Jon Moss – Page 66 – Into the West

Honoring All Who Served Veteran’s Day 11 November 2010

My family tree is full of veterans who served this great nation of ours. I can’t begin to list all of them, or even get their ranks and service times correct, since I don’t hold those records currently. My father is the genealogical guru at present for the family. Some day, I know, the torch will be passed to me, but I pray not any time soon.

My great-grandfather, Rev. John Hodge, served in the Army at Ft. Leavenworth in the 1920s (and probably the 1930s, but again, I’m not the expert on this information). I remember him as the pastor of the church I grew up in, the Easton United Methodist Church in Easton, Kansas.

Both of my paternal grandfathers served in the military. Daniel Dempsey, my father’s biological father, did, but I don’t remember what branch. I remember him as a bagpipe playing Shriner and all around musician and showman. My dad’s step-father, Ralph Andrea, served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and in the Air Force during the Korean War. He retired either as a Lt. Col. or a Col. I remember him as a fun grandpa hosting us for summer visits to St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked for 3M until he retired yet again.

My uncle (my dad’s brother) is a retired Air Force Colonel. He lives in Virginia, after a long stint in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He dabbles well in watercolors, writing and reading books I mooch, swap, trade and bargain buy for him like mini-Christmas gifts year round. One of his authorial projects include stories his dad told him of his war and military experiences. Someday, I hope to be an alpha reader for that project.

A couple of my mother’s brothers were Marines and one or two of my cousins (from among her five brothers and sisters’ offspring) also joined the military.

For many months I carpooled with a veteran of the Army, whose wife is also a veteran. Many of my fellow church members are either active and/or retired military, veterans one and all.

I even thought of joining the Air Force when I turned eighteen; my dream to be a fighter pilot. Sadly, that was impossible in 1982, since women were forbidden combat. My hat’s off to the women who blazed the trail without me.

My whole heart, my whole being thanks each and every veteran, whether I’ve met them or not. Your service is unequaled, your courage unmatched.

Restaurant Review: Smokin’ Guns BBQ

After Terry’s appointment at St. Luke’s Hospital, he spent an hour or so in my office while I wrapped work up. We debated the merits of a couple of barbecue places he wanted to try on the way home from the Country Club Plaza. If I’d known how much ‘fun’ it was going to be getting home from North Kansas City, Missouri (to Lansing, Kansas), I might have voiced a louder opinion about his other suggestion.

Taking the scenic construction route east from the Plaza Library along Volker to US-71 North, and a second more leisurely scenic byway through the construction zone along the I-29/I-35 bridge across the Missouri River, we found ourselves exiting onto Bedford Avenue which deposited us in a railroad track infested industrial area. We gingerly navigated the railroad crossings and arrived to front row street parking before the Smokin’ Guns BBQ establishment.

Terry ordered the burnt ends platter (reasonably priced at just a bit over ten bucks) and I wanted to order a quarter of chicken, but was informed they were out of chicken for today. So, I had to quickly review the menu and settle for a regular sized turkey sandwich with a side of green beans. Terry’s sides included baked beans and potato salad.

We seated our selves in the very clean but still slightly small eating area with the cliche’d red and white checked plastic table clothes. We were served within a couple of minutes of getting our drinks. My turkey was flavorful and moist. The green beans disappointingly bland but very hot (temperature wise, not spice-wise). They could have used some pepper and some ham or bacon as the white onions were more garnishment than flavor.

I tried a bit of Terry’s burnt ends and found them acceptable but not as sweet as I had expected. The baked beans had a slightly smokey flavor, but nothing that exploded or excited my taste buds. I’ll pass on the potato salad as I’m not sure it was made in house.

Neither one of us could finish our portions (nothing unusual there, I’m on a diet and Terry’s medicines often cause his digestive system to suffer). Our return trip was an adventure, since Smokin’ Guns was located in a ‘peninsula’ of the Missouri River (almost surrounded on three sides by the river) and I needed to go almost due west to get to Lansing, which is impossible if you look at a map and where the roads lead from that area.

