2012 Has Come and Gone....

Nollaig Shona Dhaoibh! (Happy Christmas to you all!)

It’s that time of year again. This is likely my last blog for the year, so I might as well make it part Nollag litir (Christmas letter). We’ve loaded the CD player with Christmas CD’s-some 51 of of them. (We decided it was better than letting some commercial station play off the wall Christmas stuff all the time.) Our tree is up, and the Christmas cards are all sent. A candle is in the window, and I have decided to take a few minutes to reflect on the last year. That reflection starts off with a question: Where the heck has 2012 gone?!? I mean, come on! I know I’ve been busy. I didn’t think I was that busy...until I sat down to write this. 

I’ve been writing, working, and singing. A lot of free time has been spent writing books in the Cosantóirí Chronicles series; the first five books are done and in epub format. Book six should be done by the end of the month, if all goes well; then I am editing all six books for iBook format. (There is part of an outline for a potential book seven, but that outline won’t even get finished until the others are edited and in iBook format.) You can check out what they’re about here: http://cosantoiri.wordpress.com. I’m also transcribing some old travels to the digital age; I have a few Hawai’i trips, some visits to Canada, a trip to Ireland, and if I can find them, a missions trip to Mexico. Then I’ll add some band and choir tours, and maybe a little Drum Corps and Barbershop stuff. It’s a long term project.

I also finished all the work for my third doctorate. All I have to do is pay the final bill (which isn't cheap) and they’ll send me the diploma. It’s a Ph.D in interdisciplinary studies; I’m done taking classes for right now. I’m busy both teaching and grading courses for Master’s International School of Divinity, and when I’m not writing on the fiction side I’m busy developing a course on a Celtic View of the Spiritual Disciplines. I am also developing a course on the writings of C.S. Lewis. Both of these should be done early next year if all goes well. C.S. Lewis will be done first; I’m still reading books for the other class-and enjoying them immensely. As a result of the fiction writing and the one course, I’ve been teaching myself Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic). It’s an interesting language-and easier than Japanese, Greek or Hebrew was. For fun and to clear my head I've also picked up the feadóg stáin, or tin whistle. I can play three songs on the thing already, and I've only had it a month or so.

Deena and I have traveled quite a bit this year. She competed with the Pride of Portland Sweet Adeline Chorus in Denver the first week of November; they took eighth in the world. Not too shabby! I taught Music and Performance VP for the Evergreen District’s Western Regional Leadership in Langley, BC a few weeks later. There have been a few trips to see Mom, and we all spent a week with 6,000 of our closest friends at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Convention held in Portland over the 4th of July week. We did a little camping, and I even managed to get in my first baseball game at AT&T park. (There’s more travels, but I’m not gonna go there right now.) Then there was this two week period at the beginning of August where it felt like everything stopped for the Summer Olympic games. Don’t tell me some of you weren’t up until midnight-or at least 11:00-watching some of that....

Speaking of activities, I’m still the assistant director for Eugene-Springfield’s “Cascade Chorus,” but resigned as the Music and Performance VP this fall due to health reasons...most of which are stress related.  After the Division IV competition in Medford the quartet I sang in-“It’s About Time”-stopped singing together. It wasn’t due to anyone or anything...we just decided enough was enough. We’re all still good friends and laugh about stuff at chapter meetings. And I’m continuing my work as Director of Education for the Evergreen District of the BHS-for now, at least. I’ve kept busy with our local church, Ebbert Memorial UMC; I’m involved on the Congregational Leadership Team. I also update their website every so often, as time allows. I dropped off the Worship Planning team and the Wednesday night dinner crew for the same reason: stress. I have had to learn I can’t cram eighty hours of work, volunteering, writing, and so forth into a forty hour week and not have it impact my health. Being epileptic does place limits on the output of energy I have, and frankly I don’t have the same energy at nearly 48 as I did at 33. As a result I don’t handle stress as well any more, and so have needed to reduce my stress levels. 

