GOP says more NO; Dems say "More dough"

It may just be the way the media is carrying it or it may be real.  It seems like the presidential race has devolved into a simple fund raising exercise rather than any serious politicking.  The Republicans, having proven that they can prevent any meaningful action by congress is now expecting AND PROMISING 4 more years of gridlock  unless Obama is defeated.  And Democrats are promising they'll go down in defeat unless we give them tons more money.  No one is proposing a serious plan to improve our economy, reduce taxes, or increase benefits.  No one is really running on his accomplishments - because there haven't been many!!  What a bummer year.

More transportation need or less?

More disabled than ever but trying to move back up the scale of assistive devices.

Like many other diseases and disabilities, Parkinson's Disease usually involves, at some point, a significant loss of mobility.  My first indication of this was actually when I tried to keep up with a grandson at the park and I discovered I wasn't coordinated enough to jog or run.  Even walking a little faster than usual made me feel more prone to stumble..  As time goes on, I've found that life has been easier through the use of mobility aids.  First it was a cane, then a really simple walker, then a more complex walker, then a power wheelchair, and finally a power scooter. Notice that I said, "Life has been made easier" not "I needed..."  Big difference.  Many insurance programs and HMO organizations fail to recognize this difference or choose to ignore it for the purpose of saving money.  But I have been so much more productive with transportation than I would have been otherwise

Actually in my case, more intensive transportation assistance has not only kept me healthier and more involved with life, but it has tended to be self-limiting and therefore cost effective.  I started using a cane sooner than I needed to.  Likewise, I was regularly using a walker when a cane was really sufficient.  But once I knew what I could do with a walker, I tried using a cane as much as possible because a cane could be more easily transported in a car, through doors, up stairs, etc.  And I always knew that the walker was available.

When a walker wasn't providing enough mobility support, we looked for and bought a power wheel chair.  Suddenly my decreasing mobility was reversed and I could go places again.  Negotiating the large Sac State campus to attend Renaissance (senior student) classes was once again possible and even enjoyable.  But the chair is cumbersome and requires special transport equipment itself.  Think that I would be using the power chair more and more, we began widening doorways in our house and installing ramps.  I had started to resign myself to the idea that there would be places I'd never visit again, especially family homes.

 

Then we discovered the Dashaway walker and my use of the power chair has decreased to almost nothing.  For the past year and a half, I have been able to reduce usage (transporting) of the heavy, cumbersome power chair.  I know that eventually I will need to go back to the chair and having it around has made it possible for me to get along with the Dashaway.  I feel that health care organizations are being short sighted by not broadening the definition of transportation equipment needs.

The future is already here with my power scooter.  We purchased it because it can be taken apart and transported in pieces.  On our upcoming cross country trip we anticipate that we'll need to do that when we have a rental car.  But already Mom and I are finding areas where it is still easier to use the Dashaway so we'll have to take it on vacation, too.

Isn't "Dancing for Persons with PD" an oxymoron?

If nothing else, the past 56 years has made me more open to experiences that as a teenager I would have run from with my life. For example, a few weeks ago an advertisement made the rounds of the local Parkinson's Disease Support Groups promoting a class called Dancing for Persons with Parkinsons. Now for someone who needs a support structure when I walk anywhere, dancing seemed out of the question.  But I went and signed up.  

The number of attendees varied from 20 to 24 and all but 3 or 4 had a diagnosis of Parkinsons.  The instructors were affiliated with the Mondavi Center at UCDavis and seemed to have a good grounding in modern or interpretive dancing.  Now when I think of such dancing, the image that flashes in front of my eyes is that of Hippos in tutus dancing to Waltz of the Flowers.  And no one looked more like that image than me. 

Fortunately, Kathi & Joy, two classmates who carpooled with me, were slender and graceful so watching them dispelled the image a little.

I was successful in dancing clumsily but never confidently.  Three-fourths the way through the class I would invariably get a very sore, very tight back.  This hippo decided he could pass up re-enrollment when it came around.

Purchasing DellieMay 12

Our lap was three years old in March of this year.  The computer was getting slower and slower when booting up and accessing the Internet.  We had  purchased a 3-year warranty on the machine and had reached that point so we were optimistic.  Besides, our System Mechanic software always seemed to be able to repair the problems it found.  So at the middle of May when the laptop refused to boot up, it didn't take much to convince us it was dead.  And not replacing it was not an option.  There were just too many times when a second computer was needed.  When we thought it over, though, we realized that the "laptop" part of the equation was not one of the important variables.  In fact, with iPads and iPhones, a laptop is beginning to look like a dinosaur.

I knew what I wanted for a computer - have known for several months when I saw the Dell Inspiron One, a touch screen All In One computer, at Sam's Club several months ago.  The hard drive, DVD drive, and computer innards are all in the back of the screen which is 23" diagonal screen.  It is such a cool gimmick that we dropped into Sam's Club and bought the last one they had except for the floor model. It felt so good to have a backup computer again.





