Recently in Random Musings Category

I've had a great evening, so far! I just got back from week one of the Olympic Curling Class offered by the Utica Curling Club. I made brief mention of the class in my last Curling post.

About forty eight people signed up for the class, and it looked like about forty actually showed up. The first part of the class was a brief lecture, with slide-show, demonstrating the proper mechanics of throwing a curling rock. That lasted about twenty minutes, and then they actually let us onto the ice to do more practical work, actually pushing out of the hack, and throwing some real rocks. It was not unlike last week's open house, but they went into greater detail with respect to proper mechanics.

By the end of last week's open house, I was doing pretty well throwing rocks, but tonight, it was as if I had never done it before. The twelve rocks I threw last week just weren't enough to develop any muscle memory, but after a bit of practice, I got back to where I was.

We were broken into four-person teams, and after practicing throwing, and sweeping, we played a quick one-end game against a team of all left-handers! It shouldn't surprise you that the game ended in a 0-0 tie. The good news is that each team was actually able to get one rock into play. None actually made it into the house (my two rocks were heavy), but each team did have one guard over the second Hog-Line.

Clearly we all have much work to do, but it was a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next two classes.

Back in December, I wrote this entry about the terribly engineered part that the General Motors corporation put into Saturn Ion vehicles, that sometimes causes them not to start, in cold weather.

I picked up the part at my local Kia dealership. Why Kia? Because they used to own the Saturn dealership which was right next door, and when the Saturn dealership closed, they moved the parts department next door to their Kia dealership so people like me could still get GM parts for their cars. When I asked the parts manager about the part, he knew the part number by heart (10392423), and told me that he had several in stock. I think this speaks to just how prevalent this problem  actually is.

Installing the part went very smoothly, mostly because I had read several forum posts by people who had already tackled the job, and this minimized the learning curve. Any handy person who has done any sort of mechanical work should be able to handle it, but beware, you must have a set of Torx sockets, to do this.

After the switch is replaced, all you need to do is reset the Passlock system, by going through that ten minute cycle three times. Once I had done that, the car started right up, and all was well.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, this is not a re-engineered switch that solved the problem inherent in the old switch. It will probably fail in three years, just like the original part did, but by then I will probably have a new car. I will just have to remember to sell this one in the summer, so that the problem won't resurface.   :-)

There has been much discussion lately about the Killer Whale trainer that was killed at Sea World, Orlando, last week. Rightly, most of it has been about the tragic loss of Whale Trainer, Dawn Brancheau's life, and the fact that the particular whale that killed her, has been involved in other losses of human life. Last night, on the Larry King show, however, the debate heated up.

Larry had five guests: Jack Hanna, who is a popular television host and zoo director that can often be seen on shows like David Letterman, Jane Velez, a television reporter and animal rights activist, Thad Lacinak, a former Sea World employee, Ric O'Barry, a former Dolphin trainer for the Flipper television program of the 1960's, turned animal activist (who I wrote about in this post), and Tippy Hedron, an actress and animal rights activist. If you're familiar with these people, then you likely know where they all come down on this debate.

One of the mantras from guys like Hanna (a paid spokesperson for Sea World), and Lacinak about the importance of places like Sea World is the education aspect. They would have you believe that it is necessary to keep these creatures in captivity so that we can learn from them, yet they never seem to talk about the millions of dollars that they make from ticket sales. In my opinion, these kinds of parks are no different than any other kind of big business where profits trump everything else. I have no doubt that the animal trainers love the animals, and want nothing but the best for them, but in a for-profit environment, the well-being of everything but the profit-margin, is typically secondary.

This recent tragedy reminds of something I read about a few years ago where some sort of traveling circus had an elephant break out of its pen, and go on a crazed rampage. People were injured, and I don't recall if there were any deaths, but the incident ended with the elephant being killed by local police.