So we took another scenic route north using 9 highway up through Parkville. I only made one wrong turn (left on Main Street in Parkville) and dead-ended to a railroad crossing (with a train racing me to the road) near the Farmer’s Market pavilion. I turned around and headed up the hill on Main Street, eventually reuniting with 9 highway, which I somehow left in one of the construction zones.

From there, it was a quick jaunt through more police directed traffic constructions zone on 45 highway west. We finally spied I-435 and zipped back over the Missouri River to the Land of Ahs (aka Kansas) and enjoyed K-5, the sunset and the autumn foliage. I retrieved the Firebird from the Hallmark parking lot and still managed to make it back home as Terry was pulling into the garage.

Construction zone headaches aside, Smokin’ Guns BBQ will not be on our return list in the near future. It’s Kansas City … so many barbecue joints, so little time.

Stargate Turnaround

Tonight’s SGU episode, ‘The Greater Good’ provided greater plot and character development than I’ve seen this entire season. I couldn’t help but cheer when Young finally got a choke hold on Rush … too bad he stopped so soon. Young is more naive than I thought if he believes Rush has had a change of heart and ‘given his word’ (Ha! … if he believes that, I’ve got a bridge I could sell him) to work with Young and not against him. So far Rush’s track record does not support this affirmation. At least the other scientists now have access to the bridge and all of Destiny’s systems. Rush no longer holds all the cards … thank goodness!

Next week’s episode looks even better … more action and more tension, this time with the Lucian Alliance leftovers.

A Requeim for Reverie

My feeble attempt to muse upon Mr. Modesitt’s questions posed in his blog post today entitled ‘The Failure of Imagination.’

Specifically, in his closing paragraph, the question:

“The immediate question is to what degree the proliferation of graphic everything minimizes the development of imagination. And what are the ramifications for the future of both society and culture?”

Is our obsession with gadgets and glitz impeding or ability to excel in the hard sciences? Where are the young up and coming visionary innovative scientists and inventors? Lost in a maze of mindless virtual mayhem? Distracted and disillusioned from the implacable mountain of hard work and study they must climb before great achievements are realized.

I too lament the decline of perception and a sharp increase in instant gratification; easy answers, quick fixes. And at least half of my offspring may eventually contribute to the ‘problem’ of faster, flashier graphic violence as an aspiring artist hurtling toward the gaming industry galaxy.

I’ve thus far avoided the allure of today’s graphically bloated games. I’m an old school drop-out of D&D who prefers a text based MMORPG exactly because my own mind is my first and best cinematic director.

I pose a ‘what if’ scenario, which most likely has been done before in science fiction. What if all of us became blind? How, doesn’t matter — could be disease or radiation or some other catastrophe. Would your imagination musculature be up to the challenge? Would we then strive towards ideals that benefit all since we would need to depend on and trust each other for survival?

Turn off the tube. Put down that game controller. Take a walk. Walk the dog (you both need exercise). Close your eyes. Or read a book.

Try a proactive response rather than a reactive reflection.

Sunset, Sunrise, New Moon, Old Stars

With the return to normal time (sans daylight savings time), the commute home last night included a typical Midwestern autumn sunset. Clear blue orange sky streaked with white vapor trails of the jets filled with people from the coasts who hop over the Heart of America and rarely pause to visit. I kept my eye out for the waxing moon’s sliver, since the new moon occurred around midnight Saturday. After the sun set I finally spied it, much higher in the sky than I anticipated.

Terry had dinner nearly ready when I returned from my errand to WalMart where I invested more money in Hallmark than I do the rest of the year combined. Terry had prepared pan friend pork chops with some glazed carrots that were yummy. I ate my sourdough as an appetizer, although three slices may have been a bit much. We retired to the great room to watch the new episode of House, after which Terry entered his food coma and I read myself to a similar somnolent state.

