(pardon the lateness of this post - I'm just now getting around to putting it up)
This word alone could be an oxymoron.
I’ve not read the full reports but I have heard about the two differing intelligence reports on Iran’s development (or not) of nuclear weapons.
My point is – how do you know whom to believe?
We are in a protracted war with no clear exit strategy or end in sight based on possible faulty intelligence and we seem pretty darn close to doing the same thing with Iran.
I was not in favor of the invasion of Iraq back in ‘03 or whenever it happened. But now we’ve made a mess – or at least made a worse mess and we are obligated to try and clean it up. I say this to say I don’t think it is hypocritical to say “we support the troops” but not support the war. Plus we owe the Iraqi people a shot at getting their country rebuilt and help in getting a government in place that works.
But with regard to intelligence; how do we know whom to trust? Reasonable people can disagree on lots of things but with the possibility of bombing Iran back to the dark ages looming, I’d like for everyone to take a deep breath and re-think this whole thing.
And I know I’m far from the first or last person to comment on this but given the import of this report on Iran and what we may or may not do as a result, couldn’t Pres. Bush work really hard to pronounce “nuclear’ correctly? In the one sound bite I heard on NPR, he said (of course) ‘new-cue-lar.’
Thursday, December 20, 2007
When God Grew Tired of Us
I’ve heard about this documentary for a while now but only last week got the DVD from our library and began to watch it (and still watching it in short bursts.)
I took it home and my daughter asked me about the title. I had a hard time explaining it to her since I hadn’t watched the movie. I guess I was partly afraid that these boys – who had been through so much – thought God got tired of them personally and that is why they went through all their hardships. That they thought He just gave up on them.
I’m not finished watching it but I think I understand the title better. One of the young men is describing how bad things were, how hard they were and in general how messed up the world must be. He uses the phrase “God must have gotten tired of us.” In that context now I have a new meaning. In his mind he might have said the same thing when God told Noah to build the ark. “I’m tired of all these people and what they are doing.” The “Us” is all of us, not just a few people and certainly not them.
If you haven’t seen this – get it. Not many movies make me laugh out loud. But some scenes are priceless. Most of these are as these young Africans – who have lived in a refugee camp for most of the lives – encounter American culture. Not in a slapstick Crocodile Dundee kind of way but more innocent.
One scene has a young man taking shaving crème and spreading it on his hands and then he proceeds to spread it on his arms, his face, his head – but he doesn’t shave. He simply walks out of the room.
The boys are in Pittsburgh (but it seems at other times they were in NYC or Syracuse) and it must be around Christmas. One of them asks about Santa. “Is it in the Bible?” He proceeds to tell about celebrating Christmas in Kakuma – the refugee camp in Kenya – how they simply celebrate the birth of Jesus. And it is accompanied by a scene of hundreds of people in the camp, dancing and singing.
Somehow in the midst of their suffering, they can still understand a more simple idea of Christmas without needing all the material trappings we think are necessary.
But this movie will also make you cry. I can’t imagine living in a country where the government decides that all the young males should be killed so they have to escape – leave families – everything just to survive. It took the U.S. a long time to just decide that we could call what is happening in Darfur, genocide. I don’t care what semantics you have to play – this is simply tragic.
And I guess to keep things straight, what happened in southern Sudan is not exactly the same as in Darfur although I’d be hard-pressed to explain the difference politically or geographically. Simply put the Lost Boys were displaced, fled, escaped southern Sudan etc. during the 2nd Sudanese Civil War which was mostly a religious conflict (Muslim v. Christian) over a period from the mid 90s until 2005 or so. The “genocide” in Darfur is more tribal in nature with the Sudanese Govt. or their militias, the “janjaweed”, ravaging villages in western Sudan.
In a separate blog entry I mention my initial lack of support for the war in Iraq. With what little I know, if anyone needs to be bombed back into the Stone Age, it is the Sudanese government. Imagine how far the billions of dollars we have and are still spending in Iraq would go to improve things in Sudan. But we don’t have any long-term oil or other economic interests in Sudan that I know of so …
I am so impressed with the attitudes and wisdom the young men being interviewed – possess. If I’d been through 1/10th of their troubles I’d be complaining, and would probably be a basket case emotionally. But some of these boys work 2 or 3 jobs just so they can send money back to their families in Sudan, or Uganda or wherever the might be. I was also amazed that they can even communicate with them or even find out where their families are. Must be some network.
At any rate – enough rambling. Go watch the movie. My library has it on DVD – your probably does too.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Made in China
For more on this see previous post on my Olympic boycott – which by the way is going well. I’ve not watched anything of the Olympics from Beijing yet!
A week or so ago we did the most of our Christmas decorating – actually my wife did about 99% of it. My job is usually confined to the outside lights (none up this year by the way) and the Christmas tree.
I bought one – our first real tree in years. A Douglas fir.
After my work is done, the kids and adults alike get to hang all the ornaments. Sort of a family tradition. I have to hang the lights first – don’t try it the other way around.
Once we were finished our two littlest ones decided they wanted a tree of their own. My oldest daughter has a small tree in her room that she decorates each year. The little girls felt left out.
A day or two later I went to Walgreens and bought them what must be the ugliest or tackiest artificial tree I’ve ever seen. It is shiny green – almost fluorescent and pre-lit. But the pre-lit thing was not working. My girls noticed right away that it was lit on only one side.
Seeing they were right I decided to take all the lights off and start over – hanging lights being sort of my special household skill.
It took about ½ hour to remove and re-hang a small strand of lights. I’ve never seen a strand like this one before. The wiring was all goofy and they had the funny little clips to hold the strands on each branch.
When I was finished the girls hung their ornaments and were proud of their little green shiny tree.
In cleaning up after myself, I found a small piece of cardboard on the floor that simply said “Christmas (with a small Holly leaf underneath) and beneath that the words: “Made in China.”
Which explained a lot. I doubt most people in China have any idea what a Christmas tree is supposed to look like. From what I read and hear, we are busy exporting our western culture to them so they can buy all our stuff. But wait a minute. We buy all THEIR STUFF!
Think of all the money we could save in shipping if we just made our stuff and kept it here and they made all their stuff and kept it there.
Somehow in this all-important cultural exchange I think Christmas trees got left off the list.
Will this never end? My fault for buying a fake tree. But don’t we make anything in the U.S. anymore?
I heard a piece on NPR this morning about the steel mills in Pittsburgh – there aren’t any, any more, hardly. One of them has become some sort of specialty vendor that simply stamps – actually cuts in with a laser – words etc. on steel. Steel that is probably made somewhere else.
Who is making our steel? Can’t be China since the price of steel (so I’m told) is high because all of it goes to China to help with their building boom.
How do we stop this?
Union clothing workers and sweat-shop cotton mills forced all our clothing making out of the country years ago.
The best cars are made in the U.S. by U.S. workers, working for foreign companies.
Locally, Zenith, formerly a TV maker, moved their plant to Mexico a decade or so ago.
What’s next? With the writers strike I won’t be surprised if we don’t outsource our TV programs to Bollywood. Animation is already largely outsourced (except I hope not for Pixar. Steve Jobs please tell me all your computer animation is done in the good ole US of A)
I wrote several months ago about my chagrin at finding that my cowboy boots were made in China. Now my kids’ Christmas tree. And now guess what?
My staff bought me an i-Pod Nano for Christmas and Birthday (and maybe because I’m just such a generally nice boss!) and I was looking at it. Some of the labeling says “Designed by Apple Computer, Cupertino CA.” The instructions inside say “printed in China.” I thought maybe I was OK but my curiosity got the better of me and guess what? If you dig deep enough it says my i-Pod was “Assembled in China.” I had no idea. I’m shocked. I thought at least I could have at least one genuinely American-made product.
And my question about Pixar? I don’t want to know.
A week or so ago we did the most of our Christmas decorating – actually my wife did about 99% of it. My job is usually confined to the outside lights (none up this year by the way) and the Christmas tree.
I bought one – our first real tree in years. A Douglas fir.
After my work is done, the kids and adults alike get to hang all the ornaments. Sort of a family tradition. I have to hang the lights first – don’t try it the other way around.
Once we were finished our two littlest ones decided they wanted a tree of their own. My oldest daughter has a small tree in her room that she decorates each year. The little girls felt left out.
A day or two later I went to Walgreens and bought them what must be the ugliest or tackiest artificial tree I’ve ever seen. It is shiny green – almost fluorescent and pre-lit. But the pre-lit thing was not working. My girls noticed right away that it was lit on only one side.
Seeing they were right I decided to take all the lights off and start over – hanging lights being sort of my special household skill.
It took about ½ hour to remove and re-hang a small strand of lights. I’ve never seen a strand like this one before. The wiring was all goofy and they had the funny little clips to hold the strands on each branch.
When I was finished the girls hung their ornaments and were proud of their little green shiny tree.
In cleaning up after myself, I found a small piece of cardboard on the floor that simply said “Christmas (with a small Holly leaf underneath) and beneath that the words: “Made in China.”
Which explained a lot. I doubt most people in China have any idea what a Christmas tree is supposed to look like. From what I read and hear, we are busy exporting our western culture to them so they can buy all our stuff. But wait a minute. We buy all THEIR STUFF!
Think of all the money we could save in shipping if we just made our stuff and kept it here and they made all their stuff and kept it there.
Somehow in this all-important cultural exchange I think Christmas trees got left off the list.
Will this never end? My fault for buying a fake tree. But don’t we make anything in the U.S. anymore?
I heard a piece on NPR this morning about the steel mills in Pittsburgh – there aren’t any, any more, hardly. One of them has become some sort of specialty vendor that simply stamps – actually cuts in with a laser – words etc. on steel. Steel that is probably made somewhere else.
Who is making our steel? Can’t be China since the price of steel (so I’m told) is high because all of it goes to China to help with their building boom.
How do we stop this?
Union clothing workers and sweat-shop cotton mills forced all our clothing making out of the country years ago.
The best cars are made in the U.S. by U.S. workers, working for foreign companies.
Locally, Zenith, formerly a TV maker, moved their plant to Mexico a decade or so ago.
What’s next? With the writers strike I won’t be surprised if we don’t outsource our TV programs to Bollywood. Animation is already largely outsourced (except I hope not for Pixar. Steve Jobs please tell me all your computer animation is done in the good ole US of A)
I wrote several months ago about my chagrin at finding that my cowboy boots were made in China. Now my kids’ Christmas tree. And now guess what?
My staff bought me an i-Pod Nano for Christmas and Birthday (and maybe because I’m just such a generally nice boss!) and I was looking at it. Some of the labeling says “Designed by Apple Computer, Cupertino CA.” The instructions inside say “printed in China.” I thought maybe I was OK but my curiosity got the better of me and guess what? If you dig deep enough it says my i-Pod was “Assembled in China.” I had no idea. I’m shocked. I thought at least I could have at least one genuinely American-made product.
And my question about Pixar? I don’t want to know.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Last Saturday we went to a neighbors’ house for what I hope will become a Holiday tradition. Mostly it is just a gathering of their friends – many of whom we don’t know very well. We eat way too much food – there is something about a table full of all sorts of things. I never seem to keep track of how much I eat or how many trips I make back.
But what makes this evening special would to most people seem naïve or simple.
Our hosts have somehow accumulated a variety of costumes over the years. Near the end of the evening everyone trundles out to their barn where all the young children wait – in various sorts of attire. Some look shepherd-like, other look like animals.
These kids put on a very simple pageant. David, our host, reads from the Christmas story out of Luke and a few other passages. His wife, Joey, provides basic direction for the kids.
Somehow, without any practice, the kids manage to portray wise men (this year they were three girls – two of them mine!), Mary and Joseph, the angel Gabriel and the aforementioned shepherds and with David’s voice as a guide, they act out portions of the familiar Christmas story.
This production won’t win any Tony awards and will probably never be seen on cable but it beats anything. I can’t put it into words but in the midst of all our hurrying around, spending too much money on stuff, eating too much and in general getting stressed out – this little show, gets us to stop for a few minutes to remember what Christmas – what LIFE – is really all about.
God granted us the gift of his Son and through that the gift of life.
Sitting on a bale of straw, watching a bunch of kids play out roles we’ve seen dozens of times, is probably the most fun anyone can have. Nobody has to sing on key. Nobody (except for Gabriel) has to remember any lines. It just happens and then we go back to the house for some excellent chocolate cheesecake.
It doesn’t get much better.
But what makes this evening special would to most people seem naïve or simple.
Our hosts have somehow accumulated a variety of costumes over the years. Near the end of the evening everyone trundles out to their barn where all the young children wait – in various sorts of attire. Some look shepherd-like, other look like animals.
These kids put on a very simple pageant. David, our host, reads from the Christmas story out of Luke and a few other passages. His wife, Joey, provides basic direction for the kids.
Somehow, without any practice, the kids manage to portray wise men (this year they were three girls – two of them mine!), Mary and Joseph, the angel Gabriel and the aforementioned shepherds and with David’s voice as a guide, they act out portions of the familiar Christmas story.
This production won’t win any Tony awards and will probably never be seen on cable but it beats anything. I can’t put it into words but in the midst of all our hurrying around, spending too much money on stuff, eating too much and in general getting stressed out – this little show, gets us to stop for a few minutes to remember what Christmas – what LIFE – is really all about.
God granted us the gift of his Son and through that the gift of life.
Sitting on a bale of straw, watching a bunch of kids play out roles we’ve seen dozens of times, is probably the most fun anyone can have. Nobody has to sing on key. Nobody (except for Gabriel) has to remember any lines. It just happens and then we go back to the house for some excellent chocolate cheesecake.
It doesn’t get much better.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
He’s gone and done it now.
I read with some surprise (or maybe I shouldn’t have been) that Pat Robertson has endorsed Rudy Giuliani in his bid for the Republican nomination. Remember we haven’t even had a primary or caucus yet!
He says (and I’m not quoting here) that he feels even though we disagree on social issues, Rudy’s the right man for this time – mostly because of our world-wide situation; as if that trumps everything domestic.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about things in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc. but I don’t think we can set aside our major, and I mean really major differences.
If I’m going to do that, and I mean say that ‘OK for America, things like abortion don’t matter’, then I have no reason to stick with the Republican party.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think I could vote for Hillary if she came and had dinner with me and asked me to vote for her. But I also think some probably really good ideas get tossed just because they come from the Democratic side of the aisle.
All I’m saying is if we can (and I don’t think we should) dismiss so-called “social issues” as not being reasons to select or reject a candidate, then we have to be open to consider ALL the other reasons. And I don’t even know what they are at this point; I’m just making a general point.
This sort of goes back to my blog of last month or so about guessing that the final result of this will likely be a 3rd party run by a conservative candidate. I didn’t expect this to happen until AFTER the Jan/Feb run of primaries in 2008.
Now here’s another prediction: Rudy will start talking with Mike Huckabee to get him to be his running mate. He’ll use that to satiate those for whom Robertson’s endorsement isn’t enough. ‘See’, he’ll say, ‘I believe that conservatives should have a voice, so I’ll put one of your own in the VEEP slot’. This helps him in the south, helps in all the Red States and with the Christian Right so they can maybe stomach a vote for Rudy (given the alternative is either a vote for Hillary OR for a 3rd party person which might as well be another vote for Hillary).
I used to work for Mr. Robertson and always found him to be an extremely bright person even though I didn’t always agree with him. I have no idea what his agenda is in this endorsement but it is bound to have some far-reaching and perhaps unintended consequences.
He says (and I’m not quoting here) that he feels even though we disagree on social issues, Rudy’s the right man for this time – mostly because of our world-wide situation; as if that trumps everything domestic.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about things in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc. but I don’t think we can set aside our major, and I mean really major differences.
If I’m going to do that, and I mean say that ‘OK for America, things like abortion don’t matter’, then I have no reason to stick with the Republican party.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think I could vote for Hillary if she came and had dinner with me and asked me to vote for her. But I also think some probably really good ideas get tossed just because they come from the Democratic side of the aisle.
All I’m saying is if we can (and I don’t think we should) dismiss so-called “social issues” as not being reasons to select or reject a candidate, then we have to be open to consider ALL the other reasons. And I don’t even know what they are at this point; I’m just making a general point.
This sort of goes back to my blog of last month or so about guessing that the final result of this will likely be a 3rd party run by a conservative candidate. I didn’t expect this to happen until AFTER the Jan/Feb run of primaries in 2008.
Now here’s another prediction: Rudy will start talking with Mike Huckabee to get him to be his running mate. He’ll use that to satiate those for whom Robertson’s endorsement isn’t enough. ‘See’, he’ll say, ‘I believe that conservatives should have a voice, so I’ll put one of your own in the VEEP slot’. This helps him in the south, helps in all the Red States and with the Christian Right so they can maybe stomach a vote for Rudy (given the alternative is either a vote for Hillary OR for a 3rd party person which might as well be another vote for Hillary).
