Yeah, I know that health care and missile shields in Poland and Czech are the real issues of the day. And I feel strongly about both of them (yes to public health care in the US; yes to the missile shield, though I’m pretty sure that it was traded for something worthy).
But nothing makes me feel more like I voted for the right president than this photo that popped up yesterday. Go, Jedi Obama!
Terrible! Awful! Yeck! … I lost. By a lot.
I used a new technique this year. I figured out which teams did the best in the pre-season and determined that they were the worst teams for the regular season. Unfortunately this gave emphasis to Cleveland and a few other teams that did not show well.
Anyway, congrats to Rich! Big winner on the first week, which is always the hardest week to handicap. I’ll be adding to this page as the season goes on.
Camilla’s best friend is Tanya, the daughter of an Indian couple living in Murrieta, Shrini and Shweta. Shweta got in touch with us Saturday for a surprise birthday party for Shrini on Sunday (opening day of football, eh! – it’s OK, we have Tivo). It was a great time at the Bally Winery in Temecula, and we have a few photos.
Cutting the birthday cake.
At play in pretty dresses out back.
Happy Birthday, Mom! Her birthday follows only four days Dad’s. I like this photo and have a philosophy – mothers should never be photographed alone …
This amazing photo showed up in one of the Economist’s blogs this week. Wow. Hundreds of cargo ships sitting idle, empty of cargo and crew, anchored east of Singapore. I’d like to believe in a recovery as much as the next person, but this looks bad.
One month old on Friday – time for her first book! Veronica joined the nightly book reading Friday with Sandra Boynton’s “Your Personal Penguin”. If you haven’t read it, take a look at Davy Jones of the Monkees singing it here.
Food for thought: how much of human history do we get to witness and influence? I’ve been surprised at how much has changed over my lifetime (cold war ends, digital age arises, billions of people freed from poverty, etc.).
My realization that the world would change around me was when I visited Seoul, Korea for the second time in 1995. I’d been there as a backpacker in winter 1987, when the city compared somewhat favorably to Delhi, India. Old buildings, narrow streets, clunky transportation. In 1995, I was in the city for an unexpected three day layover. I couldn’t recognize it. Sleek trains, wide streets, tall buildings — exactly the kind of change everyone raves about in China now. It was a shock. How much of this will I see or be a part of?
Doing some quick math, how far back does written history go? Ignoring bookkeeping records and religious texts, I’ll date the emergence of written history with Herodotus around 450BC. That gives us 2460 years of written history. I’m 46, which means I’ve personally been around for almost 2% of human history.
My father, at 86, comes to 3.5%. I’m amazed – these numbers seem very big to me.
Extending just a bit to the parts of history that I have secondary knowledge of or influence over – I’ve known people born in 1895 (Grandpa Eddie) and am currently cradling Veronica Steussy, born one month ago yesterday. Veronica might reasonably see the beginning of the 22nd Century. That span of time is 205 years – over 8% of all recorded history.
It’s a matter of perspective.
There should be a hat tip here – I read someone else do this math somewhere, but I’ve forgotten where. Probably Marginal Revolution.
Happy 86th Birthday, Dad! I have a few photos here of you. Here you are, piloting the pontoon boat at Lake Santee.
Grandpa Cal and Little Cally.
Grandpa Cal and Little David
1955, with Gene, “Big” Cally and Nic.
Dad (upper left) with his brother Robin, father Edwin, sister Mary and mother Helen. 1942, Madison, Wisconsin.
There are two previous posts that I would link you to as well, both regarding the house on Miami Pass, which I visited with Cousin Winna two years ago. They are here and here.
Lot’s of small news – nothing big. The Steussy Ranch Mobile suddenly became undrivable for no good reason yesterday. After years of owning only non-American cars, I consider our purchase of the Ford minivan a grand experiment for the extended Steussy clan. Suddenly breaking down after 45,000 miles is not a good indication. Note that Gabi has updated the sticker in the back window to accurately reflect the new family size.
I spent the last two days in jury service. Amazingly, I was even seated in a jury box, with both attorneys accepting me as a juror. This was after they’d thrown out everyone who had said anything remotely intelligent in questioning. Day two, however, the public defender came to her senses and dismissed me. I don’t think I’ll ever, ever sit on a jury. There is something criminally wrong with Riverside County’s jury selection system. I’d very, very rarely been chosen for jury duty anywhere else, but here they hit me once very 18 months or so. Something very wrong about that.
Today starts American Football season, the most intellectual sport on the planet. I’ve had great fun since starting to seriously watch in 2004. Gabi and I are in the family football pool again this year. It will be fun.
That’s about it. Big kids are in school; I’m taking care of the littlest two while Gabi meets a friend for coffee. That’s all there is …
Here are Dan-dan and Camilla on their first day of school!
Gabi had to take the kids herself today; Dad was busy. Here is the whole crowd as they arrive at school.
Camilla shows off her cubby, as well as her new school uniform.
Edie came over the weekend to check out Veronica. She brought Myles and spent some quality time with all of us.
March Field, CA
