via Google Maps

I was unborn when the Cuba stuff happened (Batista good, Castro bad).

Yep, 50+ years ago.

Today, President Obama has tried – as much as he can – to make the Cuba just another country we do business with.

As a non-Cuban, I applaud. (I only mention this because, if I were a Cuban/Cuban-American, my views may differ.)

While Cuba does have a spotty human-rights record, so do a lot of other countries we consider allies: China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and so on. And the thaw for former adversaries is not without precedent for President Obama: Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar (formerly Burma) in November 2011 in an effort to get that country – also known for its spotty human-rights record – back onto the world stage. There, the spotlight might make the country a little less oppressive.

With Cuba, the issue is mainly political, but if you put that aside, our shunning of Cuba makes no sense (note – Obama did not lift the embargo – only Congress can do that, which he encouraged them to do). It’s a island 90 miles off Key West, FL, and all our posturing has done has helped oppressive Cuban leaders stay in power by playing off the anti-American animus. Now that that’s gone, and more American business and people go there, the more the average Cuban will learn about America. NOTE: Again, this will be slow progress, as the embargo severely limits what Obama – and American business/people – can do with regard to the island nation.

Critics of Obama’s Cuban actions are already painting the President’s moves as rewarding our enemies. But how is this a reward? When the US put these punitive measures in place, Castro’s government was in power. It still is today. Oh, 55 years later, we’re saying we support the overthrow? Please….

Why not open trade and relations with Cuba? The past is past; let’s be realistic about the present.

WATCHING:
The Fault In Our Stars
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe

Rom-sob – Teen(s) sick, gunna die…

But well done – and yes, there is a twist.

Whatev.

I liked – and would recommend – but will I revisit? Nah. Will tweens (esp. women) re-watch? Yeppers. Hot guy, empowered woman.

Overall, good watch. Some fun wordplay in the dialog – it’s mainly a movie about relationships, so not big on special effects. Words – and Woodley’s & Elgort’s performances – make this movie.

One complaint – I found Willem Dafoe oddly miscast. He has a small – but pivotal – part, as a washed-up writer important to Woodley’s character. It’s so small, he never really gets you buy into his character, you just watch him and think “Hey, that’s Willem Dafoe!”.

All movies

On Thanksgiving Day 2014, Kevin Drum posted the following blog post: I’m Pretty Thankful This Year. Here’s Why.

As usual, it was a well-written entry, but the reason he’s thankful is set out very elegantly and is hard to dispute. Drum, who was diagnosed with cancer this year, had this to say about how his cancer was discovered and how all the gears (insurance, first responders, hospitals, work) meshed around his new reality (emphasis added):

So sure: cancer sucks. But how many people who go through it have all this? Not many. Some have money problems. Some have work problems. Some are on their own. Some have lousy or nonexistent health insurance. Some get inadequate treatment. I have none of those problems. I am lucky almost beyond belief.

And one more thing: health care is suddenly a lot more real to me than ever before. Sure, I’ve always favored universal health care as a policy position. But now? It’s all I can do to wonder why anyone, no matter how principled their beliefs, would want to deny the kind of care I’ve gotten to even a single person. Not grudging, bare-bones care that’s an endless nightmare of stress and bill collectors. Decent, generous care that the richest country in the richest era in human history can easily afford.

Why wouldn’t you want that for everyone? It beggars the imagination.

When Joni Ernst ran (and won) for the Iowa Senate seat in 2014, one of the things she ran on was weakening the safety net. Obamacare bad; we should get back to the days where local food pantries and church rummage sales helped feed and clothe the less fortunate. It’s a valid argument, but it really doesn’t stand up in today’s world. (Note: Not singling out Ernst; just an example painted with broad strokes.)

Today, many don’t know their neighbors – especially if one doesn’t have kids. That nostalgic look back at how community once was is just that – nostalgia. Not reality. To be sure, it still happens (see below), but not to a degree that could even begin to replace something like Food Stamps or other wide-ranging government programs.

