I got a Kindle! I got a Kindle!

You know as a young pup I always wanted a special gift...watching it on the RCA on Saturday morning during Jonny Quest...was almost too much to bear as I dreamed of this plastic spring loaded very loud manifestation of American industrial might...
...There was a lot to like about Jonny Quest...heck Jonny had a cool dog...I mean, who wouldn't want to have a dog named "Bandit"...and a buddy named "Hadji"...shaping our little Ovaltine laced brains to look ahead to multi-culturalism...and his dad was a silver haired scientist Dr. Benton Quest with a personal bodyguard...WOW!...named Race Bannon...seriously...I still knew all of their names nearly 45 years later...although I can't remember what I had for dinner last night...

...anyway...so I asked Santa for a Kindle this year....since I didn't get it for my birthday...sniffle...but hidden in a big box with a couple of bricks and a ton of newspaper...sneaky ole Santa!....was a small brown cardboard box with this key to the knowledge of the world...or at least Amazon's version of the world...holding a Kindle!....how cool...

...for the sixteen of you in the world who have not heard of the Kindle...it is Amazon's E-Book...what's Amazon?...if I need to explain that you should probably stop reading now and return to your Guideposts and Readers Digest...anyway...the Kindle is an electronic book that downloads automatically books, mazagines, newspapers and other reading material to a very slender and lightweight device about the size of a small journal...

...now speaking as an aspiring bibliophile I initially was pretty skeptical of products such as the Kindle...as there really is nothing like the feel of a well worn leather bound volume in your hands...and I have frequently said that only two things tend to look better with age...leather and wood...and a vintage text is just beautiful and historic and exciting all at one moment...so you have to understand I tread towards the Kindle somewhat lightly...

...but a few months ago at my cousin Linda's house I picked up her Kindle sitting on the living room table...thinking it was some sort of a small logbook or journal...and was pleasantly surprised by its feel and possibilities...

...so I promptly downloaded several items and got cracking on this newfangled form of reading...the early verdict?...here are some observations...

*The wireless connection is amazing...easier to use than any cellphone or laptop...

*Trying out products for 2 weeks free or getting extended samples of book is brilliant...and a great marketing technique...

*Not being distracted by ads when reading a newspaper is wonderful...I had never thought about this until experiencing it...

*It is very simple to use and easy to read...even with old man eyes...and an old man brain...

*Navigating through the newspaper section is easier than I would have supposed...with a section guide that lays it out with the number of articles in a section...

*Reading in bed is as easy as reading a book...I would have thought there was a built in light but when I tried it a soft reading lamp worked just find...and when I fall asleep and it hits me in the face it doesn't hurt nearly as much as a book...

...so at this point I have to give it 4 stars...well done Amazon!...

....and what was the special gift of my youth?...that I never got?...

...maybe next year!

A Christmas Memory

OK it was 30 years ago today...exactly...December 25, 1979...and I was a long way from home...at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and not too far from Oman...

...it was dawn having stood another mid-watch...I try to now imagine working 8 hours on and hours off for 24/7 for a 7 month stretch again and it seems pretty impossible...but that is what we did...and I was tired as a dog and the radio traffic had fallen to near nothing because of the stateside holiday...while a small task force turned in a circle known as "Gonzo Station" for 92 days at sea...the USS Midway, USS San Jose, USS Jouett and USS Bainbridge as a I recall...I aboard the latter...you can probably figure out what I was doing there...

...what troubles me a bit is that few people seem to realize that a standing combat presence in the Mideast started in 1979...long before we ever heard of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney... but Idigress for that is not the Christmas tale...

...the mail service had long since fallen through with maybe 2 or more weeks since the blessed words "mail call" had rang throughout the steel home we had lived aboard for so long...and I was fairly bummed as the task force was scheduled to be in port the Phillipines long before Christmas...I and a bunch of my shipmates had booked flights stateside...as I recall the flight from Manila to Los Angeles was about $175 round trip...a princely sum...

...I had missed every Thanksgiving in my four years in the service...but had made Christmas several times...and was looking forward to the close of 1979 since it meant that I had but 7 months until discharge and my civilian life could resume...with plans to attend either UCSB or Fresno State...wasn't really sure at the time which but had applied to both...but Iran interrupted my holiday plans...never got my $175 bucks back either...

...after it sunk into us in early December that there was no way that another task force could be assembled to relive us for some months...and that all of the sugarplums that had been dancing in our heads had turned to powdered eggs and bug juice...morale was kind of low...and as I recall it was more of a result of not having any clue when we would ever come stateside again...more so than the fact of being stuck overseas...it was lack of leadership and indecision at the highest levels that bummed us out the most...

