A Fast Moving Holiday Season

One of the things I wanted to do in retirement is rebuild relationships with friends and family.  As you read in my prior post, I did some of that for Thanksgiving. 

Well, Christmas was another big dose of rebuilding!  

On December 15 I left Los Gatos for Pasadena to visit Lara, Scott, Madelyn and Emma.  I also delivered some of the items from Mary's estate including glassware, the family cookbook and some photo albums that Mary had with pictures of the kids as they grew up. 

This is Lara and Emma at their Christmas dinner table. 

I was tickled to see the glassware I had delivered in this picture.  

From Pasadena, I drove to Phoenix to see Tim and Charlize.  Again, I had items from the estate that needed to be delivered.  And I also saw my brother, Dan, who lives outside of Phoenix in Chandler. 

Charlize and the jolly guy. 

In both Pasadena and Phoenix, I dropped off Mary's costmetics and instruments (brushes, combs, etc.) for the grand girls to play with.  Lara tells me the cosmetics themselves are probably too old but she'd take a took at them.  

Scott, Madelyn and Emma after decorating their tree! 

On the 20th, I flew from Phoenix to St. Paul, leaving my Honda Element with Tim.  In St. Paul I saw my sister, my sister in law, cousing Mary Jo and family and Stephanie.  On Stephanie's side I spent several events with her family.  And, her family includes my best buddy since 3rd grade who happens to be her brother-in-law. All in all it was very, very pleasant and nice.  Well, except fot the single digit temperatures in St. Paul while I was there.  One (1) degree on Christmas Day! 

Stephanie and Pat

With Stephanie's relatives. The gals take pictures of the group of guys. 

 The group of guys. My buddy from 3rd grade is in the blue and red sitting in the front.  

 And a mighty fine Christmas morning--1 degree at 9AM!  

What is that old song, 

"On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, its one degree in the morning!" 

On the morning of the 26th, I flew to Denver to visit my son, his wife Casey and my two grand children, Danny and Sarah.  Denver weather was better than St. Paul and visiting Chris and his gang is always a big treat!  Although I saw Erika at Thanksgiving, we missed at Christmas.  She left Minnesota for Denver as I arrived in Minnesota and then we exchanged places on the 26th, missing each other again as she returned to Minnesota while I arrived in Denver.  Oh, well, I'l catch her next time I am sure. 

Sarah, Casey and Dan hamming it up for the camera! 

Izzy is 80+ pounds but Squeakers the cat is clearly in control! 

 Denver just opened a new History Museum.  

Sarah, Danny, Chris and Casey in a Model T Ford! 

Who says flyover country doesn't have a sense of humor? Good food! 

After three full days in Denver I jumped on the plane again and landed in Charleston South Carolina.  This was to join the group known as the Farmers for a wonderful first week of the year on Fripp Island.  A small aside is that one leg of the trip included a ride on the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and I was upgraded to first class!  

First class in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 

There were 17 of us on Fripp in a 7 bedroom house with a massive kitchen and great room on the main floor.  Our hosts, Leslie and Richard had a place nearby and they hosted one couple there too. So we spent our days in the big rental house and late each evening, we lost four folks to the 2nd house.  The Farmers are a group from St. Johns and St. Bens (Mary's alma mater) who lived in a community housing experiment in the school year 1968-69. Mary and I have traveled with them to Minnesota, Massachuesetts, Texas and Bali.  After Mary died, I've been to MN, MA, Peru and now South Carolina with the group.  Good people, good times and wonderful community spirit.  You know the group is working well when one of the members complains, "Every time I get up from a meal to help with the dishes, there are already three people using all three sinks in this kitchen!"  

Pictures of the 17 of us in the kitchen and great room on Fripp Island. 

We also visited Beaufort SC, Charleston SC and Savannah GA.  Great day trips and such history of both the founding of the country, revolutionary war, slavery and the civil war.  Great place to learn. 

From Fripp, I flew back to Phoenix to recover my car.  I saw Tim and Charlize and then headed off to see my brother in Chandler.  From there, I spent two days in/near Tucson in the desert plus visiting my friend Terry and Barnes who live in the Tucson area.  Saguaro National Park is clearly something special with the large population of these well known desert cactus.  

Sunset in the desert. 

 Saguaro Cactus in Saguaro National Park

I then had a third dinner with my brother on Tuesday evening. He is moving to the Philipines soon and his house is sold and supposed to close this week.  I wish him well and hope all of his expectations are fulfilled.  

