We have the third Wii in the family that I know about. While I like the game system and have enjoyed getting tips about game play from my grandson, I have to say that the Nintendo marketing is even better than the game.
The purchase experience is a sustained "almost out-of-reach" condition. They seem to be perpetually "out of stock" but "will arrive soon". Call back on Wednesday morning to see if any of the pre-ordered systems are unclaimed - get here an hour before the store opens on Sunday morning and wait in line for a coupon to buy a unit.
It is pure marketing genius - generate exactly the right degree of scarcity to maximize sales and completely eliminate any sales resistance or expectation that a "sale price" might happen. Encourage the purchase of any related parts, should they happen to be in stock, because you may not see them again. If they were readily available in the stores, they would not be so successful. The scarcity adds to the mystique.
And this, all for a video game system that has a novel user interface but is otherwise rather mundane (XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 have much more capable processors and graphics hardware etc.). Perhaps the other thing setting Wii apart from the others is that Wii seems to focus on "E" rated games rather than the shoot-em-up and bad behavior games.
Wii Fit may be available Wednesday (or perhaps on June 8Th).
The only other thing that was this hard to obtain was an EV1.
But I'm up to 3/160 on the Lego Star Wars game :-)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
$4.759 diesel - special low sulphur
$4.759/gallon - up from $4.309/gallon 8 weeks ago. Unleaded regular is $4.009/gallon. Another price increase and I won't be able to buy 15 gallons on one $74.00 maximum fuel purchase :-(
We pay a lot extra here for our "low sulphur" diesel, now if we could just fix the volcano...
- Halema'uma'u is currently emitting 1,400 tonnes/day or 511,000 tonnes/year of SO2. Total US for all sources in 2000 was 11,202,110 and is expected to go down to 8,700,000 by 2010. When the winds are bad, the sky and the burning in my lungs reminds me of Beijing (and that isn't good).
We pay a lot extra here for our "low sulphur" diesel, now if we could just fix the volcano...
- Halema'uma'u is currently emitting 1,400 tonnes/day or 511,000 tonnes/year of SO2. Total US for all sources in 2000 was 11,202,110 and is expected to go down to 8,700,000 by 2010. When the winds are bad, the sky and the burning in my lungs reminds me of Beijing (and that isn't good).
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Lammie
Her real name was Cerise Weinberger, but I knew here as "Lammie". I have no idea where that name came from.
Lammie was our next door neighbor in San Francisco. During WWII my mom taught remedial reading at West Portal grammar school, the local public school. So Lammie was part of my child care system. Lammie was perhaps 15-20 years older than my mom and her son Casper was off in the Pacific theater. I guess a surrogate grand-baby was welcome. Casper's wife, Jane, came to live with Lammie during the war also and I know my mom and Jane became good friends.
Lammie (well I suppose they were Casper's really) had Lionel Trains in her basement, the larger "Standard Guage" ones. Neat stuff to a little kid.
Later in life when I needed a security clearance it was always a bit fun to answer questions about "who can independently verify that you were born in San Francisco and lived at ..." with - well you can ask Casper Weinberger (who was secretary of health, education, and welfare at the time - his posting as Secretary of Defense came a bit later).
The Weinbergers were our next door neighbors, but they owned three house lots, their house was on the middle of the three lots. The lot between us had a tall hedge all the way around with grass in the middle. I was allowed to play there sometimes, but this was a privilege not generally granted to the neighborhood children.
Lammie was our next door neighbor in San Francisco. During WWII my mom taught remedial reading at West Portal grammar school, the local public school. So Lammie was part of my child care system. Lammie was perhaps 15-20 years older than my mom and her son Casper was off in the Pacific theater. I guess a surrogate grand-baby was welcome. Casper's wife, Jane, came to live with Lammie during the war also and I know my mom and Jane became good friends.
Lammie (well I suppose they were Casper's really) had Lionel Trains in her basement, the larger "Standard Guage" ones. Neat stuff to a little kid.
