August Updates #4 - Bits and Pieces

My motto for August: "If you don't want to do a task, that's the task to do first." Next up: how to find more hours in a day.

___

Rock n Roll News: the band, Rob, Jeff, Drew & I, is now official, having played at a party out in Ann Arbor ... so the band officially has a name ... Vintage 309. And a website. Very garage-ish classic rock radio style. So far. Too fun.

___

After building a new computer for Diana, I found out that the game World of Warcraft can be really tough to get running in a stable fashion. No, I'm not a gamer. But we were shopping at CompUSA, and Di' really wanted this game - but there was no way her old PC would run it effectively. (Remember Robert's rule for buying a new computer: any $500 PC or laptop will serve you well - unless you're editing video, or you are a gamer.) Hours of tweaks and tests, different video cards, sound cards, RAM, even NIC's ... still getting lockups or intermittant reboots. So I gave up (and upgraded a different PC for her that I already had). Diana is now pleased.

___

In professional news ...

...last week, I travelled, for the first time, to Houston, Texas, for cross-training with Waste Management's excellent corporate technical folks. It was pleasant diversion from the usual routine, and in addition to meeting those good people, I enjoyed walking around downtown, seeing the skyscrapers.

(Photo is First City Tower, home of the WM's corporate offices - training was across the street).

A wee bit nicer than downtown Detroit, despite the heat & humidity.

The elegant Magnolia Hotel in Houston has the funniest open-air rooftop swimming pool (it looks about thrice the length of their Jacuzzi, that is, it's really, really small, and 3 ft. deep) and a cute picture outside the pool/exercise room.

But even if 3 feet of water doesn't compel you to visit the roof, the view of the city from the roof (24 floors up, open-air) is worth visiting the pool.

___

In the spirit of doing "things I always thought I should do but never got around to," I recently drove around under the I-75 bridge over downriver Detroit. (Ever time I've driven over the vast I-75 bridge, I've always wondered what it's like down there).

The industrial area is both sad and inspiring, sometimes at the same time. And seeing poorer neighborhoods reminds me to appreciate my achievements, and those of the people around me.

(Warning before you click 'em: some of these small pix are not my usual happy ones. But White Stripes fans may appreciate the last one.)

It was a strange journey, which started by the Lincoln Park fuel refinery storage tanks, and ended in downtown Detroit, at the Rennaisance Center. Which always picks my spirits up.

___

Hometown News: Redford just might not be the fanciest town in southeast Michigan - but did you know it's one of the 25 safest in the country? CNN/Money sez so, so it must be true.

___

As a nice follow-up to the EGO visit in July to the Edsel and Elenor Ford Home (see the July 2 weblog entry), Amy and I made a trip to The Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, Michigan.

We visit there every year or two ... if you like walks through the grounds of the properties of great men, it makes for a fine afternoon.

August Updates #3 - EGO & Dahly

The second July and first August EGO Meetings were a good time, including meetings at Dave's and Eric's (tough competition after Peter's July meeting!) Due to too much topical and social conversation, our discussion of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology was derailed again last time, so we shall have to go at it with more determination to wrap up the book!

In addition, several EGO'ists paid a visit to the Redford Theatre to see Hitchcock's North By Northwest starring Cary Grant. An outstanding movie - on the outside chance you haven't seen it, be sure to put it on your shortlist. Strangely, the Barton theater organ overture seemed overlong ... and we didn't win the fifty-fifty raffle again (Eric's the only one to win so far, in our years of Redford Theatre patronage).

Dahly remains ever sweet. 'Cept she still seems determined to dig a warren in our loveseat. I'm reminded of the story (for which I don't recall the source, perhaps a Leonard Peikoff lecture ... I know Barbed Brandon mentioned it too, but hope it's true anyway), of how Ayn Rand wouldn't stand for de-clawing her cats, despite the damage to her furniture - in her heirarchy of values, happy cats were way above nice furniture. I agree (though of course it's best to have both a happy bunny and nice furniture, if you can).

August Updates #2 - Ann Arbor Art Fair

The annual trip to the Ann Arbor Art Fair was fun! A zillion booths, some good art (though way-too-high crafts-to-art ratio, as always) and a mix of odd things too. Way too many people this year! We also stopped in some of the main street shops, and ice cream at the South Bend Chocolate Company, built into an old house on Main Street, is always a treat. We also bought an adorable bunny pic - I'll have to take a snapshot and post it later.

Diana and Amy and I took advantage of the opportunity to dine (twice, since we went both Friday night and Saturday afternoon) at the wonderful Seva Restaurant. If you've never been there, you should do something about that a.s.a.p.

We also stopped by Wizzywig, where we saw many strange things (not unusual, though one poster stood out - click, as always, for a larger image in a new window).

Our Art Fair experience was not without incident ... Amy was injured when a huge hole opened up suddenly in the pavement of the sidewalk near the parking structure, and swallowed her whole ... I won't post the gruesome photographs, you'll just have to imagine the carnage yourself. Paramedics just happened to be on the scene fixing up someone else (true!), and when they finished handling the emergency, patched Amy up well. Her knee & leg & arm took a good week to heal, but true to her gracious nature, she did NOT sue the city for the millions in damages to which she was entitled.

August Updates #1 - Diana's Graduation Continues!

Wow - no significant updates since early July ... well, here we go!

Diana's graduation from high school continued, with a graduation party held at her sister's place (which I still think of as Camp Heinrich, since Grandma Heinrich is still there!).
.

Diana's
graduation
photograph,
is,
I think,
particularly
lovely.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Apropos of the event being commemorated, I had a cake custom-made ... very last-minute ... by a baker who did a beautiful job on the flowers and such, but probably hadn't graduated (Contgratuldiox?) herself. Anyone can make a mistake - but some mistakes are truly unique.

How quickly they go ...

How quickly they turn ...
.

... from
rambunctious
troublemaker

into sweet
cuddlesome one!

Oof!