Music Monday: Train Songs City of New Orleans, Arlo Guthrie

I love train travel.  The gentle pace, seeing the landscape, the back yards, and fields.  

The Sunday Five : Home

 1: How many homes have you lived in? 

2: Have you ever lived in a house with a basement? 

3: Have you ever built a new home? 

4: Does your home have more than one floor? 

5: Would you move into the red house for the summer? 

My Answers:

1: How many homes have you lived in? 11 

2: Have you ever lived in a house with a basement? No

3: Have you ever built a new home? 2 for myself, 1 as a rental, and I lost track of how many for others. 

4: Does your home have more than one floor? I am in a highrise, but we are all on one floor. 

5: Would you move into the red house for the summer? In a heartbeat. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Change and the Office

Most people hate change, they resist it, they resent it, they want it to go away, they yearn for the "good old days." I have been chasized over the years for suggesting that people need to adjust to the new normal.  But we need to.  

My office is looking at options.  I lead one department of 5 people in an office with a couple of dozen departments and 250 desks.  After paying for empty space for 25 months, we have started to return to the office.  People were asked how many days a week they wanted to be in the office, and how many days they wished to work remotely.  The average in office is two days a week.  Only a handful of people have elected to be in 4 or 5 days a week.  (We have a core of 4 people who cover the front desk, mail, and operations who have to be in 4 days a week - they worked through the pandemic.) Fridays are a ghost town, typically less than 10% of the staff are in. 

In a managers meeting recently we were asked how many people wanted to return to the office full time, and not one hand in the meeting went up.  This was followed by a request for a careful analysis of how much office space we need to meet the new normal of office use.  

In my little department we are paying for 20 desk days per week, (we have fewer desks than people, one of my staffers was hired as a full time remote) and we are using 9 desk days per week.  Simple math - we are paying for more than twice as much office space as we are using.    

Efficiency requires a major change.  Sharing desks, sharing offices.  One model is my department pays for and uses five desks on Monday and Tuesday, another department pays for them and uses them on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday - we both pay for and anyone who wants to use them probably can, 90% of our office space is empty on Friday, if you want the big corner office with the sofas, it is probably empty on Friday. Please don't raid the bar.  

When I think about it, my office is wherever my office laptop computer is. Our current phone system allows me to forward my extension to any phone on the system, we are buying a new phone system that will tie our phones to our laptops.  Eliminating that box on the desk we think of as a phone.  I am looking forward to hearing the screams when the desk phones are removed later this year.  

I have been working in offices since 1979.  Traditional offices and desks, my office is filled with my stuff.  So this will require a change.  Working cleaner, making the personal stuff more portable. (I have a neat scales of justice clock in my office I will need to find a new home for.) 

I am very open to the change.  My colleagues are a little mixed, mostly a fear of change, a loss of identity in their space.  There are a couple of departments that are massively opposed. They are not saying they want to be in 5 days a week, but they don't want to desk share, they want "THEIR DESK" to be empty when they are not there. 

My desk, my 106 sq. ft. office (a little less than 10 sq. metres) costs us about $30,000 per year for rent, utilities, common space, and cleaning. And I am using half of that. Multiply that by five staff people, and we are spending a lot of money, on space we are not using and have no intent of using.  

Embrace the change.  It is going happen.  
 

Fabulous Friday - Kites

Growing up on the farm, we had acres of fields to fly kites in.  I remember when Green Giant canned veggies offered a giant kite, I had a couple of those they were about 5 feet tall, made of plastic and easy to fly.  Strangely it is illegal to fly kites on the national Mall in Washington DC.  The law is suspended one weekend a year for an annual kite festival, but the rest of the year the park police will fine you and seize your kite.  

I saw these over at the MGM resort at National Harbor in Maryland (just across the river from home) and thought Fabulous Friday.  What great colors, even if these would never fly. 

Thursday Ramble : What have I been up to

A new supermarket opened near us in May.  A Wegmans.  I had been in a couple of their suburban stores, they have a cult following, and found them interesting, but not worth traveling 10 miles out of my way for.  The new one is a mile from home as the Eagle flies.  I have been a couple of times.  They have a lot of specialty items, not things you would buy every week, but things I might want for a special occasion.  A nice cheese department, but no beaver cheese.

