Seven Years

I’ve never been one for plagiarism but I do firmly believe that, if you’re going to rip off, you should rip off only from the best.  So when I received John’s email today with the subject header, "Seven Years," I could not resist the temptation to lift the title.  It was at 1:15 a.m. (exactly four minutes ago as I am writing this) on Wednesday morning December 23, 2004 that Dad breathed his last, seven years ago at this hour.
    Dad had been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (aka CLL) 26 months before that.  CLL we were told at the outset was deadly, having no treatment, let alone a cure.  That was the bad news.  The good news, and it was very good news, is that of all the cancers it was by far the slowest progressing, so slow it generally took the better part of 20 years to kill you.  Since Dad was already 87 years young at the time of the diagnosis, his oncologist Dr. Roman Franklin said he would almost certainly die of something else before the leukemia caught up with him.  He could still fully look forward to living out his natural life span, and there wouldn’t even be any symptoms until the end.

Michigan Leads 11-11

Look Mom, no leaves!

    C’mon!  Did anyone seriously think I was going to write about sports?  I know about as much about sports as most other people know about investing.  The difference is I don’t pretend to know about sports, or offer any opinions about it, except to occasionally express my dismay as to why it inspires such fanatical devotion as to provoke physical altercations.  Even if I don’t care for sports myself, I certainly understand why most other people like (even love) competitive athletics, if not as participants certainly as spectators.  And I certainly don’t hold it against anyone, except when it triggers assault and battery.  Truthfully, I prefer just an old-fashioned workout, but I do realize that most people find root canals more appealing than daily exercise.  But I love working out.  Frankly, sports were only invented as a way to make fitness fun.  Even the ancient Greeks appreciated that push ups and sit ups can be tedious and boring.  Thus, they invented the Olympics.  But I personally prefer skipping the formalities and public participation and simply pumping iron in the privacy of my own home.  I love my bike.  I love my Total Gym.  If Brother Rice had had a weight-lifting team, I would have eagerly gotten into shape to join.  As it was, it took the Navy to initiate what has since been a lifelong interest in fitness.

Two For the Road

There is a famous 1967 Audrey Hepburn film in which she co-starred with Albert Finney.  "Two For the Road" is a serio-comic tale about a couple facing divorce and how they use the experience of a road trip through Europe one summer to try to save their marriage.  Many think it was one of her best films, and I happen to agree.  Also it was the film debut of the fabulous Jacqueline Bisset who, though she plays a very minor character with only a few minutes of screen time, almost steals the film.  Is it any wonder Bisset quickly became an international star?  Even though she shared the screen with the likes of Hepburn and Finney, at the time two of the most popular and established actors in the world, audiences only needed a glimpse of Bisset to know they wanted more … a whole lot more!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

    Friday I took another foray into the 21st century.  I upgraded my DSL.  I started the century with a 28k dial-up connection and, in September 2007, finally entered the world of high-speed Internet by getting the lowest connection speed AT&T offered, a 768k DSL service.  768: that was 27 times faster than what I was used to.  I was overjoyed, felt like I had been shot out of a cannon. 

"Spooky" Halloween(s)

    I didn’t get a chance to do my traditional Halloween posting this year.  I haven’t had a chance to do much of any writing for a while.  I miss the writing.  So one week after the fact, I’m going to share my Halloween with you.  From past writings, I think I’ve mentioned that something unusual happens to me every year on Halloween, usually something unpleasant, but mostly just weird, sometimes even comically weird.  This year it was comically weird, even though there may be some of you who will take what happened to me as a definite bad omen.  So I can put your minds at ease and say right off the bat that it’s been a week now and nothing bad has happened.  Yet! …  oooooh, spooky! 

For Kent

Kent & MJ at Fr. Vin's birthday party, June 7, 2009

For those of you who may not be yet aware, Kent Ashton Walton, my sister’s longtime love, passed away at 3:30 a.m. Friday after a long battle with liver cancer. Kent was a Brit, and very much epitomized the archetypal English gentleman - very reserved, very cultured, very intellectual. His idea of a good time was a quiet evening at home with my sister in the company of a good bottle of wine. He had a particular liking for the Australian Shiraz. He was a homebody, to be sure, and if he HAD to go out, it was usually to haunt art galleries and poetry readings with my sister. That’s probably where he found his initial attraction to Marijo – they are both accomplished artists and poets.  

What A Difference A Month Makes

Six weeks ago tomorrow my mother passed away very suddenly at 95. That evening I wrote my last posting entitled "What A Difference A Day Makes" since she had been fine just 24 hours earlier. But the "difference" that July 25th had made for me went far beyond my mother’s passing. For me it meant my whole life changed, some for good, some for bad. While it was true that the nursing home bills now stopped and I no longer needed to be immersed in the daily process of generating capital to pay the bills, it was also true that I no longer had an unspecified period of time for wrapping up estate business. Indeed, now it was painfully specific and the several weeks that have followed have been a whirling dervish. What a different place we were in just one month later.

What A Difference A Day Makes!

My mother passed away very suddenly at 11:30 this morning. What a difference a day makes! At 7 a.m. this morning, she was fine. Last night at 11 pm, I got a call from Lourdes saying that she had had a difficult evening, nausea, a little vomiting, a little trouble breathing. But by the time they called at 11 p.m., she was doing much better, very comfortable, even smiling and conversing with the nurses.

