blog by dk

A puzzling milestone

2010-01-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

This morning, I finished the 75th and final puzzle in a book of NY Times Sunday crossword puzzles, which accompanied me on many travels during this most unusual year. Our niece and her husband sent the book to us in Loma Linda after our son was seriously injured last March.

The crossword book, along with five thoughtfully presharpened pencils, was included in a "care package" of books, activities and snacks to help us fill the time at our son's bedside. It also became an occasional notebook, when a doctor, nurse or visitor arrived. On the page for Puzzle 29, my wife jotted a number of questions for us to ask about Will's impending transfer to a rehab center. Inside the back cover, I jotted the cell phone number of his company commander, who had come to visit, and a few notes about Will's progress.

As it turned out, the first 43 of the 75 puzzles were completed in Loma Linda. Eventually, the five pencils lost their points, so I bought a small and surprisingly effective pencil sharpener at the Loma Linda University student store. The 44th puzzle was the transition one, completed in part as Leslie drove the two of us along Interstate 15 from San Diego back to Loma Linda, after we delivered Will to the naval hospital in SD. That puzzle was ultimately completed after we returned to Sacramento.

That's where I finished most of the rest. But Puzzle 48 was completed in SD in June, during a visit to Will. Four or five were finished during summertime trips to the cabin in Strawberry. I finished one and started another during our Thanksgiving weekend trip to my sister's house in Santa Rosa. By the time we went to visit Will in Twentynine Palms before New Year's, I was on Puzzles 71 and 72.

Now it's time to start on a new book of crosswords, thoughtfully provided by the daughter at Christmas. But I think I'll hold onto this completed book for a while longer.

The Editor at Work

2009-11-28T22:25:00.001-08:00

This sketch of my father was made sometime in the early 1960s, I believe, as he worked at the newspaper. I don't know the artist, though I think it would have been done by the editorial cartoonist at the Stockton Record who, at the time, would have been a fellow named Bert Whitman.

The sketch had been tucked away in a filing cabinet among the many football programs, baseball scorebooks and other papers that my dad left behind. Now, it's been matted and framed and it hangs on the wall in my office.

Fenced in

2009-11-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

Our back fence had been in horrible shape for several years. During that time, we had tried to contact our neighbor several times to see about replacing it. No response. But then we learned, through a mutual neighbor, that he had decided to redo his backyard, deck and fence.

The new fence was completed this week, and oh, what a fence it is.

I promised to post a photo, so here we go.

A timely Halloween decoration

2009-10-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

In October, it's become common to see front lawns with fake tombstones. But someone in our neighborhood took this Halloween tradition and gave it a timely twist.

In their front yard, one tombstone reads, "RIP Savings."

Another, simply: "401K"

Nice hat

2009-08-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful photo. It's both strikingly lovely and strikingly silly.

The story in the New York Times says the photographer, Hendrik Kerstens, staged the photos to be similar to paintings by 17th century Dutch masters.

In this one, his daughter strikes the classical pose ... but of course it's a plastic trash bag she's wearing on her head, shaped like a lace hood. There's another one where she assumes a similar pose but wears a napkin on her head.

What a good sport and what a fun idea.

California Sto

2009-07-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

People in other states refer to a driving technique called a "California stop," in which a driver rolls through a stop sign.

Here is evidence that we in California aren't even patient enough to paint the whole word on the pavement.

Anachronism Day

2009-07-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

We thought today was Bastille Day, but it turned out to be Anachronism Day.

The radio broadcaster at the baseball All-Star Game, noting that many people had decided to take photographs of a hometown batter coming to the plate, remarked about the "thousands of flashbulbs going off."

I bet zero flashbulbs went off, but the broadcaster demonstrated himself to be of a certain age.

Later I learned that my wife, when driving home, had seen a young man crossing the street and holding a boombox to his ear. That seemed like a throwback, too.

I would type more, but I have to go repair my buggy whip.

Marines and mules ...

2009-07-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

... and donkeys, mainly. As an admirer of Marines, I enjoyed this story from today's LA Times, about young Marines working with pack animals at the training center near Bridgeport.

They do it for a terribly serious reason: to be able to lug the gear they need up the mountains in Afghanistan. But the writer manages to capture the enthusiasm and optimism of young men who have volunteered to do dangerous work.

