Good morning all:

“We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.” ~ Alan Turing

My morning coffee gives pause for a bit of reflection on the life of this man, the intellectual father of modern day computing, a mathematician who had a major impact on the defeat of Nazism through his Enigma code-breaking. A person who during his short 42 years was ridiculed, ignored, and derided. Whose life demonstrated that being different is often horribly difficult.

We’re back – in the city—at least for a few days. Just a bit south of Toledo we tuned in on WLW 700 (the nation’s station) to get caught up on the ‘Nati’s happenings. The first we heard was something about the city’s financial shortfall and a proposal to jack up property taxes. Then, more about the ongoing mess for a hugely costly boondoggle to build a streetcar to nowhere; here the power company says that it plans to pass the $13 million costs for moving the utilities that need to be relocated for the streetcar on to the consumers. Welcome home!

Adrianne had dinner waiting for us when we rolled in a little after six pm. Vai was laying in wait for us with major hugs and Vili had that look of who are these strange old folk? Absolutely spontaneous Vai then broke out into a proper rendition of “Who let the Dogs Out – woof woof, woof woof?” complete with attitude and head jerking. Kids learn so much at school.

I’ve already begun the quest for a new phone carrier to allow for connectivity when we return north. Again, I have been reminded that the cellular phone companies with whatever training they give their young little retail counter employees do NOT focus on ethics! As a consumer it always appears as if I am watching a masterful shell game which can never be won. A couple of hours spent on CNET.com proved valuable. Also, I returned a call to bro George when, per happenstance, I happened to call as he was inside a Verizon store in Naples, FL (probably paying his bill minutes before the big disconnect). He promptly handed the phone over to the tech there who I then talked with. Slowly I have gotten some answers. Before I am through I will have had a “business ethics” discussion with the guys “serving” me.

Pleasant moments – are found everywhere. We joined neighborhood friends for a wonderful evening at Adult Night at the neighborhood pool club. Food was supplied by a sandwich wagon where we could select from over 50 different styles of hot-dogs. Fabulous! The person in front of me ordered the Italian Mussolini Dog which was carefully loaded into the bun head down. I had a Greek Gyro, and in concern for what Greece is going through was served sans meat (just joking). Marcia had a Chicago Dog which had a hot pepper buried in the depths of the sauces—as homage to the ‘gotcha’ Chicago gave us with the last big election.

The big plans for being part of Paddlefest 2012 and doing the 8+ miles on the Ohio River in my Kayak have been scrapped (otherwise, by now I’d already be paddling and not writing). Since I signed up Marin has gotten into Soapbox Derby racing and as it turns out, he’s quite good. He’s advanced to the city wide and shortly after this post I’ll head over to watch him go careening down the hill. I felt watching Marin race much more important than paddling–what was I thinking? Last evening he told me that’s he’s spent a whole bunch of time this past week with steel wool and grease trying to optimize his performance. I’ll kayak around the lake as payment when we get back.

Animal Planet –I’ve always advocated to occasionally “stop and smell the roses”. Driving back to the cabin we passed what was literally a field of purple Lupines. Though, one person (name begins with the letter ‘M’), said to just keep on going and come back some other day, we stopped. Marlene and I got some beautiful photos of a magnificent sea of color and the lighting was brilliant.

It’s common wisdom that a good gauge as to the health of an area is by the size of its frog population. Our northern woods are very healthy! Bull frogs and their musical blasts provide a full blown chorus. Look down at the shoreline by our little cabin and it comes alive with the little guys.

Make it a great week everyone. A very Happy Birthday to Tevita (we’re celebrating tomorrow). Then celebrate for Marin who is heading north with us as a solo venture out when we return north later in the week – a first for him! We’re excited and he is ecstatic. Cathy, Jason, and Dinah will be joining a few days later to celebrate the 4th with us up north. Again, we’re ecstatic!

By the way – last weekend’s ‘huge’ auction – much hyped in last week’s post – was a bit of a bust. At least by my standards; way too few tools and way too many crappy bits of glassware. Marcia stayed and I got banished to the nearby town library. But then, since Vern was the auctioneer and how could she not stay and then miss his happy banter.

Cheers,
Dirk