Alan Fox

I hate moving to a new house.

Strategically this means I disappear at 8:30 am on the day of the move, just as the movers arrive, and I reappear later in the day at our new location once everything has been unloaded.  So that you don’t have to guess about the situation that provoked this blog, I’ll tell you –in a month or so, Daveen and I are moving to another house.  Hip hip hooray.

But my goal in life, always, is to be pragmatic.

For that reason, today I’m thinking about all the advantages of the new house, rather than what I will miss about the old house.  For example, the new house has a much larger backyard, and we should be able to actually park our cars in the garage. Also, we won’t live on a street bordering Southern California brush that is easily combustible (an area my insurance company considers a fire risk).

I borrowed the title of this blog from a Stephen Stills song.  It was on his 1970 debut album by the same name.  He called it “a good times song, just a bit of fun,” But I think it also holds an important truth and is very good advice.

Perhaps my dislike of moving involves my selective dislike of change.  But life is always about change.  We choose some of those changes, others are thrust upon us.  As a pragmatist, I know that change is very often a good thing.

This past week I’ve been reading the new Walter Isaacson book about Elon Musk (which is a Musk read).  (Groan received.)  When all of Musk’s activities are added together (including Tesla, which I drive, and SpaceX, which my son-in-law worked for until he burned out on 80-hour work weeks), Musk is undoubtedly the most prolific human agent of change in modern times.  While I wouldn’t want to work for him, or live with him, I’m happy to enjoy the products of his energy and vision.

So my advice to myself is that if certain changes are inevitable in my life, such as the impending move, I should just relax and enjoy it.

Will I enjoy our new house as much as I’ve enjoyed the house I’ve lived in for almost seven years?

Ask me in 2024.

Alan

A little-known fact is that Pittsburgh has more bridges (446) than Venice, Italy.  If you’re ever a contestant on Jeopardy that bit of trivia may be important to you.

What do I do on vacation?  See the sights along with about 100 other passengers on American Cruise Lines ship Heritage.  I am now the proud owner of a miniature Louisville Slugger baseball bat bought at the factory (it takes a machine 48 seconds to produce a bat.  It took a human 30 minutes.  Clearly automation in manufacturing is alive, well, and growing.)

In Paducah, Kentucky we visited The National Quilt Museum.  Surprisingly, I really liked ten or twelve of the (modern) quilts.  That compares with my liking only four or five old master paintings at the British National Art Gallery.

Yesterday evening, from 9:15 pm until 2:15 am I was a patient at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, where I was diagnosed with something I’ve never experienced before – a urinary tract infection.  The attending doctor said that this often came with age, so I’ve decided to grow younger.  Please let me know if you have a suggestion that will work.

This evening there is an NFL football game at the stadium that sits about a quarter mile from our cruise ship.  At three in the afternoon, they were already closing off access roads, and many fans were at the stadium.  I guess Pittsburgh fans are truly supportive of their team.

Daveen and I walked about a mile to the local Rite Aid to pick up my prescription for an antibiotic, and the folks walking on the street here seem quite friendly and happy to chat.

The sidewalks are old, but Pittsburgh is a much older city than Los Angeles, where I have enjoyed living for more than 83 years.

One of the couples sitting with us for meals also enjoys Jeopardy, but I suspect that is where our similarities end.

My favorite part of any vacation is walking into my bedroom at home.  That’s a good thing because I’m home a lot more than I’m away.

We will return to Los Angeles tomorrow evening.  Airline flights across country still amaze me.

Alan

I’m sure we’ve all had situations where we thought we could wait to do something until later. But sometimes, waiting isn’t a good idea.  Years ago, Daveen and I travelled to Boston.  After our arrival at Boston’s Logan airport, Daveen made a point to use the restroom before we picked up our rental car.  I decided to wait until we arrived at our hotel. Later I was sorry about that decision.

The drive to our hotel took longer than I had expected.  Twenty minutes into our journey I really needed to use a restroom myself.  I stopped at a gas station.  It was closed – and so was their restroom.  We got back on the road, but the car ride was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for me.

We finally arrived at the Motor Inn where we were staying.  I double parked the rental car in front, asked Daveen to take care of it, and raced into reception.  The clerk at the front desk directed me to the men’s room on my right.  Relief seemed near.

But the actual toilet in the men’s room was locked.  My younger readers might find this astonishing, but back in the day some public restrooms had locking stalls and you needed to insert a quarter to open them.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a quarter.  I don’t know, at that point, if I even  had time to fish around in my pockets for change. I was desperate.  And desperate times call for desperate measures.  Thinking, “Oh, S**t, I dove under the bathroom door and finally unburdened myself.

I’m happy to report that, by comparison, the rest of our trip was uneventful.

Thank goodness.

Alan