T-Shirt Thoughts

Eric Hof­fer wrote, “The begin­ning of thought is dis­agreement—not only with oth­ers but also with our­selves.”

I liked that quote when I read it. Especially the first half.

Is putting your hands up in the air a product of thought? Obviously yes. Wearing a t-shirt that says I Can't Breathe would be also. The recent professional athletes who have done these things would have you believe that they are carefully studying the perceived racial incidents in Ferguson and New York. And they have concluded that some sort of expression is required. The result is a provocative photo or video and a headline.

But I wonder if you sat next to Kobe Bryant on an airplane and offered him your own opinion about Ferguson, would he take time to listen? Would he want to discuss it? I'm fairly certain that if he took his headphones off briefly as you started the conversation, they would be back on almost right away.

It's unfair and not very productive to make that assumption, I know. But really not any less productive than trying to change things by wearing a t-shirt.

French Waiter Story

We recently returned from a family trip to Paris. It is quite a place. The third most visited city in the world and, geographically speaking, fairly small. Only 40 or so square miles which makes it about one third the size of my hometown - Scottsdale, Arizona.  With over 2.2 million residents plus another half a million or so visitors at any given time, a tourist had better be ready for one thing: crowds. Along with cathedrals, art, culture, palaces, gardens, jazz, and wine, there are masses of people everywhere in The City of Light.

Unless you go at the very low season (and I'm not sure there is one), be ready for the lines, the sharp elbows, and that person behind you who is sure you are not moving fast enough. It really isn't quite rudeness. I describe it as more of a hyper competitive crowd with money to spend and not much time to spend it.

I've been to this bustling, very unique city three times now, and have pretty much decided that if you get here enough, you will eventually have some sort of story involving a french waiter. It is inevitable. This is mine:

Eating places are everywhere in Paris. I mean everywhere. They are friendly and casual for the most part. The menus read in French and English. The wait staff are nearly all multi-lingual and ordering is not too difficult.

Our waiter on one particular night seemed just a little more stiff than normal. I would have liked to see him smiling at our party of eight (two families) as we sat down in a local bistro in Montparnesse .  But he was not.

My inclination as a foreigner is first to suspect that we have done something wrong. Believe me, you think this all the time as an average American tourist in Europe. There is a large uncomfortable zone as a traveler, and you will be constantly asking yourself, from finding the right line to stand in - to how to flush a toilet, OK what am I screwing up now?

The waiter looked grim and leaned toward my left shoulder to speak discretely. He made a polite and subtle gesture at my 16 year old daughter to the right across the table. She was on her iPhone.

"Monsieur, zee Mademoiselle with zee mobile phone. Es...NON"  That last word was spoken with the crisp impact of a guillotine's drop.

She was busy uploading pictures and oblivious to our conversation. I got what he meant - right away.

"Taryn, honey. You have to put the phone away now for the meal."

"Why?" (two syllable pronunciation)

My friend Steve looked over at me and began smiling. Because he also has two young adults and has seen this many times: the teenage version of Ebola - where backtalk comes out of every orifice.

"Why? Because, honey, sweetheart, I am the boss of you. And do you see that man over there?"

I pointed to our waiter (who looked even stiffer than before):  "He is the boss of me."

Steve chuckled and glanced at his own daughter. The message and the law north of the Seine was loud and clear.

We all enjoyed a fine French dining experience. It could have been my imagination but the service was pretty fast. At least compared to my last visit to the city 15 years ago. But we had time for very nice conversation and. The teenagers were engaged with us - and I was glad that our waiter enforced a rule that I've tried to establish at family meals, but admittedly grow tired of hounding the kids about.

After the desserts were finished, and the check hit the table I noticed the waiter speak discretely to my daughter in the same way he had approached me earlier.

"Mademoiselle..." He finally broke a smile. "Zee mobile phone? I was only joking."

Now you can picture a tall, stiff French waiter grinning ear to ear.

It took a couple of seconds, but I suddenly got it and my friend Steve did too. We finished the meal with the absolute best laugh of the night.

The last toast and a pretty good tip went to our waiter as my daughter turned her phone back on.

"Bien joué, garçon. Bien joué Monsieur."

Social Network Terrorists

The title is a little hyperbolic. I'll give you that. But it was the first way I thought of to describe the phenomenon. I mean, what really gets into people behind the keyboards when it comes to twitter, facebook, emails, the whole social media thing?

A friend recently posted something like this on facebook: "Hey I'm going motorcycle riding on the 24th. who wants to go?"

Another friend replied: "Don't forget your organ donor card."

Smug, edgy, snarky, trollish and probably not a smart thing to post.

The motorcycle rider's wife was not amused and posted a reply expressing that. Can't really say I blame her.

If your sister announced she was pregnant on social media, would you comment: Don't drop the baby on his head! Maybe some of my friends would. But I would suggest that a simple Congratulations works just fine.

Facebook is a nice neighborhood. It's a nice dinner with a lot of people invited. It's nice talk with relatives, friends and let's be honest here - probably a lot of people you don't know well or who have changed a lot since you last saw them in high school. Commenting on gun rights, voting laws, or hating on Obama or Boehner or Harry Reid or the Koch brothers is not a good idea. Get controversial if you want but it's at your own peril.

