2006 Chilly Hilly

The lycra was out in full force yesterday as the 34th edition of Seattle's answer to Mardi Gras was completed without major incident. Ah, the color, the pageantry, the clacking of bicycle cleats as you and several thousand of your fellow-cyclists are herded onto the cardeck of a Washington State ferry at 7:30am on a cold, rain-threatening morning, aided by the ever helpful ferry staff, most of whom are making more than your dentist. But I digress....

Once safely onboard, it's upstairs to do some people watching, or possibly to wait in the 30-minute long line to the men's room, which on a 25-minute ferry crossing, may be a problem. I forego the chance to relieve myself in favor of the people watching, figuring there will be plenty of Sanikans once we start riding.

It's always amazing to me the diversity of cyclists on these organized rides. This particular ride, known officially as the "Chilly Hilly" is no walk in the park and one is left to wonder if the 250 pound man covered by half an acre of ochre spandex is going to make it up the first hill, or if he's just going to roll his bike to the nearest pub and spend the next three hours downing beers and bangers. For this type of event, image and style are on everyone's minds.

The ferry lands at Bainbridge Island and and as we're heading down the steps to the car level, an older man slips on his cleats, lands flat on his back and bounces several times before stopping. He's up in a moment, shakes himself off like nothing happened and continues to his bike. In this case pride cometh after a fall--inside I know he's wondering how he's even going to manage to get off the ferry, let alone complete the arduous ride.

There is no better part of the event than when we all get clipped into our pedals and start pedalling through town, every rider jockeying for position and hoping that he or she won't be the first to fall, causing a chain reaction of unfathomable proportions. This isn't exactly the Tour de France, but being part of such a large group snaking its way through the city streets is undeniably exhilirating. Less exciting is that after 3 minutes, my partner and I are already separated.

We're able to catch up at the top of the first hill as the crowds thin out slightly and we manage to stay together for the rest of the ride. The course, as its name implies, is very hilly, with several lung-busting elevation gains, and is mostly in shade and on woodsy secondary roads where warmth is hard to come by. We plug along at a pretty fast pace, hoping to distance ourselves from the masses of slower riders, but we're not successful and only end up tiring ourselves unnecessarily. As we're passing riders, other riders are passing us and there's constant bike traffic, especially at the top of hills, which tend to concentrate things.

The ride eventually becomes quite pleasant as a second-wind kicks in and we find a comfortable pace. I hit a course-high of 45+ mph going down a lovely descent, at the bottom of which is a sharp turn, leading to a nice, long beachfront flat, at the end of which is one of the official ride photographers. I try to look calm, cool and collected as pictures are snapped, hoping that for once in my illustrious cycling career I might have a chance to buy a photo where I don't look like I'm getting ready to die. Speaking of photos, another great part of the ride was taking pictures with my camera phone and sending them off to various interested parties. OK, I guess the only interested party was my sister Sue, but her enthusiasm, as always, made up for a lot.

But then it's one more grueling uphill and then a quick descent to ferry landing and a languid crossing to Seattle and the ride home, where I crash into my brother-in-law, nearly causing a fall. We end up at his place where my sister has skillfully thawed out some tasty pizza rolls, as well as "preparing" some other salty treats, topped off by a big piece of coconut cake she had made the night before, as part of a dinner party to which I was not invited. All was washed down with beer and coffee, and before the lactic acid totally got a stranglehold on my legs, I was out the door, getting back home at a little after 2pm.

Top Ten Songs from the 70s

As I continue to illegally download mp3s (Thanks Limewire!) I often find myself pondering what's truly podworthy and what's not. It took about at least 45 minutes of my valuable time to come up with this list, so it may not be perfect. Let the criticism begin!

Top ten songs from the 70s (subject to change!):

10 Same Old Lang Syne--Dan Fogelberg: This is nothing more than my own guilty pleasure. Dan Fogelberg doesn't belong on anybody's top ten list, but this lilting, evocative and personal song struck a chord with me when it came out and still does when I hear it today.

9 Paranoid--Black Sabbath: The twisted symbiosis of darkside marketing and brilliant song crafting resulted in this alternative classic. Ozzie went on to perfect the paranoid theme and 25 albums later is still going strong. Well...not strong, but still going, which is quite surprising.

8 Come Sail Away--Styx: I wasn't a huge Styx fan, but you can play this at my funeral and I'll "be" happy. Sentimental, some would say sappy, yet powerful. from the much-maligned pioneers of commercial rock.

7 The Kinks--Lola: The brilliantly clever magic of the lyrics are deftly mated to a catchy and unforgettable melody--the highlight of the group's incredible career. And it makes a great ringtone for your cellphone..

6 Kashmir--Led Zepellin: The previous five Zep albums could not have predicted this. Known for their powerful, yet derivitive, metal rock, this all-time LZ classic was like King Kong at Mardi Gras--it stood out even from the background of the transcendent Physical Graffiti album.

5 Can't You Hear Me Knocking--Rolling Stones: At the height of their drug-inspired songwriting powers, this song just plain rocks at its beginning and then wonderfully fades into horn-induced instrumental fog.

4 Rosalita--Bruce Springsteen: I was a Springsteen early adopter. Loved his first album (Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J), but Rosalita came out on his second (The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, 1974). Resurrected the artform of the folksy power ballad, originated a few years earlier by Dan Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater.

