Religions of America

USA Today recently posted this great graphic displaying the self-professed religion of Americans.

Two interesting factoids:

In three states there is a majority (>50%) professing one religion. The religions are Mormon, Baptist, Catholic. Which are the three states?

In six states, more than 1/5 the population professes no religion at all. Which states are these? (Hint: 5 of the 6 are in the West)

Our son the kangaroo

Philip recently informed us that he is the proud owner of a new pair of Powerisers. If that means as much to you as it did to me you'll want to check out this film clip. Powerisers are leg/foot attachments that allow a person to jump 6 feet in the air and "walk" down the street taking 9 foot steps at a time. You're wouldn't want to challenge a Poweriser user to a foot race. But it does look like fun.


This isn't Philip in the film clip but I thoroughly expect him to work up to this level of expertise. It looks just like the kind of thing that he would do.

Taco Town time

Every once in a while Carolyn and I like to grab a bite to eat at Taco Bell. That's probably because we've never been to Taco Town:


Then, again, I'm not sure my arteries are quite ready for this.

Kudos to HP

After I read the book "Gone Tomorrow" about the ever increasing amount of garbage our world is having to deal with, I began noticing more what companies and individuals are doing to help or worsen the situation.

Thus, I was pleased to see a small note in an HP advertisement that referred to Hewlett-Packard's recycling program which is further explained at www.hp.com/recycle. For years HP has been at the forefront of recycling laserjet toner cartridges. Every new HP toner cartridge comes with a return address label which provides free pick-up and shipping of the used cartridge back to HP. Since there is no charge for the service, I always assumed that the savings in raw material more than made up for the costs to HP of recovering the used cartridges.

But they're into much more than recycling toner cartridges. For a small fee, you can have PC's, laptops, PDA's, monitors, batteries, power supplies, scanners, printers, plotters, and other miscellaneous electronic computer-related equipment (no DVD, TV, of VCR equipment please) picked up and returned to HP's recycling center. There, according to HP,

"All returned products go through a state-of-the-art, environmentally responsible, multi-phase recycling process. They're sent to a recycling facility and are reduced to raw materials that can be used to make new metal and plastic products."

I'd like to suggest a round of applause for one company which seems to have found a way to be a responsible citizen of the planet as part of their business plan.

Gone Tomorrow – a book review

In my archaeology class we learned about the importance of the village midden, or garbage pile, in determining the culture and practices of the people inhabiting that village. On that basis, future archaeologists are going to have a heyday trying to figure out our current civilization.

Gone Tomorrow, the Hidden Life of Garbage by Heather Rogers is fascinating and depressing at the same time. There are fascinating tidbits such as the idea that garbage is a relatively recent invention, that less than 300 years ago it would have been unthinkable to consign so much of our production to the trash heap so soon after it is produced. Before mass production and mass marketing, items were produced to be repaired and reused again and again and slogans such as “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” were common. There wasn’t anything to throw away as even scraps of cloth became part of a quilt or rug.

There are horrifying descriptions of garbage dumps such as Rikers Island:

The rats became so numerous and so large that the department imported dogs in an effort to eliminate the rats… there were more than one hundred dogs on the island, dogs which were never fed by authorities but lived solely on these rats.

Gases… were constantly exploding, erupting through the soil covering and busting into flames. … When a hot spell would come along in the summer, the ground resembled a sea of small volcanoes, all breathing smoke and flames.

Another disturbing idea brought out by Rogers is that the trucks that pick up your garbage and your recyclables may be dumping them into the same landfill because recycling often just isn’t economically sustainable. But it’s politically impossible to cut back the appearance of recycling.

There are also some distractions in the book as when the author claims the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign was modeled after a later series of clean-up efforts by Ladybird Johnson. I’m not sure how you model something after something that comes later.

The book definitely has a pro-environment, anti-business, distrust of government bias to it. In spite of that, it is an interesting and enlightening book.

Scrap Happy

So Carolyn spends a week at home (more or less) recovering from her thyroidectomy. But no way is she going to spend the whole time lying in bed eating bon-bons and watching "As the World Turns". She'd be outside in a second plucking rose blooms past their prime and weeds that are daring to show themselves in her garden -- but it is 105 to 114 outside and that just doesn't compute. By the time we do go to bed each evening it is still over 85 so outside work is just not thinkable. What to do to while away the hours?

Carolyn goes into our garage storage room, takes one look and comes back out with a sigh. Steeling herself, she goes back in and emerges this time with two boxes of scrap cloth that she has been saving for just such an occasion. There are brightly colored scraps of old dresses, playsuits, blankets, and what not. Patterns which are vaguely reminiscent of our kids' childhood days. She has blues, reds, yellows, flowers, polka dots, stars. And not enough of anything to make more than a quilt block or two.

But with such a challenge facing her and a Book on CD to be her intellectual companion for the next week, Carolyn forges ahead.

