Fenced in by the G 20

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The powers that be in Pittsburgh tell us this is great PR for the city; we will finally get known for something other than being a smoky city. I don't think they meant the steel city would be known for our fencing and steel barricades, but that's how it looks to me. Tuesday, walking to class, one of my classmates offered me a ride just as it looked like the rains were coming. She drove through Schenley Park near Phipps Conservatory and already the park was being fenced in–or we were being kept out. Yesterday I went to a noon colloquium at Frick fine arts, the Pitt building closest to the Phipps. It was surrounded by fencing with only one way to get in (or out). I felt like I was in some kind of prison. Pitt is closed today and all of my classes at CMU have been canceled. Sculpture in front of the Carnegie Museum looks like it has been crated. All of this because there will be a welcome dinner tonight at the Phipps. How welcome is that!

They say it's because of all of the protests and the damage done in other cities. Here are some links about the protests: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/23/g20-usa

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture2009/04protests_at_the_g20_summit.html

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/09/21/daily23.html

If I was coming here from a foreign country I would certainly wonder about all of these impediments to free movement in our supposedly free country. And why don't these government ministers from all over the world wonder what they have done to make so many people so angry.

Healthcare video

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This one is wonderful. It deals with my favorite aspect of healthcare.


http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf

Thanks to Evy Mayer.

As they tell you about healthcare execs remember that the head of one of the largest healthcare companies created the Rubin Museum in New York City. It's a great place. He must have had a wonderful time collecting all those objects. I wish I could have done it. And think of the tax break he gets for giving us the museum.

Weekly wrap

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I finally bought another printer and spent all yesterday afternoon printing out the Japan book. Now I just have to finish the covers. Looking at the photos again has left me trying to figure out if I can get back there again. I was very tired during my last few days last year. Perhaps, if I didn't stay so long…

I borrowed a Gigapan robot from my class and have been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to take Gigapan pictures. I think a better camera would be helpful. Part of the requirement for using the robot is to put the camera on manual and lock everything down, including exposure. That's the part I can't seem to get. I'm not sure anything locks down. I'm going to try again this afternoon. I went over the Chatham where there is a view overlooking much of the East End of Pittsburgh, but there were too many trees in the way. If I ever manage to get something, I'll post a link to it.

Back to clothing again: I find I have two navy blue pin striped suits, not the same but ridiculously close. I bought both of these while I was still working and never wore either. I don't know where my head was. I'll probably get some use of one of them; the other is most likely headed out.

This is the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, 5770. A Happy and Healthy New Year to all of you.

Clothing

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Inspired by my weight loss I've not only bought new things, I've been going through closets, drawers and boxes to find things I outgrew and stashed away. To my dismay I found a number of never worn garments–2 suits (pants from one still missing), one jacket, one pair slacks. All of these things needed alterations–inevitably sleeves and pant length. I finished one suit, am working on the extra slacks and still looking for that pair of pants. (The jacket has huge shoulder pads and will need extensive reworking so I'm not too anxious to find the pants.) (How old is that?)

I don't like most of this stuff, probably why it never got fixed and worn. I think I bought it because it fit around the waist and not much did. These were desperation purchases. So how come I seem to be able to buy stuff now? I take it clothing manufacturers have become more realistic and are making things that fit real people. Nice that I've lived long enough to see it.

Events of the week

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I never intended to make this a weekly blog; just haven't had the inspiration to write very day. I promise I'll try to do better. The best thing this week was an afternoon with Charna. She'll be going off to Chicago to school next weekend. It was wonderful to spend time with her.
Charna
We went out for lunch, then a walk in Schenley Park where we found wonderful wooded areas we didn't know existed. When you drive through the park you see acres of rather boring, manicured lawns. I was told there were wooded areas like Frick Park, but had never seen them. We finally found Panther Hollow Valley, and really only explored a bit of it. I was afraid our parking meter would run out if we stayed more than an hour. And I hate to admit it, my legs were beginning to complain.

