Granny Geek

It’s a popular sport in Indonesia: hanging onto a moving train or a bus. Or hitching a ride on top.

A local joke when we lived in the capital city:

Q: How many people can fit onto a Jakarta bus?

A: One more!

Authorities have been trying to stop this deadly practice by spraying oil onto the tops of trains and buses. They’ve also used dogs to try to frighten people as they climb onto the rooftops of trains. Another tactic was to spray red paint onto offenders, so they can be arrested later.

I’d vote for the red paint solution for DART, for anyone who gets onto a train carrying food or drink. It’s especially bad at the West End Station, where many people carry on a whole meal: burger, fries and a shake. After they’ve finished eating, they toss their empty bags, cups and napkins onto the floor. Or a nearby empty seat. DART security never says a word. In 5 years of riding the Red LIne, I have never seen security make any attempt to enforce the “No food or drinks” rule. And DART wonders why the trains are dirty! Maybe if Security officers were armed with a squirt gun of red paint, the trains would be cleaner!

Last week, Indonesian authorities announced another method of attempting to deal with fare dodgers. They’re installing grapefruit-sized concrete balls over the trains, to try to keep people from hopping onto the tops of trains.

Bopping people over the head with concrete balls seems to be a pretty severe punishment for fare dodging, doesn’t it?

Then again…

Sharpen your pencils, Cliffies. Here’s one of those tricky word problems that we hated in high school.

A woman unloads 400 girls’ dresses, 200 pairs of girls’ shorts, and 4 rotating racks from her truck onto city property at the end of your street.

Assume that 5/6ths of the items have the original price tags still attached.

Given this information, calculate how much time has elapsed since a pallet of clothing was heisted from a loading dock at K-Mart.

Season’s Greetings!

Last year, the lights formed a Christmas Tree.

Happy Hannukah 5772.

These are sure to be a hit with kids of all ages who loved the movies.

Frosty, stars and a Christmas tree also help to celebrate the season.

Available at 1912 East Jefferson here in Oak Cliff, just East of Marlborough.

Ho, Ho!

My beloved FIL died many years ago. In 1987, though, while he was still mentally alert, he sat down with a tape recorder to tell his family’s history. Over the course of several months, he filled eight cassette tapes with his memories of growing up on a farm in Missouri during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. On the tapes, he talked about going to college (he graduated in 1932 from Kansas University). He studied Electrical Engineering at KU, and spent a lot of time in the radio lab.

He talked about falling in love and getting married. During the Second World War, he was stationed in Washington, DC, with the US Navy.

After the war, he worked for the REA (Rural Electrification Agency) in Kansas. After that, he worked in construction and in the energy sector in Germany and London. For many years he worked in Greece, where we worked for Aristotle Onassis.

He wound up his career in the LNG industry in Brunei and Indonesia.

In 1987, the entire family was thrilled that he’d made an oral history for all of us. But here’s the thing: none of us has ever listened to any of the tapes. Recently, Gentle Ben and I decided to dig out the tapes and convert them to MP3 files. The only tape player/recorder that we could find, however, was a small, portable unit that made a loud “hum” on the sound track as we attempted to convert the files to MP3. The best solution was probably to buy a better tape player/recorder to get a better playback.

Huh? Buy a TAPE RECORDER? We didn’t know where to find one. Not that we looked very hard. Gentle Ben and I both cringed at the idea of buying an old-timey device that we’d use once, for just a couple of hours. Besides, converting these files seemed like one of those boring, repetitive tasks that I lose interest in fairly quickly.

We googled “sound transfer services” and found several locations here in Dallas that would convert cassette tapes to MP3 files and put them on a DVD for $29.99 for EACH tape. Seemed high. Then we located Midwest Production Services, in Illinois. Their fee on their web site is listed at $8.95 per tape. I called them, just to connect with a real person. YES. They did the job quickly, with a turnaround of about a week.

Cliffies, I highly recommend Midwest Production Services. If you call, ask for Laura. She answered all my questions, and kept me informed of the status of this very small project. Our family appreciates the fine customer service and attention to detail that we got from Midwest Production. We sent the tapes and the final DVD back and forth by Priority Mail, with tracking. Again, no problems.

Now, we’re going to build a web site with old family photos and podcasts of FIL’s recordings. We hope the next generation(s) will enjoy their family history.

Across from Home Depot.

Doesn’t look like retail. Offices, probably.

A curmudgeon lives in our neighborhood.

Perhaps you know one, too. EVERYTHING is wrong. NOTHING is right. EVERYBODY is conspiring against him. Liberals. Mexicans. Muslims. Women. Especially women.

He reminds me of the cartoon character who has a black cloud hovering over his head everywhere he goes. Gloomy. Glum. Ill-humored. Churlish.

