Pause to Look Up

Union Station in Chicago, May 2014

Tourist season is starting in DC, time to bump into bored teenagers wondering around looking down at their"smart phones" and hand held video games. If you are not carefully they will literally bump into you, as they don't look up to see what is around them. A few times on the National Mall , not the one with Macy;s and Nordstom's, the one with the Capital on one end, the Memorials on the other end and the museums of the Smithsonian on both sides, I have said out loud, what I was thinking, LOOK UP AND SEE WHAT IS AROUND YOU!  Most don't hear, they are so engrossed in the latest text message or twitter exchange, some have attitude - who am I to say something to them, a few look up and go Wow! 

Our lives are like that, we get so engrossed in the details of what we are doing, that we don't often pause to look up, and see the wonders that are around us.  Let me add that to my list of things to do today.  

Lighting Candles

National Cathedral Washington DC 

“It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt1

Candles are symbolic, they bring light to a dark space, the smoke of a candle rises taking with it the essence of the room, pausing to light a candle gives one time to think good thoughts.  I am not a practitioner, or for that matter a real believer in any organized religion - but I like pausing in churches to light a candle. The symbolism of stopping to think of something positive, and too bring a flicker of light into a sea of darkness, makes a difference for me.  The first time I lit a candle in a church was in Paris.  The first "Gulf War" had started just as I was leaving on that trip. I was in Notre Dame, I lit a candle with a wish that the war would be short and merciful. 

Jay jokes, that he is the Catholic, but I am the candle lighter, maybe I am channeling his mother.  I do it because it makes me feel good.  I always make a nice donation, I hope that the funds are put to good use, and not used to spread fear or hate.  

Some of the churches have done to electric lights instead of candles.  Electric is cleaner and less of a fire hazard, but for me it is not the same.  There is something essential about the physical act of lighting a candle and watching it flicker and burn, and watching the candles exhaust the wax and flicker out that electric will never replace.  

1. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/419141-it-is-better-to-light-a-single-candle-than-to

From Fearsome Beard https://fearsomebeard.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/starting-fresh/comment-page-1/#comment-2034

It’s a new day. What will you do with it?

Memory Triggers

Ozone reminds me of cold winter mornings in Phoenix, walking down the sidewalk on the busy main road toward the elementary school where I went to the first grade one winter. The smell of roses take me back to sitting on the dark wood staircase in the funeral home, when my grandfather died. I stepped in the elevator at the condo the other day, and memories of my grandmother's bedroom in the 100 year old farmhouse in Michigan flooded my brain, someone had been wearing a scent that she use to wear. Scent triggers strong memories for me.  Not all scents, but certain distinct scents trigger strong and deep memories.

There is a particular scent of coffee and tobacco smoke that reminds me of breakfast in road side diners when my family drove cross country in the mid 1960's. That scent has become hard to find.

Some memories I can trigger intentionally, by seeking out the scent, others just hit me.  Most are pleasant memories.

We all have memory triggers, smells, sounds, textures.  If we can find the ones that bring us pleasant feelings and surround ourselves with them, we can influence our feelings.    

Spring Thaw

I remember the spring thaw on the farm in Michigan as a child.  the house was set 100 feet back from the road, and the road was higher then the house, so the melt ran down the drive into the yard.  I would follow the melt from the top, down, watching it get larger and larger. Drops from a snow pile join together to form a rivulet, those join in to a flow, into a run, into a stream.  I use to spend hours, following the flow, watching the stream grow ever stronger as more and more drops joined in.  There was a drainage ditch that ran along the side of the yard, the water would flow in it steadily enough some springs that fish would swim in it, I played with dam building in the ditch, much to my father's dismay.  By late spring and into the summer it would dry up, but for a few weeks in the spring we had a mini water way near the house.   

