Deep in the heart of Texas

I spent the Easter weekend visiting kinfolk in Texas. We got in the Buick van, equipped with two child seats, and plenty of other seats for the grownups and dogs, and we were off. We traveled about two hundred miles, passing farms and cattle ranches throughout Texas. The signs are different in Texas. In addition to the religious slogans I passed a store with the name "Condoms to go". Never remember seeing one of those back east.

In Texas they aren't afraid of fracking. They have it in public parks in Dallas and even below the runways at DFW. Oil derricks pumping oil are a common sight in the parking lots of shopping malls. Yep.

The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Tyler Rose festival museum. Here we learned the history of the Tyler Rose Festival, especially the crowning of the queen and got to see dresses with trains that extend about one hundred feet. I guess they do things big in Texas.

The food was good. Nothing like barbecue with pinto beans and cornbread. Still it's nice to be back where they know how to make a decent pizza and don't say y'all every two minutes.

Easter thoughts

Easter is a major holiday in the Catholic church. Although not as eventful as Christmas, the ending of Lent, the new suit and the dinner spent with relatives in your new clothes make it a special day. Or at least, a day a little bit out of the ordinary. Lent is the period where you are supposed to give up something (like candy) and put your extra dimes in mite boxes. After Easter you can stuff yourself. The altar at church is purple during Lent but white on the big day.

Good Friday is a day off from school. If it is late enough in the year, it is traditionally a good day to plant gardens. My mother said she was taught that whatever goes into the ground on Good Friday will come out of the ground. I guess that is why grumpy relatives are never buried on that day.

Holy Saturday I remember decorating eggs with the Paas kit. I notice now they recommend coloring eggs using the Internet. Well in my day... I also remember hiding eggs around the house. One fall day my mother discovered an egg under the couch when she was vacuuming. It was getting a bit gamy by then. I don't remember public Easter egg hunts like the kids get nowadays. They seem like fun. Easter Sunday you put on your new suit. I remember walking up and down Kaplan Avenue with my new suit and tie. Never again would the suit be so clean.

The weirdest Easter I can remember is when my aunt died. Uncle Joe and a forlorn looking Philip showed up at the house. The relatives tried to look cheerful. Another Easter I remember we didn't have that many people, maybe a bachelor aunt or two. By the afternoon I was starting to yawn. Then I looked out the window. Black clouds were everywhere. Frankie's market had burned down again. We all ran to see the fire. That saved the day for me.

Editor's note: Yesterday I passed a rabbit on the way to work. I wished it a Happy Easter.

Windows XP

I remember working in a public library on the  Y2K project. It was a really big deal. The head of technical services insisted on disconnecting all the computers from power sources in case there was a power surge. The theory was that at midnight, New century's eve, fires might break out, destroying all the library's computers. It was a scary time. I think he would have turned off the hot water heater if the door to the maintenance room wasn't locked.

Now we are in a somewhat similar situation. Many of us, due to complacency, poverty, or just procrastination,  still have XP on at least one of our computers. Yet we all have been told that on April 8 Microsoft will no longer support Windows XP. It has not risen to the level yet of people unplugging their desktops in case their computers catch fire on that day. Still, it is worrisome. Oh My, what are we going to do?

Microsoft wants us all to buy Windows 8. Unfortunately that costs over a hundred dollars and older computers oftentimes don't have enough juice to run the thing. One suggestion I have heard is using Ubunto and switching to Linux. That may work but some of us are afraid of Linux. What happens if we can't get email on the thing? Linux. Oh My!!!

One thing I heard is that if you use Google Chrome as a search engine and ITunes to listen to audio you may be okay for a while. That seems the easiest, if not the safest solution. Sort of like taking aspirin to ward off a heart attack.

Editor's note: I have installed Ubuntu on an old notebook of mine. Seems to work, but it's a liitle klutzy. I like the way it gives you jungle drums instead of beeping at you if you do something wrong.

Final thoughts on Los Angeles

This post will end my California quintet, five posts about life and travels in L-A. Here are a few things  I wanted to mention.

