New wheels for my "wheels"

One of the problems with getting non-standard equipment is having to look for non-standard replacement parts.  I've used the brakes so much that Matilda (Walker Matilda) has virtually no tread on her left rear wheel and the right rear wheel is  also showing significant wear.

Duke McMillen told us about a place near the Wonder Bread Outlet store that has always supplied him with any size and type of wheel he's needed.  We tried to find out today but the company is off until after the New Year.  So many companies take that time off that some people have even started to think that the whole week is a holiday.  No, folks only New Year's and Christmas are close to being universally recognized as official holidays.

Fortunately, I have a spare walker to get by on until next week.

Sometimes snake oil works

I use the tern "snake oil" to represent any device, exercise, medicine, program, ceremony, or other activity that purports to heal or alleviate symptoms of disease and distress without scientific evidence or scientific explanation.  AS a general rule, I see no value in snake oil except as a placebo.  And I do believe in placebos.

The latest miracle cure is a machine to provide foot and ankle massage.  It feels somewhat like a dull-toothed crocodile trying to chew your leg off.  I find it irritating and sometimes painful.  Most other people find it tickles or pleasantly massages.  But whether I enjoy the feeling or not, using the dang machine seems to be reducing somewhat the swelling in my left foot and completely eliminating the swelling in my right foot.

We dropped by the sales display in Costco, tried out the machine, and said definitely NO.  I didn't need a machine that felt like it was killing me.  But that evening the evidence of some decrease of swelling was evident.

Santa brought me a machine.

Feet go in this side

Extension to massage legs and calves

I"m baaaaack

I don't know for how long and it certainly isn't going to be every day, but I'm back on the web.  During my self-imposed vacation from blogging, I realized that the world doesn't stop simply because I don't blog.  It doesn't even slow down.  But I do stop thinking "wow, I should blog that" or "wonder if any of my readers have heard of this."  I even read a book or two that might not get reviewed now because my memory of them isn't as bright as it was two weeks ago.

My posts will also be shorter for your sake and mine.  As a plus, that means you won't have as much to read to keep up.  As a negative, I'm likely to sound more disagreeable simply because I won't explain myself in a much depth.  Too bad.

I trust you had a good Christmas.  I feel I had another perfect one.  Lots of friends and family around or at least sending greetings, lots of presents, and relatively good health.

I wish the best to you and yours this holiday.

Arnold

Merry Christmas - 2010

Carolyn reminded me that we traditionally post our Christmas letter on the blog in a desperate gesture to try to catch all those who we've somehow missed in our other attempts at wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and in all other ways a Happy Life.

Arnold & Crolyn

p.s.  Click  on the letter once  or twice if you need to enlarge it for reading.

Clean your computer

I think you recognize the symptom:  The older your computer gets, the slow it operates.  So naturally I was attracted to a TV ad promising a product MAXMYPC to clean up your computer and make it run like new.  It was free to download but only the analysis part.  To actually do something, you had to pay $49.99 and download the actual cleaning program.

But before shelling out any cash, I wanted to see some product reviews.  We've found that peer and professional reviews to be very enlightening.  When I googled MAXMYPC I found several entries that were positive but the review by Frank C at http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.ccleaner.com?trk=search was really valuable.  Not only is he not enamored with MAXMYPC, but he recommends CCLEANER a product of Piriform.

CCLEANER is free for home  use although donations are welcomed.  And it has done a marvelous job with my  PC.  Ican't say all I'd like to about CCLEANER without sounding like one of those on-TV admen.

Try it.  I think you'll be impressed.

My Latest Toy<-ol

Since getting my power wheelchair, it has always bothered me that we could only transport  it with our van and only load it with the rear seat stowed, limiting the van to 4 people.  Although I can still handle the ramp comfortably, I'm sure the time will come when I won't be able to.  Already, I get people rushing over to help me when I'm loading or unloading.



Anyway, last week we installed a lift on the back of the Highlander Hybrid using the Class 3 hitch we installed on the rear.  This lengthens the footprint of the Highlander about 18 inches but otherwise is quite unobtrusive.  We haven't had it long enough to know how it affects gas mileage.




One of the nice features about this lift is that it can be swung away, giving total access to the rear door of the Highlander.  Of course given the weight of the power chair, the swing-away feature is only available when the lift is empty.





This is what it looks like with the power chair loaded on the lift and ready for travel.  We have a barbecue cover to protect the chair from weather but we don't keep it on for little trips around town.

Unhelpful campaign literature

I've been uncharacteristically silent on the upcoming election.  In part this is due to the fact that the current political situation makes me ill and part is due to the feeling that my writing about it will probably make you ill. So I'll make it short.

Gather up the last handful of political flyers you received and look them over carefully.  If yours are like mine, half will say what horrible, despicable things their OPPONENT has done or will do and the other half will say what a horrible, despicable person their OPPONENT is. Is this the way we've learned to make informed decisions?  Do we buy a Toyota by reading all the things Toyota says about Fords and Hondas?  Do we buy a house by listening to all the things the realtor has to say about the other houses we've been looking at?  Do we hire the job applicant who tells us the most dirt about the other applicants?  Of course not.

Now you may find a few ads which will actually state a goal: lower taxes, reduce the size of government, etc.  These are much better but they never answer the obvious follow-up question: How do you propose doing that? Which taxes would you lower and how do you balance the budget with lower revenues?  Which government agency would you eliminate or reduce and what functions would that eliminate? Again, do you hire a job applicant who says he can save your company thousands of dollars but won't or can't tell you how?

