KIERLAND RESORT

It is almost time. Next week we are driving to Scottsdale to spend four days at the Westin Kierland Resort. Here is a link: http://www.kierlandresort.com/golf_spa/index.php

We have been going to the Westin Kierland for the past four years. It is the perfect winter "getaway" Resort. The hotel is on the Kierland Golf Course and it is stunning. Next door is Kierland Commons with all the shopping and Dining you would ever want.

You can start your day with a good Breakfast and then head to the pool. Spend a few hours reading or go to the Spa. Then take a Nap and get ready for Dinner. The next day....do it again.

It seems like only YESTERDAY

It is that time of year. My Birthday is next Monday. I will be 61 years old. I still feel like I did when I was 15. I think your body ages but your self image reaches a high water mark and then you stay there inside your head for the rest of your life.

I've learned a lot over the last 60 plus years. All kinds of things have changed. There was no Internet or even computers when I was a kid. No cell phones. All this stuff has grown up with me through the 1950s, 60s, 70s and on.

People haven't really changed much. OK, maybe the people have changed but human nature has stayed about the same. As a teenager I was always disappointed on my Birthday. My expectations were always higher then the reality. Last year was about the worst. I was turning 60 and wanted my daughters to come visit. They passed. It still upsets me. Maybe this year will be different?

When you get to be this old you have to look ahead. How many more Birthdays do I have? My parents lived to be 80. They were not very good at staying healthy. I'm thinking I can live to be 85. That would be 2032. Jack would be 27 years old then. That sounds like a good goal. To live to be 85. I'll update this every year to see how close I come.

WINTER

Winter is coming to Los Angeles. The day time high for Saturday and Sunday is supposed to be in the 50s. Nights may get down to the high 30s. Local weather people are saying this is a "50 year storm" coming to Southern California. Brrr, this is not the Southern California we know and love. Advisories are out to bring in pets and sensitive plants. We may have....FROST.

WINTER SOLSTICE

It's the most wonderful time of the year. I copied this photo of Santa vrs Jesus from Cody's Blog. I had to laugh. Nice work Cody. I'm proud of you.

You can call it by many names. The Chinese call it, Dongzhi and it was originally an end-of-harvest festival. Today, it is observed as a family reunion over the long night, when pink and white tangyuan are eaten in sweet broth to symbolise family unity and prosperity. We call it Christmas after the christian holiday that was substituted to replace the pagan Solstice Festival. Our Celtic ancestors drug dead trees into the cave to set on fire to bring back the light of the fading sun. What ever you call it you need to know the truth....it is WINTER SOLSTICE.

This Holiday began 10,000 years ago when people understood that the sun was getting weaker each day. Fear of the cold winter and starvation made them perform rituals designed to bring back the sun and make the plants grow. It was not uncommon for people to starve through the winter waiting for Spring to return.

As time has progressed and we have become smarter. We understand the seasons and don't fear Winter Solstice the way they did so long ago. Still, we celebrate. Some in that Wal-Mart fake kind of way and others in a more traditional way. All of us understand it will be ok....Spring is coming out of the dark winter. Happy Solstice to all.

The WERNER AA10

Our new Home is a Condo. It's perfect but we don't have a basement. Growing up we ALWAYS had a basement. It was the place to store important junk that we used only once in a great while. Camping stuff, Christmas ornaments, my Dad's sawed off shot gun. That kind of stuff.

Our Condo has an attic. We were told when we bought the place, "Do not store things in the attic". The furnace/air conditioner are up there and there is supposedly ...NO SPACE.

Turns out there is quite a lot of space. Over 100 sq feet on a platform of 3/4 inch plywood. It's room for a service man to work around the furnace if needed. We took 20 sq feet and used it for storage. The only problem, how do you get into the attic.

Wandering around Lowes I found the Werner AA10. Wow it was too good to be true. A real telescoping ladder that will fit an opening 22" X 22". We bought it and set it up over two evenings. I did much of the work. Pam and Jack helped by asking questions and staying out of the way of falling tools. It works really well.

You get a pole to reach up and pull down the ladder sections. Sweet. Easy to work and strong, like Bull.

MORE....."Better late then never..."

OJ gets 15 years in Nevada prison. What? Does this seem fair to you?

Ya, I know he killed his wife and got away with it.....old news. The legal system was wrong then too. But 15 years for what? Telling another guy to hold a gun on another cheeseball scum bag.

What happens in Vegas...Stays in Nevada State prison. Guess the Goldman's are happy.

