Author: Jon Moss

Saving the World One Van at a Time

Our Vanpool's New 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan

I am truly thankful to be a part of a vanpool.  Five days a week, we unite together to divide and conquer rush hour traffic along K-7 in Leavenworth County and I-70 in Wyandotte County.  For my fifth day of ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ series, I will introduce you to the benefits of a better way to commute to work.

Background

When I returned to the Kansas City area in the mid 90s, I knew I wanted to live in Leavenworth County.  The driving force behind our choice of municipalities centered on the quality of the public schools, since our children had many years ahead of them before graduating.  I could have returned to my home town in Easton, Kansas, where class sizes are small, but curriculum is limited as a result.  Or I could challenge them academically, building character and arming them for pursuits after graduation by moving them to Lansing, an accredited and highly rated school district in the Kansas City metro area.

While the commute from Lansing is easier and shorter than from Easton, I knew I would miss the solitude and dark night skies available in the northwestern corner of Leavenworth County.  For the first few years, I didn’t mind the twenty-five mile daily commute to midtown.  Then my biggest concern was getting back home in time to pickup Rachelle from after-school day care.  I could never fathom the conspiracy among day care providers in the Leavenworth/Lansing area.  Lansing is a bedroom community – nearly everyone either works on post at Ft. Leavenworth or somewhere else in Kansas City.  Yet all the day care providers required child pick-up by 5:30 p.m.  If I left work at 5:00 p.m., I could not hope to reach the child care facility by closing time without breaking multiple traffic laws.  I was blessed with an understanding manager who allowed me to adjust my hours to accommodate my situation.

Until Rachelle reached her teens, I dared not carpool.  Besides, back then, gas prices were around $1.30 or $1.50 per gallon, so I didn’t worry much about carpooling.  Also, before my husband became disabled, we carpooled together when we could.

Carpooling

Eventually, I found various carpool buddies to share the ride from Lansing to Kansas City.  I liked the simplicity of ride sharing, which reduced the wear and tear on my vehicle by at least fifty percent.  I enjoyed reduced insurance rates as well, since I could inform my insurance agent that I had reduced my annual mileage by half, which all reduced my risk and decreases my premiums.  When gas prices spiked above three dollars for the first time, I even enjoyed a three-way carpool which further reduced the wear on our vehicles.

Vanpooling

In May of 2010, my carpool with my pastor’s wife dissolved because of his re-assignment to a church near Topeka.  I needed to find another carpool partner, so I visited the Rideshare Connection database web site looking for a new match.  I got a hit on a person who actually drove an Advantage Vanpool van nearly full of Hallmark employees.   I immediately contacted her, and she directed me to call the contact at KCATA to get the details on the fare and the other forms I would need to complete and return.

I ran the numbers after speaking to the vanpool coordinator and determined that while the fare seemed expensive, it actually made good economic and environmental sense to participate in the vanpool.  (For great page full of information on vanpooling, visit this web page).  I researched the true cost of owning and driving a vehicle and discussed the results as compared to vanpooling with Terry.  I joined the vanpool in July 2010 and never looked back.

I am relieved each month when I write the check for my vanpool fare.  That amount does not change from month to month.  The only time it is adjusted is when a rider leaves or joins the vanpool.  Then the vanpool coordinator re-figures the fare based on the number of participants (obviously, if you have more riders, your fare is lower).  I find it interesting when I have a casual conversation with a coworker or friend and they start talking about the price of gas and I draw a blank because I don’t know the current cost of a gallon of gasoline.  The volatility of gasoline is no longer a driving force in my budget.  I might fill up one of our cars once a month, and that’s usually when I cash in on my reward points accumulated that month by shopping at Dillons.  The only driving Terry and I do is strictly for pleasure, on a weekend or vacation to Texas to visit our kids.  And, since the Pontiacs languish in our garage nearly every day, my insurance premiums fell even more.

