Frogtails, Faces you remember
July, 2004July 31, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Headed to Cincinnati to visit with my Dad. July 30, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. I just received this E-mail from my son Steve and thought you may enjoy reading it and do not think he would mind sharing it. Fri 7/30/2004 9:39 AM Boston, Massachussetts The John Kerry Experience Hello, So last night I went to see John Kerry give his nomination speech at the DNC. Here is a short review of my night:
Step 1: Drive to Quincy to catch the train- Well I think that walking could have gone faster than driving on 128. Around here, people are allowed to drive in the breakdown lanes on the highway during a traffic jam, so instead of being an eight lane highway, the road becomes twelve, six in each direction. The problem last night was that 128 becomes I-93 at Braintree, two towns before Quincy, I-93 was reduced to one lane because of our friends from out of town, thus TWELVE lanes of bumper to bumper traffic was being reduced to a TWO lane road. That means that me and nine other lanes got the shaft. Step 2: Ride the train to the proper station- This sounds easy enough. All I have to do is ride the train to the station and then get on a bus that will take me right to the site. The problem came in the fact that as a resident of the Boston Metro Area, I had to exit the train BEFORE North Station which was closed due to security concerns. FYI, North Station is located right under the Fleet Center, so I completely understand the concern here. Trouble is, I found out today in the paper that the MBTA opened North Station JUST for delegates!! Trust me, people who have been inconvenienced all week by North Station being closed are NOT happy about that one. Step 3: Board a bus and go to the site.- I had no problems here. The bus was crowded, but overall a nice, short ride. Step 4: Security check point #1- We were not allowed off the bus without a ticket. Easy enough. Step 5: Walk, walk, walk.- Our bus did not stop any where close to where we were going. I felt like I could have walked from the station and saved the hassle of getting on and off the bus just as easily. At this point, Mary Ellen noticed that every roof top had people with guns on the roof. She was right, machine guns were everywhere. Step 6: Security check point #2- I am assuming that the men in suits who checked my ticket this time were Secret Service agents. They were surprisingly pleasant. I noticed that as we passed through this checkpoint, we had to walk past air quality testers and Geiger counters ( I saw them on the news so I was looking for them, FYI I passed) Step 7: Security Check point #3 and #4- Now it was the friendly Boston PD's turn to take a swipe at me. Once again the checked for your ticket, they also pulled people out and took them behind a screen that was set up. The BPD also searched through everyone's bag or purse. A few yards past them was a group of men dressed in suits with metal detectors. Not the big ones you walk through but just the hand held ones. So they had to stop and search every single person in line. This my friends took awhile... Step 8: The wait begins.- Sounds exactly like what it is, we waited and waited for the speech. Step 8½: Food.- Here were your choices at $2.00 each. Coke, Diet Coke, Water, Popcorn, or a cookie. Since I have moved to Boston, I noticed that I was having trouble sleeping, so I eliminated caffeine from my diet. That was three weeks ago, last night, because of the democrats, I drank a Coke... Strike 1. Step 9: The speech.- I must admit that it was a really good speech, not just for a boring man like Kerry, it was a genuine good speech. It touched on most of the right issues (I was disappointed that he only made a vague reference to gay marriage, I think that if he really believes in something, he should not be afraid to say it) He seemed full of energy and kept the crowd engaged. Step 10: " I said cue the balloons!!!"So I do not know if anyone noticed watching at home, but the balloons did not fall on cue last night. All week, they have been talking about the 1000s of balloons that were going to fall the second that Kerry said " and God Bless the United States of America." They even set up a special air flow system to keep Kerry from being overcome by balloons. Last night they just fell at odd times throughout the celebration. In the 30-45 seconds after his speech was over last night, only about two balloons fell. Step 11: The buses-Well now it was back to the buses to be taken to a James Taylor/Boston Pops concert down on the bay. It was held at the UMass Boston campus; very nice place. Step 12: Security check points #5, #6, and #7- These were basically the same, tickets please, check the bags, then metal detectors. It all went pretty well. Step 13: We are sitting where????- Apparently everyone got the memo besides Mary Ellen and I that you were supposed to bring a chair to the concert. It was held in a parking lot. So we sat in the parking lot... The concert was nice but would have been A LOT better had we known to bring chairs. Step 14: The fireworks-They had a very nice 45 minute or so show after the concert. It was nice, a long time to sit in a parking lot, but nice. Step 15: The buses- Now it was off to the buses again. This was MASS confusion for three reasons: A. We did not know what bus would take us to the train station Step 16: Home sweet home.