Prescience vs. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

I was out a bar by myself for a while last night.   I was waiting for someone to join me, but she was going to be pretty late, so I had plenty of time to hang out.   I used to spend time like that watching people and then forgetting all about them later.   Now that I’m a writer, I take studious notes about what I see so that I can write about it later.  I was doing that last night quite a bit.   I take my little notes and then text them to myself.    I can read back over my text stream the next day and seeing my running commentary on things. 

My companion sent me a text while I was sitting there, updating me on when I should expect her.   I thought to myself, it would be funny if I accidentally sent my blog notes to her instead of myself.   They would certainly seem out of context and probably wouldn’t have any of the usual interpersonal filters that we use when communicating with someone.   I filed that thought away as “highly improbable”.  You can probably guess where this is going.

After several notes to myself had been successfully sent, several beers had been consumed, and several arrival updates had been received, I made the mistake of sending one of my personal notes to my companion.    It was a pretty good one.   Here it is verbatim…

“Free vodka shots.   One vanilla, one chocolate.  Taste the same, not like vodka.   Young girls hocking.”

One of the things I like about texting my notes to myself is that I get immediate feedback that it has been sent, by means of the arriving copy making my phone vibrate.   When that vibration didn’t come, I realized my mistake.   Oh well, luckily it was all explainable.

I give you all of this context though so that you can help me decide why this happened.   My question is this; was my original thought about this happening prescience?   Or, did the fact that I thought about it cause it to become a self fulfilling prophecy? 

Did you hear the one about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?

I was discussing current events with my wife a couple of nights ago and we got onto the subject of Donald Trump.   His potential presidential candidacy came up and she said that he was a “joke”.  I suggested that at one point Hillary Clinton was joke as well and look at her now.   The conversation, more or less, ended there, but I received the following text from my wife yesterday…

In defense of Hillary

As the news continues on the Obama birth certificate item, I find myself reflecting on your comments last night comparing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. You claim, like Trump, Hillary was a joke until she ran and served on the US Senate. In fact, Hillary was extremely successful and was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, long before her husband was president. She tirelessly worked as an advocate for children and health care reform, and continues to break new ground for women in politics as Geraldine Ferraro did before her. She has carried herself with great dignity through very public and humiliating events such as the Lewinsky scandal and endures constant and often vicious attacks by those with views that are different from hers. I admire her strength and endurance as well as how she learns from her missteps and rises above them. The only similarity between the two is their celebrity status.

I responded…

Good stuff.  My comparison was really about how many people said that Hillary had no chance of ever becoming president.   They said she had too much baggage.   I was saying that Trump is in that place now.    I didn’t mean to suggest that Hillary was headed to reality TV.

Bleu Cheese

When I got done with dinner last night I was still kind of hungry.   I’ve been eating pretty healthy for the last couple of weeks so I decided that I could treat myself to dessert.   I had a very small portion of bleu cheese, 7 or 8 mixed nuts, and 3 “wafer thin” crackers.   I enjoyed this with the last of a Pinot Blanc that I had opened when I got home from work.   It was all good.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t like bleu cheese at all.   I thought it was nasty tasting, nasty smelling, nasty looking, and generally unpleasant.   I really did not like it.  That fact bothered me though.   I hate seeing other people enjoy things that I don’t enjoy.   If there is some reason to like something, then I feel that I should be able to like it.   This was the case with bleu cheese and I decided a few years ago that I was going to learn to like it.

I embarked on my quest by eating some bleu cheese every time there was some available.   I tried the salad dressing.   I ate various bleu cheese variants like gorgonzola and stilton.  It took a long time.    I had to endure many unpleasant bites of cheese.  I still remember the moment when I had my first absolutely, truly, completely enjoyable bite of bleu cheese.   It was at the restaurant El Gaucho.   They serve it at the end of the meal and it’s a part of their regular service.   With that bite of bleu cheese I turned the corner and began to love it.   I now can’t imagine life without it.   It’s one of my favorite things.   If I’m putting together a cheese plate, bleu will always be on it. 

Administrative Professionals Day

Today is Administrative Professionals Day.   I just said, “Happy Administrative Professionals Day” to my Administrative Assistant and I realized that that is a lot of syllables.   I think I’ll just call it AP Day from here on out.   AP Day really began its life as National Secretaries Week which was started in 1952.  The Wednesday of the week was National Secretaries Day.   It was changed to Professional Secretaries Week in 1981 and finally to Administrative Professionals Week in 2000.  (Wikipedia)

I was thinking this morning, while I was out buying flowers, about our tendency to create days where we honor people that we should honor all the time.   We have both Mother and Father’s Days.  We have Grandparent’s Day.  Aunt and Uncles Day is July 26^th, in case you weren’t tracking that one.   It’s one of my favorites, although I never seem to get a gift.    We have Teachers Day.   Veteran’s Day is a big one, and it’s separate from Armed Forces Day.   There is Boss’s Day, but who really cares?   We even have Children’s Day.   It’s celebrated on November 20^th, although I think every day is children’s day.  (I can’t seem to make that sound as sarcastic as I mean it.)