Some workers Dan hired load their truck to take the last of his furniture away.

(And, yes, they did strap it down tightly before they drove.) 

From there, I headed home and arrived Los Gatos about 1AM today (Jan 10).  From December 15 to Jan 10 is 25 days so just under 4 weeks.  

It was definitely time to come home.  

A Quick Note!

Wow, I've been busy, as usual!  

Let me see, I've seen Olympia Dukakis in "Electra" at the San Francisco American Conservatory Theater (ACT-SF.org), "The Lion King" as part of my season tickets at SHNSF.com, "A Christmas Carol" at ACT-SF, attended the Commodore's Ball at the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), dropped in to St. Paul to visit relatives and friends for Thanksgiving, saw a San Francisco 49ers game at Candlestick park and fought a sinus/headcold for about 10 of those days. Otherwise, things have been quiet!    

In my last posting, I said I only had tickets for Dec 29. We'll, that has changed. I'll be in lots of places for the holidays. T

This Thanksgiving I did spend time with Erika in Minneapolis. She was there for the holiday and I spent a few days there visiting with her, Maureen, Mary Jo, Denny, Padriac, Angela and Stephanie plus more friends as well. The usual cast of characters!  

At the Yacht Club, I have been named Chair of the fund raising committee for the GGYC Youth Sailing Fundraiser. It's a lot of work and a lot of fun as well. We'll have a big event in a few months!  

All-in-all, this retirement thing is so busy, it more than enough for one person!  I wonder when it slows down?

Back, Again!

Ah, November in Northern California.  Too bad I wasn't here!  

Well, only for a few days.  Shortly after returning from Minnesota, I headed to Denver to visit my son and his family.  It is truly a pleasure to visit with them, spend time with the kids, visit my son's office and generally just hang out with the family.  Casey, as always, was a super gracious hostess and makes the trips truly enjoyable. 

Why would we visit my son's office?  Because they set the place up on Friday afternoon as a Halloween party for the kids.  Danny and Sarah had a blast with all the fun stuff they set up!  

For iPad users, click Here  to see my Denver trip pictures. 



From Denver, I went directly to Hawaii.  Well, with an overnight stop at my place in San Francisco to change from winter clothes to Hawaii clothes.  And, so that Stephanie could join me flying in from St. Paul.  

The trip was great. It started with both of us getting upgraded to First Class on the way to Maui!  Thank you, United! It seemed like everything we tried to do turned magical.  It was a great trip.  

For iPad users, click here to see the Hawaii pictures.  



We stayed at the Ekahi Villa's, the same place I stayed with Reenie and Tom two years ago, but in a different unit.  Click here for a link to my November 2010 blog postings with the story and pictures from that trip to Maui. It explains the Ekahi Villas and the three beaches I call Mary's Beaches.  

And, yes, the reason for the trip was the same ITPC conference by SEMI that has taken me to Hawaii each November since 2000 (except '09 and last year).  

My trip to New York for Thanksgiving has been cancelled but not because of the storm damage. Rather, Erika won't be there so there is no really good reason to go for Thanksgiving.  I'll connect with her elsewhere, I am sure. 

And, no, the house has not sold. Yes, the house 2 doors away sold for $650,000 more than mine. It is 200 sq ft larger and the lot is only 66% the size of mine.  So, the activity level has picked up, according to my broker. 

Anyway, I am home for a bit with my next airplane ticket set for Dec 29 when I head to Fripp Island in the Carolina's for a Farmers' Get-together. 

Ciao. 

Back in California

Time for another monthly update. 

Spent the last week in Minnesota visiting with my sister, cousins and friends.  Sis has a professional "organizer" helping her figure out how to best set up the apartment and the difference is amazing!  

Went on two tours on Saturday in St. Paul.  The 'caves' tour which is an old silica mine just of Wabasha south of the Mississippi.  The caves were originally created because the sand was so pure, it could go directly into the manufacturing process for glass. The silica miners would go in a couple hundred of feet but then abandon the cave, assuming the sandstone was unstable for further digging.  They'd then open another cave mine a bit further down the bluff.  The customer?  Henry Ford for all those cars he built.  

The second tour was a history of St. Paul with a gangster twist.  In the early part of the 1900's, St. Paul was the resort community for the nation's gangsters.  We visited the houses where Ma Barker hung out for a bit plus places of infamy during St. Paul's hell years.  

On Sunday night we got cousin Denny to fire up his pizza oven and he prepared a pizza feast. Wow, is he good!  

