Category Archives: Ronnie

September 28, 2014 · 22:07

Juicy Chunks O’ Wisdom For Sunday, September 28th

‘Cause the baseball postseason is here and my beloved Angels have the best record in baseball, that’s why.

  • In addition to the moon in the evening sky, there are a couple of bright planets. Look for them all! Last night (Saturday, 09/27) the Moon was very close to a very bright Saturn. Tonight, the Moon was getting close to a somewhat bright but very reddish Mars. The Moon will keep heading up higher into the sky each night and getting brighter, but if you’ve got binoculars, it’s a great time to be looking. Before it starts getting cold. Like GRRM said…
  • The Long-Suffering Wife cut her finger yesterday in the kitchen. I put a bandage on it, and the one immediately at hand in the kitchen cupboard was an old SpongeBob SquarePants bandage. Not a big issue, until much later, when the lights got turned off in the bedroom and she realized that it glowed in the dark. Her reaction was quite interesting, to say the least.
  • Is it unreasonable to think that our air traffic system should be robust enough so that a single disgruntled employee can cause massive disruptions of thousands of flights, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded, a mess than continues to be a mess three days later and will continue to be a mess for days more? Did no one anywhere in the FAA or Transportation Department think that there should be some sort of backup plan if a single TRACON had to go offline?
  • Jessie went out on Wednesday morning and was stunned to find her prized squirrel carcass gone from the patio sidewalk. For two days, every time she went out in back she went straight to that spot and started sniffing around and looking for it. Then she would look at me with sad, accusing, old dog eyes. I swear, I didn’t touch it, I left it there. I’m figuring there’s a coyote or raccoon or owl or hawk or crow that found an easy, more or less freshly dead meal and took off with it.
  • Pumpkin spice Oreos? Really? I will make a bold statement here — I have never had “pumpkin spice” anything. Not lattes, not beer, not cookies, not cheesecake, not ice cream, not pickles — nothing! As such, I feel fully qualified to feel like I’m the last guy who can tell humanity about the pods in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” or Charlton Heston at the end of “Soylent Green.” “It’s pumpkin spice, humans! Stop eating it! It’s sent by aliens to take over your brains! Don’t eat the pumpkin spice!”
  • At least the glow in the dark SpongeBob SquarePants bandage is on her “driving” finger. At least, that’s what we call it here in Los Angeles.
  • It’s hockey preseason and I’m learning that I need to get my gimpy shoulder into mid-season form quickly. My usual reaction to a Kings goal is to instinctively and immediately throw my arms in the air. If my arm hurts when I do that, we’ve got a problem. (The Vuvuzela of Victory only sings its sweet, sweet song during the playoffs. We have to save the juju for when it’s really needed.)
  • How much does a wagon cost these days? You know — small, red, kid sized, used for hauling toys, dirt, and little sisters. I’m asking for a canine friend.
  • The reports I’ve seen said that the contract employee who sabotaged the FAA air traffic control center in Chicago was upset because they had just been informed they were being transferred to Hawaii. Further developments and information are most certainly coming, but for the moment, let’s examine that allegation. Now, mind you, I absolutely love the city of Chicago. I spent a couple of years there as a kid (junior high school years) in the suburbs, still love going back to visit. I’ve never had a bad time there. But is it so good that when “threatened” with a transfer to freakin’ HAWAII I would go berserk? Are we talking about a different Hawaii than the one I see on TV with the beaches, the jungles, the weather, the surfing, blah, blah, blah?
  • Or the squirrel RE-ANIMATED and its rotting, evil, zombie squirrel body is stalking the trees, waiting for its chance to catch Jessie unawares so that it can WREAK ITS VENGEANCE!!
  • That comma is really important in the “It’s pumpkin spice, humans!” line.
  • Los Angeles about ten days ago, lunch time, near Beverly Hills. South of Sunset, by the Pacific Design Center, between San Vicente and La Cienega. One of the million little, itty-bitty strip malls that cover LA like scabs. As usual for the breed, this one might have had 12 to 15 parking spaces, all full. I’m sitting there eating outside when a brand new, white, shiny, Maserati Quattorporte pulls into the lot. He’s in luck! There’s a full size SUV, an Urban Assault Vehicle, just pulling out of a space. The SUV departs and the person driving (the windows were blacked out, couldn’t see them) whips it around and tries to pull into the just-vacated parking spot. “Tries” is the key word here. They back up and try again, unsuccessfully. And again. And again. All of this despite the fact that a vehicle twice as big just pulled out of that spot. Just about the time I’m ready to start laughing and go offer to park it for them, they give up. They ROAR out of the parking lot, tires screaming — because they have a Maserati Quattroporte and they have to show the world how insanely cool they are. As they leave, another SUV, just as large as the previous one, pulls in and swings into that parking spot in one try. The conclusion is obvious — despite that $140K price tag, the Maserati Quattroporte has the turning radius of a battleship and is a pig to handle in tight spaces! Well, that or someone was seriously overcompensating for something, and it wasn’t the fact that they can’t drive for beans.