I also recommend the slide show accompanying the story. There are a couple of photos of the Marines working to pull, and push, their animal up the hill.

God bless 'em.

Room with a view

2009-06-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Attitude is everything. It's something we say all the time but every so often there are real examples that bring the old saying home. As our son continues an amazing recovery, we're convinced that his positive attitude is having a significant impact.

I admire what he posted on his Facebook site the other day: "One thing I learned from my situation, feeling sorry for yourself only gets you down. Remember this, it could be a lot worse."

The view from his room at the naval hospital barracks emphasizes the benefit of taking the glass-half-full approach. Is this a view of an ugly, government-built parking structure or a view of lovely buildings at Balboa Park?

Attitude is everything.

Silhouetty Kitty

2009-06-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is an artsy portrait of the daughter's kitty, taken in beautiful Oakland on the weekend. The kitty deserves to be portrayed as a shadowy figure, because she is known to escape from her home and take up residence with other felines in the neighborhood.

The photograph was taken after we returned from SF, having thoroughly enjoyed Spamalot, and before we set out successfully in search of a fulfilling dinner along Grand Ave. The kitty stayed in the window.

Moving forward

2009-05-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

During the past two months, I have learned much about the human spirit. How people come to the aid of others who are injured. How people rally around each other in times of crisis. How strong the will to live is.

We are about to return to our normal lives. But those lives have changed forever. We will not forget the kindness of all the family members, friends, colleagues and complete strangers who helped us and our son, as he continues his recovery. The daughter has written beautifully about this.

There is nothing to add but: Thank you.

Warped speed

2009-03-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

We all have our eccentricities ... but we all don't have a replica of the chair Captain Kirk used on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek.

Thanks to the New York Times, though, I learned that a number of men (yes, the Times reported, they all seem to be men) have created replicas of the chair. Some, such as this gentleman, have installed these chairs in their living rooms. One fellow said his wife had forced him to keep the chair out in his garage/home-office: "My wife is not big on it," he told the reporter. "I've actually been threatened with divorce if it comes into the living room."

For all the trouble and expense the men go to in order to create these chairs, it turns out that they're not terribly comfortable ... almost as though the original set designers never really expected anyone to sit in this pretend chair for very long.

Rams win!

2009-03-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the St. Mary's High School Golden Rams of Stockton for winning their fifth state championship in the past decade, in girls Division III basketball.

(Thanks to Sac Bee Web site for the photo.)

City Sightings

2009-03-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time skewing the demographics at the Space Gallery in San Francisco last night for the Instant Gratification show of Polaroid art. We left the revelry unfashionably early, around 10:30 p.m., but that provided two benefits: First, our departure allowed at least a couple of the people waiting in line to enter. Second, we chanced into a sighting of the San Francisco Snuggie Pub Crawl.

We had learned from the daughter that Snuggies--the As Seen on TV blankets with sleeves--have become an unlikely hit with the twentysomething set. We saw evidence of that cultural trend when we walked out of Space Gallery and saw a group of 10 or 12 people, all clad in what appeared to be royal blue monks' robes. They were headed to Vertigo, the bar across Polk St. from the gallery, and there were already at least a couple of other people in sea green Snuggies awaiting them there. According to the SFSPC Facebook page, Vertigo was even offering drink specials for Snuggie wearers only. If only we had known.

So far, according to the Snuggie Pub Crawls Web site, there is not a Snuggie Pub Crawl scheduled in Sacramento, though somehow the trend has reached Scranton, Penn., and Rapid City, S.D.

The other interesting sight came this morning, as we were walking back from our brunch at the Olea restaurant on California St. A man with a banjo slung over his shoulder came walking out of a laundromat. Had he been entertaining other patrons of the laundromat? There didn't seem to be anyone else in the building. Had his banjo playing scared all the other people away from the laundromat? Was he starting his laundry and heading off to a banjo gig nearby? We will never know.

Shocking revelation

2009-03-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

I learned yesterday that a colleague of mine at work shares the same birthplace with me. Both of us were born in Amarillo, Texas.

We have worked in the same office for 20 years and somehow this never came up; not that I mention Amarillo much. After all, my family left there when I was six. But ever since I have proudly proclaimed myself a Texan by birth and Californian by choice.

