The Kingpin of Fracas Hits a Logjam

Quote of the day:
“Washington is largely indifferent to truth. Truth has been reduced to a conflict of press releases and a contest of handlers. Truth is judged not by evidence, but by theatrical performances. Truth is fear, fear of opinion polls, fear of special interests, fear of judging others for fear of being judged, fear of losing power and prestige. Truth has become the acceptance of untruths.”
--Leslie Gelb, “New York Times," October 27, 1991.

Continuing in the realm of mangling, yesterday John pointed out the ever-present new-cue-ler. I’m a bit of a pronunciation snob, and I blame it on my days as a classical-music announcer.

If you’re feeling lonely and want someone to call you, the very best thing you can do is mispronounce Mozart or Wagner on the air. You will hear from the language police. Four or five dozen of them.

Of course, I should talk about the language police. Here I am complaining about nuclear and realtor. And I’m not done.

The other day I mentioned a San Diego condo complex that was called “La Boheme.” Once I was auditioning an announcer for a classical-music program and he pronounced it “La Bo-hee-mee.” It was very hard not to grin.

On a related topic, when was the last time you used any of the following words in everyday conversation: “fracas,” “woes,” “logjam” or “kingpin”?

My guess is somewhere between never and 1981. And if you used “kingpin” in 1981, you were probably bowling at the time.

Even though we never use these words, I challenge you to get through a newspaper or newscast without hearing or reading at least one of them. They are examples of overused, cliched journalistic jargon.

I’ve touched on this before, and have also ranted at length about the three S’s and two P’s. In news coverage almost every up trend is called “soaring,” “skyrocketing,” or “spiking.” And downtrends are called “plummeting” or “plunging.”

If your child goes from a B to an A in a class, do you say his grade is “skyrocketing”? Or, if it goes from A to B, is it “plummeting”? Yet economic trends of similar magnitude are routinely labeled with these words.

If excess “quotation marks” bug you, there’s a fun blog at quotation-marks.blogspot.com.

Language Mangling

Quote of the day:
"I'll try to terrify you first, and if that doesn't work, I'll try to horrify you, and if I can't make it there, I'll try to gross you out. I'm not proud."
--Stephen King

It’s been awhile since I’ve vented about some peeves du pet. Today is a good time.

Why is it that most realtors on the real-estate TV shows can’t pronounce “realtor”? Get a clue, guys. It’s two syllables, not three. Real-tor. Not real-i-tor.

Real-i-ly.

And furthermore, what’s all this I hear about “stepping foot”? I’ve heard this over and over again. Just the other day there was this: “Before you step foot into your flip, you must have a budget.”

Step on your own damn feet. As for me, I’m going to set foot in our TV room and turn the sound down when I hear you come on. And I will continue to set foot in the interesting places of my life. Just like normal people.

And don’t get me started on reticence and reluctance.

Funky Winkerbean

Quote of the day:
"The trouble with super heroes is what to do between phone booths."
--Ken Kesey

Have you been reading “Funky Winkerbean”? If you have, you probably know why I ask that question.

Funky’s wife Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Now she is in the final stage. Hospice is visiting, and her bed is in their first-floor living room.

So many, many people have said to me that they go to the movies/watch TV/read the funnies to be entertained, not to be challenged or depressed. Often the reason given is something along the lines of “I work hard, and when I go to the movies/watch TV/read the funnies about the last thing I want is to see a downer. I don’t even want to think.”

I’m all for rest and recreation. We really don’t get enough of it. With traffic, work and family worries, becoming one with entertainment inertia can be wildly appealing.

But don’t we rob ourselves of a bit of life when we insist on not thinking or feeling when we encounter movies/TV shows/funnies? We might miss some good stuff.

And Funky Winkerbean is good stuff. The writer, Tom Batiuk, is not trying to be morbid or depressing or funny especially. He is simply trying to depict real, human characters. And the people he brings us are funny, sad, nostalgic and inspiring.

Seeing this strip is a good moment in my day.

The 5000-Year-Old Man

Quote of the day:
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
--Samuel Johnson

What may be the most extraordinary archeological discovery of our lifetimes was announced 16 years ago today.

A 5,300-year-old corpse was found frozen in a glacier in the Alps, between Austria and Italy, the most ancient human being ever found completely intact.

He was between 25 and 35 years old, about five feet, two inches tall. His hair was cut; he had several tattoos.

He wore a fur robe, whipstitched in a mosaic pattern, a woven grass cape, and size 6 shoes.

He carried a copper axe and a fur quiver for his arrows, which had sharp flint points and feathers to make the arrows spin in flight, and several mushrooms strung on leather cord, a mushroom known to fight infections. But the mushrooms didn't do him much good because he had an arrowhead in his back.

He was apparently murdered.

(Thanks to “The Writer’s Almanac” for this history item.)

Power Before Civility

Quote of the day:
“Power is the very essence, the dynamo of life…. It is a world not of angels but of angles, where men speak of moral principles but act on power principles, a world where we are always moral and our enemies are always immoral; a world where ‘reconciliation’ means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it, then we have reconciliation.”
--Saul Alinsky

Quote of the day no. 2:
“Saying it’s ‘dog eat dog’ is an insult to dogs.”
--Unknown

Quote of the day no. 3:
“First, [civility] calls on us to sacrifice for others as we travel through life. And, second, it makes the ride tolerable.”
--Stephen L. Carter

Carter’s quote comes from his 1999 book Civility, which examined both the necessity of civility and its steady decline in the age of individualism.

It’s old news that rudeness is all around us. It has become okay with us, and there’s more of it than ever.

Sometimes it is astonishingly nasty. If you doubt that, tune to any right-wing call-in show. It will be just a matter of time before you hear someone who thinks the righteousness of his opinion justifies condescension, insults and even outright lying.

There are two unfortunate things behind this endemic behavior, which we most-frequently witness in our cars as we drive alone and see drivers react to violations of personal space.

One factor is that we now implicitly assume that we go through life alone. It’s me against the world, and there’s danger out there. Someone’s out to get us, rip us off. And it’s that guy in the Lexus trying to get into my lane.

We don’t think about the primacy of our competitive aloneness. We just live it.

The other factor is we seem to buy into “the ends justify the means” thinking (which is a fallacy). This leads to the assumption that the only thing that matters is our rightness, or our specialness. Nothing and no one else matters, so what happens to them is of little real consequence to us.

That we live this way seems a plain and straightforward truth. We know it’s not right, but we still live this way.

Increasingly.

Why?

What Would Puccini Say?

Quote of the day:
“I’m a Republican, but I have to say he was an effective President.”
--Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, talking about President Clinton on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

North Park is a community of residences and businesses just north of San Diego’s Balboa Park. Housing there is a mix of apartments, condos, modest single-family homes and a few swaths of affluence--including a luxurious compound adjacent to the park where basketball legend Bill Walton lives.

