How to Spend Your Tax Rebate

Every American needs to see this important informational video from the Federal Government. Your family's happiness will depend on following these instructions.




That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Covert Operations of My Al Gebra Sleeper Cell

Today’s Pearls Before Swine comic strip sums up what’s wrong with Algebra in our schools.

Here in California, the educational bureaucracy has more or less legislated that Algebra proficiency is a big deal. Students are subject to two batteries of testing.

The State requires STAR Testing (Stupid Tests Are Required) as its effort in complying with the Federal No Child Left Behind excuse for education policy. Every State has to do something like this. STAR tests are used to evaluate school-wide performance, as well as to cull students into three broad categories; below proficiency, proficiency, and above proficiency. Students’ individual results are used to place them in remedial, standard, or accelerated classes. Anyone remember “tracking’ from the 1960s? The Star testing process takes two to three weeks out of the instruction schedule. The actual tests take less than a week to administer, but the schools spend a couple of weeks before the tests reinforcing test-taking skills (an orgy of drill-and-kill instruction), rather than moving forward in the course syllabus. Schools feel pressure to cram their students for the STAR tests because disappointing school-wide performance will result in funding reductions and the threat of school closure.

As if STAR testing isn’t enough, students must pass another test to demonstrate the rather modest level of Algebra and English proficiency required to get a High School Diploma in California, thanks to the infinite wisdom of our legislature. Perhaps if the legislature required math proficiency from themselves, we could get a reasonable budget some day. This introduces another battery of tests called the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) . The first lines of the first two tables in the incredibly long and boring report in this link tells the story; about 25% percent of students fail this test in their sophomore years, but only 5% to 10% fail when tested again in their senior year. Schools get their failing sophomores into intensive test-taking drill programs to get them through the test. That takes kids who aren’t learning as well as average out of their instruction. Brilliant, I say. After all, I can’t tell you how many employers have told me that they need kids with advanced multiple choice test-taking skills. As an aside, note the scores for “economically disadvantaged students”. In addition to all the other great virtues of this graduation requirement, it also helps assure that 25% of poor children will grow up to be poor adults. Hip Hip Hooray. Certainly, the best way to solve any social problem is by punishing the poor (see the recent California Budget May Revise).

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

An Afternoon at the Opera

I found this image of the original poster for Tosca in Wikipedia.

We saw Tosca produced by the Sacramento Opera. It was a good performance. The orchestra and the singers were great.


On the way home, I reflected on the many valuable lessons I have learned from opera;

Never declare your undying love. Although your love may be eternal, you and your lover are certain to be dead with the next hour. Just bottle it up and live.

Sexual predators are well advised to not leave daggers within the reach of their victim. Pay particular attention to this if the victim is Italian.

The human body is capable of singing arias for at least fifteen minutes after a violent death. This fascinating phenomenon is known as Rigaletto Mortis.

If you support a liberating army while simultaneously in love with a Woman who sings all the time, your army will be victorious, most likely within an hour after your death.

Boring people who don’t sing live forever.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I Was a Shill for Public Radio

A fellow member of the Sacramento Recorder Society talked about eight of us into staffing the phones for the most recent of Capitol Public Radio’s (CPR’s)far too often on-air fundraisings. We covered all the phones for about two hours on Saturday afternoon. I came with Recorder Society promotional talking points in hand. The on-air personalities took the notes and read them on their shows.

That’s step one in my secret plan for world domination, control the media and the American public will slavishly cater to my every whim. I wish I had thought of this diabolical scheme before General Electricput it into action.

We arrived early and were given a tour of the facilities. The furnishings looked spacious and pricey, and the electronic equipment looked costly. No wonder why they need to beg for money so often. Answering the phones was easy, and everyone we met at the station was nice, and there was good food from Jealousy Catering in the room where we worked, plus a freezer stocked with ice cream bars in the attached kitchen.