A Sign of the Times

One of the signs of our times is without a doubt the unprecedented collapse in the real estate market during the last few years. Since 2007, many homes have lost about 40% of their pre-recession value. This was the direct result of so many people losing their jobs all at once due to so many companies downsizing or even going bankrupt all at once due to the historic credit crisis brought on by the subprime mortgage debacle.

In Defense of Flogging

On July 4th, I wrote about the crime problem and its facade of being a path to cheap freedom through easy wealth as the first part of my tribute to Independence Day and our traditions of liberty. My unorthodox tribute was inspired by what I considered a rather shocking story in last week’s news concerning crime in America. Much to my surprise the story took a surprising new twist this week so I now present Part Two of my tribute to the spirit of American independence. (And, no, I am not referring to the Casey Anthony acquittal.)

Where Freedom Is Cheap

Freedom is cheap, sometimes, and in some places. This may be the first time many of you have heard such a sentiment. We typically celebrate the opposite: freedom is very expensive and has been purchased time and again with the blood of our service members. It was certainly originally purchased for us at the hugely expensive price of our Revolutionary War, expensive not just in blood but in money. We went hugely in debt and spent the better part of the 19th century paying it off, mostly to France which financed most of our war against England. But on this 235th birthday celebration for our nation and our freedoms, I did something that, on the surface, may seem a little out of spirit for the holiday.

The Chronicles of Tau

I was wondering if I’d have a topic suitable for hailing in July and it turns out I do. Thursday being piano day, I thought it was particularly appropriate that I stumbled onto this fascinating video on YouTube, a video that proves you can marry art and science. There is so much math in music that I thought it would be of interest to all of you to see a music video that was produced entirely with a mathematical algorithm based on tau.

The Ultimate Writer's Fantasy

It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a film so inspiring that I’ve devoted a post to it. But Sunday I saw the film that has been touted as Woody Allen’s best film yet - and I have to agree, It was a near perfect portrayal of the ultimate writer’s fantasy - that is to be magically transported to a time when you could rub elbows and commiserate with all of history’s most famous writers and artists. Only movies can offer such magic.

Lower Education

There was a very insightful article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal regarding the latest achievement test scores for the nation’s elementary and high school students and that there has been no improvement since the tests were last given in ’06. The Journal writer was making the case that "No Child Left Behind" is an utterly failed policy. Specifically, the article referenced the miserable scores on the history section of the exam, in which some 65% did not know what the Declaration of Independence was. This all brought back memories of another achievement test made up and given by brother John to high school honors students in South Florida in 1997 and published exactly 14 years ago yesterday. I say forget about 2006 and No Child Left Behind. They’re irrelevant. One need only revisit the "John Pop Quiz of 1997" to understand that the problem goes much deeper than even the Journal would have us believe.

A Legend In My Own Mind

The last four weeks have been quite eventful for me, many accomplishments, many recognitions. But tonight took the cake, and in a rather hilarious way if it turns out to be true. Tonight, while attending the retirement party at Orchard Lake Country Club for Jan Green, our longtime City Clerk, I received some news about myself, from none other than our second-in-command, that frankly shocked the hell out of me. I’ve requested verfication. If true, then it appears I’ve become a minor local legend. (If not, of course, then simply a legend in my own mind.)

Rhapsody in C minor

My third Piano Guild audition is now behind me for a week now and it was indeed rhapsodic. Besides the major accomplishment of mastering the entire "Sonatina in C" by classical Italian composer Muzio Clemente, I also had to perform Bach, Schumann and the very beautiful "Melody in C minor" by the great contemporary Russian composer Aram Khatchaturian. And C minor is no piece of cake. It’s been my most challenging scale yet. The piece itself is nothing short of a rhapsody.

E.T. Phone Berkeley (quickly!)

One small item in the news last week that rang at least a temporary death knell on still another casualty of the Great Recession was the announcement that funding has been cut for the SETI Project out of UC Berkeley. For those of you who have never seen films like Deep Impact, E.T., Close Encounters, or Contact - to name just a few - SETI is the acronym for Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and has been an ongoing research project for some years now.

Controversy at 3535

I published a letter in yesterday’s Oakland Press on the subject of this so-called "Birther" issue. I have published a number of letters over the years on subjects far more important than I consider this one to be and nary has there been a peep from anyone. But this one – 11 impassioned replies on the OP web site, from both sides!

A Good Month For Piano (... & justin bieber ... )

March ended with my piano teacher affectionately scolding me for my failure to identify one of the chords in the E minor scale. "You’re supposed to know this stuff! What am I going to do with you?" It was the V7 chord and you can bet I’ll never forget that one again. But tell me all you music lovers ... do any of YOU know what a V7 chord is? (Except I’m sure my nephew Conor does.)

iPod/iPad - Tomaytoe or Tomahtoh?

"I say tomatoe, you say tomato. I say potatoe, you say potato. Tomatoe, tomato, potatoe, potato, let’s call the whole thing off!"   We all know this song and it’s recently gained a new relevance in view of my long-held intransigence against both the iPod and iPad.