The result, as you can see is a fun, bright, lively... HAPPY quilt top. I call it her Scrap Happy pattern. And I'm impressed.

Oh, Rats!

I went outside yesterday evening to put out the trash for the regular pickup this morning. To my surprise, someone had left a little present for us. It wasn't there this morning. It was still fresh enough to be interesting to a bunch of flies who weren't happy with me paying so much attention. I put the empy pea can there to give ssome perspective of the rat's size, not to imply that it ate the peas. It's a mystery how the rat ended up there. It could have been poisoned at a neighbor's yard or house or it could have been a neighborhood cat that likes to claim our yard. I'm very willing to let him patrol if this is the result.

Rumor Has It...- a movie review

Okay, it's a bit of a stretch to base a movie on a possible sequel to a possible real life connection to a hit movie of a previous generation, but I happen to think that is the charm of Rumor Has It.

Suffering from the belief that she isn't her father's daughter (and how many of us have secretly harbored the thought that we are really adopted because no one in our family really understands us?) Jennifer Aniston's character easily falls for the idea that her family may have been the inspiration for the movie "The Graduate". "The Graduate" was such a classic in breaking all sorts of Hollywood taboos that even people who haven't seen it, know that it's all about a man being seduced by his girlfriend's mother, making him one confused kid. Well, if Aniston's character's mother is that girlfriend and her grandmother that mother, then she has a right to be one confused kid as well. It doesn't help when she finds the perfect candidate for who could be her real father.

Certainly a chick flick with lots of relationship explorations, heartbreaks, and disappointments, Rumor Has It is still fun for keeping some suspense while allowing (almost) everyone to finally redeem themselves.

Pioneer Day

July 24th is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah and in Mormon communities throughout the world although some parts of the world have difficulty relating to the concept of "pioneer". It seems to me that a fitting post for this day is the following quiz. See if you can tell which quotations are attributed to Brigham Young, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and which ones are attributed to Warren Jeffs, the current Prophet, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and, since May 2006, a member of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Both men had/have over 20 wives and 100 children. (Quiz presented with thanks to enochville).

I think it's interesting what a different perspective we can get in 150 years.

(scroll down for answers and references).

Quotes:
1) "And the lesson is, if anyone mingles their seed, their bloodline, with the seed of Cain, the Negro, they also would lose all rights and priesthood blessings."

2) "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin."

3) "So I give you this lesson on the black race that you can understand its full effects as far as we are able to comprehend. And that we must beware - if we are for the prophet, the priesthood - we will come out of the world and leave off their dress, their music, their styles, their fashions; the way they think, what they do, because you can trace back and see a connection with immoral, filthy people."

4) "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy."

5) "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."

6) "It was necessary that the Devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God. So Ham's wife that was preserved on the Ark was a Negro of the seed of Cain and there was a priestly purpose in it, that the Devil would have a representation as well as God."

7) "You say, "That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God." Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, an put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands."

8) "So the Negro race has continued, and today is the day of the Negro as far as the world is concerned. They have influenced the generations of time; they have mixed their blood with many peoples, until there are many peoples not able to hold the priesthood. ...

9) "Many young men, when they receive their first wife, are just so untrained. The woman, if she's not careful, will be overbearing and always ask permission for what she wants. And ladies, build up your husband by being submissive. That's how you will give your children success; you will want your children to be obedient, to be submissive to righteous living."

10) "Any young man who is unmarried at the age of twenty one is a menace to the community."

11) "There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it . . . "

12) "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned."
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Answers:
1)WJ http://tinyurl.com/rx734
2)BY (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, page 290; Often credited to WJ, but BY said it 1st)
3)WJ http://tinyurl.com/rx734
4)BY (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 269).
5)BY (Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)
6)WJ http://tinyurl.com/rx734
7)BY (Journal of Discourses 3:247)
8)WJ http://tinyurl.com/rx734
9)WJ http://tinyurl.com/rx734
10)BY
11)BY (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 247; see also, Vol. 4, pp. 53-54, 219-220.)
12)BY (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 266).

The God Factor - a book review

In The God Factor author Cathleen Falsani has brought together the thoughts and life directions of some 32 famous, or at least publicly known, people from all walks of life and many different religions. Ms. Falsani interviewed these people, usually in their own homes or places of business, attempting to get beyond labels with often surprising results. Each short interview is headed with information about the religion the person was raised in and which they currently espouse.

Examples of the philosophies include (with the current religion and occupation):

Tom Robbins, (cosmic lounge lizard) writer: We're all agnostics...even the prophets of old.

John Mahoney, (Catholic) rector: Religion means being charitable.

Annie Lemay, (no religion) singer/songwriter: I ask myself "Am I being kind?"

Jeffrey Sachs, (secular Jew) economist: We should end poverty and hunger now, because we can. Americans are unique in the world in having the opinion the the poor have only themselves to blame for their poverty.

This book is a veritable cookbook of relgious and spiritual options. Not recommended for those who are positive they already have a lock on the truth.

