View From Hong Kong

Hong Kong iPhone panorama at night from Kowloon

Your blogger returned alive and well from Hong Kong this week after visiting for two weeks! And what a trip it was too! Of course the greatest advantage is that I had a local guide that could get me all around. My reason for going was Qiang’s invitation to see the city before he was transferred back to Tianjin, sooner rather than later. 

Bamboo scaffolding wouldn't pass any
US codes that's for sure

If there ever was a city that was designed for people or had a passing kiss at trying it, it is Hong Kong! Like NYC there is always construction going on ... old torn down for new. Everywhere!

I flew to HK on Cathay Pacific Airlines, a Chinese airline delayed 6 ½ hours in San Francisco. The reason was they were waiting for a flight crew. You would think with a flight that left everyday at the same time AND flight number they would have a new crew ready and waiting. The passengers, all 300+ of us, and the jet sat all day at the gate awaiting them.

So we left at 6:30 pm Wednesday night, instead of 10:30 am in the morning and arrived at 1:30 am Friday morning, Hong Kong time. Qiang and I texted each other and when he realized how late I would arrive said he would meet me, as the train from the airport to Hong Kong Station would have shut down.

You know, being in a tube in the sky for 15 hours seems almost a crime against the creator. Even birds can’t do that!!! Somehow we survived but barely.

Crowded Gage Street

We landed a weary bedraggled lot, shuffled through immigration, baggage inspections and finally released to fend for ourselves in the middle of the night. The airport is immense! I was never so happy to see a person in my life than seeing Qiang, (pronounced Chong), patiently waiting for me. We found the bus and were shortly underway. Still, we didn’t get to bed until 3 am and he had to get up and work that morning.

Butcher shop down the street!

Friday I was a zombie and just sat around his apartment, showering, making breakfast and coffee and napping. He works just a few minutes from the apartment and he came back around lunchtime. We ate at one of the numerous stands in the alleys and I went back to sleep. We walked about that evening but both of us were tired. However, our lunch outing showed me just how vibrant HK was. Even his street teamed with vendors and shops. You could buy just about anything within a stones throw from the front door!

Weekends were ours and he crammed in as much sightseeing as he could. It may be a small town land wise (with about 8 million people) but we spent hours on buses, boats, subways and the world’s longest tram seeing amazing things.

That Saturday was hot, I mean sweaty hot. I had only brought warm clothing but nothing for that day. So, after spending the day sightseeing we hunted down some shorts. Finally we found some at Mark & Spencer’s, an amazing English department store and while pricey for me (no Target or even Wal-Mart’s there), I bought them figuring I would get plenty of use out of them in Palm Springs where it was already edging 90º.  We ate Chinese, of course, food and went back to the apartment.

The Big Buddha

As luck would have it, the weather changed Sunday so in shorts and a t-shirt it turned cold on the way to the Big Buddha temple complex but that didn’t slow me down. We rode a bus after crossing on a ferry in one of the scariest rides of my life. As you can imagine the roads are narrow and the concept of straight is maybe for the condos that rise up like toothpicks everywhere. ALL the buses are double decker’s and of course the front row upper seats are at a premium. We snagged one on the shotgun side with the driver below. These things are powerful and we roared, literally, up the hills on the wrong side of the road. When we met the first bus coming down on one of many, MANY curves, it looked like we were going to hit. I screamed, jumped into Qiang’s lap awaiting the impact when the other bus just whizzed by. It had to be just inches away. Everyone laughed at the poor white devil. Of course we got there and it appears bus accidents are quite rare. Fooled me.

One of many huge malls decorated
for Chinese New Years

The complex is amazing and the Buddha huge and made of 200+ pieces of cast bronze. We poked around looking at all the shops. You have to understand, shopping seems to be the #1 activity in Hong Kong; there is no place shopping opportunities don’t exist. I have never seen so many malls, HUGE things, in my life. Nothing is cheap and every designer label on earth is here … over and over again.

Coming down we took the world’s longest tram ride and what a sight. We could see the new airport built on new landfill, the mountains, the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and the China Sea as far as they eye could see. It was a hazy day and getting colder by the minute. Once we were off that we took the MTR, their subway, and scooted under the bay back to Hong Kong. What a day! At least is was warmer down below!

Gift heaven on Gage Street

Monday Qiang had to work of course and he encouraged me to go out. I ate, got dressed and ventured outdoors. It was another hazy day and I wandered map in hand. Well … wandered is the operative word here. I got lost, SO lost I thought I might become a homeless person that night. Suddenly I turned and saw a shop I recognized, found my street then walked right past the apartment. 

Home away from home!

You have to realize fronts are small. I could look up and see the apartment but finding the door well. Also, you never ever take both eyes off your feet. Streets are treacherous. I tripped or missed a step and fell several times. The code enforcement troops of LA would have a field day. Huge glorious buildings rise up from twisted, tortured sidewalks. Gage Street was a street lined with shops and cars, dump trucks, construction workers and the like. It was an adventure walking anywhere.

Each day I got better finding my way down to the wharf, the huge new Ferris wheel, a circus, a local craft brewery and restaurant that was quite good, the wonderful antique shops just a few blocks above us, the glittering malls below, Man Mo Temple where everyone was burning incense, giving fruit as offerings

Man Mo Temple

and buying prayer materials as this was still during the Chinese New Year festivities. We saw lion and dragon dances and I was invited to a banquet hosted by Qiang’s company and several others. Everyone was friendly and the food outstanding. Other than the first course of pig with LED Valentine eyes, I ate but never asked what I was eating. It was all-good but I had to laugh when someone had told me earlier “if the sun can shine on it’s back, the Chinese will eat it.” It was interesting as the locals speak Cantonese, while Qiang and many others speak Mandarin … same written characters but totally different spoken words so English was used a lot that night.

