To Give or Not to Give

“Excuse me, sir.”

I pulled my gaze away from the grocery store’s five shelves of popcorn to focus on a middle-aged African American man standing beside me in a gray t-shirt and sweats.

“Can you help me out?” Joe asked.

At first glance, Joe did not appear homeless. His clothes were clean, his hair fairly well-groomed and his speech clear. But his eyes were cloudy and there was something in the way he asked that question, a certain quiet, yet assertive way, that I knew he was going to ask for money.

As a typical rule, I don’t give money to beggars. In part because I’ve watched documentaries exposing some of them making a pretty fair living out of the kindness of others when there is nothing wrong with them, in part because I don’t want my money to possibly help them buy drugs, and in part because I don’t want to encourage them to keep asking for money.

"You see,” he said, “my wife and daughter are in a van outside and I’m trying to get them some food and…”

“Would you like me to buy you something?” I cut him off, because if I heard him ask for money, I’d have just turned away. However, I’ve always believed that if a person in need asks for food, I’d give it to them. So since we were in a grocery store, I figured I’d see if he would accept an offer of food or if he was only interested in money.

To my surprise, his face lit up and he said yes.

“What would you like?”

Joe thought for a moment, “A sandwich from the deli.”

We walked over to the deli and he asked for a meatball sandwich. When the young man behind the deli-counter asked what size, I said a large one. But before the clerk could start making it, Joe asked, “Are the meatballs made out of pork?”

The clerk looked confused then checked with two other clerks and they all said they didn’t know.

“My wife can’t eat pork,” Joe said. “Give me the chicken instead.”

While the clerk made the sandwich, Joe and I had a nice discussion. I was very impressed with how polite he was and how well he spoke. He explained that he and his family were just trying to make it to the weekend, when they would be good for awhile. When I asked why, he explained that’s when the food bank at a local church opened and his family would also receive a voucher to stay at a hotel for 18 days so they wouldn’t have to keep sleeping in their van. Joe used to work with marble for home remodels, but has been out of work for eight months. He was paid under the table and hadn’t filed a W4 in eight years and therefore was ineligible for unemployment.

A sad story. Real? Who knows? The story definitely seemed plausible and Joe appeared sincere, although those are probably the first two rules a con-artist learns: make the story plausible and appear sincere.

After the sandwich was made, we shook hands, wished each other well and parted our separate ways.

When I left the store, I scanned the parking lot for a van, but saw none.

Whether Joe had a family or not, was homeless or not, or just saw me as a sucker, I felt good knowing that whatever his motivations were, he and perhaps “his wife and teenage daughter” were going to eat well that night.

(The man's name has been changed to respect his privacy.)

Thimerosal is Bad! Doctor Confirmed!

I knew it! I told our physician numerous times that thimerosal in a vaccine is a bad thing and I don't want my kids to have any shots with that preservative. Every time she would frown and insist that thimerosal is not harmful. It is an unfounded parent worry and that there is no medical evidence supporting that its harmful. Watch what this doctor, an infectious disease expert, on FOX News says about thimerosal in vaccines:

The U.S. - The New Banana Republic

We have reached a new low in American politics. The office of the U.S. Presidency has been tarnished. The President can no longer address his fellow Americans from the Capitol without worrying about hecklers waiting to cut him off at the knees.

And to be clear this wasn't like some foreigner throwing a shoe at our President. This was a Congressman, Joe Wilson, in our Capitol - supposedly an outstanding member of society - calling our President a liar in the middle of a speech with the world watching.

I'm okay with talk shows, news radio and others picking apart Obama's speech or any President's speech for that matter, but not mid-speech. That is just down right rude and ill-mannered. I'd be embarrassed if that was my Congressman. But unfortunately, some people are already looking up to this disrespectful man.

John and Ken, a pair of conservative talk show hosts, said afterwards they were glad someone finally stood up and called him a liar in front of everyone.

I think Congressman Wilson thought he was at some town hall meeting where he could shout down a fellow Congressman, not the Capitol addressing the President of the U.S.

What is going on with these weirdos and why are people sticking up for them? For example, when the President announced he wanted to address the students of the nation like President Bush and Ronald Reagan did before him, Republican Congressmen and Senators were screaming that he was trying to push a socialist agenda onto our children. Some school districts even banned the broadcast. Excuse me. I never heard one liberal state that when President Bush was video taped reading to children in a classroom on 9/11 that he was trying to push a conservative agenda onto them. After Obama's speech to the children, many of the Republicans who had criticized him recanted saying it a was a good speech with a good message.

So any child who watched the President give the school speech yesterday and liked it, how you can rise up from humble beginnings to achieve your dreams, just say that same President be called a liar in front of the entire world.

With policitians such as Joe Wilson in Congress, we'll soon be another Korea or Moscow with legislatures coming to blows in the aisles.

Truly, a sad day to be an American.

Book Review: The Great Depression

I heard a story on NPR two weeks ago about how our current recession resembled the Great Depression. For example, the guest on the show feared we might have a dip in the road to our current economic recovery just like in 1937-38. Dip? What dip, I thought.

Up to this point, my knowledge of the Great Depression centered on my grandmother’s stories of growing up in Chicago, making beer in the bathtub and the gangsters killing each other in the streets. Or the stories of my other grandmother about how precious shoe leather was, the long walks to school in the snow, and “save-a-sole”. I also read most of The Grapes of Wrath; saw pictures of breadlines, heard stories of hobos, hunger riots and stories of farmers burning crops and killing their herds while cities were starving because the price of shipping the food was too expensive, and how FDR’s New Deal delivered America from the Depression – or was it WWII.

So, I set out to educate myself about this critical time in America’s history and went to the library in search of a book that would tell me the causes of the Great Depression and what the government did to get us out of it.

I found 10 books on the Great Depression. Most of them had to do with eyewitness accounts of people who lived through the depression, but I wanted more analysis. Two had to do with new theories about the Great Depression. I didn’t want new theories, I wanted the old ones. The ones people thought about at that time. Just the facts please. Another dealt with the international aspect of the Great Depression. That piqued my interest, but it was long and I first wanted to hear solely about America. Finally, I decided upon The Great Depression by David A. Shannon, 1960. Yes, 1960. What captured my interest was that the book was a collection of engaging newspaper and magazine articles, excerpts from Congressional and Senatorial hearings, portions of studies and reports that included in-depth interviews with all types of people and even a passage from The Grapes of Wrath.

For example, the first article is by The New York Times, October 25,1929 “Worst Stock Crash Stemmed by Banks. The second, “Stock Collapse In 16.410,030-Share Day, But Rally at Close Cheers Brokers.” Needless to say there were no more cheers for many years after that. I was hooked.

The book is broken up into 8 sections: Crash, The Farmer in the Depression, America’s Shame: The Crisis of Relief, Nomads of the Depression, The Middle Classes: Bank Failures and Unemployment, The Depression and Education, Will There Be a Revolution, Some Case Histories.

The ideas explored, the analysis and the personal stories I found extremely engaging. My favorite sections were Crash, The Crisis of Relief, and Will There Be a Revolution.

Below are some quotes/ scenarios that I particularly enjoyed:

“The capitalists are responsible for the present recession (37-38), just as they were responsible for the 1930 depression. Big business tried to run the country but made a mess of it; President Roosevelt tries to straighten out the mess and they are bucking him…the depression will continue until the industrialists are pulled into line.” Mr. Renick interview for the The Dubuque Study.

From George Soule, “Are We Going To Have a Revolution?” Harper’s CLXV (August 1932) –
“Most of those who really suffer from the depression are, according to the best-informed reports, simply stricken dumb by it. Like the Republican administration, they are awaiting nothing more drastic than the return of prosperity.”

George Soule, “Are We Going To Have a Revolution?” Harper’s CLXV (August 1932) – What if “all businesses shut down, all railroads stopped running, all banks are closed. All stocks and bonds, all deeds to real estate become worthless. Everybody is unemployed, nobody has a cent of income. What would happen?” If they are still imbued with habits of trading, of individualistic competition, of accumulation, they would immediately start to rebuild capitalism…”

Shannon collected articles from the point of view of those who were solid middle class to poorest of the poor. I would have liked to have read at least a couple of articles from a captain of industry or extremely wealthy individual to hear their take and perspective on the Depression. That’s my only knock on the book.