Footnote: Dellie May 12, purchased May 30, 2012.  Pavlov purchased July 2010.  Lazurus brought back from the dead 6/11/2012.

What good is a reunion anyway?

Now that it is over a month since we held our 50th High School reunion, I feel that it is time to do a post mortem, an autopsy if you will.

Of course in deciding whether the reunion was a success or not, one has to set out some criteria for judging. Which brings me to the question: "What good is a reunion anyway?"  As I tried to encourage classmates to attend I got lots of opinions on this topic ranging all the way from "No good" to "a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with former friends and classmates."  I don't think I met anyone who felt that a reunion was essential to life and there were certainly a number of classmates who weren't at all interested in maintaining any kind of connection with the school.  The scar tissue was still tender.

As I mentioned to many of my classmates, I have only good memories of high school because I have forgotten all the bad experiences.  I was worried that seeing some of my old classmates would trigger old emotions of resentment, exclusion, or hurt feelings.  After all, there are still "in" groups among those who still live in Springville and still communicate regularly.  But I didn't see it.  Everyone seemed to truly accept everyone else.

On the other hand, I don't see many long term friendships being formed or changed as a result of the reunion.  Maybe one or two.  After all, we're all getting on in age and pretty set in our ways.  While retirement might free some people for more travel or less restriction, church missions, health, and family responsibilities will make some less able to travel and visit as much as they say they'd like to.

The one comment I did NOT hear at or since the reunion is "I sure am glad _______ didn't make it here."  Even if only to extend a short greeting and thanking the person for being part of my life, I appreciated every person who made it there.  That goes for the spouses, too, who made it easier or more pleasant for the class member to attend.

If you'd like to see pictures of some of the happy people who attended the reunion, check out our Class of 1962 Website.

Libby & Jill pay us a visit

Natalie and family stayed with us the week of July 4th enjoying the say Carmichael celebrates our nation's birthday.  Almost as if on cue, Jessica flew into town on Saturday, July 7 with her daughter Jillian and Lee & Stacie's Libby.  We would be trading a family for two girls aged 9 and 10.  Jessica left with Natalie and her family Sunday morning before the sun was up.

The first thing to greet us that Sunday morning was the knock on our bedroom door and a call from one of the girls that the other had thrown  up.  It was a warning/notice we would hear again and again over the next two weeks.  Since Edward's Timmy and Natalie's Nathan and even grandpa had had some stomach flu, our first thought was that Libby and Jillian were just having their turn..  However, as first one and then the other and back to the first, they traded use of the barf bucket, we began to wonder if there wasn't something more involved.  They never felt sick enough to miss their nature camp or art camp experience but otherwise their behavior was consistent with some stomach flu.

To keep the girls somewhat busy, Carolyn had arranged for them to attend one week of nature camp at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center located about 5 miles from us at the edge of a beautiful state park and not far from the banks of the American River.  Without trying to you can see wild turkeys, deer, and several other native species running around the center ignoring the human visitors.  The girls had an opportunity to go on several nature walks as well as have special instructors come to talk about snakes and raptors.  One day of the camp was spent at the Folsom City Zoo which is more of a injured animal sanctuary than a zoo.

The second week of their stay with us, Libby and Jillian attended an arts program put on by our local Parks and Rec department at the park just a couple of blocks from us.  The nausea continued to plague the girls but they continued to want to attend their class.  Carolyn finally decided that a little over the counter medicine might be appropriate. The second week was more of an inside experience but both girls are into arts & campcrafts so that didn't bother them.

Natalie & family

We were pleased and honored to have Natalie and her kids come to visit us for a week.  Richard apparently couldn't get away but his nephew Ryan was able to travel with the family. Having recently taken time off to travel to Utah for  my 50th High School reunion, neither Carolyn nor I had a lot of time to go places with them.  We did try to do a few things with them such as visit Six Flags World of Discovery in Valejo.  Carolyn played tour guide for a day trip to Black Chasm Cave, Volcano Town, and Indian Grinding Rock.  

Our boys waiting outside Black Chasm Cave for their turn at the sluice runs.  Each of them rinsed away the dirt from a sack of "diggins" to recover precious "jewels".

Natalie and her three waiting at the entrance to Black Chasm Cave.

 Natalie's family at one of the hut at Indian Grinding Rock State Park.

Tiffany, her three and an extra at the Grinding Rock.

High school class mortality rate

One of the reasons I wanted to get involved with our high school reunion this year was that I had felt left out of the last reunion.  Another reason is that we're not getting any younger.  In trying to find all 204 members of the Springville High Class of 1962 we duscivered that 41 of us, a full 20%, have partaken of that great graduation ceremony and pressumably join us in that great beyond.  That seems like an awfully lot but I haven't figured out whether it is higher or lower than another comparable group;  I've googled aand look at actual mortality tables but that isn't helping me much.  Can anyone help me out there:  With a group of 204 people all born in 1944, what number would be expected to be living in 2012?  How many can we expect to die in the next 5 years?

