What If the Emergency Was in Seattle?

The devastation in Japan after a double tragedy of both earthquake and tsunami has forced me to focus on my own preparedness for disaster. Today I looked through my emergency kit, pulling out the food and batteries in order to add fresh cans and packages.

My kit was put together about ten years ago after all the chatter surrounding the Y2K scare. But in reality, I knew the most likely disaster I would ever face wasn’t a computer network meltdown but rather a massive earthquake like that experienced this week in Japan.

We should all have an emergency kit. Mine is contained in a set of tightly closed plastic trash cans, kept in a somewhat sheltered part of my back yard. It’s meant to supply 2 adults, two dogs and 1 cat for one – two weeks depending on the scale of the disaster.

Here are the contents of my kit:

• 2 pairs jeans, 2 pairs sweat pants, 6 t-shirts, 2 jackets, 6 pairs socks, two baseball caps, 2 pairs sneakers, 6 pairs underwear, 1 plastic poncho.
• 1 tent, 1 large tarp, 1 double sleeping bag, 2 air pillows, rope, paper, pens, scissors, matches, butane lighter, 2 flashlights, radio, batteries, camping pots/pans, eating & cooking utensils, plastic cups & plates, 2 mini camp stoves, 2 cans butane, 1 can opener, 2 empty detergent barrels, 1 box plastic kitchen garbage bags, 3 rolls toilet paper, two candles, 1 bottle multi-use soap, two towels.
• Bandages, gauze, Neosporen, Ibuprofen tablets, Ace bandages, anti-bacterial towelettes, dust masks, vise grip wrench
• 10 gallons bottled water, 2 cans each of carrots, potatoes, green beans, chickpeas, spinach, baked beans, oranges, corn, canned turkey, canned Spam, canned tuna, beef stew. 12 cans Ensure, 6 pack of V8, 3 cans dog food, 3 cans cat food, 1 can peanuts.

Today I pulled all the food and batteries out from the kit and have started the replacement process. Though it’s unlikely my home or school will ever be destroyed by a tsunami, it is possible my house could be made unsafe by a major quake. Hopefully, I’m reasonably prepared should a major disaster strike.

Number 16

It’s 3:45pm EST. We are in Fort Lauderdale and soon we’ll attend the customary safety drill. Our cruise on the Crown Princess departs at 5pm.

 

Derek and I had no problems on the flight yesterday. We flew first class and enjoyed every minute of it. Did you know military families may now use the first class security line? I didn’t. Consequently, the wait was as long as in the regular line, which was kind of annoying.  Then three flight attendants literally pushed me aside at the scanner because “the other line stopped moving.”

 

Other than those annoyances, all has gone well. We spent the night at a Marriott Residence Inn. We both woke up early but managed to squeeze in a nap prior to checking out of the hotel. After returning the rental car, we checked in at the Crown Princess. Then, we spent the last couple eating, wandering, filling out paperwork for our scuba diving excursion, and finally unpacking our clothes.

 

This is my sixteenth cruise, twelve of which have been on Princess Cruise line! Amazingly, all sixteen of those cruises have been in the last seven years. Wow!

 

TV Costs Too Much

I had cable TV for decades. It was the only game in town for most of my life. Then, about 7 years ago I switched to satellite. They had more channels (a couple of which I wanted) but for less money. Now, I have the Internet. The game has changed.

Recently, Derek and I sat down and listed the TV channels we watch regularly. We have 250 to choose from, but we discovered we routinely watch only about fifteen: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, one local independent station, Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, National Geographic, Food Network, HGTV, History Channel, Logo and Bravo. Yes! I pay $90/mo to watch 15 TV channels. That’s crazy!

Now, thanks to the Internet – I can watch almost all of the shows I like online. Local networks like NBC  can be watched through on-air broadcasts – even in HD!. Most of the rest I can watch through services like Hulu Plus, Netflix, or a live Internet stream. We occasionally listen to satellite radio through our satellite service, but there are online options to replace that too – namely Pandora.