Oxford University Museum Natural History and The Pitt Rivers Collection

A dozen years ago, I spent a week at Oxford University. Every four years Oxford hosts an international conference on religious history.  Dr. J attends that conference.  We stayed "in College" meaning we stayed in on campus housing (St. Edmund's) with full room and board - three meals a day in the college dinning room.  The meals were interesting, some very good food, interesting service, the first place I ever encountered a "fish knife."

We arrived in Oxford by train, bumped into the Archbishop of Canterbury getting off the train, he took the taxi ahead of us.  The next afternoon was the opening reception, a tea party in the rose garden at Christ Church College, hosted by none other then the Archbishop.  Someplace, I have a picture of him and several pictures of the party.  

I had access to the University by virtue of attending the conference.  I was able to get into places that tourists are normally not allowed.  I think I was only turned away a couple of places that I tried to enter.  I enjoyed the University and the town.  I was walking, Oxford is a very walking able city, it better be there is no parking in the city.  I found the pub where Bill Clinton claims he didn't inhale - ah-huh!  I attended a Gershwin concert one evening.  I wandered through some great museums.

The Oxford Museum of Natural History is spectacular.  The skeleton collection is the best in the world.  They have the remains of the last Dodo, sadly severely damaged in a fire.  The Pitt Rivers Collection is an anthropology and archaeology collection connected to the Natural History museum.  The thing that struck me in the Pitt Rivers museum was the drawers full of artifacts, that you are free to open and explore.  I was amazed at the museum items that were open to be touched.  It is a living collection.

It was a neat experience.  Four years later Jay went to Oxford and I went to France, then four years ago we both went to France and when he went to Oxford I came home.  This year he is going ahead to Oxford and he will catch up with me in Germany.  I should go back to Oxford one day before he retires.  Maybe the Archbishop will invite us for tea again.

Joys of Spring

The long cold winter is coming to an end, time for the Joys of spring.  Soon the Dandelions will be blooming, a sure fire sign of spring.  I was raised on a honeybee farm, sort of a funny farm.  Dandelions were one of the first spring flowers to produce a nectar flow that would sustain the colonies. In fact until people started waging war on the beautiful little spring flowers, the dandelion honey flow would sustain the bees into the summer bloom.  I still like them, a like that is not always shared by J-Bear.  The first spring we were in Kentucky he decided he would eradicate the little yellow flowers from the yard with Round-Up.  He sprayed and a couple of hours later the dandelions were still happily shining their yellow blossoms in the sun, so he poured on the Round-up, went back to Lowe's for more.  Three days later the dead spots appeared in the lawn.  It was two years before anything would grow in a couple of those spots.  

The first warm days and arms start to bloom, glaring white knees start to show.  What a glorious time of the year.   

Throw Back Thursday

 This was taken in January 1991 on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  Paris was a long time dream of mine.  I have a soft spot for all things French.  People thought I was crazy for making this trip, Bush bombed Baghdad on a Wednesday night, I left for Europe on Friday night. this was the first Gulf War. Airlines were cancelling flights left and right, at the last moment, KLM cancelled our flight from Orlando to Amsterdam, flew us to Atlanta on Delta and put us on a flight from  Atlanta to Amsterdam.  It was a memorable evening in airline history, Eastern Airlines ceased operations that evening, the airport in Atlanta was chaos.  KLM issued everyone new boarding passes, and 24 passengers and 12 crew members boarded a nearly new 747 for the flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. They had over 100 no-shows for the flight.  They moved all of coach into business class and turned off the lights in the back of the bus. The plane taxied out on schedule, and then the pilot announced that due to all of the Eastern Airlines flights being ordered out of the sky, we would have over an hour wait on a taxi-way and they would be serving dinner before we took off.  The food was good, about 90 minutes after we took off, they served dinner a second time, they had food on board for the 100 people that didn't show up for the flight.  It was a good trip - 2-3 nights in Amsterdam, then flew onto Paris for 5 or 6 nights.  In Paris was the first time I saw government buildings (the US Embassy) guarded with machine guns.  We had a nice visit, the flight home was packed with US embassy staff from Europe and the middle east who had all been ordered home and had been instructed to fly in European flagged airlines (normally they only fly on US carriers.)  I have been back to Paris since then, and would go back again in a heartbeat.