It’s always been pleasantly diverse, with a very noticeable creative element in the population.

During our recent housing boom and condo-building mania, a high-end condo complex was planned and built right in the commercial heart of North Park. Construction is just now being completed.

I’m not sure how sales are going. The real-estate slump may have made it difficult.

The complex has a curious name. It’s called “La Boheme,” just like the Puccini opera. Merrie, who speaks French, reminds me that “La Boheme” means “the bohemian.”

There must be a resident bohemian. Or this complex is being marketed to bohemians who demand granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances.

What are bohemians coming to?

A Very Challenging TV Series

“The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.”
--Ralph Nader

HBO has begun a new series called “Tell Me You Love Me” in its marquee 9 p.m. Sunday slot. It’s a risk. Not just for HBO, but for viewers.

The premise of the show is simple. It follows four couples as they struggle with intimacy.

“Struggling with intimacy” is redundant because intimacy is always a struggle. It’s not necessarily hard to get close to another human being, but to stay close requires constantly being faced with things we don’t like that we see in the other person. Whether and how we can honestly come to terms with these things is the basis for intimacy.

The process of establishing or deepening intimacy is often not pretty. But it is the realest thing we go through in our lives. This is why the 20th century theologian Paul Tillich used intimacy as one of two ways of understanding God. (The other was ultimacy.)

In movies and TV shows, sex is used as an easy surrogate for intimacy. But it is unusual to find a story that focuses on the reality of long-term intimacy.

“Tell Me You Love Me” attempts to put the struggle for intimacy on the screen. In includes sex--some of it fairly graphic, even for HBO. But the sex is just an indicator of what is to come.

Because the subject matter is so difficult, watching can sometimes be an uncomfortable experience. It has been for me.

After a couple of episodes, though, I find it very rewarding indeed. And I find that I care about the characters, as unbelievably aggravating as some of them are.

It’s a very, very fine show. HBO has done it yet again.

A "Conservative Arts" Degree?

Quote of the day:
“Does ‘liberal thinking’ mean being so open minded that your brains have fallen out, to the extent that you no longer know what “right and wrong” mean, and have a tendency to invent Constitutional Rights [sic] that don’t exist”?
--Deidra Trinidad

Let’s talk polarization. You likely think either that this quote is inspired and witty or that it is lame and incomprehensible.

I believe the term “liberal thinking” means that the thinking is politically liberal as much as the term “liberal arts” means that the arts are politically liberal.

I may actually apply a slightly liberal quantity of thinking here. If that’s okay.

This quote came from someone who was frothing at the mouth, or on the verge of it. She is likely someone who thinks the world is getting more chaotic and descending into hell because so many people don’t follow the rules.

She may come from an extreme and hold a strict, literalist view of the Constitution, Bible or the IRS regulations. Well, probably not the last.

As always, most people of any quantity of thinking exist somewhere between the extremes of believing there are no rules and believing there is nothing but rules.

Speaking from the extremes might (MIGHT) be momentarily entertaining. But rarely is it elucidating.

Investing As Life

Quote of the day:
"I go about looking at horses and cattle. They eat grass, make love, work when they have to, bear their young. I am sick with envy of them."
--Sherwood Anderson

One of the first investments I made, some 26 years ago, was in the very successful Twentieth Century Growth mutual fund. Learning the investment philosophy of its founder, James Stowers, had a big effect on me.

Stowers said that to succeed as a stock-market investor you had to be in it. And stay in it. He wrote that the history of the stock market showed that most of the accumulated price increase came during a comparatively few, sometimes dramatic, trading sessions every year. And, despite endless prognostications from analysts, no one ever knew when these days would happen. No one. Ever.

Therefore, in order to capture this movement, he said, you had to be in the market, and stay in. If you attempted to time the market and buy low and sell high you’d wind up being out of the market for many of the “up” days.

If you think about it, this is why so many people make money in real estate. They buy a home and they stay in it. Or they sell one and immediately buy another. This is why they’re in the market for all of the “up” months or years. Because it’s not a liquid market, time is measured in months or years, rather than days or weeks.

All this is an intolerable big yawn to fast-money “I’m-smarter-than-everyone” types who think jumping in and out of investments indicates advanced intellect and superior manhood. They often tout some good results they or someone they know had recently. But how many of these people do you still read about 26 years later?

Note: Twentieth Century has changed its name (to American Century) and expanded its mutual-fund offerings from two to a few dozen. James Stowers retired long ago, a very wealthy man.

As is often the case with investing, this is a great metaphor for life. In order to appreciate life, you need to be “in” it--and stay in it.

Our Best-Known Politician?

Quote of the day:
"We plan, we toil, we suffer — in the hope of what? ... The title deeds of Radio City? ... A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs."
--JB Priestly

How’s this for a little-heralded event:
The second-best-known Republican in the world recently visited Europe. In a speech there, he said that it was time for the United States to recover the international prestige it has always had.

Just in case you don’t know who the second-best-known Republican in the world is, here’s a hint. Officials in Austria helped him celebrate his birthday.

Yes indeed, it’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He may be the BEST known Republican worldwide. When he wears his sunglasses.

Writing Music Without Hearing It

Quote of the day:
“Isn’t it interesting how human knowledge and wisdom seem to peak temporarily at age 16?”
--Tom Magliozzi

If you know anything about Beethoven, you likely know about his deafness. He wrote many of his best-known works without ever hearing them performed.

In the 1994 movie “Immortal Beloved,” Gary Oldman did a wonderful job portraying the moment when Beethoven continues to conduct the orchestra with his eyes closed after the musicians are finished playing. The concertmaster turned him around so he could see the appreciative applause of the audience.

In 1802, when he discovered he was deaf, Beethoven wrote that he was tempted to commit suicide. We can all be grateful that he didn’t.

Instead, he began to blaze a “new artistic path,” going beyond the forms of Mozart and Haydn. With ferocious commitment and tremendous energy, he wrote his ninth sonata for violin and piano.

He called it the “Kreutzer” sonata after a violinist whose playing he admired. As things turned out, Kreutzer didn’t care for the music. He called it “incomprehensible.” He never played it.

Bad call, Kreutzer. This sonata, named after you, was a groundbreaking achievement. And it’s now considered one of the best violin sonatas.

Six Years and Counting

Quote of the day:
“If we judge, we need to prepare to be judged.”
--Preston Creston

At 5:45 this morning in Cambria a small group of people gathered at the Veterans Hall for a minute of silence. Later, American flags were placed along Main Street.

