Ron and Gustavo

Okay..here's the proof that my friend Ron  got to meet Gustavo Dudamel. Leave it to Ron to pull it off and  I wouldn't be surprised, with Ron's winning charm, that he somehow manages to eventually lure to Alaska,  the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. 
Ron's cousin dropped him off in the morning yesterday and he spent the day with me, with of course lunch at Gig Harbor's finest restaurant, The Tides Tavern. Later in the afternoon I took him to the foot ferry in Port Orchard  where he was to be picked up on the other side by my cousin. From her place he will head to Seattle, and then back to Alaska.
After the Mahler Project in Los Angeles, he headed east on the train to Virginia to visit his son, then up to New York to see two Operas, back through Chicago stopping to visit friends, he had a 45 day rail pass, and home through Oregon with a stop to visit another old friend. I doubt there is anyone who knows how to travel on a shoestring the way he can or have more fun. Of course, as usual, what he enjoyed most were all the folks he visited with along  the way and the one who stood out was the fellow from England who couldn't stop marveling  how huge our country is,  how much  wide open space, with no people and no fences, open land as far as you could see as they traveled from east to west
Thomas Sowell's bit of wisdom for today.

Mountain Snow

If you're a skier, today would be the day to head for the slopes.  The sky is a clear blue and the temperature is 29 degrees at 62 feet above sea level so sumthin tells me there's powder a plenty waiting to be enjoyed today.

Obama=Government

Michael Ramirez of Investor’s Business Daily illustrated the Mobius Loop the president’s epistemically closed worldview nicely back in 2009.
I have been scratching my head as to how he could  possibly have been qualified to win  the Nobel Peace Prize and I now know, he wont fight for anyone or anything...just look a the price of oil we are now paying.  You'd think he'd get  a backbone and fight for us. But, when he ran for president he said we could expect to see the cost of electricity rise and he was true to his word. And look how hard he worked to help green energy...such generosity with our money...gave so much to try and help all those failing companies...such a good man.
Here's more.
Oh..and "the devil made me do it".  I really like Santorum and this business of him mentioning "satan" and folks getting their shorts in a wad over it is nuts.
Lastly...I got a chuckle out of this Volt video.

Green Energy

Todays thought provoking articles. This one is of BO's idiotic handling of our country's energy supply. As I see the price of fuel head higher and higher, all I can think about is what is will cost our fishermen for fuel. If only they could hoist a sail and get from point A to point B with that form of "green energy", but they can't and God help us if we don't get new leadership come fall.The fact that he voted against the Keystone pipeline certainly sends the wrong  message.

Probably a large contributor to the rise in price are the  speculators.

Here is an interesting time line on fracking / hydraulic fracturing.

Then there's this article on  the social dislocation caused by feminism and the sexual revolution. 

From the article....

"Here is a prediction: Even if Rick Santorum is not the next president, and even if Barack Obama crushes him in the general election (the latter, though not the former, is a big if), social conservatism will continue to grow in size and importance over the next couple of decades. That is to say, if Santorum loses, it will be in part because he is ahead of his time.

The social dislocation caused by feminism and the sexual revolution demands a political response, and so far the left has nothing to offer apart from bankrupting the country with more entitlements. It's encouraging to see a youngish left-wing feminist like Rosin have an inkling that there's a problem, but until the left starts thinking creatively about solutions, which will require a reconsideration of orthodoxies that date back to the 1960s and '70s, the social right will be the only game in town."

Sox

Jacob spent a few hours with granny yesterday so mama and daddy could go to the funeral of  a friend's father. He was only 62 and way too young to go so early. 
We played with all his favorite toys and as the afternoon progressed and we got really bored, we decided it would be fun to put on each other's sox.  Mine look like knee highs on Jacob and his baby Gap sox at least cover my toes. :o)
Since I'm mentioning little ones...here is a darling video my sis sent me of a baby sea otter at the Seattle Aquarium.
Then there's the avalanche airbag. Wow.

Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand

Try this link to listen.

Well, yesterday came and went and I finally got to see the next best things to a live performance of a Mahler symphony.  Nothing like starting with what I would consider the best. The 8th Symphony, Symphony of a Thousand.  There were at least a thousand young venezuelan voices and an orchestra of 200, consisting of members of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra from Caracas, Venezuela and members of the Los Angeles Symphony, plus Gonzalo Dudamel, who now directs the LA Symphony, but started his music career with the youth of Venezuela.  It was an incredibly moving experience. The piccolo player played her part flawlessly, the flutes to die for, as was the oboe. There was a french horn player that was blonde haired and blue eyed and no doubt from the LA Symphony. He was not only an incredible musican, but was handsome as all get out. The young girls must go crazy when they get a look at him :o) Other than the screeching female soloists...it was perfection.
Before you try to listen to the video of the last ten minutes of the performance, go down to the bottom of this page and turn off the music, then listen to it all...especially where my favoritest favoritest part starts at around 3:20...oh yea...it's delicious :o) The sound quality isn't good, but what do you expect when the digital recorder is sittin on top of my purse in the seat next to me :o)

The Green Thing

The Green Thing


Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The young lady clerk responded, "That's our problem today. YOUR generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Bad Hair Day

I"m thinkin Hillary could use a good haircut.
And maybe Maxine Waters could use something else.
Oh...and I love the "wag yer finger" folks in Frisco.

