At the RB Inn today for a strategy and team building session with one of my companies. Feels like old times – conference rooms, catered meals, writing shit on big pages pasted on the walls. This wasn’t one of the things I hated about corporate life, so it’s not too bad.

It’s only been 24 hours since Em, Greg and the boys got here. We’re already having a great time. Swimming pools are the perfect vehicle for spending time with kids and keeping everyone happy. In the picture below me, Greg and the boys are enjoying a classic sunny Socal day in the pool.

I think even the pool is happy to have some kids playing in it.

Southwest Air had a bad day yesterday. Some of the most weird and egregious reservation system errors I’ve ever seen.

I had booked flights for Emily and the family to come to Socal using accrued reward miles. We did this back in January. On the same day that we booked their three seats, we changed the flights to a better schedule. SW confirmed the change and we’ve just waited for six months for the travel day.

Yesterday when she checked in SW had moved them back to the original, less desirable flights. I called SW to get it fixed, and after a loooong delay on hold I talked with a nice reservations agent who “fixed things”.

The new reservation message I received had the right flights for the three of them, but the confirmation also listed three other random people (!) attached to the confirmation number. WTF? That’s something I had never seen before.

After another long on-hold period, the reservation agent sent a third confirmation message, this time without the strangers. She couldn’t explain what had happened.

Today, when Emily and family got to the boarding gate, it turns out SW had overbooked that flight by SIX people. I’m pretty sure I know which six people caused the overbooking. Fortunately, the family was able to board and are in route – I suppose SW had to pay some big rewards to get six people to volunteer for other flights.

My theory about all this is that during the recent SW computer problems, some reservation system databases got improperly “restored”. They lost some transaction data and they remapped our reservations to the old, original flights. For a mature OLTP system like Southwest’s, that’s a pretty big error. If I were the CIO I’d be looking into how/why this happened.

And the mapping of random people into an incorrect confirmation number…that’s even worse. Moral of the story – after an airline announces they’ve had computer problems, always check your future reservations to make sure they’re still intact.

Update, several hours later. Yikes! This USAtoday article says that SW just cancelled a boatload of flights this weekend. We were very lucky to get the family en route and on time. Southwest’s scheduling and operations woes continue.

I had a handyman day yesterday – I did some carpentry, some plumbing and some engine maintenance. Each project went well. For once I had all the tools I needed and just got the job done.

The engine maintenance was the one most likely to cause problems. My Stihl 350 backpack blower wouldn’t run any faster than idle, so it had been sitting unused for a few weeks. OK, maybe months. But after consulting The Google, I found this video of a guy who showed how to fix the most likely culprit – a clogged spark arrestor. To fix this, you have to take the blower apart a bit. Normally this would be the source of infinite frustration and error, but Stihl has made the device very serviceable. The most fun part was torching the arrestor, which is really only a wire mesh filter. It was clogged with gummy oil and carbon, so a blowtorch cleaned it up in a few minutes. With a satisfying secondary burn of the hydrocarbons, I must say.

Even so, I was surprised when I reassembled the blower and it started up perfectly and went full throttle. My ex father-in-law told me once that it was a great thing that I had gone to college and made a living with my brains, because “…if you had to make a living with your hands you’d starve to death”. He was famously blunt. For once I proved him wrong.

Here we go again with WordPress. I just spent 15 minutes trying to publish some Hawaii pictures, and WordPress promptly took my effort and coughed up a hairball. Arrgh. Second try…

I realized I haven’t published many pictures of the recent Hawaii trip. So here are a few that I like.

First, one of many epic sunsets from the western side of The Big Island.

Next, a pack of green sea turtles lollygagging on a black sand beach.

And from the eastern side of the island near Hilo, a nice shot of Rainbow Falls via the 50-230mm zoom lens.

Finally, a Mars-scape atop Mauna Kea with lots of astronomical toys. The pictures don’t do justice to the extreme weirdness of that place.

It was a good trip for photos; I got a lot of great shots. Still sorting through them.

Miracle of miracles, it rained in Socal last night. Unfortunately, it was a classic Socal rain, not a rambunctious Kentucky rain.

