Good News and Bad News...

The Giants win the West, which means I get to go to postseason games again.

From here, it is a very looooong trip...thanks to lura, with whom I'll be staying at least next Thursday night, and hopefully even more...

UPDATE on housing possibilities

We've finally managed to find a link or two to condo rentals at Blacklake. These units would be within walking distance of our place, and the golf course.

Here's one that sleeps 4

Here's one that sleeps 6

Both appear to be available next July...at least for the moment...

Now we wait...

The gigantic project I've been working on for almost two years is now off my desk and on someone else's. Now we'll see what happens...

I've never been a patient person, so this may be the longest week of my life...so to speak...

which makes me remember that the wait every Christmas eve between dark and when Uncle Lloyd finally showed up after being the last one out of Breuners that day, probably seemed longer...even now...

Thought for the day

Blogpost at my other "professional" blog:
3 Steps to succeed by doing what it takes: http://is.gd/fdUiI #leadership

Progress, Progress...

Over last weekend, I had a long conversation with lura about some ideas for the party (Judi was out of town, at her annual les girles retreat in the bay area). It was helpful to bounce some ideas around, and we're making progress on the food, the decor, and other knotty problems. More as soon as I make some clear decisions...

I just said "no" to something...

This is not my nature, and is rare in my experience. But in this case, I think I made an adult decision.

The project was to mount a performance of the St. John Passion during Holy Week, 2012, at the church. Ultimately, I decided that the space was too small, the cost was not recoverable without fundraising, and my time was not going to allow proper preparation.

But it was not easy to make that decision.

what to leave in...what to leave out...

Quick trip to the bay area today for a memorial service tomorrow, and some discussion about whether to get the playoff tix package...

Alone again...naturally...

Judi leaves for the bay area tomorrow, so it's going to be a bachelor week. I'll make a quick up and back trip on the weekend for a memorial service. I'll eat weird, work late, and, hopefully get a lot done, but it will be nice when she gets back next week...

Labor Day

Ten months to go...guess I need to get some plans going...sigh...

Been a strange week...including some self-imposed hibernation to do some important writing. The weekend has been great, and social...we were out Friday and Sunday nights, and are having people over tonight...it's good practice for the 64 celebration...

Everything is supposed to be "back to normal" starting Tuesday, with the official end of summer today. I hope to be more regular in posting once the routine settles down again this week...

But...but....where will we stay?

Time for my post about where you might stay in the area, so I did what any self-respecting netizen would do in 2010, I fired up google.

I wish I had better news about hotel prices, but we live in an area that is considered "beach" and tourists pay to stay here. (A little known fact...when you come over the hill on 101 into the Pismo/Shell Beach area, it is the first time you see the ocean from the highway going south after you leave the Golden Gate Bridge. Periodically we have a tourist that is so captivated by the view that they go over the edge, often landing in an ironically placed tennis court...forewarned...)

The other bad news is that there is not much to choose from right near our house. So you will end up staying a few miles away...the good news is, of course, that means you'll be, in general, close to the beach.

Here's the page for Pismo Beach Hotels

From what I know of that list, the Sea Venture is in a nice spot, has a great restaurant (we go there often for a sunset dinner with reasonable corkage), and it sits right on the beach.

The Oxford Suites are purported to be the best value in the area (short of the Motel 6 sort of place).

A little farther away, on the more northerly part of the bay/beach are the places in Shell Beach.

These places, like the Dolphin Bay, are generally pricier.

As the bay circles back on itself at the north end, you'll find the lovely little town of Avila Beach.

Avila is the place the locals go when there is only one spot with sun. It has a protected location, and thus better weather (i.e. less fog most of the time). The Lighthouse Suites are across the street from the beach, and fairly new.

On the way to Avila there are a couple of very nice places as well. Both of these are not on the water, if that's not your cup o' tea.

We go to the restaurant at the Sycamore Springs a lot. We've also sampled several of there +/-100 hillside hot tubs. They have had a mid-week deal where you can buy a meal and get a hot tub. Or you can get a spa treatment which comes with a hot tub. Again...if that's your thing...

Also along the way, in its own little community, is the Avila Village Inn

If college town atmosphere is your thing, and you like to shop downtown (including the world famous Thursday night Farmer's Market), then here is the link for San Luis hotels.

The Apple Farm Inn has country charm, and the also world famous landmark Madonna Inn is worth seeing (the men's room has been a tourist attraction for at least 40 years......really...) even if you don't stay there.

Finally, if you remember the Michael Jackson trial, it was held in the next large town to the south of us, Santa Maria. Santa Maria is big enough to find most everything, including almost all the typical hotel chains. Here's the google link to Santa Maria hotels. 

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Reunion Reflections

In many ways, attending my HS reunion last weekend was a rehearsal for my 64 party. (For those new to the site, here's the back story.) The reunion was in Stockton, which meant Judi and I had to find a hotel (more about that in a minute), and things to do during the weekend before and after (well that part turned out to be easy...we went to Pac Bell and watched the Giants beat Arizona) the event.

Here's what I learned. The reunion committee did a great job on the event itself, but the hotel (did I already say more about this later?) and the "tourist attractions" part of the package were not so good. So I promise to get you all some hotel information by the end of the week. As to the tourist attraction stuff, I've covered that in a lot of detail starting here with airplane stuff, here with stuff to see on the way here from the north and south, here about the many golf opportunities nearby, here for those who like wine tasting, and here for assorted other information and things to see and do.