It also reminds me of a study I once read about where they were testing the behaviour of various animals in front of a mirror. Most animals exhibited social behaviour, because they thought their reflection was another animal, but the elephants behaved differently. To see just how differently, they taped something to the elephant's face, and put the elephant in front of the mirror. The elephant saw the thing stuck to its face, and immediately used its trunk to remove the object. This clearly shows that the elephant has a sense of self. He knew that he was looking at himself, and not another animal.

What do elephants have to do with Whales you ask? Well, it is generally believed that the most intelligent animals are primates, whales, dolphins, and elephants. It is then not a difficult leap to believe that since elephants show clear and obvious signs of self, it is also very likely that dolphins, whales, and primates are, as well.

None of the debate that I have seen on this topic has even begun to come close to addressing this. The Larry King debate was laced with lots of personal attacks and vitriol, and it seems to me that even the defenders of whales are often missing the larger point.

If whales are indeed self aware, then isn't confining them to these aquaria (some call them "abusement parks"), a kind of slavery? Jack Hanna and Thad Lacinak are quick to point out that they have nothing but the animal's best interests at heart, and are in fact helping them by keeping them in captivity, but hasn't humankind historically used that argument every time it performed some horrible act against other human beings?

Perhaps in the case of this whale (and there are other examples of captive whales killing people), and in the case of that elephant, their behaviours were simply them lashing out against those who imprison them.

I think the bigger picture here is what troubles me the most.  Mankind fancies itself to be at the top of the food chain on this planet, having sovereignty over everything, which has led to the enslavement of people, the destruction of the planet on which we live, and the captivity of these whales.

I do not believe that we as a species can live in harmony, until we shed that arrogance, and treat everything within our spheres of influence with the proper respect. In this case, that respect would mean letting these wild animals remain in the wild.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Curling Mania has taken the world by storm, and this was nowhere more evident, than at my local Curling Club's Open House, on Sunday, February 28th.

I have several friends who Curl at the Utica Curling Club, and when they told me that there would be an opportunity for me to throw some rocks, at an open event, I got very excited. Finally, my opportunity to get more intimately acquainted with the sport, and the local club.

When I arrived, I was expecting to go inside and see about twenty people. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up and found the parking lot full, and both sides of the road lined with cars for quite a distance! The Olympic Curling mania carried over to this event, and it was very exciting. I went inside, and saw most of my friends, and met many other club members.

The throngs of people were separated into small, manageable groups, and we were given approximate times of when we would be allowed into the ice. My wait turned out to be more than a half an hour, so my friend Paul, who also happens to be the ice-maker there, gave me a tour of the stuff that most people don't get to see. He showed me the compressor room, where all of the refrigeration equipment is kept, as well as the equipment that they use to maintain the ice surface. The ice-making end of it is quite a science, so getting to see that really satisfied my geeky tendencies. Paul had answers for all of the things I had wondered about over the years. It's definitely cool to know people on the inside and get special treatment.

By the time my special tour was over, it was nearly time to hit the ice. We were all lent "grippers" to put on our shoes, so that when we walked on the ice, we would get more traction, and taken down a short flight of stairs, to the ice. The first thing they showed us was how to push off the 'hack' and remain balanced. The people on TV make this look so easy, and I can assure you that it is not. I was brave enough to go first, and the moment I pushed off, I immediately fell over onto my side. A little embarrassing, perhaps, but a quick glance around showed me that I was not the only one having problems. Everyone was given an opportunity to practice that a few times, and then came the big event: our first opportunity to throw a 'rock' down the sheet. Yes, that's me kneeling on the ice about to throw a rock, in one of the photographs.

Everyone's first try at that, wasn't very successful, either. Mustering the mechanics of something resembling a proper push off of the hack, combined with a proper release of the rock, definitely takes practice. By my sixth or seventh attempt, I was able to get the rock down the ice, and near to the 'house'.

I threw as many rocks as I could, without taking time away from the others who wanted to try, and spent the rest of my time there getting to know people. I also learned about a class that they are offering for beginners, in the month of March. I fully plan to attend this class, and get as much practice in as possible, in preparation for joining the club next fall, and participating in one of their many leagues.

Should be fun!

