Travel Tuesday - City Icons

The Washington Monument, the Empire State Building, the Capital Records Building, you see the structure, and you know the city.  Seattle has two, the Space Needle, but increasingly people see this sign, and they think of Seattle.  And it is a really nice market.  Yes it is packed with tourists, but it is also full of real vendors provisioning the kitchens of the city, and boxes of fresh fruit for the tourists (if the cherries are in season, buy them!) I have been there a few times.  It is one of those places I would like to rent an apartment within walking distance of, and spend a month cooking my way through the market.  

Music Monday - Barbra Streisand - Rainbow Connection

I have eclectic taste in music, I like a little of almost everything.  I try not to take any of it too seriously, if it soothes or excites me, I probably like it.  Like strong instrumentals, strong vocals that don't sound like tortured cats, solos, and orchestras.  These are difficult times for musicians, venues have been closed or restricted.  Streaming makes music cheap and accessible, but pays very little to the people who create it.  If you enjoy the street musician, drop in their case what you can afford, this guy was really good.  Babara has missing recording the past couple of years, so she dug through the previously unreleased recordings including this duet that was done for a television show, that finally made it onto the album released a few month ago.  I bought it on CD.  

The Sunday Five - Adult Toys

If you want a laugh, this post was flagged for a violation of standards, for _$_ exu@l content.  Obviously the computer didn't read the post, only the title. 

I have some great camera equipment, nice lenses, specialty items (I have an underwater digital camera.) Most of it is bought after agonizing over spending the money, and reminding myself that the thing that sets adults apart from children, is the price of the toys (not as poetic, but less sexist than "the men and boys".) 

Once in a while I will see something and it will fall into my tolerance for an impulse buy, that is how I ended up the underwater camera, and how I ended up with the lens this image was taken with.  A Vivitar Series One, 500mm, about $100 at your favorite online retailers. 40 years ago, Vivitar was a respected name, like many the name was sold in bankruptcy and lives on, but without the legacy.  I wanted a longer lens, and Nikon does not make one for my camera, so on an impulse one day I clicked on this and bought it.  It is fully manual, so it is a little bit more work, but I have to say, this image is proof that a cheap lens can take a good image.   

1: What is your tolerance for an impulse buy? 

2: Do you have a toy allowance or budget? 

3: Does more money always equal better? 

4: Do you consider yourself wise with money, or stingy? 

5: What toy didn't you get as a child, that you would still like to get? 

My answers:

1: What is your tolerance for an impulse buy? About $100. 

2: Do you have a toy allowance or budget? I try to set a limit each year on spending on new toys. 

3: Does more money always equal better? The bird speaks for itself, the equivalent lens for the series up from my camera from Nikon, is about $4,000, and is manual only on my camera- the same as the cheap lens. 

4: Do you consider yourself wise with money, or stingy? I often say stingy. 

5: What toy didn't you get as a child, that you would still like to get? Another recent impulse buy, Legos. 

Please share your answers in the comments! 

The Saturday Morning Post - Who Moved My Cheese

One of my favorite "business books" is a little volume titled "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson.  It is a book about change.  And those who refuse to accept change, who insist what the world can't change, wither and die a bitter death.  I keep a stack of the book in my office, and share it with anyone who wants to read it. I reread the book every few years.  Infamously, Jay and I were trapped in Lexington in an ice storm about 15 years ago, the power was off, we were huddled around the gas fireplace in the living room and I read the book aloud one evening.  

My office is undergoing change.  A new director, who has some new ideas and who is trying to free others to think new ideas.  We are largely reliant on project funding, and I use the message in the book, that if you keep going to the same sources of work that you have always gone to, and that source changes, and you don't keep looking for new sources, you will die.  Our cheese gets moved or runs out, we need to constantly be on the search for new cheese.  

Being inside the DC bubble, we hear the appeals for things to stay the same from the oil industry.  That moving away from oil to new sources of energy will destroy the world.  Guess what, it is too late, that ship has sailed, people are plugging their Audis and Fords into recharge rather than pulling up the pump.  They are still using the cheese, but it is new cheese, from new sources.  Build windmills, harness the currents and tides, capture energy from new sources. Don't fear the change.  

I was in a workshop recently and the trainer pointed out that all change results in loss for someone, we need to guide that person through the loss and grief or they will fight the change.  

The pharmaceutical industry is fighting back against change, saying it will kill innovation.  The dirty little secret they don't want you to know, is nearly all of research and innovation is federally funded, what change will change is the obscene profits in the first decade a new drug is being flogged in the US market.  Drug prices are unregulated in the USA, we are one of the few places in the world that allows this. Massive profits are made, on drugs developed and tested largely on the public dime, then once the drug passes into generic formulary, prices plummet to the point some pharmacies give the drug away to draw you in the door.  The insurance and health care industry, have a louder voice than consumers, we need to turn that on its head.  We need to move the cheese. The rest of the world has.   

Oh, and if you are looking for cheese in my refrigerator, look in the big bin on the door.  If it is not there, look in the pull out drawer, or next to it on the shelf, or on the top shelf behind the jar of pickles, there has to be new cheese in their someplace. 