And oh, yes...we’re cleaning up around the place, sorting through stuff, and getting rid of things. That is both of us; I’ve been going through all kinds of stuff a little bit every day-old files in the filing cabinet, stuff in the storage bin, stuff in storage at Deena’s folks. It’s time; I have stuff I want to put up and haven’t been able to. For example, I don’t really need my class notes from TEDS and Moody any more. (I haven’t looked at them in years.) The notes from TEDS got sorted today, for example. I pulled the syllabi and tossed the rest. Yesterday, another piece from my collection of Royal Tara china went up: A china cat. (It sits next to the Waterford crystal panda Deena got for me years ago.)

Like I said-I’ve been a little busy, maybe too busy. So why am I telling you all this?

Because I haven’t been blogging much of late. And I felt you all deserved a reasonable explanation as to why. Unlike certain other bloggers, I have a little something called a life. And life gets in the way of blogging sometimes. My goal for next year on the blog is roughly fifteen articles; at the very least I’m aiming for one a month. (Heck, even if I only put up ten, that’s twice as many as this year.) Another part of the reason for not blogging: It’s too easy to get into matters political-and I didn’t want to go there. Not this year. Not ever, if I can avoid it.

And so I want to leave you all with this thought. 2012 is over, effectively. Instead of complaining about what is, work to change what you can-and try to make peace with what you can’t. Better yet, to paraphrase Adam Savage: Reject the current reality and substitute your own. No, you can’t become deity, or replace the President. But you should do what you can to make your little corner of the world a better place. That’s part of having a whole new year to play with, after all. And it is also the Christmas message: hope. Hope for a better eternity, hope of new life, in Jesus-who we celebrate the birth of this time of year.

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh! (Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all!) 

On the iPhone 4 and Travel

I have a new piece of Apple gear. No great shock to just about all of you; you all saw it coming. 

I finally have an iPhone. Specifically an iPhone 4, 16GB model. Verizon made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

Now, in truth I wanted to wait for the iPhone 5. But I had a credit that was due to expire the end of July, and the phone I use for work purposes was approaching four or five years of age. The issue wasn’t my personal phone at all...it was the need to upgrade my work phone. I chose to do that by getting an iPhone, and taking my Samsung Alias 2 and making that my work phone, as it’s just over two years old. (And, I might add, in far better shape than the old LG that had been the work phone.) This saves the school money in the long term, as they don’t have to buy a new phone.

The iPhone is fun for me. I can now look up stuff on the fly without needing a wi-fi signal which for me would have been nice when I was in high school or college and was curious about something. The nice man at Verizon said I’d use my trusty MacBook less. 

He lied. I’m actually using it more. Not just for recharging and updates, or adding apps to the phone. (Very few games, no added photos or videos, and no music. That’s why I have an iPod.) I find that looking some things up is easier when I know where not to look. Traveling is going to be a little easier; now I can check for e-mail and stuff like that on the fly.

Speaking of traveling...traveling in the digital age can be a pain. When I was in high school, all I needed for a trip had to fit in a small to medium suitcase, a flight bag, and a sleeping bag and pillow. Tape deck fit in the flight bag, along with a few tapes and a 110 camera and some film. My pills were limited to a few extra days over the trip length. Clothes were t-shirts, jeans, a hat, and clean underwear and socks. Band jacket for band tour. 

Now I can’t get out of the house without several chargers, the iPod, iPhone, Macbook, my Minolta DiMage Z6 and extra batteries, several books and magazines, a card reader for the card in my camera, several flash drives, a GPS and all its needs, and a six-outlet power strip. Clothes? A vest, jacket, polo shirts and t-shirts, several pairs of pants in case one rips or I get sloppy with lunch, clean underwear, socks, a knee pillow, a hat or two depending on where I’m going. If I’m driving instead of flying, my pillow makes the trip as well; it’s tough to cram a memoryfoam pillow in a suitcase. Pills? I have to take a week’s worth or more: vitamins, prilosec, carbamazepine, fish oil, fibre, cal-mag-zinc, Claritin in season (The season is March through roughly the Fourth of July), vitamin D supplements (it rains in Oregon a lot, so seeing the sun is a rare sighting) and a digestive aid. My backpack weighs as much as my suitcase did in high school, and my suitcase needs a small crane. 