No, not Curling as in pumping-iron like Hans and Franz, but as in the sport that we used to see played on ABC's Wide World Of Sports, in the '70s, when there was nothing else to show, and Curling, as in the sport that we sometimes see in the Olympics.

Why am I talking about Curling, you ask? Well, it would seem that I have become somewhat obsessed with it this past week. I've always had an interest in Curling, because right here in Utica, NY, the humble town of my birth, we've had a curling club in continuous operation since 1868. I used to walk past it twice a day, when I walked to and from my high school, but despite its proximity, I never went inside. It was a place of mystery, like Willy Wonka's factory.

In the intervening years, I hadn't thought about Curling that often, except for when it would occasionally pop up on television, and on that day in 1995, when the Utica Curling Club, on Francis Street in West Utica*, burned down. Fortunately the club had proper insurance, and the the club was able to relocate, and build a nice new home in the suburbs.

These Olympics also mark the first time that I actually decided to learn the rules of the game. A quick read on the Internet explained much, and a few hours of viewing filled in the rest. As the rules started to sink in, and the tactics started to become more clear, it became quite obvious to me that this game had much in common with another game that I love: Billiards. It also struck me that the things that make me a good pool player, might also make me a good Curler, and because of this, I have decided to give Curling a try. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will, I plan to join the local club for next winter's season, to have some fun, and also in the hopes that this will make the normally endless winter, seem shorter.

I'm sure that most of you have seen Curling on television this Olympic season, and have turned the channel. I have no idea why NBC has decided to give so much coverage to this event on their cable channels, but I would encourage you to become a little more familiar with the game, and try to appreciate the elegance of its play.


 * The Google Maps image to which I linked is where the club used to be, on Francis Street, before it burned down. The club used to occupy the back lot where the 'A' is, and the area above the 'A' where the two houses are now.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the impossibly minuscule likelihood that there is a God. I tend to always be thinking about things like this, but finding this website, a few weeks ago got me thinking about it even more.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an Agnostic who leans toward being an Atheist. I can't absolutely prove there isn't a God, but I suspect there isn't one.

I always wondered what actually made people switch from polytheistic belief systems (Paganism, many gods), to monotheistic belief systems (one god). It seems to me that if gods do exist, and there is only one, that he is going to be one hell-of-a busy entity. Watching over the universe is probably a very big job, which is why Paganism always made more sense to me. In fact, I think Paganism, is a lot like the Unix Philosophy, which is why Paganism makes the most sense to me. In the Unix Philosophy, you design and write programs to be small, and to do one task very well. Why have these gigantic, bloated, memory-hogging programs that do a million things, when you can have a bunch of smaller programs, that do one thing each, very well? Why shouldn't this be true in theism as well? Have a bunch of gods, each doing different things, and doing them very well. Most Pagan Mythoi also seem to have a God King, with the lesser gods being under him/her in the power-structure, which implies a kind of hierarchical command structure. This also makes sense to me. We all know that military organizations, which employ hierarchical command structures, can be very efficient in delegating responsibility and duties. Again, overseeing the universe sounds like a big job, and delegating duties to many lesser gods seems like the way to do it.

Among my friends, their opinions on the topic of gods, and the afterlife occupy a pretty broad spectrum. Not that there being a God, or gods implies an afterlife, but they do seem to go hand in hand. Despite the fact that I don't believe in the likelihood of any God, or gods, and I am not expecting to run into any old, deceased friends in any sort of afterlife, I have many friends who do believe in these things, and we get along fine.

What got me thinking about this topic, today, was while I was flipping around the TV dial (remember when TV's had DIALS???), I whizzed past a channel showing the movie, Ghost. This film deals very much with death, and the afterlife, and I began to think about my friends and their beliefs. More specifically, the friends who tend to believe in some sort of something, after we die.

Some believe in Heaven and Hell, and others believe in some form of reincarnation. One of my friends who would profess to enjoy life, once told me that she has already picked out her husband's next partner, in the case of her own death. Yet, in films like Ghost, and other romantic films, they talk about people being soul-mates, who are meant to be together, forever.

