Rewards and Windfalls

About five years ago, we decided to cash in some air miles and take a trip to Las Vegas. We had booked coach and had to check a bag, so we arrived early at the airport to head to the check-in counter for our airline. I gravitated toward a nice looking lady who wasn't busy and presented my ticket. She looked at the ticket, looked at me and said, "I knew someone with this name. Did you teach English in Delaware in 1968?" I knew instantly that she was one of my former students, but I can't begin to remember all of their faces or names. I always put on a big smile and try my darndest to convince them that I remember them while I desperately look for a clue that will trigger a memory. I couldn't be happier to see them, and I'm always surprised that they remember my name even though I know my appearance has changed almost as much as theirs. Of the thousands of students and co-workers I have met, I can't remember all of them, but if they remember me, I want to make sure I make them happy that they did. I like to catch up on their lives, tell them how great they look and how well they have done for themselves.

The lady identified herself by name and the fact that she had worn a body brace for a back condition for the year that she was in my class. I really remembered her with that big clue. I always wanted to make sure she was comfortable and well treated by everyone while in my charge. For me, I felt it was my professional duty and a personal standard I hold for myself.  I knew she didn't choose the situation but tried to make the best of the circumstances. She was very sweet and a hard worker so it was easy to maintain the stiff upper lip kind of getting on with the task at hand. No one was maudlin about it, but it was necessary for everyone to carry on with appropriate politeness. When dealing with special circumstances that students have to cope with, they don't like a lot of fuss, and want to be treated just like everyone else. Staff always has to remember to consider their circumstances and not add to their burden. It is always on your mind that sensitivity to special needs should occur but without a lot of catering that would embarrass them. Kidding around a bit from time to time keeps everyone much happier.

We had a chance to catch up on her life, family and career because the airport wasn't very busy that early in the morning. She told me about enjoying the perks of working for an airline. She shared her experiences with travel and what she liked to do when she traveled to Vegas. Then she upgraded us to first class. Never expecting that, we were appropriately grateful. For me, the reward was that I was remembered in a positive light and that I had done the best I could without ever expecting any rewards. For her to remember my name after 40 years and the year that we spent together as a special one, just made my day, month, the rest of my life. It is one of the best memories of my years in education. I spent five hours sitting in first class while I enjoyed that memory.

A Box of Wine, A Loaf of Bread, and Thou--Huh?

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald translation, 1858

Recently,  I saw a story online about the challenges of the restaurant business with losses being posted by various restaurants. I like the idea of eating out in restaurants, but I don't patronize very many or very often. Who doesn't enjoy a relaxing meal when you don't spend hours cooking, and a meal with conversation with dinner companions? Before we retired, we ate out often.  When we used to eat out, we would set aside half of the meal, request a box, and take half of it home. We never ate as much food as restaurants served. So we weren't too offended by sticker shock for a dinner out for two was actually dinner for four.

Nevertheless, I was always offended, as a seasoned cook, to pay gratuities that could run to ten dollars per meal just to have someone walk my food from the kitchen to my table. I can buy two whole chickens for that amount. Generally, I don't like dealing with servers. The only reason I would need their name is in case they disappear for too long and I don't want to wait all night. Generally the problem is that they want to turn over the table several times during the night and they rush you through the meal . Sometimes the person who delivers the food isn't even the person who takes the order. I don't like to spend a lot of time socializing with the servers because I want to socialize with the persons eating dinner with me. Sometimes if you eat at a buffet, servers don't really do anything but expect tips anyway.

I've been cooking for a long time and technique is something I notice. I tend to be demanding about quality of the cooking and I don't like things over-cooked or under-cooked. I like food to be hot enough that I think it has just been cooked. Getting the food to meet my requirements is hard because they are cooking for a lot of people and some cooks have more experience than others. I don't like to send back dishes because that causes a whole bunch of situations. What I get as a result of that practice takes longer, and isn't usually any better than what I sent back. It has to be pretty bad for me to return a dish to the kitchen. I have done so, but it is quite a bother. I wouldn't send back a dish just so they comp the meal, but some places do that. They have to make a living too and I don't like to try to cheat them. If the restaurant is a bad one, I just don't return. Since I tend to avoid fatty foods and things with cheese or bacon, food prep becomes an issue in a restaurant. Olive oil is a favorite of mine and I prefer meats or fish baked or broiled. I like to avoid fried stuff.