We took just over 70 or 80 calls in total. Capital Public Radio operates two radio stations in the Sacramento area. I learned something from the programming that ran while we answered phones.


KXJZ, The NPR talk and Jazz station featured Mick Martin’s Blues party. Mick is a well loved character in the Sacramento community, as well as among musicians, and the Blues Party kicks ass. His selections lean more toward rocking and rolling R&B type arrangements than the more down-home Southern style of Bob Johnson and other early Delta Bluesmen. Several callers (none with southern accents) called us to whine that Mick was not playing enough “real blues”. We also had a call from a guy in jail who wanted to hear the Allman Brothers. Mick said he isn’t even sure if he wants to call the Allmans blues or rock. He didn’t seem too concerned. He didn’t have any Allman brothers in his collections, so I hope the prisoner was happy with whatever Mick played. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone. This show brought us our share of drunk callers. Was it Aesop, or was it Donald Trump, who wrote, “A drunk with a valid credit card is a friend indeed”.

KXPR,the Classical Station, featured two hour-long shows, Sound and Spirit,and Harmonia. Sound and spirit is a new age music show with an announcer who, like so many other flakes, never shuts up. Harmonia is an early music show produced by the University of Indiana in Bloomington, which is an international early music powerhouse. It really is, no kidding. We targeted our volunteering hours to coincide with Harmonia, so any suspects for new members would hear our plug read over the air.

At the end of our hours, the tally showed that 100% of our callers were listening to the Blues party. The other shows did not produce a single call! I am still pondering the meaning of this.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Stevens Trail - A Friday off With Wildflowers

Since Kathleen took a day off of work last Friday, we decided to explore Stevens Trail
in the nearby foothills, near Colfax,CA.The trail actually starts on the edge of town nearest Interstate 80. You drive until the road becomes gravel, and that’s the trailhead.

But first some observations about Colfax. What is Colfax. This is a question whose answer changes from year to year. When I first visited Colfax in about 2000 or so, the towns visible character was influenced by weed-hippies who had recently been priced out of the Grass Valley area I the 1990s. We visited a coffee shop, talked with the owner, and while discussing here extensive collection of framed photos of Burning Man,we were invited to join her at her camp that year. Although the juggling and twirling culture sounds attractive, sharing the hot desert with a bunch of hippies into group sex and no showers doesn’t ring my bell. . We visited the same storefront in 2006 to find the coffee shop boasting a new owner, and full Mc Wives taking a break form driving their McSUVs Between their McMansions and the nearest good McMalls, in the Eastern Suburban Sacamento. The were really whining about the long drive to get to a decent store. I refrained from saying, ’They make houses in Sacramento, COW, so what’s your problem!.’ In any event, Colfax has become suburban hell in the middle of nowhere.

The first segment of the hike was downward sloping very well maintained trail through some woods. Unfortunately about ½ mile of the trail followed below the interstate and was a little noisy. Just a few steps out, I found a small frog in this small pond at the bottom of a small waterfall. This waterfall almost certainly dries up in late May.






















The forest floor was covered with a lush carpet of poison oak.

Do not use this plant for toilet paper, in fact, if you see some of these when you feel the urge to go relieve yourself off trail, you had better hold it for a while. This stuff makes poison ivy look alike aloe vera.

Mr.Good Judgment Hiker always remembers that the shape and color of poison oak varies. Sometimes the leafs are redder and the plants are leggier than in this picture.






The wooded trail took us back up over the rim of the canyon, and we could see the river a long way down.
















This part of the walk was full of spring wildflowers. We saw lots of poppies bromeliads, and unidentified species. I am not attempting to identify anything,because I would probably get it wrong. Look and enjoy.

At the end of our 4.5 mile hike, we stopped at a small rapids for lunch and the opportunity to stick our feet in the cold aerated water. Look across the river and note the big pile of rocks and the eroded slope to its left. That’s probably the handywork of some 19th century fortune seekers.



Speaking of the gold rush, we passed a couple of small old mine shafts dug directly from the trail into the hills. You can see a picture of one from here.



