We had an event yesterday morning that is sinking and settling into my brain in ways that make me uncomfortable. We live in a small town with the usual small town issues. We have been spared many of those issues, but have heard of others not so fortunate. I generally have the thought that most people are good, but don't put yourself in a situation that tests other people to be good. That means I try not to give others a chance to do bad things. I have fenced and secured the alley. We don't leave tools, bikes and objects out for others to take.
Yesterday morning that changed. Someone jumped our back fence from the alley and tried to steal some of our tools. In the process they walked into the outside bedroom on our son. He startled them and they ran. We were awakened, the police called and the yard and even the neighborhood was secured. I haven't gone through all of the tools, but they seem to all have been recovered. They were stashed in bushes in the alley and in the church yard down the alley awaiting pickup later. Eventually the police found someone they suspected of the crime and found some of our objects in their possession. We'll see where that will go.
What has hit me in the time afterwards are some unpleasant thoughts about how I live and the society I live in. I know there is bad where we live. We have friends that have been visited by bad, but this is the first time bad has visited us. I thought I had prepared better. I haven't, and that bothers me.
The outside room has always been a fun place. In the multiple years in took to build, most all of our family has slept there at one time or another. Our young adult son living there now enjoys having some autonomy while still living at home. I am still finishing up some of the details such as locks and deadbolts. Did I put him in harm's way by not finishing them sooner? I will wonder that for a while.
We don't have many tools. It has taken years and decades to put together the tool room. Old planes, chisels, woodworking tools, and newer tools such as a nail gun for my sore elbow. To see them in the alley awaiting departure has sickened me. I would never have replaced some of those tools. Some were gifts from my children. I'm not easy to give gifts to and they put some effort into the tools they gave.
I guess I'm sickened on many fronts. The society we live in that produces a need to take other's goods and the people that take them. I'm no Pollyanna that lives with Bambi in the meadow. I teach young people that I know don't have as many options as others through no fault of their own. And one of the bigger causes in they grow up not being taught the desire to better themselves through their efforts and work. They learn to believe they are owed what they want. But I can only try to help.
The biggest sinking feeling I'm having now is that I failed my family. I thought I was prepared better than I was. That I can change and fix.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Filling the Hole with a Tree
Between baseball and dog walking, we transplanted a peach tree. We being Maureen dug the hole and I filled it in after she moved the tree to the hole. We've been wanting to move trees to their final spot for a while, and this one is the first. Hopefully more will follow soon and our suburban orchard will be complete. Taking other trees out is part of the reason for slow movement, but the reality is I'm busy elsewhere. I need to make this a priority.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Another Year
Yesterday we had our scrimmage for the 2014 season. I paused a bit to think back about what I've been a part of as a baseball coach. This is my 22nd year as the Varsity Head coach out of a total of 29 years coaching baseball at the high school level. I wonder if I've stayed around because no one else was available to coach.
I was blessed to start my coaching career while trying to play at the College of the Sequoias. I had trouble hitting the college curveball, so our coach, Bert Holt, put be in the"lineup" as the 1st base coach. I got to be in the game instead of sitting. Icame to enjoy coaching first base. I was blessed to play for Bert, enshrined in the California Junior College Hall of Fame; Pete Beiden, College Baseball Hall of Fame; Ray Strable; Manny Kouklis; and other great coaches. Maybe with this lineage and a love of baseball meant I was to be a coach. I don't know, but with the patience of Maureen I'm still coaching.
