This morning, for the first time in maybe a year, I didn't wake up around 5 a.m. (I don't set the alarm clock.) For one reason or another, I had trouble sleeping last night, and finally did not wake until about 6:30. By then it was too late to take my walk, because I had too many things to do. If my neighbor, who is away and accompanies me when he's in town, reads this article, I will never hear the end of it. In my last couple of columns I’ve kidded him about overdressing for the mild morning coldness. Now he’ll probably retaliate by accusing me of not even taking a walk when he’s gone.

Realizing it was too late to go out, I put on the coffee on and started feeling sorry for myself about missing out on the great delicacies that I normally reward myself with at the French Pastry Shop on Tuesdays. So I crawled back into bed until the coffee was done. Lying there, I started to laugh about a funny experience that my daughter, Kylene, had just the day before.

She recently moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to seek her fortune. She earned a bachelor's degree in physical science and worked as a trainer in Albuquerque while also studying cosmetology. That interest came from her mother, my wife Linda, who has been in the cosmetology business for more than 40 years. Kylene’s wish is to someday combine the two fields by creating a complete spa for women.

After arriving in Las Vegas and settling into an apartment with a lifelong friend, also from Santa Fe, my daughter went to work at the beauty salon in the new Palms Hotel, which happens to be owned by a very successful Albuquerque family, the Maloofs. Another of their businesses is the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

Well, on Monday Kylene was working at the salon when Mr. Maloof himself came in for a haircut. But new to the job, Kylene did not recognize him. As she washed his hair she asked what he had done on the weekend. He said he had gone to watch “The Basketball Game.” My daughter, just being conversational, asked who was playing. The Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers, he replied. "Who were you for?" Kylene then asked. Turning his head in the washing bowl, he looked askance at her. “I own the Sacramento Kings!” he declared.

With that, Kylene realized who he was—and that he also owned the hotel where she worked. Embarrassed and not knowing what to say, she stammered, "So I guess you were for the Kings.” It was the only thing she could think of. My daughter was sure she had come to the end of her career at the Palms Hotel. But when she finished, Mr. Maloof gave her a wry smile and a handsome tip.

Thinking about Kylene’s experience, I realized that ignorance just depends on the subject matter. The night before, Linda and I had watched the Academy Awards, and almost every time an Oscar was handed out, I would ask "Who is that?" or would say, "I've never even heard of that movie!" Each time I made such a remark, Linda turned her head and looked askance at me.

Have a great day!

Stan