I used to work for Mr. Robertson and always found him to be an extremely bright person even though I didn’t always agree with him. I have no idea what his agenda is in this endorsement but it is bound to have some far-reaching and perhaps unintended consequences.
How can they think that?
I am not smart enough to enter the argument against evolution. I know what I believe but am not a particularly good apologist.
So I won’t begin to debate in this lowly place whether we descended from amoebas, apes or Adam. (I love it when you can get three things together like that!)
Without sounding heretical, let’s just assume for sake of this post, that you do believe in evolution. You accept the scientific theories as fact that somewhere in our past, lie our genetic ancestors who may or may not have walked on two legs and had opposable thumbs. Just assume that and not worry about who your great-great-great-grandparent to the 100th power might have been. Just assume it was not someone who looked like you or me.
Along with this theory you now accept as truth, usually comes a disdain for any sort of belief in a Creator or intelligent being that put all this thing we call our universe, in place.
This belief or lack thereof may actually come in reverse; i.e. you choose not to believe in any sort of God with a capital “G” and then what follows is usually acceptance of other theories etc. that have as an almost pre-requisite, a dis-belief in that sort of spiritual or religious thing.
Still with me?
But something troubles you. You accept evolution and the theories of the origin of species and how the earth and the universe came into being. You might accept or espouse the so-called “big bang” theory that some sort of cosmic explosion happened billions of uncountable billions of years ago and the earth and our neighbors, near and far, landed in this thing we call space. Again I won’t try to defend or explain the big bang and its corollaries.
But something still troubles you. Who started the big bang? Who lit the fuse? Who for that matter made the fuse to light?
I read something yesterday in someone else’s blog (and sorry I can’t give credit because I don’t recall where it came from) but it went like this: “We're on a planet that is spinning at 1000 mph around its axis and traveling 66,600 mph through space. We'll travel 1.3 million miles today in our annual trek around the sun."
Even if I could assume some of the aforementioned theories are plausible, I’d still be wondering who figured all this out? Who knew that the earth had to spin exactly 1000 mph? Who knew just how much speed would be needed to counteract the effect of the gravity put in place inside our planet?
I guess my long awaited point here is that if you can somehow get this far and not see that all the beauty and complexity we live amongst – regardless of how you feel we arrived at this point – and not wonder if there wasn’t/couldn’t be someone out there who thought all this up and put it in place – well then I don’t think I can help you.
But if you can accept that there is something out there bigger than all of us and it just might be called God, then we can work on that evolution thing later.
So I won’t begin to debate in this lowly place whether we descended from amoebas, apes or Adam. (I love it when you can get three things together like that!)
Without sounding heretical, let’s just assume for sake of this post, that you do believe in evolution. You accept the scientific theories as fact that somewhere in our past, lie our genetic ancestors who may or may not have walked on two legs and had opposable thumbs. Just assume that and not worry about who your great-great-great-grandparent to the 100th power might have been. Just assume it was not someone who looked like you or me.
Along with this theory you now accept as truth, usually comes a disdain for any sort of belief in a Creator or intelligent being that put all this thing we call our universe, in place.
This belief or lack thereof may actually come in reverse; i.e. you choose not to believe in any sort of God with a capital “G” and then what follows is usually acceptance of other theories etc. that have as an almost pre-requisite, a dis-belief in that sort of spiritual or religious thing.
Still with me?
But something troubles you. You accept evolution and the theories of the origin of species and how the earth and the universe came into being. You might accept or espouse the so-called “big bang” theory that some sort of cosmic explosion happened billions of uncountable billions of years ago and the earth and our neighbors, near and far, landed in this thing we call space. Again I won’t try to defend or explain the big bang and its corollaries.
But something still troubles you. Who started the big bang? Who lit the fuse? Who for that matter made the fuse to light?
I read something yesterday in someone else’s blog (and sorry I can’t give credit because I don’t recall where it came from) but it went like this: “We're on a planet that is spinning at 1000 mph around its axis and traveling 66,600 mph through space. We'll travel 1.3 million miles today in our annual trek around the sun."
Even if I could assume some of the aforementioned theories are plausible, I’d still be wondering who figured all this out? Who knew that the earth had to spin exactly 1000 mph? Who knew just how much speed would be needed to counteract the effect of the gravity put in place inside our planet?
I guess my long awaited point here is that if you can somehow get this far and not see that all the beauty and complexity we live amongst – regardless of how you feel we arrived at this point – and not wonder if there wasn’t/couldn’t be someone out there who thought all this up and put it in place – well then I don’t think I can help you.
But if you can accept that there is something out there bigger than all of us and it just might be called God, then we can work on that evolution thing later.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Product Pedigrees
Maybe this has been done already but I have a proposal for the makers of everything:
Put a tag or sticker on your product – and don’t say it will cost too much, every piece of furniture has a tag on it (Do not remove under penalty of law …Ever taken one off? You can you know.) Food already has a pedigree of sorts letting us know a batch number, sell-by date and if you know the codes, you can tell where you milk was put in the container.
What I want this tag to tell me is – and lets take a t-shirt as our example.
This garment is made from 100% organically grown cotton.
The cotton grew on a peaceful farm near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. No herbicides or other chemicals were used in the growing of this cotton.
The cotton was harvested by a John Deere 9600 cotton harvester running on bio-diesel made from the waste oil from Martha’s Diner; also in Tuscaloosa.
The owners of this farm are Bob and Mable who received no government subsidies for the growing of their cotton or any other row crop they may have on their 640 acre farm. They were paid $0.70 per pound for their cotton which is just above the market rate nationally.
The cotton was woven and the t-shirt assembled at our plant in Guatemala.
This t-shirt was assembled by Maria Consuelos who was paid a fair wage of 5000p per day which translates to $4.89/hr. which while below the minimum U.S. wage, puts Maria squarely in the Guatemalan middle-class.
We spent about $1.13 shipping this product from our distribution center in Durham, NC – where as an Unionized-shop, everyone is paid at least the prevailing wage. All products are shipped on Teamster driver trucks.
We spent another $0.87 in the marketing and advertising for this shirt.
Our suggested retail price for this garment is $7.98 for this three-pak. We provide these wholesale for $4.01. This provides us (the maker) with about $0.47 profit on every package. Actual profit for your local store depends upon their own price and operating costs.
This tag made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper and will degrade in your landfill in approximately 3.4 months; depending on local conditions.
The cotton in this shirt is also recylable and we recommend you return it to us free via the included pre-paid mailing device. We will clean it and re-cycle as much of the cotton as possible to make …
UPDATE: After I wrote this I ran across a paper wrapper on a chocolate bar made locally by a chocolatier – Shawn Askinosie – former big shot defense attorney who is now paying penance by running what by all accounts is a successful and fair chocolate shop. His wrapper lists all sorts of information about the origins of his chocolate. Congrats to the man!
Put a tag or sticker on your product – and don’t say it will cost too much, every piece of furniture has a tag on it (Do not remove under penalty of law …Ever taken one off? You can you know.) Food already has a pedigree of sorts letting us know a batch number, sell-by date and if you know the codes, you can tell where you milk was put in the container.
What I want this tag to tell me is – and lets take a t-shirt as our example.
This garment is made from 100% organically grown cotton.
The cotton grew on a peaceful farm near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. No herbicides or other chemicals were used in the growing of this cotton.
The cotton was harvested by a John Deere 9600 cotton harvester running on bio-diesel made from the waste oil from Martha’s Diner; also in Tuscaloosa.
The owners of this farm are Bob and Mable who received no government subsidies for the growing of their cotton or any other row crop they may have on their 640 acre farm. They were paid $0.70 per pound for their cotton which is just above the market rate nationally.
The cotton was woven and the t-shirt assembled at our plant in Guatemala.
This t-shirt was assembled by Maria Consuelos who was paid a fair wage of 5000p per day which translates to $4.89/hr. which while below the minimum U.S. wage, puts Maria squarely in the Guatemalan middle-class.
We spent about $1.13 shipping this product from our distribution center in Durham, NC – where as an Unionized-shop, everyone is paid at least the prevailing wage. All products are shipped on Teamster driver trucks.
We spent another $0.87 in the marketing and advertising for this shirt.
Our suggested retail price for this garment is $7.98 for this three-pak. We provide these wholesale for $4.01. This provides us (the maker) with about $0.47 profit on every package. Actual profit for your local store depends upon their own price and operating costs.
This tag made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper and will degrade in your landfill in approximately 3.4 months; depending on local conditions.
The cotton in this shirt is also recylable and we recommend you return it to us free via the included pre-paid mailing device. We will clean it and re-cycle as much of the cotton as possible to make …
UPDATE: After I wrote this I ran across a paper wrapper on a chocolate bar made locally by a chocolatier – Shawn Askinosie – former big shot defense attorney who is now paying penance by running what by all accounts is a successful and fair chocolate shop. His wrapper lists all sorts of information about the origins of his chocolate. Congrats to the man!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
something to check out
Maybe a blog should be more personal but it can also be used to help others find good information. I found two things lately that may be of interest for a variety of reasons:
First this: from October 17, 2007
First this: from October 17, 2007
The Case for Open Immigration: A Q&A With Philippe Legrain
p.s. Sorry for the underlining above - I cut and pasted from NY Times and can't get rid of it.Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bittersweet
I have no idea why but I’ve always like bittersweet; the plant that has the bright red berries. I think this was the first flower-type of thing I ever gave my bride-to-be many, many years ago.The picture here is also bittersweet. This is my eldest daughter’s hand. Embraced of course by that of her now fiance’s hand while showing off the shiny thing around the ring finger of her left hand.
I’ve got some time to come to grips with this – the idea of a daughter moving possibly far, far away. I’m happy for her – she deserves this and has waited patiently for it.
Daughter and fiancé are now planning the wedding, which should take place sometime
next year.
A big "what if?"
I’m sort of reading a book called “Savage Peace” which is about he year 1919 and how our country was changing after WWI. There’s a lot in this book and this is not a review or summary. But the book got me thinking about something.
Bear with me – some of the questions might seems absurd or profane or just downright obnoxious to even ask, but for the sake of an odd argument I will ask them.
What if the United States had never entered WWI – on anybody’s side? What if we remained neutral?
It is important to note that we did not jump into this war and unlike WWII some decades later, we were not attacked and forced into it. President Wilson did a Kerry flip-flop on this one, first being against the war and then later committing troops and materiel to the effort.
The U.S. lost more than 120,000 men in the war. That’s bad.
Had we not entered the war Germany would have likely won the war. I imagine the landscape and mapping of western Europe would be hugely different than it is today. Germany’s borders might be bigger. Who knows how France would look today. But … and this is a big but …
If Germany HAD won the war, would there have been a climate for someone like Adolph Hitler to rise up in its aftermath, when the Germans had been beaten literally and figuratively by the world? Part of his message was one of Aryan pride. If the Germans had been on top, his message might have been lost and he may never have risen to the level of power he took on in later years.
No Hitler- then probably no WWII, no Holocaust. That’s good.
What about Russia? Some people accused Russia of being in cohoots with Germany in WWI when they stopped fighting which allowed Germany to focus its manpower on the western front of the war in Europe.
If the U.S. had not entered, would Germany have added Russia to its list of conquests? If that had happened – would there have been a Bolshevik revolution and the Communism and its world-wide campaign that followed? If not, then that’s good.
If we had not entered into the fight would we have built up our military to be strong enough to stave off a possible invasion or attack by Germany at some future point? That could be bad.
Back to France. If our omission from the war caused France to lose territory, become occupied and whatever else followed – would they have continued their colonial efforts and presence in Indo-China? If not or if they had left sooner, what would have happened in Vietnam?
Back to Russia – if perhaps no Communist revolution, then would Mao have surfaced in 1949 to lead China into its own Communist overhaul?
If none of this, would Japan have decided in 1941 to attack the U.S. anyway?
If this hadn’t happened, would we have helped rebuild them into the modern society they are today rather than remaining somewhat feudal in their government, culture, structure?
To carry the communism thing further, what happens to Cuba? The corrupt Batista regime might still have been overthrown by Castro and Che and company but without Russian support, would they have been communist or just possibly a new government?
I guess you could keep asking these questions on and on. Perhaps historians have addressed this and come up with good answers and reasons why we are better off for having fought in WWI but I’ve not read or heard them.
Bear with me – some of the questions might seems absurd or profane or just downright obnoxious to even ask, but for the sake of an odd argument I will ask them.
What if the United States had never entered WWI – on anybody’s side? What if we remained neutral?
It is important to note that we did not jump into this war and unlike WWII some decades later, we were not attacked and forced into it. President Wilson did a Kerry flip-flop on this one, first being against the war and then later committing troops and materiel to the effort.
The U.S. lost more than 120,000 men in the war. That’s bad.
Had we not entered the war Germany would have likely won the war. I imagine the landscape and mapping of western Europe would be hugely different than it is today. Germany’s borders might be bigger. Who knows how France would look today. But … and this is a big but …
If Germany HAD won the war, would there have been a climate for someone like Adolph Hitler to rise up in its aftermath, when the Germans had been beaten literally and figuratively by the world? Part of his message was one of Aryan pride. If the Germans had been on top, his message might have been lost and he may never have risen to the level of power he took on in later years.
No Hitler- then probably no WWII, no Holocaust. That’s good.
What about Russia? Some people accused Russia of being in cohoots with Germany in WWI when they stopped fighting which allowed Germany to focus its manpower on the western front of the war in Europe.
If the U.S. had not entered, would Germany have added Russia to its list of conquests? If that had happened – would there have been a Bolshevik revolution and the Communism and its world-wide campaign that followed? If not, then that’s good.
If we had not entered into the fight would we have built up our military to be strong enough to stave off a possible invasion or attack by Germany at some future point? That could be bad.
Back to France. If our omission from the war caused France to lose territory, become occupied and whatever else followed – would they have continued their colonial efforts and presence in Indo-China? If not or if they had left sooner, what would have happened in Vietnam?
Back to Russia – if perhaps no Communist revolution, then would Mao have surfaced in 1949 to lead China into its own Communist overhaul?
If none of this, would Japan have decided in 1941 to attack the U.S. anyway?
If this hadn’t happened, would we have helped rebuild them into the modern society they are today rather than remaining somewhat feudal in their government, culture, structure?
To carry the communism thing further, what happens to Cuba? The corrupt Batista regime might still have been overthrown by Castro and Che and company but without Russian support, would they have been communist or just possibly a new government?
I guess you could keep asking these questions on and on. Perhaps historians have addressed this and come up with good answers and reasons why we are better off for having fought in WWI but I’ve not read or heard them.
The music of your life
All of us grow up thinking the music we grew up listening to is the best and we’ll listen to it forever.
And in some cases that is true. An earlier generation grew up on big band, Sinatra etc. and to this day some of that era listen only to this style of music or at least they may think it is the only good music.
Others may have been raised on classical music; the Mozarts, Beethovens etc. and have kept with that throughout their lifetimes.
But what about those of us who spent our formative years listening to the popular music of our day? In my case that would be mostly rock. Now this is a broad genre and almost doesn’t work for my coming hypothesis but bear with me on this one.
I’m pretty eclectic in musical tastes and was in my teens. Everything from the Beach Boys, Beatles, James Taylor, Cream, Santana, Chicago, Doobies, Steely Dan, CSN – OK enough of mine. But also remember how very much music changed in the 60s – from sappy easy listening stuff and Kingston trio folk in the early years through the English invasion to the psychedelic years in the late 60s.
Now somewhat 40 years removed and counting, what am I listening to now? A lot of the above still (isn’t XM Radio great?!) and I’ve added new artists that have come along since then – U2, John Mayer, Coldplay, Diana Krall (which adds jazz to my listening repertoire) but I’ve also added various types of country which include people like Alison Kraus and Nickel Creek.
My point though is most of what I listen to now is at least a spin-off of a style or genre I had been listening to 30 years ago. Not necessarily new.
I’m wandering.
I also listened to do-wop, MoTown, silly one-hit-wonders, the Carpenters (sorry), John Denver – but do I listen to any of that today? No, unless I happen to hit an oldies station and wax nostalgic for a few moments. (OK, John Denver maybe but only when my daughter visits – and I have no idea why she took a liking to John Denver’s music.)
What about the kids of the 90s when grunge came along? Will those people still be listening to Nirvana when they are in their 60s?
What about hip-hop - especially rap? Obviously this is hugely popular but will those kids (both black and white) be listening to this stuff in their 50s or 60s? I doubt it.
Some genres are slightly less generational – country for one, jazz another and of course classical and for those, people probably DO tend to stay with their favorite style although even in country tastes change. Country is certainly different now with the more pop sounds of Rascal Flatts and others compared to earlier country of Johnny Cash or even before him with folks like Conway Twitty, Ernest Tubbs, Hank Williams (yes, the original Hank.) But still country tends to be country.
It is so easy for us to be myopic about our music and to think ours is and always will be the best. But I also think some of our time’s (OK the 60s and 70s – but I don’t include disco!) music is timeless.