My colleague also left Amarillo as a child; she was 13 months old, she said. But the timelines worked out so that we would have lived there at the same time.

If I later find out that her family lived on Carolina St. or Cimarron Ave. ... well, that would be a full-scale freak-out.

Mr. Lincoln's watch

2009-03-11T21:30:00.001-07:00

I thought the story about the Shakespeare portrait would probably be the best story of the week, until I saw the story about Abe Lincoln's pocket watch: How an otherwise-anonymous watch repairman told his family that he had etched a secret message in Abe's watch on the day he learned that the rebels had fired on Fort Sumter ... how he had related the story to the New York Times as an 84-year-old in 1906 ... how a descendant had researched the tale and convinced the Smithsonian to open the watch ...

... and how, by God, the message was actually there, with the watch repairman's name to clinch the deal.

They'll be arguing for generations about whether that portrait really shows Shakespeare, but Jonathan Dillon's descendants now know that he really did what he said he did.

And, on top of all that, it's a beautiful watch.

The great man himself?

2009-03-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

As an English major, I am of course interested in the question of whether this portrait is the actual, honest-to-god William Shakespeare.

It would be fun if it were true, since Shakespeare has been studied and studied to the point that it would seem that nothing new could be learned. If it's true, it would also make generations of the Cobbe family look rather foolish. After all, the family has owned this painting for nearly 300 years and not once did a Cobbe say, "You know, this bloke looks a little bit like the other portraits of Shakespeare that I've seen." It was only in the last three years that a Cobbe made the connection, setting off the chain of events that led to the painting's unveiling in London yesterday.

I also hope it's true because one of the Cambridge University specialists who has worked to authenticate the painting is named Rupert Featherstone and, in my mind, if it's good enough for Rupert Featherstone, that's all I need to know.

Funky to funkier

2009-03-09T19:06:00.001-07:00

Our Sacramento Bee published a story today about the sad state of the Cal Neva Resort. The place is teetering on foreclosure and, according to the story, has fallen into a state of disrepair under its current owner. Actually, I suppose you could say it has fallen into two states of disrepair, since the state line runs right through the property, as the above Bee photo of the Indian Room shows.

Having visited the Cal Neva nearly five years ago for a wedding, it's hard to imagine it falling on even harder times. One of my cousins had a lovely wedding there, but save for the wedding party, there were few people at the resort that Independence Day.

I remember the trip primarily for the odd things that happened: I got a flat tire; I doused a new tie with champagne; and we took the very funky tour that the resort offered. In one of the tunnels connecting the main lodge to the guest cottages, the tour guide stopped us next to a small X chalked on the wall. The X, he told us, marked the spot where John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe had, allegedly, had an assignation during Frank Sinatra's ownership of the Cal Neva in the Rat Pack days. The tour also took us to the showroom where Sinatra had performed back in the day; by then, it smelled musty and was obviously in long-term disuse. It all seemed kind of forlorn.

But it's a special place for my cousin who was married there, and doubtless for many others. And that state line running through the lodge and the pool gives it a certain panache. Let's hope someone can revive it. Save the Cal Neva!

Vivaldi is popular ...

2009-03-08T10:00:00.001-07:00

... in Sacramento. At least, that's what we learned last night. We thought we could walk up at the last minute and buy tickets for a Vivaldi concert in downtown Sac last night.

But no.

When we reached the front door of the church where the concert was to be held, we were confronted by a sign that read, "Vivaldi concert sold out." Boo hoo.

We contented ourselves with a stroll around the downtown area and resolved to plan ahead next time.

Viva Vivaldi.

Good for the soil and the soul

2009-03-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Just returned from an invigorating, hour-long walk in the rain. It's been raining steadily but gently all morning, so we could walk in relative comfort and enjoy the clear air and the vivid colors created by the muted light.

We also cut a jaunty appearance in our Driducks rainsuits (worn at the left by a lucky male model), purchased for football-watching attire but very useful for rain-walking. I imagine people looking out their windows were checking to see if their electricity was still on, since we looked like an itinerant, two-person utility crew.

But the suits kept us dry and allowed us to enjoy a walk in the rain.

The blossom trail

2009-02-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful time of year in California's Central Valley: The almond trees are blooming. I-5 between Santa Nella and Tracy offers a spectacular view of the valley floor and never more so than at this time of year, with the almond orchards fully decorated with their white blossoms.