Tax

Is it a tax or not????????????????? I can hardly wait til the Supreme Court decides on the health care mess.

And, here is a head scratcher. I guess I am old school...women in the military when pregnant..hmmmm. How bout pregnant women or women with children not be allowed in the military.  Works for me.
Course I still think men and women marry, not men and men or women and women and I still think it's okay for mama to pack yer lunch and put in it what she knows you'll eat and for the government to keep it's nose  out of that little brown bag or barbie bucket, whichever the case may be :o)

Okay..one more for all who like Sarah....I'm one :o)

And this...Buffet and TARP.  Hmmm

Happy Valentines Day

The one thing I like about Valentines Day is that it means the month of February is half over and we're that much closer to spring :O)  Oh..and I also like all the romantic stuff that goes along with it. Let's hope folks throughout the world will stop fighting for just a few hours and feel a little love :o)

For kicks, here are a couple of articles that make me scratch my head...then tear out  my hair and one is a giggle :o)

A giggle :O)

Head scratcher.



Hair puller !!! Why is the government subsidising a $104,000 car? 

Hair puller !!! Why doesn't the government stay out of people's lunch bags.


This is neither a head scratcher nor hair puller....this is a sign of hope, I hope .

Lastly,there's this.

Lastly lastly, this.

Daffodil Bush

I bet not a one  of you has ever heard of a daffodil bush. I hadn't nor had any of my friends, but now that they've seen one, they too want one. They grow in most places throughout the world and can be had any time by any one who has been pushed to the "edge" by the dark days of winter and  needs a spring bouquet with  none to be had. What you do is pop out in your yard,  clip branches from the healthiest, greenest, leafiest bush, arrange them in a decent sized vase,  dig through the gazillion fake flowers you no doubt have  stuffed in your attic and basement, cut off a few  blossoms, wire them onto the bush, and, bingo, you'll have a fresh arrangement that will last weeks with just an occasional change of water.   I do believe this one small effort saved my sanity and it will yours too :o)

Here's a look at a gal from Utah, Mia Love who is running for office. She is black and republican...which makes it more fun :o)

And one of my favorites speaks....Daniel Hannan. If you do nothing more today...please, please take the time to listen to what he has to say....then send it to all your friends and ask them to please, please do the same :o)


Okay..one more and that's it, I promise.

Bucket List

Finally, a report from Ron on the "Mahler Project".  He lives in Anchorage and has spent the past few weeks in LA eating, sleeping and breathing Mahler. He has now said goodbye to the city and the music and is headed on a train to Virginia where he will spend time with family, then, hopefully, a stop in the harbor on his way back north to Alaska and his home in Anchorage.
Just for fun, he was asked to contribute to the Mahler Project blog and here is what he had to say :o)
In our 50 year reunion booklet, he wrote in his biography that seeing as much of Mahler was definately on his bucket list, and me thinks he just may have to buy a bigger bucket :o)
OH..and one more thing...if you're at all interested in seeing Mahler's 8th Symphony, it will be piped from Venezuela Feb.18th at our local movie theatre at 2:00 pm.  Hope to see you there...hope I'm not the only one in the theatre :o)

Lunch Gals

I took this pix last summer of our classmate luncheon at Sue's place in Graham. This week Graham was the scene of an incredibly tragic event: the death of the two precious Powell children at the hands of their father. Val Stevens, the gal dressed in black and white has been a state senator for years and very much involved with DSHS. Most of her involvement is because of total frustration with the things that happen to the children in their trust. My heart aches for the woman who took the children to visit their father and doubt even with what seemed like an eternity for the woman to explain where she was and what was going on, could anyone have gotten there to stop what was to happen. 
Oh...and this is a bit more on Val. I hope our new governor in November is a republican and that together, the legislature can clean up some of the mess that Gregoire and the dems have made in Olympia.
Here is an article on the bridge meeting last night.
And...here is an interesting article about something that has bugged for a long long time.

