I met them years ago on a plane, and liked them both very both.  So the loss seems very personal.

Below is the blog entry I wrote in 2010 about my Kennedy encounter.

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I read today that Bobby Kennedy, Jr. filed for a divorce from his wife Mary. That’s too bad.  They seemed like such a nice couple…

When I met them.

Yeah, you read it right.  I met Bobby and Mary Kennedy.  They sat next to me on a flight from Denver to Aspen.  We were all en route to the 2nd Annual US Comedy Arts Festival. I was on a research trip for Hallmark Cards; Bobby was going to introduce Garry Trudeau, his good friend and creator of the “Doonesbury” comic strip, who was being honored at the festival.

The small jet had no first class; that’s why they were seated next to me.  I recognized them immediately when they boarded just moments before take-off — my mother loved the Kennedys like most Catholics of her generation — but I didn’t let on.

They were very friendly and chatted with me during the short flight.  When they realized I was going to the festival as well, they mentioned their friend Garry — by first name only — and said ‘perhaps they’d see me there.’

It was a great story to share with my co-workers, who were seated elsewhere on the plane.

I attended the Doonesbury retrospective and only made the ‘Kennedy connection’ when Bobby stepped up to the podium to introduce ‘his friend Garry.’  After the event was over, attendees were invited to a gallery next door exhibiting framed “Doonesbury” cartoons.

As I was milling around with my co-workers, I suddenly heard shouts of  “Carla!  Carla!”  There across the room were Mary and Bobby Kennedy, smiling and waving.  Garry Trudeau stood at their side.

The rest of the evening was kind of a rock star moment for me.  I got to hang with the Kennedys for a while.  I met Garry Trudeau, whose comic strips helped Watergate make sense, and I was able to get his autograph for my brother Kent.

And best of all?  The look on my co-workers’ faces.

Priceless.

No one should watch that.

This ‘transparent house’ is located in Tokyo.  Designed by Sou Fujimoto architects, the multi-level structure occupies 914 square feet and features lots of ramps and cool built-ins.

And glass walls.

Now, your first concern might be the lack of privacy.  And sure, there aren’t that many solid walls in the place.  But I think you would get used to the constant exposure.

The Internet has prepared us for that, right?

Personally, I would be more concerned about the light.  Unless the photos are hiding retractable awnings or shades, the sun would be your almost constant companion.

So. Much. Light.

The vampire in me says no.

But sometimes the universe puts a big ol’ exclamation point on it.

I flew home to New York City late Saturday after a trip to Chicago and got in the cab, prepared to doze during the drive home.

My cabbie had a different idea.

You see, he was a talker.  He asked about my trip, what I did for a living, where my hometown was.  Since I’m a talker, I reluctantly abandoned the nap and chatted with him instead.

(He had a French accent, so it wasn’t a hardship.)

Turns out my NYC cab driver, who hails from a French colony in Africa, attended Southern Illinois University and had a roommate from Paducah, Kentucky — a stone’s throw from my own hometown.

Coincidence?  Sure…but what a fun one!

HAPPY 200TH BIRTHDAY, LOUISIANA!

I don’t normally get that excited about other states’ bicentennial celebrations.

But New Orleans did all Kentuckians a kindness this year. They hosted the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship — an event that I’m not sure if I have mentioned here…

UK won.

So, forever more New Orleans — and indeed the entire state of Louisiana — will have a warm spot in my memory and in my heart.

Enjoy your big day, Pelican State. You sure helped all us Wildcats enjoy ours.

It’s not the first time a college building’s lights have been hijacked.  Students at Brown University and Delft University in the Netherlands pulled off similar stunts years earlier.

But it’s still pretty darn fun.

And I think New York City should consider itself challenged — not the colleges per se, but all the wonderfully tall buildings that occupy downtown and bring in millions of tourists each year.

Sure, we have dancing snowflakes on the side of the Sax Fifth Avenue Building each Christmas, but I’m talking bigger.  Taller.  Faster.

I’m looking at you, Empire State Building.

We know you can vary the lights at the very tip-top to reflect the seasons.  How about using the lights on the side of the building to create the biggest video game in the world?

If you don’t do it, I’ll bet there’s a hacker out there who will.

Game on.

They’re all in Central Park.

I noticed a large gathering of robins on the Great Lawn when I was walking Rory this morning.  They were spaced out in an almost geometric pattern, standing very still.

It looked much like the start of some sci-fi films, just before the aliens land…or creatures burst through the earth after being buried in pods for centuries.

Perhaps they were exhibiting the bird behavior that mathematician John Nash studied as a student at Princeton, which was dramatized in the movie A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe.

Of course, there is one other reason the birds could have been standing there on the Great Lawn in the early morning –

Breakfast.

But entire towns?

Such is the sad state of affairs in F–cking, Austria.  (And yes, the “–” stands for exactly what you think.)

Until US soldiers were stationed nearby in World War II, no one in F–king thought a thing about their town’s moniker.

Now tourists mock them.  Steal the F–king signs.  The prank calls were the final straw.  The town mayor decided to change the F–king name.  But all the residents have to agree.

As someone who grew up in Fancy Farm — in a state with towns like Monkey’s Eyebrow, Possum Trot, and Big Bone Lick — I say…

“Keep your F–king name!”

I sense your confusion.

WordPress has recently given their hosted blogs the ability to see what country site visitors are from.   So I can now see that people from Turkey, Germany, Phillipines, Mexico, France, and Italy all read The Sticky Egg on a daily basis.

To be honest, it kinda blows me away.

So today, I would like to salute the top three countries — besides my beloved, native USA — that have become loyal Eggers:

Australia

Canada

United Kingdom

Thanks for visiting.  I hope to return the favor very soon!

I LOVED IT.

I loved the people, the food, the arts community, the food. And that’s also where I adopted Rory Dog.

Like I said — great people.

Kansas City is top of mind today because it’s Fountain Day  — the day they turn on all the public fountains in the city.  You do know that Kansas City is second only to Rome in the number of fountains?

It’s true.

So, if you get a chance to visit Kansas City, you’re sure to enjoy them.  Because as of today, the fountains are on.

It’s spring in Kansas City!

I’m only 5’7″, folks.

Why would any airport, your last stop before flying off into the ‘wild blue yonder,’ be so claustrophobic?  Wouldn’t it try to inspire, to remind you of the trip ahead with grand vistas and high ceilings?

This terminal is so cramped, the airplane I will soon board is gonna feel roomy.

Oh — maybe that’s the plan.