An update is even more overdue

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Time—that slippery conduit through which we pass—has eluded me once again; at least where this blog is concerned. I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll simply start to ramble, as usual, I suppose.

Fir

The first thing that is coming to mind is my hair. Yeah, I know, we sort of got over all that hair business way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Well, my hair was never really that long in those days. Last summer, my hair was getting a little long, so my wife said, “If you want to have your hair a long, I’m going to take you to my hairdresser for your 60th birthday present.” I have the sort of hair that I can have shortish and longish which allows me to go a few months between haircuts. My wife likes my hair both ways.

So, off we went and had this very nice girl, Brandy, tidy-up my hair. I looked on the floor and said, “Not bad hair for 60.” Then came the reply that just simply caught me, “If you had a foot of it, you could donate it to cancer patients going through chemotherapy.”

What an idea! I could try my hair long and then do something good with it. Great! That was in mid-August and I am getting there slowly—very slowly, it seems. Perhaps it has slowed down a bit. It has been pretty unmanageable. Having long hair for a while is a neat idea, but getting there is not as easy as I thought it would be. Anyway, I am still working on it.

Writing (& book)

In case someone might actually be following my blog and might just be having some remote thoughts about my book, it is still underway. I have discovered, actually I’m sure I sort of knew, that the writing part is far easier and takes less time than editing. Most books are severely under-edited. I’m not ready to employ and professional editor to pour over my work through several versions, so I am recruiting people I know to be reader/editors.

I began by printing each of the three sections of the book and inserting them into three binders. Each reader/editor would get a coloured pen and an instruction/feedback sheet along with other information, such as target audience. The first person got section one. When they finished, I gave them section two and gave section one to the second reader/editor. It worked rather well and I got plenty of great edits and feedback. I have done this a couple of times as well as working through it with my writing coach.

I now have a couple of copies of the entire book out to do the same sort of process. This takes a long time. Busy people are doing this in their spare time and so am I. As the editing moves slowly along, it is difficult to maintain momentum and keep the energy up. It is interesting when I talk to people about my book. I only have to get started and everybody has something to say regarding their own experiences with technology. I remind them that my book is about being human and that we need to focus on that in the midst of the Technojungle that is devouring us.

Music

Here is an area of my life that has suddenly gained tremendous momentum and energy. Music was eluding me for years. I didn’t know what to do, or how to get started. Then an opportunity came up to play some Christmas carols just over a year ago now. Then I got invited to join a small band called The Deep Cove Old Time Jazz Band and play in retirement and care homes. I had done this over 25 years ago and had not played since. It was tough to get going again.

In June we played our last gig. So I asked the fellow learning to play banjo in the band if he would like to get together to play some tunes over the summer. I didn’t want to lose what I was beginning to gain. He said that he would. Then I wondered if the trombone player might like to join us. We had known each other some 35 years prior at the Hot Jazz Club. He said he would. He also said he knew of a couple of other fellows who might like to join in. Thus began an all summer long task of trying to get a group together. Everyone was going away at various times.

By mid to late August we were getting close to beginning to practice. I was amazed at how many tunes I know and can play. Soon another banjo player came who I also knew back in the Hot Jazz days. We practiced weekly until he went to play down under for a couple of months. We took Christmas off and are now having causal practices to get up to speed again.

I have some amazing news about my a cornet. I think it deserves a special entry, so look for a separate article about my cornet dream of a dream cornet.

Photography

Photography is an area that I have not done much with for a long time. I guess I am sort of waiting to see how my life goes. I do have a lot of photos I have just started to do something with and I do have two blogs about photography that I would like to work on. That is enough to keep me busy. I suppose I am concerned a bit about the age of my camera. It would be nice to get to the point where I could get or even need a new camera. I have one in mind, but it is expensive to keep up on technology.

Graphics

It has been a lot of years since I did any graphics work. Actually, I worked in training people around 15 years ago. I never considered myself a designer.

Last year, my friend Glenn, said he wanted to start a newsletter business. I didn’t know what to think, since printed flyers seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs. Nevertheless, I said I would help do a pilot. I found some open source software and struggled along with it.

Suddenly one day, the newsletter gained a companion flyer for a local shopping centre. We completed both on high quality paper and hand delivered them to the community. Since then, we have done three more and two or three are in the works. I have had to switch software a few times and gained some inexpensive yet powerful software. It is amazing what is out there now since Adobe started to rent their software and many users simply don’t want to follow that model. I have had some great compliments, done some photography (getting paid for the first time in over 45 years of holding a camera) and I have been amazed at how much I enjoy the work and even have fun. I have had to do some late nights though.

Baking

I continue to do my regular baking of pizza shells for Friday night pizza night, buns, bread, pasta and a few other things. Usually, I still grind ancient grains into flour in our Vitamix blender. For New Years Eve, we had another party and Glenn and I made the decadent Sin-O-Man (cinnamon) buns. They were amazing again.

Family

Well, my daughter, Michelle, came home from living a year in Australia and jumped right in to training to become a personal trainer. She is now working in this field everyday for long hours. Malcolm did a co-op job working on some helmet technology that can reduce the risk of concussions. It was very timely, since this sort of problems has been in the news a lot. He even made it to the news. He is now back in class studying Mechatronics Engineering. We are all living together in our home and having normal family dynamics.

