"Our State Fair is a Great State Fair...."

or at least so go the lyrics for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "State Fair".   Actually, I would classify ours as only so-so.  But then I'm not big on state fairs.

We started out right this morning - early and with plenty of sunscreen on. Although it was a bright sunny day it wasn't as hot as we often  have during the summer.  Being there early we didn't have to fight the crowds so much.

It seemed to me the vendors were more aggressive than previous years but that could have been because this was the last weekend of the fair and they wanted to go out with a bang.  In any case we found ourselves hurrying past some booths that I would have enjoyed looking but not listening.

Politics was evident with the booths for the major parties.  And so was patriotism:

Here they had two wall boards posted so that people could write notes to our men in arms.

The agricultural, homemaking, engineering, and many other types of displays are always our favorites.  We were especially taken with some of the  quilting displays since they were so dramatically different from the more traditional quilts we had just seen in Snowflake, Arizona.

 And, finally,  I was delighted to see that the fair itself was a "no smoking zone" making for a clean and enjoyable experience for all.

Only in these small shade tents scattered around the fair could smokers light up.

As we left, the crowd was increasing as was the temperature.  We got our hands stamped (just in case) but were both glad to come home to rest.  I had my power chair or I never would have made it an hour but it's still exhausting trying to get around with bowling people over.  And I was essentially sitting in one place for 5 hours.

Smile for the camera

I think I'm getting close to getting all our digital pictures together so I can finally start on the sorting and organizing  project I've been wanting to do for some time.  Until our latest computer acquisition, we just didn't have enough space to put everything together which makes it more difficult to organize. In fact, I'm still not sure have everything.  But what I do have  is 21,388 photos taking up a little over19 gigabytes of storage.  And that is just the digital pictures we've taken and the slides we've scanned. I don't know if we'll ever get around to scanning the pictures we've printed from negatives.  Of course, many of these pictures need to be scrapped.

Does anybody have a good recommendation  for picture album software?

When your boss says "Have a minute?"

The answer is always yes.

Very few jobs are 100% secure.  There's always the chance that you'll be furloughed, laid off, fired, or terminated. Sure, there are union contracts and employment contracts but the reality of the situation is that if you're no longer needed or wanted, if the company can no longer afford your position, of if any number of other reasons makes keeping you on the payroll more costly than letting you go, you'll go.  I think some people go through life never realizing this fact.

But my job is even more iffy in that I have a contract which states explicitly that I work as an independent contractor solely at the will of both parties.  I try to earn my pay as I always have in every job I've ever held but still, when the boss says, "Have a minute?" I answer yes but my heart jumps a little.  Is this going to be bad news or good news?  Another assignment or goodbye?

This morning it was good news, I think.

Recognizing that my consultations have become relatively routine, my boss suggested that I work with some of the other managers to teach them or their staff how to produce the reports I have been developing.  That would free up some of my time so that I could expand another area that has always been a part of my contract - helping to keep our website current and relevant to our various communities.  This will probably be very content driven as part of my qualification for the assignment is my long history with the state's developmental disability system. Of course, to do a good job I will have to become more involved than I am right now and that may entail a larger time commitment on my part.  On the other hand, the commitment can be very flexible and adaptable to my needs. Tough decision.

Early in - big deal

You hear these stories about people "getting in on the ground floor" of something and thereby making a cool million dollars or becoming famous or at least grandfathered in with some privileges.  But somehow I never seem to make the cut.

I remember back in 1977 or 1078 when I could always start a conversation with "I have a Polymorphic home computer.  What kind do you have?"  Then we'd either talk about how crazy I was or how does one go about getting a home computer.  Now to say you DON'T have a home computer would start the same conversation.

Five years ago when I started this blog I would have to explain to someone what a blog was before they would even think about asking for the URL.  I was one of approximately 150,000 personal blogs.  I figured with the rapid turnover in such an industry that by 2010 I would simply be 1 of 1,000 or so as people found that the reward:cost ratio wasn't that tempting.  Wrong again.  According to Newsweek, I am now "competing" with 1.4 million blogs.

I just can't get ahead of the curve.

Twenty Years old

Twenty years ago President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  With that action he put into action a chain of events that has made America one of the most maturely caring societies that has ever existed.  And yet for most of us ADA is still a foreign concept, a crutch for "the disabled" or even worse, another effort by our run-away leaders to make this a "nanny state".

Having recently joined the ranks of "the disabled" I am acutely aware of what accommodations have been made and which ones are still, unfortunately, far away.  Public buildings built or heavily remodeled in the past 20 years are generally disabled friendly.  I would expect total compliance but like all regulations, ADA is subject to interpretation, and exceptions.  I have wheeled up to restroom doors that are wide enough for my wheelchair but too heavy or otherwise impossible for me to open.  Alta California Regional Center, the company from which I retired, was a model of ADA compliance until they decided the best was to answer some security concerns was to eliminate electronically opening doors, making wheelchair access at least twice as difficult.