In real life, sometimes, when one half of a married couple dies, the other never remarries, and spends the rest of their life, alone, and one would think, very lonely. My friend who has already picked out her husband's future partner finds this choice very distasteful, and thinks that just because your partner has died, that you shouldn't stop living, and enjoying life, and despite what anyone else thinks, you should, in whatever time-frame is appropriate for you, get back in the game, and begin again to enjoy life with a partner.

This is where I begin to have a problem.

Example:

Hypothetical Mr. Smith believes in God, and the afterlife. If Mr. Smith's wife/soul-mate dies, and in time, Mr. Smith finds another partner, isn't he, in a way, cheating on his wife, who is waiting to meet him again in the afterlife, when he dies? And if Mr. Smith then dies, leaving his new partner behind, and reunites with the previously deceased Mrs. Smith, isn't Mr. Smith then cheating on his second partner, that he left behind, living her mortal life? Say nothing of the fact that the deceased Mrs. Smith may have already found a new partner in the afterlife, by the time Mr. Smith arrives at the Pearly Gates.

This is complex stuff, and raises a lot of quasi-serious questions for me, on the topic of fidelity and morality. It seems like there is great potential here, for there to be a lot of problems in the afterlife, when all of the parties finally arrive, and start sorting out their issues and feelings.

At the end of the day, I suspect that no one will have any good answers for me.

Anyway, just my two cents.

Hi folks.

I haven't felt like writing in a while. I am not sure where the Muse went, but I hope it returns, soon. In lieu of a real post, I thought that I would talk a little bit about some recent extracurricular activities that I have engaged in.

I played chess for the first time in many years, earlier in the week. At one time, chess was pretty big in my life. I used to play in tournaments, and I even ran a local chess club with my friend Joe. We formed our club in 1991, and we called it The Robert J. Fischer Memorial Chess Club. The astute among you are probably saying to yourselves, "But Bobby Fischer was alive in 1991!?" That is correct, and that is why our motto was, "Not Dead, But What Has He Done For Us Lately?" Gallows humour to be certain, but if you are familiar with his story, you know that after his 1972 World Championship victory against Boris Spassky, he went into seclusion, only occasionally popping up to denounce those whom he hated. The very ironic thing that happened in 1992, was that Fischer came out of seclusion to play Spassky once again. This was a huge event in chess circles, and Joe and I would often joke about how we were responsible for Fischer's having come out of seclusion, because obviously he had heard about our chess club name!

Bobby Fischer died in 2008, and despite his issues, we at no time meant any disrespect with the club name. It was only our attempt at dark humour. In fact we were an officially recognized club by the United States Chess Federation, while the club was active.

The reason I began to play less and less chess, was because as I played more tournaments, the game began to become stressful for me. Having to play many games in a single day, constantly being watched over by that relentless task-master known as the chess clock, started no longer to be fun. So my goal now is just to play a little chess, and see if I can enjoy it while getting my head wrapped around it again.

My car continues not to start on cold days. I was told that it would be easy to source a new ignition switch, but that does not seem to be the case. I should find a replacement switch just in time for summer.

I discovered an excellent gluten-free alternative to the Cream Of Wheat that I grew up eating on cold winter mornings. The product is called Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, and it's delicious.

Last night I was at a friend's house trying to get his very old scanner, working with his very new computer. The device driver did not seem to be cooperating with his operating system, so I ended up going to my backup plan which was to simply photograph the pieces with my digital camera, on his art table. That ended up working very well, and we were happy with the results.

And no, I still have not seen Avatar.

Be well, and hopefully the Muse will return in some small way, soon.

An Australian friend hipped me to this web site, today, so I thought that I would share it with you. I have seen many logical arguments that argued against the existence of god, but no reasoning so cogent, and air-tight as this. I dare say the reasoning is almost diabolical.