Backup Driver

The vanpool had the primary driver and a backup driver.  Without a backup driver, if the primary driver were sick or on vacation, the van cannot be driven or used to transport the other riders.  After a few months of enjoying the backseat of the van, where I could read books, listen to audiobooks or my own music, I was asked to become a backup backup driver.  This involves more forms, more documentation, a physical (similar to what a commercial driver undergoes and paid for by the KCATA) and annual driver training.  I finally completed this process earlier this year (with the exception of driver trainer which occurs in October each year).  I gradually got back into the habit of driving in rush hour traffic, but still preferred the passive pursuit of riding.

Plunged into Primacy

I received a belated birthday gift in early October from the primary driver.  Due to a shift change and a recent move from Leavenworth to McLouth, she gave her thirty day notice to the KCATA and withdrew from the vanpool.  By the end of that week, a second rider withdrew, probably in anticipation of retiring within the next few months.  By the end of October, the backup driver also gave his notice, as he too was moving out of the Leavenworth area.  Suddenly, I inherited the responsibility for the van and it’s remaining rider, a person unable to drive herself anywhere because she is blind.

The vanpool coordinator provided me with a flyer, which I edited and printed for distribution to various bulletin boards in the Lansing and Leavenworth areas.  I also provided several copies to the remaining rider to post in Basehor, where she lives.  I sent out several emails to contacts in Leavenworth and among my peers who I know either live or work on the van’s route.   I created a Craigslist ad.  For the first time, I used a QR code, placing it next to my contact information on the flyer, so that a person with a smartphone could snap a photo of the QR code from the printed flyer and be taken to an electronic copy of the flyer.

I also inserted other clickable links in the flyer:

Snippet of Contact Info section of Vanpool Flyer
  1. My name is a link to my LinkedIn profile.
  2. This Bitly URL to the right of my name links to the Craigslist ad I created.
  3. This QR code allows smartphones to download the flyer PDF
     which I uploaded to my DropBox public folder.
  4. My e-mail address is clickable and should pop-up an e-mail message for interested people to contact me directly.

Getting the Word Out

If you live in Leavenworth, Lansing or Basehor and you work near either Crown Center or the Country Club Plaza (or you know someone who does), please send them to my flyer or to this blog post.  A full van removes five or six other vehicles off the road during rush hour, not only reducing traffic, but emissions as well.  Riding the van helps prevent further global warming and your blood pressure.  Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!

Rottweiler Rising

Today, and every day, I’m thankful for the companionship and unconditional love of my Rottweilers. I’ll focus my fourth ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ topic with a walk down memory lane with Baron, Roxy and Apollo.

Roxy and Apollo (Nov 2011)

These two are not our first Rottweilers, and probably won’t be our last.  Only Heaven knows why all dogs adopted by the Moss Family select me as their favorite family member.

I grew up a cat person.  Yes, we had a dog, once, but it’s the cats I remember.  I adored them; they put up with me.  Ironically, I married a dog person and spawned more dog-loving offspring.  At least my daughter had some affinity for cats, but gave equal time to dogs.  In fact, Rachelle rescued Roxy from our local animal shelter back in 2004 or 2005. At least we had a fenced back yard.  A good friend we knew from church also loved Rottweilers and helped train dogs, so Rachelle and Roxy went to obedience school together for the first few months.  Roxy learned the commands well and even learned how to track and speak on command, not always an easy command to teach a Rottweiler.

A year or so later, my husband conspired with Rachelle to rescue Apollo, using the excuse Roxy suffered from loneliness.  They took Roxy to the same animal shelter she was rescued from to meet Apollo, to see if she would like him and could get along with him.  Apollo followed the pattern or all previous dogs we’ve adopted and looked up to me, but he really connected with Rachelle.  Perhaps he was just playing along with the established canine hierarchy previously established by Roxy.  When Rachelle left to attend college in North Texas, Apollo accepted his lot in life and transferred his loyalty, temporarily Rachelle hopes, to Terry.  Apollo will get his annual Rachelle fix at the end of December, which she returns for a two week visit during her between-semester holiday break.

