Solutions for D.C.

Here I am, back from a short hospital and nursing home visit. This morning I had my post-op visit to the surgeon that did the carving. He is very happy about the outcome of this latest procedure. If he is happy, I guess I am too.

A visit to the nursing home is always a chance to watch too much (to the saturation point) television. But the problem was that TV was non-stop chatter about the Obama Healthcare bill. I am a Republican. Always have been, but getting antsy lately. As a frequent consumer of health care I am well aware that something needs fixing in a hurry or we are going to see a crisis. All the members of Congress must know that too. So why the obstructionist approach by my party? I also know that the bill put forth by the democrats isn’t perfect, but it is not nearly the disaster that the hysterical naysayers would have the public believe. Just a little calm negotiating on the part of the Republicans could have turned it into a piece of legislature that everyone could have been proud of. And turning those pathetic rabble-rousers loose in the Capitol streets was not a good way to strengthen the Republican Party for the future.

Now Mr. President, let’s get busy creating JOBS.

Second Chance

One of the good things about being old is that you can reread old mystery books knowing full well that you have read them before but without the faintest clue as to who-done-it. A corollary to that is that you can stay up all night finishing the book and sleep in the next morning no matter what day of the week it happens to be. Old age and retirement have their good points.

I went back in time the other day to 1982 when Sue Grafton published her first of her alphabet series, “A is for Alibi”. Her powers of description and ability to create a mental image were astonishing even then. As I got deeper into the book, I had little flashes of memory, but never complete enough to prevent the ending from blowing me away. ( That’s a joke in case you haven’t read “A” in decades.) Now I have to get the latest. My first question will be, “Has Kinsey got herself a cell phone yet?”

I have read most of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories several times and most of Tony Hillerman more than once. I think that Hillerman was the best craftsman, but he allowed himself the largest palette. I plan to continue reading mysteries over and over as long as I can. They seem to, like so many things, get better with age.

Tiger Woods’ little speech yesterday was certainly way down the list of the most important events of the week, but it sure got a lot of talk-talk. What annoys me about him is his whine about the photographers bothering his wife and kids. Sure, that is not nice, but whose fault is it? I don’t sense that Tiger realizes that the intrusive photographers wouldn’t be anywhere in sight if he, Tiger, hadn’t been such a jerk. (Can you tell that I can’t spell the word that means intrusive photographers? And it isn’t in my dictionary.)
Tiger owes his billion dollars to the attention the press paid him. Don’t blame them for his fourteen overnight pals.

Enough about him. I read that the big banks are very unhappy that the proposed new regulations (that they may have to live by) may cost them 221 billion dollars in profits. Do I care? No, not when I wonder how much they cost the little Joes and Janes that have lost their jobs and savings as a result of the banks gambling and losing, but then getting bailed out like us folks weren’t.

Bayh probably cooked his own goose as far as his presidential hopes went. But I would have been ashamed to be in the current do-nothing Congress too. Those folks get a nifty salaries to participate in the governing of the United States. They don’t do that. They live high off the hog and do nothing but tend to their own party business. Let’s unelect the whole bunch in November.

This has been National Cardiac Rehabilitation Week. Did you do right by your heart?

Feb Madness

Well, the Air Force is again shuffling injured Hatians to hospitals in the States despite the Florida governor. The poor governor is trying to win the Republican nomination to run for senator. However, the choice of the Tea Party crowd has gotten the edge over him. He doesn’t know which way to turn to satisfy voters.

More than politics have gone sour in Florida. Sympathy goes out to tourists who made reservations in response to the commercial cries of, “Come on down” to sunny Florida. It is COLD down here. And for the dry season, we are getting a lot of rain. Of course, the merchants enjoy bad weather. The tourists come off the beach and go to the malls. Bring extra cash!


On the personal side, I nosed around Google Buzz, but decided I didn’t want them (Google) deciding who my friends should be. Who needs another social network, anyway?


I have returned to Aqua Therapy to try to get myself out of the wheel chair. Where we live has a heated pool so the water is warm. It is a pleasant way to spend an hour and the aching legs only come later. Gosh, I am in poor condition!

Haiti

This morning’s news headline is that medical evacuations of the severely injured ƒrom Haiti have been halted because the governor of Florida wants to know who is going to pay for all these hospitalizations. My question is, “Who is it that insists on making money off this catastrophe ?” Usually this windsock we call governor goes with the flow, but I suspect that this time he’s listening to the wrong people.

