No Kings

I went to No Kings yesterday and took pictures of the signs, chatted with people a little. I did not go with anyone, so Jackie took me and waited while I walked around and took my pictures. There were thousands of people there, but I was there early, so the crowd probably got bigger after I left. There were plenty of people still arriving as I was walking away.

The event said 11:00 to 3:00, which seemed like a long time, but I showed up early, about 10:30. We were supposed to walk on the streets from the park we were in, around in a rectangle and back to the park. At 11:45, I asked a volunteer if we were going to walk. She said that the speeches would start at noon, then the walking at 1:00, so I started back toward Jackie. Four hours is too much for me.

Still, it was a fun day. It's great to hang out with so many people who understand the moment.

Straightforward, to the point.

The real kings showed up.

 

This woman's sign only had one word on it, but the word seems to fit the times.

Hard to say what this one might mean. Looks like some foreign language.

Good for you, man. Aren't we all?

I told her it was a good resisting bitch face.

Who could argue?

True.

I could sing this one.

Found him.

James Bond - Eleven Movies In

 

All of the James Bond movies came to Netflix, so we watched all of the Daniel Craig movies. Then we started watching the rest, starting at the beginning with Dr. No.

The movies are going off Netflix on April 20, so we may not make it through the Pierce Brosnan movies, but we will watch as many as we can.

To date, we have watched all of the Sean Connery movies through Diamonds Are Forever, plus the George Lazenby movie. Some observations so far:

• Dr. No does not hold up well. Ursula Andress holds up though.
• Jack Lord, of Hawaii 5-O fame, is in Dr. No, as Felix Leiter, but only in the one movie. Felix is a recurring character, but they change actors willy-nilly.
• The famous way that Bond introduces himself is actually initiated by another character, all the way back in Dr. No. Bond asks a female gambler for her name, and she replies, "Trench, Sylvia Trench." When she asks his name, he says, "Bond. James Bond."
• The second movie, From Russia with Love, is pretty good.
• Sylvia Trench shows up again in From Russia with Love, although very briefly. It may be the only time that one of Bond's romantic interests shows up in two movies until Lea Seydoux in the last two Daniel Craig films. For the most part, women are tossed aside and forgotten from one movie to the next. If they survive.
• Robert Shaw, of Jaws fame, is in from Russia with Love, as a bad guy.
• The series owes a lot to Goldfinger. It is a good movie with a good villain, but it also debuts several elements that recur throughout the franchise. For example:

• It has the first big opening theme song. Dr. No does not have one. From Russia with Love has a soft instrumental for the opening, then the song is sung Perry Como style at the end. Goldfinger has a good opening song, sung by Shirley Bassey.
• The plot is over the top, with huge international implications.
• It has the first, and one of the best, nearly indestructible henchmen, Oddjob.
• I think it is the first movie in which a Bond romantic interest gets killed. In any case, the golden girl is one of the most memorable, and in subsequent movies, Bond leaves a trail of dead women in his wake.
• It has one of the first, and most blatant, childishly named female Bond collaborators - Pussy Galore.
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the only George Lazenby movie, is a lousy film, surprisingly bad. Telly Savalas and Diana Rigg are in it, but that's no help. If I were watching the series again, I would skip this one.
• The theme song for On Her Majesty's Secret Service is We Have All the Time in the World, sung by Louis Armstrong. It shows up in the middle of the movie. I hope that is the last time we do not have an opening song.
• The two gay assassins in Diamonds Are Forever are fun.

That ends the Sean Connery era, other than Never Say Never Again, which comes after several Roger Moore films. Next film is Live and Let Die.

