Coin of the realm

All of these are still valid $1 coins in the U.S. The kitchen light makes them all look gold in color but the Eisenhower and Anthony dollars are, in fact, silver colored.

I had just about forgotten that the U.S. Treasury had begun a new series of $1 coins when I received in change two new Jefferson dollar coins today. They came from a municipal parking garage which is probably the only place in Sacramento where you would get dollar coins in change. What amazes me is how the Treasury continues to mint $1 coins and can't seem to figure out why they aren't accepted. My understanding is that every country that has tried to replace a paper bill with a coin has only been successful when they've withdrawn the bill from circulation, in effect forcing the change.

Looking back on my childhood, it seems like a $20 bill back then was as rare as a $100 bill now so I would propose that we move everything down a notch in cash registers and usage. Eliminate the penny and round everything to 5 cent increments. Eliminate the $1 bill and bring back the $500 bill. Everything would still have a place in cash registers and the only change necessary would be to modify vending machines to take a $1 coin. If there are any penny vending machines, they would have to be upgraded as well.

What do you think?

After 35 years, still good

Fooled you. You thought I was going to talk about our marriage, didn't you. Well, we've been married 40 years not 35 years. And it isn't still good, it's GREAT! No, I wanted to discuss food storage.

We continue to work at examining our emergency food supply that we purchased from Sam Andy Foods over 35 years ago. Most of the boxes, which contained six number 10 cans, have been opened and the cans donated, used, or still on garage shelves. Since we were to have a ward party at which hot cocoa was going to be served, I thought this might be a good time to use the can of Cocoa Powder on our garage shelf.

According to the label on the can, the contents (cocoa, sucrose, and non-fat milk solids) looked like it would be the kind of stuff you'd mix with hot water to get the hot chocolate drink.

However, when we opened the can, we saw that it looked exactly like Hershey's cocoa powder - the same color, caking, and powdery consistency. Tasting it, it was clear there was no sucrose or dehydrated milk in this can. Using the recipe on the Hershey's can, we were able to make some delicious hot chocolate. The powder, once properly identified, had lost none of its flavor or ability to be used in recipes calling for cocoa powder. We'll have enough to last us a couple of years unless I start making lots of chocolate frosting, drinks, or pudding.

The grades for Sam Andy: Labeling - D; Shelf Life - A+.

Swift As Desire - book review

I enjoyed reading Swift As Desire by Laura Esquivel but not nearly as much as I expected. Perhaps it is because the book I read is a translation from the original Spanish or perhaps the author just write this way. In any case, I found too much "telling" and not enough "describing". It feels like someone telling what the book is about rather than describing the lives and feelings and actions of the book's characters. The book comes across as a book review itself.

The author has also written the much more famous book "Like Water for Chocolate" and refers to the same phrase in this book as well. Esquivel points this out in the book and indirectly points out the symbolic meaning. According to the Urban Dictionary: The phrase "like water for chocolate" came from Mexico. In Mexico,hot chocolate is made with water, not milk. The water is brought to a boil and then the chocolate is spooned into it. A person in a state of sexual excitement is said to be "like water for chocolate." In fact, the author educates us quite a bit regarding Mexican and Mayan traditions.

The main male character Jubilo is born with a sixth sense that allows him to sense what people want which makes him perfect as a mediator or simply as someone who enjoys helping others. He uses this talent in his job as telegraph operator when he helps people word their telegraphs just the right way to express their real wishes.

There are some tender scenes and some relatively graphic descriptions of couples having sex so by warned. If you get the book on tape it may not be the one you want to listen to on the way to school.

I enjoyed it in spite of it's faults but it certainly isn't her best work.

Seeing eye camera

Here's a cute little factoid that you may find useful some day. Most TV, TIVO, Video recorders, and sound systems have remote controls that use the infrared light spectrum. This is commonly referred to as IR. This part of the light spectrum is more red than red and is generally invisible to the human eye. Thus when you point your remote at the TV or other gadget, you see the effect (hopefully) but not the beam of IR light that is carrying the signal to the TV or gadget.

But there is a really simple way to "see" this IR light -- with a digital camera.

