scattershooting

Only if you like poetry

2012-02-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

If you don't like poetry then just skip this. But if you are willing to take a chance, spend a few moments, please read the short composition below. At the end I will tell you something about it.

"She skipped childhood like a stone

Skimmed the surface straight into adulthood

Never gave thought to her youth, it rippled softly before it disappeared

It was never dolls and make believe

It was babies and a real house to tend

she woke up one day and realized that she hadn’t played outside in years

And that she had nothing to show for her toil

except her children, who barely see her anymore

But she keeps working because she must

She is wise

And wiser still each day

You can see it in her face and in the movements of her hands

Hands not dealt an easy deck

And hands that know the cost

Of skipping rocks"

This is not a vanity thing. The above was written by my daughter. The one who keeps saying she wants to write, wishes she could write etc. Well guess what? I think she can and I'm proud of her. I had to get her permission to re-publish this. I just hope there is more where this came from. Keep it up Bean!

Not a Christmas letter

2011-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: This is NOT;repeat NOT our family Christmas letter. Patti typically writes those but for avariety of reasons we’ve not sent one in a few years – time, postage, I forgotto mail it etc.

This represents my recollectionsand mine only of this past year. Patti may see fit to comment on it viaFacebook.

2011 can be summed up inthree words: we became grandparents! And that’s pretty much what I have toreport. See ya’ next year!

OK, now back to thebeginning. I can either do this by subject or chronologically. OK survey says?Chrono so here we go!

Jan. 2011

As has become our annualtradition, Sarah and Caleb visited us for a couple of weeks in January. Many ofour Saturdays were spent watching Janie play basketball on a local girl’s team.We also (yeah!) got our woodstove installed so we began to enjoy the real heatand warmth. And did I mention this is when all my chain-saw-sagas began? Alsovisited my dad in Dallas for his 89^th birthday.

Feb. – Janie continues herbasketball efforts. Almost every Saturday. Plus practices in between.

March – Patti spent a month working for Oxford Home Health Care after leaving CMH in Ash Grovebut after trying to take care of a bed-ridden 300+ lb. hoarder, she called thatone quits. I spent two days in our state capitol, Jefferson City, with aleadership program, trying to learn how our state govt. functions. You think DCis dysfunctional? Just kidding!

April – Senior prom monthfor Annie. Patti starts working for a different nursing home – Quail Creek – anice facility.

May – Vesper BrielleKrantz is born in May, daughter of our oldest daughter Sarahand her husband Caleb. Patti flew up for a week or so right after the birth,took hundreds of pictures. Cutest girl in town!

Right before Patti left,Annie graduated from high school (yeah and congrats!) and somehow I was askedto be the commencement speaker. It took me weeks to write my 12-minute-speechwhich was essentially a look back at the last 40 years (for me) since mygraduation and what might be in store for them in their next 40 (you can readit online if you like here). I took some liberties with Tim McGraw’s, “My Next30 years”, but I did not sing. The audience was thankful.

June – Able to visit myDad in Dallas for a couple of days at Father’s Day. Annie starts working forWalmart. Gilly took me to see Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt as a Father’s Daypresent. As usual June is wedding month and we celebrated two multi-culturalmarriages with friends at our church.

July – Janie and Anna goto kid’s camp at church giving us a week-long break!

Later, Vince, Janie andAnna drove to Montana to spend a week with Vesper and the rest of the Krantzclan. Spent a lot of time sitting with, holding, changing and in general justbeing a grandpa to, Vesper. I could get used to that! While there we also spenta bunch of time at Flathead Lake swimming in the super-cold water. The girlsnever batted an eye!

Aug. – Annie startedcollege at OTC in a nursing program. She has a scholarship which covers hertuition. Patti quits working for a while. We take a brief family camping tripto an unusual place in MO called Johnson’s Shut Ins.

Sept. – Helped launcha major internal training program at work called CAmP – City Ambassador Program– to help employees get a better handle of how their jobs fit into the muchbigger picture of the entire City government operation. It’s a once-a-monthprogram that is now beginning to take shape.

I also got to go back toSan Fran for a conference. Enjoyed walking the hills, the waterfront, eating real Chinese foodand seeing some old friends. Got to meet a real-live VP from Google!

Late in September, Patti Ispend a few days alone in Branson and Eureka Springs celebrating our 35^thanniversary. Nice places, nice time.

Oct. – Near the end ofthe month my co co-interim Director left for another job, so that left merunning the dept. by myself. For the last two months (and one more to go) I’vebeen doing at least 3 jobs: his, my old job, the dept. director position andhelping our Parks Dept. produce their monthly TV show until they replacesomeone as well. Note: In January I will finally have a new boss after 21months of sort of getting to be the boss. I’ll miss some of it and other parts,not so much.

Nov. – Annie moved outinto her own apartment in town closer to work (still Walmart) and school (stillOTC). We fire up the woodstove and I begin my chain-saw-saga again. But we arekeeping warm!

Dec. – Patti didabout 99% of the Christmas shopping. My job was the tree and lights. Lookingforward to friends and family on Christmas eve for Patti’s traditional 3-waychili (aka Skyline and/or Cincinnati chili) We expect a group of 12 or more fora fun evening.

Overall 2011 was achallenging year both personally and professionally. On the farm front we stillhave: 10 chickens, 3 dogs, 3 horses, one cat and one rabbit.

Also really looking forward to Sarah, Caleb and Vesper whowill come again in January. Plans this time include a trip to Dallas for myfolks to meet Caleb and Vesper.Then we head to Nashville for a short McCarthy family re-union. Should be quitea crowd there!

Hope you and yours have aBlessed time of year!

Vince, Patti, Janie andAnna holding down the Everton home front

Sarah lives in Montanawith Caleb and Vesper.

Gill and Annie each havetheir own places in town.

Just wondering

2011-10-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

There may be a really simple and good explanation for this but … in my re-read through of the Bible, I started Luke today.

That’s where we read the more familiar accounts of the annunciation, Jesus’ birth, etc.One part of this always bothered me (are we allowed to be “bothered” by something in Scripture? Not sure, but that’s the word that fits.)

The angel Gabriel comes to Zacharias and tells him about his son-to-come who of course became John the Baptist. In their conversation Zacharias questions the angel “Whereby shall I know this?” and for this he was struck dumb (for awhile at least.)

Later on Mary is also greeted by Gabriel who tells her about the coming birth of Christ – her child and the son of God. Mary’s response: “How shall this be?” Gabriel didn’t chide or punish her in any way for asking essentially the same question.

Always wondered why Zacharias got dinged for asking questions.

Maybe because I like to ask lots of questions!

It (almost) happens

2011-10-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, I was coming home with the girls just after dark.

Coming off the state highway (speed limit 60) to our town road where it drops to 35 pretty quick.

I usually coast in and by the time I hit the 35 mph sign I’m doing between 35-40.

Saturday I crested a small hill in our town when I saw the unmarked Police car sitting behind a small church. As is my habit, I looked down to my speed which I’m pretty sure was 35. (yeah, right, you say!)

The officer in the car thought otherwise and pulled out behind me and turned on his lights – no siren in our dinky little town I guess.

At first, since I had just looked at my speed, I wasn’t sure he was coming after me so I drove on down the road another block, turned off onto our road. I looked back and saw he had also so I knew he wanted me.

By the time he got to the car I had my license and registration out. He asked me if I knew why he had stopped me to which I honestly answered “no.” (yeah, right, you say!)
He said City Council was really asking them to stop anybody going over 35 and that I was doing 40. He asked me how fast I thought I was going and I told him 35. He took my license (gave me back my reg. card right then). He was in his car a long time, which made me start to worry.

Observation: when they shine that light into your mirror – you can NOT see anything. It is sooo very bright that it almost hurts! I’m sure that is intentional so you can’t see them or what they are doing.

After a bit, he came back, handed me my license and said, “Mr. Crunk, you have a good evening.” I said thank you and drove home.

Even if I was going 40 (and my wife says I always drive too fast thru town) I doubt many folks get stopped for 5 over. I’ve heard the off-the-record number was +7. Mind you I don’t try to push that envelope, I’m just sayin’.

Later that night I had to go back thru town again to pick up another daughter at work and rest assured, I never even broke 30 on the way out and the way back in. Not taking any chances!

Location, location, location

2011-10-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

I’m not a businessman or a restaurant owner but I’ve been watching something repeat itself for a few years.

At three intersections I pass through almost every day, are (or were, or will be) small restaurants – a pizza place, a former Italian rest. and a drive-thru coffee shop.
I can’t keep up with how many different businesses have gone in and OUT of each of these in the last few years. In a couple of cases the businesses may have lasted 2- 3 years, which in this economy might be doing pretty good. But the third one has turned over more times than I can recall.

I feel sorry for these small business-people who I’m sure lost their collective shirts (or more!) on these failed ventures.

To my title – it would seem that none of these locations can support a food related business. You’d think after awhile, folks would recognize that. For whatever reason this intersection etc. just is not going to work.

Before I forget – one of the locations held a small independent church for awhile but even that was short-lived.

I’ve heard the joke (or maybe serious statement) that Walmart and McDonalds aren’t in the retail or food business but rather in the real-estate business. They do traffic counts, demographic surveys, scope out the competition etc. for perhaps years before they go in and buy property for a future location.

Maybe these small business owners need to do the same type of research.

Coppola

2011-09-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

haven't heard much from him lately - guess he is too busy making wine but he's alwaays been one of my favorite directors. I'm one of the few who did not like Godfather 2 as much as the first.

just walking the streets in San Fran last week and ran across this building. Alas he was not at home.

high tech, high touch, high value

2011-09-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you combine AEDs, smart phones, 911 and a heart attack victim? Quite possibly a life saved.

At a conference loaded with tech people (in San Fran) and heard of an amazing example of how some very high tech can save lives.

Newer AEDs are apparently idiot-proof. They audibly talk the user through the process, know exactly how much and when to give electrical shocks and even if the person shouldn't get a shock.

So where's the weak link? Many people don't know what AEDs are and even those who do may not know where they are or how to find them in various locations. I guess many public places are now required to have them.

How do these (AEDs, smart phones, 911 and a heart attack victim) get connected again?

911 gets call about possible heart attack. 911 of course dispatches emergency personnel. But what about the intervening 5 - 7 minutes (average response time)? 911 pushes out an alert to anyone with a smart phone that can be geo-located nearby the victim. In that alert is information to help locate the victim and the nearest AED.

The receiver needs the app for the service to work. I heard not too long ago about concerns over the geo-locating capabilities of the iPhone raising some privacy concerns from users. I guess people would have to put those concerns aside in order for this new tech to work.

This is not pie-in-the-sky. A CA Fire Dept. & County are already using it.

I'm not a smart phone user (yet) but I'd sure buy this app if it were available in my area. Things like this move so fast it likely won't be long.

Libya and the U.N.

2011-09-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Listening to the radio Friday and heard that the United Nations had given Libya's seat in the U.N. to the National Transition Council (or something like that), the group of rebels who have overthrown Ghadaffi.

First, I think what has happened in Libya will turn out to be a good thing in the long run. As I hope most of the Arab Spring rebellions/revolts also turn out to be.

But I question the awarding of the Libyan seat. Who knows who's going to be running Libya in three months? One year? Seems like this group should prove themselves as adept at governing, keeping lights on and water running etc., before someone starts recognizing them as the representative of the Libyan govt. They have done what few others could have - got rid of a dictator. But as noted so far they haven't governed and no elections have put anybody in any sort of power there.

Seems like the U.N could certainly and fairly "strip" Libya of its U.N. position - not sure how it got there in the first place. Hold things in abeyance until the dust settles, Libya has elected people in place - then consider letting the new folks re-join the U.N.

This also got me to thinking about something. In 1971 - the U.N. decided that the PRC or People's Republic of China aka the place run then by Chairman Mao, should have a place in the U.N. Looking back, maybe that was a good decision at the time. Like it or not they had been running the bigger part of China since 1949.

But what happened to Taiwan? They have no representation in the U.N. Again by all rights this has been a pretty stable and usually thriving place since not too long after 1949. But for whatever reason - well actually the reason is the PRC doesn't want to allow Taiwan to have anything in the U.N. and China is big enough in the world to call some of those shots. So it's doubtful Taiwan will ever be recognized in the U.N.

Just seems odd.

Interests and Values

2011-08-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Heard a pretty balanced story yesterday on NPR that got me to thinking.

The story’s focus was on those who praise and criticize Obama for his handling of the Libyan situation and on a broader scope our general foreign policy related to interventions.

They included this quote from a March 28 speech:

“For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom. Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world’s many challenges. But when our interests and values are at stake (emphasis mine), we have a responsibility to act.”

I’d like to focus on the words interests and values. And before I begin, how do we, how should we handle things when these two things conflict? Just think about that possibility as you (hopefully) read on. And does he mean the literal “and”? We should intervene when BOTH those things apply?

Interests. In the early 1800s it was in our interest to expand our borders from “sea to shining sea.” It later became in our interest to stop piracy on the northern Mediterranean coast (“to the shores of Tripoli” – are you sensing a trend toward something musical here? I didn’t intend to but if I can keep this up, it might be clever!)

More history – I’m a little too young to decide exactly what our interests were in 1898 when Teddy and his rough riders helped us win our war with Spain. Sugar maybe? Certainly in our interest.

It took years before we entered WWI and I can’t tell you now what interests we had at that time and as for values; well I can’t there either.

WWII – I doubt anyone could argue with this intervention even though some would say we were late to the party and were it not for Japanese aggression at Pearl Harbor, we might not have entered the war and Hawaii would not be our 50th State. Values – not sure anybody values Facism anymore and genocide was hopefully never valued by anyone (Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin and others of their ilk excepted)

I could keep going with this history lesson but I really should get to my points.

Afghanistan. I guess our offended values were/are still, we don’t condone terrorism (or allowing you to be a home to those who do.) But if we are there to foster the value of democracy, well I guess I’d like to have the word “values” defined. If we are there for that and can’t stomach the idea of the Taliban telling people how to live – there are plenty of other places that are equal to or worse than this.

Why has it taken so long to decide what we need to do in Darfur? And even with their independence, South Sudan – I’m not aware of much intervention – I should clarify – we’ve had plenty of citizen, celebrity and NGO intervention in these and many, MANY other places but not much overt U.S. govt. action that I am aware of.

If we are really after world-wide acceptance of democracy – our core and most cherished value, then what’s up with China? We all know the answer. This is where our values conflict with our interest. We owe (heck sold!) them our financial and economic souls and we can’t survive anymore without them being our primary lender and buyer of our own exported goods. So we tolerate that they don’t share our values because it’s out-weighed by our economic interests.

Why didn’t we intervene or get involved in Libya before now? Ghaddafy (spell it however you want!) has been a well-known tyrant for years. Remember Lockerbie & Pan Am flight 103? But I guess it took world-wide pressure for us to get involved this year. He’s been offending our values for decades. But since Libya only provides maybe 3% of our oil, our interests weren’t high enough on that Richter scale to support our offended values. If we were to use this same logic – we’d have been in Iraq and gone well before 9-11!

As with history I could keep going. But if Obama is going to fashion his Foreign Policy around these key terms, I could use a semantics and vocabulary lesson to go along with history to help me understand where we’ve been and where we might go.
I close with no answers or solutions but with this excerpt from the transcript of the story (which can be found at npr.org)

“Ben Rhodes is the White House's deputy national security advisor for strategic communications. He says the administration is focused on how best to achieve American interests on a case by case basis.

BEN RHODES: I don't think you want to have a doctrine that is so broad that it would lead you to intervene in country after country, and send you down a slippery slope of military interventions that we don't want to pursue.

SHAPIRO (Ari – NPR reporter): He says the U.S. does apply universal principles to every country.

RHODES: We oppose violence by governments against their citizens. We support the universal rights of people around the world - the right to choose their own leaders and have basic fundamental freedoms. And we are supporting across the Middle East and North Africa a process of political and economic change that's responsive to the people of the region.

SHAPIRO: That support sometimes comes in the form of sanctions or simply words. But that wasn't enough in Libya, where military power came into play. And it may not be enough for people seeking revolution in other countries, either.

Michele Dunne directs the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council.

Dr. MICHELE DUNNE: Certainly the question of U.S. involvement is going to be raised increasingly now in places like Syria, Yemen, and, who knows, perhaps Iran in the future, because of Libya. Libya has now created a different model. “

Johnson’s Shut Ins

2011-08-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

We took a 3-day/2 night camping trip to this unusual place last weekend.

Patti decided she wanted to go there so she planned it all out. Including picking a campsite that was ½ mile uphill from where we could park our car. We got plenty of exercise just moving things to and from the car and campsite.

The Shut Ins is in the middle of nowhere! It took us about 4 hours – ½ of which were spent on windy little country roads in – did I mention this? In the middle of nowhere? We had to stop a few times for me to double-check my maps and directions.

First off – the Shut Ins are where in Dec. 2005, a Taum Sauk reservoir wall was breached sending perhaps a billion (that’s a B!) gallons of water rushing down the hillside into and around the Shut Ins. Miraculously, no one died but the park was pretty much destroyed.

The camping areas we used have all been rebuilt and relocated away from the reservoir. Everything looked new and now I know why. A lady from St. Louis told us it looks very different now with so much damage being caused to the rocks. I guess they were much taller, rounder and the water much deeper in places.

Secondly - The term "shut-in" refers to a place where the river's breadth is limited by hard rock that is resistant to erosion.

We arrived mid-day on a Friday and proceeded to haul all our gear the ½ mile or so to our campsite. Did I mention this was all uphill from the parking area? A couple of sweaty hours later, we were set-up and ready to go.

We made a quick visit to the Shut Ins to scope out our plans for Saturday.

Saturday morning – quick breakfast and rain. Light rain, heavy rain, lighting and thunder. This wasn’t part of the brochure I read online!

Everyone said the weather should break by noon so we decided to take a drive. Ended up in Farmington (maybe an hour from StL?) and poked around a Walmart. Thought about bowling and a movie but the skies looked less threatening so we headed back.

I’m glad we did. Had a quick lunch and then headed out to the Shut Ins. Spent the next 5 or 6 hours in the water, climbing rocks, rescuing children!, and just enjoying the views.

Even with lower water levels and shorter rocks, there are still small pools more than 10 ft. deep and some larger areas that one guy estimated at 15 ft. deep! People were diving and jumping off the rocks. Anna and Annie even tried it.

I wouldn’t call it rock climbing, maybe scrambling? But you can climb 10 – 15 feet up various sizes of rocks and boulders. I enjoyed this but a couple of times found myself at the top of a rock with nowhere to go but down! Going back down the way you came up is not always possible or practical. I can’t imagine the people who do this on vertical walls hundreds of feet or more higher! I also have some sore muscles in my shoulders and legs – guess climbing stairs uses different muscle groups!

Sleeping was a challenge. The newer location has few (if any) flat or level spots. So they built these wooden platforms big enough for a tent, picnic table and your gear. At first I thought this would be good (and it has its benefits) since I’ve pitched plenty a tent on uneven and hard ground with stray rocks popping up all over. But wood is hard. I sleep on my sides and my rib cages felt like I had been smacked! One night I had to get up and go outside to walk around and even tried sleeping in a chair until I got cold and went back in the tent. I guess the cold pain was worse than the wood pain so I fell back asleep. Made my own bed at home feel so much better!

All in all a fun weekend; with some challenges. Would do it again but maybe in cooler weather, earlier in the summer with a higher water level.

3,500 miles or more

2011-08-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Fortunate enough to go see my daughter, her husband, Caleb and her new baby in Montana this summer.

Of course we had a great time, got to hold, feed and change little baby Vesper a lot – crying, happy, wet, hungry – you get and take it all with babies and grandbabies!
This is not so much about the visit though as the journey, which involved driving more than 3,500 miles in a rental car (Kia Forte – not too bad) with a 10 and an 11 year-old.

So with TWO (they don’t always share or play nicely!) portable DVD players and a pile of DVDs, a cooler of somewhat healthy snacks and drinks we set out early one morning.

Our first wake-up call came in northern Missouri with a detour. Did you know big chunks of I-29 are closed, still, due to the flooding earlier this year? The water from the Missouri River is over the road in many places in Missouri and Iowa.

Looking out over cornfields and such, one image stands out: a blacktop road just ends at the waters edge. Parked at the end was a car. A couple of hundred yards away stood a farm-house surrounded by water. I’ve been to Joplin and seen the devastation there – homes that aren’t houses anymore. But this one – what do you do? Your house/home is there but you can’t live in it. Can’t get to it unless you use a boat. I’m sure there must be hundreds of these.

I saw acres and acres of farmland underwater. Struck by the harsh irony of farms in Texas that are going under financially because of the drought. Here the problem was too much water. Too bad there isn’t some way to balance that out.

I saw a picture on-line of a young man standing in a field with water up almost to his knees and the caption said these fields would be under water until late fall or beyond. I heard that in Joplin, the debris clean-up is almost done. Not that folks have homes or lives rebuilt yet, but they can see a starting point out there soon.

A 2nd image of Iowa was not the usual corn (although we did see plenty of that) nor water but wind turbines. When we got off of I29 for the detour, we ended up going through several small towns I’ve never heard of but for a few miles I saw dozens of those humongously tall wind-turbines.

Water seemed to play a prominent role in this trip.

Upon arrival in Montana, I found my son-in-law already in irrigation season. I tend to associate irrigation with row crops. But there they use it to water pastures that ultimately feed their cattle – either as grass or baled up as hay for later.

I helped once with what are called wheel lines (long sections of pipe with large metal wheels and sprinklers) that are moved across fields 20 or so feet at a time and then left to water for 12+ hours. You get to one side of the field and head back the other way. The process is simple yet complicated. Turn off water (or else you get sprayed big time!) – disconnect pipes – let water drain out – crank up engine and engage to move pipes – sometimes the very long pipes don’t all move in sync so you have to go and move some by hand to line them back up – reconnect pipe – turn on the water a little – wait for the pipes to re-fill – turn water on 16 & ½ turns (Caleb’s very specific instructions to me!) and watch and wait to see if all the heads eventually start spraying water again. Caleb performed one little trick to keep from getting soaked. Near the shut-off and connection point is a sprinkler head. He would put a small piece of straw in it so it wouldn’t keep circulating and spray him (us!) while working on the lines.

I also helped with what are called hand-lines. Similar concept to wheel-lines except these lines lay on the ground and – you guessed it – you move them by hand. Each morning and each night, Caleb goes out and disconnects a section from the main line, moves it 20 feet or so, gets another section, disconnects, moves – you get the picture. This involves a lot of bending and lifting and walking. I spent about 2 hours doing this one evening and it is a workout. While I was helping I may have also been slowing him down. There are little tricks and techniques that to him are 2nd nature whereas I had to stop and think and then hope I got it right. My daughter Sarah helps with this too when she can but of course with a newborn – times are limited.

They also have a couple of “center pivots.” These are those long and tall things that go in a circle around big fields and spray water too but we didn’t go to any of those while I was helping.

Their system of water is based on mostly snowmelt. The reservation (they live in the middle of the Flathead Indian reservation – which is odd since the tribes are Salish, Kootenai and one other I can’t spell) has reservoirs that holds most of the water which is then pumped all over the Flathead or parts of the Mission Valley area. I learned a little about this complex system but of course know only enough to be dangerous. But I’ll share some anyway.

Each rancher/farmer has to tell the tribe(s) how much water they want each year. Then they pay a water tax. At a certain point in the summer the water becomes available. There are a series of canals or ditches running all over. Scattered are pumps, diverters etc. that allow the water to move where it needs to go.