I have no idea what I’ll be listening to when I cross that six-decade threshold before too very long but it probably won’t be the harder edged stuff.
And in some cases that is true. An earlier generation grew up on big band, Sinatra etc. and to this day some of that era listen only to this style of music or at least they may think it is the only good music.
Others may have been raised on classical music; the Mozarts, Beethovens etc. and have kept with that throughout their lifetimes.
But what about those of us who spent our formative years listening to the popular music of our day? In my case that would be mostly rock. Now this is a broad genre and almost doesn’t work for my coming hypothesis but bear with me on this one.
I’m pretty eclectic in musical tastes and was in my teens. Everything from the Beach Boys, Beatles, James Taylor, Cream, Santana, Chicago, Doobies, Steely Dan, CSN – OK enough of mine. But also remember how very much music changed in the 60s – from sappy easy listening stuff and Kingston trio folk in the early years through the English invasion to the psychedelic years in the late 60s.
Now somewhat 40 years removed and counting, what am I listening to now? A lot of the above still (isn’t XM Radio great?!) and I’ve added new artists that have come along since then – U2, John Mayer, Coldplay, Diana Krall (which adds jazz to my listening repertoire) but I’ve also added various types of country which include people like Alison Kraus and Nickel Creek.
My point though is most of what I listen to now is at least a spin-off of a style or genre I had been listening to 30 years ago. Not necessarily new.
I’m wandering.
I also listened to do-wop, MoTown, silly one-hit-wonders, the Carpenters (sorry), John Denver – but do I listen to any of that today? No, unless I happen to hit an oldies station and wax nostalgic for a few moments. (OK, John Denver maybe but only when my daughter visits – and I have no idea why she took a liking to John Denver’s music.)
What about the kids of the 90s when grunge came along? Will those people still be listening to Nirvana when they are in their 60s?
What about hip-hop - especially rap? Obviously this is hugely popular but will those kids (both black and white) be listening to this stuff in their 50s or 60s? I doubt it.
Some genres are slightly less generational – country for one, jazz another and of course classical and for those, people probably DO tend to stay with their favorite style although even in country tastes change. Country is certainly different now with the more pop sounds of Rascal Flatts and others compared to earlier country of Johnny Cash or even before him with folks like Conway Twitty, Ernest Tubbs, Hank Williams (yes, the original Hank.) But still country tends to be country.
It is so easy for us to be myopic about our music and to think ours is and always will be the best. But I also think some of our time’s (OK the 60s and 70s – but I don’t include disco!) music is timeless.
I have no idea what I’ll be listening to when I cross that six-decade threshold before too very long but it probably won’t be the harder edged stuff.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Learning to play
Not sure why I would think of this except that I was watching some of the U.S. Open and since I used to play a lot of tennis …
Most kids grab a ball and just go play, shoot a few baskets. Or they start throwing around a baseball, somebody grabs a bat and then they have the makings of a pick-up game.
When I was ten, I found a tennis racket at someone’s house. I had never played and didn’t have the first idea what to do. I asked if I could borrow it and the people said, yes.
But instead of going to a court and hitting against a wall or something, I got a book. It was the rules of tennis. I learned about scoring, deuces, ads, let serves – all that stuff. Most people would hit the ball around somewhat and then perhaps start thinking about the rules.
But not me. By the time I hit the court for the first time, I knew everything there was to know about the rules and was ready to drive everybody crazy.
I did go on to play and actually got pretty good but I think I peaked in my early 20s. I got smarter but slower and lost my drive or something in my 40s.
If my 50+ year-old knees could take it, I’d love to get back out on the court and try again. One of my very much younger daughters wants to play so I need to find a court out in the boondocks where we live and see if she has what it takes.
Most kids grab a ball and just go play, shoot a few baskets. Or they start throwing around a baseball, somebody grabs a bat and then they have the makings of a pick-up game.
When I was ten, I found a tennis racket at someone’s house. I had never played and didn’t have the first idea what to do. I asked if I could borrow it and the people said, yes.
But instead of going to a court and hitting against a wall or something, I got a book. It was the rules of tennis. I learned about scoring, deuces, ads, let serves – all that stuff. Most people would hit the ball around somewhat and then perhaps start thinking about the rules.
But not me. By the time I hit the court for the first time, I knew everything there was to know about the rules and was ready to drive everybody crazy.
I did go on to play and actually got pretty good but I think I peaked in my early 20s. I got smarter but slower and lost my drive or something in my 40s.
If my 50+ year-old knees could take it, I’d love to get back out on the court and try again. One of my very much younger daughters wants to play so I need to find a court out in the boondocks where we live and see if she has what it takes.
Friday, August 24, 2007
My personal boycott (for as long as it lasts)
Some things you just can’t help or at least you can plead ignorance.
Like the surprise today when I pulled off my boots. I bought a pair of Ariats last year – partly because I wanted to; partly because they were Ariats; and partly because I’ve always wanted a pair of solid black boots, none of the prissy colored crap that stands-in for the top part of so many boots these days. But this is not about boots.
I looked in the boot to double check size etc. and realized, (gasp!) that they were made in China. I’m sorry. I had no idea. I’d take them back if I could. I’m sure it is next to impossible to buy cheap stuff made in America. Only China it seems can make the really cheap stuff we need to buy at Wal Mart. But cowboy boots? Please!
Somewhere John Wayne is changing positions.
I hoped – figured – guessed that most boots were made in Texas from the leather taken from the hides of longhorn cattle raised among the prickly pear.
Does China even have any cattle?
My boycott is not to avoid things made in China. That would likely be impossible. What I intend to boycott – for as long as I can hold out – are the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I will NOT be going.
I am still finding it odd that going back to 1980, we refused to go to Russia for the summer Olympics because they had invaded Afghanistan the winter before. We still have some sort of embargo toward/against (I am never certain which direction these things run) Cuba – except for really good expensive Cuban cigars. I just heard a report today that Bruce Willis smokes four expensive Cuban cigars every day. That adds up to more than $30,000 per year for those cigars. That ought to pay for a few of Fidel’s uniforms.
Back to the Olympics. It was easy to boycott in 1980. The Russian economy was tanking. The cold war had perhaps reached its apex. Few American companies saw their future in the soon to dissolve Soviet Union.
China on the other hand has billions (to quote Carl Sagan; God rest his cosmic soul) of current and potential consumers for American made products. So our Fortune 500s are falling all over themselves to be Olympic sponsors. We’re shipping so much of our steel to China that there isn’t enough for us. Have you priced anything made of steel lately? I don’t buy much but I do buy fence posts. 10-15 years ago I could get them for under $2 each on sale. Now they approach $4 apiece in some places.
Beijing is on a building spree to get everything spruced up for the hordes of athletes, journos and tourists who will flock there next year. I will not be one of them.
There is no connection whatsoever with the following and the former but … back in Idi Amin’s days (or Papa Docs, Pol Pot – pick your favorite dictator and human rights violator), if by chance, one of their countries could have hosted the Olympics or even any special event of any kind. Do you think we’d send our athletes? Of course not you say but I’m being silly. China is not Uganda, or Haiti or Cambodia.
But what are they? They are still one of the five countries under Communist control or government (Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam round out the list). If they didn’t have those bazillion people do you thing we’d even care? Would Coke be a proud sponsor of the Laotian Games? Doubt it. Cuba, maybe, but only because they make a lot of good baseball players and pretty good rum I hear (oh, and cigars).
So until I hear that Chinese people can do what they want to do, go to church when and where they want to, travel freely, don’t use prisoners to make exported products that sell below cost and in general start behaving like a good portion of the rest of the world, then I intend to not go to the Olympics and to make this even more serious, not watch any of them on TV.
Check back with me in summer of ’08 to see how I’m doing.
Like the surprise today when I pulled off my boots. I bought a pair of Ariats last year – partly because I wanted to; partly because they were Ariats; and partly because I’ve always wanted a pair of solid black boots, none of the prissy colored crap that stands-in for the top part of so many boots these days. But this is not about boots.
I looked in the boot to double check size etc. and realized, (gasp!) that they were made in China. I’m sorry. I had no idea. I’d take them back if I could. I’m sure it is next to impossible to buy cheap stuff made in America. Only China it seems can make the really cheap stuff we need to buy at Wal Mart. But cowboy boots? Please!
Somewhere John Wayne is changing positions.
I hoped – figured – guessed that most boots were made in Texas from the leather taken from the hides of longhorn cattle raised among the prickly pear.
Does China even have any cattle?
My boycott is not to avoid things made in China. That would likely be impossible. What I intend to boycott – for as long as I can hold out – are the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I will NOT be going.
I am still finding it odd that going back to 1980, we refused to go to Russia for the summer Olympics because they had invaded Afghanistan the winter before. We still have some sort of embargo toward/against (I am never certain which direction these things run) Cuba – except for really good expensive Cuban cigars. I just heard a report today that Bruce Willis smokes four expensive Cuban cigars every day. That adds up to more than $30,000 per year for those cigars. That ought to pay for a few of Fidel’s uniforms.
Back to the Olympics. It was easy to boycott in 1980. The Russian economy was tanking. The cold war had perhaps reached its apex. Few American companies saw their future in the soon to dissolve Soviet Union.
China on the other hand has billions (to quote Carl Sagan; God rest his cosmic soul) of current and potential consumers for American made products. So our Fortune 500s are falling all over themselves to be Olympic sponsors. We’re shipping so much of our steel to China that there isn’t enough for us. Have you priced anything made of steel lately? I don’t buy much but I do buy fence posts. 10-15 years ago I could get them for under $2 each on sale. Now they approach $4 apiece in some places.
Beijing is on a building spree to get everything spruced up for the hordes of athletes, journos and tourists who will flock there next year. I will not be one of them.
There is no connection whatsoever with the following and the former but … back in Idi Amin’s days (or Papa Docs, Pol Pot – pick your favorite dictator and human rights violator), if by chance, one of their countries could have hosted the Olympics or even any special event of any kind. Do you think we’d send our athletes? Of course not you say but I’m being silly. China is not Uganda, or Haiti or Cambodia.
But what are they? They are still one of the five countries under Communist control or government (Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam round out the list). If they didn’t have those bazillion people do you thing we’d even care? Would Coke be a proud sponsor of the Laotian Games? Doubt it. Cuba, maybe, but only because they make a lot of good baseball players and pretty good rum I hear (oh, and cigars).
So until I hear that Chinese people can do what they want to do, go to church when and where they want to, travel freely, don’t use prisoners to make exported products that sell below cost and in general start behaving like a good portion of the rest of the world, then I intend to not go to the Olympics and to make this even more serious, not watch any of them on TV.
Check back with me in summer of ’08 to see how I’m doing.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Joining the Circus
For some reason I was thinking about the circus and the phrase people use – “Run away to join the circus.” It is usually said out of frustration with a current environment or situation with (I guess) the idea that the circus is this great place and we can escape.
Where did this idea and phrase come from?
Think about it.
What do circus performers do? They spend their lives traveling around in trailers hauling a bunch of animals and equipment. Pull into towns all over the country, spend all day setting up the stuff, then change clothes and spend all-night hanging upside down from a trapeze in a leotard. Then when it’s all over, shovel out the elephant poo. Pack up and do it all over again the next day.
I don’t know about you but the idea of falling off a trapeze, getting stomped on by an elephant or mauled by a big tiger does not seem particularly appealing to me.
I’m looking for the upside here.
If all I wanted to do was escape, I’d find something …
French foreign legion? By the way. do you know anything about them? If movies are to be believed (and please don’t tell me you can’t) then the foreign legion was where mostly bad guys went to escape jail or something. This must have been before people were sent to Australia (or maybe after it filled up and the authorities figured they’d better not send any more bad guys down-under) You know the judge says “15 years to life OR you can join the Foreign Legion.” A sort of Hobson’s choice but … Most of the time these guys ended up fighting berbers or nomads or something in the Arabian desert. Hot, sandy, and big snakes slithering across the sands at night to crawl into your tent … Once again, what are people thinking?
Personally I think Alaska might be a better choice but they have grizzlies. Caribbean islands? – do the names Erin and Dean mean anything right now? I’m not sure there is anyplace safe left to go. Maybe I’ll just stay at home.
Where did this idea and phrase come from?
Think about it.
What do circus performers do? They spend their lives traveling around in trailers hauling a bunch of animals and equipment. Pull into towns all over the country, spend all day setting up the stuff, then change clothes and spend all-night hanging upside down from a trapeze in a leotard. Then when it’s all over, shovel out the elephant poo. Pack up and do it all over again the next day.
I don’t know about you but the idea of falling off a trapeze, getting stomped on by an elephant or mauled by a big tiger does not seem particularly appealing to me.
I’m looking for the upside here.
If all I wanted to do was escape, I’d find something …
French foreign legion? By the way. do you know anything about them? If movies are to be believed (and please don’t tell me you can’t) then the foreign legion was where mostly bad guys went to escape jail or something. This must have been before people were sent to Australia (or maybe after it filled up and the authorities figured they’d better not send any more bad guys down-under) You know the judge says “15 years to life OR you can join the Foreign Legion.” A sort of Hobson’s choice but … Most of the time these guys ended up fighting berbers or nomads or something in the Arabian desert. Hot, sandy, and big snakes slithering across the sands at night to crawl into your tent … Once again, what are people thinking?
Personally I think Alaska might be a better choice but they have grizzlies. Caribbean islands? – do the names Erin and Dean mean anything right now? I’m not sure there is anyplace safe left to go. Maybe I’ll just stay at home.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ANWR
I haven't been hearing much about this of late but it may be that I've been just too busy with other things and listening to music (not news) on XM. But I recall some of the debate about whether we should open up this Alaskan wilderness area to oil exploration and drilling. I tended to lean toward letting it happen since it was unlikely most americans would even get to see it and we somehow needed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. As gas hovers once again over $2.60 per gallon I still feel strongly about the last part but am having second thoughts about what we should do in this area in the northeast of Alaska.
I've heard about the vast amounts of oil in the arctic. Two responses: I read (and I know you can't always believe what you read but you have to start somewhere) that the oil pipeline we built back in the 1970s to pump Prudhoe Bay oil to the other side of Alaska is running at 50% capacity. I don't know why. Item #2 - experts estimate that the amount of oil in ANWR is somewhere between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels. That sounds like a lot of oil to me but translated to usage - less than 2 years of U.S. oil consumption. And the difference it would make in the price of gas at the pump? 1 cent per gallon less.
So for me, I'll gladly bear the extra penny at the pump to keep this 19 million acres available for the Dall sheep, grizzlies and other assorted critters that call this place home.
I've heard about the vast amounts of oil in the arctic. Two responses: I read (and I know you can't always believe what you read but you have to start somewhere) that the oil pipeline we built back in the 1970s to pump Prudhoe Bay oil to the other side of Alaska is running at 50% capacity. I don't know why. Item #2 - experts estimate that the amount of oil in ANWR is somewhere between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels. That sounds like a lot of oil to me but translated to usage - less than 2 years of U.S. oil consumption. And the difference it would make in the price of gas at the pump? 1 cent per gallon less.
So for me, I'll gladly bear the extra penny at the pump to keep this 19 million acres available for the Dall sheep, grizzlies and other assorted critters that call this place home.
Sophie Scholl- The Final Days
I've heard about this movie and story for more than a year and put the video on hold at our local library. It finally came in last week. And I finally watched it.
A couple of caveats - it is in German with subtitles and the pacing and style are NOT like the Bourne movies.
But it is a pretty good story - in fact probably a great one.
Simply put Sophie and her brother and some like-minded college-age friends, publish leaflets etc. denouncing Hitler and his govt. I should point out this is set in 1943 in Germany.
What is remarkable is that this is based on a true story. Some of our generation may recall various protest, marches, sit-ins etc. during the height of the Vietnam war. Some may have even been injured by tear gas or overly-zealous law-enforcement and let's not forget the 4 students killed at Kent St. Univ. in 1970.
But apart from that tragedy, few of the protesters were ever called upon to defend their actions against penalty of imprisonment and certainly not death.
It was astounding to see these young people so committed to their cause that they would risk death to make sure other students (I was surprised their goal was mostly to educate college students about Hitler and what was really happening.) knew the truth about the war.
One great scene - not cinematically complex at all - is a verbal tennis match between Sophie and her German interrogator. He's armed with the full force of the Gestapo and all that that means. She's armed only with her convictions and amazing composure under great pressure. This scene alone is worth the movie as she goes toe-to-toe with him, never backs down and you can see in his eyes she has planted the seeds of either doubt of his own position or a sense of respect that she gains in his mind.
If you don't know the ending, I won't spoil it for you. I found it more compelling than a book I read on this subject. The book was written in the 40s or 50s so its style too was slow and detailed. I've read several reviews and they all talk about what a great spiritual story this was and how important faith was in their lives and actions. I'll confess I didn't see this as the over-arching point of the movie. Yes Sophie prayed more than once. Her mother admonishes her to remember Jesus. And perhaps without their faith, none of them would have done what they did. But to make this out to be a Christian movie or anything like that is a disservice to their story.