Here is our TIVO remote which has a dark red plastic front end which we've all come to recognize as the IR window. This remote also has a red light just above this window to give us a feeling that something is being beamed forward.

Now press a button and you will see something like this. Red light on but nothing in the red plastic area.

Now look at the remote with a digital camera that has a view screen (not a view finder). Press the button again and you'll see something like this. Red light on as well as one or more white or purplish lights that your eyes can't see.

Now you can ponder over how many other invisible things your camera can see but you can't.

Young Scientists Birthday Party

The food was all ready with munchies on the table:
Some objects in the kitchen seemed to defy description. But they were simply water balloons that had been frozen solid.

There were even trays of cupcakes, cleverly disguised as ice cream in cones.

Early comers were shown to the back yard where Tim and Jake's trampoline was getting a serious workout.

This was not, however, without incidents. Some of the kids were bouncing a little too chaotic causing a bump and subsequent nose bleed. Fortunately, his mom was there to apply first aid kisses as well as a wet, colored wash rag.

Finally, when everyone had arrived, the group marched into the living room where a temporary "laboratory" had been set up. They all donned "lab coats" but drew the line at wearing name tags with various scientists' names on them. We could have added 30 more minutes to the party by using the name tags and then having each of them read a short bio of his/her named person such as Einstein or Galileo.

Here, the young scientists are stirring borax powder into a bottle of warm water. They will then bend a pipe cleaner into unusual shaped and suspend it by string in the borax water solution.

The frozen water balloons were next on the examining table. Each child first scraped, pulled, or cut the balloon from the ice. Then the children sprinkled salt on the ice follow by food coloring. If the food coloring was on the surface of the ice it didn't color much. If it was following a grain or two of salt you could get a fireworks display in reverse with the color descending as the ice melted the rock hard ice block. Gramma brought the mother of all ice cubes to give an even larger demonstration of the ice effect.

Next, the children were introduced to polymers by hydrating (adding water to) a small portion of "Instant Snow". The stuff is similar to powder used in disposable diapers which absorbs much more water in weight or volume than the original powder and the material that you can add to soil to hold moisture rather than let it pass right through.

Slime was next on the list. There were two liquid components shared with the kids. First they dumped in the green liquid and felt the consistency. It was sort of like soapy water. After the second component was poured into the green liquid, it turned into something between half set Jello and snot -- a sort of SLIME

It was difficult to keep all the kids was redecorating the room with slime everywhere. For the next exercise Grandma dished out a cup of cool, sugared milk into a Zip-loc baggie for each child. Then according to their preference, I poured a scant 1/4 cup of instant pudding powder for the flavor. Chocolate was indeed the most favored with vanilla and butterscoth tied for a distant 3rd. And no one picked pistachio. A gallon Zip-loc baggie was filled half full of ice and half a cup of "ice cream salt" or what we used to call rock salt. Moms, dads, and kids toss the bags back and forth vigorously.
After 10 minutes or when everyone's hands were freezing, the group came back inside to eat their soft ice cream.

By this time we had reached the final minutes for the party so Tim hurriedly opened his presents. Some kids had already had to leave so it was impossible to get a picture of each child with the present he/she gave Tim.

When all the presents were opened the kids were shooed outisde to the trampoline again until their parent(s) showed up to take them and their share of the experiments home. Each child was given a booklet with the recipes for most of the experiments. Who knows? We may have awakened an interest in science for one or more of the kids. Tim thought it was great.

Tiffany, Edward, and Carolyn sat down for a much needed hour of relaxation.

Always ask for a second opinion

I'm told that the weight of a human body can vary several pounds over the course of the day depending on eating habits, water retention, exercise, etc. I'm not sure that I want to believe that but I certainly can't otherwise explain why my weight will go up on a day that I eat little and exercise a lot then go down on a day that I eat a lot and exercise little. It may even be because we have a digital readout on our bathroom scales so you can really see slight variations. When Ed and Tiffany stayed with us recently, they commented about how our bathroom scales varied so much over a day's time.

So I decided to take advantage of a recent sale at Costco and bought a Weight Watchers's approved scale that displays weight to one tenth of a pound. I think that is plain silly if the average error is on the order of 0.5 pounds. But anyway, we only did what health experts are always suggesting: We got a second opinion.