Community/friends helping out does still happen – I have someone close to me who has been in the hospital for a couple of months with some serious issues. Yes, months.

And his neighbors and friends are helping out. Doing the “winterization” chores that are needed but he can’t do and so on.

But without health insurance, he’d be in a bad place. I don’t know the deductible and so on details, but with insurance, they’ll be able to hold onto their house. Savings might get depleted, but still have the house.

Now imagine them – or anyone else – with an expensive health issue, like Drum’s. And they’ve lost their job and health insurance. And since – because of actions like Sen. Ernst endorses (remember, this is “now imagine…”) – Obamacare has been repealed, they can’t get insurance due to cost/pre-exisiting condition or what have you. Are they going to get the specialists, the expensive medicine that will prolong their lives?

No.

Will some people game the system to live off the Safety Net (food stamps, welfare, unemployment insurance….)? Of course – that’s human nature. I don’t defend nor condone these abuses, but it’s a reality.

But we’re talking about life and death, and – to a certain extent – the moral imperative. It’s a Christian imperative to help others, but this seems lost in the political chatter. Don’t like Obamacare? Create a better solution. Don’t like food stamps? Find a way to help starving children (at the least) eat. Why would one – especially the Christian Right (which seems most upset over these “handouts”) – object to doing “what Christ taught”?

Yes, it beggars the imagination.

Groundhog Day, 2011.
We got hammered

We feed a lot of wild critters in our backyard, and judging by the way they’ve recently been packing away the food, we’re in for a hard winter.

I bought our first snow blower last week – an attempt to stave off the brutal winter I see coming. (Like washing your car guarantees rain…reverse psychology.)

We’ll see what happens, but the threat of a hard winter made me think of 2011, when – on Groundhog’s Day – we got dumped on.

Look at that picture: Were it not for the antenna and wipers, it just looks like a weirdly-shaped snow drift. It was a powdery snow (thankfully), but it still took some time and effort to dig out of it all. (Why I never posted this pic but on da Facebook escapes me…fun pic)

Here’s to hoping this year does not bring a repeat of this snowpocalypse.

Old:

Newer – 2005:

GE Stove – 2014:

Back in 2005, we finally replaced the old, flesh-toned Caloric stove that came with the house with a fairly expensive stainless steel KitchenAid stove.

Should be the last stove we’ll even buy, right?

Not so much.

After nine years with the $1500 KitchenAid range – and $700+ in attempted repairs – it was time to cut our losses and get a new stove.

Bottom picture – a GE range that, so far, works.

We ditched the Caloric (top pic) for the simple reason that the oven wasn’t “as advertised” – Pizza in 12 minutes? Make it 15 and so on. Don’t know if was the age of the stove or design flaw, but the “having to guess oven cook times” was an issue. It came with the house, and since it was probably 20-30 years old, there were other issues, as well.

So we got a kick-ass, shiny KitchenAid stove.

Much good about it, but its basic flaw was simple: The oven (very) often would not start. Click click of the electronic starter and …. nothing. A week ago Saturday, I put a tray of enchiladas in the stove, fired it up, and all was good.

That’s the last time the stove started. We’ve tried literally dozens of times over the past week, and nothing. And this is, unfortunately, not unusual.

I mean, at the very base level, a stove should have burners and an oven that turn on (and then, unlike the Caloric, pass the other silly issues…). But. Burners start. Oven start. Base level.

The KitchenAid – after multiple “repairs” – never met this base level. (Burners: Good. Oven: Crapshoot.)

Hence new stove.

I don’t want to be writing about this stove in a few years/few repair visits….

I followed the run-up to the 2014 mid-term elections fairly closely (mainly on a national level), and – after last night’s election returns – I have two main take-aways from the whole process:

• Neither side really ran on what they would do in the future – ya know, if you elect me I’ll do this/that. Republicans ran – pretty successfully – on a “we’re not Obama” platform; Democrats – much less successfully – ran on “war on women” and so on. Both sides rooted in the past; what’cha going to do for me after I vote for you? __silence__
• The craploads of money – usually outside money poured into this election is: awesome, obscene, WTF? Take your pick. Just seems …. wrong …

I’ve been purchasing Dell Computers since before they were labeled “Dell” – they were PCs Unlimited, if I recall correctly.