But the real difficulty for people with disabilities lies in the private sector.  If I choose to visit my children using my wheelchair, I am prevented from entering the home of all but one of them.   I need ramps installed to even fully utilize my own home.  Narrow doorways, missing support bars and inaccessible bathroom fixtures   make my life more difficult than it need be.

I'm not suggesting more regulation, more intrusion into our private lives but wouldn't you think that after 20 years architects and builders would have "caught the spirit" and begun designing and building homes that would fit everyone, not just the   healthy.  If all homes were built with the idea that a gram-pa or grandma were coming to visit every couple of months, we'd soon have a nation of ADA compliant housing.

Christening and furnishing

Those of you who have followed my blog for some time know that I often name inanimate objects with which I have to deal.  My two walkers, for example, are Walking Matilda and Walker Hugo.  So it should not be a surprise that I named the new computer Pavlov.  Besides the psychological and scientific background associated with the name, it just made sense. The model as described by Hewlett Packard is a Pavilion Elite or a Pav for short.  Adding the beginning of Loveridge and you have Pavlov!!

A couple of days ago, I compared our old computer to a clunker, an old, unreliable car.  But changing computers is more like buying a new house and moving into it.  The new house may come with several amenities such as bathroom fixtures and air conditioning but you'll be moving in one or more beds, kitchen and laundry appliances, etc. Some of the things you may have loved in the old house won't work in the new because of the style, the carpet, or the paint/wall treatment.

So it is with this new computer which came with a brand new operating system Windows 7.  Several of our old programs won't work with that but HP also thoughtfully included several programs that replace many of these that are no longer working.  Still, we have to migrate the data and get to know the new programs before they're of any use to us.

Shopping for a new computer

Advice:  Take along a geek!

Unless you're totally up on the latest technology both in hardware and software, it's really nice to have with you someone who is. I had done a little shopping on my own after a particularly bad day trying to wrestle the old computer.  So I was excited that Steve and Lisa would be visiting us the weekend of July 10-11.  I was also pleased when a computer sales clerk approached us at SAM'S Club.  He had the look of GEEK all over him.  When I asked why some of the outlets in the back of the computer on display had been "sealed" or boarded up, he launched into a reply about incompatibility issues with the accelerated graphics card and alternative ways of achieving the same thing.  I was immediately out of my league where Steve asked some follow-up questions that, at least to some degree, wiped the smug look off the young salesman's face.

Steven could see that I was more impressed by big screens than with fast processors which he favored.  He recommended a machine that had both.  It was also handy having Steve along to help lift the computer into the shopping cart and then into out car.  So you'll want a geek who can lift heavy loads.

Time to retire the old clunker

And I don't mean me... yet.

No, I'm referring to the old desktop computer that is over 5 years old and would sometimes take 15 minutes to get started in the morning -- WHEN it would decide to get going.  And that was the rub.  We would often get the "blue screen of death" right in the middle of doing something important.  This screen was reminiscent of old pre-windows screens and simply said, "an unrecoverable error has been made on your machine.  The operating system has stopped further processing to prevent damage to your computer.   See your system administrator."

I tried the instructions on the blue screen; I tried the Windows knowledge base, I upgraded or replaced every driver I could find.  Nothing seemed to do the trick. And the worst part was that it was so random.   I couldn't make it fail and I couldn't tell when the next failure would be.

I think most of us have been in that position with computers or cars. You finally reach a point where you simply can't trust the equipment.  Our computer was failing 3 and 4 times a day, sometimes in the middle of our work.  It was time to look for a new computer.

Close one door, open another

As I'm writing the blog entry talking about resigning as Friends of the Library treasurer and turning the books over to someone else, I get an email: "Would you please accept the responsibility of co-facilitating the Men's Support Group (aka Lunch Bunch) for the Parkinson's disease association in Sacramento?"

One of the current facilitators is not able to keep up with the pace and responsibilities.  I'm not sure what all we have to do but I think it includes the following:

1. Chair the once a month meetings
2. Attend semi-annual training
3. Arrange for speakers 4 to 5 times a year
4. Encourage participation and discussion
5. Suggest topics & answer questions
6. Take roll
7. Distribute PANC (Parkinson's Association of Northern California) information as requested
8. Welcome new members and encourage membership in PANC.

Should be an interesting opportunity.

iPod Touch protector case

I somehow get the feeling that people who design protective cases for equipment are given a block of wood that looks like that equipment or maybe just the technical specs.  They should be given the actual equipment and told they have to use every feature of the equipment before beginning to design their product.

For example, the iPod Touch has many of the features of the iPod and many of the capabilities of the iPhone.  But when we looked at the cases available at Fry's recently, 99% assumed the iPod Touch would be used for listening to music and audio books.  One assumed you could also watch video so it had a little pop-out stand.  But all those features are part of the iPod legacy series.  Did they not realize the additional features of the Touch?