- Although I had no idea how to get home, I found the road and got us there. (Go Steve!!) Overall it was quite a night. Nothing I would ever do again, but still it was fun to say that I went. Well I hope that everyone has a nice day! Steve Comments: My reply—I noticed all the balloons and wondered why they didn't fall as well. They were released ever so slowly. I thought it pretty dumb to wait so long between releases but figured they wanted to savor the moment. A friend of Steve’s replied I looked for you on TV but they never panned your area. That trip sounded difficult enough to turn a person into a republican. Last night Jeanie and I went out to dinner with Joe and Angie. How pleasant. Later, we watched John Kerry give his acceptance speech. This was the first that we have seen of the convention other than the sound bites that make the news. My interest in the speech was not so much the message or the candidate. I watched it at the request of my son, Steve. He and Mary Ellen found a way to get tickets and attend the convention in person and called us from the convention floor while we were driving back from dinner. There was not much of a chance that either of them would be seen on national TV, but it was possible, and so we watched. I hope that Steve sends me his thoughts of the event to share with you. BTW: It turned out that I was somewhat impressed by the speech. I have heard that we spent approximately fifty million dollars on security to hold this convention. That is money that has to be taken from some other good cause. The terrorists did nothing and spent none of their resources. Recall back in the 1980’s when the U.S. used this tactic against the Soviet Union. It was called the arms race. We dramatically raised our military spending and forced them to exhaust their resources and spend themselves into ruin. I suspect that this lesson was not lost on the terrorists. All they need is a plausible threat and then we will respond by spending fortunes that we can ill afford. In the final analysis, what do we have to show for that money? How better could it have been spent? Let me offer a personal suggestion that could likely be replicated a million times over throughout this country. The county I live in does not have a hospital. Fifty million would have been a good start on one. A hospital would last a hundred years and benefit tens of thousands of residents and provided dozens of decent jobs. Those decent jobs would benefit the local economy and in effect create even more wealth. The money spent for security in Boston is just gone, without any lasting benefit.
Dallas, Texas got over a foot of rain the the last 24 hours. Recall that Dennis is working there for a couple of weeks. Last year he was sent to North Carolina and had to deal with Hurricane Isabel. Some guys get all the luck! July 28, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Yesterday I presented Steve’s rather humorous view of what is going on in Boston while the DNC is in progress. Today I want to present a more serious thought. One of the comments Steve made that bothered me was seeing people toting guns. It reminded me of seeing three soldiers in the financial district of NYC recently. That disturbed me. In the U.S. I feel comfortable seeing police on the streets. I don't like it, but accept that at times they need to wear riot gear to keep the peace. They are still just the police. Everyone knows that in a serious emergency, any governor can quickly call up the National Guard. It seems to me that there is a very clear distinction between the mission of our police and of our military that is being abused. Calling out the military for a civil situation has been very rare in this country and for good reason. We need to make sure that the police have the resources to handle routine civil matters such as a convention and keep the military off the streets. From the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8
“To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;” Perhaps I have taken the above line out of context (you should read it for yourself) but I believe this is the reason that our military exists. Our constitution (very slow for a government site but worth waiting for) is an excellent well thought out document that I can agree with and live by. It is a pity that so few people read it. That some politicians deliberately disregard it doesn’t set so well with me. Fortunately, I have a vote in those to be elected this fall. My vote is not merely a right, it is a duty. “It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
I-93 is closed this week but Steve reports that the traffic was not so bad today. In fact, it may have been lighter than usual. He thinks the locals have pretty well taken this week off and skipped town. Downtown apparently looks like a concentration camp. Visit Boston during the convention and you can see the chain link fence, the razor wire, and men toting guns… I’m just not certain that you would want to take any pictures of it or keep them if you did. Alfred, Ohio. Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii is at it again. Images at the USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory are awesome this week. I urge you to take a peek. July 26, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Dennis headed for Texas again this morning. He expects to be there for two weeks. July 25, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. The birds were chirping away this morning for some reason. I was the first to get up and spent a little bit of time reading various news site. A story that is just coming out is about the existence of huge ocean waves. Scientists had predicted that a really big one would occur normally only once every one to ten thousand years. However, we have lost more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long in the past twenty years (average two a week) usually due to “bad weather”. The European Space Agency decided to look at satellite data. Researchers looked closely at a three week period of time and found ten giant waves over eighty foot tall. This coming the same week that Stephen Hawking realizes his thirty year blunder about black holes. There are lessons to be learned in this story.