When I woke up this morning, I realized I had forgotten to contact my father, who was on the road to Virginia. My uncle had remembered to call his brother last night and confirmed he’d finally stopped forging east in Coventry, Virginia, only about three hours shy of their home. I call him this morning during my commute to work and we chatted for a few minutes as he once again headed east into the sunrise over the mountains in Virginia. I used the same sunrise to continue reading until the van arrived at work.

Another aspect of the change in time, I don’t see as many stars when I leave the house in the morning. By 6:15, the eastern sky is already a pale yellow, and I can barely see Sirius or the stars in Orion’s Belt. Some stratus clouds were also interfering with stargazing this morning.

As the Stargate Spirals

The summer spouted science fiction shows but the autumn left me with but one lonely final frontier … Stargate Universe. Just a few weeks ago I couldn’t keep up with recorded episodes of Doctor Who (via BBC America), Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Haven (all via SyFy). I gave up on Sanctuary within a half dozen episodes in the first season and managed to make it to the end of the first half of the first season of Caprica and was actually overjoyed to hear of its recent imminent demise.

So my Tuesday nights are my only venture into SF viewing territory. Each week I join the stranded inhabitants aboard the Destiny via Stargate Universe.

I subscribe to, but don’t necessarily read routinely, the RSS feed for Stargate Universe at Gateworld. I recently stopped by the forums and read some of the reviews for these season’s episodes, many of which I sympathized with.

I admit to being disappointed with the season opener, Intervention, which wrapped up the cliff hanger in record time and introduced a supernatural subplot that made me cringe. Aftermath seemed pointless, except to further demonstrate how dangerous Rush has become. I actually enjoyed Awakening for the same reasons Scott and Grear got excited. The fate of Telford, unlike Riley, may still come back to haunt us. I liked half of Pathogen, the half where Eli rushes back to Earth (psuedospiritually, not physically) because his mother has stopped taking her meds and is dying. Some great acting by David Blue and Ming-Na. We see more evidence of Rush’s continue fall from grace (and/or sanity). Cloverdale (actually filmed in the town of the same name) confused me at first and then just left me angry.

Last week’s episode, Trial and Error, left me wondering if Destiny can discern the difference between Rush and Young and choose wisely.

I really need a distraction from the dwindling mesmerization of Destiny’s stowaways. Maybe I’ll request BSG from Netflix and try to convince myself I haven’t seen them all before.

Restaurant Review: Nick & Jakes (Parkville)

It’s Friday night and the typical ping-pong Q&A you expect from a 20 plus year married couple trying to decide where to eat out. I routinely attempt to defer to Terry, since his stomach and diet limit our choices some evenings. He was craving a steak and none of the local Leavenworth haunts sounded appealing. Nor did anything at the Legends, which on a Friday night at six o’clock is a frightening experience, especially when looking for a parking spot.

Terry and I occasionally watch KCPT‘s Check Please and recently watched the episode featuring Nick & Jakes in Parkville. We jumped in the car, and enjoyed a sunset drive down K-5, I-435 and MO-45 in the Bonneville, which has new quieter and grippier tires and full synthetic motor oil (again thanks to Terry who took care of all that car maintenance earlier in the week). Once we arrived, we easily found a nearly front-row parking spot. The wait, however, we were informed was at least forty minutes and they were out of pagers. We weren’t in any hurry (knowing that Friday nights can be crowded) so we stood in the foyer. Within five minutes, we had a pager, and we were seated in less than twenty minutes.

Our waitress greeted us and asked if we’d every been to Nick & Jake’s before. We hadn’t, so she cheerfully informed us of the amenities and specials available for dinner that evening. I chose one of the specials, a grilled king salmon with a walnut crunch topping and bourbon maple drizzle, with grilled asparagus and a salted baked potato (as opposed to the steamed potato most often served in restaurants). I substituted the potato in for the sweet potato and apple casserole, as I don’t like either sweet potatoes nor baked apples. Terry ordered the sixteen ounce rib-eye steak (medium rare) , also with a salted baked potato. For an appetizer, we ordered the Irish nachos.