Advertising blitz

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have been writing, composing, sorting, answering e-mail, etc., all of which has gotten in the way of my posting to this blog.  All this activity has been in support of the 50th Reunion of the Springville High Class of 1962 which occurred on June 8 and 9.  Through the graciousness of    the organizing and steering committee I was given access to the email and other demographic data of my classmates.  With that I mounted a persistent campaign to make everyone think twice before missing the reunion. And it worked!

Of course you never know who really changed their minds but at least a dozen people came up to me and said they were there because of me, or at least partially because of my nagging.  A couple of other people asked if I had had a career in marketing.  No one seemed particularly put out about the numerous messages.  And a couple of old time Springville residents even thanked me for highlighting some of the events of Art City Days.

The following is way too long but is necessary to give you a feeling for my advertising campaign.  Sample messages:

4/28

Fellow classmates-

With only six weeks left before our 50th HS Graduation anniversary it's time to start putting our travel plans in place. If you live more than a couple hundred miles away or have a 10 year old Subaru, you may want to consider an appointment with your mechanic or appropriate airline tickets. In spite of all the improvements Utah made for the 2002 Winter Olympics, building a new airport for Springville wasn't one of them so you'll have to rent a car or find some other way to get to Springville after you've landed in Salt Lake City.

We now have everyone's name on the Reunion Website, at least I hope so. Come check it out and register if you haven't done so yet. We've tried to be inclusive so if you spent 10 or 11 years in the Springville education system and then ducked out the last year or two, you're still part of us. Just as you would be if you transferred to Springville in 10th grade and managed to find your way to the graduation ceremonies 3 years later. Some rough statistics for your interest: Our graduating class numbered approximately 200. Twenty percent of us (40 people) have died. Of the remaining 160, half (80 people) have submitted pictures and biographies to Becky Turner (or Bob or me) for inclusion in our memory book. Too bad we can't get everyone. We do have obituaries or eulogies from most of those who have died. I understand we'll have a special memorial section in the memory book for them. We don't need that section to be any bigger,

About 25 classmates have given me permission to copy their pictures and biographies from the Memory Book to the Reunioin Website. Enough to show how nice it would look if everyone submitted pictures and stories for both the web site and Memory Book.. Remember that your phone number & address will never be available to non-members of our class.

It's my intention to keep the website up even after the reunion if it serves a purpose. With that in mind, please tell me what thiiings should be on the site or what things you think should be changed.

Arnold Loveridge

4/30

Fellow classmates-

This past weekend I've been lookling over the biographies that have been submitted for our 50th HS Reunion Memory Book. It was almost like having a brief conversation with each of you.

Two things occurred to me: 1) Wouldn't it be great if people could see these stories before the reunion so they can actually talk with each other at the dinner instead of reading the book;; and 2) If people could read this before the reunion they'll have a lot more to talk about at the dinner. And that brings up the website. Thirty-one of your classmates have given us permission to share the biography and current picture they sent in on our reunion website. We have, of course, screened out the addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses so they cannot be accessed by anyone other than you. The exception is that you can flag the email address for release to classmates if you desire.

If you'e like to share your bio and picture on our website, please reply to this email and include your initials below.

And by the way, check out the Reunion Website, when you get a chance.

Arnold Loveridge

5/5

Hi Terri

Well, the time has finally come.  We held the deadline open  for submitting  the Memory Book biographies just as long as possible.  There does have to be some final proofreading and design/editing and then, of course, the printers need a little time to work their magic.  And we want to make sure that the books are ready the evening of the 50th Reunion dinner - June 9, 2012.  

So Terri, if you sit down right now and write up your entry for the Memory Book and send it to me by tomorrow evening (May 6, 2012), you'll be included.  Otherwise, you can explain to your kids why you're not in there.  Remember, this is the only 50th reunion our class will have.

So please take 20 minutes and write down what you've been doing since graduation, where you've been, who you married and how many kids you have.  Your biography will almost write itself and you'll wonder why you put it off so long.  And don't forget to send us recent picture of you and your spouse as well.

Arnold Loveridge

ps Call me if you have any questions (916) xxx-xxxx

5/9

You'll be amazed! You'll be surprised! You'll be delighted!

It has scores of contributors and dozens of pictures.

Some stories will amuse you. Others may make you cry.

I'm talking, of course, about the Springville High Class of 1962 Memory Book 2012

Actually, it's not off the press yet. Becky, being the perfectionist she is, is making final adjustments. But I've seen the work in progress and I'm impressed. Becky has included not only the senior yearbook pictures of our class members and the current pictures of our now Senior Citizen class members but she has also gone back in time and included pictures from our formative years. She wants some of these to be a surprise so I can't be specific. I'll just say that I'm sure you'll wonder how she got hold of some of these pictures since you haven't seen them before.