So are there similarities between the Great Depression and our current recession?

After reading The Great Depression, I’d agree—in part. Speculators (including banks) took stocks to unreasonable levels and then the bottom dropped out. Fortunately, American government and society has changed much since the 30’s. We now have a relief system, unemployment, social security, medical care for the poor and the federal government now has been providing relief to states early on in this crisis – unlike during the 30’s when relief was entirely left up to local communities and states that were bankrupt. But check this out, between 1929 and mid 1931, the federal government had poured money into the financial system to stabilize it, while letting the average American languish. The first real aid by the federal government didn’t arrive to the states until fall of 1931 and FDR’s policies didn’t start until after he was in office in 1932. It was at this point, from what I read, that there seemed to be a turn around in people's minds, the talk of revolution died down, people sensed a floor to the Depression. It sounds eerily reminiscent of our current situation where the government quickly bailed out the banks, left homeowners to languish and has only now started sending additional relief to states and lengthening unemployment benefits.

Good book.

A Revolt Over Healthcare?

I really don't get some of these whacked out comments opponents of health care reform are spewing. I’m not advocating that the White House’s healthcare plan is a good one, I'm only saying here that SOME of the opponents to the plan are really scary.

“One day God will stand before you and judge you!" one man shouted at Senator Specter at a town hall meeting today. (CNN)

What does God have anything to do with passing a healthcare reform bill? Videos on You Tube, posted messages on AOL and discussions on talk radio all have someone blabbing about how God will send someone to hell for passing a law?

I can understand rational concerns and arguments with costs, whose covered, what’s covered, whose gonna pay for it and what specific plan the White House is putting forth, but threatening a politician with eternal damnation for passing a bill….come on, really?

A woman to Senator Fieser, "If they don't let us vent our frustrations out, they will have a revolution." (CNN)

A revolution over healthcare? What about a revolution against the capitalist system that is feeding billions of taxpayer dollars to the financial giants while the unemployment rate soars, wages drops and extravagant executive bonuses continue? Not that I’m advocating a revolution, but saying the American people will rise up and overthrow the government because we want to keep our current healthcare system is incredible. Her employer must pay for her healthcare or she’s on welfare and receives free medical treatment.

Before Obama got elected, one of the major concerns of Americans was healthcare costs and insurance companies denying people the care they required and people were clamoring for healthcare reform. Even a libertarian I knew wanted government to take on the healthcare burden in order to free up American businesses from the overwhelming cost of providing healthcare to their employees so they could be more competitive in the global market where foreign competitors don't have to worry about these costs.

One of the arguments I’m hearing is that government run healthcare will trample our constitutional rights. I'm not sure which constitutional rights the goverment would be trampling by providing healthcare to its citizens, but I didn’t hear this kind of venom from these sudden constitutional advocates when the Department of Homeland Security was created, secret detention camps and warrantless wire tapping were exposed, or laws were passed allowing the detention of suspects without trial.

And what about Medicare or Social Security? I’ve heard no one say these are horribly run programs that trample our constitutional rights and should be scrapped. I think if we did, the senior citizens of America would revolt.

Didn’t I just say having a revolt over healthcare is ludicrous; maybe it’s not so farfetched after all.

A final note, if insurance companies are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat this healthcare proposal, doesn't it stand to reason that the insurance companies stand to make exponentially more if it fails and that can only mean bad things for consumers, right?

Here is an interesting video by Keith Olbermann (the last two minutes are great):

Halo Cartoons

My initial reaction to hearing that Bungie and Microsoft were working on seven short Halo films was one of excitement. When I read that the movies were to be animated, I wondered what they meant. I wondered if all the realistic aliens, battles and vehicles in the video game clips done with digital animation are what they considered animated. When I opened the L.A. Times to continue reading the Halo Legends article. I was surprised to see a still of a bunch of cartoon characters. That couldn’t be right, I thought. So I logged into YouTube and quickly found this clip.



You have got to be friggin’ kidding me. Bungie goes from amazing trailers and in-game videos using cutting edge digital animation to make Halo seem life like, then they turn around and come up with the idea to make their first movies - cartoons. Talk about a letdown. I was hoping for the awesome digital animation graphics along the lines of Final Fantasy – the Spirits Within. Instead I see something along the lines of Dragon Ball and Avatar. I’m not knocking those two cartoon series, but it’s definitely a step down in graphics compared to the Halo game. Perhaps Microsoft and Bungie thought if Star Wars could go animated with the Clone Wars, they could do the same with Halo. They should recheck the demographic numbers on that movie. Most adults I know who liked or even loved Star Wars did not watch Clone Wars.

I feel most people equate cartoons with kids. Yes, Bungie is touting this as “anime”, to make it seem all grown up, but I doubt most audiences today, unless they are anime fans, would get a thrill out of seeing a cartoon. Kids would probably like it, but Halo games are rated M for mature so I’m sure most of Halo’s players are not preteens – of course I could be wrong about this.

But if I’m not wrong, Bungie is about to drop – or has already dropped a load of
money on a failed venture.

Then again, maybe they're making the movies animated to attract kids who are too young to play Halo and get them excited about it – cultivating them as you will.

In any event, I am supremely disappointed.

The Great New Light Bulbs of The 21st Century, or Are They?

Over the past year or so, I’ve seen amazing new light bulbs on the market – N:VISION bulbs. Its 60 watt equivalent bulb claims to only use 14 watts of energy to produce the same light as a 60 watt bulb, it’s guaranteed to last nine years (or 10,000 hours), and it has a light output of 900 lumens. The GE reveal 60 watt bulb in comparison has a light output of 630 lumens, only lasts 1,000 hours and burns a full 60 watts of energy.

I was stunned by the enormous advantage the N:VISION bulbs had over the GE bulbs. I was amazed GE was even in the business of making light bulbs any longer. I mean really, even though the N:VISION bulbs cost three times the price of a GE reveal – you get 10 times the life of a regular bulb and cheaper energy bills.

So what’s the problem, you ask. Well, I wanted to see what made this new technological marvel work and why it wasn’t plastered all over the news as a great breakthrough in technology and energy savings.

Well, written in big print on the back of the N:VISION package was the following message:

"Contains Mercury. Dispose according to Local, State or Federal Laws."

I almost dropped the package right there. And imagine if I did - hazmat would have to be called in to clean up.

Here is an entry from Wikipedia in regards to fluorescent lamps:

"When broken indoors, bulbs may emit sufficient mercury vapor to present health concerns, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends evacuating and airing out a room for at least 15 minutes after breaking a fluorescent light bulb."

I don’t know if N:VISION’s bulbs would be considered fluorescent, but the warning about bulbs containing mercury is scary enough for me.

I mean really, something is being openly made with mercury—today. After the three-eyed fish die offs in the 70’s due to mercury poisoning. Or the fear of every parent who puts their child to bed after receiving their two year inoculations, which contain thiomersal (mercury), hoping or praying that their child wakes up the next morning normal and healthy and not autistic.

John, you're being overly paranoid, you say. There's mercury all around us: in the computers, shots, gold, high fructose corn syrup and so on.

Too true. But let me ask this, nine years after the bulb burns out, who will have retained the disposal information number, let alone the N:VISION package with proper disposal instructions? Even if half the people who buy the bulbs dispose of them properly, how many mini-mercury bombs are going to wind up in the garbage? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

As you can see from the picture above, I’m already using two of the poisonous bulbs. I know, call me a hypocrite. My lame excuse: my wife bought this package and started using the bulbs. I only noticed the problem when I went out to buy a bulb for my desk lamp and started comparing bulbs. Now, I’m waiting for the next hazmat round up in my community so I can toss them. Yes, hazmat and community hazardous waste round-ups are the only way to properly dispose of these bulbs.

Hopefully, the next great energy saving idea of the 21st Century won't be as hazardous to our health.

Book Review: Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor is based on an incredible true story. My brother highly recommended it to me, saying he couldn’t put it down due to the non-stop, heart-pounding action.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with him.