And that’s when I’m traveling light. 

You think that’s bad...the missus being the woman she is can, on occasion, be far worse. She packs for every conceivable thing, from getting a last minute invite to a state dinner to the apocalypse. You single guys are laughing because you think I’m joking. You married men are laughing because your wife does the same thing. You ladies aren’t laughing, because you all pack the same way. Do you really need to pack a sweater in the middle of summer? If we are gone more than four days, the suitcase requires a herculean effort to get into the trunk. She kids me about packing for a weekend in a ziploc bag; more than once I’ve been called a sick puppy for packing my entire clothing needs for a weekend in a small duffel bag. That’s because I refuse to take a parka with me in 100 degree heat, especially when we’re staying in a motel. 

In all fairness, sometimes I pack too light. I now have four swimsuits because I kept forgetting to pack one. So it does work both ways, and no, Deena does NOT pack my stuff. 

Married techogeeks, you know the drill. Pack all the gear and stuff, travel to where you’re going, and stop wherever it is you’re going to and set up a mobile command center. I’m no different. NASA didn’t send this much digital stuff to the moon, much less the International Space Station. (At least they had the Canada Arm to help unload it all.) Set up the laptop and make sure you’ve connected to the web. Plug in the phone, so it has a full charge on it. Plug in the GPS, and make sure it’s charging. If you have a portable DVD player for the car, better charge that, too. (We don’t have one of those.) Charge the iPod, if need be. And because the missus and I are a mixed marriage-I’m a Mac, she’s a PC-we often have her laptop or netbook, plus her phone, digital camera, mp3 player, etc. It’s a good thing we don’t have kids; there’s no room for them in the Honda when we go somewhere. And by the time we’re done setting up, we don’t have a hotel room...we have a Borg regeneration chamber.

I wonder what we’ll have to carry next. 

Enough for now. 


ADDENDUM:

It has been pointed out to me by my charming bride that since her surgery she no longer packs a parka or a sweater for 100 degree days. Instead, she now carries a fleece jacket or a sweatshirt. Nor does she carry her entire wardrobe, unless she’s with her quartet. (Just half of it. I, like most men, am not capable of understanding how any woman can have a closet full of clothes and still say-with a straight face-that you have nothing to wear. It must be A Girl Thing.) 


In my own defense, however, I must point out this whole article is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, except the Borg part. We really do carry that much electronic gear with us. And the Macpack still weighs in impressively.

A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the wor...wait, I think that line’s already been used.

However, this really is the tale of two cities--Seattle and Las Vegas.  (Mostly Las Vegas, though.) I just returned from a trip to both; and while there are some similarities, there are quite a few differences as well. 

Seattle is where Deena and I spent a fun weekend with 400+ attendees (and over 10,800 guests) at BrickCon, the Northwest’s premier annual LEGO convention. (The premier bi-annual LEGO event-BrickFest-is coming back to Portland next year.) Las Vegas is where we flew to immediately following BrickCon, as she had a conference to attend. I got to go along and spend a few days working from a suite in the Palazzo hotel that was only 130 square feet smaller than our apartment. (The Palazzo is a five-diamond resort, by the way.) Since this was work related for her, they paid for her room, her meals, the conference proper, her travel...and she still drew a paycheck. I got to work from the 38th floor, which had a heck of a view, and managed at least three quarters of work one day, and a half day the next.

So what are the similarities?

Seattle is home to Boeing, grunge, the Mariners, and Starbucks. Las Vegas is home to gambling, large hotels, the 51’s (a minor league team), and has a Starbucks on almost every corner and in many of casino hotels and shopping areas.