When I combine Internet service, Netflix and satellite TV, I’m currently paying about $150 per month. I suspect I can get that cost down to about $50-80 per month. That would save so much money I can probably even justify ending my satellite TV contract a few months early. The penalty cost could be paid for with a few months worth of savings. I could save $800+ per year. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

I may need to buy an outdoor antenna and perhaps my own DVR (TiVo perhaps?) so I can continue to watch shows on my schedule, not the network’s. I certainly will need to buy a couple digital converter boxes for my two old analog flat screens. That’s about $400 in upfront costs. The TiVo subscription is currently $20/month.

I believe the future for growth in the TV industry is in the online  realm – not through satellite or cable. In fact, I think it’s likely my options for viewing will expand in the future. I would even go so far as to predict that DVD and Blu Ray will be dead within 10 years. Therefore, I think I will jump ahead of the wave and kill my satellite service sometime in the next few months. Why not? Just over a year ago I got rid of my land line phone service and went strictly with cellular. I think we can handle change for TV viewing as well.

My Homemade Clam Chowder

This is my clam chowder recipe. My mom taught me to make chowder about 35 years ago. What she taught me is the basis of this recipe, but I’ve made some alterations over the years to give it my own spin. The amounts in the recipe are approximate. I haven’t measured any proportions in my chowder for years. The tarragon, carrots, wine and vinegar make this recipe a little different from the usual.

A few times I’ve used freshly steamed clams I dug myself, but then the recipe is different. Beware! This is NOT a low cal chowder. It’s a traditional chowder from back in the day when milk and cream came in the same bottle. Substitutions can be made to lower the fat content. This recipe will easily serve 6 people.

 

 

4 oz. bacon or salt pork, diced (about 4 slices of thick cut bacon)

1 medium size onion, diced

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup diced carrot

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 cup white wine

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 10 oz. cans of whole clams and juice (whole is better than minced)

1/2 pint cream

1 pint half and half

3-4 cups milk

1/2 tspn tarragon

4 Tbsps butter

4 Tbsps flour

Salt/pepper to taste

In a heavy enameled pot, saute the chopped bacon over medium heat until cooked through but not crisp. Turn down heat and add onions, carrots and celery to the bacon fat. Saute 2-3 minutes. Add diced potatoes and immediately pour in the clam juice, vinegar and white wine – enough to barely cover the veggies. Simmer 3-5 minutes until potatoes are barely tender, not completely cooked. Add cream, half & half, and milk as well as tarragon. Lightly season with salt/pepper. Stir and simmer over very low heat for about 20-30 minutes. It should barely bubble. You don’t want to burn or boil the milk and cream.

Then, to thicken the chowder, separately melt butter in a small pan. Add flour and whisk quickly to avoid lumps over low heat while if foams 1-2 minutes. Then whisk in a few tablespoons of the milky chowder. Slowly pour the butter/flour/milk mixture back into the soup. Stir continuously while it thickens. Taste and add more salt or pepper if necessary. Serve with fresh bread or oyster crackers.

Seattle!

Winter is a tough time for me. Seattle is very cloudy and rainy during the coldest  seasons, and that can be depressing. But, this year things are a little better since I have ski lessons diverting my attention. I have discovered, much to my delight, that a cloudy day in the snowy Cascades is far better than a dreary and rainy day in the city. It’s much brighter and more energizing in the mountains.

Lately, I’ve been trying to concentrate on the positives in my life because the negatives are sometimes overwhelming. For example: today I was at the rental house while a plumber unclogged a bathroom drain. Usually, that would be depressing, but the positive side is that clog actually matters. It matters because someone wants to buy my old house! I’m hoping the good life of my past is showing signs of a return.

There are many reasons I love living in Seattle. I thought I’d use this blog entry to record some of my thoughts about my city which I love so much.

METRO-NATURAL: Seattle is a city beyond compare when one considers the natural setting. The city is filled with hills and trees of every variety, but especially conifers. Seattle is always green. Unlike San Diego (where I grew up), Seattle is filled with evergreen life during every season. The city blooms with a green mist of cedar and alder, pine and fir.

The hills offer a myriad of views across watery passages toward distant mountains. On the east is twenty mile long Lake Washington with numerous bays and parkways. On the West is Puget Sound, an enormous and complex inland sea – brimming with life. Orcas and salmon fill the waterways, and the bustling manmade ship canal and locks connect the two.

