Category Archives: Personal

24 February 2012

Can I See You Now?

By Rick Ladd
Reading Glasses

Life Savers for a Bibliophile

A little while ago I wrote about one of the “interesting” challenges I’m facing as I grow older. I was reminded the other day of another challenge; one that’s been around for a while but is taking on a slightly new dimension.

I have been wearing bifocals since I was about 40. Many people need glasses early in life, but almost everyone eventually suffers from Myopia as they age and need reading glasses. At the beginning I really didn’t need much more correction but, since reading was so important to me and an exercise I indulged in quite frequently, I decided to forego them in favor of full size spectacles. I did have a very slight astigmatism, which my lenses corrected for, but I would have been fine without them. This way, however, I didn’t have to wear something around my neck or have to continuously reach for a case to take out – and replace – my glasses in order to read.

As the years went by, I reached a point where my astigmatism was such that I needed the regular lenses as well and by then I was used to wearing glasses all day long; had been for years. I never even considered contact lenses as I didn’t think the extra work was worth it for whatever convenience (and vanity) it might afford. I even had a special pair of glasses made specifically with only my regular prescription, which I used exclusively for practicing and playing golf.

About a year or two ago, while I was driving (a car, not a golf ball) I happened to look at what I thought were a couple of birds flying in an amazingly tight formation. I remarked to my wife about the incredible closeness in which those two birds were flying. She looked at me like I was a bit nuts and pointed out there was only one bird. It wasn’t long before I realized my vision had finally begun to deteriorate a little more.

Unfortunately, by then I no longer had vision insurance and I just wasn’t prepared to spend a lot of money on a new prescription and new glasses. I resolved to deal with it for as long as I could, but I’m getting tired of seeing every star and planet in the night sky with a small companion to its lower left. The Moon is now a somewhat featureless circle too. The other day, while driving to pick up my daughter from gymnastics, I noticed two women jogging closely together as I glanced down a side street I was passing. I knew there was really only one person, as they were both wearing the same exact clothing. I guess it’s about time to fix this before I become dangerous.

Photo via Flickr by Mr. T in DC

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Health, Personal

23 February 2012

A Collection of Memorable (and Useful) Quotes

By Rick Ladd
Air Quotes

"Thus Quoteth Zarathustra"

I’m always thinking of ways in which I can post things that are interesting and, hopefully, useful to those of you who take a little precious time out of your day to visit my blog. I’m a big fan of quotes and, rather than throwing a few out here and there – at least for right now – I just discovered my friend, Euan Semple has a nice collection of them on his website. So, I thought I would share them with you.

I find there is much wisdom to be gained from well-selected quotes of famous, and not-so-famous, people. Euan’s are really good. So, please take a moment and click on this link. You won’t regret it. My thanks to Euan for sharing his latest update of the page on Facebook.

Here’s one of my favorites: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker

Photo from All For Hymn

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18 February 2012

Strange Retirement Pastimes

By Rick Ladd
A Whimsical Mailbox

Beam That Junk Mail Down Scottie

Being semi-retired (or, as I like to think of it, part-time retired) has its advantages. It is, however, a strange time for me and, I imagine, for most people who find themselves suddenly idle or at least not having to be somewhere every weekday. After so many years of working, not having to do anything in particular is a bit on the weird side.

To tell the truth, I have been looking for something useful to do almost since the day I left Rocketdyne, but I have taken some time to – shall we say – smell the roses. One of the things I did was to find myself driving around local neighborhoods looking for, and taking pictures of, interesting curbside mailboxes. This happened because we had a nice brick mailbox built for our house and I suddenly developed an interest in them. I never much bothered looking before.

Camera Mailbox

Smile! You're on Candid Mailbox

So I started driving around looking for exemplars of particular types, e.g. brick, wood, stone, and especially whimsical ones. I discovered it was a gold mine and before I knew it I had close to two hundred pictures of various types of mailboxes, all suburban, curbside ones. What to do with them? I considered several things. Creating a coffee table book; writing an illustrated ebook; etc., as well as using the collection to develop a useful taxonomy, thereby getting some practice at the type of organization necessary to do it right.

Then someone suggested I create a blog and share the pictures. Well, since I already had a blog (this one!) on WordPress, I thought that was a great idea and I created “Going Postal”. So, here I’m sharing a couple of pictures of my favorites, along with the link to my other blog. I’ve still got lots of pictures, I’ve been sent a half dozen by friends and even a person I don’t know, and I expect I’ll get out there again and take a few more. I’ve seen some more interesting mailboxes lately.

