Palm Springs Eternal Boy Scout Parking proposition
“What about disloyal readers, Dan?” Nazy asked. “Do you also hope they are happy and healthy?”
“Healthy? Of course. But how can you be happy if you’re not a regular reader of The Weekly Letter?”
Regular readers, of course, want to see a charming picture so
Here in Santa Barbara, we are healthy, happy and hot. Usually (in fact, by local ordinance) hot weather is confined to an area far from the ocean. Weather here is normally predictable and dependable: cool winds from the ocean result in pleasant weather along the coast. The last couple of weeks, however, unusual hot winds have come from the mountains. We’ve had record high temperatures 99 ℉ (37 ℃). Normal high for this date is 74℉ (23 ℃).
The weather news (and my birthday) caused Nazy to consider a road trip. She chose
“... Palm Springs, Dan. You’ll love it.”
“It’s in a dessert right?”
“Not dessert, Dan. And no cake. It’s not a desert either: it has a golf course.”
“It could still be a desert.”
“No. Golf courses need grass. And grass needs rain. And rain doesn’t fall in deserts. Therefore..”
“You’ve convinced me.” I replied. “You’re wrong,” I thought.
I found a great room on the web..
“A wonderful room,” Nazy interrupts.
“ ..... at a great price.”
“At an apparently great price,” Nazy interrupts. Again.
It turns out that the internet price did not include resort fees, transient taxes, facility taxes, city taxes and mandatory valet parking. When all of these were added in, the final price increased by more than 50%. Even Nazy, who normally never views price as one of the factors to be considered in making a purchase decision, had an opinion.
“Are you upset? Or, perhaps, annoyed?” I asked.
“Annoyed?” Nazy asked.
“Upset?”
“Upset, Dan?”
“Angry my dear?”
“Angry? You think I am merely angry?
“Livid, Nazy. You are llivid.”
“Livid? I am..”
“Seething?”
“I don’t like being cheated, Dan.”
“It’s a new world, Nazy,” I replied. “And airlines don’t offer dinner service any more,” I thought.
We had a great birthday dinner and a delightful stay in the hotel. Nazy even talked the concierge into sending up a complementary fruit plate and bottle of wine.
At the hotel, we saw a photograph of the symbol of Palm Springs, the Palm Springs Sign. Nazy posed.
Naturally, we wanted to make our own photograph with the ‘real sign’. It turned out, however, that reality was illusive. When asked, locals misdirected us.
We finally drove to the tourist information center to get a definitive answer. To avoid confusion, I showed them a picture of the mural at our hotel.
“That sign is make-believe,” the tour guide explained. “It doesn’t exist.”
“Now I understand why we had so much trouble finding it.” I replied. Undaunted, Nazy and I had a great dinner in Palm Springs and found a giant field of windmills and factory outlet mall on the way drive home.
At home, I set aside a few days (well weeks) to educate myself for the coming election. California elections always have a plethora of citizen initiatives - complex legal propositions constructed not by elected legislators, but by citizens. (Frequently citizens with a single-issue focus.) Prior to the election, the state sends a pamphlet ..
“Pamphlet?” Nazy asks as she loads the relevant information volumes onto a two-wheeler.
In fact, the state sends comprehensive and very detailed reading material about each ballot initiative - including both ‘pro’ and ‘con’ statements as well as rebuttals to the pros and cons. In a break with tradition, the Proposition P rebuttal to the ‘con’ statement is very short and simple:
“Everything in the opposition’s argument is a lie.”
Personally, I’ve lost the plot. Moreover, I thought that we elected legislators to legislate. They clearly want us to do their job so that they won’t have to actually take a risky political stand. Let me illustrate the mechanism (Proposition P) for you:
Chose one: Cheap, local, American, energy created by clean intensive recovery processes and supplemental renewable kale-powered electricity. Or dirty petroleum from fracking technologies that pollute dwindling water resources, foul the beaches and devastate the planet?
YES NO
Finally, this week my brother David mailed a package of nostalgia: My Ph.D. thesis, my Boy Scout Handbook and a DVD of my Dad’s retirement party after working 40 years at Delta Airlines. A hundred (or more) people came to Dad’s retirement celebration. They even invited Mom. My own ceremonial HP departure was equally moving:
I drove to the European HQ in Dubendorf, Switzerland where I had arranged an interview with an 18 year old HR executive. He wasn’t completely prepared, so I handed him the checklist, my badge and my keys. He was..
:... not sure about what I should do now.” He said. “Do you know?”
“You thank me for my 15 years of service and wish me well for the future.”
“Ah! Thanks and good luck.”
Veracity report: The aforementioned actually happened. However, in the weeks before my retirement, I also had informal sessions with colleagues in London, Frankfurt, New York, Palo Alto and Amsterdam. And, if the accountants hadn’t intervened, I would have followed this approach in Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney as well.
And, with the scout handbook, I can start a fire with two sticks and a mirror. Of course, it’s so hot and dry here that I can also start a fire with a handkerchief-less sneeze.
Last week’s letter click here