Remember, “Some days you win, some days you lose. Some days it rains.” That’s deep. Really. Not even being snarky. From Bull Durham, one of the finest baseball movies ever made. (It happens to be about baseball. A bit. And other things.) ((I’ll shut up now.))

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Filed under Astronomy, Dogs, Freakin' Idiots!, Health, Juicy Chunks, LA Angels, Los Angeles, Ronnie, Sports

July 21, 2014 · 17:19

A More Personal Anniversary

Following all of the 45ths and 20ths and 3rds that get me all fired up about our space program, today’s the 13th anniversary of a more personal event. Thirteen years ago today, the Long-Suffering Fiance decided to take the leap and became the Long-Suffering Wife.

Last year I mentioned some of the festivities of the day and posted a few pictures. What’s struck me this year is some of the tiny, almost trivial things that stick with you from a day like that and become family lore, familiar touchstones for a couple to refer to. Things like going out with my son, shopping for black socks. The way the heels of her shoes were sinking into the grass as she walked down the aisle.

One of our ongoing jokes (at least, I think it’s a joke, we seem to all be laughing, right, dear?) is how our wedding anniversary is the day after the moon landing anniversary and it’s a good thing, otherwise I would never remember our wedding anniversary. I don’t know if it’s quite that bad, but there may be some basis in truth to the theory.

Things have changed quite a bit in thirteen years, as it will for anything, any group, any family, or any couple. But we’re still hanging in there, still a “cute couple,” still in love.

We’ll stick together, kid, we’re going places together!

IMG_0340 small

And we’ll have the collection of silly, grinning selfies to prove it!

 

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Filed under Family, Paul, Ronnie

June 28, 2014 · 21:48

No Phil Vassar Photography?

Last night The Long-Suffering Wife and I (and our niece) went to a concert. With one odd exception (which of course, will be the one I rant about at length) it was a wonderful evening.

The venue was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. It’s truly an exceptional place to go to a concert. Aside from its iconic architectural status (designed by Frank Gehry), it is acoustically nearly perfect. The primary concert program tenant there is the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It’s a relatively small room, only 2,265 seats, so there literally is not a bad seat in the house. There are even tiers of seats behind the stage as well as in front and on the sides. We’ll have to get tickets for those seats sometime.

I’ve been there before with my daughter to hear classical organ music. (There’s a monstrously huge pipe organ built in with a pipe structure that’s as much fine art as it is functional.) It was The Long-Suffering Wife’s first trip there. The headlining artist was her absolute favorite, Phil Vassar.

While the Disney Concert Hall has hosted a wide variety of artists, it seemed that this was the first time that a country-western artist had performed there. It was fun to see the staff in their black and white semi-formal wear interacting with the country fans in cowboy hats, boots, T-shirts, and so on. It was an interesting intersection of diverse segments of society.

We’ve seen Phil Vassar several times before, including in some fairly small venues. We both love his music, and his shows are even better. He puts on an extremely fun, energetic, sing-along show, not only with his hits, but also mixing in some unconventional (but no less fun) tunes. Last night this included “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” from The Proclaimers, “Stay” by Maurice Williams and made a #1 hit by the Four Seasons, and “Summer Nights” from “Grease.”

The short version — we would both highly recommend you go see a Phil Vassar concert when he comes to your area.

The one oddity that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was the concert hall policy regarding photography, and the aggressive and inconsistent enforcement of it by the ushers and staff. To be blunt, what planet and what decade are these people living in? (I’m betting the ushers just have a job to do and get fired if they’re not hopping, so it’s some set of senior managers that I think are totally out of touch.)

We were told when we entered that no photography would be allowed in the theater. Right. Standard disclaimer. Blah, blah, blah.

Then they actually started jumping all over folks for taking pictures with their cell phones. We were there early and in our seats twenty minutes or more before the first opening act started. We saw dozens of people (taking selfies and pictures of the empty stage) get politely told that they really meant it, NO PHOTOGRAPHY! The couple sitting next to us said that he had been told that if they didn’t obey they would be kicked out of the concert.

REALLY??

I understand that they want to protect their music and images, so they don’t want videos and recordings on the internet. I’m sure that it’s much less a problem with the tuxedo and evening gown crowd that are there to see the LA Phil. But to a mainstream concert crowd at a country, rock, pop, or other concert? Surely you can’t be serious.

