Back home again

About 7 years ago we bought a bright red Honda Civic from a colleague of mine at Harbor Regional Center for Steven's use at high school and college. It served Steven well and he took really good care of it, customizing the sound system, tinting the windows, and getting regular maintenance (Lisa organized all the maintenance records to prove it). So when he took over the insurance for it, we decided it was time to "sell" him the car.

No sooner did we fill out the paperwork and before Steven had a chance to send it in, when he had a chance to buy a small pickup from Richard and Natalie. Carolyn suggested that she might be able to use the little Civic to run around town and leave at the airport rather than use her more gas guzzling Dodge van. So back came the little red car (minus the enhanced sound system but still with a fancy stereo). I guess you could even say Steven sold it back to us for half the price he paid.

A new dishwasher

As part of our kitchen floor tiling team, I couldn't see why it was necessary to pull out the dishwasher and tile that area of the kitchen. It's never seen and I just assumed when we replaced the washer in the future, we'd just slide a new one in the same place so it would cover up whatever flooring we had there. But I was overridden by the collective experience and opinion of all the people actually doing the work so I gave up easily.

Once we got the old dishwasher out, Carolyn decided that she really didn't want to put it back. While Richard and Natalie were cleaning up, Carolyn went dishwasher hunting. She brought back one that has all sorts of special features. It has water temperature and clarity sensors so it can tell how dirty the dishload is as well as how hot it needs to heat the water to optimally clean. The onboard computer will also lengthen or shorten the wash and rinse cycles as necessary. Pretty slick. I'm surprised it doesn't have Internet access.

Richard connected the plumbing and electrical and made sure the washer fit into the slot left by the old one. He and Carolyn wrapped & taped the sound insulation then pushed the machine into the empty space. They did leave to me the job of screwing in the two little screws that prevent the washer from tipping over when you pull out the drawers. So there it is - a new appliance I didn't even know we needed!

What a Mothers Day present!

What with Tiffany's graduation, the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, Memorial Day festivities, and Carolyn between field trips to Humbolt County (far northern coast of California) and Los Angeles County, we thought life around here couldn't get any more hectic. We were wrong. First, Steven and Lisa called to see if they could come visit. Then Richard and Natalie called to say they would like to come for a visit over the Memorial Day weekend. (Actually, now I can't remember who called first.) We were fretting over what things we could encourage people to see and do while we were tied up with Jubilee obligations.

Then when they got here, Natalie suggested they tile our kitchen/dining nook floor. Carolyn's been wanting to do this since we first moved into the house as water damaged had created several unsightly blotches and the linoleum had begun to peel away from the floor or the wall in several places. We had gone so far as to visit several tile stores and some newly built houses to get an idea of what we'd like to have but we hadn't chosen a tile or ever a color yet.

No problem. While Carolyn and Natalie went tile hunting, Richard, Steven, and Lisa pulled up the old flooring - linoleum for the most part but a section of carpeting as well.

With my back acting up, I wasn't good for much of anything other than observing. I couldn't even supervise since they obviously knew more about what they were doing than I did.

With Richard and Steven measuring and cutting, Natalie and Lisa laid the tiles. Carolyn had decided on a 16 inch tile laid on the diagonal which created quite a lot more cuts than we expected and more complexity than they could do with the saw we borrowed from some neighbors. Fortunately, out new Home Depot has a great rental department. After 2 days, we were about 70% done but Steven and Lisa had to go home. They did promise to return next week to finish the project.

Richard and Natalie stayed for another day bringing the project to 90% completion. Richard also installed our new dishwasher saving us $120 and a week's wait for a technician to do it. Steven had installed a new outlet to replace the hard wiring the previous dishwasher had.

Even when I was able to get down and up off the floor again, it would have taken Carolyn and me a couple of weeks to finish a project like this. It certainly changes the look of our kitchen. We're also hoping that any future water seepage will just evaporate through the grout spacing like it has in the laundry room so we shouldn't see any discolorations or damage again.

Thanks Natalie, Richard, Steve, and Lisa.

Jazz Jubilee

Another Sacramento Jazz Jubilee is now history! We volunteered in the same place as last year - the Sheraton Grand Nave Ballroom. This year the location was sponsored by Bank of the West which had a "New Orleans jazz" backdrop for taking pictures and a huge bear they were raffling off. We didn't win the bear (thank goodness).

They also changed our assignment to serve drinks for the band and volunteers. I found that my bad back and stumbling gait made it impossible for me to carry drinks and painful to even walk around taking orders so I transferred back to "door monitor". It seemed to me that the crowds were quite a bit smaller than last year but its difficult to compare since we rarely have the same band in the same time slot from year to year and both band and time matter a great deal.

