Saying goodbye

Yesterday I attended the annual family picnic. My mom's side of the family has been getting together once a year for a picnic at a campground in John Muir Woods for many years. They've occasionally held it at other places, but not since I've moved back to the Bay Area in 1993. This year it took place earlier than usual in order to coincide with my late fathers birthday. He passed away in January and we agreed to scatter his ashes whenever we could all get together.
I initially thought it would be a very small gathering for the scattering, but it turned out to be much larger, with folks coming in from out of state. I haven't seen some of these people in so long I no longer knew who they were. I'm still not sure how I feel about all the people showing up for an event I would have preferred to be smaller. I don't usually mind large groups, but I was a little uncomfortable and I apologize to all I may have offended by not meeting and talking with everyone. I'm fairly certain some there took my "stand-offishness" a little personally. Almost all of the people were family from my mothers side and all were very nice and I appreciate their show of support and love for my mother as well as honoring my father.
It was nice to spread some of the ashes in the local creek. It was a campground that my father used to take us to when I was around 10-12. I have many good memories of those years during our vacations. Like most people, my relationship with my father was complicated. We had our ups and downs and being the first of his children, I'm sure he had to learn as he went along. Actually, I don't think any of us know what we're doing as we raise kids, they're all so different from each other. A technique that works for one may not work with one or more of the others.

From June 29, 2008

Going through extinction leftovers

Today my sisters and I went over to my mom's apartment to go through some of the items my father left behind after he passed away. Turns out you really can't take anything with you when you go. He left a boatload of junk behind. My mother had already gone through some of the stuff and got rid of most of that, but she wanted to give us a chance to decide on any keepsakes. Turns out he collected key-fobs and belt buckles, I did not know he was such a pack rat. In any case, it turned out to be kind of fun, with my sisters and I sort of bonding and reminiscing about the old days. Next week we are going to a favorite spot of his to scatter his ashes and maybe say a few things. My sisters are all believers in the invisible guy in the sky so there may be prayers. If it helps them, it's OK by me.

Fireworks in June

My wife and I went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk last night to watch their fireworks show. I think it was to celebrate the start of the summer season of their 100th year. We met my youngest daughter there who was visiting a friend. I had my camera with me and tried to take some pictures, but I was taking too long for setups and stuff and my daughter took over. The camera doesn't do well for night shots but she did do a couple of movies. The resolution is small but better quality than the pictures.



We drove there in my MINI through the Santa Cruz Mountains. That was fun although I was driving very conservatively because I'm trying some of the techniques of "hypermiling".

Photo crazy

A couple of days ago at my job, one of the new young engineers was asking me for some fittings for a project he's involved in. He had me order the parts and rather than wait for the local company to deliver the parts, he decided he would go pick them up himself. I showed him the business card with the address so he could write it down, but instead he took out a small digital camera and took a photo of the card. I was amazed. It took far less time than writing it down and he didn't have to worry about losing the note. I would have never thought of that. I'm convinced it's a generational thing. I'm 56 right now and he's maybe 25. His generation embraces these technologies in a way I never did. I loved that moment. I have been carrying a camera around in my pack for about a year now, but very rarely do I use it. I just don't document things that way. I am starting to rethink the way I do keep track of day to day things. I think I may start using the camera more.

Iraq for sale

I just watched the movie "Iraq for Sale" and now I'm really depressed. I consider myself patriotic enough, I mean I spent 6 years in the Navy right out of high school, so I figure I've done my part for this country. But if even half of what's in the movie is true, I'm kind of ashamed of us. Apparently the movie is a year or two old, but my wife recorded it and set me down to watch it with her. Now she's pissed at Congress and I'm just sad.
On another note, I spent the day putting in the new insulation in the living room as part of the "Home Improvement Project". It's the first time I've worked with fiberglass and I didn't like it. Too itchy. I was able to mostly finish but by the end of the day I was beat. Mostly because I was using a respirator and it's a lot of work breathing through filters all day. My knees took a beating too from kneeling on the concrete foundation for cutting and measuring. Next step is the drywall.

Redwings, Lakers

During the regular season for hockey and basketball I rarely watch any games. But if there are any teams I like to watch in the finals it would be the Redwings and Lakers. I became somewhat of a fan of the Lakers during the Magic and Bird days. Actually I became a Magic Johnson fan when his team beat Bird's team in the NCAA finals. That was a fun game to watch. It's kind of cool that Boston and LA are in the finals this year. I think it's the 10th final pairing between the two.
The Redwings are just a very talented team and one can usually see hockey at it's best when ever they're in the playoffs. Since I live so close to San Jose, I would have liked to see the Sharks in there, but they haven't been able to go all the way even with a great regular season record.
I am a big American football fan and will watch any game any time. I also watch Arena football and will watch that before I watch basketball, hockey or baseball.

Obama won the Dems; now what

OK, so now that Obama has apparently won the Democratic nomination, what does it mean in the general election in November. I don't know either. My wife is convinced that the USA is not ready for Obama and that McCain is going to win. She's part of the Clinton group of "Angry middle-aged white women" and there's some very genuine anger going on there. As a group they seem to be sure there was this sexist undercurrent that says the USA is more ready for a non-white president than for a woman. I don't agree, and my daughters (all voting age) just don't see gender as an issue. I know it's debatable, but Clinton is her own worse enemy and it has nothing to do with gender.

Bo Diddley

Got home today and found out that Bo Diddley passed away. Man, that's tough to take. I know he had a pretty long live and all, but it's still tough to think that one of my top five rock n' rollers is gone. I had to go and get some more songs of his from iTunes. I'm listening to some as I type this.

Last year I upgraded the electrical service in my house from 80Amp to 200Amp. I did this mostly to allow for A/C in the living room and to dedicate a circuit for the wall unit in the master bedroom. Now that it's upgraded I also put in an electric garage door opener. I later upgraded the electrical for the living room (since it's torn apart) and added a door bell and extra outlets. Anyway, because I'm such a great procrastinator, the inspection has to be re-certified for PG&E since I took so long to ask them to reseal the meter. In a later post I'll go through the living room work, it's a bit of horror story. Reminds me of the movie "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks.

Just getting started. I have another blog that I started when I got my MINI Cooper. It was meant to be just about Coopers, mine and others, but that quickly became too restrictive. I started to add my home improvement projects to that blog and I realized I wanted to expand even more. So here I go.
I plan on using this to post thoughts, events and whatever else comes to mind. It will be the best possible way for friends and family to keep track of me and my family. I read several blogs each day and may mention those as a way of bookmarking and letting others see where my head is at any given moment. Feel free to comment, hopefully that will be easy to do. I'll post pictures whenever I can. I'll also do those kind of stupid things (i.e. top ten lists) that may elicit a groan or eye-roll, but it will be mostly to track moods and again let others see where I'm coming from.