The only photo we have of Baron (early 90s)

One of our previous Rottweilers, Baron, came from champion stock and weighed in over one hundred and twenty pounds (I don’t remember exactly, it could have been up over 130).  He exhibited the typical male Rottweiler traits — grumpiness, protectiveness, aggressiveness, insatiable appetite — and still followed me around with puppy dog eyes.  Because he was full blooded and registered, we never neutered him, so that  probably contributed to his Alpha-dog antics; although King, an even larger, but older, Malamute, did not suffer foolishness.  We lost Baron tragically to stomach torsion in the early 90s, leaving King alone again until he passed away peacefully at the great old age of fourteen.

King, Derek and Terry in the mid 80s.

We took more than ten years to adopt another Rottweiler.  I blame Rachelle completely for the rescue of Roxy.  I never dreamed I’d be buying (and hefting) forty and fifty pound bags of dog food again.  Or annual trips to the vet to the detriment of the leather seats in my cars.  Or finding dog toys that last more than five minutes (Tuffie Toys or a variant of the Tiger tested toys found at my local hardware store).

But for all my grunching, I enjoy walking either dog (rarely together, as they outweigh me and have incredible torque).  Trips to the local dog park are a big hit with both Rotts, although Roxy, being older and slower, tends to flag sooner than Apollo, who can run and play all day long if given the chance.  I come home each week night to wagging tails (or nubs in Roxy’s case) and greeted to a fresh round of snuffling and drooling.

Some breeds can self-regulate at meal time.  In my experience, the Rottweiler is not one of those breeds.  I often refer to the resident Rottweiler as a walking stomach.  Therefore, I feed them both sparingly: a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening.  Otherwise, Roxy would look like a beached whale in a week.  Apollo, on the other hand, who is not a full-blooded Rott, often skips a meal because he’s not hungry and not driven by the need to consume anything that even looks remotely edible.  When I board the dogs at the local kennel, I have to remind them to not leave any food lying around in a convenient dish, or Roxy will find it and consume it.  She inhales her food.  Seriously, I’m not joking, and I worry about her choking.  Someday, I should post a YouTube video of Roxy at breakfast time, but it might be too short to believe.  By the time I place the food in her dish, turnaround to scoop out Apollo’s portion and drop it in his dish, she’s usually done.  Apollo then starts growling at Roxy to warn her away from his dish and I shoo her outside to the back yard, leaving him in peace to finish his breakfast in a leisurely five or ten minutes.

Roxy Listening to the Neighborhood (Nov 2011)

Once Apollo finishes his breakfast, he bounds up the stairs, prancing and bouncing around the great room in an effort to get my attention.  I proceed to the other back door and let him out, provided Roxy doesn’t burst through the door as soon as I open it.  Roxy hates being outside, especially if it’s raining or wet.  Apollo loves the outdoors and gladly spends hours and hours exploring the backyard and keeping an eye on the neighbors and the frequent joggers, walkers and strollers. If he’d let me, I’d never let him back in the house, not because I don’t love him, but because I hate his non-standard issue long hair, which sheds continuously wherever he goes, wherever he lies down, even wherever he stands.

Apollo Surveying His Domain (Nov 2011)

I am thankful for all the years we’ve enjoyed with our Rottweilers.  I look forward to many more happy years of fun with Roxy and Apollo.

Roxy (also affectionately known as 'Bear-Pig' and 'Ditzy')

Reader of the Vast Tomes

For the third day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to express my appreciation of reading books.  I can’t remember of a time when I didn’t know how to read, going clear back to when I was three or four years old.  By the time I finished second grade, I believe I had finished all the Laura Ingalls Wilder Prairie books and started working through my mom’s old collection of Nancy Drew novels (printed in the 30s or before), as well as a few Hardy Boys and Trixie Beldon mysteries.  I also remember reading Black Beauty and Little Women several times.  Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass come to mind as well as some Jules Verne.  I loved (and still re-read) C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia and own a large hardcover omnibus edition, which I place prominently on my Shelf of Honor.

