Hooked on Game of Thrones (the Book)

The first time I heard of George R.R. Martin was in a long article about him in the New Yorker. It talked about how his fans were desperate for the next book in his popular series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Well, now that I'm on page 378 of book one I can understand their frustration.

Game of Thrones is the kind of book that you find yourself reading while waiting in line at Safeway, or before bed, or at lunch. You make time for it, and begrudge the "wastes of time" like emptying the dishwasher. It's great to find a series that takes your attention and pulls you into an alternative world of adventure.

The last time I did this was when I read through all seven Harry Potter books a few summers ago.

The story is now on TV, too, but I'm not going to watch until I've read all the books first.

Updates as they happen. I have to get back to reading now...

Jack Casady - Bassman Then and Now

I remember the thumping sound of Jack Casady's bass playing in Somebody to Love and other songs by the Jefferson Airplane. I also see an ad in the June 2011 issue of Bass Player showing Jack, who's now a great deal older, playing like a madman on the Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass--in an ad for the guitar maker. Looks like a fine instrument.

I have a CD--Jack's first solo effort, from 2003, called Dream Factor. On it, he plays fine and low with hand-picked musicians on a variety of cuts. Still a great listen.

I met Jack for about 10 seconds once in 1971. I was coming out of a health food store in San Francisco and saw him--looking unmistakably like the guy in the photo above--and he was trying to carry a load of gallon jugs of cider. I asked if he needed any help. He said, "No," and that was it.

Now, he's one of my bass heroes. The sound he made in those early years is part of my inspiration.

Ford Pinto Turns 40--Join the Stampede!

Are you a fan of the Ford Pinto? Built from 1971 to 1980, Ford's diminutive little vehicle was meant to stem the tide of Japanese imports that invaded our shores starting in the mid 1960's. Sure, we had the first batch of "compacts" for 1960, when the Chevy Corvair, Ford Falcon and Plymouth Valiant (actually, it was just the Valiant the first year) arrived to battle the already-compact Rambler.

In any case, by the late 1960's more help was needed, so subcompacts arrived--in the form of the Pinto, Chevy's ill-fated Vega and the odd but loveable AMC Gremlin. Yeah, remember the Gremlin? It was two-thirds of a compact sedan, but completely unique and cost very little to design (AMC was hurting for cash). Chrysler began importing Mitsubishis to fill its compact car needs (remember the Dodge Colt?).

All this is prelude to the big news. To celebrate the anniversary, over the last several days, a convoy of Pintos, called the Pinto Stampede, has driven together for 1,600 miles from Denver, Colorado to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where a huge event, the Ford Nationals was taking place. Actually, it's probably winding down right now.

What makes someone a fan of an odd little car? Well, maybe it was their first car. Maybe they thought they were cute back then and always wanted one. As the owner of a Nash Metropolitan I think I understand.

The Pinto debuted as a three door hatch or a two-door coupe, but later was sold as a cute little wagon--including a model with woodgrain applique on it like a Ford Country Squire! Hmm, cute. It was more efficient and got higher mileage than contemporary big cars. It was a start. I kind of liked them, especially the hatchback with the large rear window. But I've never driven one.

Today, you can buy a Ford Fiesta that's much better in every way, but there's nothing like an American classic. Ask members of the Ford Pinto Car Club.

New Tires for a Late Winter -- In June

Well, it's STILL raining in Northern California on June 4. This is just plain weird. In any case, it made me reconsider replacing the front tires on my wife's car. You really want to have some tread on your tires on wet roads so the water has somewhere to go and you still have some rubber touching the surface. Otherwise you are at a risk of hydroplaning and getting into an accident. I didn't want that for my loved ones.

There's an old informal gauge of using a penny to see if Lincoln's head is visible -- or something--I know that the entire head was completely visible. The tread looked like a drawing on the tire.

So, what do you do? I looked online and saw that some local places had bad Yelp reviews. Then, I remembered good experiences I had before with a local company, so I went there. I arrived just when the door opened at 7:30 a.m. and was 3rd in line. Sure enough, the friendly and efficient folks there found me a good pair for the fronts (the backs were still good--and they told me so and didn't try to sell me something I didn't need). Also, they provided me with good tires for significantly less than the exact replacement models. Then, they put them on in half an hour.

I then went home and brought over one of my other cars that had a slow leak. After using my $15 quickie compressor to fill the offending tire, I drove over. As they have done before, they fixed the leak--for free--and topped off my coolant, which I told them looked like it was running low.

Finding good businesses you can count on to do the job right at a good price isn't easy. If you need tires, go see them if you're in the neighborhood:

Castro Valley Tire Pros

Nissan Leaf - a Real Electric Car

The Nissan Leaf is the first all-electric car to be a completely finished, normal, mass market vehicle. Dramatically styled outside, extremely pleasant to drive and ride in, and complete with all the accoutrements you require--satellite radio, USB, climate control, power acccessories, navigation--it's a dream come true.

Range is a consideration with a pure electric car, but the Leaf actually fit my needs pretty well. I have a 44-mile round trip commute, and it took me on it, gas free, with about one third of the full charge remaining when I rolled into my driveway. I used a 110-volt trickle charger--which is slow--but if I owned the car, my 220-volt home charger would do the job in 5 hours, not 16.

The motoring experience is serene. The car makes a cute little chime song when you push its "On" button. The icon of a Leaf with a two-headed arrow under it appears and you're ready to go. Push the car into Drive and take off.