You can beat social network terrorism. Your posts to facebook can exclude certain people. Consider it your version of implementing a no-fly list.

Diary Entries: Days of Italian Wines and Roads

Tuesday 10/7

Morning

By the second hour of trying to get out of Florence on a bicycle I was considering most every option. I simply could not believe that I was trapped in this Italian city. I was looking for one avenue in particular to lead me south out of town and having the hardest time finding it.

I like to think I am a fairly good navigator. It is actually one of the things I need to do for my day  job. But this was becoming maddening. I'd chosen to skip the roaming charges and get through a trip with no cell phone navigation. Amazing how used to that you can get. And a paper map might have been a good idea. But I had studied the googlemap on my tablet that morning at breakfast and felt pretty confident in my plan for riding out of Florence.

Getting around this city that was the center of the Renaissance in the 15th century is a challenge to understate it. The traffic is endless streams of small cars, small trucks, small motor scooters, large tour buses and even larger confidence of Italian drivers. Not as much honking as you might think, but the sound of internal combustion, was everywhere. I didn't feel out of place on a bicycle but wasn't exactly at home either. Getting south of the city was a priority but mostly I just wanted to stay out of the way and not get killed.

Then there is the constant about old cities in Europe: every street changes names constantly. And since those names are posted in small, sometimes fading letters on the sides of buildings instead of street signs, missing the road you are looking for can be very easy.

Asking for directions did very little good. The Italians are wonderful. More than willing to try to help in every case. But the best I could get after three attempts was a finger pointed and "that direction until you come to a very beeg and very old building. Then a maybe you ask for directions again." The crazy layout of the streets and the idea that most Florentines probably don't get too far from their own part of town started to make me think that I might not be able to do this.

Maybe hiring a cab driver to lead the way would work. I was almost ready to do that. But stubbornness was leading to more pedaling and the belief I would somehow get out of town.

Finally a stop at a small bike shop, and with a purchased tourist map, I found the road I was looking for. Then crossing the Arno River with my compass in hand, the good old feeling of knowing where you're at (sort of) returned.  I was rolling south and escaping Florence.

Tuesday 10/7

Afternoon

Unless you're Lance Armstrong, with or without PED's, the sixth or seventh hour on a bike can bring you to say I've enough for the day. Thighs burned and energy was just about gone within ten kilometers of Tavernelle, my first planned overnight stop. One very steep hill sent me off the bike and on two feet for the first time that day. Pedaling became pushing and it was feeling more like work than vacation. Then the truck passed.

It was loaded with grapes fresh from harvest. The early October weather was still fantastic and the season for beginning wine production had begun. I was breathing deeply already from the hill, and paused as the air became the soft and sour fragrance of ripening grapes. I watched the truck disappear around the next curve. The smell faded and I climbed back on the bike. Just renewed enough to climb a few more hills, and by 5 pm I was in Tavarnelle.

Thursday 10/9

Late Morning

I was on the best bike road ever with the best name for a bike road ever:  Traversa del Chianti: Path that crosses the hills between stops for wine. At least that was my translation. It is south of Radda, deep in the soul of Tuscany and far away from the motors that seemed to be everywhere else in Italy. Where there weren't vineyards or the homes of their owners, there were cypress, juniper and olive trees tunneled by the road and turning the hazy light blue midday skies into early twilight. Then gentle switchback climbs and descents, into more views of of translucent grape leaves wired and ordered to rows on the hillside, fading toward winter.

Most all the old cities are on the high ground. Made sense for ancient defense. But for bicycle touring, it's backwards of what you would prefer.  It means riding the last tired miles at the end of the day are uphill and the recharged mornings leaving town begin with ease, downhill.

So downhill it is to start the day and I can certainly live with that. Until another climb and the legwork begins again. At late afternoon there will be one final stop on this ride  - Siena - another Italian fortress city the shades of clay and evening sunlight. From there, I'll choose to ride the train back to Florence.

But for now, coasting. Thoughts of the curve ahead and then another, the cool breeze, and a path from last night's chianti to the next.

2 Years Using a Health Savings Account

Since January 2013, my employer-provided health insurance choice has been a low-premium / high deductible plan paired with contributions to a Health Savings Account.

Here is a breakdown of total health care expenses over these last 21 months:

Total premiums paid:
$267 (Breakdown A at bottom)

Total contributions to Health Savings Account:
$9900 (Breakdown B at bottom)

Total expenses paid to health care providers (this is the same thing as HSA withdrawls):
$2679 (Breakdown C at bottom)

Earnings paid on the HSA account (all tax-free):
$343

Account maintenance expenses paid:
$52 (Breakdown D at bottom)





**Breakdowns / Further Info:

A:
Premiums paid first year: $132 ($11 per month)
Premiums paid second year: $135 ($15 per month through Sept. 2014)

B:
Contributions 2013: $5400
Contributhions through Sept. 2014: $4500

C:
Expenses 2013: $1484
Expenses through Sept. 2014: $1195

D:
Service Charge Opening Account: $1
Monthly Investment Fees from May 2013 to Sept 2014: $51 ($3 per month)


Disclaimer: All the above is certified reasonably accurate by a product of the public school math system. Study your employer-provided literature very carefully. If you are reading this on an Ipad, it makes much more sense using the very best stand for cockpit or desk AVAILABLE AT:

WWW.SKYBLUEMARKET.COM

iOS 8.0

iOS 8.0 can be downloaded on your personal iPad now.