OK...about the hotel in Stockton. My best guess is that it was built by someone or a company that intended to operate it as a franchise for a large chain (whose name starts with an S), but at a certain point (apparently just before the pool was tiled over the cement) the money ran out. The hotel had 4 floors, but the building had 6 or 7 (depending upon how you count), so I assume that the top floors were to be condos or apartments. Someone told me they had one sale in escrow on that but that it hadn't closed...

So it was a brand new hotel (built in 2007 they told us at the front desk) which had no sign. Not on the building, not on the street, not at the entrance, not on the phones (the name had been sort of blacked out with a magic marker), not on the front door (well...unless you count the piece of paper taped to the door...). The room felt as if it had hardly, if ever, been used. I'm guessing that either the bank, or somebody acting entrepreneurially, had hired a (mostly incompetent) staff to keep the hotel open as it was and try to get some cash flow.

Whoever planned the hotel thought it would be cool to hire a great designer, and, I must say, the hotel looked good (at least on the inside...the outside was rather chrome/glass/boxy). But design, in my opinion, is more than just looking good. I'll give you a forinstance...the shower in our room was not completely enclosed. There was a sheet of plexiglass covering about half of the "interior" shower wall, but it was open at the end away from the shower head. Which meant that every hotel housekeeper had to mop every floor every day...and the linen service must be a nightmare, because we had to request extra towels to be able to walk on the bathroom floor after a shower. (Which, in a way, was a utilitarian use for our towels, since there was no place to hang them up...sigh...)

But to make matters worse, the open end of the shower was also next to the door into the rest of the room, and on the other side of that door was wood (or laminate, probably) flooring. Any guess as to how long that is going to survive the constant water?

Oh...did I say we got a great rate?

Live Like You Can't Go Home Again

This weekend Judi and I are going to Stockton to attend my 45th hs reunion. I left town (on a train! with a lot of books!) to attend Northwestern University in September of 1965, and essentially haven't been back for more than a few days here and there since. As one of my choir members said at rehearsal the other night: "Two days in Stockton...in August...how...fun..." Right...yesterday it was 106 there...and 72 here...sigh...

I got out my old yearbooks yesterday and looked through all the faces...especially the ones that are on the list of those who are attending the event. I remember a lot of them, but we had a big class...It will be interesting to see how many still "look the same"...

The event will be bittersweet, as I found out a few days ago that one of my hs musical colleagues (he was a year younger than I was) passed away unexpectedly. Gary Wright was one of three of us that I know of that ended up teaching music at the university level, which is a testament to the musical training we had in school (Frank...if you're reading this...thanks!).

In reading the tributes to Gary on facebook, it is clear that he was the kind of teacher that we all hope to be...involved with his students, and modeling as much as teaching. That's the thing I miss most about not teaching in an academic situation...watching students grow up, go out, and do well. Gary's death reminds me that life is short...take advantage of it...which also reminds me...I've got to go pack the good wine for the weekend...later...

To Black Tie or Not to Black Tie...

I know that's a question at least one of you are asking, and it deserves answering. I just think that people (especially the people I know) don't have many reasons to dress up any more. And I also know from experience that a dressed up crowd produces an entirely different vibe from one that is "beach casual" for instance.

So the next question might be, "but what can I do? I don't have a black tie outfit." Well...you could use this opportunity to by that once in a lifetime elegant dress up, or you could do what these people did (which, by the way, was the advice I got when I bought my first "formalwear"...a white dinner jacket to use when I played with a particular band back in the 50s...): hit your thrift store, and don't worry about whether or not it is in style...

http://improveverywhere.com/2010/08/21/thank-you-black-tie-beach/

See? Problem solved...

Maybe we'll have a beach event too... let me think about that one...

Reunions

My good (old) friend Doug Lawrence is staying with us for a couple of days. He's on a trip that included attending his first (but the class' 50th) high school reunion. He loved it, but he says that the room was filled with old people.

This Friday, Judi and I will be attending my 45th hs reunion. I'm looking forward to it, even though I will be in the company of "old" people. It will also be the first time I have stayed overnight in Stockton since at least 1980, and perhaps before. Town has changed a bit, and I'm looking forward to seeing the old houses and neighborhoods...

You don't know what you've got...

'til it's gone...

That Joni Mitchell line runs through my head from time to time, and it has this weekend...

Let's just say that I had a scare Friday evening (hint...a conversation in which I kept hearing the word "surgery," even though it was never spoken). But it appears that it was nothing serious...

In happier news, I addressed the first set of postcards...look for yours in the mail real soon...

RIP Bobby Thomson

I am a Plate Spinner

I just read a headline somewhere today that purports to prove, once and for all, that first borns are smarter. I never had the sibling problem, so there's no way to compare. But I do know that keeping my brain engaged is an ongoing quest. It's not that I get bored easily...but I don't have much patience anymore (sound of family in the background shouting "that implies you did at one time...NOT") for lightweight things.

I read once (and took to heart) that most people talk about people, fewer talk about things, and fewer still talk about ideas. Talking and thinking about ideas has become what I do most often now...sometimes to the detriment of actually doing things. In fact I just hung up the phone (really? from which tree?) from a conversation where a significant logistical business problem was solved...and in an elegant, and eminently doable way.

And because I spend a lot of time thinking about things, I tend to be interested in opportunities. I have a friend (hi Paul!) who often says, when confronted with a problem: "I can do that." For me it is more likely to be "ooh...it would be cool to..." I don't jump out of airplanes or ride roller coasters, because I'm not an adrenaline junkie. But I do tend to think that my ideas should be put into practice. Hence the title of  this post.

