Friday Night Lights (1990( by H.G. Bissinger

This is a documentary about the Permian Panthers, a high school football team from a small town in West Texas.  It is about the team, kids, and community.  It touches on local issues, historic problems of race, and the national economy as the drop in the price of oil severely impacted this oil town.  High school football is the center of this town.

There is a soap opera made in the 2000's of the same name, based on the book, which is excellent. It's discontinued now, but we're watching "reruns."  We're up to the fifth and final season. 

The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve by Stephen Greenblatt (2017

This is a survey of the art, history and philosophy and finally science of the Adam and Eve story from day 1 to Darwin, and ends with the author's personal reflections of what the garden of Eden may have been like from observing chimpazees in the wild. 

It's good brain exercise, go for it.

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (2017

This is a a very creative story spinning out trends of income inequality and climate destruction to 2140 in New York.  The oceans rise 50 feet, and half of Manhattan is submerged.  But the city and its people are resilient.  We're idiots, but they survive.

There are lots of books that get at the same topic from a different angle. It's reassuring to see that others are taking this seriously.

This is a good read.

making compost

I can get coffee grounds at the starbucks in the Hastings Plaza. They bag them up and just set them out for customers.

Also, Juice it Up! in Pasadena and Movita in Pasadena will give out compost.  This is the trash from the juicer.  I got a bag from each last Saturday.

I mixed it up with mulch from the yard, and put on the east side of the mango tree.

Let's see how long it takes to turn into the black gold.

Thrifstore shoes, shorts etc

This is Sunday, the first day of Advent and last day of the Thanksgiving weekend.  Back to school/ work tomorrow.  The highlights of the long weekend are as follows:

We had to ditch James' fidget spinners. There was a report that they may contain dangerous amounts of lead.  So we rounded them up and put them in the trash. Bye bye....

A got a juice shop in Pasadena called Movita to give me their carrot peels etc for our compost.  And they say they will save more for me next Saturday. We'll see.

Today, James and I did some 100 yard sprints over at the PHS track.  We planned on doing 10, but did 6.  Still, it was a good first start.  For the earlier ones, our times were 19 seconds, and then slowed to about 20 seconds for the last one.  Then we went to Hamilton Park and played a little tennis.  I have not trained him in this sport, but the young man played enthusiastically.

Then we went to a thrftstore called Savers in Arcadia. I got a new old pair of beater running shoes for the yard and dusty walking trails for $7. The shoes are worn a bit around the heel but comfortable.  They're better than my current beater shoes, as those have a hole.

I also got sports shorts for $3.  These are very similar to the ones I have.  There are no holes but the elastic band is stretched out.  So what.  These are much better than my current sports shorts, which have holes in the pockets.  Stuff falls out.

The trick with these used things is to see how much quality wear you get for what you pay.  Let's see how long they last.

Grandparents day at St. E

was 11/20/2017.  Pictures of James with Grandma.

Major bike ride

James and I did a 17.2 mile bike ride with a bicycle advocacy group, San Gabriel Valley Bicycle Coalition. It was a ride on a part of the Emerald Necklace, which is a multi-use path in the San Gabriel Valley. 

It went from El Monte down to Whittier, and then west through Pico Rivera (I think( and then back.  We did pass Rio Hondo college, which is where I took classes 25 years ago.  It took 3 hours, which included the ride and the sightseeing and the speeches.

It was a beautiful this day and inspiring to be with people trying to clean up the planet in our area. And this area is noticeably better than 25 years ago.

The Confusion of Languages (2017( by Siobhan Fallon

I'm not yet done with the book. I'm still reading the epilogue. But there's nothing that I can imagine changing my opinion, so I'm getting my thoughts out now.

I thought the concept was promising-- two army wives in Jordan. One is in jail and the other has to bail her out.  How do you do that in a Middle Eastern country that is an ally of the US but perhaps is not liked by the people?  But it never really spun out the story like that.  

This is a dud. 

Leather Jacket etc

Today is Saturday, 11/18/2017.

Today was our first Riverside run of the season.  We picked up 25 lbs of navel oranges, 5 lbs of tangerines, and a giant mango.  The citrus is good but not quite at its peak.  Taoster must have eaten 6 oranges.