Water seemed to always flow in these ditches but they couldn’t always be used. I guess you have to order your water and on some days if another ranch up or down-stream was using a certain amount, then you might not be able to get your water on that day and have to wait. In one case Caleb had to wait almost three days for water for one pasture.

Ditch-riders move about and monitor the water and I guess make sure nobody is using more than they pay for.

Earlier in the week before travelling, I sat through a seminar on water for our City Council. One lady shared that while we can go without power (not happily of course) for a week or two, we last about two days without water.

When you have hundreds of
animals or fields of grass, alfalfa etc., you can’t wait on this water for too long.
And as noted, water is a lot of work. I’d guess Caleb spends 4-5 hours every day, 7-days a week during the prime season from July - September, doing his water chores.

Water figured once more in our recreation. We made it to Flathead Lake at least three times – once for boating and a picnic and a couple of other times for a swim. Did I mention that this lake also is mostly snowmelt? And that the average water temp is about 58 degrees in mid-June warming to a balmy 68 by mid-August?

I managed to make it into the water twice. Kids of course don’t seem to care. Never bothered them.

So these are my water memories from Montana 2011.

Pyramid and my (brief) foray into Hollywood

2011-08-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Working in the heat this morning I was thinking about other times I worked I the heat and remembered the summer of 1975.

I had just graduated from SMU in Dallas, film degree in my hot little hands and looking for work.

Remember the movie Logan’s Run? Not many people do but much of it was shot in Dallas that summer. A call was put out for extras and I thought this might be a way to get on a movie set and meet some people that could help me get work in the future.

I went to the audition – which wasn’t much other than telling you to shave any exposed body hair and stay out of the sun since this movie was set in a place/time where everyone was indoors and no one was tan.

I wasn’t too thrilled about shaving my chest hair but it was a job.

It may have been that same day I got a phone call from my film prof, Tom Herod who was working as a location manager for another movie being shot in Dallas – working title Pyramid. He wanted to know if I’d be interested in working on the crew as a grip. This was much more up my alley than being a clean-body-shaven extra in a sci-fi movie so I said yes. Later that day I was with a similarly unemployed friend and explained what happened. He asked if he could take my place on Logan’s Run. I figured it wouldn’t matter – a body is a body and nobody knew who I was anyway so he planned on going down for the wardrobe fitting in a day or so. Honestly don’t remember how things worked out for him but seem to recall he worked a few days, had fun, met some people; the usual.

Back to Pyramid. This was a low budget movie (in today’s parlance it would likely be one of those straight-to-video flix.) But we did have a “name” director whose claim to fame was directing the TV series Man From Uncle.

My job? Electrical or lighting grip. That essentially means carrying around and setting up a bunch of heavy lights, running long heavy cables, plugging things into electrical sources (not your typical wall outlets) and then spending a lot of time standing around waiting for one scene to end so we could re-set etc. for the next one.

Prior to the shoot we took a long Ryder truck and built shelves, racks, hanging racks etc. to keep all the grip gear and this became our grip truck. I got to do a lot of shopping for stuff that was called “expendables” – meaning we buy them, use them and then we’re done; and “practicals” – stuff that is used in the scene like real light bulbs in real lamps but with special color-correct bulbs.

Did I mention the pay? A whopping $200/week, which in 1975 wasn’t bad but one caveat: $100 of that was deferred. I had taken a film finance workshop where the benefits of such deferments were explained from a producer’s POV but for a crew person? This means my NET was $100/week. If/when the movie finished AND actually made money, then, and only then, would the deferred money be paid.

I was happy enough to collect my $100/week for now.

The next 10-12 weeks were spent mostly outside shooting in one of the hottest summers ever in Dallas. I think in June/July we had something like 17 or 19 straight days of 100+.

As a grip you are somewhat removed from the politics of the movie but eventually we began to realize this movie was not going to be good. Crewmembers began to jump ship as our shoot dragged on. The most notable of these was Tak Fujimoto – our DP. Since then he has gone on to have a pretty decent Hollywood career. Another crewmember who was also a classmate of mine at SMU, Ron Judkins also went on to get two or maybe three Oscars for his sound work on Spielberg movies such as Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. I got together with him in LA a few years back to do an interview for a magazine article. He’s had quite a career.

Late in the production schedule Tak left and the Asst. DP moved up to that slot. The 2nd assist camera op moved into the 1st slot and someone asked me if I had ever worked with a film camera before. I said yes and they said “Here. You are now 2nd asst. camera operator. Go unload these magazines and start keeping camera logs.” I had no idea about either of these but figured it was better to shut up and go do the work. I thought maybe this would mean I could get paid more (it didn’t.)

Unloading magazines meant taking the shot or exposed film magazine off the camera, putting it in a black heavy bag, opening it up, removing the exposed 35 mm film, taping the ends down, putting the reel in a metal can and then sealing the can with more tape so no light could get in and ruin the film. Hard to imagine they’d let someone with so little experience do something that really could jeopardize the whole thing but they did and to my knowledge I never messed up any film. I also loaded magazines with unexposed film - less risky but also important to be done right. I had to write stuff on the labels from the camera logs and from that point on I also had to keep those logs which meant writing down scene #s, how much film was exposed for each take – all sorts of stuff that would be used later to determine which parts of the film to actually process and print to a work-print or “dailies” that everyone would watch at the end of the day. I also worked with the AD to put information on the slate and would hand it to him for the actual “clapping” that you see people do. I never got to do that. I also helped on some bigger scenes with setting up dolly track and other related stuff for the camera.

I never got to watch any dailies because of my other job – Winnebago driver. We rented a 26 ft. RV, which served as our “honey wagon”, make up room, dressing room and place for the talent to hang out before and after takes. I had to be at our location hotel early, get it started and cooled down and then drive it to our locations with talent on board.

At the end of the day, the reason I could never stay and watch dailies is because I had to drive the RV to a place and pump out the bathroom and get rid of all the trash so it would be clean for the next day.

My most exciting moment was on our bus crash scene. One scene called for a busload of kids to careen off the road down an embankment into a creek; where of course most of them were going to die.

We blocked off a suitable street and because this was more complicated than our usual scenes, we had 6 or 7 cameras to capture the action from every conceivable angle since no one knew how many takes we might get. We had ONE school bus.

Our driver wasn’t much of a stunt driver and while he was supposed to cut the wheels hard and make the bus roll over so it could of course roll down the hill, he never got it to roll. The plus here was we got to shoot several takes because somehow the bus survived the drive down the hill to be towed back up and done all over again.

How did I have an exciting moment on this shot? I got to operate a 16mm camera down in the creek at the bottom of the hill. I set my tripod up in the water to catch the action of the bus “rolling” down the hill. On one of the later – probably last takes, someone told him to go faster, I guess thinking the speed might finally get him to actually get it to roll.

Cameras all roll, AD calls action, bus starts heading down the street. Stunt driver cuts the wheel but I guess even though he sped up, it didn’t roll over but headed back down the embankment again; just with more speed. Headed right at me.

There were 2 or 3 of us with the camera and as the bus came right at us, all I remember is someone yelling and we all ran away as fast as we could. The bus did come to a stop but not before hitting the camera just hard enough to knock it over backwards into the water. I also do not recall if that film was ruined or what actually happened after that. I think this scene was saved to be one of the last ones shot since it was so much harder.

After about 14 weeks or so, we wrapped up the picture, dismantled everything and most of the crew and talent that came from CA, went home. A few of us stayed on a week or so to shut down the office etc. and get rid of the stuff we’d bought. I still have a hammer from the grip truck on that shoot.

That summer was hot, a lot of hard work and also fun but it gave me a brief taste of a life I would never experience again for another 10 years or so and even then only for a few weeks on another big shoot in LA.

That deferred salary? I never got it. A few years later I heard rumors that the film finally got finished and I thought maybe if it made some money, I’d get paid. I wrote lots of letters but after a few months just gave up. I don’t think the editing was ever finished.

Just as well.

Security

2011-08-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

This has been an interesting week related to security (or lack there of) on the web.

I got home from vacation to find my phone bill. Looked it over and noticed an extra $25 or so. Took some closer scrutiny but found a $19.95 charge for a Payment One, Inc. for web hosting provided by Online Entrepreneur.

Right below the charge it says: “Do not call (phone company name) about this charge. Please call Payment One. This is a 3rd party charge.”

I’ve never heard of either of the two names mentioned but I called. An automated system started asking for information. Bells began to go off and I hung up. I called my phone company and while waiting Googled the two names. I got a long listing about these companies and their “slamming” or “cramming” or simply charging people for services they had not ordered.

Got a real live person at the phone co. and while working out to block 3rd party charges (suggest you talk to YOUR phone company about this) he mentioned that “Yes, companies like these take millions of dollars of your money every year.” Wait. Did he said “My money”? I began to connect a few dots. My phone company knows that these companies “steal” from customers. Yet they allow them to use their services.

Why? I’ll take a stab at it – they get a small cut for handling each transaction. A legal consensual transaction or an illegal one – it all pays the same.

He put a block on my phone and said they would “dispute” the first $19.95 charge.
He still suggested I try to get a real live person with Payment One so they could have some verification for their files.

So I tried again and got a real live lady! She started asking me questions and I said “Wait, why should I have to give you more information about me?” At which she said OK and proceeded to read back to me an email address and our phone #. Bottom line, she said she would cancel the service we had ordered. Note the semantics – “we had ordered.”

Seems when you fill out contests or coupon requests or other such seemingly innocent things on the web, Facebook etc. you may – note MAY be giving them approval to do all sorts of things; not the least of which is charge you for some sort of service.

I’m guessing they figure most people won’t notice or fight a small charge buried deep in their phone (or other) bill and/or by the time the poor customer figures it out and spends (as I did) 30 minutes on the phone to sort it all out, they still might give up. Meanwhile those $19.95s start piling up.

Shame on them for doing this. But also shame on the phone companies who allow it to happen in the first place.

And a caution – don’t fill out forms, contests etc. on the web unless you know exactly who you are dealing with and even then provide as little information as possible and nothing personal if you can help it.

Hopefully my little lesson won’t cost me more than my time.

UPDATE: Today I started getting notices from Google that my gmail account had been “accessed” from exotic places like Turkey and Serbia. Did a little digging into what I hope was really Google’s help area and ended up changing my password. Now one more to remember!

driving cattle

2011-07-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

today my girls got to do something I hope they'll remember for a long time and that few people ever get to do - help in a small cattle drive.

Caleb's ranch got a chance to use some free pasture several miles away so that required moving about 60 momma cows and their babies down the road to their new temporary home.

I had to hang back in the safety of a big truck with baby Vesper but Janie and Anna rode a four-wheeler with Caleb.

It took two guys (Mike Krantz and Josh Senecal) on horseback, two on four-wheelers (Caleb and his brother Josh) and two fast heeler dogs - took them about an hour to travel a few miles to some new green grass.

Nothing happened that wasn't supposed to but I had to laugh at one point - the cows all bunched up so I hung back a little further in case they turned - wanted to give the horses and dogs room to work. When I got to where the "cattle-jam" occured, it was a smal bridge with a weight limit sign "3,000 pounds maximum." I couldn't tell you at any given moment how many cows were on the bridge, but at an average of 1,000 - 1,200 each, I think they busted the limit!

In addition to riding along, every time they passed a road or a driveway, both girls got "road-blocking" duty. They'd stand in the gap with arms spread as the cows passed by.

If you watched Lonesome Dove, I'd say they got the sounds about right - above the diesel drone of Sarah's truck (Aside - my daughter has a much nicer and bigger truck then me!) you could hear the bellowing of the 120 or so cows.

Heeler dogs do exactly that - nip at the heels of slow or unruly cows to keep them moving. Once one of the dogs got caught under neath a calf and went rolling only to hop right back up and resume nipping and pushing. I almost said chasing but they really just cross back-and-forth at the rear to keep things moving. Pretty much the same for the horsemen - crossing back and forth to keep the stragglers from getting too far behind.

Sorry but no stampedes or runaway cattle. I guess when you know what you are doing and my son-in-law and crew obviously do, it looks easy.

Vesper slept through most of it but I would guess at only 2+ months old, this was probably her first cattle drive too. Glad we got to share it!

rest high on that mountain

2011-07-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Visiting my daughter, son-in-law and of course new grandbaby. Caleb is part of a large Krantz clan that stretches back more than a hundred years and they had a reunion this weekend in St. Ignatius, MT. Maybe 300+ attended and this morning about 50 of them gathered for a family church service.

The original Krantz homestead is in the Mission Valley which lies west of the Mission Mountains north of Missoula. Church was held high on a hill overlooking the valley. The National Bison Range lies to the west, Flathead Lake off in the haze off to the north and of course the Mission Mountains to the east and partly behind us. I've never had a better view of creation during church before. Did I mention we were outside?

We sang Amazing Grace, read the 23rd Psalm and them several family members shared various recollections of the earlier Krantz-s (I don't know how to make a plural of that name!)

Then Caleb's uncle Tom preached. His focus was family, farming and faith. He managed to tie them all together by looking backward to the earlier Krantz, the here-and-now, and of course Heaven. Honestly (and no offense to any current or former pastors) but it was a great little sermon.

When he finished all I wanted to do was sing the doxology (my favorite hymn - if you can call it that) but we just prayed and dismissed.

Not much here except to say that I can't imagine a better location for church than where we were today.

A line of that Vince Gill song from which comes my title goes something like "Go to Heaven a shouting, love for the Father and the Son." I may be taking some liberty in how I interpret that song but it fit today's location and the message.

Maybe I'll come back next year if they let me!

It’s a small world or you won't believe this!

2011-07-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Several years ago – March 2006 to be precise, our home was hit by a tornado.

The oddest thing was that we had already sold the house but were still living there.

The couple that bought it were moving from California and may have even been in MO at the time planning to stay with friends etc. until we moved out later in the month.

You can only imagine their devastation at seeing their newly purchased home devastated.

The month passed, we moved out (actually never moved back in – spent most of the time in a hotel and returned every day to begin the clean-up and packing process) and they began the re-building process. They did a fabulous job (wished we could have moved back in!) but I think the trauma of what happened was too much and they put the house on the market and moved back to CA.

Fast-forward to today.

I was out shooting some video and some of the work crew there wore ball caps with Webster Farms on them. We struck up a conversation while waiting on some equipment to arrive. Our home in 2006 was in Seymour in Webster County.

As we talked one of them asked me where I had lived. As I gave the street name, he asked “where on that street?” I began to describe the location rather than giving an address and mentioned, “after the gravel starts, then our house was up on the hill to the right.”

Imagine my surprise when he said he lived there now.

Seems he bought the house from the CA couple after they moved away and has been living it since then.

We began to share more details about neighbors, other houses, our Amish neighbors, fences, trees knocked down by the tornado, etc.

We enjoyed our 10 or so minute chat, parted ways and I felt like I made a new friend; even if I will likely never see him again. Even though the house he moved into was very different than the one I lived in, I felt like we shared something; had something in common.

Co-incidences do happen and this one ranks with the more unusual I’ve experienced.

Israel, Obama and the NY Times

2011-05-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

I’m nowhere near smart enough (nor stupid enough) to have real ideas on what should/could/might be done in the Middle East with the intractable Israeli/Palestinian problem.

What I write below is more about how this is being reported and interpreted already.
But first read these two paragraphs from today’s NY Times:

“His (Obama’s) decision to put the United States formally on record as supporting the 1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state marks a subtle (italics mine) — but, for the contentious Israeli-Palestinian peace process, potentially important — moved the United States a step closer to a position long held by the Palestinians. (Try to deconstruct that sentence?)

The shift is significant because it means America now explicitly (italics mine again)backs the view that new Israeli settlement construction outside those borders would have to be reversed — or compensated for by exchanges of territory — in talks over the formation of a new Palestinian state.“

I’d like to pick on a couple of words, that to me are hugely important in how used and that they were used at all.

I started out to read Obama’s speech but at more than 8 pages, well I do have a paying day job that beckons.

In graf #1 – it reads: “… marks a subtle …” Subtle? Asking Israel to give up a huge amount of settled land that provides a well-known buffer of at least perceived relative safety from neighboring countries, is subtle? Like a brick I guess. One that could easily be thrown. Based on the dangerously little I know, this is far from a “subtle” shift. I’m not aware of any President or Congress since 1967 that has ever suggested Israel give up land seized in the 6 Day War of 1967 when Israeli was attacked (was that mentioned anywhere today?)

Can we question the wisdom (or lack of) in some of Israel’s actions related to the West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza Strip? Of course. But to suggest that they give this up is far from subtle. My point here is not to debate what Israel should do but rather how they (NY Times) is already “spinning” this in a pro-Obama way.

Point or word #2 – “America now explicitly (italics mine) backs the view …” Which or what America? The White House? Congress? Voters? Jewish Americans? Just askin’.

I just read someone who said ‘America threw Israel under the bus.’ I tend to agree.

Rob Bell’s Heaven and Hell

2011-05-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Much has been written already about this controversial book.

Whatever your thoughts/ideas/arguments – the ones that follow are mine and they are based on my reading of the book – all of it.

From what I have read of reviews etc. the main criticism comes from the assumption/assertion that Mr. Bell is a universalist; i.e. that ALL will go to Heaven no matter what your particular religion, belief, creed etc.

I had never heard the term Universalist until I started reading about this book (most of which came before publication.)

So I can’t speak to that issue in a broad or even specific sense but I can speak a little to what I think he says in the book or maybe why he says it the way he does.

Semantics and definitions are important. And it is entirely possible that I missed a boat as big as the Titanic here but …

I think one needs to understand Bell’s definitions of Heaven and Hell first – before weighing in on his supposed premise – that all go to Heaven.

I’ll put this simply and this does leave room for plenty of disagreement with me and/or with him: I don’t think he thinks of Heaven as being just the great over there, place in the sky etc. And I don’t think he considers Hell to be just a place of fire somewhere below. I think he thinks both of these can be/are part of our lives here on this earth too.

You can agree with my interpretation or not. You can agree or not with his definitions. But I think this is at least one place to start rather than jumping onto his “Universalist” premise.

Having read the book cover-to-cover, I’m not sure I agree with the “U” label. Does he have some controversial ideas or positions? No doubt.

But does his book also offer some possible new insights? You bet.

Does he ask thought provoking questions? Definitely.

I won’t try to review the book but will close with one question that is at least worth thinking about (and I hope this is not an “Angels on the head of a pin” argument!):
Luke 23:34 – Jesus on the cross says: “Father forgive them, for they know now what they do.” (italics mine)

Who is “they”? The people who crucified Him? Those who accused Him and allowed/caused Him to be crucified? Those standing around watching it happen? Or does it go further than that? Are any of us, “they”?

Jerusalem

2011-05-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

With Benjamin Netanyahu in the U.S. this week (I got to meet him a few years back and my daughter and I had our picture made with him) two suggestions: read Friedman’s column in today’s NY Times and read the lyrics by Steve Earle from 2002 also below.

Jerusalem

I woke up this mornin' and none of the news was good
And death machines were rumblin' 'cross the ground where Jesus stood
And the man on my TV told me that it had always been that way
And there was nothin' anyone could do or say

And I almost listened to him
Yeah, I almost lost my mind
Then I regained my senses again
And looked into my heart to find

That I believe that one fine day all the children of Abraham
Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem

Well maybe I'm only dreamin' and maybe I'm just a fool
But I don't remember learnin' how to hate in Sunday school
But somewhere along the way I strayed and I never looked back again
But I still find some comfort now and then

Then the storm comes rumblin' in
And I can't lay me down
And the drums are drummin' again
And I can't stand the sound

But I believe there'll come a day when the lion and the lamb
Will lie down in peace together in Jerusalem

And there'll be no barricades then
There'll be no wire or walls
And we can wash all this blood from our hands
And all this hatred from our souls

And I believe that on that day all the children of Abraham
Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem.

Steve Earle 2002

Graduation speech

2011-05-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a LONG post. But at least two people have asked to read the speech I gave at my daughter's graduation last Friday night and this is the easiest way to make that possible. I had so much more to say but tried to keep this at a reasonable "what the butt can tolerate level." And still had one senior in the front row who laughed the whole time (hopefully not at me!) Take it for what it's worth. I give myself a B+ on the writing end of it but maybe a C- on delivery.

I probably shouldn't be but have been thinking about actually giving the speech and I remember so little of it. I couldn't remember if I said everything or not. I was actually reminded of the first (and one of only a few) times I carried a football in a game. 6th grade - the QB handed off to me and the next thing I know I'm 10 or so yards down the field getting tackled and have no idea how I got there. Some people might call that being in "the zone" or the "flow". Maybe for my speech I was in the "Ozone!"

But any way - here it comes - lots of text.

The more things change – the more they stay the same

This is not about me, tonight is about you but since most of you don’t know me … I was raised by a single father, Texan by birth but thinking about trying to say Missourah so more people will think I’m a native, have lived in Everton for 5 years, married more than 34 years, 5 kids – one of whom is here tonight with this year’s senior class – and as of last Tuesday I became a grandpa – a different daughter in case you are wondering!

In 1971, that’s 40 years ago, I was working at an ice cream shop and finishing high school.

What was the world, my world like way back then?

Not a whole lot different than yours. It was VERY different from yours.

If you are short any history credits, check with Mr. Mozier and maybe you can get some make-up credit for being here tonight.

And before I go on – in case any one checks facts or wonders which parts are mine or somebody else’s – I needed to go back to the internet to brush up on my history.

A couple of names deserve credit for inspiration and some specific quotes – Seth Godin, Bob Leftsetz – check them both out on the web.

Back to 1971 - Our country was at war.

Gas prices were rising.

We were all afraid.

The more things change – the more they stay the same.

Our country was at war – a hot one and a cold one. We are involved in at least two or maybe even three wars right now.

Gas prices were rising – to a whopping 36 cents a gallon. To put things in perspective, that 36 cents would be about $2.94 in today’s dollars.

What were we afraid of in 1971? Communism. It’s why we were fighting in a small country called Vietnam – actually 2 countries, north and south. We moved in after the French moved out after they fought there for awhile. Hmmm.

The more things change –

Today one fear is terrorism. Maybe a little less with the demise of bin Laden. That’s why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. Let’s see: the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979. They stayed around for a decade or so and then left. The Taliban moved in and then …

I hope some of this is starting to sound familiar.

This spring has been one of bad weather. The earthquake and Tsunami in Japan were much, much worse than just bad weather. In Feb. 1971 more than 50 tornadoes swept across Mississippi killing 75 people. In April that year a tsunami taller than 250 feet went ashore in Japan. Later in 1971 more than 10,000 people were killed in a cyclone in India.

– the more they stay the same

The Space Shuttle Endeavor is supposed to take off again on Monday. In 1971, we put men on the moon again.

Wiki Leaks has been in recent news. I’m sure even more secret government documents will be released. Heard of the Pentagon Papers? In 1971 the NY Times got and printed classified documents about the Vietnam War.

The more things change –

To end 1971 on a happier note – some good things did happen – Walt Disney World opened in Orlando.

And one more story in case you think all this history doesn’t matter. In July 1971 the 26th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted. Anybody know what it was?
It allowed the 12 Everton grads of 1971 who were 18 years old, to vote.

Hopefully you see that - the more things change, the more they stay the same and how this matters.

Let’s look at some changes.