When everyone else at the reunion is wiping the tears from their eyes while reading their Memory Book, what will you be doing?

Email your order today only $15 per copy.

Arnold Loveridge

5/10

You know, I'm just a little puzzled. The final count of contributing memory writers for our Memory Book is close to 100. But the number of Memory Books ordered is 61, give or take a couple. Which means that 40% of our class were gracious enough (or were hounded enough) to submit a memory page but so humble that they don't want a copy around their house for fear their family or friends might discover their past association with the SPRINGVILLE HIGH RED DEVILS. That can't be right.

So what will it take to convince our fellow classmates they should order a Memory Book. (I've ordered mine. You've ordered yours, right?)

Well what is in our class Memory Book? In addition to all the memory pages and the surprises I mentioned in yesterday's email, there will be a tribute to our class members who are no longer with us (and I don't mean they've become Democrats).

Of course there are memories, memories from almost 100 of our classmates.

I mean where else could you find the answers to such questions as:

Who served in Vietnam as a combat medic until he himself had to be medivac'd out of the war?

Who was the only girl in her Algebra II class?

Who worked on the costume team for the 2002 Winter Olympics?

Who showed up in dressy top hats to take their dates to the Rivoli theater?

Who served on the national committee of Fight Crime, Invest in Kids?

Remember, this is a one-of-a-kind book with significant historical value. The Class of 1962 will never publish another 50 year Memory Book! Order one for each of your children and prevent a nasty inheritance fight over who gets the book when you die. Order one for your classmate who hasn't ordered one so that he won't have to borrow yours.

Email your order today only $15 per copy. To order your copy (or additional copies) reply to this email with how many you want and send a check for $15 each (plus $4 shipping if you can't pick the book(s) up at the reunion.) Send the check to

Robert Livingston

Thanks again,

Arnold Loveridge

5/11

There is never enough time at the reunion to catch up the way we'd like to . The idea of a Memory Book for our class was conceived as a way to share with each other some of the experiences of the past 50 years. So maximum distribution to our class members is a higher priority than selling a certain number of books. I apologize for giving the wrong impression in my previous emails.

Although the book has not come off the press yet, we have a pretty good idea of what it looks like. Likewise, we do not have a CD-ROM yet that is the "equivalent" of the book but we think we know how it will look and work. There is even another medium which may be possible and more desirable for some people. Let me try to compare the 3 possibilities:

	Bound Book	CD-ROM	Internet File
Cost/Price	$15	$2	Internet charges
Advantages	Most portable Easiest for EVERYONE to use Can be autographed and annotated Easiest to read	Low cost Allows for computer searching Easily duplicated Good for backup storage Image enlargement	Minimal cost No physical space needed Unlimited portability with newest technology Cannot get lost Works on all computers with Internet access
Disadvantages	Moderate cost Old technology Non-searchable Image cannot be enlarged or reduced Easily damaged or lost Requires physical storage	Requires equipment to read Subject to technology obsolescence Not easy to read "spur of the moment" Limited portability	Requires Internet connection Requires equipment to read Can be withdrawn from circulation

If you have used a Kindle, a Nook, or an iPad to read an e-Book you probably have some additional comments of your own. There is no clear winner yet which is why I recommend all three media.

Bob is taking the final order quantity to the printer on Monday, May 14. If you reply to this email by tomorrow evening, you can proabably still get your order. Thanks for putting up with me.

Arnold Loveridge

5/19

What a great way to start the Reunion weekend! In less than 3 weeks, Mary Jane and Grant will open their hearts and their home to the Springville High Class of 1962. Plan on coming early and staying late or vice versa. No one's gonna keep track. Your hands will be full of snacks and a drink so you don't even have to shake hands. On the other hand, you might see the person you took to the senior hop, throw your arms around each other and laugh at how time has treated you both.

Just remember the Date: June 8

Time: 6:30 -ish

Dress: Comfy casual (if you're not comfortable, you're not casual enough and

canyon breezes can be chilly)

Bring: Appetite & thirst, since drinks, snacks, and sandwiches will be provided

Note on the enclosed map that Houtz Ave runs behind the Palfreyman house parallel to South Canyon Drive. Its a much better place to park.

Our records indicate you are planning to attend. It would be helpful for planning purposes if you would please reply to this email to confirm and indicate whether we should expect 1 or 2 of you.

Arnold Loveridge

5/29

Hi, it's me again.

I'm sure you're aware that the date selected for our reunion was not random. No, sirree, this date was chosen so that we could ride in that grand parade which kicks off Summer in Utah County - Art City Days!. And while you're in town you can participate in dozens of other activities from a 5K Family Fun Run/Walk this Saturday, June 2 to our sit-down dinner and reunion at the Art Museum Sculpture Garden. Below is a sampling of things going on. You see we're right in the middle of things!

