Onomatopoeia

San Antonio Hobby is CLOSING

After 40 years, San Antonio Hobby in Mountain View is closing.  I first came there in 1971 or 2 with my uncle CG.  We were playing a lot of Richtofen's War and that was a great place for models.  In those days Aurora had a decent line of 1/48 WWI aircraft. Had mucho fun.

Last summer I got back into modeling and having SAHS so close was a Godsend.  They had everything.  Books, models, paints, detail kits, decal sheets, figures, landscaping stuff, props...  And not just for models but they also had everything for RC aircraft, cars, model railroading, you name it.

I went there this evening to see what's up.  The shelves were practically empty, there was almost nothing left. 

I made a friend of sorts there, a guy who works there.  He gave me tons of tips, advised my on buying my airbrush, and generally was supportive and informative.  He was there and said they maybe maybe maybe will start a new place but who knows.

Joni Mitchell was way right about taking stuff for granted.  It;s more than missing a resource for a hobby. It feels like part of my past is getting cut off.  Also, places like that are hard to find.  It's like we are coming off of an age where you really could get anything and everything.  Yes, life continues to improve for most folks - longer lifespans, ease of access to consumer goods, etc.  But is it me or are things getting more and more standardized, normalized?  Where can you go for the quirky stuff?  There are canning supplies I can't get anymore - will all that go away?

I'm no change-o-phobe, but sometimes it feels wasteful to see something unique go away.

In any case, I am glad I was a patron of San Antonio Hobby.  I wish everyone involved well, and I do hope they will start again.

Sons Of The Silent Age, David Bowie

Run-On Runaround

You know what's weird?  So there is this person who I worked closely with and when our company calved off part of itself into an independent entity I stayed her boss (even though it's a completley other company) until our firms started competing too much in the same arenas, and now I am a "strategic consultant" (picture me saying that with a straight face) and I end up consulting mainly by editing marketing literature talking about how frikkin' good that team is, and I mean my name is even mentioned prominently in it and I don't even work there and in fact compete with them, and by the way we have reinvented that same team/capability in the opriginal firm where I still work (yes, it is defnitely better in the if-I-could-redo-that-whole-thing-knowing-what-I-know-now sense), and she has hinted that if I offered a job she would listen and that is tempting because she is truly very very good at this stuff and plus she is a friend and knows what I am talking about, but we don't have the budget, headcount allowance, or frankly the need (ouch, sorry).

The guy in the neighborhood bar in my head peels the label off his PBR, shakes his head and mutters "You told her not to go...".  Hm.  It does not drive me nuts, but it does drive me to blog.

Hangin Around, Counting Crows

Easy Come. Easy Go. Again.

We visited C up in the Hudson Valley this weekend. On Saturday (my 45th), C and I went to the Rhinebeck Aerodrome. I have been wanting to go for a while.

Hog heaven does not begin to describe it. 2 old Bleriots. A Caudron G3. Sopwith Camel, Fokker Dr I (triplane) and a D VII. Albatros DV, Nieuport 11, Spad VII... Most of these are airworthy, folks. Never seen anything like it.

And they offer biplane rides. So of course I went up. It's a 1929 New Standard biplane. We sat in front of the pilot, Captain Mike. When he revved the engine for takleoff I got that adrenaline surge that goes from your rear-end to the tips of your fingers and toes, and a small feeling of "maybe this ain't such a great idea..." Then we glided up as if falling asleep, over the flaming treetops (autumn was on full blast), the wind whipping, everything for real man. In an open cockpit biplane you truly feel what flight is about; you feel the plane play over the air, when the engine's power is pulling and when the aerodynamics are allowing a glide. We climbed to maybe 1500 feet and he took us over Bard (he know C goes there) and did a circle or two. everything looked so clean and hyper-real. We were actually seen by C's roommate and her family! Then over the Kingston bridge and headed back towards home.

Not over yet, folks. Captain Mike drops the nose (stomach goes up), then pulls back into a climb (stomach goes down), and then does a wing-over and hung the plane on its tail. We arelooking (almost) straight down into the flaming brilliant trees in a steep dive. Howling. He pulls out gracefully. Yes, I hung on for dear life and it was great, albeit terrifying. On the way in he buzzed the airfield and we popped up over the trees at the end of the strip, executed a lovingly delicate turn, cut the throttle, sideslipped into the runway (again coming in right over the treetops) and touched down without a bump.

