Monday Meanderings - 6.29.2015

I think I have been typecast. Several of the books that I have recorded recently for Learning Ally have been biographies or narratives concerning historic figures - John Quincy Adams and George S. Patton, for example. Started a new book last week on... Robert E. Lee.

Robert, like his father Harry "Light Horse" Lee, battled demons all his life. In Harry's case, it was a deeply flawed character trait that caused him to pursue his fortune through risky speculation and poor business choices, to the extent that he discarded a successful military career and abandoned his family to seek riches in the Caribbean, leaving his wife and children destitute.

Robert E. was determined to not be his father; he spent his life denying any personal gain, dedicating himself to military service for his country - again, though, at the expense of his family. Lee was firmly anti-slavery (though a slave-holder) and staunchly pro-Union, but something impelled him to hold his allegiance to the State of Virgina higher than that of the Union, his family, and himself.

It's an interesting read. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wandering the aisles at Walmart  the other day I saw a display of fireworks for sale! Upon closer examination, I saw that what was offered was significantly less volatile and explosive than the items you find in the roadside stands every 4th of July; these were more along the line of "kiddy fireworks" sparklers, sit-on-the-ground fountains, pull-apart crackers and such.

It reminded me that - at least a few years ago - one could buy the higher-powered fireworks inside the Walmarts in West Virginia. That may not be the case now; when I search Google to check, I only find stands selling fireworks. In the Walmart parking lot!

Because of my vast stock holdings (more than 2 shares is holding(s), right?) I received a personal invitation to attend the annual meeting:

I'm thinking of showing up, if for no other reason than to see if they provide free eats, though I'm not sure about chips and queso for breakfast. Maybe I should get a couple of shares of Dunkin Donuts if these meetings are going to start that early in the morning.

Monday Meanderings - 6.22.2015

What? It's Monday again and I haven't been 20 feet from my recliner all this week, let alone do any meandering.


It's all because of the FIFA Women's World Cup. I love me some Women's Soccer, and since the World Cup only happens every 4 years, it's a big deal around our house. Yes, I know that there's also the Men's World Cup, and the Olympics, and the Copa America and... well, the list does go on and on, doesn't it?


By virtue of a lot of late-night tape delay, I have survived seen all or part of each of the Group Matches. This past weekend the elimination play began and there have been some surprises. Brazil is gone, and it looks like Marta will never get her World Cup Championship. She may have one last shot at an Olympic Gold Medal in Rio next year.


For the US, Abby Wambach is in a similar position as far as the World Cup is concerned. This will be her last chance, though she does have two Olympic Gold Medals. The US women take on Columbia tonight. USA! USA!


It's interesting to see how many members of national teams involved play college or professional soccer in the United States. Almost every team has one or two members playing in the US. Canada, for example, has two starters that play collegiate ball for West Virginia University; their captain, Christine Sinclair, the third most prolific scorer in the game, went to school in Portland and plays there professionally now.

I'll bore you with one more soccer story, then I've got to get back to watching TV. World cup starts off with group play - 4 teams in each group and each team plays the other 3 and gets points for wins and draws. The teams with the most points in the group, along with a count of goals scored for or against, advance to the knock-out rounds.


That can make for some interesting scenarios - team A can advance even if they lose to team B if team C loses, or wins, but only by X number of goals, etc., and that could lead to some creative gamesmanship.


In the (Men's) World Cup football match played between West Germany and Austria in Gijón, Spain in 1982,  Algeria and Chile played the day before and with the outcome of that match already decided, a win by a single goal for West Germany would result in both them and Austria qualifying at the expense of Algeria, who had beaten West Germany in the first game.


Though the two teams denied any collusion, a goal for Germany was scored early on, and then for the next 89 minutes, the two teams harmlessly kicked the ball back and forth and never took another shot on either goal. So, from that point forward, the final matches in group play start on the same day at exactly the same time, so that there is no opportunity for any 2 teams to repeat "the Disgrace of Gijón."