E-Life

We spend 8 months of the year, working 400 miles apart, and e-communication makes a real difference in maintaining our relationship.  We email, video chat, exchange text messages, follow one another on Facebook and talk on the phone.  We are in contact several times a day.  I spend a couple of weeks a year in the other house, and the Sweet-Bear spends the summers, winter break and spring break here in the condo.

So how do we communicate when we are sitting three feet apart, emails and Facebook. I have been known to use video chat if he is in the other room.  We also talk, take long drives, go shopping, cook and enjoy meals together.  But e-life continues to be a part of life.  It is hard to imagine life before email and yet it has only been a little over 20 years.  Blogging has been in my life almost 10 years, Facebook came after that.

I can remember when a radio that fit in my pocket was a big deal, now we have computers that fit in our pockets.  I read the other day that in 1991, the computing power of last year's I-phone, cost over $3.5-million dollars.  Our smart phones have more computing power and memory then NASA had available when they landed men on the moon and brought them safely back to earth.  That happened in my lifetime.

My parents were born the year that Lindbergh flew the Atlantic, what will happen within the lifetime of a person born today?  How will the E-life change their life?

Soaring Architecture

I like great churches,  I am not a practitioner of any organized religion. I find some of the principles of most religions problematic, I think there are sufficient reasons to be a good person, do good work, be nice to others without having to worry about what happens after this life, I don't need to be told that I am capable of evil, I know, I also know the consequences in this lifetime for being evil and chose not to do that.  But I love the architecture that we lavish on churches.   

There was a era in America when banks built great buildings, building that demonstrated long term commitment and strength.  Periodically government buildings are examples of solid timeless and durable design.  The great train stations of 100 years ago where built as temples to reliability - a handful of great examples endure. But anymore banks are low cost, modern and temporary, most government buildings are built to be low maintenance, and train stations - well they simply are no longer temples of transit.  But churches are probably the greatest examples of timeless and enduring architecture. These are buildings designed to inspire and awe and to last for eons, without regard to the cost.  They soar with stone and light.  

The picture above is the National Cathedral in Washington DC. A wonderful space.  It is a little hard to get to, a mile up hill from the nearest metro station.  It now has a nice underground parking garage.  It is lighter and more open then St. Pauls', or Notre Dame de Paris. Of course smaller than St Peters.  It is worth the visit when you are in DC. 

Transit

I can remember the first time rode public transit, I was about 10, we were at the Detroit Auto Show and my parents took us on a circulator bus to the Hudson's department store. The big main Hudson's store was a wondrous place. I remember the elevators with operators, I bought my first transistor radio there, a big thing in 1968.  Sadly the store is long gone, one of the saddest videos on You-Tube is the destruction of this once great building (and I generally like controlled demolition videos.)

It was 20 years after that before I rode my first subway, the DC Metro system.  I was quickly hooked.  I like the simplicity of public transit. I use it when ever I can, when I visit new places I am always looking for transit options.  I prefer trains to buses.  I have transit cards for London, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and DC in my travel case, ready to hit the ground running (I also keep Euros and Pounds on hand - ready to land and go without looking for an ATM.)

The train above only runs about 1-mile.  It is inside the new main terminal at the Detroit Airport.  It shuttles people around the very-very long concourse. As I recall it is a cable car, the cable moves and the train grabs onto it and is pulled along.  The underground train the Cincinnati airport runs on the same system.   By the way if you have changed planes in Cincinnati, you actually changed planes in Kentucky, the airport is on the south side of the Ohio River.  A lot of people are surprised to hear that they have once set foot in Kentucky and didn't know it.

Express Yourself!

The routine things in life need not be boring.  Have fun with what you wear. Shoes have become more functional for me as my feet have gotten older then the rest of me, but I own a lot of fun shoes.  I started buying fun shoes in the mid-1980's, then I discovered Colours by Alexander Julian who made the most wonderful patterned and textured socks. I still wear the most outrageous socks.

