There's no blind spot when the top is down

There’s no blind spot when the top is down
It was really great to drive home on the freeways from school on Saturday with the top down. Being able to enjoy the California sun and drive fast is sort of compensated for having a class that ran until 5:20 PM.

When the top is down, there is no blind spot for me to worry about.

Perfectomundo.

The wind turbulence was not very bad when I was driving at around 75 miles per hour. My University of Utah baseball cap stayed on without any trouble or constant adjustment on my part. I have to learn to glance over at the speedometer and not look at the tachometer that is positioned over the steering wheel.

I think I will need to reconsider my baseball hat. I’m not certain that the red cap goes well with the British racing green color of the car.

The MINI is very responsive and agile. This makes lane changes almost fun for me.

I had thought about comparing the MINI with the Prelude.

I thought some more and concluded that was a useless exercise on my part. For example, the Prelude has a bigger engine but it is a heavier car so it should have a bigger engine. The MINI gets better mileage because its engine and engine management technology are state of the art while the Prelude’s technology is over twenty years old.

In the end, it is like what so many medieval monks did after vespers. They would argue over warm beer, obviously a bad start for clear headed thinking, just how many angels can stand on the head of pin.

A pointless exercise even with warm beer.

Monday, I am going to read my owner’s manual; all 175 pages of it. Then, I will be able to select and set the radio to my favorite stations and figure out how to work the ventilation system and the air conditioning.

Looking Ahead
This is a medical week for me. I get to see the colorectal surgeons on Wednesday afternoon. This is a six month follow up to the January operation. I am not expecting much of anything to come from the meeting. I will go and make the doctors feel good while they look at my scar and ask me lots of questions. Hopefully, I will not be abandoned by the doctors in the examination room.

I tried to talk the doctors out of having me take a blood test they ordered for me. I have never been that fond of or happy to undergo a blood test. It is one that Dr. Karen orders every three months. It always comes back negative. With a little luck, the bruise from the test last week will have faded by the time of the appointment.

After spending time with the surgeons, I am going to walk over the hospital for Dr. Karen’s regular blood tests. Oh joy, more blood tests.

Friday is my final appointment with Dr. Karen. She is finishing her fellowship and will leave the hospital’s oncology clinic at the end of the month. I have asked her to see that I get put on a nice, new fellowship doctor’s panel until she can get established in private practice, hopefully in Southern California so I can continue to see and be treated by her, and I can get my medical insurance figured out.


Be well and stay happy.

The MINI and Me and Not Mini-Me

The MINI and Me and Not Mini-Me
I finally drove the MINI home on Thursday afternoon after Alex the Saleswoman gave me a quick run through of the more important features of the MINI like how to start it and operate the convertible top.




This is Alex trying to show me how to operate the MINI.

Very useful stuff.


That small gauge to the left of the tachometer is the Openometer. It records how long the convertible top has been open.

Alex was able to synchronize my cell phone with the MINI so now I can receive phone calls while I and driving, assuming for the moment that I would pick the call up. I can now also call out from the car in a mostly hands free mode.

No more Borg like ear piece that rarely seemed to work for me.

I suppose some of you may be wondering why I only took the car home on Thursday when I signed the purchase order last Saturday. Good question. I had planned to pick the MINI up on Tuesday because Doug would be around and would be able to drive me to the dealership and take some appropriate photos of the event.

Alex, and I do not know what Alex is short for, discovered what she thought was a minor problem on Monday. The passenger’s side window did not go all of the way up. In the Summer, this would only be a minor inconvenience since we don’t get much in the way or rain in Southern California, the Winter would be a different matter.

Alex thought the problem could be corrected by the time we came to pick up the MINI on Tuesday. Regrettably, this was not the case.

Alex told us the car was still in the shop and the mechanics were not having much success in finding the cause of the trouble. She told us that would be Doug and me that the mechanics had reprogrammed the car’s computer and changed two modules and had been unable to resolve the window problem.

Obviously, I was disappointed as I had planned to drive the MINI to class on Tuesday night.

Alex almost squealed with delight when I gave her a modest thank you gift for her effort and for finding the defect in the MINI before I took it home.

Alex likes chocolate brownies. Doesn’t everyone?

I described the small Fairy Tale Brownie calorie cluster bomb; it only contained 12 assorted brownies. I could almost see the calories running up Alex’s slender fingers and onward to parts of the body that no one wants to see calories cluster. I warned Alex about the dangers of uncontrolled consumption of the 400 calorie brownies and the consequences for which I would not be responsible. I also discovered that neither one of us likes nuts in our brownies.