3 All the Young Dudes--David Bowie: The opening notes of this seminal (pardon the pun) Bowie classic are duplicated only by the first fifteen seconds of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band, recorded six or seven years earlier by the Beatles. Instantly recognizable, this anthem of the emerging uncloseted Dude set was first recorded by Mott the Hoople, who, with Davie Bowie's direction, was able to turn it into a top ten popular hit and an enduring classic. David's version wasn't bad, either.

2 London Calling--The Clash: CBS called them "unlistenable." The rest of us called them the only band that mattered. From their stunning second album (1979), this underground hit with its spooky lyrics and haunting, desperate mood defined the best of punk rock and led directly to the grunge movement ten years later.

1 Tangled up in Blue--Bob Dylan: I still haven't fully solved the lyrics, though I'm sure I've listened to this song over a thousand times, which just proves that true artistry is timeless and provocative. From probably the best album of the 70s (Blood on the Tracks).

Honorable Mention: Almost anything by Neil Young.

Canadian Speedskaters

OK, thank god the speedskating part of the Winter Olympics is almost over, because if I have to look at one more Canadian skater in those awful pseudo sweat-stained spandex suits I'm going to throw up. Really, is that the best they could come up with? Did one of the skaters' moms design and sew these up in her North Ontario basement? They are the worst!! You know the ones I'm talking about: these are the blood-red speedsuits that have the lung-shaped darker red splotches on the upper chest, as well as around the neck. It really looks like some sweat has soaked through the material, just making it darker. The splotches aren't even a real color or shape--they're just nebulous, free-floating and kind of grayish maroon. When I first saw them, I thought it must be some kind of mistake. Especially compared to the sleek suits of the Italian or Dutch teams, the Canadians look minor league. As German skating diva Annie Friesinger said after winning gold at the 2002 Olympics, "Our speedsuits are very light and you can't hide anything." She then went on to pose nude for several magazines, proving indeed that she had nothing to hide, and became a European sensation. The Canadians should take a clue as their speedsuits are the exact opposite of sexy and even though they're scoring some medals, they're giving speedskating a bad name. After all, why does anybody watch these events--it's certainly not for the athletic prowess, eh??

Fusion Test Shave

A while back I wrote about the buzz over the soon to be released Fusion 5-bladed razor, along with some thoughts about shaving in general. Well, the Fusion has been out for a few weeks now and I finally had a chance to give it a try.

First of all, the Fusion is not cheap. The unit I bought at a local drugstore was on sale for $9.99 and included two cartridges. Replacement cartridges cost between $2.50 each if you buy the 16-pack at Costco, and about $4.00 each at the grocery store.

The razor itself has a nice, solid feel, typical of the better-quality razors being sold today. As you can imagine, with five blades, the head itself is somewhat large and very steeply raked. Because of the surface area of the blades, any fine trimming, such as the bottom of sideburns, is impossible, so Gillette has put a single blade at the top of the array, aligned in the opposite direction. In point of fact, the Fusion is a six-bladed razor.

The primary marketing angle of the razor is this: because of the five blades, pressure on the skin is better distributed (ie, lessened), resulting in a closer, smoother shave. The shaving experience more or less bears that out. The razor felt very light on my skin, although I detected a slight bit of pulling and sticking. The end result, however, was an extremely smooth shave with very little irritation. Indeed, my skin felt almost babysoft afterwards, and even now, several hours later, it feels like I just shaved.

Is the Fusion worth the 20-30% premium over such popular razors as the Schick Quattro and the Gillette Mach3? Personally, I'm not so sure. I'm a big fan of the Mach 3, but the Fusion truly did result in a better shave. I'll use the Fusion for a couple weeks and give you a follow-up report. I'm thinking, however, that the Fusion will be a huge success with women, where ultimate smoothness is perhaps more important. Watch for a directed marketing campaign to start shortly. In the meantime, ladies, feel free to buy the men's Fusion--it may not be pink or baby blue, but it'll work pretty much the same.

What Is Their Problem?

On cold winter mornings, I occasionally like to mix in some hot cocoa with my morning coffee, and top it off with about an inch of whipped cream, usually from one of those ubiquitous pressurized, horizontally-challenged cannisters.

Is it just me, or are the plastic tops on said containers like the most bogus cappage devices ever invented? I know for a fact they haven't changed one bit since I was a kid and that was more than 40 years ago.

You know what I'm talking about: these are the caps where you tear off a little piece from the bottom in order to initially remove it. After that, the cap is obviously missing some structural integrity and when you go to put it back on, it just sort of sits there, acting more like a cap cozie than anything else. I mean, you go to get some refreshing, chemical-laced whipped cream from the refrigerator and unless you do a balancing act, the cap just falls off!

In no way does it keep air away from the container's nozzle, and with dairy products, that's a big deal. Why oh why dear God can't they come up with a cap that just snaps on and snaps off? And why does every single dairy from Manitoba to Mexico have to use the exact same kind of container? There has to be some kind of conspiracy and, no, I can't just use real cream.

Wolfgang's Vault

(Thanks to my sister Sue for this blog-worthy lead.)

