We are getting a dog in about two months. It's been a long road to this dog. Ryan has an allergy so it's a dog that doesn't shed. Dogs make Jack nervous so it's a dog with a kind temperament. I've never owned a dog so we needed a dog that is easier than others to train.
So far, I have read Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz, The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of Skete, Let Dogs by Dogs by the Monks of Skete, The Puppy Primer by Patricia McDonnell, and one other train a puppy guide but I can't remember the title. I've also watched youtube videos by Pawsitive Dog Training and Rachel Fusaro.
I have learned a lot but the real learning will happen when we get the dog. I'll keep you posted.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
High school reunion SF
I visited San Francisco at the end of September. Great city! All of my high school friends converged and we had a great time. Not much else to say .. we really enjoyed chatting, walking around the city and eating good food.
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| I've known these people for 33 years |
Canada!
I was prepared to leave Seattle in August if there were fires. It rained a lot instead of burning and I'll take a rainy summer any day.. less apocalyptic. Since there were no fires, we stayed in the great Northwest and went to Vancouver.
My mom came with us which was brave of her. We spent two nights at an AirBnB in the Kitsilano beach neighborhood (a new favorite). We visited the largest pool in North America - over 100 meters long. We walked over the Capilano suspension bridge and visited their Redwood park that looked a lot like a Redwood park we visited in New Zealand. We visited their amazing science center and experienced the Fly Over Canada ride.
The kids fought a lot. It was annoying. Our third night we visited the very cool Fairmont in the Vancouver Airport. When we arrived, I put my feet up and wanted to watch a home decorating show on the large TV in our room. The kids instantly started to complain.. they wanted to watch their own show, this wasn't fair, blah blah etc. My mom looked very confused by this behavior. Her children did not do this apparently. She told them it did not matter what they wanted. Their mom was paying for the room so they needed to do what I wanted. This was news to all of us. The kids were so shocked by this idea they were quiet, and I started to consider that 'it doesn't matter what you want' might be something to add to a book I am writing called 'How to make your children less whiney and entitled.'
My mom came with us which was brave of her. We spent two nights at an AirBnB in the Kitsilano beach neighborhood (a new favorite). We visited the largest pool in North America - over 100 meters long. We walked over the Capilano suspension bridge and visited their Redwood park that looked a lot like a Redwood park we visited in New Zealand. We visited their amazing science center and experienced the Fly Over Canada ride.
The kids fought a lot. It was annoying. Our third night we visited the very cool Fairmont in the Vancouver Airport. When we arrived, I put my feet up and wanted to watch a home decorating show on the large TV in our room. The kids instantly started to complain.. they wanted to watch their own show, this wasn't fair, blah blah etc. My mom looked very confused by this behavior. Her children did not do this apparently. She told them it did not matter what they wanted. Their mom was paying for the room so they needed to do what I wanted. This was news to all of us. The kids were so shocked by this idea they were quiet, and I started to consider that 'it doesn't matter what you want' might be something to add to a book I am writing called 'How to make your children less whiney and entitled.'
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| Kits beach pool |
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| lots of people can visit the pool at one time |
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| Capilano suspension bridge park |
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| All tourists visit the bridge apparently |
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
The Truth About Social Security
There are books I cannot stop talking about. Bad Blood is still one of those books. The Truth about Social Security is now another. Everything you think about social security is a right wing talking point. You think of it as part of the general federal budget, believe the money has already spent, that the program is going bankrupt, it wasn't intended to be your sole source of retirement income, that it's an entitlement, and (if you are under 50) will not be there for you when you retire. All of those things are complete lies. I am most struck by how completely I have absorbed the right wing propaganda about this program.
The author, Nancy Altman, started her career as a tax lawyer after attending 2 Ivy League universities. She served as a legislative assistant to a Republican Senator in the 70's before the Republicans became crazy, doublespeak peddling devotees of Lenin. She moved on to work in the field of private pensions and then served as Alan Greenspan's assistant in the early 80's when he was chair of a bipartisan committee that developed amendments to the Social Security law. Since then she has worked in public service either directly or indirectly with the Social Security program.
When I tell people that everything they know about social security is not true, they do not believe me. But that is because everything they know, they've heard from the media. Unfortunately, it is hard to get good information on complex issues from the media these days. They seem to feel they have to tell you both sides which in this case is here are some lies and here is the truth, you decide which is which. And of course, you cannot.
The facts of the program are well documented and publicly available. The book is filled with speeches from founders of the program as well as congressional testimony from the time Congress was debating the program. Altman explains that the social security administration employs 40 actuaries. She breaks down actuarial terms and data which isn't great for bedtime reading but interesting earlier in the day.
Reading this book was reassuring -- what a great program! well designed! -- and terrifying -- these crazy people are close to fulfilling their dream of destroying this program.
Nothing to do but keep on fighting the good fight.
The author, Nancy Altman, started her career as a tax lawyer after attending 2 Ivy League universities. She served as a legislative assistant to a Republican Senator in the 70's before the Republicans became crazy, doublespeak peddling devotees of Lenin. She moved on to work in the field of private pensions and then served as Alan Greenspan's assistant in the early 80's when he was chair of a bipartisan committee that developed amendments to the Social Security law. Since then she has worked in public service either directly or indirectly with the Social Security program.
