Why Asian Students Do Better?

Here's the reason Asian students do better than black or white students--they study  like their lives depended on it. 

High Speed Rail

California's high speed rail will take 13 years to build, has already tripled in price, will (initially) only connect Bakersfield with Fresno, won't actually be high speed and does a 120 degree dogleg as it leaves LA in order to stop in Palmdale and Lancaster. It's a direct high speed train that doesn't go direct and uses old slow commuter tracks to save money (even so the estimated price of the project has tripled over the original estimates on which it was sold to the voters).

The Chinese, in contrast, just opened a 300 kph high speed rail in the time it took California to merely complete it's environmental impact report. It's not as if all the extra time we're taking will result in anything better. In fact, when complete, it will be a lot like the Los Angeles subway/streetcar system, in which you have to change trains to get to LAX and then when you are 9/10's of the way there you have to get off the train, stand in an empty parking lot and wait for the connecting bus to carry you the final mile. Total transit time from LAX to downtown LA on three trains and a bus--2 1/2 hours. Since  you can do it in a cab or a non-stop express bus in 30 minutes or so, I fail to see the value of our rail system. But without a subway we wouldn't be a modern cutting-edge, world-class city, which of course we aren't anyway.

Despite such problems Jerry Brown is pushing ahead full steam--against the apparent wishes of a majority of Californians. In a story in Wednesday's LA Times, Ralph Vartabedian reports that a majority of Californians want the project canceled, given that 69% of them would "never" or "almost never" ride the train.

When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd

That goes for petunias too.

I pedaled across Glendale to get tomato plants for the garden. They're selling them early this year. Must be global warming. I bought a container of six heirloom tomatoes. I never heard of any of them. Then as I was leaving I saw a container of Celebrity on the rack outside but I was too tired to go back inside the store and buy them too.

 I put as many miles on my bike as I do on my car these days. I just don't have the energy though. I used to ride up the hill to me house in high gear. Now I can just barely do it in the granny gear. I probably shouldn't be riding at all. I'm going to get clipped one of these days by a car and at my age (71) one's  bones just don't heal anymore. I'd probably never get out of bed again.

One reason I do ride--I was reading the blog "Across The Ocean" by a female professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She recently flew to Italy for a quick vacation on her spring break. She stays in a small hotel on a lake in a little mountain town where yesterday she climbed the local mountain. She got lost a couple of times and thought about turning back but, she concluded, she at least had to go for it. If she didn't make it, that was okay--there's no shame in failure (or getting old). But if she didn't even try, she thought, they might as well just buy the coffin and dig a hole for her now.

My Lemon Tree

In the 25 years I've lived here I've made lemon meringue pie perhaps two times using the lemons from the tree on the patio. There is simply no excuse for that. I'm going to buy a pie crust and start living.

Guess What We're Having For Dinner?

And St. Paddy's day it is folks.

The Capri restaurant on Eagle Rock Boulevard. Twenty years ago the place had  a homey kitschy decor with Christmas tree lights and the best pizza in Eagle Rock (they made their own sausage).  On cold nights the pizza ovens kept the dining area warm and cozy. Then 10 or 12 years ago the original owners sold the place. The homemade sausage disappeared and the restaurant began a long slow decline. Finally a year or two ago one of these reality TV shows that performs "do overs" did over the Capri, changing the menu and ditching the interior Christmas tree lights and all the old homey, such as a light at each table. I understand the place is doing better now but I still miss the old decor.

Coming home from a bike ride I stopped off at the Coffee Table on Colorado. There were four Occidenal College girls (only one one of whom is visible here) at the next table over behind the mustard and ketchup. As is my wont these days, I ignored all such distractions, sipped my coffee and read the science news on my Galaxy Notebook II till the New York Times told me I'd exceeded the number of free articles I could read in a week.

Speaking of my new cellphone, it has a GPS tracking device that can tell he what end of the house I'm in, which is pretty impressive. When I'm upstairs in my office the little locator arrow tells me I'm in the northeast corner of the house. When I go downstairs into Holly's office it correctly relocates me near the center of her office's west wall.  If you are traveling around the city, it gives good directions, either showing  you a map with a list of turns, or a woman's voice actually telling you what to do out loud, such as for instance what lane to get in and when to turn. 

In one sense, none of this is new since my wife pretty much does all that already, but the difference is the computer is a bit more maddening because when I'm driving I can't find the button to make it stop talking. 