Work remains busy - it always will be - after I retire I will be able to write about what I do.  I did have a swoon moment recently when an NPR reporter registered for a program I was producing (National Public Radio.) If I am quoted by NPR, I can die knowing my work was noticed by people who think.   

The USA is lifting the requirement of a negative Covid test to board a plane for the United States.  One of my colleagues was in Scotland for a conference, boarding a plane for the return flight about 12 hours before the change took place.  Oh well.  The pre-departure tests in Iceland cost me $53 each.  If this change sticks, maybe I will start to think about more adventure.  Spain and Portugal are high on my list of need to sees.

Google cloud stores a backup of my photo archive (I use a redundant system with two clouds and two physical drives.)  A couple of weeks ago there was an message that their computer had put together a draft book of photos from my recent trip, and if I wanted I could edit, and even order a printed version.  It was good, I think I only made one change and I ordered a printed copy.  A couple of days later there was a message that it had shipped.  It was handed over to FedEx and took 8 days to travel here from North Carolina.  If there was an easy way to comment to them I would say, "If they had handed it to a drunk monkey riding a bicycle, it would have gotten here faster." I hate FedEx.  

When we returned home I ordered a high quality printed book from Zuno of the Iceland highlights. I have printed a couple of photo album books with them, they do really high quality work. What their website didn't say when I ordered it was that their printing is done in China, and China shut down the city the printing facility is in for 2-months. It had been closed for over a month when I placed the order and there was no clear communication that the order would be delayed indefinitely.  They processed payment promptly. I am still waiting. 

   

The Way We Were Wednesday : Tin Can Tourists

My mother's parents were some of the original trailer tourists, or they were sometimes called tin can tourists.  They bought some of the earliest travel trailers. This photo was taken in the 1940's, that was not their first travel trailer.  I think my grandfather would have been happy camping in a tent, but my grandmother wanted a bed, and a kitchen - tiny and basic as they could be.  

My mother finished high school during World War II, and around that time, her parents shuttered the farm one winter and spent a couple of months touring the US, they went to California, as far south as Mexico (the only time my mother was ever in Mexico.) That experience shaped my mother's life.  She understood the diversity and grandeur of the people and landscape. She had a respect for immigrants based on people she met who were oh so different from the people she was surrounded by as a child.  She stood on the corner of Hollywood and Vine hoping to be discovered.  

 

Travel Tuesday : Firsts

Dr Spo, the sweetie, posted over the weekend about last times. The last time we see someone, visit someplace, see something, experience something. Last time happen, they are a part of life.  In thinking about his post, and writing a comment, I reflected on some the last times in my life.  I have had three major geographic moves as an adult, and let me assure you can return but you can't go back.  The place will have changed.  I have buried my share of family.  People I saw and spoke with for the last time, sometimes knowing it was likely to be the last time, sometimes not.  It is part of life.  

I also got to thinking about first times that I have to look forward to.  

I look forward to the first day, week, and month, when my time is shaped by my whims and not by the demands of my work, and the need to earn a living.  

I look forward to turning 65 and Medicare kicking in, for the first time in my adult life not being obligated to work or pay for health insurance.  I have been uninsured a couple of times as an adult - it is terrifying.  I had a year with nearly $400,000 in medical bills - not having to jump through hoops for health insurance will be wonderful. 

I look forward to the first Social Security and Pension checks. I have been filing tax returns for 50 years, paying into Social Security for that long.  I am vested in an old fashioned pension, it is a tiny one, $518 a month for life, but I earned that with several years of 50 and 60 hour weeks in public interest work.  

I look forward to being able to plan a trip away from home - really away from the office,  that is longer than 13 days.  I have an administrative duty that I have to do every two weeks, that is nearly impossible to delegate.  One of my fantasies is to rent an apartment in a foreign city and live like a local for a month.  We are getting close. 

I look forward to having dinner with Mitchell and San Geraldo in Spain for the first time, to meeting Sharon in Phoenix while visiting Spo and Someone again, I look forward to seeing the Canadian Maritimes for the first time and meeting Lawrence.  I look forward to having time to organize a gathering of bloggers, and somehow encouraging many to fly in and enjoy.  It has been done, it is time to do it again.   

I look forward to the first time traveling long distance by train, in a private compartment with the backyards of America passing by my window.   

I look forward to having time to cross the Atlantic on an ocean liner. 