You don't have to care about Germany, WWII or similar things to appreciate a good story about young people standing up for what they believe.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The Roads Not Taken
With apologies to Robert Frost for mis-using his wonderful poem in something so mundane as a blog, here are my musings on big choices not made – choosing not to do something is still making a choice – albeit sometimes in a negative sense. Waxing way too philosophical here but my focus is more on what I chose NOT to do rather than what I did.
They say we think more about the things we didn’t do rather than the things we do. Often these are a source of regret. I don’t list them in that manner although in some cases they do make me wonder.
Here are some of the big ones in chronological order:
Summer of 1962 – My parents were finalizing their divorce. My dad asked me one day who I would rather live with (tough question for a father to ask and tough for a 10 year-old to answer) so I would be prepared in case I had to go before the judge. Honestly at that time I was closer to my mother but had also just been through a pretty rough few months. I told my dad I wanted to stay with him. I never went before a judge and from that point on, I lived with my dad until I left home some 14 years later. In the 1960s it was pretty rare for a child to stay with a father but I’m glad it worked out this way. My dad did a pretty good job of taking care of and raising me. Some day I’ve got to thank him again for that.
Spring 1971 – I played pretty competitive tennis during high-school and during the spring of my senior year started to play for some college recruiters – they may have been coaches but I can’t remember for sure. One day I went to Corsicana, Texas to play at Navarro State Junior College. Corsicana is home to the famous fruitcake-making place. At any rate I was offered a scholarship to this Jr. College. I should note that I was not in the big leagues – I was pretty good but not four-year-NCAA good. After we played we took a tour of the campus and dorms etc. What I recall was that their dorms were in a small motel where the rooms were cinder block walls and it was not on-campus and pretty dingy. I held off giving my answer. A week or so later I played for another JUCO – Paris Jr. College and was hoping they’d make an offer. But my “tryout” must not have been as impressive and they didn’t call back. Meanwhile I decided to go to a four-year school so I enrolled in UTA – the Arlington campus of the Univ. of Texas. I know in my heart (and my game!) that I wasn’t pro-quality material but I always wonder what would have happened if I had accepted that first scholarship and been able to play a couple of years of really competitive tennis.
Late Spring 1975 – two pretty big choices not made
a) Even though by now I was pretty set on a career of some sort in TV or Film, college campuses are pretty full of recruiters for all sorts of things. One of which was an oil company. I can’t even remember their name but the deal was – spend a month on a rig in East Texas (still a pretty big oil patch at that time) then head off to either a place in the south of Iran (the Shah was still the main guy back then) or to a rig in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. Who knows exactly why but they offered me a position of sorts but only to go to Iran. I only wanted to go to Scotland so I declined.
b) Around the same time I applied to the Peace Corps. Their process (then) took lots of paperwork and time but I finished it up sometime in late Spring or early summer of 1975. I didn’t hear back for a long time until I think the fall. By then I was working for a sign-maker and also as a photographer’s asst. at a small studio. Then the letter came telling me I had been accepted into the Peace Corps. Fill out the paperwork and report to such and such place where I would then go to the island of Tonga. Now go figure but I was dead-set on going to north Africa. I had met a lady who did some National Geographic work in Morocco and I wanted to go there. But those openings were taken so I was assigned to the south pacific. So in my 21 year-old wisdom, I wrote back and said I didn’t want to go to Tonga. I guess you don’t say no to the Peace Corps (Ask not …) because I never head from them again.
Spring 1977
Patti and I had been married less than a year and a friend hooked me up with an oil company in Texas about another job. (What is it about oil companies in Texas?) We took a trip to Texas to see my dad and while there were able to squeeze in an interview. It went well but somehow it just didn’t seem right. The money was OK but nothing to get rich on. Within a few years the oil “bidness” in Texas had one of those “busts” so looking back this is one I feel pretty comfortable about turning it down.
Fall 1989
After more than 11 years working at CBN, I was called in one day to be told that I was being let go in a re-structuring of management etc. – a not-so-thinly-veiled euphemism for “your fired”. But at the same time I lost my management job I was offered a consolation job going back to my old department. I would keep my same salary etc. The catch was someone in that department would be let go instead of me. I remember crying a lot about this one but we/I knew I couldn’t keep my job at the expense of someone else’s so I turned down the offer. A little while later the same position came open again (don’t recall all the details) but this time for less money. I think they went ahead and let the other person go anyway. I turned them down again. Keep in mind, I’m out of work so this doesn’t seem like the best decision going but in my gut/heart/spirit – wherever these things reside, I knew it wasn’t right. I needed to move on. The upshot of all this, one year later to the day from my termination, I was offered the position which brought us to Missouri, where we still live after more than 16 years. And we’ve able to do many things we’d never have been able to do in the city back in Virginia.
Winter 1994/5
Once again I found myself in the category called “unemployed”. I lost my position in some sort of shuffle where new people came in and the old one (me) had to go. I’m still not sure of the whole truth and nothing but the truth on this one but anyway you slice it, I lost my job. During this time of course I’m sending out resumes right and left but not much is happening.
An acquaintance calls from Chicago about a position at a TV station. I fly up on what must have been the coldest day in Chicago history – the wind was blowing off the lake big time and it was just plain frigid! We talked all morning. Had lunch at a restaurant right out of the Godfather and then talked all afternoon. I fly home.
During the same time I had interviewed for a position locally but nothing was definite yet. It needed some more approvals to be official. But once again that old gut/heart thing told me to decline the Chicago job BEFORE it was offered AND while I was waiting on a final decision on the pending job here. So I make the call and tell the nice folks in Chicago to take me out of consideration. Two weeks later I started the job that I hold today.
For the last year or so I’ve been more focused on the decisions I make with a goal to avoid regret. Trying to make conscious choices to DO things rather than not do something. A friend and I were talking today and he kept coming back to the amount of time we have left to make a difference and how it only grows smaller. I don’t want to dwell on that – I’d just like to use this small look back as some sort of reminder to make good choices.
They say we think more about the things we didn’t do rather than the things we do. Often these are a source of regret. I don’t list them in that manner although in some cases they do make me wonder.
Here are some of the big ones in chronological order:
Summer of 1962 – My parents were finalizing their divorce. My dad asked me one day who I would rather live with (tough question for a father to ask and tough for a 10 year-old to answer) so I would be prepared in case I had to go before the judge. Honestly at that time I was closer to my mother but had also just been through a pretty rough few months. I told my dad I wanted to stay with him. I never went before a judge and from that point on, I lived with my dad until I left home some 14 years later. In the 1960s it was pretty rare for a child to stay with a father but I’m glad it worked out this way. My dad did a pretty good job of taking care of and raising me. Some day I’ve got to thank him again for that.
Spring 1971 – I played pretty competitive tennis during high-school and during the spring of my senior year started to play for some college recruiters – they may have been coaches but I can’t remember for sure. One day I went to Corsicana, Texas to play at Navarro State Junior College. Corsicana is home to the famous fruitcake-making place. At any rate I was offered a scholarship to this Jr. College. I should note that I was not in the big leagues – I was pretty good but not four-year-NCAA good. After we played we took a tour of the campus and dorms etc. What I recall was that their dorms were in a small motel where the rooms were cinder block walls and it was not on-campus and pretty dingy. I held off giving my answer. A week or so later I played for another JUCO – Paris Jr. College and was hoping they’d make an offer. But my “tryout” must not have been as impressive and they didn’t call back. Meanwhile I decided to go to a four-year school so I enrolled in UTA – the Arlington campus of the Univ. of Texas. I know in my heart (and my game!) that I wasn’t pro-quality material but I always wonder what would have happened if I had accepted that first scholarship and been able to play a couple of years of really competitive tennis.
Late Spring 1975 – two pretty big choices not made
a) Even though by now I was pretty set on a career of some sort in TV or Film, college campuses are pretty full of recruiters for all sorts of things. One of which was an oil company. I can’t even remember their name but the deal was – spend a month on a rig in East Texas (still a pretty big oil patch at that time) then head off to either a place in the south of Iran (the Shah was still the main guy back then) or to a rig in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. Who knows exactly why but they offered me a position of sorts but only to go to Iran. I only wanted to go to Scotland so I declined.
b) Around the same time I applied to the Peace Corps. Their process (then) took lots of paperwork and time but I finished it up sometime in late Spring or early summer of 1975. I didn’t hear back for a long time until I think the fall. By then I was working for a sign-maker and also as a photographer’s asst. at a small studio. Then the letter came telling me I had been accepted into the Peace Corps. Fill out the paperwork and report to such and such place where I would then go to the island of Tonga. Now go figure but I was dead-set on going to north Africa. I had met a lady who did some National Geographic work in Morocco and I wanted to go there. But those openings were taken so I was assigned to the south pacific. So in my 21 year-old wisdom, I wrote back and said I didn’t want to go to Tonga. I guess you don’t say no to the Peace Corps (Ask not …) because I never head from them again.
Spring 1977
Patti and I had been married less than a year and a friend hooked me up with an oil company in Texas about another job. (What is it about oil companies in Texas?) We took a trip to Texas to see my dad and while there were able to squeeze in an interview. It went well but somehow it just didn’t seem right. The money was OK but nothing to get rich on. Within a few years the oil “bidness” in Texas had one of those “busts” so looking back this is one I feel pretty comfortable about turning it down.
Fall 1989
After more than 11 years working at CBN, I was called in one day to be told that I was being let go in a re-structuring of management etc. – a not-so-thinly-veiled euphemism for “your fired”. But at the same time I lost my management job I was offered a consolation job going back to my old department. I would keep my same salary etc. The catch was someone in that department would be let go instead of me. I remember crying a lot about this one but we/I knew I couldn’t keep my job at the expense of someone else’s so I turned down the offer. A little while later the same position came open again (don’t recall all the details) but this time for less money. I think they went ahead and let the other person go anyway. I turned them down again. Keep in mind, I’m out of work so this doesn’t seem like the best decision going but in my gut/heart/spirit – wherever these things reside, I knew it wasn’t right. I needed to move on. The upshot of all this, one year later to the day from my termination, I was offered the position which brought us to Missouri, where we still live after more than 16 years. And we’ve able to do many things we’d never have been able to do in the city back in Virginia.
Winter 1994/5
Once again I found myself in the category called “unemployed”. I lost my position in some sort of shuffle where new people came in and the old one (me) had to go. I’m still not sure of the whole truth and nothing but the truth on this one but anyway you slice it, I lost my job. During this time of course I’m sending out resumes right and left but not much is happening.
An acquaintance calls from Chicago about a position at a TV station. I fly up on what must have been the coldest day in Chicago history – the wind was blowing off the lake big time and it was just plain frigid! We talked all morning. Had lunch at a restaurant right out of the Godfather and then talked all afternoon. I fly home.
During the same time I had interviewed for a position locally but nothing was definite yet. It needed some more approvals to be official. But once again that old gut/heart thing told me to decline the Chicago job BEFORE it was offered AND while I was waiting on a final decision on the pending job here. So I make the call and tell the nice folks in Chicago to take me out of consideration. Two weeks later I started the job that I hold today.
For the last year or so I’ve been more focused on the decisions I make with a goal to avoid regret. Trying to make conscious choices to DO things rather than not do something. A friend and I were talking today and he kept coming back to the amount of time we have left to make a difference and how it only grows smaller. I don’t want to dwell on that – I’d just like to use this small look back as some sort of reminder to make good choices.
Water, water everywhere.
In the July/August edition of Fast Company magazine, is an article about bottled water.
I don’t drink a lot of it; personally I really like our well water. It has good taste, I hope some good minerals and hopefully does NOT have too much bad stuff.
But this article opened my eyes to a few things and reminded me of some others.
Most major brands of bottled water are simply filtered or purified tap water from somewhere. I just read today that the FDA (I think the FDA) ordered Pepsi to change their label on Aquafina so it clearly stated that this was simply tap water from somewhere.
Some trivia – Poland Spring water – really comes from a spring in Maine. ANd if you really want to know more about water than you need to know, check their web site - lots of pictures etc. about the process, history etc. Poland Spring is part of the Nestle waters group.
Aquafina #1 seller in the U.S. (Pepsi) and Dasani #2 (Coke) are both filtered or purified tap water from all the cities in which they have bottling plants for Coke, Pepsi etc. which are also about 90% water.
San Pelligrino water comes from Sal Pellegrino Terme, Italy BUT it has no bubbles. Bubbles are taken from water in Tuscany and trucked to San Pelligrino. Another note about Pellegrino – it takes two liters of mineral water to wash each bottle that will then hold ONE liter of Pelligrino.
Fiji water – which I guess is popular in Hollywood (I spent several weeks there in the early 80s on a video shoot and Perrier was all the rage back then.) really does come from the island of Fiji but many of the islands citizens can’t even get clean drinking water. The plant to bottle the water in Fiji has generators since the local utility can’t provide enough power. Transporting plastic bottles TO Fiji and then shipping them back out again full, is about half the cost of each bottle of Fiji water.
Perrier comes out of the ground in France with bubbles.
Evian – another water from France but sans bubbles or a “still” water.
The City of San Francisco gets it water from Yosemite National Park and it is so clean that the FDA doesn’t even require it to be filtered.
In blind taste tests most Americans can not tell the difference between tap water, springwater or the so-called luxury waters.
Nestle is a big bottler of water and recently reduced the amount of plastic in its bottle. OK I know I said I like well water but I also drink some bottled water and we just bought some Nestle’s and the bottle is very thin and flimsy feeling. Crushes easy when you finish.
The Fast Company article says that we still throw away almost 40 billion – yep BILLION - empty bottles from water each year.
All these pieces of information may not mean much but it got me to thinking about the whole idea of bottled water. Healthy for me but expensive, uses up gas and other energy to bottle and transport and at a time when perhaps 1 billion people in the world do not have a reliable source of drinking water, gives a moment of pause and I do think about that every time I take a drink now.
I don’t drink a lot of it; personally I really like our well water. It has good taste, I hope some good minerals and hopefully does NOT have too much bad stuff.
But this article opened my eyes to a few things and reminded me of some others.
Most major brands of bottled water are simply filtered or purified tap water from somewhere. I just read today that the FDA (I think the FDA) ordered Pepsi to change their label on Aquafina so it clearly stated that this was simply tap water from somewhere.
Some trivia – Poland Spring water – really comes from a spring in Maine. ANd if you really want to know more about water than you need to know, check their web site - lots of pictures etc. about the process, history etc. Poland Spring is part of the Nestle waters group.
Aquafina #1 seller in the U.S. (Pepsi) and Dasani #2 (Coke) are both filtered or purified tap water from all the cities in which they have bottling plants for Coke, Pepsi etc. which are also about 90% water.
San Pelligrino water comes from Sal Pellegrino Terme, Italy BUT it has no bubbles. Bubbles are taken from water in Tuscany and trucked to San Pelligrino. Another note about Pellegrino – it takes two liters of mineral water to wash each bottle that will then hold ONE liter of Pelligrino.
Fiji water – which I guess is popular in Hollywood (I spent several weeks there in the early 80s on a video shoot and Perrier was all the rage back then.) really does come from the island of Fiji but many of the islands citizens can’t even get clean drinking water. The plant to bottle the water in Fiji has generators since the local utility can’t provide enough power. Transporting plastic bottles TO Fiji and then shipping them back out again full, is about half the cost of each bottle of Fiji water.
Perrier comes out of the ground in France with bubbles.
Evian – another water from France but sans bubbles or a “still” water.
The City of San Francisco gets it water from Yosemite National Park and it is so clean that the FDA doesn’t even require it to be filtered.
In blind taste tests most Americans can not tell the difference between tap water, springwater or the so-called luxury waters.
Nestle is a big bottler of water and recently reduced the amount of plastic in its bottle. OK I know I said I like well water but I also drink some bottled water and we just bought some Nestle’s and the bottle is very thin and flimsy feeling. Crushes easy when you finish.
The Fast Company article says that we still throw away almost 40 billion – yep BILLION - empty bottles from water each year.
All these pieces of information may not mean much but it got me to thinking about the whole idea of bottled water. Healthy for me but expensive, uses up gas and other energy to bottle and transport and at a time when perhaps 1 billion people in the world do not have a reliable source of drinking water, gives a moment of pause and I do think about that every time I take a drink now.
Friday, July 20, 2007
My top ten (OK really 16)
Seems like almost everyone has a top ten list of their favorite something or other so here’s my attempt to list my top ten movies I’ve seen. (OK so it’s actually 16 movies, sorry.) Some of these are cheesy and clichéd but hey, I liked them for reasons I’ll list next to the title.
For #1 it is a three way tie
1. The Godfather (1972) – still my favorite and one I frequently cited in classes when I would talk about editing and pacing. But I have to admit when I watched it again a few years ago, it didn’t hold up as well as I thought.