I am not trying to put words into their mouths, but it goes something like this. The given in their proof is that miracles, and answered prayers only seem to happen in places where coincidence and ambiguity also seem to exist. For example, if you have bi-pass surgery to repair your heart, you might pray to god to wake up from the surgery and be well. OK, you wake up, and are well. I would argue that it was the skilled surgeon and medical technology that cured you, and you might argue it was the prayer. This is one of those examples where there is the potential for ambiguity and coincidence.

Now lets take the example of the double amputee who just got back from serving his country in some war. Since medical science is incapable of growing limbs at this time, there is no room for ambiguity here. If you pray to god to restore this soldier's legs, and when they wake up in the morning with real, functioning legs, there would be little option for a person like me to conclude anything other than that a miracle had taken place. Yet we have thousands of these soldiers, and people pray for them every day, and there has never been one recorded example of limbs suddenly appearing.

Since we know that god is all-knowing, perfect, perfectly just, loves everyone perfectly and equally, and we know this because the bible tells us so, then we are only left with one of two conclusions.

Either there is no god, or god hates amputees. But the latter conclusion contradicts everything we've ever been told, so we are only left with the other. There is no god.

Anyway, check out their site. The logic is inescapable, and the site is very entertaining.

 Why Won't God Heal Amputees?

Hollywood, like any other big business culture, is driven entirely by the profit motive. They often make unneeded movie sequels, when they think they will generate income for the studio. Typically these are films that I do not think need to be made. Additionally, they are rarely films that I would choose to see. Exceptions to this include The Godfather II, and Aliens, the sequel to Alien.

That said, however, there are film sequels that I would like to see made, and hopefully some decision-maker in Hollywood will read this, and consider my ideas.

I was a big fan of the film My Cousin Vinny, and think that if made properly, a sequel about Vinny's law career could be very funny.

I would love to see a short film from John Hughes about the conversation that Cameron had with his dad, upon his return home, after the Ferrari was demolished, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Another potentially interesting film would be a film about Rose's mother from Titanic, after not being reunited with her daughter, and having to make her way through life.

So how about it, Hollywood? Let's start thinking a little outside the box, before you decide to green-light Rocky XIII or the next Home Alone sequel.

Yesterday, I went to see the annual toy train show at beautiful Union Station, right here in scenic Utica, New York.

I actually think that I've been to every one. You are probably wondering how that is that possible, considering that I don't even like trains. Well, it's because my father has been putting on this show, for the Toy Train Collectors Society since day one. My dad has always been a collector of Lionel Electric Trains, and since the mid-1970's, when we discovered that Lionel actually had never gone out of business, my dad has been very active in the train collecting scene. He started collecting again, joined all of the clubs, and became very active with the regional TTCS club, eventually deciding to have a toy train collector's show, right here in Utica.

I may not be much of a fan of toy trains, but I do enjoy taking the train into NY City, whenever I have to go to the city, and I do enjoy visiting Union Station. Completed in 1914, Union Station is one of the classic early Art-Deco railroad stations, filled with scads of beautifully decorated plaster ornamentation, and marble. It still has the long benches that have held many a traveler over the last ninety years, and also still has the old-fashioned Barber Shop, that has been there since the beginning.

The original restaurant is no longer there, but I can assure you that it was very cool. It had a very large oval, marble counter, with fixed, oak stools, a brass foot-rail all of the way around the circumference, and served classic diner fare. That space has been remodeled many times over the years, and has been occupied by many restaurants. The current occupant is the host of the Halloween Party that I go to every year.

The train show has been very successful for three decades, bringing in serious collectors, interested onlookers, and people who just want to relive the good old days, within the confines of an ideal backdrop.

I grew tired of trains in my early teens, but really do enjoy going to the show, taking in the sights and sounds, and people-watching. Two years ago, I even recorded a few segments for my Podcast there, and played them on the program.

If you are local, and haven't been to the show yet, you really should take the time to check it out.

First, let me begin with a little of the back story. Almost one year ago, on New Year's Day, 2009, I was about to go to a Brunch at a friend's house. This is a traditional party that he throws every year, and I was very excited. It was a very cold morning, that day, somewhere in the vicinity of zero degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine my surprise when my car would not start! I thought in this modern age of fuel-injection and other examples of automotive technology, that the days of not starting in cold weather, were behind us. The good news that day was that after some time, the car eventually did start, and I was able to attend the Brunch.