PROP 8 THE MUSICAL

If you haven't seen this you must go look.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8


Hollywood has joined the fight....late. The vote is over and NOW, they make fun of Prop 8. Where were you lazy fucks during the debate?

A week before the vote, we called the "NO on 8" Office to get a No on 8 sign for our home. They were out, but we were told....we are getting more printed. Pam and I went to Staples and made our own signs.

I am convinced this No on 8 campaign was lost because so many people just did not vote. The thinking was....Obama will win Kalifornia...so I don't really need to go vote. What happened is: every Black person in Kalifornia vote for Obama and 73 % of them voted YES on 8. They were told by the Black Ministers that..."Queers getting married is against God's law." No place does it say that...check the 10 Commandments, Bible, etc. And, Black people being discriminated against is soooo... wrong but it is OK with Blacks to discriminate against Gays. Brother, I'm so pissed off about this....fuck!

Now....a month after the VOTE was lost, the Hollywood actors, [25% of which are Gay] decide to make fun of Prop 8 and create this Musical........better Late then never I guess.

AUTO BAIL OUT...one more time.

No, NO, no no no. Do not give GM or Chrysler any money......NO! How can BMW and Toyota grow profitably while GM loses money? Mercedes Benz attempted to make Chrysler profitable and failed. The Germans failed to make it work.............DUH. It is a loser. Do not give them more money.

Regardless of what is said, I will not buy a GM or Chrysler automobile in the future. I think the companies are poorly managed and the Auto Workers are lazy poorly educated idiots who do not care about quality.

I thought about this today on my way to work. I did not see a single GM car on the road. I thought what would it take for me to buy a GM automobile? It would mean that BMW stopped making cars. That Volkswagen had gone out of business. That Honda and Ford had folded. Then and only then, would I consider a GM car.

In 2007 BMW made 1,541,503 vehicles. GM produced 9,349,818. Yet, BMW made money and GM is looking for a Government bail out. Don't do it. GM can not manage the money they make now.

Support vehicle brands that produce quality cars and trucks. Let the losers close.

MY OFFICE

The Office I work in sucks. I'm not talking about my job. My job is OK and the Company is OK too. I'm talking about the Building and Office in which I work. It is just plain awful.

My current office is at 16700 Valley View Ave in La Mirada, California. We moved here 18 months ago and it has been terrible. Our Company had a wonderful office located about three miles from my home. Everyone in our Office complained about the location because it was too far to drive....except for me. We looked for a new office to rent that was cheaper and centrally located. We got both. Now the office is 25 miles from my home. It is cheaper but that isn't a good thing.

Our Old Office was in a brand new Office Building up in the hills over looking Orange County. We had a fitness center, and kitchen, and cable TV. Parking was never a problem and there was a Deli in the next building. Sweet ! Our new office is in a 25 year old building in a warehouse district. We have a room we call the kitchen. It has a sink with no hot water. On cool days it is cold in the office. We complained yesterday after a week of working in our coats and they checked. It was 55 degrees in the office. The Men's Rest Room is frequently closed for repair. A month ago, it flooded water down the hall. There is no food or vending equipment in the building.

In short the Office and the Building sucks. This morning I came to work and the doors would not open....even though I have a pass key. The ground floor of our Office Building has a "Medical Office". This is really a drug testing center. The people who wander around the building are....what you might expect at a drug testing center.

The issue here is NOT the Building. The problem is the Office Management Company. They are OPTIMA Asset Management. You can go to their web site to read the Blah blah blah. http://www.optimaasset.com/ The short version is they do as little as possible and only respond to a problem after you complain twice in writing. They want all complaints sent to them by email. The person who answers the email quit and now we don't get answers.

12/7/1941.."a date which will live in infamy "

December 7, 1941, was my parent's generation, 9/11. As a kid I remember them retelling stories of where they were when they heard the news that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. News traveled more slowly in 1941 and most of the urgent news was on the radio. They would say, "We interrupt our regular programing with this urgent News report...The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii." WOW, the impact was as powerful as the morning I sat and watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center.

We should all know why the Japanese attacked. The Japanese had grown into an industrial country. In the process, they need more and more resources to maintain their production economy. A faction in the Japanese government believed the only way to secure these resources was through invasion. The Japanese began by invading Manchuria and then China. Later they invaded French Indo-China [Vietnam]. The English and French interest in Asia were not being watched as War developed in Europe. The United States cut off oil sales to Japan in an effort to stop the military expansion in Asia. This led to the plan to bomb Pearl Harbor and destroy the US Fleet.