For those of us who carry separate iPads (no EFB installed), the update works pretty well.

1. All of my installed apps work fine with this latest update. This includes Crew Web, Flight Track, and My Radar. I don't use Crew Buddy currently.

2. All webpages seem to open and run a just a little slower. I understand this can be expected with iPad 2 - the version I use.

3. Downloading  the update and installation took 3 hours with strong wifi connection.

4.  I like the keyboard upgrade with word suggestions. My keyboard  shortcuts were not saved from the previous software. I would suggest writing them down before installing 8 if you used them before.

5. Family sharing of  calendars is a great idea. Maybe not Apple's but whoever is getting paid for   inventing it deserves the money.

For those who use EFB on the company paid iPad, software update 8 is not yet authorized.

Have fun with your tablet and check out SkyBlueMarket!

The BBC, One Gun Range Death and Childhood

If there is one thing our European friends seem to be obsessed with when it comes to American news, it is our gun culture. Actually I'm not sure what that expression specifically refers to. But I hear it a lot on MSNBCforObama and find that network really likes to report on anything involving deadly weapons, our right to own them, and their misuse. Assault rifles, gun shows, military grade hardware, school shootings, stand-your ground, Chicago gang-violence, 2nd  Amendment rights... the phrase list goes on. I suppose it all does make up some kind of "culture" but it is undeniable that media coverage is a loose bonding agent and invites us all to take a side and keep tuning in.

It's not surprising that the recent death of a range instructor near Las Vegas involving a nine year old girl and an Uzi  weapon was instant fast news food for many in Europe. I listen to BBC when I have the chance and this story has been getting a lot of coverage these days. (It used to be 'Guantanamo' every day when Bush was president). The words scale and perspective seem to have no meaning when it comes to news editors and what they choose or how much they follow up certain stories. To many radio listening Brits, every other kid in the U.S. must be a delicate arm length and one unlocked gun away from mayhem.

Nine year old girls don't need to shoot an Uzi. Why her parents decided to allow her to handle that weapon is beyond me. I can understand the instructor's or the range owner's motive: they wanted to get paid. But if we're going to blame someone in this case, it is the parents.

A few weeks ago, I played a round of golf with my 17 year old son. We get to the course regularly and it is usually highlight of my week. On that particular day we were paired up with two other guys who brought a four year old on the course. The little boy was cute and seemed to be having fun, but had no earthly idea what was going on. He was too young. Had that day ended with the young one being seriously injured by a golf ball or club, it might have made the news - but probably not BBC.

I'll say it again. The average four year old belongs on a playground and not on a golf course or for that matter a gun range or the first class cabin of an airliner or a lot of other places. Maybe that golfing father heard the  Harry Chapin song 'Cats on the Cradle' the day before we played. Or maybe he just does what a lot of parents do these days which is to expose their kids to things much more grown-up than they are ready for. A few young teens have died mountain climbing or trying to pilot a plane stupidly and needlessly. Many more youngsters are killed  because of accidental gun violence - but just to keep it in perspective, more die in accidental pool drownings.

I know, Tiger Woods was televised shaping nine irons out of a bunker on the Mike Douglas Show at age 2. Good for him. But Tiger was and still is very not average. His ex-wife would be happy to elaborate on that.

Office Remodel Finished

Master Bedroom / Office Remodel 2014 is very nearly complete.

The space is divided into a bedroom area and home office area. I used a four foot high knee wall (below right) to help distinguish between the areas which are decorated differently. The bedroom area is carpet and lighter colors. The office is more wood, tile floor and a stone veneer fire-place.

The desk is unique. It's construction is wood frame with tile on the outside - except for the areas which face the chair - they are hardwood face-frame. The top is granite.

The walls of the bedroom area are pictures themed with affectionate couples and umbrellas. If you ever see artwork or any kind of room decoration with this sort of style, please let me know.

View from the Office to the Bedroom Area

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View from the Bedroom to the Office

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Office Area

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Details on the first phase of this project can be found on a blog from earlier in the year.

Bike Ride Through Italy

The planning and training for international bike trip #3 has officially begun. I've been overseas twice for extended rides on the bike (bicycle). First was Germany in 2002. I rode from Wurzburg to Augsburg in mid-September along a route known as the Romantische Strabe or Romantic Road. I was solo on that trip so it was not too romantic. Beautiful, though. Fall colors were everywhere and the weather was clear and bright for 6 days along well kept paths between small German towns like Nordlingen and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Highlight was a 70 mile day to the fortress city of Rothenburg overlooking a river below. The last ten or fifteen miles were uphill to the ancient defended highgound that is now home to dungeon museums, small hotels and of course the most welcome of sights after 7 hours on the bike- beer gardens.