Monday Meanderings - 6.15.2015

Went to Chuy's last Monday, as is our custom, and no sooner had we been seated than the lights went out. It's us, isn't it? A little dark cloud of electrical outages just follows us around these days.

Now that ex-governor GoodHair has proclaimed his candidacy (again) for the Presidency, Barb and I have decided that we probably are going to give up news until the election is over - or he gaffes his way into oblivion (again).

This past weekend was the 20th annual Republic of Texas motorcycle rally. Austin normally welcomes with open cash drawers these 250,000 bikers and their money, but the recent events in Waco had everyone - especially the police  - just a teeny bit nervous. Everything stayed between the bar ditches during the event, though. It appears these bikers were only interested in the party, not who came.

I think Summer is upon us, even if we are a few days short of the actual solstice. Just in time, Barb found the reflective auto windshield shade from wherever I had tossed it last Fall.  Nothing like grabbing a scorching steering wheel.

Nephew John figured out that 5 generations of the family have captained Wally the Whale. I don't know the date, but Uncle Arthur (father of Nephew John) bought the fiberglass shell from a neighbor and Mom and Pops added the personality.  Since then, Wally has been a member of the family. Here's Cora, the great-great granddaughter taking her turn.

And doesn't all that water look nice?

I fought the Appraisal Board - and won!

Among the lists of "Best, Greatest, Most, etc." that Austin finds itself on is "The Insanely Highest Property Valuations of Anywhere." Okay, I made the list up, but not the fact. On the TV news the other night was a story about a little one-bedroom frame house in East Austin that sold for $299,000 two years ago and the owner is now asking for $450,000 and there is actually interest from buyers! Actually, the house across the street is listed for nearly $700, 000 so I guess 450K is a good deal. No wonder appraisers are upping the numbers.

Property valuations across the city jumped nearly 20% on average; the evaluation on our house rose a mere 12%. Some areas of town hit 36%! Needless to say, there are a lot of news articles and workshops on "How to protest your valuation."

I have watched the valuation on our house closely. For years it stayed fairly constant and even decreased by a piddling amount a couple of years. Last Year there was a 9% jump and I swallowed hard, but considered it part of the price of living in a city I love. The 22% jump over two years gave me incentive to read those "How to" articles closely.

Protesting your appraisal is a daunting task; it appears you don't stand a chance if you have not done through and perhaps costly research (bring in your own appraisers, generate volumes of exhibits, learn the secret handshake, etc.), something I felt unprepared to do. Yet the newspaper articles stated that 74% of protests last year resulted in a lower appraisal! And promoted heavily this year is an efile method of protest. Go online, state in 1024 characters or less why you should get a break and suggest your opinion of what the appraisal should be. This takes the place of an informal face-to-face that here-to-fore has been the first step. If the informal efile appeal works, you are done.

So I tersely reported how the drought caused our slab to crack, affecting the value of the house, offered a number close to 2 years ago and clicked enter. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Twenty-four hours later I had a "Settlement Offer!" They bought my argument. I fought the Appraisal Board and won - a whopping 1% reduction!!

I figure it will lower my tax bill by, oh, maybe $10 bucks. But the sweet taste of victory has me motivated. I printed out the Appraisal District's "Evidence Packet" and I'm getting my ducks in a row for next year.

Now can anyone tell me what "% good adjustment" means? And "Mass Improv Adj" and should I wear a tie, or dress in my shabbiest clothes, and....

Monday Meanderings - 6.8.2015

Weather-wise, we are drying out after our week or so of tumultuous weather. The tree service finally got around to sending a crew to deal with the mess in the back yard. I have had so many broken limbs this past year the guy in charge said that I was getting the "Frequent Flyer" discount. It took the crew the better part of two days to get everything sawed down, loaded up and carried off. One guy did most of the sawing, two guys hauled it all out to the trailer and one guy sat in the truck all day, Not sure what his role was, but I want his job.

In the aftermath I noticed that a still-standing tree has a big split down the side. There is no evidence of a limb coming down and peeling this 6-foot scar; I'm assuming it is the result of a lightning strike. I was watching the Weatherbug "Spark" app during the storm and noted that one strike was measured at 0.0 miles from our GPS location! Several friends have mentioned that they had direct hits; most resulted in fried TVs and cable boxes. One local girl was hospitalized from a strike while she was indoors. Seems that was the moment she chose to open the refrigerator door.