I don’t think there is anything wrong with having all of these days.   They are a good reminder that you should appreciate those around you.   I would encourage you to try and do it all year long though.   Don’t wait until the special day comes to do something nice for your Uncle.  

Actors You Know

I had about an hour last night that I decided I would use to watch television.   I don’t really watch all that much TV, other than news.  When I do sit down, I hope that I have a couple of hours and I can watch a movie.   Lots of times, like last night, I only have 1 hour.   I look for something on Netflix that I can get through in that amount of time.    Last night, I decided that I would watch two episodes of the original The Twilight Zone television series.

The first episode I watched was “One for the Angles”.   It’s about a street salesman who a stranger named “Mr. Death” comes to take.   The salesman is played by Ed Wynn and Mr. Death is played by Murray Hamilton.   The story was mildly interesting.   What I found more interesting though was that both actors were very familiar to me.   I had seen them both plenty of times, but couldn’t exactly place where.   I had to go look them up on IMDB and then had an “Ah Ha!” moment.   The reason that they are both so familiar is that they each have roles in movies that I’ve seen dozens of times.

Ed Wynn plays the character of Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins.  You will remember the scene where they visit Uncle Albert who floats in the air whenever he laughs.   I love that scene; I always have.  I mean who doesn’t?  

Murray Hamilton was an extremely prolific actor.  He was in over 150 movies and television shows.   It’s likely that you would immediately recognize him also.   The movie that he is in that I’ve seen so many times is Jaws.   He plays the mayor of Amity.   Who could forget that sport jacket?   In the unlikely event that you’ve never seen the movie Jaws, you might still remember Murray Hamilton from his recurring role on BJ and the Bear.

Dinner Party Sonnet

A preparation of finely made food

A group assembled around a table

Creating a cheery and joyous mood

Like something written in a happy fable

The group eats well and laughs oh so much
Wine flows freely as glasses rise to toast

They tell each other jokes and stories and such

While each person looks to make this the most

The guests are all served and each had his fill

The main dish complete and dessert so sweet

The moment so fine, oh time please be still

It is not quite clear when next they will meet

Though the time is brief and ends far too soon

They go their own ways by light of the moon

Hello Rain

I started a garden project on Friday.   There is a small planting area behind my house where the previous owner grew some herbs and vegetables.   I wasn’t completely happy with the way it was laid out, so I had cut some new landscaping planks that I was using to partition the area.   I had to dig out some dirt to put the boards in.   The only thing I really had left to do was screw in the partition wood.  I didn’t want to bother getting my drill out, so I decided to leave it to be finished today.   Of course this means that today it is pouring rain.  

Yesterday was spring gift.   The sun was out all day and the temperature reached up into the 70s.  I’m really glad I got out and played golf.   The rain started today and appears that it’s going to last all week.   I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to finish my landscaping project.    I suspect I will have to finish it in the rain.   I love Portland.

Great Blue

I’m headed out to play golf this morning.   This will be my third round in 8 days.  I think I may have caught the golf bug again.   I didn’t really ever catch it last year, or the year before.   I was in school those years getting my MBA.   I played, but I didn’t play nearly as much as I had in years before.   In 2006 and 2007 I played over 80 rounds each year.  I was down a bit in 2008, when I only played 52 times.  In 2009 and 2010 I played 18 and 23 rounds respectively. 

Today will be my third round of the year.   I’m excited to go play.  I’m playing a very hard course.   I’ve scored okay there in the past, but I’ve also put up some pretty horrendous numbers.   The course is called “Great Blue” and it’s part of the Heron Lakes golf complex in north Portland.   I think it’s a wonderful course.   I enjoy being challenged, although with my lack of recent play, today could be interesting.

Golf, when playing for fun, is not really about the score.  I have to constantly remind myself of that.   It’s about being outside and hitting good shots.   Each shot is its own game.  You start fresh as you address the ball and once contact is made the game is over.  You have to approach each shot this way.   If you do, then the score will take care of itself.    This fact is far easier to write then it is to believe once you’re out there.

Decision Points

I went out and listened to some live music last night.   I have a friend who plays in a group called The Bottleneck Blues Band.   I’ve been to see them play a few times and it’s always a good time.   I nearly didn’t make it last night.   I had gone to a birthday happy hour for several friends with birthdays in April right after work.   After that, I headed home to have dinner.   Once I’m home, particularly after a drink or two, it’s very hard to get me to go out again.

The blues show started at 8:00 and as that time rolled around I was sitting at my dining room table having just finished a homemade burrito.   There were a few dishes that needed doing.   There was an open bottle of wine to my left and an empty wine glass to my right.  It was an interesting decision point.  I knew that if I poured that wine into the glass that I would not be leaving the house again.   I could have easily decided not to go.   After all, Bottleneck is playing again tonight and I can go see them then. 

I decided to get up and head down to the show for a pretty simple reason.   I really wanted to.   I know this sounds like a ridiculous subject for a blog entry, but I assure that for me very few things are ever this simple.   It’s rare that a decision point is so clear cut.   I spend most of my time wanting to do multiple things.   I have to decide which one to do which leaves some part of me disappointed.     I love it when my decisions are clear.