In any case, please vote on Nov 2.  It makes the politicians at least THINK we're paying attention.

Swallow test follow-up

I had another appointment with my speech pathologist and almost like she had been reading my blog, she decided that she really hadn't found out much about my swallowing difficult.  Cautioning that at this stage of Parkinson's there may not be a lot to document, she sent a message to my primary care physician requesting that he order a "modified barium swallow" test.  The system worked like it was supposed to(including the new "appointment notification by e-mail" and I found myself at 8:15 this morning in the Kaiser radiology department on Morse Avenue.

I felt a little overwhelmed or maybe I should say triple-teamed as there was a speech pathologist, a radiology technician, and a technician in training. The speech pathologist was actually running the show but, not being trained in radiology, couldn't touch the machine.  The radiology technician, not being trained in speech pathology, couldn't conduct the test.

The test was similar to what I had done in the SLP's office except that I drank a barium cocktail instead of water and barium was mixed with the applesauce they asked me to swallow.  Like watching a science movie, I was able to see the food or drink enter my mouth, get tossed to the back of my tongue, and slipped rather quickly down my throat.

I will, of course, have to wait  for the formal interpretation of the test (from the SLP, the radiologist MD, both?) but from the sounds and comments in the room, it doesn't appear that anything is out of the ordinary yet.  But in all likelihood, I will have real swallowing problems later in the course of this wonderful disease.

3 Newsletters = 2 much of a good thing

Once upon a time -- only a couple of months ago, actually -- I was merrily keeping this blog and submitting an entry almost every day.  For anything that came into my head, there was little question where I would share it.  Oh, I could have shared it only on facebook by going directly there but with the RSS feed from my blog to facebook thee was little reason to do that.

Then I was asked to liven up the Alta California Regional Center website and my recommendation for doing that was to use the prime territory on the website for a blog that will be updated weekly.  I won't provide much of the content for that blog but I will be highly involved with the composition and editing of the pieces. Based on the first few entries, I will also be heavily involved with taking and touching up the photos that make or break an entry.

Then just a couple of weeks ago Carolyn and I were asked to edit and publish our ward's newsletter.  Since the previous editor Summer did such a great job, it really isn't possible for us to let this slide or reduce the size or frequency of the newsletter.  She had a 4 or 6 page newsletter (8.5 x 11 inch pages) that was always distributed before the 1st of every month.  She'll be a hard act to follow.

But that's part of my problem -- 3 blogs/newsletters is so much more to write and compose and format than one was. It's just fortunate that one of the new pieces is monthly and the other one weekly.  If they were all daily like I try to make this one, I would have time for nothing but news publishing.

So if you find the frequency of blog entries dropping too much here, take time to relax and perhaps look at the other two blogs in the meantime.

Features

I think the only thing more frustrating that a piece of equipment or software not having a feature you'd like or need is for that software or hardware to have that feature -- but you can't figure out how to access it!  I guess there is one thing more frustrating and that is having had that feature until you UPGRADED!!!

A little background....
Printers were made to print in black ink on white or light colored paper.  Right?  And printers were made to print on one side of a piece of paper.  Right?  So most of what we print is on one side of a sheet of paper and in black.  Until... you discover that there is a colored world out there.  When you find out that documents, coupons, photos, all sorts of things really do look better in color.  And you especially find out when you start printing in color automatically because your printer has that feature and your computer understands how to use it.  Now color is absolutely essential.

Same thing for two-sided printing.  It started with long documents that I didn't want to have to use a hammer to drive in the staple.  Then it was medium sized documents that I wanted to save a little paper.  And finally it was two page documents that I didn't want to staple at all.  I found myself selecting two-sided so often that I changed the default setting of the printer.  I don't use two sided printing all the time but I want it available all the time.

THEN we upgraded our computer.  Suddenly the two sided printing went away.  No way! I complained.  I tried a different printer driver (a blog entry all its own someday) and got two sided printing back... but no color.  What?!  I have to pick and choose which feature I want?  Several dozen sheets of paper later and a half dozen downloads from HP and I finally have two-sided color -- for now.  But who knows what the next UPDATE will disable.

Jury Duty - Post Script

Now that the trial by jury is over and I can freely indulge in some things I could not while serving on the jury, I want to sort of collect the odds and ends of my thoughts and speculations:

1. There's a good reason for the judge's admonition not to talk about the case or do our own research.  For example, I found that the Sacramento Superior Court keeps an online database of people scheduled for hearings, arraignments, and trials.  Although this database isn't particularly user friendly or complete, it has enough information to find out what the minimum charges and convictions have been for someone list there.  Our defendant for our trial was being charged simply with reckless driving by eluding a police officer.  There was both a felony and a misdemeanor charge.  Listening to the defense attorney you might think this was the defendant's first brush with the law.  But according to the database, in the last 12 years alone he has been convicted or plead guilty to two counts of Driving Under the Influence, one count of grand theft auto, one count of grand theft burglary, one count of wife beating, and one count of resisting arrest and interfering with a police officer.  He's just not a really nice guy.
2. I have to really admire people like the defense attorney.  Unlike the jury, he had to know all the history on this criminal and still defended him, sat next to him as if he really did like him, and never let on what a creep he was.  Even the rest of the actors in court (and they were all acting to some degree) were giving the defendant more respect than he has given society.
3. Just as in the jury room, people I talk with about the jury deliberations seem to fall into two groups - the law is black & white and the law is all shades of gray.  I guess that's pretty typical of how people see life though, isn't it?
4. Maybe we don't pay our police enough. Here, this lone CHP officer chases and stops a truck carrying two convicted felons.  By dropping his microphone he has lost contact with dispatch so he can't even expect that backup is on the way.   The driver has acted irrationally from the start of the chase and at the end jumps out of the truck shouting, "I don't want to go to jail!  I don't want to go to jail!"  With good reason to fear for his life, the cop calmly cuffs and arrests the driver.  He spends another two to three hours filling out paperwork because of all the traffic infractions, the chase, and impoundment of the truck.  And he still isn't finished.  Between preliminary hearings, depositions, trial, and other meetings with attorneys and supervisors he probably spent another 50 to 75 hours on this case.  And what thanks will he get?
5. The courts have gone a long ways toward respecting the time and service of  jurors since the first time I was called.  If there is still a problem with the system it is that some people get a summons every 18 months and others go for years.  That should be evened out.  Probably there should also be a way to give credit for those who serve more than 3 days on a jury and those who spend a month on a jury should be exempt for life unless they volunteer to be called up.