When I tell people that everything they know about social security is not true, they do not believe me. But that is because everything they know, they've heard from the media. Unfortunately, it is hard to get good information on complex issues from the media these days. They seem to feel they have to tell you both sides which in this case is here are some lies and here is the truth, you decide which is which. And of course, you cannot.
The facts of the program are well documented and publicly available. The book is filled with speeches from founders of the program as well as congressional testimony from the time Congress was debating the program. Altman explains that the social security administration employs 40 actuaries. She breaks down actuarial terms and data which isn't great for bedtime reading but interesting earlier in the day.
Reading this book was reassuring -- what a great program! well designed! -- and terrifying -- these crazy people are close to fulfilling their dream of destroying this program.
Nothing to do but keep on fighting the good fight.
Sula
In honor of Toni Morrison, my book group chose the book Sula for the month of September. When I was a sophomore in college I read Beloved, and I understood none of it. My experience being required to read books seem to deplete my engagement with the book and turn it into figuring out what I needed to know about the book for a grade.
Maybe if I'd read Beloved under different circumstances, I may have understood more. But then I was reading the book around the time of the riots caused by the exoneration of the police when they severely beat Rodney King. I remember at the time thinking .. huh. well, I have never had that experience with the police. So, I didn't understand much.
Toni Morrison seems to paint scenes as she writes.. I've never read anything so deep, lyrical and mystical. Sula was her second book written in the early 70's. It is really, truly sad but somehow sort of hopeful in that one of the themes is strong women who can survive anything. I still probably didn't understand half of it.
Maybe if I'd read Beloved under different circumstances, I may have understood more. But then I was reading the book around the time of the riots caused by the exoneration of the police when they severely beat Rodney King. I remember at the time thinking .. huh. well, I have never had that experience with the police. So, I didn't understand much.
Toni Morrison seems to paint scenes as she writes.. I've never read anything so deep, lyrical and mystical. Sula was her second book written in the early 70's. It is really, truly sad but somehow sort of hopeful in that one of the themes is strong women who can survive anything. I still probably didn't understand half of it.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
mystery book
I have a friend who writes books. That is her career. When I tell people that they look at me like I said, 'I have a friend who lives on the moon.' Sure you do. But I do! Good books published by real publishers that win awards and end up on famous lists.
anyway, I read her latest unpublished book. It is so good I am sorry it is not published. I can't say anything else though. Big secrets. When it is available for pre-sale, I will buy 10 copies because people are going to love it so much it will be a great gift.
You don't need more information because when it comes out, you will hear about it.
anyway, I read her latest unpublished book. It is so good I am sorry it is not published. I can't say anything else though. Big secrets. When it is available for pre-sale, I will buy 10 copies because people are going to love it so much it will be a great gift.
You don't need more information because when it comes out, you will hear about it.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Bad Blood
It is really hard to find the words to describe the events of this book. In Bill Gates' review of the book, he called the events "insane." Review here. It is hard not to compare Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the now defunct Theranos, to Donald Trump. They are both narcissists or they are both evil but I sincerely hope it's the former. Narcissists have no empathy for others. They lie constantly to support their own grandiose self-image.
The most phenomenal and unbelievable part of this book is not that this woman is a vicious liar but the people that she fooled -- Henry Kissinger, Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, David Boies, Jim Mattis (among others). Now, I care very little that these men either lost a great deal of money or sustained damage to their reputations or both. Given their positions in the world, I wonder how they were so thoroughly fooled. The fact that they were fooled gave Holmes the foundation to fool the rest of Silicon Valley. It wouldn't matter at all if Theranos had been a software company but they produced a health care product that caused many, many people to suffer.
The only silver lining of this horrible story is that it would not have been exposed if it weren't for many brave people who put the interests of public safety ahead of their own. The journalist, John Carreyou, and the management of the Wall Street Journal also deserve credit for their integrity and unwillingness to be intimidated by very powerful people. Lastly, Rupert Murdoch could have killed this story but didn't. And while he has mostly created evil in the world, I admired that decision.
Incredible read. I am not at all surprised it will be a movie soon. It's a very classic tale of good vs evil. It is probably the story of our current era.
The most phenomenal and unbelievable part of this book is not that this woman is a vicious liar but the people that she fooled -- Henry Kissinger, Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, David Boies, Jim Mattis (among others). Now, I care very little that these men either lost a great deal of money or sustained damage to their reputations or both. Given their positions in the world, I wonder how they were so thoroughly fooled. The fact that they were fooled gave Holmes the foundation to fool the rest of Silicon Valley. It wouldn't matter at all if Theranos had been a software company but they produced a health care product that caused many, many people to suffer.
The only silver lining of this horrible story is that it would not have been exposed if it weren't for many brave people who put the interests of public safety ahead of their own. The journalist, John Carreyou, and the management of the Wall Street Journal also deserve credit for their integrity and unwillingness to be intimidated by very powerful people. Lastly, Rupert Murdoch could have killed this story but didn't. And while he has mostly created evil in the world, I admired that decision.
Incredible read. I am not at all surprised it will be a movie soon. It's a very classic tale of good vs evil. It is probably the story of our current era.
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