The Future in One Picture

My former son in law, Darrell Forde scanned some pictures of my grandchildren and posted them on Facebook. I thought this one was particularily good. It was taken around 7 or 8 years ago, how time flies.

Nova, on the left, if he has his druthers, will be a world famous free climber. I expect him to be on the face of El Capitan in a few years breaking the record for the fastest climb. Lucrative sponsorships will follow and a free climb of Fitzroy in Patagonia (never been done) then he'll conquer other challenges. Until then if he can simply turn in his reading lists his mother will be happy. He reads all the time and told his mom, "the teachers all ready know I read alot of books." I suggested that a good lesson is "the jobs not done until the paperwork is done!" When he gets back to Santa Cruz after spending time with his other grandparents, he's off to Survival Camp.

Sophia just finished her Junior year at UCLA at 19. On her blog and Facebook page she lists herself as a bicycle mechanic, which, in fact, she she is. (the only woman mechanic at the UCLA Bike Exchange) Ms S is heading for Copenhagen to spend a year at the Urban Design School, when she finishes in Denmark, she'll have her degree and then graduate school. She can do anything she sets her sights on. She has already biked for 4 weeks in Europe and worked on an organic farm in Tuscany. She routinely bikes Centuries in under 8 hours. At her age I was lucky to get to Maple Lake and back.

Dory, the sleepy boy, the baby. Inquisitive, good with tools, voracious reader and fisherman. A few years ago, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "a tool belt". I got him a set of Stanley Tools for kids. He can discuss anything from Elephant Seals and their mating habits, race car aerodynamics (ask Mike Griffin, former owner of the Panther Indy Car team) to micro climates. And he is a damn good cook. Cakes and I are taking him to Westport for a week next month. He and gramps are going to cook, fish, beach comb, ride our bikes, build fires at night and read, read, read.

If children are the future, these three will be big contributors. We need to help them as much as we can and leave them something to work with, like clean and abundant water, clean air and sustainable resources. They are our legacy and we owe it to them.

In a future post, you'll meet Grace Dickson, my NYU granddaughter. She is a force of nature.

Jan, (the Cakes) my wife has no blood in this, but you'd never know it. She loves these kids beyond recall and would throw down her life for them!

Everytime I get down, angry or pissed off at the world, I realize how fortunate I am.

What a freakin' week!

I'm exhausted, haven't slept all week. I lay in bed in a semi concious state...it's been so bad I've moved into the guest room so I don't have to listen to Cake's say, "Shut out the light, shut it off, I heard you snore, you need to meditate, you're sleeping!" By 11 in the morning I'm half asleep at my desk. In the late afternoon I perk up and I'm not tired at bedtime. At least I'm getting some reading done. Since last Friday, I've read the Cronkite biography, a book on WW2 dis-information networks and 2 Walter Mosley 'Easy Rawlins" mysteries. Mom would be proud. And I'm tired, dammit.

Yesterday, a guy stuck his head into my office, an old dude. His name is Jere Kitzmiller. Jere was the Sales Manager of Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors. When he hit the GM mandatory retirement age he went to work Penske Corporation. Jere had heard about DRIVE! and wanted to see it for himself. We had a wonderful chat and we are going to get together again soon.
He said, "If Iwasn't so damn old (79) I get involved in this with you." I'll take that as a complement, Jere. Kitzmiller was widowed last fall, his wife was his highschool sweetheart, the old boy winked at me and said, I'm going on my first date tonight since highschool. Jere's date is a "babygirl", she is 65!

Jere told me an interesting story. Back in the 70's he bought a Mercedes and a BMW and brought them to a Caddy sales meeting at GM headquaters. He pointed out that those cars were the future and if Cadillac continued to produce (in his words) luxo-barges they'd be out of business. Jere laughed and said it only took them 30 years to pay attention! This kind of a caddy was Jere's dream.

 BTW, Jere has a CTS-V station wagon and a Z06 Corvette. I hope he gets "lucky" on his first date!

There is the old joke about a guy on tour of heaven with St. Peter and he notices a huge glass wall stretching to infinity. Behind the wall are thousands of people screaming and carrying signs. The guy asks St. Peter who they are. St. Peter tells him, "They are evangelicals, domininists and other assorted tright wing christians, they are never happy about anything!"

I imagine if Roe v. Wade ever gets overturned, there'll be right wing freak outs over why "a child has to carry her rapist's baby to term."