Gives me somethignt to think about when I imagine dogfighting in the old kites.

And now the lesson part of this post. All of the picturees I took are gone. Into the digital ether. Don't know what happened, except maybe the card got temporarily corrupted. Yes. All C and I have of those moments are our memories (like Rutget Hauer at the end of Blade Runner). You never know what will turn out to be fleeting. It must have been my birthday gift.

Romance, R.E.M.

Mind Yer Place, Boyo...

In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King has provided a series of opeds. Regardless of whether you think his work is good or better/nmediocre or worse, he tends to hold true to his own character in his expression. I like the guy more easily when he is telling me what he thinks. I like his storytelling as well, although that can be hot-or-miss.

This article, Download steven_king_article_ew_041008.pdf, appeared in Entertainment Weekly's Oct 8 2004 issue. I post it with the follwing thoughts:

…I like Springsteen’s response – who is ANYONE to tell you (me) how to vote? On the back of that: do your homework (Jeez, sound familiar?). No shit this time, either.

…if you like what an artist says in their work, how close IS that work to who you are/what you think/how you feel/what is “right”? No, really. Is it the music or the poetry or both or what? Litnmus for hypocrasy is pushing it, methinks, but only pushing it. How close is that to an informed opinion?

Pride, U2

The Amazing Communicator

Ever had so many things happening for so long that you actually give up and ask the person on the other end of the phone "what was the issue on that one? what we we talking about/trying to do again?" Happened to me several times this week already. Too many irons in too many fires. It's hard to identify which irons are in the fire because they really should be or because I just have not yet taken them out yet.

So when you get a couple of days where you are sending out finalizing e-mails and making problem-solving telehone calls it feels pretty good. That's what I love about having uninterrupted time in the PA office. Until, that is, someone brings up a topic that is current to them that they emailed to you that you discussed... and you can't remember it at all.

That's when you thank Providence that those you work with are as busy as you are.

Sorta sunny but drizzly earlier and bound to improve
YMCA, Village People

Do you hear a munching sound?

Last Sunday I pulled my chair back from the table and it lurched back and left a little. At the same instant there was a cracking, crunching noise. Had that sort of basso-profundo, visceral, bones-of-the-house quality to it. The left rear leg of the windsor chair had broken the floorboards. Closer inspection showed there was some empty space there...

Buried treasure? Entrance to an underground lab? 8th layer of Troy (move over, Schlieman)?

Nope. Termites.

Al, our contractor friend, came by, went under the house, and said it looked to him like localized damage. Shouldn't cost "much". And I'm thinking "how much is 'much'?" Visions of dollar bills with wings on them flitting out the front door (or through the new hole in the floor) like some Harry Potter scenario. Tenting the house, finding temporarry accomodation, collapse of Civilization, blah, blah, blah, cool it, Daddy-O. Upshot: the bug-man comes on Friday and we will know more then.

The Termite by Ogden Nash

The primal termite knocked on wood,
Tasted it, and found it good.
And that is why your cousin May
Fell through the parlour floor today.

Current earworm: Brand New Cadillac - The Clash

Hi, Tech!

My situation is such that when I dial-in from my PA office I can only connect at 26.4k max. That is slower than most people's internet dial-up conenction speeds. Reasons for this are varied and sundry, and a solution "is on the way" but meantwhile when I try to attach a large file - like right now a 3Mb zip file - I get to cool my heels for a while. It totally locks up Outlook, so I am incommunicado e-wise.

Which is probably not a bad thing. I am working on using e-mail less, or should I say, more effectively. I am trying a new Rule-Of-Thumb: Do not send the third e-mail, call instead. You save sooo much time, and *BONUS!* build a real relationship. This is better for mne anyway being in a satelite office. Also, I tend to remember phone calls better than e-mail. I am starting to turn off my monitor when I am on the phone - too distracting by half!

You see how slow this connection is? I even had time to type a whole bunch of garbage for this post, and then delete it! Luck for you, eh?

C comes home tonight! YAY!

Current earworm: Led Zeppelin's Your Time Is Gonna Come. Love the organ intro...