....so it was dawn over the Gulf...and I leaned against the bulkhead amidships...and for just a moment each morning the desert heat would break and you could feel a touch of cool...and so I recall that I had positioned myself near a vent that was blowing warm air from somewhere deep within the bowels of the ship...and with my fatigue from the night my body ached for rest...the caffeine from the tea I had drank a few hours before long since passing from my system...

...no other ships were in sight...or at least from my vantage...the Midway was probably just over the horizon ten or more miles out...and it was then that a solo helicopter flew nearby...in some kind of exercise or training...and I hope those guys weren't as tired as I was....but I thought it kind of peculiar this stray helo and no flight ops had been called....well go figure...the guys up in CIC knew what was going on...

...and then across the 1MC...throughout the ship...the order was shouted out to prepare to receive a helicopter...which for us was not really to land a helo but rather to be able to exchange supplies or passengers...which I had done multiple times to visit other ships to repair equipment for them...dangling over the sea at 25 knots...oh the things when we are young...a shot of adrenaline hit my heart and I returned to the radio shack to see what was going on...and what idiot called for a transfer on Christmas morning...

...I discovered that what was occuring was bundles of mail...boxes stuffed in canvas bags...letters long overdue from parents, spouses and sweethearts...await us...and the chopper dropped a large cargo net of mail on our aft flight deck...and soon cleared the ship and sped away back to the Midway...

...and in an hour or so shouts were erupting around the ship...from men in their khaki shorts and skivies in various states of dress...most not shaven just yet...the rules being somewhat relaxed in the tropics and gulf back then....

...and a sack of mail was delivered to the shack and a box awaited me...from my girlfriend of four years...a young lady at Westmont named Ruth...

...as far as trees go it was not much...a small plastic tree with some simple ornaments...and a "Care Package" to boot....and me and my buddies set it up atop a small table near the desk...and it cheered our hearts as we read letters, enjoyed some cookies and pretended even for a few moments that all was good in the world...

....now I know in the whole scheme of things that this is not a particularly profound moment...in the league of the prodigal son, a miraculous healing or appearance of an angel on Christmas day...but for me it was pretty special that the folks back home really did care...and that the unknown mail clerks and storekeepers and pilots had worked hard to make our ship a bit more cheery that day...before we returned to another 60 days at sea...before finally seeing land again...

...but I vowed then to not take Christmas for granted...and I have tried not to...and enjoy the family and friends that have been built up over the years...

...so I ask today that you appreciate those near you and give thanks for them...and to ask that you say a prayer for those in harms way...men and women we will never know but who sacrifice so we can have this time together...

...and my Christmas wish is that we appreciate one another...and pray and ask for peace in the world...life is not perfect but it is the only one we have.

Merry Christmas

here is the ship song that sent us on our way many a time...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvqB_go0ZIk

Reflections and a Prayer

A cold day today...having traveled north away from San Diego for the holidays...and of course the meetings that go with a complicated life...but actually left early to attend a funeral yesterday...

...What can one say when you attend a memorial service for a beautiful, bright, witty and outstanding young woman?...words seem to fail us in such moments...although her brother, a young man I have known and admired for many years...spoke with a poignant embrace of his sister and spark of hope in the midst of tears...leaving me at one moment in tears and the next with a smile...may all people have a sibling, friend or colleague who shares in such a way of their own passing some day...

....It brought back many memories...too many actually...because I think that I have attended 16 funerals of family members since my high school years...including my brother, father, all of my uncles, cousins, and of course my grandparents...and those who know me and my past recall Bill and Dave as well...brothers in arms...and while I cannot call them I can recall them...still...and miss them...reflections...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE9TNG8IQNI

...For me one of the most difficult parts of staying while others go is forgetting their voice, smell, laugh and tone...I cannot now recall my brother's and father's voice...I try but can't...it has passed me and is now lost...nor do I even think I would recognize it if I heard a recording of it...and perhaps to do so would rob me of something...teasing me of what cannot be and the replaying would be a disappointment....



...I recall my grandfather's peculiar smell...of woodworking...Prince Albert tobacco...a well worn shirt kept too long from soap...whiskers...the unusual and unique combination of things that are in some sense as much of one's being as their DNA...and when I cleaned out his woodshop 20 some years ago I sat alone and wondered of his life...and had regret that while he had lived a long life that there was so much I did not know...of him and his own hopes and dreams and aspirations...of the victories and the losses...and some years later when I went to the grave in Hayward of his young daughter...the sister of my father...who had died so long ago...I wondered how he had felt that day...and how long the pain stayed...and when the smell of young Lucille too faded...away and lost forever...


