Fire in the Hole!

Another weekend gone - although today is Seward's Day - a State holiday here in Alaska so all my bureaucrat buddies are sleeping-in.

On Friday evening a celebration was held at TK Maguires (the Prospector) in recognition of Laura Beason's 51st birthday. Laura had experienced a tough day at the salt mines; but a half-dozen or so cocktails seemed to perk her up nicely. Doug, Alison, Shelly, and I officiated; with guest appearances by Shelly's husband, John, and daughter, Genoa, who were working the Friday night cocktail circuit selling raffle tickets for various JDHS athletic events. Said ticket sales will finance, among other things, Genoa's trip to Phoenix later this spring for what I think I recall is a serious volleyball event.

Genoa will be turning sweet sixteen next week. She already has her appointment at motor vehicles for her driving test. John has been busy putting a new engine in his gillnetter - which is a good thing since increased revenues will be critical for supporting what I expect will soon be a demand on Genoa's part for a car of her own.

Every family deals with these things in their own fashion, of course. When Leah and Amanda turned sixteen, for example, we SOLD our boat in order to accomodate a third set of wheels...

Alison hosted another mooch-fest on Saturday - inviting Eric and myself for supper. Braised short-ribs. Mmmmmmmm. I made creme brulee for dessert; but it didn't turn out well. The recipe called for 3/4 cup of light brown sugar to be sifted on top and then carmelized. It was way too much sugar and did not carmelize well, so the top was not the sweet crunchy consistency that is the hallmark of the dish. I bet it's a publishing error. One of my other favourite recipes in the cookbook - for zucchini bread - says the recipe makes one loaf. In fact, it makes TWO loaves as I discovered the first time I used the recipe and half of the batter ended up on the bottom of the oven - having filled the bread pan right to the brim. Zucchini bread batter, like most things, tends to expand when heated which leads me to the real subject of today's entry.

Yesterday I took Aunt Emilie a half-a-loaf of (you guessed it) zucchini bread. Upon entering her kitchen I was shocked to note what appeared to be a sizable amount of a congealed hamburger-like substance splattered on the ceiling above the stove. Truly disgusting.

Upon questioning, it turns out that auntie had decided that her kitty cat, Baby, should have her canned cat food warmed prior to serving. And what better way to warm kitty cat food than to place an unopened tin on a burner on top of the stove?

Unopened tin of cat food

Unopened tin of cat food when placed on a hot burner

The resulting explosion damn near took poor auntie's nose off.

Sadly the cat food on the ceiling is only symptomatic of auntie's housekeeping troubles. The place is a disaster. She would not let me clean yesterday; but she promised that I could come scrape the cat food off the ceiling prior to my departure on vacation. She appeared genuinely concerned that cat food on the ceiling, discovered by her daughter, Sandra, on Sandra's upcoming whistle-stop trip to Juneau could well lead to relocation to a nursing home. So I expect I will be allowed to do a little cleaning despite her general reluctance to allow me to assist in housekeeping duties.

Sigh...

Multi-Media Extravaganza!

Yesterday I received an email from an old Juneau friend who now resides half-way around the world. Said friend had just received an email with the photo below from an unidentified person here in Juneau. So...an interesting news item from Juneau as reported by our correspondent in South Africa.

One is always suspicious of Photoshop jiggery-pokery in instances such as this; however the sincerity of the narrative as well as the shadow of the flag and staff in the snow convince me this is legit.

Saturday we took a little jaunt thru the dredge area, starting at the Mendenhall River Bridge following the trails about a mile and 3/4 out to the shore of the lake. It was gorgeous. But along the way...well lets face it, not everyone cleans up after their dogs, but these piles had....flags? Weird... so I got closer and thought I was gonna die.

Out came the camera!! Sarah Palin has begun her presidential campaign early. And as all things go, you start small and then build from there.....

I saw 4 of these in different locations in the dredge area.

Also received yesterday from Joan Kasson the following interesting video titled "A Pole Dancer with a Difference"

Finally, from today's Seattle Times a notice of a 'must see' episode of Nightline:

Satan debate taped here airs tonight on

Nightline

Seattle Times staff and newswires

Does Satan exist?

