Musings of an Occidentalian
by John G. Blair
Posted Feb. 2, 2007 -------- It is Valentine’s Day in less than two weeks. Now, speaking from a guy’s perspective, this is one of those “important days” if there is a woman in your life. The others are, of course, her birthday, your anniversary(s) (day that you met, your wedding anniversary, that sort of thing), and Christmas. Depending on how romantic she is, this is a chance to make points or lose them. It is not too early to figure out what you are going to do. You don’t want to remember on the way home from work and have to stop at a mini-mart (because every other store in the Occidental area is closed) and buy her a bag of Cheetos. That is just pure suicide. You might as well slit your wrists. Some possible gift ideas include the usual flowers and candy, but what about a card with a sincere hand written note from you inside? That would mean a lot. Besides the Cheetos, things to stay away from for Valentine Day gifts include anything that implies work like a new power drill or a set of pots and pans. Don’t ask me how I know these things. Anyway, think romantic. If you can’t think “romantic” because you are a left-brained kind of a guy, then Google “romantic gift ideas”. Keeping in mind the difference between the sexes, the more you dislike a gift idea (for yourself), the more likely she is to like it. Make this the year that you get through Valentines Day with bonus points for romance and originality.
Posted Monday Jan. 15, 2007 -------- It has been cold and windy this week with more coming, as I understand it. The sun has been nice the last two days and has gotten me to think about solar energy and reducing global warming. We live in the redwoods so I am not sure we get enough sun to make it worthwhile to have solar panels. There are plenty of other things that we can do to reduce global warming however. Using less energy is the key. That means driving less by combining trips, carpooling when possible, turning off lights and anything else you aren’t using, using lower wattage lights like the screw in style fluorescents, and anything else that will reduce the consumption of electricity and gasoline. Getting a hybrid or electric car would help also, but are out of the budget of most, I guess. We can all help to make this world a better place for ourselves and for the next generation by making small changes in the way we live.
Posted Friday Jan. 5, 2007 -------- It looks like things are beginning to return to normal around Occidental. Most of the holiday rushing around has ended (except for exchanging gifts that were not a perfect fit for body or soul). The power has been restored in the Occidental area, and although it is raining at the moment, fair weather is scheduled for much of the future. My computer is back to working so I must now follow its lead and get back to working on my backlog as well…. no more excuses, for the moment.
Posted Friday Dec. 29, 2006 -------- Christmas has come and gone and my main computer is still out of service a week later. The tech has been out twice without success with a third trip scheduled for tomorrow with new parts. The laptop is carrying the load for my writing at the moment. On top of that, I have been without power for the second day. Luckily we have a backup generator that handles most things so we are getting by. Having hot water all of the time is really overrated anyway. The power went out real early around 3 am on Wednesday morning, affecting 1400 customers in the Occidental area. By Wednesday night, when PG&E tried to turn the power back on about 7 pm, several small fires were started in Occidental by wires that were down and started sparking when they were energized. The fire department was kept busy for a bit until PG&E shut the power down again to fix it. They were able to isolate it somewhat as only 235 customers were affected by 10 pm. By 8 am the next morning 316 customers were affected. I guess more people woke up and discovered they were without power so they called in as well. They hope to have a crew on scene to start working on it around 3 pm Thursday. At the moment they are promising a 5 pm update on the status. In the meantime the generator roars on keeping the trappings of civilization such as refrigeration, heat, light, satellite TV, DVD’s, and Christmas music running.
Have a great New Years and drive safely once again.
Posted Saturday Dec. 22, 2006 -------- On top of Christmas and the holiday stresses, my main computer decided to act up today. It started off the day by freezing up after five to ten minutes of use, just like the weather. A call to tech support gave me a myriad of things to try. I had to run a hardware check CD that came with the computer. Didn’t work. Next I needed to boot the system from a CD to see if it still had problems. It did. I had to pull out all of that extra memory I had stuffed in and try again. Still no luck. Then I needed to create a new user on the system and see if that would clear it up. Nope. Finally they wanted me to boot the system with all of the software that loads on startup disabled. Nope again. So another call to tech support confirmed that it was most likely a hardware problem and not user error (whew!), problems with 3rd party devices, or software. Luckily I have a service contract, but since it is Christmas weekend, that will delay the shipping of parts and the service call. I will possibly be down an entire week. Luckily I can still write and file my stories, the Occidental calendar, and this column from my laptop. I can use the desktop computer for five to ten minutes to extract anything needed. Also, all of the important stuff is backed up. Of course, my new backup drive to backup up the entire main drive was shipped incorrectly and I have to wait until the company reopens in mid-January. Sigh. Sometimes it seems like the universe is telling me to take some time off…. I would if I only had the time. Have a great Christmas and drive safely.