In spite of all his surliness, you have to love the guy. After all, he is a child of the universe, just like the rest of us. Somewhere along the way, though, his happiness plug was pulled.

Earlier this year, he made a complaint to the city that a resident in our neighborhood had left Christmas lights up too long. Now, we’re not talking about a couple of thousand lights draped over a two-story McMansion from dormer to downspouts to dirt. We’re talking about a strand of lights across the porch on a one-story, 1200-square-foot house that was probably built in the 1940s. Hardly a distraction. And nobody seems to know if the lights were actually put up at Christmas. And nobody else cares. Perhaps the lights were put up to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Or the 4th of July. Or a daughter’s return from service in Afghanistan. Or a birthday. Good grief, people in our hood decorate yards and porches with lights for Halloween! After all, this IS Oak Cliff.

We won’t be inviting the curmudgeon to our house anytime soon. He’d probably have an apoplectic attack. You see, we have LED lights across our deck ALL YEAR LONG: just in case we want to sit outside and enjoy good conversation and a glass of vino. Or a cup of coffee. Or a quiet night.

Deck Lights

It’s the season, though, to buy LED lights, so we’ll be adding more lights to our deck soon. Lots more lights. We like to celebrate. Oh, the horror!

“What are you celebrating?” you ask.

LIFE! We’re celebrating the joy of being alive. Every day is a gift. As a matter of fact, our toast for every first glass of wine is “L’Chaim. “

To Life.

In this season of joy and hope, we have some suggestions for all the curmudgeons out there: Hug someone. Kiss the loves of your life. Say “Thank You” to the clerk in the checkout counter. Smile a lot. Volunteer somewhere. Anywhere. It will help you get a grip on how lucky you are.

For Heaven’s sake, please Lighten Up!

Of Italy

That’s right! Last week, I was granted Italian citizenship jure sanguinis (through ancestry). So were my children. We are now free to live, work and travel throughout the European Union. We’re dual-nationals: citizens of two countries at the same time.

The process has taken several years and, frankly, the bambinos did almost all the work involved in rounding up dozens of documents.   But we’ll all be going to the Italian Consulate in Houston after the holidays to receive our passports. And all of this happened because my grandfather waited until he was 47 years old to become a US citizen,

Pietro was born in Northern Italy, and emigrated to America when he was 18. He was illiterate. He went to work in a coal mine, where he worked for the rest of his life. He married, and had children. One of those children was my father.

When my father was born, my grandfather had not yet become a US citizen. He was still an Italian citizen, living abroad. My father, of course, was a US citizen by birth. But he was also an Italian citizen, because his father was an Italian citizen. And because my father was an Italian citizen when he was born, and he never renounced Italian citizenship, I am entitled to become an Italian citizen, as are my children.

It’s difficult for Americans to work or to open a business in most of Europe. But since both kidlets will be carrying EU passports, they can take advantage of any business opportunities that appeal to them on the Continent. Gentle Ben and I hope that they’ll seriously consider importing some fine, Italian wines!

Ciao, y’all!

I know, I know. Print media is struggling. Ad revenues are down and traditional newspapers are dying. Those of us who read online now have to “subscribe” to some of our favorite publications. If we don’t pay, we don’t read.

The New York Times is a perfect example. I don’t want to pay to read the newspaper after 20 “Free Views” a month. Here’s a solution for you if you don’t want to “subscribe” to the New York Times online, either.

For SAFARI users on an iPad:

• 1. Touch on “Settings”

• 2. Touch on “Safari”

• 3. Touch on “Advanced” at the bottom of the screen

• 4. Touch on “Website Data”

• 5. Touch on “Show All Sites” at the bottom of the list

• 6. Touch on “Edit” at the top, right of the screen

• 7. Find www.nytimes.com in the list of Website Data

• 8. Touch on the red icon at the left of “www.nytimes.com”   Notice that “Delete” appears on the right column as a red box

• 9. Touch on the “Delete” box

• You’re good to go for another 20 “free visits.”

• 10. Repeat as necessary.

If you’re using SAFARi with a Mac laptop or an iMac

• 1. When you see the notice that you have to start paying for more articles

• 2. Go to the menu at the top of your screen, and, under Safari,  select “Preferences”

• 3. Click on “Privacy” at the top of the menu

• 4. Click on “Details”

• 5. Enter “NYTimes” in the SEARCH bar at the top, right of the menu screen

• 6. Click on “nytimes.com”

• 7. Click on “Remove” at the bottom, left of the menu screen

• 8. Click “Done” at the bottom, right of the menu screen

• You’re good to go for another 20 “free visits.”

• 9. Repeat as necessary

You’re welcome.

Hugs,

Granny
(One of the 99%)

Ho, Ho!

Last night was First Thursday in Bishop Arts. AND it was cruise night. What memories: those of you who didn’t learn how to drive in 1955 missed ALL the fun.