When we moved to Kentucky in 1995, I had a year to fill before I started law school, after a few days I grew bored with being around the house and took the first job that was offered, selling ladies shoes in a department store.  It was an interesting experience.  I learned to judge a person by the shoes they wear.  Boring shoes = afraid of life, utilitarian shoes = needs comfort, tiger striped patent leather with spikes on the heels = not afraid to express him-self.  It took me several years to get to the point that I could meet someone without immediately looking at their shoes. I was occasionally mistaken for an actuary or statistician. You can tell the difference between in introverted actuary and extroverted actuary.  The extroverted actuary looks down at your shoes when they talk to you.  Either that or the person sold shoes for 9 months 20 years ago and is still trying to recover from the experience. It was a fun job, the most mindless job I have ever had.  The department manager told me one day that if she wanted me to think, she would pay me more (I didn't stay too long after that.)

Have some fun, wear something that reflects your personality.  This summer I have declared Spo-Shirt or Hawaiian shirt Fridays.

Wisdon from the Short Bus

A 2-car train - Metro does not run 2-car trains - it was 6 when it came in

A kid who rides the short bus, is a metaphor for a school child who has special needs, when I was growing up they were referred to as retarded or just not quite right in the head. I have a family member who fell into this category - was labeled as a child and it has haunted him through out his life. He was largely abandoned by the school system, adding extra hurdles to his living up to his potential.  We all have different strengths and weaknesses.  I have to disagree with those that say that anyone can do anything.  Despite years of heavy training, my best ever time for the mile was just under 7 minutes, I will never run a four minute mile.  But I have other strengths.  

I was working with a client who had a third grade education. Someone had signed one of those pre-approved credit card applications that came in the mail in her name and requested an extra card for her nephew.  Someone had run the card to the limit and never paid the bill.  She said it was not her and I believed her.  Everyone assumed it had to be the nephew.  The credit card company offered to leave her alone, if she would file a police report against the nephew.  It sounded like a logical thing to do, then came the wisdom from the girl who rode the short bus.  She said, I have no proof that he signed it, he says he didn't, if I accuse him of it without proof, I'd be lying and all my life I have been told not to lie. I was surprisingly stunned, her simple logic and honesty made more sense then all of the attorneys in the room.  It took me a couple of times to explain her reasoning and logic to opposing counsel. A couple of decades of education, does not always trump, the wisdom of pure logic and honesty.  

  

Going Places

I am in the lull between trips.  Time to recharge, plan and plot where to next.  The end of January, first of February was a marathon of airline flights and hotels.  My next venture is in a couple of months and starts with a conference in Austin, Texas.  I hope I have a better experience in Austin this trip then I did the first time.  The first trip was plagued by unreliable service at the hotel, trouble with the electronic lock on the hotel room door that required twice daily trips to the front desk, inedible and overpriced food (except for the hole in the wall BBQ place) and really the only things around were noisy bars full of music that was not to my taste.  From there I go to Orlando for a conference and a few days visit with my family.  Sometime over the summer we need to make a trip to Cleveland to see the brother's in law.  Then later in the summer we are going to Europe for a couple of weeks.  I am flying to Frankfort, via Detroit (Delta Frequent Flyer Miles.)  From there I will take a train to Stuttgart and meet Jay, who will have been in England for the week before for a conference.  We are planning a couple of weeks in southern Germany with brief forays into Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein. We fly back from Munich, with a 25 hour stop over in Iceland.  I am home about a week and I will be off to Portland, Oregon for a few days for a meeting.  That will be out on a Wednesday and back on Saturday or Sunday (likely an overnight return.)  By the time I am done this year I will have been the solar equivalent of half way around the world, I will have been in 12 time zones. Sometime in the fall, we will likely make a driving trip to Florida to see my family again.

Lots of places to go, lots of things to do.