The pace I found to be slow and choppy. While having some interesting information on Iraq in Chapter 1, the author spent a lot of time telling us how perfect and awesome his comrades were. (As happened many, many times throughout the book.) Chapter 2 gave us a long passage on his childhood. Throughout the book, these stories recurred again and again along with diatribes about the greatness of President Bush, the evils of liberals and the liberal media, mixed in with long transitions to his Texas ranch when al-Qaeda is looking for him in Afghanistan. Not quite the non-stop, heart-pounding action I'd expect in an action novel.

It was the constant references to the greatness of his friends that threw me off the most. Perhaps the author needed filler material. Even fighting on the mountain, the most intense part of the novel which didn’t start until half way through the novel, was constantly broken up by telling the reader how awesome his fellow soldiers performed: how smart they were, how courageous, how durable, etc. It really pulled me out of the scene. I can’t imagine recreating the chaotic events on that mountain, but being interspersed with all of the author’s thoughts about his friends, the fight on the mountainside never seemed vivid, real. Sure there was blood, and ugly wounds to see, but when one soldier was hit four or five times and still running, I started to wonder how can someone be shot through the throat, gut, arm and other places by assault rifles and keep on running and shooting. It started to take on a sense of the absurd – even if it was true. Sometimes writing the truth can become unbelievable. When one of the SEALS finally died, I was surprised because by the time he did die, because they had been shot so many times and had kept on ticking.

The part I found most vivid, exciting and well written was Marcus’ SEAL training. It was well-paced, interesting, the characters were solid and the story kept us wondering what would be in store for Marcus next.

But the long passages about his childhood, the Texas ranch, political ramblings and the perfectness of his friends kept pulling me out of the core story just when the book would get moving.

If you’re looking for a well-written, fast-paced action novel based on a true-event like Black Hawk Down, this is not it. If you’re someone who wants to know what it takes to be a SEAL, read a biography of a SEAL since his childhood, learn about the terrible SEAL tragedy in Afghanistan, and you had - at a minimum - neutral feelings towards President Bush’s conduct and reasons for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, you’ll like Lone Survivor.

Transformers 2 - for kids?

Today, I took my son to see Transformers 2 to celebrate his 8 year-old birthday with four of his 8-year-old friends (one was 7 and a half). I gave the parents the PG-13 disclaimer and also a caution I received from someone who'd seen the movie that there was a lot of foul language. All the kids showed up.

And...

The boys loved it! They couldn't stop talking about the different robots and all of the fighting as they walked out of the theater pretending to be the different robots. Three other boys between 6 and 8 were play fighting by the door as we left. So from the kids POV, the movie got a 10.

From an adult perspective - one father said afterwards that his mind was still spinning from all the fighting. Yes, there was a lot of it, especially like the entire last hour.

The movie was entertaining. Yes, I enjoyed the first movie better - it was brand new and I think the fighting was better choreographed: you could always understand who punched who, who did what in a fight and so on. Sometimes there were so many robots and humans fighting all over the place in this one it became a jumble - I guess like a real war. And was that last hour ever a real war (the kids were jumping up in down in their seats when the bad transformers squared off against the good guys just before everyone opened fire).

I enjoyed the movie. Was it good for kids? It really wasn't any worse than the first one in terms of scary stuff.

The bad language, yes there was some, but it wasn't excessively vulgar.

The violence was the same, just more and longer battles.

Sexual situations - nothing really any worse than the first one.

The mild reference to drugs - I'd say 90% of 8 year olds would have no idea they were talking about drugs when the reference came up in the context that it did.

I'd say if your kid is 8 and up and liked the first Transformers movie, he shouldn't have a problem with this one. If he's under 8, it depends on your child's mindset. As I said, I wouldn't take my 6 year old son, but I'll definitely let him watch it on DVD. The rationale for this, the robot violence and loud sound for him would be too overwhelming in a theater, but on a small screen, he'd be fine with it. My 8-year-old son would've had no problem with the sound and violence in a theater when he was six. It depends on your son's mindset, tolerance for loud noises and maturity.

That being said - the kids I went with today loved it and they are no worse for wear.

Elected Governmental Chaos and the Media

This article is about the media and its slant of events occurring in the "democratically-elected" governments in Iran and Honduras.

I'd like to think that my awareness of international current events are at least equivalent to the average American, because it was something I had to be aware of for thirteen years monitoring foreign markets at one of my previous jobs.

As an American, I trust my news sources, but know that it can be inevitably skewed. Look at the media frenzy leading up to the Iraqi war. And Fox News makes no compunction about being a conservative news outlet.

The Media can be a powerful tool to tell the truth or to hide it.

Let's start with Iran.

Like many Americans, when I first read a byline in a newspaper that there were upcoming elections in Iran and that there was a moderate running against Ahmadinejad, I gave it little thought. Just another election in another Middle Eastern country. Chaos sure to ensure.

I started to wonder when I saw another story about the elections two days later. Why are U.S. papers publishing two stories about an upcoming Iranian election? I mean, what was really going to change? One guy who hates America will remain or he'll be switched out with another one who hates America. The Iranian Supreme Council of clerics are the ones who hold the power. But I was intrigued, so I spread out the paper. As I did so, I wondered if the moderate challenging Ahmadinejad was that guy who used to be president and had given the Supreme Council fits with some of the moderate policies he had enacted. It wasn't. But it turned out this Mousavi guy had been a special advisor to that president and that Mousavi had been prime minister in Iran from 1981-1989. Still, I thought, there is no way Ahmadinejad is going to lose.

Perhaps with my U.S.-biased viewpoint, in my opinion very few countries in the world have clean elections. Look at the U.S. and the hi jinx in Florida and Ohio in recent elections and the convictions in multiple states of voter fraud and other problems during 2008's election.

So far what I've gathered from the media reports and YouTube, is that Mousavi claims the election has been stolen, Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Council are crushing protests and blacking out the media. Pretty much what I expected before the elections.

Of course, Ahmadinejad has been so demonized by the United States (justly or unjustly I can't say), its very easy for the world to swallow the opponents' view of Ahmadinejad's government hook-line and sinker. And it makes it easier for us (and the media) to swallow it when these opponents are supposedly more moderate (therefore supposedly more aligned with our views) and support a candidate who once supported a notion to ask the West for help in rebuilding after the Iran-Iraq war. Don't get me wrong, crushing protests and shooting innocents is bad, but it's not like the only country in the world who has done this. While the U.S. - thank God - doesn't shoot protesters, they have no qualms about smacking them around with batons - think Seattle, Echo Park.

So what am I saying? If the elections were stolen, I wish the Iranians the best in getting the rightful man in office. But, beware of the media. Beware of what you read.

Which brings me to Honduras.

My first hearing of the coup in Honduras was a picture in the Los Angeles Times of protesters throwing rocks at a group of soldiers/policemen who cowered behind a wall of riot shields. So after listening to NPR and reading the updates on AOL, I initially gathered, the leftist president (am I sensing a trend here that our media tends to support moderates and leftist - I wonder how Fox News is reporting it) was removed in a military coup, deported to Costa Rica and if he ever returned he'd be arrested.

So, it was to my surprise, listening to NPR again last night on the way home, that both I and the host on NPR were taken aback when the official ambassador to the U.S. from Honduras said that the president had been removed through due process in accordance to their constitution. My words probably aren't perfect, but the sense was that he was removed legally under their constitution. The Honduran legislature overwhelmingly voted to remove the President out of his office. Acting on an order from the legislature, the military removed the President. Now, I'm not an expert in Honduran constitutional law, so I can't say if what the ambassador said was true, that the president was removed through a legal process, but I found it odd that I have not heard this from anyone else (and the interviewer couldn't seem to believe it either). The ambassador went on to say, be careful of only listening to one side of the story. Learn all the facts. At that point I was home and turned off the car.

I'll take that ambassador's advice to heart and learn all the facts, before jumping to conclusions and raising the riot act.

On a final note, speaking of media, a very interesting take on the current elections in Iran is an updated graphic novel version of the original Persepolis, called Persepolis 2.0.

Attached is a link the 2.0 version. Below that is the 2 minute trailer to the original movie.

