Santa Cruz handyman

We have come to really enjoy visits by Steve and Lisa for any number of reasons.  But one reason which I'm still a little surprised about is their talent for fixing things and their ability to actually do so. 

Like the other night...  We were all at Ed and Tiff's house and shuddering each time their refrigerator was opened or closed.  The door made a horrible sound of metal siezing up so I was positive that the hinge was going to blow up in shreds any minute now.  Tiff and I were thinking it probably needed some lubrication be we weren't sure how to go about finding where it was needed.  Steven took a pair of pliars, decided it was the lower door hinge, and tightened, loosened, or bent back a piece of metal.  Voila!  no noise.

Today, he and Lisa used their time today to replace a leaking kitchen sink faucet. We left for a meeting with the friends of the library and  returned to see the new faucet in place.  What do you think?

Renaissance starts again

The Renaissance Society at Sac State began another semester today with what they call the Rendezvous.  I think it is supposed to remind people what registration used to be like when each class had a table and you had to visit each table of the classes you wanted.  In our case we're only supposed to sign up for one class so the whole process can go really fast --- except there were so many people and my walker doesn't negotiate crowds very well. 

Thunder Cave

If you were in Mrs. Baldwin's class in the Taylor, Arizona elementary school during the 1950's you'll probably recognize this book.  According to my wife, kids looked forward each year ato reading this book with their teacher Mrs. Baldwin.  We have a copy of the book that was literally falling apart.  To see if it was worth rebinding I looked on a couple of well-known databases.  I had to use the author's name to even get this book to come up.

The book, written in 1932 and revised in 1945 is a classic in political and cultural non-correctness. As we were discussing the book the other day we wondered whether a rewire taking out the ethinic stereotypes and slurs would even have a chance of selling.  Come to find out that a so-called Millenial edition of the book was published in 2001.  In trying to put together the history by seeing what new and used books are available, it appears that a hard cover limited edition was first published then a much larger run of a large paperback version was published.

The paperback millenial (2001) version is selling new for about $40 and used for half that price.  The hardcover version is going for $80 to almost $300.  Likewise the 32 and 45 versions are definitely collector's items if they are in good shape.  We'lll probably never sell our book but it does look like it's worth rebinding.

Friends

A Book on Disk that I'm currently listening to has a quote that runs something like "A friend is someone who can disagree with you without being disagreeable."  I like that statement and hope that it applies to all my friends in relation to me.  I  would guess that the greater portion of people who I call my friends are or tend to be on the conservative side of the political spectrum while I'm a card carrying member of the ACLU.  I apologize if I've been disagreeable but I don't apologize for disagreeing.  That's the way we both learn.

Falling in love - or just falling?

At one of my Parkinson's Disease support group meetings recently there was a small discussion about falling.  One man boasted that he was on his 27th no-fall day while another looked blankly at the group as his wife said he usually fell 4 or 5 times a day but on good days might fall only 2 or 3 times. 

Having suffered a fall or two myself, I'm not anxious to be doing it several times a day.  The trouble with most falls is that they come as a complete surprise.  Like today when I was opening the rear door of my Highlander in the garage.  I somehow got off balance and couldn't move my feet fast enough to save the situation.   Next thing I knew I was sitting on my butt looking up at the world.  I had scraped my elbow and the back of my hand but that was the extent of my wounds.

 Time to reset my accident counter.

You know your kids are doing something right when they take the family to Wendy's and the grandkids almost beg to have a side salad with their kids meals.  Of course Tiffany makes wonderful salads herself so it shouldn't be surprising that her kids like salads so much.

And you know that scene from "Lady and the Tramp" where Lady and Tramp are eating the same spaghetti string so they meet in the middle with a kiss.  Camdan does the same thing with a french fry and his Mom.

Babysitting the grandkids

Something I haven't taken the opportunity to do for many months or even years is to tend two or three of my grandchildren all by myself.  Of course it is a whole new world now that I need a walker to get around and I'm unstable enough on my feet without carrying anything let alone a year and a half old toddler.

I did have the assistance of Tim and Jake and a bit of cooperation from Camden.  Probably the biggest problem was convincing Camden that he needed a little more help with things than his older brothers did.  Between playing board games, watching a movie, and having chocolate ice cream for desert, we managed to make the evening a pleasant experience for all.