Be Extra Careful

I’m glad to see that yesterday the US Government decided to simplify our terrorist threat warning system.   I always thought it was kind of silly and I still do.   At least now it’s only 40% as silly as it used to be.   I mean really, what do they expect us to do with the threat information?   I was not really paying attention to that suspicious package until I heard that we were at “High” risk.   If you weren’t paying attention before, you’re not going to pay attention when the threat level was raised.

Now we have a simplified system.   We’re either “Elevated” or “Imminent”.   Since “Elevated” simply means that there is a credible threat of terrorism, we’ll need to always be at that level.   We’ll raise the level to “Imminent” when we have a “credible, specific and impending threat”.   That seems like a good idea.  If we think something specific is going to happen, let’s go ahead and advertise so that they will know to change their plans.   Also, if it specific, we’ll want to alert the whole country, because they will be worried about wherever the “specific” threat was. 

I have a better idea.  Why don’t we tell the country at large that we live under the threat of attacks?   Tell them that they should always be diligent and report suspicious activity.    Tell them that at anytime, anywhere, someone could be planning violence against them.   Let’s keep all of this “warning” stuff where it belongs, with law enforcement.    If there are “credible threats”, or “specific, impending threats”, then law enforcement needs to be dealing with them, not “warning” us to be extra careful.

Fairness

I was giving some thought yesterday to what is fair.   I think that pretty much everyone believes that they understand fairness, and they do, but only from their perspective.    It occurred to me that there is no absolute definition of what is fair.   We each have our own perspective on it.

Last year, or maybe the year before, I don’t exactly remember, there was an incident in professional baseball involving Derek Jeter.  A pitch had come inside on him.   He started shaking his hand as if he had been hit and umpire sent him to first base.   On the slow motion replay it was clear that he had not been hit and had faked it.   A lot of people called him a cheater.   His comment was, “Hey, it’s part of the game.”   I agree with him.   Others, no doubt agree with his detractors.  Which is fair?  Which is right?   It all depends on your perspective and your sense of fair play.

Let consider for a moment the United States Tax Code.    Is it fair?   I think we can universally agree that it is not fair.  Now, what about it is unfair?  On that question I think we’re going to find a few differences of opinion.   In this case, your sense of fairness depends on so many factors that you probably can’t even isolate all of them.   How much money you make comes into the equation, but it’s nowhere near the biggest factor in how you view the fairness of the tax system.

Every time a situation comes up where fairness is a question, I think that most people believe that they are being 100% reasonable.   It’s hard to imagine how someone else could have such a skewed vision of things.   They must be crazy to think that something that is so obviously unfair could be acceptable.   We all have to remember that we are each looking at the prism from a different angle.   The patterns of fairness that are reflected are unique for each of us.   Try to understand the other point of view.   Try to look at the situation from their perspective.   You probably still won’t agree, but it may help you not be quite so aghast at how unfair they’re being.

Running

I got out and ran a little bit yesterday.   It hurt.   I’ve been struggling with some kind of injury but it seems to be hard to diagnose or solve.   I’ve been to two podiatrists and one physical therapist, but I’m still having trouble.   Part of the problem is that the injury seems to move around my lower leg.  Sometimes it hurts in the achilles tendon, sometimes in the shin, but most of the time it’s right above my ankle bone.  Running definitely aggravates it.    I’ve taken off a lot of time, but it doesn’t seem to want to go away. 

The physical therapist that I saw believed that it was because my hips were not level.   He did some adjustments on me and gave me some exercises to do.   He believed that this would solve it.   That was two weeks ago and I’m still having trouble.   I’m going back to see him again on Friday.   We’ll see if maybe my hips have shifted again. 

My run yesterday was not excruciating but it definitely was not pleasant either.   I did a small experiment about half way through where I took my shoes off and ran about ¼ mile barefoot.   It actually felt a lot better than running in my shoes.    I had done some barefoot running last year with some success.    I’m thinking that I might try it again.   The problem with truly barefoot running though is that it really tears up the bottoms of my feet.   I’m sure I could toughen them up over time, but last year I got some horrendous blisters.   I think I’m going to try running in some moccasins and see how that goes.   I’ll have to go buy a pair today.

A Resolution

Ever since my post about Mark Cuban a couple of weeks ago I have been eating hotdogs like crazy.   I have to be honest, I like hotdogs, but in the year preceding that post I had probably eaten 3 or 4.  In the two weeks since, I’ve eaten more than 10.   I had one for lunch both yesterday and the day before.   I bought a package of wieners and buns to keep at my office.   The wieners are gone, but I still have two buns left, funny how that happens.  I have plenty of mustard left over as well.  

I’m going to have to stop.   I can’t continue eating hotdogs at this pace.   I can actually see myself getting fatter.   It’s not just the hotdogs; I’ve been eating horribly across the board.   It’s the donuts, the skittles, the nachos, and the damn fried chicken.   Today is the day.   I’m stopping.   Alright, maybe not, but I’m definitely slowing down.   I’m going to join a Weight Watchers group.   I’m going to get my girlish figure back.   It starts today.    If you see me with a hotdog in my hand, smack it away.