Not so happy was the arrival of a bill from Comcast for $116 after months of paying only $65 a month with virtually no TV. I've been using their service for phone, internet and TV for about three years. I began with a deal: the three services were $69/month for one year. At the end of that year I renegotiated the contract for just slightly more money.

At the beginning of the week I called them (mistake) about the bill, had a long talk with someone who sold me a service package for $3 something a month and just as I agreed the phone went dead, I couldn't get back to him and I no longer had the internet. When I finally got back to a human after I spent about an hour on hold, she told me I didn't have internet service, only phone and TV. Finally, she got a supervisor and got the internet back for me.

None of these conversations included talk about money, so I was staggered by the bill. This time when I called they told me I had been getting the internet for free, but not to worry, they wouldn't try to collect. You bet, they won't. I sent a detailed email to their corporate offices and got a return call from a peon here in Pittsburgh, but no satisfaction. Verizon here I come.

Raja is having a show of her photographs in Kentucky. The opening is today. If the drive wasn't quite so long, I would have liked to go and surprise her. I'll miss the brownies and Oreo cookies. I spend a lot of time thinking about healthcare.

Robert Reich has a great post about it that I particularly liked because he lays the blame for most of the mess on the insurance companies and big pharma. For a fast recap of what he has to say watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXFHXqrrJ6g&hl=en&fs=1&

Let your Congressmen and the President know how you feel about making profits from health, or lack of it. Let's make it
Medicare for All.

Back to school

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This was the first week of my new Osher classes. I now belong to two Osher programs: Pitt and CMU. Most of my classes this time are at CMU. I'm taking tai chi with a different instructor; estate planning; Gulliver's Travels; a cooking class; Gigapan photography; and auditing another art history class at Pitt: Women in East Asian art. I volunteered (hah) to give a presentation on Tuesday at the art history class. Keeps me busy.

Originally I signed up for another class: Spanish conversation. I'd really like to learn Spanish. On the morning I was supposed to have the first class I overslept. I took this as a message from my body and dropped the class. Maybe next year. I may drop Gulliver, also. All we seem to be doing is reading aloud to each other. I'll see how the second class goes, but I'd really like something more than that.

Estate planning is good. Not that I have much of an estate, but I found out there are some laws here in Pennsylvania I ought to pay attention to.  Gigapan photography is really special. Did you see the amazing picture of the inaugural that you can zoom in on and see peoples faces and all kinds of detail? A robotic device takes pictures on a grid and stitches them together. We'll get an opportunity to borrow the robot and take our own pictures. Should be great fun.

Pittsburgh and points west

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I went downtown to the scene of my terrible accident and found it all changed. I had this terrible dislocated feeling: was I dreaming; did I dream my fall; how did they manage to totally change the area in slightly over a month? I know I didn't dream it. I have the bills to prove it: $50 copay for the ER, $25 copay for the plastic surgeon, badly scratched glasses for probably another $225, finally a notice that I will have a $100 copay for the ambulance. That's what motivated my trip downtown. I want to threaten to sue the city for their bumpy sidewalk. I wanted evidence of the bump. Alas, the sidewalk is completely torn up and now sits behind Jersey barriers and a wire fence. Here's a Google satellite photo showing the area where I fell. It's not an ordinary corner; I could not have mistaken it for another place. The red arrow marks the spot. I tripped on the red brick paving. I was heading toward the busway. You can't get there today. It's completely blocked off and a small sign directs you to another corner to get the bus.

Fall-pic

On to better things–I'm still cleaning up the details from the Chicago trip. Finally looked at my photos; I'm not too happy. On my first weekend I stayed on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. That weekend was the air and water show. We could see it from the apartment. Sunday the weather wasn't very good, but Saturday was beautiful. There were lots of boats, many sailboats, anchored out in the lake around the harbor. The beach at North Avenue was so full I don't think another person could fit there. We didn't stay for the show but went down to the Art Institute. The first thing we saw was a 21st century lemonade stand: bottled water and cookies. I think the kids were doing a great business. We saw a wonderful show of gilded Japanese folding screens, then looked at the newly opened modern wing and walked on the connecting bridge to Millennium Park. Here is a marvelous fountain where children play. It reminds me of the Art Institute's famous Seurat:  A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. This is Saturday on Michigan Avenue.

