The "Spring Brake" Series
May 3
The Jia Family
There is this little hotel (and trailer park) in Blythe, California that my wife and I like. It is called the Blue Line Motel. I know that Blythe is not exactly one of the world's famous vacation spots, but Eunice and I have our reasons for going there. One of the reasons is the Jia family which run the Blue Line Motel. They are Chinese, originally from Shanghai, and Eunice is very friendly with them, speaking Mandarin. Like all Han Chinese family names, "Jia" is pronounced in one syllable, like "JYAH" spoken all at once. The name Jia sounds like the word for "family" in Chinese, except the accent is different; the name Jia goes down, while the word Jia meaning family goes up. Thus, the Jia family is the "Jia Jia," with the first Jia going down and the second Jia going up in tone.
We stayed at their motel during this spring break, our second stay there. Mr. and Mrs. Jia always seem to be cheerfully running around helping customers. When we first arrived, they immediately remembered us and in fact were very happy to see us. There was a man who came while we were checking in, who was having trouble opening his room, so Mr Jia went to his room to open it. After I had finished checking in, I noticed Eunice talking to that customer, and that his right arm was missing just below the elbow. Later, Eunice told me that he said he had lost his arm during the Korean War. He was luckier than his brother, though, who came back from Korea in a body bag. He told Eunice that he liked to stay in the Blue Line Motel when he was busy with work, because his children and grandchildren made it hard for him to rest. His work was bailing hay and other chores on local farms, 3 days per week, 16 hours per day. Well, that is what he said. When Eunice told me these things, my "BS-ometer" rose to warning levels. (You know, that's the part of your mind that tells you when things aren't really adding up; I think most people have one. If you don't, you had better get one, or else you will find yourself believing all sorts of nonsense and tall tales.) For one thing, to have been in the Korean War, he would have had to be in his 70's, but he appeared to be in his 60's. Okay, maybe he looked young for his age, so I could give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. But what man in his 70's does that sort of hard labor, and with only one arm? I guess it's possible. Perhaps he is another victim of the United States' incredible shrinking middle class, another one of Reagan and his crony's "pee-ons" as Thom Hartmann says, so any retirement benefits he receives are not enough and he still needs the money. It's frustrating as a person with normal curiosity, and especially as a Social/Personality Psychologist, that we meet people who tell us about their lives, but we often never really know what the true story is. People tend to be "spin doctors" with their own lives. I was thinking this man looked like some "sad sack" living on disability, with no job and no family, but if he was telling the truth, I suppose I would owe him an apology for doubting him.
To get back to the Jia family, Mr. Jia is a thin, spry man in his 70's. Mrs. Jia, is a cute, active older lady in her 70's. I find it amusing how Mr. Jia unself-consciously goes around with the button on his pants undone, although he wars a belt. One time, I asked him for napkins, and he handed me a role of toilet paper. Another time, we asked him to bring a can opener to open a can of tuna. He brought an automatic can opener, which I tried to use while he talked to Eunice. This turned out to be an adventure, as the handle fell off the can opener every time I tried to open the can. It was actually harder to use than a manual can opener. Finally, Mr. Jia used his extemsive experience with this particular can opener to cajole the can into opening. It took him two rounds of can-opening to get the can all the way opened, and by that time, there was a pile of tuna juice on the floor, so he quickly ran off to get some paper napkins and wipe up the juice. So that's how you get actual napkins! You have to spill tuna juice on the floor. Last year, they were equally helpful. They even brought a refrigerator to our room and brought us a bag of ice from the nearby Albertsons so that we could keep the fish that we had caught cold.
When we were leaving the motel, the Jia's were waiting for us so they could say goodbye. I had never seen such solicitous motel owners before, but I suspect it had something to do with Eunice being Chinese, and they enjoyed speaking Chinese with another Chinese person, even though Eunice is from Taiwan and the Jia family is from mainland China. They spoke mostly to Eunice, naturally, in Mandarin. Afterward, Eunice told me about their conversation. Eunice related to me that their son had gone to school here in the United States, and stayed after graduating, so it wasn't just Mr. and Mrs. Jia. In fact, their son was living in Irvine, California, and had invested in this motel, and wanted his parents to come and run it (no one better to rely on than trusted family). Thus, Mr. and Mrs.Jia obliged and moved to Blythe, California, probably unaware that it is a small town in the middle of the Mohave Desert, its only saving graces being that it lies alongside the Colorado River, and the 10 freeway goes through it. Mrs. Jia told Eunice that she missed Shanghai and found Blythe to be very isolated. (Actually, there are several Chinese restaurants in town, though. It's remarkable how every little town in the United States seems to have at least one Chinese restaurant.) Eunice encouraged Mr. and Mrs. Jia to continue doing their good work, and to continue developing the business, which they said was doing pretty well. Eunice must have talked to Mr. and Mrs. Jia for about 15 minutes as I prepared Eunice's and my belongings to leave. Then we were on our way to a harrowing, flat-tire filled trip home.