Yes there will be losses and changes along the way, but for every last time, there is a first time.  I look forward to those.  

YouTube Monday : The Queen and a Sweet Bear

I LOVE this video, the slightly bumbling bear, the tolerance of the Queen, the fun secrets of the little black handbag, the beat near the end.  One of them kinda reminds me of someone.  

The Sunday Five: This Week and Beyond?

1: What did you do this week just for fun? 

2: What did you do this week to improve your mind? 

3: What brought you great pleasure this week? 

4: What was the best thing you ate this week? 

5: What are you most looking forward to this summer? 

My answers: 

1: What did you do this week just for fun?  Caught up on my YouTube favorites

2: What did you do this week to improve your mind? Read, thought, wrote.

3: What brought you great pleasure this week? Surprising a friend with a gift. 

4: What was the best thing you ate this week? A home made chicken soup. 

5: What are you most looking forward to this summer?  Floating in the pool. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Happy LGBTQ+ Pride Month

I am proud of who I am, every day, of every month, of every year.  I try to set a good example, to treat others with care and respect. I try to be kind to the earth. 

A part of who I am is being a gay man, a man with a husband.  A variation from the usual.  

My journey has been a circutitus one.  In the early years I experienced a lot of fear, self loathing, denial.  I have an ex-wife.  I tried to make a choice, and being gay is not a choice, it is a part of my core being, not something I can change, or something I would want to change. It has not always been easy, I have lost jobs, friends, alienated family members who think being gay is wrong, or is something I could change.  

There have also been a lot of positives, loving family, friends, the love of my life.  J and I are coming up on 30 years together this fall, and we still make one another happy, still make one another smile, still find interesting things to talk about and adventures to share.  

I try to frame my understanding of the experience of others, through the lens of my experience.  I know what it feels like to be an outsider, to be an other. My experience is based on my life, but I know that others have a similar experience of being the other, the different, the outsider.  Just as I have wished for open doors and open arms, I try to open my doors and arms to others who are perceived as "different." 

Deep down underneath it all, what we really want is security and happiness.  

We are not much for crowds, so we will avoid the parades, and celebrate in our own way.  

Be Extra Proud of Who You Are This Month! 

Fabulous Friday : Goodies

Don't these look wonderful?  Delightful to look at. Wonderful to try.  The world needs more good bakeries.  In the US small independent bakeries had become rare. The work is very labor intensive, the ingredients, if you are using the best can be expensive or simply hard to find. Because we like fresh baked goods early in the day, the bakers often work in the dark of night. The market is dominated by factory produced products, that are inherently cheaper.  Mass produced - full of preservatives.  Most restaurant baked goods, are really frozen from a handful of mega factories.  Slowly the independent local bakeries are coming back.  Celebrate them, by spending money, enjoying the good stuff.  
 

Thursday Ramble: I Always Seem to be Busy

I had an email a few days ago asking me to speak at the opening keynote plenary at a national conference last Monday.  The scheduled speaker was sick, and it was only 10-15 minutes. They asked if I could come up with something and fill in.  I agreed, and set to work trying to figure out what to say.  15 minutes is harder to prepare for than an hour.  Edit, edit, edit.  I mentioned this to one of my staff attorneys, and she said, "they asked her, but she was going to be out of town." (She is speaking at a conference in Scotland this week.) So apparently I was at best their third choice.  

My recently retired boss had all kinds of committee and commission assignments.  He arranged for me to replace him on a few of them.  Some are really good, some are an excuse for someone to pay travel expenses for meetings out of town (that I am hoping resume before I retire - this week was here in town.) So Wednesday was spent in a room full of lawyers on an issue I know a little bit about. A couple of dear friends are on the commission, it was nice to see people face to face.  

I realized last weekend I had not taken any photos since returning from Iceland. Time to grab the camera and go for a couple of long walks.  I probably have a few cell phone snaps, but I need to work with the real camera often.  Last year I bought several lenses for the Nikons.  A couple of specialty items, a super fast prime lens, a fisheye lens, a super telephoto, and a really nice 18-200mm lens.  That one has become my new go to standard lens.  The range is super wide angle to moderate telephoto.  It is hand holdable (the super telephoto requires a tripod and lots of fiddling.) The 18-200 is the only lens I took to Iceland. I need to stay busy with the camera.  