I didn’t find it interesting enough to bother taking a picture. What is interesting is that this cave is directly off of an edge path that is 18 inches wide at its best. The drop down to the river is several hundred feet. I have no idea how or where the miners processed their ore.







After lunch, the walk was all uphill, that’s the problem with hiking in canyons. The walk back was tough enough,with the temperatures in the 80’s, that we had to stop for A&W Root Beer Float. It was good.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

What is the American Dream?

Take This Job and Shove It!!

That is the true American dream. Employer – Sponsored Health Insurance is the American Nightmare that denies so many of us the Liberty needed for the Pursuit Happiness in our Life. (Sorry for that, Mr. Nickel profile dude)

This is a pervasive truth in America that everyone knows, however no one has the guts to say it. Until now.

Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon has produced a video to support his campaign for a comprehensive health care program that would take some steps to remove the linkage between health care coverage and employment. This is a hoot. Truth is always funnier than Fiction.



This video is refreshing, after hearing armies of Ivy League talking heads blather incessantly for weeks about whether Senator Clinton or Obama understands people whose estates are valued at less than $2 Million (or Joe Lunch bucket and Suzie Housecoat, as C. Montgomery Burns calls them). It appears to me that Senator Wyden is way ahead of the pack when it comes to understanding what motivates people who work for a living. Let's face it, we all want to eat the frosting off the boss’s slice of cake.

I actually looked at the proposed legislation, and I have my doubts as to how useful this legislation would be. The legislation would be beneficial if everything worked out exactly in accordance with the economic assumptions used by the plan’s supporters. This legislation has a fatal flaw that I see in almost every Healthcare Reform proposal involving private insurance but not employer-based plans. If the cost of healthcare were to rise beyond the rather rosy cost assumptions used to make the case that the plan is efficient, guess who gets stuck with the extra costs? Yep that’s right, the workers pay the entire cost overrun. Given the insurance rates would be developed by private insurers, regulated by Government, and paid by the households who will be legally required to purchase insurance (sounds too much like auto insurance to me), I estimate the probability of major cost overruns to be about 99.44%. Put that in your Ivory Soap and go take a bath.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Star Trek 11 - Ya Gotta Be Hosin me!

Oh God, No, No This Isn't Happening, Will We Ever Learn?



The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization


Somebody’s making a Star Trek XI movie, retelling the story of the early days of the Enterprise. What did I ever do to deserve this? Apparently, William Shatner was snubbed, proving that every cloud does have its silver lining. Unfortunately, from listening to the voices in the somewhat uninspiring trailer, I suspect we will be treated with an appearance by Leonard Nimoy, who will no doubt once again impress us with his awesome acting versatility by playing an uber-yid from outer space. From looking at the cast credits,I'm thinking Romulans! LT Sulu will be played by the guy who played Harry on the legendary quest for White Castle. Maybe Kumar will show up in a cameo as assistant physician. maybe I care.

The film’s website has forums, where Star Trek fans for the most part muse that the movie will most certainly suck, but they’ll watch it anyway. We need to be vigilant, folks. We need to support our comrades who post on IMDB to make sure this remake doesn’t screw anything up, such as using plot timing not consistent with the fact that Spock graduated the Academy several years before Kirk. C’mon doncha remember that Spock was Captain pike’s Science officer, playing second fiddle to the luscious “Number One”? We must not allow any violation of previously established Star Trek timelines, unless tachyon fluxes are involved, of course.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

How to Spend Three Trillion Dollars

I realize I missed National Surrealism week in the U.S. last week. I think the concept probably would have had broader appeal if the sponsors stayed more true to their concept. Surely, “National Surrealism Chimpanzee Catapult Bicycle” would have made more sense. Possibly it would have been just what we’ve been waiting for, something that could stun Suburban America out of its bourgeois stupor. We missed out on yet another opportunity for anarchy. Dang.