Austin received another "best place" accolade. It seems we are the 6th most well-read city in the nation. Amazon compiles this list annually based on purchases of print books and ebook downloads. I have every confidence that our family alone is responsible for the lion's share of Austin's count. In fact, I might should read the entire list; it wouldn't surprise me to find "Anderson household" nestled in there between Akron, Ohio and Tallahassee, Florida.

Keeping Austin Weird: There is an Olympics Heights subdivision in Austin, where the streets are named for Olympic champions. Among the names you will find Jesse Owens Drive, Wilma Rudolph Road and... Bruce Jenner Lane. Now all the residents are wondering if they will have to change their street address.

The 2015 Women's World Cup began this past weekend. I pulled the recliner around in front of the TV and pushed the refrigerator into the living room. Haven't solved the bathroom problem yet; Barb has resisted all my suggestions thus far, even though she knows that there are no commercials during the games. Four games down and 48 to go - US meets Australia tonight. I'm in my happy place; you may not hear from me again until July 6.

Monday Meanderings - 6.1.2015

On this day, 53 years ago in Port Lavaca, Texas, I said the smartest words I have ever uttered. "I do."

The adventure continues. It is common to lose things. Happens all the time. Car keys, nail clippers, store receipts, pot holders. Wait, how can you lose a couple of pot holders? I mean, you get them out of the cabinet to handle that hot bowl in the microwave and suddenly they disappear! Yes, we looked in the pantry closet, and in the oven, and in the trash, and in the refrigerator, and in the recycle bin, and throughout the entire house -  AND THEY ARE STILL MISSING! Did we inadvertently add fiber to our diet? It's a mystery.

Last week was an humbling lesson about taking things for granted. Especially electricity. The last 2 posts have been about the Great Memorial Weekend Storm at our house, and about being without power for approximately 36 hours (we weren't home when the power came back on).

We are somewhat prepared for temporary outages; we have some safety lights that come on when the electricity goes off, and some larger lanterns for back up, and of course candles to put in the far reaches of the house. But after they are deployed, that's about the limit. There you are, in the semi-darkness, waiting for illumination.

And TV. And WiFi. And land-line telephone service. Are the cell phones charged? Usually not by the end of the evening. Limit the times we open the refrigerator door and stuff should be good for - how long? The small freezer is probably good for a few days, isn't it?

No coffee maker. Maybe I can boil water (we do have gas) and pour it through the basket. We can scramble some eggs, bake a couple of potatoes in the oven. Wow, how long has it been since we baked potatoes in the oven?

No reading, except for the Kindle App on the iPads. How long will the batteries last? Quick peeks only at Twitter and the news apps to preserve the battery charge on the phones, but it is storming outside; it would be good to know if we needed to move to the hall closet. There's always the charger we can plug into the car outlets. Wait! Our current phones use different connectors. Curse you, Apple. Might as well go to bed.

Morning light and damage assessment. Sure could benefit from our electric chain saw. Need to make a bunch of phone calls. Hope the batteries hold up. We have local Amazon delivery - maybe I could order one of those solar cell phone chargers. However, the sun is not shining brightly at the moment. Wonder how much those portable Honda generators cost at Home Depot. I wonder if Home Depot has power?

Need to take a shower, but it's really pretty dark in the bathroom. Helps to take down the curtain, but there's not much light in the shower itself.  We comment to each other about how we automatically flip the switch when we go into a room, or the closet, and having just said that, turn and flip it again.

Okay, we have done all we can do here. Let's head for a nearby motel, where there is electricity, and lights, and TV and WiFi - and coffee. Did you remember to forward the phone? Oh, wait.

Our prayers are with the thousands in Central Texas who have suffered horrific loss and devastation in the Memorial Day floods. In that context, our brief power outage was a tiny, minor inconvenience, not to be confused with an actual emergency.