Zero tolerance policy

Every time I see or hear the words "Zero Tolerance" I get so angry.  It can relate to businesses or government entities but it  usually refers to schools or school districts having "zero tolerance" for guns, drugs, gang behavior, or "offensive" clothing.  Recently I heard of a school board wanting to prohibit Facebook communication between teachers and students.  Undoubtedly this will be a zero tolerance rule as well.

I think ZT is a lazy man's justice.  You don't have to think about the context or mitigating factors.  It's simply "If A, then B".  ZT is quick and easy to administer and it is certainly fair if only in a draoconian way.

It's no wonder our kids grow up with little tolerance of our court system.  After all they lived under zero tolerance for 12 years so they're not going to cut government and especially the court system any slack.

Heritage dinner

One of the bonuses of being a grandparent is getting invited to all sorts of school and extracurricular activities.  One of the disadvantages in living 7 hours away from 11 of your  14 grandchildren is that you can't make it to 78.6% of such activities.  Unless you're Carolyn and are willing to go on the road for business and stay over to visit the grandchildren, thus allowing some parents to get some time off.

The activity we got to participate in this week was a Heritage dinner for Jacob's class.  The theme was centered around the family  In spite of his class being only 30 or so, the school cafeteria was filled with family members who enjoyed a great pot-luck dinner and a program that had at least one singing number from the class.  We were a little late so I'm not sure of the rest of the program.  They also displayed their artwork which featured home and family.

Thanks for the invitation, Jake.

And the floods came down

I think it was about 15 years ago when we lived in Long Beach.  We were sent home from work early because of predicted heavy storms.  I had to park my car about half a mile from home it was flooded so much.  Well, Long Beach was again hit with heavy rains yesterday.  Check out the pictures at www.lbpost.com/ryan/8026 About the only difference is the rain fell later in the day 15 years ago so it was harder to see just how deep the water was especially in the intersections. 

Here's a couple of pictures of my son Lee paddling his inflatable raft along his street.

I'm surprised he didn't get his picture in the paper, also.

Another resignation

Most of us think of April 15th when we think "tax time" but for some of us other dates are just as important or even more so.  For example, 1099-Misc forms have to go out the end of January to all  non-employees who have been paid more than $600.  That means that I as treasurer of the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library have to survey all of our branches and compile a list of the clowns, magicians, cyclists, weavers, artists, etc. who have been hired by the Friends branches during last year.  Last year I sent out 23 forms but this year the library took over the payments in late summer.  It looks like I'll be sending out 6 or 7 1099's.

Another date coming soon is the tax service season when the AARP tax advisers start helping the elderly and poor submit their tax returns.  That season runs from February 1 to April 15.  Of course these volunteer advisers have to be trained.  Some training started right after New Years.  Since I did this last year I attended the "returning advisors' class" which started yesterday and ends tomorrow.  I went yesterday and today but I won't be going tomorrow.  I resigned.

Physically, I'm having more and more problems keying but it is the mental exercise that finally convinced me I didn't want to fill out four or more tax returns every week from February 1 to April 15.  Last year it was exciting.  This year it is already drudgery.  It's sad to have to give it up but it wouldn't be fair to co-workers if I took twice as long to complete a tax return and it would certainly not be fair to our clients if I messed up their tax returns.

It's raining. It's pouring.

Maybe, just maybe we're finally going to have a little Sacramento weather after all.  For the past two months it's looked like Southern California's "marine layer" of clouds around here - no rain but no sun either.  Some have even described it as "high level fog" as opposed to the tule fog we often have in the spring where the fog hugs the ground and convinces drivers that "out of sight, out of existence" leading to some horrible accidents.

But today we had real weather, buckets and buckets of real weather.  It appeared to me that drivers were, on the whole, being somewhat more careful, especially when they couldn't see even with the wipers going at full speed.  Fortunately, the cloudbursts were exactly that - bursts.  In between, there was the steady rain that doesn't overwhelm the ground or the windshield wipers.  We could use more of that.

But which charity do I use?

Yesterday I listed some of the better rated organizations for donating to the Haitian disaster relief but I failed to give advice as to how to rate these charities. I've found a valuable resource is Charity Navigator a web siste that not only gives you the rating on a particular charity  you're interested in but also has such Top Ten lists as

• Least visited (asked about)
• Most swamped in admin costs
• Most asked for
• Supersized charities
• Low paid CEO's

Well, you get the idea.  It's a fun site to visit even if you don't intend to contribute.  But I hope you do.