Jury Duty parking

Parking was less traumatic than I feared.  I should have had more faith.

First: If you get there before 7:45 the regular jury lot has lots of spaces.  It is convenient and close to the courthouse.  It is even convenient for handicap parking and access.

Second:  Sometime between 7:45 and 8:00 the regular lot will be determined full and a sign will be hung denoting that.  Then and only then can you try the alternate lots.  Or you can still go in the regular lots because there will probably still be 6 to 10 spots available.

Third:  The two-story county lot just west of the courthouse and north of the county administration building is really ideal.  BUT, there is one caution for handicap access - there is no direct access from the second floor to the street level sidewalk.  To get to the courthouse that is only 50 feet away, you must take a ramp to a street overpass which takes you to the plaza in front of the Admin building.  You must then go through the building and across another plaza to a ramp which takes you down to H Street.  From there, you have to cross two streets and travel almost two blocks to get back to the courthouse doors.  Suggestion: park on the first floor of the structure.  There is an easy, convenient access exit to the street level sidewalk.

Down to the wire

Disclaimer: This case has been completed and the jury released from the judge's admonition not to discuss the case.  

When we didn't even start on real deliberations yesterday, a couple of us were worried that this case could go on forever.  But immediately after the bailiff locked us in the jury room, the jury foreman called the group to order and began laying out his "game plan".  Now we're getting somewhere, I thought.  Forty-five minutes later he was still laying out his game plan.  Finally, to get things moving I interrupted with a request that someone else speak.  We started going around the table and it soon became evident that the foreman planned to comment on each comment and take twice as long as the original commenter.  I suggested, kindly but plainly that he needed to talk less so others could talk more.  Fortunately, he accepted my suggestion and I only had to remind him once other time.

At a point in our deliberations when some people were saying the law was not "black and white" we decided on a poll around to room for everyone to give their opinion about whether it was a black and white issue.  The count was 8 to 4 in favor of black and white.  (This referred to the unmistakable nature of the vehicle code.  All participants in this case were white.)  A poll shortly after this revealed that 2 of the "gray" proponents favored the felony charge and the other two, the misdemeanor charge.

We broke for lunch with everyone wondering whether we could ever come to an agreement.  But after lunch we had a couple hours of good discussion about whether laws are or can be shades of gray.  The two nay votes were coming around to see it more black and white which would change their vote.  About the time we would have had a break we took the final vote showing us unanimously in favor of guilty to the felony charge.

It still took an hour to assemble the lawyers, the defendant, and the alternate juror so that we could go back into the courtroom and render our verdict.  I noted with some relief that the guard on the defendant had been doubled for this occasion although in fact he showed no emotion when he heard the verdict.

The judge thanked us and as we all checked out we said goodbyes to the other jurors with hugs and handshakes.  I think it was  ultimately a good decision and everyone on the jury felt good about it.

The case heats up then winds up

Disclaimer: This case has been completed and the jury released from the judge's admonition not to discuss the case.  

I had misunderstood just how far we had gotten on our case after one day.  Turns out that the defense had not even started presenting their case.  And testimony was delayed about an hour while the two atttorney's addressed the issue of a CHP officer who assisted in preparing the report.  When both sides finally agreed as to what the officer would have said if he could have come to witness, we began the court activities again.

To insure that the jury got the message from the defendant's brother, the prosecutor called the Private Investigator who interviewed the brother shortly after the incident.  His testimony was basically the same as the brother's.

The defense recalled the CHP officer and tried again and again to show how his statements were inconsistent and therefore couldn't be relied on for information.  Again and again he tried to make the officer take responsibility for reports he hadn't written so he could show that there are inconsistencies.  It got to be a big turn-off.

Finally, the judge announced that we would hear closing statements.  There were almost identical  with the opening statements except that now we were more familiar with the facts of the case and could see how everything fit together.

Following the prosecutor's last words, the judge read the instructions to the jury - a 20 minute exercise.  We were then escorted to a completely different floor and part of the building where we were introduced to our deliberation room.  After a short break we were locked in the room and told to do our thing.

The first order of business for a jury just starting deliberations is to choose a foreman.  Because I had said I had been a CEO one woman nominated me.  I agreed to serve if chosen.  Another man in the group nominated himself, giving as his reason, his experience being a jury foreman in two other cases.  I agreed he had more experience than I so I would have no problem supporting him.  He was then selected by acclimation.