Sadly one visible thing has changed – In July 1971 – The South Tower of the World Trade Center was topped out at 1,362 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world. We all know what happened there on 9/11 30 years later.

Contrary to popular rumor, Al Gore did not invent the Internet. It was in its early stages in 1971. One guy sent the very first email in 1971. Heard of floppy discs? In 1971 they were 8 inches around - about the size of a vinyl record. Do I need to explain vinyl records?

Those 8-inch floppies could store about 80 Kilobytes of information. An mp3 on your iPod or iPhone is maybe 4 or 5 megabytes. Those floppies couldn’t hold even one song today. And the first microprocessor was marketed in 1971- mainly in calculators. These little things now make computers, smart phones, your microwave – just about everything we use today, possible.

The biggest change has been in this area of communications. In 1971, we listened to radio, watched one of maybe 3 channels on TV or waited until we got home from school to read the newspaper. Yep, a few places still had afternoon newspapers.

Today of course we surf the web, we facebook, we tweat - some of you may be texting your BFF - even while I’m talking right now. You have tons of communications freedom.
Apart from it being a lot of fun and a great way to waste time, what does all this freedom mean for you and your future? The one you start tomorrow?

When I was in high school you could get away with a lot; hide a lot. Now – not so much. Anything you post on Facebook – EVER – might show up in a job interview someday so think about those pictures you posted from that recent party.

I heard a new phrase this week – data exhaust – it’s the trail of information you leave behind on the Internet. Your character is what you are like when no one is looking. Your reputation is based on what others say or know about you from when they are looking. The Internet has a very long memory. So be careful.

Where are you going from here?

As a college graduate with 2 degrees – You’d think I’d be an evangelist for college. Yes I am. No, I am not. Some of you may not be right for college. Some of you may not want to go.

I could tell you that if you don’t go to college it will cost you tens of thousands or more in lost income for your working life. I could also tell you that if you DO go to college, you might still be paying off your student loans 20 years from now. Both of these might come true. Neither of them has to come true. Think about your decision carefully.

Decisions that you make now will impact your lives forever.

Decisions that you make today might not even matter tomorrow.

The important thing is to know the difference.

This wouldn’t qualify as a graduation speech if I didn’t give you some grandfatherly advice so I’ll cautiously move into that territory.

Be kind – the people you treat today might be interviewing you for a job tomorrow.

Read. Never stop learning. Class may be over but the world is one big classroom – only this class starts every day when you get up and lasts until you go to bed at night. Decide what you want to be learning each day.

And don’t assume you know what you need to know – you haven’t learned it all even though you might think so.

Choose who & what you are going to listen to – if you don’t choose, somebody else is already doing it for you.

A decision to not make a decision is a decision. Not picking what you want to learn means somebody else is doing the picking – your friends – the media which now means facebook and twitter too.

What are our fears in 2011 – terrorism? Global warming? A failing economy?

But what can we do about any of these? Cower in fear or get on with our lives? These make up many of those same things I’ve been mentioning.

We learn to succeed by how we handle failure. I think it was Yoda who said “there is no try, only do.” Sometimes you do and it doesn’t.

Be intentional. Don’t just let stuff happen to you. You can’t control it, but you can control your reaction.

Hope and opportunity are in front of you – not behind you. Someone this week talked about taking our past and projecting it into our future. Don’t do that. You can’t undo one thing in your past but you have absolute and complete control over your future. Except of course for the things you have no control over. That same stuff.

I’ve driven Annie nuts with this one but consider the 10,000 hours principle. It takes doing something about 10,000 hours in order to be really good at it. I heard it put another way once – it takes 2 years to be a technician – another 8 years to be a craftsman. My father spent almost 40 years fixing wrecked cars. And when the man he worked for most of his life shutdown the business, my dad was recruited by body shops all over Dallas. He was a craftsman and everybody knew it.

Let’s put it another way, Justin Bieber may be famous but I’m not sure he’s been out of diapers for 10,000 hours.

Strive to be a craftsman. Practice and then practice some more.

All of you graduating tonight have been in class more than 15,000 hours already. So you are really, REALLY good at what? Going to school of course. And before I forget – you should be commended for sticking it out – for not quitting.

I saw a statistic this week. Out of all the people unemployed right now – and not to depress you but that’s close to 1 in every 10 folks – more than a 3rd of them did not finish high school. You are already way ahead!

Some of you are very popular. That may be working out fine for you so far. But out there – the place you go tomorrow? Don’t count on it.

From Seth - "Popular is not a measure of impact, or genius, or art. Popular rarely equals guts, hard work or a willingness to lead (and be willing to be wrong along the way).

The search for popular is highly overrated."

We want to be picked. Who can forget the humiliation of being picked last for the kickball game OR not being picked at all! Been there, done that!

Seth again - "It's a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. Once you reject that impulse and realize no one is going to “pick” you -- that Prince Charming really has chosen another girl -- then you can get to work.

Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities abound.”

If you are not going to college – the days of one job-one career are gone.
A Dept of Labor study shows that the median time in a job for people my age is 10 years. I’m 58 and since college I’ve had 4 jobs. That works out to be about 9 years per job for me. For those 25 to 34 though, the average tenure drops to just over 3 years. You will have and quit lots and lots of jobs.

If you ARE going to college - Learn how to read and write – learn how to study.

I was smart (at least I thought I was) – graduated with honors in a class of 200+. I got to college – clueless – didn’t know how to study, or REALLY read and certainly not write. My GPA the first two years was pretty bad – and this from a boy who almost made straight A’s. At the time this never seemed to matter. But years later when I started thinking about grad school – the low GPA really mattered. So decisions you make today won’t matter. I can cut that class. Decisions you make today can matter for a long, long time. Wish I hadn’t cut that class.

The future of America, is based upon an idea. This came from Mr. Leftsetz.

Coupons have been around since before I was around. But in the last year or so I bet you’ve heard of Groupon. What is it? Simply a way to put people together to buy things at a reduced price. What did it take to put this together? A guy, an idea and a million dollars.

OK that million part may be out of your range but Andrew Mason, was in college and working designing websites when he started Groupon. Last year it was reported that Google offered to buy Groupon for more than $5 billion. That’s a B. He turned them down.

My point here is Mason was just a kid in college. He saw something. He had an idea. He happened to know an entrepreneur with some money. And the rest …

Almost all of you have a cell phone, or a smart phone. You have more computing power at your fingertips than anyone imagined back in 1971. You can set up a website for less than $10 per year! You can go into business for yourself in your dorm or bedroom and with just an idea, do things I couldn’t even dream of 40 years ago.

My dad’s tools were hammers and wrenches. Mine were cameras and videotape. Yours can fit in the palm of your hand.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. You have a chance to make the changes. Be the change you want to see.

Focus on the areas where YOU can make changes – your self – your family – your neighborhood – your own future.

If you have an idea – start writing a blog about it. Someone might read it. Maybe they’ll be the entrepreneur with all that money you need to jumpstart your idea.

Phil Vassar wrote a song – sung by Tim McGraw- My Next 30 Years.

I’d like to read the lyrics as I close. I’ve changed a word or two.

Congratulations again! Thank you for letting me be a part of your special evening.

For those copyrighted lyrics - look them up. I read them out loud.

Transition

2011-05-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is certainly a week of transition for my family.

Tuesday my oldest had her first daughter, my first grandchild.

On Friday, daughter #3 graduates from high school. More on that in a future post.

So both of them enter new worlds. Scary new worlds. No turning back.

Daughter #1 will experience the biggest changes. She and her husband are no longer just a couple. They are parents with all the scary responsibility that goes with that. She will become a working mom - trying to do all the juggling that working mothers do everyday. She and her husband have to adjust to one more person who has to factor into every decision they make. A tiny fragile little person.

But as she has proven (and I've learned) during the last 28 years - not too fragile. Plenty of ups and downs and she's weathered them all. I hope we've prepared her for this next stage of life. But even if we haven't, she can handle it because I've seen her rise to the challenges before. She's very strong and very smart!

Becoming a grandfather is pretty easy. Go to bed one night and wake up the next morning with a grandbaby! Nothing to it. But it's still a transition. Now when I think of things, I can't help but include the newest little one. The only hard part for me is she/they live 1,600 miles away so I can't just pop over for a quick visit. But I'm already planning and thinking about making the trip SOON!

Daughter #3's transition is simple and easy except that it's not. Heading out into the unsheltered world of work and college (or not). I think I've tried to prepare her for this - although I don't think she's liked the "preparation" very much. Let's just say that in her case my "mentoring" skills have likely left more to be desired. Again she's also strong (-willed) and very smart.

We'll see what happens next in all our collective and individual lives.

Definitely a small world

2011-03-25T11:43:00.001-07:00

Running an errand this morning and heard about a lunchtime concert downtown. A cellist would be performing at St. Paul’s UMC.

I’m not a huge classical fan but can enjoy it in small doses so decided maybe this would be a nice way to spend a Friday lunch-hour.

I dropped in and while finding a seat noticed a familiar face from church. (St. Paul’s is not mine.) I went up to greet him and we chatted for a minute when I asked him what his connection was to the concert. He responded; “I sired him.” My first reaction was to assume he meant he had something to do with pulling the concert together. Then he expanded to indicate the cellist was his son.

Steaurt Pincombe is his name and he plays a cello made in 1720. It is on loan from Jumpstart Jr. – a Dutch foundation that is the custodian of a unique collection of string instruments crafted by old masters and they loan them to promising young musicians.

I only recognized one piece – Bach of course, but figure I’ve grown my brain a little bit today.

Without being an aficionado or artiste, I did notice one thing (maybe I noticed) but he seems to move his left hand a lot. Some of the pieces he played were very fast and his hand jumped all over the place. In his attempt to be historically accurate in the way he plays, he holds the cello between his legs – no endpin (as it is called) – like they did in the Baroque era. He also plays with three different bows depending on the period of the piece he is playing. He joked frequently about the amount of time spent tuning. Seems cello strings are tempermental!

Steaurt has a website (http://www.steuartpincombe.com) where you can learn more about him.

Troubadours

2011-03-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

Heard about this PBS doc and finally watched it last night. Somewhat repetitious since I watched the PBS version of the Carole King/James Taylor re-union performance at the famed Hollywood club.

Still a nice trip down nostalgia lane. I still enjoy the parts with King/Taylor but wished they'd delved more into some of the other groups who maybe got their break or U.S. exposure at the Troubadour. Like Eagles (note not "THE" Eagles) - according to Glenn Frey, Eagles is their real name) Lots of history passed through that room. Wish there was video/film of more of it. More of Jackson Browne would have been nice.

I guess I came of age musically during the late 60s/early70s so much of my taste, what I can play personally comes from a steady diet of that sort of singer/songwriter stuff.

It is hard to accept that we will never pass that way again but those songs and memories are made fresh again when I see something like this program. I still have some James Taylor on my iPod and Tapestry in my car CD player so maybe I'm just frozen in that time.

But not an entirely bad time to get stuck in. And my daughter enjoys singing along with me so that's a nice fringe benefit too!

Egypt and some history

2011-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

Taking my daughter early this morning for her 3rd or 4th try on the ACT (so far she has a 29 and we are hoping for that elusive but valuable 30) and she asked me “what’s going on in Egypt?”

My first thought (though not verbally expressed) was “What rock have you been living under?” then she added they have been at school only two days in the last two weeks (snow days) so …

I began to explain my version – repeat – MY VERSION of what has happened.

I told her in order to understand what is happening today and how it might impact tomorrow; we have to know about yesterday – not in literal terms of course.

I said about 30 years ago Anwar Sadat, then Pres. of Egypt started making peace with Israel. Probably because of those efforts he was assassinated. Hosni Mubarrak took his place. I think at first we were glad because our goal THEN was to keep Egypt from getting too close to the Communist Russians (remember the Wall was still up.) and Egypt (while under Nasser I think) had been flirting with the communists before.

Sidebar: ironic that during the cold war we were worried about the communists getting a foothold in the Middle East. Now our worries are still about who gains control.

Now we need to step back further. I don’t know all the history but I think in the beginning we supported the Shah of Iran. We may have even been responsible for helping him assume (or at least keep) power. The U.S. needed allies in the Middle East.

We all know how that turned out. In 1979 they take over our embassy in Tehran, the first Ayatollah takes charge and an era of militant Islam begins, (maybe not exactly in that order). Iran has been through several different leaders but essentially they are still both religiously and politically oppressed.

Why do I refer to this? Whatever we did in Iran didn’t work. So I told my daughter that what happens next in Egypt is crucial. Will they turn towards democracy? Will they look toward a religious leader and lean toward some form of Shariah law? Or find some middle ground?

I don’t presume to know what form of government the protesters really want in Egypt. Maybe they will be able to craft some sort of govt. that is inclusive and liberal in terms of Islam. I don’t know what role the U.S. should have in that. I’d have to say our track record is not very good.

I told her that after 30+ years, the people of Egypt decided they wanted a new government, they wanted to be politically free and they took to the streets to protest. Maybe getting rid of Mubarrak was the easy part. The tough job is figuring out step 2.

I also suggested she take some of her daily Facebook time and instead spend it reading some articles to get a fuller picture. In 15 or 20 years she will look at Egypt and wonder how they ended up they way they are (in 2026 or so) and if she keeps up and tries to understand what is going on now, while it happens, she’ll have a better handle on it then and can explain it to her children.

Sugarland

2011-01-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Rifling through some CDs at the library today & ran across Sugarland's latest, Incredible Machine so I grabbed it for a listen on the way home.

I like Sugarland as much as anybody. They are both cute, she has a strong voice and their songs are usually catchy.

This album is no exception, except - what happened to the country? I don't listen to very much general pop stuff but this sounds like what THAT probably sounds like. Nettle's voice still has plenty of twang but that's all the country left in the music. Again tunes are fine - just wondering what their plan is.

Dierks Bentley slightly wandered off the reservation with his Up on the Ridge (which I happen to like) and I imagine his fans will forgive him and as long as he doesn't play too much of it at concerts, will be fine.

Maybe the same thing for Sugarland. The pop stuff likely goes over well at concerts but I wonder who is playing it? I listen to 2 country stations and all they play off this project is the silly Stuck on You song.

My oldest daughter is a big Sugarland fan so I'll have to check in with her and see how she likes the new sound.

words for 2011

2011-01-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

Never have been one for resolutions per se and not going to start here or now. But I do have a couple of words (for me) for 2011.

One of my favorite verses is Micah 6:8 “But to do justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with my God.”

We have a mouse problem in our house. The little critters seem to have a penchant for climbing inside our walls and then when they can’t get out, they die. A day or two later they stink. We have to cut holes in our drywall and fish them out. Some of our walls in closets look like Swiss cheese! We trap aggressively and so far this winter (fingers tightly crossed!), so good.

This morning I headed out to do morning feeding chores. In the horse feed container (we keep all our feed in tightly closed trash cans- see mouse problem above) I noticed a dark lump. Sometimes the molasses in grain makes it stick together in clumps. I tried to pick up the dark clump and it moved. I realized it was a mouse. I caught it and typically it would be meeting its maker very soon. For some odd reason I decided I would let it go.

After feeding the horse I took our dogs on a walk. By the way it is very cold in Missouri this morning! I went way back on our 40 acres before I let the mouse go. As regular readers of my musings know, I pray when I walk my dogs. After letting the mouse go, I was doing my usual and starting thinking about mercy. [sidebar – I’m reading a big hard book on suffering that I’m supposed to write a review for – more on this at another time – but one theme is God’s mercy toward us.] So as I thought about the New Year, resolutions etc. an odd thought crossed my mind. In a silly, stupid way, I showed mercy to that small mouse. He meant no harm; just doing what mice do on cold days, look for food. I decided that mercy would be one of my words for the year. I really don’t know how to practice it but I’ll try.

I said a couple of words. Number two: Hope.

As some of those close to our family may know, we (like everybody else) have our share of struggles. Many of which are not always obvious or discernable; sometimes even to those very close. I’ll not share those right now. But hope will be my desire for 2011. I want to have hope that things can change. That things will get better where they need to.

My wife’s favorite hymn ends with these lines:

"Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!"

So for 2011 mercy and hope are my resolutions, my words. What are yours?

Every Man in This Village is a Liar

2010-12-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

Just finished this interesting book with a perplexing title. It follows a journalist who has been covering war since she found herself outside the U.S. in 9-11 and ended being one of the early ones into Afghanistan.

She may write with a little too much drama but I’ve never been to any of these places – Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Yemen - in or out of war.

Her title sums up the conundrum of geo-politics. If someone says they are telling the truth – they are probably lying. If they are lying, well, then …

A Springsteen line perhaps sums this up best: “Trust none of what you see and less of what you hear.”

I know only enough to be dangerous in a wordy sort of way but near the end of the book she – for me – summarizes a sentiment.

Americans – who live in a country with almost no history (200 years which doesn’t add up to much globally) think we can go in and change places, “… make the old go away. All to create a new Middle East. But the old Middle East is still there and where should it go?”

When every man in the village is a liar, who you gonna call?

Traditions

2010-12-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Today was/is another one of my favorite Christmas season work traditions.

Every year the Central High School Chamber Choir comes to our office to sing carols. This year they sang instead at our Greene County courthouse.

The building has a large three-story rotunda. It must be more than 100 years old. You can imagine the acoustics.

The kids are amazing. They always sing my fave Carol of the Bells and my 2nd fave – something that sounds like Rio Rio Chio – no idea if I am close or not but it is a peppy little song that is great. All this is a capella by the way.

They added two to the repertoire this year – one I can’t name but think it was in German and a Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown song. All that was missing was Linus at his itty-bitty piano. Might be hard to imagine doing justice to it with voices – but this group pulled it off for me.

Every year they come back with new kids and every year they do a great job. Mark your calendar for 2011.

Memories

2010-12-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I was cleaning up some songs on iTunes and whenever I’d run across a title I didn’t recognize, I moved those to my iPod just to see what they were; figured I’d listen before deleting or whatever.

There were a couple of George Strait’s. I’m no big fan, he’s old school country, which is fine at times, but I’m not going to purposely listen to a bunch.
On the way to work Thursday and one of them started.

Songs have a way of taking you back to where you were when you first heard them or at least where you have some strong memories associated.

I never knew I had any memories associated with any George Strait song.

It took a moment or two then my eyes got all watery. The song was something my daughter had picked for her first dance with her new husband at her wedding 2 & ½ years ago. A close family friend sang this song while Sarah and Caleb danced.
I remember standing their watching them sway and shuffle back and forth and it was one more time I realized my baby girl wasn’t mine anymore.

Memories are great and powerful. Music and memories are emotionally powerful.

But it’s what we have to hang on to sometimes.

Homeless people

2010-12-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Somehow on the way to church yesterday the subject turned to homeless people. I have no recall as to how. But oddly enough my 10 year-old daughter was interested. I tried without too much stereotyping to tell her that some homeless people are homeless because things happened they couldn't control. Lost jobs, lost their homes etc. But there are some folks who are homeless because they want to be. They'd rather have a life on the street with whatever that brings than the so-called normal life the rest of us lead.

I explained the hard part is that it is often hard to tell the difference when you see them on the street. We have to pass a popular hangout for (not sure what the politically correct term is these days but here goes ...) panhandlers. They all hold up small signs with the usual - "stranded, out-of-work - need help - God Bless." Touching some times and I'm conflicted but when you see them with the same signs week after week or in a nearby parking lot and one hands the cardboard off to another - it makes it even tougher to know what is the right response.

Just so happens I am reading a 20 page report on homeless in Springfield. I'm only on page 11 but I mentioned it to her. She said she'd like to read it. I told her it was long and complex but she still wants to see it when I'm done.

Check back to see what she says. I'm curious too.

GroupOn and other discounters

2010-12-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

I don’t know enough about this but read a local article (which is behind a paywall at SBJ.net so I can’t link directly to it) which highlighted this type of service and a business my daughter used to work for.

Found myself asking lots of questions.

Here are some salient facts:

Promoter/Discounter (Groupon or similar) offers half-price deal for local businesses. Retail value $30. Cost to on-line customer $15. Promoter pays business 50% of gross retail ($7.50). Promoter pockets $7.50 for every transaction.

Who wins? Of course the consumer/customer. They get something for ½ price by simply giving up a little bit of personal information. Groupon or whoever promotes it wins – they pocket $7.50.

What about the business? Back to my daughter. In her case the business in question paid used to pay her about a 40% commission on any service she completed. So if the retail was $30, she got $12. So the business had to pay her $12. The same business now only gets $7.50 from the discounter so they immediately lose $4.50. And reading the fine print – the deals don’t happen unless a minimum number of on-line sales are made so the business has to be prepared to handle that many sales (at a possible loss.) In a specific example cited in SBJ, 62 discounts were sold – do the math: the salon started with a net loss of $279 that they had to make up somehow. And remember this is all before overhead and supplies. The deal in question was for a haircut and blow dry so not too much else beyond shampoo but …

I understand marketing and loss leaders. If the business is able to upsell the customer who walks in with a discount voucher, OK. But as my daughter tells me from her years of experience in this type of trade, most customers who use these, don’t come back, they are hard to upsell and they often don’t bring ANY cash to buy anything else or tip.

You’ve heard the phrase “We’ll make it up in volume”? But that implies even a small amount of profit on any transaction. Make enough transactions and you can still generate some decent revenue. But when every most customers who walk in the door actually generate a net loss, not sure how volume is going to help.

So in my ignorance and in the midst of all the hype (think I heard Google was buying up Groupon – well a quick Google indicates the deal is off – SIDEBAR TRIVIA - Google the word Groupon and you don’t get the Groupon URL in the top ten, Hmmm…) this seems like something that doesn’t quite work for everybody.

Curious how this will play out in the long run.

R.I.P. Bob Johnson

2010-11-29T15:18:00.000-08:00

Any reader of this blog has seen posts on the Rubaiyat, a small club in Dallas with a long colorful history. I got a note today from someone who sang there letting me know the founder/owner/creator/manager Bob Johnson died November 1 of this year. I know I met him more than once but doubt he would remember me but he did comment on one of my blog posts once and that made me feel good.

Maybe there are hundreds of Rubaiyats out there but for me there will only be one. I can't count the times we (always went with somebody - guys, girls, groups) heard big names, smaller names and no-names but the quality was almost always the same - good music and good company.

That music and place helped form much of the music I remember and still enjoy.

So R.I.P. Bob and I hope you lived a long and fulfilling life!

recent movies

2010-11-23T10:27:00.001-08:00

Not a very good movie reviewer but having watched a few of late, thought I might pass along some short observations (does that make me a critic?)

The Road - waited a long time to see this. I read the novel a couple of years back. Won't try to argue whether the movie stayed true enough or not. A hard movie to watch if anywhere in the recesses of your mind you have an apocalyptic gene. Could be pretty scary. I did NOT have bad dreams after watching it. Maybe because the "love story" overwhelmed any other emotion the movie wrought forth. Should you watch it? Not sure but the relationship between the father (Viggo Mortensen) and his son is lovingly amazing. But warning - some pretty graphic parts and mostly in a sort of black-and-white.

Up in the Air - Clooney's latest. Read so (too) much about it so my expectations were high. But in the end, didn't think much of it. Was it bad? Not exactly - just not good enough.

Toy Story 3 - watched this one with the kids last weekend. Maybe I'm too old and set in my viewing ways but I didn't like it as much as the first one. Again nothing wrong with it - just didn't grab me like I expected it to. Many people wrote about how the storyline of leaving toys behind etc. tugged at your emotions. Maybe I'm just not sentimental enough. I think I was old before I was young.