Golf Partners

I played golf yesterday.   I hadn’t played in about 6 months.  That’s a long time for me to go without playing, even if it was over the winter.   It was nice to get out and play and we were blessed with pretty good weather.   I even played pretty well.   I’m always surprised that my game has not deteriorated more when I haven’t played in a while.

We were paired up with another twosome who seemed like a nice couple.   We were pretty compatible golfers, which if you’ve ever been randomly paired up at a golf course you know is really good.   I’ve been paired with people that have been great and people that have been horrible.   Having dealt with both extremes I am always thankful when my golfing partners fall to the good side of that continuum.   We had pretty good conversation throughout the round.  We learned that they also live in Portland, that they come over to Redmond a couple of times a month, and that they have a vacation house on the same street as ours.   I joked that they were probably our next door neighbors.

After discussing what we did for work, I asked the gentleman, “So how about you guys?  What do you do?”

“Well, we own a chain of adult bookstores.”

“Cool”, I responded and turned to get a club out of my bag.

There was a strange silence for a moment when finally his wife laughed and said, “No we don’t!”

He then said, “No, we’re lawyers, but people always like us better when we own a chain of adult bookstores. “

After the round we parted ways, but he gave us their phone number in case we were interested in playing with them again sometime.   I noted what kind of car they were driving so that I could look for it later and find out where on our street they live.   We didn’t see it when we got back to our house, but did notice it later in evening.   We saw them as they pulled into their driveway, next door.

Traffic Jam

I got caught up in a traffic jam yesterday.   I was leaving my office and heading over to my vacation house in central Oregon.   The plan was for me to head south from Beaverton, pick up my wife in Wilsonville and then take the southern route to Redmond, OR.   The southern route goes through Salem and then over Santiam pass through Sisters and then up to Redmond.   In theory, this plan should have saved 30 to 45 minutes over having us meet at home and leave from there.   In practice, yesterday, the plan cost me close to 2 hours.

It was clear that something was amiss the moment I got onto OR-217.   I was headed south toward its intersection with I-5 and traffic was already backed up to Greenburg Rd.   (about 2 miles)  I was able to work my way through it relatively quickly, but once I hit I-5 it was clear that something was very wrong.   The freeway was crawling.   I was hoping that it was something that would break up, some sort of Friday afternoon snag, but it didn’t.   It kept crawling.  By the time I reached the Boone’s Ferry exit, another mile or so, I had already spent 30 minutes in the car.   I was frustrated.   I actually saw a friend of mine in his car in another lane.   I waved.  A couple of seconds later my phone rang and it was him.

“Fancy meeting you here”, he said over the cell connection.

“Yeah, this sucks!”

“Yeah, there’s some major wreck at the Boone Bridge in Wilsonville.”

“Oh crap”, I lament!

“Yeah, it’s a huge pileup on the north bound side.”

“What!  Northbound?  Are you saying this is all rubbernecking?”

“Apparently”

“Okay, thanks for the update”, I tell him, and hang up.

Now I’m annoyed.   I’ve still got miles to go to get to Wilsonville and then I have to exit from the freeway to pick up my wife.   I will then, no doubt, be caught in the giant mess that is building in Wilsonville.   There are drivers who are leaving work and trying to get on the freeway, as well as those who have tried to dodge the traffic by taking side roads.   It’s clear that my drive is going to suck, and suck bad.

The accident did turn out to be a 15 car pileup on the northbound side of I-5.  The southbound backup was not entirely because of rubbernecking, but rather because emergency crews closed one of the southbound lanes so that they could access the crash site.   In the end there were two injuries; no one was killed. 

I wonder how many lives were affected by that crash.   Certainly the victims were all affected, but who else?   I lost 2 hours from my weekend.   This is not a huge consequence, but I certainly didn’t appreciate it.   Who missed a flight?   Who missed an important meeting?  Who was late for a date that ended up being the final straw that destroyed the relationship?  How many small fender bender accidents were caused by the bumper to bumper traffic?   How much extra gasoline was burned by thousands of cars sitting, idling for hours?   How much do traffic jams really cost?   That would make for an interesting study.

Just try

Confidence is the most important factor in determining whether you can do something or not.  I’ve touched on this fact before, but I want to reiterate just how important this is.    You have to believe that you can do something in order to do it.   If you believe that you can do something and you fail, you’ve lost nothing; you shouldn’t even lose your confidence.   If you don’t try because you think you’ll fail, you’ve lost everything.  Let me explain.

Confidence is the ability to attempt.   You have to attempt things in your life.   There are actually very few things that you successfully accomplished on your first attempt.   I tried to think of an example, but came up empty.   You likely failed at your first attempt to walk, to open a door, to unpeel a banana, or to write a perfect sonnet.   (myself excluded on the sonnet one)   The point is that your confidence in your ability to do those simple tasks was undeterred by your failure.  As we move forward into more and more complex tasks and actions we allow our lack of confidence to stop us from even trying things.   Once that happens, we will never be able to do them.   We’ve allowed our fear of failure to rob us of the ability to ever succeed.    Once you accept that defeat, subsequent ones become easier and easier to stomach.    Try to do something difficult or scary today.