I thought again about where I was when I heard the news. Like most Southern Californians at that early hour, Merrie and I were home. I learned by turning on my computer and going to my Yahoo home page.

On the top shelf of our closet is the “Wall Street Journal” from September 12, 2001. It’s just sitting there--it’s not specially preserved or in a plastic bag or anything. The Journal’s coverage was extraordinary because its editorial offices were adjacent to the World Trade Center.

“September 11th changed everything” has become both a mantra and a justification for political actions. However the statement is used, I’m not sure it’s true.

It might be true if we added the invisible clause “for me” or “for most Americans.” Through naivete or inertia we had come to complacently assume that the world loved us, or at least respected us.

Thus in the days after September 11, 2001 we repeatedly heard the plaintive question “why do they hate us?” As in, “we are so good, how could anyone do this to us?”

Then we had the distancing. The people who did this were evil. They were somewhere else. They were foreign. They used Islam as a justification.

This allowed us to still be good--to still call ourselves the greatest nation. The bad people were “out there” and “they” did this to us for an evil reason.

We learned that, whether we understand it or accept it or not, there are many people in the world who do not like us. And we learned that there are many, many more who do like America but strongly disapprove of our actions. And we learned that not all of these people are “evildoers.”

At least I hope we learned that.

TV: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Quote of the day:
“We’ve only got these times we’re livin’ in.”
--Kate Wolf

I take back everything I said about “Big Brother 8.” It’s a done deal. One of the Donatos will get head of household, and game over. They want it real bad. How annoying. Forget about it. Jeez.

But let’s talk about some excellent television. Some would call that an oxymoron. But I knew oxymoron. i worked with oxymoron. Oxymoron was my friend. And excellent television is no oxymoron.

“Damages” is an FX series that’s been on since August. I gotta hand it to Fox--this is one of the best dramas on TV this year. Glenn Close plays a morally questionable defense attorney. In her unbridled aggression and charm-coated manipulation, she is wonderful.

And there’s much more. The plot of the series involves a single criminal case and all the various people involved in it. In addition, there have been either one or two murders related to the case and trying to piece together what happened and why is quite tantalizing.

Ted Danson plays a rich bigwig who is the target of the lawsuit at the center of the show. This may be his best role. He is totally believable in his graciousness, sinisterness and explosiveness.

There are a few TV character actors, but I did not recognize most of the cast. The acting is uniformly very fine.

The series is nearing its end, but it’s still worth a look--Tuesday nights at 10 on FX. Or watch for it on DVD.

Birds and Birdbrains

Quote of the day:
"In America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it ... and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen."
--Jack Kerouac

Let’s talk birds and “Big Brother.”

There are lots of birds around here, in addition to the large number of acorn woodpeckers. A bunch of wild turkeys slowly crossed the road in front of us today. The jays, as usual, are quite vocal. We’ve seen a bevy of quail right next to the house. And there was a non-acorn woodpecker just down the street.

All of these natural creatures are at our house, while at CBS, some questionable creatures remain confined in the “Big Brother” house. It restored my faith in humanity when Zach nominated both Donatos for eviction.

Dick Donato has to be one of the most unpleasant people ever to appear on television. And his daughter Danielle is a tad on the pouty and whiny side.

Of course, who wouldn’t be, after living in that house for more than two months?

This will be a very interesting week on the show. If you don’t watch it, you are clearly culturally advanced. But you’re missing a lot of fun.

Where is God?

Quote of the day:
"I have had just about all I can take of myself."
--S.N. Behrman

A faithful reader passed along to me a story from the August 31, 2007 “Los Angeles Times” about Christian confession. As it has declined in the Catholic church, it has grown online via sites sponsored by Protestant mega-churches.

For a long time, confession has had a terrible reputation. Why would anyone want to admit something bad they had done? And who in their right mind would do it among other people?

While it has always been a central part of liturgy in mainline churches, many congregations had drifted away from it. The thought was that it made people feel bad, and people wouldn’t come to church if it made them feel bad.

At first look, it seems good that confession has come back in the mostly non-denominational mega-churches. But there is a rub. Actually, there are two rubs.

Nothing is wrong with inviting people to confess anonymously online. It can help them unburden themselves. For some, it may even begin the process of getting needed help. But it is an individual act, done outside of any community the confessor may be part of.

The second rub is that worship in mega-churches is almost always about feeling good and does not include a time for community confession. It’s too much of a downer and it scares people away.

The result of all this is that confession, online or otherwise, becomes just a marketing gimmick that church leaders hope will draw certain people into the community.

One doesn’t confess in a vacuum, just as one doesn’t worship in a vacuum. All of us live our lives not just in a relationship with ourselves, and the same is true for our spiritual lives. We are in this world with other people, and our lives are connected to them.

Nothing is wrong with private, personal prayer, meditation and reflection. In fact, it is a good thing. But it is not the beginning and end of our spiritual lives.

Sometimes I hear people talk as if their relationship with a vague, supernatural god means more than their relationship with the people around them. But I don’t think we can have any kind of real relationship with God outside of our relationship to our loved ones and our community.

That’s why, for confession to be meaningful, it must be done in the context of a community. And it really should always be part of weekly worship. Not as in telling the person next to you a bad thing you have done, but as in saying together that, individually and as a community, we have messed up.

And that we need each other’s help to do better.

Woodpeckers, Not Cardinals

Quote of the day:
“Cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists and consumed...by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.”
--Roland Barthes

This morning we woke up to a woodpecker pecking on the roof. It turns out that we are living among a community of acorn woodpeckers.

They are fairly large black-and-white birds with bright red skullcaps, like the Catholic church hierarchy. Our Sibley guide says acorn woodpeckers are common in oak forests. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing here, because this is a pine forest. But who am I to pick such nits?

There are quite a few of them and they have clearly have an elaborate social structure. Certain birds belong on each tree, and a few are relegated to the nearby phone poll. They must have missed the housing boom.

They visit the gutters of our house for water from the morning dew. They warn each other when a hawk approaches. They gang up on invading jays.

In addition to finding tasty morsels when they peck, they also hide acorns in holes they find and enlarge. And they communicate with a wide vocabulary of squawks, chirrs, peeps and screams.

Clearly they were here first, and we can learn from them.

And We're Off!

Quote of the day:
“I AM NOT OVERREACTING!
--Preston Creston

Yesterday we got the good news that Merrie had been cleared to travel. So off to Cambria we went!

For the drive up, we attempted to operate in the arena of rationality, which is nigh impossible considering Los Angles traffic. We left in the evening and planned to drive through LA at night.

I’m pleased to report that our attempt was successful. I gotta say it was surreal to drive the 405 between LAX and I-10 at full speed. Truly, truly amazing.

