The Visiting Scholar

Some Confused Thoughts on American Manufacturing Policy

2012-01-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

I guess that It is easy and perhaps unproductive to point fingers at or thosewho have inadvertently or consciously contributed to the decline of Americanmanufacturing competitiveness in the global economy (I like to single out Ralph Nadar and his minions but I know that this a unproductive form of mental self-gratification). Although several years ago,New Jersey Manufacturers used to tell me that it could easily be summed up thethree economic vampires: Wal-Mart, Communist China and NJDEP!

At this point is probably better to look at ways that publicpolicy can provide the framework for a business climate that encouragesinnovation, risk taking, on shore capital construction, job creation andeconomic opportunity for all workers in American society.

This concept or policy is called a national industrial ormanufacturing policy and it usually means governmental micro management andpolitical oversight of the economic system to achieve targeted sector results. Fareed Zakria saysin Time, “Like it or not (He doesn’t), we need a manufacturing policy to stay competitive.”[1]

From my perspective, in addition to the natural leveling of wages in the worldmarket and the flow of capital to sectors of growth, governments such as CommunistChina and South Korea, have helped their factory owners with subsidies, low interest loans andaccelerated permitting and approvals. This is in addition to China's skillful use ofnational monetary policy, ability to squash workers unions, apparent disregard for worker health and safety, and lax environmental standards. This really doesn't seem like a level playing field.

The bottom line for me, who doesn’t really understandinternational trade policies, is that talking about fairer trade, a nationalmanufacturing policy and domestic growth in the manufacturing sector is thirtyyears behind the time for actually having a stable, yet dynamic manufacturingpolicy in place. It would be better to spend our time and energy critiquing how its working rather than wondering if we should give additional tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy or putting tariffs in place on goods that are unfairly produced or traded.

There is certainly more to learn about this topic, but athoughtful look a the apparent success of the American auto industry after the federal bailout, might behelpful as we move forward. This entire issue has been clouded by volatile political rhetoric on both sides (but mostly by the fringe right).

[1]Zakaria, Fareed. (February 6, 2012). TheCase for Making it in the USA. TimeMagazine.Vol. 179, No. 5, 2012

Namaste: A thousand words about 2011

2012-01-21T12:34:00.000-08:00

Many things large and small happened in2011. We built a fence to disappear our view of the boat yard and bought anelectric fireplace to fool ourselves in the wintertime and joined our neighborsin hiring Redmonds to rake up and take away all the leaves (twenty years worth). We went to Florida with Tilly for a month inthe warm sunshine, Lynn became a chaplain’s aide at Virtua Memorial in MountHolly and I helped Colleen Karr with a “destination marketing project” atTravel and Tourism. We did get to go and have darshan with Amma and visit Matthewin California at Christmas time (He moved to San Francisco in the summer). Sergio (Mario's son) also moved to San Francisco in the fall and of course Emily (Ira's daughter) also lives out there.

I did attend the Widener 45^threunion, but didn’t attend the Amherst High School "class of 1961" reunion,but that is something that I never really indented to do in this lifetime (Ihave written about that before). However, I did enjoy the process ofrethinking high school and writing about some of the events that I recalled (andposting and then un-posting the articles on this blog) and enjoyed seeingthe pictures of these older folks who carried some resemblance to people who Ireally didn’t know very well fifty years ago. I have also enjoyed email and Facebookcontact with some of my classmates.

In 2011, wherever we went and whatever wedid, we took many photos. Lynn says (and I agree), “that the photo atthe bottom of this paragraph is our picture of the year and should be on thecover of our annual photo book.” This is a photo of me and three local childrentaken by Lynn with a Canon SD 1100 camera. They are looking at some pictures that I had shot of them and the little guy infront is looking at me. The setting for this shot is a Gurung tribe village called Khare on the Seti River in Nepal.On its own, it is a really good shot that captures a moment in time, but alsoencompasses a number of threads that describe what 2011 was all about for theSinclair’s.