I am also using the blog to sort of memorialize this suburban icon, as I am fairly convinced mail as we know it will soon disappear. It just makes too much sense. If most people are like me they throw away much of what they get and we all know it’s just a huge waste of paper. Anyway, I discuss my prognostication a bit on Going Postal. You can read it there if you like.

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15 February 2012

The Autumn of My Life

By Rick Ladd

“To every thing turn, turn, turn, there is a season turn, turn, turn . . .”

Autumn Leaves

The Beauty of Autumn

These words – originally from Ecclesiastes, made into a song by Pete Seeger, and as I first heard them sung in 1965 by The Byrds – are beginning to resonate for me more deeply than ever before. At almost 65, I am now well into the Equinox of my life. I am beginning to look back at what I’ve accomplished, what I think it means, and how I wish to apply what I’ve learned to what remains of my time on this planet.

Lest you think I’m being melancholy, I’m not . . . though I will admit to occasionally feeling as though time has slipped by far too fast. However, I have a trick I use to deal with that and I’ve been doing it so long I really don’t think about it much any more.

I’m of the opinion the feeling that time has slipped by far too fast is a low-level form of self-pity. That trick I mentioned is something I used to do many years ago when I sensed I was feeling sorry for myself. I would pick a day, perhaps six months or a year ago, and try to recreate all the things I had done or experienced in the intervening time. I never made it to “today” because I always got bored from “reliving” all those things I had already done. Nowadays, I don’t even have to go through the exercise. I only need to remind myself of its efficacy.

Maybe it is because I’ve had a pretty interesting life, full of wonder . . . and not a little strangeness as well . . . but I’d like to think just about everyone experiences a great deal of variety and special things in their life, if only they could (or would) take the time to appreciate them. Unfortunately, too many of us dwell on the past and obsess over the future, ensuring we are incapable of simply enjoying today.

I often make reference to a book by Alan Watts, “The Wisdom of Insecurity”. I do this because its message is inordinately precious and timeless. It has done for me what I suppose many turn to the Bible for; given me strength and succor when I’ve needed it most. The first time I read it was when I was a young man and a woman I was deeply in love with cast me aside after several months of an intense relationship. Back then I was not in great control of my emotions and was capable of spectacular heights and abysmal depths of feeling. By the time I finished the book I was at peace and had learned the value of letting go; a powerful lesson which has remained with me all these years.

The last time I read it was a couple of years ago while awaiting surgery to remove a Melanoma from my lower back; uncertain if it had spread and not knowing if the time remaining with my wife and two young children would be short. Though at first I cried for what it might mean to my family, especially my girls, both of whom had already lost two fathers (biological and foster), it helped me find the strength to go very quickly to acceptance, greatly minimizing denial and depression, and skipping anger and bargaining entirely.

I am also reminded of these words from the Frank Sinatra version of “It was a very good year”:

 “But now the days grow short, I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs
From the brim to the dregs, and it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year.”

Yes, it is the Autumn of my life, but the season is a wonderful one, full of color and change. It’s also a season of harvest and of festivals celebrating the fruit of ones labors. For me, I’m beginning to use it as a time to take stock of all I’ve experienced and accomplished.

Because my wife and I adopted two young girls, the oldest when I was 55 years old, I am in no position to sit back and allow myself to ferment (though I still enjoy various grains in such a state), as I might have done in retirement were it not for my girls. I still have an absolutely wonderful life and am looking forward to at least a couple more decades of activity, learning, and experiencing this incredible journey I feel so fortunate to be on. If you’re willing, I will share my harvest with you and I hope you will see fit to share a bit with me as well. Thanks for reading.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Personal, Philosophy

10 February 2012

Chillaxin . . . sin Robaxin.

By Rick Ladd
Takin' it easy

No Me Jodas, Chico!

This is one of those days when I really haven’t felt like doing much of anything. I did chop up and remove the Bougainvillea that’s been outside the Living Room window for 15 years and has finally outlived its usefulness. However, I enjoyed the company of my neighbor and close friend Marty while doing so, along with a couple of beers and at least two shots of Scotch. In fact, he lent me the big jaw clippers I used to chop up the thickest parts of that damn beautiful yet thorny vine!