I dug up the rest of the sweet potatoes and onions from the circle.  I added to the concoction we started last week. Last week Taoster dumped in enzymes and I put in grounds and compost.  Today, I put in more grounds and compost and mulch, and covered with mulch.  Then I put bricks around the edge.  The goal is to make great soil for a tree.  It's too sandy now.

James and I got 2 new jackets at Goodwill for him, for a total of $7.49.  This is a purchase for the ages.

We also got 1 pair of school uniform pants from Target. 

Then we played a little one on one football.  The young man can nearly outsprint me.

Cross Country and Football

This Friday, Veteran's Day, James ran with the big boys.  He, as our dear reader knows, is a second grader, and had been invited to up the next level.  He ran a 3/4 mile with the 3-4th Graders along with one other second grader.  He ran a cool 5:49 to come in 54th out of 136.  It's a great result following lots of hard work and dedication over the season.

Then Saturday he finished off the football season with a post-season double header. They won the first, and lost the second.  He got one handoff on a reverse and advanced at least 10 yard for a first down.  It was a positive experience, even though we came in when the season was half way over.

On the garden, we dug into the container with the mangos.  The contents are nearly completely composted and there are good worms.  We moved the mango trees to their own bucket and moved hte melons around.  Almost every tree in the backyard has its own bucket.

I got 4 bags of coffee grounds from the Hastings plaza Starbucks.   I asked for food waste at teh Hastings Jamba Juice and got the run around. We'll keep trying.

No is not Enough by Naomi Klein (2017

This is a political critique of Donald Trump and the causes and conditions of his rise by Naomi Klein, who is a journalist and author who writes very well.  She is a committed socialist, and so the critique is what you would expect.  This is what happens to society and our planet when you put profits over people, when you live in the ownership society, etc.

She's written several books.  If you read one or two, you get the idea.

The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Gun (2017

This is a report on Jim Jones and Jonestown massacre.  He's an interesting character.  He started as a reverend preaching the social gospel in Indianapolis and acquired a devoted following.  He took them to San Francisco, and set up in other towns where there is injustice.  He eventually dropped the gospel and kept the social part and took a good pat of his following to Guyana.  He was in negotiations with Soviet Russia to accept his group.  That didn't work, so he killed just about everyone there.  This is where the expression about "drinking the cool-aid" comes from.

It's a sad story but he's an interesting character and you learn something important about the times.

Cross country and fishing and planting

It was a great Sunday.

The first event was a cross-country meet.  This was our third and final race at the Cornfields in Chinatown.  James finished second in a field of eight and got another personal best in the quarter mile at 1:37min. 

Then we went to Huckleberry fishing pond in Anaheim with the Scouts.  James, Taoster and I caught a catfish.  We didn't want to clean and eat it, so we dug a hole by the mango tree in the backyard and put it in.  We had heard that planting a fish near the roots will improve the quality of an avocado tree, so why not try with the mango?

We then covered with dirt and mulch and put a compost bucket over it and dumped water in it.  Now we wait for that awesome fish to melt into the tree.

First Organized Football Game

James' heart is not in baseball this fall. He's really into football.  Coach Alex is coaching Christian in a football league.  We asked to join the team, and they said yes.  He's on the Chargers.

The head coach is a coach from EALL.  He has two teammates from CALL, Christian and Domenic, Coach Dart's son.

So he had his first game today, which was at Eliot school on Lake. He made one reception, grabbed one flag, and got a bloody lip from running into a teammate.  Overall, it was a good experience.

By the way, he loves his mouthpiece.

Sunday ride

James and I went for a ride today.  We did a loop starting at the bottom of Hastings Ranch near my childhood home.  We zigzagged through Lower Hastings and went down Sierra Madre.

First stop was Target. The beyblade he wanted was just out of his financial reach so we got nothing.  We then went to Goodwill on Altadena. The purpose was to get a belt. I don't want to goodwill pants to fall down going through the metal detector. Unfortunately, there were no belts but I did see a nice pair of seemingly Rockport dress shoes. I bagged them for $20.00.

Back to the car, he had logged 11 miles on the bike for the trip.

Then we drove back to the Target. I lent James enough to get the Wivron beyblade. I checked out the belts but the cheapest that fit was $15.

We then drove on to the Old Town Pasadena Goodwill.  I got a $4.00 belt that fits, 34-85 Glove Tanned Cowhide, 1345017 Uruguay, Manhattan.  It's certainly used but has no obvious blemishes.