My biggest quarrel with restaurants concerns the drinks. I can buy a 5 liter box of red or white wine at a wholesale liquor store for $14. Depending on who is pouring, a box of wine yields what we guesstimate to cost less than fifty cents per glass of wine. In a restaurant, most wine will run $4.50 per glass, which is rock bottom cheapest, and wine can cost up to the sky depending on how picky your palate happens to be. Some restaurants even serve their cheap wines in juice glasses so they can also insult you for buying the cheapest house wine. Those are the restaurants where I order beer. I'm not a wine snob and I have very unschooled taste buds so I'm not impressed by a $500 bottle of wine. I'm not a brew snob, so I don't know the taste of one beer from the other. Any beer that is very, very cold works for me. The price of the wine is put with the total cost of the meal so that there is also a surcharge for tips on the wine. I'm not a gourmet and I hate paying excessive amounts for wine, beer, food, or servers. When you can find a BYOB, they charge a corking fee. I use any coupon I can find and they won't be able to stay in business with many customers like me.

Since I'm not Romney with megabucks hidden in the Cayman Islands, we seldom eat out. Now that I am retired, I prefer to spend my money in other ways.

Firecracker

We watched PBS on July 4th for the evening program A Capitol Fourth with fireworks. It was pretty good because I discovered a star that was new to me. His name is Josh Turner, a very popular country music singer and he is a young man of 34. He is a rising star because he has a fabulous baritone voice. He sang the National Anthem and one of his hits called "Firecracker". It is a lusty little tune about his wife who is a gorgeous blond who plays keyboard in his band. They married in 2003 and have three toddlers. I looked up his videos this morning on YouTube and he has some great songs. I love his deep, deep voice. He is very sexy and a big star in Nashville at the Grand Olde Opry. They travel with the kids and perform all around the country. I can't imagine living like that, but they are young. I liked watching him and his band performing with all those guys in the band in their jeans and musical instruments. They were really confident and good musicians. Real talent is always great to watch. I've never been a big country music fan, but I could get very interested in seeing this guy perform--great stage presence.

We used to watch the Boston Pops on the fourth and they now only have an hour on CBS with mostly fireworks. Years ago, it used to go for hours of patriotic music. I discovered Linda Eder on that show and I love her voice and music. I like seeing real talent performing. We took a quick look at what was running on other channels, but they were showing a bunch of rappers who had no talent and thought grabbing their "junk" would be an adequate substitute for real talent. It is disgusting to see those guys groaning some incomprehensible, crude lyrics that you thankfully, can't quite understand, but they hang on to their privates like they are going to fall off. It is gross. So we didn't look at that channel for more than ten seconds. Anyway, I will have to keep my eyes open for chances to see Josh Turner performing. He's cool, talented and a class act. I saw a few videos of interviews he has done on TV which is interesting just to hear his speaking voice. He is really gifted and I look forward to seeing him on Good Morning America on July 11 as well as with David Letterman on Aug. 23.

Play

As I spend time with my grandchildren, I like to watch their development and skills that they acquire through their play. My grandson says it best when he says, "I do it myself." They like us to watch and encourage and talk to them but they want to be in charge. That important journey toward independence can be observed on the playground. As they fearlessly jump on the equipment and venture forth into a new experience, their fearless, optimistic outlook on the outcome is taken for granted to be one that they will like. 

They like to be cheered for their efforts, but the adults have to take care not to take away their open acceptance of a little daring. If the adults only give precautions when absolutely necessary, their self confidence is reinforced. We try not to interfere unless something is obviously dangerous. They quickly figure out the connection between actions and consequences. 