Thirty years ago, it was a big deal. More importantly, it was orders of magnitude easier to enforce. Cameras used film, recordings used cassettes, and you bought your music on “record albums.” If you were cutting edge, you might be buying those new-fangled “compact discs.” Because the photography and recording bans were easy to enforce, the only things that survive today (aside from all of the “official” stuff) are a few really bad Instamatic photos and some really crappy bootleg recordings. (Except for the Grateful Dead concerts. They were pioneers.)

That’s changed. 100%. 360 degrees. It’s a whole new universe out there and it’s been that way for going on ten years. Now it’s a sure bet that 99.999% of the folks in the room have a smart phone that can take pictures, record sound, and probably record HD video. It’s totally unrealistic to try to enforce a “no photography” policy.

Even worse, the people we saw getting warned were not recording any music. They were taking pictures of the really neat concert hall and the empty stage. Most were taking selfies of themselves and their friends in the really neat concert hall. I would love to hear the justification for trying to ban those kinds of pictures. Really, I’m serious, if you work for the Disney Concert Hall or LA Philharmonic, let me know.

Because the artists on stage had nothing to do with that policy. Phil Vassar actually opened his show by walking out on stage with a cell phone, taking pictures of the audience. He repeatedly throughout his concert, while singing, was down at the front of the stage, posing with fans who were taking pictures and video of the concert. Ditto (to a slightly lesser extent) with the two opening acts.

I haven’t been to a concert in years where a total ban on photos was in effect. If I try to bring in a professional camera and a huge telephoto lens, I’ll get turned away. No problem. Ditto if I have a tripod. Ditto if I whipped out a high-end HD video camera, even though they’re quite small enough to smuggle in these days. I get that the artists (or at least their management companies) don’t want unauthorized professional recordings and photos taken. That’s how they make their money. I get it, I agree, no problem.

But amateur, jumpy, lousy audio cellphone video? Selfies to put up on FaceBook or Instagram to say, “Hey, I’m at the concert!”? Grainy and blurry cellphone pictures taken at maximum digital zoom in extreme lighting conditions?

Aside from the simple and obvious fact that it’s flat out impossible to enforce such a ban, there’s no reasonable or logical reason to do so. None of those images or recordings are reducing your income or revenue. Not a dime. But harassing and pissing off your fans? THAT will reduce your revenue.

Do those up and coming opening acts (or even the well-established headliners) want their music “stolen” by people who are going to reduce their sales? No, obviously not. But that’s not what’s happening. The amount of revenue lost because someone got a copy of a cellphone video from a concert and didn’t spend 99¢ to download the song from Amazon has got to be infinitesimal.

Do those up and coming opening acts (or even the well-established headliners) want hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of fans posting concert pictures on social media and going off on how great the concerts were? Do they want “buzz” as new fans stumble on them? You bet your ass they do. That’s better than gold these days. (Check out social media or official web pages for almost any artist – most encourage fans to take pictures.)

So why would anyone in their right minds ever have a “no photos” policy, let alone try to enforce one?

Which leads to the final point that made the policy unreasonable. The folks who got there early and were taking pictures were warned by the staff. The folks who got there fifteen minutes later, just before the opening act, never got a word said to them. Throughout all three acts, particularly the Phil Vassar concert, I would estimate that easily 30% to 40% of the audience were taking pictures and video. Not a word was said to any of them, nor should there have been. Obviously.

So why jump all over folks who happened to be the first ones in? I get it, they were easy to spot and the ushers weren’t busy. If you’re the manager who really has a bug up your ass about this policy, that’s when you’re going to have your staff doing token enforcement. But to totally, 100% abandon that token enforcement as soon as the place started to fill up? That’s just random harassment. It’s totally unjustified.

Did I record video on my cellphone last night? No, I didn’t. I’ve done it at dozens of other concerts over the years, including previous Phil Vassar concerts. Last night was about enjoying the concert and making sure that Ronnie enjoyed it, not about me getting so-so recordings of it.

Did I take pictures on my cellphone last night? Not really. There was no need, I’ve got pictures of the concert hall from when I’ve been there before (and been a “scofflaw”).

photoBut I did take this picture near the end of the concert, just to thumb my nose a bit at this stupid policy. See that reddish blob in the center? That’s Phil Vassar!

Trust me.

(I actually like this picture as an abstract image. It contains everything and nothing, simultaneously.)

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Filed under Music, Photography, Ronnie

May 10, 2014 · 20:47

This Spring’s Epic Cardio & Strength Workout

Now that WLTSTF is in its second year, we’re starting to “swing through the lineup a second time.” As it were.