1. Casablanca (1942) – I guess somewhere deep inside I’m a romantic and this old tale touches that somehow. And probably every man wishes he could have been like Ric at some point and gotten that girl.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – classic tale of course but I think my memory of how and where I saw it has as much to do as anything. My dad and I watched at a drive-in in Dallas on a hot summer night. In addition to everything else to like about the movie and the story, I’ve always liked the opening title sequence.
4. Witness (1985) – Not sure where to start but I’ve watched this movie 5 or 6 times and I usually find something every time I watch. A look at culture clash between the English (us) and the Amish with some pretty decent straight drama by Harrison Ford.
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - just a big historical epic with great scenery, a sad story and a beautiful music score.
6. Shane (1953) – an old western with Alan Ladd, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson (Last Picture Show) and even (I think) Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton to most folks). What I remember as a kid who watched lots of westerns was the fight scene in the bar. I guess so many western bar scenes were big noisy places with lots of music and drinking and floozies. I recall this bar having a dirt floor and being very dark. Which is probably more like it really was. The only other western to evoke the same feelings of realism for me was Clint Eastwood’s, “Unforgiven.”
7. Stand by Me (1986) – who’d have thought Rob Reiner could take a short story by Stephen King (The Body) and make what is probably the best coming-of-age movie. And for you "24" fans – catch Keifer Sutherland in this.
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – another one I enjoyed but sorry to say it doesn’t hold up well with age. I guess for its time, there was nothing else like it in terms of an action movie, chase scenes, clever and witty writing and a sort of epic-look without being an epic.
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – unbelievably sad but perhaps Jack Nicholson at his all-time best.
Another tie
10. Dances with Wolves (1990) - Kevin Costner has never been able to match this. An almost epic of the west without being epic. Always hate seeing Eldon (Murphy Brown) get turned into a pin-cushion.
10. Braveheart (1995) – Another historical epic-like movie with lots to learn about character and human nature.
12. Schindler’s List (1993) – I read the book first and knew it would be a great movie and I’ve always been attracted to Holocaust stories (not sure why and not in a morbid way). Along with “The Color Purple” and “Saving Private Ryan”, this represents Spielberg’s best in doing serious work (not excluding ET as some of his best)
13. Back to the Future (1985) – may not hold up as well over time but still laugh-out-loud funny. Maybe I’ve just always liked Christopher Lloyd
14. Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Probably not supposed to like this one but just creepy enough and watching Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster is enjoyable as they “parry-and-thrust” with each other.
15. Kramer versus Kramer (1979) – as movies go not one of the best but will always hold a special place for me since my own life (long ago and far away) so closely paralled the little boy’s in this story. Hard for me to watch ( I read the book first.)
16. The Vikings (1958) – Huh? What in the world is a silly sword and falcon flick doing on a favorites list? This may have been the very first movie I ever saw on the big screen. Several scenes are still embedded in my head like the one where Tony Curtis sort of “sics” his falcon on Kirk Douglas and the bird claws his eye out. (I was six years old OK – boys like that sort of stuff) For some odd reason I always remember when Ernest Borgnine is forced to jump into a pit – sort of Viking hari-kari I guess – and he grabs somebody’s sword and yells “Odin!” and jumps to his death.
So there you have it. My top ten. OK 16 movies that will always be a part of my memorable moving-going experience.
I’m sure I’ve left out some obvious ones.
A short list of honorable mentions: The Big Chill, When Harry Met Sally, Bull Durham. I'm sure I'll think of more.
For #1 it is a three way tie
1. The Godfather (1972) – still my favorite and one I frequently cited in classes when I would talk about editing and pacing. But I have to admit when I watched it again a few years ago, it didn’t hold up as well as I thought.
1. Casablanca (1942) – I guess somewhere deep inside I’m a romantic and this old tale touches that somehow. And probably every man wishes he could have been like Ric at some point and gotten that girl.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – classic tale of course but I think my memory of how and where I saw it has as much to do as anything. My dad and I watched at a drive-in in Dallas on a hot summer night. In addition to everything else to like about the movie and the story, I’ve always liked the opening title sequence.
4. Witness (1985) – Not sure where to start but I’ve watched this movie 5 or 6 times and I usually find something every time I watch. A look at culture clash between the English (us) and the Amish with some pretty decent straight drama by Harrison Ford.
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - just a big historical epic with great scenery, a sad story and a beautiful music score.
6. Shane (1953) – an old western with Alan Ladd, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson (Last Picture Show) and even (I think) Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton to most folks). What I remember as a kid who watched lots of westerns was the fight scene in the bar. I guess so many western bar scenes were big noisy places with lots of music and drinking and floozies. I recall this bar having a dirt floor and being very dark. Which is probably more like it really was. The only other western to evoke the same feelings of realism for me was Clint Eastwood’s, “Unforgiven.”
7. Stand by Me (1986) – who’d have thought Rob Reiner could take a short story by Stephen King (The Body) and make what is probably the best coming-of-age movie. And for you "24" fans – catch Keifer Sutherland in this.
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – another one I enjoyed but sorry to say it doesn’t hold up well with age. I guess for its time, there was nothing else like it in terms of an action movie, chase scenes, clever and witty writing and a sort of epic-look without being an epic.
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – unbelievably sad but perhaps Jack Nicholson at his all-time best.
Another tie
10. Dances with Wolves (1990) - Kevin Costner has never been able to match this. An almost epic of the west without being epic. Always hate seeing Eldon (Murphy Brown) get turned into a pin-cushion.
10. Braveheart (1995) – Another historical epic-like movie with lots to learn about character and human nature.
12. Schindler’s List (1993) – I read the book first and knew it would be a great movie and I’ve always been attracted to Holocaust stories (not sure why and not in a morbid way). Along with “The Color Purple” and “Saving Private Ryan”, this represents Spielberg’s best in doing serious work (not excluding ET as some of his best)
13. Back to the Future (1985) – may not hold up as well over time but still laugh-out-loud funny. Maybe I’ve just always liked Christopher Lloyd
14. Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Probably not supposed to like this one but just creepy enough and watching Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster is enjoyable as they “parry-and-thrust” with each other.
15. Kramer versus Kramer (1979) – as movies go not one of the best but will always hold a special place for me since my own life (long ago and far away) so closely paralled the little boy’s in this story. Hard for me to watch ( I read the book first.)
16. The Vikings (1958) – Huh? What in the world is a silly sword and falcon flick doing on a favorites list? This may have been the very first movie I ever saw on the big screen. Several scenes are still embedded in my head like the one where Tony Curtis sort of “sics” his falcon on Kirk Douglas and the bird claws his eye out. (I was six years old OK – boys like that sort of stuff) For some odd reason I always remember when Ernest Borgnine is forced to jump into a pit – sort of Viking hari-kari I guess – and he grabs somebody’s sword and yells “Odin!” and jumps to his death.
So there you have it. My top ten. OK 16 movies that will always be a part of my memorable moving-going experience.
I’m sure I’ve left out some obvious ones.
A short list of honorable mentions: The Big Chill, When Harry Met Sally, Bull Durham. I'm sure I'll think of more.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
That's Right, You're not.
Lyle Lovett. Had to write something about the thin man from Texas. My sweet daughter took me to KC to see him as a pop's day gift. (Thanks Bean!)
Simply put - he and his large band put together quite a show. They played almost two hours but it whisked by so quickly. Not in style but in substance he reminds me of Alison Kraus (ironic since her brother Viktor plays with Lyle) i.e. a back-up band of top notch musicians. I think every one of Mr. Lovett's bandmates could probably play anything with anybody. My complaint with the show was the mix - for music it was fine but when he spoke, his mic was different and much quieter so I often missed what he had to say.
The venue - Starlight Theater in KC - is a nice old-feeling place. For all I know it could be brand new. Reminded me of someplace else - not sure where -perhaps Blossom Music center near Cleveland or the Hollywood Bowl.
KD Lang opened and while she has great pipes, I'm not familiar with her work and she needs some help in moving around the stage, She's no dancer and not particularly graceful. She performed barefoot - which I guess doesn't matter but still struck me odd.
Lyle played lots of material I wasn't familiar with but still enjoyed it all.
One surprise - I'm from Texas; that's right - you're not, so for me he will always be a little bit of a Texas swing band but if I had to categorize this particular show - jazzier. Nothing wrong with that - just was.
Since we live in the country (much to the chagrin of my daughter) she allowed that I could wear my cowboy hat. Thinking this would be at least a partly western crowd, I wore it along with my jeans and boots. I didn't see a single other cowboy hat in the place. Seems like the attire of choice for me was a tropical print shirt, shorts and sandals. I didn't get the memo.
But the best part of the show was spending several hours with my daughter. We talked about music, the Vietnam war, my screenplay - you name it. In the 2+ hour ride up, the couple of hours waiting for the show to start (we mis-timed our travel by quite a bit) and the 2+ our ride home gave us plenty of time to talk. Since she lives on her own now (all that big girl stuff) we don't have as much quality time anymore. So even if Lyle had been a bust (he wasn't) the time and trip would have been worth it.
So thanks to Lyle and special thanks to Bean!
p.s. Lyle does not have an official artist web-site or I'd link to it. The unofficial one hasn't been updated since 2005 or so.
Simply put - he and his large band put together quite a show. They played almost two hours but it whisked by so quickly. Not in style but in substance he reminds me of Alison Kraus (ironic since her brother Viktor plays with Lyle) i.e. a back-up band of top notch musicians. I think every one of Mr. Lovett's bandmates could probably play anything with anybody. My complaint with the show was the mix - for music it was fine but when he spoke, his mic was different and much quieter so I often missed what he had to say.
The venue - Starlight Theater in KC - is a nice old-feeling place. For all I know it could be brand new. Reminded me of someplace else - not sure where -perhaps Blossom Music center near Cleveland or the Hollywood Bowl.
KD Lang opened and while she has great pipes, I'm not familiar with her work and she needs some help in moving around the stage, She's no dancer and not particularly graceful. She performed barefoot - which I guess doesn't matter but still struck me odd.
Lyle played lots of material I wasn't familiar with but still enjoyed it all.
One surprise - I'm from Texas; that's right - you're not, so for me he will always be a little bit of a Texas swing band but if I had to categorize this particular show - jazzier. Nothing wrong with that - just was.
Since we live in the country (much to the chagrin of my daughter) she allowed that I could wear my cowboy hat. Thinking this would be at least a partly western crowd, I wore it along with my jeans and boots. I didn't see a single other cowboy hat in the place. Seems like the attire of choice for me was a tropical print shirt, shorts and sandals. I didn't get the memo.
But the best part of the show was spending several hours with my daughter. We talked about music, the Vietnam war, my screenplay - you name it. In the 2+ hour ride up, the couple of hours waiting for the show to start (we mis-timed our travel by quite a bit) and the 2+ our ride home gave us plenty of time to talk. Since she lives on her own now (all that big girl stuff) we don't have as much quality time anymore. So even if Lyle had been a bust (he wasn't) the time and trip would have been worth it.
So thanks to Lyle and special thanks to Bean!
p.s. Lyle does not have an official artist web-site or I'd link to it. The unofficial one hasn't been updated since 2005 or so.
Friday, June 29, 2007
You'd Have to see it to Believe it!
My wife and I were sitting in our rockers (yep we are old people already!) on our front porch this a.m. and our big fat black worthless cat saunters up. He needs at least a head scratch and to rub his head all over whatever part of your body you're willing to get black hair all over. Often he will climb up in a lap and start kneading with his front paws.
Today he sort of lay down on the concrete. Then I noticed a bird coming toward the porch quite rapidly. At first I thought it was heading for us, then it dipped and dove for the cat. Pretty strange until it happened again and again. For several minutes this bird - unsure what type - medium size with a sort of short forked tail - flew directly at our cat and my wife says the bird actually touched the cat at some point.
What did our big fat ... cat do? Nothing. Did not even bat a paw. He just lay there. I wish I'd had a small video camera to capture this. I've never seen a bird taunt a cat in that way before.
Twenty + something years ago we used to have some squirrels who would sit up in trees and sort of "bark" at our cats below but today is as close as I've ever seen to watching a bird tease its arch enemy.
Today he sort of lay down on the concrete. Then I noticed a bird coming toward the porch quite rapidly. At first I thought it was heading for us, then it dipped and dove for the cat. Pretty strange until it happened again and again. For several minutes this bird - unsure what type - medium size with a sort of short forked tail - flew directly at our cat and my wife says the bird actually touched the cat at some point.
What did our big fat ... cat do? Nothing. Did not even bat a paw. He just lay there. I wish I'd had a small video camera to capture this. I've never seen a bird taunt a cat in that way before.
Twenty + something years ago we used to have some squirrels who would sit up in trees and sort of "bark" at our cats below but today is as close as I've ever seen to watching a bird tease its arch enemy.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Six Flags
#2 daughter has a blog she calls ventilation. Good for venting I guess. So here's my vent.
My two youngest (6 & 7) got free tickets to Six Flags for some sort of St. Judes thing related to math. So we decided to use them up. But I needed a ticket. So I went on -line where I was told you could print them and save $5. But when you actually go to the print page - there is a $3 printing charge. It's my printer and ink but they charge me $3 to print a ticket. So the $5 savings is really only $2 and at the checkout page you find you have to pay tax too so there goes the $5.
Arrive at the park after 3+ hours of driving with said youngsters. Pull around to parking area and find we have to pay $15 to park. I'm used to Silver Dollar City where parking is free and they shuttle you back and forth for free. No Six Flags shuttle - just a long hot walk across the parking lot.
Once inside we begin to scope things out and the kids have fun - mostly in the water area. So we rent a locker ($9 for a shoebox sized locker) to hold my wallet, watch, cell phone etc. that can't get wet. When I go to pay the $9 - I hand a young man a $10 bill and he says I'm sorry but I have to collect $14 - there is a $5 key deposit. So I pay. After our swim-venture in our street clothes (my perusal of their web site led me to believe that the water park was extra and we did not plan to go) we rode lots of ridey things to dry off. About 6:30 p.m. we head back to the water are a to find it closed. I head for another locker rental place with my key to get back my $5 so I could buy a bottle of water or something (more about food prices later). The locker rental lady sends me to guest relations. I'm told there that is was made perfectly clear to anyone renting a locker that the $5 was not really a deposit but more to offset the costs of having security take people back into the water area after is is closed - to retrieve their things. Fortunately we didn't leave anything in the locker. We planned on going back for more wetness but the kids got tired and decided not to. Bottom line - they would not give me back my $5. If that was all it had been, I'd have been peeved but no big deal. But by now I feel nickel-and-dimed to death. $3 to print, $15 to park and get this - 3 ice cream cones - guess? $16 and some change. We decided to eat at Micky D's outside the park and even though their prices are somewhat inflated, we ate much cheaper.
I've writtne twice to guest relations but so far all I have is an offer for 1/2 tickets for my party. What the heck are 1/2 tickets? A one day pass costs $44.95 or something close to that. So for my unhappiness - they'll invite me back at a 50% discount. No way unless they have a shuttle from Springfield. I told them I am never going back and will make sure all my friends know about this experience.
So what would you like to know about Six Flags?
My two youngest (6 & 7) got free tickets to Six Flags for some sort of St. Judes thing related to math. So we decided to use them up. But I needed a ticket. So I went on -line where I was told you could print them and save $5. But when you actually go to the print page - there is a $3 printing charge. It's my printer and ink but they charge me $3 to print a ticket. So the $5 savings is really only $2 and at the checkout page you find you have to pay tax too so there goes the $5.
Arrive at the park after 3+ hours of driving with said youngsters. Pull around to parking area and find we have to pay $15 to park. I'm used to Silver Dollar City where parking is free and they shuttle you back and forth for free. No Six Flags shuttle - just a long hot walk across the parking lot.
Once inside we begin to scope things out and the kids have fun - mostly in the water area. So we rent a locker ($9 for a shoebox sized locker) to hold my wallet, watch, cell phone etc. that can't get wet. When I go to pay the $9 - I hand a young man a $10 bill and he says I'm sorry but I have to collect $14 - there is a $5 key deposit. So I pay. After our swim-venture in our street clothes (my perusal of their web site led me to believe that the water park was extra and we did not plan to go) we rode lots of ridey things to dry off. About 6:30 p.m. we head back to the water are a to find it closed. I head for another locker rental place with my key to get back my $5 so I could buy a bottle of water or something (more about food prices later). The locker rental lady sends me to guest relations. I'm told there that is was made perfectly clear to anyone renting a locker that the $5 was not really a deposit but more to offset the costs of having security take people back into the water area after is is closed - to retrieve their things. Fortunately we didn't leave anything in the locker. We planned on going back for more wetness but the kids got tired and decided not to. Bottom line - they would not give me back my $5. If that was all it had been, I'd have been peeved but no big deal. But by now I feel nickel-and-dimed to death. $3 to print, $15 to park and get this - 3 ice cream cones - guess? $16 and some change. We decided to eat at Micky D's outside the park and even though their prices are somewhat inflated, we ate much cheaper.
