Extrovert

Claire is a bit of an oddity in our family — she's a total extrovert. Joanie thinks she will probably stay this way. I think she will eventually flip inward.

For now, it's a lot of fun watching Claire yell out our front porch at random strangers walking by, "Hi neighba! Let me pat your doggie!"

And even funnier is when people don't stop and acknowledge her, she calls out again: "I said, Hi, neighba!!!"

Of minor interest: For this picture I turned my camera upside down so the flash would be under the lens. Otherwise the hat brims would cast a shadow across her eyes.

Rocket Patrol

Time for a little playground anthropology.

I'm trying to date these rocket swings from Schenectady's Central Park. When would little kids have been drawn to swinging on their own personal rocket ships?

These are not Buck Rogers rockets — they are marked USAF for a dose of military realism.

• Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947.
• NASA was established in 1958 to begin working with rockets.
• The first human spaceflight occurred on [what would later become] my birthday in 1961.
• Urban renewal and investment in parks was in vogue throughout the post-war 1950s and 1960s.

My guess is these swings were installed somewhere around 1964.

I've done way too much reading for this post. Just enjoy the pictures.

If you have another guess on the year of installation, please share.

The Best Stuff 4: Devo, New Traditionalists (1981)

I got my first vinyl record when I was 8, Steve Miller Band’s Fly Like An Eagle. The “space sounds” on the title track sounded cool. What I liked was the synthesizers, but the 80s hadn’t happened yet, where we started to get music that was heavily, or completely electronic.

In my freshman year of high school I discovered the first music I really, really, really liked. My friend at school Dennis lent me his Devo New Traditionalists album and I must have borrowed it (no, stole it) for several months. It had synths, vocoder, electronic plus studio drums, and stinging surf guitar. And no mushy love songs.

Their songs were about not fitting in, the confusion of relationships, genetic experimentation, world domination, and how society was going down the tubes. Their lyrics used words like "aliens" and "mutants." They were post-punk reporters standing up to The Man.

Their image was boldly different: they dressed in matching futuric outfits with plastic JFK pompadour hairdos, posed in robotic formation. In their concerts from the period they played while marching on treadmills. They were geeky, anti-cool.

This record came along at a perfect time in my life — I was just becoming a teenager and trying to figure out the world after starting high school in a new state. This music was so different than anything that was popular at the time (Pat Benatar, Joan Jett), and I realized that was OK. From here I started listening to music that nobody else had heard of or was popular, and it was OK.

I must have listened to this record a couple hundred times over the years, on multiple copies. This includes a dry spell for a couple decades during which it was not available on CD.

1. Dennis Souter’s loaned cassette (1981)
2. Low-bias TDK tape I made from friend Chrissy’s vinyl LP (1982)
3. A couple of songs found on the Greatest Hits CD (1993)
4. Used British import found in Chapel Hill used CD shop during grad school (2006)
5. Remastered CD released, the best sounding version ever (2010)

I love music and have purchased hundreds of records. If I had to take only one with me on the desert island, this is it.

Matter-of-Factly

Claire is good at watering flowers, and she knows it.

Why beat around the bush?

Banana Boat

Last week our church youth had a trip to Sacandaga Lake to go banana boating.

Malcolm's the top banana in these shots, riding in front, trying not to get dumped into the water. I love the expression on the boys' faces, you can tell they really had a good time.

The Best Stuff 3: Casio VL-Tone (1981)

In 8th grade I shared a desk with Ethan Schlesser. Our empire was a trapezoid-shaped table big enough for two chairs, at the terraced top level of an abandoned band room. Ethan and I prided ourselves in the messiness of our desk. Using bungee cords as potential energy triggers we set up elaborate exploding traps for anyone who dared breathe near our stuff.

Besides being crafty, Ethan was also talented. In band he could play anything on the piano by ear, two-handed. His most popular song was the theme from Charlie Brown, which he could do perfectly. He was totally into music.

One day Ethan brought to school his Casio VL-Tone, a little foot-long keyboard, which in 1981 was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I had to get one.

After a lot of waiting, on my last day of middle school Mom took me to Burdines at Pompano Fashion Square to get my own VL-Tone. I think it was $150. From the time I got it there has been a distinctively satisfying clicking noise of the keys as you pull it out of the vinyl case.

I played clarinet in band so I knew about notes and keys, but I didn’t know the piano. On this little keyboard I learned the spaces between the notes and how to sound out songs by ear by playing along with the radio or my records. I made my own sounds using its tone generator and ADSR envelopes, but also by muffling the speaker with my left hand like a wah-wah pedal. I learned a lot about music with this little unit.

The summer between middle and high school I took my new VL-Tone to Wisconsin during an extended visit with my cousins. While on a trip with their family I discovered you could record a scale quickly at the slowest speed on the sequencer, then play it back at the fastest speed for some fun video game noises. Playing this back repeatedly in the confines of the van with my laughing cousins made my Uncle Denny a little nuts.