Lura lent me a book a year or more ago called Refuse to Choose, by Barbara Sher. I highly recommend it to you. The premise is that there are people (like me) who are interested in so many things that they can't stick with just one. One of the subsets of what Sher calls scanners is the plate spinner. If you're my age you remember this guy on Ed Sullivan...the object was to keep as many plates spinning on the end of a stick as you could...and he ran back and forth from end to end of this row of plates keeping them in the air.



That was my life.

But after reading the book, I made what I think was an intelligent decision to arrange my plates into a circle, lopping off the ones that didn't add value to my core values. Now I'm not bored, but I can (most of the time) keep all the plates in the air because I'm not running end to end, I'm circling and reinforcing my values. It's made a lot of difference.

How do I celebrate my birthday?...let me count the days...

I have a running gag with my friend Twyla that my birthday is on February 30 each year. She actually believed that at one point (for a few minutes at least). I often try to put that date on the intrusive web sites that won't let you enter until you give them your birth date. Sometimes it works...

And, of course, the obvious question is "why?" I'm not sure when this started, although it was certainly in place by the time I was an undergraduate at UCLA. Because my family has always been small (just my parents and I growing up), we started celebrating birthdays whenever it was convenient. The actual birth day became less and less important. It became more and more important that we could celebrate together, rather than making a big deal about it having to be on a certain day.

Part of this comes from the fact that my mother (and therefore us, as a family) was the only one of her siblings to move away from Sacramento. In my generation, I was the first, and for the longest time the only, one of my maternal cousins to move away from the town in which we grew up. I lived in Canada for 10 years during my life as an academic. Combine that with the fact that when you play music for a living and/or work in a church you don't have weekends off, and my schedule has always seemed to be the most difficult one to work around.

So my birthday became whenever I was together with family. After a while, so did Christmas. The "worst" year, I think, was the one in which Lura and I exchanged presents in mid April at a restaurant in Pleasanton because we were both on the way to someplace else, and it had gotten ridiculous, and we decided that we needed to celebrate Christmas before our next birthdays.

As a result, I often have spent my actual birthday more or less alone, and I've gotten used to the idea. Perhaps the best example of that was the year I celebrated my birthday at Expo in Vancouver. Nobody knew who I was (except the Sounds Alive people I was on tour with), and nobody (including SA, as I remember) knew it was my birthday. I had a great time. I never knowingly schedule anything on my birthday (I doubt that will be the case in 2011). It has become one of the two days a year that I try to take time to just do some thinking about life, the universe, and everything. Because of when it is, my birthday has become a kind of mid-year evaluation day to see how I'm doing with my one new year's resolution, and other things I decided to do at the end-of-year evaluation.

But, as you know if you are reading this, 2011 is going to be different...by design. I'm looking forward to celebrating my birthday with people, and I hope you'll be able to attend. I'm going to try to get the save the date postcards out within the next week or so. If you don't think I have your correct snail address, send me an email or leave a comment so that I can get it to you.

What's cooking?

I've been doing a lot more cooking lately...it is partly to give Judi one more night a week that she doesn't have to cook, but also because, in a strange way, I'm finally ready to do it.

I've had this aversion to cooking for a long time, and it is due to the efficiency quotient: you spend (as I'm going to do tonight) 2 hours cooking something,  and 30 minutes or more cleaning up, and I can eat it in less than 5 minutes. I think that's why a lot more people go out to eat now than when I was a kid...well...that an the proliferation of the obesity fast food restaurants.

But lately, as I said, I'm looking at cooking a little more differently. I always manage to open a bottle of wine (tonight's choice? A 2007 Preston Dry Creek Cinsault, to pair with pissaladiere, which is a naturally sweet onion tartlet seasoned with black olives, rosemary, thyme, and some freshly ground pepper...) while I'm working, and it is a great way to decompress from the frantic nature of the intellectual balancing act that comprises my work.

I'm not cooking for the party...unless I decide to bar b que...hmmm...wonder if that would work in black tie?

What is Art

I had difficulty in junior high school when I was forced, by curricula, to take an art class. The difficulty wasn't, it turns out, because I wasn't an artist, although the teacher, whose name I have forgotten, thought that was the case. One of my favorite lines now when people talk about art, as in drawing, is that "I can't draw my breath." It solves a whole lot of difficulties in explanation.

No, it turns out, the problem was that I had/have a different conception about what makes art "art." It's not that I don't like traditional art, but I am not as much of a fan of that. Judi is an amazing watercolor painter, and she does traditional art. I love her stuff. Two of my most favorite places in the world are the Rodin museum and the Uffizi. It's not that...

It's just that I like abstract weird art. Actually, although I am not an art historian (never had another art class -- unless you count film history at UCLA as fulfilling that requirement -- I think the proper term is conceptual art. The idea of something that is not quite art, but is, as a result, "art" is fascinating to me.

For example: The longest organ concert in the world

I think my fascination started early, because the specific incident in my art class concerned a sculpture project. We poured plaster of paris into those little rectangular milk cartons (yes, I know...milk...sigh...) that were the staple of lunch rooms in those days, and then were supposed to carve something, that, again, I forget what it was. My carving was abstract...no two ways about it, and I was unashamed about it. Not so good from the teacher's perspective...sigh...

But I remember that I was hooked by the time I got to UCLA and began to explore the works of John Cage -- "music is sound organized in time" --(read about him here and here), Terry Riley --again, here and here -- (In C is one of, if not his most famous work, and I was involved in one of the earliest performances, apparently, since it was written in 1964, and we did it at UCLA in probably 1967 or 1968 --I got to do the drone, which I thought was so cool -- thanks Doug Leedy and Malcolm Cole), and other composers.