Alfred, Ohio. When GMail first made the news I applied for an account. I waited a month or so and applied again. Tonight I happened on a way to obtain an invite to GMail and now have an account. 1000mb of storage and Google search capability to boot. I can’t wait to start using it but find it curious that they never contacted me. They claim that they sometimes give existing account holders invites to pass out to their friends now and then. If they do and you want one, let me know. July 23, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Received photos from the trip to Boston and the Coolville Mill today and posted a couple (scroll down). We got about four inches of rain yesterday according to my neighbor. The garden sure took a beating. I noticed today while driving around that a lot of the trees are turning brown.
July 21, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Diane! Natick, Massachusetts. Steve pointed out a couple of errors from my posting late last night. I think he wouldn't mind if I shared it. Hate to burst the old bubble but Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile
in 1954, not Jesse Owens ( of Ohio State and 1936 Olympic fame) I think
that the answer to your question lies in what our ancestors brought back
with them on those boats compared to what Armstrong brought back from the
moon. One brought back the material that drove the world's economy and
forever changed every living human being forever more, the other brought
back a pile of rocks.
July 20, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Thirty five years ago today, I was at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas in a small room with a black and white TV and several other soldiers. Neil Armstrong and that other guy in Apollo 11 were stepping foot on the moon nearly a quarter of a million miles away. A few years ago, my grown son expressed sincere doubt when I mentioned the landing. “…so you say…” he replied to me. At first I thought he was joking. When he didn’t smile I could tell that he was serious. He pointed out that it had never occurred during his lifetime. It dawned on me that he had real and reasonable doubt about the whole affair. That has stuck with me for several years. I’ve given a little thought to it now and then and it really is a fabulous situation no matter what the truth is. Let’s examine it from a logical perspective. It is either true or false that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. There is no middle ground for that statement. Either it is completely true or it is completely false. If false, it has to be the largest hoax ever and I have to applaud those who carried it off. Imagine how you will feel and what your reactions might be when, one day, you find out, for certain, that it was all just an elaborate hoax. Imagine the surprise of everyone when one day people actually land and there is nothing there. Wouldn’t you like being the press secretary attempting to explain that away. BTW, where did all that money go? How could you keep so many people quiet for so long? A more staggering and boldface lie I can scarcely imagine. Nearly the entire world duped for an entire generation. Bravo! If true, what an outstanding engineering achievement and what brave souls they were who set foot on the moon. I have a lot of admiration for the people involved in pulling off such an outrageous adventure. I wonder what those few men (a dozen I believe) feel when they gaze upon a full moon on a quiet evening. I would love to talk with one of them and hear of their experiences. I can somewhat imagine how the workers feel who built the machines. McDonnell Douglas had a small part in the Apollo program and there was an attitude in their culture that I will never forget. I feel fortunate to have experienced that “can do” attitude for a couple of years back in the early 80’s when I worked there. They had the belief that they could do or build anything. It was not the cocky exuberance of youth, nor was it just brash talk. Rather, their attitude and belief came from the sure steady knowledge of ones ability honed from the experience of undertaking and successfully completing a multitude of large difficult projects. However, questions have started to seep into my consciousness. Why have we not gone back? Why don’t we have high resolution photos of the landing sites? Why are there so many little “anomalies”? By 1503, a mere eleven years after Columbus sailed, man had crossed the Atlantic ocean hundreds of times. There has never been a moment since then that we have not had ships sailing on the high seas. It was expensive, dangerous, time consuming, and far from certain to attempt a crossing back then. Many died, fortunes were lost, but man pressed on. The same can be said of the four minute mile. Once Jesse Owens Roger Bannister (thanks Steve) proved that it could be broken, we continue to break that barrier… regularly. Ditto for climbing Mt. Everest, or travelling to the North and South Poles, or flying airplanes, or any significant human feat I can imagine. What has kept us bound to Earth for the last thirty five years? There must be reasonable explanations for my questions, but I fear that the explanations may be a far larger story or more creepy than I care to hear about. July 18, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Jeanie and I saw a movie this evening. It was “The Notebook”. We enjoyed it and I would recommend it to any couple. One of the actors was James Gardner. I’ve enjoyed seeing him perform since his days on Maverick. He was one of my favorites as a youngster and it is pretty neat for me to see him still going strong.