As I approached middle school age, I became exposed to other genres, including science fiction and horror.  During my early teen years, I couldn’t read enough Stephen King.  I still consider The Stand to be one of his best novels and a great example of post-apocalyptic fiction.  But there came a point when the thrills paled and the terror became predictable.  I did an about-face, a complete one-eighty and dived into epic fantasy.  I have rarely, if ever, looked back.

Epic Fantasy Tomes

Why did epic fantasy appeal to me?  The size of the books.  Yes, I prefer tomes.  The longer the book (or series), the happier I am.  I read fast (not as fast as I did during my young adult hood, but still no slouch).  Of the three novels shown in the photo above, the Janny Wurts novel on my Nook Color is the longest, weighing in at 749 pages.  The classic, by Twain, and Vinge’s Rainbow’s End are actually approximately the same size in length: between 350 and 400 pages.  If I put my mind to it, had few distractions, and really enjoyed the novel, I could finish either of the paperbacks in a day.  Janny’s writing, however, is dense, rich and full of revelations and layers that require concentration.  I will enjoy her prose for a minimum of ten days, and again in the future, because there’s always something new to find in her work when you re-visit it.

While Janny’s latest publication, the very recently released Initiate’s Trial, seems long to the casual reader at nearly twice the size of a normal paperback, to me it is a good sized epic fantasy novel.

The longest books I’ve read in the last three years include:

  1. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (read in 2009) ~ 1,024 pages
  2. The Way of Kings (read in 2010) ~ 1,007 pages
  3. The Wise Man’s Fear (read in 2011) ~ 994 pages

For more of my book stats, visit my stats page at GoodReads.

Book Clubs

I spent most of the 90s and the first half of the 00s raising children and helping my chronically ill husband all while working full-time.  So basically, for a decade or a decade and a half, I stopped reading.  Not completely, of course, because I read technical manuals and references guides for work and I occasionally picked up a novel off the new release shelf at the library.   But I had blinders on and wasn’t taking advantage of the wealth of information available via the Internet.

About three years ago, a friend on Facebook invited me to join GoodReads, a social network site for bibliophiles.  I felt like I’d found the keys to the gates of heaven.  I quickly found online book clubs that aligned with my readings interests, signing up immediately with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club.   That quickly followed with Beyond Reality (which seems to be my favorite place to hang out for the moment).   Eventually, I joined (and now help moderate) the Fantasy Book Club and the sister group Fantasy Book Club Series.

My awareness of reading and reviewing skyrocketed and pushed me to branch out in the ‘real world.’  Conveniently located in the building I spend Photo0960.jpgevery weekday in is a branch of the Kansas City Public Library.  I participated in reading challenges and seasonal book clubs, some of which I’ve written blog posts about here (including:  ‘A Taste of Victorian Literature‘; ‘Altered States‘; ‘Readers in the Rue Morge’; and, ‘The Big Read‘ featuring Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

 

Accessible Authors

As if reading, reviewing and discussing novels wasn’t wonderful enough, the real icing on the cake comes from the authors themselves.  Unlike in the 80s when I had to write a letter on a manual typewriter and snail mail it to one of my favorite authors with a question (I did this with Barbara Hambly, Piers Anthony and Stephen R. Donaldson – all of whom replied courtesy the self-addressed stamped enveloped I provided them), today’s authors write blogs, tweet via Twitter and participate eagerly at GoodReads either as discussion leaders or via dedicated Q&A topics  posted for the chosen Book of the Month they wrote.  Without their talent, imagination, perseverance and passion, I would have less to read, both in quantity and quality.

I highly recommend the following author blogs:

Back to the Future

I still love the heft of a heavy hardcover edition of a treasured classic epic fantasy … for about five minutes.  I may have turned the final page of my last new hardcover.  Any future purchases will be made solely to support a favorite author, with the hope of meeting the author and asking for their autograph on the title page.  For the lion’s share of my reading, and to preserve both my weakening eyesight and the strain on my hands and arms, I will peruse the hundreds of novels and thousands of pages on my Nook Color ereader tablet, which is smart enough to turn off the light and mark my page when I doze off to sleep each night.  Thanks again to my husband, for gifting me with this amazing product.