We got 0.01 inches of “rain” last night, the first moisture in months. That’s right, one-hundredth of one inch. Kind of a hint of a promise of water, a thin mist. That brings our annual rainfall total to 6.91 inches, when our long-term average is about 15.5 inches. Our rainfall calendar ends on June 30, so 6.91 is where we’re going to end up. This has been a DRY year, one of the worst since we’ve lived in Fallbrook. This does not bode well for the late summer and early fall, our traditional wildfire season. Most likely we won’t see any more precipitation until November-ish, so the landscape here will go from dry to drier. Stay tuned.

Back in Socal after a fast but satisfying trip to Louisville. Just my luck, after 90+ degree heat my entire stay, the weather there is mid-70s today. Go figure. The flights back to Socal were once again packed. Every seat full. I think the airline industry is rebounding very quickly, and for my chosen “two homes” lifestyle, that’s a good thing. A necessary thing. Post-pandemic you can’t take anything for granted – just because we used to travel across country freely and relatively cheaply doesn’t mean we will always have that luxury.

The universal mask-wearing on airlines is still a negative, and I expect it to end within a couple of months. I would be OK if the new social or legal norm was temperature-taking at check-in and a wristband requiring you to wear a mask if you have any flu/virus/etc symptoms. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that wearing a mask around others if you’re contagious is a considerate and good thing.

Today is a day to catch up on a few things and make the extensive travel plans for upcoming trips. The travel blog will be busy – I need to take a few more and better pictures to include.

Last thought – I’m missing my daily Con Huevos brunch today. Probably a good thing, given the expanding waistline. Turns out walking there and back doesn’t burn off the delicious calories they serve.

It’s Father’s Day. Today I make the pilgrimage back to Ashland to see my Dad. It’s not an easy trip, but it’s important. In the last month three of my friends have lost their fathers. I suppose I’m simply at the age when the prior generation starts to check out en masse. Very sobering to realize that in 20-25 years it will be my generation’s turn.

But Dad is still with us, and getting some extra time with him is great. I’m pretty certain we gave him a few extra years by checking him into the assisted living facility in January 2020, where they could get his health straightened out. I don’t think he would have survived 2020 otherwise. The picture below is from 2019 on a good day.

And this evening I’ll get to have a meal with Emily, Greg and the grandsons. That’s all the Father’s Day I could ask for. Yesterday I lectured Hudson about how important it is to be extra nice to his Dad on Father’s Day – we’ll see if any of that sank in. With kids you never know what will stick and what gets blended into the noise.

My FD present to myself was discovering that Sling TV allows me to record the US Open at Torrey and watch it later tonight. Technology to the rescue!

First night in the new place, and some first impressions.

Getting ready for even staying a single night was a lot of work. A bit overwhelming, in fact. Had to buy and assemble a bed, buy a coffeemaker (and coffee, belatedly), get Internet service installed, buy some towels and a few types of soap, get the place deep-cleaned, acquire a few tools for the bed assembly, go to a closing meeting and get the keys, meet the neighbors…whew! I was whipped at the end of the day.

We have fireflies! Or lightning bugs, as we called them when I was a kid. Our backyard is full of them and they’re beautiful. I did some research and it turns out that spraying the yard for mosquitos will kill the fireflies, so I’m cancelling that service. Taking one for the firefly team.

Turns out that having no chairs is a problem. Can’t sit down to write or eat, have to sit down on the stairs just to put shoes on. Will have to get a few.

Met the neighbors on one side, and they were nice. Learned a few things about the property line and parking, and entertained them with my story of this being a second home and living primarily in CA. They stated that they’d never heard of such a thing – I think they consider me to be exotic.

The place is in great shape, and I’m thankful for that. No big remodel projects necessary.

I have a great son-in-law. He helped me carry and assemble the bed and brought in some badly-needed libations as we were working. Good man.

It was 94 degrees and humid yesterday, so it’s awesome that the AC works. Works very well, in fact. I had to get up in the middle of the night and figure out how the thermostats worked to increase the temp a bit.