Banquet Pig

During the week we went over to Kowloon to see the lights of Hong Kong taking the Star Ferry over. There are two huge skyscrapers taller than anything we have with the largest one having monkeys (it’s the Year of the Monkey) scampering up and down it with an amazing light show. Then back just before it rained to visit the night market. It only opens at 6 pm till around midnight and because the weather was dicey not many patrons. We bought a few things ever on the lookout for interesting gifts. I even found some short cords to sync my iPhone and iPad with on my iMac.

Saturday was a mostly sunny but cool day. I brought my jacket this time. We took a long bus ride to Stanley through Repulse Bay and poked around there enjoying the view of beautiful beaches and some of the shops in Stanley, temples, the ever present shopping, another temple for sailors and sun! It was a wonderful sunny day and everyone was taking advantage of it.

Then back to take a bus up to the Peak with an amazing overlook of all of Hong Kong. We saw it in the sunlight then waited for nighttime and the lights. It was beautiful. We came down to Des Voeux Road and then hunted for someplace to eat. He had in mind a French restaurant but it was closed so back to Chinese. I never had a bad meal and never got sick.

Monastery and nunnery in the heart of HK

My last Sunday we poked around looking at gardens and ended up in a monastery and nunnery in the heart of the city. It was very Japanese inspired and created an amazing peace as you wandered the grounds. I think I could become a Buddhist. It is so peaceful.

Buddha

The vultures at lunch

Monday was packing day but Qiang came home for lunch. We went to a soup place in a convenient alley and well … since the crowds had already started we waited. Only, like vultures, everyone stands behind someone waiting for them to finish up. Really! So you check everyone out and then stand behind the most likely candidate. Because I was white, an unusual addition to the mix, my guy ate fast. LOL! Believe me, I would have NEVER tried this on my own but never got sick either. Taking my seat I had one of the best tomato soups with ham that I have ever eaten anywhere! The food is cheap and very, very delicious.

   

Lion Dance Masks

My last stop before he had to go back to work was at a shoe shop I had seen my first day. It had some navy blue wingtips with vibrant orange interior leather I really, really liked. I know, I can hear what you’re thinking … just the thing for in Palm Springs, right? In fact dark blue shoes were everywhere and even a dark grey now and then besides black and a variety of browns. Anyway, we went in and I asked if they had that style in size 45, my equivalent for whompin’ stomper size 11 ½. No. They only had 44’s. Luckily I said let me try them. I have never had shoes that fit like this. I have a bunion on my right foot I guess from years of running and if right side hurts I don’t even bother with the left. Because they looked narrow I really expected the worst but they fit like a glove. I was startled. Walking around in it I said, let me try the left. Heaven. They were my one extravagance. The salesman said they were all hand crafted and I believed someone had me in mind. I wanted to purchase more but was already leaving behind old 10-year old Docker slip-ons to fit these in my suitcase. They were not cheap but they weighed about half as much as the ones I was leaving.

That night we ate Japanese and then just wandered the city. It had turned cool again and a light rain fell. I am always nervous on the hills because the cabbies are extremely aggressive and I wondered about their tires on slick, hilly streets. We checked out some of the shops but I was packed, literally to the gills with my carryon suitcase and would have to pack any new purchases in my backpack. Qiang had convinced me to check the bag in with the airline and then only have to worry about my backpack.

I will say Cathay Pacific is generous with their luggage allowance. You can take two bags each weighing 50 pounds with you and there is no charge! With money tight with all the costs of moving and setting my own place I resisted buying very much. I hear that Chinese tourists by the busload go to the Cabazon outlets near Palm Springs, will buy a suitcase there and pack it up with designer clothes to take home. My Canadian neighbor said she could make a fortune selling empty suitcases out in the parking lot!

The irony of course is that the Mainland Chinese come to Hong Kong to buy designer brands that are nearly all made in China. However, Hong Kong is cheaper. The greater irony is that they come here and buy in droves because even though things are made in China prices are even cheaper here! 

Queen's Road - hub of the financial district

They are extremely brand conscious. If the average Chinese lives like Qiang in his tiny apartment, they don’t have much room so I would guess they buy judiciously. People dress well there or at least the types that look like they are in banking, investing, merchandising and such. It is nice to see men that wear clothes that fit … pants actually sit on their hips and break at the tops of their shoes. Suits are more English cut and fitted. Women are all over the map. There are beautiful women’s clothes and then others that well; working on the street at night would be fitting.

You see great wealth and great poverty. I have never seen more BMW 7 series in my life, even in LA. $100,000 Tesla S models with right hand drive are like fleas. They are energetic and the alleyways are filled with small entrepreneurs selling just about everything you can imagine.

Going home was a kind of anti-climax. Qiang went to work to print out my boarding tickets after a tense night of the airlines web site crashing, we had a leisurely big breakfast as we made plans for him to visit me. We then took my suitcase over to Hong Kong Station to check in and he helped me board the train to the airport. We became fast friends and hated to part. He told me he hated the cold of Tianjin and I told him in Palm Springs, cold is NOT a problem. Come in July and get roasted!

The flight made it to San Francisco 30 minutes early because of the trade winds. SFO was a sunny place after days of misty fogs and clouds. However, SFO had 6 international flights using the same carousel, typical of them, and a place I’m telling everyone to avoid. I had given up hope for my suitcase when it finally arrived. I then dragged the bag around the airport until flight time.

We boarded the Alaska Airlines flight on time checking the bag in at the gate for free (that’s the secret) and I literally crashed. When I woke up the passenger next to me asked if I had a good nap. I told her I had just come in from Hong Kong and was dead. Turns out she had lived there for 10 years so we traded war stories.