Nonetheless, there were quite a few people traveling through Orange County and LA at that late hour. And I keep thinking that it just continues to get worse. This is not pessimism. The population of Southern California continues to grow. And the population of cars grows even faster.

Households own more cars now than 20 years ago. That’s why three-car garages are demanded by so many home buyers.

But we made it to Camarillo in record time. After a night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast, the drive north was relaxing and glorious.

Multi-Tasking, Schmulti-Tasking

Quote of the day:
“We would each like to be Tarzan. At least I would; I admit it."
--Edgar Rice Burroughs

I regularly see the current generation referred to as “different.” One way it is “different,” so it goes, it that it is a “multi-tasking” generation.

I have one word for this timorously trenchant cultural analysis. Bunk.

It is true that younger people are doing many things at once. This is obvious if you’ve watched anyone under 30 use a computer or a cell phone, or play a video game. Many of their brains have been trained from an early age to almost-instinctively use technology to search or explore.

But are they better able to handle multi-tasking than their parents or grandparents? Have they made a significant evolutionary step and become so advanced that they can talk on the phone, listen to music, check their e-mail, and drink Red Bull while driving a 7000-pound Excursion?

Have their brains become so multi-taskingly wired that they can process, absorb and analyze simultaneous streams of data from five or six different sources? No.

From an evolutionary standpoint, human beings have changed not one whit from the days before cars and TV. It is true that we are healthier and living longer. But our essential physiological and neurological makeup is unchanged.

It was a mere 110 years ago that our grandparents or great-grandparents or great-great grandparents were walking or relying on horses for transportation. To get information they relied on neighbors, bought a newspaper, or went to hear a speech in the evening. For entertainment they chatted, played games, read books, went visiting, or occasionally went out.

Multi-tasking has consequences beyond any real or imagined increase in productivity, and certainly beyond any notion that you are living a “full” life.

Most people will eventually discover that multi-tasking not only does not indicate a “full” life, but rather an empty one. The fullness of life is found in going deep and savoring, not in rapidly skimming everything everywhere.

We Are Connected

Today we’re looking a bit to the future as we plan to leave for another jaunt to Cambria, one of earth’s great places. We’re looking forward to living for a little while without dust. And with a kitchen!

It’s possible that the cardiology nurse Merrie is seeing tomorrow will put a kibosh on the trip. If so, we’ll make the best of it. But we really, really, really want to go.

As a minister, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about our connections with each other, and our influence on each other. At first look these seem like straightforward and simple ideas. But they are neither.

Our connections go far beyond anything we regularly think about--even if we stop and think about them. They extend into the past and future, and cross boundaries beyond our awareness.

This poem by Carl Dennis is a terrific meditation on this:

“Candles”

If on your grandmother's birthday you burn a candle

To honor her memory, you might think of burning an extra 

To honor the memory of someone who never met her, 

A man who may have come to the town she lived in 

Looking for work and never found it.

Picture him taking a stroll one morning, 

After a month of grief with the want ads,

To refresh himself in the park before moving on.

Suppose he notices on the gravel path the shards

Of a green glass bottle that your grandmother,

Then still a girl, will be destined to step on

When she wanders barefoot away from her school picnic

If he doesn't stoop down and scoop the mess up

With the want-ad section and carry it to a trash can.

For you to burn a candle for him

You needn't suppose the cut would be a deep one,

Just deep enough to keep her at home

The night of the hay ride when she meets Helen, 

Who is soon to become her dearest friend, 

Whose brother George, thirty years later,

Helps your grandfather with a loan so his shoe store

Doesn't go under in the Great Depression

And his son, your father, is able to stay in school

Where his love of learning is fanned into flames,

A love he labors, later, to kindle in you.

How grateful you are for your father's efforts

Is shown by the candles you've burned for him.

But today, for a change, why not a candle

For the man whose name is unknown to you? 

Take a moment to wonder whether he died at home

With friends and family or alone on the road, 

On the look-out for no one to sit at his bedside

And hold his hand, the very hand

It's time for you to imagine holding.

(From “New and Selected Poems 1974-2004” by Carl Dennis. © Penguin Books, 2007. Reprinted with permission.)


I Like My Air Conditioned

Quote of the day:
"'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
--John Howard Payne (b.1791)

Very hot and humid again today.

Merrie was concerned that she might be having a reaction to one of her new medications, so she called for a doctor’s appointment and I dropped her off at about 10:30. He treated her and made an adjustment in her medication.

The doctor’s office was busy and she wound up spending two hours there while I hung out at Starbucks observing Labor Day latte culture.

Someone was sitting at one of the outdoor tables. As I walked by, I overheard her say into her cell phone that she’s an “outdoor person.” Good for her.

As for me, when it’s 95 degrees with 80% humidity, I’m an “indoor person.” Standing tall and proud. Not sitting and sweating unnecessarily.

When I first moved to San Diego I often heard someone make the following statement: “You don’t need air conditioning here.” This would usually be followed by some explanation involving ocean breezes, dry heat or the clause “it’s only hot for two weeks each year.”

I didn’t think much of this at first. But after I lived here a while, I started to get annoyed when someone said this. Because it’s not true. Read my lips.

One day it dawned on me that this statement needed translation. Once I realized that, I was no longer annoyed. These days I am bemused when someone says it. Especially when he says it with an air of authority.

The statement “You don’t need air conditioning here” can be translated one of three ways: 1) “I don’t need air conditioning here”; 2) “You don’t need air conditioning here, if you don’t mind being hot”; 3) “I don’t need air conditioning here because I don’t mind being hot.”

The last two translations are examples of what I call the “invisible clause phenomenon.” This happens when someone makes a seemingly cogent, short, mantra-like statement the truth of which only comes out when the invisible clause is revealed.

My favorite example goes way back. It is “Question authority.” The invisible clause is “except if it’s me.”

Blazing

Quote of the day:
"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults."
--Molly Ivins

It’s a blazing Saturday morning, and it’s getting hotter. Conditions are unusually tropical for San Diego, which is a desert.

Our poor indoor plants that we moved outside for the remodel are really suffering in the heat. They look how I feel--a little tired, wilted and brown.

We know we’re supposed to be conserving water, but we give our small yard and plants an extra drink. The insects, birds and animals enjoy it.

Sophie is doing amazingly well being cooped up, out of the heat. Maybe she’s just so pleased that Merrie’s home that nothing else matters. Except treats, of course. As a German Shepherd mix, I know my priorities.

She is positively glued to Merrie. There’s no separating them.

Junior, our 11-year-old black-and-white cat, is shedding prodigious amounts of his thick fur. I comb about a pound of it off him during the day.

Rocco, our 4-year-old Tonkinese, spends his usual 2 daily hours prowlin’ and yowlin’, 2 hours socializing with all of us other animals, and 20 hours in deep reclusive hibernation.