I've writtne twice to guest relations but so far all I have is an offer for 1/2 tickets for my party. What the heck are 1/2 tickets? A one day pass costs $44.95 or something close to that. So for my unhappiness - they'll invite me back at a 50% discount. No way unless they have a shuttle from Springfield. I told them I am never going back and will make sure all my friends know about this experience.
So what would you like to know about Six Flags?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Update on 536 days
Just last night heard that mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC has defected to the independent party. Couple this with what I wrote yesterday (that I'd been writing for several days) and maybe both the Dems and the GOP are (or should be) getting nervous.
I'd have said that Hillary doesn't have anything to worry about until yesterday when I watched the video of her campaign song announcement. If that is the best she can do (or pay someone to do) then nobody has anything to worry about. I'm sure everybody is weighing in on this one today. I just find it funny that she picks a song by a Canadian that was originally part of a TV campaign for Air Canada. Isn't outsourcing more of a Republican thing?
I'd have said that Hillary doesn't have anything to worry about until yesterday when I watched the video of her campaign song announcement. If that is the best she can do (or pay someone to do) then nobody has anything to worry about. I'm sure everybody is weighing in on this one today. I just find it funny that she picks a song by a Canadian that was originally part of a TV campaign for Air Canada. Isn't outsourcing more of a Republican thing?
535 days until ...
Actor Fred Thompson is still thinking about announcing that he is planning a run for President in 2008. Let me check my calendar. Let’s see – today is … June 19, 2007. The first primary or in this case a caucus is scheduled for January 14, 2008 in Iowa. The Democratic Convention will be held in late August of 2008 and the Republican convention will start on September 1, 2008. And we finally get to vote for President on November 4, 2008. If you need them all check this out (www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/events.phtml?s=c&f=m)
But it’s still 2007 for crying out loud!
Earlier this year there was much clamoring about and jockeying as various states enacted legislation to move their respective primaries as early in the year as possible. The simple explanation is they want their primary to count for something. Who wants to try to attract voters to the polls to pick their party’s candidate after they’ve already gotten the magic number of delegates required for the nod at their convention? Apparently nobody except Nebraska who will have the distinction of being the last primary in late June of 2008.
For the Democrats all this might be a good thing so they can get it out of the way early, pick their candidates, let Hillary and Bill make their deal with Barack (OK that is just my thinking on how this will all play out – as early as possible Hillary makes a deal with Barack to be her Veep which almost guarantees him the Presidency in 2016 – if he can wait that long. But what he will be (or want to be) is the most powerful and active Veep in history.) But getting all the stuff out of the way means they can mend their fences, stop spending bazillions of dollars campaigning against each other and rest while the Republicans duke it out to see which two of them get to be the GOP ticket in the fall.
My focus right now is on the GOP side of things. Let’s look at what is going on and again what I think is likely to happen. All the major candidates are courting the evangelical vote and trying to convince everyone that they are indeed tried and true conservative Republicans even if they happen to hold antithetical (to the rank-and-file GOP) views on major deal-busters such as abortion, gay rights, immigration and perhaps gun control. I confess I honestly don’t know who will win this multi-horse race. I think the media would like for a good candidate they can have some fun with but who won’t really have a chance of beating Hillary in the fall. Not sure what the latest polling numbers say about the various match-ups. Doesn’t matter. Because Hillary is going to win and here is why.
The Republican may actually pick their ticket early too – although I think it will take longer than the Dems. But still by March – the race could be over. Or it could just be underway.
For the sake of my point, assume that either Giuliani, Romney or McCain gets the GOP nod – at least unofficially in March by racking up enough delegates. Where does that leave them? With almost 7 months to campaign.
But it also leaves the door open for a 3rd party run. How? You ask?
Seems like in the past 3rd party runs happen when people don’t get the official nod and go outside the mainstream to make their run. They usually end up as a footnote or in the case of Ross Perot a major factor if you agree that he may have cost Bush 41 the race against Clinton. Doubtful that anybody planning to vote for Clinton would have jumped ship to vote for the little guy with charts. In 2000 it could be argued that Ralph Nader cost Gore Florida in the national election and would have kept the Supremes out of the contest. Doubtful that anyone voting for Nader would have cast their vote for Dubya instead. Nader’s almost 3 million votes could have done more damage that anyone expected.
Back to my current point: Once Rudy/Mitt/John are running against Hillary/Barack, many evangelicals, Christians who consider themselves conservative on social issues, and many just plain-old conservatives regardless of their spiritual persuasion, may be fed up with the GOP and do one of two things: stay away from the process (many already feel mis-led, betrayed etc. by Bush 43 on matters like these) OR they will finally form a 3rd party attempt to end-run the anointed GOP ticket and go straight for the Christian, right, et al vote.
In either case they may have enough votes to tip the scales. Not win the election; yet.
The difference? Time. And perhaps money. With the decisions pretty much made by March, 7 months is a long time to raise money, get on enough State ballots, develop a platform – all that structural stuff that politics requires.
If Nader’s 3 million votes could tip things for Bush, imagine what a much larger (and I’ve been trying to find some good numbers but everyone on the internet seems to make all the comparisons in terms of percentages – not total numbers) group of people could do?
A few years ago, before blogging was mainstream, I wrote a little essay about needing a 3rd party.
I think in 2008 we’ll see the emergence of a 3rd party that won’t and can’t win the election but may end up placing a few people in elected offices (at the state levels and maybe even a congressman or two) but will garner enough attention to become a real force in 2012. By then they’ll get Federal funds and will have had several years of fighting liberal government by the Clinton White House and a Democratically controlled Congress. More people will give them serious consideration.
Long and complex and maybe dead wrong. But I think the GOP will regret pushing for so many early primaries. I don’t see how this can possibly benefit them in the final count. Time for the 3rd party to develop and build up some steam. Time for a candidate in a long campaign to self-destruct. Time for people to really see what each person thinks, believes, is made of.
So you only have 535 more days of having to listen to multiple candidate on both sides tell you why they are the best candidate for their party. I’m tired already.
But it’s still 2007 for crying out loud!
Earlier this year there was much clamoring about and jockeying as various states enacted legislation to move their respective primaries as early in the year as possible. The simple explanation is they want their primary to count for something. Who wants to try to attract voters to the polls to pick their party’s candidate after they’ve already gotten the magic number of delegates required for the nod at their convention? Apparently nobody except Nebraska who will have the distinction of being the last primary in late June of 2008.
For the Democrats all this might be a good thing so they can get it out of the way early, pick their candidates, let Hillary and Bill make their deal with Barack (OK that is just my thinking on how this will all play out – as early as possible Hillary makes a deal with Barack to be her Veep which almost guarantees him the Presidency in 2016 – if he can wait that long. But what he will be (or want to be) is the most powerful and active Veep in history.) But getting all the stuff out of the way means they can mend their fences, stop spending bazillions of dollars campaigning against each other and rest while the Republicans duke it out to see which two of them get to be the GOP ticket in the fall.
My focus right now is on the GOP side of things. Let’s look at what is going on and again what I think is likely to happen. All the major candidates are courting the evangelical vote and trying to convince everyone that they are indeed tried and true conservative Republicans even if they happen to hold antithetical (to the rank-and-file GOP) views on major deal-busters such as abortion, gay rights, immigration and perhaps gun control. I confess I honestly don’t know who will win this multi-horse race. I think the media would like for a good candidate they can have some fun with but who won’t really have a chance of beating Hillary in the fall. Not sure what the latest polling numbers say about the various match-ups. Doesn’t matter. Because Hillary is going to win and here is why.
The Republican may actually pick their ticket early too – although I think it will take longer than the Dems. But still by March – the race could be over. Or it could just be underway.
For the sake of my point, assume that either Giuliani, Romney or McCain gets the GOP nod – at least unofficially in March by racking up enough delegates. Where does that leave them? With almost 7 months to campaign.
But it also leaves the door open for a 3rd party run. How? You ask?
Seems like in the past 3rd party runs happen when people don’t get the official nod and go outside the mainstream to make their run. They usually end up as a footnote or in the case of Ross Perot a major factor if you agree that he may have cost Bush 41 the race against Clinton. Doubtful that anybody planning to vote for Clinton would have jumped ship to vote for the little guy with charts. In 2000 it could be argued that Ralph Nader cost Gore Florida in the national election and would have kept the Supremes out of the contest. Doubtful that anyone voting for Nader would have cast their vote for Dubya instead. Nader’s almost 3 million votes could have done more damage that anyone expected.
Back to my current point: Once Rudy/Mitt/John are running against Hillary/Barack, many evangelicals, Christians who consider themselves conservative on social issues, and many just plain-old conservatives regardless of their spiritual persuasion, may be fed up with the GOP and do one of two things: stay away from the process (many already feel mis-led, betrayed etc. by Bush 43 on matters like these) OR they will finally form a 3rd party attempt to end-run the anointed GOP ticket and go straight for the Christian, right, et al vote.
In either case they may have enough votes to tip the scales. Not win the election; yet.
The difference? Time. And perhaps money. With the decisions pretty much made by March, 7 months is a long time to raise money, get on enough State ballots, develop a platform – all that structural stuff that politics requires.
If Nader’s 3 million votes could tip things for Bush, imagine what a much larger (and I’ve been trying to find some good numbers but everyone on the internet seems to make all the comparisons in terms of percentages – not total numbers) group of people could do?
A few years ago, before blogging was mainstream, I wrote a little essay about needing a 3rd party.
I think in 2008 we’ll see the emergence of a 3rd party that won’t and can’t win the election but may end up placing a few people in elected offices (at the state levels and maybe even a congressman or two) but will garner enough attention to become a real force in 2012. By then they’ll get Federal funds and will have had several years of fighting liberal government by the Clinton White House and a Democratically controlled Congress. More people will give them serious consideration.
Long and complex and maybe dead wrong. But I think the GOP will regret pushing for so many early primaries. I don’t see how this can possibly benefit them in the final count. Time for the 3rd party to develop and build up some steam. Time for a candidate in a long campaign to self-destruct. Time for people to really see what each person thinks, believes, is made of.
So you only have 535 more days of having to listen to multiple candidate on both sides tell you why they are the best candidate for their party. I’m tired already.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Adventures
This is not going to be a music or concert review although it will figure heavily in the story.
For Mother's Day I bought my wife tickets to see Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn in Kansas City. The day arrives and with child-care covered we venture out. Now I know next to nothing about Kansas City on either side of the state-line. We get close to KC much quicker than I expected. But as we try to get even closer, it seems we aren't getting close at all. With the extra time dwindling, I began to worry we might not get there in time. So in very un-guy-like fashion we stop so I can ask someone at a convenience store for directions.
Directions in hand, we set off and pretty quickly find the concert and realize we weren't going anywhere near it before. We also see tons of traffic waiting to get into the parking area. We talk about going someplace to eat but decide we'll simply get in line and wait. So I pull up and stop. Quickly a police officer yells at me to move on. So I move into another line. Ditto. Can't stay there either. So I move out and ask an officer what's up. He says we can't block traffic and gives me some directions I can not understand. So we move on with no idea where we are going except NOT into the parking area. We drive around and end up in a line of waiting cars again. My wife gets out to talk to the people in the car in front of us to see where we are headed and what is going on. They tell her where they are going and we end up following them.
We drive to Legends shopping mall where a KC radio station is throwing a pre-concert party and providing a free shuttle back to Verizon Amphitheater. So we hang out a little, take care of the usual business and end up boarding a school bus for the concert.
With a friendly school bus driver moonlighting as a shuttle driver, we get there with plenty of time to spare. Grab a burger and fries and find our seats.
Once seated we realize that our view is obstructed by a young lady with a cowboy hat AND by some scaffolding near the tower that holds spotlights. We can see most of the stage though and simply accept our lot. But then after a few minutes a Staff person stops to talk to the cowboy hat couple. They get up with him and move. My wife suggests I go find out what's up. So I chase him down and ask if they were moving because of the scaffolding. He says yes and when I ask about us, he agrees to move us too. Within a minute or two we are in new seats, better view, closer to the stage and ironically enough, seated next to the cowboy hat girl.
We enjoy the concert - some Australian girl who had trouble staying on pitch, Jake Owen (not too bad) then Brooks and Dunn (great lively show) and Alan Jackson (good show too but his style is not exactly what I would follow B&D with - if it were me, I'd have AJ open, then close with B&D). During the set change after B&D, it started sprinkling. But fortunately after a few minutes of this, it stops and the skies clear.
We had a great evening and the bus comes into play once more. Never doubt the ability of a school bus driver. He got us out of the parking area ahead of many cars and we probably made it to our car much much quicker that if we had been parked on-site.
Moral of this story - go with the flow. Usually I'd stress big-time about things not going according to plan. But for some reason, I didn't stress, my wife did fine (except for that she hates big city traffic!) and the evening was lots of fun.
For Mother's Day I bought my wife tickets to see Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn in Kansas City. The day arrives and with child-care covered we venture out. Now I know next to nothing about Kansas City on either side of the state-line. We get close to KC much quicker than I expected. But as we try to get even closer, it seems we aren't getting close at all. With the extra time dwindling, I began to worry we might not get there in time. So in very un-guy-like fashion we stop so I can ask someone at a convenience store for directions.
Directions in hand, we set off and pretty quickly find the concert and realize we weren't going anywhere near it before. We also see tons of traffic waiting to get into the parking area. We talk about going someplace to eat but decide we'll simply get in line and wait. So I pull up and stop. Quickly a police officer yells at me to move on. So I move into another line. Ditto. Can't stay there either. So I move out and ask an officer what's up. He says we can't block traffic and gives me some directions I can not understand. So we move on with no idea where we are going except NOT into the parking area. We drive around and end up in a line of waiting cars again. My wife gets out to talk to the people in the car in front of us to see where we are headed and what is going on. They tell her where they are going and we end up following them.
We drive to Legends shopping mall where a KC radio station is throwing a pre-concert party and providing a free shuttle back to Verizon Amphitheater. So we hang out a little, take care of the usual business and end up boarding a school bus for the concert.
With a friendly school bus driver moonlighting as a shuttle driver, we get there with plenty of time to spare. Grab a burger and fries and find our seats.
Once seated we realize that our view is obstructed by a young lady with a cowboy hat AND by some scaffolding near the tower that holds spotlights. We can see most of the stage though and simply accept our lot. But then after a few minutes a Staff person stops to talk to the cowboy hat couple. They get up with him and move. My wife suggests I go find out what's up. So I chase him down and ask if they were moving because of the scaffolding. He says yes and when I ask about us, he agrees to move us too. Within a minute or two we are in new seats, better view, closer to the stage and ironically enough, seated next to the cowboy hat girl.
We enjoy the concert - some Australian girl who had trouble staying on pitch, Jake Owen (not too bad) then Brooks and Dunn (great lively show) and Alan Jackson (good show too but his style is not exactly what I would follow B&D with - if it were me, I'd have AJ open, then close with B&D). During the set change after B&D, it started sprinkling. But fortunately after a few minutes of this, it stops and the skies clear.
We had a great evening and the bus comes into play once more. Never doubt the ability of a school bus driver. He got us out of the parking area ahead of many cars and we probably made it to our car much much quicker that if we had been parked on-site.
Moral of this story - go with the flow. Usually I'd stress big-time about things not going according to plan. But for some reason, I didn't stress, my wife did fine (except for that she hates big city traffic!) and the evening was lots of fun.
God must laugh at us sometimes.
Late in writing this but need to share a small but none-the-less important thing that happened to us. As my profile states, my wife and I raise sheep on our 40 acre farm. As such, feed for animals is important. Last year as anyone who grows anything will attest, was a dry hot year. we got one cutting of hay off our land and the result was 29 small round bales of reasonable hay. Not great but enough to get us through the year and we were even able to give some away.
So this year we bit the bullet and paid to have some fertilizer put down. Along with more rain than last year, this resulted in a pretty decent growth of hay. OK actually grass that then becomes hay when you cut and bale it.
I walk our fields as often as I can and usually take our two border collies with me. I use this time to pray. Of course as I walk on the grass that will eventually become hay for our sheep, I prayed we'd get a good yield. Since last year we got 29 bales total, I prayed this year we'd get 60. The reason for 60 is that instead of buying our hay, I wanted to do it on shares - the people who bale, take hay as payment instead of money. They turn around and sell their share - usually 50%. So 60 bales would be 30 for each of us. In this way we get a little more than last year and we don't have to lay out any more money except what we already spent on fertilizer.
I mentioned we've had more rain this year. The rain has made it hard for the cutters and balers to keep up. Grass is growing fast but it needs to be dry to cut and then bale. We had arranged for a local Mennonite farmer to handle ours.
I've been watching our grass grow all spring. Far from being a grass/hay expert I was worried that it was growing too tall before they could cut it. Then I heard about Army Worms. Seems these little crawly critters can move into a hay field and destroy it in hours. So I called our farmer who was going to cut our hay and told him that I was worried about Army worms. He agreed to stop by one night and look at our grass to assess any damage.