With company at our house, Tiffany's graduation, and all the required volunteer work we only got to a couple of other venues and then only on our breaks. It's years like this that make us wonder if we want to continue volunteering for the Jubilee. But we won't have to make that decision until next year now.

You Can Get Arrested for That - book review

You Can Get Arrested for That, 2 Guys, 25 Dumb Laws, 1 Absurd American Crime Spree by Rich Smith is one of those books that makes you want to hit yourself in the forehead and say, "Why didn't I think of that?" We've all see lists of stupid laws such as "It's illegal to fish in Chicago while wearing pajamas" or "It's against the law to fall asleep in a cheese factory in South Dakota", shaken our heads and wondered how such laws came about or why they're still on the books. But how many of us have thought of a way to make a buck or two while breaking these laws and writing about it? And getting a vacation to boot?

Englishmen Rich Smith and his buddy Luke Bateman (well they're actually from Cornwall) set out on trip across America with the sole purpose of breaking 20 to 30 laws selected from those described on the web site Dumblaws.com. Along the way they find that it isn't as easy as it might appear (finding a tub to cart across a Longmeadow, Massachusetts town green, for example, or a kite to fly on the National Mall in Washington, DC) but manage to break enough laws that they consider the venture worthy of a small, easily read book. Pulitzer Prize material this isn't. But it is a fun read if for no other reason than to chuckle at how the English speak English and what things they think are funny in America.

Congratulations, Tiffany

We were all breathing a sign of relief for Tiffany. She kept working on her degree but every time she seemed to get close, she and Ed would move, invalidating some of her credits and moving the goalposts. Finally, after several years of effort that included keeping a house and family together at the same time, Tiffany received her much deserved Bachelor's Degree this morning at the California State University Sacramento graduation ceremonies held at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

On hand to witness this significant event were Ed and his boys Timothy and Jake as well as her sister-in-law Natalie with her family and parents-in-law Arnold and Carolyn.

We enjoyed a pre-graduation party the previous day at Leatherby's Ice Cream Parlor.

Scientific study of prayer

The topic of scientific study of metaphysical claims came up in our Critical Thinking class as the instructor has been called upon a few times to "verify" the authenticity of such claims. He didn't describe the incidents in a bragging sort of manner but more along the lines that science can be used to evaluate physical manifestations of spiritual claims even if the underlying spirituality cannot be scientifically verified.

As part of that class discussion this study Largest Study of Third-Party Prayer Suggests Such Prayer Not Effective In Reducing Complications Following Heart Surgery
by the Templeton Institute was brought up. I found it amazing that the Institute would publish these negative findings but my regard for the Institute is considerably higher because they did.

I won't repeat the details but the end result of the study was that people who knew they were being prayed for did worse regarding complications following heart surgery than those who didn't know or those who weren't the subject of the focused prayers given as part of the study. Two theories that were advanced in our class were (1) those who knew they were being prayed for might have made the assumption that they were worse off and therefore despaired more about their condition; and (2) those who knew they were being prayed for adopted an "it's out of my hands now" attitude rather than doing all they could on their own mental and physical improvement. There was also an opinion offered the "God doesn't work that way!" and implying that God somehow felt it important to punish those who were prayed for as a lesson to them and to those conducting the survey. Most of the class didn't think that God worked THAT way.

Meals on Wheels - extended friendship?

I see the 18 to 20 people on my Meals on Wheels route once a week and except for rare occasions I spend less than 2 or 3 minutes at their home making small talk, asking about their children or their health. But with all the other clients waiting for their meals and my wanting to get those meals to them before noon, I really can't spend what I would consider quality time.

So it has come as a bit of a surprise to me how attached I get to some of the recipients and how attached they seem to be to me. I would have thought I'd be just "the Thursday driver" but many of them call me by name and most of them know my car by sight.

Today, the Tomlinsons notified me that they'd be moving in the coming week but they would sure like to keep in touch. They provided me with their new address and phone number and requested mine. They're actually moving closer to home which will make visiting easier. I'm delighted they made the first move because I wouldn't have know whether it would have been appropriate for me to ask for their address.

The GOD Delusion - book review

Richard Dawkins has indeed found a niche for his talent and experience as a scientist (zoology) and writer. In "The GOD Delusion", Dawkins continues explaining Darwinism and correcting many misunderstandings about the role of "randomness" and "design" in evolution as he has in previous books such as "The Blind Watchmaker" and "The Selfish Gene", but he moves more directly into the role (or non-role) of religion in science and philosophy.

In this book Dawkins argues that religion may have had a purpose in the evolution of man or that it might have been a side effect of another human trait that was necessary for increased selective advantage. But in either case, it is not only no longer necessary but is actually counterproductive and dangerous. He also argues that all the arguments about the value of religion in morality and choosing "good" are vacuous. We use our morals to select what is good in the bible and religion not the other way around, he claims.