First cousin once removed Katie Connolly, my sister Sister Maureen Lamey and cousin Dr. Mary Jo Connolly

The first week of October was a wild time in San Francisco.  The America's Cup World Series regatta was held concurrently with the Fleet Week activities.  Nothing like watching the Blue Angels over Alcatraz one minute and the next watching the AC boats racing past Alcatraz as well. 

Fleet week starts with a parade of ships. The SFFD traditionally  leads with  all  pumps running. This picture was taken from my balcony.  

The Navy's Blue Angels over San Francisco Bay

The Fleet Race just underway late on Saturday afternoon. 

The Golden Gate Yacht Club put on quite a show.  Fantastic buffet meals and front row seating for watching both the races and the airshow!  

Turns out San Francisco had quite a weekend October 5-6-7.  Fleet Week, America's Cup, Blue grass concert (multiple days) in Golden Gate Park (http://tiny.cc/e0wfmw), Burning Man Decompression (http://tiny.cc/e0wfmw), Castro Street Fair (http://tiny.cc/e0wfmw), and finally, the Italian Heritage Parade (http://tiny.cc/e0wfmw).  Add in the sports: Cal football, Stanford football, Giants playoff baseball and Oakland playoff baseball.   I heard the city expected over 2 million visitors for the weekend. I think they were all trying to get on my bus! 

Other news: No, the house has not sold. However, a house two doors away went on the market for $650,000 more than mine last Wednesday and its under contract now. So its just a matter of the right buyer!  And, having a house sell for that much more than mine certainly says I am not overpriced for the neighborhood! 

I did lose about two weeks to a really nasty flu bug. I was literally down and out for three days after a nice Saturday boat trip across the bay to Angel Island for a club picnic.  

Who knew I'd spend the next two weeks with an awful flu bug?

While sick, I dragged myself to my SF place to take pictures of the Endeavour on its last journey to the space museum in LA. These shot were taken from my balcony while I was wearing pajamas.  

That is about it for now.  If you are on FaceBook, I am too as Pat Lamey or Patrick Lamey. It turns out there is a Patrick Lamey in Nova Scotia and one of us uses Pat and the other uses Patrick on Facebook. I cannot remember which is which but if you see my shining face, you'll know its me!  

Comcast!

While I should be telling you about my escapades since returning to California a couple of weeks ago, I have chosen to write a rant about my recent experience installing Comcast in my SF place. 

Bear with me, please. 


Topic-->Comcast cable installation. TV and Internet connectivity. 

First, I ordered cable service for internet and TV for my SF place.  At the time, I request a purchase of a cable modem from Comcast to prevent paying $7/mo for a box they never update. I once paid that fee for over five years and when I had a problem, they came out and said, "You need a new box and we'll replace it for free because you rent it."  Let see, 60 months times $7 per month is $420 for a Motorola box that cost under $100 when purchased through Comcast (and a lot less than that from Best Buy or Fry's).  That is not free! So, NOT this time! 

Second, brand spanking new cable modem arrives as promised from Comcast telephone sales person. 

Third, service man arrives and then connects cable modem and declares, "This modem doesn't work. I'll install one of the rentals and when you get the cable modem exchanged, you can bring the rental to the Comcast office."  Huh? 

Fourth, when I ask him to install a cable card into my TV, he responds (after getting a message from his supervisor) that "Those things don't work, I'll give you a regular cable box instead."  Excuse me, I have two of those working just fine in my TiVo's at my other place, so what is the problem? 

Fifth, as I comment that the image looks terrible. "Well you have a HD TV and this is a standard cable box. You probably want a HD cable box."  So I respond, go ahead, install the HD box. "They don't give us those to install, you have to go to the shop to exchange the one I am installing now."  

Sixth, since the cable box is not HD, then lets just plug the coax into the TV and it can get the HD signal from the cable.  Connection made, no image or sound on the TV screen after several channel scans. 

My observations:

If Comcast sold me a broken cable modem, why didn't he simple do an on-site exchange with his working modem and my broken modem instead of making me go exchange the modem? After all, he goes to the shop daily and its far more routine for him to turn in a broken modem than for me to do it. 

Why the BS about cable cards? 

What are they thinking? Who wants a standard def cable box anymore?  They actually do not stock the trucks with HD boxes? And, I have to go get the store and do an exchange?  (Note, as a mid-60 year old, unscrewing the cable connections with arthritis is no picnic but now the wrong box is MY problem.)