12 on 12

I try to remember to do 12 on 12, 12 images, all captured on the 12th of the month, sort of a glimpse into  a day in the life of me.

An early start this morning, and I had been up for a while when I took this first picture

The cutter on my desk at home, I know where everything is as long as it is in that pile.

Sunrise on the Metro on my way into the city.

A quick glimpse of the office.

Ice tea with my lunch

From looking at the boots, I knew he was headed to the airport, he is not from around here. 

How long should I keep the beard?

Crossing from DC into Virginia 

Some nice days, the only snow left from a week ago is were it was stacked up

Home with days mail, a couple of bills and some watch batteries 

I realized a couple of months ago that I had half a dozen watches that I liked and didn't use because the batteries were dead, I decided to try replacing them myself.  This is the last one. 

A memento from the cruise to Alaska 6 years ago, the entire trip was planned around riding he Yukon and White Pass Railway - it was worth it. 

How Far Is Too Far

News is out this afternoon that BBC has suspended Jeremy Clarkson one of the three presenters on the BBC hit show Top Gear.  Clarkson is outrageous, and frequently hilarious. There are no sacred cows for him, few things are off limits of his sarcastic humor.  His remarks can be offensive women, minorities, gays, politicians, old people, persons with disabilities, persons who drive slow, people who live in the country, people who live in cities, cyclists, motorcyclists, car designers, anyone not British, people who are British, people with red hair, people with no hair, you get the idea - kind of anyone.

Part of the attraction of the show was to see what outrageous thing he would say.  If you don't want to hear the outrage, don't tune in.  He was warned last year that he would be fired if he said anything racist again, ever.  A standard he described as being hard for a saint to meet.  I would be outraged if he was fired for saying the outrageous things that we know he is going to say.

He is under investigation for trying to take a swing at a producer.  No one is saying he hit anyone, but that he tried. Has he crossed the line.

As frustrating as work can be, violence is never the answer.

The show would not be the same without him.  There have been spin off versions of the show in other countries, including one the USA, and it is just not the same.  He is a creative genius. If he did what he is accused of, what is the appropriate action?

My Ex

This was making the rounds on Facebook, and I was not surprised by the words many people used to describe their Ex, gross, insane, devil, tyrant, stupid, and catastrophe among others. 

My one word was "happy."  

I took a stab at marrying a women once.  It was not a good experience for either of us.  We tried for a couple of years to make one another happy, then spent several years occupying parallel space, neither of us having the guts to say this does not work.  And it didn't work.  In the end it was jealousy that ended it, she had a boyfriend and I didn't.  I knew she was seeking happiness elsewhere, because she was not happy with the relationship and I called it quits. At first she was upset, but under it I could see the sense of relief.  I kept assuring her that we both deserved happiness, and we were not finding it together.  She feared change and the loss of security, but she really needed happiness.  

I occasionally see her postings on Facebook.  She appears to be happy.  She is still living with man she was seeing at the end of the marriage.  Good for her, maybe she finally found a companion in life that makes her happy every day.  I did. 

I waited several years after the divorce to come-out to her.  I didn't want her to think that was the reason I called it quits.  I called it quits because neither of us was happy and that was an unhealthy relationship for both of us.  

Breaking up is hard to do, even if you know it is the right thing to do for all involved.. I am still capable of being angry at things that happened, or didn't happen.  I was surprised several years after the split when I walked past the National Archives here in DC and became angry, I was angry at her for not being interested in in going in to see the documents that are the foundation of our country, she wanted to go back the hotel and watch TV. Odd, what hidden triggers lie beneath the surface of our brains.  Looking at it through the lens of happiness, she was not happy with my sightseeing style and I was not happy with hers, we were really not happy with one another. We all deserve happiness. 

I hope she finds the same kind of happiness that I have in life.  