Persepolis 2.0

Bank Stories

I read an article in the Los Angeles Times today titled, BofA’s Sales Tactics Blasted, by Tom Hamburger. The article basically said Bank of America targeted immigrants and the poor with exorbitant fees and high pressure sales tactics as well as prevented the SEIU from unionizing the bank’s workers.

So I thought about some stories I’d heard about banks (in general) and wondered if the article held any credence for me.

Once a friend told me how he bought $30 worth of gas but pulled out his debit card instead of his credit card and used it by accident. His account was subsequently overdrawn. I wondered why the debit card didn’t deny the transaction since it was going to overdraw the account. I mean, credit cards do that when you exceed their limit. He had no idea and to top it off, he was socked with a $35 overdraft fee. I asked him if he called his bank to tell them about the error and see if he could get the fee reversed. He said a few flowery words I’d prefer not to repeat and said they gave him back $20. Since it wasn’t the bank’s mistake they wouldn’t reimburse him the entire amount. After a few more flowery words interspersed with, “I haven’t overdrawn my account in forever,” and “I have money in other accounts,” we changed subjects.

(That conversation still makes me wonder why transactions are not denied when they would overdraw an account. I mean, as a bank I would think logically, if a customer doesn’t have the money and you give it to him, there is a risk he won’t pay it back. Unless of course, the bank thinks the $35 fee they charge their customers more than makes up for the potential of uncollected funds. Does the more stringent bankruptcy laws have an effect here so they know they'll get their money?)

Another friend told me how bizarre it is that people with money in their accounts pay so few service charges. For example, he said, if you have a certain minimum balance, the monthly service charges, fees for check reorders and some other pay-for-services are typically free. When he was in college with little money, he used to have to pay all of the fees (subsequently overdrawing his account), but now that he’s working and can afford the fees, they’re waived.

(Hmmm. People who need a break aren’t getting one.)

A woman once told me she worked at a regional bank in the 80’s. She said while there was an emphasis on opening new accounts and products for clients, when a national bank took them over, she was stunned by the really high sales goals enforced upon the staff. Before the takeover, there was an emphasis on finding out what a customer needed. For example, if someone had a large balance in a no-interest checking account, she would offer them a savings account. She said that changed. Now she was expected to offer clients a product if they didn’t have it and convince them they needed it. If a man has one checking account, offer him another one. If he doesn’t want it, offer him a credit card. And so on, and so on.

(Interesting.)

In conclusion, I know and knew many people who worked at banks: good people, some of which are close friends. As with any job, people have to meet their goals. If they don’t, they’re removed and someone else is ready to take their place. And a bank's goal (so I believe) is all about making money for its shareholders-just like any other shareholder-run business.

A bank’s staff, especially at the branch level, is a sales force, and just like the old cliche, if you walk onto a used car dealer’s lot, expect the hard sell. If you don’t like it, don’t go there.

(Someone I know is jumping up and down with joy seeing me write those final words.)

BUT...I feel there is a blurry line between banks and the national interest. Aside from being guardians of our nation’s deposits, banks provide a vital role to keep the economy humming. Unless of course you live within walking distance of every service that you need and you can pay with the cash you have stuffed under your mattress or barter, you need a bank account - and only a financial institution can provide it. As a result banks' fees have to be fair and reasonable. especially for the financially strapped. Banks can’t be allowed to operate under the same rules as other privately-owned corporations whose focus is on maximizing profit. And to be fair, there are more restrictions on banks and their operations than other corporations because of the vital national role they play. But obviously not enough restrictions are in place as their greed did help proceed to tank our economy and they feel that a $35 fee for an overdrawn account is fair and reasonable.

The executives who probably thought up the $35 fee probably have free accounts and someone at the bank who makes sure that if they make a mistake by pulling out the wrong card, they’re not going to be overdrawn or hit with an unreimbursable fee.

So based on this, I think the overdraft fee - and bank fee structures for retail banking - are directly targeted at the poor who are most likely going to be overdrawn whether from a mistake or hoping the rent check doesn't clear before their next paycheck hits their account or do not have enough in their accounts to reach minimum balance thresholds. As for Bank of America pressuring their sales people to sell, I agree. Every job pressures (motivates) their staff to do better either through rewards or reprimands. Too much pressure? Perhaps for some people, but BofA did state their employee satisfaction surveys were high. On the unions I have no idea.

A final note: That same woman who worked at a bank in the 80’s also said her small bank before the merger used to receive a report of customers who were going to be overdrawn that day. The office staff would then give those customers a "courtesy call" and let them know they had to make a deposit by 10 a.m., otherwise they would be overdrawn and/or any pending checks would be rejected.

Talk about a costly, labor-intensive operation.

Then again, talk about putting your customers first.

I Was So Mad!

During the first fifteen minutes of my son’s kindergarten class, children can pick a book from the classroom’s book nook and have their parents read to them.

Friday, my son picked “I Was So Mad” by Mercer Mayer. My son liked the cover with Little Critter (a strange beaver-like protagonist in Mayer’s series of children’s books) standing beside a bathtub filled with frogs. We’ve read and enjoyed the adventures of Little Critter before, so I thought this one would be fine.

It started off well enough, with Little Critter getting into trouble doing silly things around the house that he thought were okay. Each time he was reprimanded he said he got really mad. After a couple of pages, I thought, okay, this is a book helping children learn that they’re not alone in feeling angry when they’re reprimanded and maybe it'll eventually show them an appropriate way in which to deal with their anger. But after about seven different scenarios of Little Critter getting madder and madder he finally said, “I’m so mad I’m going to run away from home!”

Whoa, I thought and glanced at the three five-year-olds sitting around me. I doubt that any of them had ever thought of running away from home because they had been mad at their family. I looked back at the book and hoped the story would quickly improve.

Little Critter proceeded to put all of his favorite toys in his wagon and pack a box of chocolate chip cookies for the road.

(Worse)

What was Little Critter’s mother doing during all this time? Nothing. She just stood in the kitchen with a smile on her face watching the love of her life prepare to the leave the house. She never tried to stop him or help him understand his feelings.

What finally stops him? His love for his mom? His sudden understanding of his feelings? No. After walking ten feet down the road he sees his friends who invite him to play baseball.

Little Critter agrees, but his final line is, “…but if I get so mad again, I am definitely running away from home.”

And then the book was over.

(And I was so mad.)

What kind of message is that to children? That it’s okay to run away from home when you’re mad? Kids are great imitators and reservoirs of information. I’ve lost count of the number of times my son will say or do something and use the justification of something he read or saw or heard.

With books like this, no wonder some kids are messed up.

Female Bread Winners

I noticed a strange phenomena the other day when I started a new job. Perhaps it’s who I know or perhaps it’s because I worked on the Pasadena Magazine’s issue about Leading Ladies a month ago, but whatever it is, I was really struck by how many women I know bring home more bacon than their husbands.

I was just thinking about my situation after a discussion with a friend of mine last night. After I left the bank, I spent two and a half great years helping my kids start school while I finished a certificate program in creative writing and completed my first novel. My contribution to the household budget during this time—a day’s pay as a poll worker and a Christmas job at a bookstore. You guessed it, my awesome wife was the bread winner.

My friend, who has some great stories about his life, with recent periods of unemployment, said the one thing that has pulled his family through it all was his wife’s steady job.

My father was a salesman. A profession with erratic pay checks: some months could be awesome, some horribly bad. The thing that got us through these swings was my mother’s job at a local bank.

Similiar situations I'm aware of include: the contract TV worker–banker wife; pro bono lawyer–highly credentialed teacher wife; college student-supervisor wife; unemployed banker–V. P. wife; chef–V. P. wife; part-time professor-P.R. wife; among others.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying women are taking over the bread winner role across America or even California. When I drop off the kids at school 90% of the parents dropping the kids off are mothers. When I frequently volunteered in my son’s kindergarten class (an experience I wouldn’t give up for anything in the world) the teacher said I was the first stay-at-home dad she had helping out in the classroom and thought it was wonderful. When I went it to PTA meetings, I was one of the only men in a sea of women.

So I wonder, what is this phenomenon of women wearing the financial pants in the family today? Is it the record unemployment? Or has this how it’s always been, and I’ve just never noticed it. After reading a draft of this post to my wife, she said it’s always been the wife’s role to support her husband morally and emotionally in his work to realize his dreams. But fiscally, I asked. At this she shrugged.