With less than an hour to deliberate, the foreman suggested we use the time to introduce ourselves and get to know one another a little better.  I'm sure I wouldn't have thought of it but it really was a good thing to do.  It made future discussions much more fruitful and less adversarial.

Opening statements - first witness

Disclaimer: This case has been completed and the jury released from the judge's admonition not to discuss the case.  

Overnight the courtroom had been rearranged.  The 6 chairs for the alternate  jurors had been removed and two set up on a platform by the side of the jury box.  A 4 foot ramp had been placed next to the jury box so that though I still wouldn't be in the jury box, I could be raised up a step and feel more like part of the jury.

To begin the trial, the Judge read us a Statement of Information.  This is pretty much what it says it is, a statement about the time, date, and overall circumstances of the case before us.  We learned that the case revolved around an alleged automobile chase of the defendant by a CHP officer.  Because of the number of traffic infractions, the People (prosecution) were asking for a felony conviction of "willful and wanton disregard for the safety of people and property".  There was also a lesser, misdemeanor charge of evading a police officer which we could find the defendant guilty if the prosecution hadn't proven the greater charge.

Next the prosecution again summarized the facts of the case and an outline of how she expectedto present it.  Her statement is not to be considered evidence and my in fact be untrue.  The defense then has the same privilege.  I found it difficult not to hear the statements as truth although somehow it was easier to discount the defense than the prosecution.

Then the fun began.  I was very impressed with the people's case.  The Assistant DA presented the evidence logically, in order, and comprehensively.  At that point there was no doubt in my mind.  She had laid out what evidence was needed to establish the facts which would meet the definition of the felony reckless driving charge.  Then by interviewing the CHP officer who had made the arrest, she established all the necessary facts.

As the defense began, I tried not to hold it against him that he appeared less prepared, poorly organized, and seemingly random.  It wasn't really a surprise since he had warned us in voir dire that his presentation might not be as organized as the prosecution.  He even warned us that his cross examination of witnesses could be pretty harsh.  What he didn't warn us was that they might be nonsense or irrelevant.  As the case progressed, I began to wonder if the defense attorney was really inept or simply wanted to give us that impression.  Sort of "dumb like a fox".  Later I was to find out that I wasn't the only one with such questions.  The defense attorney also conceded that the defendant was guilty of the misdemeanor charge.  It felt like he had tried to plea bargain and was still trying after the prosecutor had refused to go along.

The defense attorney attempted to raise questions in our minds about the officer's ability to judge the speed or another vehicle or even tell the truth on a report.  For me it had the opposite effect because most of the criticisms, if met,  would have made the case even stronger.  But it was clearly a case of "he said - she said"  The cross examination of the people's main witness, the arresting CHP officer, took longer than his original interrogation but finally it was over.  I felt great sympathy for the harrassed officer.

The people called one additional witness, the defendant's brother who was in the pickup truck as they were being chased by the cop.  This brother is considered a hostile witness.  The  prosecutor established that even a hostile witness would present damaging testimony for the defendant.  She also got him to explain how many felony and just how much trouble the defendant was in.  The she rested her case.  The defense, claiming no case had been made, did not present  a case.  It was late in the day so the judge called a recess.

Selecting a jury

Disclaimer: This case has been completed and the jury released from the judge's admonition not to discuss the case.  

My previous post described part of the process called "voir dire" where the attorneys for each side as well as the judge get a chance to individually question each juror for the purpose of determining their fitness to sit on the jury for this trial.

As we had registered for our jury duty we had filled in a short questionnaire which asked for example about employment, education, and prior jury experience.  This questionnaire helped the attorneys and the judge focus their questions.  Knowing a peace officer or belonging to the ACLU doesn't disqualify you but it does flag you for additional questions about whether you might be prejudiced for or against the defendant.  The judge started out asking specific jurors specific questions but quickly moving to more general questions of the whole jury.  For example, "Does anyone know an attorney or have been involved with legal issues?"The prosecutor likewise asked questions more generally. The defense attorney was specific all the way which had the effect of not asking some jurors anything.  The most frequent question centered around the "innocent until proven guilty" concept.  The first person the judge dismissed and a couple dismissed by the defense had trouble with that concept.

The prosecutor and defense lawyers traded turns inviting people off the jury until all six alternates had replaced six original jurors.  Then six more alternates were selected, sworn in, and subjected to voir dire.  Two additional jury panels had to be called before the attorneys stopped challenging the jurors.  I was still in my original chair as Juror #12.

Out of the pool - Voir dire

Unlike a couple of jury summons' I have served where it seemed like I wasn't even going to be called on a panel for questioning, I was called on the first panel called the morning I registered.  I can't give a lot of detail at this point as the trial is still underway and the judge was quite specific about things we could and couldn't talk about.  Even numbers might tell more than we should.

My panel, the one called to Department 12 that morning, was called out of the pool in alphabetic order.  But by the time we reached the Department 12 courtroom, the list had been once again randomized so that it wasn't just the A's and B's that got to sit in the jury box.

I was interested in whether my handicap would make a difference in the courtroom.  It did.  Although my selection number was such that I was part of the jury, I had to sit in my power chair some distance from the jury, closer to the attorneys than to the jury box.  That made me a sort of "invisible man" in the court.  Both attorneys tended to focus just on the jury box.  Even the presence there of an obviously empty chair did not seem to remind them I was there.  During the jury challenges when each side can dismiss jurors for cause or otherwise.  I noticed one of the attorney's clients pointing out that the attorney had not asked me a single question.The attorney jumped  up and asked the judge if he could reopen the questioning because he had missed me.  He then apologized to me and expressed hope that I wasn't offended.  Hoping I wouldn't get in trouble, I replied in my best stage voice, "Yes.  As a matter of fact I feel very offended -- NOT"  There were chuckles all around the room so I guess I'm not in troublel

Recession - not for Seniors

Every once in while Carolyn hands me something she thinks would go well on this blog.  Mind you, she isn't interested in writing it up for the blog, just getting it on.  This time the article she gave me was about income changes and statistics.