Don't forget the parade. Our flatbed trailer with luxury hay bales and hand painted signs will be located somewhere around the Springville Stake Center and Junior High School. The whistle blows and the bands start marching at 10:00 am so you'd better be on board 30 to 45 minutes before then. And give yourself another 10 to 15 minutes to get lost trying to find the trailer. Come prepared for a leisurely tour down 4th South to Main and then along Main to 200 North. Prepare for about an hour. You can then meet up with the rest of your family there or ride on the trailer back to where you parked your car.

Oh, and did I mention the parade? You can watch it from the inside out this year. Sort of like watching a play from the stage. Remember Saturday morning, on the trailer before 9:30. If its raining bring an umbrella. If its sunny bring a parasol. A bottle of water wouldn't hurt. But no water balloons. See you there.

Arnold Loveridge

6/4

When was the last time you dragged Main Street? With the blessing of the cops?

Here's the latest scoop on the Art City Days parade and our part in it. Thanks, Leon!

Just received the parade # for the trailer. We will be # 37 out of 95. We will be parked just north of the LDS church. It is about 600 East 245 So. The parade starts at 10:00. We will have the trailer there at 9:00. Those wanting to ride on the trailer should be there no later than 9:30 or 9:45. See you Friday.

Leon
Arnold Loveridge

Friday, June 8 Meet & Greet

Saturday, June 9    Grand Parade

               Reunion Dinner

6/4 School fight song

Loyal to the Springville High

Long may our colors fly

Stand, the Red and Blue passes by

Let every loyal fan salute.

Here's to all the victories.

Here's to the faithful team

Let us praise the Springville High School

And shout for the Red and Blue.

To the coach, to the team,

To the faculty members we all esteem,

To the pep, to the vim,

To the loyal supporters who help us win,

To the red, to the blue,

To the sportsmanship that will pull us through,

Let's shout, let's cheer,

Let's give nine rah's for the best school year!

Loyal to the Springville High

Long may our colors fly

Stand, the Red and Blue passes by

Let every loyal fan salute.

Here's to all the victories.

Here's to the faithful team

Let us praise the Springville High School

And shout for the Red and Blue.

I hope you're all looking forward to a great weekend of fellowship and reunion. Enough water has passed under the bridge that we can all forget any unpleasant times and just remember the best times, the BEST School Year we had at Springville High and greet friends one and all.

Saturday evening's affair is a time for renewing old friendships, not worrying about how many wrinkles we've gained or haow much hair we've lost. Relax, jackets and ties are not expected. You can arrive as early as 5:30 but dinner will be served at 7:00 to give us plenty of time to shake hands and share hugs. And yes, we may just sing the school song sometime during the evening just because we can.

Back from vacation(?)

If you have been following my blog enough to see the date intervals between entries, you've noticed a rather large gap between the last one and this one.  There are many reasons for such a gap, laziness certainly being one of them.  But there was also a more significant and justifiable reason for not writing -- I was writing.  And sorting, and editing, and experimenting with various programs to create slide shows and capture captions.  We also had a computer failure during this time which can throw even the best of schedules out the window.

I'll address the various adventures I've had to deal with in separate posts.  Hopefully, there won't be such a gap again without other equally disrupting adventures.

Throwing a power wheelchair

We'll never know what happened or why.  We didn't even take any good "after" pictures, let alone any "before" pictures.  After all, we didn't know it was going to happen.  Nor did we ask for any of the parts that were replaced during the repair.

We had gotten quite complacent about carrying my scooter and power chair around on the back of the Highlander.  We were being very careful about putting the ramp down too fast or too far because that supposedly caused the last bent Swing-Away.  And I thought we were being pretty careful about always putting the safety pin into the SwingAway whenever the SUV was moving, let alone carrying equipment.

Carolyn had loaded the power chair on the carrier leaving me to park my walker and inch into the passenger seat.  The only thing on my mind as we rounded the corner of Max and North heading toward Garfield was that we were going a little faster than I like when we hit the speed bump there.  I braced for the jostle which didn't surprise me.  But I wasn't prepared for the afterswing.   It felt like we had lost the shock absorbers on the rear of the Highlander.

Carolyn slowed the car without slamming on the brakes.  I looked out my window into the rear view mirror, surprised at seeing my power chair swinging out past the corner of the car.  That was not a good sign.  We drove past another house or two  until we could find a safe place to park and attempt to fix whatever the problem was.

The Swing-Away is held in place by a spring-loaded retention pin and a safety pin that is held in by a ball bearing we had lost some time ago.  Both pins were lying useless somewhere on the side of the road.  Fortunately, the power chair was still strapped tightly to the carrier.  It had hit nothing nor been hit by anything.  As we swung it back into place it was instantly obvious what the damage had been.  The top bar of the Swing-Away was twisted, probably less than 15 or 20 degrees, but enough that it wouldn't seat back so the pins could be inserted.  We couldn't close the Swing-Away or keep it close to closed.