Hey – Maybe I was too involved in my own little world, and overlooked that we might, at this very moment, be living in National Surrealism Decade. Current events keep on spawning Surrealist Games. The latest game is called How Would You Spend $3 Trillion Dollars .

The youtube video you see below introduces this most excellent internet based game.




I’ve got to run. I need to buy Microsoft before somebody else does. Maybe I’ll buy healthcare for all our fellow Americans with some of the about $2.75 Trillion I’ll have left over. I wonder if the Cubs are for sale?

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

What Kind of Place for a Jewish Boy?

After hearing about a trip Kathleen and a friend took to Redwoods Monastery a few years back, I decided to join Kathleen fro a short retreat last weekend. I was a little concerned about hanging out with a bunch of Cistercian nuns. Happily the reality of being a guest at their retreat was somewhat akin to visiting a Disneyland of the Spirit, with the 11 retreatants playing the role of the Midwestern family relating to the 10 cloistered nuns’ appearances as costumed characters. Most of the time the nuns dressed like old hippies, as is the style of Humboldt County. However, these Sisters claim to support themselves by selling honey
rather than marijuana like most of their neighbors produce. I have never been anywhere in the U.S. where everyone admits that that the only two major employers in the region are the Government and the marijuana industry. Duuuuude!

We drove upon Thursday arriving at about 3:00 PM. My favorite part of this drive (besides a Frosty Freeze in Clear Lake) is short stretch of Hw 101 through Richardson Grove. We had time to walk around before a short Eucharist service at 5:30. The service was mostly chanting of psalms, as are all their services. Their chanting was beautiful. Although the psalms were chanted in English, their meanings were no more coherent to me than Latin. A lot about destroying enemies and all that business.

The chapel is quite a unique place. The wall behind the altar is all glass, looking out over a redwood tree and a small meadow, where we saw the antics of wild turkeys and deer several times over the weekend. The design was very simple, to the point of having almost no visible Christian symbolism.

Everybody sat in a semicircle around the altar. I learned quickly not to sit in the center, since they pass around communion from each side, and the person near the center of the arc has to walk everything back up to the altar. I felt pretty stupid doing that. We had supper of soup, bread and cheese (dinner at noon is the biggest meal of the day) with the other retreatants. The food was pretty good, although modest. The cheese was probably the fancy stuff made by Trappists in Gethsemane KY.

We got to bed early, recognizing that morning meditation was to begin at 5:45 AM every day, after a walk in the dark to the chapel. Each morning began with meditation from 5:45to 6:45, which went OK for me until the last day, when I allowed myself to lean against a wall. After that, it was a constant fight against falling asleep. Another chanting service at 6:00 was followed by (finally!) breakfast and coffee. We had breakfast with the nuns in their community room each morning. Breakfast with the nuns did not provide much insight into life in the monastery, since they maintain silence until 9:30 each morning. Breakfast was my favorite meal, with home-made granola, yoghurt, home-made preserves, toast & honey, peanut butter and fresh fruit. I noticed the sisters eat a lot of peanut butter. That appears to be their secret for supplementing an otherwise rather severe monastic diet.

After breakfast, we explored a redwood grove on the property. I get a kick out of giant trees. Trees are our friends.



We were lucky that trillium was blooming. These beauties grow under the redwoods.



We walked through a meadow over a hill from the cloister and guest houses



The photo album page has more pictures.

I spent some of the spare and quiet time available reading a couple of Buddhist books, to offset the Catholicism in the environment.

I felt refreshed after the retreat, most likely due to the deep quietness and calm of the experience, as much as anything else. I found myself thinking of a slight variation on the old advertisements for Levi’s Rye Bread; You don’t have to love Jesus to like it.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
.

Godzilla's Big Adventure

A participant in The Simple Living Network discussion group made this UTube video. Note, she lives in Wisconsin. With all apologies to George Tekai/ Ensign Sulu, it's amazing what a change of soundtrack can add to a story.