I also translated the first “Social Menu” I’ve ever seen, which was in the form of a .jpg file and was in Danish – forcing me to actually type out the text in to Google Translate rather than merely copy and paste it and, I’ll admit, I spent some time on a very serious post I’ll publish soon. Sometimes it’s necessary to be thoroughly incorrigible . . . and today just happens to be that day. Maybe it was five beers and a few shots of Scotch. Who’s counting?

Photo Courtesy of ¿Se Escucha?

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6 February 2012

To The Moon, Alice!

By Rick Ladd
Moon Colony

Some Day This Should be all Ours

The other day a friend of mine posted an interesting item on his blog, Global Neighbourhoods (love that other side of the pond spelling) and asked on Twitter if anyone had read it. I saw the tweet because it was ported over to my Facebook news feed. I answered I hadn’t, but would shortly . . . which I did. Shel makes an interesting point that, regardless of how one may feel about Newt Gingrich – and we both agree we wouldn’t vote for him even if Hell froze over – his idea about establishing a colony on the Moon isn’t such a bad one. Consider that President Kennedy’s call to put a man on the Moon preceded an unprecedented growth in innovation through the technologies that needed to be developed in order to accomplish the feat required by the Apollo program.

Shel goes on to ask that we think about what such an endeavor might mean for us, regardless of the situation we are in right now. As he says:

“It seems to me, that what makes us unique from other animals is that our entire history is based on going beyond what we have done. Before we consider the benefits or catastrophes, we simply have to see if we can do it.

“Why should man walk on the moon? Because some day, we can build a colony on it? What will we do then? Look around and see what else we can do, where else we can go, we can learn more about the moon, and thus about the earth and our universe and how life got to here and anywhere else that it might exist.

“And yes the cost is huge at a time when people are losing their homes. But to me, the cost is an investment, one that will create a great many new jobs that may be more appealing than the manufacturing our current president seems to be focused upon.

“What we learn along the way will give the world new technology that is likely to pervade into computing, science, medicine, earth sciences, the classroom and places that we cannot yet imagine.”

I responded the next day in a comment. As of the date of this posting, it still says it’s waiting moderation but, hopefully, by the time most read this it will have been posted. Suffice it to say I agree with Shel’s assessment of the technologies it will create and that it is an investment. I also have another, long-standing reason I believe we should go back to the Moon and establish a permanent presence there, which I have set forth in my comment. I have also written about it several times in various posts on this blog. I encourage you to read Shel’s post. Tell him I sent you.

Photo Courtesy of Dallas1200am

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Politics, Science

30 January 2012

TED, Alain de Botton, and Atheism 2.0

By Rick Ladd
Atheists Proselytizing

Atheists Proselytizing

I recently was pointed to a wonderful TED Talk, which I’m sharing here, that brilliantly addresses an issue I have struggled with for years. This issue can best be understood in several concepts that Alain discusses in this talk, which I’ll leave you to in a moment. I’ll come back to this, and other, issues regarding faith, religion, morality, ethics, community, etc. in later posts no doubt.

I have what I think is a very simple, very open attitude toward religion or, more accurately (because religion is an entirely different animal from . . .), faith and how we should exercise it ourselves and respect it in others. What you believe in terms of a higher power is really none of my business and should in no way affect my relationship with you. It seems to me that how we live our lives, not what we say we believe or have faith in, is the most important discriminator in how well we can work together in pursuit of common goals. The only thing that can botch any chance of our having a relationship is if you insist that your belief is superior and, therefore, I must accept it to be truly worthy. Pull that on me and I become stone deaf.

A respected Law Professor of mine once said if he had to choose between someone without what he would consider the “right” politics, but who was nevertheless a good person, and one who had the “right” politics, but was lacking in the humanity department, he would always choose the former. I believe we can replace the word “politics” with “religion” and it is equally true. I am far more interested in how you treat other people and your relationships, whether business or personal, than I am in what you believe in.

Getting back to the video, Alain addresses his concept of atheists better understanding the good things religion has inspired people to create and bringing into our lives. He points out how community, art, and music – among other things – are lacking amongst atheists – as a group; and I think he’s right. As a group, I believe ethics and rational morality play a big role in how we see the world. I often say that if the only thing making you a good person is your fear of being punished in an afterlife, you really need to think about your priorities. For me, being a good person and living an ethical, honest life is reward in and of itself. However, we have few ways (I have none) of enjoying community in how we view our place in the cosmos . . . because there aren’t any.

