When In Rome

My block, well, actually two blocks, holds a progressive dinner every holiday season. This year, the final host was an Indian (from India) couple, who had a lovely Christmas tree in their living room. I asked the somewhat impolitic question of whether they celebrated, or if it was a case of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." The host responded that it was a case of "When in Rome..."

Being Jewish, I can understand the urge not to feel like an outcast during the holiday season.

Sore Ass!

Last night was brutal! No, it really was, but that has little to do with the sore ass. I went to the gym yesterday, it was the first time in many months. I wanted to try to get myself back into shape, but I know the road will be long.

Here's what I did:
Leg press at 190 - 2 x 10
Leg Curl at 60? - 2 x 10
Pull Ups (with 70 assist) - 1 x 5
Walk (treadmill) - 30 min - just over 2 miles

Here's what I learned:
I need to relearn how to pack for the gym - I walked in without shoes (they were in the car), had no towel (had to rent one), and brought no toiletries (scruffy the rest of the day).
I also need to keep away from the locker room around 2:30 - the high school swim team is prepping for practice, were I a pedophile, I might enjoy that, but I wound up feeling uncomfortable and I suspect they were too.

You know who was there? The girl who walks on the treadmill at a BIG incline and holds on the whole time. You know the one, she wants to look like whe's working out really hard, but really isn't. I think there's one of them at your gym, right?

One Angry Mother!

My son had an incident last week in which he was bullied. It wasn't that big a deal, but it revealed that at his religious school, his class had been left alone for a while. At his age (10), the opportunities for mischief when a group of kids are left alone are many, so along with e-mailing the mother, I sent an e-mail to the principal of the religious school questioning why the kids were left alone. It came out that school's policy is that the kids are never left alone, but that on this day, one teacher needed to leave for a family commitment and the other was unaware of the timing of this.
Anyway, I saw the mother yesterday, and she was pissed! She claimed I should have called her and talked about this with her. Perhaps she's right, but I still would have wanted to get the unattended chidren issue addressed. So, this could not have been properly addressed without involving the school. Anyway, her response was something along the lines of "I'll never help you again."
Still, the mother claimed that seven other children were involved, based on what I heard yesterday, it was two others, but often the number of children involved is subject to some interpretation...Are laughers involved? What about commenters? And so on.
Was I wrong? I don't really think so, though I'll acknowledge that I might have better handled the interpersonal side of things.

Retiring Hardware

This weekend, for the first time, I found myself having to make the decision to retire a piece of climbing hardware at the YMCA where I work. It's a decision I hate to have to make, but consider it absolutely necessary. It was a caribiner of the screw lock variety. The problem was that when you screwed it down, the screw collar kept spinning. To me that indicated serious internal wear on the threads and since you can't inspect to determine how serious the problem is, it must be retired. I took the 'biner home, but am trying to decide whether to cut it or just use it in "non-life safety" applications.

Odetta

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1863667,00.html
Yesterday, I was went to Time Magazine's website, and there I saw news of the passing of Odetta.
In the days before Brittany, Oprah, or even Cher, there was Odetta, one of the few "one name" personalities of the early 1960's. I knew her as a folk singer, and if I was to say she had a voice, I'd be understating thing by an order of magnitude. She was blessed with a superb instrument. Her loss is a big one for the musical world.

Customer Service?

I maintain a PO Box for an organization. I checked the box today and found a message note dated 10/20 that box payment is due by 10/31. There was also a note that boxholder privileges have been revoked due to non-payment, the 10-day grace period has expired. I usually check the box about once a month during slow times, and more often during busy times. I dutifully tried to make an online payment today. I set up an account, then tried to make a payment, it failed. I can't link my box to my account. The error message said to call my local post office. So, what do you think I did? Right, I called my post office. Want to know what they said? They told me that the PO Box department closes at 1:00 PM and I should call back tomorrow between 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM. The post office has been touting how easy they are to work with, and how they've been working to improve customer service - here's an example where they're a dismal failure.

You Can Get Anything You Want...

I think this was the first Thanksgiving since my college days that I didn't listen to Arlo Guthrie sing Alice's Restaurant. I own it, and thought I'd listen to it on my mp3, but found I hadn't loaded it. It's usually played on the local classic rock station at either 11AM or noon, but I wasn't listening at the time. So, I wound up having an Arloless Thanksgiving.
I can't help but think about the differences in the eras of the today versus the time the song was written is worth commenting on. Guthrie wrote and performed the song in the latter stages of the Viet Nam War, an unpopular war being fought overseas to "keep free" a people whose culture most Americans didn't understand. Today, we're at war in two overseas nations, one of which is little supported by the American polulace. Still, one lesson we've learned, that is that even if we don't support the war, now we don't condemn the warriors. American policy is the work of the policy makers in government, not of the soldiers.
It's also worth noting that our other war, in Afghanistan, is a follow-up to a war of occupation fought in the late 1970's and much of the 1980's by the USSR. The Mujahadeen fought a war of attrition against the Russians and eventually outlasted them, not unlike what we did to the British over two centuries ago. It was this war that prompted the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics of 1980.