Back home again

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

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

A new dishwasher

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

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

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

What a Mothers Day present!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks Natalie, Richard, Steve, and Lisa.

Jazz Jubilee

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

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

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

You Can Get Arrested for That - book review

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

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

Congratulations, Tiffany

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

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

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

Scientific study of prayer

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

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

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

Meals on Wheels - extended friendship?

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

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

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

The GOD Delusion - book review

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

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

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

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

Fastfood.com

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

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

Bon appetit!

A geocaching adventure

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

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

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

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

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

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

More pictures of Gavin

I promised more pictures and Jenny came through.

Happy little baby in his high tech home.

Daddy shows his feeding technique.

Proud parents of the new one.

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

Drip system

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

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

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

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

Surewest - will it ever make it big?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social Security - me already!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newborn Gavin

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

Let's welcome Gavin Philip Loveridge

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

Magpies on the roof

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

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

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

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

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

But I'm not.

Color laser printer

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

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

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

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

Mothers Day report

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

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

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

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

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

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