A young kid parked his bike next to mine outside the supermarket. I love the colors. Since it's a one-speed bike I asked the kid who owned it what he does when he comes to a hill. He said, "I can't stop pedaling," by which he meant, I believe, that it's too hard to pedal uphill from a dead stop, but if you keep pedaling all the way you can do it.

The bike in the back with the green panniers is my bike. I take it out every day to go to the store and otherwise get some exercise. The panniers look so big in the photo because they're full of half-gallons of mango juice and grapefruit juice and a three-pound bag of apples.

Afternoon Appointments

Due to my sleeping problem I don't usually get to sleep till three or four in the morning (last night it was 5 am). This is a real problem when doctors (and contractors) want to schedule appointments with me early in the morning. I used to try to explain I suffered from insomnia, which is more information than a contractor needs to know. Nowadays I just tell everyone that I work the "late shift" so I'm not available till the afternoon. No one ever questions that.

The Cat Strikes Again

Puss, my cat, is a killer pure and simple. Today I found this lizard on the middle patio. Yesterday on the upper patio I found a dead sparrow. I know it's not the dog doing this (he doesn't have the killer instinct for such small animals, though I'm sure he'd shake a rat to shreds and he does snap at bees). The cat doesn't kill because he's hungry. He's well fed twice a day. Like most cats he just likes killing small things, which is distressing because I enjoy the birds, squirrels, baby possums and even lizards he seems determined to destroy. 

In truth, I'm surprised Puss (AKA Pooskie) is still out there killing anything. Most cats we've had in the past here have gotten themselves eaten by coyotes (or run over by cars) after a couple of years. Puss, I believe, is six or seven years old, which to me proves he's smart and tough. He has always been a great mouser. He runs  upstairs whenever he hears me open the attic door. Then he roams around in the dark for hours. I haven't seen a mouse or rat in six months. He keeps the place rodent free.

Puss in tree, looking winning and playing it safe.

A Visit to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Westwood

The parking area for the VA hospital in Westwood. I went to visit their sleep disorder clinic. Nothing came of that. But I was pleased to note their parking area had sunroofs for the cars. A nice touch in a place where things can get terribly hot. I suspect before they put them up they had old vets getting in sun boiled cars and dying on the spot.

You can't tell from this photo but the VA hospital is a big social center. I saw a bunch of elderly black men in wheelchairs at the entrance having a great time talking to one another. Someone should open a Starbucks there.

The sleep disorder clinic didn't have much to offer me, which is what I suspected would happen. The doctor wanted to talk mainly about my caffeine use, which is minimal, and whether or not I was using my sleep apnea machine correctly. He wants me to bring the machine down to the clinic in  Westwood so they can see if I'm using it right. Good luck with that.

Summertime

The (woman) driver in front of me as I left the King market parking lot was afraid to turn into the exit lane, hesitant about turning left when we got the green light and conflicted about going straight or going up the freeway on ramp (out of sight on the left). She compromised by straddling both lanes and  stopping until she made up her mind. When finally she made a decision to go straight ahead, I escaped around her to the right and zipped on home.

My office was so hot today it felt like the middle of summer--although it felt plenty cool in the kitchen downstairs. Finally after dinner I got out my big square desk fan and put it in from of the window and blew in outside evening air to cool down my office. Just a taste, I'm afraid, of things to come.

The Joys of King Market

I like to shop here for fruits, vegetables and little deli items like roasted red peppers and olives. The produce prices are half those of other local markets and the quality here is better. One problem. It is usually extremely crowded. I went this afternoon and was surprised to find the parking lot only about two-thirds full.  I'm not sure why unless it's that time of the month where people don't have much money.

Due perhaps to the low prices this store attracts a lot of pushy shoppers. They reach for the produce as if it's the last cucumber, apple or eggplant in the store, whereas in truth the place has a huge produce section with workers continually bringing out big pallets of fresh fruit and vegetables. The management even stocks the same item in different places so customers don't need to bunch up to get what they need. All I can figure is that  some customers come here from countries where they have to use their elbows a lot. (There are a lot of Russian or Armenian shoppers. I know this because their 60 foot long deli counter is stocked with all kinds of imported Russian salami, sausage, bologna and such).

Another thing a lot of the shoppers do is pick through a dozen pieces of identical perfect fruit or vegetables  before they put one in their shopping bag. I can't figure out what criteria they are using to reject so many apparently blameless apples or cucumbers. I was standing next to a well-dressed woman today who handled  eight or ten blood oranges (all of which looked perfect to me) for every one she put in her bag. Finally I told her, "It's hard to find a good one, isn't it?"