Tonight, ABC's Nightline airs a debate on that question that was taped in Seattle last week. The program pulls together a rather curious lineup — Seattle megachurch Pastor Mark Driscoll; alternative-medicine author Deepak Chopra; Annie Lobert, a former Las Vegas escort who founded Hookers for Jesus; and the Rev. Carlton Pearson, a former Pentecostal preacher from Tulsa who was branded a heretic for saying everyone — not just Christians — could go to heaven.

The 30-minute television show airs today at 11:35 p.m. local time on Channel 4.

Imperial Purple

Watched the POTUS give his prime time press conference last night. Thought it went pretty well...pitching health care, energy policy reform and education.

I also thought the questioning was pretty lame and that the President looked pretty tired...which led me to recall one of my favourite H. L. Mencken essays about the Presidency entitled "Imperial Purple" (1931) excerpts from which follow:

Most of the rewards of the Presidency, in these days, have come to be very trashy. The President continues, of course, to be an eminent man, but only in the sense that Jack Dempsey, Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and Henry Ford have been eminent men. He sees little of the really intelligent and amusing people of the country: most of them, in fact, make it a sort of point of honor to avoid him. His time is put in mainly with shabby politicians and other such designing fellows - in brief, with rogues and ignoramuses.
...
The honors that are heaped upon a President are seldom of a kind to impress and content civilized man. People send him turkeys, opossums, pieces of wood from the Constitution, goldfish, carved peach kernels, models of the state capitols of Wyoming and Arkansas, and pressed flowers from the Holy Land. Once a year some hunter in Montana or Idaho sends him 20 pounds of bear-steak, usually collect. It arrives in a high state and has to be fed to the White House dog.
...
When a President goes traveling he never goes alone, but always with a huge staff of secretaries, Secret Service agents, doctors, nurses, and newspaper reporters... The cost, to be sure, is borne by the taxpayers, but the President has to put up with the company... When the train arrives anywhere at all the town bores and scoundrels gather to greet the Chief Magistrate, and that night he has to eat a bad dinner, and to listen to three hours of bad speeches.
...
All day long the right hon. lord of us all sits listening solemnly to bores and quacks. Anon a secretary rushes in with the news that some eminent movie actor or football coach has died, and the President must seize a pen and write a telegram of condolence to the widow... Anon there comes a day of public ceremonial, and a chance to make a speech. Alas, it is discovered, at the last minute, to be made up mainly of gentlemen under indictment, or at the tomb of some statesman who escaped impeachment by a hair. Twenty million voters with IQ's below 60 have their ears glued to the radio; it takes four days' hard work to concoct a speech without a sensible word in it. Next day a dam must be opened somewhere. Four Senators get drunk and try to neck a lady politician built like an overloaded tramp steamer. The Presidential automobile runs over a dog. It rains.

In other news, life continues at its customary pace here in Juneau. Joan Kasson hosted a fun dinner party at her place last Friday - good eats and good company.

The weather S L O W L Y continues to improve - we've actually hit 40 degrees once or twice this past week. More snow tonight, however, followed by two or three days of rain. Rain. We need rain - as much as it pains me to say so...

The elders are doing OK - it was shower day for the Old Coot on Saturday and had to take him to the doc last Friday for a minor issue. He is gradually getting weaker - we had to stop to rest about three times during the short walk from the car to the doctor's office (less than 100 feet).

There has been a deer hanging around the back of the house the past week or so...nibbling on blueberry branches. The poor creature looks pretty thin although it seems otherwise healthy. We're all ready for spring!

On a brighter note, I just received my Holland America travel documents online and must now fill-out some forms and print out some stuff. I am counting the days...

The AIG Bonus Kerfuffle

I have watched the AIG bonus hoo-ha unfold the past week with a constantly changing mixture of amusement, disgust, and sadness. The amusement part is a function of watching the less than virtuoso sword-swallowing acts performed by politicos of both parties as they desperately try to come-to-grips with the public anger over the huge bonuses paid to the folks at AIG.