Namaste

In 2011 we signed up, prepared for andthen undertook a journey to Nepal with Overseas Adventure Travel, that allowedus to trek into Sanctuary Lodge along the trail to Annapurna basecamp. From thelodge we hiked up to several villages and met with some local people in theAnnapurna Region. We also visited many historic sites in the Kathmandu Valley,flew up to view Everest from the air, went on a jungle safari looking forrhinoceros and tigers in Chitwan National Park. We did this on the back of anelephant. It was wild and exciting. We also took a white water rafting tripdown the Seti River and spent two nights in a very un-Spartan river camp. Itwas from that camp that we hiked about and hour and a half to Khare.

We spent the year getting into shape fortrekking and making sure that we cut down on our traveling gear. Experiencing theregional airline carry-on restrictions in Iceland motivated me to purchase atravel camera system. As you see in the photo, I got a Panasonic Lumix G3with a 100-300 zoom for birds and wildlife and a wide –normal 20mm F1.7 for lowlight photos, people and scenery. For a trip where we have to travel light,this kit replaces the Nikon D300s.

Early in the year, Lynn decided shewanted a small pocket digital camera that took great photos and was always withher. She selected a new Fujifilm 550-EXR. This would replace our Sony TX7 that“disappeared”(actually crushed under thefront seat of the car). The Fuji had16 Megs resolution, 1080 video, a good zoom range (15x), and did HDR andpanoramas. Sounded ideal for taking pictures of mountain ranges and street shots.It was a good camera spec-wise, but it was not field worthy. It failed on oneof our training hikes and the Fuji warranty process sucked. They said sand wasthe problem, but it was probably a drop.

In May, we attended Katy’s (our god daughter) graduation inSyracuse and decided to pop over to Buffalo to visit my father. It was a goodvisit, perhaps the best we ever had in Buffalo. We took him to mass at StGregory’s and picked up Elaine and took both of them to the Shrine (Our Lady of Fatima).All winter long hewanted to do that. On the way back westopped for dinner on Niagara Falls Boulevard and my father had a steak and twomartinis! It was an excellent visit.

On Monday June 13^th he askedme to get a doctor in to come in and see him. He said that he was feeling sick.I called the nursing home and they said that the nurse practioner had looked athim and that they were monitoring him.

On Friday the 17^th, thenursing home called me and said that they thought he had pneumonia and theywere treating him in place. Later they called and asked permission to send himto the hospital for X-rays and evaluation (there seemed to be a problemgetting x-rays at the Beechwood). We then decided that we should travel upto Buffalo on Saturday (Friday was Audrey’s graduation) and could bethere for Father's day. We brought Tilly with us because we thought he would beback in his Beachwood room when we got there.

On Saturday morning, my father called me from the hospital onhis cell phone and said that he was getting checked out for pneumonia, that hewould be there for several days and that he was “confused and really tangledup.” That was the last words that I heard from him. He died on the first day ofsummer. I was with him in the hospital when he ended this lifetime and went offto whatever place Catholics go to before they return.

A number of people have some very fond memories of my father inhis various roles that he undertook. Our own relationship was complex and strained for perhapsas long as sixty five years. The really weird and somewhat sad thing about thatis I don’t think he ever knew how superficial it was.

We went through the process of setting up thefuneral, clearing out his room at Beechwood and taking care of the things inhis storage locker. They cleared out his room at Beechwood before he died (theyare extremely efficient). Most of the stuff we gave to Goodwill or the rescuemission. Some things were given to Ron and Elaine and Robert asked for apainting. The people at the nursing home also took some of his artwork. One ofthe things that we took home was his camera, the SD 1100. And that littlecamera took the picture of the year of 2011.

Revised Jan. 28, 2012

Thoughts on Aunt Louise and Uncle Harvey

2012-01-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

A work in progress!