In March 2006 I packed up the same bike, flew off to the hemisphere down under, and rode through the South Island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Queenstown. Here are some numbers: 7 days on the left side of the road. A dozen (or so) Kiwi beers. Zero flat tires or breakdowns. 5 million sheep. One beautiful country.

Last Sunday, training for a ride through Italy began. I woke up early and pedaled for a couple of hours before breakfast. Phoenix mornings could almost be considered a little cool now with near zero humidity and Sundays are the best time for street riding just about anywhere. I told my teenage son at breakfast that I had pedaled my bike for 30 miles in about two hours. He remarked that it sounded like I'd just been through a school zone.

Future updates on the trip planning and training can be found here:

 update 9/10  -  The Route is Set:

Firenzie (Florence) - 31 miles to

San Gimignano - 22 miles to

Radda in Chianti - 15 miles to

Siena - 23 miles to

Montalcino - 22 miles to

Montepulciano - 19 miles to

Cortona - 42 miles to

Assisi - 29 miles to

Todi - 23 miles to

Orvieto - Train back to Firenzie

Total distance 226 miles (planned 5 days)



update 9/17  -  Ship or Rent:

On the past two trips, I transported my own bike overseas. In both cases, there was no charge to ship the bike by either American Airlines (to Germany) or on Air New Zealand. Times have definitely changed. It is now a significant additional fee to ship a bike international (or anywhere). Plus, both times I had to break down the bike and place it in a cardboard box for protection from the baggage manglers. When I arrived out of country, I had to re-assemble the bike and store the box, parts and some airline travel clothes in one location. Then when the ride was over I had to re pack the thing for the flight home.

I loved having my own bike for those two trips. It was 100 percent reliable. I never had a flat or any mechanical problem in all of those hundreds of miles. I will certainly miss this. But I think renting is the way to go, now.

There are many bike hire companies around Italy. I chose one in Florence where I will begin and end the Tuscany ride-adventure. The price is not too far from what it would cost me to ship my own.

Voting and Hitting the Jackpot

In a bid to boost voter turnout, Los Angeles election officials are considering some sort of lottery / cash prize system.

By participating in the voting process, citizens would be automatically entered in a contest to win money. Seems almost reasonable for a moment. But think about it. You would have to continue this process for every election into the future. Because if the incentive ever went away, a community would be right back to the same old problem. Maybe worse, since you could see even more voter cynicism at the thought of a prize or monetary incentive that "used to be there, so why bother now?"

And if it is truly a good idea, why stop with voting?  How about a prize incentive to promote the civic responsibility of filing a tax return?  Or jury duty?

Voting is an important right and responsibility. It's made much easier in my community through mail-in ballots. Choosing through voting is not the same as filling out a lottery ticket at the convenience store. You're already a winner every time you turn in a ballot.

Editorials Above the Darkness

Who is the creepy guy in this picture? His name is William Bradfield and he is even more creepy than you might think. More at the end of this post.

This is a page from my February 1978 school newspaper: The Upper Merion Emissary. During my sophomore year, I wrote several articles for the journalism class paper. It was very interesting to read through the stuff - especially an opinion piece I wrote on the death penalty. Funny to see how my views on that issue have changed.

The opinion piece above the photo is uncredited. I wrote it as a project of amateur investigative journalism. Some of those high school teachers were not happy about it, but my teacher liked it and I got a good grade in the class. Looking back, I really enjoyed Ms. Hutson's class and the other kids on the school paper.

As for the bearded fellow, in addition to planning bible lectures, Bill Bradfield also planned and committed murder. Three of them: the victims were a fellow English teacher named Sue Reinert and her two children. Ms. Reinert was found beaten and drugged to death in her car 16 months after this photo and her kids were never found. Bradfield, along with our school principal Dr. Jay Smith were convicted of the murders.

More information can be found about this famous Philadelphia area case by googling "main line murders" or checking out Joseph Wambaugh's book "Echoes in the Darkness." Wambaugh is a very good police and true-crime writer.

Movie Review - "Locke" (no spoilers)

Guys like cars. We like movies with cars.  Really fast cars - chasing, being chased, launching into the air, crashing, driving on, crashing again. I think what we especially like is the idea of one man behind the wheel - escaping a menace ("Duel"), seeking justice ("The Seven-Ups"), rocketing toward an inevitable nowhere ("Vanishing Point"), being a hero to a family ("Drive"). Doing, as the old cliche goes, what a man's gotta do.

Hitchcock used cars a lot in his movies to wind up the story tension. The main character in Psycho steals money from a bank and drives through the desert on the way to the Bates motel.  By the time she gets out of the car, the story has barely begun but we are already nervous for her and can imagine it will turn out badly.

"Locke" is the story of a British engineer who specializes in concrete - driving his car for eighty minutes. In the beginning, very briefly, we see his current project - a skyscraper construction site, and from then on it's all a single character in his BMW. His name is Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy. He speaks on his hands-free cell to family, colleagues and one other very important person for the entirety of the film. He speaks to his dead father as an empty seat in the rear-view. He speaks to the movie audience through expressions, gestures, gulps of cough medicine. No radio. No flashbacks. No crashes, no chases, nothing that makes you hold your breath except for cell conversations that range from frantic to comical. Then Locke's reaction to one desperate and emotional voicemail which I think is as good as you'll ever see in a movie performance.