Later in life when I needed a security clearance it was always a bit fun to answer questions about "who can independently verify that you were born in San Francisco and lived at ..." with - well you can ask Casper Weinberger (who was secretary of health, education, and welfare at the time - his posting as Secretary of Defense came a bit later).
The Weinbergers were our next door neighbors, but they owned three house lots, their house was on the middle of the three lots. The lot between us had a tall hedge all the way around with grass in the middle. I was allowed to play there sometimes, but this was a privilege not generally granted to the neighborhood children.
Mrs. Kitchens
I'm not sure where my family fit into "society". On the edge I'd guess. After all Edmund G. Brown, governor of the State of California lived a few blocks away and his son, Jerry Brown attended my grammar school. Casper Weinberger's mom lived next door.
So I went to Mrs. Kitchens after school during 7Th and 8Th grades (I think). Mrs. Kitchens was a co-ed "finishing school". We learned a bit about dancing, Waltz and Fox Trot. We learned about opening doors. We learned where to walk on a sidewalk - guy on the curb side. We learned which fork to use. All the necessary social graces. I got the impression that the girls were serious about this stuff and the boys were there because they had to be.
This was all "before women's lib' " so this stuff was considered appropriate and even necessary. It was also a way for the people in society to meet each other. Mike was good at this stuff and the contacts stayed with him. I wasn't good at this and I can't remember any of the names of the people who were there. After grammar school (8Th grade) schools were segregated - not by race, but by gender. I guess this was the last organized chance to meet people.
So I went to Mrs. Kitchens after school during 7Th and 8Th grades (I think). Mrs. Kitchens was a co-ed "finishing school". We learned a bit about dancing, Waltz and Fox Trot. We learned about opening doors. We learned where to walk on a sidewalk - guy on the curb side. We learned which fork to use. All the necessary social graces. I got the impression that the girls were serious about this stuff and the boys were there because they had to be.
This was all "before women's lib' " so this stuff was considered appropriate and even necessary. It was also a way for the people in society to meet each other. Mike was good at this stuff and the contacts stayed with him. I wasn't good at this and I can't remember any of the names of the people who were there. After grammar school (8Th grade) schools were segregated - not by race, but by gender. I guess this was the last organized chance to meet people.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Learning to drive
The Model A arrived at the JJK Rancho during my 12/13 year old summer. Mike and Tom were responsible for getting it running and for painting it red and yellow. McDonalds colors before we saw a McDonalds.
At that time the JJK Rancho was all one piece, it wasn't until later that the state put Hwy 53 through the middle of the property. That was significant because it meant that the big open field could be reached without crossing any roads and the road from the gate to the house was about 3/4 miles long. My brothers and I were "expected" to learn how to drive and to be good at it. It was never a question. I was allowed to drive down the internal gravel road to the gate and to drive around in the field. The Model A was rather easy to drive actually, and within reason, it was hard to get into much difficulty in that space. No traffic experience, but all of the starting, stopping, turning etc. that you wanted. Eventually, Aunt May would make up reasons to send me off in the A - "go down to the creek and get some gravel and fix up the road from the gate" etc. This got me familiar with all of the proceedural and mechanical aspects of driving and eventually, all of the aspects of keeping a cranky old car going.
15 1/2 => learner's permit. Driver's Education classes - after school and weekends. The instructor was Mr. Terry. We drove a dual control Ford sedan (he sat in the right front seat with a separate set of controls - steering wheel, brakes etc.). I do remember some of the theory - why you need to turn into a slide - the fastest way to go through a turn - how to judge if you should stop when a traffic signal turns yellow - and - of course - the obligatory scary movie of wrecked cars and injured/killed teenagers.
The "final exam" for the driving course was a trip across the SF Bay Bridge. This was before the bridge configuration was changed to one-way traffic on each deck. In 1960 the upper deck of the bridge was six lanes of traffic (three each way) - its only five lanes now and all the same direction. Those lanes were narrow and scary.