So the score is:  Internet connectivity is working.  Trip needed to Comcast to exchange SD cable box with HD cable box.  Exchange needed with on-line sales for broken modem.  Trip needed to Comcast to return rented modem. 

The last straw?  They called, emailed me and texted me multiple times for a Tuesday appointment. I think I got daily texts, emails and telecons starting four days prior to the service call to make sure I would be there.  Never once did they ask if I wanted HD TV service or a cable card type install. 

Never once did they inquire after the service call if everything was done correctly. They did call and ask if the service person was polite (he was extremely polite) and competent (he screwed everything together just perfectly) and clean (he was meticulous in my place) but the NEVER asked if management had done the correct preparations for the service call. NOR did they ask if I was satisfied with the service call, only with the service person's behavior.  When I started to volunteer some of my issues, I got "Here is toll free number to call...." 

The bottom line? I should have listened to my friend Scott Ashkenaz :-(

Summer is Over

Other than the one week the last part of July, my days in California have been far and few between.

Such is the life of the single guy, I guess.

Actually, I said when I retired I had three objectives:

1.  Take care of my health. 

2.  Spend more time with family and friends. 

3.  Simplify my life.  

The report card is:

1. Lost a handful of pounds and more than doubled my daily walking activity from pre-retirement numbers. Need to double it again to reach the 11,000 steps per day target.

2.  See below.

3.  The house is still on the market.  I really don't know why it hasn't sold other than the realtors are hearing that folks really want a flat backyard and my creekside setting is not an attraction. I think we need to retarget the audience and seek creekside setting folks. I know they are out there.  The realtors agree.

As for item #2:

First week of June:  New Brunswick for Daniel and Kamie's wedding.  This gave me a chance to see all of Mary's kids.

2nd week of June: Nova Scotia and Cape Breton to meet the branch of the Lamey's who arrived 50 years before my Minnesota branch. (1798 vs 1848)

3rd week of June: Boston and Cape Cod, biking with Mary's group known as the Farmers.

4rd week of June:  Las Vegas for a week's work, paid by my former employer.

1st week of July:  Denver with my son and daughter-in-law plus my grandkiddies, Danny and Sarah.

2nd week of July:  Minnesota to help my sister with her pre-move.

3rd week of July: More Minnesota.

4th week of July: California--either San Francisco or Los Gatos.

1st week of August: Manhattan to see my daughter.

2nd week of August: Upstate New York to see friends (Ute and Jochen) and then to Minnesota for my sister's move.

3rd week of August: More Minnesota.

4th week of August:  Aunt Peggy died at the age of 89 so I was there for her funeral with that side of my family.  Even more Minnesota.

So now I am back in CA and expect to be here until my return to MN about mid-October.

Nice to be home...

Ciao!

And now it is July?

Since my last posting, I have been in Boston and Cape Cod to visit friends; Las Vegas to do some work; Denver to celebrate the 4th of July with my grand kiddies. And Minnesota to help my sister prepare for her upcoming move.
And, no, my house had not yet sold. To view the listing, click on this link: http://www.californiamoves.com/property/details/2485412/MLS-81219028/14745-Golf-Links-Dr-Los-Gatos-Los-Gatos-Mountains-CA-95032.aspx
The group known as the Farmers, Mary's senior class community experiment group, had a mini-get together on Cape Cod. I joined them to make the 9th person on the trip. We had a great time and did a lot of biking. The cape has a number of railroad right of ways converted to biking paths.




Peter and Diana have the house on the Cape. We stayed there about 6 years ago for a larger Farmers gathering. Well, Peter let me use his old bike that looked suspiciously like a bike I bought in 1971. In fact, I think it was a twin to it. With a borrowed helmet and absolutely no riding gear other than the helmet, I took off and with the group covered over 20 miles each day.




Oh, did I mention the temps were in the 98 to 102 range. Call us nuts! And yes, there was a touch of humidity, like 90%.
The Las Vegas trip was for work. Applied Materials asked me to come back for a week to be the Master of Ceremonies of the annual Engineering and Technology conference. And it was a blast. First of all, being on stage in front of 800 people. And, second, seeing all of my old buddies from Applied. I truly enjoyed it!




Here I am on stage with Kevin James, the magician.
One night was unscheduled, so David (a former coworker) and I took in a Celine Dion show. If you ever get the chance, go see it. Wow! Oh, and it was the only time I was outside during the week, other than to and from the hotel to the airport. Yup, 115 degrees was about right!
While I managed to return to my room at a reasonable hour each night, primarily because I was on stage each morning at 8AM or so, on Thursday night after the close of the conference, the various groups of attendees made sure I did a tour of the bars and entertainment venues in the Hotel Palazzo. And we made good friends with various members of the staff.