Bridge Meeting

There's going to be a really big meeting tonight at city hall in Gig Harbor to explain the   Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll increases.  All I know is, the more they charge for things, the less people use them so it's somewhat like shooting yerself in the foot :O)

January 31, 2012 @ 1:57pm | Amy Igloi

I was appointed by Governor Gregoire to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) in 2010, and would like to offer some insight as a committee member.
Fact: We need to find an additional $25 million in toll revenues for Fiscal 2013 (July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013). 40 percent of this increase is due to bonds coming due. This is one of ten bonds that were taken to construct the bridge because of the “just in time” construction and bond schedule, which saved taxpayers millions of dollars in interest. Also, the first installment of deferred sales tax is due next year (the agreement was to start paying the $57 million in sales tax over a span of 10 years working out to about $5.7 million per year). In addition, the bridge has been sort of living on its reserves for the past few years and we have a contractual obligation to have 12.5 percent in reserves, which was set by the Treasurer, otherwise we will be in default of our bonds contract. (Note: the Treasurer is telling WSDOT they must have 25 percent in reserves on the 520 Bridge.)
People frequently ask why do we need to increase tolls during such a challenging economic time? The debt schedule was written such that these bonds would increase over the first 17 years. Increased steps in toll rates were anticipated to meet these debt payments. We are obligated to make payments to bond holders and do not have an option to refinance. Traffic and revenues are flat due to the recession and at the current tolls rates we will fall behind on payments in Fiscal ‘13. In the past, WSDOT and the CAC agreed to defer rate increases and continue using some of the reserve funds but that is no longer an option. Senator Derek Kilmer said he is looking into some other refinancing options, but the likelihood of any other solutions coming to fruition is slim. Note: the current Good To Go rate of $2.75 is substantially below the original projection of $4 tolls for all drivers by 2010.
Senator Kilmer said a bill was introduced to extend the deferred sales tax — Bill 6073. The relief this bill would have on tolls is roughly a $0.40 savings each time a toll is paid. Frankly, I am not sure how likely it is this bill will pass since Washington State is facing a $1.5 billion deficit and another very tough legislative session.
There is some discussion of whether the 12.5 percent reserve requirement is unnecessary or too high. I don’t want to get into that debate because it doesn’t serve any purpose right now. Before construction began, these details had been written and agreed upon and I don’t see that it is a negotiable point, so many years later.
Some of my thoughts on the tolls:
I have some serious concerns about raising toll rates but all the data we’re seeing says it must be so. I attended my first meeting late 2010 and I feel like I’ve been appointed to be one of the captains of the sinking Titanic. When I’m reading articles from the Seattle Times that 520 with its new tolls (set at $3.50 with Good To Go and $5 without a state issued pass) saw 40 percent fewer vehicles than normal on January 3, (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017153722_tolling04m.html) and 20-25 percent increase in traffic on I-90, it deeply concerns me. Seattle traffic was about 10 percent down and feedback shows more people are finding alternatives to paying the tolls.
As a local restaurateur, a Port Orchard resident and someone who frequently utilizes the bridge, I look at this problem more from a tourism perspective. If people from the Pierce County/King County side are looking for alternatives to paying the toll, they have many to choose from. They can choose to stay in Tacoma, Seattle or venture to other areas in the greater Puget Sound region for shopping, dining and entertainment needs. That’s going to hurt commerce on the Peninsula. AND then CAC and WSDOT will have to meet again to raise toll rates to make up for lost revenue — which is a bad downward cycle to get into.
I want to reiterate to everyone the CAC is looking at all the details closely. WSDOT has been very helpful and working diligently to get us all the information we request so we can make the most informed recommendation possible. Unfortunately, the biggest dilemma here is finding how we can do the least amount of harm while making general assumptions on how raising the toll rates will impact revenues and how those changes will affect our ability to meet our financial obligations on the bridge. I would like to remind everyone that the CAC is an advisory board with no specific powers than to give recommendations to WSDOT and in the end they have the final say. To the best of my knowledge, there has only been one instance the final decision WSDOT made was against the CAC’s recommendation.
I’d like to extend my gratitude to our 26th district legislators Senator Derek Kilmer, Representative Larry Seaquist and Representative Jan Angel who have followed this issue very closely on our behalf. They attend these meetings frequently and offer much insight and advice on the legislative processes. This Bill 6073 may provide some relief but while I’m hopeful, I am not banking that it will pass.
Our next meeting is Feb. 8 at the Gig Harbor Civic Center. There will be a WSDOT open house from 5:30-6:30 p.m. with the CAC meeting and public hearing beginning promptly at 6:30. There will be another meeting Feb. 22, place TBD and another meeting, if necessary, on March 9. If you have any questions feel free to email me at amysonthebay@yahoo.com.

Stuff

If you're into clothing designers and into Obama, this is the site for you.  Sorry, or happy to say, I don't know any of the names of the designers and am not into Obama so think I'll pass.
I was  watching the morning light on the harbor view cam and saved these pix yesterday.
Oh....and this...what did you take from this???

Lazy February

Wow...February has been too good to be true so far...course we're only into the 5th day, but as you can see, yesterday was incredible. Jean Williamson Carter took this picture of the sailboats and they were only three of the many that were out enjoying the sunshine.
Today is superbowl, and I think I just may ignore it all, well, except, maybe, the halftime show, as I am kinda curious  to see what Madona will be up to.