It's hard to view the blooming trees without gaining a sense of promise. What a shame that so many almond blossoms will fail to reach their full potential this year, because farmers won't have enough water for their trees. Our state continues to diminish itself by failing to plan for its future and providing enough water for all the needs it has.

Many of us have been explaining this to anyone who will listen, but our politicians can't even do the little things, such as figuring out how to pass a balanced state budget on time, let alone do the big things such as creating new places to store water and resolving the decades-long dispute about how to move water.

It makes the beauty of the annual blossom season seem even more fragile.

An omen ... of what?

2009-02-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

Entering my boss's office late yesterday afternoon, I noticed a large bird landing on the ledge outside his window. It turned out to be a vulture; it looked like this image of a turkey vulture.

I pointed it out to him and, as we debated its symbolism, the bird flew away. We decided that if a vulture gets a look at you and decides to fly away, it's a positive sign.

A Valentine's Day surprise

2009-02-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

We were pleasantly surprised when our Marine showed up at home on Valentine's Day. He had gotten leave for the three-day weekend and driven up from Twentynine Palms with a buddy. He also brought a nasty cold with him.

Earlier in the day, we had a lovely time at our grand-niece's first birthday party. She is being raised bilingual--English and sign language--and she expresses herself frequently via signs.

She received a couple of baby dolls for her birthday and, each time, enthusiastically signed "baby." This was very charming and I wanted to illustrate that, but the only picture I could find to show the signing of "baby" features a gorilla; so you'll have to imagine how the sign looks as delivered by a round, blue-eyed, ginger-haired 1-year-old.

A generational thing

2009-02-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

While shopping on Old Sacramento this weekend, I saw a toddler-sized shirt that I doubt would have been available when our children were that size.

The shirt was emblazoned with the words:

"My mom's tattoos are cooler than your mom's"

Best news story of the week

2009-01-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

It came from Dayton, Nevada, where a boy was having his sixth birthday party with his kindergarten class. During the party, people brought in a big, wrapped box. The boy unwrapped it and inside was ... his father, just back on leave from Army service in Iraq.

The photo from the Nevada Appeal is wonderful.

Sophisticated in Sac

2009-01-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

We have had a cultural weekend.

Enjoyed a lovely concert performed by the Sacramento Baroque Soloists on Saturday night: Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann and more.

Then today, we finally saw one of the Oscar-nominated films, Slumdog Millionaire. Given the dreary topics of some of the other nominees, it's hard to see how this one could lose and I know I'll be rooting for it.

Best New York Times story of the week ...

2009-01-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

... is about funny place names in Britain. The story was filed from a village named Crapstone.

Don't know if the Times is trying to lock up the 13-year-old boy demographic, but the story certainly appealed to the 13-year-old boy in me.

Here's one of the wonderful photos from the story:

It also includes a helpful map to towns or villages including North Piddle, Pratts Bottom, Ugley, Titty Ho and East Breast.

Thank God for England!

Weird dream

2009-01-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I dreamed that my wife and I were playing cards with two young men. This is particularly odd because we don't play cards and even gave away our card table the other day.

When it came time to start the game, I encouraged one of the men to cut the cards. Instead of doing that physically, he decided to visit a Web site: cutthecards.com

Just for the record, there is no such site ... undoubtedly, because it's a stupid idea conceived in a dream state.

Perhaps I dreamed about this as a result of seeing a PBS program about American comedy that included a feature about the great Harpo Marx. In one of the film clips, he's in a saloon and a couple of guys at a card table tell him to cut the cards. Which Harpo does, all right ... with a hatchet.

A big day for the old Southsider

2009-01-18T21:12:00.001-08:00

My late father grew up on the south side of Chicago, rooting for the White Sox and the NFL Chicago Cardinals. I'm sure he was excited when the Cardinals won the NFL title in 1947, before they moved to St. Louis and then to Arizona.

He'd be amazed to see the way things stand now, with the Cardinals headed to the Super Bowl for the first time ever and a fellow Chicagoan and White Sox fan about to be inaugurated as the nation's first African-American president.

He would have been pleased by all of it.

More Chesleys?