How about money? Does money work for you?

In the wake of the horrible tragedy in Haiti and the almost relentless calls for aid (often to the Red Cross and almost always in the form of MONEY) I am reminded of my father's distrust of giving money to the Red Cross.  He was more than willing to give his blood or blood components to the Red Cross and he certainly was not a stingy person but every time the subject came  up between the two of us he would remind me that he didn't give money to the Red Cross.  When I would ask why not he would give a less than complete answer along the lines of "when I needed their help, they weren't there".  I never did hear the particulars but I still find it difficult to overcome that bias.

Being in the hospital administration business for 15 years, I had my share of run-ins with the Red Cross.  Interestingly, given my father's lack of hesitancy giving blood, my first run in was in connection with the blood bank in Utah and difficulties between their blood bank and ours at the hospital.  Later problems would surface based on their national management salary levels and each time my bias would be reinforced.

Now I have no reason to disparage giving to the Red Cross for Haitian relief efforts but I'll probably look for another way such as one of the following:

ActionAid International
International Relief Teams
AmeriCares
Doctors Without Borders
Partners In Health 

We want our money back

What would you think of an auto dealer who gave you a $30,000 car because you needed transportation.  Then six months later called you up and asked you to come in and pay him $30,000 or sign a $30,000 loan agreement.  And if you want the loan you need to bring the pink slip in also.  You'd think him a little daft, wouldn't you?


Today I got an email from "Joe Biden" which read as follows:

Yesterday, President Obama announced our proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on the country's largest banks:

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed. And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people...We want our money back, and we're going to get it."

The fee would recover every penny loaned to Wall Street during the financial crisis and stop the reckless abuses and excesses that nearly caused the collapse of our financial system in the first place.

My first response was, "It's a little late, don't you think?"  And my second was, "Gee, it must be great to be all powerful."  And my third response was, "Should we cut this administration some slack because the bailout was actually begun under the prior administration and these guys were still arranging the nameplates on their desks by the time the bailout was through?"

Almost as unbelievable is the response from the banking industry who, having gotten a free lunch, want to make sure it stays free.  It's not their fault there were no strings attached to the bailout money.  Real patriots, these.  But let one of their customers get a $100 due to bank error and they'll stop at nothing to get the money back.

News versus opinion

"When I was young" one of the things that used to bother me was older people starting sentences with "when I was young."  It was almost always a prelude to a remembrance which may have been a little shaky at best and downright false at worst.  Somehow in the past there were fewer "bad guys" around and those that were were caught and given their just punishments or run out of town on a rail.  There was no unemployment, at least for those who really wanted to work.  And life was hard but with enough faith in the Lord everything came out all right.

Well, when I was young and before we had television in the house we got our news from newspapers.  We knew that everything was really news and really factual except advertising and the editorial and op-editorial pages.  I also recall that politicians were criticized for their ideas, their bills, and sometimes for their tactics but almost never for who they were.  This was especially true regarding the president who was truly given the respect of the title The Honorable Mister President.  When we got television it was also clear that the news shows were news.  You could expect to hear the same things on CBS, NBC, or ABC, at least on the news programs.  There were shows devoted to opinions and they were clearly advertised as such.

Now today there seems to be no such thing as unbiased news unless it pertains to cats stranded in trees or an increase in rainfall.  Oops, take that back - the rainfall will somehow be tied to global climate change and the credibility or lack thereof or the current or past administration.  Politicians are the least respected class in our society with the President being the least of the least, at least among newscasters.  When I was young we used to marvel that other countries had "state" sponsored media outlets which broadcast 99% propaganda and may or may not have opposition sponsored media depending on the degree of independence and rule of law in the country.  We couldn't imagine newsmen who would sell their soul to sell newspapers or air time for their party.  That was what communists and fascists did, didn't they?  When I was young....  when did it all change?

LibraryThing part 2

I try not to repeat myself on this blog so this entry is going to be short.

A good friend asked me if I knew a good, inexpensive inventory program for books.  My first thought was the good all-purpose database programs of Excel and Access.  My second thought was I've answered this question before.  Maybe I should check my own blog before I write up the whole thing again.  Sure enough, almost 3 years ago I  posted blog entry: LibraryThing.com telling all about the website software called LibraryThing.  Click on the link and read my review or go to website: LibraryThing.com and find out for yourself.  The first 200 books are free and to catalog a library of 5,000 books is still only $25.  What a deal.