Ivan Locke has made a decision. He must do one thing in the next few hours - be in one certain place and this will put at risk everything he has achieved in life. But it must happen. It must happen  - to borrow a small riff from Hardy's chilling way of phrasing throughout the film. Millions of pounds currency and billions of future life events hinge on what happens with Locke's obligations to his employer. But he has made a human choice. And with an engineer's mind, he'll manage the rest.

Phoenix Airport Food and My Letter in the Wall Street Journal

Over the  years, I've probably sent in a dozen or so letters to the editors of a few newspapers. On Friday, one was published by the Wall Street Journal  in both the print and on-line edition.

I commented on a recent editorial titled "Why Subway Doesn't Serve a $14 Sandwich." I agreed with what the author - Michael Saltsman- was saying and provided a real world example of decent, cheap, fast airport food being replaced by more expensive sit-down restaurants under the justification that "local owned and operated" is better.

In some ways, local owned can be better. A tourist passing through our airport might remember a meal he had at "Sauce" or the "Barrio Cafe" in Phoenix's SkyHarbor Airport, and repeat that experience at the same restaurant that can be found around town. This can be a plus for the local economy.

Problem is, a hamburger that used to cost $6 in PHX Terminal 4 is now $14. Does this lead to higher wages or better health care insurance for employees? Maybe. What if it does not? What if the Airport Authority Deciders of What We Eat in PHX SkyHarbor have less than the best intentions about where that extra $8 goes? What if a family chooses against the prices of "locally owned and operated," is in a hurry and simply goes with the airplane snacks? Then it's a fail for just about everyone.


Here's the original editorial by Mr. Saltsman:

• http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303603904579495232813162694-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwNzEyNDcyWj

Here's my letter in the April 25th edition:

• Politicians picking local Reubens over $5 footlongs? Come on out to the Phoenix airport, Terminal 4, Concourse D. There used to be a nice food court there. You could get a reasonably priced Wendy's meal or fast Asian fare on the way to your flight. All gone now, replaced by two sit-down restaurants owned and operated by businesses in the Phoenix area. A family of four can now get burgers to go for about $60, not including drinks. I wonder how many parents skip these pricey slow-food restaurants and settle for bags of free peanuts on their flight. I know, hungry children don't contribute or vote.

Saturday Night Stake-Out

Just a few years ago, if you lost something small and valuable like an electronic device or a watch, it was gone forever. Now, with GPS, a lot of things are trackable and stand a chance at being recovered - like a 16 year old's iPhone.

My daughter set her phone down in the shoe department of a local store last night. Absent minded (like we've all been at times) she walked away without it and left the store.

These days, it doesn't take long for a young woman to realize that her phone is missing. Within 15 minutes she was back in the store asking if a pink iPhone 5c had been turned in. The answer was no.

"Find iPhone" is now our favorite free application ever. Once my daughter was back at home, we downloaded it to my iPad. By simply putting in her Apple ID, a map showed exactly where the phone was located. Fortunately the phone was left powered on by whoever had it. This is required for the app to work. We watched the image of a smartphone moving along a map from a local grocery store to a neighborhood in Tempe about 5 miles away.

I suppose filing a police report and waiting at home for them to take care of things would have been the best choice. Maybe  I did not want to see that phone move somewhere else or disappear from the screen. Maybe I really really don't like someone taking something of mine and getting away with it. Maybe I just needed a little improvised stake-out to liven up my weekend night.

We hopped in her car and headed toward Tempe.

For about 90 minutes we waited outside the house displayed on the iPad map. Meantime, I was able to report the phone stolen and request the police. It was a Saturday night and I knew real emergency calls would get priority. But eventually two young, polite Tempe police officers showed up. I showed them my iPad screen and the latest update of where the phone was.

The very happy ending to all this is that we got the phone back. It was in the house displayed on the iPad. The police had a long conversation in front of the house with the occupants and finally a pink phone turned up in the hands of two 13 year old girls inside. The girls had found it in the store where my daughter lost it. Not turning it in to a manager was their mistake. So was leaving it powered on.

I didn't ask for too much further information after the police gave their simple explanation for how they got it out of the house. "Just good police work" was the answer, with a smile. We had the option to press charges, but chose not too.

It's really hard to find better free entertainment for a Saturday night than getting back something valuable you thought was lost. The improvised stake-out was a bonus. And I think my daughter sort of enjoyed having a couple of young policemen save her day.

Inside Llewyn Davis

The second or third record player I ever owned was pretty fancy. It had a continous play feature. By selecting a switch, no matter where you set the needle down, music would play non-stop.  After the last song on one side was over, the needle arm would automatically raise and return to the first track on the vinyl. Sure seemed cool for a 13 year old's stereo system in the mid-70's.

The movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" is presented by the Coen Brothers in a style that reminded me of a record on that turntable. The end is the beginning and vice versa. You can "drop the needle" anywhere in the middle and start enjoying. Like most record albums, there doesn't seem to be much conclusion. Just tracks / stories that either affect you or don't. If you've seen enough Coen Brothers' films, no conclusion is no real surprise, but there is a lot for the eyes and ears along the way to make viewing it worthwhile.

In the film, the Coens present a contrast of a man who makes astoundingly beautiful music and yet is really one of the biggest jerks you could imagine. "Everything you touch turns to shit," a female friend whom he has thoughtlessly impregnated hisses at him "You're like King Midas' idiot brother."

Not so much an idiot, really, but more of just a handsome, mellow, selfish folk singer who is obsessed with achieving his own vague ideal for success in music: becoming famous but not too commercial and never "selling out." Even worse, failing and then simply "existing" as he sees his sister - a New York City housewife, then rotting away like his once famous merchant-marine father in an old-sailor's home.

With "Inside Llewyn Davis," life is about choices we make, doors that don't close quickly enough, off-ramps taken or not, incredible journeys that aren't really or don't seem like it until looking back when they are over, and the fallacy of "legitimacy" in music. Does a musician really have to live the blues if he wants to sing them, too? After all, if you write or perform a folk song lamenting your death hanging by a noose, doesn't the fact that you're not dead make you a phony? Could it be simply enough to just imagine it? Or sing your own version of an old song? For the people living around Greenwich Village in the late 50's / early 60's this was important and forms a nice background for this, sort of, anti-musical.

One other movie this reminded me of was "Almost Famous." In that really good film, a young reporter (so young he has to lie about his age) follows around a rock band in the 1970's to do a story about them for Rolling Stone magazine. Some of the same ideals about art and music are explored. Is it ok to tell a big lie to get to the "real truth?" Can image be more important than reality? Why are artists sometimes obsessed with "real people" when there probably just isn't such a thing. What is it that we really love about music?

The highlights of Inside Llewyn Davis are cinematography, dialogue and great melodies. Hearing them performed well is good enough for most of us. Getting "inside" the musician is a bonus. But one that really never leads to a brighter truth. Just more stories of life - and another track on the album.

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This is the press release given to critics before the film debuted at the Cannes film festival. It is very enlightening as to the subject matter because it was written by the co-author of the book on which the film is based. This release could be read before of after seeing the movie, and really provides great background. 

http://www.festival-cannes.fr/assets/Image/Direct/049141.pdf

The Movie 'Gravity' Reviewed, with a 5g Spoiler Alert

HEAVY SPOILER ALERT

George Clooney as Danny Ocean Buzz Lightyear? Sandra Bullock as Ripley without a bad-ass alien-killing gun but still in some nice booty-shorts? Round and round and round and round, tumbling spinning where is my barf bag weightless shots I remember from '2001 A Space Odyssey?' A conclusion where just about everyone and everything is lost (including Facebook) except for Sandra and her shorts?

At least in 'Apollo 13' the music was dramatic and the wives fought back tears as their boys plummeted back from space. But those were 1 g tears in Ron Howard's excellent film and I guess I'm supposed to be more than impressed by the effect of Sandra's weightless blubbering. An Academy Award nomination for her? Seriously? Is this still the 'we feel sorry for you over your choice of tattoo-boy Jesse James' effect?

What is all the fuss and hype about 'Gravity?' Great special effects. Really, amazing. But so is my iPad. There is simply nothing else there. I mean, you know she won't run out of oxygen thirty minutes into it, right? And - after months of training, then being launched into space together, how does Clooney's character wait until the space walk to ask his pretty space companion if she is married? I've heard of single guys playing it cool and detached, but that's gotta be a record.

Actually, now that I think about it, no one I know recommended this movie to me. I got suckered in by the commercials and so-called critical acclaim.

Want to see a good movie? American Hustle. Definitely.

Check out this youtube video for the best summary I've seen of 'Gravity' and yes, it too deserves extra SPOILER ALERTing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzzLngXfCcI

Dumb Starbucks

Starting a business. Putting people to work. Giving them an opportunity to be better. There is so much of that going on these days. Right next door to where I am sitting, a small taproom is nearly ready for a grand opening. The background noise of tile being cut mixes with the sounds of another existing restaurant beginning the day. Wait staff tell jokes among themselves, setting up tables and greeting customers.

Scenes and stories like this are too boring and too many for the internet news. I get that. But do we really have to read about this silly concocted event of the moment from a few days ago: Dumb Starbucks?

It seems a local comedian in Los Angeles thought that people paying $4 for a fancy coffee drink was dumb. So he opened up a store (although it turned out later not to really be one) giving away free coffee. All this under the familiar green logo and the banner Dumb Starbucks.

Because some people stood in line for a long time and waited for their free "dumb coffee" the news vans rolled and set up for another internet news story. I suppose this might have gone on just as easily in the past when we only had the 5 and 11 o'clock TV news.

Probably a topic for another blog, but those people in line at Dumb Starbucks looked a lot like the customers waiting to buy pot in Colorado.