People immigrate to other countries for many reasons. Mr. and Mrs. Jia immigrated (legally, I believe) to the United States to help their only child. As residents of Shanghai, they were apparently subject to China's one-child policy. They did not come to the United States because they were experts on running motels, or loved running motels, or thought they would make much more money in the U.S., or coveted greater freedom they might find in the U.S., or had heard that Blythe, California was a great place to live. They came to help their son, and spend more time with him. They came for the sake of family.
May 1
Yesterday, Eunice and I went to her daughter's house to have the new motor installed on the dishwasher. This time it was a different technician, Yolanda (a powerfully built Mexican-American woman much like Reyna), and she was there waiting for us when we got there. Last time, the technician was late -- he got there at 6 p.m. although the time frame was supposed to be 1-5 p.m. She installed the motor and got the machine working, but it was something of a dissapointment price wise. Despite promises of a free motor and free installation, or so we thought, we wound up paying $168.25, which represented a "discount" for both the motor and the labor fee. That is in addition to $89.95 for the service call last time, a total of $258.20 for a motor which should have been there to begin with. Yolanda told us to call GE if they had promised free service and a free motor. Still, GE was more fair and easier to deal with than The Home Depot. On the other hand, Eunice had once had a nightmarish experience with GE, so GE is suspect as well. She told Yolanda and myself about a time when she ordered an expensive GE refrigerator in Taiwan. It had to be shipped to Taiwan from the U.S,, and when it got there, it was missing a vital part so it would not work. She ordered the part, but it never came, so after 3 or 4 years of waiting and spending about $7,000 she gave up and bought a refrigerator from Taiwan.
Andrew
After my flat tire on the way back from our spring break trip, we took the car there to get new tires and have the car checked again. Since that is my only car, and we did not want to bother my parents for a ride again, we asked for a ride back home while the mechanics worked on the car. A young man who looked like he was still in high school came out to give us a ride. His name tag said his name was Andrew. Eunice commented that he looked like he was only 15 years old. Andrew assured us that he was 20 years old. He went on to tell us that he had been working at Integrity Tires since he was 18 years old. In fact, he started working there as soon as he turned 18. He did not even finish high school. What was the reason? He was the oldest of 6 children raised by a single mother, so his financial help was desperately needed by his family. Thus, he felt compelled to get a full time job as soon as he was legally an adult. He likes working at Integrity Tires. He does relatively simple things, like changing oil and installing new air filters on the cars being serviced, and of course, giving rides to customers. He is not qualified to be a mechanic, at least not yet, but at least he is taking home a steady salary which mostly goes to hs family. He lives simply, in an apartment with a friend of his, and eats lots of fast food. He tries not to spend much money, since he wants to give as much of it as possible to his family. Andrew told us all this while he was taking us home.
When the car was finished, Andrew came once again to pick us up at our house. On the way back, we talked more about his family. He said there were 4 boys and 2 girls. In fact, the youngest three were triplets and included the 2 girls. All 3 triplets were quite different (clearly fraternal). For instance, one girl was a "tomboy," while the other was ultra-feminine. Andrew had not seen his father in years, and did not know where he was. We did not ask him about what had happened between his parents to cause them to break up. When we arrived at Integrity Tires, Eunice gave Andrew a bag of soft drinks and some of those famous Avocados that I had picked and perhaps a few other small items. (By the way, I picked some more Avocados yesterday.) Andrew seemed grateful, and we said our thanks and goodbyes to each other. Both of us could tell that Andrew was a truly good-hearted person living under some hard circumstances. Once again, I was struck by the power of circumstance and opportunity, or lack thereof, in shaping a person's life. All too many people grow up in "broken homes" in the U.S., at least (statistics say around 50%), and all too many fathers fail to support their children even when ordered to do so by law. Perhaps many of them cannot support their children, to be fair to them. Perhaps they can barely support themselves. If our society were structured differently, with better pay for the average worker rather than enormous pay for the "Big Boss," and a better social support network, perhaps far fewer families would find themselves in dire financial circumstances such as Andrew's family has found itself in. Perhaps people such as Andrew in a fairer society would have the opportunity to explore their potential and develop their greatest strengths, rather than be compelled to take the most expedient route to financial solvency. I imagine, under better circumstances, Andrew would be going to college, choosing a major, and performing well in his coursework. I wish Andrew the opportunity to pursue his dreams, and not to live a life saddled by the debts incurred by others.