I purchased a PC Unlimted 80286 (w/o math co-processor) with a then-girlfriend as our first computer around 1990(?).

It “just worked.” (Sound familiar?)

Since that time, I’ve personally purchased probably a dozen Dell-branded machines for personal use, and the same number for others for their personal/business use. And – with the occasional Gateway or Acer tossed in – have had Dell desktops at wherever I worked.

I’m a fan of the Dell desktops (for laptops, prefer ThinkPads or Macs).

That is, until recently.

Why?

Hard Drives.

Now, hard drive failure is a fact of life. That said, I’ve personally – on my home desktop units – have had only two disk failures over the dozen or so Dell desktops I’ve personally purchased – this goes back to the Pentium Pro model I purchased back in ~ 1998: More than a decade ago (hint: I recently put this machine offline not because of HD failure, but because the HD was too small [80G]). I’ve never personally had a HD failure on a work desktop.

Yet two of the three failures have been over the last three Dell’s purchased – going back only two years.

At work currently, the same has happened. New computers’ disks failing. (Not mine, but on others’ Dells.)

Why? Mainly because the quality of hard drives Dell is putting into computers is declining. At work, most (NEW!) desktops have 2.5″ heights (mobile device height) vs. 3.5″ heights. So there might be heat issues – in laptops, they account for heat in HDs; in desktops, not so much.

And the drives – even when full-height (3.5″) – are Seagates.

Seagate drives, even the low-end models – used to be good. Not so much now.

The “two drives in last thee computers” have been Seagate drives. I’ve put in WD Blue drives; no issues to date.

Doing the same at work.

Hey – I’m and my fellow workers are dorks. What happens when some poor schmuck buys a Dell with a crap HD, and – when that HD dies?

Yeah, he buys another Dell….

Well, we spent the last business week (M-F) in Oregon.

Below is an overview of what we saw/ate/drank there.

NOTE: Filling in the blanks; updates as needed.

Beginning to fill out the Oregon 2014 gallery, slow process….

Update: 11/16/2014: Last the Oregon 2014 gallery picture posted. Whew! That only took a couple of months..more may be added, but I’ve finished the first “hard” pass.

Paramount Hotel

Rogue Brewery, Shakespeare Oatmeal Ale

Powell’s – a book-lovers love

Best breakfast in the Pearl District.

Portland, OR: Drive a Prius. It’s the law.

Keep Oregon/Portland Weird. Done.

Food trucks, Pearl District, Portland, OR.

Portland, OR

Yes, we used Portland as our launching pad for day trips around Portland.

And we spent a fair amount of time walking around Portland (esp. north of Taylor).

