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5-31-03
Dropped the third used car off at our mechanics Thursday for an inspection. Each time we drop a car off there the asking price goes up $3000. Put another way, we have had two cheaper cars bounced by the mechanic for engine and structural problems and consequently find ourselves looking at cars approaching the $9,000 mark.
Part of the reason we found ourselves in this price range was the nature of the car Clint wants. It's a truck for one thing, and an usual truck at that. He wants an extended cab, two wheel drive stick shift Toyota or Chevy S10. We've found a lot of 4 wheel drive trucks, and many automatics, but this particular Toyota model is hard to find. If people own them, they keep them.
After 2 months of looking, and two aborted inspections I began emailing and calling both new and used car dealers to tell them what we were looking for. I say we because Clint couldn't manage it on his own, and after all, what are dads for if not to help with cars? We found this particular Toyota at Titus Will in Tacoma. Sue had also gotten involved by telling one of her co-workers what we were looking for. This particular co-worker's husband is a salesman there.
Whether it was my email to his boss, or the list Sue passed to her friend we'll never know, but he called us up with the news that Clint's dream car had just been traded in on another used car and was going through the sytem (getting inspected and detailed). We all met there for a test drive Wednesday evening and were very impressed. It far surpassed all the other cars we had looked at over the last year of off and on looking.
I couldn't handle the stress of waiting to see what our mechanic thought of the car so I walked downtown and prowled around antique row for a while. When I came back, he was finishing up and was soon walking up to the counter with that inscrutable expression. I stood and met him at the counter, bracing myself for the usual barrage of: "Didn't you hear that valve chatter noise?" or "didn't you see the tell tale flaws in the paint that shows where the car has been hit from both sides?"
Instead of writing a third $60 check for the pleasure of being told that I don't have a clue when it comes to buying used cars, I stood there and watched as he calmly wiped his hands with a shop towel and said, "I think you'll be really happy you bought that truck compared to the last two you've brought in here. I couldn't find one thing wrong with it." I let out a big breath and said, "I really needed to hear that".
By the next evening we were signing the papers on a reasonably priced used car. Surprisingly for a big new car dealership he had priced it at a little below what we've been seeing them advertised for online and in Autotrader. Clint put $6300 of his own hard earned money down on the car, and we co-signed on a credit union loan for the balance. The payments are only $80 a month, so even after he pays the bank and the insurance he'll still have $270 a month left over from his part time job to pay for gas and other things.
I warned him at the last minute that it might be smarter to keep looking at cheaper private party cars, even if we had to throw some more money into fruitless inspections, but he'd had enough of looking for cars and wanted this one, regardless of whether it could be found cheaper. I can only imagine how good it must have felt to get in his first car and follow mom and dad home. I enjoyed it immensely...seeing him get in the car and drive off. My son, and his first car.
5-25-03
Rode around the Southern half of Lake Washington yesterday with my climbing buddy and his son. My trusty old 10 speed (purchased new in 1973) performed flawlessly. The Seattle area has done an awesome job of building an extensive network of high quality paved bike paths. If you've only driven the freeways in a car, you would have no idea that there is a matching network of bicycle paths connecting the major metro areas. The paths usually run off to the sides of the freeways, beyond the retaining walls or hidden below the elevated roadways.
We were amazed to see the small but steady flow of muscle powered traffic flowing along these bike paths. You could easily pedal for a couple days without ever leaving a bike path. You do have to cross the occasional arterial, but it's always at a relatively safe cross walk.
Some of the highlights of the 28 mile ride were pedaling across the I-90 bridge and looking North and South across the 16 mile wind swept expanse of Lake Washington; pedaling across an 80 foot crosswalk at the Boeing plant marked: "Caution, watch for crossing aircraft" and looking at brand new 737's from a hundred feet away; pedaling under the Mercer Island lid in a 1000 foot pedestrian tunnel (a yodel echoes for a long time) and, best of all, pedalling back into the parking lot at the end of the loop.
Several months ago I was filmed in a TV studio while I demonstrated the process of creating an animation of some hot air balloons in Flash. I've not seen the tape, but I've heard it's quite good. Here is the publicity notice:
New College Vision Program
May 27--Mark Webster, Media Design and Production Instructor, will demonstrate how to create an animated film using Macromedia's Flash software during a new College Vision program, "Quick Time Class - Macromedia Flash." It will air at 5 and 9 a.m. and 1, 5 and 9 p.m. on Channel 89 on Click! and Channel 28 on Comcast. College Vision programs featuring CPTC are broadcast on Tuesdays. Questions about CollegeVision? Call Leslie Culver at 589-5717 or email at leslie.culver@cptc.edu.