Overall, I'd say it was a productive day.  I got some high quality cheap used clothes and we put some miles on the bike.

Cicla Via today

James and I did the cicla via today. we also toured a bit of Pasadena from the car to the train...

Pasadena City Hall, where I worked as a temp in the summer of 1994 processing traffic tickets...

Where my dad worked from 1973-2008 (approx

The Civic Center, where I took the bar exam in about 1999

And the gym, Bally's gym, where Taoster and I worked out in 2005-2006....

Here's us at Echo Park Lake...

Shining City by Tom Rosenstiel (2017

This is a murder mystery of sorts set in middle of a US Supreme Court confirmation hearing.  Two investigators hired by the president get to the bottom of seemingly unrelated murders in California and DC.  It's a fictional but educational look at the confirmation process.  It's a world wise book written by a world wise author, if you're up for that sort of thing.

LA Cornfields cross-country Meet today

James participated with 4 other St. Elizabethans in a cross-country meet at the Confields park in Chinatown today.

There were 12 in his group, which was boys K-2.  The race was a quarter mile.  Five were St. E, and there were kids from St. Phillips, St. Thomas More and St. Rita's.  There were 12 in his race.

St. Elizabeth took 4 of the top 6 spots.  James came in third with a personal best of 1:38.6.

Here are the finish times:

 He was fourth through much of the race, and really came on at the end to overtake the runner ahead of him.

Below are pictures from the award ceremony at Assembly 3 days later.

Homeboy 5k today

Taoster, James and went to the 9th annual 5k at Homeboy in Chinatown today.  I'm the only one who raced.

I didn't sleep well, had a cramp, and had other things but still finished better than last year.  Last year was 33:40.  Here are the stats for this race:

bib: 2216; 45-54 Male.  39 (out of 129 in category; 30:20, 435 overall(out of 2214

James said I looked slow, but it sure didn't feel slow.

next year I'm shooting for less than 30.

California by Edan Lepucki (2014

This was an extraordinary novel by a first time novelist out of a good writing creative writing program.  I hope for good things from her over the years.

So the story.  The world as we know it destroyed.  Earthquakes got LA.  There are other natural disasters in other parts of the country.  Order breaks down.  A couple leaves LA to live in the wilderness.  And their world is slowly revealed to them.

About that world?  Let's say it's the recreation of civilization.  Civilization is the silk glove over the iron fist.  The king is a bandit on the make, the bandit a king in the making.  The dude in charge has guns, bombs and old books. People are in it, people haven't really changed, so they just started the thing back up.

Read this one.

projects

Today is Monday, 9/11/2017.  I took a PTO day today to finish up some home projects with the Taoster.  I usually take a little time off in September anyway, but I try to be productive.

We painting James' bedroom blue, Dodger blue in the closet and painted the room baby blue. We also vacuumed out all the dust and cleaned everything.  Hopefully he will agree to part with some of his garbage toys.

Here is a before with the peach colored walls...

Here's the after...

We also worked in the yard.  We got three more trees, to bring the total to 33 (not including the non-productive olive tree on the county strip.  We're hopeful we'll be able to take care of all them with the greywater system, which we expect will be permitted and installed by January or Feb 2018.

Here is the papaya in the front yard....

and

and in the back yard a moringa...

and mango..,

We have a new composting system too. That's the container you see. I put in mulch, food trash, coffee grounds, weeds, and then cover with mulch, and then water.   It composts and also drips out compost tea close to the trees.  Let's see if that helps them to grow big and strong.

There is so much waste in the business as usual system.  My goal is to be as efficient as possible, and we'll see if there's a payoff in the form of fruit and a beautiful yard.

Paradise Lot: by Eric Toensmeier, Jonathan Bates (2013

Full title is: Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City (Paradise World)  by Eric Toensmeier, Jonathan Bates (2013

These are brainy educated hardworking guys who are on a mission to grow food and improve the planet. It's more than sustainability.  It's more than just not hurting stuff. It's actually improving stuff, being a good steward.

Their lot is in Massachusetts.  The weather is different there, so is the soil.  But the principles of regeneration and stewardship are the same.

I wonder if the world will be into this by the time you read this review.

Cross Country Meet today

It was James' first. He came in first in a field of 11 runners in the quarter mile K-2nd grade race at 1:46.