The white keys are numbered and you can use it as calculator. My freshman algebra teacher asked us to bring a calculator to class one day, so I brought my VL-Tone. I had the coolest calculator in class and caused a little bit of a stir. Never a bad thing to do as the new kid in school.

You'll hear the blippy drums and Piano of a VL-Tone in the German group Trio's song Da Da Da, and the Human League's song Get Carter (from Dare, one of the finest albums of the 1980s) uses the Fantasy voice.

I don't think I ever got to tell Ethan I got a VL-Tone like his because I moved to Missouri after middle school. Hopefully he will see this on Facebook and I can tell him thanks for getting me interested in playing my own music.

I’ve had a couple of fancier keyboards since my trusty VL-Tone, but it's still a treat every once in a while to pull it out and play, old school. It has provided me years of enjoyment — including the last couple days as I found it in the basement and started playing again.

Terrace Steps

From the rose garden at Central Park, Schenectady.

The Best Stuff 2: Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars is ingrained into my childhood. I remember at age 9 dramatically reporting my weekend to my summer recreation counselor: "I experienced Star Wars."

After we first saw it at the theater, my Dad let us stay and watch it a second time in a row. I couldn't believe we got to do that. When it was re-released the next year we piled into our van and saw it at the drive-in at Deerfield Beach. It was like nothing we had ever seen. My uncle somehow got a Betamax copy of the movie and we watched it endlessly when we visited his house. Fantastic.

From the Scholastic Book Club at school I bought "The Story of Star Wars," packed full of photos from the movie. It was my reference to memorize the ships, costumes and story so I could draw everything, and build them with Legos. This is all you could do in the days before home video.

I had an LP dramatization that helped me learn the lines with precision. I can still nail Obi-Wan gazing over the mesa: "Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." No need to check the quote, I know it's right.

I made my own costumes with my Mom. For Halloween one year I was Luke Skywalker, and a Tusken Raider for another. I tried building a stormtrooper mask out of chipboard, toilet paper tubes and masking tape but it didn't really work out. In middle school art class we did batik on fabric, I dribbled wax on drawings of R2-D2 and C-3PO.

I had all 12 original Star Wars figures, they were $1.88 each. There were six that were incredibly hard to find for a long time, but on one visit to Lionel Play World the last six I needed were all in stock! I couldn't believe my luck as I cashed out. Some of these are still floating around the house.

The design of the Star Wars universe affected everything I did, and still creeps in. A couple weeks ago I saw a car on the Thruway that had some of the same lines as an Empire Strikes Back snowspeeder.

As the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan pronounced to Luke in the X-wing cockpit after destroying the Death Star, "The Force will be with you, always." More truth there than I ever knew.

Pass the Salt

The word etched on top is "Stainless," but I beg to differ.

I borrowed a Nikon macro lens from the fellow next to me, and tried it out while waiting for lunch at Fireside Pizzeria in Schenectady after the Worldwide Photo Walk.

Colonel Mustard in the Music Shed with the Screwdriver

OK, out of the three people that read my blog (hey! we're up to three now) nobody came up with it — the typographic atrocity currently plaguing Schenectady's Agnes MacDonald Music Haven.

The July 24 post headline "UV Radiation" was a clue ... to the flopped U and V glyphs. Let me spell it out (I pun).

Handwritten block letters have vertical symmetry; but most serif fonts contain a thicker vertical stress on one side of the letter. The thick side is generally always found on the same side of the letter, no matter the font. Compare my overlaid Times Roman.

This vertical stress in modern typefaces is a holdover of calligraphic handwriting from hundreds of years ago (think monks copying scripts in a candlelit library). If you were to write with a rectangular tipped pen (or a slotted screwdriver) you'd get those same thick and thin parts in your letters.

And when you install giant caps backwards 30 feet in the air, they really look wrong.

My work here is done.

Peel Out

Playground apparati at Central Park in Schenectady.

So much of today's playground equipment is pre-fabricated. I love the solid feel and creativity it took to conjure these individually welded pieces. It's like somebody had a bunch of pipes sitting around and was given the job to combine them into something fun for kids to play on.

There's definitely a 1940s or 50s Sputnik feel to some of their playground equipment. You get a good sense for what kind of toys the kids wanted to play on back when these were first installed. They definitely need a coat of paint.

Central Park, Schenectady

These pictures are from the Schenectady meet-up of the 2010 Worldwide Photo Walk last month.

Schenectady's Central Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the same who designed New York City's Central Park.

I've lived in Schenectady County for 11 years now and didn't know about this park. I need to get out more — it's quite beautiful.

This is just the rose garden, located near the front gate of the park; there's a lot more left to see.

Buckhead

I'm in Atlanta this week at our annual agency-wide public affairs conference. This is a different section of Atlanta from the downtown location I stayed at in June. Across the street from my hotel is this shimmering office tower.