Terry enjoyed the appetizer, which was comprised of thinly sliced potatoes (fried like slithly thick potato chips the size of a potato), smother in jack and cheddar cheese (melted) and bacon with a ranch dipping sauce. I tried a few of the chips with the least cheese (if you know me at all, you know I don’t voluntarily eat most dairy products, especially cheese). We took half the appetizer home with us, as we didn’t want to spoil our appetites for the main course.

I asked for (and received) margarine with my baked potato (harder to come by than you might think) . Yes, more of that dairy aversion syndrome I suffer from. Our main dishes arrived in a timely manner and were presented pleasantly and appealingly on the square white plate.

My first bite of salmon amazed me. Quite possibly the best salmon I have ever eaten. Simply astounding. The asparagus was crisp and flavorful, although slightly larger than I normally prefer to eat it; still excellently prepared and presented. I saved the potato for last, making sure I savored all the salmon and asparagus before dabbling in starch. Terry was proud of me for ignoring

Terry proclaimed the rib-eye the best prepared and tenderest steak he’d ever eaten. I had a couple of bits of the steak and it was delectable.

One final serendipitous perk awaited us, when the waitress informed us desert was on the house for first time guests. Although I desparately wanted to try the chocolate cake, I deferred to Terry’s preference of carrot cake, which we took home to try later. Each of us tasted a bite when we arrived safely home.

We will definitely be returning to Nick & Jakes in the future, perhaps to try their Sunday brunch (next weekend – Sunday – is Terry’s birthday so be sure to wish him well!).

To ensure Terry took his after dinner nap (aka a food coma), I stacked some wood in the fireplace and lit the first fire of Fall 2010 in the Moss residence corner fireplace.

First Friday Fringe

This weekend and next are the final rounds of the 2010 Formula One season. Terry will be watching one of the practices live at home today since Brazil is nearly in our time zone (only two hours ahead of us). Next weekend will wrap up what has been another competitive driver and constructor championship with the last round in Abu Dhabi. I’ll be content to watch them on the reply when I burn the GPs to DVD from the DVR sometime in the next few weeks.

LunchReadingSouthPlazaView — Lunch time view South Plaza early Nov 2010

Since I no longer have any science fiction television to look forward to on Friday nights, I’ll continue reading Blackout by Connie Willis. I’m about half done with it and I have All Clear, the sequel, waiting to pick up as soon as I finish Blackout. Only about twelve hundred pages total between the two and not as heavy as the tome I read in September by Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings.

I’ve accumulated over two hundred points over the past couple of years by giving away books via BookMooch, yet because I read fantasy and occasionally science fiction, I’m not finding many books to mooch from others. Yet I still need to divest myself of some more books (hardcovers mostly). So I think I’ll branch out to another swap site, a division of one of my favorite reading and reviewing web sites, the GoodReads swap. That’s my first project for Saturday morning, to prep and post about a half dozen hardcovers via GoodReads swap.

The second task for Saturday morning involves wrestling the Rotts into the car and heading to the vet for some pre-boarding shots. In a couple of weeks, Terry and I will travel south to visit our kids in north Texas for Thanksgiving. Roxy and Apollo will remain behind and make new friends at Deb’s Riverview Kennel. On the way back, weather permitting, we might let them roam free at the Waggin’ Tails Dog Park for a half hour or so.

Once back home, I should probably make a few loaves of bread, for Terry and for my dad. Most likely I’ll make a Rustic Sourdough (dough in the bread machine, but shaped and baked in conventional oven) as well as Honey Wheat and White Sandwich loaves. He’s traveling next week to Virginia for a mini-family reunion at his brother’s home. My aunt from Ohio will also attend. My dad and his brother were born on November 17 and 18 almost exactly four years apart and my aunt was born on November 29 so they’ll be having mutual birthday celebrations. I hope to send a loaf or two with dad for them to enjoy.