On Jan. 8, 2012, my aunt Louise P.Hensley, age 89, died. She was a bookkeeper for 30 yrs. at Reale’sMarket on Germantown Ave. She was the wife of the late Harvey S. Hensley (mystepmother’s brother). She is survived by her daughters Paula H. Shimer (Rufus)and Denise H. Anthony (Robert), grandchildren Jason P. Anthony (Hannah), LaurenFrymoyer (Scott), and Leslie Malason, great grandchildren, Riley LouiseFrymoyer and Clayton Alexander Frymoyer, and her brother Samuel Paul (Doris). Services were held at Our Mother ofConsolation Church, on Saturday, Jan. 14^th.

She lived her entire life in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood and was probablybaptized and attended school at Our Mother of Consolation Church. In the post war period when many people traveledthe length and breadth of the continent and in some cases the world, it was quiteamazing how little Louise traveled outside of Chestnut Hill. Of course, therewere occasional trips to center city and a summer family excursion down theshore. Harvey and Louise did travel to Fords NJ in 1967 to attend our wedding.

I was a little boy when I first met them in 1951, when wetraveled first to Syracuse NY to pick up Florence (my step mother’s sister) andher then current husband Fran (one of many) and then to Philadelphia (five people including the overweight Fran packed into a coupe). It was a painful trip but memorable visit. I was really impressedwith their yard (perhaps the largest yard on Germantown Ave.) and the vegetable and flower garden. There was avery large shade tree and brick sidewalks. We could all sit outside under the tree in the shade and watch the people and trolley cars on Germantown Ave. Harvey’s glass business was locatedin the old stone garage behind the house.

During the fifties, I would returnseveral times to this house. On one occasion, I stayed a week while my parentswhen to Virginia. In 1961, I attended PMC and their house was a haven for me onthe rare weekend that I could leave school. Sometimes Harvey would get free baseball tickets from the local beer distributor, to the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium or the A's at Schieb Park and take me to the game. Harvey also loved to play cards for pennies and forover thirty years I had a small stash of coins in an old watch case for playing poker, that theykept in their dish cabinet. In 1965, I commutedto Chester from their house for a short period when I was temporarily without a place to stay near school.(and that's a completely different story)

Both Harvey and Louise werewonderful people who took excellent care of me. Louise fed me delicious and exotic italian food and the traditional Philadelphia hoagies.

On Saturday, Lynn and I arrived earlyat the church for the service and we had an opportunity to talk with my cousinsPaula and Denise. We then sat down and waited for the start of the funeral mass.As the church filled up we met the children and grandchildren, and saw nephews and niecesand friends of the family. As the aisles filled in, Lynn asked if we should moveback to provide additional room for the family, I replied in a somewhat chokedup voice the “I was family”(and in fact I am).

Louise was almost ninety and livedin a nursing home. It was time to go, but I still miss her and Uncle Harvey andfeel really sad about all this.

Lynn says that what I am feeling isemotion and it is how most normal people feel, given the situation.

First thoughts on Göbekli Tepe

2012-01-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

Last week I was visiting the dentist (Dr. Ken Hoover) and happened upon a July2011 National Geographic. Thumbing though the magazine, while I wasawaiting my appointment, I found an article on “Göbekli Tepe”. The article is entitled “The Birth of Religion” by Charles C. Mann with photographs by Vincent J. Musi.[i] What attracted me to the article was thesubheading, “We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities andlater to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests theurge to worship sparked civilization.”This sounded fascinating and triggered some preliminary research on the internet.

“Known as Göbekli Tepe (pronouncedGuh-behk-LEE TEH-peh), the site is vaguely reminiscent of Stonehenge, exceptthat Göbekli Tepe was built much earlier and is made not from roughly hewnblocks but from cleanly carved limestone pillars splashed with bas-reliefs ofanimals—a cavalcade of gazelles, snakes, foxes, scorpions, and ferocious wildboars. The assemblage was built some 11,600 years ago, seven millennia beforethe Great Pyramid of Giza. It contains the oldest known temple. Indeed, GöbekliTepe is the oldest known example of monumental architecture—the first structurehuman beings put together that was bigger and more complicated than a hut. Whenthese pillars were erected, so far as we know, nothing of comparable scaleexisted in the world.”