This book will probably anger moderate and liberal Christians more than fundamentalists as the latter will simply write it off as "atheist propaganda". Moderates and liberals on the other hand would like to find a place where religion and science can co-exist while Dawkins argues that such co-existence is neither necessary nor even desirable.

As expected, Dawkins uses lots of stuff from his previous books but repackages it nicely with fresh references to the turmoil of our current times rather than 30 years ago. An excellent, thought provoking book.

Fastfood.com

It seems that with the two of us, we eat out a lot more than we used to and, being cheap, we eat out at fast food restaurants more than the sit-down kind. So I was interested recently to see in the latest issue of Shape magazine an article talking about eating healthy at fast food restaurants. You don't have to decide between cost and health or convenience and health.

They also described the website fastfood.com which lists the menus of most of the popular fast food chains with the calories and fat content of the various menu items. That way you can plan your healthy meal before going to the restaurant and falling for their large yummy-looking posters.

Bon appetit!

A geocaching adventure

Armed with borrowed GPS units and several copies of local cache sites, 18 members of our church met this Saturday morning to try out the sport of geocaching. Of course Carolyn and I have some experience having found over 100 caches in the past two years but only two other people in the group had really ever handled a GPS unit including automobile direction devices.

The units we borrowed were sturdy little eTrex Legends from Garmin that are quite capable machines. But new users need a couple hours instruction to get the most out of the little units and we only had that much time for the whole adventure. Instead, we showed everyone how to read the current location and instructed them to walk in whatever direction moved them closer to the correct coordinates.

We passed out the information on 9 local caches that we had recently downloaded from geocaching.com as well as coordinates for a practice cache in the church parking lot. Soon 5 teams were wandering all over the lot while Carolyn looked on or shouted encouragement. The light went on as each team saw the cache that had been carefully hidden in the shrubbery.

The next five caches included some easy to reach but deceptively hidden caches as well as a couple in the "wilderness" area of an undeveloped park. The little kids in the group did especially well with these, possibly because they're closer to the ground, possibly because they're alert to finding things in such an environment.

We also included a couple of "offset" caches where we had to decipher clues at the original location to determine the actual cache's real location. Older folks had an easier time with those. We even picked up a "travel bug" at one of the caches and were able to show people how to look up the information on the travel bug at the local library.

We had enough downloaded information for another couple of hours of searching but after 3 hours everyone felt like they had had a good introduction to geocaching and we felt it had been a successful social event.

More pictures of Gavin

I promised more pictures and Jenny came through.

Happy little baby in his high tech home.

Daddy shows his feeding technique.

Proud parents of the new one.

"Wanna see my Elvis impression?" (It's really to protect his eyes from the bilirubin lamp.)

Drip system

There's nothing quite so annoying as coming home from church to set up the chairs in our living room for choir practice and finding puddles in the garage when it's been a perfectly sunny day and the sprinklers don't reach that far. At first I thought it might be the freezer in our garage acting up like the one in the kitchen did a few days ago. (We've got to vacuum underneath soon!) Then I noticed water under and around the water heater. I could picture trying to replace that water heater and began immediately to think of which plumber I'd call first.

But when water heaters go, they usually leak a whole lot more than the gallon or so that appeared to cover our floor. And as I mopped up the water around the heater stand, I put my hand on top of the heater. It was wet! Since the heater is on a two foot stand the top is about 6'6" and not readily visible. But I was indeed pleased to feel water there. Water heaters don't usually leak on the top.

A flex hose that I had installed a couple of years ago had developed a small leak on the hot water side of the heater. When the water was heating and under pressure it leaked quite a bit but would stop when the heater changed to standby mode. That's probably why we didn't see it sooner.

A quick visit to Home Depot (I think this definitely qualifies for "ox in the mire" status) for a flex copper pipe and everything appears to be back to normal. Or at least will be after the garage floor and some boxes dry out. We also discovered, since Carolyn was doing the laundry during this repair, that if the hot water line isn't under pressure, cold water will flow back through the washer through the hot water line. I got a faceful of cold water because of that.

Surewest - will it ever make it big?

I think most of us recognize a "B team" when we see it. You know, a team that will never quite make it to the top. Sure, it has a few good seasons but is always missing that big something that puts it over the top.

Well, right now that is my opinion of Surewest, our Internet service provider as well as our telephone and cable television provider. They're still a small company, originally from Roseville (Placer County) but now branching out to several communities in Sacramento County including Carmichael. Being small, they've been able to be more innovative and were the first in our area to offer broadband Internet access, fiberoptic cable, and bundled Internet, TV, and phone service. But being small, they also tend to have service problems such as e-mail and internet outages that are more frequent and last longer than other providers.

But my latest concern with them is from two pieces of mail.