I'm getting old

Like hardening of the arteries, hardening of opinions seems to be a sign of old age.  And I'm really suffering when it comes to the Friends of the Library.  Let me give some context.

The Friends of the Sacramento Public Library is an auxiliary group associated with the library whose main activity is selling used books and whose main donee is the Library.  Each of the 28 branches of the Sacramento Public Library also has a Friends group associated with that branch with the same activity and donee restriction.  Also each branch is a part of the "system" Friends.  We have only one Federal ID number and file only one tax return.  We are a 501c3 charity which we pass along to the branch friends because we are all one.

Now along comes the Library Foundation with a main activity of raising money for the library.  They are paid.  Their board are movers and shakers.  They are centralized.  They want all donations to flow through them.  They want the Friends to be as organized as they are.  They are NOT part of the Friends and the Friends are NOT part of them.

So there is a "working partners" group to iron out some of the kinks in the relationship and to bring the Friends into a configuration that better reflects how the Foundation sees it.  Although there are some regulations that need to be followed, most of the reasoning behind proposed changes are related to "best practices" a phrase difficult to attack without looking like you'd rather have "worst practices".

I have not been a part of the "working partners" probably because my attitude was so obvious from the start.  And almost every proposal I hear from the group makes me glad I will soon be hanging up my Treasurer's hat.  Maybe worst practices is really what I wanted all along.

PO = PIssed off

Just when I'm sorta thinking that the Post Office has evolved into a different organization, a service organization which really cares about it's customers and share of market, etc. they go and surprise me with an act so pissy that I wonder how I ever thought things had changed.

The latest is this:
We addressed one of our Christmas cards to 6310 Anywhere Avenue, Long Beach.  It was promptly returned with the notation that 6310 Anywhere didn't exist.  That was it, no help as to what the address might be, just the blunt "doesn't exist".  We suspect that the postman even recognized the address since it would be only two short blocks away.

We looked in our address database and, sure enough, the correct address was 6510 so Carolyn scratched out the old address and wrote in the correct one.   This time the card didn't make it out of Carmichael.  It was returned to us with a note attached to the envelope which read:

From 95608 - New postage required as was already attempted with address at 6310.  When corrected needs new postage.

And they wonder that so many people are using email more and more.

A Joyful Noise

Big changes for our ward choir this year.  The biggest for Carolyn & me is, of course, that the weekly choir practice is in our home.  For just a little inconvenience of setting up and taking down the chairs each week we get to have our house filled with pretty decent music at least once a week. This morning was the first practice for the year.  It appeared that about half the choir lost their way and never made it here.  But otherwise it was successful.

The other major change has to do with the choir's program.  I have really enjoyed singing in the choir because our director has been innovative in bringing numbers that challenged us but were also fun and new.  Well, I suspect someone has been reading the Church Handbook of Instruction.  There under Ward Choirs is this:   Choirs can be used to help members become more familiar with the hymns and to introduce them to lesser-known hymns. Our choir director used that quote almost verbatim in telling us what we'll be singing in the coming months.

This quote also from the Church Handbook lends support to that view: Choirs are encouraged to use the hymnbook as their basic resource because the hymns teach the truths of the restored gospel. 

Of course the Handbook also states: Hymn arrangements and other appropriate choral works may also be used. but that will not be emphasized this year.

Turbo Tax

We finally did it like we're supposed to - wait until we have the coupon for a discount on Turbo Tax before buying it.  Often in previous years we've purchased the software then when the coupon comes in the mail (and it always comes) we'd take it and the sales slip for proof of purchase back for the credit.

As usual I made a copy of the software for backup purposes then installed from the backup disk to verify that it is a good copy.  Installation went as expected except that it seemed to take a long time. 

But the thing that fascinated me this year was a question about why specifically I was using Turbo Tax this year.  There was a drop down menu so you couldn't just pick anything.  Curiously missing from the list was the reason I would expect a majority of users to select: "customer loyalty" or "liked the way it worked last year."  Curiously on the list was:  "a friend gave me a copy of the software program." 

Elephant Bar revisited

A few weeks ago I reported on our visit to the Elephant Bar, giving the place high marks.  Tonight we revisited the restaurant with some long-time friends who had moved to Sacramento shortly after we did.  Did the restaurant measure up to my previous evaluation?  Absolutely.  In spite of a long line of customers waiting, they honored our reservations and when the booth they initially assigned to us was too cramped, they graciously moved us to a table as soon as one became available.