I walked literally home from the airport, a short 10-minute walk. I had a wonderful time and I am so glad I went. If you ever get the chance GO! HK is an amazing blend of modern and tradition ... I stumbled into so many secluded parks that were only moments away from the hustle and bustle of the city. And you know, it WAS designed to be that way.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please check out earlier blogs as I muse over how are lives are designed ... sometimes well and well, sometimes not so well.

Doesn't Anything Come Assembled Anymore?

Right off, I have to admit that I am not the handiest man around. I understand the mechanics of putting things together, hell, I went to a polytechnic high school where we had to learn about a whole bunch of things - automotive, electricity, machine shop among other things I thought useless as the time but with what little experience I had, has helped me as an adult. Well, until yesterday.

A few years back I purchased a new computer work station / desk complete with a hutch all boxed up. I never got around to assembling it which in retrospect was a good thing. After moving to Palm Springs and digging myself somewhat out of the piles of boxes that literally filled my rental condo, my two neighbors and I labored all day to get it assembled. When my iMac wouldn't fit in the opening of the hutch we had to move the hutch!

Attempt 2 - it had been opened too!

A few days later, my neighbor came over to help me assemble a 5-shelf bookcase that was to go alongside the workstation. I had forgotten I had bought it at Target, not Staples where the workstation came from. He looked at the box and said, "Its been opened and taped back up. Did you do that?" " No. I never got around to opening it," I replied. And sure enough, my three year old Target bookshelf, still in the box, had no instructions. After assembling the workstation we were not going to try assembling this without instructions. I knew Target would never give me a refund so I looked first in the store and then online and found a bookcase that looked exactly like the one with no instructions. I ordered it online and it came a few days later.

When I decided to put it together yesterday this is what I found. ALL of the parts, screws, wooden dowels were either laying around of the bottom of the box or jammed into slots in the styrofoam. The packet that had originally held them had been opened and just dumped back in the box. See photo on the left.

The assembled bookcase after I attempted to move it.

I was two for two. Target appears to just take their returns, tape them up again and sells them. If you are a Target shopper I would urge you to be aware.

I spent hours by myself trying to put the bookcase together. While the boxes were mostly gone or stored, there were piles of books lining the walls. I wanted them up and out of the way. Right off the bat I put two of the pins in backwards. The instructions have little wording and illustrations so tiny that you are never quite sure which end was what. So a trip to Harbor Freight Tools to get an electric drill and bits to make the hole a bit bigger so it would fit the backwards pin.

That as I discovered was the least of my problems. Even when put in correctly the pins and their locking screw wouldn't always work. The pin would go too far into the pre-drilled hole the nut couldn't go around it. Somehow I did manage to get the bookcase upright and while wobbly figured with enough books it would stay in place. There were gaps everywhere so I decided it could stay in the bedroom next to the workstation. With hardly a touch to lift it to move it, it suddenly fell sideways completely coming apart.

Yup, you guessed it. The next stop was the dumpster. It took about that long to make that decision. There was my money down the drain. Several friends have said I should take it back but ... well, have YOU ever tried to repack something in the box it came in? It is next to impossible. All the particle board pieces are very heavy and even if packed would be impossible to return.

Is anything assembled today when you buy it? I even had to assemble my Shark Vacuum. It seems that the only thing you can buy today that IS assembled in your car, well you hope, and maybe your home ... assuming its new and not a fixer upper like just about every home you will buy today. Companies have passed on their labor costs to you, the often unskilled not on the clock public that may or may not have the skills to complete the tasks. When we complain they say, "Well, you wanted cheaper prices." I don't remember saying that. All I see is that their profits are often huge and our skills, or at least mine, are minimal.

What to do. There are many consignment shops here in the Coachella Valley and I will start looking there, or Staples and Office Depot to see if they have bookshelves that are already assembled. I have a pickup! Then there is always the tried and true from my college days; decorative concrete blocks with planks. Everyone looks at me when I say that. Why? Some of those blocks are pretty nice looking. I can tell you one of the things I will not do ... visit Target.

Thank you for reading my blog. Our lives are designed for us. Its our job to make the best choices of whose designs we are going to use! Please check out my other postings. 

Our Lives Are Complicated Because We Let Ourselves: TV Adventures

As I continue to create a new home in Palm Springs, one of my first purchases but only realized last night was the installation of a new Visio flat screen television. Because we had already set up the stand for it the day before (another tale on how NOT to write instructions) it needed to be removed from its box and mounted on the pole that lifted it from the shelves with enough room for the new sound bar.

Luckily my next door neighbor is a geek. He spent a better part of an hour setting it up. As I found out today ... if you're a senior you better find someone under 50 to help you. Brought back memories of my Motorola Razr, pre-iPhone, the latest thing in tech phones in 2007. Only it was impossible to set. I usually had to go to the AT&T store or find a 15 year old to change or add the settings for me. It might as well have been in Chinese. That's why the iPhone became so popular. You could actually make or download changes all my yourself.

This TV is an adventure in itself. I am 70. My family in the early 50's had the first TV on our block and maybe several others besides. You turned it on, the TV schedule was in the paper, turned the dial to the station you wanted then sat down to watch. Your menu choices were sound volume and maybe making the picture darker or lighter. The other, and often frustrating adjustment was getting the antenna right. A great deal of time was spent getting those "rabbit" ears just right. And once set for one station, it was no guarantee that it would be right for the other. Our station choices for many years were ABC, CBS and NBC. Slowly local channels came along and then PBS and a variety of channels from 14 - 98 often even harder to dial in.

Cable remote, Speaker Remote
and the TV remote

Today, with cable, you have 200, 300 and even more channels to choose from but you still often watch a handful.  One day as I flicked past every channel I could get on Charter Cable, I found that half or nearly half were channels selling something I would never, ever buy. I had to pay for this? Really?