While we're on the subject, This short Japanese documentary takes a more serious look at the impact of monsters on one woman's day-to-day life in Japan. I can't say exactly why this struck me as funny. I am impressd how the Japanese carry this burden so well.



That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Other Peoples’ Problems Part II

The Public has demanded that I share the defense attorney’s story about the medieval archer. I omitted this parable because it didn’t make much sense, and I still can’t figure out the point the defense attorney was trying to make. Possibly it was a muffled cry fro help.

The parable, in short, is about an archer renowned for his excellent skills. He fires an arrow into the air, and it lands on a bull’s eye drawn in the ground. It’s a bull’s eye every time! Eventually one free thinker investigates and figures out that the archer draws the target after the arrow lands. This made absolutely no sense in relation to the trial, since the blood alcohol rules were defined in law long before the defendant was charged. I suspect the defense attorney was speaking to his personal frustration in handling a case where all the evidence points toward conviction. Maybe he was jealous of the Assistant DA, who, in addition to looking like the Barbie D.A. Doll, had a much easier job.

That’s some other guy’s pathetic story and, to may last day, I am not sticking to it.

Other Peoples’ Trials, Other People’s Troubles

It’s been said that on definition of comedy is Other Peoples’ Troubles. A jury duty assignment this week allowed me to test the theory, and I found that Other Peoples’ Troubles can be pretty boring. I was one of two alternate jurors in a DUI case. I have no idea why the defendant plead innocent and relied on an attorney from the Public Defender’s Office to explain to us the jury how his client was sober 45 minutes before maintaining a blood alcohol level above 0.10% over a period of three hours. Especially when it was painfully obvious that this guy was lit like a lamp when he was caught driving. I didn’t hang around for the sentencing, since I had seen enough of the courthouse by that time. I suspect the penalty was harsh.

Anyway, as an alternate juror, the trial, from every perspective imaginable, was definitely in the category of Other Peoples’ Problems. I wasn’t facing penalties, I was pretty sure I would not be given the burden of weighing evidence to determine guilt or innocence, and the jury takes no part in sentencing. Therefore, my role was more or less to answer some questions during the jury selection process, be invisible during the trial, watch and listen during testimony, take notes, and hang around the courthouse while the jury deliberated.

I attempt to make every new experience an opportunity from learning, even when the knowledge comes in the form of a negative object lesson. Here’s what I learned. Note number (4) may actually be useful.

(1) If you intend to drive while drinking, keep your car in good repair in general. More specifically, do not stop your car in a traffic lane on a busy highway bridge and have your engine start on fire. It is very difficult to be inconspicuous in this situation.
(2) If you have a cell phone, and your vehicle is on fire, call 911. Watching your vehicle burn and not calling in can raise suspicion. Other drivers will call within minutes. You will be found out anyway.
(3) When a law enforcement officer asks you if you have recently been drinking, do not, I repeat do not, tell the officer that you had three gins, but you waited about a half hour before driving, so everything is OK. The law enforcement community probably doesn’t buy into your theories of prospective sobriety.
(4) When the officer asks you to perform field sobriety tests (straight line walking, balancing and all that business), advise the officer that you have disabilities. This will detract from the credibility of any derogatory test results, and the law enforcement community lives in fear of ADA related Civil Rights Lawsuits. You will not have another chance to try this rationalization. This probably won’t help if you subsequently flunk a blood alcohol test, but why not go for the longshot?
(5) Do not stumble against a wall when you are asked to stand on one foot.
(6) Do not allow your attorney to tell a story about a mediaeval archer as the closing statement.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The NeoConsumer (Neocon) Strategy Revealed

No one respects the great contribution we Americans make in this world. At least up to now. Thanks goodness, Barbara Ehrenreich is finally willing to speak the truth. Her latest column trumpets our intrepid heroism in providing America’s contribution to the world’s wellbeing.