• The Getty Center. It is really bigger than life. On the top of a mountain, you have to take a train from the parking garage to get there. It is huge, several buildings and the walkway has beautiful views of the surrounding area. It is hard to describe but it has a very large collection and is totally different than any museum I have ever seen. Since I was there on a Saturday, I missed the sacrifices, but otherwise it was a fascinating visit.

• Most American bars will have a few craft beers but the places I went to in L-A were almost entirely dominated by craft beers. Also a lot of bars are beer and wine only. A few meat items on the menu, but lots of vegetarian dishes. I have never ate a quinoa dish in a bar before my trip to California. As expected, there are Asian and Mexican restaurants of infinite variety.

• Roads are actually quite good in L-A. Having a GPS makes a big difference though. Just because I said the roads are good does not mean they are not overcrowded. There is free parking on most of the side streets, but they limit you by hours. I did see a lot of buses and even a train line so it is possible, though not necessarily convenient, to get around without a car. Lots of bicycle riders and they seem to be of all ages.

• The beaches are beautiful, have surfers and thousands of young people, and are crowded. Nice trip but not cheap. The only thing that is free are the beaches (but not beach parking).  Bring your wallet if you go.

Editor's note: On my last day I was woken up by an earthquake. I guess somebody wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on anything.

Cassette tapes

Yes, admittedly records are hip again. I will probably never be able to get rid of my record collection. Now, my eyes have wandered over to my tape cassettes. Perhaps they can be given the heave-ho. No, now cassette tapes are hip again. I can understand, old cassette tapes, especially the home made ones, can be full of untapped mysteries. Who knows what is on them? Yes the label may say the Kinks, but how do we know the cassette is nothing but the Kinks? How do we know I didn't talk into the microphone at the end? Perhaps Aunt Lizzie sneezes at the end. The only recording of Aunt Lizzie still extant.

It can be fun to play old cassettes. Most of them are still playable. It was the first medium where average people could make their own mixes. The more adventurous of us also used the microphone to tape voices, our cars and our pets. Tapes from the radio. Tapes from our singles collection. Tapes from television shows.  I just discovered I had a tape of a radio show dedicated to the life of Ernest Hemingway which featured Lil Abner's Al Capp giving a critique on the man. Theoretically I could transfer them all to CD but the amount of work for a non-retired man is too great. Cassette tapes are part of  the flotsam and jetsam sum of our lives. They may be irrelevant but they are our flotsam and jetsam. 

Editor's note: I just found the Hemingway show on YouTube. Maybe I can give some of my cassettes the heave-ho after all. 

Neville Chamberlain

I guess I'm a Neville Chamberlain. Accommodate people. Live and let live. Let Russia have the Crimea. We don't want it. Can we do anything with Crimea? No. Do we want to pay more for gasoline because of Crimea? No. Do we want to pay more taxes for the sake of Crimea? No. Let them have it. 

Yes, if you haven't seen it yet, Broad City is worth a look. Good fast paced fun.

Maids

Actually it's great to be home. Home in the ice and snow, away from all the warm weather and surfboards and bicycle paths that is Southern California. It's great to be back home in my own bed and dirty sheets. Making my  own coffee and gulping it down because I'm late for work. Yes it's great to be your own man in your own unkempt  home.

The thing about hotel rooms is you have maids. Before you leave the room you have to clean up so the maid won't think you're a slob. Then you come home at noon and the room still isn't made up. You leave again at three and by four the maid has cleaned the room. I remember I had an aunt once as a kid who had a maid. She complained to my mother that on the day the maid came she had to wake up early and clean the house so the maid wouldn't know how sloppy her family was.

I think the thing with servants:  ie gardeners, maids, chauffeurs, valets, etc. is that to pull it off you have to grow up with "help". If you grow up in a house with "help" you learn not to worry about what the servants think of you. You don't care, they are there to serve you, not the other way around. When my mother got older she had a maid and a gardener. I was visiting once and made a mess in the bathroom. I got yelled at because the maid had to pick up my towels and mop up the water I spilled on the floor. I left a bad impression on the maid.

I guess we all want outsiders to think we are better than we really are. It's like sampling the wine in front of the waiter in a fancy restaurant. As if we could really tell if the wine was lousy.