What next, old friend?

There are times when I really miss having a teenager in the house. I really do. Like when we need someone to climb up on the roof to check out a loose shake. Or shinny into the attick to find the leak in the roof. Or bribe with $5 to mow the front lawn when it's 95 degrees in the shade at 9:00 in the morning on Saturday and I'm afraid the neighbors are going to start picketing our yard.

Today I miss having a teen around the house because I'm having real separation anxiety from my old friend the 1996 Mercury Sable. We've been together for almost 11 years and 107,000 miles. It's taken Carolyn and me on several vacations and served as a connecting link between us when I first moved to Sacramento and had to commute to Long Beach every couple of weeks. I need a teen to adopt the Sable, drive it, and give it the care and love it deserves. I need a teen who will accept its faults and enjoy its virtues and just be glad he or she has some wheels.

The Sable has been parked in our front driveway since being repaired a couple of weeks ago. I drove it home from the dealer repair shop where they had given it a clean bill of health, passed the smog check, and said everything looked good. Of course, the "check engine" light had come on again just as I pulled into our cul-de-sac but that's been off and on for the past several weeks. The repair guys said it almost always relates to a emission control problem. The Sable has been sitting in our driveway because we bought a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid during the week it was in the shop.

This morning I drove the Sable around the block to renew old memories. As I remembered (and a main reason for getting an SUV) I had a difficult time getting into the Sable. I dropped the last few inches into the driver's seat. I had just as much trouble climbing out. The car started well and ran smoothly. The gas gauge showed full in spite of the half-empty tank. The ride was a little rougher than I remembered and the steering stiffer - both reflections on the smooth ride and easy steering of the Highlander. The sound system and air conditioning both worked great and, as you can see, the car's appearance really hasn't suffered for its 11 years on the road.

But, yes, my children are too old and my grandchildren too young. So the Sable sits in the driveway until I finally get the will to call our local NPR station about donating a wonderful friend and long-time companion.

Transitions...

Right on schedule, I submitted my application for a retirement benefit from CalPERS today. Carolyn went with me. The forms required either that our signatures either be notarized or witnessed by an authorized employee of CalPERS so we figured we might as well take care of the signatures and submission of the application at the same time.

I had been told that you could just drop in and take care of it. It turned out they
were shorthanded so we had to wait almost an hour to take care of our business. The customer service representative was very nice and apologetic as well as very efficient once we got to see her.

Sort of in celebration of Carolyn's recuperation and her getting back to work next week, we then dropped in for a tour of the Stanford Mansion which has recently been completely refurbished to it's 19th century glory. It is gorgeous inside but they wouldn't let us take any pictures. Besides being available for public tours, it is also the official "protocol location" for the governor and legislature to host official receptions for visiting dignitaries. I think that actually makes it look more real than a regular museum might.

Lunch at Paragary's Bar & Oven completed our exhausting field trip to downtown Sacramento.

Kudos for customer service

You may recall a couple of weeks ago when I was frustrated with Home Depot for not facilitating the repair of one of our blinds after the draw cord had broken. Turns out they actually did us a favor even if it wasn't handled with finesse.

They referred us to the website of Hunter-Douglas, the makers of the blind, where a link to customer service allowed us to state our problem. H-D got back to us the next day with a couple of questions and a toll-free number which we could use if we didn't want to wait for email dialogue. After a quick call a FREE repair kit was on its way to our house.

An hour of relatively easy work on my part and the cords are as good as new on this blind. Cost $0. Previous repair cost $41. Thanks, Hunter-Douglas.

Too hot outside

What do you do when it is just too darn hot to work in the yard, heading your roses, or weeding the flower bed? Well, if you're Carolyn, you start exploring in the closet to see what projects you've started and haven't finished or have just never gotten around to starting.

Today, she found the makings for some quilt tops - brightly colored fabric in nicely matching or complementary hues that seemed to be just crying out to be pieced together.

So, with sewing machine at hand and a Book on CD in her player, she went at it. I don't think anything got finished but some things certainly came a little closer. And who knows? Tomorrow may just be too hot again.

Why We Fight - a movie review

“Why We Fight” should probably be subtitled “Anti-War Lite”. Although there is a lot of good information presented, it is presented in such a way that most Americans will walk away with a big “Ho-hum, what else is new.”

To begin with, “Why We Fight” shows an excerpt from President Eisenhower’s farewell speech when he left the presidency in 1961. In this speech he warned the country of the “military-industrial complex” (which he had originally written as military-industrial-congressional complex). The show would have us believe this is a dangerous thing since one of our beloved presidents (we do remember who Eisenhower was, don’t we?) has warned us about it and as numerous clips in the film reinforce. But as an American tradition that is at least 50 years old – as old as the traditional use of the Pledge of Allegiance and the use of In God We Trust on our money – how can we possibly think it is a bad thing?