Skittles

I was getting ready to fly home last night when I was suddenly overcome by a craving for something sweet.   I wandered down to the airport gift shop and perused the rack of candies.   It was a tough decision.   I narrowed it down to either a Toblerone or a bag of Skittles.   I was pretty evenly split between the two.   Ultimately, I let price be the deciding factor.   The Toblerone was $4.99 and the Skittles were $3.99.   Skittles it is.

The bag of Skittles I purchased contained five ¼ cup servings.   Each serving has 170 calories.   That’s not too bad.   I can absorb 170 calories into my diet without too much difficulty.   It’s a little harder to absorb the 850 that were actually in the bag, and consequently how much I ate, but who’s really counting.   I really like Skittles.  I could go through a long involved description of what Skittles are, but everyone already knows, so why bother.

I will tell you something about Skittles that you might not know.   Skittles has over 15 million “Likes” on Facebook.   Skittles is actually a case study in successful social media based marketing.    They don’t really even have a traditional web site.  Their web site is user generated.   You can upload your own images to the Skittles Facebook page and if they like it, they post it on Skittles.com.   They will also repost creative or entertaining Tweets.   This keeps people engaged.   It keeps them talking about the product.   It keeps Skittles on their mind.   This is just what I need, more reasons to think about eating Skittles.

Lines

 I hate lines.   I can’t stand being in them.  I only stand in a line when I absolutely have to.   It had better be something that I can’t do without if I’m going to stand in a line longer than 3 or 4 people.   I saw two different long lines this morning and I can’t believe that people were standing in them.

I check out of my hotel this morning.  I’m attending a conference for work and today is the last day.   I used express checkout from my room.   I didn’t want to take a chance that there would be a line that I would have to stand in at the front desk.    As I was walking through the lobby I saw a queue of about 25 people.   They were waiting to get coffee at Starbucks.   Starbucks is the worst for having long lines.   I like their coffee okay, but I wouldn’t wait for more than 2 minutes to get a cup.   I would rather do without.   I never cease to be amazed at how long people will stand in line at those places.  

The second line I saw was out on the street.   It was over a block long.   There were over 100 people.  I had to walk the entire block before I could see what they were waiting on.   It was the bus stop.  I couldn’t believe that there were so many people waiting on the bus.   I’m a big advocate of public transportation, but I would never be able to wait in that line.  It would make me insane.   I would rather walk for 2 hours than spend 30 minutes in line and then take 30 minute ride.   Maybe those people were going further.   Maybe walking was out of the question.   Still, I don’t think I could do it.  

Lines are absolutely the worst for me.   All I can think about while I stand in them are ways that you could do things that would either eliminate them or make them move faster.   I am constantly frustrated and by the time I get to the front I’m mad at whoever is waiting for me there.   I know it’s not completely their fault, but I have no doubt observed some behavior of theirs that could have moved things along faster.   I’m usually better off just not getting in them.     Unfortunately, I have to fly today.

Duchenne Smile

I saw Guy Kawasaki speak today.  He is a very entertaining guy.   He was speaking about how to be enchanting.   Many of the things he said to do are common sense, but they are things that you have to remember to do, if you don’t do them naturally.   I don’t do them naturally.    One of the first things he said was that you need to have a Duchenne smile.  I had never heard that term before.   The Duchenne smile is a smile where your eyes smile along with your mouth.   I need to remember to smile more.

Sunday at the Masters

I had a great time watching The Masters yesterday.   I started my viewing as the very first group reached Amen Corner.    This was well before the actual television coverage started.   I was able to stream live coverage of holes 11, 12, and 13 from the Masters’ website.   I hooked up my computer to the television in my kitchen and this provided a very nice picture quality.   I was able to do some unpacking while it played in the background.

I had two large boxes that had been packed since I moved from Wilsonville almost 10 years ago.  It was the stuff that had been in my china cabinet.  It was never unpacked while I lived in my condo because there was no space for it.    It was fun pulling some of that stuff out.  I pulled out a sterling silver wine bucket. 

“Where did we get this”, I asked my wife?

“Oh, that was a present from the President of Ecuador. “

“We have a wine bucket from the President of Ecuador?”

“Oh wait. No, he gave me a sterling silver pitcher.  It’s in there too, somewhere.”

“Oh, okay.”

When the Masters television coverage started I switched off the streaming and changed back to broadcast.   I put it on the television sets in both the living room and the kitchen.   This allowed me to move back and forth between rooms without ever missing anything.   I was able to make myself Nachos, sit on my couch and eat them, then do my dishes without ever missing a single stroke.   It was awesome!  

The tournament itself was fantastic.   At one point, late in the round, there were 5 players tied for the lead.  The finish was incredibly close, much more so than the final score showed.   In the end Charl Schwartzel slammed the door shut on everyone.   It was such a strong finish that it will become legend.   He birdied the last 4 holes to end up winning by 2.   I loved every second of it.