Babette's Feast - an old movie but a couple of movie reviewers I read have raved about how this 1987 film shot in Denmark is so much better than most of the so-called "Christian films" made today. In this case I must be too shallow and if it doesn't move along with a Bourne series pace, well ... so much for that.

one more crazy thing

2010-11-22T17:36:00.001-08:00

I know you can't believe everything on NPR but ...

Heard a story today about well-to-do (bet you haven't heard that phrase in awhile!) women in China who come to America to have their babies. Seems there is a loophole in our immigration policies that allows them to come on tourist or other visas, have babies in American hospitals and go back home. Oh did I mention that these "American born" children can get U.S. Passports and are U.S Citizens? Just like that.

I should point out that this doesn't cost us anything. And likely many of the Chinese-Americans may never come back and take advantage of our educational system or anything else we have to offer. But the mothers want to hedge their bets - since if you follow Chinese history at all - things have, can and might change.

Another important point - seems these U.S. born children do not count against their "one child" in China's one child policy.

I know there is no simple answer and /or right or wrong on immigration reform but this is another of those "just seems crazy policies."

The story following this one was about the lottery where millions of people (8 millions from Bangladesh alone) apply in a lottery for a chance to get the coveted "green card". Don't understand this one either but will save for another post.

Is this crazy or what?

2010-11-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

Listening once again to NPR on my way home and caught the middle and end of a strange story. So today I had time to read the transcript

Read it or listen to the story but here's a short version.

U.S. taxpayers subsidize a lot of agriculture. We pay farmers to grow some things, help make up their losses on some things and occasionally pay them NOT to grow certain things.

We help cotton growers. Guess the primary reason is so they can compete better in a highly competitive global market. Seems a cotton farmer in Brazil named Pedro didn't like that. Thought it wasn't fair. After some years he becomes (really) Brazil's secretary of trade in the Agriculture Department. So he files a case with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. and wins. Seems the WTO has some rules against certain subsidies. But nothing happens. The U.S. keeps paying our cotton farmers.

So Pedro decides to retaliate by threatening to impose taxes on certain U.S. imports into Brazil. Well that brought a lot of people besides cotton farmers out of the woodwork.

I'll short-cut to the crazy punch-line: The U.S decided to pay Brazilian cotton farmers $147 million (no typo here six zeroes!) per year - again no typo. Not a one-time payment but $147,000,000 every year to even the playing field and avoid any penalties on their/our imported products.

This is likely to continue until at least 2012 when Congress reviews the Farm Bill again. Now I'm not smart enough to understand the complexities of subsidies and that whole market. But for us to pay almost $150 million to another country just so they will leave us alone? I don't know what to call this but it sounds more like something on the Sopranos.

I know at the Federal level $147 million won't go very far (heard somewhere the daily price tag for Obama's current trip runs pretty high) but I've got to believe we can find a better place to spend that money.

Something's Still Wrong

2010-10-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Listening to another NPR story on the way home yesterday about political campaigning (Is there anything else in the news right now?)

Democrats (and I’d assume the GOP is using the same tactic – they just weren’t the subject of the report) are paying for ads – in this story mostly print flyers mailed to homes – flyers that essentially promote 3rd party candidates. The idea behind it is to convince enough voters to not vote Republican but rather another party. Dems realize they aren’t likely to get those voters to come to their side but if they can create dislike, distrust or just plain confusion, they succeed in reducing the vote counts for their opponents.

I guess for those types of things the funder must disclose who paid for the flyer and reading the fine print could uncover that an ad for a 3rd party was really paid for by the Democratic party or a similar group. But most people aren’t going to drill down that deep into a piece of junk mail.

Maybe all is fair in love and war and now politics.

Just more evidence for me that the system that allows money to flow so freely and for anything and everything to be OK under the 1st amendment, just doesn’t seem fair or the best way to operate political fundraising or elections.

For better or worse, if you are selling a product, your claims are supposed to be accurate, if you lie about your competition you can be sued and somewhere along the line the FTC, the FDA or maybe even the local BBB might come along and slap your wrist or worse.

But somehow the political realm is spared any sort of control or regulation that makes it honest, simple and … oh nevermind, politics will never be either of those.

Foreign Oil

2010-10-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

OK pop quiz: Where does most of our imported oil come from?
This is not a trick question.

I was in a workshop with an MSU prof last week and he shared some surprising stats (at least for me).

Here’s the ranking which comes from:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Crude Oil Imports
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Jul-10
CANADA 2,055
MEXICO 1,174
NIGERIA 1,143
SAUDI ARABIA 1,033
VENEZUELA 1,016
IRAQ 430

Surprised? Me too. Canada #1? And almost double our next nearest supplier Mexico.
But look at the others: Nigeria – I went there in 1976 and it was unstable then – long before so many Christian/Islamic conflicts were even on the radar.

We make such a deal about the Saudis - #4 but in overall % of our imports – about 15% of this top 6.

Hugo Chavez gets in our news because he is so close and Pat Robertson said we should assassinate him but again they are down the list.

And lest anyone think we went to and are still in Iraq because of their oil – check the numbers. If we went to war in Iraq to get their oil, somebody somewhere needs to memorize this chart. Maybe pre-2003 they provided much more than this. I don’t know.
But if your/our political agendas are driven by oil in anyway shape or form, these numbers and countries have to factor in big-time.

I’ve always thought of Canada as a great source for Hockey and a pretty place to go (really love Montreal!) but honestly not much else. Did you know some of their oil comes from the Atlantic Ocean – offshore drilling? But most of it comes from not too far north of our long shared border. I just saw an article today about the pipeline to move Canadian oil to the gulf coast – being delayed. After the BP debacle, seems folks are antsy about having a big pipeline traversing the country. Guess memories of the Valdez spill decades ago are fresh too.

This is not an energy argument. This is not about big oil and how we need to wean ourselves off foreign oil.

But to believe the media, you’d think Saudi Arabia or at least some other Arabian country would be #1 and that’s what drives our foreign policy in the Middle East.
Here’s the next scary thought in all this: the MSU prof told us that Chinese and Korean companies are buying up stakes and shares in Canadian oil companies. So something right on our doorstep might get sucked into the Chinese vortex.

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Canada had 178 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2009, second only to Saudi Arabia. The bulk of these reserves (over 95 percent) are oil sands deposits in Alberta.

My thinking here is that our north and south neighbors are hugely important to our energy future. Canada doesn’t seem like a direct threat in any way but if China is buying their way in to secure their energy future – shouldn’t we?

And Mexico. I heard off-hand and can’t recall the source but a comment about immigration into Italy from Libya. But then Italy stopped it. How did they stop it? They paid the Libyans not to come.

So in thinking about our own immigration policy (or lack of a coherent consistent plan) maybe paying Mexico something in exchange for a share of their oil is a solution to 2 vexing problems.

I have no answers here, just found this a very interesting and perhaps under-reported piece of information.

Something’s wrong.

2010-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Listening to a NPR story on the November elections and in particular the race between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle in Nevada.

I’m not a fan of Mr. Reid. I really don’t know anything about his opponent and am not trying to wade into their race with my opinion.

But some comments in the story point to a much bigger and pervasive problem than just this one race.

Two reporters were talking about some recent negative ads and the follow-up polling. A comment, and I loosely quote from memory, went something like this: “Negative ads about Angle are moving her negative numbers up to be closer to Mr. Reid’s negative numbers.”

So the goal is not to get people to vote for Mr. Reid but to raise the negative quotient for Ms. Angle. They might get some people to simply not vote for her. Or maybe vote for a 3rd party candidate instead.

I’m no expert on the whole “oppo” part of politics but this seems so twisted.

I understand that you sometimes need to point out the bad things your opponent has done or their bad ideology etc. But from that I would think you would contrast and compare so voters would then logically choose YOUR candidate.

All this money, all this energy and for what?

Credit Default Swaps

2010-10-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

No doubt you’ve heard of this arcane Wall St. term in the discussion of all the bailouts and related issues to our ongoing nationwide financial crisis.
I still don’t understand them and probably don’t need to but am reading an article by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone about how these figure into the Gulf Oil spill and BP’s financial condition

I’ve never been a gambler beyond a penny-ante poker game here and there with my Texas buds but I do know that in Vegas you can bet on anything. In sports it is common not just to bet on winners but on who will lose and by how much.

As much as my simple brain can figure, a credit default swap (CDS) is a “bet” on whether a company might be able to pay back all their debt. Seems companies have their own CDS scores similar to our personal credit ratings.

The worse a company is doing, the more likely they might NOT be able to pay back their debt so buying a CDS on their debt costs more. Are you with me so far?

Seems as things got worse with BP; the price of their CDS went up dramatically.

Doesn’t this whole thing sound bizarre? People bet huge sums of money on whether a company will fail and not be able to repay their debt? For the life of me this doesn’t make any sense but then I don’t have an MBA nor have I ever worked on Wall St.

Here’s where things get even weirder. We’ve all heard “too big to fail.”

Let’s say BP owed $1 billion (don’t they wish! But for my example let’s use this small round number.) But that liability is not pegged to how much BP actually owes. If their scores are high enough and their failure seemed likely, thousands of “bettors” could wager on their failure. And the amount of those wagers could top that $1 billion many times over. So even though they are betting on BP failing to pay off, the regulators, Govts. – whoever – are worried about not only just BP but all people whose fortunes many now be tied to them through something as simple and complex as a CDS.
Some CPA et al may quibble with my simplified explanation but I think I have the essence.

People are worried about foreclosures, their jobs, how to make ends meet and a bunch of Wall St. quants (this may or not be a pejorative!) are manipulating the system to create all sorts of schemes to make more money with what appears to be very little oversight and regulation.

This is where I have never understood (my fellow) Republicans resistance to do something to reform the entire financial industry. These CDS-things seem like a good place to start. They have rules in gambling to (at least try) to keep the house honest.

Nuance

2010-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Much has been written and more said about a dust-up in a nearby community over a book.
The book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, himself a full-time Native American, (I have not read it) but apparently it contains all the bad stuff you don’t want your children to read, see or hear.

I’ve read some Alexie – liked some, didn’t like (and even finish) others – I think he is an acquired taste.

I heard him speak locally at Drury a year or so ago. He’s outspoken, has issues of his own but in general was a witty fellow.

The Stockton school board dealt with the book in two ways: voted 7-0 to ban it from their curriculum and 5-2 to ban the book from their school’s library.

This post will likely offend half of my friends (just not sure which half!) but I will venture on. I will try to make a nuanced argument. Don’t jump to conclusions.

I agree with the school board’s decision to ban the book from curriculum. Not because of the specifics of the book but rather because they are elected officials – chosen by fellow citizens to represent their ideals, values – whatever you wish to call it – for their community. If they wanted to ban the Bible or Mary Poppins; I might think it misguided or shortsighted but I think they have a right to make those choices. I’m talking curriculum here.

The teachers are hired and paid for with local (and state) tax dollars so they serve (to some degree) at the pleasure of the school board. I know there are (and should be) some protections built in place.

But teachers also don’t (or shouldn’t) have the right to make every classroom decision without regard for their community, which includes the board, citizens and most of all, students. I’m not suggesting micro-managing here – I’m happy they get to teach cursive writing and modern math and would not begin to suggest exactly how they do that.

Where I part with the Stockton decision is not allowing the book to go into the library at the school.

Students have very little choice about their classes and teachers and especially what they are taught. Going to class is not voluntary.

In most cases, going to the library is.

I’m not advocating putting anything and everything into the school’s library but I don’t see huge harm is putting this book in. If a student wished to read it, perhaps some age limits could be placed on its availability (I guess some folks DID want it in the library with “restrictions” but that was the 5-2 vote).

If a student wants to find the book, they will. If not at school, then at a public library or on the Internet, from their friends – they’ll find it.

Making it seem perhaps more titillating than it might be, will only serve to make some want to find it one way or another.

We make certain decisions in our house (criticize them all you want) about what our kids may read and what they watch. I’m not stupid enough to think that they might be exposed (or expose themselves) to things I’d rather not have them encounter but I can’t control every waking moment of their lives (and I don’t try.)

I would not want one of their teachers though, forcing them to read or experience something I might find offensive or that went against the primary grain of what I’m trying to do with my children. I should also point out I’m thinking more middle schoolers and below here. I imagine my high-school-aged daughter is exposed to many more worldly issues, images and thoughts than I encountered at her age. I can only hope that I’ve instilled some sense of the values I appreciate and hopefully practice. I can also hope she chooses to follow in the same path; but I can’t force it. The old line is “values are caught, not taught.”

Quick flashback – in my time I guess maybe Catcher in the Rye was the book to be banned. People got in an uproar (although nothing like today for at least two reasons: 1) I don’t think issues were quite as polarized way back then – the 50s and 60s and 2) news travels at web-speed today so anything that happens anywhere can be on your desktop, Facebook page, smart-phone in moments. Regardless I read the book. Honestly I don’t remember much (Holden Caulfield right?) and I don’t think I was corrupted beyond redemption for having read it.

As I’ve mentioned I’m slogging through the Old Testament one book, one chapter, one verse at a time. On one day last week, let’s see: by a conservative count more than a million people were slaughtered in battle and a King died because his bowels came out (NASB words – not mine) – pretty violent and graphic stuff that Old Testament.

I’d like to think that some child might find a copy of the Bible in the school’s library. But I also realize that the Bible is not going to be taught in the classroom. I guess Sherm Alexie deserves the same sort of compromise.

W.H. Adamson class of 1971

2010-09-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

I put this on Facebook but in case others may stumble across this who don't do FB - this picture is of our 1971 graduating class of W.H. Adamson High School in Dallas Texas. I found it in my garage and a co-worker (thanks much to Bruce!) cleaned it up.

Our 40 year class reunion is sometime next spring so this picture is timely.

My ongoing screenplay saga

2010-09-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

When last we visited our intrepid writer, he was outlining and trying other tricks to keep moving forward.

My last gimmick is pretty old fashioned but it has helped a lot.

I took all my scenes (as noted previously, I’ve been writing them independently just to get them down) and put them all in the best order (for now) and then printed them out (cost me $4.85).

Then I found an old three ring binder for them.

I’m reading, re-reading, highlighting, writing myself all sorts of notes but I’m finding this old fashioned low-tech way of looking at the story has really helped.

I’ve found lots of gaps, dialogue and scenes that just don’t work and little by little I’m cleaning it up. I’m nowhere near anything readable yet but this latest method has given me another burst of energy and ideas to keep moving forward.

Aside: thinking a screenplay is like a shark – if it isn’t moving forward, it dies.

While my screenplay has some overtones about death, I’m not ready to kill it just yet.
Stay tuned.

A different summer of freedom

2010-08-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Way too much will be written and said about today's rally in DC. I won't add to that.

I still consider myself a conservative but I don't know where I fit. Glenn Beck doesn't speak for me anymore than Rush L. did (is he still around?)

I like Sarah Palin but not to be an elected official unless she wants to go back to being the Guv of Alaska. I DO think she might be a great chair for the Republican Party.

G.O.P. stands (or at least used to) for the Grand Old Party. I'm not sure what the party stands for or represents today. Mostly it seems to be about bashing the current administration (for which I am no cheerleader either) but I'm not sure where all this Tea Party stuff is going to lead.

OK can't resist one comment about Mr. Beck. First I heard that he had no idea today was the same day MLK gave his famous speech in DC. (Doesn't he have a staff to look things up?) Then I heard him say he was going to "reclaim the Civil Rights movement."

I'm reading a book called "Freedom Summer" about 1964 in Mississippi. Hundreds if not more white young people ventured into a very segregated south to help with voter registration and other issues. Some lost their lives for their troubles. Those "white folks" might have some claim on the Civil Rights movement.

In a final "for what it's worth" remember that Lincoln, on whose memorial much of today's hoopla took place, was the 1st Republican President.

Rubaiyat update

2010-08-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

someone posted anonymously to a previous post on the Rubaiyat - first, Thanks - always fun to hear stories about the place. 2ndly the poster said they had a "mint" condition copy of Russ Kirkpatrick's album. If you know anywhere one is available - please post again. If not, here's a dumb request - I'd really like to get the words to Timothy Tucker. Used to play it often in the 70s but have forgotten most of the words - can still recall the chords and tune. I don't know if that album had liner notes or not. Also would like to be able to hear 6 O'clock in Aspen or whatever the song is called.

Writing a Screenplay

2010-08-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

As my family knows (and a few others) I’ve been working on a screenplay for several years now. It’s coming along and I was trying to explain to my wife how hard it is. Here’s a glimpse at my writing adventure.

I think I have a pretty good story (who doesn’t think that about their own work!)

In the beginning I just tried to write it out, mostly in linear fashion, kind of let it happen in front of me and see where it led. This might work for some novels but not for me.

I started listing scenes I thought I’d need to move my story along. Then I put these scenes on 3X5 cards.

The whole thing was still too overwhelming.

I decided to work on one scene at a time. For the time being stop worrying so much about the scene before or after – just get the one I was working on right. Writing one scene at a time helped me not to get bogged down and move along in the “don’t get it right, get it written” method.

With this I was able to write about 15 scenes – maybe 5 of them are good. Still working on the others.

But in this scene-by-scene construction something else started to pop up: continuity.
If a character says something in a scene then I have to make sure it is supported earlier or later by other statements or actions.

Chronology. My story is linear. I don’t plan on flashbacks or telling things out of sequence. Still I need to make sure things happen in the right order.

I started working on a timeline. I literally began with the year my lead character was born and worked toward today. This helped with lots of things such as how old each character is at certain points in time. And this helped me get the whole Act I, Act II and 3rd Act thing sorted out. It also pointed out a 10 year hole!

My story doesn’t really have a 10 year hole as I mention above. But as I developed a backstory I realize I needed to account for a missing 10 years of my lead character’s life – even though 90% of it will never actually be in the story.

And of course I have to have more than one backstory. When and where and why did certain people cross paths? I need to know all that so when they meet up in my story (if it is not for the first time) it can determine how they act or re-act and what they say.

Here’s a small example of those issues: My lead has an old car. What type of old car? That depends on when he bought it. If he bought in in 1975 or 1985, why? So I need to step back into that time in his life and understand why he owns this car. For the reader/viewer, it may be nothing more than he owns a 1985 whatever. But if I have to go any deeper than that, there has to be a deeper to go to.

Maybe I’m overthinking this. Maybe for some writers this is intuitive. They just know everything about every character. But I’m stalled and I needed a way to get unstalled so a timeline and fleshing out a few backstories has helped move me along.

I’ve spent chunks of time over the last four years working on this. I read something this weekend about a screenwriter who worked for eight years before finishing one up. I hope it doesn’t take me another four!

The White Ribbon

2010-08-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

I’ve heard about this movie for more than a year. I finally got the DVD from my library and was able to watch it. I was intrigued by what I had heard about this being one of the best films of the year.

It’s in German with subtitles and in black and white.

I guess I’m too old to get art films or whatever this might be called.

I felt the same way about Munyurangabo – the much hyped film from Africa last year. I didn’t think it was all that great either.

I DO like b&w films (nothing better than To Kill A Mockingbird). But this one was soooo dark. Many scenes were so dark I couldn’t tell what was happening. Just movement in the shadows. I read that this was shot in color (they couldn’t find enough b&w film stock) so maybe this leaching out of the color washed out a lot of detail. There are plenty of pretty outdoor scenes of harvest fields etc. but on the whole the movie is dark – in tone and in theme.

The director holds shots for a very long time. I think he went to the M Night Shyamalan school of film directing. I don’t believe you have to see everything – sometimes what you don’t see makes it better. But there was a lot of framing where you couldn’t always see what was happening. Mostly static camera with little movement.

I don’t understand German and was reading the subtitles. A goodly portion of explanation comes from an off screen narrator. Much of the exposition and background were his telling us what had happened and keeping up with a timeline of events.
But in spite of this excess narration. I felt like I missed a lot.

There is obviously a bad person or two wreaking havoc on a German village just prior to WWI. But I was never quite clear exactly who the real bad guys were. Was it the children? Was it the doctor? Was it the pious and rather cold Reverend? Quite possibly all of them (or none of them – the film has no real conclusion) Maybe I missed the obvious clues but this was not tied up for me.

Faith

2010-08-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is about can or will.

I firmly believe that God CAN do anything he wants to. The big theological word for this is omnipotent. He is all powerful.

I’ve been thinking about this as I keep hearing regularly about friends and others dealing with tragedies in their lives, illness etc.

The headlines last week related to the school bus crash might cause one to wonder “Where was God when …”

I don’t know where He was exactly.

I’ve been praying for a lot of things for a very long time. So far, the big things are still on my list.

But I struggle. Every time I pray I wonder. I think of the excerpt from the verse “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

This takes me back to my premise – can or will.

I have no issues with the “can” part. It’s the “will” that troubles me.
Why won’t He? Why doesn’t He?

I throw in this quote from Rabbi Harold Kushner (I think it is attributable to him – he of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”):

“If I had to face the fact that God was either all-powerful but not kind, or thoroughly kind and loving, but not totally powerful, I would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love. The theological conclusion I came to is that God could have been all-powerful at the beginning, but he chose to designate two areas of life off-limits to his power. He would not arbitrarily interfere with laws of nature. And secondly, God would not take away our freedom to choose between good and evil."

I’m not pasting this in to say I agree with him but it is food for thought. I’m sure many folks wondered where was God when Katrina hit the coast several years ago. I’m sure there are parents wondering where was God when the busses and trucks collided last week. I don’t know. Was He watching and crying?

I think my main disagreement with Rabbi Kushner would be this: God is either all powerful (that omnipotent word again) or He isn’t. I don’t think He might be almost all powerful. It reminds me of a statement about being pregnant. You either are or you aren’t; there is no in-between.

There’s a section in the book of Daniel with a scene where the angel Michael arrives in answer to a prayer. He says something to the effect that, “I was sent in answer to your prayer but it was tough getting here so it took some time, but now I’m here.”

So back to the “can” part. Could God have held back the waters in southern Louisiana? Certainly. He did that at least once before (though not in Louisiana). Why didn’t He this time? I don’t know. Were I one of those who lost my home on the Gulf Coast, I might be shaking my fist at God and asking “why?” But maybe that’s why so many chose instead to shake their collective fists at the Govt. and FEMA and George Bush. They might not be able to do much either but they are tangible, real people that can be yelled at. And maybe, just maybe, something might happen to help them.

After Brooks and Dunn had their smash hit “I Believe” they followed up with another “spiritual” song about God being busy. At first hearing I wondered, what did they mean? God was too busy to take care of something? He had other more important things to do?

Then I figured out (think this may be what the songwriter meant) that since God gave us free will (a way more complex discussion than I can handle or explain), we’ve made such a royal mess of things that He is busy cleaning up after us. It might be a stretch but perhaps in letting us do what we want (see Kushner above) we get out of sorts with His plan but He lets us anyway then steps in (sometimes apparently) and sorts it all out. He doesn’t always play mommy and make it all better.

Here’s a verse in case you are unfamiliar with Kix and Ronnie’s song:

“And I know in the big picture
I'm just a speck of sand
and God's got better things to do
than look out for one man.
I know he's heard my prayers
cause he hears everything,
he just ain't answered back
or he'd bring you back to me.
God must be busy.”

I guess I’ll keep struggling with “can” and “will.” If I figure it out I’ll let you know. Please do the same for me.

Concessionaire, extraordinaire!