I Went Shopping At My Local Russian Market On Friday

There are a couple of local markets, small specialty shops that feature eastern and central European foods, and a few restaurants in the area. The businesses are run by economic or political refugees who are most likely as appalled and horrified by what is happening in Ukraine as you and I. They left behind the people, the country and the language of their birth. That is not easy to do, things must be pretty terrible to leave behind everything you have ever known.  

The local market is run by a sweet lady of a certain age (my guess is that she is 70.) She uses the skills and talents she has in food, and culture to run a small business, a shop that is 400 or 500 sq. ft. that supports her family.   The products she sells are sourced from around the world, but to fill the tastes of a large expat community, and anyone who has an interest in amazing fish, pickles, preserves, sweets, bakery, and deli items.  Some of the candies are out of this world.  

I thought about shopping there. Yes, part of the money I spent went to businesses in Russia.  What I bought today was shipped and paid for months ago.  The suppliers in Russia will suffer when she can’t restock, to the extent she can she will find alternate suppliers, hopefully the suppliers in Russia will put pressure on the government. 

I do hope that people don’t take out on these local businesses their anger at the country the owners left.  The thank you has never been warmer or more sincere for shopping there.  

Fabulous Friday - Shoes #4

These are part of an art installation in the Smithsonian Futures exhibition.  I would buy the gold one's from the top image, and the blue one's from the bottom image.  Aren't they fabulous? 

Thursday Rambles : Changes

 The Community Center here at the Condo (for those readers not familiar, a condominium, or condo, is an apartment that a person owns, the buildings and amenities are managed by an association that the unit owners pay a fee to - in some cases a LARGE fee) is undergoing a massive renovation.  The budget was $7,000,000 and I suspect we have gone over budget.  The community center sits in a natural ravine, meaning as a result the outdoor swimming pool is at street level, the rooftop tennis courts slightly above street level and the main floor of the building is slightly below street level, hence the new ramps and steps down to the west entrance.  

The interior was gutted in the remodel.  The indoor pool remained, but the ceiling over it and surrounding glass walls removed, replaced.  The bowling alley was gutted and replaced with all new equipment.  Most of the rest of the interior was reconfigured.  The convenience store was reduced in size, the restaurant and bar expanded.  Offices were moved, new meeting rooms created, the billiards and games room relocated.  A new elevator and staircase was installed to a lower level that has always been there, but was largely wasted space as the only access was a narrow spiral stairway.  The locker rooms and fitness center were new 3 or 4 years ago, and remained unchanged. 

It was needed, it was about 35 years old, poorly designed and had all of the charm of a hospital inside.  The original designer left a lot to be desired.  When we first came here during the house hunt, the lobbies in the residential towers looked the interiors of a funeral home from the 1970's.  Those were redone a couple of years after I moved in.  

It should be nice.  The current plan calls for opening around the first of May, about 4 months behind schedule.  I look forward to it.  

All in all, I like living in the condo.  The monthly fee is large (over $700.) But the buildings are well maintained, the common areas are clean, the landscaping is well taken care of, the snow removed without me lifting a finger.  Water including hot water is included, as is drainage and trash removal (just drop it down the chute across the call.) We have 24 hour security, with a secured front gate, and controlled access to the buildings.  Call ahead or you won't make it past the front gate.  The community center has nice amenities, I look forward to the gym reopening, I enjoy floating around in the outdoor pool in the summer.  We enjoy the restaurant, especially their delivery services - also known as room service.  During COVID and the renovation the association has waived the rent for the restaurant to keep the service here, I think we should keep doing that, the lower cost is reflected in good prices for the area.

Someday, I should try the bowling alley.  The last I knew were were the only condo in the DC area, with a private bowling alley.  There is one with an indoor ice skating rink, built by the same developer.    

The Way We Were Wednesday - Mt. Vernon

My first adventure in Washington DC was in the fall of 1977 or 1978.  My grandmother had never been to DC, and after my grandfather died I would drive her back and forth between the farm in Michigan and her winter home in Florida. They had bought a tiny house in a small town in Florida in about 1960 to get away from the winters in Michigan.  She wanted to see places she had never been, and we went as far east as Washington DC, and as far west as St. Louis.  It was great fun.  She was a delightful traveling companion.  

We went to Mt Vernon while we were in the DC area.  Little did I know that I would someday live about half way between DC and Mt Vernon, on a hilltop surveys by the General, he had dinner with the Fairfax family a week before he died, just west of where my car is parked on this hilltop.  

The house at Mt Vernon was about the same in the 1970's as it is today, the nearby outbuildings are the same, with the exception of a reconstruction of the blacksmith's workshop a few years ago.  The entrance to Mt Vernon was simpler then, there is a newish visitors center and museum that was but a dream in the 70's.  Archeology has changed the layout of the gardens, the nature of the plantings, and there is a much larger recognition of slavery at Mt Vernon, a shame filled shadow over the founding history of the United States.  

I am glad I was here then, it brings me joy that I was able to help my grandmother see things she wanted to see, to tick a few items off the bucket list.  I am glad I am here, now, and able to see the same places.