Seattle is virtually surrounded by water; Puget Sound is to the west and Lake Washington lies to the east. There is Mount Rainier to look at. Las Vegas is in a desert with the Spring Mountains off to the west. In all fairness, neither city is terribly clean; Seattle has the edge because it is the Northwest and we tend to recycle more here. 

Before I go any further: I need to say that I enjoyed my stay in Las Vegas. I had a good time, and I know that many people come here and have good times. I wouldn’t bring a child with me though, unless that child was at least 21. Las Vegas really is for adults only. That is one thing I do like: the fact it is a place for grown-ups. That upside is also a drawback, however.

Las Vegas is like an amusement park for adults. Sex, slots, and alcohol flow freely here. Rita Rudner--a well known Vegas comedian-commented on the whole women’s body thing not long ago on Mike Huckabee’s program on the Fox News Channel: She went in for a mammogram and found there was a two drink minimum. There are cards on the ground with nude women on them, and phone numbers. That alone should scare any decent person silly. 

When one goes to Disneyland, you know it’s not real. But there is a certain charm, if not a magic, to it. You see Cinderella’s Castle, or Tomorrowland, and you know it’s not real. But you go along with it, and it’s fun. You see the rides, you see the characters, and you understand it’s the ultimate interactive storybook. 

I guess it is that adult amusement park theme is probably why I don’t care much for Las Vegas...everything here isn’t real. (Including, I suspect, the bodies of a number of showgirls. Implants and airbrushing do work wonders.)  Much like Disneyland, you’ll get taken for a ride, all right. Las Vegas is totally designed to remove any inhibitions you have, and separate you from your hard earned cash. If a casino isn’t beckoning to you, the high priced food, booze and expensive jewelry and clothing tempts you. (We won’t discuss the legal “escorts”, however.)

That’s why so many people like to come here. A chance to at least pretend you’re one of the rich and beautiful for a few days, the hope that maybe this slot machine or that poker table will at least pay for the trip, if not make you a millionaire. That’s okay with me too, as long as it stays here. Nothing is sadder than seeing people come back from Las Vegas and trying to maintain the Las Vegas Boulevard lifestyle on Main Street.

I’ll cheerfully admit that during BrickCon, everything we all built was unreal. It was all done with LEGO, after all. But that’s part of the magic of one of these conventions. For a few days, we create a magical little place, with space people and aliens, pirates and cowpokes, knights fighting dragons and saving damsels, trains that run on time past neat clean houses and happy little people. Businesses line little streets that have no potholes. Heroes fight villains, and even mecha-Godzilla is relatively safe. The moonbase has a little Starbucks, even. That’s life in the magic little world we create.

In Las Vegas, though, that magic is on an industrial level. Fantasy is what makes Las Vegas what it is: a unreal, unobtainable world, where every woman is beautiful, every man is good looking, and everyone is lucky and a winner. There’s pirates here too, fighting sirens. New York City is only a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph. Venice, Italy is a few blocks from that; and it’s always sunny and pleasant in Venice. (And, I suspect, cooler and less humid as well.) Heck, I can travel several continents on foot and be back in my room in time for lunch. 

That’s another issue: the buildings on the Strip are so huge, there’s no perspective. I walked from the Palazzo to New York New York and back. That’s only 3.6 miles roundtrip. But it seemed like twice that...and yet, didn’t seem that long at all. That’s the problem with the perspective here: you just can’t gage how far is far. 

Finally: the thing that made Las Vegas isn’t called gambling anymore. They now call it gaming, and while it is still what made Las Vegas what it is, it’s getting out of hand. (Not just here, but all over--but I’ll save that for another time.) Now, I enjoy a good game of poker as much as the next guy, and I’ll play 21 every so often, and on occasion have even played a few slot machines. But this is way far beyond that. The slot machines here really are designed to entice you: Monopoly, Wheel of Fortune, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek (that one made me cringe), several others named after TV shows or well-known movies (The Wizard of Oz is one)...and the eBay slot machine.

eBay the slot? What’s next...the iPod slot machine? Now there’s an interesting concept...maybe it could pay off in iTunes credit.

