name other than Project X."
My colleague, Jennifer Dupuis, and I agreed but we weren't ready to tell this guy that not only did we have a name -- a good one, we believed -- we had already registered it.
So, instead, I said, "We couldn't agree with you more. That's why we've started calling it Bob. So around the office here, people can ask about the project by saying, 'Hey, how's Bob?' or 'What's about Bob?'"
The New York guy didn't flinch. Several times during the rest of the 30-minute call, he referred to the project as "Bob."
OK, that's the first story. Here's the second.
In yesterday's Daily Pilot, there were 19 letters responding to the question about who should succeed John Heffernan on the Newport Beach City Council. Most were very short.
"I would vote for Keith Curry," wrote Susan Dean of Corona del Mar.
Scott Peotter got an endorsement from Phillip Langford of Newport Beach who wrote, "Scott Peotter is best qualified for Newport Beach City Council."
All of the longer letters endorsed Dolores Otting. But most were very short, like the ones for Curry and Peotter.
As I read them, there was one type of letter I was hoping to see: "I am going to support Keith Curry." The letter would have been signed by Keith Curry.
I picked Curry at random. The letter could have been Otting supporting Otting, Peotter supporting Peotter.
There is no question that Newport Beach and Costa Mesa face some very important issues in the coming months and years.
In Costa Mesa, the poor planning of the illegal immigrant initiative has brought the wrong type of national attention. Now, there are plans for a boycott of businesses that don't get in line with a strong-arm group's opinion.
In Newport Beach, there is a city hall to design and build and Marinapark to develop, among other matters.