Fortunately, we were less than a 5 minute walk from our house.  We dismounted the chair from the carrier and verified that it indeed had not been hurt.  Carolyn walked home to get a couple of bungee cords to hold the SwingAway in the closed position.  I wheeled home.  Our plans were somewhat altered for the evening.

It cost $500 for that little repair job.  And we'll never know.   Did the safety pin fall out.?  How could the carrier shear off the spring loaded pin?  Was it primarily the force of the speed bump?  I guess we'll never know.

I caught a fallling star & put it in my pocket!

It wasn't exactly on my bucket list but singing a solo with the Renaissance "Singing for Fun" class was definitely something that should have been on the list.

Turns out there is more to the solo business than just singing alone, at least the way it went down with me.  For one thing, I was asked to do a solo but not given an assigned song.  With over 10,000 songs in my music library, selecting a song is no easy matter.  To help me narrow the field, I looked for casual, nostalgic numbers and I also tried to find songs that needed a choral backup.  That way, the group wouldn't resent "my song".  Then I discovered that I was also responsible for arranging the number.  Fortunately, there was a recording of several Perry Como songs that I liked including my final choice of "Catch A Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket".

I practiced at home alone, memorizing the words so I could concentrate on the arrangement.  I practiced different tempos and timbres.  Then I realized that it was my song and I could change the arrangement if I wanted to.  And there were a few minor changes.  It wasn't  until the week of the performance, though,before I finally "let go" and really sang what I wanted to.  On my last solo performance I finally understood I could improvise and the last note was completely different from what our group expected.  Yahoo!

Steven's capstone presentation

I think we've done a pretty good job of recognizing the educational successes of our children by getting to their graduation ceremonies. Needless to say, education is highly valued in our family.  One sign of that is the fact that all of our children and their spouses have a college degree.  In addition, four of them have a masters degree and one has a PhD.  Carolyn and I also have masters degrees.  But while we've attended graduation ceremonies, we haven't often been able to see the real work involved in obtaining those degrees.  We've seldom even seen grade records or transcripts.

So it was with distinct pride that Carolyn and I drove to Santa Cruz recently to take part in our son Steven's Capstone Presentation which is a significant part of his Masters Degree requirements.  For Steven the Capstone Project is roughly equivalent to a Masters Thesis or Literature Survey others in our family have had to do.  And, as with a thesis, part of the effort is to make a final oral presentation to faculty, advisers, and peers.  And in this case - family.

Steven put hours and hours into his research and even more time into a professional presentation that demonstrated his command of the subject.  A subject which was related to but not quite the same as what he has spent so much of his life working with in the past 5 or 6 years - chemicals and sponges.  Specifically, he traced the route of a naturally occurring biochemical with cancer controlling properties to a related, marketable synthetic economically viable drug.  He even gave the presentation a clever subtitle of "From Sea to Pharma-Sea".

I know just enough chemistry (it was my undergrad minor) to appreciate Steven's presentation without being a threat.  I understood his description of the analysis of the original chemical and the synthesis of various parts to determine which parts of the chemical had the most promise of being cost effectively synthesized.

Steven had designed a PowerPoint presentation which focuses on the main historical path while allowing for detours when one of his peers would ask a pertinent question.  He also had authoritative answers when the questions were less pertinent.

I could tell there was little fluff and a lot of solid research in this presentation but it was also fun to see his advisers and peers recognize the same.  There is no question that Steven has earned his masters degree.

For another, completely unbiased review of Steven's presentation by his wife Lisa, click HERE.

Possible origin of the name DropCam

You're liable to see a lot of advertisements for DropCam this year.  They won somebody's "Gadget of the Year" award which, of course, gives them bragging rights until they come out with something new or someone else's gadget beats this one.

I want to get into all the good features of this marvelous gadget but feel that the flaws are so important that I need to put them first.  Otherwise you could get so excited you stop in mid-review and miss the warning.

WARNING:  DropCam is an amateur security system - designed by, designed for, sold by, bought by, and mostly appreciated by amateurs.  Simply put, it suffers from the "dancing bear" syndrome.  You don't criticize how well a bear dances because you're so amazed he can dance at all.

Likewise DropCam is extremely easy to set up.  It is relatively inexpensive.  And it pretends to play with the big boys.   But it has a lot of growing up to do.  I've had the system in place for over a month and it should have settled down.  But I still get 1 to 3 false positives per hour and a complete signal drop with one or  the other of my two cameras.  A camera that cries "wolf" that frequently is soon a camera ignored and a camera ignored is no better than a camera never purchased.  It's a sad situation since it would be a great leap forward if it met expectations.  And it's sad because it looks like all the will and wherewithal was there.  For example, the camera triggers an alert if the sound or movement in the field of vision exceeds some threshold.  There's a sensitivity switch for the sound but nothing for the motion detection.  A waving flag, a moving shadow, almost anything at all triggers the motion alarm.  I keep hoping that there's some intelligent logic that will kick in and improve the alarm but it hasn't happened so far.'