2009-01-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Apparently, there's been a big increase in the number of newborns named Barack, for obvious reasons.

I wonder if there's be a similar surge in the name Chesley, after the heroic landing of the crippled jet in the Hudson River by Chesley Sullenberger III.

I wish I had a panda blog ...

2009-01-17T10:17:00.001-08:00

... because if I did, I could post this funny line from Conan O'Brien that I read in the newspaper this morning:

"In China, a panda has bitten a visitor for the third time in three years. People who saw the attack described it as horrifying and absolutely adorable."

We are now Mac people

2009-01-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

One reason posts on this blog have been few and far between is that our old computer was terribly unreliable. For many days, we were unable to log onto it at all.

So today, we went out and got us an Apple IMAC. It is even up and working, with a minimum of cursing (related to hooking up our existing printer to it).

We look forward to many years of trouble-free computing.

One interesting ergonomic side-effect: The new machine has a 20-inch screen and I've found myself with a sore neck from looking up at it. We will have to sit on a phone book or get a taller chair, I suspect.

A charming encounter

2008-12-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

We had a very successful day running errands this weekend, but one highlight was during a quick trip to the grocery store. I was zipping back to pick up some butter for holiday baking when I encountered a young family. The baby in the cart smiled at me and gave me the backwards wave, such as this youngster is doing. Our daughter did that when she was very young. It made my day.

Happy holidays to all.

Great moments in parliamentary procecure

2008-12-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

Just returned from our organization's annual meeting, which includes a legislative-style debate on policy.

This is often routine but sometimes interesting and occasionally amusing. In one debate, delegates were deciding whether to encourage the dismissal of "incompetent teachers." A delegate who's also a school board member said the appropriate term was "underperforming teachers," and offered an amendment.

That led to a discussion of "incompetent" vs. "underperforming" and, finally, to a vote. At that point, the chair instructed the delegates:

"All those in favor of underperforming, say aye."

Next stop for our Marine ...

2008-12-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

... will be the training base

at Twentynine Palms. He leaves Tuesday and will join 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. The 2-7 has just returned from there. According to its Web site, the 2-7 has performed a couple of tours in the Fallujah area of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan in April of this year.

This will certainly be a learning experience for all of us.

Best news story of the week ...

2008-12-05T19:01:00.000-08:00

... is about the congresswoman from Florida who hung up on President-elect Obama. Then she hung up on his chief of staff, when he called to try to convince her it really was Mr. Obama. Apparently, she thought she was being "punked" by a radio station in her district. Come to think of it, I've seen a couple photos of the president-elect where I'm convinced he's looking more like Fred Armisen. Can you tell which is which?

Post-holiday musings

2008-12-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

We have adjusted pretty well to the empty-nester situation, I think, but the house felt empty yesterday. I have this somewhat melancholy ritual now where, after a child's visit has ended, I shut the heater vent in the child's room (energy saver!) and close the door so our friendly cat doesn't shed friendly cat hair all over the child's bed. And it struck me that it may be unusual in the near future to have both children home at the same time, what with one of them headed to his first posting as a Marine.

It's also been disturbing to read about the ugly incident in New York, where the crowd trampled the poor man who was too slow to open the doors at the WalMart at 5 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving. The always-astute media columnist in the New York Times made a great point about the sad incident today: The media are now tut-tutting like mad about the stampede, the death and what it supposedly reveals about our society. But, of course, it is the media that essentially created the whole Black Friday mystique and which hypes it, relentlessly, in the days immediately before and after. I usually enjoy holiday shopping but have never understood the wait-before-dawn-for-the-store-to-open idea.

Happier thoughts next time ...

Inadvisable airport behavior

2008-11-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

We were fortunate enough to be allowed to escort our son the Marine to the boarding area for his flight back to SD. As he was walking away to board the plane, his sister called to him: "Have fun blowing things up!" ... then, realizing what she had said ... "But not on the plane!"

Apparently, no one heard her and she said the next time, she will use a different Marine activity, something like, "Have fun digging a hole!"

Oops, I have a blog

2008-11-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

Pretty much by accident, I have created this blog. All I wanted to do was to leave a somewhat-snarky comment on the daughter's blog. But to do that, I had to create a user profile and, it turns out, that comes with the opportunity to create one's own blog. So, what the heck ...