I’m only a couple of blocks away from Con Huevos, so I walked here this morning for a classic Louisville breakfast. Was the second person in the door. At the moment I’m busy licking the plate and hoping no one notices.

All in all, a successful first night in the new place. Now for some chairs and maybe a TV…

Feels like old times. I’m ensconced at an airport bar in Houston, between flights. Have almost two hours to kill. Not much has changed, other than masks. Bad wine selection, high prices, patrons all studiously staring at their phones. Or at their computer, like me.

Some poor woman on the flight to Houston had three big seizures, so we did a hot landing and run to the gate. The firemen/medics came on board and took her away – I hope she’s OK. Everywhere I turn these days there’s someone with a bad health problem or someone whose family member just died. It feels like a message.

Aside from the medical emergency, flying on UA was pretty good. I’ve flown soooo much SW that I’ve forgotten what the experience on other airlines is like. I’m pleased to say that the UA flight was just fine. That’s good to know, because we have a long flight on them later this year, to and from southern South America.

I’m really happy about heading for Louisville this trip, as it fulfills a dream I’ve had for a long time – a place of our own there, something to share with the kids and grandkids. And someplace to have houseguests and share the Louisville experience. This trip I’ll only have electricity, water, a bed, Internet service and a coffee pot – the bare necessities of civilized life. Other furniture and possessions will happen over time.

My hard-won expert traveler cred got challenged this morning. Southwest cancelled and rebooked me on a flight on a different day, so I’ve had to scramble to find another flight on another airline at the last second. Plus change parking and rental car reservations. With some quick thinking, I managed to get that done without much change to overall plans or budgets. Thanks United.

I’ve seen this before. An airline’s computer systems have a problem and flight changes cascade through their system for days. Southwest is very susceptible to this – they run a system without much flexibility. Any disruption impacts flights downstream, and big disruptions just shut them down. So I made a good decision just opting out of their flights until next week, when things should have settled down.

I’d hate to be their CIO right about now. You have one job – keep the computer systems running – but you didn’t, so the entire flight schedule gets wrecked for days. And people spend their money with your competitors. That’ll be an ugly meeting with the CEO.

I’ve got less than a month to get in better shape for one of the toughest tests in golf, Oakmont. Oakmont is a notoriously difficult course, but it’s not my game or score that I’m worried about. The last time I played there 2-3 years ago I couldn’t finish my first round. Oakmont is old-school formal, and unless you’re handicapped there are no carts allowed. You walk the course, which is normally no problem for me. But that day the temperature was 105 F with 90+% humidity, and after about 8 hilly holes I was gasping and couldn’t get a breath. Embarrassing, but I had to take a break.

I did get back on the course for the back nine, but in a cart. So I don’t want a repeat of that. It’s possible the weather and temp will be just as bad, so I’m walking multiple miles per day and will do it in the heat for the next few weeks. Sounds like fun.

You know you’re getting old when a round of golf is something you have to train for. Yikes.

I love this quote, seen a while back on Blue Heron Blast. Oppenheimer was a complicated guy.

“The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.” J. Robert Oppenheimer

It’s been a long week. Some consulting work every day, then trying to get into better shape by walking a lot, and then a long day Saturday doing some team building with one of my companies. All day in a conference room revisiting The 5 Dysfunctions of Teams. This retirement thing is tough.

Next week I’m looking forward to (a) a big go/no go decision on the quantum project, and (b) closing on the KY house and actually seeing it in person. Things will slow down sometime this summer, but I’m not sure when. I may have a case of post-COVID mania.

Wow! I just discovered a video/music series published by the master himself, Jackson Browne. It’s his “live from home” series on Youtube, a set of beautiful, intimate, high fidelity versions of songs from his previous albums and concerts. At age 72 he hasn’t lost a step.

When he looks into the camera in these videos, you can see the wisdom, the sadness and humor, the intelligence of the man. It’s at least as good as any front-row, in person show we’ve seen him. And the glimpses of his house, his personal space where he’s recording these gems, are very cool.