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On Sunday we came back down to the Cultural Center where we attended an opening for several of my artists friends and saw a show of contemporary Chinese art.

Monday through Saturday we were up in Door County in a wonderful house on Lake Michigan. Our hostess, Anita, made us very much at home and always had wonderful things for us to look at while we ate all her great food. Here's one of her great table settings. Raja has more, and some wonderful pictures of our trip, including the Garden Door and the lake.

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My photos of the Garden Door were mostly details: water drops on a spider web;
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the lotus pond;

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planting in old purses

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I forgot what this is, but I like the look of it against the sky.

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Sitting at that dining room table I spent lots of time looking at reflections. The water is behind me but there it is in the glass. On a day the waves were high it looked like the water was flowing around the trees.

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On our last morning the lake was gray and dull; sad we were leav
ing.

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Healthcare revisited

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I'm back in Pittsburgh and will tell more about Door County soon. First, my promise to respond to all of you who commented on my previous healthcare post.

"Both parties understand that the current system is broken," House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. "But what we can't seem to
agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no
elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It’s a very
complicated issue."

This quote from The Onion, a humor newspaper available online and in print, sums it up for me. I don't know if I'm more disgusted with Congress or with my fellow Americans.

I just read through all the comments I received and found no one optimistic enough to contradict The Onion. Stacie presented another point of view, which I appreciate.

My
story is with my grandmother. She had a bilateral stroke when she was
72 years old. The only thing she could move were her eyes. She could
blink. The Doctor would not put a feeding tube in after a week, saying
she would not last another 24 hours. My father and I asked her if she
was ready to die, 1 blink Yes, 2 blinks No. She very clearly blinked
twice, and we fired her Doctor and got a feeding tube put in. After
some rehab, she lived another 8 years, very fulfilled and able to
eventually feed herself. She spent most of her days reading books, and
being doted upon by her family. The Doctor gave up on her too early. He
never thought to ask her what she wanted. Had we left it up to him, she
would have died of starvation. My gut tells me he I do n't think there
is a one size fits all solution to our health care crisis. How does one
know when to "pull the plug" so to speak? I believe the answer is with
each individual, each family. Good discussion to have, non the
less…our culture needs to come to terms with the fact that we all die.

 I certainly agree with her conclusions: we must have these conversations. And, by the way, a living will and healthcare power of attorney can say you want everything possible done to keep you alive. It is a way of making your wishes known if you cannot express them yourself.

Cynthia Friedlob of The Thoughtful Consumer gave some links for contacting your Senator and Representative to give them your opinion:
The House:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
The Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Thank you, Cynthia

Thanks to Mage, Darlene, Lilalia, Miss Dazey, Alice and Alexandra for your support. I really appreciate it. Let's just hope that another quote from The Onion, attributed to Harry Reid, doesn't come true.

"No matter what we come up with," Reid continued, "rest assured that
millions of citizens will remain dangerously uninsured, and the
inflated health care industry will continue to bankrupt the country for
decades."

Shopping, again

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Everything changes, but still it remains the same. I'm staying with a cousin, about a half mile from the Old Orchard Shopping Center. For seventeen years, while Robin was growing up, we lived about a mile from Old Orchard. It's a much different place today, more shops, less class, but well within my comfort zone. I went there this morning and bought three more pairs of pants, size 16. Whoopee!

I always feel like I should know people when I walk around here. After all, I lived in and around Chicago for 61 years. I search the faces of all the old women knowing full well recognition is unlikely, but always hoping for the magic of a familiar face. It was not to be.

My cousin's wife is related to a man who briefly worked for Richard thirty  plus years ago. He happened to be in Chicago and came here tonight. So that was today's nostalgia.