Research Project conducted in South Carolina

My friend Eric is economically marooned in Columbia SC. After three years of running a small cluster of radio stations, the stations have been sold and he's stuck.
Over the past few months he has been reviewing his experiences as a Boston guy living in SC. He called me today and told me after 3 years of observation, he has concluded there is no (other than color) discernible difference between a black middle aged guy named Bubba and a white middle aged guy named Bubba. Here are Eric's observations:

1. Blue collar and earn about the same money.
2. Both drive pickups, equal distribution between Ford, Chevy and Dodge
3. Both have questionable hygiene
4. Wear work jeans and Carhardt work clothes topped with baseball hats. Hard hats at work.
5. Both favor Redwing boots
6. Both live in small ranch houses or on a piece of land with a double wide trailer.
7. They eat ribs, chicken, pulled pork and drink beer chased with whiskey.
8. Their wives are over weight and they both have fathered too many kids
9. They are belligerent at their kid's sports games and both love football.
10. Both still play softball.
11. They diverge musically except they both like R&B, Motown, Ray Charles and the Allman Brothers.
12. Oh, and they both hate Mexicans.
13. All their kids are called by first and middle names.
14. They both have too many dogs.
15. They take care of their tools.
16. They fish and hunt and carry a pistol in their trucks.
17. They bitch about the same things.
18. Their ministers yell at them in church and instill huge amounts of guilt.
19. They both have bad backs and shitty health insurance.
20. Never been anywhere, except for the time they spent in the military.

Additional Observation: They nap in their pickups while their wives shop at Walmart.

USA-USA-USA

Saturday Morning Stuff

Something to get very serious about!

I'm not a climate change skeptic. Over the past 10,000 years the average temperature on the earth has increased .8 degrees centigrade. Not a big deal, right? Who would notice? We are on track this century to move to an increase of 2 degrees centigrade. What the hell, that's not a big deal either. Except the increase of .8 happened not over the 10,000 year period, its happened since the industrial revolution. When, not if,  we hit the 2 degree increase there will be 100 million refugees in the world and 40 percent of the arable land will no longer support crops. Ever been to Miami? It will be under water at a 2 degree increase. That increase will happen this century and to put it in perspective, I'll have great grand children wandering around wondering why the hell we didn't do something about it. If we hit six degrees in another couple of centuries, the average temperature will be 170 degrees Fahrenheit. More perspective, that's less time than my mom's side of the family has lived in North America. Scientists call this a closed feedback loop, an example: the perma-frost in Siberia melts, releases methane gas into the atmosphere, which in turn creates more melting of perma frost.

                                                             Enviro Sidebars.

SoCal is loaded with wonderful old cars. Last Saturday Cakes and I were sitting at a light, with our windows were down since it was about 74 degrees and sunny. We had stopped behind an absolutely perfect 68 Pontiac GTO. Both of us noticed a smell in the air and it was coming from the tailpipes of the pre-emission controls GTO. Cakes said what's the matter with that car? I told her nothing, that's the way all cars used to smell as they pumped emissions into the air. I told one of my student's Dad about it, he said when he grew up in the San Fernando Valley you couldn't see the sun most of the time, the sky was a brownish yellow from all the emissions. Its better now and so are our cars. I can remember the screams of the Luddites about emission controls, dumb bastards!

And another thing...or two.

In 2010 we had a two week series of rainstorms in SoCal. The storm sewer systems funneled the rainwater into the ocean. In fact so much rainwater was sent out to sea, if it had been retained it would have supplied SoCal with 80% of our water needs for 12 months. The cluster of buildings in the lower left corner of the photo is downtown LA.

I had a thermometer in my garage when we lived in Phoenix, one afternoon about 5 o'clock with the unrelenting Arizona sun beating down on our house from the western sky. I opened the door from the laundry room to garage and looked at the thermometer. It was 107 outside, 82 in the house and 131 degrees in the garage. I swear to god the tires were melting on our cars and the garbage was slow cooking in the plastic trash barrel. Phoenix would be a wide spot in the road with out A/C and with out the big power generating dams built by "socialists" there'd be no A/C.

Okay then, I've got a class!

Bidness, Bidness, Bidness!

It's Bidness! Bitches!

I'm a businessman, have been for years. I've done okay, great a few times. It's really kind of simple, develop a product that has value and sell it to people who want it, need it or desire it.

Mitt Romney said "there should be a requirement that someone running for president should have business experience", what the hell? Okay then Mitt, the Chinese guy who does our dry cleaning has business experience, lots of it, he's been in business for over 30 years. My beloved Mercedes mechanic after toiling for 35 years for a dealership has been a businessman now for 6. The guy whose crew maintains the common area in my neighborhood is a businessman, too. I'd bet what Mitt really means is a businessman like him, venture capitalist and private equity man, not an actual, you know, guy who runs his own fucking business.