Buckets

That is a metro bridge, a bridge that subway trains run across. While significant parts of the DC subway system are underground, parts of the system are above ground.  It is easy to tell the above ground sections from the below ground sections, if the section is sometimes in daylight, it is above ground. The underground sections lack daylight. Believe it or not a train operator explained that to a train full of Friday afternoon commuters recently.   This bridge is little used, it is a bypass to allow trains to change lines.  So, what are the buckets doing on the bridge?  It is a strange place for buckets.  It is someplace where few people will walk, meaning it is unlikely that anyone will kick the bucket there.

I am here, in  part because of subways.  No my parent's didn't meet on a subway train, I wasn't conceived on a subway train (far to exciting for my parents.) My great grandfather on my paternal grandmother's side, was a tunnel digger.  An English coal miner, who moved to North America to dig underground tunnels, including subway tunnels.  If he hadn't come to this country to dig tunnels, my grandmother would have grown up in west London, married a local bloke, and my father wouldn't have existed.  Hence I wouldn't be writing this.

When I was growing up, my father use to say, "never run after a streetcar or a woman."  It took me a long time to understand why my mother was upset when he said that.  She is wound kind of tight, so it never took much to set my mother off.  My father grew up in the burbs of Detroit, when Detroit had streetcars,  For years I though that she was upset by references to Detroit's lost streetcars (thank you GM - GM struck a deal to remove the tracks and repave the streets if Detroit would replace steet cars with modern buses.) Eventually I connected the dots, if the next street car is just the same, so is the next woman, maybe mom was not one-in-a-million.  Streetcars may be fungible, but life partners are not.  They are one-in-a-million.  My parents are coming up on 67 years, no one has kicked the bucket, maybe one was worth chasing after. I know I have found a sweet bear who was worth chasing and being chased by.

Typical Metro Weekend Service

Service Status

	Red Line		Red Line: On Sat & Sun 9a-9p, add'l trains provide service every 10 min btwn Friendship Heights & Silver Spring. Red Line: Trains run every 16 min btwn Shady Grove and Glenmont due to rebuilding through closing Sunday. Check schedules at wmata.com. Alert
	Orange Line		Orange/Silver/Blue Line: Expect delays in both directions due to a switch problem outside Stadium-Armory.Delay
	Silver Line		Orange/Silver/Blue Line: Expect delays in both directions due to a switch problem outside Stadium-Armory.Delay
	Blue Line		Orange/Silver/Blue Line: Expect delays in both directions due to a switch problem outside Stadium-Armory.Delay
	Yellow Line		Green/Yellow Line: Trains run every 15 min due to rebuilding through closing Sunday. Check schedules at wmata.com.Alert
	Green Line		Green/Yellow Line: Trains run every 15 min due to rebuilding through closing Sunday. Check schedules at wmata.com.Alert

Not a single line is working properly today

Customer Service as it Should Be

About five year's ago I needed to new bag to carry to the office.  I decided against the DC standard of a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist,  (I saw a guy on the metro one morning with one of these - they really do exist.) I seldom carry anything worth stealing.  I decided that a messenger style bag would work best.  I have had a handful of cheap one's over the years. They last a couple of years, and then split a seam.  

In looking around I found Tinbuk2, I was impressed by a couple of things.  They have an extraordinary reputation for quality,  starting with proven materials, good design and good craftsmanship.  If you order a custom made bag they are made in San Francisco.  If you buy their off the shelf designs (about 1/3 less expensive then custom), the bags are made in carefully selected factories in Asia that have agreed to a high ethical standard.  I liked this, it is not often that we get to consider the quality of life and working conditions of the people who make the consumer goods we buy.  It helped that Tinbuk2 was the fashion statement of the year when I ordered my bag.  

It has fared well.  I have traveled with it far and wide, and overall the bag is in good condition.  But - the buckle snaps started to break.  The first one went a year or so, first losing one side, then the other.  Then a few days ago the other one broke.  I checked with the shoe repair guy in my office building and he said he could install new buckles for $20 each, but he didn't have the parts and couldn't get ones to match.  It is an expensive bag and I would pay to have it repaired. 