The Long Suffering Wife, as we recall, is on the Board of Directors for the local Habitat For Humanity chapter. Last year I wrote about how the physical challenges of the “Women’s Empowerment (WE) Build” pretty much kicked my ass. Today was this year’s WE Build event,which allowed many strong & powerful women (the best kind!) to get out there and hammer, saw, assemble, build, and paint. And this year there was a new torture to remind me how old and out of shape I might be. (“Might be” = “am.”)

photo 01The Long-Suffering Wife, resplendent in her pink hard hat!

photo 02Me, just looking goofy in mine.

The build is set up with about 95%+ women there, each assigned to a different area or task. The men are “Handy Hals” with the task of being go-fers, heavy lifters, and brute labor.

Last year we were at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, working on pieces (planters, fence sections, painting doors, etc) for the twelve homes in Sylmar which were being finished then.

This year we were on the actual construction site for the latest project, 87 homes in Santa Clarita. That’s a lot of homes!

The most special part of the work being done by the Santa Clarita – San Fernando Valley chapter of Habitat is that all of the homes are being built and sold to military veterans in need. That’s a great cause to support!

photo 03On the ridge overlooking the main street leading to the site, there will be a wall and memorial honoring our country’s fallen soldiers. I spent a good chunk of my day helping to plant eighteen or so trees on either side of the monument.

photo 04One site was laying cinder block for a retaining wall between different levels of the site. As you can see, each site has professional contractors there to give instructions, guidance, and keep everything safe — but the women volunteers are doing the work.

photo 05Another station was assembling, painting, and installing walls along the boundary between the site and a neighboring high school.

photo 06Another station was painting interior doors to be used when the houses get erected in a couple of months.

photo 07Another station was sealing and applying stucco to a retaining wall along the street. (There’s our memorial wall up on the ridge behind them!)

photo 08One station was painting the trim sections to go along with the interior doors.

photo 09Here’s the memorial wall being erected, with a great view.

photo 10And here’s what kicked my butt this year.  I’m sure every little kid has looked at jackhammers and thought that they would be really cool to play with. (I’m talking both male and female kids – the women we were working with were all lining up to take their turn to at least say that they did it.) But “playing” with a jackhammer is a lot different than working with one is. Those things are freakin’ heavy (approx 100 lbs) and it’s backbreaking, exhausting work. (Don’t let the smile fool you!)

If there’s a Habitat For Humanity group in your area, get in touch with them and see when they’ve got a build that you can help with. It can be hard work, but it’s well worth it.

Again, as it happened last year, I’m going to see if I can stay awake thorough the Kings’ hockey game tonight. (Or if they can get their act together after a pretty lousy first period.) GO KINGS!

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Filed under Habitat For Humanity, LA Kings, Paul, Photography, Ronnie

February 19, 2014 · 21:55

It’s GOOD To Drive The Nice Car!

In today’s bulletin from the Department of Irrelevancy:

I’ve been doing a LOT more driving in the last couple of months, despite the unemployment thing. Out to Camarillo to the CAF Museum and hanger three days a week or more, down to Orange County most weeks for a writer’s group — it’s starting to add up.

Normally I drive my stupid and well-worn old “Momdude-mobile”, an 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivan. It was very practical and functional when I got it, since at the time we had three kids in school and tons of schlepping to do on a daily basis. I got one with lots of upgrades, including the bigger engine, a towing package (bigger radiator & heavier shocks), the good leather interior, and so on. I wouldn’t ever buy another Chrysler, but this one has hung in there reasonably well for the most part.

But — at this point it’s got over 166,000 miles on it and a lot of things are starting to go. There’s a funky grinding sound from somewhere in the front suspension every time a bump is found, and those “speed humps” make it sound like the whole front end is going to fall off. The radio works sometimes, but mostly not. Of course, the car was manufactured a decade before things like built-in navigation systems or satellite radio were around. Hell, it doesn’t even have a simple jack for plugging in an iPhone or iPad. (Neither existed in 2001.)

These days, with the kids scattered around the planet, it’s primarily used to haul my butt around. It’s also the vehicle we use whenever the dog needs to go somewhere since she sheds like a fiend and I don’t want to ruin the “good” car. And it’s still big enough (barely!) to carry a 4×8 sheet of plywood or drywall. But it’s not terribly fuel efficient for me to use as a single-person commuter-mobile, and it’s a bit of a “battleship” to drive. It’s got plenty of power for a minivan, but that’s sort of like being the best leper in the colony.

A couple years ago, when The Long Suffering-Wife needed a new vehicle, we splurged and got our “lust-mobile”, a Volvo C70 convertible. Not very good for carrying anything other than two people and a tiny little bit of luggage, but damn if it isn’t a joy to drive, especially with the top down. Most noticeable, especially compared to the minivan, is that when you stomp on the gas, it GOES! There’s nothing I love more than getting onto the freeway and merging into traffic driving it. In the minivan you creep into the slow lane hoping someone cuts you some slack and leaves a hole big enough for you to wallow into — in the Volvo you pick your spot, punch it, pick your spot in the next lane, keep doing it, and in seconds you are in the fast lane doing “maximum freeway speed”.