Bidness and Edumacation

The University of Virgina has canned their President at the behest of a donor, who is a businessman. He thinks the University should be more business oriented. Thomas Jefferson is in his grave yelling "just wait a minute, god dammit!" The University of Missouri's new prez is a businessman, a young aggressive software guy with a bachelor's degree in personnel management. He should be great in meetings with the head of the medical school or the history department. And last, but least. The former Bush Administration Budget Director and current Governor of Indiana Mitch (I sold the toll road!) Daniels has been chosen by the Trustees (most of whom he appointed) to be the new President of Purdue University. Even life long politico Daniels has some business experience, he sold pot in college. He got the charges reduced to personal possession even though his stash was 5 pounds. I can't wait until Daniels holds a press conference announcing Purdue's new Monsanto School of Plant Biology or the Eli Lilly School of Pharmacy.

What did Lenin say, "a capitalist businessman will sell me the rope I'll use to hang him."

Radio Newessss Bidness

Speaking of businessmen, Harvard MBA Lew Dickey, the founder, president, chairman of board, lucky sperm club member and big fucking deal at Cumulus Media was able (in less than 18 months) to completely and forever shit can KGO Radio in San Francisco, a station that for over 25 years was number in ratings and revenue in the Bay Area. The last rating book KGO was a falling number 8 in the market and moving toward terminal velocity. Good job Lew! At his last Wall Street conference call, none of the smart Wall Street guys even mentioned KGO, they were all talking about Lew's "visionary" digital platforms. Let me know when Lew's new concept starts to bill the 45 million a year KGO did.

Bankers as Gods

Anyone else notice the Republicans on the panel listening to testimony from Jamie Dimon the head of J P Morgan/Citi were ready to drop to their knees and reach for his zipper? I'm surprised they didn't leave the hearing room wiping their chins and lips.Maybe they swallowed?

And that's the way it is Thursday, June 21st, 2012 (Thanks Mr. Cronkite)

Random Musing

The Old "Them" vs. The New "Them"

 Talking with a friend the other day, the immigration issue came up and he was uncomfortable (unlike 64% of his fellow Americans) with President Obama's Executive Order allowing children of illegals, under 30 without any criminal record, are enrolled in school, served in the military, graduated from school, etc be given 24 months without deportation orders being issued.

Hopefully sometime over the next 24 months we can come up with a sane immigration policy. Without coming right out and saying it, what my friend is really uncomfortable about is these people are, for the most part brown. Mexicans, Central Americans, South Americans and Asians from many different countries. "They" just don't look like "Us". I get that, but what he doesn't understand is the people who look like us don't even consider immigrating here anymore. Legal or otherwise. If you are  German, Swedish, French, Italian, English or heaven forbid Spanish, why the hell would you even consider moving here? Everyone of those countries have more income mobility and social mobility than the USA. We're the country that invented them fer christ's sake! Throw in good pay, health care, affordable higher education, the occasional high speed train and decent public transportation, they decide to stay on the other side of the Statue Of Liberty, who can blame them.

Short Thoughts:


Question:

How can a God Fearing, Jesus loving Christian like Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina (too big to be an insane asylum, too small to be a country) say something like this: It would be immoral to expand the food stamp program, it undermines these people. (This was a during a discussion about increasing the program 10 dollars a week.)

Damned Confederates, we should have hung Jefferson Davis and the rest of them for treason when we had the chance. Life would would have been much easier for the country, black and white!




Mitt Romney says what we have to do is secure the border first. Okay, Mitt what are you going to do when the low bid contractor to rebuild the border fence in the San Diego hired illegals to build it.. The Obama Justice Department tried him, fined him and put an ankle bracelet on him for 24 months? Your idea? Shoot him? Oh, probably not. The contractor is a Republican. Mitt would rather just deport the poor bastards working on the fence.



Drill rig in the Badlands
My home state of North Dakota (a state with a billion dollar surplus and 600 thousand residents, do the math) gets about 4 million a day in oil revenue. How much do you think the oil companies are getting? If the state would have asked for 8 million a day they'd still be drilling. ND has the the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Wages are up, the state is flush with cash. On the other hand the prices of homes, services, food are up and so is crime. I wonder what the plan is for the future when the Bakken Formation is a mature oil field and the jobs are gone, the schools are empty, shopping malls are covered with "For lease" signs and homes are empty with doors blowing in the wind. They don't have to go far to find out, only 500 miles. Drive out and take a look at Butte Montana?