I called my Saturn dealer the next day, and explained the problem to the Service Manager, and he was familiar with the symptoms in that particular model (2006 Saturn Ion). It required changing out the ignition switch, because that particular switch gets dirty, or something, prematurely, causing the car not to start. He said it would cost in the vicinity $150 to replace.

A dirty switch I thought? As an electronics tinkerer, I always have a can of contact cleaner around, so I sprayed the heck out of the switch, and figured that I had beaten the system, because the problem never appeared again.

Never appeared again until about ten days ago, that is.

Since Saturn is essentially gone as an automotive brand, I decided to Google around for a bit. It didn't take long to find hundreds of other examples on the web of other people experiencing the same problem, in far less severe weather. It seems as though GM simply designed a defective ignition switch, and was unwilling to do a recall, to replace all of them. Ion owners are forced to have to pay for replacing the switch, with another potentially defective switch, or perform a kludgy fix that involves cutting a wire inside the steering column.

What I learned about the problem, is pretty interesting, actually. It's not your typical cold-weather starting problem, that happens because the engine is cold, and ignition simply doesn't occur. No. This is much more complex.

It seems that the defective switch in question also has some sort of sensor in it, that sends information to the car's security system. Cold weather confuses this sensor into thinking something is wrong, and doesn't give the car's security system the OK to start the car. You see, apparently my car's security system has a few different components. The first is the alarm. If someone tries to steal the car, it sounds an alarm just like every other car, in every mall parking lot in which we've ever been. Then there is the other component, called the Passlock System, which kills the power to the starter motor, and to the fuel pump, rendering the car completely un-drivable to a would-be car thief.

Great idea, right??!

Yes. Great idea, unless you designed a defective sensor into a defective switch, which in cold weather makes the Passlock System think that something is wrong, when it is not. Thankfully this glitch only affects the Passlock System and does not cause the alarm to sound!

One workaround to the problem, is a way in which you can reset the Passlock System, that takes about a half an hour, each time you wake up to find that your car isn't starting. You have to attempt to start the car, and leave the key in the run position, and wait ten minutes for the Passlock indicator light to stop blinking. You then put the key into the ACC position (where the engine would be off, but the car stereo and dash electronics stay on), wait for ten seconds, and try to start the car, again.

Once you have performed this cycle three times, and have turned the ignition switch all of the way off, and waited thirty seconds, the car then should start.

As you can see, none of the fixes, or workarounds are particularly appealing, so it is terrible that GM never re-engineered the ignition switch, and replaced them all, at their cost.

Why am I writing about this you ask? Because as I sit here, hammering away on my Netbook's keyboard, I am in the middle of cycle number three, of the time-consuming workaround that I described above. This is the third time this winter that my car did not start in the morning. The good news is that two of the times, I didn't actually have to be anywhere, but one of the times, I did. Thankfully I have a friend who lives nearby, and I was able to beg a ride, until I could get my car started, later that day.

I have a new, potentially defective, ignition switch on order, that my father and I will install, when it arrives. After doing my research, apparently using any of these switches in cold weather, is like playing the lottery. Despite the fact that I just paid forty dollars for a new switch, this problem could occur at any time.

Shame on you General Motors, and thank you for making such a quality ignition switch.

Hi folks.

A few years back I went to a holiday party, where in order to go, you had to give in some way. Write something, read something, sing, dance, whatever. But you had to perform, in some way.

I wrote a Haiku. I love Haiku. It's the ultimate form of expression, or poetry, for Geeks, because it has specifications!

Here it is:

They tell me that this day means something. I guess so.

I have very little to say, so instead I will let the inimitable Chris Stevens, DJ from the KBHR radio station in Cicely Alaska, do all of the talking:

"I," said the cow, all white and red,
"I gave Him my manger for His bed;
"I gave Him my hay to pillow His head.
"I," said the cow, all white and red.