Cutting out entirely seems to have something to do with the Wireless connection.  If you're close to the fringe of your wireless router's coverage, rather than drop into a lower definition transmit mode, the camera will just shut itself off.  Not an encouraging trick if you're depending on the camera to watch over valuable property or loved ones.  But it just may be the reason this is called DropCam.  It drops the signal better than any of its competitors.

The tracking software is straightforward but not powerful or easy to use.  And some of the best features, such as a timeline, are in the PC version but not the iPhone app.

I understand the audio feature (you can listen to and talk back to the surveiled object) is new on the latest cameras.  Don't count on it replacing a halfway decent baby monitor because it won't.  And they don't mention in their ads that the audio is half-duplex making you feel like a trucker with a push-to-talk CB.

Let me end on a positive note.  The camera  is quick and easy to install.  I had it running within 5 minutes and monitoring our front hallway within 10 minutes.  That's because I walk slowly.  Otherwise, those times would be half that.

So if you're an amateur looking for an amateur system this is a good one.  But professionals should keep looking.

Getting on the reunion committee

I never really considered asking to be on the planning or organizing committee.  I wanted to simply offer whatever expertise I had to make things run better and maybe reach out better to those class members who aren't natural joiners.  So it was with a little surprise and consternation that I greeted Bob's suggestion that I join the committee.  But it really didn't matter in the end since we held no meetings or conference calls and spoke only with Bob and Becky.  It was a delightful experience not caring whether my input was received happily or used completely.  I made suggestions as to what we wanted to put in the Memory Book and in what format we wanted to distribute it. I discussed limitations of the web site and  how it could be used.  I helped Becky set up a system of archiving her work on the Memory Board that also made it possible for me to duplicate some of that work on the website if we got permission.  My name is all over the website more than I care to see, so I don't care if it is nowhere in the Memory Book except my own biography page.

When Becky sent out her "one and only memo" telling people how to submit their biography page and what to include, I realized that over-communicating wasn't going to be a problem here.  I decided to fill in the gap - although admittedly only with people who had working, verified email addresses.  I think Becky did make a few phone calls and I probably made a dozen but that was nothing compared to the volume of email.  That's the disorienting part of email - for much less work, I made a disproportionately large impact.

So what's next?

HS Reunion communication in the email world

Five years ago I received a brief note about our High School Class 45th Reunion.  I responded immediately by email and waited for things to happen.  They never did.  If I ever got a reply, I didn't see it.  And the reunion festivities came and went without my giving it any further notice.  This year I was determined that that not happen again.

Of course there have been a couple of changes and events during the past 5 years to make some change inevitable.  Five years ago I had just barely retired and I was in the process of developing a schedule I felt I could live with.  Five years ago I made the assumption that the reunion committee's number one priority was to contact every member of the graduating class and try to persuade them to come.  Now I know that the contact effort is spotty at best and people may get dropped from further contact efforts if a mistyped email bounces back undelivered.

This time around I not only had more organized, free, time but I also had found a piece of inexpensive web-based reunion software that looked like it could really help us get organized.  Even though I had only received one phone call from the head of the reunion committee on December 1, 2011, I was already thinking of it as "us" and "our committee".  This time I wasn't going to let the reunion happen without me.

The first thing I did was to call the person back who had called me and said I was very interested.  I volunteered my help which I knew was going to be limited since I live 800 miles from the high school.  And I asked all sorts of questions about who was on the committee, what time lines were in place, what things were already underway.  I also wrote to the technology/science teacher at the high school who also appeared to be the school's webmaster.  Ideally, alumni functions such as reunions would be coordinated and supported out of that office.  I have yet to see a high school level alumni office capable of that level of support.

But the teacher/IT director was kind enough to announce the main reunion event, the guy in charge of this year's event, and the address of the website which has become our offficial web site.  For the next 2 to 3 weeks I learned the ins and outs of the website software called Classreport and started populating it with members of our graduating class, and telling Bob how it could make his life easier by organizing our emailcommunication with class members.  It was at this point we made a below sonscience decision to put a higher priority on communicating with people who have email.  That made all the difference in the world to emaillers.

We continued to call phone numbers when we didn't have someone's email address and we even followed up with snail mail notes and announcements. But where we had the email address, communication was 10 times more frequent.  Official Invitations to the reunion went out by email, phone, and regular mail on January 28, 2012 and if you didn't have email that may have been the last time you heard from the reunion committee.

A friend's death

Once again my world has been shaken and will never be the same again.  John Popadak called to tell us that his wife Sigrid (Ziggy) had passed away, her body so riddled with cancer cells that no treatment was possible other than that which might have made her last few days bearable.