Enough

That should be enough for now. I have continued to write a bit everyday, not always for an hour as I did to complete my book, but I have managed to amass a plethora of articles that I could put on this blog or my Technojungle blog. I just seem to be a bit short on time and I will be getting busier in the near future. Yet, many people do say that to get something done, one should give it to a busy person. We shall see. I have had doing this writing you are reading and a couple of other related tasks on my todo list for a couple of weeks, I think. We shall see. I still need to edit this and keyword it before I can upload it.

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It’s falling out

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It is fall and the rain is falling, thus it is falling out.

As you can see, I did get a couple of things written here and even more, I started a new blog focused around my slow to materialize book about the Technojungle. Back before summer Roger McGuinn’s guitar caught my attention, so for months now I have had some Byrds tunes rattling around upstairs and, in particular, Roger’s half guitar and half banjo style playing of the Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar. Make sure you read the whole story. Also check out The Technojungle Project (see sidebar).

Most of our summer was pretty regular with son Malcolm taking summer engineering courses. I guess the biggest news is that daughter Michelle managed to move out of Kelowna after working for a year upon graduating from the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO). However, she did not stick around and after just over two weeks, we loaded her on a plane to move to Melbourne Australia for year.

We visited my sister and brother-in-law’s summer place in Gibsons, BC, a ferry ride away, where Patti discovered Kayaking. Now that they no longer reside at all nearby and spend winters in Palm Desert, we hardly ever see them. Patti’s mother passed away a year and a half ago and her brother and his family are all pretty busy with their own families. Nevertheless, we do seem to always be busy and going hither and tither including church and curling.

It has been very good weather, but now that the rain has set in, I am trying to get into some sort of routine for the winter. I continue to regularly make bread, pizza and pasta with fresh ground ancient grains, mostly spelt, ground into flour in our ViitaMix.

I have been a bit pokey about getting to a few tasks and projects, so hopefully I will get a bit more organized and accomplish these over the winter.

With it falling out, I am moving toward falling in—falling into a fall routine.

A bit of silence

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Perhaps you have noticed that there has been a bit of silence around here. No, I have not given up on my blogs. In fact, I will have more to come as teasers for the book I am working on that is turning out to be a lot of work. I am also working toward determining if I have enough stunning photography to do some sort of exhibit. As I paw through them, I shall certainly have some to post on my photography blogs.

What is the book you ask? It has been mentioned over on the left in the sidebar for months now, however, here is a more detailed explanation:

My first book, tentatively, The technology dilemmas—how we can strengthen our humanity and live in the technojungle. I am looking at technological change and dehumanization as a boomer who grew up hearing about all the promises that technology would bring us in the future. The dilemma, the future never arrives. At least not as promised. We don’t have leisure time created by machines doing our work. Quite the opposite. The more I delve into this, the more concerned I have become. The horse is running wild, we truly do need to take ahold of the reins, or we shall be thrown.

My views, as I have discovered after grabbing a few books from the library, are not the lonely shouts of an alarmist, others have been ringing the bell for years. Some have written some nearly shocking ideas that seem to make sense according to my observations.

My goal is to have an easy to read book that will appeal to a broad audience, although boomers are my target, and provide some general observations that will give the book some shelf-life. Through short chapters, I clearly define the foundations of what I mean by ideas like, what does it mean to be human, and what is technology. Then I look at major technological trends from my observations, provide a few insights, and then turn toward beginning the journey of looking for some solutions to the dilemmas and how we can maintain our humanity. I ask my readers to join me in the journey, as I tell a few personal stories along the way, and learn to critically think through the technology dilemmas we all face and to discover ways to strengthen our humanity so we can all live in (what I call) the Technojungle.

Note: I have changed the name of the book to ‘The future never arrive: at least not as expected and it brings baggage.’ I am also thinking of splitting the content into more than one book. Stay tuned for more changes and this project evolves. — Fall 2014

Yes, I am still grinding flour in our Vitamix and making bread, pizza, etc. I am trying to find time to get a few pots of edibles growing for the summer.

Yup, I’m busy, but the blogs are not lost. Stay tuned.

NY11

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Here is a quick one to wish you all a Happy New Year. Nothing very spectacular for us here. I cleaned the house today. Patti tried to invite some people over, but, everyone was busy. Malcolm was working up the mountain until around 9:30, Michelle kicked up a fuss about not having a party to go to. I BBQ’d steaks, shrimps and baked potatoes. I enjoyed all the food and munchies we had around and tried to watch movies while the women folk carried on. I picked up Malcolm from the Seymour shuttle bus. Patti took Michelle to a party and is now at Canyon Heights Church. I have been polishing off the eggnog (san rum, of course). Malcolm and I watched them blow-up the Seattle Space Needle on TV. Now, Malcolm is watching the Dick Clark New Years program—no Dick Clark. I have to go pick-up Michelle. Just another quiet New Years—nice.