By the way, if you expected Andrew to be an African-American, or Mexican-American based on stereotypes, you would be wrong. Andrew is a Euro-American (i.e., "Anglo"), which is certainly typical of persons in Andrew's circumstances.
April 30
This is the first of a different type of post. Sometimes, I plan to post about people that I know. Some will be tributes to or sympathetic descriptions of living people, others, to people who have passed on.
Reyna
Reyna is a very powerful woman. She does things normally associated with men -- all sorts of handywork and construction work. Not only does she do these things, but she is more reliable and does a better job than the large majority of men. We first saw Reyna at our next door neighbor's house, the Whitely's while they were doing a large-scale remodelling project last year. She was there nearly everyday and did much of the work. Eunice got her phone number, realizing that she was a good worker and that we might want to hire her eventually to do some work. This year, we have already hired her twice, with the prospect of more work for her in the near future. When I went to The Home Depot with her, I was startled to see how easily she lifted and moved 90 pound bags of cement. Perhaps if there were women's weightifting competitiions where she is from, she would be a champion. Reyna may be a particularly powerful woman, but it is her personality and circumstances that really prompt me to write about her.
Reyna comes from Mexico and she is 27 years old. She has no green card and is here "illegally." Yet she is a more productive person than most native-born Americans. While not particularly beautiful, she is rather attractive despite her typical working garb similar to that of workmen. She speaks English surprisingly well, and has a gentle and caring personality. She told my wife about her ex-boyfriend, but how she is just as happy being single, at least for now. She is not greedy, only asking a reasonable fee for her work. She is resourceful, intelligent, and always pleasant to be around. She is one of 11 children (I think) and comes from very modest circumstances in Mexico. Higher education was probably out of the question for her and her siblings, unfortunately. Reyna learned her skills from her father and brothers who were handymen while she grew up. Fortunately for Reyna, she likes doing handywork, since that is one of the few opportunities open to her. She also works part-time at a restaurant. In fact, she was telling me a couple weeks ago that she had been working since 6 in the morning at the restaurant before going to work at my step-daughter's house. She ended up working into the evening that day.
Reyna to me exemplifies the arbitrary nature of immigration policy. People who govern over other people draw borders and decide who can or cannot be considered a citizen, and what a person must do to become a citizen. Yes, it is unfair in a sense to those who immigrate legally, such as Eunice, when others do so illegally, but many people, especially people such as poor Mexicans, do not have the opportunity to immigrate legally. Eunice certainly does not blame Reyna for her immigration status. If Reyna had been a champion shot-putter or any other sort of top athlete, or well-educated intellectual with special skills, the door to immigration probably would have been wide-open to her. Reyna may not be a champion athlete or a Rhodes scholar, but Reyna is a great person, and that counts for nothing in the eyes of our legal system.
April 28
A River That No Longer Flows to the Ocean
The Colorado River is a very interesting river. It is an excellent case study in the effect of human activity on our environment. The Colorado River begins in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, flows westward to form the border between Utah and Arizona as it flows through (the former) Glen Canyon and the Grand Canyon and into Nevada, then turns south and forms the border between California and Arizona. Finally it continues south into Mexico, where it used to flow into the Sea of Cortez (the large bay between the Baja peninsula and the main part of Mexico). Historically, the Colorado River was a very large, muddy river, although not nearly as large as the Mississippi River. Nonetheless, it was by far the largest river in the southwestern United States. When I went on my spring break trip last week, along the border between California and Arizona, we found a still good-sized, but diminished, river with beautiful clear, turquoise-hued water with abundant vegetation, and many reed-growing backwaters and side-channels. This is a far different reality from the state of the Colorado River before human intervention. Now, the sediments, which were responsible for creating the Grand Canyon by washing away ancient soils, are deposited in large reserviors along the Colorado River, primarily in Lake Powell, which has filled the former Glen Canyon with water, and in the near geologic future, probably with sediment, leaving a beautiful, clear well-vegetated river. Now, periodic flooding by the Colorado River has been replaced by stable water levels in the river, promoting the growth of reeds which may eventually choke various channels and backwaters and separate them from the main river channel. Meanwhile, there is the alarming prospect of the siltation of the reservoirs along the Colorado River. If these reservoirs, beginning with Lake Powell, and moving downstream to lakes Mead, Mohave, and Havasu, fill in, they will no longer be very effective at flood control, and may not be as useful for generating hydroelectric power anymore as well, not to mention recreation. The most serious change in the river is, however, is that all of the water gets sucked out of it by a thristy populace in the arid American Southwest and Northern Mexico, leaving nothing to flow into the ocean. There used to be a thriving ecosystem where the Colorado River water mixed with the saltwater in the Sea of Cortez. The fertile waters of the Colorado River nurtured large areas with abundant populations of good-sized clams which are no longer there. A large and tasty species of fish called Totuava, which grew as large as 300 pounds, used to be abundant in the Sea of Cortez. There only spawining grounds were at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Sea of Cortez. With that gone, they now are scarce. I am sure there are many other changes that have taken place in the Sea of Cortez, but I am not an expert in this topic. One change probably is that the water in the Sea of Cortez is clearer than before. Yes, I do like clear water, but the negative consequences of human activity outweigh the positive consequences to the environment.