(old scale is on the left)

Not so "Empty chairs and empty tables"

If it hadn't been so crowded and noisy I could have thought I was playing a part in Les Misrables as I joined the group at Capitol Garage (which, it turns out, is not a garage at all but a bar and grill which just happens to be close to where several garages are located which serve the Capitol). The purpose of the meeting (using the loosest possible definition of meeting) was to officially introduce some of the people who have been active in the reorganization of the Sacramento Chapter of the ACLU. I think they called them "activists" in the e-mail which I suppose places the rest of us in a category called "inactivists". With a little bit of imagination one could imagine that we were plotting the overthrow of the PTA or the library board maybe but that crowd could never be accused of plotting anything serious.

Oh, we also heard the report of Natasha Minsker (sounds like a made-up name to me but she was attractive and quite personable), ACLU-Northern California Death Penalty Policy Director on hearings that were held today by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (CCFAJ). She had to yell over the noise of the crowd since 3/4 of the cafe's customers were NOT there for an ACLU meeting. I didn't get much other than that if California has to have the death penalty, the ACLU wants to make sure it is fair and the ACLU doesn't consider the current implementation of the death penalty to be fair.

The last thing I heard before the meeting dissolved into total chaos was a promise that the next meeting will be held someplace a little quieter.

Marvels of miniaturization

I worked with computers. A lot. For the past 42 years. So I'm relatively blase about the miniaturization that has gone on in the computing field. What I sometimes fail to adequately appreciate is how the same miniaturization has taken place in other fields.

Take music for example. When I was a boy, a record album was just that -- an album looking very much like a photo album with 6 to 8 records in their own sleves between the covers of that album. Each record was 10 inches in diameter and had a tune or song on each side. So the album would have 12 to 16 musical numbers and would take 1 to 1.5 inches on a book shelf, a well supported bookshelf as that many records were also heavy. These records spun at a speedy 78 revolutions per minute, more than once a second. I also remember they were made of a hard plastic that would crack and chip easily. I remember melting scratched or chipped records in the oven over a coffee can to create a decorative bowl. I wonder if you could do that with a CD?

I wasn't yet a teen when the smaller format 45 rpm records made their entry. (Above picture courtesy of Wikepedia.) They were practically unbreakable which was a good thing since they were marketed heavily to teenagers. Only 7 inches in diameter they also had a huge (1.5 inch) hole that was supposedly made to facilitate stacking of records and automatic changing to the next record. I say supposedly because most people had a changer that worked with the 10 inch 78 rpm records. I think the 45 rpm were more to facilitate sales of "singles" which was becoming a large market. Almost all 45's also had something on the opposite or "B" side which was just a bonus. Rarely were two popular numbers placed on the same 45.

In my early teens, the 33 1/3 Long Playing or LP came out and shortly after the Stereo LP was introduced (the large black disk shown above). I remember the first time I saw an LP playing. It was at my uncle Leroy's house and all us kids were so amazed to see a record spinning so slow. It was slow enough for us to read the label! It was also slow enough that it could hold 5 to 8 songs on a side with slight spaces between them in case you wanted to go directly to a particular number. Now an "album" was contained on one 12 inch record and an inch of shelf space could easily hold 8 or 10 "albums".

For the really discerning ear, at this time we had reel to reel tapes that were 1/4 inch wide. In a 5 year period this 1/4 inch went from one track to 2 tracks for stereo to 4 tracks for stereo in both directions. At the same time quality recording speed went from 7 1/2 inches per second (ips) to 3 3/4 ips. Then the cassette hit the market with tape only slightly more than 1/8 inch wide and a recording speed of 1 7/8 ips. There were still four tracks on that tiny strip of tape but somehow miniaturization kept the quality up. A typical cassette held the equivalent of a 12" Stereo LP record "album" but was small enough to fit into a shirt pocket. Soon players were available that weren't much bigger. A person could easily carry around an album and the machine to play it on.

Of course, we're all familiar with the rapid rise in popularity of the CD. It wasn't so much smaller than the cassette as just much less vulnerable to damage. And, of course, one could go to a specific track so much quicker than with a cassette tape.