11,600 years ago! That isaround 9,600 BC. To put in regional perspective, Harappaand Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan were built in 2500 BC.[ii] This site is in Turkey, about 100 miles from the ocean.

“These new findings suggest a novel theory of civilization. Scholarshave long believed that only after people learned to farm and live in settledcommunities did they have the time, organization and resources to constructtemples and support complicated social structures. …it was the other wayaround: the extensive, coordinated effort to build the monoliths literally laidthe groundwork for the development of complex societies. [iii]

The Wikipediaarticle on the site says “Göbekli Tepe is regarded as an archaeological discovery of thegreatest importance since it could profoundly change our understanding of acrucial stage in the development of human societies. It seems that the erectionof monumental complexes was within the capacities of hunter-gatherers and notonly of sedentary farming communities as had been previously thought. In otherwords, as excavator Klaus Schmidt puts it: "First came the temple, thenthe city."[28] This revolutionary hypothesis will have to besupported or modified by future research.

Not only its large dimensions, but the side-by-side existence ofmultiple pillar shrines makes the location unique. There are no comparablemonumental complexes from its time. Nevalı Çori, a well-knownNeolithic settlement also excavated by the GermanArchaeological Institute, and submerged by the Atatürk Dam since 1992, is500 years later, its T-shaped pillars are considerably smaller, and its shrinewas located inside a village; the roughly contemporary architecture at Jericho is devoid of artisticmerit or large-scale sculpture; and Çatalhöyük,perhaps the most famous of all Anatolian Neolithic villages, is 2,000 yearsyounger.

Schmidt has engaged in some speculation regarding the belief systemsof the groups that created Göbekli Tepe, based on comparisons with othershrines and settlements. He assumes shamanic practices andsuggests that the T-shaped pillars may represent mythical creatures, perhaps ancestors, whereas he seesa fully articulated belief in gods only developing later in Mesopotamia, associatedwith extensive templesand palaces. This correspondswell with an ancient Sumerianbelief that agriculture, animal husbandry and weaving had been brought tomankind from the sacred mountain Du-Ku,which was inhabited by Annuna—deities,very ancient gods without individual names. Klaus Schmidt identifies this storyas an oriental primeval myth that preserves a partial memory of the emergingNeolithic.[29] It is also apparent that theanimal and other images give no indication of organized violence, i.e., thereare no depictions of hunting raids or wounded animals, and the pillar carvingsignore game on which the society mainly subsisted, like deer, in favor offormidable creatures such as lions, snakes, spiders and scorpions.[8][30][31]

At present, Göbekli Tepe raises more questionsfor archaeology and prehistory than itanswers. We do not know how a force large enough to construct, augment, andmaintain such a substantial complex was mobilized and rewarded or fed in theconditions of pre-Neolithic society. We cannot "read" the pictograms,and do not know for certain what meaning the animal reliefs had for visitors tothe site; the variety of fauna depicted, from lions and boars to birds andinsects, makes any single explanation problematic. As there seems to be littleor no evidence of habitation, and the animals depicted on the stones are mainlypredators, the stones may have been intended to stave off evils through someform of magic representation; it is also possible that they served as totems.[32] The assumption that the site was strictlycultic in purpose and not inhabited has also been challenged by the suggestionthat the structures served as large communal houses, "similar in some waysto the large plank houses of the Northwest Coast of North America with theirimpressive house posts and totem poles."[33]It is not known why every few decades the existing pillars were buried to bereplaced by new stones as part of a smaller, concentric ring inside the olderone.[34] Human burial may or may not haveoccurred at the site. The reason the complex was eventually backfilled remainsunexplained. Until more evidence is gathered, it is difficult to deduce anythingcertain about the originating culture or the site's significance.”[iv]

I think that I would like to see this site and archeological sites of significance in the "Fertile Crescent". It would be great if OAT ran a tour. It is time to update my understanding of ancient history.