• Our hotel – the Paramount (on Taylor between 9th and 10th) seemed blah at first, but – ultimately – a good choice. Suicide balcony (only a couple of feet deep) enuf to view stuff. No Mt. Hoot view, but a good view to the (newish) park across the street.
• The unofficial motto of Portland is “Keep Portland Weird.” Portland has succeeded. City that is very hipster, brew-pubed, bike-laned and so on.
• Portland = Prius. I’m sorry, but it must be a law: Live/drive in Portland, you must have a Toyota Prius. Yes, I’m being factitious, but I’ve never seen so many Prius vehicles – taxi, delivery, personal – in such a small place. Not a complaint; just an observation (Prius vehicles were everywhere).
• In the Pearl District (north of Burnside?), lots of brew pubs. Not a bad thing.
• Powell’s Book Store – Best bookstore ever??? Book lover’s delight; trust me. And it seemed to be a fair mix of locals and tourists.
• While the seafood was excellent – especially compared to Chicago – it wasn’t as plentiful as I expected. I.e. I expected a broader range of seafood. Seattle, in my mind, had much more seafood to chose from: steamer clams, fish, crab, and so on.
• That said (re: seafood), I ate quite of bit of the meats of the waters out in Portland and on daily trips. Had oysters twice – once fried in a breakfast, and a half-dozen raw. Probably the first time I’ve had oysters since we were in DC, in 2010.
• Speaking of food, Portland has a plethora of food trucks/trailers, at least in the Pearl District (older part of town, near Powell’s). One empty half-block was completely surrounded on its perimeter by food trucks, and they grouped in other areas, as well. And the variety! Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern…you name it, they pretty much had it (I don’t think I saw a hot dog truck…hmm…). The one downside – for me – is that they all sold meals, not snacks. In Seattle’s Pike Place Market, there were small food stalls where you just get an oyster or two, one chicken satay, a couple of steamed pot-stickers or what-have-you. That was nice. In Portland, it was all meals as best as I could tell. Good for the workers there, however: You could eat lunch and/or dinner for months without repeating a meal.
• Overall, I liked Portland a lot – Romy, not as much. So your mileage may vary….
• Speaking of “mileage” – one of the reasons I liked Portland better than Romy was that she did the driving. And Portland is a bad city to drive/get out of. Narrow streets (reminiscent of Boston – North Side [Italian] and Southie [Irish]), a cluster of one-way streets, and – mainly – virtually no signage. Getting OUT of Portland was a challenge. Yes, river city, but – not until you’re on the bridge (point of no return) is there a sign that says “yeah, you’re on 5/405…”. Yikes.
• From the little we observed, Portland seems like a pretty tolerant city, at least in the parts of the city we walked. Gay couples holding hand, goths with half-shaved heads (hair blue), older 1960-refuguees, bike riders, Prius drivers, recyclers…all seem welcome in Portland. That’s a good thing. We ran across few African-Americans or Hispanics, but – again – it may be the part of the city we we in. Kinda striking, however. Not a family area, either – the young kids we saw appeared to be, for the most part, tourists.

Astoria

Breakfast in Astoria
Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro

Astoria Column
From the base, looking up

Haystack Rock
Cannon Beach, OR

Lighthouse, Cape Meares, OR

NW Coast, OR
For our first full day in Oregon, we headed west to the town of Astoria – ostensibly an artsy tourist town on the mouth of the Columbia River – and then to the Pacific Coast. Our longest day on the road mileage-wise.

• Astoria, our first stop, was kind of a bust. Maybe we missed something, but it was not what we were expecting. While it had some interesting old structures – and is perched on the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean – it just seemed like a tired, sad town. We were expecting Saugatuck or St. Joseph, MI. Weird. Had a great breakfast there at what appeared to be somewhat of a locals’ hangout (we always aim for these for breakfasts): eggs benedict with fried oysters. Yum.
• The one bright point of Astoria the the Astoria Column. Perched on the top of a hill overlooking Astoria is the 125-ft-tall column. It was build in 1926, and the exterior frieze, covering the entire height of the column (minus base and top) depicts historical Oregon events. We were able to climb up the tower, and the view was great. A little early in the morning, so the hills to the east were indistinct, but very pretty. Recommended.
• After Astoria, we headed out to Pacific coast. We saw Haystack Rocks – pretty, but not all that was advertised (“one of the most photographed areas on the Pacific coast” or something like that) – and a little further south down the coast, toured a small, decommissioned lighthouse – the Cape Meares Lighthouse. That was interesting. The views around the lighthouse were impressive, as the area is not beach-coastal, it’s a cliff area. Lots of birds around, but they are too far away to see with a normal camera.
• We drove back to Portland by cutting through Tillamook State Forest (along the Wilson River). Went through a couple of tunnels, which for us Midwesterners, was different, but nothing remarkable otherwise.

Columbia River Gorge

East up the Columbia

Bridal Falls

Triple Falls

Bonneville Dam

Vista House
Overlooking Columbia Gorge

On Day Two (Wednesday, 9/10), we headed east along the Columbia River into the Columbia River Gorge.

Now, don’t get me wrong – it’s a beautiful area, and the Columbia River is a muscular band of water snaking through hills, cliffs and past multitudes of waterfalls.