Which makes Verizon's Fios deal a good choice.You get to pick, I think, 15 channels for $50 a month. Cable may soon be as dead as a dinosaur as more and more content is moving to the web. DirecTV broadcasts from outer space but basically with the same cable format. More and more kids are streaming directly from the web and getting their content far cheaper than cable. If I were a cable stock holder, I'd say that in a few years they will be superfluous. SELL! Invest in the providers directly. No more need for monopolies in restricted areas that have been cash cows to cities for years. With the web you can get your content anywhere there is wi-fi and that is becoming as ubiquitous as air.

But back to my adventure. We got the TV set up, synced the speakers and I was told to not touch anything except the on off switches and channel selectors. However, easier said than done. These are the remotes I must turn on or off just to watch TV. Not sure if the sequence makes any difference yet but what was frustrating to me was the fact that even with a 4K, 1080i, LED TV, there is no guarantee Time-Warner or the channels they provide will give you that resolution. A movie I tried to watch on HBO kept saying it was broadcast at 480i and I kept trying to change that setting as it was pretty fuzzy ... especially watching it on a 50" TV. My neighbor fiddled with it awhile and finally realized and demonstrated to me that this was the resolution it was being broadcast at. As we flicked through the channels we saw three different settings ... 480i, 720i and 1080i. The TV was just showing what was being broadcast.

Watching "The Incredibles" last night on the Disney channel I thought I was in the theatre. Glorious crisp image and sound, that compared to what I had ever had before, was stunning. So it is worth it but goodness what a lot to go through. I am tempted just to leave it on for fear I will mess something up yet again!

So yes, we live in a complicated society that has forgotten Coco Chanel's dictum, "Less is more." Just because we can add all these features, do we really need them? Remember the VHS recorder? No one could program them and one wag on TV suggested that you cover that blinking clock flashing 12:00 for ever with a piece of black electrical tape. A neighbor. a bit older than me. told me not to get too upset; he has the same problems. All he wants is to turn the TV on and watch the channel.

Thank you for reading my blog. It covers the designs of daily life ... the bad AND the good. Please check out earlier blogs. 

Moving To Palm Springs, CA

If anyone ever tells you that moving is a piece of cake ... don't you believe it. While I was concerned about moving from the assisted living home to a rental condo in Palm Springs, I was NOT prepared for what I would pick up at my former home. I mean ... where did ALL those boxes come from and what was in them?

What the movers left in the living room!

The movers were late arriving at 12:30 pm while I was ready and antsy. They had my meager belongings loaded in under an hour despite having to go through an elevator, down a long driveway out of the building to the street. We met at my former residence and what a surprise I had in store for me. It took them about two hours to load all the boxes, bags of clothing and whatever else I was able to load up from my old office. Now I know where things I wanted had gone. Despite traffic and the distance to Palm Springs I arrived first at 6:00 pm and they arrived a bit later.

Ironically they had all of the furniture unloaded and left by 7:30 back to the San Fernando Valley. Looking at all this I knew deep in my heart that I had days and days, if not weeks of work ahead of me. After a few boxes had been opened, I determined they would go where they belonged. Then and only then would I try to sort, put away or give away. 

Progress on day 2!

In living we design a kind of life force around us that determines what we like, who we like and what we will do. As we get older circumstances may change some if not all the perimeters but the one constant is that we accumulate things. Some might call it junk or crap but we definitely are accumulators. What's worse, as I discovered, is that we are reluctant to get rid of anything ... anything at all! That's what the folks at Public Storage and such are counting on. Once we possess, we just can't seem to give it away!

As bad as day one was, there was progress by day 2. I decided to work along the wall and by the end of the day pretty much had it cleared to the front windows. I discovered though that once a box was opened it needed to be put in the room where it would eventually go. Otherwise you get so bogged down in each box, it would take months! And I mean MONTHS! Many of these things I hadn't seen in years. I was surprised that I still even had them. Other items were new but I didn't realize just how many there were! 

Sunrise on the San Jacinto Mountinas

I wanted my living room back so I could watch the sunrise each and every morning as I drank my morning coffee. I mean with a view like this what's not to like? I couldn't have designed it better myself. I discovered this added treasure when delivering some of my belongings out here. I knew that I would never be able to pack many of my things just in my pickup so sitting on a dining room chair with a cup of coffee in hand, probably on my first morning, I looked out the window and was stunned by the view. The San Jacinto mountains run north-south directly perpendicular to my west facing living room.  

Part of the excitement of day 2 was the early morning earthquake! Not all that far away in Banning it was a clear glorious morning when suddenly my dog jumped up and started looking around. Then the shaking started; not all that much, a 4.9 on the Richter scale, but enough to let you know you are very close to the San Andreas fault.

The studio

There was plenty enough to do here than worry about earthquakes. Nothing fell which was a miracle in itself when considering how unstable some of the boxes were stacked. They were stacked everywhere including the smaller of the two bedrooms in the condo. I had always considered that to be my new studio. The work table would fit along with my two metal shelves and maybe even allow the blow up bed should anyone want to visit and stay here. However that dream soon evaporated as the boxes increased and room disappeared with the addition of more and then more boxes. I had all this? Really?  The facts don't lie as more boxes were opened and taken to their temporary home. I mean it was bad enough how many tubs there were of finished items ... these however, were waiting embellishment!!!

The end of day 3

I can see that I have my work cut out for me ... but not right away. I needed to get my living  room back so the work continued.

While it did try to rain Wednesday it came in earnest Thursday. Normally I would have stayed snug as a bug except for one problem, my dog. She was NOT to be ignored and walks were required rain or not. So, several times we ventured forth in often pouring rain. Well, it was refreshing and she seemed content. I think she does it so she'll get rubbed down. She loves getting rubbed with a towel all over.

As you can see by day 3 here in Palm Springs I was beginning to see most of my living room. It is a lot of work and I am amazed that my back could take all this. Well, those two little white pills from Tylenol helped too!

New workstation with sleeping dog!