First, income changes.  According to the article in USA Today showing that income between 2007 and now has dropped for all age groups except seniors.  While other age groups have dropped between 4.0 and 6.5%, senior incomes have increased 7.1 %.  But before we get too excited remember there are three types of lies -- lies, damned lies, and statistics.

In a second column we find that after this tremendous growth for seniors their average household income is $31,354.  Boomers, on the other hand suffered a loss 4.0% leaving them an average household income at $56,973, nearly twice as much as the seniors.  One does indeed need to read statistical reports and charts carefully.

We need more court Jesters

I haven't always been able to laugh at myself or find humor in what critics have had to say about my beliefs and ideas.  But the older I get the more I appreciate humor as an important measure of a movement's maturity.  A person or organization who can't take the heat of humor is insecure.  I believe he or they secretly or no so secretly are worried that once one or two people start laughing, more will join, then more and more until the whole world is laughing.  And rather than fight humor with humor or with boring facts, such insecure people and organizations fight the messenger.  Even worse, they don't listen to the message with or without humor.

One sees this a lot at demonstrations where many of the signs are spot on ... and funny.  But the target finds that offensive and reacts by attacking the sign holder.

The most recent example was comedian Stephen Colbert's testimony  before congress in defense  of migrant farm workers and in criticism of our contry's treatment of such workers.  Because he used humor in his testimony he (and the congresional committee chair) have been criticized as "mocking congress" and "wasting taxpayers' time".  Funny, but when buffoons masquarading as congressmen or -women give testimony they're just doing their job.  Why didn't a single Republican on the committee ask Mr. Colbert what was so funny about migrant labor?  Or if he really thought that a day in the fields made him as much an expert as sitting in the committee room for days on end did for them?

The first day - into the pool

One of the reasons I was interested in being a juror this year is that 4 or 5 years ago I had also received a summons but was in one of the groups whose service wasn't needed.  I never even made it down to the courthouse or the jury parking lot.  

Of course I never really enjoy driving downtown so I was pleased to see that the prime parking lot is on the northwest corner of the city.  It's really convenient to Carmichael.  The drawback is that the lot usually fills up by 8:00 each morning.  Thus if you're in a court which starts at 9:00 you have a choice of getting there an hour early or traveling to one of the alternate sites.

I worried about being on time my first day.  I needn't have.  Although they started registering potential jurors 30 minutes before we needed to be there, there was still a line 45 minutes later.  Registering consisted of having your summons or your badge scanned so they would know that somewhere in the process you had actually been on site.  Believe it or not, only a hour after I registered there were 3 people missing.  

When you checked in you were also asked to complete a one-page, 4 copy questionnaire with basic questions about your connection to law, legal systems, police, crime, and your career choices.  I'll explain later how these answers were  used to select a jury.

I would guess there were probably about 100 of us potential jurors concentrated in the two jury assembly rooms but also scattered through various hallways and waiting rooms on the second floor.  We were informed that we now constituted the "jury pool" and may be in and out of that pool several times in the day.  However, if we were in the pool at the end of the day, our jury service would be over for another 18 months.  

We then watched a 9 minute film about the importance of juries in our system of democracy.  In case you'd like to watch the clip without getting called to jury duty here is the link.  Judge Van Camp (star of the film) even favored us with a personal visit and further explanation of how important jurors are.

Waiting for the assignment

What did we ever do without computers?  The chart above is a good example of using computers to randomly assign jurors to various days so that the time for a potential juror to sit around with nothing to do is minimized while the courts all have sufficient jurors for their cases.   You may want to click on the chart to get it big enough to see.

I was assigned group #318 which the chart told me would report Tuesday morning.  Sometimes groups are told to check Monday evening, then Tuesday noon, then Tuesday evening, etc.  This could go on all week but in normal runs it doesn't happen that way.  Usually after two changes in check-in times, they're  usually given a free pass like groups #324 & #325.   

Summoned for Jury Duty

I got this in the mail the other day.  I think it would be safe to say that almost everyone dreads getting one of these in their mailbox so you might be a little surprised that I was delighted, well maybe not delighted but at least happily looking forward to the experience.

You see, this is the first time when serving on a jury would not be a royal pain - virtually all my service is voluntary and can be easily covered by someone else.  And conversely, this may be the last time when my health will allow me to serve on a jury without really special accommodations such as a bed.  

The unknown, of course, is that nowadays when you get your summons (at least in Sacramento) you are told that you will serve for one day or one trial but you don't know right away which day  you start and if you'll be on a trial or not.

The Pantry Bug strikes again

The house had gotten unexpectedly quiet.  Edward had brought his boys over to let Tiffany have some rest and respite from their noise.  The two older boys were watching a movie which explained their quietness.   But what about little Camdan.  He was nowhere to be seen.

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Then we heard a rustling in the pantry.  Sure enough, a little 2 foot high Pantry Bug was carefully opening the socks, boxes, and tins where candy was stored and filling his little fist and cheeks as full as he could.  What a hoot!