I am back in the office at least two days per week.  I was riding the subway in one morning, and realizing how much I enjoy commuting by subway train.  Sitting there reading, listening to the sound of the train moving along, looking up as we pass the new station that will open this fall, as we pass the airport, and when we cross the river into the District.  Two years of not doing that, need to be made up for.  When I am work at home, I work more hours.  And the work expands to fill the time available.  It always has, it always will. The move to director brought 10% more money, and 20-30% more work.  I am still learning to delegate work to others.  

Lots to do, lots to keep me busy,  

The Way We Were Wednesday : Chicago 2008

 Ah, 2008, it was a busy year.  This was taken in August in Chicago at a national conference on abuse of adults (we are opposed to it.) In early September we took a cruise to Alaska, my first cruise.  Later that fall I did a speaking tour in Kentucky, and in the middle of that got a call for a job interview in Washington DC.  The interview was on Halloween, we voted for President a few days later, the job offer came a couple of week later.  At Thanksgiving we drove to DC and leased an apartment, then from there to Florida, took a cruise to the Bahamas, spent the holiday with my family.  In early December I flew to DC for a conference, and the middle of the month I started the new job in DC.  And that was just the last 6 months of the year.  The Obamas moved into a hotel a block from my office window a week after I started the job, it was an exciting time to be in DC. 

Travel Tuesday - Eating and Drinking Local

 Old Iceland had the most amazing fresh local fish.  I had the fish soup, followed by fresh grilled salmon, and a local Vitking beer.  A couple of nights later we went to Harry's bar just down the street.  I ordered a deep  fried scallop first course, then grilled lamb tenderloin with roasted vegetables, and a chocolate cake for dessert. Oh My That was good.  How good was it, we went back the next night so we could have it again.  

I had never seen lamb tenderloin on a menu or in a meat counter in the USA before.  The server said there is so little of it, that it is seldom exported from Iceland.  A new supermarket was opening near us, a Wegmans.  I commented to Jay that if they had lamb tenderloin I they would probably become my new go to grocery store.  They did and it was amazing.  

I was listening to someone complaining about the food in Iceland, they don't like fish or lamb, and beef is expensive.  I have to say, get over it and taste the local.  Most people who don't like fish had one encounter with something that was overly breaded, deep fried and not carefully filleted resulting in bones.  Good fish is fresh, properly prepared it is not littered with bones.  Most people who don't like lamb have never had good lamb well prepared.  First most lamb sold in the United States is really mutton.  Older is stronger.  It can be prepared to be very pleasant, but that is not grilled or roasted, it needs to be slow cooked for hours to chase away that muttony flavor.  I know lambs are cute, so a piglets and cows - I am an omnivore I will eat anything that does not eat me first.  

Oh my the local food was good. Fresh, artfully prepared.  I am so glad I will try anything.  Though we did skip the grilled Puffin and Whale pepper steak.  

YouTube Monday: The Vicar of Dibley

Classic British Comedy to start the week.

Sunday Five: Life on Other Planets

1: Do you think there is life on other planets? 

2: Why haven't we found life on other planets? 

3: Do you think humans can live on other planets? 

4: Would you go to another planet if the trip was comfortable and only took three hours? 

5: What would life from other planets think of life on earth? 

My Answers: 

1: Do you think there is life on other planets? Yes

2: Why haven't we found life on other planets? Because we only look through an earth bound lens. 

3: Do you think humans can live on other planets? Someplace, probably. 

4: Would you go to another planet if the trip was comfortable and only took three hours? Three hours, easier than going to Dallas. 

5: What would life from other planets think of life on earth? Where did they go wrong. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Harpa

 Harpa is the concert hall, convention center on the waterfront in Iceland.  It is all glass on the outside, and all amazing on the inside.  The real estate brokers of Iceland were holding a meeting when I was there, I still have a real estate brokers license, haven't used it in nearly 30 years.  Maybe I should have crashed their party, just for fun. 

Some see Harpa as a symbol of the collapse of the Iceland economy in the 2008-2009. Apparently it was built during the dot.com boom years, and the bill came due just as the world economy crashed. Iceland was especially hard hit, the banks had become a major financier of the north Atlantic lobster trade, and discovered that lobster does not make very good collateral when no one is buying it.  It is not like you can hold onto it, lease it out for five years until the market recovers (like office and apartment buildings, or ships and planes.) 