Then the movie shows how reluctant Americans were to enter World War II – 95% of the nation felt we should stay out – until Pearl Harbor. War inciting propaganda has been used to convince Americans to participate in every war we’ve fought, which certainly is enough justification for our current administration to use this powerful tool. Americans just don’t know what’s best of them, including who they should bomb and kill, until they’re told by the powers that be.

I found the “What can we do?” section especially amusing as it hinted that the power to rein in the military-industrial complex rested with congress. Congress can set different priorities. Right. Like that is ever going to happen as long as they’re lining their own pockets with contributions and ensuring their continued employment in Washington.

Why do we fight? The movie asks several modern Americans on the street and the answers range from the predictable “freedom”, “peace”, “liberty” to the more often “I dunno”. No one connects the dots that they have been manipulated into supporting this war and no one cares. And that’s why we fight!

The Crocker

In my ongoing quest to keep Carolyn was going crazy cooped up inside the house and with a couple of complimentary passes from our friends, the Navarros, we took a field trip to the Crocker Art Museum in downtown Sacramento.

According to their website:

The longest continuously operating art museum in the West, the Crocker Art Museum was founded in 1885 and remains the leading art institution for the California Capital Region and Central Valley. The Museum offers a diverse spectrum of special exhibitions, events and programs to augment its collections of California, European and Asian artworks, and International Ceramics. The mission of the Museum is to promote an awareness of and enthusiasm for human experience through art. The Museum fulfills its mission by offering a variety of education programs for Youth & Family, Schools & Teachers and the Public.

We especially enjoyed the special exhibit currently on display featuring works of M. C. Esher. Fortunately, we went to that exhibit first as we found that there is more at the museum than we could possibly see in one visit. This is definitely one to add to our list of attractions to bring friends and family to when they come to Sacramento to visit.

Late breaking news!

Carolyn's doctor called today to let her know that the pathology report came back for her thyroid which he removed last Wednesday. All indications are NEGATIVE. There were no cancer cells observed. Because of previous negative biopsy results that was what we were expecting but it's still good to hear the actual report.

The Number – a book review

The Number, a completely different way to think about the Rest of Your Life, by Lee Eisenberg is an excellent book that covers a topic we all need to think about. I can’t remember how I heard about it but, without thinking, felt it was probably about how mathematics influences our lives. Being a sometime mathematician, it sounded like a book I might enjoy. I found that the Sacramento Public Library had it in their catalog so I placed a request for it. (I love the way I can order any book in the whole Sacramento County library system as easily or more easily than finding it in my local library.)

Well, it turns out that The Number refers to the amount of money that each of us feels we need to be “set” for life, to not have to worry about where our next meal is coming from or whether we’ll be homeless come the first of the month. Of course, for most of us, for most of our lives, The Number is a theoretical figure, far beyond what we currently have in the bank. But according to Eisenberg, we think about the number if only in a “take this job and shove it” sort of way. The Number is the reason that millions play the state lotteries, hoping to hit The Number the “easy” way.

This book is no lightweight commentary, though. Eisenberg talks seriously about how we compute and how we should compute this number, how it tends to increase if we should actually reach it, and what happens during our mature years when we find ourselves un- or under-employed without having reached The Number. I won’t divulge all Eisenberg’s secrets (except for a small fee when I’m an independent consultant). It is interesting to read about his journey of discovery about them.

In spite of the title, the book is not all about numbers either. Eisenberg recognizes that life is so much more fulfilling if we can retire TO something and not just FROM something. He spills a lot of ink describing how to develop whole life plans not just health and wealth plans. In fact, given our longer, healthier aging years, that may turn out to be the more important aspect once we’ve dealt with The Number. As part of this analysis, Eisenberg quotes George Kinder who recommends that each of us ask ourselves three questions:

1. Assume you have all the money you need for the rest of your life. What would do? How would you live? Let your imagination go.

2. You've been diagnosed with a rare disease. You will live perfectly healthy until sometime between 5 and 10 years from now. You will then die suddenly and painlessly. How would you live? What would you do with the next 5 years?

3. The doctor tells you you have 24 hours to live. What did you miss doing? What did you not get to do or be?

The answers to these three questions will tell you how important The Number is for you and what you'll do for The Rest of Your Life once you have accumulated your Number.

Day 4 - Operation recovery

Carolyn certainly doesn't feel as good as she did before the operation and she doesn't have the same energy she used to have. However, that doesn't stop her from having a good time and using Steve and Lisa's visit this weekend to buoy her spirit up even at the expense of her body. Fortunately, she has the coming week to take it a little easier and recover from the visiting as well as the operation.

We took Steve and Lisa to Black Chasm Cave, one of our favorite spots to take friends and family. While waiting for the next cave tour we watched the two of them "sluice" for semi-precious gems which had been cleverly hidden in a bag of sand. Several of our grandchildren had the same experience earlier in the year.