5-22-03
Spent some quality time down on used car row in South Tacoma over the last couple days. We made it a family affair today as Sue and Clint met me after work to test drive a very fetching Toyota pickup. Clint has saved a huge nest egg over the 3 years he's been working part time at the plant nursery. I'm really proud of my son: straight A's in high school, saved enough money in three years to pay cash for an excellent used car, flies through the air with the greatest of ease on his bmx bicycle...and he's built like a young Arnold Swarzenegger.
All of this stuff is his own doing. The only thing we  harass him about is his homework. The weight lifting, the acrobatic bike riding and the steady after school job are his own choices. He's got integrity and initiative in spades and in fact both kids are making us proud. I'd like to think it's the relatively happy family into which they were born.
We've never had much money, but what we have had we've used wisely to provide them with a stable environment. Even though they are in high school, I still think of them as the cute little kids who used to "purty" me up, and bounce on my knee. They are very connected kids as far as grandmas and grandpas and hanging on to their old friends from pre-school.
They have a lot more sense than I did when I was young. I was more creative, and talented musically, but it's been more of a curse than a benefit. My brother and sister, who can neither paint, sing or write (at least creatively) are both solidly middle class and almost wealthy. I, with all my creative talent and exotic outdoor sports am decidedly poor...but it is no ones fault but my own. I made poor choices as a teenager; choosing to go walk-a-bout instead of to college with all my tuition expenses paid by mom and dad.
A college education for their children was my parents primary goal, but I, in all my 17 year old wisdom thought living in a tipi was a better idea. Am I bitter? No. I have to smile when I think of that long haired kid with his head in the clouds. Could I be this artistic without having lived those experiences? My art, neglected though it may be brings me almost as much pride as my kids. And it will last far longer than any of us.
Life is short, art is long. Be fun if Clint gets that Toyota though. :-)
5-19-03
Mom and dad came up over the weekend for the afternoon. He brought some salmon and we all had a good feed. They hadn't seen Clint in a couple months and were surprised by how big he is. At eighteen, he's as big as a full grown man...bigger than many and certainly bigger than me. He's my size, but instead of being a slack muscled geeky type from too much computer time, he's heavily muscled from his after school job carrying trees in a plant nursery, not to mention 6 years of weight lifting.
I spent the weekend working on freelance projects and lesson plans, with a couple breaks for bike rides and skating. I'm frustrated with Illustrator. None of the ideas are playing out into a good lesson plan, and I'm running out of time. I have a wide range of abilities in the class, from beginner to expert, and consequently many things that I and the experts can do in three hours would be out of the question for my beginners.
I have a few more ideas, and I can always fall back on a lesson from last semester that's pretty, but kind of shallow. I think I need to get some aerobic exercise to get my brain in gear. Man wasn't meant to sit from sun up to sun down.
5-12-03
My fingers are developing some very nice calluses from playing the guitar several times a week. I played twice yesterday for a total time of around 3 hours. I will typically wait until the family has all left on errands before I begin playing. I still feel like I'm not quite ready for prime time, and don't want to 'punish' them with my practicing. We don't have a music room in our little 3 bedroom home. I've been playing at the kitchen table since before these two teenagers were born, and, while I am sensitive to their feelings and music tastes, exposure to a serious practicing musician has to be a mostly positive thing.
On the other hand, because I haven't played regularly in a few years, many of my old songs are still very hard to finger due to the vast number of chords. I have about a 30 pound collection of sheet music books that I have consolidated via Xerox machines and hand typing into a two inch 3 ring binder. Most of my favorites I've further compressed into hand typed sheets with just the words and the chord letters above each verse.
My favorite songs change by the week, with this weeks favorites being: Yesterday, You're Sixteen, Best of my Love, Needle and the Damage Done, Wichita Lineman and Your Song by the Beatles, Eagles, Neil Young, Glen Campbell and Elton John, respectively. What's really fun is when I'm on a roll (playing well) and my family finds reasons to come into the kitchen. I've been playing the guitar for Sue since our first date almost 30 years ago, but Lisa is still trying to decide if it's "cool" to listen to her crusty old dad play the guitar now that she is a rebellious teenager.
She and her friends listen to all kinds of music, oldies included, and when she hears me playing something she recognizes she will come over and listen. I loaned her my old camping guitar, and over the last few months she has begun trying to teach herself to play...not very seriously, but the interest is there. I'd love to send her to lessons if we could afford it.