So about those Daniel Craig films:

• Casino Royale is a good film. The rest are pretty good too.
• The opening music for each of the five films is very decent. Adele's Skyfall is the most well-know, but they are all good. The entire series has an impressive list of performers singing the opening numbers - Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Tina Turner, Rita Coolidge, Madonna, Adele, Billie Eilish, among others.
• Craig is a really good Bond.
• All of these films start with a big action sequence. That has become part of the appeal of the franchise.
• Vesper Lynd and Madeleine Swann are two of the best Bond women, because they are not just throw-away sex partners but rather women Bond actually respects and likes.
• Craig gets so many women killed that even Judi Dench's version of M gets disgusted with him.
• The Craig movies kill off not only Bond himself (um, spoiler alert!), but also Felix Leiter, who first showed up way back in Dr. No, and Blofeld, who is hinted at in earlier films but first shows his face in You Only Live Twice.

Best and worst films by Bond Actor:

Sean Connery: Best - Goldfinger. Worst - Dr. No.

George Lazenby: Worst - On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Lazenby didn't make a best film.

Daniel Craig: Best - Casino Royale. Worst - Spectre. Good theme song though.

Walking: Crag's Crest, Colorado

Crag's Crest, Colorado

I am keeping up with my walking this month, so it's time for a walking post.

When I walked from Washington to Miami, it took 21 months. This trip has taken 31 months so far, and I just passed two-thirds of the way across. If I hurry, I could finish in 14 more months.

We are somewhere close to Crag's Crest, Colorado, at 11,159 feet, 100 miles from Utah, so more than a month away.

I have been taking Arlo out early, as the afternoon temperatures are in the high 70s to high 80s most of the time. Somewhere around 70 degrees, I have to take water for Arlo, as he gets hot. If I take him out at 80 degrees, I will not take him far. In the evening, we can walk when it is warmer, as long as the sun is down. The sun here is intense, I may have mentioned.

I have been walking in Colorado since June. It will be good to move on.

Around About New Mexico

Albuquerque from Sandia Peak

Last Sunday, Jackie and I took one of our first drives around this area, over the south portion of Sandia Mountains on I-40, then up the east side of Sandia Peak, up to 10,700 feet at the top. Jackie did not bring her camera, so all I have are a couple of shots taken with my phone, but the views were excellent, and the weather was clear and sunny, just like almost every day in New Mexico.

The road to the top was not bad - low speeds and lots of switchbacks, but only 13 miles and perfectly decent road surface. It was cold and windy at the top, so we did not stay long. Then we headed north to Placitas on a road somewhat grandly called Highway 165, which was possibly the worst dirt road I have ever driven on (although, actually Jackie was driving and repeatedly blaming me for the road conditions.) Lots of deep ruts and a few places we could have gotten stuck if Jackie had not steered around the worst parts. We learned that, in New Mexico, "unimproved road" means barely maintained at all, so we will try to avoid such things in the future. However, we had some really good views to the east and north, and after ten miles the road changed to perfectly civilized asphalt, and we drove around the north end of the mountains.

One surprise: on the east side of the peak, there are trees, a whole forest of them. On our side, there are only a few scattered mostly stunted trees. I guess the mountains create a rain shadow.

Today, we drove in a longer loop, north to Santa Fe, farther north to Georgia O'Keefe's Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, west from there to within 50 miles of the continental divide, and then back home. Once again, we forgot Jackie's camera, and this time I did not even take any pictures; we have to go back and take the camera. The views out there are really amazing.

Anyway, we are starting to explore, and if we can get our act together, I will have some good photos to share.

My walking is going OK. Arlo and I have found some longer routes to walk, so I am getting 6,000 steps in most days and managed 10,000 the other day, which kind of sadly seems like a lot now. I am currently about 50 miles west of Redstone, Colorado, 130 miles from the Utah state line.

From Sandia Peak, looking toward the wasteland to the south of Albuquerque. There is similar wasteland to the north, east, and west of Albuquerque and all across the state. Most of New Mexico looks like that barren area past the city, but you know, there are pockets of civilization, and it's pretty, and the weather is good.

In the picture you can see the southern end of the Sandia Mountains, and the peak where I was standing is near the northern end. Similar to the Olympic Mountains in Washington, you can see the whole range from a good vantage point.