On the way back we stopped at the Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse where we picked up a couple dozen ears of freshly picked sweet corn. While I was debating how I was going to eat that much, Carolyn was arranging a picnic for Steve, Lisa, Ed, Tiffany, and the boys. Again, a bit strenuous for Carolyn but she'll do anything for a "Grandchild fix". Timothy has discovered jigsaw puzzles and he especially wanted to work on this one with Aunt Lisa since he knows how much she loves rabbits.

Wedding vows

A couple of weeks ago, four to be exact, Steven and Lisa were married in the Holliston Methodist Church in Pasadena. I remarked at the time that their vows were unique and really quite fun. There were several people who asked for a copy. I prevailed upon the newlyweds to provide me with the vows so I could post them here and let everyone enjoy them again.

The Bridesmaid Kristi gave the couple her advice in the words of Ogden Nash:

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup:
Whenever you're wrong, admit it.
Whenever you're right, shut up.


Steven recited the following original poem composed by Lisa:

I have to so much to offer you,
I can barely count.
I'm handsome, clever, and charming
And I have DVD's in absurd amount.

I offer the finest in home entertainment
A theater to rival Mann's Chinese,
One of each brand of video game system
And games in any topic you please.

I'm also an excellent listener
And will make for you breakfast in bed.
I'm quite skilled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes
And you're sure not to be underfed.

I'll be your loyal and faithful companion
Even when my eyes are on the TV.
No matter what awaits in our future
Your constant will always be me.


And Lisa presented the following adaptation of a poem by Pam Ayres:

Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear, and here’s reason why
So I can push you out of bed when the baby starts to cry
And if we hear a knocking and it’s creepy and it’s late
I’ll hand to you the flashlight and you can investigate.

Yes, I’ll marry you my dear, you may not apprehend it
But when the tumble-drier goes it’s you that has to mend it
You have to face the neighbor, should our labrador attack him
And if a drunkard fondles me, it’s you that has to whack him.

Yes I’ll marry you my dear, you’re virile and you’re lean
My house is full of rabbits, you can help to keep it clean
You know that sexy dinner which you served by candlelight?
Since I just do mac and cheese, you can cook it every night!

It’s you who has to work the drill and put up curtain track
And when I’ve got the PMS it’s you who gets the flak
I do see great advantages, but none of them for you
And so before you see the light, I do, I do, I do.

On the mend...

... and on the town again. Carolyn isn't quite up to her usual bubbly self but I was able to convince her to make a Costco run with me today for our usual "fine dining" of Polish hot dogs and drinks. We even did a little shopping for essentials such as milk and canned salmon but we used a wheelchair so that Carolyn could enjoy the outing. She's still a little unsteady on her feet.

The dressing if off the incision which is still being held together by 5 or 6 steri-strips. It looks like it's healing well. She has a sporatic headache and a throat that is sore enough that using her nebulizer feels like she's putting salt water on a fresh wound.

In addition to the Costco run, we walked down to the mailbox and drove over to Hollywood video for a couple of DVDs including Chicken Little which we both enjoyed. Carolyn's residual aches and pains made reading less enjoyable than it might otherwise be.

Going home again

The nurse said it well as she helped Carolyn into our SUV, "We'd love to see you again but we've rather run into you at the Mall." From all appearances the care Carolyn received at Kaiser Roseville Hospital was superb although a little different than we originally expected. Because she was on the "23-hour care unit" she never was admitted to a regular bed. Her "cubicle" was just a curtained off rectangle with all the necessities and privacy of an 8-bed ward. It was just as well since she didn't plan on staying long and, in fact, didn't stay long.



Shortly after 10 this morning the doctor stopped by the nurse's stations, looked at the chart showing Carolyn's post-operative progress, issued discharge orders, then stopped and gave us some brief instructions about what is next. Plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, lots of Tums (for the calcium). Dressing can come off but the bands holding the wound closed should probably stay for a couple more days. Carolyn is still sleepy and a bit nauseous with a raspy throat. Welcome home, Dear.

Operation: Successful

Just a quick note to let you know that Carolyn went into the operating room at 1:00 this afternoon. Dr. Smith came out at 3:00 to let me know that the thyroidectomy went very well and that Carolyn was resting in the recovery room (PACU or Post Anesthetic Care Unit). The analysis of removed tissue will take 5 to 7 days but the doctor didn't seem to think there was any sign of cancer. About 5:15 Carolyn was transferred to the "23 hour stay unit" and at 5:45 I was allowed to visit with her. She was still pretty groggy, a little nauseous, but otherwise looking really good - good color, stable signs, etc. Visiting hours are from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm with 15 minute visits allowed. She may enjoy a phone call later this evening but when I left at 6:00 she was quite sleepy.



She's scheduled for discharge at 2:00 pm tomorrow barring any serious problems.

Walk the Line - a movie review

I really wanted to like Walk the Line, the biographical movie of Johnny Cash played by Joaquin Phoenix with supporting actress Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter Cash. I like Johnny Cash's singing. I like the songs he wrote. I like what little I knew about his relationship with the Carter family.