This version of “Farther On” brought tears to my eyes. I listened to this in my 20s and loved it, and it hasn’t lost any power. The entire song is beautiful and haunting, but the final stanzas always resonate with me:

“Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons i once had are gone
I keep thinking I’ll find what I’m looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn

But the angels are older
They can see that the sun’s setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past

And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road till the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance
Moving farther on…”

He wrote this in 1973 at the age of 24. Twenty four!! Who has that kind of soul and wisdom at 24? I’ll always wonder that about JB – he’s the prototype old soul.

OK, a slight diversion from travel stories. This is a political story that needs attention. As always, historian Heather Cox Richardson has the direct, simple to understand take on this. From her article:

“In February 2018, the House Intelligence Committee was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the president became obsessed with figuring out who was apparently leaking information to the press about contacts between his people and Russia. 

Under then–Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice subpoenaed from Apple the records of the communications of California Democrats Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, and—we learned at about 11:00 tonight—Eric Swalwell, both of whom were key critics of Trump. The department also investigated members of their families, including one child. The government seized the records of at least a dozen people.

“[G]ood God,” journalist Jennifer Rubin tweeted. “They were running a police state.” For the Department of Justice to subpoena records from congressional lawmakers is extraordinary. For it to investigate their families, as well, is mind boggling.”

“They were running a police state.” That, in a nutshell is why none of the Trump cabal should ever be allowed to hold a position of power again. And should be prosecuted. The government does not and should not have the power to investigate citizens just because it doesn’t like what you say or do, or who you are. That’s dictatorship at its worst. That’s everything America was not supposed to be.

During 2016-2020, we didn’t quite realize or understand that we were living under a dictatorship. As the truth comes out, it’s terrifying. We didn’t dodge a bullet, we dodged a nuclear missile.

The longtime dream of a real second home near the kids and grandkids is finally coming true. But it’s a LOT of work. So far this week I’ve:

• Signed up for water service
• Signed up for gas and electric service
• Signed up for Internet service
• Set a date for Internet service installation
• Shopped for and bought homeowners insurance
• Shopped for and signed up for lawn care service
• Signed up for streaming TV service (not going the cable route)
• Ordered a bed for delivery after closing day

That’s kind of the bare minimum for occupying a place, in my opinion. Electricity, water, gas for cooking, a bed for sleeping and Internet service. All the rest can come later.

Next week we get the keys. I can’t wait to see the place in person for the first time.

(Title is a nod to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)

We’re back from Hawaii and mostly recovered from the travel day and time zone change. It was a great trip with memorable highlights: the anniversary evening and dinner, the manta ray swim, visiting the tops of Kilauea and Mauna Kea, the bright blue water and vivid daily sunsets…lots to love about the Big Island.

And looking forward to the next 18 months, we have a lot more memories to make. This travel blog can finally return to its original purpose – to document our travels in words and pictures. In the next year and a half, here’s what we have teed up:

• One or two trips to Cabo
• A trip to North Carolina for a nephew’s wedding
• A long cruise around the tip of South America and into Antarctica
• The inverse cruise into the Arctic (Norway) to see the Northern Lights ( we get to visit the top and bottom of the world in one year – how cool is that?)
• A trip to the Colorado mountains for K’s sister’s 70th birthday gathering
• Multiple trips to Louisville, some long, some short, now that we have a place to call our own
• A couple of golf trips, one to Oakmont (!) and one to Tchefuncta in NOLA

And those are just the planned trips, the ones I know we’re doing. There’s still room for last-minute trips to Napa, or to visit relatives, or to Borrego, etc. We’re gonna be busy. And that’s the plan – stay busy and see the world while we can. Travel can be a little rough on the old body, and we’re never going to be this “young” again.

We had a near-religious experience last night – swimming with manta rays at night. I wasn’t sure what to expect – I mean, it sounds cool, but…most highly-touted tourist events over-promise and under-deliver. This was the exception.