[i] http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text

[ii] http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/mohenjo-daro/

[iii] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html

[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göbekli_Tepe

Work in Progress at the Visiting Scholar in 2012

2012-01-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

This is my working list of projects for 2012 at theVisiting Scholar.

A short explanation about WIP -“work in progress”. WIP doesn’t mean that I am actually doing anything more than thinking aboutwriting something. These are neat little projects that involve research,contemplation, articulation and ultimately discussion and feedback. Some thingsactually get posted and in rare cases posted in final form.

I will be visiting in the spring of 2012 at the Burlington County Community College Library which is near my house (across the lake and down the Colemans Bridge dirt road). I have no official affiliation with the college, I just plan to hang out there one day a week. (When we are not in Florida or Spain)

Projects:

The Trip to Boston: I would like to prepare a shortstory about my friend G. E. Murray the almost poet laureate of Illinois. (This has been on the list for a long time.)I have done some research on this and have scanned in a few old photos. In theearly seventies Lynn, Howard Pfeffer and I traveled up to Boston to visitJerry. At the time Jerry was attending Brown (to get Ivy league credentials?)and working as a dorm proctor at Northeastern. Not long after this Jerry getsmarried, moves to Chicago and disappears from the radar screen. I am not sureabout what is so important about this trip, but I will try to find out.

Policy Horses: What happens to the “Policy Horses” (greatnew and world changing ideas that are embraced and pursed by politicaladministrations) when they are without a rider? Perhaps a good start tothis project will be to generate a list .i.e, smart growth, neighborhoodpreservation, housing rehabilitation, urban renewal, model cities, newtowns-in-town, recycling, pollution prevention, watershed management, stateplanning, etc. A meeting with Joe Maraziti on the Chamber Trip to Washington and the recent passing of Carol Murphy has encouraged me to start with the report of "The Assembly Committee on the 21st Century".

Creeping around the Bureaucratic Morgue: How to visitthe state archives. I would like to examine the final documents of theHazardous Waste Sitting Commission. I plan to tell how that works out.

Would like to look at the bios of PMC engineers from65-66 and assemble an article for 2015 (Widener Magazine). I have made initialcontacts at Widener.

Spain: Some very good day hikes in Spain. We will visitin May with the USC Alumni. I may tie this trip into some research that I will undertake concerning US relations with the Iberian Peninsula.

Construction Code Stories: an updated and uncensoredversion of my 25th Anniversary Article and a short piece on proposed changes to "fit-outs".

Participant-observer thoughts on leadership andorganizational design. (I am not sure what this means but it could be a good poem)

Write my own checklist and observations on the petition/delegate selection process.

Destination Marketing in New Jersey: Some observations on the regional programs.

Minor work: This was a special project in 2011 and I may have a few words to say about this.

365 photos of 2011: I will put this little exhibition together in Jan. and post it at http://www.pbase.com/punchfilms/a_few_of_my_favorite_photos_of_2011 . (Complete)

What intelligent things to I have to say about legislative oversight of the regulatory process?

Updated Jan. 28, 2012

Madrigal on Market Street

2011-12-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Madrigal on Market Street[1]

By G.E. Murray

(For James A Sinclair)

One fairy whirling devil clown

Staggers “eludingly”over the virginal summer/fall

Leaves encased in pavement

cracks.

“Skip a crack & save your mother’s back.”

The confounded warm-pretzel merchant

Adroitly, articulately

evades

His empty pint of King’s Burgundy

(medium sweet.)

A bustling bus ruptures this Adriatic morn.

Righteous realism upbraids the cool warmth

Of the pavement

walked weary

By plodding, directionless steps.