The larger point is that human activity inevitably changes the environment, so if we act naively without regard to environmental consequences, we are bound to create more harm than good. We need to learn to reduce our impact on the environment, and also, to adapt to changes in the environment. If we fail to adapt, we will probably be no better off than the dinosaurs, who apparently died off when they failed to adapt to climate change. Climate change is inevitable, but human activity has accelerated the rate of climate change in the direction of global warming. Actually, since carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, the very act of respiration contrubutes to global warming. I guess we should all become "couch potatoes" before it is too late. On the other hand, that gives us another reason to criticize smokers. "Shame on you; don't you know smoking creates carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming!" But seriously, effectively dealing with climate change such as global warming, requires the best use of our brainpower to find creative solutions, solutions which allow us not only to curb the effects of our activity on the environment, but also to help us and the environment change gracefully and peacefully. To mention a few entirely feasible and in fact, necessary changes we need to make: We need to stop harvesting fossil fuels and start harvesting sunlight in earnest; We need to stabilize the human population; We need to keep wildlands which preserve biodiversity; We need to recylcle materials as efficiently and completely as possible; even the materials in landfills need to be used, as sources of natural gas, for instance; We should grow food without the use of pesticides, and not insist on eating only perfect speciments; Meanwhile, we should grow (or harvest) more of our own food in our gardens, for instance; And we need to recycle water rather than sucking our most important rivers dry. Perhaps adopting some form of "carbon tax" system, as there is in Sweden, would help catalyze many of these needed changes. This is when people are taxed based on how much non-renewable energy they use. Wealthier people tend to use much more -- more vehicles, higher energy bills -- so they still pay far more in taxes than others unless they can "go green." In general, we should not feel compelled to change what does not need to be changed; do not try to fix what isn't broken. Meanwhile, what we do change, should be changed with caution and the best of knowledge and intentions.
April 26
My Least Favorite Shopping Place
Did I mention I don't like shopping? I guess that is a typical male attitude. Unless I am shopping for something I really like, shopping holds no rewards for me, only the prospect of spending time and money that I can ill-afford to spend. Perhaps shopping for fishing equipment, books, vacation items, or food may perk my interest, but places and trips to places such as Macy's, J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Gottschalk's (or is it MayPenney-Kohlschalk's?), or Wal-Mart, K-mart, Walgreen's and Rite Aid (or is it KWalGreen-AidMart?), along with Michaels, Bed Bath and Beyond and many more just seem to meld together in my mind. In any event, in the relatively near future, Wal-Mart will probably own most of these stores, at least here in the U.S. Part of my problem is that Eunice is afraid to drive. so guess who gets to drive her and accompany her to all of her shopping trips? That would be me. Sometimes, Eunice just asks me to drop her off at a nearby store, then pick her up later. However, this is troublesome and problematic, as well, since I usually have a hard time finding her when I return. Yes, we are "fortunate" (at least she is) to live near a major and still growing shopping center which has many sales. There are so many stores around here, I often have a hard time even remembering where some of the stores are located, unlesss we have been there many times. I can tell you exactly where the good fishing spots are or sporting goods stores are. I know where most of the local supermarkets are, although I am sketchy on some. (She often asks me to go to 2 or 3 different ones on the same trip, so it tends to confuse my memory.) But department stores locations, when we went, and what we bought tends to escape me. I think it is a form of motivated forgetting. I really don't like to think about shopping, or spending money, especially when money is tight. I realize that there are things we need and items that are useful that we buy in department stores, clothing stores and so forth, but I am not crazy about the experience. (I guess I am more like "driven crazy" by the experience.)