It might not be terribly fuel efficient either, but who cares?

While The Long-Suffering Wife is back to driving after her surgery, she’s still taking it easy most days, so I’m getting the option to take the Volvo instead of the Chrysler some days. Would you rather drive the car described as “practical” and “functional” or the one described as “WOW!” and “cool?” Yeah, me too.

It’s good to drive the nice car!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Paul, Ronnie

February 14, 2014 · 21:23

Not Celebrating Valentine’s Day

First, a side rant — why are there ads for the last two or three weeks that start with, “Valentine’s Day is February 14th!!!”

Valentine’s Day is not a “floating” holiday like Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and so on. It’s fixed on the calendar, like Christmas, Groundhog Day, or New Year’s Day. So why do these advertising morons feel it is so freakin’ necessary to remind us over and over and over what day the “holiday” falls on?

Of course, they also have ads that say “Christmas Day is December 25th!!!” and “New Year’s Day is January 1st!!!” God help us, they probably have ads that say “The Fourth of July is July 4th!!!” So, in the end it boils down to:

  1. Are we really that stupid?
  2. Are we just fine and the ad agencies only think we’re that stupid?
  3. Are we just fine and the ad agencies are that stupid?
  4. Are we all freakin’ idiots? (Sorry, this last option might be a trick question.)

As for the “holiday” itself, The Long-Suffering Wife and I are not today and never have celebrated Valentine’s Day. I consider this to be a good thing, and not just because I don’t have to “perform” by buying an appropriate amount of candy or flowers or jewelry or whatever.  Our lack of fervor over this supposed holiday is actually due to The Long-Suffering Wife’s views on the day, and I happen to agree with her reasons.

Others dislike the holiday for their own (highly valid) reasons. For example, The Bloggess refers to it as “a ridiculous non-holiday made to make everyone feel insecure about their relationship” among other things. Then there are some wonderful cartoons from Ursula Vernon at her Red Wombat Studios blog, especially this one that’s been passed around the internet circles that I lurk in. There are many more “Valentine Day deniers” that are left as an exercise for the student to find.

But that’s not why The Long-Suffering Wife has always instructed me to ignore Valentine’s Day and forbidden me to get her anything for the day. (Well, when she first told me she was The Should-Have-Known-Better Fiancé instead of The Long-Suffering Wife, but that’s a different story.) Her reasoning is that because of the social pressure and marketing and sales tsunami that Valentine’s Day involves, too many couples, and guys in particular, are forced to perform and buy things and demonstrate their love on that one arbitrary day. It’s all marketing and peer pressure and fear of punishment, having little to do with actual love.

Her view is that, if you really love someone and care for them and want them to be happy, you should show that every day, not on this one day picked out by Hallmark and Madison Avenue.

This is a wise point of view. We celebrate other holidays and events, such as Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and so on. But we also both make a point to try to make each other happy every day, as well as find reasons to give each other something special now and then. When I send her flowers at work a couple of times a year, it’s not because “IT’S VALENTINE’S DAY AND HALLMARK HAS BEATEN ME INTO SUBMISSION AND I GOT SOME $2 FLOWERS FOR $20 FROM A GUY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FREEWAY OFFRAMP”, it’s because I want her to be happy and surprised and reminded that I lover her.

This is neither a subtle or a small difference. The Long-Suffering Wife is wise.

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, LA Angels, Paul, Ronnie

January 3, 2014 · 21:49

The Long-Suffering Wife vs. The Likert Scale

We’ve had the Volvo in the shop for a couple of days (nothing serious) and this always causes a debate in the Willett household.

Through circumstances beyond our control, the Volvo service department appears to be in abject terror of our car being there. This is because (not our fault!) they’re apparently required by their management to send us a customer satisfaction survey. The Long-Suffering Wife’s email address is the one in their system, so she gets it, fills it out, and returns it.

Now, let me state that as far as I can remember, the service we’ve gotten from them has always been great. I don’t know that we’ve ever been really unhappy, or even a bit peeved, with their service when the car’s in there.

But we have a serious “apples & oranges” problem.

On these customer satisfaction surveys (online or otherwise) they use a Likert scale. You may not know the term, but you know what I’m talking about. “What was your experience regarding the politeness of our staff, on a scale of one to five, five being best?” (Sometimes it’s “Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Neutral / Agree / Strongly Agree”, but it’s the same thing.)