The Wall Street Journal calls it "the most important collection of rock recordings ever assembled." You'll call it a lot of discordant junk if you're under about 45 years old. But for those of us that came of age in the late 60s and early 70s, this collection of live concert events absolutely rocks.

All tracks are from the collections of legendary rock promoter Bill Graham who had thousands of high-profile concerts taped and archived during his illustrious and infamous career. Wolfsgangs Vault subsequently acquired the collection and has negotiated rights to "play" the music on the Internet.

It's like the ultimate oldie's collection, minus the Archies and Monkies, and plays seamlessly in most browsers, without the hassle of plugins or separate programs. As each song is played, a window is displayed showing the artist, the name of the song, when and where it was recorded, along with pictures from the actual concert, background information as well as a list of all songs in current rotation. There are also links to purchase concert and band memorabilia, such as period posters, tickets and photographs.

The Vault player is very resource-friendly and easily plays in the background of your computer. A sample of some of the music recently in rotation include:

The Band
The Weight
02/14/1974 Los Angeles Forum

The Staple Singers
For What It's Worth
04/19/1968 Fillmore Auditorium

Bruce Springsteen
Blinded by the Light
03/02/1973 Berkeley Community Theatre

Lighthouse
Eight Miles High
09/27/1969 Fillmore West

Elvis Costello
(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
06/07/1978 Winterland

Led Zeppelin
How Many More Times
01/10/1969 Fillmore West

Taj Mahal
She Caught the Katy
09/18/1969 Fillmore West

If you appreciate the unadulterated raw sound of concert performances from the 60s and 70s, you've got to check out this site. The audio quality can be inconsistent at times, but I found the 128k digital stream to be perfectly listenable with the occasional distortion and static somewhat augmenting the nostaglic charm. I guess it's just a matter of time before the music becomes available for downloading, but for now you get what they give you. Enjoy!

www.wolfgangsvault.com

Opera 9.0--Best Browser Yet?

From CNET (Feb 10, 2006):

Opera has released to the public Opera 9 Technology Preview 2, a first look at the features and tools slated for the next release of this popular Internet browser. That said, this is still a technical beta, designed more for Web sites to make adjustments and for technical users to make comments. As for Opera 8, Opera is no longer a for-pay browser, joining Firefox and Netscape as free alternatives to Internet Explorer. Opera 9 Technology Preview 2 offers two big additions, plus several that put it in league with Firefox 1.5 and Internet Explorer 7 for XP SP2 Beta 2.

BitTorrent support: Opera 9 will be the first mainstream browser to support streaming BitTorrent media. Opera has optimized the browser so that you no longer have to mess with setting the port or tinkering with the upload and download speeds. BitTorrent is currently very popular in Europe, but with its inclusion in Opera, that could spread worldwide.

Widgets: Opera 9 will embrace Ajax technology by offering tiny applets with specific functionality, such as converting currency. There's even a widget that displays the latest Slashdot posting on your browser screen.

Customized search engines: Like Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 for XP SP2 Beta 2, Opera 9 will allow you to choose your favorite search engine with ease.

Improved pop-up blocker: Like Firefox and Internet Explorer, Opera has always had the ability to stop pop-ups, but advertisers have gotten more creative. This new pop-up blocker within Opera 9 should keep almost all the distracting, flashing, and noisy messages from interfering with your enjoyment of the Web.

Site specific controls: Say you trust one page and not another. Now you can toggle your security settings to match specific pages within Opera 9. Think of it as security zones within Internet Explorer--but better.

Thumbnail images: Firefox already gives you the opportunity to mouse over any open tab and see a thumbnail of that page. Internet Explorer 7 won't, but will offer a single page displaying thumbnails of all open tabs. Opera opts for the former, allowing you to mouse over a tab to see a thumbnail of the content within. Of the two choices, we prefer the mouse-over method best.

Zillow.com

With national real estate sales booming (in most markets), interest in what one's home is worth is correspondingly high. Here in the Seattle area, home values continue to skyrocket, even though actual sales are somewhat lagging, mostly due to our miserable winter weather. We're all curious about the house up the street that just went on the market with a ridiculous asking price, only to be in shock three days later when a "SOLD" sign appears.

What is driving the escalation in property values and when will it stop? It reminds me so much of the dot.com bubble of the late 90s (of which I was a victim) that it's scary. When inflation rates and wages are stable, why are home prices appreciating at such an "alarming" rate? Low interest rates and questionable mortgage schemes allow many to get into the market who probably wouldn't otherwise be qualified. It's a risky proposition, but as home equity increases so quickly, it seems to be working. So far.

When I bought my first house in 1985, the hard part wasn't the down payment, but the monthly payment. The absolute best rate for a 30-year fixed at the time was 13%--nobody was getting any lower. I got 13.5% as a first-time buyer. Can you imagine anybody paying that that kind of rate for a million dollar house in today's market?

Therefore, I'm wondering: Are current house prices directly related to mortgage interest rates or is there something more? Obviously, speculation is a huge factor in the supply and demand equation, but speculators wouldn't be out there without conducive interest rates and the belief that low interest rates will continue at least until they're able to "flip" their property.

Supply and demand as a general rule also dictates that some parts of the country will be more desirable than others, resulting in a few pockets of receding property values in where employment opportunities are lacking or a particular region is said to be undesirable for others reasons, such as weather, crime, recreational opportunities or cultural environment. But for the most part, the nation's real estate market is booming--commercial and residential.