Seaquest was our tour operator, and they were perfect. Well-organized, professional, everything right on time, and friendly. We left the docks at 715pm wearing Seaquest-furnished wet suit jackets and Zodiac’ed out to an area offshore from the Kona Sheraton. Turns out that Sheraton has created this attraction by accident. For years they’ve played spotlights onto the ocean to create ambiance for their guests. Those spotlights created an attraction for ocean plankton, and that in turn attracted giant manta rays to feed on the plankton. They now show up every night, creating the tour opportunity. A happy accident.

We entered the water about a half hour after sunset, grabbed onto a community float board equipped with spotlights and kept heads down in hope of seeing a ray. In only a few minutes we were treated by a 12-foot ray swirling up out of the depths, coasting within inches of us. That was a shocker – we thought we might see them at a distance, but their behavior was to come to us, mouths wide open scooping plankton, and buzz by us over and over.

Our guides said we saw 5-6 rays, but because they hung around us so long and made multiple passes, it seemed like many, many more. They are majestic and peaceful animals (fish?), and it was incredibly relaxing to float in the dark water and watch them. We only spent about 45 minutes in the water, and every minute of it was a treat. In between the appearance of rays we saw hundreds of needlefish and a big ball of some kind of bait fish swirling about. I was comfortable in the water because I shaved my mustache, solving the nagging problem of water leaking into my snorkel mask.

Our only regret is that we waited so long this trip to try this. We would do it again if we had more time. But it’s proof that even at my somewhat advanced age, there are spectacular new experiences to be had. I’ll look forward to another visit to the Church of the Manta Ray

After 7-8 days in Hawaii, I’ve lost all track of time and priorities. I suppose that’s a good thing. I have to think hard or use my phone to figure out what day it is. I missed an important meeting with folks back on the mainland yesterday – that was embarrassing, but again probably a good thing. I’m relaxed.

We’ve done a lot – snorkeling a few times, swimming, a bus tour around the whole island, a no-holds-barred meal or two, bought a house (!!), watched some world-class sunsets and some movies. And in spite of all that it’s been relaxing. We have a few more days and we’re visiting the Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea (we can’t really visit the observatory, we can only observe it) and swimming with some manta rays at night. Both are things we can’t do in Socal or KY, so there’s that.

I like the Big Island. I’m not sure I like it more than Kauai, but it’s in the running. There’s a LOT here, many things and places we haven’t even attempted yet. The rain forests and canyons around Hilo are spectacular – we saw bits of them on our one-day round the island tour, but it’s obvious you could spend years getting to know those areas. And golf. I haven’t played any here (yet), but the courses here look amazing.

Finding this AirBnB rental right on the water has been central to our being happy on this trip. It’s not as fancy as a high-end Waikoloa resort, but it’s got a kitchen and multiple rooms, parking right at the front door and an on-the-water patio that’s as good as anything for 3-4x the cost. Listening to the waves crash at night has made sleep pleasant.

We’re leaving in a few days. I’m not sure why….

Big day yesterday. We circumnavigated the Big Island, saw some sea turtles, drank great Kona coffee and crummy Hawaii wine, looked into a giant volcano and bought a house. In fact, we may be the first people in history to buy a house in KY while at the top of a volcano in HI. Technology is pretty amazing – via a T-mobile wireless signal and iPhones we reviewed and signed documents atop Kilauea (pronounced kill-ah-way-ah), some 4300 miles away from the purchased property.

Kilauea wasn’t oozing lava, but it’s the most active of the Big Island’s five volcanoes. It erupted in a big way in 2018, so it’s sleeping peacefully at the moment. While I would have enjoyed seeing some lava, I’m OK skipping the whole eruption, earthquakes, lava bombs and poisonous gas thing. It’s better on TV.

I will say that Kilauea’s caldera is amazing. Ten miles in circumference, three miles across, six hundred feet deep around the edge and another 1900 feet deep at the center. It’s a really big hole in the world.

Back to the house. I’m very happy to land a KY home in the Clifton / Crescent Hill area. It’ll be soooo much better than staying in random rentals, and the grandsons will enjoy the yard. And now it’s time to shift gears from home shopping to furniture shipping and shopping.