The disgust part is that I, too, share the public outrage over the bonuses. And my outrage was not quieted by the suggestion of AIG's CEO (who, in all fairness, is NOT responsible for AIG's condition) that we should not regard these bonus payments as a reward for past greed and incompetence; but rather as a bribe for their future cooperation in getting AIG out of the situation that they were instrumental in creating.

If I was a Republican, perhaps, a la Cheney, I would suggest that in lieu of cash we employ some enhanced interrogation methods to extract the secrets about these opaque, complicated, and obscene financial devices from these overpaid clerks and thereby eliminate the need for the bonuses. Just kidding. Dick would NEVER have authorized torture of an American CEO or any of their clerks.

The sadness part is that few politicians, pundits, or other public figures seem able or inclined to use this as a teachable moment to discuss the issue that underlies the whole sorry affair, to whit, the increasing disparity of income and wealth in these United States.

But before I get to the moral of the story - a couple of factoids. The first, from some outfit called the Century Foundation http://www.tcf.org/

CEO'S PAY AS A MULTIPLE OF THE AVERAGE WORKER'S PAY

"As the twentieth century drew to a close, CEO pay set the bar for our New Rich. Take a look at the truly startling chart above: the ratio of executive pay to the average worker’s pay has risen from 41:1 in 1960 to as high as 531:1 in 2000, at the height of the stock market bubble, when were cashing in big stock options. In 2005, it stood at 411:1. By way of comparison, the same ratio is about 25:1 in Europe."

CEO pay, of course, is but one indicator of what I (and many others) regard as the larger problem - the growing income and wealth disparity in this country. But I believe it is a telling one. Under a republican form of government is it (to use an overused phrase of the moment) sustainable - in a political sense - for disparities in income between management and labor of this magnitude to continue?

Annual CEO Compensation Survey from the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

The above graph paints the broader picture. Today, the distribution of income in the United States very closely resembles what existed in the 1920's. It was a great time for the plutocrats - for the majority, not so much. In 2001 (I would be surprised if the number wasn't even higher for 2008) the cohort receiving the top 1% of incomes cadged something approaching 23% of the total national income. And while I couldn't quickly find a graph...I expect that a HUGE percentage of the total income in 2001 was earned by the top .5%.

The question being: so what? Well, as alluded to previously the 'so what' is that in a republic, ultimately, the majority - will work their will. And the majority IS becoming aware that the past couple of decades of "free market" worship has not served their interests well.

The moral of this story is simple. It is time for change. It is time to once again recognize the 'free market' concept for what it is - a construct by social scientists (economists) to understand and predict human economic behavior. It is NOT an end in and of itself nor is it the 11th Commandment handed down by an omniscient and benevolent Yahweh.

Only a fool ignores the market; but only a bigger fool makes the 'free market' the Holy Grail.

The Big Ditch

Well, I pulled the vacation trigger yesterday. Gotta get out of this place.

On Friday, April 10th I will wing my way down to Seattle, grab my rental car, and wheel on down to Portland for the weekend. Some fine dining and shopping with the gals and pals is the Portland plan. Then back to Seattle on Monday the 13th to visit my Puget Sound pals for a couple of days.

On the 15th it's a little cross-country jog to Miami and then a limo up to Fort Lauderdale where I will be staying at a very attractive guest house near the beach for three nights. Then on Saturday it's anchor's away on Holland America's M/S Zuiderdam for a 21-day cruise to Vancouver, B. C. via the Panama Canal, a.k.a. the "Big Ditch." Get into Vancouver on May 9th and will immediately head to the airport - I arrive in Juneau that evening.

Then it's four or five months of bread, water, and self-flagellation as I pay-off what will be a very substantial VISA bill...

I had hoped to pre-pay much of my next holiday; but Uncle Sugar is taking a serious bite out of my ass this April. Still, as noted previously, I GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!!!