Pear season

What's that saying?  "You can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl!"  I suspect that Carolyn is an example of some of that. You see, she heard about some fresh pears that someone was selling and decided she just had to have some old fashioned, honest-to-goodness, bottled pears for our pantry.

This box was completely full of pears.  As you can see, even the pears at the bottom are in great shape.  There were almost no defects or bruises.

Edward and his boys were over this morning to give Tiffany a chance to rest and hopefully knock out the cold that is trying to lay her up.  We stuck the boys in the back yard and pressed Edward into service.

We couldn't find our recipe for the lye bath we've always used to peel the pears with.  Finally after Carolyn had made half a dozen calls to friends and relatives  (including our family's graduate chemist) who might have some secrets, I found some recipes on the Internet.   In the above picture Edward is bathing the pears in the hot lye solution then moving them to the sink for a cold water rinse and slipping off the peel by hand.

Here Carolyn is taking the freshly peeled pears, cutting them in half, and coring them.  Then, either she or Edward would slide the pear halves into the bottle, fill the bottle with light syrup, then steam bath the bottles in groups of 7 for half an hour.  

Carolyn really likes dried fruit so she diverted the final four quarts worth of pears.  Instead of the bottles, these pears were soaked in a acid preservitive solution then spread onto the trays of our dehydrator.  

Out of that bushel box we got 14 quarts of bottled pears and 4 quarts equivalent dehydrated pears.  

Hard to Swallow

Among the things that my "Parkinson's Disease for Dummies" book says I should tell my doctor is any change in my ability to swallow.  Well, there have been a couple of times when I've had difficulty getting my large multi-vitamin pill down and one or two times when turning my head just right makes me feel like someone has their hands around my neck and could choke me.  So I told my doctor and he ordered a "swallowing evaluation".  He said that if nothing else it would at least provide a baseline.

So today I met with a licensed speech pathologist at Kaiser for my evaluation.  I wasn't impressed although the woman was as nice and professional as you could ask for. I guess I just expected more.  She observed tongue motion and movement in my throat when I sipped and swallowed water then the same thing with vanilla pudding.  She suggested three exercises for my neck and throat and then set up a follow-up appointment for 2 weeks from today.

That was it.  We now have a baseline.  And apparently I don't have a swallowing problem.  Yet.

6,000 mile checkup

Saw my neurologist this week for my 6,000 mile/6 month checkup.  This is the man who will oversee and monitor my progress down the path of Parkinson's disease, presumably until I die or lose Kaiser coverage, whichever occurs first.  He's a good doctor to have - knowledgeable, sympathetic, and most of all young.  He should be able to survive me.

After discussing a long list of things that "Parkinson's Disease for Dummies" says I should discuss with my doctor, he asks me to walk 15 or 20 feet down the hallway.  Miraculously, I walk almost perfectly.  I said almost. The good doctor announces that I am at virtually the same clinical stage that I was at 6 months ago but that my brain and nerve cells are undoubtedly still progressing down the path of self-destruction.  I shouldn't get my hopes up.

He is a good doctor.  He is kind.  It is kind to quash unrealistic hopes, isn't it?

Squeeze Inn

Once upon a time a restaurant in Sacramento was featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives".  I haven't see the review but according to those who have, it's worth a sizable wait to try out.  It was over a year ago when we tried to eat at the Squeeze Inn at its old location.  The wait was over 45 minutes then and we just couldn't spare the time.  When their old location was deemed inaccessible by licensing because it was always so crowded you couldn't get a wheelchair down an aisle, they closed up shop and we thought that was the end.  Turns out they were just regrouping and making plans to open a restaurant in South Sacramento, not far from the Friends of the Library Book Den (for gently used books).

Saturday we were at the Book Den for the Warehouse Sale.  Afterwards we wanted to lunch somewhere new when we drove past Squeeze Inn.  There were only a dozen people in line (at least only that many visible from the road).  

We pulled into the parking lot and got in line.  Within 15 minutes we were inside.  The place was packed... 

We barely had time to have someone take our picture...

and study the menu which was larger than we expected...

before one of the enthusiastic wait staff took our order.

We watched the kitchen crew working their way through the orders until our "Squeezeburgers" arrived in front of us.

It was a delicious hamburger.  One of its "gimmicks" is an 8 x 8 x 1/8 sheet of cheese which is melted/fried  over the hamburger.  It kind of looks like a slice of cheese made up of shredded cheese.

All in all a delicious experience.  I recommend it highly.

Digital photography

I'm sure no one will be surprised that digital photography has changed the way we take and keep pictures.  Our numbers certainly don't represent a "typical" family or average or anything other than our family.  And there are still pictures from whole sections of our lives which aren't digitized, inventoried, or backed up in any way.  So those numbers aren't included here.  But let's see what we do have:

Until 1963 there is a smattering of prints we've gotten mostly from our mothers but occasionally from other relatives.  These have been lovingly collected and for the most part carefully stored in scrapbooks.  By sharing many of the pictures with our kids, we've created a sort of backup system as well.  As I indicated before, I have no numbers from this period.

From 1963 to approximately 1980 we took slides, lots of slides with an increasing number of prints until we were almost exclusively getting prints from 1980 on.  Again, I don't have a number of prints but we have approximately 2,700 slides during this period, 540 from my mission alone.  Unless some are hiding, we have completed the scanning phase of digitizing all our slides.  They occupy 3.5 GB of storage.

From 1980 to 1996 we took almost exclusively prints.  Carolyn has scrap-booked at least 80% of the prints so they are available for family to look at. And maybe I'll get around to scanning them.