Keep This Job and Love It

For the second day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ posting series, and in light of the continued high unemployment the United States still suffers under, I thought an appropriate topic for appreciation would be my job.  The ‘Great Recession‘ marks my third ‘period of reduced economic activity.’  The last one I remember would have been the dot-com bubble bursting a year or so before 9-11.  Prior to that, I believe it was the fallout from the savings and loan crisis in the early 90s.

Except for a one or two month time frame during 1988, I have been employed full-time since 1985.  That brief hiatus saw me transition from the insurance industry (as an appraiser – both residential and commercial properties) to the legal industry.  I liked the legal vertical so much, I’m still employed by a law firm (the same one for the last fifteen years) and still loving the challenges and the people.  I’ve probably spent as much time, if not more, with some of my coworkers, as I have with my immediate family.  Especially during those years when the IT department planned and converted hundreds of computers and systems in massive upgrades (usually driven by a change in operating systems or business productivity software handed down by Microsoft).

My only regret stems from sacrificing my career for the stability of a job.  As I approach (or skid down to) the latter half of my life, I feel the lack of a satisfying career, a professional pursuit that feeds not only my pocketbook, but my personal life as well.  While I thoroughly enjoy my adventures in Information Technology for all things legal, I find myself asking myself, will this matter after I’m gone?  What legacy (besides my glorious children) will I leave behind?  Will I leave a positive impact on the world?  Could I have done more to make a difference, however small (remember the butterfly effect)?

Yet, I am truly grateful to wake up each morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and spend another day overcoming the next technology challenge with my IT buddies.

Quotes on Employment:

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
~~~ Theodore Roosevelt

The taxpayer – that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.
~~~ Ronald Reagan

To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.
~~~ Pearl S. Buck

You’ve got to find what you love and that is as true for work as it is for lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you’ve found it.
~~~ Steve Jobs

A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under this sun.
~~~ Thomas Carlyle, Chartism

Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty.
~~~ Louisa May Alcott

