WALMERIKA!

I
Shopped
MalWart
This morning
No other place for
What I needed to buy today
“Abandon all hope, those who enter these gates” it’s said
Unhappy looking ugly folks
Staff and customers
Unpleasent
So glad
To
Leave.

What I did last Week

I
Spent
Last Week
Working for
The man, yes again
Contract work, stop and go, off, on
I am guilty of the sin of greed, the dollar’s slave
Selling time for a daily wage
I had no better
Plan to spend
Last week
Shame
Shame

Recipe Time in The Kraft Korporate Kitchen

Just last night, while lying in bed, I was thinking, "man, I could really use an orange Tang flavored bacon bar cookie". If you have also had this craving, rest assured you are not alone. The Kraft Korporate Kitchen has the recipe. My favorite comment is, "looks like a poor man's haggis."

Interestingly enough, several of the comments appear to be positive. Tang, Bacon Bits and cereal, they're not just for breakfast anymore.

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

Yet More About Me, Me, Me

First - A note to my two readers

After some correspondence with a reader in Wisconsin, it has come to my attention that not all site visits are recorded on Site Meter (I guess you get what you pay for when it comes to free internet services). Therefore, you may not be my only two readers.

Now, more about me, me, me

Yoga Class

I have been taking some free classes at the gym taught by William Star. He is a good yoga teacher for where I am, although his website is positively weird on an intergalactic scale. Doing his yoga routines at home seems to make a pretty good workout for me. I feel lighter on my back & feet on days when I do some of the exercises. His routines focus on integrating the various poses into smooth routines, like you’d do in tai chi. Most of the yoga teachers run things more like tumbling in school gym class. Everybody tries to hold a weird pose and we see who collapses first. I stink at that. I also think it’s cool he is a mover in his late 50’s and he can’t sit in a lotus position.

I am not sure why I am running into so much strangeness lately. Must be a benefit of my recently breaking free of the nine-to-five grind lately. I kind of enjoy it anyhow.

Travel coming up

I actually got off my duff and planned a trip to Madison for next month. That should be fun. Hopefully this year’s hot Midwest summer will be long gone by then. I haven’t made any specific plans about what to do while there yet. I just intend to enjoy time to be together with some folks there, and maybe have a beer or two.

Work coming up

I will start tutoring in September, with some one-off review sessions starting next week. Ambitious parents of unmotivated kids are starting to get nervous (for a change), although school doesn’t start until the last week in August. I expect to get mostly geometry, algebra 2 and beyond students, since I am working with an eight grade teacher who does algebra, but leaves the rest to me.

Names for my Recorder Consort

I have been thinking about better names than Sine Nomine (which means “no name”) for my Friday consort. Further, the Vatican Institute for Music already uses the name for their Renaissance music group. I actually did some google research, and found these names to be unused;

Consort Gothica – we have earned the right to call ourselves gothic, and we are truly more gothic than any teen with dyed black hair (unless she plays really old music or writes horror/mystery tales). This is my first choice.

Sacragothica – kinda cool, but it sounds like an historic lower back pain.

Benny & the baroques – probably not a contender

A Baroque Cacophony (ABC for short) - I like this one.

DerBlokfluitenmeisters – this doesn’t do it for me.

The Fippletones – Recorders have a fipple in them

Familia Fipple – this is getting strange

The Sorrowful Slackers – from an old song title, not too attractive.

Dear readers – feel free to express your opinions. I promise they’ll be ignored.

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

A Day in The Life of The British Navy

Another entry in the "Why not the wierd" category. This killed me. Leave it to the British. This is pure pommy pandemonium.

Warp Factor Love

This one takes the cake for strange. I give his video two thumbs up. This guy really has a heart of targ.

Warp factor Love. . . I Don’t Care About the Prime Directive

You can see the entire hour long documentary, about a man who devoted his life to an obsession with William Shatner at Auto Destruct

Thanks to Will Weaton's WWDN for spotting this. WWDN is now hosted on Geek and Proud. WWDN is a good read, with the exception of when WilWesly talks about poker. It was reading WWDN that inspired Hangininsac. Alas, I imagine WilWesley has a few more readers than yours truly.