As I've mentioned earlier, Carolyn and I gave each other iPods for Christmas. As illustrated above, an iPod is about the same size as a cassette. But unlike the cassette, the iPod is both storage medium and player.


We've barely begun transferring our tape and CD collection to our iPods but already we have stored (for instant replay at any time) 140 albums representing 2,118 songs (or musical numbers). It would take 5 24-hour days to play all this music. In addition, we have 8,922 photos and 18 podcasts stored at this time. And as you can see from the display above, we aren't even 1/10 of capacity! We'll be able to store all the CD's and cassettes we have in the whole house and still have more than half left empty.

And, of course, no one thinks we've hit the limit.

The No Asshole Rule - book review

Robert I. Sutton has written and produced a book with the attention gathering title of "The No Asshole Rule" explaining how to build a civilized workplace and how to survive in one that isn't. Whether you call the person an ass, jackass, jerk, or asshole, we can easily recognize such a person because they seem to have no regard for the people they work with, especially their subordinates or peers that they perceive as being beneath them in the pecking order. They are probably the number one reason people quit otherwise good jobs. And often, they aren't even mentioned in the termination interviews for fear of retribution.

Like many other management books, this one has a couple of great ideas packaged with attention-getting verbal appeal. But Sutton doesn't seem to know when to stop. He describes what a workplace asshole looks like then describes him again, then tells us how much trouble he is, then describes him again, then describes him in a different context, etc. You get the idea. And the author also takes us on little side trips like the fact that each of us is an asshole at times and the idea that having a token asshole in an organization may actually be better than not having one at all as the token asshole is then a good example of the dreaded species.

The book is already short but it could be made better, shorter, and more to the point. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this book.

Puzzled?

What do you do on an evening when the grandchildren want to watch a movie and the adults would rather just sit around and talk?

About a year ago we answered that question by breaking out a puzzle that Ed and Tiffany brought over. It looked simple enough except that there was way too much blue for my preferences. But it did have nice straight borders and even a light blue line running along all the borders which should have made getting the outside edge done rapidly. No dice. Almost all the tabs are the same size so a piece will "kind of" fit in several places and "almost" fit in even more places. In many instances, we had to use the second to the outside row to be a "tie breaker" about which piece goes where. Totally maddening!

After working until past 1:15 am, Ed and Tiffany had finally finished the outside edge and most of the second row on all sides.

This week, with the power out at Ed & Tiff's, they stayed at our house and the three of us again set to working on a puzzle. This time we had our choice of 100 piece, 300 piece, 500 piece puzzle. We worked on 2 100-piece puzzles and were amazed at how good we were. So we broke open a 300 piece puzzle. Big mistake. I'm sure it took at least 9 times as long. But at least it wasn't as bad as last year.

Sage's new look

My granddaughter Sage recently had a major hair re-do. And she donated her hair to "Locks of Love" as well. Click on the picture to see just how much of a re-do it was.




And the end result? Well, see for yourself what a lovely young lady she is.

Why Truth Matters - book review

"Why Truth Matters" by Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom is one of those books you had to read for Philosophy 301. The title sounded so intriguing that you couldn't wait to open it. When you did, you found the it was "chloroform in print". The authors have their heart in the right place but need a ghostwriter or editor to make the book come alive.

For example, in the first chapter the authors talk about our need sometimes to avoid the truth and mention several different ways we do this. This calls out for a LIST, maybe even a NUMBERED LIST so that each one can be stored away in our hierarchic memory and retrieved later. Instead we get a narrative where the methods are certainly brought up and explained but we have to enumerate and sort out the various methods. Making more work for the reader (who is already reeling from philosophical ideas) is not excellent writing.

But the content of the book is excellent, if possibly a little out of order. The question posed by the title is actually answered in the last chapter after the authors have already shown us how we avoid looking at the truth (mental reservations, appeal to authority, declare o ff limits, etc.), why we avoid truth (laziness, fear, cognitive dissonance, etc.), and who is best at avoiding truth (politicians, priests, etc.).