So what happens when the bubble inevitably bursts? Are we in for a soft landing, where as interest rates slowly rise, property becomes less affordable, appreciation slowly levels off and values begin a gradual decline? That would be bad enough--the idea that one's home value might actually go down is anathema to most, no more so than to the tens of millions who bought or re-financed in the last several years.

Consider the other alternative: interest rates spike up, which could happen for any number of reasons (some perfectly organic/cyclical and some beyond our control). Massive terrorist attacks, expansion of war, sudden escalation of oil prices, domestic labor strife as major industries fail to compete in global market, natural disasters such as earthquakes or global warming or any number of other causes.

Speculators drop out of the market. Marginal buyers can no longer qualify for even the most back-loaded mortages as banks tighten credit. Unemployment rates rise as companies are forced to cut back due to lower demand. Suddenly, fewer people can afford to buy a house and many people with variable rate mortages are finding they can't afford their new monthly payments. A mild panic ensues as owners of multiple homes, speculators, and millions of retirees try to escape before the bottom falls out. The bubble has completely burst, all within a year of rapidly advancing interest rates.

What happens to inflation? Depending on the root cause of rising interest rates, inflation could easily double or even triple, adding to the country's woes. Worse yet might be deflation, where home values continue to decline rapidly, wages sink as unemployment skyrockets and the over-capacity of the nation's industrial base and a continuing flood of cheap import easily keep up with demand.

Conversely, if positive conditons prevail, things may continue much as they are. There will be up and down cycles, of course, as the economy evolves. If we're able to get out of the Iraq with some semblance of victory (moral or otherwise), that may help. If oil prices are contained, that will control inflation. Best of all would be a technologically-inspired rebound of heavy industry in the US, particuarly the auto business, which would help keep unemployment in check. All are factors in keeping interest rates low, which is key in maintaining the real estate market.

Six or seven years ago. stupendous wealth was destroyed in a matter of months when stock market speculation and rising financial markets finally hit a psyhological tipping point and crashed. Since then, real estate has been perceived as the safer investment, aided by easy access to capital, causing a steady rise in demand. A big difference between the dot-com boom and the current real estate boom is critical: today's boom is fueled largely by borrowed money. Should today's housing market go bust, it's not going to be fixed in a few years.

All this leads to zillow.com, the new beta website which is promising to revolutionize how home values are calculated. Through their own proprietary algorithms and methodologies, actual market values are available to any homeowner, and it's all done on-line and with a fair degree of confidentiality. It is not a front for a real estate company, nor is it a lead generator for real estate agents. It is a new model for home appraisals and it's success is almost guaranteed in the current environment of intense interest in home values, especially in the country's hotter markets.

Testament to the pent-up demand for such a service is evident by the fact that less than a week after the beta website went live, it was totally shut down by overwhelming demand. How's it going to make money? The same way that Google does--advertising. After a year or two (depending on the site's success), there will be the inevitable initial public offering, making Rich Barton (founder of a little dot com company call xpedia) a little wealthier. The fusion of real estate and technology will be complete as millions of homeowners check in on their homes' values, virtually in real time, many of them trying to gauge the market so they can sell at the absolute apogee. Mark that date on your mental calendar--you might want to be somewhere else.

Larrabee State Park

Hey, I've never heard of it either! Last night, as Storm Watch '06 sounded the claxon call of impending high windage in the Puget Sound area, I surfed around, looking for a place to do some storm watching, that wasn't too far away. Larabee State Park is on Chuckanut Drive, a beautiful scenic highway just south of Bellingham. As it's on the water, I thought there might be some good storm watching, and because it's a very large park (nearly 2500 acres), it also contained some good hiking trails, several of them going to different area lakes.

Sure enough, Saturday morning arrived along with the predicted high winds and by 8 am I was on the road. As usual, no one wanted to tag along, so I was going solo. I stopped for Egg McMuffins and gas (no pun intended) at Burlington and by 10 o'clock I was at the parking lot (the only car, by the way). Winds were high, but had already begun abating so I checked out the beach trail first. The tide was high, so I had to stick to the low-bluff trail. I moved around a protected point and was hit by the full force of the wind, which was flying in unimpeded from the Straits. Waves were crashing on the rocks and sending curtains of spray 40-50' up in the air. It was very exhilirating, but cold, so I headed back to the parking lot.

Across the highway from the beach was the trailhead for Fragrance Lake. It looked to be a little more than 2 miles one way, and from the topo map, looked pretty steep in places. There are other hikes and other trails in the area, but since I was here and because it was already starting to drizzle, I decided this was good enough.

The trail started up a couple easy switchbacks, crossed a maintenance road and flattened off onto a fern-filled valley with steep edges of weathered sandstone and first- and second-growth hemlock. Gradually steepening, the trail went into full switchback mode, through more old growth timber, mostly cedar now, becoming muddy in the turns. The storm had done its damage, with much fresh downfall, most of it in the form of broken branches, with a few large trees blocking the trail. The remaining wind was now just in the tops of the highest trees and could barely be heard, creating an eerie silence. I didn't see or hear a single creature on the entire hike, not a chipmunk or even a bird. The closest thing to wildlife was a rotted stump that looked like a couple rabbit ears.