Though we aren't supposed to keep score in a scrimmage, we scored more runs. Our pitching did well and for now we are feeling good about ourselves. Starting 1 March the games start counting and we'll see where we really are.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
On This Date
Some things that happened on this date courtesy of nndb.com:
| Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris Allan | Hunter on Queer as Folk | |||
| Jennifer Aniston | Rachel on Friends | |||
| Max Baer | Beat Max Schmeling in 1933 | |||
| Tammy Baldwin | Congresswoman, Wisconsin 2nd | |||
| Frank Batten | Founder, The Weather Channel | |||
| William Beckett | Lead vocals, The Academy Is... | |||
| Lloyd Bentsen, Jr. | US Senator, Treasury Secretary | |||
| John R. Beyrle | US Ambassador to Russia, 2008-11 | |||
| Paul Bocuse | Bocuse d'Or, nouvelle cuisine | |||
| Brandy | R&B singer turned sitcom star | |||
| Jeb Bush | Governor of Florida, 1999-2007 | |||
| Mel Carnahan | Dead man, still defeated John Ashcroft | |||
| Sheryl Crow | All I Wanna Do | |||
| D'Angelo | Grammy-winning Sexy R&B Singer | |||
| Colgate W. Darden, Jr. | Governor of Virginia, 1942-46 | |||
| Natalie Dormer | Anne Boleyn on The Tudors | |||
| Thomas Edison | Invented the light bulb | |||
| Rudolf Firkusny | Czech-American piano prodigy | |||
| Antony Flew | British Libertarian philosopher | |||
| Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle | Nouveaux Dialogues des Morts | |||
| Melville W. Fuller | US Chief Justice, 1888-1910 | |||
| Eva Gabor | Green Acres | |||
| Hans-Georg Gadamer | Truth and Method | |||
| Gay Hart Gaines | Chairman of GOPAC, 1993-97 | |||
| Robert Gallucci | President, MacArthur Foundation | |||
| J. Willard Gibbs | Elementary Principles in Statistical Mathematics | |||
| Bryan Gould | Former MP, Dagenham | |||
| Pope Gregory XIV | Roman Catholic Pope, 1590-91 | |||
| Billy Halop | Dead End Kid | |||
| Yukio Hatoyama | Prime Minister of Japan, 2009-10 | |||
| Keith Holyoake | Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1960-72 | |||
| Ernest Istook | Congressman from Oklahoma, 1993-2007 | |||
| Conrad Janis | Fredzo on Mork & Mindy | |||
| Alex Jones | Conspiracy theorist for a buck | |||
| Sonny Landham | Billy Bear in 48 Hrs. | |||
| Taylor Lautner | The Adventures of Sharkboy | |||
| Matthew Lawrence | Actor-brother of Joey Lawrence | |||
| Rex Lease | The Monster Walks | |||
| Michael O. Leavitt | US Secretary, Health and Human Services | |||
| William Levitt | Creator of Levittown | |||
| Damian Lewis | Band of Brothers | |||
| Sandra Tsing Loh | The Loh Life | |||
| Tina Louise | Ginger on Gilligan's Island | |||
| Carey Lowell | ADA Jamie Ross on Law & Order | |||
| Otto Ludwig | Der Erbförster | |||
| Buz Lukens | Congressman from Ohio, 1987-90 | |||
| Joseph L. Mankiewicz | The Barefoot Contessa | |||
| Clarence W. Meadows | Governor of West Virginia, 1945-49 | |||
| Jeffrey Meek | Craig Montgomery on As the World Turns | |||
| Sergio Mendes | Bossa Nova bandleader | |||
| Momus | Scottish music critic, famous for 15 people | |||
| Roy Moore | Alabama Chief Justice, 2000-03 | |||
| Leslie Nielsen | Airplane! | |||
| Manuel Noriega | Panamanian dictator | |||
| Jim O'Brien | Head Coach of Indiana Pacers, 2007-11 | |||
| Aubrey O'Day | All About Aubrey | |||
| Terrence O'Donnell | Justice, Ohio Supreme Court | |||
| Michael Oxley | Congressman from Ohio, 1981-2007 | |||
| Sarah Palin | Governor of Alaska, 2006-09 | |||
| Boris Pickett | Monster Mash | |||
| Burt Reynolds | Moustached Cannonball Run actor | |||
| Kelly Rowland | One-third of Destiny's Child | |||
| Sidney Sheldon | Annie Get Your Gun | |||
| Jerome J. Shestack | Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis | |||
| Mike Shinoda | Singer/instrumentalist for Linkin Park | |||
| Joseph H. Short | Harry S. Truman's press secretary | |||
| Rob Simmons | Congressman from Connecticut, 2001-07 | |||
| Kelly Slater | Eight-time World Champion surfer | |||
| Kim Stanley | Seance on a Wet Afternoon | |||
| Alexander Hamilton Stephens | Confederate Vice President | |||
| Leo Szilard | Nuclear chain reaction | |||
| William Henry Fox Talbot | Calotype method of photography | |||
| Ben Verwaayen | CEO of Alcatel-Lucent | |||
| Varg Vikernes | Norwegian black metallurgist | |||
| Gene Vincent | Be-Bop-A-Lula | |||
| Louis H. Wilson, Jr. | 26th USMC Commandant, 1975-79 | |||
| Rob Woodall | Congressman, Georgia 7th |
Friday, February 7, 2014
What Would You Like Back?