The Long-Suffering Wife uses Likert scales at work and she has problems getting accurate data. A major problem with Likert scales is that there are several possible sources of bias. Since she has problems dealing with this bias, she tries very hard to give an accurate, unbiased response when asked to fill one out herself. Therefore, when we get satisfactory to good service, she’ll give them 3’s and 4’s. (“Apples”)

At the other end, Volvo’s management apparently (like many, many, many companies) demand that every customer get service that returns nothing but 5’s. This is ludicrous and makes the data they’re getting useless, which in my opinion makes them really useless and lousy managers, but as I said, we see this a lot. The reality is that some customers get truly outstanding service and some get truly horrendous service and most probably get decent or reasonable service. (Can you say, “Bell Curve?” Sure, I knew you could!) Defining your company’s expectations as “nothing but 5’s or we’re a failure!” is stupid. But that’s their management, not their service people. (“Oranges”)

In short, the Long-Suffering Wife gives them honest answers to the questions being asked, even though the expectations on the other end are skewed.

Then the customer service staff get yelled at and (apparently) lose bonuses because they didn’t get all 5’s. Despite the fact that it’s stupid and meaningless to expect all 5’s. Then when we bring our car in they absolutely beg us to give them all 5’s and they bust their butts to do anything for us. And The Long-Suffering Wife sees it as average or above-average service (which it is, it’s not like they’re picking the car up at home and dropping off a loaner, which they’re not supposed to to begin with…) and the cycle starts all over.

I understand the service staff’s frustration. I understand that they’re working in a broken system. I understand and agree with the Long-Suffering Wife’s objection to giving inaccurate answers.

I also understand that it’s not my float! 

I’m a pragmatist. While it looks like they’ve got a broken system, it’s not my system. While I think they’re getting useless results, they’re not my results. I think we’re getting perfectly good service and I don’t think the staff should be penalized for doing a “bad job” when they’re not. Since it’s no skin off of my nose, when the staff explains the situation and begs me to give them 5’s and I’m perfectly happy with the service received, fine, I’ll give them 5’s.

So now it’s a philosophical debate in the household. Should we give honest answers to the questions asked, or should we answer the real question and help out the perfectly competent staff?

The bigger question (which I don’t have an answer to, but would love to hear your feedback) is what to do when and if it IS my float at some point. If senior management needs accurate data, but managers and staff in the field are changing the rules and introducing bias into the results, how do you get rid of the bias?

Our solution to the Volvo customer satisfaction survey issue? The Long-Suffering Wife will now send me the link to the online survey and I’ll fill it out for us. That way we both get to hold our moral high ground and the Volvo service staff get their bonuses (based on useless data).

 

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Filed under Not My Float, Ronnie

November 27, 2013 · 14:14

Odds & Sods For Wednesday, November 27th

Item The First: Should it be “The Long Suffering Wife” or “The Long-Suffering Wife”? I’ve been going with the former, but someone suggested that could be construed as her being “nine feet tall and suffering” as opposed to “suffering for a long time”. Now, I would think that “The Long, Suffering Wife” would be “nine feet tall and suffering” and that no hyphen is necessary. Punctuation is important, you know. (Ask Grandma tomorrow when the kid either yells “It’s time to eat Grandma!” or “It’s time to eat, Grandma!”)

Item The Second: I have been known at times to rant about the “freakin’ idiots” of the world, and this often targets politicians and our legal system. (Sorry, I’m not the one who invented the system. If politicians and lawyers would like to stop being highlighted as freakin’ idiots, they’re free to stop doing freakin’ stupid things any time they want. But I digress.)

Having gone off at the mouth about some of the bad things I see, it’s time to highlight a good thing that caught my eye. NPR has an article (and I went hunting and found a more detailed article at the Chicago Tribute) about a couple in Illinois that’s being allowed to get married immediately, rather than being forced to wait until June, 2014 when the new Illinois law allowing same-sex marriages goes into effect. Their circumstances are extreme, and tragic, and I think we should all congratulate the judge, US District Judge Thomas Durkin, for making a ruling that demonstrates compassion and common sense.

Item The Third: I understand why are there television shows that start with a voice-over and a card that says, “This show is a work of fiction and is not in any way based on any actual person or event”. (Hint, it rhymes with “too many lawyers”.) What I don’t understand is why they do that after the previous two hours of sitcoms have had teaser commercials for the show at least once every half hour and every single one of them screams “AN EPISODE RIPPED FROM TODAY’S HEADLINES!” Doesn’t that by definition mean that either the marketing department or the legal department is lying? (Yes, you get extra credit if you immediately pointed out the excellent odds that both of them are lying.)