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

Jimmy Cracked Corn and I Don’t Care. . .

Master’s gone away.

I have made a couple of calls to le funque last week, and haven’t heard anything back. The threat (or opportunity) of another project looms vaguely in the future, but I can deal with that when it happens. I have been enjoying pretty nice weather, otherwise I haven’t been very productive. Have been doing more reading, cleaning up the garden, getting some publicity for the Sacramento Recorder Society’s fall events, but otherwise more or less hanging out. No madcap projects have arisen so far, but some things are peeking over the horizon.

I am thinking about spending some time and energy to support grassroots efforts aimed at crushing Sacramento County’s financially embarrassing proposal to build an arena with the sole objective of enriching the carpet bagging Maloof brothers. Sacramento needs to grow up, and this hooterville deal isn’t how it is done. This one area where I am a conservative, not a Republican Party crony conservative, rather a true conservative. I believe that given the legal ability to form corporations, sound private financial proposals belong in the private sector.

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

The fallacy of Intrinsic Fit.

This illustration depicts the fallacy that a calling stems from a match of your skills to your job. From http://ww.pobronson.com. We must have met at some point.

Readers Write - Introducing the Reverse Fibonacci

A reader sent me the following two Fibonacci haikus. Note the introduction of the “reverse fib” structure.

I
wait
to leave
stark boring
cubicle of doom.
Cool beer, warm circle of friends - soon.
Time creeps too slowly.
I dread each
minute
left
here.

The next work is attributed to my reader’s friend who will remain anonymous, because he recently changed his first name. I have not seen him since the change, and I can’t remember his new name (my apologies to Mr H).

I
work
because
so far no
lottery ticket
with winning numbers has been found
in my possession.
How unfair.
I grieve
for
me.


“Dear Reader”, as Miss Manners and English students in Korea say, provided the first seven lines of the next haiku, and I provided the rest.

It
is
hot here
and I must
rehydrate often
or I melt like warm Velveeta
on the dashboard of a pickup in a Walmart lot
an “Inconvenient Truth” melts me,
my brain, an ice cube,
liquid in
the hot
sun’s
rays.

That’s
My
Story
and I am
sticking
to
it.

Elizabethan Hit Parade

I must be a trend setter.

Early music is becoming trendy for superannuated British pop stars! All of a sudden, we are seeing Sting and Elvis Costello recording John Dowland, trying to convince everyone that they were into early music “first”. The Guardian and The Independent have both recently had articles on this new 300 year old trend. In the Guardian’s words, “Party like it’s 1599”.

These Brits are obsessed with John Dowland, probably the first British songwriter, although he may have been actually Irish. No one is really sure.

Back in this State Capitol, I am waiting for the pleasures and perils of fame to arrive. I expect my group’s (Sine Nomine’s) popularity to skyrocket, possibly to the stellar realm where we might even be able to raise an audience without playing at other peoples’ church services. When we attract more than five unrelated individuals, then I’ll know we’ve turned the corner. But don’t worry, I’ll always remember the little people.

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

Another Fibanocci Haiku

Oh
to
not be
working now.
Life in my timeframe.
I move at a leisurely pace.
Peaceful work at worthwhile tasks brings happiness to me.

So Ends Another Chapter in the History of Snivelization

I need to write here more often.

I am finding myself in a place where I have to start actually thinking once again about where or what I want for my place in this world. My current work appears to be drying up, and the only alternative I have found to date will not be suitable due to an unmanageable commute. The few commutes I have made for interviews have been exhausting for me, and although they are a high quality outfit, their mission and values are far out of line with mine. That is a recipe for unhappiness and despondency if I have ever seen one. I have to face up to the reality that I am not back to full strength. I cannot force myself to give up everything I do outside of work just to be employed. It is the whacky stuff I do like playing in the Concert Band and my recorder group that make my life good. I may be heading for a period sans income des big bucks. Maybe I can use this time creatively.