Fundraisers

I went to a fundraiser last night.   It was fun.   I really like fundraisers.   It’s a chance to go to a party, buy some stuff, and feel like you’re helping out a good cause.   I’ve been to quite a few over the years and most places have the format down pretty good.   There are a few mainstays of these events that I think are pretty interesting.

The most important part of any fund raiser is the open bar.   I don’t think I’ve ever been to one where you’ve had to pay for drinks.   Sure, it costs a bit more to put on your event with an open bar, but this will pay huge dividends.   The drunker people get, the more generous they feel.  This means that they will pay more for everything.   They will also donate more and become more competitive with each other.   The competition is important for the various auctions that are to come.  It’s amazing how fun a glider ride sounds after a couple of cocktails. 

The actual fundraising will usually start with the silent auction.   People have donated various things that will be laid out on tables and you can walk by and bid on them.  You write your name and/or number down along with the price you’re willing to pay for it.  It’s important that there is a set end time for the silent auction.   There are usually a few things that you really want.   When the end time gets close you have to go stand near your item to be sure someone doesn’t come in at the end and outbid you.  I’ve seen items that will nearly double in price during the last 2 or 3 minutes.   This is exactly what the organizers are hoping for.   If they can get people into a bidding war then it’s the best case scenario for the cause.

After the silent auction you have dinner.  This is chance to lube up the guests with even more wine.   It’s also a chance to get them in place for the regular auction.   There will be few things that you will have an auctioneer work through.   This is where the real competition starts.   It’s really hard not to bid on things.   You can imagine how that painting will look in your house.   You can imagine how fun that vacation will be.   You imagine how great that jelly of the month is going to taste.   Sometimes they will even auction off nothing at all.   How much will you donate?   People can get so competitive at this point that they are willing to just donate more than the next guy.   It makes you feel good.   It’s good for the cause.

I do really enjoy events like the one I went to last night.   I always come home with things that I wouldn’t otherwise buy.   Last night I bought a painting in the silent auction.   I also participated in a couple of raffles and, along with my table, purchased an extremely rich chocolate cake for dessert.    I drank at least a bottle of very cheap Chianti.    It’s not about the wine though, it’s about the cause.   Find a fundraiser to go to.  Maybe even donate something for the silent auction.   I promise it will make you feel good about yourself.   If nothing else, it’s a reason to dress up a bit.

Fortification

I went out and had dinner with some old friends last night.   It was nice.   It had been a while since we had seen them outside of a large group, so we were able to catch up a bit.   After dinner we went back to their house for a night cap.

My friend is a big fan of port wine.   When looking at the options of things to drink at his house, he was able to offer me a large sampling of fortified wines to try.  As a matter of fact, he offered me 10 different options.   I’m not one to let a good tasting opportunity pass, so I tried them all.   Some were true Ports, some port style.   There was also Muscat and some that were hard to classify.   He even had an oak barrel that he had filled with some tawny port that he had purchased hoping to add more complexity and oak character;  we sampled that one direct from the barrel.   By the time we had run the whole gamut of wines, I could certainly feel the fortification.

His barrel game me an idea.  Could I make my own port style wine by purchasing some slightly sweeter bulk wine, mixing with brandy, and then aging for a year or two in my own oak barrel?   I don’t see any reason why not.   As a matter of fact, it sounds far easier than many of the homemade drinks I have put together over the years.   I’m not sure why I had never considered making my own fortified wine before.   Does anyone have a good source for oak barrels?

Huh?

I went to a birthday happy hour last night.  The event was for a lady that I haven’t seen in over a year, probably since her last birthday.   The bar was very noisy and I couldn’t hear very well.   This is annoying for a lot of reasons.   It’s annoying that I can’t participate very well in the conversations.   It’s even more annoying that I mishear things and then say completely non-relevant stuff because I think we’re talking about something else.  Consider the following conversation, as heard by me.

“We’re … to be go…  to ... pa next month”, my wife says to the lady across the table.

“… love … pa, we’ve … … of times”, she replies.

My wife continues, “… great time … were … last.  We … … couple … that were … fun.   We also … … Leap.  It … that great. “

“… … not nice?”

“… exactly, … more that … seemed full of themselves.”

“Oh, … … good … at Maragas.   It … nice.”

I jump in, “Oh, Maragas, that’s just outside of Madras.  I’ve been meaning to drop by there.”

“No”, the lady says, “… in Napa.”

“What did you think she said”, my wife asks?

“Sorry, I thought she said Maragas”, I say.  Meanwhile I’m thinking, “I’m just going to shut up now and drink my wine.”

I think I’m going to have to investigate hearing aids pretty soon.   I’m not too happy about it.   I suppose I shouldn’t have spent all of that time in my teens and early 20s shooting guns and standing around jet engines without hearing protection.   You don’t really appreciate something like hearing until it starts to fail.

The Masters

The first major golf tournament of the year kicks off today.   The Masters is one of my favorite tournaments to watch every year.   I usually only watch on Sunday, but like the saying goes, “The Masters really starts on the back nine on Sunday.”   I will follow the leaderboard today and tomorrow.   I might catch a few holes on Saturday, but you can bet that on Sunday I’ll be watching.