Anyway, the comedian got his few minutes of national fame. The real Starbucks threatened legal action for trademark infringement, and the news vans rolled away to the next story - like  seven year olds on a soccer field enthusiastically chasing a ball. Dumb Starbucks is gone.

Yes there is dumb in all this. We are all getting very good at pointing it out. With about seven billion people to share the planet with, I'm sure that just about anything I do can be considered dumb by someone.

Write a weblog? Have an oatmeal breakfast? Walk my dog at three in the afternoon? Definitely someone is out there that doesn't like any of that.

What's different now from any other time is that the internet provides a lot more leverage to express that opinion, however dumb it may be.

I'll continue giving business to my local Starbucks, even though lately I have seen a few changes. They have remodeled. Taken away the comfy chairs and put in only one bathroom. Now that is dumb.  But in the end, smart people with $4 for a fancy drink will decide.

American Idle

The new image of American Labor?

These protest signs - I guess you call them - appear around the Phoenix area on occasion. Some sort of dispute between management and labor exists, I suppose. The "Sam Fox" on this sign is a successful restaurant entrepreneur ( Fox Restaurants Concepts) who hires good people and contributes to the local economy.

I've been to several of his eateries around Scottsdale.  They are all very good, with excellent wait staff and competitive pricing. Some have gone out of business, but I saw a new one open up the other day.

The young woman with green hair in this photo does not work for Fox Restaurants, to my knowledge. She is either employed by or volunteers for a group that organizes Shame On protests outside of local businesses.

I haven't seen a picket line in years and as far as I can tell, this is some sort of community organizing that has replaced it.

Jay Leno's Curtain Call

Jay Leno has left The Tonight Show and I'm very sorry to see him go. One of the first times I ever saw his stand-up routine, he was a guest of Johnny Carson and delivered this classic description of a difference between men and women. A friend of mine saw it, too and we both had a good laugh over it at the time:

Every woman thinks the Three Stooges are stupid. Seriously. They do not understand the humor. But you could take a guy with a Ph.D in Nuclear Physics from MIT, and he will always laugh when Moe hits Curly in the head with a shovel.

Had a chance to meet him a few years ago at the Rock Store in Malibu. It's a breakfast place and I was with my son on a motorcycle trip through California.

He is an extremely friendly guy - very down to earth and I was grateful to him for a photo. Hopefully Jimmy Fallon will continue that tradition of class and respect for many years to come.

Subway Sandwiches and Those Chemicals

The Subway fast-food chain has decided to remove one ingredient from their bread recipes because, for whatever reason, that same ingredient is used to make yoga-mats. The bubble-headed bleach blondes on the five o'cock news had a field day with their yuck-comments over this story.

A little perspective: The airplanes I have flow in the last twenty years have a fire-detection system that works extremely well. Many years ago there used to be a lot of false alarms indicating engine fires that were not really there. Protocol is for the engine to be shut down and and a fire suppressant to be released into the engine.

These false alarms rarely happen any more because modern sensors are made with materials called eutectic salts. Without going all periodic table (because I can't) these salts help measure both temperature and change in electrical resistance to detect a real fire.

So Subway uses salt in it's products like I do in my very safe airplane! Is there a yuck factor here? Not really. Whatever it was that was in yoga mats and helped bread rise is gone now. So are we better off now? I have no idea.

But it is funny how we run away from things when the news story sounds odd or the late-night comedians have a few laughs over the story of the day.

A Beautiful San Diego Sunset

Captured a few weeks ago with our beautiful friend, Annelene. She's got a little fight going on with cancer right now and we wish her and Bill the best moving forward.

Thermapen

I am a guy that loves the gadgets. Last week one arrived on my doorstep and is now one of  the most useful things I have ever bought on the internet:

It is called a Thermapen and is manufactured in Utah by a company called Thermaworks.

There are plenty of web reviews already out there on the product. My favorite TV Chef, Alton Brown, mentioned it during a published interview, so I decided to try one. It is a basic probe type thermometer that uses more precise and quicker-reading technology to measure food temperature.

It comes with both a signed calibration certificate and an amazingly readable user's manual - in one language! No California chemical or death may occur warnings in any of the literature can be found. Just how to use the thing and how much you will love it in the kitchen or on the backyard grill - which I do.

I can't remember the last time I ever read an entire owner's manual. One funny part was a gentle suggestion to not take the Thermapen to your local steak restaurant and test the grilled porterhouse that just landed on your table. The food has most-likely already cooled below it's peak temperature back in the kitchen.

Don't get food poisoned or eat a dried out steak! Check this thing out.

"Children" and Guns

This story appeared on Fox News' website a couple of weeks ago:

20 CHILDREN A DAY ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL FOR GUN INJURIES

Every day, gun injuries send 20 children and teenagers to the hospital in the United States. 

A new study from Yale University, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that 7,391 younger patients are hospitalized each year as a result of a firearm injury – and 453 of these patients (around 6 percent) ultimately die from their injuries. 

Assault accounted for the majority of the injuries, but other injuries were caused by gun accidents.  The most common types of injuries included open wounds, fractures and internal injuries of the thorax, abdomen or pelvis. 