I’m uncertain if Alex was paying attention to me or not. I think she was focused on the brownies.

Alex said she would call me on Wednesday when the car was finished. I thanked her for her efforts of my behalf.

Doug and I left the dealership to have lunch at Jerry’s Deli. It was noontime and I wasn’t going to be driving my new car anytime soon. We had a very good lunch; I had a corned beef sandwich and Doug had turkey pastrami sandwich.

I received Alex’s message when I got home from school around 10:40 PM. Alex had called earlier that night to let me know the mechanics had been unsuccessful and that the shop foreman was now working on the MINI. Alex said she would call me on Wednesday and let me know how the repairs were progressing.

Alex called me on Wednesday to say that the problem was still being worked on and that it appeared to be a wiring problem. I thanked her for the new information and expressed my hope that the problem would soon be resolved.

Thursday proved to be a much better day for me and the MINI.

Alex called to let me know the problem had been fixed. It was a wiring problem that came from the factory. The factory did not put a lock nut on a wiring junction so that resulted in an intermittent connection; sometimes the widow would work and sometimes it would not.

Alex then asked how I wanted to take delivery of the MINI. She was prepared to drive the MINI to my flat and show me everything here. I said that might not be necessary because Doug was going to stay overnight at the flat. I would call him to see if he could arrive earlier and take me to the dealership.

Doug arrived early and drove me to the dealership where I picked up the MINI.


I am still getting used to the car. I do like the way it handles and performs. I didn’t pay attention to Alex’s explanation of the radio and CD player very well. Alex made a CD for me, complete with a Hello Kitty sticker. I will be reading the almost 200 page owner’s manual this weekend.

I can operate the convertible top.

Perfectomundo.

As I look back on this interesting series of twists and turns, I feel confident that Alex did all that she could to insure my satisfaction. Obviously, it would be totally wrong to assign any blame or fault to Alex. The dealership did everything it could to make things right with me.

While I don’t have much experience in buying cars, this was the first one in almost 22 years for me, I consider Alex to be a highly competent, professional saleswoman. Alex exceeded my expectations.

I’m not certain if Alex can walk on water successfully or not. In my mind, if Alex tried to walk on water, she would only get her toes wet and possibly her ankles on occasion.

I can highly recommend both Alex and South Bay MINI for those of you who are locals and in the market for a new vehicle.


Be well and stay happy.

Car Shopping with Doug

Car shopping with Doug
Doug and I went car shopping on Saturday for my new car.

We planned to visit four dealers primarily to see about features that could not displayed or answered clearly from an online source. One of the questions was could I find a comfortable seat. This sounds simple but I have had a stiff back since 1968 when I was tossed into the binnacle of the good ship USS Leonard F. Mason after a rogue wave hit the beam of the ship on the midwatch.

Another question was how large was the driver’s side blind spot. This was important since I drive a lot on the freeways of Southern California. I will have to change lanes and I want to be able to look over my left shoulder to be sure there is nothing there so I can change lanes safely. I was planning to purchase a smaller sized car so I was properly concerned with this consideration.

My plan was to visit the dealerships Saturday and then analyze the benefits and features of each vehicle. Then, I would make and select a model. The next step would be to solicit online price quotations from local dealers on Sunday.

Monday was going to be devoted to negotiation for the car. Tuesday or Wednesday would have been new car pick up day.

Our first stop was at the Scion dealer. We both liked the Scion tc. It met all of my requirements. I especially liked the dark charcoal color. The seats were comfortable and the blind spot was acceptable. The headroom was a little on the tight side but manageable. The saleswoman Lindsey was helpful.

We left the dealership and headed to the MINI dealer. We figured that we didn’t need to stop at the Honda dealership to look at the Civic since we were so familiar with the Honda product line.

One of the MINIs we first saw was a 2009 convertible in red with a black top. I had discussed color choices with Doug and red was an acceptable color for me. I was giving up driving black cars for now. Unfortunately for us, the red convertible was sold.

We did see a British racing green MINI convertible. It was a new 2009 model with a USD$4,500 discount on the window and it had an automatic transmission.

I know some of the readers may gasp at the idea of driving a MINI with an automatic transmission. Those of you who do have never driven in Southern California traffic during the commute times. I have burned out several clutches in earlier cars because of the constant shifting that is required with this type of driving. If I am going to be stuck in traffic, I want to have as much comfort as possible.