So from there I got to the fluxus people, and also to the "visual" artists. I actually did a series of fluxus concerts in Regina (on April 1...nobody got the joke for a couple of years) until they made me stop. The last straw, apparently, was a piece for two tubas. They went out on stage and tried to tune, but one of them was having problems. Upon looking in the horn, there was an "aha" moment, so that player poured a tuba full of water into the other tuba and played the correct note. End of piece. Brilliant. Not so well liked by the chairman, though...sigh...

That's a long way around to this. One of my most favorite pieces of art is the Post Secret project. Essentially, people from all over the world send postcards to a guy (Frank) in Maryland with their secrets on them. Absolutely fascinating. I even dragged Judi to an installation at the Walnut Creek art gallery one time. And I like that more people than the artist are involved. The idea for this post came as a result of reading about how Frank's mail carrier recently "retired" and moved to England. She blogged about the Post Secret adventure here. Great reading.

Whether Weather...

I've been asked, more than once, "what's the weather like on the central coast." With apologies to my friends who live in Redwood City, the US (as opposed to the German) government recognizes the central coast weather as among, if not the best in the world.

Which leads to an interpolation... As many of you are aware, I have been categorizing things for years for a mental book "The World is Divided Into..." One of my categories is that people generally either live where they want to live or they do what they want to do. Seldom do you get to do both. I did what I wanted to do while I lived in Canada. Although it was not where I would have chosen to live, I grew to like everything but the weather there. When I moved back to California, I chose to live where I wanted to live, even though I wasn't doing what I wanted to do. Now, for the most part I have both...

In any event, the weather here is much like that of San Francisco, although milder. We get fog, because we live in a coastal area, but there is enough southern California slop over that the weather tends to be warmer. The first year we lived here, I kid you not, the weather almost every day was what I tell people now when they ask: "70 degrees with a little breeze off the ocean." That's not 365, of course, but more often than not.

But not in the summer. If you have heard Mark Twain's purported remark: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco," you know that we northern Californians smile at the SF tourists who arrive in the City in August in shorts...and then freeze their posteriors off.

It's not that bad here, but summer on the calendar tends to bring our coolest temperatures, and the most fog. The locals refer to it as May gray and June gloom. We've been here 5 years, and it has only been NOT foggy for the fireworks show at Pismo on July 4 once.

There's a couple of things, though. Because of the microclimates that you find along the coast, you can drive 10 miles to San Luis and have 80 degree weather, or another 20 miles beyond that to Paso and have 100 degree weather. So pack accordingly depending upon where you will visit while you are here. The other thing is that while it may be foggy, it will be in the 60s...all day and at night perhaps drop into the mid 50s.

Finally, this year has been "the worst in living memory" according to the locals. (No matter where I've lived, that term is bandied about sometime in the first couple of years.) It has supposedly been the coolest winter summer since 1971. Yesterday, for instance, when I left for church at 8am it was drizzling lightly here, although it was 70 when I got to Templeton about a half hour later. While the rest of the country has sweltered this summer, we've had very mild, although foggy, weather. Statistically that may mean that next year will be hot, but I wouldn't count on it.

So in summary: it's summery here but the weather is only consistently summery inland, and instead of summery in the summer we get wintery, except that our wintery is summery compared to most wintery. Figure that it will be in the 60s or 70s, so bring a "wrap" as my mom used to call it, and do what the locals do: wear layers and always have a hoodie close at hand...except of course during the black tie event...

Birthdays and Reunions

Missed a couple of days there...sorry...

As you know, I just celebrated my birthday, and this blog started on my daughter's birthday, which, in a lovely coincidence, is also Judi's daughter's birthday. Last Tuesday would have been my dad's 103rd birthday, and Judi's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. Her birthday is followed closely by her son's birthday in early September, and then we have the long wait until next year's round of birthdays come up again.
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At the end of the month, we're going to attend my 45th (gasp!) HS reunion. It should be interesting, because I haven't been to the last couple, so it has been at least 10, if not 15 years. My traditional "reunion buddy" -- Mark Wille -- won't be there this time, so it will be even more different. I'm looking forward to it, though, because there will be +/- 160 people there, so it will be a decent turnout. Bound to be a few people I know. Of course Stockton in August is no walk in the park, but at least it is a dry heat. :)

One of the reasons I'm going to the reunion this time is to (hopefully) find people that I want to invite to the 64 party. I know people change, but it's the childhood folks that will be the most interesting for everybody else to meet, assuming some of them come. Life was so much more innocent in those days...sigh...without, as Bob Seger says: "deadlines and commitments...what to leave in...what to leave out..."

I'm just sitting here...

Today started off with a two hour phone call. I'm not a great phone person...that is, being on the phone is not my idea of fun...but this was pretty good news. I'm waiting to hear about a business opportunity that I've been working at for some time, and we're very close. There's been more conversations this afternoon, and I'm expecting one more later today so we'll see how it goes.

In spite of my mild phone-a-phobia, there are people who I am in regular contact with for whom the phone is the best way we communicate. Person-to-person conversations with these people can include long blank spaces...not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. I think it is interesting to "know" someone because you have a phone (or email, or facebook) relationship with them. In many ways it is the ultimate neutral medium. You don't know what they look like, you don't know their life other than when you are in conversation with them about something mutually interesting. It makes being a hermit easier than at any time in the past, and I recognize the advantages, having a bit of hermit in me...