Item The Fourth: The last two days NASA-TV has been running live interviews where NASA folks (astronauts, scientists, researchers, etc) have been going through these long series of one broadcast interview after another being done and recorded. On Tuesday it was scientists from Goddard being interviewed about Comet ISON, on Wednesday it was interviews about what the astronauts eat on ISS for Thanksgiving.

I understand that TV news anchors and personalities are no longer hired for having the same journalistic chops as Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley. They’re hired because they look good in front of a camera and can be pleasant on command. This leads to a fair number of them who appear to be unable to recite the alphabet without a teleprompter. It’s never more clear than when they’re doing these interviews. Leading off with statements like, “There are three people in space right now, one American and two Russians” is not only blatantly incorrect, it’s hideously lazy journalism. How hard is it to go the the NASA website, or simply type “Who is on ISS right now?” into Google to get a dozen correct answers. (Like, here, and it’s currently six people, which breaks down as three Russians, two Americans, and one Japanese.)  You can do that on your phone, for crying out loud! I commend the various NASA personnel being interviewed for not spending their entire interview correcting the stupid things said.

That having been said, is there an astronaut training course called “1,001 Ways To Say ‘That’s A Great Question'”? You hear it when they’re doing interviews in the studio, on orbit, from Houston, or at a public event like a Google + Hangout. They say it whether they’re talking to the president, a reporter, or a fifth-grader. They say it on every, single, freakin’ question asked! Is there a Department Of That’s A Great Question at NASA? (I rant, but I still love NASA and the astronauts and the scientists, would kill to work with them.)

Item The Fifth: Tomorrow is do-or-die day for Comet ISON as it slingshots around the sun, only 730,000 miles above the solar surface. (For reference, that’s only about three times the distance between the Earth and the moon.) That qualifies it as a “sun grazer” and it will be the point where it’s most likely to shatter into pieces or simply evaporate. The astronomers who have been tracking Comet ISON think it’s big enough to survive and come around the other side toward Earth (it can’t hit us, even if it falls apart, closest approach will be over forty million miles away), which will at least give it a chance to be spectacular in December.

The reports it might be “as bright as the full moon!” are total nonsense and always have been. There have been comets that have been bright enough to be seen in daylight and some early estimates thought Comet ISON had the potential to do it, but now it doesn’t seem that will happen. But for the last week or ten days it has been visible to the naked eye as it approached the sun, and there are some truly spectacular photographs out there on the Internet. Assuming it survives, once it comes around the other side of the sun it will start to be visible before dawn and by mid-December it will have gone far enough north that it will “circumpolar”, which means it will be visible all night long for northern hemisphere viewers. (Sorry, southern hemisphere folks!)

Tomorrow, despite it being Thanksgiving in the US, there will be a lot of astronomers skipping the turkey and monitoring Comet ISON’s progress. You can do it as well online (you can’t see it yourself, it’s right next to the sun, you’ll go blind, use common sense) since NASA will be having a Google + Hangout from 13:00 to 15:30 EST, 10:00 to 12:30 PST. (Perihelion is at 13:25 EST, 10:25 PST.) You can send in questions via Twitter, or you can just watch as the satellite images come down (here‘s the latest one, with Comet ISON approaching the sun from about the 4:00 position) and see what happens.

If you want to know more, there are hundreds of articles and news stories online — I recommend you start here, with Emily Lakdawalla’s excellent live blog on The Planetary Society’s website.

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Filed under Astronomy, Death Of Common Sense, Entertainment, Freakin' Idiots!, Odds & Sods, Ronnie

July 22, 2013 · 16:40

The J. Paul Getty Museum (A Whole Bunch Of Pictures!)

As mentioned, yesterday was our twelfth wedding anniversary, but we celebrated on Saturday by going to The J. Paul Getty Museum here in Los Angeles. It was our first visit, one of the reasons we picked it for this special occasion.

The museum at the Getty Center was opened over fifteen years ago. Admission is free (parking is not, but you can get there by public transportation) and the main thing I remember from when it opened was that it was more crowded than Disneyland. That phase has obviously passed, although they still get over a million visitors a year.

Even though I’ve lived here almost forty years, and Ronnie almost her whole life, The Getty was one of those things that we had just never gotten around to. “It will always be there when we want to go!” Right, you know the feeling?

If guests came in from out of town for a week it would be something that would put high on their list along with Disneyland, the beach, Hollywood, Dodger Stadium, a concert at the Disney Concert Hall or LA Live… But we drive by it every time we go over the hill on the 405, it’s right there on the hill overlooking the entire city. We’ll get to it!

It was time to go. And it was so much worth it!