I'm on the hook for two presentations, the first of which happens this afternoon. Planning to "break a leg."

Many Flags, Many Colors

I took my big tripod on my trip to DC last month and caught the Lincoln Memorial in a couple of different moods. These two photos were taken 17 minutes apart. Still not sure which one I like best, so if you have a preference, please place your vote!

After it got really dark I saw a guy with a giant lens on his Canon struggling to hold steady to get the same shot I had finished up, so I offered him my tripod. In broken English he said he was from Finland and traveling across the USA for a couple weeks, staying in hostels and traveling by tour bus. What a great distance to come for this shot — that made me even more glad I spoke up about the tripod.

So that's a Finnish photographer taking pictures with his Japanese camera on an Italian tripod of an American monument. Such is the international brotherhood of photography.

Tooth Fairy Spotted In Glenville Airspace

During church Sunday Carter stepped out of the service to take care of some business. When he came back he showed us something in his hand and a gap in his smile: "Look what came out in the bathroom!"

This tooth has been wiggly for days and days, and he was a little unsure about it at first. When he started to get some good reactions out of everybody it became a good thing.

In Carter's paw is a Sacajawea golden dollar coin the Tooth Fairy left in the night on his headboard. She's probably going to need a few more here pretty soon.

Moon Rock

Or nectarine pit?

Quick Trick Block Stack

Over the past year there's been a load of construction at the Albany VA Medical Center where my office is. I've almost missed the turn into the VA a couple times — everything looks so different with the old buildings knocked down and new ones in their place.

Our regional administrative office (VISN) building was razed to build a parking tower for Albany Medical Center across the street. It's been amazing to watch the parking garage go up so quickly.

A good chunk of construction is completed daily. Each morning as I park in the adjacent lot, there are 4-8 flatbed semis lined up, each bearing a giant prefabricated concrete slab. A massive crane slowly lifts each piece into position and everything fits together perfectly. A couple of times I've been gone for a week-long trip, and when I come back the structure has progressed closer toward us with a whole new section of eight floors done.

In return for our land, Albany Med built the VA a replacement office complex across the street (lower left, with Albany Med in the distance). I can see this new building from my office window. (I also get to watch the Albany Med helicopters land and take off.)

Herbert & Annie

Congratulations to our friends, Herbert & Annie Nagamatsu, who got married in April. Their wedding reception was this weekend and I got to take a few pictures of them.

I've known Herbert since he was in my 11-year-old class at church when we first moved here. He's twice that age now and on his way up in the world. I should say he always has been, he's one sharp guy.

Annie is from Alaska and every time I've seen her she has a Frisbee in her hand. I think she had it at the reception. How can you not like her?

Good luck to them, I know they'll have a great time together.

The Best Stuff

Welcome to post number 600 of the Grandon Fan Club!

To commemorate the occasion I'm going to do a series on my favorite stuff.

This has a very "consumer" bent to it — these are products I bought or received as gifts, media that have shaped me, or perfect inventions released in my lifetime that I love and use every day.

I outlined the complete list a few weeks back and it came to a nice even 10. We'll go in chronological order, and they'll pop up every so often here.

Best Stuff 1: Lego Rescue Helicopter (1975)

This was my very first Lego set, from when I was 7. I've spent hundreds of hours of my life, maybe thousands, with Legos. When other kids were playing outside, I'd be inside building cities, vehicles, or spaceships. As a kid I had more Legos than anybody I knew. I still have them all, along with the instructions. I lusted for a long while for Lego Set 190, which in 1975 at 526 pieces was the Biggest Of Them All. I remember picking it up at Lionel Play World in Pompano Beach, one of the greatest days of my life.

Sometimes I let my brother and sister play with my Legos, but only if they washed their hands first, with soap. Sometimes they tried to trick me by just dampening their hands. I was onto their tricks. I'd do a smell test, and send them back to the bathroom if they tried to fool me.

Legos today are priced in sets at about 10 cents per piece ... I don't know how that compares to Lego retail pricing in the 1970s. However there is a noticeable change in the types of pieces you get today — they're smaller and more detailed; there are not as many hefty "bricks" for building solid structures.

I get my classic box out on special occasions and build with my kids, but we put them away when we're done and we play "floor sweeper" on our hands and knees to make sure we didn't miss any. We don't mix them with modern Legos. We build some great stuff out of my old Legos — I have the advantage because I know what bricks are in there and how many of each of the special pieces there are.

I've rubbed off on my boys a little bit. Malcolm has his own Lego room in the basement, and saves up and spends $100 without blinking on a new set. He went to his first Lego store in New York City this weekend and came home with some great stuff. This last Christmas Carter got into it and made a long all-Lego list for Santa; he now has some of his own sets. The tradition continues.

Sixteen

Going down. At the W Hotel, Atlanta.

Waterfront

Idyllic scene of summer on the waterfront at Camp Wakpominee.