In other news, I just spent some time on godaddy searching for short urls in order to mount our own urlshortener system for the website articles. It's a fascinating process, and one that provides subtle (almost subliminal) marketing at the same time.

Still waiting for the proof of the next mag issue. Life goes on and it is fun to be watchin' the wheels keep going 'round...

Back to the real world

It is always a sense of relief to get an issue of the mag off to the printer. This time was even more chaotic, because for only the 3rd time during my ownership of the mag, we're using a different printer...which means there are new systems to be learned.

I'm looking forward to spending some time on the party planning in the next few days...watch this space...

In the meantime, a food dilemma: what do you serve with Judi's wonderful grilled salmon, which has a bar b que based sauce? It is a great recipe, btw:

Sauce (more or less...Judi says that she doesn't measure any more):
2 Tbs of bar b que sauce
1 Tbs of brown sugar
1 Tbs of hot & sweet mustard
1 tsp of lime juice
1 tsp of crushed garlic (she uses the kind that comes in a jar; translate to your fresh garlic according to taste)

Put the sauce on the salmon and grill it in an aluminum foil boat on the bar b que between 20 and 25 minutes

We tend to experiment with this, but over the years, a zin is a good bet. Last night we had a Ridge 2008 Paso Robles zin which was quite nice.

Relaxing for a change

Today was a nice easy day...a nice change. Got to watch the entire Giants/Dodgers game, wash both cars, and have a great dinner: steak, corn, al dente vegetables, and a nice mellow 1993 Renaissance cab.

I remember when we visited this winery. My folks were still alive and my dad had read about it in the paper. He wasn't so much interested in the wine, as the fact that they were making wine in Yolo county. So my folks, Judi, and I took a trip over there. When we got there it was like a fortress without walls. A guard hut at the entrance, and they seemed non-plussed that we would show up without an appointment. After a bit of a wait, they allowed us in, but "you have to stay on the road. Go right to the tasting room and don't stop between here and there."

So we stopped off when we saw a gorgeous rose garden. We walked around for a while, then went to the tasting room. When we got there, clearly they had been timing us, because, they asked how it had taken us to long to get there. There were other people in the tasting room, so I was able to poke around a little, and I found an open door, which led to an amazing little concert hall, which was all set up for a performance of a baroue chamber opera which was to happen that night. Lovely acoustics, and really top quality instruments.

I slipped back into the tasting room very impressed. The vines were terraced along the (foot)hill sides, and the wines were tasty. So we bought some, and went home talking about whether or not it was a cult disguised as a winery. No conclusion there, but the wines have held up quite well. And, for about 5 years or so, I would regularly get calls from a guy named Joseph, who would offer me "deals" on the wine. Strange in many ways...

End of the week and month...

but, more to the point, it has been deadline week, and the mag is set to go to the printers. It is always and exhausting week when the mag deadline comes around. There are ads to chase and authors to explain edits to. This time it was complicated by my being gone all last week. No fun. But the good news is that whenever an issue is put to bed,  I can begin to think about other stuff...(well, tomorrow anyway...)

Mag deadline week

Every couple of months Judi and I go through our modified version of "hell week" during the week that that magazine is being prepared for the printer. You'd think it would get easier, but it doesn't, because the ads (and sometimes the articles) seem to come in at the last minute...no mater when that last minute is.

I needed to get away from the computer tonight, so we went to the Olive Garden and brought a wonderful bottle of 2006 Ridge Pagani Ranch Zin. It went well with the ravs and the lasangna rotella...

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

...which is one of my favorite lines from the movie Blade Runner, delivered by William Sanderson. It has been somewhat of a long slog since January, and I've averaged being gone at least one week a month between then and now. So it is good to be home for a while. I don't know how people like my friend Joe Martin do it. Joe is on the road about 200 days a year...yikes! In any event, I can get back to doing some planning now, and begin to make some decisions. Stay tuned...

The best laid plans...

Yesterday was a rest & recovery day from my trip to Kansas City. It was great to stay an extra night and have a visit with good friend Doug Lawrence and his family. I think I first met Doug while he was working at San Mateo Pres, and I was at Trinity in San Carlos. Over the years Doug and I have worked together on a whole bunch of projects, the first of which was the Sing! family of newsletters, which, in it's own way was a critical development in the way church music ministries communicated together and with each other. Two other friends were involved in Sing!: Allan Petker and Ed Lindquist. Doug and Margie plan to be at the party, so if you plan to come, make sure and find him (it won't be hard...he's the one that looks a bit like a bear and has the huge (and wonderful) baritone voice...).

Planning your trip: part 5

To finish this week/series off, I'd like to let you know about some "offbeat" things you can see or do while you are here.

There are a number of very nice walking/hiking trails close at hand. One of our favorites is the trail (that's a misnomer...most of it is a paved/boardwalk) from Oso Flaco ("skinny bear") Lake to the ocean.

There are, of course a number of beaches, including the famous Pismo Beach. There is also a lovely little beach in Guadalupe, which is much less crowded.

Guadalupe also has one of my favorite restaurants: La Simpatia Cafe. Let me put it this way: they have the best chile rellenos I've ever had...and I don't chile rellenos much, because of the egg batter...and I don't like gravy...and I've never even heard of chile rellenos with gravy. But they are incredibly good. It's what the locals eat. Going in there is like stepping back in time...with all that it implies, including no web site.

Neither does our local steak place institution, Jockos. But you can read the reviews here. Caution: not much on ambience, but great meat. Make a reservation, but be prepared to wait anyway.