2010-08-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

At the ripe old age of 57 I have finally worked a concession stand at the Fair. So now I’ve been a livestock exhibitor and worked a concession stand. All that’s left now is to be a Carny – uh, no.

My daughter’s senior class did it as a fundraiser (the concession people use free student/parent labor and in turn give 10% of their gross to the group/school etc.)
We made/sold Tornado Taters and Pork Loin Sandwiches.

The “taters” are an entire potato that is sliced and then fried in a sort of string of potato chips. (almost a potato slinky*!) These were by far the most popular item and my main role was to take the hot (extremely hot!) greasy, drippy potato slinkies and place them in a “boat”, a small cardboard tray.

You had to pile them just right and as the lady in charge kept telling me, not to squash them. I guess the taller the pile, the better they look!

A few times I got to actually make them but I kept slicing the potatos too thin which doesn’t make for a good “tornado tater!”

Occasionally I made sandwiches but that was mostly taking this humongous piece of fried pork and putting it on a bun with tomatoes, lettuce and mayo and then slicing it.

Things were pretty slow on the last day of the fair and with temps still in the mid 90s, I guess hot greasy food was not first on everyone’s list.

I played a small role in helping raise funds for our itty-bitty little rural school and at the same time helped raise everyone’s cholesterol a few points.

*By the way, if anybody uses that name I came up with it first!

For Anne Rice

2010-08-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Much has been said and written already about Ms. Rice’s announcement last week that she is giving up on Christianity and religion. She says she still loves God and is committed to him.

I have to take that at face value.

I think we all get fed up with “organized religion” at one time or another. People switch churches like they change toothpastes – some people are likely more loyal to their toothpaste brand than a church.

I struggle with my own church but not in the same way Ms. Rice apparently is with hers (in her case it sounds like the BIG C Catholic church and not a specific local congregation or location.)

Our church has been through a transition in the last couple of years. Our long-time Senior Pastor retired (and now seems busier than ever. Go figure!) and another man took his place.

Prior to that switch – it seems lots of people left the church. I really don’t know why. I’ve never been particularly plugged in to our church’s grapevine (hmm? Grapevine? Interesting potential analogy for a church don’t you think? Maybe more on this at another time.)

Some associate pastors came and went. Lots of congregants did the same. But there seemed to be an influx of new people so the movement and shifting wasn’t as noticeable.
But of late, there have been others that have also left for different local churches. I have no idea why. I wish I knew. Am I missing something?

I’m not even thinking about switching churches so anybody reading this; don’t worry.
But my kids have been going to an evening VBS at a tiny little Baptist church not far from our house. I have no desire to go there. But one thing I notice every time I am there, a certain comraderie or something. It feels “homey.”

Maybe the fact that we live 30 minutes away from our church, my wife and I both work; so we are not there every time the doors open and for every event. Maybe if we lived closer or were willing to drive more, I might feel the same warm fuzzies.

In the bigger picture of religion and Christianity, I get frustrated too. I hate being lumped in with extremists of any stripe. I consider myself Republican (most of the time but it gets harder and harder …) and I think I’m pretty conservative.

I don’t listen to Rush or Glen Beck or Hannity. I spend more time listening to Imus than any other radio or TV pundit. I don’t watch Christian TV. I don’t march in lock-step with any of the so-called Religious Right. I’m not a member of the Tea Party. (Although since the original version happened on my birthday back in the 17th century I feel some odd connection to it. And I do think we need a 3rd party and another name but that too is for a future post.)

I don’t agree with everything my church believes. I don’t like everybody in my church (and I’m sure not everybody likes me).

But I’ll stick it out – with God and Jesus and my local church.

I thought of a way to explain why.

Some years ago our church began a recovery ministry. People who have some sort of addiction. They have classes 4 or 5 nights a week. They meet for Sunday School. They sit as a group (mostly) front and center during our main worship service.

Here’s what I know: as a group they get into it. Our church might get loud. They get loud. Some in our church raise their hands; they raise their hands. When it comes time to pray; they pray. When we have a Baptismal service – there is always someone from the Recovery group getting baptized.

Some (maybe most) of these folks have been through the addiction ringer. Some have lost families, lost jobs; even been to jail. I don’t know the details and don’t need to. What I do know though is that they keep coming back.

This may be why some folks left the church. There are lots of tattoos. Many smoke. Our church had to start a smoking policy and move the butt-catchers away from the front doors. Not many churches even have butt-catchers (unless you are Episcopalian maybe.)
But they keep coming back.

Right now (I think, hope) I don’t need what they are getting. But I’d like to think if I ever did, it would be there for me too.

That’s my church. A place where broken people can come and get on the road to being mended. I didn’t say fixed. I wouldn’t presume to know where all these folks are in their private lives. But they are on a good road to somewhere.

Maybe my role is to keep coming, keep supporting my church (and through that this ministry) so others can come and be a part of that.

So maybe here’s my point for Anne Rice. She used to write about vampires and the like. Lately she’s been writing about Biblical characters and themes.

Maybe she should visit my church. These folks are not hung up on abortion or gay rights or any of the other things that Ms. Rice feels drove her out of the church. They’ve got much bigger fish to fry right now getting their lives put back together one piece at a time.

Who knows? Maybe they could help her with hers.

An old letter to my daughter and son-in-law

2010-08-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Caleb and Sarah

(I started writing this in the week after you were married but somehow never sent it to you so here goes, two years and some later. I hope some of the thoughts are still valid.)

Wish I had some great words of wisdom for both of you, but I don’t.

I guess I know you both will have some hard times ahead and wish I could spare you from them. All I can do is share my thoughts and hope that you will weather those hard things easily enough so they don’t get in the way of all the good things you have ahead of you.

I really appreciated what Pastor Ken said (at your wedding) about communicating because I think that may be the single most important thing you can do for the rest of your lives.

You’ll have to learn to talk about stuff – the important stuff. Not hold it in. Don’t ever assume the other knows what you are thinking. Don’t ever assume you know what the other is thinking. You have to talk about things – little and big. Especially the little. If you don’t talk about the little things; well, that’s how you practice for the big stuff.

Don’t try to change the other person. You are both going to change anyway. Years from now you’ll look back and realize you are both different people. But the way you get different is of course by growing up even more than you have. Experiencing things together that you never experienced before. The important part of this is that you not force change on the other. Each of you will change for the other person but you won’t resent the change if you do it because you want to change for each other.

Toilet seats and where you squeeze the toothpaste are only important if you let them get that way. If it really bugs you – you need to say so and why. Realize that some things just won’t change- no matter what. Old habits die hard.

Be able to separate things that matter from stuff that doesn’t so you can spend your time on the big stuff that matters most.

At work we often have a problem with spending all our time on the urgent things and the important projects don’t get done. Be able to decide what is important. Fires need to be put out but you have to work on the important things all the time.

You have lots of very big decisions to make in the next few years. Notice I said years. You don’t have to work out everything right now. Get to know each other better. Spend lots of time doing things together. Talking. Even working together is OK.

Then as decisions come up, you’ll already have a better sense of what the other desires, wants, etc. and can focus your decision making around those things.

I just finished (quite some time ago really) a book on Love Languages. I guess it is a good thing that I know what your mom’s is and she knows mine. This is not something we’ve worked on but I hope it means we are paying attention to each other as we go along. That even without taking some sort of test, we know each other pretty well. Don’t expect to know each other very well yet. But be patient with each other while you are getting to know each other. Many young couples have spent months together before they actually have to live together. You don’t have that advantage so you’re going to experience things and quite possibly be surprised at how the other one responds (or doesn’t).

Blessings to and on you both!

Love

dad

(June 2008)

PG-13

2010-08-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Sarah Palin uttered an unmentionable word on TV – cojones; in reference to how she felt about our President and the Gov. of AZ.

Some in the media are taking her to task over this apparent linguistic faux pas.

Not too many years ago Bush 43 was ridiculed when he used the word poop or doo-doo or something like that. The media said ‘if that is what he meant, why not say the real s*** word.’

So what do they want? Darned if you do and darned if you don’t.

Looks like the FCC is going to relax standards on what they call unintentional profanity. I guess before too long certain words will enter the mainstream lexicon and we’ll have even more ‘splaining to do to our kids.

But come on – cojones? I knew what they were and what it meant when I was maybe 13 years old.

We already have “frickin’” or “freakin.’ which I won't let my kids use.” Crap has been around since I was barely verbal. What are the origins of darn? I couldn't say that when I was a kid.

I’m not in favor of anything goes. I think we’ll see a pendulum swing and a few celebs and TV-writers are going to try to slip a few more words in.

I’m not sure where to draw the line but maybe a lesson in what profanity really is versus crude language – they are different.

When I was a kid, people who would occasionally utter a word or two and they’d quickly say “pardon my French,” and keep on going. Today all those French words are pretty much part of our everyday language and wouldn’t even cause a PG movie to be rated PG-13.

Wonder what we’ll look back and think in 10 years or so?

My 1963

2010-07-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

To many, 1963 was the seminal year starting the decade of the 60s with the assassination of JFK in November.

If you don’t like personal stories or are worried about TMI – stop now. But if you’d be interested into some insight into the person writing this – read on.

My 1963 started earlier and had a profound impact on me then and likely on who I still am today.

For a goodly portion of the last few weeks I was on a great vacation with my family (minus two people) and during that time watched a lot of the great American west pass by my car window. Facing the vastness and beauty of the wide-open spaces, it gave me a great deal of time to think.

In an outdoor café in Cody Wyoming (a bar really, maybe even a biker-bar based on the number of Harleys and Gold Wings that came and went), on our last night, somehow the talk came around to the biological mother of one of our three adopted children.
This got me thinking about my own mother; hence this lengthy and personal blog.

Growing up in the 50s our family was pretty traditional, normal – working father, stay at home mother, PTA, church, card games with neighbor families. But in early 1963 I got a shock.

One morning my dad drove me to school (which right away should have been a clue to something). As we pulled up to school he dropped a bombshell on me. His timing may not have been the best but maybe he knew I’d have to get into school and he to work so the discussion would have to be short. Unlike me he is a man of few words, but like me, he prefers to avoid emotional confrontations and situations.

He told me he’d be moving out and into our little travel trailer. He planned on moving just a couple of miles away to a small trailer park. Not many other details other than he and my mother had some things to work out.

You can imagine my day at school. I don’t recall it. I think I walked home that afternoon in a daze.

When I got home I expected the world to be turned upside down. But it wasn’t. That evening proceeded like so many others had for years. Neither of my parents said a word about the morning’s revelation. Next morning, got up, went to school – nothing happened, nothing changed.

I was 10 years old and pretty naïve about such worldly domestic things but somehow figured things were going to be OK.

And they were for a few months. My dad went to work every morning and came home every night. My mother kept doing what she had always been doing. I should note I never heard them fight or argue. My mother had a quick temper, a real one, but I never saw or heard her unleash it on my father. In my 57 years with my now 88 year old father, I’ve not found his temper yet. OK, I do remember once (directed at a co-worker) but that is a story for another time.

A couple of months later my dad and I took a weekend trip to visit his family in NE Texas and Arkansas. We did this several times a year; usually as a three-some with my mother, but this time she did not go. I recall being told she was doing her own weekend trip somewhere.

We spent a couple of days fishing, visiting etc. and drove back home. When we arrived, my mother was home but my dad told me we needed to take a walk before we even went inside. We started walking behind our house when he dropped bombshell #2 – my mother was inside packing and she was leaving. Again short on details but she was going away.

I’m sure I cried a lot. To this day I honestly don’t remember much else about that evening. I don’t think I saw my mother to say goodbye.

This was a Sunday night. On Monday morning I went back to school.

The next few months are a jumble of sorts. I started getting letters from my mother but they were always forwarded to me through someone else. We spoke on the phone. After awhile she came back to town and we visited, once. Dumbfounded again, my recollections of this meeting are slim.

That first summer was hard and interesting. Spent some time at camps; week-long camp, day-camps – whatever my dad could find as he sorted out how to take care of me when school was out. I spent a few weeks with an aunt in Houston. He tried housekeepers. Nothing worked – probably because I was really confused and likely not a pleasant kid to be around.

Somewhere in the midst of all this I do remember one conversation with my dad. He said I might have to go to court and tell a judge who I wanted to live with. At no time during all this do I ever recall my dad saying a bad word about my mother.

I never got called before a judge. There was some sort of court day but I never got close to it. Life just sort of picked up and moved on. Unless you lived in the 50s and early 60s you have no idea how unusual it was for a couple to get divorced and the father to get sole custody but that’s how it worked out for us; for me.

The next few years were unusual. I didn't see my mother again until I was maybe 12 or 13. Some of that time it was fun; I’d get to fly to California where she lived with her 2nd husband (more on him later) and stay for a week or two or even longer. Those trips involved the beach, Disneyland, Dodger games.

In elementary school we all have best friends. I had one in particular. I’d go to his house often after school and on Saturdays to play. Our families played cards and dominoes together once or twice a month. We did the same with another family not too far away. But after my parents were divorced, this of course stopped. And the distance between me and my friend started to grow. I heard his mother started having problems.

Was I ever surprised to find that my mother’s 2nd husband was my best friend’s father! It still took me another year or two to connect the dots and to what had happened previously.

I was a smart kid but not that smart yet.

The next few years – basically through Junior high and on into college were as normal as they can be without a mother in the home.

I know a lot of who I am and what I am like comes from this absence.

But so much more comes from who my father was and still is. He did everything he could to help a rather difficult only-child. He suffered through the typical teenage years. He helped me get through college. He put up with a lot and I will always appreciate him for that.

I think my strengths come from him – patience that runs very long. A work ethic that says you stick with a job until it is done well and you don’t shirk from hard work to start with. A temper that simmers rather than boils.

There is more I could say about my father, my dad, but this is not about him so I’ll leave that too, for another post or time.

Whatever creativity or artistic tendencies I have (or am trying still to develop) I probably owe to my mother. She was a singer and piano player among other things.
I missed a big chunk of her life between her first leaving and our getting back together years later. I heard stories about her being a dealer in Las Vegas – working the tables in some casino. She always was a pretty good card player. Guess good enough to work for the house.

Our contact was spotty at best – the occasional letter, phone calls and the annual visit most years.

Somewhere in my early 20s we lost touch. I saw her in 1977 along with her father, my grandfather, for a short visit in Dallas. I didn’t hear from her again until an odd phone call from Florida or Jamaica in 1983 or 4. Her voice and accent were different; she had another new last name.

And that was it – some 25+ years ago. We’ve not seen each other or spoken since then.
Somewhere along in the 80s, I had a bout of forgiveness. You know that “If you have ought against your neighbor” pre-communion speech? I thought long and hard about it and figured I needed to forgive her. Not exactly sure for what. Leaving? Being unfaithful? I really don’t know.

Since that sort of cathartic exercise, I still feel my own sense of guilt at times. For not making an effort to find her, to speak with her or even meet up with her somewhere.

I mentioned phone calls earlier. One uncomfortable aspect of those was always this line spoken by her: “I miss you and I love you.” I never could square what she had done with that statement. And I do remember clearly the awkward silence on my end of the phone whenever she would say that. I could not bring myself then (as a teenager and older) to respond and repeat that sentiment.

I don’t know where to go with this. Armchair psychologists can have a field day.
There is no immediate conclusion here, just my desire to sort of purge this in some way, to deal with it (Grief? Loss?) and move on. Most days, heck most months and years I don’t even think about it. But our vacation discussion (and the added element that we were back in the part of the country where we used to take family vacations as a child) brought it all back to me again.

If this bothers anyone, I’m sorry. But this has been my life as I’ve tried to cope with a portion of it. Maybe getting this out will help somebody understand (me?).

Memphis Beat

2010-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Found a new show. Memphis Beat on TNT. At first I thought OK, then I was less impressed but with more viewings I’m finding I like it.

Quirky – sort of a cross between Twin Peaks but set in the south (OK not that quirky but …) and a little bit of Life (a short-lived but interesting show once on NBC). The sets and style are a little Hill St. Blues-ish, but at a slower pace to match what the humidity does to you.

It is not flashy but I find myself smiling at certain things so it must be touching something somewhere. I normally don’t react much to TV – just a passive experience.

Even if you don’t get into the show, I’ll bet it has the best soundtrack going on TV (OK my daughter would argue Dr. Who (PLEASE!) but I’m not going there!) Chock full of little bits of blues and Memphis tinged R&B and whatever else fits that Mississippi River/Beale St. vibe.

Here's a playlist just for the pilot:

Green Onions - Booker T & the MG's
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Walking the Dog - Rufus Thomas
Bootleg - Booker T & the MG's
Son of a preacher man by Dusty Springfield
What It Is - Little Milton
That's Alright Mama - Elvis Presley
Drop Down Mama - Sleepy John Estes
Born Under a Bad Sign - Albert King
Time is Tight - Booker T & the MG's
I See a Darkness - Keb Mo
Change Gonna Come - Otis Redding

So check it out if you get TNT.

The Afghan conundrum

2010-06-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve written before about this very complex country and even more complex situation we find ourselves in.

It is bad enough for our young men (have not heard of any U.S. women being killed in Afghanistan) to be killed in this fight for … what?

That’s my problem right now … “So it’s one, two, three. What are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a …” (all you hippies from the 60s know the next few lines)

Not sure what the next stop is but it still could have more similarities to Vietnam than we care to admit.

In this case it is General McChrystal to the unemployment line. Regardless of what he thinks, he should have known better. I’ve not been in the military but I’ve heard they have a real respect for chain-of-command. He also works at the pleasure of the President in this case I guess. I’m sure he will take his lumps.

For me though the bigger issue is not what, where or how he said it.

Today Tom Friedman has a good column (I’ve grown tired of reading so many of his climate change rants) on the war. The most interesting things he said (read it for yourself here) is that we are trying to train the Afghans to take over their own army. Many of the soldiers can’t even read. We expect them to step up and make their country safe.

Yet Friedman points out (as the Russians learned all too well) Afghanis know how to fight. Especially the Taliban. Are they recruiting and training soldiers from someplace else? Why are their’s so able to fight us to a stand-off (one can argue we are fighting with one hand tied behind our backs)?

This is my simplistic answer to some of the above. I think the average Afghani would just like their country back - from everybody.

Another viewpoint I heard this week is that we long since stopped being in Afghanistan because of Al Qaeda or Osama. We aren’t there because of the Taliban. We are there because of Pakistan. It was said the U.S. could not afford to let Afghanistan fall because then Pakistan would fall soon after.

Can you spell D-O-M-I-N-O?

The fear is not about Afghanistan. What do they have but a huge pile of rocks, an unforgiving landscape and climate. Pakistan has nukes. They sit on the most contentious border (save perhaps those surrounding Israel) in the world. Google maps may be able to tell you exactly where Pakistan ends and India begins, but I don’t think folks on either side of that border agree. And this fight has been going on since the late 1940s. And some would say were it not for the partition of British India in 1947, who knows if the current state of Israel would have been created one year later. But that is another way more complex story.

So if we let the Taliban win, we lose: face, we lose Afghanistan, we lose a protracted war and hundreds of American lives, we lose one large battle in the war on terror (maybe, I’m not too sure anymore) and in the bigger picture we might lose Pakistan or India – neither of whom is ours to win or lose but … But if we win, what will we win and what will that look like exactly?

So while McChrystal was wrong to voice his ideas and concerns in the Rolling Stone (due out tomorrow), you have to ask, if the top commander has questions about what we are doing (Disclosure – I’ve not read the article yet and we all may be surprised by what is actually published), maybe others should be answering some of the those very serious questions.

POST SCRIPT: This just in (12:30 CDT): “Gen. Stanley McChrystal Is Relieved of Command in Afghanistan, White House Official Says.” So at least one burning question has been answered.

Yea or nay

2010-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Passed by a local work truck today and their slogan read: “Under promise – over deliver.”

I get the sentiment but if you take that at face value it is saying don’t promise to do a great job – just enough to get the job and then blow them away with what you end up doing.

But isn’t that misleading? Shouldn’t we tell everybody we are going to do the absolute very best we can? And then if in the process of our doing we end up doing somewhat or even way better – we can toot our horn and the customer ends up with a better deal.

It was either Mr. Miyagi or Yoda who said “there is no try, only do.”

cafezinho and the World Cup

2010-06-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Radio sports news (of which I listen to very little) is dominated right now by the World Cup. I'm no soccer fan (don't get the game) but I have my own little trivial soccer story to tell.

In 1978 I went to Brazil on a business trip with my boss. My two memories of this trip are soccer and cafezinho. (OK a third later)

Cafezinho is a really strong coffee Brazilians use almost as a greeting. Go anywhere for a meeting and every office will have this nice silver pot and a bunch of itty bitty cups. Before you do anything you must drink some cafezinho. I think a phonetic spelling of this is - caf-ay-zeen-yo. I was always amazed at how much sugar will fit into one of those little cups. As I recall the taste is strong and bitter - even with what seems like spoon after spoon of sugar. Another favorite Brazilian drink is Guarana. When I think of how much of both of these caffeine loaded drinks I had during my short stays in the country, it is a wonder I ever slept.

Memory #2 is a World Cup one. That year it was played in Argentina which for you geo buffs, is west of Brazil. Of course both countries were in the World Cup. To say that they were rivals is an understatement. The day Brazil played while we were there - everything came to a standstill. A ghost town on the streets. Argentina went on to win that year and Brazil finished 3rd.

One final memory of this trip - June in South American is more like our December, the beginning of winter - albeit milder. But it is cooler and less sunny. After a few days in Sao Paolo we flew to Rio to catch our plane back to the states. For some reason we had a really long - almost a full day - layover. My boss decided we should rent a car with a driver and go to see Corcovado. This is the mountain with the huge statue of Jesus on top.

If you can tell from this picture, the road to the top in very windy - curvy - nothing to do with wind. It was early evening, starting to get dark by the time we got there. To say the fast drive to the top in the fog was harrowing is putting it mildly. All the way up my boss is saying "faster, faster" and the driver is talking about hoping we might see something but he can't promise anything because of the fog. I don't think you can drive all the way to the top - I'm sure we had to climb some stairs to get the rest of the way. This was more than 30 years ago so my memory is "foggy".

We get to the top and in a miracle-like fashion, the fog cleared and you could see the humongous statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched. I think we just stood there for a few minutes and then headed back down. This time our hurry was to make our flight.

I didn't know at the time that Corcovado is one of the Seven modern Wonders of the World and one of two I have seen in person. The other being the Coliseum in Rome. Maybe I should put the others on my bucket list.

Hellhound on his Trail

2010-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Just finished this one up as an audiobook about the hunt for Martin Luther King’s killer in 1968. Very interesting book. Only two small quibbles later.

The book takes you back to a very important year in our country’s history.

Johnson decided not to run for re-election. That rarely happens with a sitting President. Of course as the book notes, King was assassinated. Within a few months, so was Bobby Kennedy. George Wallace mounted a credible campaign as a 3rd party candidate for President (and we made fun of Ross Perot?!) – don’t get me wrong, Wallace was an awful segregationist and I’m surprised he did as well as he did. Just a seminal year in our history that he could even run for office and garner as much support as he did.

I was 16 years old in 1968 and should have been paying more attention. This book helped remind me of a lot.

It is fascinating to read that the FBI was able to do so much without our taken-for-granted-CSI-on-TV-type technology. Also amazed overall that James Earl Ray was finally caught (twice!)

Maybe some of this plays into all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Wish someone else had narrated. Normally I like it when authors voice their own works – they know where they intend emphasis etc. and for me add something to the read but in Sides case – whenever he tries to affect a particular accent or other speech pattern – it draws attention to that and takes me away from the content for a moment.