As a result of the bombing, the US declared War on Japan and later Germany. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor brought America into World War II. It is important that we remember this event, why it happened, and how America responded. There is a lesson in this pain. More importantly, we need to remember each year for those who fought to defend our country.

The PRESS

It looks like the traditional Newspaper is near death. Nobody seems to care. I grew up reading the newspaper. The Stars & Stripes, the Post Dispatch, the Rocky Mountain News, USA Today, and the LA Times.

Nearly every day one of these PRINT MEDIA [ the new word for newspapers] is cutting staff and closing offices. Small town newspapers are nearly gone. Big city papers are close behind.

The people we call the news people, The PRESS, got their name from the Printing of newspaper. Soon they will have to change the name to the BLOG or the WEB. The PRESS will be long gone.

If you are not buying a newspaper, you won't miss a thing. It has been over 400 years since the invention of movable type that newspapers have been printed. Are they doomed? Will the Internet kill the newspaper?

A HARD RAIN

"Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall."
Dylan 1963

There sure is a lot of Doom on TV, the Internet, and in the paper. Yes, I am one of the last 12 people on Earth who reads a Newspaper. Soon, they will be gone too. But enough of my crusade about the newspapers. Back to Doom, things don't look good.

I Blogged earlier about the EOTWAWKI, the end of the world as we know it. As I read more each day I'm convinced of two possible situations:

A] Things are bad and the world will be forced into a global depression.

B] The Financial Sector of the Western economy is a mess, but things will be the same.

Over the recent Thanksgiving Holiday we did a little shopping and went out to dinner. Things looked busy to me. I did not see any negative economic impact. There seems to be a disconnect between the NEWS and the Life I am leading. Maybe things are not as bad as the News people say?

Yesterday I read that we have been in a recession for almost a year. They say the recession started in December of 2007. Again, I know the news has been bad, but things have NOT been bad for a year. We bought a new home in October of 2007 and that was about the end of the new home boom. Not many new homes being built. I do see apartments being built, so there seems to be some construction work around us. Still, things just don't look so bad.

Read Peggy Noonan's article about this at: http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

So, the economy may just be OK, or it is slowly sliding into a deep depression that we may struggle with for a decade or more. The best advice is to be careful what you spend and if you have a job, quietly look for a second one. The old Boy Scout motto is still the best. BE PREPARED.

THANKSGIVING 2008

I just want to say, thanks. I am the luckiest guy on earth. I have had a wonderful life and my future looks even better.

I was lucky to have Bill and Mary Helen for my parents. I never appreciated them enough when they were alive. As I have gotten older I understand the sacrifices they made and how much they cared about me. I knows it's late, but thanks Mom and Dad. You were great and you made me what I am today.

I have also been lucky to have Greg Manning for my friend. Greg and I sat next to each other in Physics at Austin High School. We became friends and room mates in College. Greg was best man at three of my weddings. After 40 years, Greg is the person I have known the longest and he has always been there when I needed him. Thanks Greg, I am really sorry I missed the plane back in 1970.

I have been lucky to have great children. None of them went "wrong" and got into serious trouble. They were all smart, if a little hard headed. They have made me proud to be their father. Jennifer, Kate, Meredith, Colleen, and Jack are all wonderful in their own way and I am thankful for knowing them.

I am lucky to have met Pam Olroyd. We met by accident at the Onion in Urbana, Illinois. She had a broken toe and I was sitting in on her job interview. Bob "Splanet" never understood us. We knew within the first five minutes that we hit it off. From Gin Blossoms to the TPS report, Pam understands me and appreciates me like no other person I have known. I'm proud she is my wife and I love her more each day. Thanks Pam for being....perfect.

My life has been wonderful and I do not take it for granted. I am really thankful. Thankful for the tree house my Dad helped me build in Omaha. Thankful that my Mom made me punch Pat Bowler when he chased me home after school. Thankful that Dad taught me to drive on the Autobahn and Mom taught me to drink Irish Whiskey. Thankful that Pam hasn't complained about the price of Gold. It's all been great and I am really thankful.

LA AUTO SHOW UPDATE

So we went to the Auto Show. we got there just after the doors opened on Saturday. It was CASH ONLY....brother.

We walked it and it was cool. The lay out was much bigger with less cars and more walking around area. I took some photos:

HEAD LIGHTS

STEERING WHEELS

HOODS

SEATS

TIRES and WHEELS

And the Lady who could not read the sign in English....Keep off of Display. We saw Ahrnold, Der Govenator in the Porsche Display. Er sprach mit dem Porsche represenatives, auf Deutsch.