Last night I spent another wonderful Thursday night with
Greg and Jim. They both retired after last year and have included me in their
weekly get togethers. It’s been fun to
talk about school with people that have been in the trenches. They also like to hear about former
colleagues and how education is changing.
What is always refreshing is they bring such a wide range of
thoughts and ideas to any subject. One
is a Missouri
born former architecture student turned English/Special Ed/Computer Drafting
teacher. The other is a Michigan raised homemade
intellectual that is a Humanities and Video savant. The conversations range all over and include
so many topics that to describe the evening is hard. It was just another
wonderful night with eclectic friends talking about anything that comes to mind.
After talking about school, our lives, Sherlock, weather in various parts of the country, Maninism (male version of Feminism) in literature, cars, high school, college, road trips and other assorted topics a question was asked: What have you owned that you wish you had back?
I could only think of two that I would really wish to have back in my possession, and one was mine in name only. Over the years I have owned a variety of guitars that have eventually all been sold off. When you're in the middle of summer with another month before the next paycheck, guitars are reasonably easy to sell. And family is a bit more important than something sitting in a case collecting dust. So off go the Gibson EB-2 bass, a Washburn dreadnought that never felt good, a prototype Takamine archtop jazz guitar that I didn't have an amp for, and a Martin 12 string with a 12 fret neck that the New Christie Minstrels owned at one time. The one I wish I had back though is a late 70's Guild D-25 bought in Ashland, Oregon. It had newer tuners and felt and played great, and was just a versatile guitar.
The other Wish Back is amid 80's Toyota 4x4 long bed pickup bought from a colleague that Brad drove until the transfer case needed work and we couldn't afford the repair. I do wish we had just parked the truck and fixed it later. But life goes on and someday the Wish Backs hopefully will come back.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
To Train, Or Not to Train
Yesterday I read a story in the local paper about the California High Speed Rail and it's local affects in our area, especially two of the larger towns. It was written by a San Jose Mercury reporter, and I guess was sent out over the press wires. It was a longish piece for our paper, and it explains this issue how it is splitting families and towns around here.
I use Amtrak when I can and it is a money saving option. I like the traveling ease of Amtrak, but there are a few things that bother me about rail travel in our section of the US currently. Amtrak is subsidized. That is how they they make it work out financially. I wish it weren't so. Our most common personal trip is from Hanford to Napa. At today's ticket prices and gas cost, it is cheaper to drive a car per person when there are two or more traveling. So most of the time we drive. When one person is traveling, or one person has to go up earlier than others, then we use the train.
The logistics also include travel to the train station in Hanford which is an hour and gas added on our end. Maybe taking the bus would be easier, but would be more costly. At the north end, someone has to be available to pick us up, or we walk a mile to our destination. That's not too hard really. I guess for a train user this logistical effort is something that will have to be factored in and our paradigm will have to change if train travel is really to take off. But that is just background and is just personal background to what I've been thinking when it comes to the High Speed Rail.
I believe in the basic premise of rail travel, and the High Speed train in general, but it has yet to really pay for itself. Everything I've read about Amtrak mentions lack of ridership as a culprit for operating in the red. Most of the times I travel the trains are mostly full. Some sections of the trip have more riders than others. I have to admit the lack of riders in Hanford usually is made up the farther north we go. So if the government can't operate the current train service at a breakeven level, how can they operate a more expensive train, with less stops, and not lose more money?
It seems to me that there are two scenarios for this to happen. If the government believes that this is a service that the people they govern should have and use, then they can justify the cost as a service provided. In our Valley of Bad Air, if people would use the train, I would bet some of our air quality issues would be reduced. Not much, but some. I can see the government trying to raise ridership to help that situation. So the costs of providing this service are paid for with taxes. But that is going to take a change in how we as Californians think about travel and convenience. More money will have to be spent for other surface travel; buses, taxis, trams; to make train travel easier before the trip and after reaching the destination. I would be willing to pay a few more dollars for such a service it it becomes more convenient. Better yet, I'd bet there are current tax dollars that could be found for this instead of taxing more.
The other option for this is to raise the cost of riding the train. The article talks about how there are impoverished people needing medical care in San Francisco or Los Angeles that can't afford to drive to those cities for their care. The High Speed Rail(HSR) is supposed to make that easier. How? If the current cost of gas is too much, and the current Amtrak fare is too much, how will a more expensive train be cheaper for these to make the needed medical journey?