I think back to stories about my grandmother. The woman who worked as a waitress in her husband’s restaurant to help make ends meet and made and sold her own beer during prohibition (which she claims was very popular).

Growing up, my dad had a shirt that said King John on it. And in his house, he was the law, even though he was often being out-earned by my mother who still did the cooking, laundry, helped with homework, etc. I’d like to think of myself as head of household (not like my dad however – my siblings and mother have said they’d send me down the river if that ever happened – you should’ve seen their faces when I asked my son one day, “What is the law?”). But when I filled out the taxes and indicated that my wife was head of household as she was the sole income earner, that “man in charge” title took a hit.

I find it interesting, that still today we have movies/shows about men rescuing the princess or girl from dire fiscal straits or she marries the rich man and thereby realizes her dream, when in our society there are many women rescuing men or supporting men so that they (men) can fulfill their dreams. I must say however, that when I tried to come up with movies to list as examples, I found it difficult to find recent movies fitting either pattern. I’ll admit most of the movies I watch are action-adventure where men are saving the day, but where finances play a little role. Although in many of the movies, the guys are lowlifes and the women who almost always are business women/successful leave them because they can’t hold a job but come back to him when he saves their life. I wonder what this says about society?). I did watch The Devil Wears Prada with a highly successful hard-nosed business woman and Mamma Mia where the female owner of an inn is in dire fiscal straits but is given a generous sum by a man to save it.

To close, I must say, I’m really glad there are female bread winners out there and that most of the ones I know mirror my mother rather than Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada.

Movie Review: Stark Trek

Awesome movie! Whoever was in charge of casting did an amazing job. Syler from Heroes as Spock was great choice. And while I know some purist might not enjoy some of the twists in the characters’ stories versus the old t.v. series, I thought the director, producers and writers stayed as true to the old characters while remaining as relevant to today as possible. (Although changing the famous line “going where no man has gone before” to “where no one has gone before” surprised me). There were laugh out loud funny parts and plenty of drama and space battles. There was little blood and no torture – big pluses in my book. Some parts of the story one just had to accept and move on, but it was easy to do so in this rip roaring adventure.

Great Military Historical T.V. Series

Now that the Sarah Connor Chronicles are over, I'm finding a dearth of good genre action adventure shows on broadcast t.v. Don't let me get started on Heroes.

Thankfully, last week my best friend told me about The Deadliest Warrior series on Spike T.V. (http://www.spike.com/show/31082) Fortunately, for those of us without cable, many cable networks play their most recent episodes of t.v. shows online. So I've had the opportunity to watch who would win in the following death matches: Ninja versus Spartan and Pirate versus Knight.

While the show is entertaining, it is also quite maddening. For example, in the Ninja versus Spartan fight, the ninja was weighed down with a ton of weapons. Sword, flash bombs, a sickle on a chain (I forgot the name), a blow gun and who knows what else. Plus he is a fighter used to fighting one on one and by stealth where as the Spartan is all about protecting the man on your left-team fighting-and fighting your enemy face to face. I guess that's the point. Pitting two very different fighters against each other. And while I was saying, no way he wouldn't do that, or carry all that gear, I must say the show was interesting. And it makes for a good discussion later when you pull for one guy and your buddy is pulling for another. I won't spoil the ending, just watch the cool five minute clip.



That being said I wanted something different tonight. Something with a slightly less reality/game show feel and didn't have a chance of upsetting me.

So I went to Hulu.com. On a post early last year, I raved about Hulu.com's free t.v. shows and movies and how they actually had all of the episodes of Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. While it is still a great site, it seems like they've gotten more into t.v. shows and less into movies this year. As I was searching t.v. shows as most of the the movies were pretty low quality, I there were quite a few links to History Channel t.v. shows.

Battle B.C. (http://www.history.com/content/battles-bc) is now my favorite new show (at least until and if The Sarah Connor Chronicles returns). It is the History Channel's new t.v. series where the greatest battles of antiquity are discussed by experts and replayed with cinematography reminiscent of Frank Miller's 300.

Tonight, I watched the episode discussing Alexander the Great's last major campaign-the invasion of India. It was awesome! If you love ancient military history, this series is for you.

Enjoy.

The New Bell Ringers for Charity

I’m sure everyone out there has been asked by their local grocer to donate money to charity.

I don’t remember when it started. Perhaps it was a year ago when I began noticing the clear plastic cans taped to the check-out counters asking for donations. Then about three months ago I remember being asked by my cashier if I wanted to donate a $1 to charity or round off my purchase to the nearest dollar. And now, not only is the cashier asking me if I want to donate to charity, the touchtone screen where you sign or key in your pin asks you if you want to donate to charity.

So I wondered, are the grocery stores really doing this out of the goodness of their hearts?

When all that was involved was taping a plastic container to the counter, I figured the charity put it there, someone came in once a week to collect the donations and then the container was taped back to the counter for another week, so there was no cost on the grocery store’s part.

But when grocery store cashiers started asking for donations, I started to wonder. I mean, they have obviously had training to ask for donations. The stores definitely put pressure on the cashiers to ask for donations. If the cashiers don’t ask, the customer receives a free 2-Liter soda, and I’m sure the employee would be reprimanded if that happened. Even if a cashier didn’t ask for a donation, I’m not sure I’d be willing to bust them because they didn’t ask. I'd probably thank them.

And now with the inclusion of the message on the touch screen that some computer programmer somewhere had to write the code for, and another to separate the donations from the rest of a customer’s purchase and then someone else in accounting cutting checks to the charities for the donated money, there is obviously a significant cost to the grocery store.

Again I ask, are the stores really doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? Are they really not comped in some way? At a minimum they must be receiving a write-off and the CEO probably receives a nice dinner and certificate at the end of the year by the charity for doing such a wonderful job. I wonder if the charities kick in any money to help train the staff--money that was donated to the cause?

I remember working at a large bank that made a huge push every year for their employees to contribute to a major charity. Sure it was all “volunteer”, but when every employee is required to return a form whether a donation is included or not, with a record of what you donated last year and how much you should contribute this year based on your salary, and departments are recognized based on their level of participation, it all gets a little seedy. Especially, when the scandal broke out in the 90’s about how almost all of that charity's money went to the people who ran the charity and for administrative costs and almost none of the money went to the people in need.

So again I wonder what the grocery store gets out of this pro bono work? Perhaps nothing, just a sense of doing something for the community. But what a great deal for the charities if that’s the case. The charities don’t have to pay people to stand outside the grocery stores begging for money. The charities actually have people working for them inside the store that potential donors have to talk to (we can’t avoid them by walking out the other door otherwise we’d be arrested for shoplifting), who they don’t have to pay. Grocery store employees that can use the peer pressure of those standing in line behind the targeted customer, or their familiarity with the customer to make their customers’ feel like a heel when they tell the cashier that they won’t round that .90 up to a dollar to help needy children.

Perhaps the grocery store's are trying to make up for their heavy handed tactics during the grocery strike--but I doubt it. Nothing's for free.

Tis the season of father-son dreams

Yes, tis the season all fathers and sons look forward to: Pinewood Derby season.

Boys join Cub Scouts and Indian Guides for any number of reasons, camping, hiking, to learn something new or to spend quality one-on-one time with a parent. But highest on every boy’s list, except for camping, has to be the Pinewood Derby races. That event when a father and son (and more father than son for the younger boys) has the opportunity to turn a block of wood into an awesome, silly, or bizarre-looking race car.

Last year my son said, "Daddy, I want a Batman car."

I looked at the rectangular-shaped block of pine, scratched my head and said, "How about if I paint a Batman symbol on it?" He said okay.

This year he said, "Daddy, I want Speed Racer."

Again I looked at the rectangular block of wood, scratched my head and said, "What if I paint an "M" on the front?"

"Okay," he said "but it has to have curves, fives here and here, a steering wheel, jumpers on the bottom, and a trunk."

"A trunk?" I asked.

"Yes, right here." He proceeded to show me his Matchbox Speed Racer and the line that symbolized the car's trunk. Needless to say this car took me the longest to do in the three years I have been "helping" my sons with their cars.