July 16, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. I like nearly all things that Google is associated with. Don’t be surprised when I recommend that you download and install their latest photo tracking software. It is free. If you have loads of images on your machine, this will greatly simplify your life. I’ve had it installed on my machine for only an hour and already I love it. Easily my pick of the day.
July 15, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. It seems to me quite likely that we will soon have a draft again. The U.S. has troops spread thin in countries around the world. That takes warm bodies… more than are currently joining as volunteers. Do the math, either we limit our commitments (imagine congress spending less money than last year), we spread our troops so thin as to be ineffective (placing them in danger), we can extend the tours of existing troops (making future volunteers wary of such abuse), or we add warm bodies (conscription). How does a father of three draft age sons feel about such a prospect. From a purely selfish point of view, I intensely dislike the idea. I have not spent my life raising these children for the benefit of our politicians. Looking at it from a national perspective, I think it may be best. I was in the service during the Vietnam era and know that those who are drafted will question and resist everything that appears to be of little or no value. Eventually the middle class parents will as well. That is not a bad thing. A draft would create a situation where many eyes are looking at the policies that require troops and questioning and resisting anything that doesn’t make sense. My opinion is that the military would not likely enjoy the additional attention. Our politicians would enjoy it even less. Further, I can not imagine that we could draft people today without drafting woman as well. The military may welcome a few woman and make excellent use of them but a 50/50 mix is probably beyond their current capacity to handle. The outrage of drafting women (or not drafting them) could make the demonstrations of the 60’s look quaint. Beyond the obvious problems with a draft is one that most might not consider. We have more children of draft age than are ever necessary to serve. The problem then is really, how to decide who serves and who doesn’t. I happen to believe that many good things are happening because of our troop deployments and would like to continue hearing stories and opinions from anyone who cares to write. Point out the errors in my reasoning. Offer an alternative way of looking at things. I may disagree with you. I may also change my thoughts after hearing your point of view. I also happen to believe that we must be ever vigilant of our policies and not ever give blind faith to those who govern us. My belief is that the more points of view we have, the more we know of what is actually happening in the world, the better our collective understanding will be. Over time, that should help us make more informed choices about our future.
July 12, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. The Department of Homeland Security has been asking about the possibility of delaying this coming election should we have a massive terrorist attack. I think that would be a dreadful idea. Permitting the elections to be delayed would encourage further disruptions. In addition, I don’t like the idea of anyone being able to suspend our elections… for any amount of time or for any reason. That would set a horrible precedent. Fortunately, we have these words from the administration. Nice words, now we can sit back and see if they can live up to them. “We've had elections in this country when we were at war, even when we were in civil war. And we should have the elections on time. That’s the view of the president, that’s the view of the administration,” according to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. July 11, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Ohio University (OU) has extended benefits to gay partners. Set your feelings aside for a moment and listen to the rest of the story. Right or wrong, the state of Ohio does not recognize such relationships today. It has to strike you odd that OU is giving away taxpayer dollars (or students tuition) to provide benefits to people without any legal relationship to its employees. Again, stay rational for a moment and follow me a little further because this is where this story begins to get really queer. OU extends these benefits only to same sex relationships. In other words, a non married gay couple receives benefits. A non married heterosexual couple, receives nothing. I can not imagine this situation holding up in court and expect that it is only a short period of time before it gets there. What would you do as judge? I would find it pretty simple really. If you do not have a legal relationship to the employee, you do not have any right to OU benefits. It will be curious to see how long they drag this one out and how many more of my taxes they can squander before they come to their senses. July 10, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. My sister wrote and asked who is Alfred. It was onces a small town about a mile from where I live. We commonly refer to it in our community for directions. For example, go to Alfred, turn right and head down the road about a mile to our house. That would work for nearly anyone local. Of course there is not a sign that mentions your arrival in Alfred and anyone from out of town would not recognize the couple of houses on the bend of the road as a place with a name. It is sort of a ghost town and yet everyone locally would know precisely where you were talking about. You can even buy an atlas and find it on the map. Just don’t ever expect to find it on a Sunday drive. July 09, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. The Coolville Mill and its contents was demolished yesterday. All that remains is the rubble and that will soon be burned and taken to a landfill. The historical loss is so staggering that I prefer not to discuss or even think about it. Added a couple of book critiques today on my “reading” page. Titles discussed are: 1984, The Andromeda Strain, and Steppenwolf. I’ve been working my way through the Arabian Nights (The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights) but haven’t been successful thus far. Perhaps more interesting to me currently is the thought of writing a story that I have in mind. Hopefully, I can get some time to devote to one or the other this weekend.