Iceland did end up with a world class spectacular landmark space.  One of a couple in Reykjavik, when you see this or the church I featured recently, you just know where in the world it is.  And a place for spectacular performance.  You can have great music anyplace, but a stage like this makes it all the more grand. 

A walk from the hotel, down to the waterfront, and along the waterfront to this was on my dream list when I booked the trip.  J was exhausted by the painful overnight flight wedged into a 737 Max, and elected to rest while I went out to explore.  I was tired, but wanted to do this, and I am so glad I did. A couple of hours of walking, taking photos and absorbing the place.  

Weird Friday : Been There Seen That

Shortly before we left for Iceland a dear friend emailed with a short list of things to see or do.  On the list was a visit to a unique museum.  Not wanting to get flagged as an adult post, I will let you read the sign, and the images are carefully selected.  

This was a private collection.  A sign showed a photo of it in the collectors living room. Apparently his spouse said "either the collection moves or I do" and the collection was moved into a public space. It is mostly certain body parts floating in preserving liquids, some taxidermy, some photos or illustrations. A few things I have seen before, a few I had not. The museum is a few minutes walk from the concert hall on the waterfront.  It is in the basement below a high end clothing store.  There is a modest admission fee (like $5 or something.) There is a cute gift shop, filled with novelties.  I don't have anyplace to wear most of the T-shirts. 

The shades on the light fixtures are made from the tanned scrotums of large farm animals. And sadly I had already bought a new light fixture for the kitchen remodel. 

It is unique, it is one of a kind, I am glad I went to see it, I can say "been there seen that."  Should you include it on your tour, up to you, but other than Congress or an NRA meeting, where can you see so many dicks in one place?  

Thursday Ramble : Stickers

When we travel, I need to remember to put a couple of stickers in my wallet.  In Dublin the hotel had a sticker wall, and I had cleaned out my card case just before we left taking out two "I Voted" stickers with American flags on them.  In Reykjavik any metal box that was on the street, post boxes, electrical junction boxes were plastered with stickers.  And once again I had nothing the leave behind to say "I have have been here." Oh well, leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs and memories (oh and leave money behind, tourism is one of the top industries in Iceland.) 

I recently went through my calendar and blocked a week off, every three or four months.  I accrue about six weeks of paid time off each year and I have reached the use it or lose it point.  I work too hard to earn it, to forfeit it.  I had tried taking three day weekends to use up the days, but it is not the same as setting the email to gone away and not working for a week.  Getting away did me a world of good, I need that message to stick in my brain.  

American politics, what an ugly dysfunctional mess.  Mass murder goes unchecked, police standby and wait for the mayhem to end to protect their lives, so much for the good guy with a gun theory of safety. Schools shouldn't need to be fortresses, angry young men shouldn't have access to weapons of mass destruction.  The NRA is a terrorist organization. Some rights are protected, others trounced.  I admire those who had the strength to move.  I am probably stuck here for the duration.  (Sorry I usually avoid politics, but some things just stick in my brain.) 

June will be busy month in the office, probably most months will be.  The work will always expand to fill the time available, at times it will overwhelm the time that is available. I need to remember to make time for myself. 

Well that is kind of random collection of what is sticking in my brain at the moment.  It will all be okay, in the long run we will all be fine.  

The Way We Were Wednesday : The First Visit

Not exactly ancient history, but back in 2015 we visited Iceland for the first time.  2015 was a complicated year.  It started out with me working for a week in Hawaii in early February, then having my spine repaired in May, Going to Chicago for a conference in early August, and then going to Germany later in August, with the stop over in Iceland on the way back.  Jay had a conference at Oxford, so he flew out and spoke at the conference.  Then I flew to Frankfurt Germany, spent the night, then took the train to Stuttgart. He flew to Stuttgart and we met up there. We spent a couple of nights in Stuttgart, then picked up a car at the Mercedes factory, drove it in Germany, and Austria (and France for two minutes,  I missed a turn) dropped it off in Munich and flew home on IcelandAir with a 26-hour stopover in Iceland.  We rented a car, stayed in a nice suburban hotel near Reykjavik,  did a little driving around, and flew home, thinking that was amazing we need to go back and spend more time.  And we did. And we still need to go back and spend more time.