Stop! Re-read the chalk-scribbled-concrete epistle.

“Mirza Ali Mohammed still lives”

The light fragrant Negress boards, package struggles,

A subterranean train.

Passageway and induction into the village uterus

And it fades,

this joyous resurrection of inane

beauty.

The frenetic; intrepid pulse evokes things back

Toward 51^st Street.

They walk,

Avoiding the pushcarts; hot dog gobbling hordes,

Gaily satisfied.

I resent loosing you

“Inebrious”buffoon,

We shall meet again.

[1] G.E.Murray, “Madrigal on Market St”, Quadrangle, Vol. 53, No.2, CanisiusCollege, Buffalo, N.Y.Spring 1967

Jim's Notes on “Expedited Permit by Notice”

2011-12-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, December Dec. 15th,I did not play golf; instead I traveled to Trenton and helped change the world(a little bit). I had been asked by Ed Smith (the new Bill and Cindy) toparticipate in a special small working group of developers, building owners,architects, engineers (me) and local and state construction officials. This wasthe stakeholder group request by the Uniform Construction Code Advisory Board charged with creating an alternateproposal for alteration projects, an “expedited permit by notice” process.

WhileI was in Nepal, the board discussed a proposed rule drafted in response to aninitiative submitted to the Department by NAIOP (formerly known as NationalAssociation of Industrial and Office Properties). The problem that NAIOPraised was delays in many towns with regard to a change of tenancy (or tenantfit-outs) in commercial office buildings.

I agree with the department that itreally seems to be bad public policy in a recession to delay projects thatwould be employing real people right away. At the local and state levelinspectors and plan reviewers have been laid off or their time cut back due tothe down turn. Local elected officials who are under great pressure not toraise local taxes are not keen to add additional staff even though the codeenforcement process is supposed to be self-funding.

The NIAOPproposal was to create a parallel enforcement system like the one used on NYCthat relies on peer review of plans, if needed, and inspections uponrequest. In the recommendation, it was also suggested that the buildingowner could have the option of submitting plans, but the plans would not bereviewed unless, upon inspection, it were found that the work was substandardand then the plans would be reviewed as an indication that the owner intent wasto comply with the code.

Althoughusually the rules that are included on the Code Advisory Board agenda have beendiscussed at length by staff and are closer to “what they should be,” in thiscase, the rule was being “fast-tracked.” The board and its sub-committeesdidn’t think that this would work for a variety of reasons in New Jersey(Life safety, a report on the NYC system and logistical concerns).

Theydid ask for the creation of a special working group to examine these concepts:

Plans: Plans would be submitted to the local enforcing agency as soon as possible, but not fewer than five (5) days before the start of work. Work could begin after the five (5) days has run.

Noncompliance: Nonconforming work would have to be corrected promptly or a stop work order would be issued.

Inspections: The permit holder would request an inspection three (3) days before the work is expected to be ready. This would give the local enforcing agency time to get out and would ensure that work would not be stopped as long the work complied.

Alternate Documentation: If the inspector does not inspect within the three (3) days, the work would be required to be documented with photographs and a statement by both the design professional and the contractor that the photographs show the work that was done. There would be no requirement for certification by the design professionals or the contractor. In addition, an inspector’s failure to show for an inspection would be reported to the Office of Regulatory Affairs.

Signed and Sealed Plans: Plans that are submitted are required to be signed and sealed; in the interest of full and complete information, this rule should state that.

Applicable Use Groups: This process would be applicable to those use groups specified in the proposed rule.

Means of Egress: The rule should specify that a means of egress for the tenant or any other tenant may not be compromised.

Working Group Recommendations

Thegroup tossed these ideas around and came up with some alternative ideas which,I like a lot (of course the devil is inthe details, so we will have to look at the regulatory language that the DCAstaff put together by early January):

Coveredprojects: This would apply to only alteration projects in commercial buildings(Group B, Group F, Group M orGroup S occupancy-this could be wrong) that do nottrigger a change of use or a change of character of use.