Synopis 0f 2009

Despite all the bad-mouthing of the year 2009 in the press and on TV, it was a reasonably good year for me. Aside from a few weeks in late January and early February, I was out of hospitals and nursing homes for an entire year. That’s pretty good compared to recent years. A nice, quiet year at home with Sally was pleasant and just what I needed. Even an uneventful year has its ups and downs. We gave up the car, but still got to the Fort Lauderdale performance of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show with the Rockettes. The staging, the lighting, the music, and the precision made it an evening of surprise and delight. We had bought a folding wheelchair that fits in the back of Mary’s car. She pushed me right from the parking lot to one of the best seats in the house (the same arena where we went to a skating show several years ago).

The computer took up a lot of my time the past year. I dabbled with both Facebook and Twitter, but by the end of the year I found I was partaking of neither to any extent. I installed Chrome as my browser when I found out that Google had introduced a version for Mac. However, by the end of the year I was so disappointed in it that I uninstalled it. There were no substantial advantages and several down sides, so I just dropped it.

I received a new and beautiful camera for Christmas. But I haven’t figured out a graphic way to take a picture of the cold weather Florida is experiencing right now. The thermometer on my computer shows that it is 40 degrees now (2PM) outside. But there are no snowdrifts nor icicles to photograph. 40 degrees in the afternoon in South Florida should be documentable. I suppose I could get a close up of my goose bumps!

I would put Obama’s performance as not what I hoped for in the past year. Of course, the Republicans have not contributed heroically. “Obstructionism” is the word for them.

I should talk! Early in the year I got out boxes of what I generously call memorabilia with the intention of sorting it, disposing of most of the “stuff” and thereby saving lots of space in our closets. Currently the boxes are still on the floor, new folders are stacked by my desk and the desk is hidden by pictures, cards, unanswered letters. There is barely space to maneuver the mouse. Of course, the last thing I really want to do is to run out of things to do.

I shall return. The day I don’t, will be the day I realize our cat is smarter than I am. (A valid concern.)

'Tis the Season

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !
In the midst of all the parties, toys, and goodies - may the world take the time to teach its children the real "why" of this celebration.

American Hero Insulted

The citizens of Henrico, Virginia have insulted a true American Hero and holder of the Medal of Honor. This 90 year old WWII vet (plus Vietnam and Korea) has been ordered to take down the flagpole in his front yard on which he daily displays the American flag. These fools that don't appreciate how honored they should be to have Col. Van Barfoot living in their town. They should be erecting a monument for him in the center of their town and put up a flagpole in every front yard. I don't suppose anyone from Henrico is scheduled to go to Afganistan soon.

Kids!

After Thanksgiving Dinner most of us remained at the table just chatting. One grandson was telling us all about how painful a recent football injury was. He got a little carried away and we all wondered how to lighten the mood.

Quietly , a younger grandson spoke out, “Would you care for cheese with that whine?” It broke me up.
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TV Commentary

Breaking News: It has dawned on me that we are about to suffer the end of the (TV) world as we know it. Not that that’s all bad. I’m not referring to bad shows that were doomed to fail from the get-go. Successful shows have a natural lifetime either in our individual minds or in the minds of the folks that schedule the networks. This has applied to all but news, sports, “Meet the Press” and perhaps, “Law and Order”.

If Oprah isn’t going to end, at least she will be changing her format it a few years. Personally, I (and I suspect most men) had had it fifteen minutes into the first showing. Too mushy. But she certainly has been an enormous success.

Another program that is quitting at what may be its peak is “Monk”. There certainly is a limit to how long you can make obsessive compulsive behavior seem funny.

The writers of “House” have struggled to maintain interest in a drug addict. However, as they have taken away the chief character’s dependence, his excuse for mean and nasty behavior has disappeared. He has become just plain nasty, mean and unlikeable. I’ve quit watching already.

“NCIS” worries me. They act like the original may disappear, replaced by “NCIS - LA”. The latter belongs in the category of “didn’t survive the first year”. I have been sort of hoping I would go off the air before the original.

News broadcasts have already shown new faces. The old time network news attempted to appear non-partisan. Now this approach is giving way to Fox News (O’Reilly), MSNBC (Olberman), and Comedy Central (Stewart and Colbert). Blatant partisanship has shown more opportunity for entertainment and higher rantings than “just the facts, M’am”.

The Wall Street Journal the other day had a wonderful column about the end of sportsmanship and how that is causing a slow death of TV sports. I regret that the newspaper went out in the trash with the kitty litter so I cannot cite the author, but he clearly made his point. Players have turned over all responsibility for fair play to officials. What we used to call dirty play or cheating is now OK if the perpetrator doesn’t get caught. Incidentally, I hope you saw the punter the other night. He executed a graceful somersault immediately after kicking the ball. I don’t think he was really trying to feign he’d been fouled, bur rather he was probably spoofing all the punters who routinely fake a knock down on every kick. The Ref ignored his act.