Truth matters, as the cover of the book explains, "because we are the only species we know of that has the ability to find it out". I don't agree with this as intelligent animals such as dogs can discover limited truths such as where the bone or toy is, or has my master tossed the ball or hidden it behind his back. We aren't even the only animals capable of deceiving. I think the authors make a better point in the last chapter when they admit there are industries such as the movie and show business industries where suspension of belief is absolutely necessary but there are also endeavors such as scientific or historical research, where the truth is the point and to claim there is no truth or that it is relative, negates the purpose of the endeavor.

This is definitely a book I wouldn't mind having in my collection. I have also bookmarked as a favorite the authors' website Butterflies and Wheels, like the book not pretty but full of information.

You have the power...

By 4:00 this afternoon Ed and Tiffany finally had power to their household and began moving back in. Rather than try to move food back over, Tiffany said she'd just clean out their refrigerator and go shopping to fill it up again.

Funny though, our house seems eerily quiet with no kids running around and around chasing each other or just trying to keep up one more hour. Ahhhhh peace.

A true bubble bath

When our grandsons come to visit in the early evening, we've found the toy they like to play with most is our jacuzzi tub. They really don't use the jacuzzi jets very much as the noise and power of the jets is more frightening than relaxing. But they do enjoy adding bubble bath to the water and letting the jacuzzi pump do its thing. In this picture, the boys have actually drained the tub so they are playing with simply bubbles, nothing but bubbles. Fun kids.

Carmichael Bed & Breakfast

As of 10:00 last night, the lights on the west side of Watt Avenue were still out. Ed and Tiffany have relocated to our house until power is restored to their place. We're trying to combine the contents of three refrigerators and two freezers to minimize the spoilage. Fortunately, the outside temperature is in the low 40's which helps keep the food somewhat cool.

On the bright side, the grandkids are having a ball. This is just like a vacation with new toys and different places to play. And we're certainly glad we can provide a home away from home.

Another 39 days..

.. of this weather and we'd be in real trouble.

Most of the time when the local weather people threaten a serious storm, it doesn't materialize. But this time they were spot on. We don't have an anemometer so I don't know exactly how fast the winds were today but by the looks of some of the trees, telephone poles, and debris in the roads, I believe them when they say we had gusts of 60 miles per hour or more.

This beautiful oak tree in front of the Carmichael library suffered like many other trees and telephone poles in the neighborhood. My son Ed's front rain gutter was literally blown off the house and some siding was blown loose. We didn't have that problem but we did see the new carport/tent we installed at Thanksgiving time sustain some damage as did the new gate hardware I installed recently.

At one point this afternoon the wind wasn't so bad but the rain was pouring down in sheets. You can see the water in our rain gutters pouring out the end where we had cut a relief channel. Without the relief channel, the water would come pouring onto our front porch like it did in the back.


We don't have a relief channel in the back rain gutter so the water poured out onto the patio even while it's discharging the water at the bottom spout at maximum level. It doesn't make any sense to cut a relief channel here. We got 2.5 inches of rain Friday, half of that came in a 30 minute spurt during which I took the pictures of our house. Unless we get some more of those downpours, it's doubtful that we'll get as much rain today.

The power was out at our house about 1.5 hours but was out all day at Ed's house and in the Santa Cruz hills. Ed and family came to stay the night with us. Steve and Lisa were tempted but weren't sure they wanted to drive so far with more storm coming. That would be a hard decision to make.

You can't afford to miss it!

Friends, countrymen, anyone within driving distance of Sacramento, don't miss this bargain of the year. On Saturday, January 12 and Sunday, January 13 the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library are holding a warehouse clearance sale at 8250 Belvedere, Suite E. And what a sale it is. They're expecting to clear the shelves by selling good quality used books for

$6 a bag or 2 bags for $10!!

These are your good sized Raley's/Bel Air paper grocery sacks with handles. According to my reckoning, these bags hold (yes I measured one) 1,176 cubic inches or 0.68 cubic feet. That comes to just a smidgen over 5 gallons. Now, where else can you buy books for $1.20 per gallon. How many other essential items are so inexpensive?

On Saturday, January 12, between 9:00 am and noon, the sale is open only to members of Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. However, membership is available at the door for $15 individual membership and $20 for a family membership. The sale (open to the public now) continues from noon until 5:00 on Saturday and from 10:00 to 4:00 on Sunday.

