Joe's & Julia's Adventures: 7/1/12

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Remotes - Too Many For Me

I saw all these assembled beside Joe one evening

and just had to take a picture.

I've told Joe he has to stick around for a LONG time.

This is all too complicated for me!

Left to right - I kind of know how to operate Joe's phone. Then there's the control for the TV screen. Its menu options aren't intuitive at all (at least not for me). We have a control for the wireless speaker that kind of addresses the problem of the sound from the screen going straight up the two story living room ceiling instead of across the room where the listeners are seated. There's a remote for our cable service. Talk about too many choices!!! The last one on the right is for Apple TV. That opens a whole world of possibilities.

With the right combination (and sequence) of remotes and button presses we can watch cable, shows off Joe's computer, programs from iTunes, and also from Netflix - and a bunch of other places. That's a lot of choices - and a lot of remotes.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Optimism - Happiness

“The future is bright as your faith”

Thomas S. Monson,

"The Future Is As Bright As Your Faith,"

April 2009 General Conference

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“Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.” (Doctrine and Covenants 25:13)

“I believe he is saying to each of us, be happy. The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness. Of course there are times of sorrow. Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety. We all worry. But the Lord has told us to lift our hearts and rejoice. I see so many people ... who seem never to see the sunshine, but who constantly walk with storms under cloudy skies. Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine.” Words of the Prophet: The Spirit of Optimism, Gordon B. Hinckley

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Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith. (Ether 12: 9)

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Faith is a seed – nourish it to grow it – Choose the Right and Do It!

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FAITH & ETERNAL HAPPINESS GO HAND IN HAND – UNDERSTANDING ETERNAL HAPPINESS PUTS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON OUR EARTHLY UPS AND DOWNS

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Happy is the man that findeth wisdom...

Proverbs 3: 13

… whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he

Proverbs 16: 20

… he that keepeth the law, happy is he

Proverbs 29: 18

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

John 13: 17

Happy is he that condemneth not himself.

Romans 14: 22

But we count them happy which endure.

James 5: 11

But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and the Spirit beareth record. Amen. Doctrine and Covenants 59:23-24

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Joe's home teaching message, July 2012

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Bananas - Politics & More

Bananas have been a staple of my diet for as long as I can remember. I'd never thought much about how or where they are grown and certainly had never thought about the politics of bananas. They've just always been available, nutritious, and economical.

"The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King" by Rich Cohen has changed how I look at bananas.

This is the story of Sam Zemurray, an immigrant who came to this country with nothing and eventually took over United Fruit. Along the way he changed the American diet, changed Central American governments, and was very involved in the formation of Israel.

From a review in the Smithsonian magazine: “It’s difficult today to imagine the power of United Fruit. It was one of the first “truly global” corporations, writes Cohen, as prevalent as Google and “as feared as Halliburton.” A revolving door between its executive suite and the U.S. government made it “hard to distinguish United Fruit from the CIA” in the 1940s and ’50s. When the company sensed hostility in Guatemala—where it owned 70 percent of all private land by 1942—it mounted a PR campaign warning of a dangerous Communist presence. Not long after, Guatemalans bid farewell to their democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz—“Operation Success” the CIA called it. In 1961, the U.S. government borrowed United Fruit’s guns and ships when it sent a band of Cuban exiles into the Bay of Pigs. The company’s 115 ships, Cohen writes, made up “one of the largest private navies in the world.”

This is an interesting story that touches on themes that are current today

- story of immigrant success

- connection between global corporations & governments

- national and international consequences of those connections

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Did You Know?

A banana plant is technically an herb or grass. It’s not a tree because its stalk contains no woody tissue. The plant grows from a rhizome, not a seed - much like potato does. In the scientific scheme the banana is a berry, a single fleshy fruit without a stone. Also classified as berries are kiwi, coffee, currant, passionfruit, pepper and tomato! There are many categories of fruit.

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Note: One reviewer faults Cohen on his sourcing, saying there was too much “clever writing” and not enough scholarship. It definitely is not an academic work. It is an engrossing story.

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Grandpa & TV Remote Control

Eugene Polley died in June 2012. His obituary in The Week mentioned he invented the "world's first wireless remote control in 1955, forever changing the way we watch television and saving a generation of children from endlessly marching between couch and dial." It was called the Flash-Matic.

This reminded me of Grandpa's remote control. Caryl Holton's invention came from the same time period but it wasn't quite as sophisticated. He strung a wire from the TV, under the carpet, and to a switch placed near the couch. He could turn the TV sound off when the commercials came on. Grandpa liked to watch sports. I remember there was often some tension in the air during family gatherings if Grandpa wanted to have the TV on when we were there - or if holiday dinners needed to be scheduled around games. Our family's attitude towards TV is subject for another post.

photo - Caryl Holton - April 1957

Reunion - Snoqualmie Falls & Kirkland

On the way home from Leavenworth, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls. Just 45 minutes east of Kirkland, these falls are spectacular.