The Masters is a beautiful tournament to watch.   The course is idyllic.   Everything is as close to perfect as money can buy.  I suspect every flower has been individually inspected.   The pine straw has probably been laid out by hand.  The grass has been crawled over by the maintenance crews who have fixed every blemish.   It’s gorgeous.  I really admire the fact that the members of Augusta National make it this way.   It’s a part of what makes the tournament what it is.   The members have kept it exactly the way it should be, their tournament.   The patrons and television viewers are just invited guests.

There are 4 major golf tournaments every year.   They are, in order, The Masters, The US Open, The Open Championship (sometimes incorrectly called The British Open), and the PGA Championship.   The US Open and the Open Championship are put on by the governing bodies of golf in the United States and Great Britain.   That is to say by the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.   It makes perfect sense that those are major tournaments.   The PGA Championship is organized by the Professional Golfers Association.   This also makes sense that it would be major tournament.   The Masters, however, is hosted and organized by a single private golf club with about 300 members.  Why would it be a major tournament?   Well, in my opinion, the reason is history.   It’s a major tournament because since 1934 the best players in the world have been trying to be included is the small group of invitees.   The Masters is a cool tournament.   It’s a major because we all agree that it is.

Higher!

I filled up my car with gas this week and it cost me $65.  That’s kind of a lot of money.   I think that because I’m used to paying more like $50.   Gas prices are interesting.   They seem to get a lot of attention.   It must be a huge burden on lower income Americans to have gas prices so high.  I’m going to take a bit of an unpopular opinion here though.   I say if gas prices are too high for you, QUIT DRIVING. 

I’ve watched gas prices get this high before.   I’ve watched them climb here again recently.  As much as I can tell though, the roads are just as crowded as ever, maybe even more so.   I wish gas prices would get higher.  I’d like to see them go high enough that people can’t drive places.   I would like to see them at the point that Soccer Mom really has to consider whether she can afford to drive that Suburban.   I would like them to be so painful that people actually have to walk places, or God forbid, take public transportation.  Most of all I would like them to be so high that we can’t cheaply transport goods thus putting the mega-stores (Walmart, Super Target, etc.) out of business in favor of small local stores.   (The kind with small parking lots)

What would this do to the economy?   It would seriously mess it up.  It would be quite painful for a while.   The economy would have to rebuild itself with more bicycle dealers and fewer gas stations, or would it?   Maybe if gas prices got too high it would finally become viable to build an electric car.   Maybe even a hydrogen fuel cell car.   Oh, it’s a silly dream; I know, but I like to dream it anyway.

Heartburn

I went to a small happy hour last night for work related team celebration.   It was nice.  I’m always glad to do that kind of get together.  It’s good to have something to celebrate.   We went to a local pub and had a few drinks and some appetizers. 

I’ve been to this particular pub, McMenamin’s Riverwood, dozens of time and I almost always get the same thing to drink.   I would say that 90% of the times that I go to any McMenamin’s I get Hammerhead.   This is one of their regular beers.   I’ve been drinking less beer though lately for a couple of reasons.   The first is that it is just far too high in calories.   I’ve got enough problems with my waist line and drinking beer does not help.   The second, and more problematic, is that it gives me heartburn.    This is really too bad because I really like beer.

It’s not just beer that gives me heartburn now; it’s many of the foods that I’ve always loved.   I ate a pizza on Sunday night and woke up with heartburn so bad that I thought someone had poured hydrochloric acid down my throat.  I now take Pepcid about 4 days a week.   I eat Maalox on the other 3.   I don’t like it.   I hate taking any medication that I need to take every day.   Sometimes I’ll try to suffer through the heartburn just so that I can avoid feeling dependent on antacids. 

I could probably avoid the problem if I was really careful with what I eat.   If I focused on more fresh fruits and vegetables, and less pepperoni, I might be able to control it better.   I really hate that idea though.    I find myself in a real Catch-22.   Do I change my diet or do I accept my dependence on acid controlling drugs? 

Let's Make A Deal

I was reading a book this weekend about randomness and probability.  There was a probability “riddle” that I’ve seen several times before in other places.   I hesitate to write about it because it’s become such common knowledge that I doubt I’ll be exposing you to something new, but I’m going to anyway because it is an interesting thought exercise.

The problem was first popularized in the Ask Marilyn column of Parade Magazine.   I do not read Parade, so I didn’t hear about it until it was used in my MBA Statistics class.   My teacher used it as his opening to what would become, by far, the worst class of my program.   The teacher over complicated the proof and consequently screwed it up thus confusing the entire class.   We pretty much stayed confused by everything he said for the rest of the term.

The problem was then used in the movie, 21.  In the movie Kevin Spacey’s character presents the scenario to his MIT class and one student stands out as a genius by knowing the right answer.   He then goes on to learn how to count cards and makes millions in Las Vegas before getting caught and blacklisted by the casinos.  

Then scenario is taken straight from the game show, Let’s Make a Deal.  You have three curtains and behind one is a new car and behind the other two are goats.  You are asked to choose one.   After making your choice, the host opens one of the remaining two curtains and reveals that it is a goat.   You are then offered the opportunity to switch from your currently selected curtain and change to the other unopened one.   Should you change?  