In addition to their birthdays, I’ll swing by WalMart and pick up a gift card and birthday card for my daughter-in-law’s birthday, which is the 12th. Terry’s birthday is on the 14th, but at least he’s not leaving town on me. For a birthday present to him, we may go see Mannheim Steamroller in Topeka that weekend.

It’s a new moon tonight so I’ll probably get the telescope out tonight and tomorrow night for some viewing. I might even venture out into the county looking for a nice dark spot away from all the light pollution of Lansing (and the prison that’s only two blocks north of my house with all it’s blazing orange halogen lights) and Kansas City. I should probably dig out some light gloves though since the evening and night temperatures have been dropping down into the 30s most of this week.

Sunday morning I’ll be substituting for the accompanist at Southern Heights UMC during worship, which is also communion Sunday (being the first Sunday of the month) so I’ll be playing a bit more than a normal service. But the choir took the weekend off and the special music doesn’t require an accompanist. All in all, should be a fun hour well spent.

Sunday afternoon will be for relaxing, reading or watching movies. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Health Frontier

I succumbed to a health screening and health risk assessment at work today. Voluntary coercion also known as an incentive to reduce, by a pittance, my health insurance premiums for the first six months of 2011. I think I may have participated in a health screening a few years ago, but not recently.

My numbers, while not ideal, were not terribly out of whack. The scariest one was an unexpected uptick in my blood pressure. I really shouldn’t be surprised since I’ve had a forty year love affair with salt, which I’ve now resolved to resist as best I can. I see more whole wheat bagels, oatmeal and bananas in my future, as well as a return to my evening Rottweiler constitutionals. The nurse also suggested that I double-check my blood pressure in a day or so to see if it was a fluke. If not, then I might also be visiting my doctor soon.

While waiting for my ride after work, I experienced first hand several leaf-filled dust devils swirling around the circle drive of the Plaza Library Building. I enjoyed the stress relief and photographic opportunity, even if I all I had at hand was my cell phone.

For the rest of the photos, visit my photo album here.

Book Review: The Magic of Recluce

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent world building and superb magic system with an annoyingly dense but affable young adult protagonist on a quest. Lerris is ‘the chosen one’ but for all the wrong reasons or completely mysterious hidden reasons until he’s painted himself into a corner with his fumbling choices. Lerris isn’t burdened with a prophecy, but he resists the status quo of Recluce. Lerris is just your typical young adult with attention deficit disorder (i.e., he’s bored and finds everything boring), but Recluce doesn’t prescribe Ritalin. Somewhat like extreme Amish, Recluce peacefully forces their misfits to either exile permanently or go on dangergeld (similar to rumspringa but with a quest attached), during which they must decide if they can return to Recluce and succumb to its creed and worldview (seeking perfection in Order). This novel follows Lerris on his journey as a dangergelder until he understands all that Recluce embodies and effects, and reaches his decision.

If you are looking for a story with character growth, Lerris’ journey as an exile from Recluce will fit that bill. If you are looking for a new fantasy world with a detailed history, divergent societies, a logical robust magic system, with a different spin on the age-old struggle between angels and demons, good and evil, black and white, order and chaos, then you’ve come to the right story and series.

Modesitt’s Recluce series reminds me of Asimov’s robot stories. He sets up a scenario with some basic, seemingly simple rules (for example, Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics and Modesitt’s Order/Chaos balance system as glimpsed through snippets of The Basis of Order) and proceeds to challenge those rules with his world and its characters. While each novel adds a piece of the broader puzzle, for the most part, like this first one, the books stand alone quite well.

View all my reviews

November is L.E. Modesitt, Jr. month at the GoodReads SciFi and Fantasy Book Club. The author will be joining in the discussions of both books later this month.

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club’s currently-reading book montage