2nd nit-pick. He mentions in 1968 that the FBI went on a plane in Memphis carrying James Earl Ray and used a videocamera to record that. There were certainly videocameras in use by 1968 but mostly inside TV stations and at live sporting events. Most recording (as far as I can tell) was still handled by film cameras. Like I said, a nit-pick.

Worth a read or listen. I think the paperback version is out now.

Blake, The Dixie Girls and Dierks

2010-06-07T15:05:00.001-07:00

Stumbled across two CDs at the library – both of which I’m glad I didn’t buy.

Blake Shelton’s newest. Maybe one or two decent songs but overall not a memorable recording. Miranda’s music seems to have improved since they got together. While I like Blake’s voice, his music, lately not so much. I did get to meet him once though when he had long hair. My daughters were impressed to find this out.

The Dixie Chicks minus Natalie play as the Court Yard Hounds. I really liked the first song but after that … one song reminded me of Norah Jones but it wasn’t her. Another made me think of Shawn Colvin but it wasn’t her. While I don’t like Ms. Maines personally all that much (but we haven’t met yet), she may be the musical and vocal glue that holds the group together.

Finally Mr. Bentley. Imus was playing cuts off his new project today; Up On the Ridge. Say what you will about his curly locks – this one sounds interesting. Very rootsy and non-pop-country. Lots of great musicians and the style is not main-stream which is good. I’ll listen some more and this might be a purchase.

I'm Just askin'

2010-06-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

In all the hub-bub about the muffed call last night, where's Cleveland Indians’ baserunner Jason Donald? I've read several articles and comments but nothing about him. Why him you ask?

How often do players go absolutely ballistic when they think they've been on the bad end of a bad call? If the play at first wasn't all that close - as some have said, what did Donald think? Surely he had some idea of whether he was safe or out. I realize his statement couldn't change anything but ...

I know this probably goes against everything in baseball tradition (and competition in general) but what if, just what if, Donald had stopped and said "You know, I was out."

Lightning and the bugs!

2010-05-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

A follow-up on my recent post about the flashing little critters.

Wednesday night was even better. Thousands of fireflies still flitting about. In the eastern sky a huge hammerhead type cloud would occasionally flash with another kind of lightning.

A little further south was a full moon.

I pulled my porch rocking chair out on the driveway for a better view and just sat for about 10 minutes.

If this is summer, bring it on!

Fireflies

2010-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

no way to describe or show this but ...

Last night I was outside saying goodbye to my wife as she headed off to work 3rd shift. Normally I stare at the stars for a moment or two (odd sort of therapy) but instead I looked across our pasture (we live in the country on 40 acres) and I was amazed.

Fireflies, lightning bugs - whatever you like to call them - by the hundreds if not more.

Doing their little blinking thing. I stood and stared for a few minutes.

Up north they get to see the Northern Lights (that Aurora B. thing) - maybe we can call this "southern lights"!

Better than TV!

My Daughter, the stripper!

2010-05-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Panera Bread today and bumped into some folks who used to go to our church - a senior couple (but neither of whom looks very senior!) We chatted, then the gentleman asked about one of my daughters "You know the one who did stripping?" His wife and I looked at each other and then him, like - 'what did he just say?'

I asked him what he meant and with a little prodding he said, "You know she takes stuff off ..." This was only getting worse.

I realized he didn't know the word "waxing." My daughter is an Aesthetician and he didn't know that word either. I explained and reminded him what she does and he understood. I don't think he realized what he had said before.

We said our goodbyes and I left but as soon as I cleared the door, I laughed out loud.

If Art Linkletter were still around, this would have been a great Adults Say the Darndest Things!

on my nightstand

2010-05-21T10:38:00.001-07:00

It's either feast or famine. I read tons. I hear about books, put them on hold at a library right across the street from work (almost every worker at this library knows me by name - Norm and Cheers don't got nothing on me!) and wait for them to arrive. Which they usually do ALL AT ONCE!

Last week I was bemoaning the lack of some good fiction to read. Then Innocent arrives - this is the sequel or follow up to Scott Turow's bestseller 20 years ago Presumed Innocent.

A couple of days later I got Sebastian Junger's War where he is embedded with a group of Soldiers in Afghanistan for most of a year.

So I'm working on both of those. Both are pretty good reads.

An email today told me Son of Hamas is waiting for me and so is Hellhound on his Trail by Hampton Sides (this re: James Earl Ray and MLK's assassination)

What do I do? I already have a stack of slips for several other books I've had to return (the library will only allow you to renew something 3 times for up to 9 weeks unless other patrons are waiting for the book - which usually happens to me - so I write down what page I'm on and wait my turn again.

I'm not really much of a book reviewer but I'll update this with what I think of these and my progress.

short memories

2010-05-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

This morning on Imus a guy from Fox News (his name escapes me) said he thought Blumenthal's (the current AG of Conn. but not former Vietnam vet) campaign for Senate might get derailed for about a week or two due to his failure to accurately state the extent and location of his military experience. This is not a quote but rather my paraphrase of what he might have said yesterday.

Derailed for a week or two?! Oh my! Let's see ... as the AG of a state his job is to enforce/uphold the laws of Conn. Guess there must be nothing in them about telling the truth. And now he hopes to go to the Senate. Guess he'll be in pretty good company there!

I keep getting reminded of these words from the Eagles:

"Well, ain't it a shame
That our short little memories
Never seem to learn
The message of history
We keep makin' the same mistakes
Over and over and over and over again
And then we wonder why
We're in the shape we're in."

"Frail Grasp On The Big Picture" (verse 1)

A house concert

2010-05-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Reading one blogger I follow who mentioned a singer so click, click and find that she is touring England and Scotland and between big shows, plays in homes. She'll play anywhere people will put her up for the night. Risky maybe but different. She posted a picture of one "house concert".

Way back in the early 70s while still an erstwhile college student, a buddy and I often hung out at a local music store - not listening to records but rather 'bending and banging them strings' on guitars we could never afford to buy. Mostly Martins (sigh, someday.)

I looked down the aisle and noticed a fave of ours doing the same. We approached and started up a chat. We'd both been to see him at our favorite Dallas folkie club, the Rubaiyat.

We asked where he was playing and he said his dad's house. Really? He was playing for a few friends at his father's - a Presbyterian minister. He invited us over and gave directions.

I hardly ever do off-the-wall things and even though my friend could not go, I went. I've been to some pretty decent concerts in my day (Chicago in their prime, James Taylor, Lyle Lovett, the Who) but this is still one of my best musical memories.

The picker? None other than Robin Williams (before he added Linda) and long before they met up with one Garrison Keillor. We got to meet up again in Norfolk Virginia years later when they played a waterfront concert there and he remembered the gig at his dad's.

From Highland Park to the Hollywood Hills

2010-05-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

OK bear with me. I was cleaning up on my computer and found an old article I wrote in 1999 for a magazine but it didn't get published. Through the miracle of free blogs - you still get to enjoy it! I warn you it is about 2000 words long. But if you are interested in film making I think it is a good story. So read on ...

What do Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, and The Hi-Line have in common? No, this is not a Sesame St. game of “One of these things is not like the other...” Think more like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon (or Spielberg) and you’ll be on track.

In 1973 or ‘74 in a class at SMU, I watched an interesting little film called Sugarland Express starring the well known but as yet untested film actress, Goldie Hawn; more importantly this feature film was the first directed by Steven Spielberg (having gained a slight amount of notice for a TV Movie called Duel).

“I liked that film.” says Ron Judkins as we sit across from each other at a very small table in the likewise small establishment called Millie’s, located on Sunset Blvd. in the area of LA known as Silver Lake.

Ron just happens to be a two-time Academy Award winner. In the interest of the who, what, etc.; The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded an Oscar to Ronald Judkins for Best Sound on Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan. He was also nominated for his work on Schindler’s List.

Ron and I went to film school together in the early 70’s at SMU. Even though our Film 101 prof. was the location manager for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, our school was not exactly a hot-bed for film. The sci-fi flick Logan’s Run was lensed in the Dallas area as were some other notables like Benji. Now with everything from dogs to dinosaurs to Chuck Norris, the north central area of Texas became quite a busy little area for films.

In another class, an assignment was to list five-year-goals. Naively I listed something like ‘to direct a feature film’ and other similarly bold statements coming from a twenty-one year old college senior. Ron tells me he can’t remember what he put down. I’m sure it was close to: 1) record sound 2) win an Oscar 3) direct feature film 4) win another Oscar 5) retire to Montana sheep ranch.

OK, so maybe it’s not that easy or simple.

Ron started his career in Dallas shortly after graduation; spending some months recording sound for filmed documentaries for KERA, the Dallas PBS affiliate. Some folks in New Orleans contacted him about editing their coming film. Not wanting to leave a secure position with KERA and unsure about their financial status, he asked for six weeks pay up front. Figuring he’d never hear from them again, he was quite surprised to receive a check in the mail. A man of his word, he quit KERA and went to work for them. They ran out of money anyway and Ron was soon out of work.

In 1979, he decided his career could benefit from a move to LA. Like every other struggling artist he made cold calls; about twenty a day. “I hated every one of them.” But after six or eight months they began to pay off and provide sufficient work to make a living. Ron says he had resigned himself to working on what he calls “the fringe of legitimate movie making,” when he got a call from a friend asking if he’d come to the Philippines to work on a movie called Purple Hearts.

This was not his first feature but Ron is sure I’ve never heard of the others. I understand. In 1975 Ron and I worked together on a very low budget independent film in Dallas. So far I’ve not run across it in Blockbuster.

Somewhere in this time frame our waitress spilled coffee in the middle of our table where I kept my small micro-recorder. Fortunately it survived and I was able to transcribe my notes - although I did learn that placing your recorder in the middle of a table, in the middle of a noisy cafe is not going to provide the best results. You’d think with a sound recording professional sitting right across from me, he’d have pointed this out. Must have something to do with trade secrets.

Through a DP he met on Purple Hearts, Ron was contacted about handling sound on Dad featuring Ted Danson and Jack Lemmon. With a little apprehension, “I was scared to death”, Ron said yes. Later he found himself on a soundstage working on Hook. He found the job hard and spent a great deal of time keeping track of all the communication equipment being used on three soundstages simultaneously. This was Ron’s first large budget motion picture and his first work for Steven Spielberg.

And the rest they say is... well not quite.

He subsequently worked on Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and a few others (Congo, Lost World, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and the Psycho remake).

I’d like to tell you this is about how to take your education and parley that into a successful Hollywood career but Ron said, “Nobody ever asked me where I went to college.” This is more about paying your dues, paying attention and probably a small amount of luck and the old; ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ axiom (even though Ron claims he didn’t know anyone!)

What exactly does Ron do on a movie set? “I record all the dialogue the actors say and a few ambient sounds and effects.” I expected Ron to be involved in the final sound track of a film but “at the end of the day when I turn my tapes in, I never see or hear them until I see the finished movie.” Sound design, the adding of music, effects, replacing actors dialogue and in general building the final soundtrack for the movie, is the work of a completely different crew and department. Ron may advise them of particular problems with a recording environment but his involvement is limited. Ron’s Academy Award winning work on Jurassic Park was to somehow; in the midst of screeching mechanical dinosaurs, velociraptors and the like, manage to record intelligible dialogue from Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and the other human on-set actors. I tried to imagine doing the same during some of the more harrowing scenes of Saving Private Ryan. Whatever he does and however he does it; it must be working!

Ron uses only digital equipment with such names as Stelladat and Sonosax and a small crew. His work usually involves a lot of travel, putting him in climates ranging from the jungles of Costa Rica for Congo to the shivering cold of Auschwitz for Schindler’s List. “Travel and getting to see other cultures” is what he enjoys most about his work.

Being an avid student of movies and having just watched the riveting Amistad on video shortly before our interview, I was curious about the effect of the content on the movies he has worked on. “I really am too busy worrying about the job at hand and keeping ahead of Steven. Spielberg works quickly and there is little time to pay much attention to the movie itself.”

During the summer of 1975 we both worked on the aforementioned very low budget film called Pyramid. While we sat round gabbing during a long scene on a very hot Dallas summer day (1975 would go down as one of the hottest summers) I remember asking Ron about what he wanted to do with his life and career. Ron didn’t remember but I recall he wanted to be on the sound crew for motion pictures. Later he admitted he might have said it. After all it makes his story all that more interesting (and amazing) to me. At least one other member of our crew that summer went on to bigger and better things; Tak Fujimoto, DP for awhile and more recently cinematographer on the Oprah Winfrey produced feature film, Beloved. So all you film students; don’t despise small beginnings on unknown films.

I think the die was already cast as far as Ron’s future in the film biz. During our senior year in college, his was one of two scripts picked for production as class film projects.

Ron spent some time hanging out with the sound crew of Pyramid, asking questions, watching them; which he says is how he really learned most of what he knows. “Problem solving is the most creative part of my job. About 50% of what I do is the mechanics of my work, the rest is getting along with people.” He stays pretty quiet on the set. “Some directors”, he says, “don’t ever want to hear from the sound man.” Ron rarely speaks up during a take unless it’s very early in the scene or if something like an airplane flying over might require waiting a few seconds. Once a scene is underway, he’s not going to interrupt the flow of the actors. At the end of a take he may point out a problem to the director. “If I have a mechanical problem or there’s not going to be anything on the tape, obviously I’m going to let the director know.”

At some point Ron’s cell “beeped” at him. Very quickly a waiter approached who pointed at a menu; "NO CELL PHONES!" his finger shouted at us! Ron said Millie’s had a reputation of pretending to treat customers badly but outside of the “no phones” warning, we were allowed to take up our small table for over an hour on a very pleasant southern California September Sunday morning.

At this stage of a career, some would be content to rest on their laurels. Not so for Ron. He’s embarked on a new phase, having written and directed his own independent feature. The Hi-Line is about a young girl in a different kind of coming of age story shot near Ron’s summer home in Montana. He is wrapping up the last music work before firing off a tape to the Sundance Festival. Like many directors, he hopes his film will be selected for a screening. (In late November I received an e-mail from Ron telling me that Sundance had accepted his film!) After that it will be off to other similar events; hoping to catch the eye of a distributor and get his film into wider release. I asked if this might limit his future opportunities to work on films like Saving Private Ryan, he said “yes” but this is the creative itch he hopes to scratch.

Even with his own project (and another in the works) he’s also hoping to go on to Memoirs of a Geisha (another planned Spielberg project) which would allow him to spend some time in Japan and provide a chance to experience another culture (one of the more enjoyable parts of travel and film making). As of this writing, production on Memoirs has been delayed.

What should a person do if they are interested in a career in motion pictures? “There is no specific body of knowledge, no school, no book... a lot of this job is knowing what the important battles are. Talk to people, ask questions, listen. SMU did allow me to be around the process and it helped me get my first job at KERA. Just get a job, any kind, office assistant, PA (production assistant), even volunteer. I’m amazed at the amount of that kind of labor this town can support. When I was in Montana working on my own film I hired some of the locals. Four of them decided to come to LA. They got bit by the bug and I thought, great now I’ve caused them to move down here and I’m sort of responsible; but they all have jobs now. You just need to have the desire. Try.”

“Winning the Academy Award was very gratifying. It was never something I aspired to. All the nominees go to a luncheon and it was at one of these, surrounded by all the other award-winning professionals where I felt like I had finally joined the Hollywood community. Winning doesn’t make me any more money, but it does give me the opportunity to work on more interesting projects. I could probably stay as busy as I want to.”

Since our breakfast Ron has enjoyed the heady life of the Sundance Film Festival. Ron has reached a level of success and recognition achieved by only a few. Now he’s moving into a second phase of his career as a director. We’ll have to wait to see if someday Ron may get to accept another Oscar for his talents in this area.

When the last microphone has been packed away and the last credit has
rolled, Ron hopes the final phase of his life will find him on his Montana ranch raising a few sheep.

Vincent Crunk
December, 1999

High School thoughts

2010-05-12T17:43:00.001-07:00

random thoughts on the drive home today about high school. I sooo wanted to fit in and be popular. I tried out for everything - made very little except the tennis team (on which I was very good my last two years - we won two City championships in a row - I think - although my memory is fuzzy here)

I was listening to some Michael Buble and for some reason was reminded of my own short-lived singing career. Bet you didn't even know I had one! Me neither.

In both my junior and senior years we had tryouts for our school musical which I can assure you were nothing like the ones on Disney now. One year we did a sort of Broadway retrospective thing and I remember really wanting to sing Luck Be A Lady. It was going to be a kind of West Side story dance and sing number with guys playing poker and all. I got beat out and ended up in the chorus.

Next year we did a sort of Romeo and Juliet in the country kind of thing and I wanted the lead so badly. Guess what? I got beat out by the same guy! I ended up getting one solo as a Preacher (must have been typecasting!)

But you know what? I recently saw a picture of the guy who beat me and he's much bigger than I am and his hair is way too long for an almost 60 year old man. My waist size is only 2 inches bigger than it was my senior year in high school so there! Nyah nyah!

I feel so much better now.

I'm not aware of too many things, I know what I know ...

2010-04-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Scary thing is I do know when that song first came out - a long long time ago. Now she's married to an old man. I digress.

What I don't know is why the Republicans (of whom I usually count myself) waited all this time before finally agreeing to talk about financial reform on Wall St. Folks let the pendulum of regulation swing too far and this is what we get. It may have to swing back hard to the left before we get something that makes some sense. But what happened and was allowed to happen, doesn't.

I really don't know what to think about Jennifer Knapp. I missed the Larry King interview but here's a good one My daughters (I think both of my oldest) and I went to see her a few years back before she went underground for awhile. #2 daughter and I used to try and play/sing one of her songs. Others may not think so but she seems to have a decent handle on things and how to express it. Time will tell.
All of us may be really surprised someday.

That's all that I don't know right now but I'm sure there will be more soon!

OK, which is it?

2010-03-17T10:35:00.001-07:00

I've always been puzzled and intrigued by what we really are and by that I mean a representative democracy. I think I have the term correct. We get to vote for our elected representatives and they in turn represent us and our views in City Hall, State Capitols and Washington DC.

Now that gets tricky because everybody I vote for doesn't always win. I guess that's the democracy part. We don't always win and get our collective way.

But as I listened to an NPR story on the last big (gasp) push for the Health Care bill I was confused by one thing (well a lot of things but I guess Dennis Kucinich isn't confused anymore since he's changed his mind, but I digress...): The Democrats are not giving up. Even though some polls show that not even a majority of their party favor this massive health care reform bill, they are going to push it through anyway.

So who do those arm-twisting Dems represent? I don't expect Nancy Pelosi (or her Missouri equivalent if we had one) to care about my thoughts. I'm not one of her voters. But if less than half of her voters still think the bill is a bad idea, why is she pushing and who is she pushing for?

I was disappointed to hear Cleveland Dennis changed his mind. I heard he got a limo ride with the Pres. earlier this week. Oh well. I would have told him not to get into the car. I've seen the Godfather movies and you definitely don't want to sit in the front seat when asked to take a ride.

But back to the bigger picture of what we expect from our elected Pols. Obviously we are not always going to agree 100% on everything with anybody on hundreds of issues.

So my philosophical question is: when we vote for someone, are we voting because we think/believe/hope they already agree with us on lots of big (and small) issues and so are likely to vote along our lines when those things come up OR

do we vote for smart, thoughtful people, who when confronted with big choices, will take all the facts into consideration, collect numerous ideas and opinions from experts and those they represent and they make an informed decision based on all this best judgment?

I think there is a clear distinction between my two ideas above. Maybe not.

I think maybe you can have a good mix of both but what the Democrats seem to be doing doesn't fit either one of my profiles.

not sure I get it yet

2010-03-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

For some months now a Missouri family has been in the news for "illegally" selling raw milk (for the uninitiated - the stuff that comes straight from the cow into some sort of cooling tank before it gets pasteurized, processed etc. and makes it way to Wal Mart shelves) Missouri law restricts how and where you may sell such raw milk. I can understand the need for some safety and other regs on anything we eat or drink but I think most people would agree this one went too far. The Missouri Attorney General seems to have taken a personal interest in this case. Apart from my opinion that he could have simply told the family "Stop selling your milk in this way or that way or else", slapped their wrists and went about doing more important AG stuff, I didn't think much about his role or agenda.

Today on a site I've been frequenting The Rural Blog is a link to a Wall St. Journal article that once again mentions our state's AG, Mr. Koster. This time he is involved in a case that originally prohibited a farmer from setting up a large hog farm in a tiny MO town. The locals won the battle to keep the large farm away but Mr. Koster feels the need to appeal the ruling.

Here's a quote from the article:

"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed the decision in state court, vowing to roll back a thicket of local obstacles to big farms that largely began in "The Show Me State" and rippled across the Farm Belt in recent years.

"In the eyes of the agricultural community, this is starting to spin out of control," said Mr. Koster, a former state senator whose pending appeal has the backing of the Missouri Farm Bureau, one of the biggest farm groups in the state."

Now I see where he is going. Maybe I'm connecting the wrong dots but here in two very unrelated cases, he is promoting big farms. It is more obvious in the second story about pigs because he says it but in the first milk story, wonder what large dairies (or groups like DFA) are behind any prior (or future) campaigns of his?

On final piggy thought: If this sort of thing interests you I suggest you read Righteous Pork Chop by Nicolette Niman. And interesting look at corporate hog farming and what it can do to small towns and communities.

The Hurt Locker

2010-03-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

I’m no movie critic but having just fast-forwarded through much of the Academy Awards and strangely enough also just watched the Hurt Locker on Saturday night before, a few comments.

When I was telling my wife about HL, I’m sure I came across as not thinking it was going to win the Oscar. I felt pretty sure Bigelow would win for Director – if for nothing else as the Academy sticking it to Cameron. Wasn’t sure about Avatar and the big one though. I think I said to my wife it was a good movie but not a great one. Guess I was wrong about that!

The more you hear about the movie HL, the more impressed you have to be. Low budget (I’ve read as low as $11 mil and as high as $16) Were it not for her deal on The Blind Side that will net her many millions more – Sandra Bullock’s normal per movie fee would have taken up most of that budget; craft service the rest!

I also heard Bigelow got paid $100,000 for directing. I hope the studio does something special for her now since the movie is going to take off and make them all lots of money. Probably not Cameron/Avatar money but something substantial.

I checked out Bigelow’s resume. Nothing wrong with it, but she has only done a few small films and a few episodes of TV. Somehow she managed to pull this one off. She’s one year older than me!

What really struck me most was how much I felt like this was real. I knew I was watching a fictional movie but one that felt (most of the time) like this is really happening.

One thing that was sort of missing – not much back-story on the main character. All we get to see is one small scene at home with his child and then back he goes to where he really lives. It could have slowed the movie down but I wanted to find out why he wanted to take the risks.

MINI-SPOILER ALERT BELOW – IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT – SKIP NEXT GRAF

Only one segment didn’t ring true or realistic for me – when he went off-base to track down who he thought had killed the little boy. That seemed in-character but outside the realm of something he could really do. I just can’t imagine it was that easy for a soldier to get off base. Obviously tough for him to get back onto the base.

Most years I don’t see many Oscar nominees. This year I managed to see two: HL and Up. What a contrast huh?

The image that will stick with me is where he starts tracing down a wire to a bomb that leads to more wires and then when he starts pulling on them, a whole cluster of bombs starts to appear. A great moment and an apt analogy for the whole mess in Iraq. The whole thing over there is one big spider web we can probably never unravel (OK mixing my metaphors but hopefully you get it.)