The Indian Guides’ big race was last Saturday. There are few times more exciting than when your son’s car is placed at the starting gate for its first race. That car you spent countless hours cutting, sanding, and painting to make it look just right. And the other hours you spent on the internet researching techniques to give your son's car that extra little edge that will keep him from ending up in last place at which time you will have to staunch your son’s tears by explaining that it’s not if you win or lose, but how you play the game, even though your stomach tightens when that obnoxious father bellows how great his son is because he won or when the other fathers start giving you advice on what you can do better next year. (Not that this ever happened to me mind you...)

So as I was saying, there are few times as exciting as that first race, when you have no idea how well your car will do. If that fire truck in lane one is really as slow as it looks; if that low-profile car shaped like a domino that is almost nothing but wheels and weights is really as fast as it looks; if the arrow car’s unique strategy of putting the weights on top the car will pay off; or if you added too much or too little graphite to the wheels of your son’s Speed Racer car.



To give you an idea of the intensity of the race, cars are raced multiple times against each other in various lanes to ensure, god forbid, one car doesn't have an advantage over another because one lane is faster than the other. (Lane 3 was the fastest this year.)

Another way to ensure fairness, the Indian Guides have instituted an electronic finish line which lights up the winner’s lane. But don’t think this clears up any controversy about who the winner is. When one car clearly lost a heat, but its lane light didn’t go off, the loser’s father insisted the heat be run again. And in the Cub Scouts, the finish line is computerized. Good thing too. Last year,the difference between the first and third place winning car times for the Tiger Cub races was a tenth of a second. Some individual races ended up as dead heats even though the computer could calculate a difference of a hundredth of a second.

Which brings us to the end of the race. Always in any race room I’ve been in – Guide or Scout -, you’ll always hear intense discussions amongst the fathers about why this car did well, or didn’t, what’s more important - weight placement or aerodynamics, and always the dreaded advice about what you should do next year.

In the end, my son in the Indian Guides reached the quarter finals making him extremely happy. The domino car was indeed as fast as it looked, never losing a heat. And my son received two third place awards: “fastest looking” and the People’s Choice Award for the “best overall car”.



Next week: the Cub Scout races.

Book Review: City of Thieves

My favorite book so far this year. Yes, it even tops John Scalzi’s The Lost Colony which had been my favorite book this year until now. Why did it beat out Scalzi? Because Scalzi’s was the third book in a series, and City of Thieves introduced me to a whole new world and new set of characters. Now if I had to compare it to Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, the first book in that series…but I digress, this is a review about City of Thieves.

So, why did I enjoy City of Thieves so much?

Great characters. Great writing.

It reconfirmed my love of military historical fiction: put two well-written characters that play well off each other in a historical, war-time setting, and that time period comes alive better than it ever could in a history book.
There are two things I wanted to mention about Benioff’s style that put this book so high on my list.

First, his ability to bring forth moments of levity during the siege of Leningrad with all of its associated horrors still has me wondering how he did it so effectively. To show that people still joke or worry about the most inane things when the bloodiest struggle in history is raging all around them brought a sense of verisimilitude to the story. But don’t let me lead you on the incorrect assumption that this is a comedy. It’s a tragedy, as all wars are. Benioff doesn’t shy away from or gloss over the horrors of the siege or the war. It’s there, we see it, but Benioff relates it in a way that is told as though it is a story and not real. I don’t know else to explain it. There is something about Benioff’s writing that keeps us that half-inch away from what is happening, as though we are an up close observer, not a participant, even though we’re seeing it through the protagonist’s POV.

An example is the heart-wrenching story of Zoya versus the murder of a woman in The Dresden File.. Both were scenes were detailed in their description, but there was no space or filter between me and what I saw in The Dresden Files. The scene in The Dresden Files gave me a real nightmare. City of Thieves somehow gave the reader a respite, a bit of space. Like at a funeral for a distant cousin, you’re sad it happened and sad for everyone’s loss, but there is a sense of relief that you are a step removed from the grief of those closest to the departed.

The second comment on style I wanted to make was how well the sentences in City of Thieves flowed. How after a long paragraph, or short, or exchange of dialogue, I’d go wow that was really good. And then I’d have to go back and see how he did it. Part of it was Benioff’s expertise in constructing long sentences and stacking short ones.

For example:

“A few people had theories on where they could be found: high-ranking army officers had them flown in from Moscow; farmers outside the city gave them to the Germans, along with butter and fresh milk, in exchange for their lives; an old man who lived near the Narva Gate kept chickens in a rooftop coop.”

and

“It only took them a few hours. She hadn’t gotten far. She was so weak…She’d been little to begin with, and she ‘d barely eaten a thing since she’d been here. They brought her back.”

If you want to read a fun, slightly bizarre, adventure story about two soldiers during World War II who were ordered to find a dozen eggs in a starving city for a wedding cake, this is your book.

I highly recommend it.

Book Review: The Lost Army of Cambyses

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up The Lost Army of Cambyses from my mother’s bookshelf. Being an aficionado of ancient history, I knew Cambyses was an ancient Persian King who died not long after he conquered Egypt. But I wondered why my mother didn’t initially offer this novel to me after she read it. She explained that it was a mystery novel set in modern times and she knew that I wasn’t a big mystery fan. (If you check my list of “Books Read” section , you’ll see most are historical fiction, historical non-fiction, science fiction, and action adventure.)

Standing in the hallway with the book in my hand, I decided to look at Chapter 1. Wouldn’t you know it, Chapter 1 started off in 523 B.C. with the lost army. I was hooked. Unfortunately, Chapter 1 was the only chapter set in that time period, but the novel kept me going with Sussman’s academic and detailed style. I say academic, because his use of grammar marks such as commas, semicolons and colons were placed so perfectly. It stood out in the way one of his characters mentioned you could tell the difference between hieroglyphic forgeries and the real thing: the forgeries were always perfect. I started to wonder if Sussman’s work had been translated. There seemed to be a simplicity to his style, yet it worked well with the novel’s setting, especially when we were in the Egyptian police officer’s perspective.

Sussman’s details created a great sense of place. From “the clutter of cement bags and paint pots” in the officers’ apartment for his fountain to the “towering wall of sand stretching right across his line of sight in a single, unbroken curve, with other higher dunes ranged behind it, like waves freeze-framed in the act of crashing down onto a beach. The outlying ranges of the Great Sand Sea.”

Sussman almost lost me when we he used his great attention to detail to dive into Tara’s emotional issues about her father and lover in chapter 3, but once I slogged through those 9 pages (out of 576), the novel really took off.

A good read.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a Pointless Killing.