So every beast, by some good spell,
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Immanuel,
The gift he gave Immanuel.

It's an old legend that on Christmas Eve at midnight, all the animals fall to their knees and speak, praising the newborn Jesus.

Back in the winter of sixty-nine, my Dad was serving a short time for a DUI and I don't know where my mom was. Anyway, I was home alone Christmas Eve and I stayed up extra kinda late to see if my dog, Buddy, would talk. And he did. I don't remember his exact words, but that's not important. What matters is that a seven-year-old boy experienced his own personal epiphany.

What's my point? Well, it's that Christmas reveals itself to us each in a personal way, be it secular or sacred. Whatever Christmas is--and it's many things to many people--we all own a piece of it. It's like, well, it's kinda like Santa's Bag: inside, there's a gift for everyone. My Christmas wish for you tonight? May your dog talk.

Good night, Cicely. Merry Christmas.

Today was our last pottery class for this semester. The last class usually consists of a pot luck party, with a demonstration by the head of the program. Bryan, the current head of the program was not able to do the demonstration for us today, so a few weeks ago it was suggested that local master-potter, Vincent Clemente might do it. I got very excited when I heard that because Victor has been making pottery for about sixty years, and he founded the Ceramics program at the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, where I take my classes, in 1954.

Last week I found out that Vincent would not be doing our demo, because a relative of his was receiving a significant military promotion, and that he would be attending the ceremony in our nation's capital. Mother Nature, however, did not want Vincent at the promotion ceremony and dropped about thirty six inches of snow on Washington DC, closing airports for days. So, as I said in the title, Washington DC's loss was our gain, and he was able to do his demonstration for us, after all.

This guy's got chops. What takes me ten minutes to do, takes him about ten seconds, and that is no exaggeration. Over the course of about an hour and a half, he made about six bowls, and a plate, and took the time to slow everything down, and repeat it if necessary, so that we could actually learn. He also gave us a basic decorating and glazing demonstration, and also managed to find an unsigned leather-hard bowl in the back, on a shelf, to do a trimming demonstration, as well.

I feel so lucky to have been at the demo. I was so disappointed when I learned that Vincent would not going to be able to do the demo, and was very surprised to see Vincent in the studio when I got there, today. It is a shame that Vincent was not able to attend his relative's promotion, but hopefully that went well in his absence.

One of the guys in my class is a Director of Photography, and video-taped Vincent's demo, and last semester's demo, which was done by Bryan. Hopefully he will make that footage available to us, because I think being able to view it again and again would be very beneficial.

Ya know, life is funny. I went to see Steve Morse, my favorite musician in the world, a few months ago in Buffalo, and the guy I went with told Steve how much of an inspiration he was when my friend was learning to play. I didn't have the heart to tell Steve this, but he is one of the reasons why I don't play guitar as much as I once did.  He's just too good. Yet when I see world-class potters like Vincent and Bryan work, it totally inspires me and makes me want to practice and learn more.

I don't know what it all means, but what I do know is that I should not ignore it.

I actually meant to mention this connection in my last post about this, but somehow, forgot.

As some of you know, I have been writing a lot about FatCyclist, Elden Nelson, and how all sorts of amazing things are happening to him, just because he is a generous, selfless fellow.

If any of you have read his story, it involves putting up a blog called fatcyclist.com, to be used as a motivating force, to help him lose weight through cycling. On the blog he intended to tell his story through stories and photos. Then one day, his wife was diagnosed with cancer, and they both decided that he would use his blog to tell that story, also, no matter how trying.

Well, that story did have a tragic ending. On August 5th, 2009, Elden's wife Susan, lost her battle with cancer.

From the moment Susan was diagnosed with cancer, Elden made it his mission to help raise funds to kick cancer's ass. In the process, his fund-raising team, Team Fatty, has raised more money for Livestrong, than any other team on the planet. Bravo.

This recent fund-raising effort between Elden, Johan Bruyneel, Livestrong, World Bicycle Relief, Trek Travel, and Gary Fisher Bikes is just another example of how being selfless seems to be rewarded in droves. Elden has never sought fame, fortune, or material gain through his efforts to fight cancer, yet because of his selflessness, so many cool and amazing things have happened to him.