I've tried to show her the basic chords, but I think she needs a real teacher, not just her dad. I've never had lessons, just played with some very good musicians and consequently have developed bad habits. Yesterday she asked me how I was able to flat pick the strings, instead of simply strumming. I didn't know what to say. I told her to just pick the ones that sounded pretty, which is all I do. That could be my motto for life: "pick the ones that are pretty". But it's not an especially helpful instruction to a guitar student.
5-10-03
Spending spree...it's what I've been on for about 2 weeks now ever since getting my tax refund and a nice freelance paycheck on the same day. All of it was stuff that we had been putting off for a long time; years, and even decades in some cases. I'm starting to loose track of what I've purchased. As a means of straightening it all out in my mind, this is the list:
- $300 - Epson 825 printer, extra ink cartridges and 3 different kinds of paper. (to replace our 5 year old HP)
- $140 - Rear brake rebuild on van including new wheel cylinders, pads, turning drums and a 1/4 inch ratchet
- $35 - New 3/8 inch ratchet and 3/4" wrench for Clint's bike box
- $20 - optical USB mouse for laptop and school computers which all feature bumpy wheel mice
- $60 - rotor, distributor cap/wires and spark plugs for Corolla
- $236 - left CV joint in Corolla - Lloyd and Wilson's Automotive Repair
- $35 - 2 pairs of jeans at Target (I am already too skinny for one pair - hazards of loosing weight)
- $20 - replace the broken gear shifter (original) on my 1973 ten speed bicycle
- $90 - new leather coat from Wilson's leather (replaced worn out coat bought in 1986)
- $70 - accessories for new cell phone (phone was free, but I needed the new phone to laptop cable, and the leather cover)
- $16 - CD case for Lisa's long abused collection of CD's
- $76 - 256 megabyte usb flash drive Cigar-pro
That looks like around one thousand dollars, but nothing was frivolous. I guess one could argue the cell phone was frivolous, but the old one was 3 years old, and cracked in several places...but it did work just fine.The leather coat was unnecessary as well, even if the old one did have numerous cracks and several large holes. Old leather bomber jackets are supposed to look that way. Still, it was getting to the point where I was embarrassed to wear it to staff meetings.
I don't own a suit and tie, so the new leather coat was an attempt to dress for success.
I have to say that it's a very handsome coat, possibly the nicest coat I've ever owned. The leather is of very high grade, and I spent an hour rubbing in the two conditioners they sold as accessories. It smells like a new pair of shoes, or possibly a really nice, brand new baseball mitt. I did mourn the poor old cows who gave their lives for my fine new jacket...for a few minutes.
5-9-03
Don't usually go to work on Fridays, but I was backed up on freelance projects for the large web site I manage and made a special trip. A complicating factor was that I had taxi driving duties for the kids. We worked out a plan where Clint drove himself to school with the Toyota, Sue drove me to the transit center, then drove on to work. I rode the bus to the office where I tried to hide from the students and get some work done.
My projects came out looking nice. I help one of the publicity people publish a weekly newsletter online, and this week Jason Dorsey spoke during the festivities. She took some excellent photos but needed some help getting all the images working in pop up windows.
Jason Dorsey was an outstanding speaker. His approach was very personal, telling his life story with humor. He had to start working at 9 years old when his parent divorced, but now owns 3 businesses and has written at least one national best seller. Many people frown on the whole "motivational" industry, but I consider people like Jason Dorsey and Jack Canfield great resources for giving your mind a tune up.
Five years ago I was feeling very burned out in my career as a 25 year veteran of the printing industry. My old high school buddy loaned me a motivational tape by Jack Canfield about raising your self esteem. I was skeptical, but my buddy has never steered me wrong so I gave it a listen. He talks a lot about how your thoughts can drive your destiny. In a nutshell, if you are constantly telling yourself: "I really suck at this job", then you will. I know it all sounds like psycho-babble, and while the motivational concept needs to be approached with a grain of salt, they have a very worthwhile message.
After helping my friend get the weekly "ezine" up and running, I rode home with the dad of one of my students, who lives out this way and is also a teacher, although he is full time. When I went in his office to meet him for the drive home, I saw a framed black and white photo of Elvis Presley with his arm around 3 fetching young women. "The one on the right in the shorts is my wife," he said. He met her while he was in the service in Hawaii, and she met Elvis while working as an extra in one of his many movies. He said that the shirt she was wearing when 'the king' had his arm around her didn't get washed for a loooong time.