Which leads to a side note. Around here there are two things to know. We have a unique bar b que style: Santa Maria Bar b que. It involves high heat, the tri tip cut of meat, and grilling at some distance from the fire. Often it is served with salsa, but I like it plain. yum.

The second thing is that most (not all) restaurants serve enough food to feed an army. Judi and I routinely split an entree, and get the "extra plate" small charge for a second salad, baked potato, and dessert (that's right...old style, including an antipasta plate).

There are a ton of upscale restaurants in San Luis. You can get a complete list of SLO restaurants here.

But I said "offbeat," and I've wandered into food, so I don't want to imply that any of the restaurants (except Simpatia, perhaps) is offbeat. Let's get back to the topic:

Two more things. Very near where we are, there is one of the largest areas on the Pacific Coast to ride your vehicle on the beach (4wd recommended). You can rent dune buggies, and even camp on the beach if you're so inclined. Find out more here.

Finally, the thing that tops the weirdness meter...figuratively right across the street from our house is a luffa farm. I can't even explain this adequately. Just read about it here. They are nice people, by the way, and it was interesting to visit.

Next week? Where to stay.

Planning your trip: part 4

Yesterday I talked about the golf opportunities...today we'll talk about wine tasting.

Most of you know that I'm involved in making home made wine. I don't do the chemistry...that's done by my Geyserville friend Kurt Kaufman, whom you can meet if you come to the party. I just buy the fruit. We make Sonoma County wine. But there is wine being made in the Central Coast area as well...very good wine.

I've already talked about this a bit, but if you are travelling north to south along 101, stopping in the Paso/Templeton area will be worth your while if you like wine. Here's a link to the overview site. Some of my favorites up there are Bishop's Peak, Rotta, and especially Dover Canyon.

If you are travelling south to north along 101, stopping in the Los Olivos (Sideways) area is also very worthwhile.

But you probably want to know about what is closer at hand. The primary area near us is Edna Valley, and there is a good site for all the SLO wineries. Edna Valley is known for great Chardonnay and Pinot.

Specifically I would visit...
Within 5 minutes of the house is Laetitia (pinot & champagne). A little further away (20 minutes) in Edna Valley there is Tolosa (chardonnay), Talley (pinot), Edna Valley (my favorite chardonnay), Wolff (Teroldego), and Saucelito Canyon (zins and rhone style wines).

Cheers!

Planning your trip: part 3

Once you get here, you'll want to know what there is to do. Up today? For golfers...

We live in a golf course community. Blacklake has 27 holes, and most days they rotate which 18 are in play which means that each course gets a sabbatical at least once a week. Essentially across the street is Monarch Dunes, which has a regulation 18 hole "old" course, plus a unique 12 (that's right, 12) hole "Challenge" course. Still want more? Less than 5 minutes away is Cypress Ridge and if that is still not enough, Blacklake has a sister relationship with the Avila Beach Golf Resort, and a special where you can play both courses at a reduced rate.

So let's summarize: 75 holes within  5 minutes of our house, plus a special deal on 18 more right near the beach. There are also courses in San Luis and Santa Maria as well, so if you're a golfer...bring your clubs.

Planning your trip: part 2

If you are flying to get here, you'll probably want to rent a car. If you choose to come into Santa Barbara or the big city airports, you can plan a trip along the coast. Possible stops include:

From the north, travelling south on the coast:

Monterey/my maternal grandparent's traditional vacation spot Pacific Grove/Carmel: Monterey has the aquarium and cannery row, Pacific Grove is a lovely little residential/beach access, and, for golfers, no more need to be said about Carmel, home of Pebble.

Big Sur: famous, and can be inaccessible unless you have time to explore

Hearst Castle: Th is is definitely worth seeing, and there are multiple tours. I believe they still won't let you do more than 2 in one day, so if you are interested in this kind of thing, spend the night at San Simeon.

Cambria/Cayucos/Harmony/Morro Bay: artsy/funky little coastal towns

travelling south on 101

Paso Robles/Templeton (the church I serve is here)/San Luis Obispo: central coast wine country. At this time of year, Paso and Templeton tend to be hot, so be forewarned.

From the south, travelling north along the coast

Santa Monica/Malibu: if you've watched TV in the last 50 years, you know...

Santa Barbara: 'nuff said...

Solvang/Los Olivos/Buellton: Little Denmark, Sideways (the movie) wine country, and road landmark Pea Soup Andersons.

More trip planning info tomorrow...

Planning your trip: part 1

Since I am at a conference all this week, and I don't know how much control I will have over my time, I'm preparing a series of "details" posts. Today's topic is how to get here.

We live on California's beautiful Central Coast, in San Luis Obispo county (the SLOCoast), where the weather is among the world's finest. On the other hand, we're not located on the beaten track. Frankly, the best way to get here is to drive...and if you haven't driven down/up the California coast from SF/LA to LA/SF, it is something you should do once in your life. Our house is in a golf course community (more on that in a later post) about equidistant between highway 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH in the current trendspeak) and highway 101 in the southern part of the county.

The three closest airports, for those coming from a distance, are (in proximity order):
San Luis Obispo Airport: SBP (about 30 minutes)
Santa Maria Airport: SMX (about 30 minutes)
Santa Barbara Airport: SBA (about 90 minutes)

If you want to get as close as possible by plane, I suggest SBP. But both SBP, and the smaller SBX, are mostly served by turboprop planes, and, essentially only two carriers: United and USAir, which flys (at the moment) two small jets in each (week)day from Phoenix. There are a limited number of seats each day, so if you plan to fly to either of these airports, I strongly suggest you book early.