Doug wanted me to get a car with a navigation system. A navigation system was a USD$2,000 extra. I can find my way around well enough on my own. I can use maps; I know that is old fashioned but maps never crash or need to be rebooted. If I have to go to a new place, I can always rely on MSN Maps.

Alex the saleswoman opened the car for me so I could see if I could sit in the seats. The seats were the optional sports seats and they fit me perfectly and provided full support for my back. I hated to get out of the car.

Doug was not thrilled with the green color since he is a true Los Angeles Lakers fan. He said it looked the Boston Celtics color. I said it was a much darker color.

The blind spot was acceptable and would be close to zero when I would drive with the top down. There is nothing in the way of storage beyond the back seat which is really a shelf in the shape of a seat.

We left the MINI dealership and headed for the possible last stop at the Nissan dealership to look at the Altima coupe. Since we were traveling on surface streets, we had plenty of time to talk about car choices.

Doug said that since this was most likely the last car that I will ever buy because I tend to drive them into the ground, I ought to buy the car that would provide me with the most enjoyment. We discussed this concept for a while.

Mentally, Doug was correct. I should buy the car that will give me the most enjoyment. I decided to buy a 2009 MINI convertible. So, I turned around and drove back to the MINI dealer and Alex the saleswoman.

Doug did the right thing by questioning me about my decision. I went through my analysis and decision process. All I was doing was compressing the time frame somewhat.

Doug said that he thought all of the discussion about looking at other cars was just a mental cover so I could feel good about buying another Honda. I told him that my plan, from the beginning, was to find the best car for me.

We found Alex the saleswoman. She was surprised to see us back at her dealership. Alex was with another customer so I asked to see her when she was free. Alex said that we could come inside the dealership and wait for her. We stayed outside and looked at the various models.

After we waited inside for a few minutes, Alex was free. She wanted to know what brought us back and I said that I wanted to buy a car and that I thought she could help me. Alex smiled. I asked if she had a red 2009 convertible with an automatic transmission available. She said no. Red would have been my first color choice primarily because red is Utah’s color.

One of the silly features on the MINI is an openmeter. It tracks the amount of time the top is down. Alex said it was part of a promotion in 2009 when the convertible was introduced. I will have to see how much time I can run up on the meter this Summer. I ought to be able to log a few hours since I live in Southern California. Doug said I might lose my red Utah baseball hat if I drove around with the top down. I said that I could wear my hat backwards.

Doug said, “Noooooo, Dad, don’t do that.”

Anyway.

I bought the British racing green MINI. Doug’s girl friend, the Mademoiselle, thought it was very nice. He sent her a photo of the car with his iPhone. I phoned the Princess to let her know since she learned how to drive on the Prelude. She was out or not answering so I left her a message.

I will pick the MINI up on late Tuesday morning and try to get a photo of me and the car posted a day or so after that.

The more I think about the MINI, the happier I am with the decision. I pointed out to Doug that I could smoke a cigar in the MINI if I wanted to with the top down. Doug said that I shouldn’t smoke at all. I said that it has been almost three years since I smoked a cigar.

I am looking forward to driving to school on Tuesday night in the new car.

Cinema
I saw IRONMAN 2 and PRINCE OF PERSIA last week. Doug saw SPLICE with his Movie Club. He thought it was similar to an early David Cronenberg film with the rather graphic sequences. He did say that he enjoyed the film as did most of the Club members.

Both of my films were completely satisfying as Summer mindless escape, action films. They fit the genre very well. I thought dialogue in IRONMAN was much better than the first film. It seemed to have a much tighter flow for me. I was intrigued by the introduction – crossover of the Avengers and Nick Fury. I am looking forward to seeing that film on the big screen in the next year or so.

The PRINCE OF PERSIA was one of those sand and sandal films that always seem to hook me in. Granted, it was mostly spectacular CGI scenes, panoramic vistas, and sword fighting. The dialogue was on the thin side. Still, it was enjoyable. I hope the sequel follows the usual Hollywood pattern of the first sequel being the best film of the trilogy; remember THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK?

I can recommend these films because they are excellent Summer films that don’t require any great thought or involvement to enjoy.

The Blog Visitors
May was a fairly decent month for blog traffic. We had 504 visitors who stopped by to look at 579 unique pages. January 1, 2007 is still the traffic leader. The current blog page is in second place.

I do appreciate all of you who stop by and visit the blog.

Lunch with beautiful women or it’s wonderful week for Charles
My Friend Sharon
I had lunch with my friend and former co-worker Sharon on Friday. Sharon brought her assistant along for lunch. We went to the Elephant Bar in Riverside for lunch because we can agree on the menu. I mentioned this to Doug yesterday and he said that was a really, really long drive just for lunch.