Islands and peninsulas are everywhere, connected by ferries and bridges across the watery canyons. The towers of downtown rise on the shores of a deep water port – filled with every type of ship and boat. On a rainy day, the mist acts as a soft focus lens, blurring the hillsides. When the sun comes out, the light dances on salt and fresh water alike, reflecting on the glass of towering buildings or mesmerizing drivers on the longest and largest floating bridges in the world. One cannot deny Seattle is unique.

Only in Seattle can you sail or water ski in the morning, then drive 45 minutes to a large mountain resort and ski until well after the sun sets. The ski resorts or big and varied but haven’t been overrun by the filthy rich and famous yet. During summer, rocky glacial fields are bordered by blooming alpine flora, while hikers and climbers scale sheer escarpments within view of the suburbs. Which brings me to my next subject: recreation

CITY FUN: The Seattle area is a medium sized metropolis, but the opportunities for recreation and entertainment are of big city scope.

The theater scene is especially vibrant. The Seattle Rep, Intiman, ACT, and the 5th Avenue Theatre all produce original works, several that have moved onto Broadway. Seattle Children’s Theatre is nationally ranked as one of the best venues for introducing children to the arts of the stage. Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera and the Seattle Symphony are nationally – even internationally recognized for the highest quality programming and artistry. The Seattle Men’s Chorus is the largest gay community chorus in the world, and second only to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when comparing the size and impact of volunteer choral organizations. Teatro ZinZanni is unique in it’s combination of theater, dining, comedy and circus arts. Add the variety of productions stage by the Moore Theatre, the Paramount, Meany, Empty Space, Book-It, On the Boards and Taproot Theaters and its clear Seattle patrons have a plethora of choices.

One of the monsters in the Seattle entertainment field is the Seattle International Film Festival. Others, festivals like Toronto, Cannes, and Sundance have more stars and notoriety, but Seattle’s festival stands out for another reason. It has the most patrons. That’s right – more people attend the movies shown at Seattle’s film festival than at any other in North America or Europe. To that cinematic event you can add two other huge arts and music festivals – one called Folklife and the other Bumbershoot. Then there is the granddaddy of them all: SeaFair, which caps the summer with a celebration of Seattle itself, the neighborhoods and the people with multiple parades, fireworks, an air show and hydroplane races.

But there’s more. Seattle sports fans can choose from major league baseball, football and soccer. Minor league hockey and baseball also have a home here. The University of Washington and Seattle University fill the sports arenas and stadia with basketball and football fans.But Seattleites aren’t merely observers, they are active participants too.

Seattle parks and sports fields are filled with every type and age of player, from soccer to softball, rugby to biking, lacrosse, and running. The lakes and waterways are filled with canoes, kyaks and motor boats. Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Olympic National Park are all two hours away by car. Trails are overflowing with hikers, backpackers, climbers and mountain bikers. Urban trails in the city and suburbs are overflowing with recreational cyclists and walkers. Seattle boasts the second largest percentage of commuters by bike in the USA. And, only in Seattle does college football boast a liquid commuter parking lot filled with scores of yachts and cruisers.

I really love Seattle, and I know this posting sounds like a tourist brochure – but every word of it is true. There is never a need to suffer boredom in Seattle.

In my next posting I’ll talk about Seattle’s great political, economic and social environment.

A Little Good News

Not five minutes after I posted another blog entry full of frustration, I got a flicker of good news last night.

My real estate agent left a message saying an offer is being written on my old house. However, before they presented the offer the prospective buyers wanted to have an inspection done. The results of that event are now in, and their biggest concern is that the bath tub didn’t drain quickly – so they want a plumber to come in and run a camera down the main sewer line.

Overall, I suspect none of the problems that came out of the inspection are deal breakers if I can compensate the folks through a price reduction. I asked my agent to pass my outlook onto the other agent. We shall see how things pan out after the plumber does his thing on Monday.

 

Will Things Ever Get Better?

Three months since my last posting. My old house is still up for sale. No buyers, not even a nibble. It’s priced at the bottom of the market, but also a short sale – and no one will touch it because they know the bank moves about as quickly as a dead man.

Therefore, I continue to bleed money, my credit rating is dropping, and it’s most likely I will face foreclosure. How can anyone go through this type of situation without becoming angry and bitter?