Remember, good quality books as low as $1 per gallon if you purchase 10 gallons. January 12th and 13th. At the Book Den warehouse - back door of 8250 Belvedere, Suite E.

It's about time

Many people who come to our house comment on the number of clocks we have around. I don't think there's a room in the house that doesn't have a clock and some have several. I realized that often I have five clocks on me: a wristwatch, cell phone, PDA, camera, and iPod. I know that's overkill but can I help it if all my toys come with clocks?

Now appropriate to the subject, we got two more clocks for the house this Christmas. Philip, Jenny, Lee, and Staci got me a clock, the likes of which (I've always wanted to use that phrase) I have never seen.


It's a pin clock. The display uses hundreds of little pins that move in and out to show the time of day. Those pins are painted black on the sides so that the time is a little more evident when looked at from a slight angle.

We have placed that new clock in our dining room alongside the Alien clock which rarely got much attention and was also moved into the dining room.



And while not a clock, it is still related to the passage of time. I'm speaking of a calendar. Steven and Lisa gave me the above pictured perpetual clock which works by moving the movable top piece along the base until the days of the week match the month you're in. You have to use your knuckles to determine how many days there are in the current month.

Thanks, kids, for come great presents.

The other clock we got for Christmas was something that Mom and I got for each other. It is an indoor/outdoor clock that we've hung on the patio side of the house between the two windows. Not only does it have the time (corrected four times a day by a signal from the NIST national clock synchronizing station WWVB near Fort Collins, Colorado) but it also has the humidity and air pressure gauges.

It's a frame-up

There's a new addition to our family room picture wall. The pictures don't move like in the Harry Potter series but the pictures do change. Right now the picture showing is one of 1,600 old slides that I have scanned. They roughly cover the time period of 1968 to 1990. It's really fun to sit in the room and glance from time to time at the picture to see if we can even recognize the people and the situation of the picture.

The frame can also play music (MP3 style) and videos but we really haven't tried out these two features.

We got the frame as A Christmas present from Edward, Tiffany, Richard, and Natalie. Except that it wasn't this frame but another one from Circuit City. When I opened the original present and tried it out, the menu system was not working. It would start a slide show with the pictures and MP3 music on the memory card but you couldn't change any of the slide show parameters. Since they had bought this locally at Circuit City, I thought they might have the receipt. The receipt had gone south with Natalie.

After waiting a couple of days after calling Natalie I got impatient and took the frame back to Circuit City expecting a product exchange. Circuit City had no problem taking back the returned product but didn't have any frames in stock to give me back. instead they gave me store credit in the form of a gift card. As I said, I was impatient so Carolyn and I went to Costco where we picked up a similar frame made by the same company and had virtually the same configuration.

Thanks for the great addition to our home.

Would you like syrup on those?

Happy New Year!!

I guess we really should have at least invited Larry and Cindy even though the offer is hardly equal to what they provided us. You see, for the past 5 or 6 years we've helped serve breakfast on New Year's Day to the 700 or so people who buy breakfast tickets from the Holliston Methodist Church in Pasadena. Then, as volunteers, we got curbside seating to watch the Rose Parade.

Today, as part of the La Sierra Ward activities committee, we got to serve breakfast to the 90 to 100 people who showed up at the church between 8:30 and 10:30 am. No tickets and, unfortunately, no Rose Parade.

The person who directed it last year had a pretty good idea of how many people would show up and how many pancakes, eggs, sausage links, glasses of orange juice, and cups of hot chocolate would be needed. And we did pretty good. We did run out of orange juice, made twice as much syrup as needed, and had to run home for another 2 dozen eggs. But otherwise we made good estimates.

My job was the egg breaker and by my count I broke 165 eggs, just 15 short of 15 dozen. I also fried the scrambled eggs when Linda wasn't available.

By having a 2 hour window you don't need tables for all that show up. We figured that on the average two different people occupied each chair during the morning. We didn't try to have a program or anything other than a good breakfast and time to chat with your friends.

Ed and Tiffany and the boys even made it over.

So we continue the New Year's breakfast tradition just modified to fit our needs in Sacramento.