But it’s just not striking in the way Mount Rainier, Glacier National Park or the Badlands were. Nothing about it really takes you breath away like the Going Into the Sun Road in Glacier, or any of the hundreds of just unworldly formations in the Badlands. Even the buttes and weathered sandstone hills in Santa Fe were, to me, more interesting than the Columbia River Gorge, overall.

That said….

• On the east side of the river – the path we took – there are heavily forested hills that rapidly rise to almost 1,000 feet above the Columbia. Waterfalls abound. Many are quite close to the riverside drive (Rt. 30) – Horsetail, Multnomah – and some are quite a hike into the hills (see Triple Falls, below).
• Triple Falls – The sign said 1.8 miles to Triple Falls. I don’t know. It took us an hour to descend from the falls back to the trail head. It was, in places, a fairly rough trail, but still, it seemed like a lot further than 1.8 miles. Ah, we are just lazy suburbanites… The fall was nice, but not worth that much effort. Oh well, we climbed, we saw, we descended. And we never have to to to that again.
• Vista House – On the top of a bluff overlooking the river/gorge is a odd structure called Vista House, replete with stained glass, marble interior and brass rails. Completed in 1918, the building is basically just an empty shell that affords view in every direction. Actually, the more impressive view is when you head a little further west, and – in the town of Corbett – you look back and view the Vista House on its rocky bluff, with the mighty river and hills behind it. That would be a nice shot at sunrise or sunset.
• We drove as far east as Hood River (the town, approximately 60 miles east of Portland), and we tried out a brew-pub there, Full Sail Brewing Company. Good beer and good burgers on an outdoor deck. Oregon seems serious about their beer! Nothing else exceptional about the town.
• On our way back to Portland, we stopped at the Bonneville Dam, because, why not? Kind of a letdown, in that we couldn’t really get close to the dam, much less on it. (Hungry Horse Dam in Montana was fun for that reason – we couldn’t go into the dam, but we could walk across it.) There were fish ladders for the salmon, however, and inside the visitor center there was a wall of windows looking at the submerged fish working their way upstream. Kind of fun. But that was about it.

Again – very pretty area, but just not as impressive as other geography/structures we’ve seen. I guess we’re getting picky….

Willamette Valley

Eats

Grapes – Willamette Valley, OR

Grape vines/hiles – Willamette Valley, OR

Erath Winery tasting room- Willamette Valley, OR

On Day Three, we headed south to Dundee, OR – the heart of the Willamette Valley wine country. It’s amazingly close to Portland, less than 30 miles.

It was a bit different than I expected. I expected rolling hill covered by grapevines as far as the eye could see, but it was a little different than that. It seems like the valley is more agriculturally oriented, and the vineyards are on the hills. It was actually a kinda run-down looking town: Something you’d see tooling down the blue highways (secondary roads) in the Midwest, not the hub of one of the country’s premier wine centers. Huh.

• We headed out to Dundee early in the morning, and even after having breakfast at a local eatery, we still had time to kill before the tasting rooms opened (11am). On our way down, Romy had noticed a sign for something called the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. So we backtracked a dozen or so miles to check it out. Now, the west has had a real drought recently, and while I’m sure the refuge would be flush with wildlife in wetter weather (see this Google Map view), the wetlands and river in it were almost bone dry. We did see a couple of blue herors (one it a puddle; one in flight) and some muskrats, but not much else. Couldn’t even see any turtles in the river, and I would expect them there. Was nice to wander around in, but – given the drought – nothing special. Oh well, at least we didn’t pass it up and then later kick ourselves for that choice.
• Erath Winery – We decided on visiting this winery for three reasons: 1) The Willamette Valley is famous for their Pinot Noirs; 2) We’ve had one of their Pinot Noirs, and it was quite good; 3) A review online made it sound like a good fit. So we headed there. We got a “wine flight” – a $10 tasting of four or five wines (which we split), one white (Pinot grigio). Very good stuff. We purchased a half case of assorted wines ($5 delivery!), and I had a full glass of the best-of-the-bunch pinot noirs. The winery was nice – I had expected it to more rustic, but at least here, up in the hills, surrounded by grape arbors, it was more like what I was expecting from wine country.
• After Erath, we headed back into town (Dundee) to hit the Argyle Winery’s tasting room – it was recommended by an Erath “barista” (what do you call the person who pours the wine for taste tests??). We had another flight there, including a great sparkling wine (a white). Argyle has one of the best labels – in a graphics sense – out there, simple but elegant.