The trail flattened out a little at the top and about an hour after I started, the lake appeared in the mist. By now, it is completely raining, but I finally found shelter in a nearby cave to eat a snack. I walked around the lake (about 1/2 mile) and headed back down the trail, rain rushing down my back.

Super Bowl Prediction

Seahawks 27, Steelers 6

TaB Makes a Comeback?

I haven't seen the original saccharin-sweetened Tab in my local grocery for a number of years, though I've heard from friends that it occasionally does crop up. Contrary to popular belief, it has not been discontinued--it's just keeping a low profile. So low, in fact, that it's not even listed on Coke's "domestic brands" website. Tab is still canned (not bottled) by the Coca Cola company, just as it was more than 40 years ago when it was introduced in 1963. Currently, it's in what's called "limited supply," but die-hard addicts and/or retro fans can still find it in their local specialty beverage store; if not there, then online, for sure.

While there are undoubtedly thousands of Tab afficionados out there today, it's nothing like what Coke had on its hands in the early days when Tab's popularity was absolutely over the top as it became the country's first widely-accepted diet soft drink. I remember becoming semi-hooked on it myself as a teenager and I still recall that crusty, over-carbonated, charcoal taste. Yes, the pink can was effeminate, but the satisfaction of drinking a decent-tasting pop without the toothrotting, fat-adding sugar was worth it. And it made a great mixer. We always had some around our house and I'd buy some now in a minute if I could find it.

But at the height of its popularity, a warning was issued and things were never quite the same. This appeared on the label:

"Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals."

You'd think that would be enough to scare off most people, and it did. But like its petro-chemical aftertaste, Tab's appeal lingered and it continued to be popular into the early 80s, when it was supplanted by Diet Coke. It wasn't clearly understood until years later, that to have even the slightest statistical carcinogenic effect (even in rats, which metabolize foods differently from humans), one would have to drink several gallons of a saccharin-sweetened softdrink daily--for virtually a lifetime.

But the damage had been done and unlike America's waistline, Tab's appeal waned as Diet Coke and other non-saccharin diet soft drinks came onto the market. Unbelievably, it wasn't until late 2000 that warning labels were no longer required on saccharin-sweetened products--after more than 20 years of study.

Flash forward to 2006, when I was reading an article in the Feb 6 New Yorker, that the Coca-Cola company is resurrecting the Tab name into a new drink called Tab Energy. Yes, it will be in the vein of uber-popular Red Bull and other highly-caffeineted power drinks, but will now be sweetened with Sucralose. As with the original Tab, it will be marketed toward women, as the slimmed-down 10.5 ounce cans with their "fuschia gingham" color scheme testify. With three times more caffeine than classic Tab (which had plenty to start with), a different sweetener and a little sugar, the new Tab will not taste anything like the old Tab--probably a good thing. Test marketing is well under way and you can expect a marketing blitz later in the year.

Twenty Years

On January 21, it had been twenty years since my mother died suddenly of a massive heart attack. It was around noon, at my parent's condo in North Seattle. Mom said she wasn't feeling well and told Dad she was going to take a quick nap. Fifteen minutes later she was dead.

I was having lunch at the time, with a very dear co-worker, at a fancy restaurant on Lake Union. We returned to the office, where my siblings had been frantically trying to get ahold of me. The company's owner, an affable man with penetrating green eyes, put his hand on my shoulders and said I should call my Dad right away. I knew it wasn't good, but had no idea it was going to be that bad.

The rest is history, as they say. In late January, my brothers and sisters and I (usually along with spouses) try to make a pilgrimage out to the Vashon Island Cemetery, where Mom's buried. We always buy some primroses (her favorite flower) at the local Thriftway: four--one for each of the kids.

We went out there today, braving the cold and rain, which are the usual weather conditions. For the first time in quite a while, none of the "grandkids" could make it. We bought the flowers, hung around the cemetery for a few minutes as the rain pounded down and headed off for lunch at a new restaurant in downtown Vashon, located in the local hardware store's old building, where we had been many times with our Mom and Dad, a long time ago.

It was a good day--we all still miss her.

A Mean Incident

A lot of us in the Ballard area work out on a steep hill and steps just east of the Golden Gardens dogpark (see earlier posting), sort of where NW 85th comes to its western terminus. It's a very pleasant place to run, amongst the tall cedars and the other old growth trees so common to that little park. It has quite a network of trails and steep steps and it's often made pleasanter by an older gentleman (I don't even know his name) who maintains the trail, on his own time, with his own tattered rake. He's rather famous amongst the locals for handing out red and white hard candy to everyone that passes by.

This morning, at a little before 10, a very mean thing happened. I had passed the old man several times as I had been running up and down the trail. It was a busy day, with lots of other runners and dog walkers and strollers on the trail. As I was running up some of the steeper steps I heard a commotion coming from the lower landing. One of the men who had been running the steps was telling the older guy, who was now taking a little break, to pick up a candy wrapper that was on the ground. "You're polluting the earth!" he yelled, immediately getting the attention of everyone within earshot. The old man, who has to be at least 80 and is hard of hearing, didn't quite understand. He offered the guy some candy from his bag. The villain hit the old man's hand, causing the candy to fall to the ground, repeating loudly his declaration, at which point I rushed to the man's aid, along with half a dozen other runners who were also on the steps.