Let me start by saying I really enjoy watching the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It’s one of only two shows I watch weekly. But what is up with killing off all of the characters in the Sarah Connor Chronicles? I know the season finale is next week, but what kind of finale can it be when you’ve already killed off three critical secondary characters and what I’d consider to be one of the main characters.
(A brief synopsis of the series is at the end of this post.)
Five weeks ago, John Connor’s girlfriend was killed.
Three weeks ago, Jessie, the traitorous woman who killed John’s girlfriend, was killed.
Two weeks ago, Charlie, an individual who we have not seen in months, but was an important part of John’s and Sarah’s life was killed.
And then last week, Derrick, John’s uncle, was killed.
Sarah Connor was arrested as well, but that’s no big deal. She’s escaped from jail before, but the killing of Derrick was huge. Let me be clear, what shocked me was not that he died – well, yes it did shock me – but how he was killed: quickly, in a situation totally unrealistic based on his military training and experience, and with his death serving no purpose but to remove him from the show.
He must’ve pissed off someone in real life.
Stay with me here and see how pointless his death was, especially compared to the demise of the minor characters.
John’s girlfriend was killed after having a bare-knuckle fight against Jessie the Traitor, because she figured out Jessie’s plan and wanted to protect John.
Jessie the Traitor was shot dead by her former lover, Derrick, even though John had told him to let her go. A surprise, but it made sense based on Derrick’s character.
Charlie being killed was a surprise as well, mainly because we hadn’t seen him in a long time. But he was killed protecting John in a hail of gunfire, sacrificing himself for the son he never had and it showed on his face when he made that decision.
Then Derrick was killed: the uncle who ate terminators for breakfast in the future and was integral to John’s survival in the present; the Rambo of the future, always cautious in his planning and movements and always carrying an insane amount of artillery. How does he die?
A lone terminator enters a house to kill a child. John, Sarah, Cameron, and Derrick (the four main characters) arrive on the scene and try to rescue the child. They know very little about her. But our heroes have put their lives on the line before for people we care little about, so I have no issue on why they go to the house.
John rescues the girl and Cameron takes on the terminator. Meanwhile, Sarah’s outside and Derrick is still in the house doing a sweep. He’s not running to save anyone, just doing a methodical search of the house for assailants. (Remember, this is Mr. Rambo.) So, he comes around a corner at the same time as the terminator. A look of surprise comes over his face, the terminator raises its gun, and shoots Derrick through the head. And that’s it. Main character gone. Mr. Rambo never got a shot off. The terminator goes outside, lines up John in his sights. Sarah comes out from cover blasting away to distract the terminator. Cameron comes out and throws the terminator off a cliff. We go back inside and see Derrick dead--bullet hole in the head with unstaring eyes and blood pooling underneath him. He definitely won’t be coming back.
What?!
Again, the entire scene at the house seemed very routine. Like another quick exchange of gunfire and then the heroes would be on their way. After all, it was only one terminator against the four heroes. And let me just add that with all the terminators running around in this series, terminators have gotten a whole lot less menacing. They’re not the invincible terminators of Schwarzenegger’s day.
Now, if Derek died at climatic moment in the story I’d be okay with him dying. For example, the good guys find out the girl’s mother’s company is hiding a terminator and they go to take the company and terminator down. Then the girl’s mom surprises Derrick. He realizes that she is yet another terminator and takes her on to save John, even though he knows it’s suicide.
But don’t kill Derrick with some lowly no-named terminator during a routine snatch and grab mission.
Perhaps it was the whole, anyone can die at any minute, or the injustice of war, but when someone watches a character for years, you’d hope their death would be a bit nobler or serve a higher purpose. They should have put Derrick on the pier sacrificing his life for John to redeem his mistake with Jessie, rather than Charlie (the guy we haven’t seen in months) if they were just going to kill him off anyway.
Perhaps the season’s final episode next week is also the series’ finale and that’s why everyone is dying off. Fine. But I’d kindly ask the producers, screenwriters, directors or whoever is calling the shots that when you kill off a principal character, their deaths should have a purpose, higher meaning, or be more significant than the deaths of the minor characters.
Very disappointing.

(Synopsis: In the future the machines take over the world. The champion of the humans is John Connor. The machines send a terminator back in time to kill John Connor before the big take over. John Connor sends back people and good terminators to help himself survive. Let the fun begin.)

Enjoying God of War

I finally cheated--and the result was wonderful.


Two years ago, my family received a Play Station 2 for Christmas. I even bought a game for myself that tied in to my interests in classical warfare--God of War. It's the story of a Greek soldier and his attempt to defeat the God of War, Ares.


The first two days playing the game were awesome. The storyline was engaging, the mini-movie sequences were done really well, and the game-play wasn't too difficult. (I will say God of War definitely deserves its Mature rating--there's blood everywhere.)


If you noticed, I said the first two days were awesome. The third day, I made it to a three-headed hydra. I fought the thing for two days, dying again and again and again. I could not figure out how to beat it. All I received were sore thumbs and lots of stress. I set the game aside and it collected dust ever since--until three days ago.


My boys found the game, said how cool it looked, and asked if they could play. Since my boys are not mature I said no, but their bringing the game to my attention got me interested in giving it another go.


That night, after fighting and being killed over and over again by the hydra, I googled the simple question: How do I defeat the Hydra in God of War? I thought, I can't be the only one who is having these problems.


Google came back with dozens of hits. Until this game, I'd always thought the game guides and walk throughs were for lazy people. I didn't realize these things were a necessity with today's complex games.

Here are the two websites that have helped me the most:


http://mycheats.1up.com/view/faq/2018842/28144/god_of_war/ps2


http://www.gamerhelp.com/ps2/GodofWar/113360.shtml


God of War has been so enjoyable ever since; the new adventures, new movies, and even a sense of accomplishment. 95% of the scenarios I've gotten through by myself, but when I've gotten stuck for fifteen minutes or so, I hop online again to see what I'm doing wrong.


Just because someone tells you how to do something, doesn't mean it's easy to do - but at least its doable.


My thumbs are happy and I'm enjoying myself.


Isn't that the point of a game?

The exciting world of grocery shopping

Today, I thought I'd either write about tar and feathering the AIG executives or review the movie Race to Witch Mountain. But I figured my experience at the market this week would be more entertaining.


(As an aside, I thought tarring and feathering the AIG execs was better than killing them as Senator Grassley had suggested. As for Witch Mountian, it was good fun. I recommend it.)


So I'm grocery shopping when a call goes out over the store's intercom for free samples of Starbucks. As any prudent man would do in these tough economic times, I quickly made my way to the Starbucks counter for my free Caramel Frappacino. Walking back to my cart, I noticed a makeshift stand where two young ladies stood promoting newspaper subscriptions. On the stand was a bowl filled with orange raffle tickets trying to win a store gift card.


I walked up and asked if I could fill out a ticket. One of the ladies said, "Yes, just write your name and phone number."


When I finished writing my name, one of the ladies said, "Your name and shoe size," and giggled.


Now being a man, I'll admit my writing hand shook for a moment. I hadn't been asked that question since I was in college. But being a fine upstanding citizen, I continued on with my area code. The lady leaned forward to see what I'd written and a hint of lavendar filled the air. "I said name and shoe size." Her tone was playful, .


I lifted up my pen, stood up, and looked at her. Her black pants and top fit her curvacious body well. Combined with her clear caramel skin, great smile and sleek, long hair, my heart increased its beat. I know I have a wife and kids, but what man couldn't get a little excited about a fine looking woman teasing him.


"That's quite bold," I said.


"I know." Her eyes sparkled.


The genie's warning from Aladding flashed through my mind, when he'd taken the form of a fighter pilot crash landing, Warning! Danger! Danger!


I quickly finished my phone number and dropped the ticket in the bowl. At which point she gave her official pitch, then I returned to my cart with my caramel frappacino and a spring in my step.


And no, I didn't subscribe.

Pasadena ArtNight, Spring ‘09

Last night my family went to Pasadena's wonderful ArtNight for the fourth time in 3 years. (http://www.artcenter.edu/artnight/) It’s a bi-annual event put on by the city of Pasadena where it is, according to its flyer, “an evening of free arts and & culture.” That’s right free. Free admission to museums such as the Norton Simon, Pasadena Museum of California Art, and Pacific Asia Museum and venues such as the Pasadena Jazz Institute, Pasadena Symphony and Shumei Arts Council. There are even free shuttles provided by the city to take visitors from place to place.

As we learned during our first visit three years ago, it is impossible to see everything in one night – there are 14 destinations – so plan your itinerary ahead of time.

While we have always had a good time, this time was great. In years past, the only destination focused on children was the Pasadena Central Library (plays, crafts, story time and dance performances). This year my boys really enjoyed the Pacific Asia Museum's Samurai Re-imagined exhibit and live performance of The Cricket on the Mound; the Pasadena Museum of California Art's Mars Orbiter and solar powered robots exhibit as well as its graffiti-art covered garage; and the Shumei Arts Council's awesome Taiko drum and Koto concert. Alas, we only made three venues out of the 14, but what an awesome three!

I can’t wait until the next ArtNight, Friday October 9,2009!

(4 second clip of Makoto Taiko)

Full Service

I was driving through the tree-lined streets of San Marino when I realized I was driving on fumes. I pulled into the first gas station I saw, a former Union 76 that had been whitewashed and now had someone’s name on it. Great, I thought, it’s one of those generic gas stations where they probably cut their gas with water. But whether it was the crappiest sludge in L.A. or not, I needed fuel right then and there.

So I pulled up to the pump and got of my car, only to see a man in a black sweatshirt standing beside my car’s gas tank.

“Fill ‘er up or how much do you want?” he said.