I doubt that “Meet the Press” will survive the grouch that replaced Tim Russert. He has lost me already.

I do expect that “Law and Order” will be commissioned to turn off the cameras when TV itself is finished.

Someone Should Speak Up

November is two thirds over and our area looks like it will survive this year without a hurricane. I hope I am not setting up a jinx by saying that. While the temptation is to publicly proclaim joy at being spared, the knowledge that the Carolinas and the Northeastern coast took a licking creates a sort of emotional conflict. I suppose one way to avoid that is to have property in New Jersey and Florida. OR just be quiet.

No matter where the folks live who think the environment is of no consequence -- between tornados, earthquakes. Noreasters, hurricanes, wild fires, floods, blizzards -- there is always something which should remind us that there are gigantic forces that we have no control over. Yet the world’s population continues to diddle with the atmosphere and the known limits on natural resources. There is a general oblivion of the consequences of this careless manipulation of nature.

It is a little like we all live in sunny Florida and the next generation is in New Jersey.

November 13, 2009

Random Observatons From a Sitting Position

• Don’t you just love it when some pompous policy makers say their policy is “zero tolerance”… and then have to back down? Remember when the little boy proudly brought his Cub Scout all-in-one eating utensil to school and was expelled for carrying a weapon (a knife)?
• Recession ? On our last drive we went along the ocean front road in Palm Beach, FL. We noticed six (6) new MANSIONS, big, BIG ones being built and one old one being torn down preparatory to building another.
• Sign of the times. Penn State has reported that due to the prevalence of cell phones, all landline phones will be removed from dormitory rooms. This will save $700,000 or $800,000 depending on the report you read. Oh, the joys of those days with a sore ear from all evening on the phone!

Fort Hood Irony

Think how it must rankle the old-Army generals: With 43,000 soldiers under their command, hundreds of them armed Military Police, a mad man’s rampage is stopped dead by a short, little lady nicknamed “Mighty Mouse.” Worse – she is a civilian police-person. While the unarmed military wisely scattered and took cover, “Mighty Mouse” flung open the door of her squad car and charged straight at the mad man with guns blazing. Hit three times she kept firing until the maniac fell. She is a true heroine.

But will the grizzled old generals ever forgive this “FEMALE”?

I doubt it’s in their genes.

Suntan Proof Swimsuits

I love technology, but today’s WSJ suggest that the new high tech swimsuits may be “dirty pool”. The article goes on to tell of the controversy between users of traditional swimsuits, Speedos, and wearers of the polyurethane or neoprene bodysuits being favored by racers, young and old,. Michael Phelps, the win-all hero of the recent Olympics, was soundly beaten by a supposedly lesser competitor who availed himself of a “high tech” bodysuit. Phelps wore his usual Speedo. The new suits are expensive, provide extra flotation, smooth out the wrinkles and bumps on the human body, have less affinity for water, and make technology an important factor in a swimmer’s top speed. I think that the use of new technology is fair in sailboat racing, but I question its place in a contest intended to measure human strength and skill

Think what has happened to the pole vault. In 1942 (when I was making some feeble attempts at vaulting) we used a straight stiff pole with no bending capability to it. The World Record that year was held by Cornelius Warmardam at 4.77meters (15.65 feet). By 1994 the great Sergey Bubka had made a record vault of 6.14 meters (20.14 feet). But was Sergey really any better than Cornelius? Sergey used an elastic pole that bends almost in half then propels the jumper upward like a sling shot. How high would Warmarham have vaulted with the elastic pole to provide an extra shove?

I like competitive sports. Technology that improves the safety of the competitors is great, but not if it artificially improves performance.

ps. You can't get a good tan with the new suits.

Big Business

Quite a bit of stirring in the old folk’s homestead these days. The bank which had a branch on campus went belly up the other day. We had FDIC and bank people here in droves. They tried to reassure people that the bank had been sold and it would be business as usual. But there is much unrest and I fear the new owners will find little left at this branch to justify it continuing. We were leery from the beginning and are hardly involved.

On the other hand, we have a gasoline credit card that is actually issued by one of the giant bailout recipients. They recently sent us a notice announcing an interest rate hike to 29.95 percent. As soon as we can find the little-used card, we intend to “opt-out” as they term canceling. Should I remind them that Shylock would have been hung for a charging such a rate? Since we are getting rid of the car it really doesn’t matter to us. (Nor them)

We continually hear the phrase “too big to be allowed to fail”. I’m not sure why that is true. If I were president, I suspect I’d let a few of these big fellows go under and find out how much worse that left us than the nation’s current circumstances.