The first informed me an upgrade was REQUIRED to continue enjoying Surewest services and that I MUST call to schedule the FREE upgrade. If I called soon enough I'd get a free month of Internet service. I called and found myself facing the dreadful "automated answering machine" labyrinth. Once I did get to talk with a human, he seemed surprised at my call (so much for the "required" part) and at any free month of service but he assured me the upgrade itself was free. It just takes 4 hours and the soonest we can schedule it is 4 weeks from now. He also assured me that I wouldn't have to upgrade my TV or TIVO to work with the new system. But if I ever wanted to upgrade to HDTV then I'd need this upgrade. So I agreed.

Two days later I get another piece of mail offering a six month trial of the Encore channels (as a "valued customer"). I called the suggested number and was quickly connected to another automated answering machine - this time one that seemed to think I was interested in purchasing Surewest cell phones. There was no option to select the Encore channel offer.

Once again I persisted long enough to talk with a human, actually 3 of them in turn as each passed the buck to the next. Yes, the offer is valid but it couldn't be processed because there was an outstanding work order on my system - the network upgrade! The free offer would expire before the work order was scheduled to be completed but the customer service rep assured me that by "grabbing the offer code" today, I would still get the six month free trial absolutely free whenever it finally is able to be implemented. I just needed to call again and remind them once the first work order is complete.

Surewest - the company that thinks it can but isn't so sure!

Social Security - me already!!!

It used to be that I would periodically send in a request to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get a statement of my earnings, account contributions, and estimated retirement and disability benefits. Lately they've been sending the statement out every year a couple of months before my birthday. I don't know if they do this for everyone or just those over a certain age but it certainly is a good idea.

When I received my statement this year it prodded me to look into what my benefits were and to question whether or not I should apply for benefits before my Full Retirement Benefit (FRB) Age. I had always just assumed that I would apply for benefits at age 66 which is my FRB age but then I'd always assumed I would retire about then as well. Since I actually retired younger than that, I decided I should rethink the idea.

It turns out the the SSA website www.ssa.gov has all kinds of calculators including one that gives a "breakeven" point for the advantage or disadvantage of applying for benefits early. When I plugged in the appropriate numbers it appeared that my breakeven point was age 78. In other words, if I die before age 78 I'd do better to begin receiving benefits now. If I make it past 78 it would have been better to wait. That made me decide that applying now would be the win-win situation. If I die early, I'll have gotten more SSA benefits and if I die later I'll have lived longer than I expected. Either way I win.

Another feature of the SSA website is the ability to apply for benefits online. They've done a good job of providing a questionnaire that was much easier to complete on the computer than one by hand because I have so much difficulty writing anymore. To complete the process I still had to visit the Social Security office but that visit was probably shortened by 30 minutes because I was able to complete the application online and collect the necessary documents ahead of time.

The actual office visit was depressing. The waiting room is large and bleak, seemingly designed to avoid any damage by patrons waiting to be served. I can only think it is designed so because they've had problems in the past. I can't imagine the elderly and disabled to be that much of a problem. They even have a uniformed guard handing out the "next" numbers.

After a 45 minute wait I was ushered into a much friendlier interview room when a knowledgeable fellow reviewed my documents and application, pronounced everything complete and said that I could start receiving benefits in August. I can still decide whether I want to try to earn more than $1,000 per month or receive a $1,500 per month benefit but I think I've already made up my mind.

Newborn Gavin

Gavin Loveridge - plugged into heart monitor, oxygen monitor, IV line, and his mommy's and daddy's love.

Let's welcome Gavin Philip Loveridge

We just got word that Philip and Jenny are the proud parents of not-so-little Gavin who arrived weighing in at 7 pounds 15 ounces. We understand that, except for a little fluid in his lungs, he's doing well. He will probably have to stay in the hospital for a couple of extra days for observation. More information and pictures (hint, hint) will be posted as they become available. We're tickled to welcome another grandson to the family!

Magpies on the roof

One of the joys of retirement is working alone in the house or reading and enjoying the quiet. With my hearing aid off or removed, it is even quieter. But it can also be somewhat creepy. Houses aren't always quiet. That may be why some people prefer a little noise of a pet or the radio/stereo or even listening to an audio book.

Lately, I've been hearing sounds like someone is working on our roof - little tap tap taps, or scrapes. Sometimes it sound like little people are sunning back and forth or drawing on the roofing shakes. And usually when I got out into the yard to look and see who is working or playing up there, I can't see anything.

But recently, I walked out quietly and looked up on the roof. There were more than a dozen magpies standing, pecking, scraping, and walking around on our roof. A couple saw me and flew away. The others went about their business. I clapped my hands and they all scattered.