I stared at him dumbfounded. Transient who wants to pump my gas for a tip? I thought. But he didn’t look like a transient. His clothes were clean and he was freshly shaved, and it was San Marino after all. I looked at the gas pump and noticed there was no slot for a credit card or numbered keypad. About the time he asked me how much again, I saw the collared shirt beneath his sweatshirt and realized he was a gas station attendant.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I did not realize I was in full service.” There was a .40 cent difference between self- and full-service.

I turned to open my car door, when he said, “No I’ll fill it up for that price,” and he pointed to a big white and blue sign on the street corner that listed the self-service price. I said are you sure? He said yeah. (I know, lame question on my part.)

So he stuck in the pump and walked up to a Mercedes parked in front of me that he had just serviced. He handed the driver a blue plastic clipboard with a credit card stuck in the top, waited for her to sign, then returned to his little booth as the car drove away.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Then a black Suburban pulled up across from me. The attendant walked up to the driver’s door as a middle-aged woman opened it to get out. A blankness came over her face, then a clenched jaw, then a confused acceptance that he wasn’t going to mug her, as he explained he was going to pump her gas—a sequence of expressions that had probably mimicked my own.

Mind you, this whole time I had been standing outside my car unsure what to do with myself. I didn’t feel like getting in my hot car and just sitting there. It seemed foolish. Although looking back, it probably looked more foolish standing beside my door watching a gas station attendant make his rounds.

When my gas pump dinged, the attendant came over, topped it off, and asked for my credit card. At this point, all the wonderful horror stories and warnings of stolen credit card numbers came rushing through my head. Don’t let your credit card leave your sight, much less your possession. Did he have one of those little copiers over there, so he could make a duplicate of my card? Was he planning a trip to Vegas?

After someone had used one my credit cards for an extravagant trip to Vegas, I’d been extremely vigilant on where my cards went. But I was stuck. I didn’t have any cash and I had to pay somehow, so with a sense of dread, I handed over my card.

He came back a minute later, my card stick sticking out of the little plastic tray with a receipt to sign: just how it was done when I was a kid. At this point, I thought, hey, this is kinda cool.

I said thanks and was on my way. Although, I was left wondering if my card was about to fund someone else’s trip to Vegas, or if I just had a very nice unexpected experience. I’ll wait until my next credit card statement to see if I’ll visit that gas station again.

Books Into Movies

I received the Watchmen graphic novel for Christmas and for the first time in a long time, read a book before the movie came out. While the novel's good, albeit very "graphic" (see my review), I feel a little bummed out when I see the movie previews. It looks like an amazing movie with great special effects, but I already know what's going to happen. Even worse, I read a review in the L.A. Times where the director mentioned how he tried to be faithful to every page of the comic. Where's the fun in watching the movie if you know every intricate plot twist?

Going the opposite direction, I just started The Golden Compass on the recommendation of a friend. I read to page 32 and had to put the book down. I've seen the movie and know exactly what's going to happen. I keep trying to tell myself, this minor part wasn't in the movie, or I couldn't know Lyra's thought process before, or the writing is good, but I found myself spending an inordinate amount of energy trying to pretend and hope that the book would be different. Not the way I want to spend a week or so of the precious little free time I have in my life.

Bummer.

Book Review: The Killer Angels

Solid historical novel. It gave me a very good understanding of the motivations and rationale of the key generals at the Battle of Gettysburg. Sometimes motivations don't come across in a history book. But here, in a novel, Shaara was able to tell the reader why each man thought the decision he made was a good one, and if he followed a decision that he felt was bad, why he followed it.
The fight scenes themselves were taut, gripping and emotional: Buford's defense, Little Round Top, Pickett's charge.
Some of the introspection, which was great and provided so much insight into the characters, could get a little long.

The Killer Angels is a really good read if you have any interest in the Civil War.

First Lady Hairstyles

I'm not one with a superb sense of fashion, but what is up with the Hilary Clinton look alikes. The White House must have a strict regulation on a first lady's hairstyle. I mean look at Hilary Clinton and Laura Bush and the latest photos of Michelle Obama. At least Michelle hasn't lopped off the back of her hair yet, only pinned it up and styled the front to be a Clinton-a-like. If she lops off the back, then we'll know there is indeed a Stepford regulation in the White House.

Here's Michelle's latest picture:

http://www.stylelist.com/celebrity-style/style-evolution/michelle-obama

CA Budget Crisis

A very interesting article on one of the ways in which the California State budget has been a time bomb waiting to explode and how the tax breaks for the few, severly hurt the many.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ross19-2009feb19,0,3825360.story

Book Review: The Alchemist

The story was much different from the types of books I normally read-a novelized self-help book. The novel definitely had a unique voice and tone. I did enjoy the overall message about following your dreams, no matter how many curveballs life throws you, and good things will happen.


A number of people recommended this novel to me. After reading it, I’m surprised at a couple of people's recommendations considering The Alchemist’s heavy religious symbolism and content.

I couldn’t follow every line of reasoning. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to.

I enjoyed the protagonists’ journey through new lands, but was glad the book was really short.

My principal criticism is that I got lost in some of the philosophy.

Book Review: The Lost Colony

Awesome book! Awesome series. The second book was good, but I couldn't get over the switched perspective. Book 1 and 3(this one) were in John Perry's pov and they were definately the best. The character of John Perry is so well written it didn't matter where Scalzi put him, I was engaged. Book One took place almost entirely in space with far out technology. This one was primarily on backward worlds with old tools. It was the writing, pacing and great characters that had me fly through the book. I must say I am really bummed when he wrote in his afterword that this would be the last book in this universe. By far my favorite book this year - even though he left one minor thread untied.

No More Science Fair

I was shocked to read in my son's school's newsletter that his elementary school has decided to do away with their science fair – except fourth grade.

Instead, his highly-ranked school has planned a Mad Science demonstration, a Super Scientist Night with scientist from the local community showing off their projects, and three teacher-guided in-class science projects to meet grade-level standards.

While these are really, really great activities to get children excited about science, it seems to me the next logical step would be to cap off the year with a science fair where children get to make and present their own project based on what they learned.

Perhaps I’m being selfish having enjoyed science fairs as a child and helping my son with his project last year, but isn't participating in a science fair a right of passage? See Jimmy Neutron or Meet the Robinsons or any other plethora of children's movies or books based on a school's science fair. Our local library has an entire shelf devoted to science fair projects.

I feel there is something to be said for a child planning out his own experiment, conducting research, creating a display, learning something new and presenting it to class. Not to mention pride in showing it off to his friends and family. Last year's science fair was packed with families taking pictures of their kids standing next to their projects.

My son had asked me twice this year when his school would have its science fair. When I told him I learned that there wouldn’t be one, he had a noticeable frown.

A teacher mentioned they didn't believe in at-home projects in general because they put a burden on time-starved families, and in many cases, the parents do most of the work anyway.

I understand that rationale, but even if some parents did do most of the work, the child still has some input on the project, learns something new, and has to present it to their class thereby improving numerous skills.

And if the concern is too much of a time-burden on the parents, perhaps schools could make participation in the science fair optional like the PTA’s Reflections Campaign or the talent show, instead of canceling the fair outright.

To take science fairs out of a child's experience really sucks. I hope this isn’t a national trend.

Book Review: The Orc King

As in Salvatore's other books chronicling the adventures of the dark elf, Drizzit, he does a wonderful job maintaining the voice of all of his characters. No mean feat, considering Salvatore jumps into and out of at least ten different character's perspectives throughout the novel which keeps the narrative flowing. If there is one character or one thread a reader doesn't particularly care for, you know you won't have to read about him/her long before you switch out to another character.

And Salvatore's pacing and battle scenes are done exceptionally well. That being said, I am not too fond of the one on one sword duels as they can be overly detailed slowing down the pace.

One draw back is if you've never read one of Salvatorre's many novels on Drizzit's previous adventures, you may feel a bit left out as there are multiple references to previous novels. I have not read every Drizzit book and so there were a couple of references that I didn't understand. It didn't bother me, too much, but one should be warned. The novel does stand alone, with a straight forward plot, but it's just some of the back stories may not be completely clear.

I flew through the novel and am looking forward to the next one in the series.