If you put the car into the Drive position a second time, it takes the ECO setting. Then, it will generate more electricity with regenerative braking and accelerate a bit more leisurely--but you'll get a greater range.

A tree icon on the information-packed instrument panel lets you "earn" trees from your good driving behavior. If the old way of interacting with cars was through shifting, accelerating, and zero-to-sixty times, the new way is to see how far you can go on a charge--which means careful driving, not wild performance.

There's an iPhone app that lets you stay aware of the charge of your car remotely. I consulted it from work when the car was at home. It also tells you where the closest charging station is--and that list will include your house as soon as you've used it once.

The tan, organically shaped cabin coddles you, and with the silence of the ride, the audio system entertains completely.

The price is about $33,000, but numerous rebates and offers apply, so you may be able to grab a Leaf for the mid $20,000s. But, consider this. I earned 4.3 miles per kilowatt hour (KWh). That means that the 44-mile commute cost me, at my rates, about $1.40 in electricity. A Prius would burn just under a gallon of gas--which goes for $4.25 these days. A "regular" car, at 22 miles per gallon, would cost $8.50. So there's a definite savings there.

For now, you'll want to have another car available for long distance travel. I expect that charging times and battery life will improve significantly over the next few years until it'll mean a half-hour lunchtime charge at the Denny's halfway to LA and you'll be on your way. Meanwhile, the Leaf makes pure electric motoring not only possible, but enjoyable too.

Weather vs. Climate--and are we Screwing Up the Latter?

It's not supposed to look like the photo to the left in the San Francisco Bay Area at 6:41 a.m. on June 2. No, by now the green hills are dried to gold, the sky is clear and blue, and the thermometer is routinely hitting 80 degrees. But today, I'm taking my umbrella and wearing a long-sleeved shirt and coat. I am wondering if we're getting Seattle's weather by mistake.

Weather vs. Climate. What's the difference? And is climate change upon us, as scientists have predicted for decades? Kinda of looks like it to me.

Weather is what the guy on the TV news talks about before the sports updates. It's about whether you should cancel that outdoor party or wear your raincoat. It's always changing, is only somewhat predictable, and is a great thing to discuss at a party where you don't know anyone.

Climate, however, is more about mean temperatures and average rainfall. It affects which crops will grow, if the riverbank will hold the runoff, the breeding cycle of insects, and, indirectly, the livelihood of millions of people. We've seen extreme weather incidents recently--the tornados that ripped apart Joplin, MO, now flooding in South Dakota. Record temperatures in Southern California. Today we hear about tornados in Massachusetts! The list goes on and on. Is this related to climate change?

The science of climate change seems to boil down to more junk in the air causing the earth to retain more heat, which leads to rising global temperatures affecting the distribution of water on the planet. Too much rain here (floods), too little (draught), and the movement of air from these disruptions causing friction, leading to tornados. Melting polar ice leads to higher water levels in coastal regions.

I don't profess to understanding it, but it appears that we are moving from ignorance to disbelief to now a growing general concensus that something is amiss. We are starting to talk about handling the effects of climate change and not just about preventing it. It looks like we can't prevent it.

So, what do you do? Apparently, replacing your SUV with a Prius isn't enough. We need to understand the whole picture, and then have our governments "help" us do what we need to do to cope. According to the June 6, 2011 issue of Newsweek ("Weather Panic"), we are woefully unprepared. It is one thing we all can agree on--a world problem. Maybe we don't need aliens to land to become unified after all.

Here's where I go for a daily dose of information, but there's plenty if you go looking for it.

See

My Dad Would Be 84 Today

My father was born 84 years ago to a modest-income family in Buffalo, New York. He grew up with his father away much of the time, during the depression. H was taller than everyone else in his family. He was a "nerd," being interested in technology, science and books--but didn't wear glasses. Then, he lost both parents as a teenager, to different illnesses. Not a great start in life.

My father served briefly in World War II at age 17, but a friend accidentally shot him through the middle (luckily, missing everything), so home he came. The 6-foot-3 overweight kid came home a slim, handsome 6-5 man, and things started to move. Dad went to college on the GI Bill and then through dental school. This began a career that included private practice, teaching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and later the University of Southern California, and finally, a series of lectures. The University of Buffalo, his alma mater, has an annual award in his name. That, by any measure, is professional success.

As an increasingly successful professional in his 20's and early 30's, Dad got interested in British sports cars, and ended up owning and racing a number of them, including three Austin Healeys and a rare (and tiny) Berkeley. The latter was recently restored in the Midwest and is pictured above. Dad's love of cars was passed on to me, but I'm a writer, not a racer or a wrencher.

My parents' marriage was not successful for either of my parents, but they both made good connections later that lasted many years.

My father died suddenly the day before he was to have surgery to repair an abdominal aortic aneurism--a life threatening condition. I think he knew the risks going in. He and I had great, long phone chats on his birthday (June 1) and Father's Day (mid-June). In my adult years, we became close in spirit, if not in distance.

I'm sorry he's missing out on his great granddaughter and seeing his grandkids become adults. I'm used to him not being nearby, but I'm still unhappy he's not around. He knew how to fix anything, had a lot of interesting things to say, really cared about me--and celebrated my successes. I sent him every auto story I wrote during his lifetime (hundreds) and a number of books in my car library are signed gifts from him.

His car, in my mind, will always be an Austin-Healey. Someday, I may even get to drive one.

From Dad I learned to be honest, to work hard, that focusing your attention leads to great results, that it's important to spend some of your time doing what you love and much more. I wish he was still on the other end of the line.