The food was as good as before with the sole exception being Carolyn's tomato sauce which was rather plain.  But everything was served hot and timely. 

I didn't have my 20% senior discount card with me but Carolyn had hers.  Still they honored the card for us and our friends on separate tabs. 

I'm again impressed with the Elephant Bar.  They put customer service first.

Help! Somebody stole my feet

Well, they didn't exactly steal my feet.  And I don't know who I mean by "they".  But the fact is that I can no longer trust my feet and legs to do what I expect them to do if I just put things on automatic.  A good analogy might be that I'm a driver trained with an automatic transmission who now has to drive a stick shift - where the different gears change every time I start the car and sometimes while I'm driving peacefully down the road.

I spent an hour with my physical therapist this morning practicing "purposeful steps" and directed walking commands.  Fortunately, there is still nerve and muscle programming at the lowest level so I don't have to think how to raise my toes or lower my heels or bend my knees.  My brain or spinal cord can still handle simple commands like that.  They just can't handle a command like "walk to the front door, retrieve newspaper, return to favorite chair". 

When Janine suggested I think of a metronome when walking, I surprised her by pulling out my PDA and running the metronome program.  Then I surprised myself by walking down 3 or 4 hallways in the PT department using the metronome as a "pacer".  Maybe I should market a metronome/pacer to install on any sort of walker.  If it were smart enough, it could give an introduction beat, a warning beat, and even a HALT beam when my situation is completely out of balance.

Automatic bank transactions - can you trust them?

Microsoft Money is not some phony currency like Monopoly money but a rather sophisticated piece of software that has done a decent job of keeping track of our family finances for the past 10 or 12 years.  For banks that bought into their system they also provided one of the earliest and most reliable online payment systems.  Large payees would get electronic transfers while small payees such as individuals would get actual checks.  Now that many companies are setting up their own bill paying systems over the Internet, there are indications that Microsoft Money may be changing.

Trying to get ahead of the curve and automate my bill paying as much as possible, I have attempted over the past 3 months to sign up for automated bill paying with every creditor we routinely pay or at least those who have that as a payment option. 

It has been an interesting exercise as some companies want to tie that in with paperless billing while others don't care.  Some will accept only bank transfers while others prefer credit cards and others accept only credit cards.  Most, recognizing their savings in automated processing, accept autopay with no extra charge while others, notably government entities, want to charge a "convenience fee".  And there are still holdouts who haven't figured out Internet transactions yet.

My biggest frustration to date has been with our home lender Wells Fargo.  Setting up the automatic payment was fairly simple and straightforward.  But once I had set it up there was no indication in my online file that I had done so, no indication of the amount or date of proposed payment.  In fact, other than waiting for the payment to be taken out of my bank account, the only way I could tell I had an automatic payment was to try to make a non-automatic payment online.  That created a message like "You are already enrolled for periodic payment.  If you wish to stop or change this, please call customer service or use our encrypted email system." 

On the first of this month I received an automated notice from Wells Fargo telling me my mortgage payment was due.  In fact, I received three such notices on the 1st and another one the next day.  When the notice of payment hadn't come through by the 4th, I used their "encrypted" email system to ask what was happening. I'm pathologically anxious about paying bills late especially mortgage payments even though our mortgage says that late charges don't apply until the 15th.  Finally, on the 5th I received the email message that payment had been posted.  Is this going to be worth it?

Not always a pack rat

I've gotten a reputation, among our kids at least, of being a pack rat in the sense that when I am no longer using something I will often save it as a "backup" rather than discarding or recycling.  For example, when I put together a chest of drawers and have an extra screw or a pair of drawer gliders left over I will "save" them in our junk drawer on the chance that I'll need these parts in the future. 

Just for the record I'm not always a pack rat.  For Christmas Carolyn and I bought ourselves a telephone system to replace the hodge podge of equipment that we been using.  And I'll admit that I was tempted to hold onto our old equipment.  Tempted, that is, until I realized that some of it could benefit my bookbinding mentor Pat.  Pat's shop is about 50 feet from his house which makes it inconvenient to run into the house to catch a phone call.  He can't afford the ongoing charges for a phone company extension or answering machine.  Among our surplussed equipment was an answering machine as well as a base and satellite unit.  I took the equipment to Pat yesterday in hopes that it would work for him.