Another Retirement

Despite the fact that I am without doubt one of the best drivers on the road, that big day has come. We are turning in our leased car and giving up driving (sort of). I would like to say that I remember that day almost 70 years ago when I first got a driver’s license. Truth is – I can’t. Maybe that is part of my reason for this big step. Other, and more valid, reasons include macular degeneration, no wish to finish my career with an accident, and financial thoughts. Lakeside Village where we live provides transportation for most routine local errands and appointments. To prevent acute trauma to our systems, we are reserving the right to take an Enterprise rental car for big trips or leisurely Christmas shopping. We’ve worked it out and that’s lots less expensive than having our own car. Next week we have the lift for my “electric chair” taken off the back of the car. And the following week GMAC gets the car back. ‘Twill be a sad day in Lantana.

Chem Lab

In all the nostalgia I’ve printed here over the years, I don’t think I really covered college life much. As as chemistry student I was blessed with the dreaded Saturday morning (8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon) lab – every semester. It meant standing for four hours and if there had been a good frat party or big dance the night before it could be torture. My lab bench and Harry’s were such that we worked facing each other. Harry was a nice fellow most of the time, but one Saturday he had obviously been partying on Friday night. He was really hung-over.

His lab project required that he pick up a full, heavy bottle if concentrated NH4OH (Ammonia). His shaking hands betrayed him and it fell to the floor and broke. A painful cloud of ammonia gas spread through the lab. Harry more or less paniced. He was jumping around repeating, “ Oh my God! What should I do?” I said, never dreaming how befuddled he was, “Pour a bottle of HCl on it.” For non-chemists, these two chemicals react fiercely and create an old style smoke screen that irritates the eyes and nose. I didn’t think he would do it, but he sure did it.

A liter of each of those could hide a battleship. Without a battleship to defend, the whole top floor of the laboratory building had to be evacuated. To add to the excitement, someone saw all the smoke and pulled a fire alarm. We had a very angry professor. I didn’t confess for several weeks.

Miami vs FSU

When I sat down to watch the Florida State/Miami game, I was torn. Back in Miami’s “bad boy “ days a lot of bad blood built up between my school. Penn State, and Miami. Lately I have mellowed as I have watched Miami’s new coach struggle to curb excessive exuberance in public by his young team. Plus, we haven’t played them in a while and I’m getting older.

On the other hand, JoePa used to be good buddies with FSU”s Bobby Bowden. But that has diminished as Bobby has sharpened his rivalry with JoePa to be the coach with the most lifetime wins. Bobby is appealing the NCAA decision to deduct 14 victories from his list and I don’t approve. Beside which, I don’t think Bobby is doing much coaching. His successor has been chosen and seems to be doing almost all the talking.

At midnight, it came down to someone up in the booth to judge who had won. He awarded victory to Miami and I think I am glad. He judged it on the result of the last play. He was correct . But if a single judge (and it were me) were asked to judge on the entirety of the 60 minutes of play --- I might have picked FSU. But I didn’t and he didn’t , so be it.

The Latest

Yesterday we installed the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard on our computers. I hope everyone is just bedazzled by the brilliance of our clarity and the new sharpness of our thought. From this end I have noticed a somewhat quicker pace to the computers' responses. Beyond that I haven’t explored any new features, so I can’t comment.

We also invested $5.00 per month in the “Big Ten Network” addition to our TV selections. Saturday we got to watch the Penn State vs Akron football game. Although the score (31-7 for PS) doesn’t reflect it. I was really more impressed by Akron than by Penn State. Penn State played a sloppy game without the crispness one expects from a top ten team. State obviously has the talent and the depth, so we can expect that JoePa will shape them up before the big games begin.

Sunday Brunch

Sally and I went out for breakfast at John G’s this morning. Floridians will understand, but for those not familiar with John G’s --- It is a waterfront restaurant in Lake Worth famous for its generous and delicious breakfasts and lunches. They serve very high-end diner food, more gourmand than gourmet. A long line to get in always winds around the building. (Part of the panache of the place. There is a sense of accomplishment when you make it to the door.) Sally stood in the hot Florida sun while I went and sat in a chair near the entrance. My cell phone had not been charged lately and went dead after our first check-up with each other. But we got in before lots of other folks because we were just a couple.

Anyone who has been to the Crazy Horse in Paris will recognize the seating arrangement. (A not always welcome intimacy.) You must be very careful not to eat the omelet of the fellow at the next table. It is techniquely waterfront, but far to noisy to hear the ocean and too crowded to see it. But going there is a Florida thing to do, so every year or so we reacquaint ourselves with "must see tourist-land". Despite my complaints, there is a vibrancy and an excitement to the place that makes a meal memorable.