Picto Diary - 1 - 8 November 2017 - Penny for your Thoughts?

Above: US penny tiled floor. Solar Nails. Kimball Junction. Utah. 01 November 2017.

After a physical therapy session at Intermountain Hospital, I went to Solar Nails for a manicure and a pedicure.

I was surprised to see this floor, a montage of US pennies.

I asked my manicurist who had done the penny floor, which showed painstaking work requiring an incredible amount of precision and patience. She pointed out the Vietnamese origin nail girl across the room. I congratulated her on her work and asked if I could take the image. She smiled, seemed proud of her floor and authorized the image.

Immediately, I thought, this is why the US needs more immigrants. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a quality increasing lacking, according to my observations, in our native population.

The penny project also called for meticulousness and precision.

I was reminded of my experience at a tea plantation in south India three or four years ago. I asked our tour guide why all the tea pickers were female. He replied, "two reasons. One. Women have smaller hands and are able to manipulate the small and delicate tea leaves without damaging them. And two, men are unreliable. On the rare occasions when we ask men to help, they often come back from lunch drunk.

Ascribing superior performance of certain skills according to gender militates against the politically correct presumption of gender conflation rife in America today. But, in the end reality bites. The meticulousness required in doing nails likely correlates with female physiology, ability to be meticulous and patience more than it does with gender equality. And, so it showed with this penny floor.

Above: Stranger Things logo. 02 November 2017.

I completed the eight episodes of the first season of this Netflix series.

It started slow. Initially I thought the production quality was weak. But, the series began to grow on me.

Great child acting.

Four adolescent boys are friends in a 1984 Indiana town. One adolescent girl, part of a sinister government lab experiment to channel her telekinetic powers into a weapon, escapes the lab after one of her telekinetic experiments goes awry and opens up a fourth dimension, mirror image, negative like, of the Indiana town.

The girl, #11, meets up, accidentally in the woods, with the boys, who hide her down stairs in Mike's rumpus room. The adventure goes from there as aberrations and monsters from the new dimension spook the town. One of the four boys, Will, is captured into the new dimension and much of the plot from there revolves around finding him.

Will's Mom is played by Winona Rider. B actors Sean Astin, Mathew Modine, and Paul Riser play adult roles.

The child acting is great. The plot is imaginative. Watch also if you are a vintage car buff. It sounds dumb, but, the series grows on you. Season Two, already on Netflix, is coming up. I've avoided binge watching this one and usually watch one episode a day after dinner.

Above: Burt Brothers Tire. Park City, UT. 03 November 2017.

Waiting for new rubber for the F350.

Above: Moon rise in the east. Park City, UT. 04 November 2017.

Image captured from east facing deck of our Park City home in Iron Canyon. Twilight or just a bit later.

Above: Cookoo clock. My home office. Park City, UT. 05 November 2017.

I purchased this clock just over two years ago in Passau, Germany.

I love the clock. I love hearing the hourly and half hourly coocoo performances. I love pulling the chains to lift the weights to "wind" the clock.

When so much of our lives today is "digital," where we're tied into networks and dependent on chips it is gratifying to have this old style, mechanical piece that is independent of the modern network rigmarole.

Its gratifying to know that when the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) hits, I'll have a working clock. And, not to forget the mechanical typewriter, ribbons, paper and carbons I've got stored away in my doomsday box.

Above: Starbucks. American Fork, UT. 06 November 2017.

Corner seat, for obvious reasons, considering the location.

TIMDT shoe at left. We are waiting while our grandson, Bud, practices in his band at Caleb Chapman Soundhouse, nearby.

Our routine on Mondays is to pick Bud up at 3:30 PM at his middle school, Rowland Hall, on Salt Lake's east side. We drive to American Fork, usually conversing with Bud, and arrive at In and Out Burger at 4:30 PM. After eating, we drop Bud off at Caleb Chapman Soundhouse at 5:00 PM. We are at Starbucks, reading, computing, whatever until 6:45 when we return to the Soundhouse to pick up Bud. On the way home we listen to Bud's favorites on Pandora (in car blue tooth wifi) on the Cayenne's fantastic Blaupunkt sound system. Tonight's Pandora station? "Imagine Dragons."

Above: Salt Lake Valley looking east at sunset. Bombay Palace restaurant. Salt Lake City. 07 November 2017.

Out with Rudy Jr., Portland, Grrr, Z, and Roy.

Above: Powder Restaurant, Waldorf Astoria. Park City, UT. 08 November 2017 (file image).

Not bad. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) are in agreement.

Great ambiance.

Inexperienced staff, but well supervised and trying reeeeeely (sic) hard.

Good service and food. I had mushroom pot pie.