From 1996 on we used digital cameras when we could borrow one for special occasions like our trip to Japan in 2000.  And as soon as Carolyn and I got our own digital cameras we have exclusively taken digital pictures.  During this time we have taken and stored some 19,600 photos which reside in 21.0 GB of storage!

Of course we have noted a couple of major changes due to digital photos:
1.  We take dozens of pictures where before we might take 2 or 3.  After all, bits are almost free and they can be easily recycled.
2.  We never delete a picture unless it is so dark or out of focus that we can't recognize it a week later.

But the one thing that scares me is
3.  We can duplicate thousands of pictures in a fraction of a second and delete them just as fast.

Just before I wrote this blog entry I was cleaning up some of our files and inadvertently deleted 882 pictures.  Something "looked funny" so I stopped immediately and reviewed the recycle bin contents and was able to retrieve all the files.  All I have to say is BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP.

Forty-three years

Forty-three.  Such a funny number.  It's not a nice round number like 50 or 40 or even 25.  Nobody talks about celebrating the 43rd anniversary of this or the 43rd annual that.  In fact, until today if anyone mentioned the number 43 to me the only connection I would probably have made is to Bush 43 as in Bush, our 43rd president.

But today 43 means so much more.  Forty-three years ago I was accepted by a young, beautiful woman to be her lawfully wedded husband.  And I, in turn, accepted her to be my lawfully wedded wife.  And that, as Robert Frost would have said, has made all the difference in the world.

Carolyn suggested this morning that we try for another 43 and I couldn't help chuckling.  Ten years ago 43 might have seemed possible.  Unlikely, but possible.  Even with high blood pressure and 40 extra pounds, I could still enjoy a good hike or a good swim.  I preferred watching my children and their spouses pack the trailers and trucks bringing us to Sacramento but I could share a good portion of the work.  Now, I have to wonder what Carolyn would want from me for another 43 years.

The last 10 years have taken more out of us than we had ever expected.  But they've also given us wonderful in-laws and grandchildren that we've had some time to enjoy.  Another 10 years would certainly be welcomed, maybe even 20 more.  But I can't imagine 43.

And as much as we love our friends in Long Beach (and those in Utah from Long Beach) we've been blessed with many new friends in Sacramento.  We'd like a few more years to add to those.

So I don't plan to stop at 43 and I don't plan to spend another 43.  I guess we'll keep on doing what people have always done, negotiate life one day at a time hoping to have many more but knowing that there is indeed a limit.

Faux News

As anyone who has ever watched Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" knows, Jon takes great pride in skewering the "talent" on Fox News and he usually does it so well.  That's why I have to express my great surprise at a recent turn of events on the Daily Show.  First of all, I had to agree that it would take a real ignoramus in this day and age NOT to know what an ignoramus is.  So when one of the female newscasters on Fox admitted sheh didn't now and had thus "Googled" the term "Ignoramus."  But the kicker was that she then got it wrong, reading off the answer: "an ignorant attorney".

Well, the joke's on us.  Google's sixth entry is, in fact:

ignoramus - Definition of ignoramus at YourDictionary.com

ig·no·ra·mus noun pl. ignoramuses -·muses. an ignorant and stupid person. Origin: < the name of a lawyer in Geo. Ruggle's play Ignoramus (1615); L, lit., ...
www.yourdictionary.com/ignoramus - Cached - Similar

The poor girl was just a little confused about the  "meaning" of a word, compared to it's origin.

I had assumed it had Latin roots but I'll admit I didn't know the roots are from a play whose character just happened to have such a eponymous name.

Sick Bed

What you are seeing in this picture above is one of the rare shots of me suffering in my sick bed.  I have been extremely fortunate to have lead a mostly healthy life free from the suffering that affects many people. I therefore feel it even worse when it does strike me.  Or at least I act more like a baby.  At this point I had been sick and bedridden approximately 36 hours.

This shot was staged.  I'm supposed to be emptying my stomach in that trash can but in reality I have already done that several times.  There's nothing left to throw up.  Twelve hours after this  picture was taken I think I'm beginning to feel like eating something.  I'm also beginning to think I may live through this experience.

A Thief in the Night

A couple of years ago our house was burgled and the burglar made off with ordinary things that amounted to little more than our insurance deductible.  Now Carolyn and I are wondering if we've been hit by a thief again or whether we're slowly losing our memory and mislaying one or two items at a time so we don't notice. The first thing we noticed was our cordless drill in it's carrying case. We don't recall lending it but it's gone.  Today we discovered that our combination external car battery and tire pump appears to be gone.  I wanted to top off the tires on the van but couldn't do it with our electric pump.  We certainly don't want to accuse friends, neighbors, or family since we have no evidence to back such an accusation.

'The ironic thing is that both usits require periodic recharging and we still have the charging units or cords.  So whoever "borrowed" them will be left with a plastic and metal piece  of art.

Camdan's cookies??

This was probably more of an experiment  on my part than anything else.  When Perry's family left him at our house while they went to the Sacramento Zoo, he and I whipped up a batch of banana oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies. They disappeared pretty fast as Carolyn sent the majority of them to Long Beach.  So when Ed and Tiffany asked us to watch over the boys during Tiffany's school open house, I decided to ask Camdan if he wanted to make cookies with me.  His response was "Cookies?"

He was well behaved but didn't really know what he was doing.  About half-way through he dropped the measuring cup into the mixing bowl while the beaters were goingl  That scare us all as flour and oatmeal scattered everywhere and my look must have scared the little boy.  He quickly reached his arms toward me and cried, "Hold you?  Hold you?" his version of "Will you hold me?"