Finally, to top off this happy season, today started with a meeting at school. Unhappy parents who have been observing my colleagues and myself, taking notes, spreading negative rumors and more recently photographing us and our students during lessons without permission asked for another meeting to resolve disagreements about our instruction and the academic struggles of their child. Today’s meeting started with a lot of tension. Over a period of forty-five minutes is devolved into scurrilous accusations on our professionalism. When my colleague was insulted directly and in a personal fashion, two of us stood up and walked out. This may have been the worst day of my professional life.

After that disaster, I had to go the the market and buy antacid before I picked up my students and took them on a field trip. Though the trip went well, eight hours later I’m still having trouble letting go of the tension. And because I am a professional, I have to be discreet and circumspect about what I say to friends and other parents who know there is a great deal of tension at school of late. Yet the two nasty parents who now hate us spread falsehoods and try to destroy the good reputations my colleagues and I have been building for more than ten years.

I want to crawl into a hole and cry myself to sleep.

 

Three Years

This week marks the third anniversary of Gene’s heart attack and subsequent death. I visited his grave yesterday. Though thoughts of him remain very present for me, I am amazed by how much things have changed in my life. Three years – it seems such a long time, and yet it’s really very little. 

Since Gene died, I have never felt as alone as I do now. The friends I had when we were a couple have drifted away. The workplace I love has diminished into a place of tension and competition. My dream of adopting and becoming a father is on hold. And, some in my family will no longer speak to me. Financially, the recession has had a dramatic impact on me. For the second time, I have put the home Gene and I owned up for sale. I could not find a buyer the first time I tried in 2008. Now, it is no longer worth what it once was. If we can find a buyer (that’s a big if), it’s likely to be a short sale. That will be a huge black mark on my financial record.

Have I been successful in the last three years? No, I have failed. I have failed myself, my family and Gene’s legacy.

I am shocked. How has the world changed so much is just three years? How did I manage to fail so drastically? I’m unsure that I will ever have the power to recover. Today, it seems the good times – the wonderful life I had are over and will never return. How will I ever rebuild? I don’t think I ever can. Things have gone from bad to worse. There is not light at the end of the tunnel.

Thankfully I won’t have to rebuild alone. I have Derek. But, even with him at my side, I have a long road ahead of me. There is a small glimmer of hope in my heart. One more awful failure and I fear that glimmer will be snuffed out forever.

London Calling

Derek and I made it to London just a couple hours ago. We have since checked in, showered and are now waiting for a friend to show up before we go out on the town for the night.

Our flight to Dallas was rerouted to Abelene, TX when thunderstorms diverted many flights away from DFW. We were on the ground less than two hours before we returned to the skies and eventually landed in Dallas. Unfortunately, the plane that would take us to London had also been rerouted. Delay after delay was posted while we waited in the terminal. We finally took off from DFW at about 11:15 CDT – that’s 3.5 hours late, and thus we landed at London Heathrow 3.5 hours late. 

We rode the Heathrow Connect train to Paddington Station, then hopped on the Underground to Bond Street where The Mandeville Hotel is located. It felt good to shower and relax in air-conditioned comfort. Soon we are meeting a friend of Derek’s named David. He is going to take us around Soho and a pub or two. 

UPDATE: We just returned to the hotel at 11:30 PM after spending the evening with Derek’s friend David. We walked into the Soho neighborhood and went to a couple gay bars/pubs, eventually having dinner at Cote. Dinner was simple, tasty and enjoyable – steaks and duck. David is a great conversationalist. He can talk about anything. Our topic included bar tending, British history, politics of Northern Ireland and BBC television management. We meet David again tomorrow AM for a walking tour of Southwark and the City of London.

 

A Different Type of Flash Mob

I love Seattle. It isn’t the biggest city, or the most exciting and sophisticated, nor does it have the best weather. But, this city has a fantastic art scene. Modern dance, popular music, classical, jazz, public sculpture, museums, opera and loads of theater – from Broadway musicals to cabaret and the avant-garde are all here. And, there is a tradition in Seattle of accessible art.

The video below is terrific. I wish I had been there. The concept is creative and the editing is terrific. This type of event is one little reason I love Seattle.