But the movie disappointed me. It showed a man who let his father's rejection of him drive him to drink and drugs. In the process he lost his wife and children. Sometimes a man's biography will show him a little larger than life. This one showed Johnny a little smaller than the man he projected himself to be on stage. He was verbally abusive to those he should have treasured most and acted like a spoiled child instead of a professional. He concern for and bond with prison inmates was laudable but came across more like a desire to "be one of them" than to inspire or lift their spirits up.



The acting itself wasn't bad and the singing was downright respectable, comparing favorable to what Cash and Carter would have done themselves. But the movie just didn't seem to come together, it seemed more like a documentary than a movie. Watching the special features on the DVD explained some of the problem. In my opinion some significant story details were left on the cutting-room floor, according to the director, in order to "get the viewer more engaged" in the first part of the movie. But getting the viewer "engaged" at the expense of the story can be a bad trade-off. For example, it was never clear to me that Cash's songs were supposed to be so self-revealing or autobiographical. Although songwriters, poets, or fiction authors draw on their own experiences, I think of them representing a truth larger than their own world. Apparently, Cash wasn't doing that. In his world, he really did "Cry, cry, cry", "Walk the Line", and identify personally with "Folsom Prison Blues".

What We Believe But Cannot Prove – a book review

What We Believe But Cannot Prove edited by John Brockman is edge.org’s latest question of the year answered by more than 100 of the great thinkers of our time as defined by edge.org. The responders are writers, professors, scientists, and philosophers. Many of them have great name recognition because of books they have written or talk shows they have appeared on. Almost all of them have something significant to say. This book is an easy read but more for the occasional insight or chuckle than for any fact or explanation although there are a few of these.



Some of the “what’s” include:

Life is ubiquitous in our universe

Nothing is true that can’t be proved

True love exists

God does not exist

Evolution is a fact

The processes of evolution are ...

There is great creative power in boredom

The real world is a construct of our consciousness

The real world exists independent of our consciousness

Laughter and other airway maneuvers are verbal punctuation

The list goes on and on, of course. It is unlikely that you have heard of all the ideas covered in the book or that you have heard or believe none of them. I was struck with how many GOOD ideas are being discussed, researched, and written about – ideas that aren’t necessarily technology driven or business related. There is so much we believe is true in this wonderful world but we still can’t prove!

Customer Service

On the other hand, Saturday morning I emailed our insurance broker about the new SUV and within an hour received a return e-mail verifying that we were covered and that he'd call me on Monday for the pertinent details. No wonder we've been with the same broker for 36 years. It was also probably not a coincidence that he had as his title/tagline "Director of First Impressions".



Keep up the good work, John.

Customer (dis)Service

(photo-ad courtesy of Despair.com)



We broke the drawstring cord in another blind in our house. All the blinds are a little over 12 years old so there's no warrantee on them any more. But, like we have done 5 or 6 times before, we took it to Home Depot where a very friendly sales assistant with the best of intentions took down as much information as he thought he needed, looked up our previous orders, and then, deciding he was in over his head, asked us to leave the blind so that he could have the "expert" take care of it on Monday.




Today we get a call from Home Depot asking us to pick up our blind as they no longer handle out of warrantee service. We weren't expecting the repair to be free - they have never been free because they're out of warrantee but at least Home Depot has been helpful in getting them repaired. No more. No more customer service. We should buy new blinds and then they'll be happy to deal with us again.



Reminds me of an article in the paper today regarding "smart" parking meters. Seems like cities resent the "free" time that people might get pulling into a parking spot with time left on the meter. They're now installing "smart" parking meters that detect when a parking spot becomes empty. These meters reset themselves so there is never any "free" time. And downtown merchants wonder why people like me avoid downtown shopping whenever possible. It's customer service, folks!

A Tale of Two Cars

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was a tale of plenty, a tale of scarcity. It was totally predictable. It was totally unpredictable. But I wax too poetic.

We did indeed have the Sable towed in to the dealership where they diagnosed not only one problem but two expensive problems - an alternator problem and an emissions control problem. I was aware of the emission problem which relates to a faulty oxygen sensor that has been acting up for over two years. I managed to squeak by for the smog check two years ago but was pretty sure it wouldn't pass this time. And the Sable is due for a smog check.



The more serious problem in my estimation was the one that almost left us stranded in the middle of an intersection Thursday evening. That turns out to be an alternator problem and on this model Mercury that is a serious repair job. We'll get both problems fixed after which the car should be in really good shape - not perfect but good.



Now for the real expense. I have been doing a bit of homework for the eventuality of replacing the Sable. I have bought a car for me almost exactly every 11 years. The Sable is 11 years old in August. I have noticed that getting in and out of the Sable is much more difficult than getting in and out of the van. So I starting thinking about a van or truck but really didn't want either. We already have a van and Ed has a truck. The next option was an SUV but they have such a bad reputation for gas mileage.