Today another of the Mill buildings came down. This was a wooden structure without contents so there was not any historical loss. July 07, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. This is one day that posterity will not savor and I am not particularly proud of. I have put into motion the very actions that I had tried to avoid. The old building beside the Mill was demolished today. Nick and I went down this evening and pulled out an old small mill and brought it home. One piece of history will be saved but the remainder will soon be lost forever. Sad. July 06, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Home again. Today was perfect weather for driving through Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The storms of yesterday must have cleared the air and it was a pleasant drive. Special thanks to my son Joe who watered my sprouts and plants from Hawaii while we were away. Not only did they survive, they thrived. I wasn’t looking forward to reading my e-mail so I made a game of it and categorized it for you. Somehow that made it easier to tolerate the 120 that were awaiting me when we returned.
We left this morning and headed to Rhode Island. It was raining pretty good so we decided to stop for breakfast. Nearly everyone else did as well. We were at the most disorganized restaurant I’ve been in for years. We suffered through the meal and then started our trek back home. Two semi trailers drivers decided brave the downpour and wrecked, closing both North and Sound bound i 95. We spent several hours in Connecticut beyond what we anticipated. Realizing that we weren't going to be home today, we decided to give Nick a few minutes in NYC. We drove through a few rough neighborhoods getting to Central Park and then through Manhattan and down to Battery Park. We saw a member of the military with an assault riffle. I’ve seen that sort of thing in Europe and in Central America but that was a first for me in the U.S. and will admit that I did not like it at all. We saw the stock exchange from a distance (they have checkpoints and barricades set up now) so I didn’t bother trying to find Wall street. We drove by the WTC site. I would have been willing to spend a few more minutes in town if the parking wasn’t such a hassle. Instead we just drove through the tunnels into New Jersey and headed off into the sunset. July 04, 2004 —Boston, Massachusetts. Mary Ellen has to work today so Steve is our tour guide. We decide to just drive up into Maine and end up driving by the summer house of President Bush in Kennebunkport. We ate lunch at a nice little place in town and then headed back to Natick. We ended up watching the Boston Pops and fireworks on TV and eating Pizza. How much more American can you get than that? I usually prefer going to an event live rather than watching it on TV but didn’t want to keep our hosts up all hours. We did have a lively discussion about acronyms and Mary Ellen went to great pains to discredit me and my point of view. Of course, everyone enjoyed that immensely.
This is in the back yard of Steve and Mary Ellen’s appartment. The other is one of me working in a Zen garden at Steve and Mary Ellen’s house. July 02, 2004 —Boston, Massachusetts. Steve had to work so Mary Ellen is our guide today. We visit the city/town/village/burough of Natick and then ride the train into the downtown Boston area. We visited the New England Aquarium. I had seen this many years ago and enjoyed it more the second time around. They currently have a special display of jellyfish that I found most interesting. I had never much thought of them until they were all assembled as they were. Nice job to the folks at the aquarium. It also never occurred to me that the cost of admission in part goes to feeding all of the fish that we saw. We then walked over to the Quincy Market and caught a street performer. I have always enjoyed seeing these people. They add an ambiance to any city that I truly enjoy. We then took the T over to the Museum of Fine Arts and then back to the Quincy Market to await Steve after work. We ate that evening at Durgin Park. I had eaten there many years ago and had found it to be an amusing experience. It wasn’t so good. In fact, a couple in our party complained to me about the food afterwards. Things change. July 01, 2004 —Boston, Massachusetts. we arrived at Steve and Mary Ellen’s house without event. It is of course good to see them again but it is late and we are tired. My first impression of their apartment is very favorable. Off to bed for me. |
The other day while driving to work, Toni (from my car pool) said “Dave, look at the sun”. Going against the lifelong advice of my parents, teachers, elders, and all of the experts… I looked. (I jest. Don’t ever really do this. We were looking through the fog and when it was brighter through the windshield tint). Sure enough, there was a dark spot on the sun. We both saw it and kept an eye on it all the way to work. I've not seen anything about it on the news but for us to see it with our naked eyes, it had to have been huge. The current photo from 
Speaking of still going strong… congratulations to Dennis and his Honda. He bought the car new and has driven it for at least a quarter of a million miles. That is about same distance as between the earth and the moon. Not only has it been reliable transportation through the years, he claims that the gas mileage has improved with time.