Such is the supreme folly of man that he labours so as to labour no more.
~~~ Leonardo Da Vinci, Thoughts on Art and Life

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

I missed the blogosphere bandwagon yesterday, not realizing the current posting ‘fad’ focuses on expressing what I’m thankful for in a daily dissertation.  So please pretend that today is actually yesterday, the first of November in the year 2011.

I am thankful for my family.

Terry, Derek and Rachelle (Dec 2010)
  • Thankful for My Husband, Terry.  More than twenty five years of love and friendship, through thick and thin.  He never ceases to amaze me with his brilliant musicality and compositional talent.  His recent interest in the culinary arts means I come home to a new delectable food adventure nearly every evening.  He overcomes his disabling chronic illness each day, never succumbing to depression or giving up the fight.  He tilts windmills with home remodeling contractors and global corporations peddling home appliances.  He is passionate and compassionate and I love him dearly.
  • Thankful for My Children, Derek and Rachelle.
    • Derek, and his wife Royna, just returned home after a four day visit with us during the last weekend of October.  Number One Son came into the world busting the Apgar scale, despite an arduous labor ending in an emergency C-section.  Even though he didn’t learn to walk until fourteen months, he never slowed down all the years we corralled him.  He excelled at nearly all sports, having an uncanny sense of balance and an intuitive understanding of body mechanics, such that he competed nationally as a judoka in her early to mid teen years.  His true artistic gift surfaced late in high school, blossoming under a mentor at community college.  His talent for art and love of video games led him to the Guildhall at SMU and landed him an excellent placement even before graduation late last year.
    • Rachelle, oh how I miss you.  I haven’t seen you face-to-face since last January.  The wonders of the Internet at least allow me to listen to your concerts live, but it’s just not the same as being there.  At least I’ll get my daughter fix in three weeks when Terry and I drive to North Texas for our third annual Moss Migration for Thanksgiving.  Rachelle’s gift for vocal performance surfaced almost before she learned to talk.  I caught her singing as a baby and toddler almost more than she did talking.  Years and years of choir drudgery and exceptional vocal mentors honed her magnificent mezzo soprano.  As she approaches the last semester of her undergraduate degree in musicology at UNT, she is gearing up for a round of auditions (and the attendant travel) to various graduate schools around the country.
  • Thankful for My Extended Family.
    • My Father, who is always willing and able to help with demolishing a dying pine or trimming back a few limbs on my oak trees or any electrical wiring project that crops up.  He readily supports my bread baking habit, where he reaps the rewards in loaves of fresh home-made and home-baked loaves.  He also tags along on some of my astronomical adventures courtesy of the local Astronomical Society.  I have a general class amateur radio license thanks to him.  My troubleshooting talent can be directly traced back to me tagging along with him while growing up, as he fixed all many of items for family and friends.
    • My Mother, who inspired me to read at a very early age (three or four) and instilled a love of all kinds of literature.
    • My Uncle, Ron, and his wife Treva, are an inspiration and an example of a blessed marriage.  Ron and I feed each other’s addiction for the next great book to read to the chagrin of our spouse (I’m sure).  Ron’s watercolors keep winning awards at various galleries across the Midwest and East Coast.  Someday soon I hope he returns to writing that next great short story, novella or novel that I know is lurking just below the surface.
    • My Aunts, Melody and Jan.  Melody, my mother’s sister, lives close by, within an hour’s drive in Topeka.  Jan, my father’s sister, lives farther away in Ohio, between her brothers (one in Kansas and one in Virginia).  Both of these women hold special places in my heart and fond memories from my early childhood.
    • My Cousins, starting with the paternal side of the tree, Wendell, Eric, David and Katy.  Since I was the oldest cousin (from the oldest offspring), I got to see each and every one of you grow-up, from infants to adults with families of your own.  Katy, the youngest, tied the knot just this past June (on or very near both my daughter’s birthday and what would have been my grandmother’s eighty-ninth birthday).  Wendell and his wife Kristen recently became the proud parents of twin boys, William and Logan.  On the maternal side of the tree, I have many cousins, some of which I’ve reconnected with on Facebook and others who remain in obscurity.  Since my mother was somewhere in the middle of six children, I am not the oldest of the cousins on this side of the family tree.   Oldest to youngest (by family group): Roberta, Peter, Rebecca; Tracy, Kelly and Phillip; Brandi and Summer; and, Charles and Anne.  I know I’m missing some in the above list, mostly because there are cousins out there who are younger than my kids and I’ve only met them or heard of them once or twice.

Even though 2011 marked the first year of my life without a living grandparent, I am grateful for the time I had with both my grandmothers.  Doris, my father’s mother, passed away last year, and Juanita, my mother’s mother, passed away in June of 2005.

Juanita and Me (at my high school graduation)

Quotes on Families:

Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.
~~~ Author Unknown

When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them.
~~~ George Bernard Shaw

One of life’s greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn’t good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world.
~~~ Jewish Proverb

Family life is full of major and minor crises — the ups and downs of health, success and failure in career, marriage, and divorce — and all kinds of characters. It is tied to places and events and histories. With all of these felt details, life etches itself into memory and personality. It’s difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul.
~~~ Thomas Moore

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
~~~ Alex Haley

My Least Favorite Day of the Year, Yet the Last Day of My Favorite Month and Season

I dread the last day of October, probably about as much as I look forward to the second day of October (being my natal day).  All Hallow’s Eve, commonly compressed to Halloween (or Hallowe’en as I prefer to render it), leaves me cold and exasperated, at least as it’s hyped by the media and the movies.

Case in point:  My husband and I slummed to the Lifetime Movie Network late yesterday afternoon in search of a non-horror movie to watch.  In all the years we’ve been cable and now satellite television subscribers, we rarely (if ever) watched that particular channel.

I can expect to be invaded by children just a few minutes after I arrive home from work this evening.  The City of Lansing stated the official hours for the invasion on their website and Facebook page to be between six and nine o’clock.  Usually, the teenagers (and sometimes a few college students) trickle through past that time, but they can have the most interesting costumes.  My daughter, a senior at UNT in Denton, Texas, dressed up as Flo (of Progressive fame) this year, even performing her Opera On Tap selection in it.