If you're curious, here's the itinerary for my cruise:
http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?webItineraryIdForAudit=TW9021&durationCode=&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=U924&destCode=T&dateCode=

A Panana Canal cruise has been on my life-list for several decades...and couldn't see how there would likely be a more cost-effective (relatively speaking) opportunity than right now. Twenty-one days is a long time on a ship. I may get bored, but then again, I may not. They've got an excellent gym onboard, two big pools with lots of comfy deck chairs, and of course excellent food. My stateroom has a little verandah. They may even serve alcohol.

The only element that causes me some concern is Holland America's telecommunications capabilities. They've got wifi on the ship; but it is outrageously expensive and dial-up speed. I think I'm going to go visit AT&T this morning and see what it would cost to get one of their laptop wireless modem thing-a-ma-jigs. Since I'll be in port every couple of days, that might be the best solution...depending on what they want for the device and minutes...and depending what they say about reception in Mexico, Panama and Columbia.

Gotta keep my Blog up-to-date.

So there you have it. Spring Break 2009.

Way to go Amanda

Big news from Portland. Amanda has been offered a seasonal position with the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps http://www.holeinthewallcamps.org/. She will be working with the camp in Southern California where she has volunteered the past couple of years.

WAY TO GO 'MANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't feel bashful about donating....and don't forget to buy your Paul Newman popcorn....

Cabin Fever

A somewhat early Spring-like weekend. Wet roads and temps in the mid-thirties during the day and cold crunchy nights. Sounds like more of the same all week.

I took Dougie and Alison to supper on Friday evening in celebration of Alison's birthday. We went to Zephyr, the Mediterranean joint on Seward Street. It was good - by Juneau standards. I've now been there four times in the past month. Time to give it a rest...

I collected Joan at the airport on Saturday afternoon. I think she was tired - a grueling three weeks in Boise. It's now 8:30 AM on Monday morning so I'm sure she's already up to her eyeballs in accumulated Department of Public Safety budget stuff - I think all departments are going through budget close-outs in Senate Finance this week.

The rest of the weekend was the normal routine. Visit and chores at the elders, long workouts (my back is still a bit sore; but exercise does not seem to aggravate it), grocery shopping, reading, and TV. If I lived in America I could be Spring cleaning in the yard. Walking outdoors. Golfing too.

On the other hand, at least I don't have to spend the week in the State Capitol...

I guess I have got cabin fever in a serious way. I want OUT NOW!!!! As soon as I finish this post I'm going to track down my new found pal, Sean, at Holland America. See if there's any news on the cruise front. It's getting within about a month of sailing time...so I'm going to have to make a decision since I will also need to get air reservations which won't likely get cheaper as plane-time approaches.

I will keep you posted. In the meantime enjoy the following class picture - Mrs. Flory's 4th Grade Class in 1966. I have no particular recollections of 4th grade. For some reason the class size was the smallest of my elementary school career. Anybody know why? Wonder if we had three 4th grade teachers?...

As always, assistance in identifying kids who have dropped-out of my never too keen memory will be appreciated!

Mrs. Flory's 4th Grade Class - Click on image for larger picture

Front row left to right: Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, David Day, Sandy Kendler, Unknown

Middle row: Mrs. Flory, Scott Spickler, Bob Chapman, Unknown, Jim Brown, Leona Unser, Unknown

Back row: Jim Trucano, Donna Wright, John Shakespeare, Unknown, Margaret Harris, Cyd Dwyer, Elmer Lindstrom

Fall Down Go Boom

A bad day yesterday. I was shoveling the stairs to my apartment when suddenly I found myself sitting down. Fell right on the ol' butt bone. It hurt like hell and I was couch-bound for the rest of the day - found some old pain killers in the medicine cupboard which took the edge off.

I'm still quite sore today; but better and I'm sure it's going to be OK...just a bruise.

Unfortunately my indisposition caused me to miss Alison's surprise birthday party last evening at her mom's place. Happy belated birthday, Alison!

In other news, I offer the following from the Guardian regarding a chimp named Santino who was apparently fed-up with life as a zoo specimen in Sweden: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/09/chimp-zoo-stones-science

Chimp who threw stones at zoo visitors showed human trait, says scientist

...The loutish behaviour of a stone-throwing chimpanzee at a zoo near the Arctic circle has challenged scientists' beliefs about human beings.