It's funny how we worship celebrities. It must be hardwired into our genes. Something about the pack instinct protecting the home front from invaders. George Bush has been in the news a lot lately, milking the publicity from his glorious victory over the dangerous Iraqis. I did admire the way Bush flew into a carrier at sea in a small military jet. I'd heard he was going to give a speech from a carrier returning from Iraq, but assumed he was landing in a helicopter. It was a bold move. Most presidents avoid danger.
5-5-03
Lloyd and Wilson replaced my left cv joint today in my '91 Toyota. It took them 4 days, but that was because they started Friday and got some bad parts from their supplier. "Breaking in" a new mechanic is a scary process. These guys come highly recommended, with a 50 year reputation. Still, when money is as hard to come by as it is in my family, choosing a bad mechanic can be disastrous. We've had some dishonest ones in the past that burned us for thousands. Many would argue that an 'honest mechanic' is an oxymoron.
I've been a backyard wrench monkey for many years out of necessity. I'd like to have the knowledge to do more than brakes and simple maintenance, but there simply isn't enough time in the day to learn all the things I'd "like" to learn. I had to pedal across town again today as we juggled our two careers between one car. My legs are feeling the strain.
My new printer, an Epson 825, had it's first paper jam. I thought it was a goner...it couldn't clean it's nozzle no matter how many times I ran the head cleaner utility. From the way the shredded paper came out, and the pattern in the test print, I could tell a piece of paper had stuck itself to the nozzles.
I was just about ready to call for service, or return it when I remembered my long wooden Q-tips. There really isn't enough clearance in there for the Q-tip, but I found that the head carriage lifts up just enough to allow the wet Q-tip clearance to wipe off the heads. I'm sure it's strictly forbidden, and bad for the heads, but it was better than returning the unit. So far, so good, it is quite a bit faster than my 5 year old hp722c, and the photos are stunning.
5-3-03
Took my car in for servicing yesterday. It was my day off, so I brought along my laptop and my bicycle, figuring that between the two of them I could stay busy and cover any possible eventuality. I spent the morning on an extended tour of North Tacoma, pedaling around the rich neighborhoods and admiring the views out over Puget Sound. At lunch I tried to find Sue at her school but timed it wrong. Just as I pedaled within sight of her school, I saw our van turning the corner 2 blocks away, heading in the opposite direction. I pedaled furiously to catch her, but legs can't compete with the gasoline engine, especially when she had a head start going uphill.
By her direction I knew she was headed for the mall to buy lunch, but on arriving there I couldn't find our car and sat down on a curb to catch my breath and eat a sandwich. Later I pedaled back downtown to find that they hadn't even touched my car. I'm a new customer there, so I guess I was low on the priority list.
Taking my laptop out of the car I pedaled down to the water front to sit in the sun and grade some homework. It was windy down there, and the trains were noisy so I pedaled up to the small park by the Frank Russell building and found a secluded bench where I was able to work comfortably for a few hours. Only one person bothered me, and that was a homeless guy who needed six dollars to make bus fare to a dishwashing job in Bellevue.
When I asked him why he couldn't find work closer, he painted a vivid story of rejection after rejection and the trials of keeping enough clean clothes available to look for work while living on the street. I usually tell those guys to clear out, but this one hit a soft spot in my heart. Even if he did run out and buy a couple quarts of wine, giving him ten dollars felt like the right thing to do at the time.
Around four o'clock I pedaled up to the mechanics to find that they had received two bad parts from their suppliers and would be unable to finish it until Monday. I stood looking at them, thinking about the 22 mile pedal home. It's true I needed the exercise, but the fifteen pound backpack containing my laptop and riding essentials was going to be tiresome. I could have hopped on a bus, bike and all, but that didn't seem very manly. An hour later I called Sue from a coffee shop halfway home (it was mostly uphill) where she promised to pick me up after picking up both kids.
The highlight of the ride was the view from the bridge deck, 300 feet straight down to the huge crane on the barge where they are building the new bridge. The top of the crane is level with the bridge deck, and only about eighty feet away horizontally. They had the barge triple anchored against the fast incoming tide. There was violent white water around the barge and it's attached motor boats from what looked like a river rushing by at over eight knots. What was impressive was that this 'river' is a mile wide. Nature was clearly the dominant force in the picture. From up on the bridge in the bright sunlight it made a very dramatic picture.
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