According to the study’s authors, their findings reveal the need for more education about gun safety in the U.S. 

"These data highlight the toll of gun-related injuries that extends beyond high-profile cases, and those children and adolescents who die before being hospitalized. Pediatricians and other health care providers can play an important role in preventing these injuries through counseling about firearm safety, including safe storage," said Dr. John Leventhal, a professor at Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

I looked a little more into the story. That is, I went to the Yale School of Medicine website and found this further explanation:

About 84 percent of these shootings involved teens aged 15 to 19, and two-thirds of those were related to assaults. While the study's database does not provide specifics, Leventhal said it's natural to assume that gang violence explains some of these gunshot injuries.

So the vast majority of these 'children' are actually 15-19 year olds. Not really children by any contemporary definition.

I suppose Leventhal is correct when he says that his findings reveal the need for more gun safety education. When will his team get on the road to Chicago and set up classes for the Gangster Disciples, or the Latin Kings, or the Aryan Nation?

Here is a link to the entire published study:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/01/22/peds.2013-1809.full.pdf

Master Bedroom Remodel Jan. 2014

 

Before

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After reframing, windows installed, rough electrical added, and drywall hung

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Windows trimmed out, temporary light fixtures

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Chair rail installed

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Sconce lights installed

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Each trim piece cut, then painted, then installed

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DIY must haves : Dewalt chop saw, tool belt, Senco finish nailer, dog

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Picture frame trim installed

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After

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Exhausted

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This was about a two month project. It starts like most we've done, with a lot of net surfing to find pictures of nice master bedroom interiors. One feature that caught my eye in all those google images was windows surrounding the headboard of a king sized bed. I also saw several trim designs that looked good and planned to incorporate them in the finished project. Crown molding really makes a room and I liked the look of an accent strip below it.

The window install started with removing most of the drywall on one side of the room. Then framing out new windows with 2 by lumber and a LOT of measuring. I spent extra time ensuring level rough framing and symmetry for the side windows. We already had the bedroom set purchased so the measurements allowed for width and height of the headboard. I also had a plan for the sconce lights as well as how much trim (and it's dimensions) would surround the windows.

The rough framing and window install went smoothly with diagrams and info from the web. I hired a contractor for the windows and he handled the exterior trim and stucco repair. He did fine until it came to texturing the interior drywall. Didn't come close to matching the other walls in the room. So we hired another crew from Craigslist that were able to come out in half an afternoon and match the rest of the room.

Electrical rough-in was next and that was another careful process for obvious reasons. I decided early-on that instead of lamps on a nightstand, I'd prefer a wall-sconce on a switch. I stay in a lot of hotels and don't like fumbling for a lamp switch under a shade that is always turned the wrong way. A wall switch is easy to find and this bedroom has two individual switches for each side of the bed.

Wall color is Behr 300F-4 Almond Toast in flat. I think it is a very pleasant color and goes great with the trim. We put up a lot of samples from Home Depot before deciding. The white trim color is Behr ultra pure white 2-8050 in high gloss enamel. It reflects some of the color in the rest of the wall and looks very pretty early in the morning from natural light through the windows.

The trim gives the room a real custom feel and took about two weeks to install. That was with a good chop saw, compressor and finish nailer. Everything is painted first, then secured. This is, in my opinion, the easiest way. Painter's caulk is next and works great for filling some good sized gaps in places like the crown molding. I went through about four tubes for the entire room. Baby wipes with aloe are very handy for keeping the caulk mess under control, but you will find you can go through a lot very quickly.

The trim designs came from styles I spotted on google images. The squares below the chair rail are a Lowe's accent trim that is MDF and pre-primed. It is very easy to work. Vertical pieces are all one length (except below windows) so I could cut the 50 or so using a stop block on the chop saw to the exact same length. Horizontal pieces are different lengths and need some planning to work around electrical outlets.  All corners are mitered and each piece is installed with strong construction glue dotted on about every 4" or so then secured with a brad nailer.

Here is a nice install trick: make sure the chair rail is installed first and absolutely level and straight. Use a laser level if you can to establish a line on the wall where the top of the chair rail will be and nail it as perfect as possible. Find stud locations, mark them and fasten the chair rail at each stud. I didn't use any glue for this trim or the crown.

The picture frame squares go under the chair rail and the best way to get a consistent spacing is with a block of wood. In my case, the spacing was about three inches. Hold the top horizontal piece of picture frame in place first using the wood block for a guide. I put up / down arrows on that wood block so I wouldn't mix it up sideways. Top of the wood block against the bottom of the chair rail. Then top of the picture frame trim piece against the bottom of the spacing block. With strong construction glue I could use 3-4 brads to hold each trim piece. Make sure to fasten on the ends at the miters.

You get the hang of it after a couple of squares, then it gets boring. But pretty nice looking when it is all done.

My very able blonde assistant took care of filling in about a thousand nail holes and touch up painting. Sconce lighting came from Lowe's - about $20 each - they came in a bronze color and we sprayed on a nickel satin finish. Then some cushy carpet, baseboard trim and the rest of the bedroom set went in place. Now, just another couple of months to finish the home office on the other side of the room.