I had a doctors appointment Friday in Alhambra so work on the condo pretty much came to a stop. 

However, it resumed Saturday as neighbors helped assemble a new computer workstation I had never gotten around to putting together. when purchased a few years ago. I am so happy that I didn't try it alone too! What a job. It took us just about all day to get it together and learn all over again what it meant when it said left and right. We thought it was one way and then learned they meant how you would look at it from the front. The only problem was a dowel went through the top of hutch but unless you are about six foot five or so you will never see it. The other problem was that I probably should have hutch on the opposite side as my iMac or the desk lamp are two tall for the opening. Now my 24" iMac and I are definitely close and personal. Not sure just what I will do to change this ... if anything. There are too many other things to worry about ... like getting a printer to work. Ironically the cheapie Canon I had finally did hook up on wi-fi while the larger Canon is telling me to abort an printing job that I cannot find or appears to have been happening. At least one is hooked up and has an Internet connection so that will do for now! Almost here a week and at least there is some semblance of normalcy!

Thank you for reading my blog. Our lives are designed ... either by ourselves or others ... I hope you find interesting observations here to read. Please check out earlier blogs as I explore the designs we have for living!

Moving!

I don't know about you but moving from one place to another is NOT my idea of fun. After living in the same home for nearly 30 years one tends to get rather rusty at this. And to be truthful, being older, a LOT older, doesn't help much either.

Packing to move!

What is amazing is how much stuff you manage to accumulate! Even in the assisted living home with pretty much bare minimum space and resources in a room, one manages to collect a load or three of items that need to be moved!

Empty shelves, boxes to stumble over, lists of things to be sure to take or get, moving is a kind of gut retching, cathartic event that helps, or more likely makes, you take stock of what you have and even more, what you need.

We don't realize the quantity of things we have collected until that very moment of moving. Seriously. I think that when the time should ever come where I felt I needed a storage unit, it will be the time to start culling. Some of us try it before the move, others after they move and find there just isn't room for everything they brought. "Where did this come from? Why did we buy it?" What's worse is that often, we can't bear to get rid of it. That's what's made places like PUBLIC STORAGE, A-1 STORAGE and the like a booming business. Those commercials showing the happy homeowner storing their "extra" items also creates a much darker side when you watch "Storage Wars" on cable TV. People just abandoned the items they felt at one time they just couldn't live without. I guess they could.

You tend to forget that when you're setting up your new home from just about nothing, what you have to get just to make it function! The last time I did this was when I was 24. While it has been fun in its own way, it has been back breakingly grueling too. Yet, I look forward to it eagerly.

While I will start with minimal furniture, a bed and reclining chair, a few lamps, my studio work table and a few metal shelves, it will give me a chance to see just what I really need. First off though, I will need a desk. I guess I will finally have to assemble the computer work station I bought several years ago and never assembled (thank the Lord - it's still in the original box) to see if it can double as both a computer work station and office desk. It is L-shaped with a hutch and space for a file cabinet. I doubt I would need much more than that, at least to start with.

The adventure begins. Luckily while I will most likely live in the world of boxes and "stuff" sitting all over the place, my rental condo does have a great deal of storage space. The smaller guest bedroom will be come my studio. I figure the large bedroom can host the computer furniture / office as well as a bed and comfy chair. After all it will be just me and my dog!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please check out earlier blogs that discuss the everyday design of living in our lives. AND, a wonderful, Happy New Year!

Open Letter to Richard Branson of Virgin America

December 23, 2015

Dear Mr. Branson CEO,

On Tuesday, December 22nd, I had a flight of two stages starting in LAX (Los Angeles) on Virgin America's flight 941 to San francisco. Because of a series of storms (Californians freak at the first sight of rain) my flight of 6:50 pm departure was delayed until 8:30 pm. We were assured that our connecting flights, San Francisco to Portland, were also affected and we would be able to continue on. Why we had to stop in San Francisco is anyone's guess. I found out that if I had flown from Palm Springs, CA where I am moving, I could have flown non-stop directly to Portland. However, the reservations were made in September ... months before.

We finally boarded where I noticed the flight was only at best 50% filled and yet we were stacked three to a row as if the flight was full. We finally arrived in San Francisco around 10:00 pm. I asked an attendant where I could find my connection and she directed me to gate 54A, the gate that we flew from. Well, everyone was there, including the plane. We waited and waited. I figured that since we were here so long my suitcase would easily be loaded on the plane. Silly me.

We didn't even take off until after 11:00 pm. Sitting on the tarmac at least a half an hour more we didn't see or hear another flight ... we just sat there engines running as the minutes ticked by. Finally we were airborne and after a very long day of one hectic frustrating moment after another starting at 3:30 am, I fell asleep. We arrived in Portland around 1:30 am the next day.

I went to my carousel to await my suitcase ... waiting and wanting and feeling increasingly hopeless. Every other person including those who were on my flight from Los Angeles got their luggage and I was left with nothing. All of my Christmas presents, many of my medicines and all of the clothes I planned on wearing for a week were in that suitcase. Maybe I should have been one of those piggy passengers who cram as much as they can in their carryons into the overhead compartments holding everyone getting on and off the plane. At least I would have my luggage.

There was an attendant there at the carousel and as I explained my predicament she took down my cell phone number, the address I was staying at then looked at the baggage number on my original boarding pass and assured me that the suitcase would be delivered the next day. Inconvenient but what more could I do or say?

Today, December 23, 2015, is that next day and NOT A WORD OR CALL FROM VIRGIN. We have called and talked to a variety of Virgin American people, all day long and each and everyone is utterly clueless with customer service and all we have learned is that it shows the suitcase is in Portland. However, THERE IS NO ONE AT THE VIRGIN DEPARTURE OR TICKET BOOTHS. We found out they are open only at 5 - 8:00 am and 8:30 - 10:30 pm. What a sweet job that is. How do we know? We called and even went to the airport looking to find someone that could help us. There was no one and we finally gave up, went to eat and and went shopping. I had to buy underwear, socks and a new shirt as well as deodorant as I literally have only the clothing I wore from Los Angeles.