We tried to explain to the guy what was going on, that it wasn't cool to hassle the old man and that a single wrapper on the ground wasn't exactly a big deal, even if the old guy did accidentally drop it. Well, the younger guy just went off and started yelling again about polluting the earth and then came a stream of rather poorly articulated profanities, all revolving around pollution and aimed directly at me and the others who were close to bringing him down at this point.

But he was smart enough to continue up the steps, an action we heartily encouraged. We also recommended that he never, ever come back. He went into a jog down 32nd Ave NW as a couple of the attending women, whom he had verbally assaulted, threatened to call 911 from their cellphones. We tried to re-assure our shaken old friend that we had never seen the offender before and didn't think we would again, but we're still left wonder if things will ever be the same, at least for him.

For those of you in the neighborhood, you might want to keep your eyes open for this dude--he seems rather deranged. He's about 5'9" tall, maybe mid-30s, medium weight and build. He has dark hair and, I think, a moustache. On this day, at least, he was in high-style, wearing shorts and a pair of nearly knee-high socks, with Spalding athletic shoes. What a jerk!

On Bundling

I caught a few minutes of Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" the other night. I heard mention made of a "bundling bag," but hadn't been watching enough of the movie to understand the context of the expression. I could see, however, that a young couple was on screen and that one of them did appear to be in the process of being sewn into some kind of linen bag--I think it ws the guy, but I'm not sure.

For some perverse reason, I became fascinated with the whole concept of being sewn into a bag in order to avoid intimate contact with the person with whom you were sharing a bed. Hence, I did some research.

It seems that "bundling" has quite a history, going back even before Microsoft's lawyers re-invented the expession a few years ago, much to Netscape's detriment. Evidently, in America's colonial period, young men and women would "bundle" as a form of courtship. Even in that puritanical era, if would often be a way to offer young couples some quality time at the end of the day, especially if the man had to travel a considerable distance to call on his love. Beds were at a premium back then and often had to be shared with travelers. And when you were trying to save heat and beds, it seemed that if the sparking couple was going to have any face time at all, it would have to be in the bedroom (or at least the room where the bed was). The lights would be turned off to save oil, the fire would be out to save wood and the only warm place to be was under about 11 blankets. And it was about 7 o'clock.

But of course, unmarried men and women couldn't just sleep together in the same bed. It was hardly allowed even for married couples, although I'm sure they also justified it (at least in the winter months) as a way of staying warm. But sharing a bed did come to be accepted as part of the rural colonial courtship practice so long as one or both of those involved would be sewn into some kind of bag, more or less assuring that no hanky-panky would occur. The bags were usually made of soft cloth and often were sewn tightly at the waist. Other models offered a little more security, being more like mummy sleeping bags, sewn tight above the chest. I suppose one could creatively circumvent the bag, but probably not without making a lot of racket, which would have awoken other members of the household, some of which no doubt slept with pistols under their bedpans.

There were other variations on the bundling bag, most notably the bundling board which was a plank separating the two sides of the bed. Less secure yet was a bolster or pillows. Either way, it usually beat sleeping in the barn, which was the next option. A bundling board wasn't, however, good enough for a married Sheriff up for re-election in the early 1800s. As the story goes:

The office-seeker came to a rural home late in the afternoon. He inquired whether he could obtain a meal, and lodging for the night. The reply was that he could have both. The supper was a fine one, and the candidate was in excellent humor.

As was customary in those days, folks went to bed rather early, and on announcing that he believed he would be off to bed, if they would tell him where to sleep, he'd retire.

The farmer said: "We don't have much room, but you can sleep with the hired girl."

The candidate replied that he was a married man, and a candidate, too, and that if it became generally known throughout the county that he had slept with a hired girl during his campaign, even with a bundling board between them, that some constituents might misconstrue his motives and manners: Could he have no other place to sleep? The farmer said the only other place he could think of was in the barn.

So rather than chance it to sleep with the hired girl on account of what might have happened to his campaign, he decided on the barn.

Pretending to be asleep, early the next morning he heard the hired girl come into the stable to let out the cows.

After milking one or two, she came back to release a bull which had become restless, leading him to one of the cows. The story goes that the old bull sniffed around a bit, turned his head, and walked away. This infuriated the maid, and she yelled at the bull in evident disgust: "What the devil's a-matter with you? Are you a candidate for sheriff, too?"

Have a 14-year old daughter you want fitted for a bundle bag? Well, so do I and I hear they're on sale at the Kentucky Walmarts all this week. They come in all sizes and at the Walmart price you can afford to buy enough for the whole family, even those pesky 2nd and 3rd cousins who are always stopping by. Some things just can't be improved....

Converting Old Video Tapes

Like most families, we have a ton of video that we've taken, most of it since the kids were born. On the rare occasions where we've gotten everybody together to view some of the old tapes, it's been a blast. One of the classic scenes was from when daughter Tiana was 4 or 5 years old and she goes into total tantrum mode because she couldn't have any ice cream after not eating her dinner. It was totally hilarious! I only wish the tapes were better catalogued so that we could find our favorites scenes more easily.