...so I suppose that just a few days before Christmas I am struck with the loss of this young woman all the more...trying to make sense of non-sense...and I know that somehow I must make peace with this event...between God and I and all the rest...as I have had to do too many times before...and wonder if I am and have been a good husband, father, person and friend...and know that I have not...


...and I simply wish that I could somehow develop an appreciation and awareness that I lack....and yearn for but know that this side of eternity it will elude me...

...yet still I have hope...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zvKXaOVASs

Spending Green to Go Green to Bleed Red

Now I really have nothing against Elmo...although my youth preceded the rise of Sesame Street...I was kind of more of a Superman and Prince Valiant kind of a kid...although later I did think Veronica was hot when Archie hit the 1960's...yikes...but that is not the point of my attempt at generally speaking today...I want to talk about the Point Loma Nazarene University "Grass Vote"......No! Not that kind of grass!...silly people...no, the kind of grass you sit on...spread a picnic...relax...take a nap...enjoy its smell and the ambience and cool it provides...and that at my esteemed campus there is a debate and vote to remove more than thirty areas of lawn...replace it with "native" landscaping...kind of like "Phoenix at the Point"...

...You think I make this stuff up? Check out http://www.pointloma.edu/PhysicalPlant/Sustainability/The_Grass_Vote.htm



...To be fair the advocates of removing the lawns at PLNU may not necessarily be thinking such luscious alternatives such as cactus...yucca...and puncture vines...but "native" certainly doesn't mean the standard of beauty that we have become accustomed to in modern landscaping...which has taken over 100 years at PLNU to develop... I but for your reference I have placed the picture above and below as examples of San Diego area native landscape...

...."But the earth is dying and the penguins are drowning and we have no water and the farmers have pillaged the land and Uncle Albert has got it right and who will save Willy and I must do something and we have to save the earth and...and...and...and..."

News flash! Willy died!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJFYwRtrH4

...Hold on while I wash my face after getting ill...

...So anyway... this got me thinking as I studied the Grass Vote at PLNU...and trying to examine the considerations of this issue...you know...that little process we used to call "analysis" of any particular topic...which has now been superceded by passionate cries of..."WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!!"...and shrill voices that have grabbed the microphones...or websites... are persuading our everyone...including our college students...that nearly everything is worth "kicking to the curb" in the name of sustainability, natural and renewable...something CS Lewis called "chronological snobbery"...worth the read if you are interested...

...but so sorry I have this little problem...I am afflicted with something called "common sense"...and also a desire for analysis before making important decisions...so I wrote a note to the person in charge of the "Grass Vote" at PLNU for clarification...so I will post below the questions I raised...

1) What, if any, is the potential impact on recruiting and admissions? As a parent prior to coming to PLNU as a faculty member, I know that the visual appearance of PLNU is a significant factor for many applicants. While some applicants may find dry-scape/native preferable, I would think a majority would prefer the campus as is.

2) What is the economic value in water savings to the campus? Was this quantified in any way or only that it will “save water?”

3) Is there any potential impact on our staff members in grounds keeping? If we reduce maintenance of lawn areas does this mean we are reducing staff? Have they been consulted? It seems to me that we have at least the potential to remove some of the hardest working and lowest paid staff members at PLNU.

4) What is the potential impact on student employment? I know that some students work at PLNU in grounds keeping over the summer to earn tuition. Has this been considered?

5) Are there other alternatives to native? For instance, I am currently considering new forms of artificial turf. This has been used extensively at military installations in the Point Loma area and new versions of this product are far superior to older versions. Certainly in some areas (shaded, rooted, marginal drainage, etc.) alternative turf may be superior to what we have.

6) What is the current effort at PLNU to reclaim water? Could water reclamation be a potential solution?

7) Is there any capacity at PLNU in the current budget situation to even consider alterations to the landscape? When faculty and staff wages are frozen is there potential backlash to such initiatives?


..So I guess my point is that I am asking for people to think before you tear up lawn...remove sprinkler systems...lay off workers...change PLNU forever...just think before you jump off a cliff, OK? ...Let's at least talk through all the issues before action...

...And the cool thing is that I have received a response on my questions! Tune in for coming posts!



...THINK!