I downloaded the EPA fuel mileage report and noticed two SUVs that stood out - the Ford Escape Hybrid and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Carolyn had several appointments on Thursday at Kaiser Roseville which is just a half mile from the Roseville Auto Mall - home of more than a dozen dealerships including Ford and Toyota. Thus, we tried out both hybrids, favoring the Highlander. The only homework we didn't do is ask Philip who has become a real expert in car dealerships having audited several. I'm sorry we didn't involve him sooner.

Last night, just before midnight, we drove home our new Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Limited Edition. It had a total of 21.7 miles on it as we drove it off the lot and 4 of those miles we had put on test driving it. I think that's as new a car as I've ever driven and certainly as I've ever bought. Roseville Toyota sells 900 to 1,000 cars a month and one of the ways they do so well is they stay open until the last customer leaves each evening. I don't think we were the last.



Now I've got my homework cut out for me learning how to run all the bells and whistles of the new SUV.

Happy Birthday to me, Ben, and President Bush

We're part of a select few, Ben and me. Not many more than a few million Americans get to share their birthday with the President of the United States. I don't know about Ben, but a birthday is about the only thing I have in common with our President so I'd better let it go at that.

We did do something special for my birthday. We went car hunting. Here is Carolyn trying out one of the cars we looked at. Decided it might not be all that practical though.

Instead, we looked at a couple of SUV Hybrids. I'm discovering that it is much easier getting into and out of the van than it is my own car so I thought we'd start looking at the SUV line. Of course I'd like to help the environment rather than make it worse if I could so gas mileage is also high on our list. Both the Ford Escape Hybrid shown here and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid below have EPA ratings in the 32-33 mpg range which is certainly better than I'm getting with my current car. This would make me feel like I was actually improving the ecology while getting a little easier car to drive in the bargain.

Of course there is the problem of dealing with car dealers. I would really like them to show us the cars that appear to match our interest, tell us about the features and prices, then leave us alone to make a decision. Instead they show us the cars they think we should like, tell us about the features they think are great, won't divulge anything about the price except what's on the sticker or well advertised specials, and (most of all) won't leave us alone. We finally found an excuse to leave to come back another day.

Flash! Bulletin!

It must be my karma, or in this case CARma. This evening Ed and Tiffany invited us out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Although we met at their place, we drove separate cars to the restaurant (a brand new oriental buffet). On the way, my car started really acting funny. The air conditioning went off. Then a couple minutes later the dash lights dimmed. Then the ABS brake warning came on. Then the tachometer dropped to zero rpm. We pulled into the buffet parking lot and shut off the engine. The car wouldn't start again. It just went brrrrrrrrrr.



After dinner the car started back up again and we drove toward home. About two minutes later it started the whole routine and as we reached the halfway point, the engine dropped to minimum power so we were barely able to get across a busy intersection. We had just enough power to pull into a grocery store parking lot and park the car. We couldn't even roll up the windows until we shut off the engine.



Thanks to cell phones, we called Ed and Tiffany who picked us up and brought us home. Tomorrow we've got to figure out how to get the car towed to the dealer to see what's wrong and how much it will cost to fix. Then we'll see about buying that new Hybrid as soon as possible.

Let's hear it for the space bar

I recall reading a story long ago about the lowly Zero, the placehold in mathematics that can change a one to a million but is nothing by itself. I was reminded of this story when I came across a list of words, each of which could be changed immensely by the simple addition of a space. So just remember, if you're feeling not so important, that you're just filling a slot somewhere, even that makes a difference in this ol' world.



The list:

asphalt	snake barrier
aspire	snake anger
bedevil	nightmares
begone	how to get cup of coffee
brandisk	breakfast
briefly	cheese loving insect
cornice	frozen treat made of maize
detergent	a kick in the groin
earnest	home for listeners
endanger	counting to ten and taking a deep breath
endear	last one to hear a rumor
fatally	chubby friend
father	big lady over there
gallant	an audacious insect
generally	microbiologists convention
legend	the toes
malediction	basso voice
malefactor	y chromosome
massacres	open air church
menswear	locker room language
misery	penny pinching
mustache	mandatory pain
noticed	room temperature
novice	good behavior
nowhere	currently present
pageant	calling insect
panache	cooking pain
parable	180 yard hole
pigeon	era of slobs
prelate	right on time
restart	the knack of relaxing
sagacity	town with a tale
scarcity	the burn ward
sinking	Satan

Happy Birthday, America!

The Fourth of July has always meant get togethers, parades, socials, fireworks, and lots of fun. Growing up in Taylor, Carolyn just can't get into the spirit without waking up at 5:30 from the sound of black powder blowing an anvil 6 feet high in the sky. Living in Carmichael, it is a little risky trying to do something like that. But she still was up at 6:30 and out in the yard getting ready for the day's events. Although she worked pretty hard over the weekend and yesterday evening, there is always something more to do.