I went to the manufacturers website to see if I could order matching parts.  I noticed the "lifetime limited warranty."  I read a little farther and it suggested emailing them a picture of the failure.  I emailed a couple of pictures, saying if I could buy the replacements I'd pay the shoe repair guy to put them on.  Within a few minutes I received and automated confirmation that they had received my email and someone would be back to me within two working days.  An hour later I received an email from a very cool dude.  He described it as hating to see a "soldier down" and saying that they would send out replacements right away.  Attached were instructions on how to change the parts on your own.  Come to find can take them apart by cutting the plastic not the strap, and once the old buckle is cut loose, the replacement will go on without tools.  The end of the closure strap does not have to be undone and re-sown.  I can change it myself (and save $40.)  

What wonderful customer service.  These are not cheap bags, and it so nice that they stand behind what their product.  When I need another bag, I will pay the premium and buy another Tinbuk2. 

Slow Down

Jay has a collection of pictures of my backside walking away.  He claims that it is not because he has fetish for my backside, but that I have always been in a hurry.  I am a man on a mission, with a singular focus and that is always ahead. Apparently this is nothing new, this picture was taken almost 25-years ago in London by my now long distant ex.  That is the Queen's Horse Guard coming at me, as I recall my ex frightened the horses and was nearly trampled - there are many reasons that few pictures of said person exist.

Over the past few years my worn out knees have slowed me down, at times quite dramatically.  Jay can finally keep up.  But, I still end up walking away.  While some linger to examine the world and smell the roses, others thunder onto the next great adventure. Oh well, gota run!

Best Wishes on A Milestone Day

Congratulations to fellow blogger John Gray And Professor Chris on their Marriage today in Trelawnyd, North Wales. I share their joy, and the joy of a society where happy and committed same sex couples can finally marry and receive the same protections and recognition for their marriage as opposite sex couples. To quote a co-worker of John's, "it's about bloody time."

John and Chris you are pioneers on the frontier of equal treatment.  I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness.  Relax and enjoy the day as you make history.

I wish I could be there today.

John keeps us all entertained with accounts of his life, and the lives of all the creatures great and small that he cares for on a daily basis.  http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/

TBT - London May 1990

In the spring of 1990, I was riding a wave of success. I was well paid, working insane hours for a self described lunatic.   My Grandmother was born in London and we had -had a couple of visits from distant family in England, so going to London was the wild hair that I decided on one morning in a long - over air conditioned staff meeting in Orlando.  I booked an air and hotel package through British Airways.  Our flight from Orlando to London was delayed from 11:00 PM to 5 AM by a mechanical breakdown. Being a typical American who had never traveled outside of North America, I rented a car and drove into London. I have driven around the circle in front of Buckingham Palace.  No flag is flying, the other Queen must have been out of town that day.

It was a good trip, I am so glad I went.  It broadened my horizons, and helped me to understand the wonders of travel.  It was the first of many trips, and a few left to go.

National Read Aloud Day March 4th, 2015

The first Wednesday in March is National Read Aloud Day. Some texts are written to be read aloud. Sometimes when I am stumped by a particularly difficult passage, I will close the office door and reread it aloud. Sometimes hearing and reading will help me decipher meaning. Reading is such a fundamental skill, and reading aloud helps to develop that skill, yet past childhood we do little reading aloud.  It is a practice we might all benefit from continuing to do.  

I decided to read and record a a passage from one of my favorite books. It only took me a moment to know what I wanted to read, it is a passage from Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  Walden was an assigned reading in High School, I believe it was assigned by Jack McCoy, who is now retired and I hear from regularly on Facebook.  I started into the book and couldn't put it down.  I reread parts of it in College. It is one of the few books that I have re-read many times.  The selection is from the section of the book on "why I went to live in the woods."  It has great meaning.  I am past the stage of wanting to go live in the woods, but the idea of living simply and pulling  great joy out of life, while being a sculpture of our happiness continues to ring true for me.  