No one but Barbara appreciates all the work we have done over the last 30 years. Late night and weekends at the malls, every day of every week going the extra mile to assure our fellow humans in sweatshops have somewhere to send the stuff they make. Without our help, they would have run out of room to put the stuff they make years ago.

Our quiet and consistent consumer heroism has gone unheralded until recently, when, out of collective exhaustion, we stopped buying everyone else’s stuff. Let’s see those brilliant Chinese pick up the slack. The problem here is that they would have to start paying workers above slave wages to have enough consumers to buy much. Not allowed in the Workers’ Socialist Paradise.

Let’s see the oil rich Middle East nations pick up the slack. I guess that would require two major cultural changes (1) some wealth would have to be spread beyond the richest 20 people in each country, and (2) how many burkas can one woman wear in a week? Maybe they could start wearing them in colors.

Perhaps we could have our Government purchase all of China’s industrial output, put it all in airplanes every day, and drop the stuff on Iran. I see three distinctive advantages of this NeoConsumer (i. e., neocon) strategy;

(1) We would finally have a post 1970 rationale for having an air force. Seriously, has anyone won a war by leveraging superior air power since Israel did it in 1967? Anyway, portable missile technology sucked in 1967. We need to keep these military folks busy so they don’t kill thousands of people, which is not a proven way to make friends.
(2) If some of the stuff we drop doesn’t break on impact, we can probably get some economists to theorize how this glut of consumer goods will sink the Iranian economy. That ain’t the sound of big screen TVs bouncing off your roof, that’s the sound of freedom on the march.
(3) We could saturation bomb President Ahmadinejad’s house with Paris Hilton CDs. Why not?

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Public Service Announcement - Attention Single Men

Don't do what this guy did. For Heaven's sake, think of the innocent masses!


http://view.break.com/453711 - Watch more free videos

I repeat - do not volunteer to make an ass of yourself. Life will present many opportunities on its own, without your consent.

This scene (and I mean scene) happened at Huston Rockets game on 2/14. My favorite dramatic moments;

(1) The pathos of a jilted guy being comforted by a team mascot.
(2) The woman's slowly evolving visible anger.
(3) The jilted guy managed to find a beer before he crawled out of the arena.
(4) The announcers trying to find something to say.

Another shadenfreude opportunity!


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Flying Possums Everywhere!

Here’s an excerpt from a very rarely read portion of The Book of Exodus.

And God didst sayeth to Pharaoh, the plague of Frogs hath doth serveth onlyeth to hardeneth thine heart.

Pharaoh didst retort in a mosteth glibbeth manner, I heareth speech in the tongueth of the great pharaoh James from the cold foggy isles, whose language will existeth not for millennia.

God didst sayeth in response, behold another miracle. Shaketh thou like a leaf and speweth thine guts in the presenth my power.

Upeth yours,said Pharoah.

In his anger and haste God broughteth upon the Nation of Egypt Plague 9(b), flying possums. The Egyptians found the flying possums to be delicious when roasted upon a stick, and werest not impressed in the least. Pharoah assembled his nation and in their witness, didst say that God waseth a big wuss, his plagues werest cowardly and he asketh God to bringeth them on.

You’ve heard the rest.

Why this sudden obsession with flying possums?, you may ask.

I fear that flying possums have been visited upon our nation, or at least my back yard. Yesterday contractors from the Electric Company came to trim our redwoods below the power lines. In true Semper Verens style, the redwoods grow about 5 feet every year.

While I was out chatting with the foreman, One of the guys up in the trees yelled cuidado debaillo (phonetic for look out below. Note I can’t spell in Spanish, deal with it). Jumping back, I expected to dodge a large branch , however, we were treated to the sight of a flying possum accelerating in our general direction. Sometimes I wish I was one of those freaks who videos their whole life. It was a sight. The possum landed about 15 feet from the tree and 5 feet from us, stopped for about 30 seconds, looked around and shuffled away. I think old pogo was having a bad day.