Many people will say (if they have not heard the problem before) that it does not matter whether you change.   There are two unopened doors and there is a 50/50 chance that the car is behind the one you already chose.   This is wrong.   You are better off to change curtains. 

The reason I wrote this today was for this paragraph.   After having heard the explanation 3 different ways and given this problem a lot of thought, I think I have a very easy way to explain it.   When you were originally presented your choice, you had a 33% chance of being right and a 66% chance of being wrong.   The subsequent events do not change those original odds.  Therefore, you should change doors because you are effectively switching from the ability to choose one door to the ability to choose 2 doors.  Simple.    The question that I've always had though is whether the game show host would have offered you the choice if you had not already selected the curtain with the car.   This then changes the question to one of manipulation rather than probability.

Gourmet

I went to a party last night.  The theme, not surprisingly, was food.   A group of my friends recently decided that we would get together periodically and have dinner.   The host will make a main dish and the guests will be assigned side dishes to bring.   The rule is that the main dish has to be something you’ve never made before.   Last night was the first night and the theme was Indian.

The idea of experimental dinner parties is certainly not new.  My late Mother-in-Law used to be part of what she called a “Gourmet Group”.  This was a group of friends that did exactly the same thing.   They would all get together and experiment with new recipes.   Sometime there was great success, other times, not so much.   It’s difficult to have friends over and then cook something that you’ve never made before.   Sometimes recipes can sound really good and then turn out less so.  Sometimes processes that you’ve never done before require a little bit of practice to get just right.   I love the fact that people are willing to try.

You’ve certainly gathered from reading my blog how much I love food.  I’m always happy to try anything.   I’m excited to have my turn as host and I’m wondering what I’ll make.   There will likely be at least 8 of these things before I get my turn.   The group is not that big, but I suspect that the first time it’s at my house, my wife make something that she’s interested in.   However, when my turn comes, I’m going to go all out.   I joked last night that I would make haggis.  I’m not sure if actually will, but it’s definitely a possibility.  I can promise that it will be something elaborate.   It will be something that takes at least 5 hours to make.

Last night the Indian food was wonderful.  My part in the experiment was bringing a wine that I had never had before.  It turned out to be great as well.   I ate a ton of Lamb Curry.   I drank a Riesling from the Alsace region of France.   Indian food, French wine, and good friends, what could be better?

Hyperlinks to Portland

My parents have been in town to visit me yesterday and today.   I had been debating about where to take them while they were here.   We ended up doing a variety of things that are distinctly Portland.   It’s always fun to take people to see some of the things your city is famous for. 

The day started when I took my father for quick walk up to Council Crest Park.   This is the highest point in Portland.   I had only been up there once before and had really just run through that time.   It’s a cool park and now that I live closer I think I will use it more.   The views are spectacular.   It was a bit foggy so they weren’t as good as they could have been, but they were still pretty awesome.  

When then hooked up with the rest of the group, my wife and my mother, and headed out for some donuts.   When you have out of town guests there is only one donut shop that makes sense.  That’s right, Voodoo Doughnut.   We drove over to Voodoo Doughnut Too on NE Davis.   The line was deep, but we waited.   We had two of the Memphis Mafia.  This is an apple fritter that is then covered in chocolate chips, chocolate icing and peanut butter icing.   We also had a Portland Cream, which is a chocolate covered, custard filled beauty.  Finally, there was one of best known, the Bacon Maple Bar.  That little feast would certainly hold us over for a while.

The next stop was Powell’s City of Books.   This is another can’t miss spot in Portland.   Powell’s is an awesome store.   We wandered around through various rooms.   I checked out a book on magic and read how to make a coin disappear.   I’m going to practice it some today and see if I can do it.   Everyone left with at least one book.  

We then charged up Burnside to the Pittock Mansion.   We didn’t do the full tour, but did walk the circle around the gardens.   By this time in the day, the fog had burned off and the views were even more spectacular.   Unfortunately, we still couldn’t see any of the mountains, but the city was clear.   This place is a treasure and everyone should get by to see it.

We next drove up around the International Rose Test Garden and took Kingston Drive through Washington Park to the World Forestry Center.   (Wow, three hyperlinks in one sentence!)   I was a little surprised at how much admission was, but $32 later we were all inside.   This is cool museum; there are lots of hands-on exhibits and plenty of things to learn about forests.   Despite living in Portland for 15 years, I had never been.  I’m glad I finally made it.

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Phil’s Uptown Meats for some steaks and City Market for fresh vegetable and some cheese.   I got some awesome Kobe ribeyes at Phil’s.   City Market (aka Pasta Works) had some fantastic blue cheese.   The green beans there were good as well, surprising for this time of the year.  I swung by my wine cellar at Willamette Wine Storage and picked up a good bottle of Robert Craig Mt. Veeder Cabernet.   Dinner was wonderful.

All in all we had a pretty awesome Portland Day.    There was even a little bit of sunshine.  This phenomenon can be elusive in Portland.