Merrie is up for an outing, so we head out for late-afternoon pancakes at IHOP. They’re vacuuming the floor when we get there. The whole-grain pancakes and egg-beater scramble taste great.

Energized, we head to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a small griddle to use while we’re kitchen-less. A trip like this is a big deal right now.

Getting Ready for Labor Day

Quote of the day:
"The life of the creative man is led directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes."
--Saul Steinberg

Many people are traveling today, or preparing for big gatherings over this long Labor-Day weekend.

We are doing neither. It’s a day of lots of sleep for Merrie, in the quiet and air conditioning. At any one time, at least two of our three animals join her.

I get up and make coffee only for myself. I have the formula down from the days I’ve been here by myself. Now Merrie can’t have coffee and I feel a little guilty having it, or at least enjoying it. As in, maybe it’s okay to have it if I don’t enjoy it.

We read for a while, and then it’s time for Merrie to have a nap. I let an inspector in to check construction on our kitchen. Everything passes.

I watch a real-estate show on TV with headphones on. Then the drywall guy shows up to drop off supplies. I’m grateful that he’s not installing it today.

Merrie wakes from her nap and is feeling ok. It’s a good day.

Home Again!

Quote of the day:
"[Real cowboys] lead very drab, mostly repetitive, unexciting lives. But people seem to need to believe that they are simple, strong, and free, and not twisted, fascistic, and dumb, as many I've known have been."
--Larry McMurtry

Yesterday afternoon Merrie got the good news that she was being discharged from the hospital. We braced ourselves for the customary three-hour wait, but she was out in less than two. And her prescription was ready at the pharmacy!

She came home, visited the back yard, took a long shower, had dinner and installed herself in her La-Z-Boy with a cat or two.

Her challenge is to take life slowly. She’s not supposed to have any caffeine, so she will also have to adjust to life without coffee. That will be a big deal.

We’ll see what comes next. Right now, there is one very happy dog in our house. Sophie has her playmate back!

Room With a View

Quote of the day:
"I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."
--John Adams, after his first night in the just-completed White House

In a semi-private hospital room, one bed gets to be closer to the window, the other closer to the door.

A small blessing is that Merrie has the bed with the view. And it’s a good view from the fifth floor. She can see all the way to the surrounding hills.

Last night she was sitting by the window watching the trolley come and go, and saw the lights gradually come on across the city.

It brings to mind a recent “New Yorker” story on light pollution. In it, a researcher said that Americans almost never watch it get dark anymore. Instead, lights go on all around us.

The human body is built for cycles of light and dark. In the winter we often hear reports about the importance of being exposed to light. But we never hear about the effects of not getting enough dark.

It’s sort of like silence, I guess. We see it simply as something missing rather than an entity in itself. Peace is the same. We see it as just absence of war.

All things considered, Merrie is doing ok. The doctors continue to track her blood factors and make medication adjustments.

She did have time and enthusiasm yesterday to review and choose tile designs for our kitchen. The doctor on rounds declined to participate in that decision.

We're Back In

Quote of the day:
"Self-knowledge does not necessarily help a novelist. It helps a human being a great deal but novelists, as we know, are often appalling human beings."
--Peter Carey

After a day spent mostly in two emergency rooms, Merrie was admitted to the hospital last night. Her blood tests showed some possible liver problems, and the doctors want to know what happened yesterday morning. They’re not sure it’s related to heart failure.

Merrie said she was grateful for the chance to take a shower and sleep in her own bed at least for one night You can’t do either in the hospital.

Now the doctors will start the process of test-treat-and-watch. And for us (you guessed it) wait.

Long hospital stays wear you down in a number of ways. One is the constant deprivation of privacy. It is as if your space and even your life is not your own.

There are tactics Merrie uses to deal with it, but it still grinds on anyone’s sanity.

I gotta say that Merrie has a positive effect on just about every caregiver at the hospital. She’s fully engaged in her care and asks lots of questions. And she hasn’t lost her sense of humor (though she has every reason to), and the doctors and nurses seem to really appreciate it.

A Morning Surprise

We were having a leisurely morning at home. Merrie was unwinding from her hospital stay.

But life brings the unexpected.

She called to me that I needed to call 911. She was having heart-attack symptoms.

The paramedics were here in just a few minutes. Merrie was able to speak with them. They took her off to the hospital.

I went to the ER to wait. The receptionist said she wasn’t in the system yet. Fifteen minutes later, Merrie calls me and says she’s not at Kaiser but at Alvarado.

And she also says she’s feeling much better. What a relief.

A few hours and some tests in the Alvarado emergency room, then a ride to the Kaiser ER.

Then the wait to hear if she needs to be admitted. Again.

The Best Part of Going to the Hospital

Quote of the day:
“I find it amazing that in this day and age, American women seem to resent smart American women in high positions.”
--Mohan Ram

A very long (5 hour) test for Merrie today, to check blood flow in and around her heart. And then a wait for results to see if she could be discharged.

At 6:30 she was very pleased to hear that she was being released. At 9:00 it actually happened. Then we waited a half hour for a prescription.

See what I mean? Waiting. It’s one of the prices we pay for our health-care system.

But the best part of being in the hospital is going home.

Time for A Breather

Quote of the day:
“The Orioles were ahead 3-0 so they put up a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner.”
--David Letterman, commenting on the Texas Rangers’ 30-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Lots of time today while waiting at the hospital. Time to sometimes contemplate things beyond health. Such as the ruckus Jen created when she was kicked off “Big Brother 8.” Boy was she nasty!

Merrie and I tuned in years ago to the very first episode of the first season of “Big Brother,” out of curiosity more than anything else. We got hooked on season one, but grew tired of it during season two.

We turned on the first episode of the new season to see how things had changed, and found ourselves hooked again.

Merrie compares watching the show to watching a slow-motion train wreck. It is silly and even a bit tawdry. But I find myself getting very interested that the game’s design involves participants using manipulation and deception in order to win.

What results is a display of some of the least-attractive qualities of human nature. Very instructive.

Slow August Weekend: Medical

Quote of the day:
“According to some commercials, driving an SUV means you support terrorists. The answer is the hybrid gas-electric car, which only supports terrorists when going uphill.”
--Jon Stewart

Merrie moved from zigging to zagging (previously known as seeing to sawing) today. Her kidney function began to be affected again by the diuretic drugs. So the doctor is easing back a bit. I guess it’s kind of like driving a performance car around a curve. Though not nearly as fun. At all.

Hospitals are just like the rest of the world in that they go quiet on weekends. Or at least quieter. While I might circle the parking lot for a few minutes on Friday waiting for a space, half the lot is open on Saturday.