So my chance to play movie critic. Watch The Hurt Locker. Be prepared for a volley of f-words. But if you can handle that, the movie is well worth it.

Digital ears round three and What a drag it is getting old!

2010-03-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

No secret to my family members and co-workers that I have some hearing loss. Really, really planned on getting some hearing aids last summer but then a nasty root canal came and took all my money set aside for health care so had to wait until 2010 to try again.

So last week I bit the bullet and went back to a place for some testing etc. I walked out with a demo pair to try for a few days. So far, not so good.

I do hear better but I also hear stuff out of sync. Things are delayed. Music sounds awful. Anything with a ring or tone to it is just odd.

So back to the aid place. They hooked me up to a computer at the manufacturer in Minnesota and they made adjustments right in my ear while I sat here in Springburg. Seems that most people just lose their hearing so any type of assistance sounds great so they are happy to get what they can get. Me on the other hand may have become the high maintenance customer they wished had never walked in their door!

I hear low frequencies just fine (that would be lots of noise, traffic, HVAC - you'd be amazed at how much happens in low freqs!) Seems that stuff hits my real ears on time while the super fast digital hearing aids take that same sound and process it in 5ms (that is 5 milliseconds). Well that 5 milliseconds can be an eternity when you've already heard the sound! Think Taylor Swift with Stevie Nicks!

Another adjustment to dial out some low frequencies. This does make things better but then this morning I woke up, put them on and everything was delayed again.

Back in for another adjustment this afternoon. They have no idea how a digitally programmed digital device "drifted" overnight but there are no consumer adjustments I can make that can affect this.

They did more adjusting on the low end of things, put a smaller ear bud on the wire (seems there is something called "occlusion"), tweaked my own voice a little - actually they are tweaking what I sound like to myself. Maybe my voice already is annoying but I told the guy today if I really sounded like my hearing aids made me sound, I'm way more than annoying.

For now I have these tiny little things hanging off the back of my ears and a little wire snaking around my ear into my ear canal.

The AID guy says a lot of this is retraining my brain since I'm hearing stuff I haven't been hearing so it has to figure things out. But let me tell you the process gives me a headache! I never dreamed it would be this hard.

OK, God.

2010-02-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

Last year a co-worker was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That’s obviously not good. Treatment ensued and things got worse and then better and then ....

Where I work we have little nameplates outside our offices. When I go by her office and nobody is looking, I put my hands on her name and just pray for a bit.

Well, last night, she passed away.

I have a growing list of people with cancer that I pray for almost every day. Instead of the cancer part, now I need to pray for a family that is one person smaller today.

In the meantime, more things about life (and death) I don’t understand.

UPDATE: The office door has been closed for months. Today it was open. I stood there for a few moments and prayed for the kids & family in the pictures around the desk.

Biting the hand …

2010-02-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Years ago I wrote my first (and so far only complete) screenplay. It was a spec script for the TV show “Touched by an Angel.”

I spent a lot of spare time over the next year or so writing agents, doing whatever I knew how to do to get people to read it and hopefully sell it. But nothing serious came of it. I got a few letters and one phone call from a NY agent (which surprisingly enough came after I had long since given up).

Many, many years later I’m still working on screenplay #3. I’m smarter this time and working on an original idea and not trying to do something for a TV show. I should note within a year of giving up on peddling my TBA script, the show was cancelled. Next I started on spec script #2 for "Without a Trace". Guess what happened? Before I could finish, the show was cancelled. Got a TV show you want cancelled? Just ask me to write a spec script for it and poof! It’s gone!

This week I got a letter from a law firm inviting me to opt-in or opt-out of a class action suit against some major movie studios and numerous agents etc. for age discrimination. I’ve heard for years that it’s tough to make it in Hollywood unless you were young (and live there!).

I have no idea how they knew (or know) I was over 40 and also not sure how they got my name as a potential TV writer. Maybe from the WGA or query letters I sent to agents. But it seems odd that they included me since as far as I know, I was not discriminated against (I think my script just wasn’t very good) and I’ve never actually written for TV (and been paid for it).

For now I’ll keep plugging away on my current project. It doesn’t seem right to join in a lawsuit against people I hope someday will read my script. But they are also giving away money!

Musings on Afghanistan

2010-02-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

Not sure how this happened but in the last month I've read (OK still reading one) three books with some perspective on Afghanistan. One from a guy who started a not-for-profit building schools, another from a former NPR journalist who ended up in Afghanistan; again running an organization over there and now the book about Pat Tillman (former NFL-er who joins the Army).

I'm struck by a few things or themes that keep repeating; we will never understand their culture completely and if Afghanistan is or could be another Vietnam.

I grew up during most of the Vietnam War and I'm ashamed to say I didn't pay close enough attention but what I can recall is this: slow build up of troops over many years, lots of under-the-radar stuff going on, create a climate of cold-war fear that South Vietnam would fall to communism (oops!) and lots (57,000+) of Americans dead and we eventually leave. And for what?

Maybe Osama bin Laden was reading the same history books. I just realized I'm at risk of repeating a previous post last December so I'll cut this one short and leave with this comment:

In the Tillman book, the author quotes bin Laden as saying back in the 1990s, he wanted more than anything to get America into Afghanistan. He was part (as were we) in beating the Russians out of the country - even though he is not Afghan. I guess he thought and realized he could never beat us here but he could wear us down there over many years and we'd give up. Lose stature in the world and have to lick our wounds at being humiliated by whoever stepped up to the plate over there and kept us involved. And in the meantime he can continue to drum up anti-American furor and fervor worldwide in the Muslim community.

The second thing in the Tillman book and who knows if any or all or just some of it is true but the misinformation put out by our govt. and the military - not just about Tillman and other "friendly fire" incidents but the Jessica Lynch episode too, calls into question what we read and hear about what is happening even now. I guess all we can do is read a variety of sources on the multiple sides of the situation and hope for the best.

OK here's a 3rd thought for free: we seem to place a great premium on capturing (or killing) Taliban leaders, Al Qaeda leaders etc. Obviously this is a good thing but I think it is shortsighted to think that eliminating them (even bin Laden himself) will make much difference. The whole idea behind Al Qaeda or it's name "the base" is the decentralization. There is no real base of operations. No one person runs anything. Kill one leader and another one pops up somewhere else. Maybe some or even many of those who wish us ill follow/worship/revere bin Laden but if he were gone, I doubt it would make much difference other than symbolically; kind of like getting rid of Saddam. That didn't really help much - at least not yet.

OK a 4th thought. Lots of people want to blame George Bush (43) for all this mess he left for Obama to clean up. I don't doubt he left a lot behind. But so did his father (41) and Clinton (42). Just like Vietnam didn't start to be a problem when we sent our first advisors as early as the 1950s, the problems in Iraq and Afghanistan didn't start with 9-11. Plenty of blame to go around.

The Tebow ad

2010-02-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve finally seen most of the Super Bowl ads – had to watch them on-line in a friend’s office where we had a spirited discussion about one of the more (at least pre-game) controversial spots; the so-called Tim Tebow pro-life ad.

We watched it. Before I say anything else; like them or not, the Focus on the Family people are not stupid or naïve. My guess is they either pre-emptively edited the spot to please the CBS gatekeepers OR gave in to pressure from CBS so they could keep a coveted and sought after slot in the big game.

Now to the spot. Where was the controversial message? Mrs. Tebow talks about her miracle baby. How he almost didn’t make it. But she never says abortion, pro-life, choice or any of the hot button words. Mr. almost-Heisman again Tebow makes only a cameo.

I’m no professional spot writer but we also looked at Focus on the Family’s longer interview with the Tebows (mom and dad) and it seems to me somebody missed the story and a $3 million opportunity to reach more than 100 million viewers.

Mrs. Tebow was 37, pregnant and in a third-world country. Doctors told her she was carrying a mass or a tumor, it was not going to be a healthy child. As Christian’s (they were missionaries – perhaps still are) she said they had already decided years ago what to do in such a situation. Even though Drs. told her the best thing to do was abort her “baby”, she did not. And the result some 20+ years later became a great college quarterback.

But none of this even comes close to being mentioned in the spot.

If I had 30 seconds and several million here’s a thought.

Fade in:

Mrs. Tebow: I was 37 years old and pregnant. Already high risk and living in a 3rd world country. The news was not good. Doctors told me what I should do.

Tim Tebow comes crashing in (as he did in the original spot)

Tim Tebow: But Mom, I’m so glad you didn’t.

Bring in the logos, music up, fade out.

On My Nightstand

2010-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

If you pay attention to the “What’s on my nightstand” section of this blog with a list of what I’m reading, the book, The American Future: a history, has been on and off it for some time now.

Even though it is taking me forever to read (370 pages) it is a very interesting look at our history primarily through the lens of the 2008 presidential election as a jumping off point. The history is somewhat obscure (meaning I didn’t study this level of detail in my history classes in high school) but revealing.

One thing that struck me in last week’s reading. An excerpt: (edits are mine)

“The trouble with immigrants was that they were clannish … many fugitives from justice …ignorant of the language … huddled together in rickety little towns .. if they aren’t stopped soon, they will swamp the native population and culture.”

Sound somewhat familiar? Well these were the comments from Mexico about all the people flooding into the Texas republic in the late 1820s.

I’m not about to weigh in on the immigration debate but it would seem prudent to study a little border history; heck history in general, before we start establishing or changing policies about who gets to come into the United States and under what conditions.

Sour grapes maybe but ...

2010-02-05T10:47:00.001-08:00

Last night I was watching back-and-forth between O'Reilly's interview of John Stewart and the real deal John himself and somehow a commercial slipped in for Mercedes for a new (released in 2009) Attention Assist system. Simply put this monitors drivers' behavior and if you exhibit signs of being drowsy, it will alert you visually and then again audibly.

Jump back with me to somewhere between 1978 - 1980. We were living in Virginia and I had an idea. We were making regular trips back to Ohio and on these long trips I would, like most people, get drowsy. So I had an idea of putting some kind of device on the steering wheel that sensed your finger pressure. If you let off for more than a second or two, something would set off an alarm.

Now way back then there was no internet or any quick way to check this out but through the library I found that General Motors had a system for taking in consumer ideas. So I wrote them. I can not honestly say exactly what their response was and I have no written proof of this but I got something back to the effect of "thanks, but no thanks."

Ironic that almost 30 years later, my idea is actually out there in use. Maybe I should have written Mercedes instead.

The Brown Health Care Plan

2010-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Bet you didn't know soon-to-be Senator Brown from Mass had one. Neither did I and probably neither does he but that got your attention huh?

I really don't know anything about Mr. Brown right now other than the media is fawning over him (OK Monica Crowley on Imus was anyway). I suggest some caution for a bit here. People are already talking about him for 2012. Come on!

He may be handsome and the greatest thing since the Red Sox won the World Series (they did win sometime in the last decade right?) but I'm not sure we need to crown him prince of anything just yet.

Overall I'm glad he won if for no other reason that it sends yet another strong message to everybody that people in general my not be exactly thrilled with how things are going and more specifically how Obama is handling things. I'll include this quote from Imus this morning and leave it at that. "He's doing the best he can. But he's not even Jimmy Carter good."

If Brown's election does nothing more than send that message OK. But if it also gets DC pols to stop and take a breath over health care, then good again.

I know we need something but I'm not so sure anybody anywhere really has a good handle on what that something is.

I'd suggest reading this column in today's NY Times as a starter.

The Unkindest Cut of All

2010-01-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

This post is rated D,S and V for suggestive dialogue, sex and violence. If none of those offend or bother you, read on.

I write frequently as a freelancer for a local Ag Magazine, Ozarks Farm & Neighbor and as a reader also my favorite column is by Jerry Crownover. Think Baxter Black but not as poetic. I got to meet Jerry at a writer's dinner late last year. I hope this is the kind of story he would write.

We begin ...

We have two Holstein calves that I call freezer beef; actually we sometimes call the calves Dumb and Dumber but they will end up in our freezer someday.

It is common practice to take male cows and render them male-less early in their short happy lives. We have always chosen the banding method. Simply put, you place a fat green rubber band around the male-bag-thing (OK scrotum) and after a few days the bag dries up and falls off. It only hurts the calf for a little while and since you don't cut them; there is no bleeding, and little chance of infection. We've been doing this on our male cows and sheep for years and it almost always works.

Earlier this year my wife and I banded Dumb and Dumber. I usually restrain the small calf and my wife finagles the rubber band around ... well you know where.

Fast forward to this past week.

My son-in-law the Montana cattle rancher was visiting with his wife - my eldest daughter and helping with chores and working with our horses (another story for a future post) and we both noticed Dumb was behaving rather affectionately toward my wife's old gelding horse. I won't provide details other than to say it looked unusual.

Dumb is rather friendly to people and can easily be touched. Caleb walked up behind him and reached between his legs to feel and lo and behold he still had a - caution sex word follows - testicle. He did not have a bag for it, it was just under the skin in the general area where those things reside normally.

Caleb asked if I wanted him to "cut" him - cut being the euphemism for - sex word again - castration. You get your dog "fixed" or "neutered" by a citi-fied vet but in the country people just say they "cut him".

For various reasons, you do not need to keep a bull around, even if he is only half a bull and a friendly one at that.

Caleb lassoed him, then bull-dogged him around the head to get him to flop to the ground at which point I jumped in to hold the rope on this 500 pound or so "half-bull" while Caleb did his best rodeo stuff to tie up his legs before he could do any damage to himself or either of us.

Prior to this Caleb had prepped his tools which mostly consisted of a very sharp kitchen knife (more on this later) and some iodine to pre and post treat the wound that was about to ensue.

My job was to continue holding down the big boy while Caleb proceeded to remove the remaining male part. Let's just say I'm sure it didn't feel all that great for the cow and it was all I could do to hold the rope and keep him on the ground. My daughter stepped in to help at one point. She got right in there with Caleb and held something while Caleb did the final cutting. You can't live on a cattle ranch in Montana (or anywhere for that matter) and be squeemish about these things.

After an incision, removal of one male organ part, some clamping, some iodine and a powder called Blood Stop, we let him go. He did not get up immediately and when he did, he was not too peppy. We watched him for awhile to make sure the bleeding had stopped.

The knife has returned to our kitchen although I'm not sure it will ever be used for anything involving food again.

Post-script: The morning after the procedure my wife noticed Dumb was laying down in the way cows don't typically lay down. I donned my muck boots and traipsed out to check on him fearing the worst - that he had started bleeding and died overnight. But as I approached the boy - now officially 100% steer, he got up and began walking. I guess he was still sore.

Post-post-script: Lest anyone think this qualified as cruelty to animals I'd like to point out that our steers get plenty of food and water, sunlight and are free to roam most of our forty acres until the day they end up in our freezer. Most beef is produced or at least finished in large confinement operations.

What's Wal Mart?

2010-01-18T18:36:00.001-08:00

I was packing up some old dishes today and decided to use one of our collection of "Wal Mart" bags as padding. How come we don't say plastic bags or grocery bags etc? These have become so ubiquitous.

I imagine a time 50 or 100 years from now when someone finds one of these buried somewhere (like disposable diapers, I'm told these bags take decades to decompose and will likely outlast their namesake store) and reads the large Wal Mart name and asks a friend, "What's Wal Mart?" To which the friend replies, "I don't know, I guess they made plastic bags."

The Man on the Wire Might Get Loud

2010-01-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

In the last week or so I've watched two pretty good documentaries" Man on Wire and It Might Get Loud.

Man on Wire is about Philippe Petit's high-wire walk between the two World Trade Center towers in 1974. I was struck by several things: of course seeing the two towers long before their demise and was reminded of my own visit to the top of one of them (I can't recall which one) in the late 70s. What affected me most was how single-minded Petit was in reaching this absurd goal that somehow he pulled off.

Personally I've never liked re-enactments but the way they handled it in this movie was better than most. Kind of mysterious.

I was amazed at the amount of archival material they could pull together of old film, newspapers etc. to help tell the story. Very watchable.

Last night I watched It Might Get Loud - again a different sort of doc about three guitarists - Jimmy Page, Edge from U2 and Jack White.

Again I was amazed at the archival stuff - more about Jimmy Page than anybody else but overall his story was more interesting to me. He's aged much better than Robert Plant and still seems to have the guitar chops. I'm no fan of Jack White's typical rock style but I have to admit he is one very talented and versatile young man. The interviews delve into his interest and influence by early blues-men.

The concept overall is clever. But I doubt if the average person could have pulled it off. The producer of "Loud", Davis Guggenheim, also did Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" so I imagine having produced an Academy Award winner, people take or return your phone calls.

I like U2 but not sure I'd put Edge in the same league as Jimmy Page and while I've noted Jack White is supremely talented, I don't think he's near the guitarist Page is/was. But White has many years to carve out his own legacy. I guess the idea was to get the icon/mentor/elder statesman, one currently famous musician and the still up-and coming (lots of young people will say that he is already here) rock star and put them together and see what happens.

Easily watchable and worth the time. The opening credits are classy.

Afghanistan

2009-12-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

I know only enough to be dangerous and possibly look stupid but here goes:

I know we are in for another "surge" as Obama/McChrystal plan to add many more soldiers to the mix and they are already planning their withdrawal. Here's my overall take.

I'm reading a book right now by former NRP reporter Sarah Chayes called the Punishment of Virtue. I'm about 1/3 thru but it at least confirms what I've felt for some time: we can not win in Afghanistan. Distant and more current history there should confirm this.

I have no idea how a rag-tag bunch of mujahadeens could somehow survive and eventually force the Russians to give up but they did. How we think we can possibly do better? The first way (Bush 43) was mostly to bomb the daylights out of them. And for what?

The Obama way seems to be the "Hearts-and-minds" strategy. I've heard plenty of comparisons to Vietnam and this one seems to ring true. Maybe we can just win them over to our way of thinking.

News flash - these people will never think like we do. They have centuries of culture that just don't mesh with ours. Much like the factions in Iraq that made/make it so difficult, the tribal culture in Afghanistan is nothing like ours, it is not and has never been a democracy.

I heard another report this morning about our military training their police force. One thing they were working on was teaching the future Afghan soldiers to read so they could ID the #s on their rifle butts.

If much of the young populace can't read (we already know perhaps most women can't since the Taliban didn't allow women to go to school), how can we expect them to understand our way of government? This is a multi-year process of just getting people up to speed on so many things, then we teach them how to govern, keep the peace, etc.

And I'll make a risky statement, democracy doesn't always work like we want it to and doesn't always work everywhere.

We are spending billions every year in Afghanistan to do what? We have to drive out the Taliban. Al Qaeda. Replace the commerce around Opium. Take care of two major borders (Iran on the west - Pakistan on the east) that allow for the flow of said opium, terrorists, you name it. Pakistan doesn't seem to be able (or want) to fix that the problem - some of what I've read show they benefited from the way things were.

I don't think we can just pull out, but I'm not sure what we can accomplish by staying. Eventually Great Britain became not quite so great. Pax Britannica or whatever it was called proved to be too great a burden and the world changed around their empire.

The United States can't fix the problems in every country around the world. We can't keep our heads in the sand either.

But in a similar vein I heard someone describe how Obama's approval rating was the lowest of any President at this time in his first term ever and one major reason was he hadn't done anything to fix things here at home. More than 10% are still out of work but the focus seems to be on the climate or Health care. Neither one of these is minor but neither one will put people back to work and food on the table.

I don't have a good answer for Afghanistan but what we are doing there doesn't seem to be working. Most of us (self included) likely don't recall we started things up there in 2001. More than 8 years ago. From my limited vantage point it doesn't seem like things are much better 8 years and billions of $ later and how ever many American lives (not to mention civilians) lost.

Primal: A review

2009-12-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

I’m not a professional book reviewer or critic and I don’t play one on TV. But I follow a blog by a pastor in DC, Mark Batterson. He’s written three books now (I’ve read two of them). He mentioned that his publisher was looking for bloggers to review his latest. All we had to do was send an email and a URL. They’d let us know if our blog was selected.

Shortly thereafter I got an email telling me I had been picked and my review copy was on its way. How cool is that?

But with the copy came responsibility; I need to write a cogent review, publish it on my blog, mention the book on Facebook and in general spread the word.

Readers may not be able to tell but I’ve selected American Typewriter as my font. I thought it smacked of publishing. I don’t like Courier (too spread out for me) and I’m tired of the usual Palatino et al. It (AT) also looks sufficiently old-fashioned. Getting back to the roots or writing on an old Olivetti. Almost primitive if you think about it.

Primitive. Webster’s defines this as ”pertaining to the beginning …” also “imitative of the earliest times; crude, simple, rough.” These all describe where things are about to go.

Batterson’s 3rd book, Primal, is subtitled “A quest for the lost soul of Christianity.”

He begins his written quest in Rome venturing down into some of the catacombs. I’ve been there too. Maybe not to the exact places he and his wife visited but I’ve been underground and seen the places where early Christians hid. Many were buried there.

If this book had just been titled Primal, it might have attracted some of the John Eldredge crowd or even the guy who took other guys into the woods to beat drums. But the subtitle does at least two things: it dramatically narrows down the potential audience and begs the question (or perhaps requires the assumption) that you think Christianity has lost its soul. Or maybe as eventually became my case as I read and liberally marked up this free review copy (hope they don’t ask for it back!), you begin to wonder about the soul of your own faith.

The book is a relatively short 171 pages. But it made me stop and think so much that I took more than a week to read it.

Batterson echoes some of my thoughts early on when he exhorts the reader to go back “to the primal faith you once had. Or more accurately, the primal faith that once had you.”

Mark 12:30 is the main thesis of the book; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Batterson takes each one of these four parts of our being and digs into what they represent; or perhaps should represent in the life of every Christian.

Batterson pastors an Assembly of God church but from what I read about his church, five churches actually, (to get some details about his congregations around the Capitol area of DC, you need to check out evotional.com – his blog, which will give you all sorts of insight into his role as a pastor and his ministry), his church is atypical for the Assemblies of God and this is most certainly not an AG book or even Pentecostal in that sense of the word. He points out early that Christians “will disagree about a variety of doctrinal issues until Jesus returns.” And rather than expand or add to the many discussions about this or that little jot or tittle of Christianity we could all most likely disagree about, Batterson takes us back to the roots of our faith. Those core things that the early Christians staked their lives upon.

I started reading with a pen and highlighter in hand. I think I used up one highlighter and ended up underlining most of the things that jumped out at me on first read.

But let’s at least outline a few things. He calls Mark 12:30 the “Great Commandment.” As noted, he spends much of the book fleshing out those four things: heart, soul, mind and strength.

I think most of us would agree that the public (and even private) face of Christianity is not always pretty. Batterson notes, you can change that face or get a “face-lift” but what we really need is a “change of heart.”

Our faith tells us that Jesus comes into our heart when we ask Him and begins to change us from the inside out. Some more than others and some more successfully than others! Batterson has a somewhat different interpretation (disclaimer #2 here: I am most certainly NOT a theologian). Instead of the more traditional Jesus-lives-in-my-heart belief, how about thinking and living as if we had a transplant? We actually have the heart of Jesus inside us in a spiritual sense. Batterson calls this being part of the Tribe of the Transplanted.

Delving into the soul Batterson describes the wonder of looking at a work of art. He recounts the wonder felt by God Himself as He observed His creation and saw that it was, indeed, good. We should, according to Batterson, have the same, well actually much much more of a, sense of wonder about the things of God.