Posted Saturday, Dec. 15, 2006 -------- Are you starting to stress yet? I know I am. This year seems more hectic than usual, especially considering the generally laid-back atmosphere of Occidental. With Christmas only a week and a half away, our house is decorated thanks to my wife, but I have not put up the outside lights… not even the token one we put up. I can blame it on the rain at the moment, but I don’t know how much longer I can get away with that. I may have to break down and make some effort along that direction. I did manage to get the decorations out of the storage unit and bring them in. That should count for something right? I still have to get some shopping done though. If I shop in Occidental, I can put it off a bit longer. If I can get a few things put under the tree then it will help take the pressure off. I hope you are successful in your preparations as well.
Posted Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006 --------The new fire station
addition is coming along nicely. The majority of the outside has
been done for a few weeks. The big bay doors have been installed
this week in the new truck bays. The painters (provided at cost by
volunteer firefighter Captain Coy Brown who is a painting contractor) have
been busy painting the inside. Electricians from Lunardi Electric,
who are volunteer firefighters, as well as a number of contractors who
are also part of the department, are donating the electrical work. They
have been laboring in the evenings after work to get it all done. This
community spirit is what is helping Occidentalians to have a first class
firehouse at a bargain price. Most of the other volunteer firefighters
have been helping with cleanup and general work on Thursday nights to help
with the addition to the firehouse. Still to come is the reinstallation
of the antenna tower, some demolition of an old restroom, and all of the
detailed finish work inside. Most of this work will be done by the
volunteer firefighters as well.
Posted Friday, Nov. 24, 2006 --------I had to work today, Thanksgiving. We moved our Thanksgiving to Sunday as a result. Since Monday is my regular day off, it will give me two days off in a row, which is unusual for me. My wife is happy about seeing me for two days, which is always nice. After raining yesterday, today dawned crisp and beautiful, perfect for photographing outside, which is what I had to do. The weather definitely changed overnight. The last couple of days were kind of warm and humid. This morning was cold. It was 42º at our place. This kind of weather helps to put me in the holiday spirit. Even though today was a “regular” Thursday for me, it still was different somehow. It felt special. I have a lot to be thankful for in my life. Thank you for sharing it with me. I hope you and your family had a great and healthy Thanksgiving.
Posted Friday Nov. 17, 2006 -------- Thanksgiving will be here next week. Can you believe it? It seems a week too early for me this year. I’m not ready to think about the holidays yet. There are still fall chores to do around the place, and I am falling behind still. I was backed up with work and I didn’t get the roof blown off before the rains came. So now I have a gooey mess to clean out of the gutters and downspouts once it dries out enough. I hope you did a better job at getting ready for winter than I did. I will eventually catch up, although it doesn’t look like it will happen soon! At least we have our turkey for next week. Besides the turkey dinner, it will mean a number of turkey pot pies in the freezer for those cold wet nights to come. Have a great Thanksgiving and think about all of the things we have to be thankful for in Occidental.
Posted Thursday Nov. 9, 2006 -------- As we make the
steady march towards the holiday season (already?) the first signs are
appearing as events in the Occidental Calendar. We are blessed with a number
of artists and art groups in the Occidental area. We just finished with
Art at the Source and now we have more art-related activities coming up.
Traditional winter concerts and the Occidental Holiday Crafts Faire are
staples for Occidentalians and tell us that winter is really here.
The first rains are here. Drive carefully out on our roads. It can be dark
and foggy and plus it gets slippery. We are already seeing our first vehicle
accidents. Tree limbs and power lines will come down in the storms, so watch
for those as well.
Posted Tuesday Nov. 7, 2006 -------- I was really surprised
when the Harmony and Salmon Creek School teachers voted unanimously to cancel
Occidental’s Annual Children’s Halloween Parade without checking
with anyone in town to see if they would mind. It has been a tradition in
Occidental for as long as anyone cares to remember… at least 30 years
or so. The school appears to want to get the community more involved in school
activities judging by several recent community events sponsored and held
there. I really question if canceling existing traditions that already bring
the school and community together is the best way to go about this. The school
comes to the town merchants on a regular basis to ask for support for raffles,
auctions, prizes, props for school plays, art supplies and the like. Yet
when the town has this one event, it is brushed off as unimportant. In a
rural area, when your neighbors hold a barn raising and you don’t come,
how realistic is it to expect them to come to yours?
In a small community, traditions are an important part of life. Traditions in Occidental are part of what makes us different from other towns in Sonoma County. The overwhelming support of both parents and children show how important this parade is to them. I hope that the teachers will be more supportive of the community in the future if they expect support in return. It is a shame that the children of Occidental are the real losers in this attitude.
To contact me: use <mailto:column@jgblairphoto.com>column@jgblairphoto.com.
It pops up in a special email box that gets my attention right away. Please
send me information by Tuesday of each week.
To contact me: use <mailto:column@jgblairphoto.com>column@jgblairphoto.com.
It pops up in a special email box that gets my attention right away. Please
send me information by Tuesday of each week.