Care at the hospital is continuous, of course, but it seems that most doctors’ schedules are concentrated on weekdays. So weekends are spent (you guessed it) waiting. Reading, worrying, waiting. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Seesaw

It seems that Merrie is on a seesaw. First she was seeing, then she was sawing, and now she is seeing again. The goal is to be at the balancing point.

Her last hospital visit was the result of problems that were side effects (as opposed to “front” or “back” effects) of two of the drugs she was taking. At that time the doctors eliminated one medication and changed another.

What has happened now is a reaction to that change. Because her original medications were changed or stopped, her original problem has begun to reappear.

So the goal is to find the right combination and dosage. Like the three bears. Not too hot. Not too cold. But just right.

More metaphors to come. Please stand by.

She will be in the hospital through the weekend, and is scheduled to have a heart-stress test on Monday. As if just being in the hospital is not stress enough.

All things considered, she’s feeling pretty good, and is keeping in touch with everything via her trusty iPhone.

Another Hospital Visit

Merrie was awake during the night with a cough, and this morning she was a bit short of breath. She went to the doctor, who then sent her to the emergency room.

She was not having a heart attack but had some of the symptoms she had back in February, so she was admitted to the hospital. It was not a simple or quick process. The basic activity of patients and their families when they’re in the hospital is waiting. Waiting and waiting and more waiting.

Waiting to see the doctor. Waiting to have the test the doctor ordered. Waiting for the test results. Waiting for the doctor to come by to talk about the results. Begin again.

Hurry up. Wait. Hurry up. Wait. Hours. Days.

One Whole Year!

Today is the first anniversary of “Daily Observations”! I’m proud that it’s continued uninterrupted except for a “medical leave” in February.

Thanks for sharing this year with me! In celebration of the first year, here’s a thought about the future:

“Let us plant dates even though those who plant them will never eat them. We must live by the love of what we will never see. This is the secret discipline. It is a refusal to let the creative act be dissolved away in immediate sense experience, and a stubborn commitment to the future of our grandchildren. Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries, and saints the courage to die for the future they envisaged. They make their own bodies the seed of their highest hope.”
--Ruben Alves

Hoping For a Very Negative Campaign

Quote of the day:
“Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.”
--Willa Cather

Truism of the day:
“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

I am sincerely wishing for the most negative presidential campaign in history next year.

Why would I want such a thing? Why would anyone with any sense want such a thing? Don’t answer that.

It’s been reported that Republican operatives can barely contain their glee at the prospect of Hillary Clinton being the Democratic nominee. You just know that there has already been a lot of work developing negative campaign strategies using all the same old missteps from Clinton’s past.

And I am certain that if she is the nominee there will be nonstop slams, mud, rumors and innuendo such as the world has never seen. The 2004 Swift Boat Veterans nonsense will be just a mild rehearsal for what will come.

Hillary says she is prepared, and I believe her. She has said that she has learned that when an opponent hits you, the way to respond is by decking him (and it will be a him--a white him).

That sounds nasty, but it is the appropriate and needed response. Here’s why. First, reams of blackness exist in the past of every potential Republican opponent, and most of it is not widely known. It needs to be clearly communicated--make that hammered, again and again and again and again. And again.

Second and more important is this. Maybe this campaign can be so viciously nasty, obnoxious, stinking, low-hitting, unfair and foul that we will all get so sick of it that we will insist that it never happen again.

I can always dream.

Why Someone is Not Liked

Quote of the day:
“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
--Thomas Mann

This will be a very short post. It deals with the reasons most people give for not liking Hillary Clinton.

Those reasons are very short. Here they are:

Interviewer: “Why don’t you like Hillary Clinton?”

Voter: “I don’t know. I just don’t like her.”

Interviewer: “Can you be a little more specific?”

Voter: “I don’t trust her.”

Interviewer: “Why?”

Voter: “I don’t know. I just don’t like her.”

Got Mortgage?

Quote of the day:
“I think God’s going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.”
--Steven Wright

The other day I heard an “expert” say that we are having the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression. That may be true by some specific measure, but I haven’t seen any bread lines yet.

As usual, there is lots of analysis, speculation and prognostication about the mortgage-lending industry, interest rates and real-estate prices. There seems to be a lot more attention to lenders with serious problems than to the unfortunate and often tragic effects on individual lives.

At the center of all this is a basic business judgment--when a lender takes more risk, it expects more reward. That’s not necessarily a problem, except for two things:

1. There has been inadequate preparation for, or even acknowledgment of, the risks being taken when lenders extend credit to customers who usually are considered uncreditworthy. The attitude seems to have been that real-estate was going to continue to appreciate with no end in sight.

It’s the same thing some folks assumed about the stock market in the late 1990s. The mantra became “the usual rules do not apply.” The primary rule that does not apply was stated this way by Frank Capiello, a panelist years ago on “Wall Street Week”: “Trees don’t grow to the sky.”

We’ve all heard the words indicating that, indeed, trees do grow to the sky: “you can’t go wrong with real estate”; “real estate is the best investment”; “real estate always goes up.”

2. I believe anyone who is responsible and is at least close to having the means should have the opportunity to own a home. It’s not a bad thing when lenders take the risk of extending credit to people who are “close” but not quite “there” with their income or credit histories.

The problem is the sometimes-exorbitant price that lenders charge for extending this credit. Usually it is buried in high fees that are added to the mortgage amount, or in the ultimate rate or other terms of the loan. These terms may not come into play until 2, 3 or 5 years after documents are signed.

Of course, there are many people who simply cannot afford to buy a home, and should not be encouraged to do so. But those who are sincere, responsible and “close” should be helped, not soaked.

Many mortgage lenders did really try to help. But many did not. And that’s the problem.

Still More on Leadership

Quote of the day:
“Among politicians and businessmen, ‘pragmatism’ is the current term for ‘to hell with our children.’”
--Edward Abbey

U.S. News has published a list of ten “Steps to Becoming a Great Leader.” Yesterday I suggested that the very highest priority is an almost-obsessive attention to the first step:

“Envision yourself as a leader in your own image. Assess yourself and mold your leadership style to emphasize your strengths….”

The next part of it reads “...then plan to outsource or delegate the rest.” Again, this is true for both organizations and individuals. Life will be richer and your organization much stronger if you have people close to you whose strengths are different from your strengths.

When one person’s strengths complement another’s, a very productive synergy develops. This is true in both work and personal situations.

The second step is “Hire cleverly. Nothing is more important.” I wouldn’t use the word “cleverly,” because it connotes manipulation or deception. My word would be “wisely.”

The real truth is is in the second sentence: “Nothing is more important.” These days, hiring and supervision are often delegated way down the organizational chart. Often the people hiring and interviewing are not very experienced, and mistakes happen.