What do We Take for Granted

Being born and raised in a western developed country I take many things for granted.  I expect that the lights will come on when I flip the switch, that when I dial a phone the call will go through.  We get upset and frustrated when our WiFi networks lets us down, or we can't get a cell phone signal. But in many places in the world the things we take for granted, are not readily available.

A staggering 750-million people around the world lack access to readily available drinking water on a daily basis.  Most of us could survive for a couple of weeks without food, but a only about three days without water.  Unclean drinking water is a leading cause of disease and death in the developing world.  It is estimated that women in the developing world spend 200-million hours every day, walking to bring clean drinking water back to their families.  That is 200-million hours that can't be spent as caregivers, growing or gathering food, education, and trying to help their families rise out of poverty.

Stella Artois, not my favorite beer, not that I am a big beer drinker, has partnered with Water.org, to fund five years of drinking water for 20,000 people.  They will donate $6.25 for every glass sold.  The glasses cost a little more then one's not tied to the donation, $12 (US) on Amazon, if you are an Amazon Primer member the glass ships for free.   http://www.buyaladyadrink.com/   It is a little thing, but five years of access to reliable drinking water could make a big difference in the life of a family that does not take drinking water for granted.

Airport Terminals

Airport terminals can be nice or dreadful.  The modern tendency is to make them utilitarian, cheap to build, easy to maintain and dreadful to spend any time in.  Frequently they are paid for with public funding (your tax dollars at work) and no one wants to see tax dollars wasted.  Prior to the changes in airport security airport terminals where developing as shopping and entertainment venues.  One of the first Brew-Pubs in Orlando was in the airport terminal at Orlando International Airport.  But with enhanced security only ticketed passengers can get through security, and air travelers are afraid to shop outside of security for fear of either getting stuck in a slow line or buying something and having a hard time getting it through security.  Security didn't kill airport shopping, but it changed the economics, of it.  What was once seen as promising source of revenue to build nicer terminals, once again seen as a travel service.

Parts of the Honolulu terminal, like this garden that is inside security are  nice, parts of it are very not nice.  The same seating as 200 other airports, arranged around the same boarding areas at nearly every airport in the world. it just as easily have been Phoenix, or Atlanta, or Newark.  But those airports don't have a tropic garden between the concourse and the terminal.

But there was the open air terminal on Maui, very-very different.  Probably not fun in a topical storm.  Someone described it as the Tiki huts, it looked more like something designed by Disney, then Stalin.

National Reading Aloud Day Wednesday March 4th

Face that audience and let them hear your voice loud and clear

Wednesday is National Reading Aloud Day
Let's try a fun challenge, pull your favorite passage and record yourself reading it and post the recording on your Blog on Wednesday.  You can record a short video clip on most smart phones, or simple digital camera. Don't worry about the video or audio quality, but show the world that reading aloud is important and as adults we are not afraid to do so.

http://www.litworld.org/wrad/
http://www.litworld.org/wrad/

Quality as Promised

About 30 years ago, I was occupying parallel space with a klutz.  A glass was broken every week.  The Williams Sonoma catalog arrived and had a description of Picardie Glass Tumblers, made by Duralex in France. This was back when Williams Sonoma was only a handful of stores and in most of the country they were only a catalog.  The fact that they were made in France piqued by interest, I have long had a soft spot for France.  

The catalog description described them as "nearly indestructible."   I ordered a two dozen and figured if I was lucky they might last a year.  Well they are as described, I still have nearly all of them.  It is possible to break them, but not very easy.  I recently shattered one, I took it out of a hot dishwasher - filled it with ice cold water and heard a distinct click, almost in slow motion it disintegrated in front of me.  

It is surprising to find something that is as good or even better then described. I like the simple classic shape, and the durability has far exceeded my expectations.  I now have them in four sizes.  http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/picardie-glass-tumbler/?pkey=cbar-glassware-casual%7C%7C4293865763&cm_src=bar-glassware-casual||FN-Brand-_-FN-Duralex-_--_-