Musings of An Old Man: On Death

Me, eventually

I am not dying, at least not any more than I ever was. Just a thing to think about.

I do not fear death, or what comes after. I feel confident enough that when the time comes, I will not know it happened, and whatever comes next, I will not care. "Afterlife" is an oxymoron; there is no life after life. From my point of view, when I die, the universe will wink out of existence, and time itself will stop. There is nothing to fear in that.

It will be quite the surprise if I am wrong.

It is natural, I think, to want to live forever, but in a very real sense we do live forever. From my perspective - the only perspective I have ever known - forever started on July 21 many years ago and will probably end within the next 25 years. Anything before I was born is just stories. 
Anything after is just guesses.

People say life is short, but it isn't. I remember living in Ohio until I was eight, though mostly just in snippets, and that was a long, long time ago. So was high school, which I remember much better. Our minds, I suppose, are made to perceive several decades as a good long run.

The actual process of dying, though, could be difficult. Both of my parents died relatively slowly, and it wasn't how you would want to go in either case. Unfortunately, most of us are probably destined for something similar, because human bodies do not usually give out all at once, but rather deteriorate slowly until we cannot keep going. Also, because medical science can sometimes keep us alive even when our bodies try to quit on us. I hope that, when the time comes, I either go relatively quickly or have the wits and the ability to call an end to it at some point.

If I can see the end coming, I am sure there will be some sadness. I have tried to think of a good metaphor. Life is like a roller coaster, and you don't want to get off. But life does not have as many ups and downs as a roller coaster - most of the time it just glides along. Life is like a day at Disneyland. Same problem. Life is like a long cruise. Not really. Cruises are a lot easier and more relaxing than real life.

I have settled on this one until I think of something better: life is like a long walk, one without an endpoint. You just keep walking until you can't walk anymore. Some days, the rain and wind are in your face, your feet hurt, and you have to walk up a big hill. Other days, the walking is easier, you get to see great sights, you meet people you enjoy, and some of them walk with you. And the good days make you want to keep going.

Maybe retirement is more like that long cruise though. It's a good way to end things.

My Three Memorable Successes in Education

Have I mentioned balloons? There are balloons.

My original title for this post was "Trump Has Got to Go," which is still true, but I am not satisfied with my political writing, so let's try something else.

My College Education, The Big Picture

After dropping out of UC Berkeley, I graduated from Cal State Hayward at age 25. I graduated with honors, because the requirement for that designation was a grade point average over 3.25, which I managed with not much to spare.

Ten years later, I graduated with an MBA, also from CSUH. I had a 3.7 GPA, which was the result of two thirds A grades and one third A minuses, plus an F in a class which required me to write a thesis, which I never finished. The third story below was part of my way around that requirement. I did get an award one year for the best grades in the program.

On to three successful days, in chronological order.

The GMAT

I requested materials to sign up for the GMAT, but they allowed at least some people to sign up on the day of the test, so I decided to do that. I did not study or take a class. I got on BART and headed for the Berkeley campus, where the test was being given, and realized I had forgotten my materials telling which building was hosting the exam. No worries, I figured there would only be so many people on campus on a Saturday morning, and I could spot the activity. Sure enough, lots of people were headed for the science building, and that was the place. I stood in line waiting to sign up and chatted a bit with the guy in front of me and the young lady behind.

I had only brought cash ($80), and I heard the guy taking money at the front of the line say that they could not take cash. I asked the woman behind me, if they would not take my cash, could I give it to her, and could she write a check for me? And that is what happened. (No, it was not Jackie, I don't remember her name, and we never met again. It's not that kind of story.)

I scored in the 99th percentile on the test.

I guess all of these stories are about my being unprepared and somehow doing well. Hmm.