Editing note: Patti picked up Michelle on her way home. Malcolm has gone to bed and so go I, unless I get stuck watching another ‘Awnowld’ movie (we enjoyed True Lies, now it is Junior). Good night.

Just a note about News Years Day evening. We will be at Grandma Axford’s for pizza. So, that is settled.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas transitions — What about our Christmas 2010

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Just in case you might be wondering, here is an entry that describes what my, our, Christmas has been like. If you read my O Christmas Tree entry of a couple of weeks ago, you will know that we began our Christmas by selecting a living tree. I am looking at it as I write this. The little Norway Spruce still has never really adjusted to being inside the house where it is warm and is, therefore, still dropping needles.

If getting the tree was an ordeal, it was the start of a few that have made our Christmas a bit different. We might give up on some of the gift giving next year. Finding presents for each other is simply getting to be complicated.

Our traditional Christmas activities are changing. I really only have to get one present, the one for my wife. Although, I have often bought a little extra for the kids. This has been impossible and no presents from me. My wife warned that we got our new house, and just spent a lot of money on a storage system for the garage, so, no presents. She was right, despite my resolve to find something.

One item on the list is a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I have been reading about these machines and they seem to be a vital utility in the kitchen of anyone who wants to do some baking, but, one must get a good powerful one if bread dough is to be attempted. My wifey, however, hummed and hawed over the models and the whole idea to the point that we did not get one, yet. Another possibility is a non-stick skillet. Eggs and pancakes and such, are really a pain to cook in our stainless steel pans that work best on high heat. We have been looking at this for months now.

Part of our Christmas plans this year was a trip to the U.S. on the day after Boxing Day, for a bit of shopping. This plan has been part of the reason we have not been as dedicated to buy before Christmas this year. My son ended up working, so he did not come. During the whole trip, we found very little that we ended up buying. So, the trip became mostly a trip only.

We almost turned back in the morning, on the way down. Seems everybody had the idea of seeking those Boxing Week specials and the lines were nearly impossible. Once we discovered the back up, we beetled cross country, and I mean country, to the very small border at Aldergrove. It was a nice drive and the wait, although still somewhat long, was much better than the other crossings. Once across, we were in Lynden Washington. Some of the rural landscape I recognized because my grandparents and my uncle used to run the Skateway roller skating rink, bowling alley, and pool hall. Lynden was our stop-over when we used to drive from where we lived in Portland Oregon to visit our other relatives on my mother’s side in West Vancouver and later to our summer place on Bowen Island. This was before the I-5 highway and the drive was much longer than it is today. We learned to skate, bowl and play pool there.

If you think that Christmas festivities simply change hands as family members grow up or grow old, think again. There is more to it these days. I remember Christmas as being the time we all could get together. And there were gifts everywhere, and food everywhere. My sister and brother-in-law now spend Christmas in Hawaii. We usually get a short Skype call on Christmas morning from them. This year, our daughter was away at her first year of university and flew home, as it turned out, just hours before my sister was to fly to Hawaii. That meant a fancy brunch at the Airport Fairmont Hotel. Not quite a cozy Christmas visit at home, but, the food was pretty good.

Our gift from my sister is Christmas in Hawaii next year. They will supply the place, we have to get there. That may be financially tricky, but, we’ll see.

Speaking of cozy, we were a bit late on Christmas Eve, so we had to shop a bit for a late church service to attend. We decided to go to the last offering at the Lynn Valley Full Gospel Church. It was warm and cozy and we were able to connect with some people we had not seen for a while. It was really nice, so, not everything is going off track this year.

If you have been following my blog, you will remember that I have cooked a couple of turkeys on my new BBQ rotisserie. This takes some care in doing, as a turkey off center on the rotisserie spit, and they can shift during the cooking process, will cause the motor to fail. I just got my replacement the other day. I plan to get a more powerful motor, one rated for 40 lbs. not 20 lbs. Taking the stage again, I was to cook the Christmas dinner with my wife, but, somehow, the whole idea vaporized and we ended up at my wife’s brother’s family home. We have been there many times over the years, nevertheless, we have a new home, so we wanted to start reciprocating. Perhaps, next year.

Even our traditional Christmas Day brunch had only a small turn-out. Well, the food was plentiful. We just got a new Belgian waffle maker and the recipe that we chose was for chocolate waffles. Wow, so chocolaty. We were so full that I could only manage one plate at Christmas dinner that night. I think there are still a couple of left-over waffles in the fridge.

Christmas family festivities seem to go through transitions these days. Even Grandma Axford’s traditional New Years Day Evening Chinese food feast plans are up in the air. Some do not even like Chinese food and others want pizza, still others do not want to go to Grandma’s, but, want somewhere else. I’ll have to let you know what happens.

Families change. Some members get old, not being able to do what they used to do, some pass away (we lost Grandpa Axford a few months ago) and are no longer present. New members arrive, either through marriage or birth (we had a wedding and a birth this year) and kids become teenagers and decide they are independent and gain their own Christmas agenda. Christmas transitions, with other family members taking on roles and injecting their own notions of how to celebrate. Somehow though, we all get to celebrate and we should never forget what the celebration of Christmas is really about—the birth of God’s Son, in human flesh, Jesus.

Merry Christmas