MORE FROM THE ROAD

MISERY MUST LOVE COMPANY

Update

Arrived Phoenix with prospects of a seven hour wait and

the best plans of the day- radio and tv interviews and

dinner with friends-down the drain.

US Airways could take us to Pittsburgh and then in,

saving two hours but still missing the events, or through

Charlotte with the same outcome.  We opted to avoid

flying directly into a snow storm or through one so we could

enjoy the thrill of two more plane changes.

Delays?  Phoenix is the capitol of misery today.

As the harried but cool customer service rep told us,

"we are down to just one runway today.  We have planes sitting on runways and people missing connections all over the place."  Don't you wish you were here with all these happy campers?

Maybe it is good then that people traversing airports

 go into this kind of zombie mode?

 Stunned, bewildered, confused, eyes a glaze.

Maybe it is the carpets.  Something in the patterns

akin to hypnosis-some old mind control research

sold to the keepers of the nation's airways.

Maybe that explains how an airline can delay the 

first flight of a trip, making you miss a connection and

not bother to change the rest of the flight plan to 

accomodate and for this you say 

thank you.

7 Hours in the Phoenix airport?  And I say Thank you?

Oh--I understand there could be 3-7 inches of snow when

we get in early tomorrow morning.  Hope the rental car

agency is open.  I wonder if any of my fellow 

Phoenixians for a day travel with a snow scraper?

A snow scraper?  

Thank you?

See you down the trail. 

NOTES FROM THE ROAD

AH, TRAVEL!!

Posting today in a series of airport waits.

Fog delayed the "equipment"-read that as plane-from arriving

our small airport last night.  Thus our 6:30 AM departure was  delayed, making our intended connection out of Phoenix impossible-unless the inbound "equipment" onto which we would transfer is also delayed by something.  That something today most likely would be weather. A lot of snow is 

expected in the Great Lakes, near our intended destination.

The already delayed flight is further delayed, but we

now have a 7 hour window.  What we don't spend of that here in San Luis Obispo, will be spent in Phoenix. This time

we have time to give.  7 hours in the Phoenix airport!!

We've already dropped appointed meetings in addition to radio and television interviews that had been scheduled.  Same for a dinner with former colleagues and friends.  A 3:30 PM arrival in Indianapolis has now been scheduled for 1:00 AM.

Stay tuned America.

See you down the trail.  

DECIDING FOR YOURSELF OR A PRIORI

OLD IS SOMETIMES BETTER
Have you followed the almost other worldly debate between
Twitter and Google about access to data and subsequent
sharing of that information?
Link here for background from Reuters news.

This very medium that we are sharing at this moment is 
extraordinary in its depth, reach and ability to be 
instant. It continues to change how we live, inform ourselves and think.  And yet as we rely on its
capacity, it begins to replace some of our
own intellectual command.  Decisions are being made for us.
This video appeared here earlier, but many of you missed it,
according to the analytics available to even a blogger such as me.  And that is part of the point.

The technology is impressive, even if inevitable.
But I wonder what happens as the decision making, fed by 
 data mining and analytics, continues. Will
we become like the humans depicted
in the Pixar masterpiece Wall-e?
What happens to the human specie if everything
is done based on convenience, prior patterns
and algorithmic decision making?
I fear that anything that begins to shape or trim 
our curiosity and free exploration leads us
to being intellectual chia pets.


HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW IT HAS CHANGED
The video was recorded during a break
on the NBC Today show in January 1994.
Bryant Gumble and Katie Couric ask
WHAT IS THE INTERNET ANYWAY?

I assume Bryant and Katie now get a kick out of 
their naivety. In those days
there was no threat to the media from the new
technology platforms that today call
institutions like the network news "mainstream" or "lame stream" media. Of course all news organizations
calculate how to survive.
Computer mined and manipulated data leads to 
a kind of apriori decision making,
but how free or unbounded is it?
What price for convenience?
I hope you sometimes visit the 
21st Century Intelligence component at the
very bottom of this page.  It does a great 
job of tracking the business of our tech future.
See you down the trail.

RESPECTING NATURE'S ELDERS

THEY DESERVE MORE RESPECT

I am, literally, a tree hugger.  Years ago I learned 

 a native practice for young men. Sorry to report I can't recall which tribal nation.

  It requires standing in the spring with your spine aligned  with a tree that is of your relative age. You put your arms behind you, encircle the tree and clasp your hands.  

This is done at a time of year when the sun and damp earth create an awakening and budding in the tree.

The idea is to sense or feel the energy flow along your spine

and to be "one" with the tree. In the practice, the

young brave stood for hours.  I've been a piker by

comparison but it is something I try to do each spring,

though young is no longer an apt description.

I think of trees as a kind of planetary elder.

I am in awe and marvel at the age and size

of redwoods and sequoias.

I've been to this point before.

A story through-line and subtext of my

second book, THE SANIBEL CAYMAN DISC,

deals with development vs. nature

and how civilization interacts with the environment.

Those under pin the surface story, the black market

in chemical and biological weapons.

I tell you this so you know my bias when

I say old trees deserve respect.