Although a piece of the mixer blade broke off, nothing else appeared damaged.  Camdan quickly lost interest after that.  Carolyn and I finished baking the cookies.

Still juicing tomatoes

There are some things we do that we can't imagine NOT doing them.  Juicing tomatoes is one of those things.  It doesn't even matter if we haven't used up our store of home canned juice.

This year, having taught all our daughters and sons how to use a canner to make delicious, sweet, and fresher tomato juice, Carolyn turned her attention to those in our ward who have been co-workers in the ward garden and now have more tomatoes than they know what to do with. Francine was over a couple of days  ago.  It was almost like a day at the Deseret Industries canning complex.

I don't know if Carolyn will eventually reach 70 quarts like we have some years but my guess is we'll have a couple dozen and enjoy them.

Picnic in the park

It was a beautiful day in August.  The sun was bright but not too hot.  There was a soft breeze blowing.  It was just a great day for a picnic at McKinley Park in mid-own Sacramento.  And Carolyn's staff had fortunately planned their staff picnic on that day.  And even more fortunately, she invited me to join them so I didn't have to fix my own lunch.  The only drawback is that I recognized only three or four faces and only one or two names.

Late evening decorating

Our kids who live in Sacramento just 4 or 5 miles from us have been really good about stopping by on a regular basis to mow the lawn or take out the garbage or some other task that needs doing.  But there are things that we forget to tell them about.  Recently we cornered them when they dropped by in the evening without even having a chance to change their clothes.  We've somehow lost our battery operated drill which complicated things a little but made us appreciate the help even more.

Speaking in church

Having done just about everything I could think of to discourage our bishopric from inviting me to speak in church again, I was really surprised when one  of the counselors still found it possible to ask Carolyn and me to speak.  We talked yesterday and they haven't called us yet to talk about our membership so I can only assume we didn't say anything terrible.

Actually, I think both of our talks went well.  We certainly got a lot of comments and pleasant feedback from many members of the congregation.  I actually enjoyed the experience.  I usually do if (1) I have enough time and resources to write the talk, and (2) the subject matter is something I know something about or at least feel comfortable discussing with others.  This probably couldn't have been better.  (1) We were asked on August 15 to speak on August 29 giving us a full two weeks to prepare during which we had no major distractions.  And (2) my assigned topic was "Dealing with Adversity" and Carolyn's was "Provident Living".

Carolyn is almost a textbook example of provident living, her family has lived providently since she was born, and the Church has a website called provident living just in case she needed more ideas.  I would never want to get into a no-win argument with someone about whether he or I have dealt with the most adversity but I do feel like I've dealt with enough that I can speak with some confidence and experience.

The problem I had is that Dealing with Adversity is, as I explained to the congregation, the Universal Condition.  Virtually all the books,  plays, and movies deal with adversity or deal with people who are dealing with adversity.  My problem was staying within the time limits of our talks while still saying something meaningful.  I prepared what High Councillors call an "accordion" speech because it can be expanded or contracted as necessary.  I could have spoken as long as 20 minutes but had only 12 minutes.  I cheated and ran over 3 or 4 minutes but still had to cut out 5 to 6 minutes of the talk.

Music Therapy

At our Arden-Arcade last Friday we listened to  board certified music therapist Rachel Firchau from McConnell Music Therapy Services describe what Music Therapy is and how it can benefit people with Parkinson's Disease (PWP).  Ms. Firchau first used some lovely rhythm instruments she had brought along She showed how music through rhythm can teach anticipation, timing, and selective listening skills.

She also showed a video demonstrating the effectiveness of music theory on consumers with gait problems such as mine.  A Person with Parkinson's who attempts to walk while listening to a drum or some other rhythm instrument will find his gate synchronizing to the instrument.  A properly adjusted instrument tends to smooth out gait, eliminate freezing, and reduce hip contortion.  And the improvement in gait is likely to persist, remaining with the patient for a week to 10 days.  I found it similar to the "marching stride" encouraged by my physical therapist.

Camp Nauvoo 2010

Our Activities Calendar wouldn't be complete without the annual ward  outing to Camp Nauvoo.  In the past, we've been assigned our weekend on a rather random basis so we might have a weekend before the spring thaw or in the middle of the fall rains.  This year it fell on the last weekend in August which is statistically probably the best weekend of the year.  So we were looking forward to a good-sized crowd from our ward and possibly some overlap with the singles ward in our stake.  We did have nice if somewhat coolish weather, a fair crowd, and no one from the other ward.

When the person who had accepted responsibility for MC-ing the activities for the weekend had a death in the family it left a big hole in the plans.  Carolyn scurried around to find substitutes such as re-using the "win it in a minute' props and ideas from the Young Men's program and some song sheets from prior years.  I don't think anyone suffered or had a bad experience at camp because of the program change.  It might have even been better because of our relaxed schedule.

I had an interesting time trying to get around in my power chair.  First of all, I was interested to know how much of the camp would be wheelchair accessible or, alternatively, accessible with my walker.  I was surprised at how accessible the camp was.  The main problem was getting to some of the cabins and to the fire ring bleachers.  I had no trouble, however, getting volunteers to lift it over the bridge.  The meadow provided some interesting challenges as I tried to "off road" it.  Some dips and trenches were sufficient to stop me in my tracks but usually I could find a side of the dip short enough to allow me to climb out.  But my chair probably got its best ever workout.