Problem solving skills are greatly developed as they get to figure out how to get something to function as they desire whether it is getting on a new playground toy, repairing a toy, or reading on a Nook. My grandson is in a jigsaw puzzle phase so he puts together one after another. He likes to show me how they go together, but my help or suggestions are not welcome--"I do it myself," he says. When a toy stops working, he races to the pantry to get the battery box to replace the battery. 

My granddaughter loves her books and the American Girl catalog. With her birthday coming up, she has a shopping list. I don't read books to her because she wants to read to me. I love listening to her reading her books and sounding out the new words. I can't remember a specific phrase that she often uses but I will always remember her brother's "I do it myself." It reminds me of my dad's often used phrase, "You think about it." 

I like seeing how confident they have become through the freedom they have been given to explore their abilities. They exist in a little protective cocoon of which they are very unaware. They are surrounded by watchful adults with structure without excessive supervision. They have been trained to clean up the toys at regular intervals--before a meal, before leaving to go home, before going to bed and they do a really good job of understanding the concept of neat, organized toys on shelves. They thrive on the structure of knowing the reliable expectations. I'm always eager to see their latest achievements each time I visit with them.

And Justice For All

On Flag Day, I am reminded of the Pledge of Allegiance and the last phrase--"And Justice for All".  We can all argue the validity of that lofty goal and whether we can really claim its achievement. I always hesitate to get involved in political discussions because a good lawyer can argue many shades of gray on any issue and I'm not a lawyer. I received an interesting e-mail and I suspect many others with blogs have also seen this item.

At this location, this organization attempts to address some serious issues of our times. I must say that from what I've seen of their argument regarding incarceration in this country, I tend to agree. We have far too many people being sent off to prison for non-violent crimes mostly related to drug use. Lots of questions and I have to wonder now that prisons are being privatized, where is the motivation to stop so much incarceration when it pays that industry so well.?

I don't use illegal drugs and or legal ones for that matter, but I think it is time for this country to consider that the war on drugs was lost a long time ago. Sending the marijuana user off to prison makes no more sense than incarcerating the person who has a glass of wine. Society isn't well served when more is spent on prisons than on education. It might be worth a try when, like prohibition of alcohol, you take the money out of the drug trade, regulate and tax it, we might all be better off.

Noise

My perception of noise has always been rather simple--sound I don't like. I have to expand my sensory definition of noise to include more than only sounds I hear and dislike. Noise can also be visual as found in playing with the word to include "visual noise".

This picture is a perfect example to me of visual noise: 

This "dithering" effect in digital photography produces an unpleasing "image noise". The photo was taken with a 5 megapixel camera that leaves too much "noise" in brown, blue or green sections of pictures. Digital photography fills in areas but it produces an unpleasing effect.

In contrast, these pictures below were taken with a 16.2 megapixel Nikon D5100 DSLR camera which produces a more pleasing photograph. The brown, blue and green colors look more as the natural eye would see them. The image noise reduction of the camera is outstanding.

I tend to be a purist in photographic effects. Artistic renderings in photographic form that plays with reality can sometimes be pleasing to my eye, but that is distinctly different from "visual noise". Beauty is in the eye of the beholder perhaps, but it seems to me that whatever was intended and fails is what produces "visual noise." You recognize what is visual noise and what is artistic "photoshopping" or enhancement of photos. A deliberate manipulation of digital media can produce some very pleasing effects not unlike impressionistic painting. There are those who claim  impressionists were just near-sighted artists. Even if that were true, I find the effect is a pleasing variation on reality. I wouldn't call it "noise".

According to that great expert in cyberspace, Wikipedia, noise can be expanded from acoustic noise to other applications as well as cellular noise, vibrational noise, electronic noise or thermal noise. The technical details of each makes very interesting reading. I don't need to try to paraphrase their definitions, but the idea of "noisy genes" tickles my fancy. It makes me wonder if there is such a thing as "tasty noise" or "smelly noise"--whatever interferes with the pure reception of a sensory experience.

At the core of all of these "noise" events, is the idea that something is unwanted. So I suppose I would define noise as whatever is unwanted or distracting and produces stress in the receptor. I like the notion of "white noise" which I would define as something so all inclusive that it soothes and ceases to stress or annoy.