I have never dealt with a company as poorly run as this. Why are you even in Portland? There is no one there, the people on the phone are simply clueless. WHO would ever go to the airport at 5:00 am in the morning. Even more, why would you travel back to the airport at 8:30 pm at night?

I had read a report giving the ratings of world airlines and in the US, Virgin America was chosen as the best. If Virgin America is the best, what on earth is the worst like? This has to be the poorest run and managed airline on the planet. I have flown from Zanzibar, from the Ivory Coast, even Peru and Aswan, Egypt and have never, EVER been treated like this. I paid $25.00 to have Virgin America loose my suitcase. Not only did they lose it, they don't even have the decency to followup on what has happened.

The Christmas gifts in the suitcase were hand crafted painted items that I created. Now, they are gone along with the rest of my belongings ... electric shaver, underwear, shirts, belts, shoes, socks and all the additional medicines I need to use on a daily basis. I am 1,000 miles from home and since my pharmacy is CVS and there are no CVS pharmacies in Portland, I am well, screwed. Luckily at the last moment I removed the crucial daily medicines that keep me alive. The rest are necessary and will have to be replaced, at great cost, when I get home.

Other than going home on Virgin America, confirmed reservations, with what is now merely a shopping bag of belongings only I could lose, I WILL NEVER FLY ON VIRGIN AMERICA AGAIN. I hope that anyone and everyone reading this reports, as I will, to the FAA about this companies deplorable treatment of their passengers. Best ... what, best of the worst?

Mr. Branson, I would suggest you concentrate on either a rocket to the edge of space or an airline that flies each and every day. To you Virgin America may be a hobby but to those of us who use or used it, it is an experience that I simply will not allow you to handle again. May you fly on one of your planes and have your luggage lost. THAT would be sweet revenge.

Alan Krug
awkrug@gmail.com

Starting All Over Again

My new home

The last time I set up an apartment as a single man, I was 24. Just back from a two year stint in the Peace Corps, I rented an apartment down the way from where my mother and sister were living in Albuquerque, NM, 50 years ago. I can vaguely remember setting it up, being very poor and trying to find gainful employment in the 1970 recession. I am sure it was very barebones as I ate many of meals at "home," bought a bed, a chair and had not much else.

The first Target run

This time around, well, I am stunned by what it takes to live alone! Who designed this manner of living? Most of my expenses have come from setting up a kitchen! I like to cook but I'm discovering every room in the house needs things! I have made a variety of runs to Target and Big Lots, Kmart, even The Dollar Store and as each room gets further along in getting set up, I find that I need to get more things, so many "more" things I need to make lists! What you forget is that each room needs many of the same things; trash cans and they all can't be the same, Kleenex, hand soap, towels, paper towel holders, placemats ... the list goes on and on.

My condo, while not all that large is for a single man more than big enough. It has a living room, a dining area, two bedrooms, two baths, a huge walk in closet and storage all over the place. I just discovered a closet in the hallway! There is an interesting covered patio with access from either the kitchen or the master bedroom, bigger than the room I currently live in. Every room has a lighted fan with a handy movable remote no less, even the "patio" area just outside the kitchen.

Kitchen ... now there is another word for money pit. I like to cook so started off simply ... plates, cups, glasses, silverware. But then I realized I needed pots and pans, and knives and then the list got bigger and bigger. Friends gave me a crock pot and a microwave luckily but I needed a coffee maker, larger than the tiny one I currently have in my room, mixing utensils, a wine cork screw opener, beer opener, whisk for eggs, even casserole dishes. OMG! I am sure every woman reading this is getting a big laugh out of this. They KNOW! Their husbands are clueless! The drawers are now full of things as are the cabinets. All I can say, is I better cook. The investment, even if most of it came from Big Lots is impressive. The one thing I can't find is a good cast iron skillet. I make a mean Chinese soup that requires one and so the hunt continues. I'm sure Palm Springs and environs has a complete kitchen store. Many men like to cook and out there usually want the best!

After I get what little I have here out there, furnishing comes next. Currently I have a very comfortable bar height table and chairs from Kmart of all places. At $199.99 with a table that could seat 6 and four chairs I couldn't resist. The neighbors came over to put it together for me and were amazed it was so well designed and sturdy. Those chairs and table are rock solid.

Living Room View

Is it worth it? Well, see for yourself. This is the view I get every morning from my living room windows. As the sun rises the huge mountain range west of Palm Springs turns salmon colored. It is simply stunning. During the day its rather bland, a collection of tans, fawns and grey but IS impressive in its size and scope climbing to over 13,000 ft. The mountains are actually a threesome, one higher than the one in front of it. We already had a dusting of snow and even rain!

Am I glad I am moving? Yes. It gives me a chance to start all over again in a new place and continue to do the things I enjoy ... create, cook, travel (the Palm Springs airport gets you all over the country and thus the world) and make new friends. Something is always going on here and it feels like a small town. With the winter snowbirds you meet people from all over. Here its "live and let live."

If you have suggestions on how I can set up an even better condo, please feel free to comment. Friends are going to take me consignment shopping. You get to choose from a wide variety of items being sold after an owner either moves, dies or remodels ... a kind of passion out here in the desert!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please check earlier ones ... all have a focus on design, the designs of our world that we live by! Happy Holidays.

Why I Will Never Use Über Again: A Cautionary Tale

I am 70 years old. I have been using computers since I was probably in my 30's, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Because I appeared to be "with" it by taking a class in "Basic Computer Language" the company I worked for made me their internal computer expert. We won't into that but suffice to say for about 40 years I have had some kind of a working knowledge of computers or at least technology.