The most-common mistake I’ve seen is too-close a focus on pure resume qualifications. People are chosen because they have a bit more training, experience or education than the next person. The total person, job fit and personality are minimized.

Yet over and over again it has been shown that the factor most contributing to performance problems is not lack of proper knowledge, training or experience. It is rather personal qualities, like the ability to get along with a wide variety of people.

Leadership Part Two

Quote of the day:
“Instant gratification is not fast enough.”
--Suzanne Vega

An interesting list has just appeared in “U.S. News.” It’s called “Steps to Becoming a Great Leader.”

It’s an excellent list--at least the beginning of it is. For some reason there are ten steps. Maybe whoever wrote it had to have a round number. Having so many “steps” weakens the list, because it distracts and detracts from the vital importance of the very first step:

“1. Envision yourself as a leader in your own image. Assess yourself and mold your leadership style to emphasize your strengths….”

I’m stopping in the middle of this first step because it’s critical. It’s so critical that you might do everything else on the list but still be miserable and fail because you gave this short shrift.

Assess yourself. Be honest with yourself. Then focus on your strengths (NOT your weaknesses), and find ways of leading from your strengths. This is true for organizations as well as individuals.

The thing is, it usually doesn’t happen this way. For example, it is very common for churches to fret about something missing in their programs. Often it is a youth program or outreach to young adults and families.

Typically the church had some success with one of these programs at some point in the past (maybe far in the past), and has made many failed attempts to bring back the former glory. There is great concern because “all successful churches must do these things well.”

But amid all the fretting, meetings, and planning related to addressing the church’s weaknesses, the church’s strengths (and all churches have at least one) are just there, with little appreciation or special attention. They may even languish.

Imagine what might happen if all the work devoted to doing something the organization is not good at was instead focused on what it is good at. The church would have the potential to be really outstanding in a specific way, and would gradually become known for that.

The key part of this first step is understanding, accepting and embracing the reality that you or your organization simply is not good at some things. And that’s why you don’t have the heart for them at the moment.

This is OK, and the result of fully accepting it is a clear direction toward your authentic passion and strength. Which will ultimately result in the appearance of additional passions and strengths.

The Future is in My Pocket

Quote of the day:
"I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."
--Marilyn Monroe

Quote of the day no. 2:
“This is the next step in not accepting poor design any longer.”
--David Myers, executive chef of Food Arts Group in Los Angeles, talking about the Apple iPhone.

Merrie and I have been using iPhones for about two months now. I gotta say, it is one fun and convenient device.

The main criticism of the iPhone has been that, outside of wi-fi areas, internet speed is very slow on AT&T’s Edge network. For Merrie and me, this has not been a huge problem. We are still able to get information and news when we need it, including using the maps gadget in the car to look up where we’re going and the traffic on the way.

The intuitive and ergonomic design of the iPhone is excellent. It is amazingly easy--and fun--to use. The day has arrived when, in a single, attractive and easy-to-use device, I can carry in my pocket the internet, my favorite TV and radio shows, four days worth of music, the internet, e-mail and a telephone.

In coming years, refinements will come--more speed and capacity, customizability, much longer battery life. But the device of the future is here now. And, I say again, it’s convenient, helpful and fun.

Having the iPhone does not make our lives more “gadgety” or full of technological complications. In fact, because it combines so many functions and is so incredibly easy to use, it actually makes our lives simpler, richer and more fun.

Leadership

Quote of the day:
“The language of American politics increasingly resembles an Orwellian monologue.”
--Christopher Lasch

The statement about management that sticks with me more than any other came from the titan of all management experts, Peter Drucker. It goes something like this:

“Management consists mostly of finding creative ways to make it more difficult for people to do their jobs.”

This came to mind as I thought about the current focus of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Just like many church bodies across the U.S., our conference has fretted for years about loss of membership. And that fretting hit a fever pitch in the last year as it became clear that the rate of loss was accelerating.

In all the study and research about what to do to reverse this decline, the one need that came up much more often than any other was a need for leadership training--for ministers, staff and lay people.

It’s terrific that the conference has come to consensus on this. It’s terrific when the conference comes to consensus on anything.

I’m a little concerned that a possible consequence of the leadership focus will be to impose standardized “tactics” or plans for success. While it is possible for such tactics and plans to make a difference, any change will not stick unless there is fundamental, basic change in our openness to, and understanding and expectation of, success.

The standard, repeating pattern in churches and other organizations is for hope to be placed in some new technique (or, worse, some new buzzword). Some church leaders become very excited and, as a result, some other church members get excited.

But the excitement gradually dissipates as it becomes clear that nothing is really changing. And so all the videos and Powerpoints and leader’s guides are filed away and forgotten.

The reason that nothing changes is because nothing has changed. The change needs to be at the beginning of the process, not a result at the end. And the change needs to be at the most-basic and fundamental level.

One suggested change: to fully appreciate and lavish attention and resources on the places where the church is already growing (translated “leading”).

For example, if a church has an exciting and well-attended youth program, provide significant additional resources and support (money and/or people) to encourage the growth to continue. If a church has a successful hands-on mission program, send resources to help it continue to grow and expand.

The only way the church will grow is when we can accept, embrace and support how it is already growing.

The dirty little secret is that many churches simply want to stay small or shrink. They don’t put it that way. But that is where their hearts are. It is understandable and it is not necessarily a bad thing.

But it is unfortunate if we have become unable to accept, celebrate, nurture and support authentic and real growth, wherever it may be happening in our communities.

It's Hot Almost Everywhere But Here

Quote of the day:
“We believed in forgiveness, and we believed in knowing exactly what we were forgiving people for.”
--Garrison Keillor

Much of the country is very hot right now. Southern California is not exempt.

Normally, there is a significant variation between temperatures at the beach and inland, with the thermometer going up with each additional half mile or so. Also, there are differences as elevation rises and falls.

This is why a place like Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley can be one of the hottest places in the country (as it was several times last year). Even though it’s just several miles from the ocean, any cooling breeze is blocked by surrounding mountains.

This year, it seems like all these differences are accentuated. In Cambria this week it actually is cool at the coast--temps reached the high sixties with a stiff, cold northwestern wind in the afternoons.

Inland a couple miles it is ten degrees warmer with a gentle breeze. In Templeton and Paso Robles--20 miles to the east--the high temperature is in the 90s.

What all this means is that, whatever our weather reputation and whatever San Diego or Los Angeles temperature is reported, most of us in Southern California are basking/roasting in the high 80s or low 90s.

Not only that, but we’ve been seeing more humidity than usual. Don’t talk to me about dry heat. In addition to being annoying, it’s not always true.