Of course if I were superstitious I'd check out Old Superstitions.com and find that:

"Seeing a single magpie - bad luck. A single magpie circling the house - portent of death. Greeting a magpie is said to remove the bad omens it brings. A single magpie on a roof - the building will never fall down. Chattering in a tree near a house - arrival of a stranger. Chinese belief - a magpie is good luck and should never be killed"

But I'm not.

Color laser printer

It's not uncommon for Carolyn and me to "pool our holidays" to justify giving each other something that is really just a frivolous luxury that we both really want. Such was the case this year when we'd tried for the umpteenth time to get one of our two color inkjet printers to work. The problem is that we just don't use the inkjet printers enough so the cartridges always dry up before they run out. And we end up getting a dozen or so color printouts during the life of the cartridge. We've had such great results from our HP Laserjet 6P printer that we've been eying color Laserjets since they arrive on the scene. But as long as they cost $1,000's we couldn't see getting one.

Then just before Mothers Day a Costco flyer advertised a great sale on HP's new home & small office color Laserjet. They've come down in size and price to the point where we could afford both the space and the expense as long as we "pooled" enough of our holidays. I think this is at least Mothers and Fathers Day and it might include my birthday as well.

Installing it was a snap as it has both USB and network connections and it virtually installed itself. I was worried when it complained about the firewall it found but the firewall then asked if it was okay to let the printer through so I didn't have to find out how to disable or reconfigure the firewall. These machines really are beginning to have some smarts.

The only hitch in the installation was trying to configure it for our second computer which is still Windows 98. It just can't go back that far.

Mothers Day report

Mothers Day can either be one of the best days for Mothers or one of the worst. I hope all you Mothers reading this will be able to say that yesterday was one of the best for you. I know our kids tried to do their best to make it so for Carolyn.

She was certainly surprised to receive a delivery for "roses and chocolates" from Edward and his family. The delivery service left it on our front porch so it was just pure luck that Carolyn saw it there. And Carolyn was kind enough to share the chocolates as well as the lovely roses.

She was also delighted to receive a ceramic plaque from Steve and Lisa who also came all the way from Santa Cruz to hang it in our living room. It accents the rest of the decor so well, it's plain they knew what they were doing.

Of course having kids come to visit or call on the phone is always welcomed. Carolyn talked with her kids so much on her cell phone last night that she couldn't keep it charged even by having it plugged in while she was talking. She eventually had to borrow my cell phone to complete all her conversations.

Ed & Tiffany invited us to their place for a picnic in their back yard. This time the weather cooperated so we could really enjoy their park-like yard.

Thanks to all our kids again for making it a great Mothers Day.

Tribute to ALL kinds of mothers

I'm hesitant to pass along most of the stuff that is the staple of "friendly spam" on the Internet nowadays but I make an occassional exception. The following seems an appropriate tribute:

Mothers

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's alright honey, Mommy's here." Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse. For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes. And for the mothers who lost their baby in that precious nine months that they will never get to watch grow on earth but one day will be reunited with in Heaven!

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand) mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home – or even away at college.
This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the step-mothers who raised another woman's child or children, and gave their time, attention, and love... sometimes totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting. For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in your home? Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation... And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without. This is for you all. For all of us.
Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them every day that we love them. And pray.

Harmful to Minors - book review

Harmful to Minors - the perils of protecting children from sex by Judith Levine is a troubling book. I want to accept and believe much of what she describes but I find her arguments weak and often making the opposite case than what she claims.

I can certainly agree that the United States has become more polarized than ever in the past few years and "protection" of children has become almost a national hobbyhorse just when the generation gap is larger and the availability of information to children is greater than ever before. But that is exactly the point of the conservative movement. Ms. Levine sees this advancing "protection" as an attack on the rights of children where conservatives see it as necessary to preserve family values.

A case in point is the discussion around "abstinence only" sex education. Because abstinence isn't for everyone and certainly isn't 100% foolproof (someone recently remarked that the vows of abstinence are broken easier than any condom), Ms. Levine would drop it from sex education all together. That is as foolish as making it the only topic of a sex education course which she rightly condemns.

On the topic of abortion, Levine conflates abortion with contraception as a birth control method without making the distinction that many reasonable people who can accept contraception find abortion to be a last resort not just "another method" of birth control. In so doing, she embodies the exact argument that pro-life activists point to in horror.

There is much to appreciate in this book but much troubling as well.

Critical Thinking Class

Today was the last day of seminars for our Renaissance Society semester. It's been an interesting experience and I'm likely to try it again in the fall depending on what sorts of subjects are being offered. I miss the young people in my class but I don't miss the pressure of papers and tests. I also miss the rigor. Some of the Renaissance presentations have not been professional.

One of the classes that was professional while also being laid back has been our Critical Thinking Class. I'll be referring back to this class in later blogs because we talked about a lot of things that I want to discuss here. This entry is more to just say thanks to the instructor Richard Kovalewski and to describe his unusual final day of instruction.