Santino, a 31-year-old male at Furuvik zoo in Sweden, may be the first animal to exhibit an unambiguous ability to plan for the future, a behaviour many scientists argue is unique to humans. Forward planning takes considerable cognitive skills, because it requires an animal to envisage future events it will have to deal with.

Santino would get agitated when the first groups of visitors arrived at his enclosure in the morning, and would start hurling stones at the spectators. When the zookeepers investigated, they found that, while the zoo was closed, Santino had been busy making piles of ammunition, and returned to them to resupply.

...

The zookeepers recently decided that an operation was the best way of controlling Santino's behaviour.

"They have castrated the poor guy. They hope that his hormone levels will decrease and that will make him less prone to throw stones. He's already getting fatter and he likes to play much more now than before. Being agitated isn't good for him," said Osvath.

Meanwhile, winter continues unabated here in the Capital City. Looks like about six inches last night. And I need to go shovel those damn stairs again.

If I don't post again after a couple of days...someone call the Coast Guard...

In Memoriam

Sad news from Joan Kasson - her mom passed-away on Sunday evening in Boise after a prolonged illness. Joan will return home this weekend. Our thoughts are with you, my friend.

Also, Karyn Bogan Price, one of my favourite high school teachers, died in Seattle last week. An obituary will follow in the Empire shortly. I will post a link on the Blog when it is published.

We had a beautiful winter weekend here in Juneau. Lots of blue sky - but pretty chilly at night with temperatures below zero in the valley. I took a drive out the road on Sunday. It was blowing northerly down Lynn Canal - but not too bad. Took a few pics and have been playing with some of the filters in Photoshop.

The Chilkat Mountains

The Shrine of St. Theresa

Yet Another Winter Storm Watch

It's snowing like crazy this morning and we're scheduled for another 8 inches or so before the day is out. Enough already!

It's nice to be home however. My bed felt real comfy last night - although I do miss my doggie footwarmers. After the morning elder chores, I took the rest of yesterday off...lounged around watching golf, reading, and catching-up on laundry. The first day I haven't been to the Club in about a month! And a big T-bone for supper last night.

In other news, there is an interesting story in the Fairbanks News Miner this morning describing a meeting of something called the Second Amendment Task Force convened by State Representative Mike Kelly. Representative Kelly plans on introducing the Alaska Firearms Freedom Act which would allow someone to own firearms or components thereof restricted by federal law so long as they are built and kept in-state.

Kelly said he resents such infringements on gun rights as having to go through a metal detector to enter a courthouse and said he fondly remembered his college days when he could go hunting and return to his dorm room with a firearm without any problems.

“It was absolutely as normal as can be, and I look forward to when those times return,” the Fairbanks Republican said.

In these troubled times we all long for a return to normalcy, Mike; but I have to confess that I find the Fairbanks version unconvincing...

Wing-Nuts

I continue to entertain myself by following-up on various aspects of the recently concluded CPAC convention. The Daily Beast piece includes several videos that are quite amusing. It can be found at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-02/the-wildest-moments-from-cpac/

I was particularly taken with the interview of a Mr. James Hutchens, founder of something called The Jerusalem Connection International, described by the reporter as a Christian Zionist group. These are the folks who support Israel - believing that the re-founding of the Temple being a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of J C, the End Times and so forth.

Mr. Hutchens is quite charming in a bizarrely naive sort of way. He is apparently incapable of thinking abstractly in the slightest degree. Irony is not his thing nor, apparently, is 20th century history. Mr. Hutchens takes everything quite literally as demonstrated by the following exchange:

Inside CPAC’s exhibition hall, I met James Hutchens, founder of the Christian Zionist lobbying group, The Jerusalem Connection International. Hutchens told me his group favored forcing the Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan and from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. I asked him if he thought cattle cars would be an efficacious means of transporting the Palestinians to their new homes. “Certainly not cattle cars,” Hutchens said. “I mean, you can ride a bus across the Jordan River to Jordan.”