Staying in the state of the "cattle and the wheat and the folks that can't be beat"
This is Father John Shea, the President of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Father Shea runs a tax exempt educational institution owned by the church via an order of nuns. My old home state had a ballot measure that would allow "persons of conscience" to be able to refuse service. (birth control) to anyone for any reason if it violated their personal beliefs. Father Shea was all over television, radio and the papers urging the voters to pass this measure. Actually Father Shea, you were in violation of the constitution, unless of course you'd like your University to give up its tax exempt status.



Speaking of Catholics!

If you are a Catholic this guy invited you to leave the Church today, if you are unwilling to follow the exact dictates of the Nazi pope and bishops. If you are the least bit liberal, a priest, nun or lay person he pretty much said 'get out and don't let the door hit you in the ass". Bill Donahue the president of the Catholic League doesn't like you and you should pack your rosary and beat it. I think if you are Catholic you should. Join the Episcopal Church or any religious institution that isn't operated by old guys parading around in medieval costumes attempting to drag you back to the 16th century. I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for my Catholic friends if they'd demand Ratzinger send Cardinal Law back to Massachusetts so he can answer to state and federal charges against him, rather than have him hide in the Vatican. Too bad you guys can't get rid of that rat bastard Dolan, too.

Lessons from the Old Man

Father's Day, 2012. I've been on the phone with both my girls and my UCLA granddaughter. Jan called her Dad. We're all good.

The Cakes (Jan's nickname) went back to bed, so I'll wait to cook blueberry pancakes until she reappears in a couple of hours. I worked through a nasty hangover yesterday and Tim got our phone problem straightened out. The burglar alarm company bungled the installation of their automatic call system and it screwed up our roll over lines. No wonder I was missing calls!

I think of my Dad a lot. Things trigger memories and I get private smiles and sometimes sad thoughts about the old boy. I was the oldest of 4 kids and my parents experimented on me trying to get parenting down. I felt like I was one of the monkeys NASA used to shoot into space to find out if Alan Shepard was going to survive. He did and so have I.

When I got into management at the age of 25, I couldn't find my ass with a compass and I called Dad and asked for advice. He said "Don't treat the hired help like the hired help." A few days later I had to do my first firing. I called Dad again, "Anything you say beyond the facts is only you trying to make yourself feel better, he is going to feel like shit no matter what you say."

My partner Ralph tells this story, when he was in his early 20's he went to my Dad and told him he wanted to get in the car business. Dad had known Ralph since he was a little kid. The old man told Ralph, "If this what you really want to do, you have to learn the used car side and I'll teach you." Dad did and the rest is history because learning 'the used car side" made it possible for Ralph to be one of the youngest Chevy dealers in the country a few short years later. When RT told me that story, we both got a little teary. He said my Dad was one of the best.

I told Ralph about working for his Dad at one of his markets. What a stickler his old man was about wrapping the meat and cold cuts correctly! He inspected every package until I was an expert. The skill I learned from his Dad at 13 has lived on as I have personally trained many butchers in proper wrapping technique. The guy at Von's a few weeks ago was stunned when I said "Let me show you how to do that right." The other meat cutter laughed because I had shown him Ralph's dad's technique a couple of years ago. I looked at him and said "why didn't you show him how to do it?" Ralph's dad was one of the best.

My Dad was tough on me. I bought a pristine 51 Chevy Belair hardtop the summer I was 14. Ralph and I had a popcorn stand and we were making a killing. I bought the car on a Thursday, took it to the dealership and detailed it. On Friday my family was leaving for the cabin and Dad said "don't drive that car this weekend it won't have insurance on it until Monday, use your mother's car." Of course I drove my new car all weekend long, back and forth to the popcorn stand, cruised with my friends, I probably put 500 miles on it. Monday morning I saw the old man talking to our neighbor. Dad came in the house and said, "Give me the keys." He drove my car to work, sold it and kept my money until September. I drove Mom's station wagon all summer long.

Dad had a real skill in finding me really shitty jobs and keeping me busy and out of trouble. He sent me to work on the farm for my Grandpa when I was 11. There was a bumper crop of wheat that year and the yield was so high the trucks couldn't keep up with the combine. I drove a Farmall tractor pulling a big wagon. We off loaded wheat into the wagon, when a truck came back from the elevator I had to shovel the wheat from the wagon to the truck. I have never done anything since as hard as that. It was hot, dusty, sticky and nasty. I remember crying as I shoveled. When the harvest was finally over, Dad came to pick me up, we drove out of the farm yard and Dad handed me an envelope. In it were 6 $20 dollar bills and a note from Grandpa. "Good job" was all it said. Grandpa was tough, too.

I was living in Boston when Dad died. I got on a plane at 7 in the morning and walked into the funeral home at 4 in the afternoon. My mother said to me, "Your father's face doesn't look right." I walked over to his casket and fixed it. It was the least I could do for him.