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November 4 2002 11:39 PM
Part II - California Reunion - Donny Laing 1952-1984
Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI
It was only early April but already the waters on the ocean side of Lido Isle were warm enough to surf without a wetsuit. The beaches were crowded for this time of year and the classic wooden boat show added a festive ambiance to this small affluent island. It seemed the most perfect spot on earth that late morning, especially after a congested drive on the 405.
Wooden vessels, especially sailing vessels were still considered the gems of the yachting world. Fiberglass was, after all, “plastic” and fabrication techniques were still marginal back then. Exotic materials were far too costly for marine use, but Dennis Conner was rumored to be working with aerospace engineers in his quest to retain the cup after hearing about the Aussies underwater lead "wings." Thin aluminum hulls were still winning cup races, but not for long.
The wooden boat show attracted connoisseurs, wealthy and wishful alike, to view a delightful assortment of fresh bright work, polished chrome, teak & holly on everything from Chris Craft runabouts to old racing yachts with ever so graceful lines. Throw in a Chinese junk or two and some pristine 80-foot motor yachts and the island became host to a floating nautical museum for the weekend. Few were for sale, all were for show.
I found Don and Jules as if by accident when they rolled in from San Luis Obispo. Jules was a husky blond, a sweet woman whom, I sensed, liked to be in control. Oddly, they seemed perfect for each other, as Don still had some growing up to do.
They brought another couple, Ralph and Cindy -- A tall breaded Canadian and his wife - he a shipwright trained in Vancouver and she a teacher, I think.
Naomi did her famous last minute “can’t make it” call to me early in the morning. She stayed out too late dancing, and knowing her, I took it to be a valid reason. Her presence would have been wonderful but I decided early on that I was not going to let her absence spoil the weekend.
To beat the crowds, we opted for an early dockside lunch - chilled seafood, fruit, cheese and mimosas. When Donny ordered the guys shots of Cuervo Añejo, I began to see that drinking was a big part of his life. But it was a weekend to be enjoyed. Who cared if it was only ten-thirty in the morning?
After lunch, we toured the marina. Don was so knowledgeable of these crafts, he could establish an instant rapport with the owners and hosts so that we had instant access of all of the show. It was going to be an interesting weekend.
To be continued . . .
November 5 2002 9:09 PM
Why I Get Depressed When Shopping at Wal-Mart
I admit it -– I shop at Wal-Mart. I certainly don’t have to - there is nothing at your run-of-the-mill Wal-Mart that I can’t easily find anywhere else. Better quality is everywhere. Made in USA -- forget it! I can afford to shop anywhere. I limit myself to one trip per month and I do it to save a few bucks.
I limit my buys to commodity type purchases for my home and personal items that are cheaper than the grocery stores (the only other store that I visit more frequently). All that stuff is cheaper, if you know what to buy and buy carefully.
Did you know that a four-pack cartridge of Gillette Mach 3 razor blades costs $7.00 and an eight-pack costs $14.73? Who in their right mind would buy an eight pack? One can no longer assume that buying in larger volume saves money, even at Wal-Mart.
If I had a COSTCO or other warehouse type distributor near by, I’d never enter a Wal-Mart again. Yet even these mega-stores can rip you off with higher prices for volume purchases. You’d think consumers would have figured that out, but not so, judging from the packed parking lots at these places. Hey honey let’s get two gallons of these fancy green jumbo olives! I like 'em.
Part of my dread at shopping at Wal-Mart is simple bias. Let’s face it, Wal-Mart attracts the absolute bottom feeders of the shopping world. Women (this is not a bias, but pure observation) enter a store and their eyes immediately glaze over, and they go into a zone – a shopping state of being. They are oblivious to their surroundings, at least until I gently bang into their carts parked squarely in the middle of an isle designed for only two carts abreast.
Is it so difficult to park your cart off to the side so that the half-dozen people in back of you can pass by in peace? It gets real messy when oncoming shoppers approach from the other direction. If I were a manager, I would make all isles one-way and hire traffic cops.
The real big problem at Wal-Mart is that nearly each shopping cart has about 2.5 screaming, out-of-control kids attached or in obit around it. Remember - mom is oblivious - she doesn't even know she has kids while in the "shopping zone."