The latest generation of iPod Touch is just a phone call app away from an iPhone.  Thus it can be very interactive.  It needs to be securely parked in an easy to reach parking place and then easily released from that parking place to be punched, poked, and peered at before being just as easily and securely re-parked.  The technology is there but the vision is not.  I would even recommend a spring-loaded lanyard attaching the case to the parking place so that people would be discourage from passing your toy around the room and in the case that it is accidentally dropped, the lanyard would reseat the iPod Touch into the parking place before it could hit the ground.

Inventors, anyone?

Happy Birthday, me!

Now that I am old enough to retire and sign up for the full Social Security rate, I should feel old, right?  Well, one thing I've learned since retiring is that it's sort of like high school and college.  You know how you're the big man on campus when you're in the 8th grade.  You can push anyone around.  Then a year later you're low man on the totem pole as a lowly 9th grade freshman.  Four years later the pattern repeats - you're a high & mighty senior, then a wet-behind-the-ears college freshman.

Well, those in their 70's and 80's look at me as if I'm just a new kid on the block.  If it looks like I'm trying for sympathy with my walker or my symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, they as much as say, "You ain't seen nothing yet, kid!"  Their list of pills, therapies, and surgical interventions usually puts mine to shame.  But 66 is still an achievement and I'm glad I'm still healthy enough to enjoy life and enjoy being involved.

I also enjoyed Carolyn's birthday present to me -- a 60 minute shopping spree in Fry's Electronics. Well, there wee some restrictions but I did feel like a kid in a toy store.

Another resignation

When I agreed to be nominated this year for Treasurer of the Friends of the Sacramento  Public Library, it was with the understanding that I would train my potential replacement and, if practical, turn over some or all of my duties to her.

Two months ago, I asked Cynthia to take over the collection of the financial data from our branches and to compile and complete our non-profit tax return for 2009.  She did that so well that I scheduled a training with her on the daily, monthly, and quarterly duties of the treasurer.  The end of  June made a perfect time to do that.  Again, she was a quick learner, so quick that I decided this was really the best time to turn over the books.  She left our house today with all the software, backup data, and historical deposits and invoices to begin processing where I had left off.

In addition to her knowledge of accounting (she is a CPA, after all) and QuickBooks, I was also impressed as she began shuffling the stuff out to her car when she asked if this was going to be a relief for me or if I have some feelings of loss.  It is both, of course, and I've already begun to search for ways to fill the hole  that will be left in my schedule.  It will probably be a combination of getting more involved with the local Friends branch, more involved with the Book Den and warehouse, and spend more time organizing all our digital photo albums.  I may even find more time to go to the Club where Tiffany and the boys have been trying to get me involved.

Its a bittersweet moment but a transition that needed to occur.  A relief and a loss.

Independence Day

Independence Day has sort of fallen out of disuse for naming the Fourth of July but since our church party celebrating that holiday was going to be on July 3 we decided calling it an Independence Day celebration might make more sense than saying we're celebrating the 4th on the 3rd, especially when the official holiday is the 5th.

This year's La Sierra Ward Independence Day Picnic & Celebration was planned and executed by the ward Activities Committee with tons of help from most of the ward's other auxiliaries.  Under Carolyn's direction there were activities for the young, the old and the in-betweens.  There was food and there were activities.  After most people had arrived, Carolyn as MC called the group to order and asked for a prayer and pledge of allegiance.

The prayer included the blessing on the food and a food line quickly formed.

Part of the food line this year was fresh, hot boiled corn on the cob supervised by Glen Pinegar.

Once they loaded up their plates and cups, people found shade anywhere they could to eat.  Most people chose the tables placed on the roped off driveway.

Naomi Harper (aka Miss Liberty) headed up the young folks parade with lots of kids on bicycles and an old man in his mildly decorated power chair.

Later we passed around song sheets for various patriotic songs like God Bless America and Battle Hymn of the Republic and I sort of accompanied on a 60 key keyboard.

Before the evening was out, we had water balloon artillery practice, rick-shaw rides, making of kazoos and rattles, and a finale of amateur fireworks out on the street.  Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.

Disconnected

A friend of mine sent me (and dozens of others) this YouTube link of Tim Hawkins singing a parody of "The Candy Man Can" called "The Government Can".  Not much has to be changed because, of course, the Candy Man very likely is a parody of big, friendly government.

What I see in this parody as well as the various Tea Party manifestations around the country is a substantial disconnect.  Us versus Them.  Powerless versus Powerful.  Mind you, this is nothing new.  But I sense a growing belief that we can somehow change the system so that this won't happen again.  And part of that fantasy is realizable.  The Powerless can become Powerful but only at the expense of the incumbent Powerful.  The newly Powerless will then complain of the Powerful misusing their power to achieve their ends rather than what had previously been decided.

Is there an answer?  I don't believe so.  I prefer negotiations and dialog between the Powerless and the Powerful but others prefer boycotts and filibusters and strikes by the Powerless and riding roughshod over the Powerless by the  Powerful while they can.   And now that the Supreme Court has overturned state gun control authority, that word "Powerful" could have life or death consequences.