As the kids got a little older, they started playing around with the camcorderby themselves. Tiana, especially, loved making her "movies." Inevitably, the camera became broken and started eating tapes. I was able to resurrect it a couple times, but finally it just quit and could not be re-started. It wouldn't have been a big deal--we probably should upgrade to a smaller digital camera, anyway. The problem is/was, without a compatible camera, we had no way of playing back our old tapes. Basically, we just needed a player.

Well, as it turns out, it's a lot cheaper just to buy a used camera. All our old tapes were 8mm, so we needed an 8mm camera, or better yet, a hi8 camera, which while still being compatible, was able to produce much higher quality video. I finally found a three-year old Samsung on eBay and am anxiously waiting for it's arrival.

After the camera arrives, I think I'll purchase an inepensive DVD recorder. Those have come down in price so much lately, that I'm sure I saw one on sale at Walgreen's the other day for less than $100. At that point, it's a simple matter of hooking up the camera to the DVD recorder and making DVDs of all our tapes, which would be great. From the research I've done, it seems that most, if not all, of the current crop of DVD recorders can convert an analog video signal (whether it's from a camera or broadcast source) and convert it into a digital mp4 file, and from there burn it to a DVD. Depending on your machine, you can do some indexing and titling (is that a word?), which for archival purposes would be a huge help. And from what I understand, the quality of the transfer is usually pretty good. I'm not clear about whether this digital file can then be used by my computer's video authoring software to make more extensive edits.

I found that there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding the conversion of analog video tapes to a digital format. It seems to me that it must be a terribly popular and important subject, considering how ubiquitous the "camcorder" has been for the last 20 years and how many millions of analog tapes (VHS, VHS-C, 8mm and hi8) are out there. It was surprising that I had to do considerable research to be assured that DVD recorders could not only record an already present digital (such as from a digital video camera) file onto a DVD, but could also convert an analog video signal into a digital file. One link that I found helpful is:

Converting Analog Video to Digital

I'll let you know how the archival process works out once all the pieces are in place.

Banana Cream Pie

I like pies. When I was growing up, and even now at the ripe, old age of 52, I often preferred to have pies over cake for my birthdays. My mom was a great pie-maker and I remember one pie in particular that was my favorite. She called it "Cascade Berry," but to this day, I'm still not totally sure what a Cascade berry is. I know there's a Cascade blueberry, but the berries my mom used were more akin to a kind of blackberry. But there's a universe of pies, all of which I crave. Lemon meringue, coconut-cream, even mincemeat are memorable for me. And don't even get me started on pumpkin--I've been known to eat an entire pumpkin pie at one sitting.

A few months ago, I had a pie craving. We had a frozen piecrust in the fridge and a box of banana instant pudding. I made the pudding, poured it into the pie crust and for some strange reason, it didn't turn out too well. I heard about that runny, chemical-tasting pile of goo for a long time after, especially from my youngest daughter, who was the only one brave enough to eat more than a small spoonful. I've since had a banana cream pie that my brother-in-law made that was pure ambrosia, due to the homemade filling and the delectable crust, which he also made from scratch. Never was the difference between a readymade, prepackaged food and something homemade driven home to me more than that night. What a difference!

Yesterday I had another craving and found that we had the necessary ingredients for a banana cream pie. I patched up the 6-month old, cracked and dried out frozen pie crust and found a simple recipe for a filling. It was easy and turned out great, the crust notwithstanding. Here's a copy of the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
3-4 bananas, sliced

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner.
2. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency.
3. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Chill for an hour.

COMMENTS: I used 2% milk, which worked out fine (some people will even use heavy cream). Make sure the bananas are fully ripe and cut them quite thinly--a quarter inch is probably about right. Pile them up at least one-half inch on the bottom, or you won't enough filling to to fill the pie crust. It took surprisingly long for the mixture to start bubbling, so be patient and be sure to stir continuously. If I had some, I would have thrown in some coconut flakes, into the mixture and sprinkled on top, prior to baking.

Sewer, Seahawks, Barking Dog

Went to Cle Elum Thursday and amidst a swirling snow, dug out another section of pipe, removing the offending roots, etc that had been blocking (see earlier post). Weather warmed later in the day, rain started and by dark I was working in a quagmire of warm mud, 4-1/2 feet underground. Went to the Cle Elum hardware store, bought some supplies and by noon Friday had the new pipe installed, tested and working fine. Only need to shovel back in the dirt.

Pass was closed for a while due to avalanche control, but arrived back in Seattle around 3pm, after making a couple stops along the way. Driving along E Lake Samm Way, was interested to see how high the water was getting, putting many, if not most, boat docks well under water. Around 4 went for a very pleasant hill run (three laps) despite a somewhat hard rain. Grabbed a quick latte before returning to car, where Tim had left a message for me to meet him at the Barking Dog, a local bar featuring fine food. Had a nice halibut and chips with Tim, Cathy, Sue and Greg.

Went on another hill run Saturday morning, where I ran into Cathy. She looked very strong going up and I hope she continues the workout as I think she'll enjoy after she gets a few laps more under her belt. After lunch, had an enjoyable afternoon watching the Seahawks beat up on the Redskins. Best football weekend of the year, with 4 divisional playoff games.