Addendum:

Question: Should tax payer be subsiding my Physical Therapy (PT) sessions... arguably "low value health" care, where the activities I perform are easily done without supervision... and where, the attending surgeon himself seemed ambivalent about attendance at PT?"

Easy answer. If you think the government should be subsidizing your physical therapy, accept it and get on with life. Otherwise, as a matter of principle and integrity, reimburse the government. In either case, you won't die richer or poorer.

Advisedly,

Feenix, Phoenix, AZ

Steve, So glad you’re on the mend. At this stage of our lives, we’ll continually be on the mend. Are you free to ski? Also, sorry to hear about the difficulty that Tom (Aspen) had with his knee. I can only report that my two replacements are fabulous and the recovery, aided by physical therapy, was uneventful. As you are aware, Medicare contracts with the hospitals/physicians for an undisclosed amount that is nowhere near the “asking fee”. I guess because I could walk and ride a bike and was not in constant pain, I should have been ineligible for the $120K surgical repairs. Where to draw the line where “public funding” is involved. That doesn’t begin to address the “end of life” expenses, which has or will affect all of us. Now that’s a discussion to have at the Wasatch Bagel. Be careful out there!

Teeth,
Basalt, CO

A great question, Steve. At PT for my 20 year old grandson. I question it for those who are inactive and pretty much out of it. There is no common sense applied. It is making me crazy but that is what happens when u r spending other people’s money on other people.. For old people it is a social experience for them. They are lonely and someone is paying attention to them. It is all skewed because it is “free”. Market distortions. And those without insurance r left by the wayside.

Comic Mom,
Park City, UT

Medicare is unconstitutional. Ergo, taxpayer should not be providing welfare to any health care at the federal level.

The state of Utah, with its responsibilities to its constituents, can cover whatever portion of our health care that the taxpayers will put up with.

Pretty simply answer for me.

F16,

Jeremy Ranch, UT

Thank you Steve! With all the photos and descriptions and comments along with your review of The Path Between the Seas, i have been through the canal vicariously!

Aunt Joyce,
Ashland, OR

TR was president until 1909 (five years before completion).

Rudy Jr.
Salt Lake City, UT

Listened to this on Audiobooks last year while I was hiking the Wasatch. Very interesting all the intrigue and scamming that went on especially with the French (but some with US.) Besides traversing the canal a few times, I also spent 10 days (supposed to be week) in the Panama jungle in the early 60s on a survival trek. Learned that the good stuff, like bananas, mangoes, papaya, etc. don't grow in virgin jungle. Ate a bushmaster, fish and lots of heart of palm. Finished up the trek caught up in the 1964 riots and insurrection. That is why we spent the three extra days in the jungle, while US figured out how to pick us up. They were sniping at US planes and Helicopters. The US military was trying to get us back to Albrook AFB. There is a lot more to this episode, but I won't bore you with the details. I'll have to check out the Youtube stuff....

Semper Fi,
Eugene, OR

Steve,

Great summary. I went to Pan Canal Schools from K-6; all this was taught in grade (US Army Corps of Engineers school 1946-53). My 6th grade school report was on the failed French attempt.

Streets and landmarks are named for many of the engineers you cite. We lived on 334 Gorgas Rd., and hernia repair was done at Gorgas Hospital after carrying Pirate Henry Morgan’s flag ship canon balls from his sunk vessel up the face of Ft. San Lorenzo. It was dumb move - laden with ski diving gear and a bag of 12-lb. projectiles.

When they created Gatun Lake all species of creepy, crawling and climbing wild things sought high ground on newly formed island, Barro Colorado. You may have seen it from ship board. Exotic wildlife can be found there. Tours are possible. Not as exotic as Galapagos but worth it if you can survive the mosquitoes. Malaria and Yellow Fever shots recommended.

Again, wonderful review. Steve, are you a graduate of Evelyn Woods Reading Dynamics?

Cheerio,

Richard Gooden

Ps. We lived in CZ on border line between Panama and CZ. Poured concrete home build soon after Canal was built. Stopped many a bullets every time there was a revolt in Panama. There was a Panamanian high school on the border facing our house. Tear gas and angry students would taunt police/military holding the line at our property’s edge.

The St. Luke’s Cathedral, where my father’s Bishop’s Chair was. Less than 20-yds. away. I was always late. Grammar school, Ancon School, was across the street - place where photo was taken. Gorgas Hospital up a winding road, beyond which was the Governor’s home. All very tidy and safe in those days.

Steve,

Hopefully, the leg has healed and you are getting ready to glide down those white slopes in your ‘backyard’. 

The Path Between is the kind of non-fiction that I thrive on. Wanna trade for Curse of the Narrows about a WWI ship accident in Halifax Harbor?  Equally compelling and very well written. To use your phraseology, ‘it is a compelling page turner!’

Isetta,

Chicago, IL