I don’t have many fond memories from childhood of Halloween.  Since I grew up in the country, a half-mile from my nearest neighbor, I can count on one hand the times I trick-or-treated, because my mom had to drive us into town (Leavenworth was 10-15 miles away from where we lived).  At least our local church held an annual fall festival for the children, which I did enjoy.

I do remember watching ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown‘ annually.  I wonder if I’ve already missed the broadcast?  Or do they even both to re-broadcast these old classic animated holiday specials from the 60s?  A quick check at TVGuide.com confirms my theory that either I’ve missed it or it wasn’t aired at all this year.  Oh, well, I guess I could watch it on my laptop through Hulu or some other similar site.

The true horror story haunting my sleepless nights concerns my large oak tree in my front yard.  Even though I’ve raked ten bags worth of leaves and acorn shells, the oak tree still sports nearly all of it’s mostly green foliage.  I’m looking forward to the windy day forecast for tomorrow, which I hope will strip the branches bare and I can finally put the nail in the coffin of that particular tedious autumn chore.

Far-Out Transportation

Strange how craziness infests my best intentions.  I started this blog entry Monday to recap an interesting weekend experience.  Now, I find myself approaching noon on Thursday with no progress on the blog front.

Last Saturday morning, I attended the  Annual Driver Training for all Advantage Vanpool Drivers in Kansas City, Missouri.  We left our vans for their annual inspection by the KCATA mechanics at their garage and took a bus to the facility for breakfast and training.  The Vanpool Coordinator handed out updated policies and procedures for reporting accidents, maintenance and safety.  Two of the biggest changes included a complete moratorium on the use of any kind of personal electronic device (PED) while driving (violating this policy would result in the termination of the vanpool) and when returning a loaner van, we are too top off the gas tank and remove all personal items and trash.

Our instructor had trained hundreds if not thousands of people to drive, from high school teenagers to 86-year grandmothers.  He also taught commercial drivers education and is a native of the Kansas City metro area (in fact, Noland Road in Independence is named for his great-great-grandfather).  He recently retired from a long career as a teacher and coach and now consults to keep busy.

Four hours later, I survived the videos and enjoyed our instructor’s anecdotes without nodding off more than once.  We returned to our vans via the bus and I drove back home to Lansing.

That evening, I took my father and my husband to the October 2011 meeting of ASKC at the Gottlieb Planetarium.  The featured guest speaker, Jack Dunn of the Mueller Planetarium in Lincoln, Nebraska, spoke on the last Shuttle flight and the future of human space flight and exploration, mentioning SpaceX and Virgin Galactic by name (and showing us some prototypes via video on the planetarium’s dome.  He claimed even Amazon’s Bezos is investing in private space exploration, but information on that venture is hard to come by (or not as it took me like ten seconds to find Blue Origin’s website … I just need some help deciphering their logo).

Prior to the Dunn’s presentation on far-out space tourism low Earth orbit vehicles, we learned about the Gottlieb Planetarium’s spherical projection system from it’s director.

As we were leaving, we admired an old fire truck, street car and noticed an Amtrak train with vintage Pullman cars waiting to leave the station.  Fascinating mix of old and new transportation separated by mere minutes and/or light years.

I had hoped to report the status of star visibility from Union Station, but clouds obscured the night sky and reflected the abundance of light emanating not only from the Crown Center area but the Power & Light District to our north.  I have two more opportunities to report from a location other than my backyard – tonight and tomorrow night, but with my son and his wife on the road from Texas to attend a wedding Friday evening, I probably won’t get the opportunity to make another entry in the Great World-Wide Star Count this year.

Book Review: Mockingjay by Collins

MockingjayMockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this as part of the The Hunger Games Trilogy omnibus ebook edition.

I had high hopes for the final novel of the series, especially after thoroughly enjoying the second novel, Catching Fire. I agree with a few other GoodReads reviewers who stated that Collins accomplished her goal in painting the stark reality that war and violence accomplish nothing and apparently humans can’t help but repress and destroy each other, even unto their own extinction.