My first foray with Über was last week when I had to be at the courthouse in Pasadena, probably a 6 or so mile drive. Since I have already discovered using buses in Los Angeles and environs is a sometime thing, I was scared of arriving too late. After all my lawyer told me, "Be on time!" So, I turned to Über for a day before dry run. What a mistake that was!

The problem begins with your entry of HOME on the Über iOS software that runs on my iPhone 6. I could enter my address all I wanted but it would show me addresses I had no idea where they were. The receptionist here at the home was familiar with it and tried to help. She didn't get any better results than I did even after closing, deleting and doing a hard restart on my phone. What was really frustrating was that it kept showing the driver, who was going to pick me up, a street address that I didn't even know where it was! Finally he called and I had to ask where he was and give him directions to the home. I mean how hard can it be? Commonwealth crosses Garfield, a major north south street in the San Gabriel Valley two blocks south from Main St. An hour into this he finally arrived. Can you imagine arriving late for a court date?

I gave him the address of where I wanted to go explaining this was a dry run for tomorrow morning. I had to be in court and couldn't take a chance with buses. One of my connecting buses has a very bad habit of just not even coming! We chatted and once underway there were no problems. His phone was calling out directions and while I wouldn't have gone that way myself we got there in about 15 minutes as opposed to an hour on the bus, assuming the bus came. Once we got to the courthouse I said fine, lets go back. The fare was around $15, far more expensive than the bus. What I didn't know was that I was being charged for EVERY mile he drove hunting for me. So the hour he was hunting me down at the wrong address, I was being charged.

I complained at their followup email saying I was very unhappy. It wasn't the driver it was Über's buggy software. They gave me a $10 credit back. Evidently I found out they could follow the drivers path and they agreed with me, the starting and ending points were wrong. Well, now I was a happy camper. I would use them for my trip to the airport.

However, happy or not I still didn't want to risk being late to court so asked the home if they could drive me there. They agreed. Our driver, however, didn't come to work until 8:00, would that be enough time? Since it is nearly a straight shot I said yes.

After getting back to the home and not eating my lunch, a friend said why don't you leave now. I am free and can pick you up in San Bernardino earlier. By now I had the key to my truck but not having driven in 10 months, then finding a way over to get it, I didn't feel up to it, especially a 90 minute or more drive to Palm Springs. So, you guessed it, I texted Über. I needed to get to the CalState Metrolink Station, probably by car a 15 minute ride. There was a train leaving at 1:00 pm so I would make it in time when I texted them at 12:30. I was packed and ready to go.

Again he had trouble finding the address. On their real time map he was minutes away on Garfield. Where he went next is anyone's guess. About 10 minutes later, and yes, I was outside looking for him, he drove down the street going east. When he saw me he started a u-turn and was nearly hit by oncoming traffic. The adventure began.

Using Über's software we listened to the instructions they gave. I tried to tell him how the bus did it but before I knew it we were flying down the freeway heading west. We flew by the Metrolink Station. I finally made him pull off the freeway before we entered downtown Los Angeles. "Where are you going?" I asked (probably yelled). He was following the robot's instructions. Maybe theres a CalState Metrolink Station on Mars, I don't know, but by now it was 1:00 pm. Suddenly I see Union Station on my left in downtown LA. Stop I yelled. Let me out. He tried to pull another u-turn again getting us nearly broadsided. I ran into the station but discovered that the train had left and the next one was about an hour away.

As if missing the train wasn't bad enough, it turned out my fare was $16 for what should have been at most $5 (its 25¢ on the bus), my fare leaving from Union Station was doubled now to over $13 and I had to wait about an hour for the next train. Tell me, is this any better than riding the bus? It took an hour to get to the LA Convention Center on the bus Thanksgiving Day. It cost me, as a senior about 50¢. Today I tried to leave before my usual bus service begins. I did get to San Bernardino about 90 minutes earlier but I had to ask, was it worth all the aggregation? I think not.

The bad thing about Über is you must make arrangements at that very minute. You can't say, can I have you pick me up tomorrow at such and such time? Or make sure I can get to the airport on the 22nd. No. It has to be done now, when you want to leave with a different driver every time with varying abilities. It seems strange. They have your phone number and have to call you anyway. Why not book in advance and have them check on the pre-arranged date? I surely would opt to do that. My complaint with Super Shuttle or Prime Time is that they try to cram as many people in their buses as possible going around and around the arrival concourse hoping for one more body. Then once underway give you literally a cooks tour of your area. I have had them drive by my exit where they could have dropped me off and been back on the freeway in a flash. After a long flight you can count on another 2-3 hour ride home. I know its Los Angeles but even then there are limits.

There have been more followup emails. I wrote and said that after two awful experiences in two days, back to back, that I would never use them again. They apologized and said they would apply a credit on my next ride. I wrote back and said, just give me a credit on my card as there will never be another ride with them. Now I keep getting emails asking if the problem has been resolved. No, I say, it hasn't. Where's is my money? Or as Jerry MacGuire said, "Show me the money!"

What AM I going to do? Another friend said I should take the bus to the South Pasadena Gold Line Station, ride down to Union Station and walk up to the Fly-Away bus that is pretty cheap; $8 last time I rode it. However, I will be dragging a suitcase and a computer bag and dragging that on the first bus, then the Gold Line car and finally through Union Station all the way to the bus terminal seems daunting. I am 70, not 30. I guess I could drive my truck out and park it at some long term parking lot and after I compare the costs, that is probably what I will do.

Oh, I might add that in talking to another friend his experience was similar to mine. If that is true, he was in Chicago, how on earth has this company grown? Why would anyone use it if their software is so buggy and literally unreliable? I get rid of buggy software sticking with those that actually work. Über has a lot to learn.