The alternative, for those who have time, is to fly into LAX (about 2.5 hours away) Long Beach (3 hours) or Burbank (2.5 hours), or any of the Bay Area airports: SFO (3.5 hours), SJC (about 3 hours), or OAK (3.5 hours). NOTE: all driving times are Vern at the wheel, with no traffic.

More tomorrow...

On the road again...

Judi's mom arrived last night for the week, and I'm leaving this afternoon for Kansas City. Those two things are not directly related, except that Judi finally managed to talk Dot into visiting (I think the heat in Desert Hot Springs compared to our 65 degree weather had something to do with it). Foggy here...while the forecast LOW during the whole time I'll be in KC is 74...Oh well, it could be worse...I had the chance to go to Waco this week...

More RSVPs over the weekend...which is cool...Now that the party is becoming a reality, I really have to start working on the details...

Last night's dinner was Frank's Lamb, with a 2002 Vincent Arroyo Winemaker's Reserve Napa Valley Petite Syrah...we opened it about an hour before drinking to let it "age" a bit...yum...

Is money really the issue?

My friend Margaret Marcuson who writes on church leadership, said in a recent blog:

It’s no secret that many churches and pastors are worried about money nowadays. But Edwin Friedman used to say, “The issue is never the issue.” He meant that issues and problems which are perennial in church life, or the latest hot-button challenge, are really primarily a focus for people’s anxiety. We live in highly anxious times, and there’s a lot of free-floating anxiety around. Somehow we attach it to certain issues. In church life a few are favorites: music, children and youth ministry. And, of course, money. As one pastor said, “There always seems to be an exclamation point when money is involved.”
Of course there are genuine financial challenges that must be faced. Bills must be paid. Staff must receive their salaries. The endowment must be managed. Budgeting must be done (and sometimes cuts must be made). But if we can delete that exclamation point and stay calm even when others are anxious, we’ll provide better leadership and the church will make better decisions about financial matters.

One of the things that is especially true about this year is that I have to deal with money issues. Not the kind you are thinking... More along the lines of "spend it, because I may not get to 64, or save it because I may get to 93." I think Margaret's last point is well made. There are bills to be paid, and budgeting must be done, but there's also a party to plan, and this year I'm resolved to not be anxious about it. We'll see how that goes as the year progresses.

That also goes for the wine closet, and so this year is a year we're going to be drinking a lot of the "saved" "good stuff." Last night's menu: turkey burgers. Wine: 2004 Preston Syriah-Sirah. Great wine, but a little young yet. We've got another bottle, and it would be exceptional in about a decade.

Wow! RSVPs already!

Thanks to  the folks who've already let me know they are planning to come to the party...it gives me incentive to keep sending it out to the rest of my list, which seems to grow bigger each day as I remember people who I hope will attend...

Save the Date

As I mentioned yesterday, I've decided to have a big party to celebrate the 64 milestone. I haven't figured out the details yet, but I'm going to start sending this to people on my list over the weekend...so save the date...

I am an owl

One of the things that seemed to settle in early in my life is that I stay up late.  It may have started when I lived across the street from my elementary school, and I would stay up late reading, and just get up in time to make the dash across the street to school (the picture is the view of the school from our front yard). It certainly got to be a habit when I was in junior high and high school because I was playing gigs regularly...as many as 5 nights a week, but most weekends. In those days you played from 9 to 1, so there were many times I would be eating in Eddie's coffee shop on Charter Way at 3:30 in the morning. Then there was college...and then I was an academic, and didn't have to teach a class before 11am, and then I've been self-employed pretty much since. I can get up early, but I have trouble going to bed before midnight. I know that's probably not good for my health, but I've learned that I don't need that much sleep...until one day I crash, and sleep 10 hours. So my party will probably last late into the night. What party? I spent time yesterday designing the "Save the Date" notice. More about that tomorrow...

The "Organ Recital" vs. "I'm Fine"

I have a couple of observations about what happens when people get older, one of which is that they tend to talk about their aches, pains, and surgeries...a lot. One of my favorite writers, Jon Carroll, talked about this phenomenon in a recent SF Chronicle column:

"As I get older, I know more and more people who've had heart attacks or cancer scares or, well, death. It's just nature's way of reminding you that the next generation would like a little more space. I now know what a stent is and what it does, and I know about exploratory surgery. I know I have been lucky, but I do not expect to be lucky forever.
I have read an actuarial table. I know my chances of seeing the 2050 World Series are essentially zilch. I know the Giants' chances of playing in it are only a little better.
I notice the changes in my conversation. At Tracy's mother's nursing home, they used to call such exchanges "organ recitals" and banned them from lunch. But what the hell. Suddenly, late in life, you learn a great deal about the pancreas. Living is an educational experience, particularly the last bit."

You can read the whole article here: http://is.gd/drSd6

But, you see, I have this problem...I hate "doctor talk," especially "organ recitals," and so I make a big deal about telling people that I don't want to hear it. For a lot of old people, that removes about 90% of their typical conversational repartee...and they don't know what to do.

And, now that I've started this blog, I expect that people will want to talk to me about their own aches and pains as a fellow traveler in the process of growing old. Please don't!  Because if you do, I'm quite likely to faint. Seriously.