Surcharge:The department will look into a surcharge fee on a covered project to allow amunicipality to pay for overtime or extra time on the project.

Inter-local Plan Review: If a municipalityindicates that it cannot review a covered project in the time frame laid out inthe law or regulations, the owner with municipal approval may get the plansreviewed in another municipality by a qualified sub code official. The planreview fee would go to the municipality that is preforming the review. (This is similar to the system in place forschool construction and renovation.)

Rugreplacement and painting: Will beeliminated from the code review requirements for alternation.

Scopeof work checklist: The department will develop a tenant fit-outs sheet forcommercial office buildings to expedite the communication process inpre-application meeting with the owner, design professional and local codeofficials.

ExpeditedPlan Review: The plans and application will be reviewed in a timely manner (the code and stature allow twenty businessdays). The local code officials will return the application and plans withan approval or comments. If the owner and his design professional agree to thecomments, then they may proceed with the work with something like a “conditionalpermit by notice”. This should greatly accelerate the process by eliminatingthe resubmittal of drawings for an additional local review cycle.

Everyoneleft the meeting feeling good about the discussion.

Taking a few walks in Bay Area

2011-11-29T05:05:00.001-08:00

We areback from our trip to California to spend Christmas with Matt and visit some ofthere other émigrés (Emily and Sergio). We got to see Matt's office/bedroom.(It was neat and organized and professional.) We even got to listen to himsolving problems for a short period. His house is in a nice quiet neighborhood,perhaps a little to quiet for Matt .

We stayedthree days at the Seal Rock Inn in a lovely large room with a great view of theocean and park (four doors down from the"Hunter Thompson room). It was close to Matt and right on the park.Most mornings we ate an excellentbreakfast at the Seal Rock Inn and walked on the park trails.

Wevisited Sergio and delivered his present from Mario and he showed us theawesome view from his roof. You can see the entire San Francisco skyline and the baybridges! Awesome.

We also visited Emily and Ben at their very nice apartment and had awonderful time listening to stories of the wedding planning and graphic talesof the race to Mongolia. Ben is a great story teller and I really thought thatsome of his tales would fit into a great movie or fantastic document retry.When they got to Mongolia the maps, GPS and roads stopped. The pot holeswere so big that you had to drive down into them. Theyshared a bottle of this great red wine that even Lynn thought was good.

We wentto great Vietnamese restaurant and pigged out.

Spent three days at Christmas with Matthew in the Monterrey area and returned to Half Moon Bay for the last three days of the visit.

Muir Woods: The highland trail.

Muir woods, which was very crowed on the winter solstice has lots of lovely trails trough the redwoods. What's not to like or revisit?

Point Lobos State Park (South of Carmel):

A lovely walk on Christmas Day to seals and birds.

Seventeen Mile Drive:

Lot's of walks and vista points.

Monterrey Bay Aquarium:

An inside nature walk especially if you take the insider tour.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area:

We walked on trails in the morning and afternoon at several points in the outer Richmond District from the Cliff House (where we had breakfast one morning), Seal Rock, the Sutro bath ruins and lands end vista point)

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve: San Mateo County Park at Moss Beach

The Beach House: Half Moon Bay

The view from our room!

Pema Osel Ling Mountain Retreat:

Located on 104 acres of redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Pema Osel Ling, will the be the site of Emily and Ben's wedding in September. We hiked down to the Stupa and then back up. It was a good uphill.

Seals at Cyprus Point

Matthew taking Photos at Sunset:

Pescadero State Beach

The beach has a mile-long shoreline with sandy coves, rocky cliffs, tide pools, fishing spots and picnic facilities.

Across the highway is Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, a popular spot for bird watchers and other naturalists. The Reserve is a refuge for blue heron, kites, deer, raccoons, foxes and skunks.