If women drove autos the way they maneuvered shopping carts, the accident rate would be tenfold. Thank heaven shopping carts are not known to be lethal - at least yet.
I don’t like shopping for commodity items. When I run out of something that I can save seventy cents on, I get nervous. I mean, it's time. That time of month. Time to go into the zone.
I like parking a great distance from the store. Great exercise and less likelihood of my truck being dinged or stolen (well maybe not ). I can't figure out why they can't get all the trash out of the parking lot. After all , this is not a 24-hour Super Center - this place closes.
The greeters never greet me. What do they do?
I grab a cart that is not full of the last user's garbage and make a beeline for the stuff I need. I know the route. Danger - Danger - Danger - Mindless shoppers ahead. Cheap coffee, cheap fruit juice, vitamins, supplements, shampoo, shaving cream, razor blades, laundry detergent and what, what else? Who cares, I'm l o s i n g it. Too late, too late, too late . . . Look at the length of that checkout line! Another ruined day. I'll recover by nightfall.
Sam, too bad you aren't around to do a reinvent. I r e a l l y don't like Wal-Mart. Of course, I'd never shop at Kmart. Never!
November 6 2002, 7:48 PM
I voted - who cares?
Used without permission - hoping the Post won't mind too much
I believe that I heard a sound bite today that nationwide voter turnout in yesterday’s election was about 39%, the second lowest ever in the mid-term elections since 1942. 1998 was the lowest. Even at its highest in 1962, mid-term voter turnout was still under 50%.
This does not surprise me, nor am I overly critical of someone that doesn’t vote. I move from state to state so often that, on occasion, I fail to get myself registered on time and don't have a clue who the local and state candidates are anyway. If I can’t vote, I still sleep OK, knowing that my one vote, or lack of it, has not altered the results of an election. This may indeed be a good reason why the majority of people don’t vote. I suspect the real reason people don’t vote is that they feel it just “don’t” matter. They are probably right.
In 2000, the pundits were saying, “see, your vote does count” while we spent weeks not knowing who the next president was to be. Politicians and pundits alike always stress that voting is both a right and a duty in our democracy and like to chastise the non-voting near majority.
I’m wondering if there was ever a politician that proposed legislation making voting mandatory for all eligible voters. If there were, he or she would probably get laughed out of congress. Besides, the ACLU would sue - we can't "force" people to vote in a democracy after all.
Well then, what if the government provided a small incentive, maybe a voucher or tax credit to motivate non-voters to vote? Another bureaucracy would be created, but I bet that cost would be offset by far less pork-barrel spending if we had some representation that truly represented the people.
Each party has the "get-out-the-vote” drive, pandering to potential voters who will vote for their candidates. But would the hard core political strategists of either party really want a near 100% voter turnout? I think not – in fact the mere thought would induce nightmares. These strategists would be clueless as where to spend their hundreds-of-millions and where ship around their heavy hitters like the president and former president.
Maybe I'm dreaming, but I think it would be healthy for America if those we send to govern us were decided by "we, the people" instead of the powerful lobbyists and party political strategists. We might even get the 18-24 year olds to take interest again. What's the president's agenda for this lame duck congress: terrorism insurance, the new homeland security bureaucracy and a Medicare prescription drug benefit to the drug companies. Wow - it gets me excited!
“More attention has been given in the
literature to the costs than the benefits of voting. This is probably because
one cost of voting in the United States has drawn overwhelming attention - that
of registration. The governments of most established democracies take the
responsibility for registering as many eligible voters as possible. In the
U.S., by contrast, the responsibility for registration lies solely with the
individual. To make matters worse, some state registration laws in the past
clearly sought to restrict rather than facilitate voter turnout. This was the
case in the South, with its well-known provisions to prevent African-Americans
from voting, but also in much of the North - where the potential political power
of immigrants threatened the early 20th century political establishment (Piven
and Cloward, 1988). Some of these obstacles, such as the poll tax or literacy
tests, were transparent attempts to keep particular types of people from
registering; others, such as requiring citizens to appear at a county courthouse
that was open just several hours a week, were not user-friendly for anyone.”
Martin P. Wattenberg University of California, Irvine
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