Ventura Highway

Quote of the day:
"I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find."
--Ian Fleming, talking about how he came up with the name “James Bond.”

The picture was taken today on the California coast south of Santa Barbara. It was surprising how few people were on the beach, on an idyllic 70-degree August day.

There were about 20 surfers in the water, and the waves were fairly small but coming regularly. A children’s camp was meeting just down the beach. Other than that, there were just a few people (and two dogs, including ours) in any direction.

When Sophie sees any body of water, a voice inside her says, “Oh, boy--run and splash!” And that’s what she does. Without asking if we brought along a towel. Which we didn’t. Oh, well. There’s always air drying.

This is some of the most-beautiful and most-viewed coastline on the world. Hundreds of people see it daily as they motor up or down highway 101. Many of them say, “I’ve seen this somewhere before.” This particular area has been the setting for dozens of TV and movie scenes over many years.

Over all those years, this stretch of coast has changed very little. It’s almost as if it’s frozen in time.

That’s somehow reassuring.

What Do You Take When You Travel?

Quote of the day:
"There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth."
--Marie Curie

It’s interesting what people take with them on vacation. As with so many other things about humans, we are slightly irrational about it.

Some folks takes lots of clothes, so as to not be seen in the same outfit twice by people they are only going to see once. Also, washing machine technology may not have reached the region where they’re going.

Others take lots of shoes, not knowing the terrain they may find themselves in. Or, they just really like shoes.

Some people take favorite foods, being unsure about the ready availability of these foods at their destination.

Others take a big stack of books that they see themselves finally having time to read. And there will be time, if the vacation is 3 or 4 months long.

Others bring a bag full of gadgets--cellphone, laptop, PDA, Blackberry, iPod, and about a dozen vital accessories. Disconnecting is just too big a risk for them. In fact, maybe they shouldn't even go.

Merrie and I are mildly guilty of the last one. But I have a bigger issue.

When I go on vacation I take a stereo. Not a boom-box or a pair of powered computer speakers, but a full-on hi-fi. Actually, it’s just three pieces--my two favorite small speakers and a tube power amp. We plug one of our laptops or iPhones into it and listen to downloaded music.

I don’t do this if our goal for the trip is sightseeing or doing a lot of driving. And I don’t bring the stereo along if we’re flying somewhere (at least not yet). But most of our vacations are for “being” not “doing.”

Color me crazy. If you haven’t already. I even thought of myself that way the first time I did it. But it is so enriching listening to music in a relaxed setting. It’s fun, and we hear things we haven’t heard before in music we thought was familiar to us.

A side benefit is that I get to amuse, baffle or annoy two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

Sorry.

First, I amuse, baffle or annoy those for whom computer speakers or boom-boxes are plenty good enough thank you very much and why would I want to sit around listening to music on vacation when I can do that at home whenever I want anyway and besides I have 990 places left of the 1,000 I need to visit before I die and I don’t have time for music.

Second, I amuse, baffle or annoy audiophiles, whose faces tighten and limbs begin to tremble at the outrageous thought of listening to downloaded music on a good stereo system.

Life is good.

Backyard Families

Quote of the day:
"We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away."
--Walker Percy

We seem to have three new families in our backyard.

For the last few weeks a “teenage” hawk has been attempting to stake out territory just below our home in the canyon. We have heard his cries from early in the morning until the wee hours of the night.

He regularly swoops between our house and our neighbor’s. I’ve never seen him catch anything, but I know there is plenty for him to catch.

The neighborhood crows regularly try to chase him off. But he hangs in there. He’s likely a red-tail, and a neighbor down the street spotted a high-up nest which may have been his home.

I have seen skunks in our yard from time to time, and I saw a whole family cross our street a couple months ago. I haven’t seen any recently, but I sure have smelled them. A skunk is spraying three or four times a week, and it’s close to our house. So there may be a family of them close by.

Another animal I see only occasionally is coyotes, down in our canyon. But over the last several weeks, we have often heard them just a few yards from our house. (Yes, our cats stay indoors.)

Sometimes we hear them in the afternoon, more often at dusk, and sometimes in the middle of the night, piercing the silence.

The other night at about 8 o’clock there was a loud and distinct family conversation going on. We heard a mother’s barking and the high-pitched howling of pups. Maybe they were learning table manners.

From all this, you might think we live out in the country somewhere. But we’re in the city of San Diego, close to San Diego State University.

The Catharsis of Moving

Poem of the day:
"Advice to Myself" by Louise Erdrich



Leave the dishes.

Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator

and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.

Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.

Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.

Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.

Don't even sew on a button.

Let the wind have its way, then the earth

that invades as dust and then the dead

foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.

Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.

Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzles

or the doll's tiny shoes in pairs, don't worry

who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.

Except one word to another. Or a thought.

Pursue the authentic-decide first

what is authentic,

then go after it with all your heart.

Your heart, that place

you don't even think of cleaning out.

That closet stuffed with savage mementos.

Don't sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teeth

or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner

again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,

or weep over anything at all that breaks.

Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons 

in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life

and talk to the dead

who drift in though the screened windows, who collect

patiently on the tops of food jars and books.

Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything

except what destroys

the insulation between yourself and your experience

or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters

this ruse you call necessity.

(From “Original Fire: Selected and New Poems.” © Harper Collins Publishers, 2003.)

We are in the middle of a one-half move. Work is beginning very soon to replace the kitchen in our modest mid-50s California rancher.

It was a hard decision. Merrie and I both prefer older stuff, and the cabinets and tile counters had loads of character. Unfortunately, they had also endured 50 years of hard use and were about worn out.

We considered rehabbing but the costs were surprisingly high. We also wanted to remove a wall, not just in response to the real-estate mantra of “open feeling” but to provide a full view of the canyon in back of the house.

And so in a few days the kitchen will be gutted and a wall taken down. The work requires that we vacate the kitchen, dining room and our TV room which is adjacent to the kitchen. In essence we have to move out of half our house.

Right now we are packing boxes and rearranging furniture for the months-long journey into new kitchenhood. There are lots of boxes and dozens of decisions about where to put things and what to keep out. And what to throw out.

My pattern when packing and moving is to pack first and throw away at the other end. I know this wastes energy and makes little sense to most people.

But I guess I realized early on that the time to make difficult decisions about what stays and what goes (translated “priorities”) is not during the stress of packing. So usually I have the throw-away and give-away boxes nearby when I unpack at the other end.

I seem to have a clearer, more-relaxed sense of priorities at the end of moves than at the beginning--maybe because I’ve lived without the packed stuff for a while.

That’s the benefit of moving. It’s a discovery of what I can live without, and what I like to have around me.

When that discovery is done, the real catharsis begins. Get the Salvation Army on the phone!