Hill Running

As a supplement to our workouts at the gym, my brother and I started running around Seattle's Greenlake about 3-4 years ago. It's a nice, scenic run--flat--probably about 2.5 miles or so and was something I really looked forward to doing two or three times a week. After running the lake more than 200 times, it had become a little predictable and not even much of a sweat-breaker. When my gym membership expired a few months ago, I started looking for a workout routine that was more challenging and more interesting.

I knew that some people worked out on a steep series of steps not far from my house (near Golden Gardens Park on Shilshoe Bay). I also knew that while running steps is indeed a great cardiovascular activity, it had never really appealed to me. I thought, however, that if I could combine the steps with some fairly steep, adjacent trails, I could come up with a pretty good workout. I put together a run up and down the bluff (300+' elevation gain) combining a very pretty, but steep, trail with 80 or 90 steep steps at the top. It takes about 10-12 minutes to run up and down, including a couple quick rest stops. Lately, I've been doing three sets. It takes me about one hour of total time from leaving the house to returning.

The results after about three weeks have been outstanding. It doesn't bother my back like the pounding of running around Greenlake sometimes did; it gets my heart rate up far higher for far longer (in the 170bpm range); and it's just a much more interesting and challenging workout, which makes me actually look forward to doing it every day, just like I looked forward to running a few years ago. The best part is that it has proved very transferable to my bicycling, giving me a big endurance lift, especially on hillclimbs.

All things considered, I would recommend a hill climb workout combined with a few steps for just about anyone who's up to an high cardiovascular intensity. Will I get tired of it after a few months? Probably. But by then I'll be back on the bike and it won't matter as much. In the meantime, I'll keep you posted.

On Shaving

Is there a grown person in this country who has never shaved? If so, I would truly like to meet him or her and seek to understand how they have resisted the onslaught of television advertising for razers and shavers. I did some research: Gillette alone spends over $700 million annually on its advertising budget for razors--7% of its gross revenues. Although they top the list, other manufacturers push total advertising to over a billion dollars. It's all about marketshare with these guys.

The history of shaving is fascinating, but I don't have time to re-hash tht now (see http://www.quikshave.com/timeline.htm). Going back 40 years or so, I do recall my dad using a double-edge safety razor. The blades were exceedingly sharp and thin (making them somewhat flexible) and you were lucky not to slice off the top of your finger when you changed them.

I seem to remember that Gillette came out with a cartridge razor just as I began shaving around 1970. This was a huge improvement as you never actually had to touch the blade. When it got dull you simply popped it out and clicked in a new cartridge. It was probably 1976 or '77 that the first twin-blade cartridges came out and then a few years later I think it was Bic that brought us the first twin-blade disposable razors, which I loved. The idea of a three or four blade razor was ludicrous--not only from a technological point of view, but functionally as well. Even if such a razor could be made, who would need it? The razors at the time were so superior to what had been used that no improvement was deemed necessary.

But that's not how business works. In 1998 Gillette introduced the Mach3, a three-bladed razor that came with a huge increase in price over the two-bladed system, which had become ubiqitous, and was cheap. The Mach3 was a huge success, selling over 100 million units in its first year. The ultimate razor had been created--at least until Schick's marketing department created a huge buzz with the introduction of the Quatro in 2002. While the Quatro was even more expensive, it did take marketshare away from the Mach3. Gillette has since come out with some enhancements of the Mach3, including the M3 PowerNitro, which is battery assisted. But they never came out with a competing 4-blade system and as it turns out, the reason for that is because they've been working on a five-blade system, called the Fusion, which is due out later this year. You can just imagine the marketing blitz that will engulf us upon the introduction of that razor.

I've read estimates that men spend an average of 3000 hours shaving during their lifetime. I've had varying degrees of facial hair over the last 20-30 years and don't think I will ever approach that figure. During most of that time, I've either used cheap twin-blade disposables or an electric razor, both of which I was perfectly happy with. Maybe two or three years ago, I received a free Mach3 razor in the mail. It sat in my basement medicine cabinet until last week when I decided to give it a try. Well, I'm here to tell you, that was the smoothest, slickest, most satisfying shave I have ever experienced. It was absolutely transcendent and in my mind, the twin-bladed razor was immediately obsolete. Now, I almost look forward to shaving and need to spread the word about this incredible razor. If anybody has tried the Quattro, I'd love to hear from you, but I just can't imagine it getting any better than this. Does that sound familiar?

Saturday January 7th

Well, I'm sure you're all excited to hear how my sewer adventure went, and I'm happy to say that after about 6 hours of digging, things are looking good, my aching shoulders notwithstanding. I was finally able to locate the main line, which was a staggering 4-1/2 feet underground--much deeper than necessary. I dug a trench exposing about ten feet of the line and then started cutting out sections of pipe. Near the end of the trench I found what I was looking for--an absolute knot of roots and debris, blocking the sewer line save for a small hole about 1" in diameter through which liquid, at least, could slowly seep. It was late in the day and had started raining, so I'll need to go back next week and finish the job, which will probably involve extending the trench another 5-6 feet. When you consider how deep the line is buried, that's a lot of digging, all done by shovel and mattock. This backed-up sewer situation has been an occasional problem for at least ten years, so it's good to finally isolate the situation and know that it can be fixed.