The LOS ANGELES Auto Show

It's that time again. Time to go downtown and walk around to look at new cars. Dad used to take me to the Auto Dealers back when I was a kid. They would have grand openings to show the new cars. This happened in October each year and they served coffee and cookies. Dad and I would go look at the new cars and stand around with the guys.

Later, as Dad and I got older, we would go to the Bel-Clair fairgrounds back in Belleville to see the new cars. It wasn't much of an auto show...kind of small. Regardless, Dad liked to walk around and look at the cars and it always reminded me of those early years when we went to the dealers.

Dad is gone. He never got to see the LA Auto Show. I'm taking Jack and Pam this year. I want to start a new tradition with Jack going to see the new cars and standing around with the guys. The LA Auto Show runs 11/21 thru 11/30 at the LA Convention Center. Kids under 12 are free, but they will have years of memories.

PRIDE

There are moments in a father's life that really make it all worth while. Nobody understands this but the parents, who have worked so hard to help make their children's lives a success. I never understood my Mom when she talked about these moments in my life with her. Sorry, Mom...now I get it.

As I write this, tears roll down my face thinking of the day Colleen passed her drivers test. She tried and failed but came back and did it. I was so proud of her. I was proud of Meredith the night she ran on the stage to help Colleen sing her song in the Christmas Play. I was proud of Jennifer when she graduated college, in spite of a family history of problems. Last night I nearly burst into tears when Jack went "potty" on his own. He has worked really hard to be a "big boy" and to stop wearing diapers. He was soooo proud of himself and I am so proud of him. If my Mom was alive, she would agree. It is these little things that make being a parent wonderful.

In the name of GOoD

Caution...I am writing about atheism. If you believe Bill Maher you can continue to read. If you believe in the invisible man in the sky.....do your self a favor and skip this post.

Billboards have been popping up all over the country. They say, "don't believe in god....you are not alone." Talk radio and the Internet are buzzing about the New Atheist attack on Amerikan values. Many secular humanist, free thinkers, and hard line atheist are smiling. Finally, EQUAL TIME. Yes....

For all of my life I have had to sit through prayers and other forms of worship at public gatherings. I have seen enough nativity scenes and crosses to make me puke. Now a new billboard campaign is creating a panic. The Christian Right want these billboards taken down. Apparently, they worry that their followers might read these signs and jump ship. The truth is, the signs are there to just say, "it's OK to not believe".

Non-Religious persons are not trying to convert anyone. All we are saying is it is OK to believe and it is also OK to NOT believe. A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 53% of Amerikans say an atheist is "disqualified" from being elected President. The same poll said 43% believed a gay person would be disqualified. It is currently acceptable to discriminate against a person because they are NOT believers. Further polling data shows that roughly 15% of Amerikans consider themselves to be atheist or freethinkers.

It is time to talk openly about non-belief. Like gays coming out of the closet, those who consider themselves to be atheist, freethinkers, humanist, or at whatever need to speak out in the name of GOoD.....with the extra O. Proposition 8 passed becuase the religious voted together.

Don't yell FIRE......

I was reminded of Jim Morrison...."Try to set the night on fire". The sky glowed red at night as all around Los Angeles, the mountains burned. It was nearly as bad as the Portolla fire of October 22, 2008. Then the fire burned down off the mountains and within blocks of our home. The air was too thick with smoke to breathe. All of greater Los Angeles area was covered with a dense brown cloud of smoke.

Most of America and the world do not understand these fires. They begin with the Santa Anna winds. This is when the wind switches from blowing west to east. Normal wind flow in Southern California is off the ocean and on to the land. This makes the area cool most of time. But, sometimes when High Pressure is over the Arizona and Nevada desert, the winds reverse and blow off the desert back west to Los Angeles. These winds are forced through narrow canyons where they increase due to the "venturi effect". This is like holding you thumb over the end of a garden hose. The same pressure forces the water, or air, out through a smaller opening at a faster rate. Winds increase to 70 mph and the humidity drops.

The humidity this past weekend was 6%. The temperature was in the 90s and the wind was blowing at gust of 50 mph. Fires erupted from any spark and fanned by winds spread out over thousands of acres. Embers from the fires blow in the wind and land on homes. New fires begin and embers from those blow further and start new fires. Like a burning swarm it spreads over miles within minutes jumping over fire trucks and across freeways into subdivisions.

I called my friend Logan Saturday. He owns a home in Carbon Canyon in Brea. All I got was a fast busy signal. I watched TV coverage as they said the entire area was on fire. Today I spoke with Logan. He said the phone went out when the heat got so hot that the telephone poles burned. He spent Saturday night on the roof of his home running sprinklers to soak himself and his house.