We have known John and Ziggy since 1985 as John held a job at Inland Regional Center similar to mine at Harbor Regional Center.  Like us, even close to the same age, John and Ziggy had left house and family in Southern California to pursue a career in Sacramento.  We could and did empathize with each other.

Someone was telling me the other day that we're lucky if we get what we deserve in life.  If so, I don't think Ziggy was very lucky but she would probably disagree.  She did have a wonderful husband and family members who thought the world of her.  She made friends easily and shared her talents.  She brightened up the Knit-Wits, the knitting club at the local library and was so patient trying to teach Carolyn and me a card game that I never did understand.

So if Ziggy had gotten what she deserved she would have had all she did have without all the health problems and disappointments she suffered.  Of course she now no longer has the pain and suffering while she does still have friends and family so maybe she finally has what she deserves.  We will miss her.

Expanding storage

Everyone knows that junk expands to fill the storage space allocated for it.  And often overflows.  We didn't think that our 3 car garage would be too small but with the addition of bicycles, scooters, lawnmowers, and most recently power wheelchairs and power scooters, we are feeling the pinch.  So this weekend we installed a partial solution to the problem - a pulley hoist.  Available from Costco.com at about $15 per hoist, it's a very straightforward, easy to install solution.  Normally, I would have installed this equipment but my balancing problems makes that dangerous.  After installing the first pulley I asked Carolyn to finish the project.  

Here's the finished job with everything in their new places.

iPhone learning curve

Y'know sometimes I get the feeling that I learn things in a different way from other people.  Or maybe I'm just a slow learner.  We got new iPhones the day they came out last year and have been using them pretty much daily.  I have probably close to 134 apps loaded on my device and frequently use maybe 40.  But only yesterday did I finally discover the "Search iPhone" screen.  Or maybe I should say only yesterday did I finally find out that screen did something useful, very useful.

Those of you with iPhones know what I'm talking about.  It's the blank looking screen that you get if you press your Home button (the only button on the front of the iPhone, just below the screen) twice, slowly.  If you're like me, whenever I got this screen (always unintentionally) I would quickly stroke the screen from right to left to get to my collection of apps.  If I thought about it at all, I might have assumed that I could enter the name of an app rather than look for the icon but why would I want to do that?

Well, Carolyn and I have been organizing our apps and creating several app groups in the hope that we could more efficiently find the ones we wanted.  The immediate reward for all our work is that we can't find any of the apps in the groups because the icons are now too small!  Aha! I said to myself, that is what that Search iPhone screen is for.  I was looking for the Zillow app so I pressed the Home button twice, slowly then entered Z.  Voila.  Zillow came up on the screen.  Also showing on my screen was a friend Bob Zambelich, a music album Dr. Zhivago, and four more apps that are part of the Zumobi network.  This screen is magic.  It is virtually Google for my iPhone!

Last week I downloaded an e-Book from the Sacramento Library but it didn't end up where I expected it and I couldn't download it again until the 3 week borrowing time is over.  Now I decided to enter the title of this book on this search screen.   Once again, magic!  I don't have to wait three weeks.

Now I know that some of you will yawn and say "so what" because you've been using this screen all along.  I wish you'd have told me.  And if there's at least one person who has just learned something new about your iPhone, you're welcome.

Our fall vacation

She may not be calling it a "bucket list" but that's what Carolyn is putting together.  The big project for the upcoming month of September will be a grand tour of several midwestern and southern states that we may have traveled through but didn't spend a lot of time in.  And the main reason for the visit won't be the tourist attractions but the people we're visiting and staying with along the way.  If you're not one of those people, I apologize.  There just isn't enough time to visit everyone.  If you are on our list and we've already told you we're coming, I apologize.  You're stuck with us.  No backsies.

There will probably be many changes before our actual departure date.  For example, our planning map above shows the route we might have taken if we drove the whole distance.  That would have been 5,907 miles.  But the train and certainly the airplanes won't be following these routes.

The agenda currently goes something like the following:
Board the Amtrak passenger train bound for Denver and take a day and a half to cross the California Desert and climb the Rockies.
Visit with Carolyn's brother Ray and his wife Jeannie.
Fly to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Pick up a rental car.
Visit with Ron and Barbara, dear friends from my days working at Harbor Regional Center.
Drive to Branson, Missouri.
See what Branson has to offer music and entertainment buffs, such as we are and maybe take in some of the archeological sights in the area.
Visit with Shannah and Kathy, dear friends from my days working at Alta California Regional Center.
Fly to Panama City, Florida.
Visit with my cousin Marilyn and her husband.
Fly home where we can collect our thoughts, organize our pictures, and send out the thank you cards.

With gas prices skyrocketing a long trip like this doesn't seem all that prudent.  On the other hand, we may never make it if we don't do it now.

We're already getting excited.