Thank you for reading my blog. I discuss a variety of topics because I believe anything that humans touch is a conscious design that works or in this case doesn't! Please check some of my earlier blogs.

Planning For Christmas Gift Giving

Ah, the possibilities

I don't know about you, but I am always reluctant to give items I have created as gifts. I am always afraid that it will be considered cheap, not something anyone would like. This year, with vastly reduced finances I find that I have no alternatives.

Whether it is a canvas, or in this case a birdhouse, it begins as a blank slate. Because of my advertising training in Journalism School, and the directors insistence that we make pencil sketches of the ads we were to create (yes he even collected those too!) I always make a sketch of what I want to do. It may not always look that way but I find that it gives me a place to start, a kind of roadmap of where things are supposed to go. Like, with all things artistic, I often go on a tangent and what I originally design may not look like that at all. We try but, well, what can I say? Here is a case in point.

While this birdhouse is a bit bigger than the tiny ones I am used to working with, the original design called for a snowman's holiday. By that I mean snowmen all over the place.

The first step was painting the background ... of course! I used a variety of colors to give the feeling of distance. Even the trees got lighter and smaller as they moved away from the front. Somehow, along the way, I felt that even while bigger, this birdhouse was still too small for a bunch of snowmen. Instead I created a small village on the front and one side letting the hills and forests follow around the rest of the birdhouse.

The piece de resistance was the roof. You can see the star side here, the other has a half moon similar to the one used by Proctor & Gamble. I don't like dull boring roofs anymore so always want to jazz them up. I then used some Elmer's glue mixed with water and coated the entire roof. Once that was done I sprinkled gold glitter all over the surface letting it fall and stick wherever it wanted. The effect is of a snowy, wintry day with the moon and the stars overhead. It doesn't get better than this! The ladies at the home loved it!

The other lesson here was creating the trees. While they were indicated with triangles, I remembered seeing a technique using a brush, perpendicular to the surface, and dabbing on the branches. This was the first time I had done this, other than in classes I had taken in Las Vegas. Using a very small brush I found that I didn't have to be so precise and that let a little color show though from behind it. I loved the effect. Then to jazz it up a bit more there was random snow giving the feeling of a forest and a snow covered village. The final touch was making all the trees up front look like Christmas trees using red dots of color. The effect is truly amazing.

Everyone here at the home loves it and I think secretly pine for one of my creations as a gift. I have sold one in fact. No one realizes the amount of work each piece takes. It is literally a painting ... but on a wooden surface.

Using the original sketch I have in fact begun a new birdhouse, this time larger that has snowmen all over the place! The hills are there getting lighter and lighter in the distance, the trees are also smaller and lighter as they move away from the front. But there are snowmen everywhere and I think soon to be added to the roof as well. The trick will be to make them appear to be standing on it in some kind of 3D look! Ah another challenge.

I still have time and only a few people to give gifts too. There are some other items I have created here at the home that may well end up wrapped for family and friends.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please check out the previous blogs. I try to cover all things that man designs from birdhouse, haircuts and beards, computers, movies, software, Apple and all the rest. I want to make people aware of the fact that everything in our lives is designed. Nothing just happens.

Christmas Shopping at the 99¢ Store

My oh my ... what you can buy!

Every now and then my assisted living home has trips to various local businesses. They make bank runs, trips to a nearby Indian Casino, Walgreens, Target and even Wal-mart a few cities away. I had a chance yesterday to go shop for items at the 99¢ Store with my list. 

Since I am on a very limited budget, 99¢ for very simple things is a great deal. I had never been to one during the Christmas season before but after checking it out yesterday I was stunned at what you can get. Lots of Christmas wrap, ribbons, Christmas cards, decorations, ornaments ... the list goes on and on. Goodness. Considering that much of this has a lifespan of at best a month and much of that one day why spend more? You can completely furnish your home for less than $100.

My concession this year, and I do love Christmas, is to help decorate our facility. I bought the little red tree you see above to grace my room. I also bought some Christmas cards ... that actually say "Merry Christmas", a pack of 18 for 99¢

What really drew me though was getting the 81 mg aspirin I need to take each day. For 50 pills, you got it, 99¢. For not many more at the local RiteAid or CVS its $5 and often more. So, since I didn't have to drive, this was a deal! There are many drug store items, many with name brands available ... toothpaste, mouth wash, bandaids, alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and so very much more. The only drawback is that what you see today may not be there tomorrow! For makeup mavens, they have a lot of that as well. Since I have no idea of how good or bad it is, I noticed many such items in carts.

Also I spotted a hole puncher that I wanted for projects I do here at the home so got one of those as well. You always need to make a hole in something so the price was irresistible!  There also was paper, notebooks, folders, paper clips, scissors, pens, mechanical pencils and much more. The dividers you put in your notebook weren't here today. Tomorrow? Who knows? There was also a variety of cheap frames that when grouped probably would look pretty good. Insert interesting images and no one will notice a 99¢ frame.

To be a good shopper I recommend that you make a list, before you go. Be flexible.  Check off each item as you find it. However, depending on how much quality you want, you could just about add nearly every accessory you could ever want for your home. Glasses, coffee cups, plates, glass and a wide variety of plastic bowls, an amazing assortment of kitchen utensils, pots, pans, foil, aluminum pans for turkeys and ham. Besides these items you can also purchase a wide variety of food items ... canned, packaged, items in both refrigerators and freezers. A wide variety of fresh items, both fruit and vegetables are available. You could really live cheaply for sure. However, you have to live cheap with whatever is available at the time.

While I'm sure saying this is not what the big box stores want to hear, I feel that there is a place for such a store, especially for items with a life of at most a day. Judging from the absolutely packed parking lot, I would say I'm late to the show! The secret is definitely out!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to read earlier blogs on a variety of subjects based on  design ... ways that we have designed our lives and the objects we use!