The lesson I learned is that possums are funnier than rats. One of our lovely rats flying towards me would not have struck me as funny. I am a non repentant specist.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The Truth About The Conspiracy

Finally someone is willing to tell the truth about the Catholic Church. After years of simply not getting it, now it all makes sense to me.




This absolutely slayed me.

That's my (OK really some British guy's) story and I'm sticking to it.

The Empty Vessel

Meanderings of a mind with vacancies. . .

Yup, the empty vessel. A symbol of the state of mind that East and South Asian inspired meditators want to attain. Looking at the blog lately, sometimes it feels like I have accidentally attained that state of mind myself. As I sit with the computer, great ideas simply do not fly out of the fingers. Not to worry, I can feel something welling up as I type this, at this very moment. Pray to all the universal forces of good that I am not channeling the recently departed William F. Buckley. However, I could live with channeling his language skills, provided I don’t get the British Public School accent in the bargain. No I don’t think it is a dead editor’s voice, so I will allow myself to continue. . .

I am trying in my addled little brain to decide if I can identify an observable difference between the symptoms of mild depression and Nirvana, Samadhi, or some other religiously sanctioned enlightened state or dead musician. As I recall, both usually involve celibacy and not doing much else either. So, if I observe these behaviors in a friend or acquaintance, what conclusion do I come to? What do I do about it? Do I send them to the Doctor or to Nepal? Maybe I should just take them out for pizza and beer. That goes well with every mood.

Now back to the mundane.

We are seeing our first installment of spring continue. I took a 15 mile bike ride Friday. T-shirt weather. I rode on the American River trail from near our place out to Jim’s Bridge. I couldn’t good pictures of the areas where I rode, but this guy’s video can give you an idea of what some parts of the trail are like, if you happen to be a really wobbly bike rider. I find some humor in the video, especially the several near spills. Anyway, it's some guy in a beard riding on the bike trail. Viewing this video will provide you with a Being John Malkovich experience. This is not a precise virtual experience, since everything is a lot greener in the spring. Nature works backwards here, where every fall the vegetation comes to life until it dies in the late spring. Go figure.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Schadenfreude; My Lunch with a Bureaucrat

As promised, I had lunch Wednesday with my former boss from the Agency. If I had to summarize what I learned, I could say that everything that bugged me about the Agency has increased, with absolutely no offsetting positives. Statewide budget shortfalls have served only to accelerate the stupidity and duplicity.

On the bright side, he pitched that I could work there part time whenever I wanted to. There are two important facts to keep in mind when thinking about this. First, bureaucrats in the Agency are notorious for promising to do things that simply are not within their power to do. Second, I absolutely hated working there. Every day presented a new challenge in maintaining a reasonable level of professional integrity. Aside from that, I say what the heck, eh?

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Funny You Don’t Look Fluish

K has been down with a bad cold this week. Symptoms began in Friday last week. She finally yesterday off, she is having a tough time. It probably would have been better to take off a day or two at the beginning of last week. Let that be a lesson to all of us.

As yoga teachers love to repeat, it is important to listen to your body and respond honestly.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Bad Timing, but is There Ever a Good Time?

We are having nearly perfect weather for this three day weekend, but it seems like half the population is sick with a cold and fever. I am hanging around the house taking care of K, who as I write this at ten in the morning is in bed sleeping it off, but with a lower fever than yesterday.

Last week I finally started putting forth some effort to contact folks I have worked with. I am starting with my former boss at what I will refer to as the agency. He is desperately looking for another agency to work for, more or less for the same reasons I bolted last fall. We’ll have lunch Wednesday.

I cannot believe how long I have put off efforts to renew contacts with work related folks. I really needed this much time to pass for the bitterness to get to a level where it isn’t apparent. I had to get to the point where I can just say things like professional issues and massive reorganization to describe my last two jobs and how they ultimately ended. Anybody with brains can figure out the story beyond that, and it certainly isn’t in my best interest to tell them.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.