He picked for his theme today "Seeing is NOT believing" and appropriately for that theme delighted us with some examples of "magic" that he weaved into the lecture.
First there was a rope trick that has become standard fare. He handled it perfectly, making us believe that three unequal lengths of rope become equal and then unequal again.

Then he performed a couple of math demonstrations that certainly seemed amazing. He asked a random member of the class to write a 3 digit number (351) on the board that he couldn't see. Then he had them repeat that number next to it to make a 6 digit number (351351). He then announced that the number was perfectly divisible by 13. Everyone but me thought that amazing. He also predicted the resulting answer (27027) to be perfectly divisible by 11. And finally, that that answer (2457) would be divisible by 7 giving the original number (351). Of course I saw at once that writing a 3 digit number next to itself was the same as multiplying by 1,001 and that 1,001 was the product of 13 X 11 X 7. So, of course, the divisions all worked perfectly. But while my explanation would baffle most people, he launched into an explanation that was absolutely beautiful, using simple arithmetic. With that I was impressed.

He ended with a card trick that is again a staple of magicians but again well done. Unfortunately, he won't be doing this class in the fall. He'll be teaching ballroom dancing! Thanks, Richard, for a class well done.

A crown, a crown, my kingdom for a crown

Having experienced the intake process and tooth cleaning from my new dentist and having been very impressed with both, I was interested to see if the same professionalism would be evident in a slightly more involved process - a crown.

One of the molars on the right side of my mouth broke a couple of years ago. There was a large filling in the tooth and there wasn't much to hold the side of the tooth together. But since it wasn't causing me any pain, hadn't exposed a nerve, and wasn't in danger of immediate decay, I postponed doing anything. Also, my previous dentist had put me through a very traumatic experience with the last crown I had fitted. I wasn't anxious about facing the same amount of pain and suffering.

But Dr. Fife convinced me that it really was time to take action on this tooth so I agreed. The procedure went in two steps. The first was to remove the old filling, prepare what was left of the tooth for a crown, take an impression for the permanent crown, and put a temporary crown in place. That step was slightly painful, about as much as having a normal filling. The dentist and his assistant worked around my bad gag reflex and worked about as quickly as I've ever seen.

The second step (which should be the easier and quicker of the two but wasn't for my last crown) involves removing the temporary, putting the permanent crown in place, and making sure it feels good. Everything went extremely well. The crown was just a micron or two high in one or two places but the dentist stayed with it until I agreed that it felt comfortable. I've learned from experience that just a small protrusion, like a rock in your shoe, doesn't get better with time.

Unfortunately, within two days the crown (or the tooth under the crown) had become very temperature sensitive. I was told that that wasn't unusual but usually it goes away within a week or so. When it still hadn't gone away after two weeks, I asked for another appointment. This time the dental assistant found a chunk of crown cement that hadn't gotten removed and the dentist decided the crown was still a little too high. With those two things taken care of, I was asked to wait another few days to see if everything would be okay.

So far it appears to be taken care of but after two weeks of additional pain that I didn't bargain for I'm afraid I'll have to say this was a B for Dr. Fife and his crew this time.

Passing the time away

Carolyn and I have very different ways of reading books. I like to sit in a comfortable chair and read at my own speed, pausing when I need to reflect on something or rereading when I need to understand something better. Carolyn prefers to listen to a book on tape or CD using a portable player so she can multi-task. The audio book occupies her mind while her hands are busy on otherwise mindless tasks such as pruning rose bushes or pulling weeds or folding laundry.

I'm not convinced that her way of reading is always the best but our recent trip to Southern California has pretty much convinced me that it sure is a nice way to pass the time of driving long distances. We checked out two Nevada Barr murder mysteries, "Flashback" and "High Country", listening to one on the way down and the other on the way back. And the highway time just flew by.

There was a time when I would have thought that conversation would be better than listening to an audio book but without kids and other distractions, we have lots of time to talk to one another. Besides, listening to a story together gives us just one more thing to talk to each other about.

Regulating fine dining

It's items like this that lead people to wonder if our elected officials or government employees don't have too much time on their hands.

Beginning in July [2007], a new [California] state regulation will require that tableware that is set out before guests are seated... be protected from potential contamination by being wrapped, covered or inverted. If it isn't, it is to be removed and replaced with new as patrons are seated.

Mike Dunne - Sacramento Bee

Fast food restaurants apparently won't be affected as you often get your tableware handed to you with your order or pick it up pre-wrapped at the condiment counter. But I think one of the niceties of fine dining is the pretense, at least, that the table has been set especially for you as the guest and the restaurant has been expecting you. Now it will feel like you're an unexpected guest and the table will be set as you are sitting and watching it all.