Good storytellers know how to get our attention; how to draw us into their stories. Batterson has a way of doing this with personal examples. He gets us interested in something we can all relate to, then deftly moves to a deeper insight.

He shares how his son had an incidence of sleepwalking. From there he describes an empty soul. How can we love God with all our soul, if we are half-asleep and unaware of what He is doing all around us? And just like the sleepwalker eventually becomes conscious, so must we to God.

Ultimately though the way to love God with all our souls is to be obedient. The best way we can find out how to be obedient is to read what God has to say.

Christians and curiousity? Sound like the beginning of an oxymoron? Batterson thinks we should to be the most curious people. Using an archaic definition of that word, many in the world might think we Christians are a curious lot! Being curious means asking questions.

In an age where one stereotype of Christians is having our collective heads in the sand, Batterson admonishes us to be curious. Explore science, for instance, rather than being afraid of it.

What is one goal of all this curiousness and creativity? “If we are going to have an eternal impact on our culture,” Batterson writes, “We’ve got to create it.” He notes that churches may be suspicious of creativity because it can breed change. And Lord knows we don’t like change! If you don’t believe this, just try using a different version of an old hymn sometime in your worship service!

As someone who would like to be more creative, Chapter 7, One God Idea, spoke to me more than probably any other. There is hardly an unmarked-up page. No way for me to do it justice. One reason right here to find the book (waterbrookmultnomah.com).

Finally we get to strength. What does it mean to love God with all our strength? For Batterson this one is simple: do something. He uses the phrase “sweat equity,” or to risk mis-interpreting his intent, in the same way we add value to a fixer-upper by doing the work ourselves, we need to be doing something for God. This is not a “works-over-faith” book. Just an exhortation to do something. He sums it up best here: “Some people spend their entire lives getting ready for what God wants them to do.” And then they die. Please note this last line is outside the quotes. I added that one.

So, back to the beginning. Batterson says the “… quest for the lost soul of Christianity is about rediscovering the primal energy that sustained the first-century church during persecution.”

And finally since we live in a world of conflict over ideas and ideals which most certainly include religious ones, Batterson has a reminder: “… we are called to reflect God – His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy.”

Batterson brings it home like this: “We have to be great at what matters most. And what matters most is loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.”

If this is where you want to be, grab a copy of Primal.

Vince Crunk
crunksblog.blogspot.com

I need some oil perhaps?

2009-12-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today I was walking into the building where I work from the parking lot. As I approached the door another younger guy was there and opened the door for me. As he turned around to face me he said “You were squeeking while you walked.”

Somehow, today being my Heinz (57th) birthday, that expression rings true. While I think he was talking about something in my briefcase or my shoes, I often feel like my knees and ankles need some lubrication before I get out of bed in the morning.

So to all us older people who need some oil in our joints … cheers!

What me? Pro Union?

2009-12-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

My dad worked for a small place all his life and did "fine, thank you" without the benefit of any sort of union so I guess by that osmosis and observation, I’ve never been too much of a union fan.

I’m sure they have done great things over the decades and serve(d) their purpose.

But even in my short time of living in a union strong-hold in Ohio, I saw the perennial two steps forward – strike – two steps back – new contract – two steps …

But today I heard that unions in general (not sure who was actually talking) came out against one big part of health care reform – placing a tax on so-called Cadillac plans.

On some level it is hard for me to understand a health plan whose premiums runs into the tens of thousands of dollars and maybe any excise tax would only be levied on those extreme examples but …

I’ve seen it locally with our own issues and heard a spokesperson today say how the unions had given up wage increases in exchange for better health care coverage.
There are those who will say those increased health care benefits drive up costs for everybody. Don’t know, can’t say for sure.

But if an employee bargains with his employer – in this case through a union, and both sides eventually agree – how can the government step in and say “nope, we disagree and we are going to tax you for that.”?

I’m sure my health plan comes no where near the level the feds plan to tax but what is to stop them from lowering the threshold of what constitutes a ‘Cadillac plan’?

Interesting that in the days of Lexus and many other expensive cars that Cadillac has remained in the lexicon and everybody gets the meaning.

I read an article about Cleveland Clinic (in either WIRED or Fast Company – can’t find it on-line or I’d link) and while I am sure they are far from perfect, this ought to be required reading for every Congressperson before they vote on any health care plan.
Cleve Clinic puts their docs on salary – a handsome salary but one that none-the-less focuses more on results and successes rather than the volume of expensive tests and the like. It also notes a ratio of some 1,400 clerks for their 2,000 docs. Mostly to handle insurance. So where are the costs being driven up?

But back to my premise. Maybe it will take the union voices to get congress to take another harder deeper look at what their ideas for health care reform are doing to Americans. Look to places like the Cleveland Clinic who provide successful and often expensive health care BUT are trying to do it in new ways that measure results and not padding the bill.

Palin and history

2009-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

I was in the 6th grade in the fall of 1964, the year incumbent (but unelected) Pres. Lyndon Johnson was running against Republican challenger Barry Goldwater. Our class had a debate and as in many debates, you don’t know which side you’ll end up on until it starts. So you have to know something about both sides. I got picked to take Goldwater. I have no recollection of what I said or how my team did.

I didn’t have much of a clue about either one at the time but probably felt more comfortable with Goldwater since he was a Repub. and my extended family had some issues with Kennedy and Dems. – Maybe it was the Catholic thing. I don’t know but where I grew up I didn’t even meet a Catholic until I was in High school.

Digression – I did know something about Johnson. He was from Texas after all. My earliest memory of him was a rumor that some of the people who had voted for him in earlier state elections were dead. Not having died but dead when they voted. Something to do with compiling voter registration rolls while strolling through a cemetary. This practice came along before the ‘vote early, vote often’ mantra.

But this is not about Johnson or Goldwater but rather Sarah Palin.

I said it last summer and I’ll say it again. McCain’s choice of her as his running mate was inspired – he wasn’t going to win anyway and this was one more desperate effort to tip the scales. It didn’t work. That may or may not have been her fault. One other thing I said then was that her handlers weren’t handling her properly. They should have let her be herself – warts and all rather than coaching her to be something she isn’t/wasn’t. Based on what I hear about her book and her interview on Oprah (I watched) this seems to be partly true.

So where does that put us and by us I mean your average middle-America-Republicans? To hear the MSM talk, there are none of us. All of us are far right extremists who are willing to support a so-called populist like Palin.

I don’t know how people like me can get recognized by the media – that Rush, Palin, Beck et al do not speak for me all the time. Are they right some of the time – I should have said correct some of the time? Of course. But even Obama and his people are correct some of the time.

Before we draw too many comparisons, the race between Johnson and Goldwater wasn’t even a race. The Arizona man carried only 6 states and a whopping 52 electoral votes, making it one of the most lopsided races of all time. Johnson will not go down as one of our better or favorite Presidents and it needs to be noted that in less than 4 years, he was so out of favor that he decided not to run again, even though he could have. His decision no doubt brought us to Richard Nixon and we all know what that brought. I digress again.

Where am I going with this 45-year-old piece of trivia? If the GOP ends up nominating Palin in 2012, we’ll see another landslide like the one in 1964. On a personal level I like her but I don’t think she is Presidential. I didn’t know if she was Vice-idential last summer but it was worth the shot. But for deeper and fuller disclosure of where my head and heart were (and possibly still are), I wasn’t crazy about McCain. It reminded me of Clinton v. Dole a few years back. No excitement at the top. You can parse Obama a million ways but one thing he had going for him was excitement.

If the GOP intends to somehow anoint Palin for 2012 then we need to start planning for who will run against Hillary in 2016. My guess by then maybe the GOP will have been smart enough (I can hope!) to recruit some bright young Hispanics for House seats and one of them will have risen enough in experience and stature to be suitable for a run.

The days of old white southern men as President are over.

Health Care

2009-11-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

I guess the Senate is going to fast track their version of a Health Care bill and the race is on.

I have many questions but one big one stands out: how exactly does the Government expect to pay for the almost one billion (or more) that the new plan will cost?

Quickly here’s how, they say:

a surtax or excise tax on really good health care plans. In essence if you are fortunate to have really good insurance through your employer, they (or you) might have to pay a tax for that privilege. Did anybody figure out how many of these so-called Cadillac plans might go away if their costs rose by the 40% excise tax the Senate proposes? This seems like counting on revenue from a source that isn’t guaranteed and the (dis)incentive is for people to reduce their coverage (and attached costs.)

The Senate lists annual fees on insurance companies, equipment makers and drug companies. Now maybe all of them are really bad greedy people but is this going to work? If I make MRI machines and now the government is going to tax or penalize me because they cost too much I can do at least one of three things: pay the tax, start making something different that is not taxed as much or just get out of the business altogether. The last two take away some of the projected revenue.

The NY Times says another revenue source is to “squeeze” (their word) some of the Medicare growth. With our elder population growing faster and needing more health care than any other segment; how’s that going to work without reducing the overall amount of care people expect?

A 5% tax on elective cosmetic procedures, the so-called “Bo-Tax”. I have no problem here but once again if the costs go up too much, people will just stop having face-lifts and tummy-tucks.

Bottom-line if anything like this passes, and then the expected revenue doesn’t materialize, the only other options are to raise more taxes or reduce services provided to people.

Gran Torino

2009-11-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Risky business but I’d recommend you rent (or check out from the library like I did) Gran Torino.

Be forwarned. The favorite word in this R-rated movie begins with “F.” I almost quit watching because of the bombardment of this plus for the first 10-15 minutes or so, it seemed like Clint Eastwood was just going to be a grumpy old man. The only other thing to do was figure out how many different names he could use to show his dislike of Asians.

I stuck it out and am glad I did. I won’t give anything away but I thought it was a pretty good movie. Eastwood directed, produced and stars but he didn’t write it.

But when it’s over it’s not the language that will stick with you.

Blunt, Cap-n-Trade & a good spot

2009-11-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

First up this is not pro or not-pro about Mr. Blunt. He has plenty of baggage but that’s up to him and his to defend or promote.

I saw an ad this weekend while catching a few minutes of the Cowboys’ sorry perf in Green Bay. The ad was well done with a clever gimmick. It was an oppo-ad against Blunt – by some group Id-d as a conservation group (who knows who they really are). Like I said well-done and good technique. Reminded me of a Frank Perretti novel I read years ago where some people had this stinking ooze coming out of them.

My one sticking point with the spot is the support (or rather the hitting up Blunt for his lack of support) for Cap and Trade legislation.

I’m not sure why this is important enough to run a spot now unless the group behind it is perhaps supporting Robin Carnahan in her run for Kit Bond’s MO Senate seat that Blunt is also running for.

Reasonable people can disagree but I hope folks in favor of this bill or anything similar realize that at least one major part of their monthly cash out-go is going to rise dramatically: the cost to heat and cool their homes. Almost all Missouri electricity is based on burning coal (again you may think this is good or bad – not the point – Missouri consumers don’t have a choice in who they buy their electricity from – in fact nobody anywhere unless you are off the grid and generating your own power) and the price of coal is going to go up under this legislation.

Somewhere (if not multiple places) between your house and where the coal comes from, taxes and/or penalties are going to be added. Those extra costs are going to show up in the electric bill. Utility companies will simply pass them through – not as rate increases which might require some local and state approvals – but simply an increase in their cost of doing business or cost of raw materials; whatever. But you and I will pay more – make no mistake about that.

Before anyone falls in love with earth-friendly legislation, count the costs. If you are willing to pay 10-15% more for your electricity to help reduce carbon, you can do that now by buying so-called green energy from your utility company. Most of them have alternate sources that cost more and they will gladly charge you more to appease your carbon-burning conscience.

Remember though, the power grid is agnostic; it can’t tell where the electricity being used in your home actually comes from. Green power gets mixed in with dirty power and who knows which kilowatts actually heat up your morning coffee.

My quibble is not with criticizing Blunt. The spot tried to do too much. I guess they thought if they threw enough oil at Blunt, some of it would stick. For me, the C&T accusation does not.

I have no idea who I might support in the MO Senate race. I hope that C&T dies a quick death before we get that far.

The soldier stumbled.

2009-11-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

My kids’ school had a small ceremony for Veteran’s Day and they invited any local Vets to come and be recognized and honored.

I was able to go this year since I didn’t have to work that day so got to see my kids do a song (Good job girls!) and what the other classes did for the ceremony.

I’m surprised by the number of vets in our dinky little town of only 334. There were maybe a dozen or so present along with a few spouses.

A four-man color guard handled the flag duties.

As they wrapped up their presentation of colors, the youngest in the bunch barked the about face order and they tried to do what can best be described as a Michael-Jackson-move where they cross their feet and twist their legs, and in a flash like an Auntie Anne’s pretzel maker, they are facing the other way. (I’d have been mustered out of the Army quickly because I could never do that!)

Except for one little old man. I didn’t notice his footwork but when he started to walk the other direction he began to stumble. He lurched to his right and kept moving that way as he got his legs underneath him. It was one of those slow-motion things where you want to help but in my case I was way up in the bleachers on the back row and way too much distance between him and me.

The whole thing took maybe 5 seconds and a half-dozen steps and somehow he kept his balance and re-joined the other three.

I’ve been looking for some wise interpretation of this but so far have come up empty.

In a strange way it was sweet. Watching him fall would most assuredly not have been sweet. But since he kept his balance, it was a touching moment; at least for me.

Maybe because my own father and WWII vet is 87 years old and has his own issues with walking. Maybe with an Honor Flight leaving Springfield next Tuesday with 75 local WWII vets aboard for their once-in-a-lifetime trip to see their memorial in Wash. DC – Don’t know. Guess I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and somehow his stumble fit right in.

A copper bracelet and a thank you.

2009-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Most readers will be way too young to remember the PIO/MIA bracelets we wore in the early 70s to remember those missing or captured in Vietnam. But for our time these were the "LiveStrong"-things we wore on our wrists.

I still remember the last name on the one I wore: Etheridge. At the time he was in the missing/POW category. Don't know why I never checked the wall, you can look up anybody with almost any tiny piece of information.

I found him on Panel 40E - Line 73 and it shows he was killed in 1968. One of the more than 58,000 known dead or missing American soldiers killed during the long ranging conflict in southeast Asia.

While sitting here I found out through the wall again that he either has a son or father still living and his email was on the wall's website so I just sent off a quick short thank you to him. We honor our Veterans and rightly so and we also honor our dead Veterans on another day but I thought I should say thanks to one of those left behind.

So to Ralph Etheridge and the millions more he represents, thank you for giving up a family member so we can enjoy our freedoms - still - every day.

The List

2009-11-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

My wife bought this for me as an anniversary gift. Roseanne Cash's latest project. I like the album but wish she/her label/her producer had done just one more thing: I'm sure the project will sell well but I'd liked to have seen a double CD that included the original versions of the same songs.

These songs that Johnny Cash felt were classics in some form or another were first done by people like Jimmie Rodgers,Blind Willie Johnson, Don Gibson, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Guy Mitchell, Ray Price, Kingston Trio, for the Long Black Veil alone the list of people who've done this song is endless, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard,and of course the Carter family - in other words a list that spans several decades and styles and even perhaps genres.

A double CD with the chance to hear some of the old stuff would have made this so much better and possibly rekindled interest in the old time country stuff.

I grew up listening to some of this so I have an unnatural soft spot.

But in case my wife reads this I still like the CD just fine. Thanks!

The Fat lady hasn’t sung yet, but she’s warming up!

2009-11-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

I’ve been watching some – not a lot – of the World Series. I just can’t get excited about the Phillies and not since Mantle played back in the 60s have I been a pinstripe fan. Wait, they don’t wear those anymore.

Remind me to make a wardrobe comment later.

I watched some of last night’s win by the Yankees and I’ll probably show some of my current baseball ignorance with the following but here goes.

When the commentators started talking about Lidge and how his regular season wasn’t so great and then Johnny Damon came to the plate, I said “this will be trouble.” Good rallies start with singles and what does he do? Through some sloppy coverage and heads-up base running on his part, he’s on third.

Of course he doesn’t hit the go ahead RBI or anything big but I think he should be getting front page credit for the win last night. You can’t ask for much more than a 2-out-single and stealing two bases. But who gets the headlines? A-Rod. Oh well. (UPDATE: NY TIMES did do a late afternoon article on Damon and gave him credit.)

Back to wardrobe. What is it with the Yankees uniforms? Every pitcher’s pants look like PJs. Sabathia may have a million-dollar arm, but he needs some fashion help.

Saving the World, one cow at a time.

2009-10-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I looked out our upstairs window into the pasture of our neighbor (he's really not - he lives in Kansas but keeps cows down here) and noticed a big lump that wasn't moving with the other cows. A few minutes later I went outside to feed our dogs and decided to go check it out.

I stared for awhile trying to decide if I saw movement or not. I finally thought I saw a chest rise and fall so I hopped the fence (getting over barbed wire at my advanced age is no small feat!) and wandered a hundred feet or so where I could definitely tell she was breathing. I moved around to see where she might be hurt and she pawed at the ground with her front legs and tried to lift her head but couldn't. I tried to lift her head but ... do you have any idea how heavy a cow's head is? I tried to move her by grabbing her legs but she was just too heavy - maybe 750 pounds or more (just guessing). I thought if I flipped her over she might get in a different position and be able to get up. No luck.

Another neighbor behind us lives on the property and sort of (used to) keep an eye on things so I tried to call him. Busy, busy signal. I kept trying and after I finished up my morning chores, I decided to drive over. Seems my neighbor is no more and the lady living there now had no idea who owned the property but sent me to the next house down the road.

I went there to find two guys fixing a roof. They did know the owner's brother and one said he would call and promptly went back to roofing.

I drove to another neighbor thinking maybe if we got enough people together we could move the cow somehow. For those farmers reading - they know that sometimes cows lay down with their heads pointed downhill and for some reason can't get back up. They also do something called 'bloat'. I don't know what she had but she was down and couldn't get up.

My neighbor took up the mantle and started making calls - she knew more locals than me and grew concerned about the poor cow.

Bottom line - a few hours later someone came and moved the cow. I wasn't there so did not see if she lived or was already dead. I hope she lived.

I realize there is nothing funny about this story and it is open ended since I don't know what finally happened. But I probably spent a couple of hours driving and or on the phone trying to help this poor girl so I have some small investment in her well-being. I really wanted to be hands-on in getting her back on her feet, er hooves and see her waddle away. She had a small milk bag with teats so she may have been close to calving also and that may have been part of her problem. Don't know too much about cows. But I'm still learning.

Must See TV!

2009-10-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

The back page of the Oct. 26 edition of Newsweek has a chart showing when various TV programs will reach various distant locations in outer space.

This is odd and potentially scary on a couple of levels.

Odd? When we first moved into our current home in rural-land, we could barely get some channels. Combinations of rabbit ears and tin-foil strategically positioned were required to get at least one channel. OK I exaggerate but you get the picture. Aliens in outer space must get better TV reception than I do.

I wonder if they saw all the FCC mandated PSAs about the switch to digital last summer in time to get their converter box coupons?

On a more serious note – if there really are aliens out there anywhere besides Roswell New Mexico, it is scary to think what they must think of us if TV is their source.

According to the chart, Alpha Centauri, the nearest star, is just now getting episodes of Lost and the Apprentice. Wonder what they think of the Donald’s hair?

A few more light years away, alien viewers are enjoying Sponge Bob and the Sopranos.

Way way out Howdy Doody is part of the daily fare.

Imagine if they used TV as a sort of scouting report and planned their trips to earth accordingly? Imagine their surprise when they get here and find other confused aliens looking for the Lone Ranger and Tonto or the Dukes of Hazzard? And what do they find instead? Balloon Boy and his family. But then they might feel right at home!

"Klaatu barada nikto"

The (digital) indignity of it all.

2009-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

If you are squeamish about medical stuff, you may not want to continue reading. If you are female, this is going to have some male stuff in it so … and if you are male then it’s going to have some … I guess nobody should read it but I’ll write anyway.

Today was my annual physical, which for the most part is pretty routine. Weight 173. Height 6’-1/2”. OK on both counts. Blood pressure OK. Blood work underway so we’ll know soon about those pesky things called lipids and LDL etc.

Lots of questions with mostly negative answers, which is good.

Why write about it?

My father has had one bout of prostate cancer which he survived but the treatment wasn’t much fun and may have caused some additional problems. His PSA count is up again but they are watching it. By the way he is 87.

Needless to say with my fathers history and an uncle who also had prostate cancer, this is something I take seriously. And for those men in the audience you know what that means. The euphemism is a digital exam and has nothing to do with computers or any electronic device.

My guess is, this part of the prostate screening is at least akin (I’m not saying equal to) the mammogram and Pap smear our wives have to endure once a year or so.
What makes mine slightly awkward yet in a strange way not, my physician is a woman. Several years ago I felt like my primary care doctor wasn’t doing much and my wife suggested I try hers, which in this case was a woman. Initially I felt strange – still do sitting there in the little bitty gown thing they give you that ties in the back … you know what I mean?

But now after a few years I’m pretty used to it. And I guess my wife – along with most other women have been having to … well you know … do their thing with male doctors … so in some small way, it’s the least I can do.

My doctor is thorough; I think she really cares about my health and that of all her patients. She doesn’t rush; she is on time etc. so I gained by switching doctors. As I age and am likely to have more concerns, she will have some history with me, which might make things easier in the long run.

The point of this is – if you are a guy, bend over and get it over with.

An added comment: Normal PSA levels are 4 but my doctor said she watches for increases in PSA even if the numbers stay below normal. Last week she examined a guy and his PSA was 1.8 which is well below normal (good) but he had a small nodule on his prostate and it was cancerous. So the numbers don’t lie, they just don’t always tell the whole story. It also points up the importance of the old fashioned but slightly uncomfortable way of having this checked.

OK I tried.

2009-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a few days ago about my (failed) attempts to read some older (classic and maybe not-so-classic) books. I keep hearing and reading how Flannery O'Connor was what most of today's Christian writers should aspire to be. What a master of her craft she was etc.

I got Wise Blood from the library and tried - twice. I just couldn't plod through it. I'm sure it is me and not her writing but I still can't get through it.

Anybody know an easier Flannery O'Connor book to try?

gas again?

2009-10-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

Running an errand today and noticed somebody changing prices on a gas station sign – never a good sign. I turned my head every which way as I passed and could never get a clean shot of the price in my mirror. Later I passed another station and whoa! It had jumped from the almost manageable $2.16 early this morning up to $2.27! What’s up with that? Either OPEC is not as happy as the rest of the giddy world that Obama got the prize for peace or the Hunt Family (see Hunt Petroleum in Texas) who own the KC Chiefs are mad about losing to Dallas on Sunday.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

2009-10-12T15:26:00.001-07:00

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Don't ask me what that means. It's the title of a book I just finished by Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) It's a sort of rambling book but there are plenty of nuggets in it to make it a worthwhile read. I think some people dismiss him because he might smack of something akin to the Emerging or Emergent sort of theology but I found it interesting on a couple of fronts.

Since I am in the midst of writing umpteen stories in some stage of incompletion or another along with my long-suffering screenplay idea (up to 30-40 pages, a bunch of scenes but nowhere near solid yet) he offers suggestions on stories, what makes them work etc., helpful for me as a writer.

I really enjoyed chapter 29 and wanted to just scan and include the chapter here but could not easily get permission from the publisher so you are just going to have to do what I did and find it at the library - or Amazon (only $12)