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Legos are a fantastic toy. My parents started this set for their grandsons. Now a new generation is using them.

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One evening we went to Houghton Beach Park in Kirkland. Our dinner was from Kidd Valley across the street.

Even though the water was cold, two of the boys went in

Hard to resist rolling down the hill. If you look closely, you can see the Olympic Mountains in the distance. Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between the clouds and the snow-covered mountains.

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At Marina Park

We love the outdoor sculptures in Kirkland. Notice the one in the cement - between our granddaughters. The granddaughter on the left is sitting on the "big person" sculpture and the other granddaughter is to the right of the "little person."

Several times we had gelato - Yummy!

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We went boating on Lake Washington. Some tried tubing and others did wakeboarding.

Bellevue

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Good-byes

Joe does the Ray Pepper move - Whenever Joe (or anyone else) left Ray & Maude's house in Urbana, Ray (Joe's step-father) stood in the street to direct the person on his way.

Reunion - Seattle - More

We went to Pike Place Market - along with thousands of other people. Throngs of people have been there each time we've visited the market.

This nine acre market has been operating over 100 years. From the market's website: "home to more than 200 year-round commercial businesses; 190 craftspeople and approximately 100 farmers who rent table space by the day; 240 street performers and musicians; and more than 300 apartment units, most of which provide housing for low-income elderly people. "The Market," as the locals affectionately say, attracts 10 million visitors a year, making it one of Washington state's most frequently visited destinations."

This is the store you see on television - they do throw the fish

The flower stalls are filled with gorgeous colors

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THE GUM WALL

This is a tourist spot in an alley under Pike Place Market.

It is an eyesore? Is it gross? Or is it a tourist attraction?

According to several websites, patrons waiting to get into a theater on Post Alley started sticking gum to the wall back in 1993. Theater workers scraped the gum off the walls a number of times. Then they gave up. Around 1999 Pike Place Market officials declared the spot a tourist attraction. Now there was no need to try to clean it up! It’s the second “germiest” tourist attraction in the world, the Blarney Stone in Ireland is #1

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After exploring Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall, we walked to Magic Mouse Toys in Pioneer Square. Not only was this a great toy store but it also was a good place to see an example of a store from before and after the raising of Seattle’s streets. One of the clerks gave us a tour of the lower level of the store, the original first floor but now the basement level. The store now occupies two levels.

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On our ride the ducks tour we went past the Gas Works Park. This site is an example of turning an eyesore into an asset. The former gasification plant was closed down in 1956. The abandoned site became an eyesore. The city of Seattle purchased the site and proceeded to tear down the buildings to create a park. Part way through the demolition process someone convinced the powers-that-be that the ruins could be turned into an attraction at the park.

There were so many contaminants in the ground that grass wouldn't grow. More and more soil was brought in - while they were hauling soil, they decided to dump soil on some of the rubble (adding more rubble for more height) and created an artificial hill.

"Adapting a toxic industrial site into a public park, while maintaining the once environmentally-offending infrastructure as part of the design, was a new and challenging idea back in the early 1970s when Gas Works Park was a concept in search of community consensus." More here.

Our grandson took us to this park years ago when we visited him while he was a student at the University of Washington. Little did we know at that time that we'd be calling the Seattle area home. He said it's a great place for watching 4th of July fireworks.

The Gum Wall, above, is another eyesore that was turned into a tourist attraction.

Reunion - Leavenworth, Washington

For our family reunion we rented a house just outside Leavenworth, Washington.

Back in the 1960s the town was dying because the lumber industry had dwindled. The powers that be decided to take advantage of the beautiful mountains and turn themselves into a Bavarian city “in the Alps.” Tourism brought the town back to life.

Everything in town has been Bavarianized -

even McDonald's went with the theme!

So did Starbucks

After ice cream we had brats with delicious apple cider kraut at Der Munchen Haus. (Yes, most of us had dessert first)

On a previous trip to Leavenworth Joe found a toilet paper holder in this store,"A Matter of Taste."

He just HAD to have the monkey. It's about 2 1/2 feet tall. Joe thought it was just right for our first floor bathroom. Fortunately it was too expensive ($190!!!) After we got home he found it on the internet and printed a picture - which he then hung in the bathroom for all to enjoy.

Reunion - The House

The end of June we had our family reunion in Leavenworth, Washington, about 2 1/2 hour drive east of Kirkland. Leavenworth rebranded and redesigned itself years ago into a Bavarian village. Check out this website.