Happy Thanksgiving:Work-in-progress

2011-11-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Holidays encourage one to enjoy the present while at the same time allowing time travels to the distant past.

This year we went to Bob and Paulette’s for a super Thanksgiving feast with Steven (who is climbing trees again). Matthew is visiting from San Francisco, Mario and Monica and Estebon (who just started his new job) were there with Charlie and Anna (they will be traveling to Hawaii). Michael and Marisa (30^th birthday the day before) brought the girls (Lola and Stella) and perhaps the best apple pie that Lynn ever ate. Carol and John brought Jen (who has a new band "Jennifer Milich and the Lonesome Sea") and her two boys (Max and Carlyle). Lola got to show pictures of her trip to France and England. I did not bring the Cranbury quiche (it failed to set). The Cowboys won (bad) and the Dolphins lost (good). They played each other.

Fifty years ago, I traveled home (Buffalo) from PMC (The Pennsylvania Military College in Chester PA) for Thanksgiving. This was the official end of “Rook period” and transition to regular underclassmen. In a little over 2 months (which seemed like an eternity), I survived the 24-7 constant mental harassment and physical hazing of “rook period”(I learned to play the game), joined the Varsity soccer team and became a starter and letter winner in a winning season, and started my engineering education and got placed in advanced Math and English courses (because I test out on standardized tests). I went off to college, an empty shell (lost, lonely and aimless) and returned on an airplane (my first flight and this is another story) suited up in cadet uniform and all pumped up, in tremendous physical, mental and emotional shape. I was all-full of myself (and that was not a bad thing).

I left Buffalo as a non-person and returned filled out: hung out with Jerry, got to go to Brunners with the returning college guys, took the lovely Donna to Sperry’s Lounge on Michigan St and learned to twist, met Jeanette and realized that I was just visiting the north country. Life is good no matter where or when you travel.

Tony Russo off to Washington

2011-11-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

Tony Russo

Last night, I attended a going away party at the Trenton Marriot, for Tony Russo. He is leaving the New Jersey Chemical Industry Council (or whatever they call it now) and going to Washington to join the National Lime Council. He will be representing manufacturers and miners on a lot of air quality issues at the US Environmental Protection Agency. The core of the State St crowd that handle environmental regulations including Dave Brogan and Mike Egenton were there to send Tony off. Russ, Angelo, Toby and Bill Dalton also showed up to honor him.

State Street Environmental Gang

Tony and Dave Brogan

Tony was a master of preparing public comment on proposed rules. He was a good guy to work with on these tasks because you always knew that he would complete his assignments in a professional manner. Some of the original folks that he worked with and for at NJDEP also showed up for the celebration.

What the leadership of most governmental affairs organizations don’t understand is that regulations that directly impact on members are far more important than 99% of the legislation that is followed in the Legislature.

I did get to see and talk to Bill Dalton, who has been retired for three years.

Bill Dalton

RIP: Lost Sony TX-7 now found

2011-11-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Matt is home visiting us for several weeks and took Lynn’s car out for a good washing and cleaning. Inside the car, under the front seat, they discovered the long missing (over a year) Sony TX-7. It was crushed and prevented full range of motion of the seat. Thus one of the great Sinclair mysteries of 2011 was solved.

The Sony had just disappeared and we searched all the cars, camera gear, bags, boxes, packs and clothing several times. We gave up and replaced the Sony with a Fujifilm 550 exr because we needed the Sony’s ability to do HDR (high dynamic range shots i.e., flowers on the snowcapped mountain and panoramas. i.e., mountain ranges).

This was necessary for our trekking trip to Nepal. Of course as you know, the Fuji failed in the training sessions and didn’t make the trip. The lesson learned was to never again buy another Fuji product because their customer service and warranty process is customer unfriendly. They said sand, I said mechanical failure. They have ignored me. Now I will ignore them forever.

Last photo of John at GOTV rally with county committee

I did download the 16 meg card and retrieved some interesting shots from the dead camera. Here are a few.