Although I haven’t been officially sent packing from the current very long temporary job, it appears the project is completed, and there isn’t much to do. That’s OK, I can use some time off this week. They may in time come up with another project, it’s hard to tell what’s in the plans given the relatively little communication I get. Therefore, I may find I have more time for blogging in the near future, as well as visiting the parents and my only reader (you know who you are) sometime in the next few months. I might want to wait a while until the weather in Wisconsin is nicer.

I can use this time to get into better shape. I spruced up my bicycle over the July 4th weekend, so we (the bike and I) are ready to go. I am thinking of putting at least a few miles on the American River Parkway tomorrow morning. That is a great place to go and I have missed it while working. I can also use my health club membership that I haven’t used for months. I may try to get a fuller schedule of math students next fall as well. The tutoring business has been pretty slow this summer, a lot of people have purchased tutoring franchises in the last year. I suspect most of them will be out of the business within the next 4 to 6 months. There just isn’t enough money in this to amortize a franchise fee, pay for rent, insurance and supplies, and provide the kind of income franchisees usually expect. The place I tutor has been in business for 20 years, and the owner (who, by the way, is a pretty cool guy) expects to stay in the business. This doesn’t pay a lot, but the work is enjoyable and pretty easy if you remember everything you learned in high school.

In the words of my slacker hero, Ernie Zelinski, “Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.”

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

My New Neighbor is a Guatemalan Demigod

Maximon has moved next door! He is a demanding god, popular in rural Guatemala. Read about Maximon here.It is important to spell his name correctly, or else on google you will find out all about maximan, an herbal male enhancement product. His name is pronounced “moshymun” in English phonetics.

Maximon demanded we provide fireworks in his honor on July 1. We and our mildly insane neighbors had a great time. You can see how happy this all made Maximon. Maximon was pleased, so life in the neighborhood can go on without the wrath of an angry god. Maximon watched the fireworks from his garage. As you can see from the picture, Maximon likes to be surrounded by women more than men. He granted me this audience since I made him gazpacho. I am the only guy in five houses in a row along our street. I am glad maximon appears to be adopting well to his new country.

Here's Maximon enjoying the fireworks.

My neighbor took an extended trip to Guatemala last year, and Maximon came home with her. Life around here has never been quite the same since. Personally, I credit Sacramento’s relatively mild summer weather to the traditional gifts of liquor and cigarettes we have presented to placate our local god. We must keep Maximon happy, and he will keep us happy, as my neighbor tells it.

Kathleen has a coworker from Guatamala whom we have introduced to maximon. We were a little hesitant at first, but fortunately they (coworker and husband) got a real kick out of him. On their last visit to Guatamala, they came back with candles for maximon. You can see the candles in tall glasses in front of my knees.

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

Only In California

I quote from the official voters’ guide for June’s primary election:

Democratic Party candidate statements:

Cruz Bustamonte

I will be an Insurance Commissioner who will make rates affordable, guarantee access to insurance, and bring health insurance under the regulatory authority of that office. But I’m starting my campaign someplace different. With myself. Insurance rates reflect not just the behavior of insurance companies, but the behavior of Californians as well. And some of that behavior is not very good. Some people commit insurance fraud, some drive recklessly, or under the influence. And some people don’t take steps to protect their children or their homes or their workplace. But the biggest factor in insurance costs is people not taking care of their health. In my case, it’s my weight. A study by the US Department of Health’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that obesity in California costs $7.7 billion a year. I want to become an example to others to lead healthier lives by losing weight myself. Fighting the obesity epidemic will lower insurance costs. I will keep my progress and program on my website. (Unlike other political websites, this will be a site dedicated to noncommercial health and nutrition information.) If you or someone you know would like to start trying to live a healthier life, join me at “StartWithCruz.com.”

The voters’ guide is meant to provide a forum for candidates to briefly state the main points of their platforms. The insurance commissioner is an elected office in California, and “the Bustinator” is the Democratic Party’s chosen candidate for the position. Although the weight loss website is pretty cool, I can’t believe this is the main thrust of his campaign!