No, I do not remember her name.
After Las Vegas, I headed to Denver to visit my grandkiddies and their Parental Units for the 4th of July. Chris and Casey are just such wonderful parents and it is so good to see Danny and Sarah grow up!
The Denver neighborhood association where they live has a wonderful 4th tradition. One of the local fire trucks comes to the elementary school and leads a parade of kids on bikes and walking adults on a five block parade through the neighborhood.




At the head of this column is a fire truck followed by several zillion kids on bikes and then the walking parents.
The parade ends at the elementary school where the fire truck hooks up to the fire hydrant and proceeds to spray the playground with cooling, fresh water. This was especially appreciated this year because the temperatures in Denver were like Cape Cod: 98 to 102 was typical.




You can see the spray of water coming in on the left side of this picture and all the kids and many parents heading for the "cool off" opportunity in the middle of the playground. What fun! Someone asked about the fire fighters not being at the Colorado wildfires. The response was, "Do you expect them to abandon Denver?" Followed by, "These guys are on call, two years ago during the parade, they turned on their lights, did a quick siren blast and then all the firefighters ran and jumped on the truck and 'poof', the neighborhood parade was over."
Danny and Sarah wore their 4th of July colors:




Sarah will be six this October. Danny will be 8 in September.




Upon returning from Denver, I had a theater performance at ACT (www.act-sf.org) on Saturday. It was the "Scottsboro Boys"--an absolutely wonderful performance telling a chilling tale of life in America in the 1930's. I have been going to ACT for almost two decades now. This is the only performance I have attended where there was a nearly unanimous standing ovation for the performance. I've seen standing O's from a third of the audience or maybe half, but never the full audience standing for a performance. If you get a chance to see it anywhere, please be sure to do so.
Oh, and it was so nice sleeping in San Francisco with the window propped open. At midnight I dug out the flannel pajamas. At 2 AM, I put the heavy comforter on the bed. After being unable to sleep in such warm weather in Boston and Denver, it was so nice to let that big Pacific Ocean cooling system provide a solid night's sleep!
I then headed to Minnesota to assist my sister in preparation for her upcoming move. The order (Sisters of St Joseph of Corondolet) in partnership with Presbyterian Homes demolished their previous "retirement center aka Bethany" and have built an open-to-the-general-public retirement village on the property. In the Twin Cities, Presbyterian Homes is very successful running retirement, progressive care and hospice facilities so its a very attractive match.
When the center, known as Corondolet Village (http://carondeletvillage.org/default.aspx) was in planning, my sister did not sign up for a place because she was doing quite well. Since then (3 years ago) she has had just enough medical difficulties to cause her to change her mind. And, a unit opened up from among the nuns' apartments so Maureen is moving in August. She originally thought it would be in November. Ah, the best laid plans. Anyway, I invited myself up to Minnesota to provide labor, encouragement and assistance in her move starting last week. We have packed her office, her kitchen, her TV accessories (Wii and other things she will not need for a while). We've delivered obsolete electronics to the recycle center, made donations to Goodwill and in general have made a lot of progress. But, there is still much to do!
Finally, as we take breaks on the moving project, we've been reading some of my sister's genealogy materials and we've made a discovery!
We have known for some time that my great grandfather spelled his name Leamy (not Lamey). Yet, when my grandfather William Maxwell was baptized, the name was spelled Lamey. In fact, his early children were named Leamy and his later kids were Lamey. Great Grampa never changed his name.
Well we've confirmed that Great Grampa's father moved from Drom, County Tipperary to Derrygarriff, KnockJames in County Claire. Unfortunately, his father was also John so I call them John the Migrator (Tipperary to Claire) and John the Immigrant (Claire to Minnesota). Well, we have learned that John the Migrator's father was Edward. And, given the dates, he was a contemporary of James the Pioneer who landed in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1798.
Is Edward Leamy related to James the Pioneer of Cape Breton? It is likely. We have also learned that in the mid-1700s, there were 15 Leamy households in County Tipperary registered in the equivalent of a census.
We also have determined my maternal grandmother was born on Calumet Island in the Ottawa River (not the St. Lawrence as we always thought). She moved to the US as a small child with her family.
Enough for now! Until next time!
Ciao
Pat
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