Tacky.

Burning Books - book review

I remember many years ago learning that ancient Egyptian civilizations had a habit of chiseling off the names of dead pharaohs from monuments and other public works and I thought at the time what a shame that was and what a loss to the historical record. "Burning Books" by Haig Bosmajian reminds us that Egyptians were not the last or only civilization to attempt to erase history. Probably book burning is almost as old as the written word, at least when the medium was paper, papyrus, or parchment. And although there are certainly other ways to destroy the written word, this book chronicles only the burning of them. It also details how much book burning symbolizes the murder or execution of the books' authors who were often burned at the same time as their works.

Bosmajian, after a preliminary chapter claiming to show that there is something special, almost spiritual, about destroying books by fire, spends the bulk of his book describing book burnings according to the three main reasons that books are burned: blasphemous/heretical books, seditious/subversive books, and obscene/immoral books. Of course, when someone is violently opposed to the contents of a book they seem to find a way to make a book fit all three categories. Historically, however, it seems that blasphemy/heresy book burning preceded those for sedition/subversion while obscene/immoral books are really a latecomer on the scene. Apparently early books were expensive enough to produce that pornography was limited to the rich, upper-class.

I shudder to think how much more we would know about the world's great and less great civilizations had fewer books been burned. The entire pre-Columbian western hemisphere culture, for example, has been lost to us because of the Catholic church's fanatical destruction of books or any other evidence of pre-Columbian religion. Even non-religious artifacts and history were burned because they didn't take the time to sort out which was which.

This book is a great starting point for anyone interested in the destruction of history.

Postal oops

If you've been reading this blog for long, you know that I've had several kind words for the U.S. Postal Service. At least in our area, they seem to be a government agency that really tries to serve the people. I know I was very please recently as I was able to place a hold on my mail through the Internet and the release slip that I printed from their web site allowed me to pick up the mail without a hassle.

So I found this most recent incident rather puzzling. I picked up the mail a couple of days ago and found this slip in our mailbox (you can click on it to get a larger view). At that time it didn't have the quarter taped to it nor the writing on the right side in red. It simply indicated there was a piece of mail for me with 24 cents postage due and I could pick it up or they could redeliver. Picking it up at the post office for 24 cents made sense but I didn't know when it would be convenient to stop by for that purpose. On the other hand, I couldn't imagine how "redelivery" was going to work unless they were going to knock on our door. Wanting to save the carrier that trouble, I taped a quarter to the slip and dropped it in the outgoing mail slot of our mailbox cluster.

I thought I'd either get the delinquent postage mail or another note saying they don't take quarters taped to messages. Instead I get the slip back, quarter still in place, with the message in red saying: "We couldn't find this piece of mail. I'll keep an eye out for it. Hopefully it will show up soon. Mail Carrier"

I guess that'll be a lesson for me!

Not too cool

Sometimes a lesson is just costly no matter how careful you are.

A week ago I went to the freezer to get some ice cubes and found that the ice cube bin was full of ice cubes but they all seemed to be stuck to each other. This has happened a few times in the past when we've left something that keeps the freezer door open just slightly or after a time when the freezer defrosts enough times that the cumulative thawing and freezing melts the cubes just enough that they become frozen to each other.

But this time when I dumped the bin to start over again, there was a solid block of ice about 1.5 inches thick at the bottom of the bin. I thought this curious but didn't think much else about it. I cleaned out the bin and stuck it back in the freezer. Within a couple of hours, I noticed new ice cubes at the bottom of the bin. Everything seemed to be working fine.

Two days later, we thought the refrigerator wasn't as cool as it should be. Carolyn opened the freezer to find 1.5 inches of water in the ice cube bin and all the frozen foot no longer frozen solid. In fact, most of it was completely thawed. Clearly, we had a problem.

The HELP number inside the refrigerator was answered promptly by a Sears customer service representative who quickly identified us (and the refrigerator) in her database. We were "not too late," she exclaimed, to sign up for the extended warranty so that any necessary repairs would be completely free - both parts and labor. And if Sears determined that the refrigerator couldn't be fixed (now or within the next 12 months) we would get a $500 credit on a new fridge. All for only $225. It was the usual gamble - two service calls would easily cost more but one would be less. We definitely needed one service call. We elected to buy the service contract and arranged for a service call the very next day. I thought maybe the defrost timer wasn't working. Carolyn though we maybe had plugged some air circulation vents by packing too much food in the freezer. We packed up all the newly thawed food and took it over to Ed and Tiffany's freezer. Miraculously, our fridge began working again.

A young, clean-cut looking Korean man showed up the next morning at the appointed time. He spoke well but apologized that he was still learning English as he had only been in the country for 3 years. I explained the symptoms and he nodded as if to say "thanks but I'd rather look at the fridge". The repairman, after looking things over, announced that "the coils were perfectly covered with dust" which probably caused the compressor to overheat and cut out with the safety switch. I think he meant 'completely'.