After this, I was really expected to drive whenever we went somewhere, either with my parents or with my Aunts. I drove the San Francisco to/from JJK Rancho trip many times.
License at 16. That involved a behind-the-wheel test in San Francisco in the '55 Oldsmobile. I think the DMV tradition was to try to fail all of the teen-age boys at least once. But I had practiced and knew what to do, so even the "parallel park on the hill" went OK and I passed the first time (my only behind the wheel test that I recall).
At that time the JJK Rancho was all one piece, it wasn't until later that the state put Hwy 53 through the middle of the property. That was significant because it meant that the big open field could be reached without crossing any roads and the road from the gate to the house was about 3/4 miles long. My brothers and I were "expected" to learn how to drive and to be good at it. It was never a question. I was allowed to drive down the internal gravel road to the gate and to drive around in the field. The Model A was rather easy to drive actually, and within reason, it was hard to get into much difficulty in that space. No traffic experience, but all of the starting, stopping, turning etc. that you wanted. Eventually, Aunt May would make up reasons to send me off in the A - "go down to the creek and get some gravel and fix up the road from the gate" etc. This got me familiar with all of the proceedural and mechanical aspects of driving and eventually, all of the aspects of keeping a cranky old car going.
15 1/2 => learner's permit. Driver's Education classes - after school and weekends. The instructor was Mr. Terry. We drove a dual control Ford sedan (he sat in the right front seat with a separate set of controls - steering wheel, brakes etc.). I do remember some of the theory - why you need to turn into a slide - the fastest way to go through a turn - how to judge if you should stop when a traffic signal turns yellow - and - of course - the obligatory scary movie of wrecked cars and injured/killed teenagers.
The "final exam" for the driving course was a trip across the SF Bay Bridge. This was before the bridge configuration was changed to one-way traffic on each deck. In 1960 the upper deck of the bridge was six lanes of traffic (three each way) - its only five lanes now and all the same direction. Those lanes were narrow and scary.
After this, I was really expected to drive whenever we went somewhere, either with my parents or with my Aunts. I drove the San Francisco to/from JJK Rancho trip many times.
License at 16. That involved a behind-the-wheel test in San Francisco in the '55 Oldsmobile. I think the DMV tradition was to try to fail all of the teen-age boys at least once. But I had practiced and knew what to do, so even the "parallel park on the hill" went OK and I passed the first time (my only behind the wheel test that I recall).
Only Child with lots of relatives
I have lots of cousins, but none close to me in age. Of all of the close relatives, my brother is closest at about 5 1/2 years older. The last time I had a relative in the same school was third grade.
I think that is one of the reasons that my aunts liked me so much - there were no other youngsters around. WWII really had an effect on my relatives.
I think that is one of the reasons that my aunts liked me so much - there were no other youngsters around. WWII really had an effect on my relatives.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
An only child with three older brothers
I thought about this while driving 5420 yesterday. I think I owe my existence and my life to Billy.
If it weren't for Billy, I think my father would have joined the Navy as a Seabee. He would probably have been somewhere in the Pacific in early 1944.
I was a small baby (about 4 pounds) and was rather sick in the hospital. I got a penicillin injection and things got much better. Sounds simple - but penicillin had JUST become available in anything other than very small quantities in the spring of 1944 and the military had taken almost all of the production for their use (remember D-Day was in 1944). If Billy hadn't died under similar circumstances, I doubt that Dr. Ferrari would have been able to pull enough strings to get the dose that saved me.
If it weren't for Billy, I think my father would have joined the Navy as a Seabee. He would probably have been somewhere in the Pacific in early 1944.
I was a small baby (about 4 pounds) and was rather sick in the hospital. I got a penicillin injection and things got much better. Sounds simple - but penicillin had JUST become available in anything other than very small quantities in the spring of 1944 and the military had taken almost all of the production for their use (remember D-Day was in 1944). If Billy hadn't died under similar circumstances, I doubt that Dr. Ferrari would have been able to pull enough strings to get the dose that saved me.
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