Call it what you will: positive mental attitude, good Karma, the Law Of Attraction, whatever... it seems to work, and it should not be underestimated.

Many times, I will be surfing Facebook, and someone will say something that gets me thinking, and gives me fodder for a new blog post. Today that happened, which is a good thing, because I have been in a funk for about six weeks, and I haven't been able to come up with much, except for some lighter posts, like my new Double Feature category.

Today, someone happened to mention a Zig Ziglar quote. I like Zig. Every once in a while at my last job, my former boss would play some of Zig's motivational CD's at our weekly meetings. I have to say, I felt like kicking ass and taking names after hearing Zig. He's an amazing public speaker, with loads of life experience, and he knows how to spin a yarn.

After a time, my boss stopped playing Zig. I was very disappointed because I found them to be very motivating, and entertaining. The motivational effects may have been temporary, but while I was in the zone, I was particularly productive and positive. One day, I asked why we were no longer listening to Zig, and my boss said it was because he would rather play straight-up sales training tapes, for the sales people.

OK, fine, that makes some sense, but if the salespeople found Zig's CD's as motivating as I did, and they did, because I asked, why wouldn't you play them? What's the difference if the sales people were getting fired up by Speaker-X, Speaker-Y, or Speaker-Z?

In any case, this post isn't intended to be a Zig Ziglar advertisement, and in fact, I'm not even sure if he's responsible for the quote that is really the main inspiration for this post, but it was either him, or someone like him.

In one of these meetings, my former boss played a CD by one of these motivational/sales type of speakers, and the guy said something like (paraphrasing), "You get what you want, by helping others get what they want."

I think that there is a lot of wisdom in that statement. There is the obvious truth in it, like even if you wait tables for a living, you're getting a paycheck by helping people get what they want, like their order. But when the motivational types use it in their presentations, I think they're going for the deeper meaning. The follow your bliss, type of meaning.

The reason I am thinking about this right now, is precisely because I am in a bit of a grand funk right now. I need to figure out how that quote fits into my life, and make it happen. It should be a perfect fit, because I don't require much, and I enjoy helping people. But like most things in life, they are easier said, than done.

I awoke today to approximately four inches of snow. This was no surprise, because all of the forecasts called for this, and this time, they were right on the money. We did have an unseasonably warm fall, and there wasn't even a single flake on the ground less than a week ago, when I took my hammock down (those photos were from the summer, BTW), but it had to happen eventually. This was also the first time I've had to shovel, this winter. My back had better get used to it, because there is much more to come.

For those of you who wondered what my house looked like, this is my house, amidst the snow. If I catch any of you peering into my windows late at night, I won't be responsible for my actions.   :-)

Yesterday, I had a great idea for one of my more serious blog posts, but can not remember what the idea was.

Note to self: Actually write the ideas down when you have them, so this doesn't happen.

Today was a very sad day. A very sad say, indeed.

Today, I took down my hammock.

I often jokingly refer to the end of the Cycling season, or the end of Baseball season, as the beginning of Winter, but I guess that other than the Winter Solstice (the official start of Winter), the taking down of the hammock probably qualifies as the beginning of Winter, for me.

We had a wet Summer, and I didn't get to use it as often as I would have liked, but I really did enjoy having in my backyard. I had it hung between two trees, right next to an area where we have a picnic table, and a park bench. It's quite a leisurely area, and as you can see from the photograph, so is my hammock.  Both in look, and in name.

I can not complain about the Fall that we've had, however, because it's been a particularly warm Fall, and despite the snow on the ground two days ago, and one or two cold nights, we've had some very warm days of late, particularly considering the time of year. I am told it's going to be a mild Winter, but from what I've seen, particularly with climate change, accurate weather-prediction is becoming more and more difficult, so who knows.

At this point, I just want to dive head first into Winter. The sooner it's over, the sooner I can ride my bike again, and put up my hammock.