At any rate, he cleaned the coils, inspected all the moving parts, and pronounced the fridge repaired. Total cost for service call and repair: $160. Total charge (because we are now covered under the warranty plan): $0. It has been working for the past 24 hours, the ice cube bin is full, the fridge is at 38 degrees, the freezer at 4 degrees. And we have 12 months to see if we gambled correctly.

Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat - book review

Nevada Barr is better known for her murder mystery series featuring Anne Pidgeon as a U. S. National Park law enforcement ranger than she is as a philosopher but I found Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat, a Skeptic's Guide to Religion to be both interesting and "enlightening". Not surprisingly, Anne is Nevada's alter ego and carries a lot of the same baggage in life that Nevada does. In "Enlightening" Nevada is brutally honest about the emotional ups and downs in her life and one can almost see her taking comfort in facing and conquering these demons through Anne.

But beyond the insight into her writing, Nevada presents a whole load of thought provoking ideas and philosophies. You don't have to agree with her (in fact I probably agree with her less than 50% of the time) to still appreciate the thought that has gone into these statements and essays. Each chapter takes on a topic (in no discernible order) that she has given some thought to and which she challenges the reader to think about as well. Although she has found comfort and community in the Episcopalian religious tradition, she is by no means orthodox Episcopalian or orthodox Christian for that matter. I find that endearing if also confusing.

I especially like that Ms. Barr has found "a" purpose for her life in the Christian community NOT "the" purpose for her life, freely admitting that it works for her but may not work for others. The longer I live the more arrogance I find in statements that propose to be "the" answer as opposed to "an" answer.

The "hats" part of the title turns out to simply relate to one of her essays and is not a significant part of her philosophy or journey. But it is a catchy title.

Overprotective service providers

One of the nice things about Google's Blogspot service is that it is completely free. They host this blog with its hundreds of inane entries and dozens of amateurish photos for nothing. They can't even claim that the expense is offset by my paying a monthly fee for an Internet connection which, I suppose, is how my web site provider justifies the "free service" we have there.

One of the bad things about Google's Blogspot service is that sometimes you get what you pay for. For free they obviously can't put their best engineers on the project or solve your problems as quick as you'd like. However, it appears that a paid service doesn't do very well on that either.

I used to get notified by email of every comment that was posted to this blog. About three weeks ago this notification stopped. But of course with as few comments as my blog gets, this wasn't exactly noticeable right away. My first thought was that Blogspot had screwed something up again. Turns out that probably isn't the case. When I changed the notification address to an alternate email account, the notification comes through. Now it appears that Surewest.net is filtering content from blogger.com. Mail from blogger.com doesn't ever appear in my inbox or spam folder. I've submitted a request for a fix and have received the automatic notice that says I can expect an answer within 48 to 72 hours.

So if you don't see me commenting on a comment as much, blame it on my hypervigilant email service provider.

Doing somethin' cool for a hot cause

This evening was 31 Cent Scoop night at Baskin Robins Ice Cream parlors. This year BR is donating $100,000 to the National Fallen Fighters Foundation and local parlors are raising funds for local fire stations as well. Wanting to be a part of such a good cause, we invited Ed and the grandkids over to visit our local outlet for desert tonight.

Although the line seemed pretty long when we got there it was at least 5 times as long by the time we left. But it wasn't raining or blowing a chill wind and everyone in line was in good spirits so even the wait was enjoyable.

Of course from the looks of it, Jake enjoyed his ice cream cone about as much as anyone can. The rest of us played "keep away".

Zig Zag - book review

Science fiction has always fascinated me with the idea that the world can and will be a little different with each new scientific discovery. It is obvious that we're affected by the cumulative progress in science and science fiction allows an author to embellish a plot or introduce philosophical puzzles that would just not be believable in the world that we currently understand. But science fiction can become cumbersome if an author has to describe too much of the gap between today and "tomorrow".

Jose Carlos Somoza in his new book "Zig Zag" has done a marvelous job of introducing the reader to cutting edge theoretical physics, multi-dimensional space, and string theory to set the plot for a murder mystery that will keep you wondering through most of the book's 502 pages. The characters, for the most part, are well developed. You find yourself actually caring as some of them meet rather gruesome ends although just how gruesome is more hinted at than described. I also found it annoying how many times the phrase "she thought it was the worst thing she'd ever see, but it wasn't" or some variant.

For a story about unraveling time strings to view the past, we shouldn't be surprised that there are lots of flashbacks and discontinuities that leave a reader a little shaken but Somoza does everything for a purpose. By such jumps, he forces the reader to take careful note of important details.

I found it a very enjoyable book.