I work in health insurance in California and deal with some basic issues every day. California’s head resides under several swords of Damocles; a high percentage of Californians without health insurance, emergency rooms closing throughout the state, poor access to healthcare in rural areas, insidious health insurance related fraud, and health insurance contribution increases outpacing citizens’ wage and salary increases. Auto, home and liability insurance in the state each have their own litany of woes as well. Under the current do-nothing Republican as well as previous Democratic administrations, these problems have been ignored and allowed to fester, while wage earners watch increasing proportions of their income eaten up by health care and auto insurance costs, supporting record California HMO profits in the last few years.

I admit I don’t have the answers, but come on Democrats, at least attempt to propose some kind of solutions, beyond saying that the commissioner will regulate insurance. Of course, if you’ve already been richly paid by the insurance industry to not do that, then keep up the good work. Just blather on about your weight problem, and ignore the real issues.

You are making the Peace and Freedom Party look like a good deal.

Their candidate for insurance commissioner, Tom Condit of Berkeley (surprise, he’s from Bizerkeley) proposes;

I advocate putting human need before insurance company profits. Let's publicly fund and manage a single system of quality health care for all, a state basic auto liability plan, and a single workers' compensation fund. I will fight discrimination based on race, sex, age, or geography.

These may not all prove to be great ideas, but these are ideas.

Cruz – I completely agree it’s for the best that you go on a diet. I hope your website helps others take better care of themselves. Hopefully this November, you will be freed from the encumbrances of public service, and you’ll be able to devote your full time efforts to fitness. Who knows, maybe you'll be the next Richard Simmons!

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

Mr Rogers Went to Washington

In 1969, Educational television’s future was looking bleak.

Mr Rogers Testified to Congress and managed to win restored funding. I really can’t add anything to what he said, so I thought I would let him speak for himself. In the words of Iggy Pop, “Mr Rogers is a real decent guy. I wish everyone could be like him.”

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

Meditation Retreat in Tomales

Last weekend, we attended a retreat at Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales. It was a quiet but highly scheduled weekend, designed for people who are experienced with Easwaran’s eight point program. The retreat was in a well- refurbished old mansion in Tomales, with a couple of field trips. I found this to be a good experience, and we had beautiful weather as well.

We all arrived between 4:00 and 5:00 on Friday afternoon, and spent about an hour getting to know each other. We meditated for a half hour and had dinner. The food was good, which is not a surprise, given one of Eknath Easwaran’s earlier followers was Laurel Robertson, author of Laurel’s Kitchen.

Among the instructors for our retreat were a couple training to be retreat leaders. They are both doctors at Kaiser somewhere in Southern California. Their experience added a lot to the retreat, since they could share experiences related to living a hectic and busy life, being doctors and raising kids. They gave the retreat a more down to earth feel.

The other retreat participants were a pretty interesting bunch, including a younger couple with 3 year old triplets, another physician, two or three therapists, three nurses, a guy about my age who had a liver transplant a few years back, an adherent of 12-point programs, and a mother and her two young adult daughters. Everybody seemed to get along pretty well.

Most of the other participants seem to go to one or two retreats a year. Many feel close to each other, giving meal times somewhat of a reunion atmosphere.

After dinner we had an evening instructional program where we discussed our meditation practices and mantra. The sessions were more like discussions than lectures. The session ended with a videotaped talk by Easwaran, the founder of the BMCM. Easwaran died in his 80s in 1999. His talks were interesting and entertaining. I found I preferred the older talks, he seemed a bit peppier when he was only in his 60s. We went to bed early to prepare for Saturday. Man, that place was quiet.

Saturday opened with a meditation session at 6:30. We awoke early, showered and had coffee so we wouldn’t be as likely to nod off during mediation. Meditation was followed by quiet time and then breakfast. Breakfast was made by the handyman, who had a very friendly 20 year old cat hanging around looking for attention. More workshop, more meditation and lunch followed. We had an afternoon field trip to the walk on the local beach, which was very pleasant. Just before going to Dillon beach, we watched a video of Easwaran and his wife walking on the same beach, holding hands and (at least we were told) repeating their mantra. It was a nice walk, but the wind off the ocean was cold. I cheated, I didn’t repeat my mantrum all the time.