I first shared this tendency in public in a summer school class along about the seventh grade. I knew science was going to be a problem for me, so I decided to get it out of the way by taking it during summer school...less time spent on the topic, and much less focus on anything but the nice (hot!) weather outside by everybody...students and teacher alike. So we get to the quick swipe at biology, and I was hanging in there until we got to the circulatory system. The next thing I knew, I was looking up at a bunch of concerned faces from my prone position on the floor. My reward? I got to spend the next few days in the library doing a report on suntan...sigh...burned skin...another one of my favorite topics...

And long before I was aware of my "problem," I was also cognizant of one of the things you'll hear from pretty much everyone in my family: the "standard answer." It is quite simple, really. When someone asks you how you are, you say "I'm fine." Because most people don't really want to hear how you are anyway. Asking about how you are is a conversational device. For a while there, I was somewhat argumentative, and my response was "Do you really want to know?" People got off put by that...a lot...so I went back to the standard family answer. My uncle Lloyd said that to the day he died...even while he was in the hospital...my mother too, until she became too weak to speak.

So let's just leave it at that, OK? I don't want no stinkin' "organ recitals," and, when it comes to how I'm doing, or how I feel..."I'm fine."

When I'm 64

For reasons I'll get to in a minute, I'm starting a new blog. I'm not abandoning the old one...far from it. It's just that I need to blog about another topic, and I've decided that this is a better place to do it. This post is cross-posted on both blogs, but after this one, you'll have to subscribe here in order to read more about today's topic.


The new blog is When Vern is 64. I tried to get the name "When I'm 64," but, of course, that was taken...duh...sigh...


As you can imagine, the title implies that I'm not that age...and I'm not. But, as of last week, I'm knocking on the door. And 64 is a very important age to me, and the reasons have little to do with the Beatles tune. If you are a close friend or a member of my family, you know what is coming. It is a little scary to tell this story in public, but I've decided that I have to do this, if only because it will be easier to tell the story once rather than lots of times over the next year. It is a story I've lived with for a long time. Some of it is hearsay. Some of it is recollection. Some of it may not be factual, if you did the research. But whether or not all of it is true on paper, it is very true to me. It has become part of who I am. In fact, some of my family believe that I obsess about it. I don't think so, but the story as I know it affects me daily, and it governs how I live. So I need to tell it in public, if only to put it in perspective...


I am an only child, and my parents were not young when I was born. As a result, a lot of their lives, including family stuff, had played out by the time I turned 21. It turns out that on both sides of my family, the prevailing cause of death is an unexpected heart attack. When you survey the death certificates of all of my parents siblings, it is unusual to find someone (like my mother, for instance) who died from something else.


But there is more to it than that. My father was an amateur genealogist, so he compiled family histories...going back to sometime in the late 17th century on his side, and to the early 18th century on my mom's side. And those records bear out the pattern. Heart attack. Statistically speaking, I am a walking cardiac arrest time bomb.


But there is more to it than that. My dad was the youngest child. He had two brothers. As you can guess, they both died of heart attacks, in birth order. When my dad's immediate older brother died, at the age of 62, my father was 61. Being a naturally curious sort, he checked the records, and figured out that no male member of his family had ever lived past the age of 63. Within 6 months of his brother's death, my dad sold his business, and transitioned into retirement.


He lived to be 93...survived my mom by 10 years...and died of old age, although his heart stopped unexpectedly, so I consider the cause of his death to be a heart attack.


I was 22 when my dad retired. Because he was 40 years older than me, and because he told me the story, I lived for many years with the knowledge that my time with him would be precious. To my knowledge he never let the information affect how he lived, day-to-day. But the information affected how he lived, day-to-day. Life was precious, and not to be wasted. There were things to do, places to see, knowledge to discover, and people to meet.


From the time I was 22, I had a great model (in my opinion) of what retirement should be. I saw first-hand the value of trading time for money, and so I quit chasing dollars.


At the same time, it made me old. (I missed middle age. I was 65 until I turned 50, and then I made a deliberate decision to be 29. The rest of my life.) From the earliest time I can remember, I was around older old people (with the exception of my cousins, and while I was in the classroom). It was weird, in a way. I knew I had to retire early, because otherwise I wasn't going to get the chance to retire. (My target retirement date was my 50th birthday, but it didn't quite work out that way. I had to wait until I was 52. Yes...I know that I am the publisher of a magazine now, and the company includes a couple of websites, and streaming audio channels, and it seems like I'm not retired, but, in my mind, I am, and that's a different story.)


In any event, I looked at life through old peoples' glasses, so to speak. I was an angry old man in an angry young man's body. I dreaded turning 62, even when I was 25. I began a mid-life crisis of sorts at 29, which made it even worse...I figured my new "termination" age was 58...great...


But of course, if you were paying attention, you remember that I said my dad lived to be 93. So at some point along the way, I figured I would plan as if I was going to live to be 93, but live like I was going to die at 63. I have not regretted that decision.


But now I am 63, and my biological clock is really ticking.


This blog will be about knowing the statistical probabilities, taking into account the statistical deviation of my parent's deaths, and looking a big milestone straight in the eye. It will be about planning for the potential of my demise in less than 365 days, yet living as if I will grow older than my father. And celebration. It is an odd conflict of interest, and I am sure that it will be interesting to go through it.


Just to be clear...I've not been diagnosed with some fatal disease. This is more along the lines of "enjoy life...you don't get out of it alive anyway."


It is appropriate that I start the new blog on my daughter's birthday. It is my intent to blog as close to daily as possible, and finish when I hit 64. I welcome your interest in my journey, and comments are always appreciated. Thanks for listening. Now, at least on my dotdotdotblog, it is back to your normal programming.


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