I’ll let the video speak for itself. Check it out. It’s excellent on the subject. I plan on watching it again soon.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Personal, Philosophy

27 January 2012

You Can’t Hold on to Anything

By Rick Ladd
Beauty and Death

Coveting Kills

I was reminded by a post from one of my Facebook friends that we lose many things in our lives by trying too hard to hold on to them. Many years ago I  had a girlfriend who had been a high-fashion model, working runways and some of the glitzier magazines of the day, including Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, etc. I met her through our mutual activity in the anti-war movement, including our work with the Vietnam Veterans Against The War. She had gone to Vietnam several times as a USO entertainer.

She was, as she put it, getting a little “long in the tooth’ and her modeling days were pretty much over (she was seven years older than me and I was approaching 30). She was constantly worrying about how old she looked, spending what I thought was an inordinate amount of time on her makeup and hair, especially if we were going out. One day it dawned on me just how much the constant worry was causing her to accelerate the aging process. Through the act of worrying she was actually making herself look older. I told her that and, frankly, I don’t think it made much of a difference to her. She was caught up in a “death spiral” of concern for losing something it’s impossible to hang on to.

It – as so many things do – also reminds me of the lessons I learned from reading Alan Watts‘ Book “The Wisdom of Insecurity“, the most important of which is that there is no such thing as security and absolutely anything can be snatched from you at any time; including your health, life, etc. Alan points out the futility and self-destructiveness of trying to hang on to things and the paradoxical value of “letting go”. He bases his teachings on those of Zen Buddhism. Currently, I’ve read the book three times over the years . . . and each time it has either drastically changed how I saw things or comforted me in my acceptance of things I couldn’t change. I recommend it highly.

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23 January 2012

Atlas Slugged

By Rick Ladd
The Republican Candidates

Republican Primary Candidates Pose

This is a wonderful analysis of the competing approaches and philosophies of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. You can read the entire article, but I find the final paragraph says volumes about what this year’s election means, and the direction our country is going in. Click on the link at the bottom for the entire article. Here’s that final paragraph:

“We’ll find out this election whether the Republican vision of an unfettered capitalism—one that redefines ‘socialism’ as not state ownership of the means of mass production but any government involvement whatsoever in the social and economic life of the country (including saving the auto industry)—is one that the public accepts anymore. Pundits have argued that the central question of the campaign is how much government we want. It’s more profound than that. The question of this election is what it means to be a country—whether we’re 300 million free agents who happen to be roaming the same piece of real estate or if any of us is ever bound by a social compact.”

via Atlas Slugged.

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12 January 2012

Swimming, Floating, and Flying

By Rick Ladd

I came across an interesting post by Justine Musk the other day, courtesy of John Hagel, who I subscribe to on Facebook. In her piece, Justine talks about (among other other things) the “Tetris Effect” that describes the phenomenon whereby playing Tetris leaves people seeing residual moving pieces of the game after they’ve completed playing, usually during periods of rest or prior to falling asleep. I’ve played Tetris in the past and haven’t experienced this, but it did remind me of something I have experienced that I think is related.

Flying by Wire

To Float; Perchance to Dream

I was fortunate enough to have a swimming pool at home from the time I was 9 years old. We had just moved back to the San Fernando Valley, from West Los Angeles, after an ill-fated attempt by my father to work in a partnership with his brother. My parents purchased a new tract home on the border between North Hollywood and Sun Valley and they decided a pool was a good idea. This was Southern California, after all!

During the warm months of late spring and throughout the summer, I used to spend as much as eight hours in that pool. This was before the advent – to my knowledge – of sunscreen and is no doubt a direct contributor to my having a Melanoma surgically removed a couple of years ago. My parents use to call me a fish because of the inordinate amount of time I spent in the pool. Later on I swam competitively in High School, earning a school letter and several medal and trophies in free style and butterfly.

Many times, at night, I would have these vivid dreams that I could simply float and swim through the air, casually treading or stroking my way above the trees and houses in my neighborhood. These dreams were powerful and clear and I could feel the movement as I ascended and moved down the street. I remember well how I would have to keep treading if I wanted to hover over a neighbor’s house and how I could ease myself back down to the ground by merely slowing the speed with which I was treading. It was exhilarating.

Later on, when I was old enough to drive, I used to go surfing in the morning and return in the afternoon to go swimming in our pool. For a while, I could feel the waves in the pool, though they obviously weren’t really there. It was an interesting feeling that I remember quite fondly. I’m sure many others have experienced this “Tetris Effect” from things they’ve done in their lives. How about you?

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