These are scenes of a recent cutting of

eucalyptus trees in Cambria.  I understand

 eucalyptus trees are fire hazards. But when a tree, still healthy, gets to this age, what is gained from felling it?  This cutting occurred on public land,

near to a trail and at a great distance from power lines. 

Smaller trees nearby were left standing.  In fact

there are many in the area that should be

pruned.  Thinning also makes sense.  I am not averse

to sound forest management practices and indeed

there are areas of the Central Coast where work needs to be done.  I am left wondering though, why an ancient tree, posing no threat needs to be felled.

I'm sure there is an official rationale.

 I've heard such explanations before and 

often they are narrow minded and usually involve

funding. 

Maybe I'm wrong headed, and overly sentimental

on the value of a tree.  But how many people do you 

know who survive to 150, 300 or even 2,500 years?

See you down the trail.

WHEN VALIANT EFFORTS MATTER

OF HAVING BEEN IN THE ARENA
PURELY PERSONAL RUMINATIONS
A confluence of events has me seeking strength
from a favorite observation by
Teddy Roosevelt.
I offer it below.


I was saddened to learn from a tennis partner and friend
 he is hanging it up. He also plays a few days
a week and I joined his longstanding foursome for Monday doubles play about a year and half ago. We met him and his wife when we arrived 5 years ago. They are
fine people. He is a talented and crafty competitor 
who has played the game for decades.  He offered
great patience when I picked up the sport about
3 years ago and I've improved from those matches
when he was on the other side of the net.  He
gave no quarter.  He could smash the ball to your feet,
kill you with a cross court or alley shot or one of his feathering drop shots with spin. He seemed to love the game
and the spirit of competition and every match, win or loose was great fun.  He told me today it just hurts too much
now and that after playing he is forced to take
a pill to stop aching.  He said "it is just time. It was bound to
happen."  You hate to see a great competitor leave
the arena.


I also noticed an obit that fed the sense of melancholy.

From San Luis Obispo Tribune

Sunday January 8, 2012

Art Rogers passed away in a nursing home Morro Bay, just down the coast from Cambria. He was 93. In his day
Art was one of the best sports photographers around.
You've probably seen his work in Time, Sports Illustrated,
and the old Look and Life magazines.
He spent his career with the LA Times where he
won the National Headliners Award among others. He was 
part of the team that won a Pulitzer for the coverage of
the 1965 Watts Riot.
He was a U.S. Navy photographer in the south Pacific
during WWII.  He is also enshrined in the Hermosa 
Beach Surfers Hall of Fame.
Like my tennis buddy he is also a Californian.


I've always been a bit envious of California guys. After all
this is the state that we chose to move across
country to after reaching a maturity in our own lives.
I confess that coming here in someway was
motivated by a spark of an idea that in California
you can play forever.
Well, to be sure Californians do play a long time
and with a gusto and joy.
Thus the touch of sadness when the game is over


Another sportsman offers a bolstering thought:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Teddy Roosevelt issued those great remarks

in a speech "Citizenship in a Republic"

delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris in April of 1910.

Today they make me feel better.

DAY BOOK

The Sun Always Rises Again

See you down the trail

THE WEEKENDER :) GO FOR IT

DO IT, AND KEEP DOING IT

Consider this THE WEEKENDER:)'S moment of

coaching and inspiration.  Some of you may have

made resolutions to be more fit or active this

year.  As a boomer, I know how it is some days

to force yourself into a work out.

I draw lots of inspiration from people here in

our village, our seniors, who are extraordinarily active.

Many of the better players in the tennis club have

several years on me.  I play doubles with gent

who I thought was probably mid 70's.  He's 88 and

you should see him run for the alley and net shots.

Inspiration indeed.

So in that spirit and THE WEEKENDER :) creed to

enjoy, enjoy this. And be inspired.

See you down the trail.

HIGH TIDES AND CHOCOLATE TONGUES

ROUGH SURF

 High surf advisories were up again today.

 17 foot waves were predicted. Even where it was

 less than that, you could see the power of the Pacific.

 Surf advisories turn the ocean into a kind of pallet of motion and action.

 It was mostly gentle at San Simeon cove, near to

where the Friday Lunch Flash Mob gathered.

 Today was chocolate taste test day.

Six candies, to be evaluated, 1-6.

 Our official CPA, Jeanie, did the tabulation.

 Our royal surrogate, Princess Pam and Ruth, the matron of our salon, presided.

 Troy announced the results.

 And everyone took home citrus grown

by Bob in Bakersfield.

In the last couple of days fellow blogger, Bruce a.k.a the Catalyst, and I have traded notes about living in a small town or village.  He was somewhat incredulous when I said I loved it and can hardly imagine living again in a large urban setting. Village life is different, indeed, but so sweet.

Can you imagine a Friday lunch crowd like ours

in many other locations?

I told him the saying we hear out here is true.

"Cambria is not like the rest of the world."

His wise counsel (he is my elder) was

"To continue to enjoy life in your oblivion,

stay out of local politics!"

See you down the trail.