Sharon said that I always ordered hamburgers and that is not always correct. I do order hamburgers from time to time. I also order other things on the menu like the specials for example. I mentioned a restaurant, the Parkway Grill, that Sharon and I and some other staffers would go to in Pasadena and she agreed that I never ordered a hamburger there; she said I ordered fish. I said I ordered one of the specials; fish was always one of the specials.

Sharon brought her assistant along because Sharon’s boss had given her an impossible task and Sharon thought I could come up with a solution.

After thinking for a while, I concluded that there was no simple solution short of industrial espionage. I didn’t recommend that solution. I did think some more and came up with a solution that could work and would be likely to provide a perhaps 60% solution to the problem. I even gave Sharon and Kay, her assistant, a simple way to test the proposed solution.

Since it was just after Chuckay, my month long birthday celebration, Sharon bough the lunch. That was very nice of her. I had a Cobb salad that was marginally healthy for me once you looked past all of the sodium and calories in it.

Sharon thought that I had lost a lot more weight. She hadn’t seen me since the January operation. I said I was just slightly over my goal weight of 175 pounds because of Chuckay. I said the goal weight was what I weighed when I graduated from high school, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Sharon sighed. Her weight loss program has not been as successful as mine has been for me. I don’t recommend having major surgery for colon cancer as a successful diet plan though.

Vivian and Lisa
I had lunch today with my friends Vivian and Lisa. We used to work at the same office of a bank that has since failed and been sold off to another institution. We always have lunch together at the L. A. Food Show; we like the food there and it is a semi-central location except for Lisa who has to drive a bit to join Vivian and me. I compensate Lisa by driving out towards her home for lunches without Vivian.

It has been close to a year or maybe a bit longer since we last had lunch. We spent most of the time catching up with each others' lives. My life is still dull and boring. Vivian and Lisa had gone through a great deal in the last year or so with the failure of the bank and subsequent sale in December.

Vivian is working at a new bank with some people from the old bank. Lisa seems to be sticking with the bank that acquired parts of our former employer. They are sending her off for training so that is always a good sign.

Our lunch ended too early today. But, then, it always seems to end too early for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Mr. Chips Moment

Mr. Chips Moment
I had a Mr. Chips moment at school last week.

I had given one of my former students some suggestions on topics for her bachelor’s thesis. My student has never been one to think actively about her class work. Usually, her course projects in my classes have either been completed, poorly I might add, the night before or in the minutes before she was to present the project.

By suggesting some topics to her, I was hoping against hope that she might find one that caught her interest and would even begin thinking about it. She wandered into my Friday evening class last week to tell me that she was really happy with one of the topics and that she had already started to research it further.

On her way out of my class, she turned, smiled, and said, “Good one Reinhardt.”

That made me feel very good.

I had successfully reached a student and got her thinking about her thesis a quarter early. Maybe I am a good teacher after all.

Monday Was Earthquake Day
Monday was earthquake day at the beach.

I think I slept through the first earthquake in the swarm of ten or eleven quakes that were centered in an area about four or five miles off the coast of Hermosa Beach, about five or six miles from the flat. The first one was in the early morning hours around 2:00 AM or so. It was a 3.5 on the Richter Scale. There some aftershocks that ranged from 1.5 to 2.3.

There were two, 1.8s aftershocks during the day. There was also a 2.3 quake and a 2.7 quake. These quakes preceded and I am not certain if that is the proper description or term to use here a 3.7 quake that hit a 5:00 PM.

I was typing on the computer when the quake struck. There was no rolling motion with these quakes. It was more a stiff shaking sensation.

Naturally, there were some more aftershocks that included a 2.7 quake, a 2.3 and a bunch of aftershocks in the 1.8 to 1.5 range.

I suppose the most troubling thing to me was the quakes seemed to be centered on an unmarked fault line at the USGS earthquake web site. Of course, the fault line could have been too minor to warrant a place on the map. After all, Southern California is earthquake country. Alternatively, this could have been an unknown fault line because it had had no significant activity in recent memory.

If I wanted to avoid earthquakes, I would live in Salt Lake City.

Election Day
One of the great benefits of the primary election was the end of robot political phone calls. It will also make the end of political junk mail that filled my mailbox during the campaign season. I was getting five to six political phone calls a day.

I voted around 9:00 AM or about two hours after the polls opened. I was the eleventh person registered in the political party to have cast his or her vote. That didn’t seem like much of a turnout to me.