The evidence suggests that these fires have been happening for a thousand years. Warm dry wind and lightening created fires long before man moved to the Region. Now that California is nearly 38 million people, the potential for fire and fire damage is much greater. We need to face the fact that the Fire Season is here to stay. There is a huge opportunity for companies to develop new and better fire fighting equipment.

BOND AS BOURNE

Yes. It was great.

I know there have been bad reviews for the new Bond movie. Regardless, it was just plain great. Yes it is NOT the same old cheese we used to see in a James Bond Movie. Thank god these new Bond Movies are darker and much more interesting. I think we all owe it to Robert Ludlum and the Bourne Books. Those were dark, and the movie versions were very much as dark as the books. Now Bond has returned to his original "thug" past. Bond is not a fancy pants gadget guy. He is a tough, no frills, assault oriented blunt force that gets results.

Anyone crying about these new films can watch "24" to get their feeling back.

THE US AUTO INDUSTRY

It is a sad day for the US Auto industry. You did not have to be too smart to see it coming. Do you drive a Chevy or a Ford? Do you know anyone who does? Well, there you go. The US Auto industry has been dieing a slow death for 40 years. Is it a surprise that they are in "trouble" now?

As a kid my folks owned Fords. When we lived in Germany, my mom wanted a Mercedes to bring back to America. My Dad, bought a new 1963 Chevy. He ordered it and had it shipped to Germany from Detroit. It was cool to have a brand new American car driving on the Autobahn. The German cars were small and slow. We brought that Chevy back to Minnesota and it became my first car. It had a 283 cubic inch V-8 and a Three speed standard shirt. It was fast and fun to drive.

My first new car was a Volkswagen Bus. I bought it in 1971. It was a white pop top Camper Van. It was slow but very cool. VW Micro Buses were the cool cars for hippies and college kids. We camped in it and drove it all over the Midwest. My next car was a VW Convertible. It too was cool. During this period, in the early 70s, Ford, Chrysler and GM did not offer anything nearly as cool as the VWs. They had big station wagons, Impalas, Ford 500s, Dodge Chargers....but no Micro Buses or Bug convertibles.

The US Auto industry laughed at the German and Japanese cars being sold as small and slow. Then on October 15, 1973....just 35 years ago, OPEC decided to stop shipping oil to the United States because of our support for Israel. An oil and gasoline shortage began. There were long lines to get gas and stations with no gas to sell. Prices doubled. Suddenly, Volkswagens and Toyotas didn't look so stupid. Experts began to predict that the world would run out of gas by the year 2000, just 27 years away. Millions of Americans traded in their Fords and Chevy's for Datsun, Volkswagens, and Toyotas. The US auto industry was put on notice. Make better small fuel efficient cars, OR, lose the market.

What began as an "ipod event," the buying of "cool" import cars. Soon became a shift in consumer preference and the beginning of the end of the US Auto industry. Import car makers saw this trend and jumped on it with new and better cars. They not only got better mileage they had better warranties and more equipment. Import cars had FM radios and tape decks at no extra charge. They had four speed floor shifts and bucket seats were standard. The Hondas, Volkswagens, Datsuns and Toyotas were better cars at cheaper cost. Everybody knew this by 1980. Still the US Auto industry turned out crap for cars. The Vega, the Pinto, the Maverick, the Omni. None of these copy cat domestic cars even came close to the quality or performance of the imports.

People who bought these first imports moved up with these brands to the cars we have today. The Bug became the Rabbit and then the Jetta. The Civic, became the Accord and then the Acura. The Corolla became the Camry and then the Lexus. American Motors, the home of the Pacer, folded. Chrysler got a federal loan and made the K-Car. It was a flop. Little by little the US Auto makers gave away their market to the imports by not building quality smaller cars.

Today, I drive BMWs. They aren't cheap but they are small well made high performance cars. They come with a great warranty and good dealer network. My last American car was a Ford Mustang in 1985. It was fast but rattled and was load at speeds over 40. Our BMW 325 Convertible is faster, better made and quieter.

The US Auto industry needs to be allowed to fail. They had 30 years to fix the situation and they didn't do enough. They were out designed, out produced, and out marketed by the imports. To give the US Auto industry a "bail out" is like giving them a reward for fucking up. It's a mistake. Let them fail, reorganize and hope that one good car company survives to produce the better American cars of the future. Think about this: Germany a country the size of Texas, makes Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche. Japan, a country the size of California, makes Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. All of these bards are built in the US today.