When Ed arrived with the boys, the four of us hiked the 1/3 mile over to Fair Oaks to watch the Carmichael Fourth of July Parade. We've learned over the years to take along our own chairs and our own shade. Then it's just a matter of staking a claim to 8 or 10 feet of curb space or even space just behind the first row sitting on the curb.

The boys were in good humor for about the first 15 minutes of the parade which was the usual eclectic collection of old cars, beauty queens, and fire trucks. Oh, also the local belly dancing instructor, tae kwon do studio, and 2 or 3 local scout troops. Jake and Tim wanted to get some of the candy that was thrown but were too shy to run out into the street with the other kids.

Fifteen minutes into the parade, Tim wanted to come home and started whining about it. Thirty minutes later, when Jake joined in, we called it quits, packed up our chairs and umbrella and hiked back to our house.

There, the first annual Max Court Block Party was just beginning to rock. We ended up with about 25 people and about half of the households on the block were represented. Friends and family members of the block owners rounded out the party.

It will take a couple of years for a tradition like this to take hold. It's amazing how shy even adults can be about such things.

We did learn that between the Holterman's and us, we can equip a pretty good party. We could maybe have used more shade but we had plenty of chairs, barbecues, and tables.

Even after the block party ended with neighbors returning to their houses on the block, friends and relative lingered to visit with the kids in the sandbox...

... and the adults playing a hot game of Phase 10.

Of course the day wouldn't be complete with fireworks. This year the Trukas treated us to a show in our very own cul de sac.

Patriot Guard Riders

Protesting and expressing unpopular viewpoints is an old American custom that is generally protected by our constitution as “freedom of speech”. However, as most of you probably already know there are still limitations – not all speech merits protection. The classic example of non-protected speech is yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, something which would cause a clear and present danger to the occupants of the theater.

Until recently I was not aware of another abuse of free speech which, while not necessarily dangerous, is certainly odious. I’m talking about protesters using family funeral services as their forum of hatred and protest. The practice doesn’t appear to be widespread. In fact it is probably 99.9% attributable to one small group, the so-called Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. I use “so-called” in this case because they are not affiliated with any other Baptist church and arguably don’t even quality for the term “church”. It is more of a “family of hatred”.

Convinced of the utter godlessness of homosexuality, the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), consisting of Fred Phelps and his extended family, has the message for the world that the United States is doomed to hell because we have not rid the country of all homosexuals. The Iraq war is just one of the latest signs that God is displeased with America. Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and numerous other disasters qualify as “God’s wrath” and the WBC applauds God for killing so many Americans. The recent applause comes in the form of WBC protesters holding signs and jeering at families and friends gathered for funerals of servicemen killed in Iraq. It just goes to show how twisted some people can become when they are convinced that they speak for God.

Now the good news. Also from Kansas is a group which calls itself the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR). Originating in 2005 from an impromptu group of American Legion motorcyclists determined to protect families from WBC indignities during a funeral, the PGR has grown to over 25,000 members nationwide. Their mission statement has also matured to include the following (from Wikipedia):

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.
1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.
We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

I am impressed with the restraint, maturity, and non-violence promoted by the group in dealing with the Westboro Baptist Church crowd. Their methods involve providing a human, flag, and motorcycle barrier between the protesters and the family. If the protesters start to chant, the Patriot Guard Riders start their engines. They are a well-organized, disciplined group of all political leanings. They were recently honored by the U.S. House of Representatives following such speeches as this one from Congressman Jerry Moran.

Thanks, Barb, for letting me know about this fine group of citizen patriots.

Free speech (or at least inexpensive)

A couple of months ago, Carolyn was opining that she needed something more surrounding her license plates than "Enterprise Sales". When she goes into the Enterprise Car Rental place they always think she's turning in her "rental" van when it is, in fact, her own. So I researched the web and found several places that would provide license plate frames with cleverly worded phrases or even let you do your own. I came up with a few dozen different sayings that she might pick from.

A week ago, she finally decided it was time to order the frames. By this time I had found a site FrameYourself.com that offered the makings to make your own customized frame. For the same price that we could have gotten a customized frame from other places, we got two blank plastic frames and the label stock, plastic laminate, and even a Microsoft Word template to make two customized frames.

We have yet to see how well these will hold up but even if we have to replace the stickers every few months, we have enough to have 8 changes per license plate. Should be worth a try. If it works out we'll get the family pack and spread the joy around.

The "Other" Grandma

Tim and Jake's "other" grandma is in town. The reason is, of course, to visit the boys and especially to see Tim perform in Trick's latest recital. It was so exciting to see the progress that Tim has made in the past 2 years.

But of course we're excited to have Marcia visit as well. On one of her recent visits she taught Carolyn how to "faux paint" and together Marcia, Tiffany and Carolyn managed to give a whole new look to our entry way, dining room, and living room.


Well, this time Carolyn is the project and the one with a whole new look. With a package of Revlon "Frost and Glow" and the hands of a professional hairdresser, Marcia gave Carolyn a brand new look. They wanted me to watch so I could do it the next time around but I demurred.


What do you think?