Break Weather
The weather is not cooperating to make my quarter break pleasant. The local weather pattern is usually described as low clouds and fog along the coast that may stay around all day. Another description is June gloom.

Today was the earliest that the sun made an appearance at my flat. It became sunny at about 2:30 PM. It will probably be gone by 5:00 PM or so.

So much for sunny Southern California and living at the beach today.


Be well and stay happy.

Odd and Ends

Molly the Stylist
I went into see Molly the Stylist last Wednesday for my regular haircut or styling as she likes to call it.

I indulged Molly by stopping by the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and picking up her current favorite beverage from there, a large iced vanilla latte. I had my usual large ice blended, half mocha and half white chocolate with decaffeinated coffee and whipped cream. Mine was very good and Molly’s must have been good as well, judging by the size of the gulps she took.

We talked about my hair length. I had wanted it longer and Molly had thought that I wanted it shorter for the Summer. We agreed to let it grow longer for now anyway. I will have another chance to revisit the question in early July.

I had shaved my moustache off in the last week of May and this was the first time that Molly had seen the new. Molly said she liked the new look.

Molly also said she liked the moustache when I grew it last Fall.

Teaching
I finished up with my last class on Friday night and worked on my electronic grade books during the day.

I took my three Friday night students out for a beer after their course project presentation. They have been in ten or eleven classes with me and this was their last class with me. They only have two more classes to take and then they will graduate in September. I will not be teaching those classes. It was a very nice way to finish off the quarter.

This was the first quarter in a long time that I did not have a single student fail any of the courses. Microeconomics is the toughest course that I teach and I believe it is the most difficult class in the entire school.

My schedule for next quarter seems to be set at four classes; old ones and two new ones. That is not too bad for me.

Dr. Karen and Me
Friday was my regular appointment with Dr. Karen.

My appointment was scheduled for 10:30 but Nurse Linda said I “would be the first one to see Dr. Karen today.” It certainly pays to take care of and remember the nurses.

Dr. Karen said the MRI and the CT scan both showed the two spots on the right lobe of my liver as unchanged. This is what we had thought the results would be. My other tests were all normal. My platelet count was up to 112; this was the first time in maybe a year that it has been over 110.

We talked about the condition of my hands. The Xeloda that I take for chemotherapy has a side effect of severely drying my hands. The skin on my fingers of my right hand is starting to crack at the joints. My left hand is only beginning to show signs of the cracking. Dr. Karen said that she might have to change or reduce the medication dosage soon.

Odds and Ends
Our primary election takes place on Tuesday. This means the auto dialer phone calls will stop and my mailbox will have less junk mail in it.

The weather forecast for this week, my quarter break week, is mostly calling for overcast skies at the beach all week long. Naturally, it was sunny last week when I had to go to school.

I’m reading a book on the fall of Rome. I have no idea why I purchased the book. It is interesting for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Return of the Crows

Return of the Crows
The crows have returned to the park that is next to my building.

This is a yearly ritual with me and the crows. The crows returning to the park has been going on for at least fifteen years and perhaps even longer. They usually have arrived earlier in the past, typically in April. They seem to stay for two months or so and then leave.

I was reading on the balcony when I first heard them and then I saw the crows. I think there were about twenty in the flock. They seem to like the tall eucalyptus trees for some reason. There are pine trees in the park but they are much lower.

While I do not hate the crows; their loud, constant cawing does ruin or spoil my reading time on the balcony. I suppose that I will have a difficult time this quarter at school because I have always graded the Summer Quarter assignments out on the balcony. Sometimes, I take one of my Dutch buddies [a can of cold Heineken’s] with me to keep me company. I think that I may require more than one can to make it through the grading session.

[Full and fair disclosure; I receive no compensation for mentioning Heineken's beer in the blog.]

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly or How was my CT scan today
I had my once every six months CT Scan this morning. This is not how I like to start my mornings.

The Ugly part of a CT Scan has been the reactive dye agent that I have had to swallow. Doug says it smells like wall paper paste. It tastes much worse I think. The Bad part is being stuck with a needle for a reactive dye agent IV. The Good part is that it is a quick procedure and there is no narrow tube to be stuck in as with an MRI procedure.

Today was my lucky day. I only had an IV instead of the dye combination. This is a very good part of the procedure for me.

Perfectomundo.

The Bad part was the technician needed to stab me in three different veins before he could get the IV needle in my arm.

I will get the results on Friday when I see Dr. Karen.


Be well and stay happy.