In other news, I will return to the comfy confines of my apartment tomorrow as Joan's friend, Bobbie, will be spelling me on 10th Street. Joan continues on family duty in Boise.

Yesterday I stocked the pet larder with groceries from the Wee Fishie Shop. Skelter the Cat eats Science Diet Senior Hairball Formula - a name that for some reason just puts me in stitches. All four-legged friends are doing just fine and I will miss their company.

From the Archives:

Tim Wilson dressed for success at the rock dump where we had a great time driving his go cart.

Jim Larson makes his point by brandishing a chicken drummie at the cast party for Fiddler on the Roof. Photo Courtesy of the Doug Rickey Gallery

Sarah Lynn Plotnick circa 1974. She's still a cutie in 2009.

Good ol' Soc Kruezenstein.

Spa Day

A busy morning. We got three or four inches of fresh powder last night so I had to do a little shoveling at Joan's, the elders' place and my apartment's stairs. I need to chop ice at Joans. It is now warm enough in the sun that the snow melts during the day and then freezes solid at night so their is lots of glaciation that needs to be removed. Borrowed the ice chopper from my folks.

Also, today was Spa Day for the old coot. He takes a shower twice a month whether he needs it or not (and it is his personal belief that he does not). I have to help him out of the shower and between mom and I we get him more-or-less presentable. He's never been real big on the personal hygiene thing...I remember as a youth being appalled by some of his behavior - particularly on the boat when mom was not present to give him hell. Still, he's 94 so maybe there's something to be said for cultivating lots of personal tiny livestock. His immune system seems fine.

The ol' boy is spending lots of time watching Fox News. He is deaf as a post but Fox thoughtfully provides a ticker at the bottom of the screen that runs headlines based on their own peculiar take on the news of the moment. I have considered programming the TV so he can't get the Fox channel - but I guess that would be unkind. This morning he was thoroughly pissed-off that Hillary Clinton was giving money to the Palestinians.

Fortunately, baseball season starts in a couple of weeks and that will keep him entertained. Occasionally he manages to find something else on the tube that suits his tastes - Laurel & Hardy, the Three Stooges, or an old episode of Benny Hill. I've been over for supper frequently of late and we both have a cocktail before dinner. Booze & Seven-up. His mind still seems perfectly fine...his flirtation with Fox News notwithstanding.

I've got feelers out all over the web for sweet deals on a spring cruise...but so far the news has all been discouraging in terms of single occupancy. Still, hope springs eternal...

And Now for the Rest of the Story

Long-time radio commentator Paul Harvey set-sail into the Great Unknown yesterday at age 90. Paul had been an irritating presence in our local Juneau radio market for as long as I can remember. His chirpy opening line "Stand-by for News!" a heads-up to reach for the radio dial whenever possible.

By today's conservative talk show standards, Paul was simply quaint - his conservatism more of the Farmer's Almanac, Reader's Digest, corn-fed mid-westerner variety. And although a great admirer of good ol' Senator Joe McCarthy, he never advocated the jack boot or theocratic government as is the wont of some more modern so-called conservatives. A nice story on the recently departed Mr. Harvey can be read at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008797939_apobitharvey.html

Meanwhile...Mr. Harvey's heirs have been whooping-it-up at CPAC 2009, the annual convocation of wing-nuts convened under the auspices of the American Conservative Union. This freak-show spectacular has been covered by Fox News with all the enthusiasm until recently reserved for the departed Administration of George W. Bush.

Mr. Rush Limbaugh was apparently the key note speaker and certainly did not disappoint the assembled activists. The conservative base is indeed fired-up to defend the status quo. No talk of universal health care or energy independence for this crew!

Take a look at the CPAC 2009 sponsor list: http://cpac.org/sponsors.html

I must find the time to research some of these sponsors. Do you think I am too advanced in years to join the Youth for Western Civilization?

As an Alaskan, I also note with pride that the exhibitors list is headed by the 2012 Draft Sarah Palin Committee.

UPDATE! Just got home and had an email from Lauren (Cutler) Smith who provided me with some more names for my 1st and 3rd grade class photos. Check 'em out below....