I don't know why people shop like this unless they feel they feel wimpy for not handling ten times as much as they buy. I tell you one thing. I carefully wash everything I buy these days (something I never much thought about before.)  I also don't put anything in the upper cart tray (where people put their kids while they shop) due to what hear is fecal contamination from leaky diapers.

Well that's the bad news. The good news is that even without using the upper cart tray I got tuna salad, chicken salad, eggplant salad, seafood salad and hummus. Also fresh pita bread and a huge jar of roasted red peppers. Tomorrow I'm going to make scrambled eggs with red peppers for breakfast.

Zimmerman Is Going Down Irrespective of Stand-Your-Ground

I just realized something. The governor's special prosecutor down in Florida is going to charge George Zimmerman with molesting a female cousin or family friend 10 or 15 years ago. There are statues of limitations but I suspect you can get around those when you're talking about kids.

The reason for the charge? The murder case against Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin is too weak to fly in court. But if the special prosecutor lets Zimmerman go free, Martin supporters will march and riot across the state while editorial writers denounce her from every corner of the land. Hence the need to find something to send Zimmerman to  jail for. It will be like convicting Al Capone of income tax evasion because you can't prove murder.

Thoughts On Smoking

I just realized something about myself. I never watch movies on Netflix in which people smoke. This is not an ideological stand. I just don't find it appealing to watch people pulling on cigarettes.  (I also think directors use smoking as a rather sloppy way of signifying character). Whatever the reason, it so turns me off that I just stop watching.

Police Academy

Gabe and I had lunch at the Police Academy cafe Thursday. I had clam chowder soup. Gabe ordered chili fries. As expected I saw a lot of cops there. The waitresses had great smiles. Still the food seemed pretty ordinary. The best thing that could be said for it was that service was fine and the fries (once you scraped off the bean-heavy chili) were really crispy.

The food bothered me less than the academy's run-down appearance. It reminded of a training facility in some small South American country. I saw a lot of un-swept leaves, un-plastered cracks, litter and  decay. Despite the police cadets doing calisthenics or practicing on the firing range, the place almost seemed abandoned. I felt sorry for the police trainees. It was as if the city was throwing them into a war more or less unarmed--like the Royal Air Force sending sending out novice pilots in the Battle of Britain to go fight the Luftwaffe.

It Turns Out We Didn't Need That New Tax After All

My old Navy Omega Seamaster, still going strong after nearly 50 years. I used to use this to do celestial navigation when we flew the Atlantic. The watch gains perhaps two seconds a day, which is still plenty accurate to find Europe.

They find the gap is half as big two days after the vote on the tax issue? Man, they think we're dumb.

Unfit Day For Man Nor Beast

Russo's tennis balls sitting in a hanging pot.

Cat decides that dry discretion is the better part of wet valor.

Suspenders Are Quite An Invention

I'm looking a little more gruff than I intended in my long green LL Bean shirt with my maroon suspenders




Lunch--you guessed it--was a double-double without cheese.




This girl was chatting outside when I went in. Still there when I came out. People do have a lot to talk about these days

Well, I did taste it and it was a quality product but even so I still like Smash Burger better. It's the bun that does it.

I built the bookcase in my wife's office one day in a fit of energy. Holly keeps books here that she teaches in her English courses. She just finished reading "Frankenstein," which she says is a far better and more poignant book than movie. And she's currently reading "Heart of Darkness" on her Kindle, preparatory to teaching that. I could probably download that myself onto my Galaxy Note II from Project Gutenberg.

My little garden of volunteers. I have sunflowers and onions coming up now  from last year, carrots and even a little lettuce, which is surprising because I could hardly get it to grow at all during the hot part of last summer.

I brought out our summer table for the patio but holly is upset. She says the table will get rained on. And so it will, but so what? Aluminum and water don't rot or discolor in the rain. It will rain for two more days then spring arrives and the rain is pretty much gone for good.

I had bought it out to read the morning paper and drink coffee. But I discovered without the umbrella it's too hot to sit in the sun. So I compromise by putting my coffee and newspapers on a bench instead. With a high quality set of headphones a person could run  his whole office from his patio, enjoying the breeze and the morning sun,

I tried to buy .22 caliber rimfire long rifle ammunition for my old Marlin lever action. One ammo store,  a rapidly vanishing breed if Jerry Brown gets way his wants to change $15 for as few as 100 cartridges. I used to be able to buy five times that many cartridges for a mere $15. Everyone is stocking  up for when Obama and Jerry Brown try to make ammunition sales illegal in California.