Whew! He looked it over and saw no sign of worms. In our discussion I asked about when he'd be around to cut and bale. Fast forward only a couple of days and farmer K. and his brother show up, cut it and bale it - all before the next rain.
My wife went out to count some of the bales and I went to a different pasture to count. Between the two of us we came up with 57 or 58 bales. Now this year farmer K. decided (since he was going to take half of it) to bale big round bales - 6 ft or so in diameter. We took small bales last year since we bought all of it and we needed something small to move without equipment.
I was disappointed in the 57 or 58 number. I knew in terms of volume that this was way more hay than we got last year but was surprised at the number. Seems we just barely missed my goal.
A week or so later the farmers K. came back to pick up their share. We talked and for a very small charge, they agreed to move our bales out of the field and line them up near our barn. Of course in moving, they needed to count. Guess what? We had 61 bales after all! I had already thanked God for the 57 or 58 but really got a chuckle out of the final count. In a very generous mood, we gave the odd bale to the Mennonite brothers.
So we got more hay than last year, got it moved cheaply and hopefully are ready for what the winter may bring. And I'm already praying for whatever we get on a second cutting.
So this year we bit the bullet and paid to have some fertilizer put down. Along with more rain than last year, this resulted in a pretty decent growth of hay. OK actually grass that then becomes hay when you cut and bale it.
I walk our fields as often as I can and usually take our two border collies with me. I use this time to pray. Of course as I walk on the grass that will eventually become hay for our sheep, I prayed we'd get a good yield. Since last year we got 29 bales total, I prayed this year we'd get 60. The reason for 60 is that instead of buying our hay, I wanted to do it on shares - the people who bale, take hay as payment instead of money. They turn around and sell their share - usually 50%. So 60 bales would be 30 for each of us. In this way we get a little more than last year and we don't have to lay out any more money except what we already spent on fertilizer.
I mentioned we've had more rain this year. The rain has made it hard for the cutters and balers to keep up. Grass is growing fast but it needs to be dry to cut and then bale. We had arranged for a local Mennonite farmer to handle ours.
I've been watching our grass grow all spring. Far from being a grass/hay expert I was worried that it was growing too tall before they could cut it. Then I heard about Army Worms. Seems these little crawly critters can move into a hay field and destroy it in hours. So I called our farmer who was going to cut our hay and told him that I was worried about Army worms. He agreed to stop by one night and look at our grass to assess any damage.
Whew! He looked it over and saw no sign of worms. In our discussion I asked about when he'd be around to cut and bale. Fast forward only a couple of days and farmer K. and his brother show up, cut it and bale it - all before the next rain.
My wife went out to count some of the bales and I went to a different pasture to count. Between the two of us we came up with 57 or 58 bales. Now this year farmer K. decided (since he was going to take half of it) to bale big round bales - 6 ft or so in diameter. We took small bales last year since we bought all of it and we needed something small to move without equipment.
I was disappointed in the 57 or 58 number. I knew in terms of volume that this was way more hay than we got last year but was surprised at the number. Seems we just barely missed my goal.
A week or so later the farmers K. came back to pick up their share. We talked and for a very small charge, they agreed to move our bales out of the field and line them up near our barn. Of course in moving, they needed to count. Guess what? We had 61 bales after all! I had already thanked God for the 57 or 58 but really got a chuckle out of the final count. In a very generous mood, we gave the odd bale to the Mennonite brothers.
So we got more hay than last year, got it moved cheaply and hopefully are ready for what the winter may bring. And I'm already praying for whatever we get on a second cutting.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Having some fun
Just realized I had not posted anything in almost a month. One reason is probably the same as everybody elses - way too busy. One reason I've been busy is I've been writing - and getting paid a little for it! But more importantly it forces me to write on deadlines. I'm writing for a small regional ag paper called Ozarks Farm and Neighbor. So far two articles - one on some sheep farmers in Ozark and one on a dairy farmer in Mt. Vernon - for anyone reading this outside southwest Missouri, both those towns are near Springfield.
What I have found so far is that I really enjoy this. I like to talk to people and ask them questions. I may have missed my calling. I like the interview process.
What is hard is going back home and taking all my hastily scribbled notes and my recording (I still use a decade-or-more old Olympus PearlCorder) and trying to make sense of all of it.
What I also find hard is editing. On my sheep story I was told to write 700 words. My first draft - before I had even listened to my tape - was about 2,000 words. I edited. Listened to the tape. Edited some more and ended up with about 1,000 words. I told the editor I just couldn't cut anymore. She was fine with that and promptly took out the extra 300 words. The story reads fine but of course as a writer I like ALL my words - not just some of them.
On my second story I was only slightly better. Started with 1,400 words and got down to 700 for a 600 word assignment. I haven't seen how she will cut it down - the pub date is mid-June. (Maybe she gave me a 600 word limit knowing I'd never make it but might get close.)
I have permission to post them in other places but right now our farm website is not up and running. Need some time and design help to make that a reality.
One side-benefit of this little writing deal - my wife and I get to work together. The publication needs pictures and I am lousy with a digital camera - something about moving the camera before the shutter closes or something. All my pictures are blurry. My wife has a steady hand and can take pretty decent pictures. I've just given her a few pointers on things like head-room, framing, backgrounds etc. a but she's doing pretty good.
I/we spend way too much time on each assignment. On a per hour basis for the first story I/we made about $2-3/ hours after expenses for gas, batteries, blank CDs etc. On the second one we should do slightly better but not too much.
But that's OK. I take a 1/2 day off my day-job, we spend some time together driving to locations, she enjoys talking to people too, and then we spend some time editing the photos.
Ozarks Farm and Neighbor's web-site is a little behind - the April 30 edition is still up. Once the May 21st is up, I'll update this link to it so you can read the articles.
What I have found so far is that I really enjoy this. I like to talk to people and ask them questions. I may have missed my calling. I like the interview process.
What is hard is going back home and taking all my hastily scribbled notes and my recording (I still use a decade-or-more old Olympus PearlCorder) and trying to make sense of all of it.
What I also find hard is editing. On my sheep story I was told to write 700 words. My first draft - before I had even listened to my tape - was about 2,000 words. I edited. Listened to the tape. Edited some more and ended up with about 1,000 words. I told the editor I just couldn't cut anymore. She was fine with that and promptly took out the extra 300 words. The story reads fine but of course as a writer I like ALL my words - not just some of them.
On my second story I was only slightly better. Started with 1,400 words and got down to 700 for a 600 word assignment. I haven't seen how she will cut it down - the pub date is mid-June. (Maybe she gave me a 600 word limit knowing I'd never make it but might get close.)
I have permission to post them in other places but right now our farm website is not up and running. Need some time and design help to make that a reality.
One side-benefit of this little writing deal - my wife and I get to work together. The publication needs pictures and I am lousy with a digital camera - something about moving the camera before the shutter closes or something. All my pictures are blurry. My wife has a steady hand and can take pretty decent pictures. I've just given her a few pointers on things like head-room, framing, backgrounds etc. a but she's doing pretty good.
I/we spend way too much time on each assignment. On a per hour basis for the first story I/we made about $2-3/ hours after expenses for gas, batteries, blank CDs etc. On the second one we should do slightly better but not too much.
But that's OK. I take a 1/2 day off my day-job, we spend some time together driving to locations, she enjoys talking to people too, and then we spend some time editing the photos.
Ozarks Farm and Neighbor's web-site is a little behind - the April 30 edition is still up. Once the May 21st is up, I'll update this link to it so you can read the articles.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Facing the Giants
Far too many people have already weighed in on this little movie that could. I’d like to simply say a couple of things about it now that I’ve watched it with my family.
For the first hour or so my wife and I kept looking at each other as if to say, “aren’t we glad this was a borrowed copy and we didn’t buy or rent this?”
But for me (and I’m not sure of the turning point for my wife) a change happened at the scene where the struggling coach encourages, motivates (pick your favorite word here) one of his players as he tries to carry another player on his back the length of the football field.
Somehow that scene seemed real to me. It had emotion. It wasn’t flat or pat.
After that I was in.
Is this a great movie? No. But is it worthwhile? Yes.
Christians may find the theology a little too contrived. Without giving too much away, everything works out in the end. A sort of Romans 8:28 theology. And I have to admit for some people things do sometimes work out that way.
A couple of weeks ago a family at our church lost a mother and wife to cancer. I’ll spare you the details but I’d venture to say that even though their faith is strong (still), they could tell you from first-hand experience, that things (on the surface) don’t always turn out good or happy or wonderful. A man lost his wife, three boys lost their mother. Hard stuff.
I don’t want to get my theology from country music but I like the words in the Martina McBride song “Anyway.” They go something like this: “God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good. When I pray, sometimes things don’t work out like they should, but I do it anyway.”
That line gets me every time.
Perhaps it is my own shortcomings that keep me from living the life as portrayed and experienced in Facing the Giants. But for reasons unknown to me (and many others), our lives here on earth are messy and to paraphrase the book title of a couple of decades ago, “Bad stuff happens to good people.” I think how we deal with that bad stuff is what separates us from everybody else.
For the first hour or so my wife and I kept looking at each other as if to say, “aren’t we glad this was a borrowed copy and we didn’t buy or rent this?”
But for me (and I’m not sure of the turning point for my wife) a change happened at the scene where the struggling coach encourages, motivates (pick your favorite word here) one of his players as he tries to carry another player on his back the length of the football field.
Somehow that scene seemed real to me. It had emotion. It wasn’t flat or pat.
After that I was in.
Is this a great movie? No. But is it worthwhile? Yes.
Christians may find the theology a little too contrived. Without giving too much away, everything works out in the end. A sort of Romans 8:28 theology. And I have to admit for some people things do sometimes work out that way.
A couple of weeks ago a family at our church lost a mother and wife to cancer. I’ll spare you the details but I’d venture to say that even though their faith is strong (still), they could tell you from first-hand experience, that things (on the surface) don’t always turn out good or happy or wonderful. A man lost his wife, three boys lost their mother. Hard stuff.
I don’t want to get my theology from country music but I like the words in the Martina McBride song “Anyway.” They go something like this: “God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good. When I pray, sometimes things don’t work out like they should, but I do it anyway.”
That line gets me every time.
Perhaps it is my own shortcomings that keep me from living the life as portrayed and experienced in Facing the Giants. But for reasons unknown to me (and many others), our lives here on earth are messy and to paraphrase the book title of a couple of decades ago, “Bad stuff happens to good people.” I think how we deal with that bad stuff is what separates us from everybody else.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Sears was Wal Mart
They say smells can trigger memories that are more powerful and vivid than the usual ones.
Walking down stairs today at work, I must have smelled something - no clue what - that took me back about 50 years - yep maybe 50.
Let's go back to the days of "I like Ike", those sentimental 50s.
Even a big city like Dallas didn't have shopping malls. We had some neighborhood shopping centers - populated by an A&P, a drugstore (where you could sit at the counter and order dinner, lunch - whatever), a shoe store (where I ended up working during college) and S.S. Kresge but nothing like the large complexes of today. And you had to park somewhere and walk outside to each store and then out again to the next. Imagine that!
Dallas had a big downtown area where the upper-class stores and hotels were kept. A Sanger store which later became Sanger-Harris. Neiman-Marcus. Funny but in more than 20 years of living in Dallas I never once went into Neiman-Marcus. I finally visited a few years ago but by then it was just another multi-level department store that seemed to have an abundance of make-up counters.
But a mile or so south of downtown in a more industrial part of the city, stood a mammoth reddish-brick building. It was called Sears & Roebuck. And for reasons incomprehensible today, it was only open late on Thursday nights. It may have been open on Monday evenings too but I'm not sure of that.
It seems like we went there often on Thursdays. Probably once a month at least. My memory of those visits was triggered today by some smell. My favorite part of those visits was the candy counter. One of those where you bought candy by the ounce. You could get almost anything you wanted but my favorite were peanut clusters. Those chunks of melted and then re-hardened chocolate wrapped around peanuts. I was usually allowed to buy 25 cents worth which in the pre-inflation 50s got me 2,3 or sometimes 4 pieces of candy! For a young man of less than 10 years this was wonderful! I didn't get much in the way of treats or candy. Not sure if it was for health reasons or simply we didn't have that much money. But I could almost always count on peanut clusters at Sears & Roebucks. It wasn't just Sears back then.
Can you imagine any kid of today waxing nostalgic for Wal Mart in 50 years?
Walking down stairs today at work, I must have smelled something - no clue what - that took me back about 50 years - yep maybe 50.
Let's go back to the days of "I like Ike", those sentimental 50s.
Even a big city like Dallas didn't have shopping malls. We had some neighborhood shopping centers - populated by an A&P, a drugstore (where you could sit at the counter and order dinner, lunch - whatever), a shoe store (where I ended up working during college) and S.S. Kresge but nothing like the large complexes of today. And you had to park somewhere and walk outside to each store and then out again to the next. Imagine that!
Dallas had a big downtown area where the upper-class stores and hotels were kept. A Sanger store which later became Sanger-Harris. Neiman-Marcus. Funny but in more than 20 years of living in Dallas I never once went into Neiman-Marcus. I finally visited a few years ago but by then it was just another multi-level department store that seemed to have an abundance of make-up counters.
But a mile or so south of downtown in a more industrial part of the city, stood a mammoth reddish-brick building. It was called Sears & Roebuck. And for reasons incomprehensible today, it was only open late on Thursday nights. It may have been open on Monday evenings too but I'm not sure of that.
It seems like we went there often on Thursdays. Probably once a month at least. My memory of those visits was triggered today by some smell. My favorite part of those visits was the candy counter. One of those where you bought candy by the ounce. You could get almost anything you wanted but my favorite were peanut clusters. Those chunks of melted and then re-hardened chocolate wrapped around peanuts. I was usually allowed to buy 25 cents worth which in the pre-inflation 50s got me 2,3 or sometimes 4 pieces of candy! For a young man of less than 10 years this was wonderful! I didn't get much in the way of treats or candy. Not sure if it was for health reasons or simply we didn't have that much money. But I could almost always count on peanut clusters at Sears & Roebucks. It wasn't just Sears back then.
Can you imagine any kid of today waxing nostalgic for Wal Mart in 50 years?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Cars
I’ve never been much of a car guy but yet I can remember almost every car I’ve ever owned. So here’s the rundown.
1969 – a 63 Chevy Impala 2 door – not bad. Gas was so cheap back then I don’t know if it guzzled or not.
1970 – a 64 Dodge dart – not my choice. My dad bought it for me. The 63 Chevy was really his but I got to use it for a year or so. Most distinctive thing was a slant six (back then) and the automatic shift was a lever on the dash.
1971 – a 65 Mustang. Not as good as it sounds. 6 cyl. so wouldn’t get up and go. Also prone to some sort of vapor lock in the hot Texas summers. Also no buckets but a strange sort of bench seat in the front.
1972 – a 69 Triumph Spitfire. Again not a great as it sounds. Interior was a shambles and I had no money to fix it up. Ended up spray painting my carpets black to hide the wear. Rag-top was a pain to take down and put up. But it was great fun and this car has the distinction of being the fastest one I ever drove. Once on a road coming back home late at night from school in Arlington (U.T.A.) I hit the 90s. Thought we were going to achieve some sort of lift off and actually fly a bit!
My dad liked to tinker and work on this one. The hood was like a Corvette's where it lifts as one piece (hood, fenders – everything) from the window to expose the entire engine. My dad could sit up in there and work on the 2 – count ‘em – two double-barrel carbs.
1973 a 71 VW bug. Pretty OK as they go. Learned how to adjust the lifters or valves or something that always needed adjusting. My dad did NOT like to work on this one. As this will become a recurring theme in our family, sometime in 74 or 75 I hit a large German Shepherd dog while going about 70 at nightime near Tyler Texas. My friend and I both slammed into the dash and somehow only bruised our arms and shins. The dog fared much worse. The VW was never the same either but I continued to drive it for several more years. Amazing that with a VW with almost no protection in the front, I hit a dog at 70mph and live to tell about it and drive the car home. Years later a similar incident with a Chevy Cavalier will total that car. They truly don't make 'em like they used to.
1979 married now so thinking differently about cars. Also can’t just trade them off so easily. Car – a brand spanking new Toyota Corolla. 2 – door. Shoulda sprung for the extra to put AC in it. Summers in Virginia are hot and humid. Best thing about this car – I paid somewhere around $3,600 for it. Two years later I sold it to a guy for $4,000. Can’t do that anymore. But then 80s inflation wasn't much fun either.
1980 First second car. My wife was working and we needed to both have wheels. 1980 Toyota Tercel. Another great little car but once again too cheap to buy AC. Drove this one into the ground for more than 10 years.
1983 First daughter arrives and we need something to handle a car seat so – (forgive me) we got a used Dodge. It was one of their K cars that made such a splash and then later almost killed the company. Didn’t keep this one very long.