After we drove back from the beach, we had an hour and a half of free time. We walked around Tomales, which is a town of about 500 people or so. At this point, I had half a mind to visit the local tavern and get juiced. We just walked back to the retreat house. The break was followed by more workshop, meditation and dinner. We had steamed broccoli, and tasty oven roasted potatoes with a peanut sauce. That was a good dinner. The lunches and dinners all had home made cookies and sometimes brownies available as well.

Sunday was a half day, starting with meditation, quiet study and breakfast. We drove out to Ramagiri ashram, just outside of Tomales. This is a former monastery Easwaran bought and set up as a publishing house, small farm and ashram. We all were greeted by Christine Easwaran, who appears to be running things at Ramagiri. We took group pictures, and had a tour of the facility. I have to be honest and say the place creeped me out a little. I got over it.

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

Calling All Concert Band Groupies

For all those band music fans out there, the Sacramento Concert Band Will appear Monday Night at The beautiful and historic St Francis Church just across L Street from the even more historic Sutter’s Fort.

The band features the hanging guy himself in a tux, no less (that is, if playing non-principal second clarinet counts as being featured. In any event, I am featured as the stage manager. That’s the guy who gets there early and counts stands and chairs. The program includes several “serious pieces”, including Gordon Jacob’s “Original Suite for Military Band" and the Martin Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium”. “Pops tunes” include works by Hoagy Carmicheal and George Gershwin. By the way, did I mention the concert is FREE? I honestly ask you, does a Monday night in Sacramento ever get better than this?

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

A Night At The Opera

We went to see the local university's annual opera, put on by the California State University Sacramento Music Department.

They did a kick-assidly good performance of Don Giovanni. Let the record show that it was in Hangininsac that the first use of the word “kick-assedly” appeared in an opera review. No doubt the New York Times will steal this and claim it as their own.

Featured in the title role was Schola Cantorum ’s very own Eugene Chan. He was brilliant, although it’s always funny seeing someone you’ve known as a boy in the choir playing the amoral seducer. As in all university productions I have attended, the orchestra was great. Those kids make me realize that in the woodwind area, I basically suck. Good thing I have no pretensions in that direction beyond having a quirky hobby.

I recommend this opera to anyone in the area who has the time-lost ability to sit still for three hours.

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

An Appeal To Reason From Great Minds

Recent developments have made me start thinking about the wisdom and sanity of the various approaches to managing relations among nations. In my mind, the unspoken reality is that technology has advanced to the point that even talking about a nuclear oligopoly keeping the nuclear peace simply will not work in the 21st century. I believe we are at a crossroads, where the futility of attempting to control nuclear weapons in a world full of bellicose nations becomes self evident. The Soviet Union’s rather speedy development of a nuclear arsenal in the late 1940s and early 1950’s raised similar questions.

The greatest minds of the day rose to the challenge. Their response and vision is summarized in the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, first issued July 1955 in London. You can read it for yourself here. http://www.pugwash.org/about/manifesto.htm

The manifesto brought to bear the realization that with two nuclear powers competing, the idea of reliance on military means to address international conflict is not acceptable. It seems to me that with numerous nuclear powers, the agenda becomes far more immediate than in the 1950’s.

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

Enumerating Binomials for Fun and Profit

Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, let’s talk about my favorite subject, me. My full time at work has been extended two weeks into May. Since I had expected to be about half-time, I have a lot of commitments outside of work. Funny they are a little irked at me, since I will miss several partial days in order to keep my commitments. I’ll be involved in pursuits far more enjoyable and suitable than they can provide.

In any event, I actually was able to use the binomial theorem to solve a real and immediate problem involving individual and family – level payment limitations. A note to snotty high School Students who like to ask, “When will I ever use this?” Well, I learned this in Algebra 2, and I made about $500 using it for a couple of hours.

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