Enough for now.

On Travelling

They say travel broadens your horizons. (Sadly, it isn’t my just my horizons that have gotten broader; my waistline really should be included in that equation.)  Traveling as much as I have has given me a perspective on certain things in life that I would not have had I stayed closer to home.

On my Facebook profile page I have two tabs for maps. One is of countries I’ve visited; the other is cities I’ve been to. The international cities were pretty easy to fill in...the US stuff’s been a bit harder, because there’s been so many. I hadn’t really realized how much I’ve traveled until I filled in the maps. I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, Guam, Japan, Ireland...and have been in just about every state in the union. I have the pictures, by and large, to prove it. Most of them have been taken from the time I was in high school on. Traveling is generally a safe, fun thing to do (unless you are moving, and then it’s a royal pain). It can, however, have its dangers: I have a flat spot on the bridge of my nose where some serious yardage of Daytona Beach, Fl. sandblasted it away body surfing. (Ask me about that sometime.)

In the last few years I’ve had a chance to go to a couple of the Hawai’ian Islands. I can hardly wait to go back. I’ve also recently been to Victoria and Vancouver, BC. I’m already thinking about what I want to see when I return there.

Having gone to Hawai’i as an adult means that I ate in more of the local restaurants, saw a few more sights than I might have otherwise, and learned more about the culture and appreciated it more as a result, instead of the “been there, done that” which would have resulted had I gone there as a teenager. 

And that’s one of the problems of having traveled so much as a younger person. You have to go back to see what has changed and sometimes it’s better, and sometimes you find places that were more fun or more “magical” at the time have changed. You look at them and wonder what the big deal is/was. I still feel somewhat that way about Las Vegas. I’m going back soon for a few days, and I intend to see a few more things than I did my last trip. Having said that, there’s not all that much I really want to see. A few days should do it.

They say wherever you go, you can’t see everything in one trip. Once again, “they” are right. When we went to the Grand Canyon, we didn’t try to see it all in a day. The same held true for Las Vegas, Montreal, Killarney and Cork, and several other places we’ve been. (And yes, there are places we’ve been that if we never go back it won’t really break our hearts, if you know what I mean.)

This article really comes down to places I’d like to go back and see more of. For example, on O’ahu, since we were there for a Sweet Adelines convention, I want to go back and explore some more of the island, without having to worry about getting Deena back for rehearsals and competition. I want to spend more time on the beaches, especially Waikiki. As an aging surfer, I’d like to leave a lei at the statue of Duke Kahanamoku, and have a chance to actually surf there this time. I want to spend more time on the North Shore in general, and at places like Waimea Bay and Hale’iwa. And there’s more I’d like to do even after that.

On the Big Island, I want to take the observatory tour. I’d like to go back to Volcanoes National Park, and see lava flowing this time. I’d like to tour the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plantation. I’d like to see more of Hilo, and spend a whole day just loafing around Kona proper. I’d like to surf here, too. 

This only covers the two islands I’ve been to. I also want to go to Maui.

I’d like to see what Killarney looks like these days. I’d love to take the Ring of Kerry tour again, this time with a digital camera. Same with Blarney Castle. I’d like several days to really explore Cork. I want to go back to Montreal (again, without a barbershop convention like we did in 2003) and spend several days there poking around a bit more. I’d like to spend a whole day in Niagara Falls, ON. See the falls, from both sides of the water again. See a bit more of the city itself. I enjoyed going back to Victoria, BC for a day last month. I hadn’t been there since 1983. I knew I couldn’t even begin to do that city justice in a day. Two days in and around Vancouver, BC wasn’t enough, either. I need to return to both because there’s just so much more to see.

Oddly enough, I don’t care if I go back to Guam. The few memories I do have are kind of special, and I don’t want them ruined by what things look like today, because I know there’s been a lot of development there over the last batch of years.

Enough for now.