(Update: I stopped by the Big 5 sporting goods store in Glendale late this afternoon to buy .22 caliber rifle ammunition. They laughed politely at my innocence in thinking they might have anything in stock. The clerk said that when the store opens each morning there is a long line people waiting to buy .22 shells and they sell out in 10 minutes.)

Forward With Pants Held High

I'm tired of pulling my pants up all day so I don't walk on the cuffs. I took three pair of my dress khaki LL Bean pants to the tailor to have him sew on suspender buttons. Then I bought a pair of wide khaki suspenders from Amazon.com.  I am so together these days.

My Day

A cool grey day on the patio when I go out to read the paper.

The Distressed But Still Functional Eagle Rock Library

I rode my bike to the Eagle Rock branch library (that's my bike on the right with the green panniers) to pick up "Fighter," a book about the Battle of Britain by Len Deighton. So far it's pretty good in that it dispenses with the loyal band of brothers cliche in favor of a clear-eyed assessment.

This is a view of the library to the left of the entrance. The head librarian ordered yellow tape put around the bushes to keep the local homeless population from living in there (and sleeping upright in the library chairs during the day). I once stopped off at the library on my way home from Trader Joe's with a bag of food in my basket. I was only in the library for perhaps 2 1/2 minutes but when I came out my $15 bag of food was gone (crackers and cooked frozen chicken wings among other things). I was indignant at the thief and furious at myself at being so trusting. I jumped on my bike and rode up and down all the local streets trying to find the thief. It was only a week later that I realized that all the local transients I saw hanging out by the library were living in the bushes at night. I went back there and searched and found a matted Trader Joe's bag ground into the mud.

The homeless lived there for the better part of the year until the library finally kicked them out. I still see them around though (there is a service center for transients just half a block away) but I don't think they live any longer in the bushes.

If this had happened in Glendale, the homeless would never have been allowed to set up shop in the bushes right next to a building used by hundreds of kids every day. Glendale has so many cops, if someone gets pulled over for having a broken tail light or expired tag, in five minutes they have 5 squad cars at the scene.

Twenty years or so ago when Tom Bradley was mayor he failed to win a tax hike and closed all the libraries in the evenings out of pique. I always thought he did it to punish the voters for not increasing taxes. But most voters wouldn't notice the library closing now. It mainly serves as a safe place to go and hang out or study between the time school is out and their mom (not so many kids have dads these days in LA) gets home from work.

Nick's Cafe--Now I don't Have to Go Back Again

I had lunch at Nick's Cafe on North Spring Street. I can't see what the fuss is about. People want to make this ordinary greasy spoon into some LA tradition of cozy little off beat spots that nobody knows about except for the local cognoscenti who stop by when they need a simple but great breakfast or lunch. It's not so much that the food is bad here as that it's well . . . ordinary. Also it wouldn't hurt if the guy who wipes  the counters and sweeps the floor made a few more passes during the day.

My Neighbor's Oranges

 Cheerful little buggers

Decline of LA

I stopped off at my local golf course for a cup of coffee this morning. The place is falling apart. The cafe had no pie. The formerly well-stocked pro shop is now just a vacant storeroom for stacked up chairs. The baseboard was coming off the wall in the access corridor. I could see wood rot in the support beams outside. This is a municipal course and Los Angeles has no money for upkeep. It's like living in a third world country, which increasingly it is.

Life on the Patio When Spring Is In The Air

I went out on the patio bench this morning to read the LA Times (sigh), drink coffee and enjoy the warm sunshine. It went up to 88 today but Weather Underground tells me the temperature won't go above the sixties for the next week.

It upset Holly that I put the glass and aluminum patio table back out on the patio for the  year. I said "Hey, it's daylight savings time in 9 days. And spring is on the way." But even if we get only wet and cold what can that do to glass and aluminum? It could affect the canvas umbrella but that's easy enough to take down and put in the garage for another week.

When it's really cold in the morning I go into the back room and have my coffee there (much warmer than the kitchen because the sun is shining in). Best yet though is to sit on the patio. Even on a cold day it's warm in the sun and the fence keeps off any cold wind. 

This is Holly's cactus garden. Cheerful in the morning.

The other evening I saw the moon rising over my neighbor Gary's big pine tree. For some reason my camera though doesn't capture any details of the moon. It always shows up as merely a white disk--no craters. I assume the camera design (or my settings) cause this but I don't really know why. I think it has to do with the moon and sky being too contrasty. If the moon were dimmer the image would come out just fine.