Pat called me today so excited that he could receive and make calls from his workshop, something he has wanted to do for years.  The answering machine will be useful when he can't get the phone even in his shop.  Now if I could just find someone who wants a 9 year old electric shaver.

The beginning of an end

I dropped off a bundle of 30 envelopes this morning at the post office glad they're on their way and wondering if this is really this last time I'll be sending them.  No, they weren't Christmas cards.  I hope to be around several more Christmas's and will probably be sending some cards each year.  No, this was my annual plea for reports from the Branch Friends of the Library who need to let me know which performers they have sponsored this past year so I can prepare Misc Form 1099's for each one to which we've paid more than $600.  Because we're considered one organization including all the branches, we have to add all the branch payments together.  If 5 branches each hire the same magician for $150 his total would be $750 so we'd have to send a 1099.  The library was supposed to take over hiring and paying the performers as of July 1, 2009 which would have cut down the number getting $600 but they didn't implement the change until Oct 1.  As most of the programs occur from March to October, it's possible that I'll be sending the same as last year.  The good news is that unless the library reverses itself this really will be my last time.  And maybe that will be sufficient to encourage everyone to send their reports in timely -  ha ha ha.

Another Atomic clock

You know how the word atomic seems to scare people away when it refers to power or plant irradiation or weaponry but somehow it usage to describe a clock doesn't raise such concerns.  Which brings me to tonight's word: atomic clock.

I actually read the instruction for something we purchased this year.  Carolyn & I purchased a indoor/outdoor thermometer and atomic clock.  The instructions start out by explaining that an atomic clock is one whose time mechanism is governed by the vibration of atomic particles.  They explain that such clocks are rather expensive and are actually located only in a few places in the world.  They then go on to explain that consumer "atomic" clocks get their right to be called atomic by being in regular communication with these atomic clocks.  It would probably be more accurate to call these consumer clocks "radio clocks" but then they would be confused with clock radios.

Previous indoor/outdoor clocks were always flaking out on me so I was not surprised when the outside temperature disappeared and it looked like I had bit into another bad apple.  But Carolyn used a bit of counter intuitive logic and actually moved the outside probe further away from the main unit.  Surprisingly, it worked!  And it has continued working for the past 2 weeks.  Who would have thought?

Let your little light shine

We've had a design difficulty in our living room almost from the day we moved in.  The corner just opposite the doorway is dark.  We've had a corner table in that corner but nothing seems to work with the rest of our decor.  Nothing seemed to work both during the day and after dark.

 

About two years ago Carolyn saw this lamp in Bakersfield but she took her time in actually purchasing it.  She bought it today at Big Lots!

With the light off and just the ambient light the lamp does not overwhelm the table decor or the rest of the room.

With the lights on the corner is even more welcoming without having too much light.  This highlights the vase we got at Christmas for my final resting place.

Here's a closeup of one of the lamps.  I like it because it is light and crystaline with an effective light diffusion scheme.

The only difficulty with this project were (1) that Carolyn and I had to construct the individual lamps, and (2) Carolyn fell over backward removing the corner table.  She hit her head on the coffee table clock and the corner table landed on her.  Fortunately, nothing broke or was permanently damaged as far as we know.

Party #5 - a New Year

Completing her goal of 5 parties in 5 weeks, Carolyn successfully wrapped up her fifth party this morning with a ward New Year's breakfast.  Let me remind everyone what this woman was involved with since December 1:

Dec 4 - Choir party, hosted and planned party for about 15 people
Dec 12 - Ward Christmas party - planned, purchased food,  assigned responsibilities for party with 200 attendance
Dec 19 - Office Christmas party - hosted, planned, and coordinated party for 15 people
Dec 27 - Activities committee Christmas party - hosted, provided about 50% of food for dinner party with 12 attendance.
Jan 1 - Ward New Year Breakfast - planned, purchased food, assigned responsibilities for party with 150 attendance.

It may not seem like much to some but as her disabled "half" I can really see all the effort that she puts into these parties and once a month is a tremendous load.  Once a week is rediculous.

I was tasked with putting together a slide show of last year's activities.  Using PhotoStory 3.0 for Windows I put together about an hour long presentation complete with "moving" slides, music, and some simple titling.  Since it was the only "program" for the morning affair people were pretty much a captive audience.  Even so, they seemed to appreciate the show.