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The Getty Center occupies one of the uber-spectacular pieces of real estate in all of Los Angeles, and it was designed by Richard Meier and cost over a billion dollars. It shows. The day was overcast and gray to start, which was great because you’re often outside walking between the many buildings and galleries. (Above, you can see the 405 Freeway below us, Westwood and UCLA just off to the left of the freeway, and the skyscrapers of Century City and the Wilshire Corridor in the distance. The stairs lead out to the Cactus Garden.)

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Everything is covered in thirty-inch squares of travertine with fountains all around. From the surrounding city (and freeways) the museum is stunning, especially illuminated at night. From the many courtyards on the site it’s just as spectacular.

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Ronnie looking at Portrait of Agostino Pallavicini by Van Dyck (1623). As you can see, the galleries are cavernous, well lit, and comfortable.

The entire museum is huge. We were there for about three hours and might have seen a third of it without a lot of dawdling. And yet we didn’t get to see the Rubens, the Van Gogh, the Monet, the Renoir… If you’re in town and you only get to see it once, plan on spending the whole day.

Here are just a few of the items we saw, some favorites. I apologize in advance for some of the so-so photography. As in most museums there’s no flash photography and no tripods allowed. In addition, many of the pieces are hung high, so there’s a bit of a fisheye effect in getting the whole painting into the frame. (Let these marginal photos just whet your appetite to come and see these magnificent paintings in person!)

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A very dark piece, Christ and the Adulteress by Boulogne (1620s). Chiaroscuro, anyone?

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A piece Ronnie liked a lot, Landscape With A Calm by Poussin (1651).

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Another of Ronnie’s favorites, Head Of A Woman by Sweerts (1654). This was incredibly realistic, really seemed to jump off of the canvas.

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Portrait of a Young Man by Van Der Helst (1650). The silver & gold detail work on the cloak’s hem and collar was indescribable.

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The Abduction of Europa by Rembrandt (1632).

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An Old Man in Military Costume by Rembrandt (1631)

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Saint Bartholomew by Rembrandt (1661). I must say, seeing three Rembrandts hanging side by side is quite the experience.

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Portrait of Anthony Valabregue by Cezanne (1871). All those things you learn about in art classes regarding brush strokes and thick and thinner paint and so on? I never really, really got it until I got six inches away from some of these pieces.

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Portrait of a Man by Manet (1860)

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Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino by Turner (1839)

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Portrait of Therese Countes Clary Aldringen by Sargent (1896) was one of my two favorites. It’s a huge piece but just stunning, dominates the room.

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Portrait of Princess Leonilla of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn by Winterhalter (1843)

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Portrait of the Marquesa de Santiago by Goya (1804). This was not one of Ronnie’s favorites, but the accompanying plaque talked a lot about Goya’s technique and intent and I could see how it was supposed to look the way it did.

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The Farewell of Telemachus & Eucharis by David (1818)

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Entrance to the Jardin Turc by Boilly (1812). This was probably my favorite of the day, a piece that I had never heard of from an artist that I had never heard of, but it really came to life for me. The detail picture can’t even come close to showing how detailed and lifelike this scene was.

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Diana and Her Nymphs Bathing by de Troy (1724)

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View of the Grand Canal: Santa Maria Della Salute and the Dogana From Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo by Bellatto (1743). Another extremely detailed and realistic scene where you could almost see the birds flying by and the sails rippling in the wind.

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The Model Resting by Toulouse-Lautrec (1889)

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Dancer Taking A Bow (The Star) by Degas (1877)

Obviously, if you come to visit Los Angeles and you care at all about art, you MUST put a full day in your schedule to visit The Getty. We have the luxury of going back when we want to and we won’t be waiting fifteen years for the next trip!

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Filed under Art, Photography, Ronnie

July 21, 2013 · 06:00

Twelve Years Ago Today

Twelve years ago today I stood in a gazebo in the garden of a tea house (formerly a house of ill repute, we’re told) in Orange, CA. It was hot! I was in a monkey suit (i.e., a tuxedo). I was surrounded by friends and family. We were all watching Ronnie walk her father down the aisle to meet me and take her Oath of Office as The Long-Suffering Wife.

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It was a wonderful day and when we reminisce about our wedding we’re both very happy to remember that almost everyone had a good time. (My daughter Kat was not feeling well, but she was a trooper and hung in there.) There was snarky music (we had the DJ play James Brown’s “I Feel Good” as we walked back down the aisle), dancing, good food, a great cake (with a tiny Matchbox Pathfinder on top along with the more traditional bride and groom), and all of the usual wedding tomfoolery.

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Twelve years later, we’ve had some interesting times, some good and some not so good, but we’re still going strong. Our road together lies to the horizon in front of us.

I love you, Ronnie! Thanks for taking the leap with me!

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(Whoa! Hair! Glasses! Much less gut! WHOA!!)

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Filed under Castle Willett, Family, Paul, Ronnie