1985 Brand spanking new Ford Tempo. Why you ask? Cheap and 4 door and we could afford AC. We had 2 kids by now. Also miserly with gas.
1991 Finally had to trade in the Tercel on another Ford Tempo – this time a 91 program version. Another 4 door with AC. We drove this one well over 100K miles before we had to get rid of it. Have you ever tried to sell or trade a 4 cyl. with perhaps 150K miles? Good luck.
1991 or 1992 Car #3 for short while. Only this one was a truck. We were farmers (almost) and you gotta have a truck. Traded in the 85 Tempo later. This was a modified F-250 that somehow had a 6 cyl. And it ate starters. I replaced two. Finally years later (2001 or 2) I gave this one away. I could only start it if it was on a hill (or with a hefty push) and that became less and less practical.
1996 We joined the mini-van ranks with a big 95 Ford Aerostar. Served us well until the transmission about fell out but we got well over 100K.
1999 Bought a new 1999 red Chevy cavalier - 2 dr. good little car until my daughter lost control on a wet and curvy road. She spun out, ended up going backwards in a ditch and pretty much wiped out the car. She got bruised and banged up - as much from the airbag deploying as anything else. Scared her pretty bad too but no serious in juries.
2000 Small truck time. Not really farmers at this point but everybody needs a truck. Little GMC Sonoma. Nice gas mileage and handy. My daughter took this one over and paid it off and it is still doing fine with more than 150K miles.
2000-1 somewhere in here we buy another Chevy cavalier to replace the totalled red one. Why a Cavalier? Not a bad little cheap car with good gas mileage. But I need to stay away from Cavaliers. Sometime in 03 or 04 I hit a big dog and damaged this one but didn't total it. But within another year or so daughter #2 hits a Rottweiler and most definitely DOES total it this time. What does she buy to replace it? An 03 Cav that she still drives and is in her name and paid for.
2001 Another mini-van to replace the dead Aerostar. A 2000 Pontiac Montana. OK but always seemed to have problems with the automatic sliding door. But would’ve kept this one except the March 2006 tornado wiped it out.
2004 Big truck time. Also big mistake. Bought a used 91 Ford F250. Body pretty rusty and beat up. Ended up putting new brakes all around, complete exhaust system and four new tires. So by this time I have more in that stuff than I do in the truck itself. But still running and serving as a farm truck, gets the kids to school, pulls trailers full of sheep and hay. But something about Fords – this one eats starters too.
2006 Where are we today? 2003 Dodge Caravan. Probably the nicest car we have ever owned. Looks and rides pretty new. Although as I write this it is having new brakes put on the front but that is pretty routine stuff.
So there’s my car history in a nutshell.
What do I want next? Two things – a Ford F250 Quad cab (4 door) and an Austin mini. Go figure. One is practical and will pull anything. The other is absolutely frivolous. Everyone I tell thinks a mini is a chick-car and since I heard that – all I see driving them are girls. But my masculinity is not threatened so if I ever win the lottery or something you’ll see me in one.
1969 – a 63 Chevy Impala 2 door – not bad. Gas was so cheap back then I don’t know if it guzzled or not.
1970 – a 64 Dodge dart – not my choice. My dad bought it for me. The 63 Chevy was really his but I got to use it for a year or so. Most distinctive thing was a slant six (back then) and the automatic shift was a lever on the dash.
1971 – a 65 Mustang. Not as good as it sounds. 6 cyl. so wouldn’t get up and go. Also prone to some sort of vapor lock in the hot Texas summers. Also no buckets but a strange sort of bench seat in the front.
1972 – a 69 Triumph Spitfire. Again not a great as it sounds. Interior was a shambles and I had no money to fix it up. Ended up spray painting my carpets black to hide the wear. Rag-top was a pain to take down and put up. But it was great fun and this car has the distinction of being the fastest one I ever drove. Once on a road coming back home late at night from school in Arlington (U.T.A.) I hit the 90s. Thought we were going to achieve some sort of lift off and actually fly a bit!
My dad liked to tinker and work on this one. The hood was like a Corvette's where it lifts as one piece (hood, fenders – everything) from the window to expose the entire engine. My dad could sit up in there and work on the 2 – count ‘em – two double-barrel carbs.
1973 a 71 VW bug. Pretty OK as they go. Learned how to adjust the lifters or valves or something that always needed adjusting. My dad did NOT like to work on this one. As this will become a recurring theme in our family, sometime in 74 or 75 I hit a large German Shepherd dog while going about 70 at nightime near Tyler Texas. My friend and I both slammed into the dash and somehow only bruised our arms and shins. The dog fared much worse. The VW was never the same either but I continued to drive it for several more years. Amazing that with a VW with almost no protection in the front, I hit a dog at 70mph and live to tell about it and drive the car home. Years later a similar incident with a Chevy Cavalier will total that car. They truly don't make 'em like they used to.
1979 married now so thinking differently about cars. Also can’t just trade them off so easily. Car – a brand spanking new Toyota Corolla. 2 – door. Shoulda sprung for the extra to put AC in it. Summers in Virginia are hot and humid. Best thing about this car – I paid somewhere around $3,600 for it. Two years later I sold it to a guy for $4,000. Can’t do that anymore. But then 80s inflation wasn't much fun either.
1980 First second car. My wife was working and we needed to both have wheels. 1980 Toyota Tercel. Another great little car but once again too cheap to buy AC. Drove this one into the ground for more than 10 years.
1983 First daughter arrives and we need something to handle a car seat so – (forgive me) we got a used Dodge. It was one of their K cars that made such a splash and then later almost killed the company. Didn’t keep this one very long.
1985 Brand spanking new Ford Tempo. Why you ask? Cheap and 4 door and we could afford AC. We had 2 kids by now. Also miserly with gas.
1991 Finally had to trade in the Tercel on another Ford Tempo – this time a 91 program version. Another 4 door with AC. We drove this one well over 100K miles before we had to get rid of it. Have you ever tried to sell or trade a 4 cyl. with perhaps 150K miles? Good luck.
1991 or 1992 Car #3 for short while. Only this one was a truck. We were farmers (almost) and you gotta have a truck. Traded in the 85 Tempo later. This was a modified F-250 that somehow had a 6 cyl. And it ate starters. I replaced two. Finally years later (2001 or 2) I gave this one away. I could only start it if it was on a hill (or with a hefty push) and that became less and less practical.
1996 We joined the mini-van ranks with a big 95 Ford Aerostar. Served us well until the transmission about fell out but we got well over 100K.
1999 Bought a new 1999 red Chevy cavalier - 2 dr. good little car until my daughter lost control on a wet and curvy road. She spun out, ended up going backwards in a ditch and pretty much wiped out the car. She got bruised and banged up - as much from the airbag deploying as anything else. Scared her pretty bad too but no serious in juries.
2000 Small truck time. Not really farmers at this point but everybody needs a truck. Little GMC Sonoma. Nice gas mileage and handy. My daughter took this one over and paid it off and it is still doing fine with more than 150K miles.
2000-1 somewhere in here we buy another Chevy cavalier to replace the totalled red one. Why a Cavalier? Not a bad little cheap car with good gas mileage. But I need to stay away from Cavaliers. Sometime in 03 or 04 I hit a big dog and damaged this one but didn't total it. But within another year or so daughter #2 hits a Rottweiler and most definitely DOES total it this time. What does she buy to replace it? An 03 Cav that she still drives and is in her name and paid for.
2001 Another mini-van to replace the dead Aerostar. A 2000 Pontiac Montana. OK but always seemed to have problems with the automatic sliding door. But would’ve kept this one except the March 2006 tornado wiped it out.
2004 Big truck time. Also big mistake. Bought a used 91 Ford F250. Body pretty rusty and beat up. Ended up putting new brakes all around, complete exhaust system and four new tires. So by this time I have more in that stuff than I do in the truck itself. But still running and serving as a farm truck, gets the kids to school, pulls trailers full of sheep and hay. But something about Fords – this one eats starters too.
2006 Where are we today? 2003 Dodge Caravan. Probably the nicest car we have ever owned. Looks and rides pretty new. Although as I write this it is having new brakes put on the front but that is pretty routine stuff.
So there’s my car history in a nutshell.
What do I want next? Two things – a Ford F250 Quad cab (4 door) and an Austin mini. Go figure. One is practical and will pull anything. The other is absolutely frivolous. Everyone I tell thinks a mini is a chick-car and since I heard that – all I see driving them are girls. But my masculinity is not threatened so if I ever win the lottery or something you’ll see me in one.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Snipers and other bad people
I have no real substance to add to the media onslaught re: the tragedies at Va. Tech. But as someone who spent about 12 years in Virginia (may be my favorite state still) and I’ll bet I have friends who have kids at Va. Tech, I’ll make just a couple of comments.
When I was younger, I remember the sniper who made it up the tower at UT Austin and proceeded to shoot and kill a bunch of people. I don’t remember much else and suppose I could Google that but so can you.
I’ve worked on two college campuses and attended on two more in my lifetime and no matter what, I doubt there is any way such a tragic thing could be prevented.
No offense to anyone ay Columbine but a high-school would be much easier to secure. People come and go and certain times. People tend to be of a certain group and age. The limited security people can usually spot someone who may not belong and since Columbine most school systems have beefed up their on site security.
But a college campus is an entirely different animal. While classes run on schedules, people come and go at all hours of the day and night. And while the overarching demographic might skew young, there is much more diversity on almost any college campus. Plus you have buildings spread out over large areas. I thought I heard something like several hundred acres for Va. Tech. I know our large state university here runs 10 or more blocks deep and wide.
I imagine there will be a reaction and schools – at the parents behest – will have to hire more security, more IDs, more card keys to get into and out of buildings, more surveillance cameras – all the very things that institutions of higher learning - which tend toward honoring and revering our First Amendment to a fault sometimes – will also react against. A very long sentence but my point is that the things that will make a campus safer will only stifle some of the freedoms that students and faculty have come to enjoy on college campuses.
Balance is an overused word but somehow in the reaction to all this, there will have to be some sort of balanced response. Increased security; yes. But a realization that no matter what you do, bad people will find a way to do bad things. People will snap and in the right or wrong circumstances, wreak havoc on their surroundings.
I read Andy Whitman’s blog a few times a week – he is a music critic for Paste Magazine and today he has some good responses to the event. He has a daughter at Kent State – oh my, remember that one? – so he is a concerned parent but also at the end of it all – we just need to pray for the families of the injured and dead.
So that is what I will try to do.
When I was younger, I remember the sniper who made it up the tower at UT Austin and proceeded to shoot and kill a bunch of people. I don’t remember much else and suppose I could Google that but so can you.
I’ve worked on two college campuses and attended on two more in my lifetime and no matter what, I doubt there is any way such a tragic thing could be prevented.
No offense to anyone ay Columbine but a high-school would be much easier to secure. People come and go and certain times. People tend to be of a certain group and age. The limited security people can usually spot someone who may not belong and since Columbine most school systems have beefed up their on site security.
But a college campus is an entirely different animal. While classes run on schedules, people come and go at all hours of the day and night. And while the overarching demographic might skew young, there is much more diversity on almost any college campus. Plus you have buildings spread out over large areas. I thought I heard something like several hundred acres for Va. Tech. I know our large state university here runs 10 or more blocks deep and wide.
I imagine there will be a reaction and schools – at the parents behest – will have to hire more security, more IDs, more card keys to get into and out of buildings, more surveillance cameras – all the very things that institutions of higher learning - which tend toward honoring and revering our First Amendment to a fault sometimes – will also react against. A very long sentence but my point is that the things that will make a campus safer will only stifle some of the freedoms that students and faculty have come to enjoy on college campuses.
Balance is an overused word but somehow in the reaction to all this, there will have to be some sort of balanced response. Increased security; yes. But a realization that no matter what you do, bad people will find a way to do bad things. People will snap and in the right or wrong circumstances, wreak havoc on their surroundings.
I read Andy Whitman’s blog a few times a week – he is a music critic for Paste Magazine and today he has some good responses to the event. He has a daughter at Kent State – oh my, remember that one? – so he is a concerned parent but also at the end of it all – we just need to pray for the families of the injured and dead.
So that is what I will try to do.
Weaknesses
A couple of things happened to me last week that point out two of my inherent weaknesses.
So in the interest of full disclosure; here they are:
I don’t like confrontations.
I don’t like to bother people or maybe put better, I don’t want to be a bother to anybody.
Back to last week. I was working on an outside (meaning not for my day job) project for College of the Ozarks. I’m editing a video made of the President speaking to a group of students. For reasons I won’t go into nor for which I know the whole truth and nothing but the truth so … I’ll skip over that part. To try to help this thing along I needed some pictures. There are times in this video when I really don’t have a shot to go to – the shots are either out of focus or both cameras are moving. There are some specific references that lend themselves to showing a related picture. So I went on a hunt for pictures. This led me back to campus to see what I could find.
Fast forward. I ended up in a short meeting with the President and our discussion gave me great insight into what he had done, why and that my suggestion of a “do-over”, was not going to fly. But my point here is that in 15 minutes I solved so many of my problems. I would never have done this without some prodding. I’d have felt like I was being a bother. But others – in this case – my wife, a staff person on campus and a friend very familiar with the school, all pushed me to do something. And the result was good. I just wish I could remember this whenever I shy away from stuff.
This hit me last year with the tornado recovery too. As devastating as the tornado was, I was ready to single-handedly tackle getting things put back together. I had no real clue how but I started making lists: do this today and then this and then this tomorrow. After about one day of this a friend of my daughters; actually our family’s too but I really didn’t know him well. He stopped by to see what he could do and in so many words told me that I needed to just step back and let people help us – help me. Most of my being recoiled at this idea. Somehow admitting I needed help (which I really did) was an admission of weakness when really my real weakness was in letting my pride in this case at least, get in the way of letting other people bless us. And bless us they did.
If it weren’t for the help of dozens of folks, we might still be digging out and cutting up fallen down trees etc.
Now on the confrontation issue, I am loath to confront people. What happens over the long haul is this begins to create a certain level of expectation. Which only makes it harder to ever (finally) stand up and do the right thing and essentially tell somebody off, or let them know they can’t continue to do whatever it is that they are doing. This is particularly significant at work where I think I’ve been too nice for too long and have let people take advantage of that. When I reach the end of my tolerance for certain things, it is very hard to shift gears and convince people I finally mean business and to be taken seriously. This happens with your kids too as I’m learning the second time around as a parent. If you let patterns get established, they are harder and harder to break later on.
So somewhat late in the year and late in the game as an adult and parent and boss etc. I plan to resolve to work on these two things.
So in the interest of full disclosure; here they are:
I don’t like confrontations.
I don’t like to bother people or maybe put better, I don’t want to be a bother to anybody.
Back to last week. I was working on an outside (meaning not for my day job) project for College of the Ozarks. I’m editing a video made of the President speaking to a group of students. For reasons I won’t go into nor for which I know the whole truth and nothing but the truth so … I’ll skip over that part. To try to help this thing along I needed some pictures. There are times in this video when I really don’t have a shot to go to – the shots are either out of focus or both cameras are moving. There are some specific references that lend themselves to showing a related picture. So I went on a hunt for pictures. This led me back to campus to see what I could find.
Fast forward. I ended up in a short meeting with the President and our discussion gave me great insight into what he had done, why and that my suggestion of a “do-over”, was not going to fly. But my point here is that in 15 minutes I solved so many of my problems. I would never have done this without some prodding. I’d have felt like I was being a bother. But others – in this case – my wife, a staff person on campus and a friend very familiar with the school, all pushed me to do something. And the result was good. I just wish I could remember this whenever I shy away from stuff.
This hit me last year with the tornado recovery too. As devastating as the tornado was, I was ready to single-handedly tackle getting things put back together. I had no real clue how but I started making lists: do this today and then this and then this tomorrow. After about one day of this a friend of my daughters; actually our family’s too but I really didn’t know him well. He stopped by to see what he could do and in so many words told me that I needed to just step back and let people help us – help me. Most of my being recoiled at this idea. Somehow admitting I needed help (which I really did) was an admission of weakness when really my real weakness was in letting my pride in this case at least, get in the way of letting other people bless us. And bless us they did.
If it weren’t for the help of dozens of folks, we might still be digging out and cutting up fallen down trees etc.
Now on the confrontation issue, I am loath to confront people. What happens over the long haul is this begins to create a certain level of expectation. Which only makes it harder to ever (finally) stand up and do the right thing and essentially tell somebody off, or let them know they can’t continue to do whatever it is that they are doing. This is particularly significant at work where I think I’ve been too nice for too long and have let people take advantage of that. When I reach the end of my tolerance for certain things, it is very hard to shift gears and convince people I finally mean business and to be taken seriously. This happens with your kids too as I’m learning the second time around as a parent. If you let patterns get established, they are harder and harder to break later on.
So somewhat late in the year and late in the game as an adult and parent and boss etc. I plan to resolve to work on these two things.
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