I also had hope of learning more about the history that led up to the rise of the Panem. But Collins only choose to go back three generations and only once or twice made a reference to the world before the rise of the Panem from the ashes of our civilization.

I suspect a nod to Ray Bradbury in the name of the sharp shooter squad District 13 assigned Katniss and Gale to as part of the rebel army. The prevalence of Ancient Roman names among the Capital citizens and a reference to ‘bread and circuses’ paints the Panem as a resurrected Roman Empire imploding faster than the original.

While predictable, the ending left me dissatisfied. I don’t feel comfortable recommending this book to young adults, even though Collins wrote it for that audience.

As a ‘former’ parent (my kids are grown, either married or in college), I would treat this entire trilogy just like an R-rated movie. Don’t read it unless you’re seventeen (sixteen maybe), mostly due to the violence and gore. Very little if any sexual content exists in any of these novels.

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Book Review: Lighthouse Duology by Berg (4 stars)

I read both of these books (the Lightouse Duology) back-to-back during the Spring of 2010. They came highly recommended from a respected author-friend, who also suggested I read them together as if they were published as one book. I heartily agree with that suggestion.

Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg

4 of 5 stars

Read in February 2010

Superb storytelling, twisting plots, puzzles and mysteries, and an apocalyptic convergence made for an excellent and enjoyable read. If it weren’t for the press of other book club selections, I would immediately proceed to the second half of this duology, Breath and Bone.

Even though the story is told in the first person, by Valen, it flowed well. I struggled to connect with Valen, a fugitive from his family, constantly on the run and hiding for twelve long years. Magic is strictly registered and contracted among pureblood families and any offspring willful enough to escape the privilege are hunted down relentlessly.

Escaping a battle gone badly, set upon by his own comrade and left to die in a ditch, Valen wakes up in a monastery’s infirmary and claims two weeks sanctuary. Thinking he can hide out among the tonsured brothers, he resolves to join their ranks, vowing falsely to obey their Rule for the rest of his days.

Yet all is not prayer, singing, reading, scribing or toiling among these gentle quiet monks. Valen soon finds more than just the porridge is thickening in the unseasonable cold.

Highly recommended for lovers of fantasy, adventure and apocalyptic fiction.

Breath and Bone by Carol Berg

4.5 out of 5 stars

Read in February 2010

Two worlds, symbiotically connected, only touching each other on the periphery of the senses, plagued by a scourge destroying the human realm which in turn shrinks and blinds the Danae realm. Can a cure be found? Can the world be healed?

But what sacrifice justifies the means? Does Osriel hold the answer in his pact with the ‘devil’? Does Silas’ goal to purge the world of all classes, races and knowledge, to reboot the world in her egalitarian vision offer the best hope? Or Valen, standing astride both worlds, perceiving the health just beyond his grasp, if only he can overcome his past and the obstacles and enemies in his present.

Beautiful world building, stunning prose, intriguing magic system (in both worlds), satisfyingly twisty plot and exceptionally well drawn, deep characters round out this remarkable conclusion to the Lighthouse series.

I highly recommend both Flesh and Spirit and this novel to all fantasy readers. I suggest they be read together, as one large volume.

Book Review: Catching Fire by Collins (4 Stars)

CatchingFirecoverCatching Fire by Suzanne Collins

4 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2011

I read this in record time and surprised myself by liking it better than the first book, the Hunger Games. Katniss’ relationship with her family, friends and handlers evoked more emotions, believability and depth. The Victory Tour provided a glimpse of the wider world, showing me tantalizing bits of the various Districts and the ruins of civilization destroyed during the Dark Days seventy-years before.

I still find it hard to believe that fascism could survive so long. The unbearable inhumane conditions of the District ‘citizens’, the calculated cruelty of the Hunger Games, augmented in this novel by the Quarter Quell, a sadistic 25-year anniversary twist to the regular annual reaping of the rebel Districts’ youth. The cost in lives, and the sacrifices made, reflect a horror I hope we never forget from our own not-too-distant past.