The 3x5 Card

One day at Hayward, I had an exam scheduled. Being stuck on campus, I showed up early, at a common room downstairs from class. A woman and man from the class were on the other side of the room, discussing what they were going to write on their 3x5 card. I had forgotten, for that test we could write whatever we wanted on a 3x5 card and use it during the test. I did not usually study for tests; if I went to class and did the assigned homework, I could pass the exam. Nevertheless, I found a card and started looking through the book that I had not read. In the chapters we were supposed to read, I found a type of problem that we never discussed in class. Nothing too elaborate, but not intuitive enough for me to solve during an exam. I made some notes, the only things I wrote on my card.

Sure enough, one of those problems popped up on the exam, and I had my card. When we got the tests back, the professor wrote some statistics on the board at the front. I think the average score on that test was 59%. The high score was 96%. When he handed back the tests, he gave me my 96 first and said, "Good paper." Then he turned around and said, "It can be done, folks."

The Graduation Test

As an alternative to the thesis I never wrote, I could graduate if I passed a comprehensive exam in addition to my required classes. I could take the test early, so I signed up to take it six months before my intended graduation, figuring I could do some studying if I did not pass it, then take it again. I was given access to previous tests, which as I recall were structured this way: one general question that everyone had to answer; three general questions, of which we had to answer one; and a number of course-specific questions, of which we had to answer two.

When I went through the previous exams, I could always drum up an answer to the one required question and one of the three other general questions. I was taking a class in financial asset evaluation, knew there would be a related question on the test, and figured I could answer it. However, I had taken most of my classes five years earlier, so finding one more question could be dicey. Still, on the previous exams, I could always find one more that I could at least fake my way through. Two questions were always hopeless: Quantitative Methods and Banking, especially since I had never taken a banking class, but the rest at least offered some hope.

I sat for the exam and looked first for the four questions I could answer. The general one, no problem. One of three others, also good. I could handle the financial asset question. And as I looked through the rest, I realized that I was going to get a zero on one question and probably have to take the test again. I could not even pretend to answer any of them. I looked them all over a few times, still not even starting the exam. There was no way.

Finally, in desperation, I looked at the Banking and Quant questions that I had not even considered yet. The Banking question was impossible, as expected. But the Quant question...I could hardly believe it. The Quant question, which had been way beyond my abilities on all of the previous exams, was so easy that I probably could have answered it in ten minutes when I was in the fifth grade. It was just filling in some missing numbers in a production/inventory grid, requiring a little arithmetic and no real business knowledge.

And so I passed. Don't know how good my score was, but good enough. And so I got my MBA.

There were plenty of failures, but those days were good ones.

They had a Valentine's Day balloon celebration planned, but it was too windy on Valentine's Day, so they did it today, February 15. Jackie counted 35 balloons in the sky at one point.

The symbol of New Mexico.

The best balloon of the day, flying almost straight over the house. It has three different clown faces.

Winfield, Colorado

Winfield

Not starting with this post, but this blog is about to turn political for a while. I wrote my representative and both of my senators recently to say that I expected to hear them calling for the impeachment of Trump. That was in response to the capture of the Venezuelan president. Since then, Trump responded to the - apparent - murder of a protester by telling preposterous lies about her, and since then has ramped up talk of invading Greenland. It's crazy out there.

But not right now.

My walking was slowed by a bridge tournament last week, but back to normal today. I had a good tournament, and my partner made it to Life Master playing with me all week, so that was great.

What walking I have done has taken me 3,100 miles, which puts me past milestone 42 on the American Discovery Trail, at Winfield Colorado. Winfield is an abandoned silver and zinc mining town which had a population of about 1,500 in the 1890s, but just a few buildings remain standing. Elevation is 10,240 feet, as we are walking through the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

On my virtual walk, I am just about straight north of Albuquerque now.

 

Weather here in Albuquerque is very cold at night, into the 20s and maybe even the teens this weekend, but it gets up to about 50 degrees most afternoons, and Arlo and I wait for it to warm up before we walk. The forecast for February 1 is already up to a high of 60 degrees, so the worst of the cold is almost over, and really, it has not been bad at all.

I suspect the bad part is coming in July.