Another argument is that the HSR will open up the job market for an area that has more than double the unemployment rate of the country. I am expected now to commute to work out of the area for a job? Where are these jobs? Most people I know use their cars after they get to work, completing their job, so trains commuting isn't much of an option for them. Again our paradigm needs to change, but how do I pay for this until it changes?
The last argument for the HSR in the article was offered by a Visalia office manager. She said, "I just took a trip to Paris, and we visited Versailles on a high-speed train. It's an awful long drive to San Francisco, but if I could get there on the train more quickly, I'd go there more often." So I am now supposed to help a woman that can make a trip to Europe have a quicker trip to vacation in San Francisco? If you can afford a trip to Paris, then you should be able to pay for your train trip here. And why not spend your dollars here so the sales tax money stays here where it is needed?
Overall the HSR seems to be a political coup, a boost for above average income earners, or another way to spend taxpayer's money for something that will take decades for the people to change their habits and use.
And why did they start the project in the middle, in farm land instead of nearer the cities?
I use Amtrak when I can and it is a money saving option. I like the traveling ease of Amtrak, but there are a few things that bother me about rail travel in our section of the US currently. Amtrak is subsidized. That is how they they make it work out financially. I wish it weren't so. Our most common personal trip is from Hanford to Napa. At today's ticket prices and gas cost, it is cheaper to drive a car per person when there are two or more traveling. So most of the time we drive. When one person is traveling, or one person has to go up earlier than others, then we use the train.
The logistics also include travel to the train station in Hanford which is an hour and gas added on our end. Maybe taking the bus would be easier, but would be more costly. At the north end, someone has to be available to pick us up, or we walk a mile to our destination. That's not too hard really. I guess for a train user this logistical effort is something that will have to be factored in and our paradigm will have to change if train travel is really to take off. But that is just background and is just personal background to what I've been thinking when it comes to the High Speed Rail.
I believe in the basic premise of rail travel, and the High Speed train in general, but it has yet to really pay for itself. Everything I've read about Amtrak mentions lack of ridership as a culprit for operating in the red. Most of the times I travel the trains are mostly full. Some sections of the trip have more riders than others. I have to admit the lack of riders in Hanford usually is made up the farther north we go. So if the government can't operate the current train service at a breakeven level, how can they operate a more expensive train, with less stops, and not lose more money?
It seems to me that there are two scenarios for this to happen. If the government believes that this is a service that the people they govern should have and use, then they can justify the cost as a service provided. In our Valley of Bad Air, if people would use the train, I would bet some of our air quality issues would be reduced. Not much, but some. I can see the government trying to raise ridership to help that situation. So the costs of providing this service are paid for with taxes. But that is going to take a change in how we as Californians think about travel and convenience. More money will have to be spent for other surface travel; buses, taxis, trams; to make train travel easier before the trip and after reaching the destination. I would be willing to pay a few more dollars for such a service it it becomes more convenient. Better yet, I'd bet there are current tax dollars that could be found for this instead of taxing more.
The other option for this is to raise the cost of riding the train. The article talks about how there are impoverished people needing medical care in San Francisco or Los Angeles that can't afford to drive to those cities for their care. The High Speed Rail(HSR) is supposed to make that easier. How? If the current cost of gas is too much, and the current Amtrak fare is too much, how will a more expensive train be cheaper for these to make the needed medical journey?
Another argument is that the HSR will open up the job market for an area that has more than double the unemployment rate of the country. I am expected now to commute to work out of the area for a job? Where are these jobs? Most people I know use their cars after they get to work, completing their job, so trains commuting isn't much of an option for them. Again our paradigm needs to change, but how do I pay for this until it changes?
The last argument for the HSR in the article was offered by a Visalia office manager. She said, "I just took a trip to Paris, and we visited Versailles on a high-speed train. It's an awful long drive to San Francisco, but if I could get there on the train more quickly, I'd go there more often." So I am now supposed to help a woman that can make a trip to Europe have a quicker trip to vacation in San Francisco? If you can afford a trip to Paris, then you should be able to pay for your train trip here. And why not spend your dollars here so the sales tax money stays here where it is needed?
Overall the HSR seems to be a political coup, a boost for above average income earners, or another way to spend taxpayer's money for something that will take decades for the people to change their habits and use.
And why did they start the project in the middle, in farm land instead of nearer the cities?
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