We could have hit more wineries, but still have to drive back and all that, so after Argyle we called it a day.

We drove back to Portland and just walked around – hitting by the river and bridges and so on.

Taylor
Taylor

Pensive Cat
Taylor attempting to look thoughtful

One Happy Kitty
Taylor, lounging in her bed

Cat Napping (trying to)
Taylor finding the sun

Taylor
Taylor checking out the camera…

Taylor Yawns
Big cat yawn!

Shy Taylor
Taylor all racked out

Just file under “c” for cat/crazy
Taylor just climbs in empty file cabinet.

Taylor Controls the Window
Taylor in bed

Taylor and Mouse
Ah, her current hot toy…

Taylor – happy kitty
We survived the blizzard of 2/2011 – Happy Kat!

You lookin’ at me?
Taylor chilling in her bed; rough being a cat

Sure, “only the good die young.”

Whatever.

We had to put down our 15-year-old cat today. (14 years old? Hard to say, we adopted her – and our other cat – when they were no longer kittens.) Not an easy decision, not made any easier when her last day was “a good day.”

Sparing the details, it got to the point where Taylor was not herself – and not like an average cat. Something serious was amiss. Hate doing it, but it had to be done.

For a cat, 14-15 years – that’s a long existence – and we can spin all the good but still…

Sucks. We do and will miss Taylor. She had a plethora of, well, idiosyncrasies – good and bad – that gave her quite the personality.

Our other cat – Koko – is more your typical “Kat”: Yeah, leave a message and I’ll get back to you whenever. Or mebbe never…

But Taylor was more social, more in-your-face, more demanding of attention/food/treats. Again, good and bad – but after she’s gone, even the “bad” (mainly “annoying”) are remembered fondly. That’s human nature.

And, for your viewing pleasure, some pics of Taylor over the years (the one on the top is the oldest, shortly after we got her). Click for larger images.

WATCHING:
American Hustle
Starring: Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner

Synopsis: Two small-time grifters run afoul of an aggressive FBI agent. To minimize their potential penalty, they agree to help the FBI pull down bigger fish.

And then everyone gets in over their heads…

Oh – and Jennifer Lawrence is the crazy estranged wife who believes she is controlling everything…while she is blowing everything up.

Great 70’s style (explosion at the wig factory!!), slow start but amazing ending.

Not what I was expecting, but totally worth a watch. Great performances by all, but Lawrence and Bale (Lawrence is Bale’s estranged wife) really shine.

All movies

We finally saw a “new” movie this past weekend, and the more I reflect back on it, the better it gets.

Not great cinema, but a weird (which is good) story line with actors really nailing it.

The ending was a nice twist – not Sixth Sense twist, but, well, appropriate.

What do I mean by “False Equivalencies”? (In this post.)

I live in the Chicago area, so let’s use a sports metaphor (baseball teams): If I like/love the Cubs, I must hate the White Sox.

Which may be true for some, but not for me. That’s a false equivalency.

Stuff (yeah, nice bucket) has gotten so partisan lately; here’s my off-the-to-of-my-head list of stuff where false equivalency is implied (not for me, but in media reports/political spin):

• Criticise anything Israel does that you disagree with – You’re an anti-Semite
• Not riled up about the so-called Ground Zero Mosque – You’re with the terrorists
• Agree with any gun-control issues – You’re against the 2nd Amendment
• For Gay Marriage – You’re against the institution of marriage … which is???
• For anything the Democrats are pushing – You’re a libtard
• For anything the Republicans are pushing – Tea Party loon!

It’s sad, really.