There is one particular store, however, in which I have had many particularly traumatic shopping experiences. This recent spring break, it did it to me again, so this is my chance to tell the world about it and give the populace fair warning. The store I am referring to is The Home Depot. Yes, I know that men are supposed to like home improvement stores, and I know that sometimes they serve a useful purpose. Regarding the gender issue, I think that is for the most part a crock of nonsense, a stereotype perpetuated by home improvement store advertising. Paid home improvement workers, most of them men, go to these stores because they have to. Husbands also go to these stores because they are compelled to by their wives, I suspect, in most cases. I think it is the wives who enjoy making their husbands go there, not the husbands who enjoy going there. On the other hand, I probably am not a typical male; I admit that I am an intellectual, and when it comes to intellect, something of a "renaissance man." But I am certainly no "renaissance handyworker," although doing handywork helps me to understand about things in life that I would not otherwise have the chance to.
Frankly, I cannot remember specific traumatic instances in past trips to The Home Depot other than the one last week. I think it is more a matter of emotional conditioning, combined with my intentionally poor memory for these events. I just know that I get a bad feeling when I am around The Home Depot, as though someone were squeezing my bank account dry like a juicer squeezing sugar water out of a piece of sugarcane. Along with that, there is a sense of labor camp duty, hauling heavy objects around, using my less-than-Herculean muscles, and attempting to do things I have no experience doing and no aptitude for. And all of those little parts of hardware, plumbing or whatever they call it seem to meld together in my mind. It is hard to tell one from another, and inevitably, after every home improvement project, there seems to be leftover a pile of items either to be to returned to the store, or kept in storage in the garage, most likely never to be used.
Now it is time to get to last week's incident. Actually, it is rather complicated, and goes back several years. A few years ago, Eunice's Daughter's (Isabella) dishwasher was found not to be working. This was the original dishwasher that was in the house when Eunice bought it. (Eunice used to live there.) It is hard to say how long the original dishwasher had been nonfunctional, since both Eunice and Isabella are in the habit of doing dishes by hand. However, we decided that it was time to by a new dishwasher, especially since Isabella might be moving out of the house sometime and it would not do at all to try to sell a house with no working dishwasher. We went ahead and bought a new GE dishwasher at The Home Depot for $400 (well, 399, but that is part of the little game vendors play). A few months ago, we ate dinner over at Isabella's house, so we decided that would be a good opportunity to use the dishwasher. I had no idea that Isabella had never even tried using it before. When we turned the machine on, water spilled all over the floor, but no water went inside the dishwasher. This past week, we decided to call the General Electric repair department to check out what was wrong with the dishwasher, even though we knew that we would have to pay for the service on this never-used dishwasher. We we discovered was most interesting. The technician, Tony, found that the motor was missing from the dishwasher, and the wires connecting to the motor had been cut. The Home Depot had sold us a dishwasher with no motor! That was the only plausible explanation. It's ludicrous to think that someone would have broken into Isabella's house just to steal a dishwasher motor. The next day, we went back to The Home Depot to inquire about what they could do to remedy the situation. Following a long and most unpleasant discussion, all that their managers were willing to come up with was a 10% discount on a new dishwasher. I said definitively no deal. They were bascially making us waste the $400 I had spent fot the dishwasher, plus the $90 service fee I had paid to GE. Anyway, Tony was more accomodating; he had said something about not charging any further labor fee for installing the new motor, according to Eunice. (I was actually at The Home Depot buying some materials last Tuesday when Tony arrived.)
This week we called General Electric again and scheduled to have a new motor installed in the dishwasher. While I was on the phone, the GE representative surprised me by spontaneously offering the new motor for free. Kudos to GE, and shame on The Home Depot! Perhaps The Home Depot has hit some hard econimic times, along with the rest of the United States, but still, selling a motorless dishwasher and then forcing the customer to pay for it is inexcusable. It is no wonder that The Home Depot has engendered a sickly feeling in me over the years, but basically our only home improvement store options in this area are The Home Depot and Lowe's. The new motor is scheduled to be installed this coming Wednesday, so we will see what happens. I will keep this blog "posted."
April 22
My car is in the repair shop now. The rattling turned out to be just some unimportant plastic which the mechanics cut off, but they also found the car needs new struts and "motor mounts" (never heard of those before), plus I decided to get all new tires, so it is going to cost about another $1,000 in addition to the $500 plus I spent last week. Staying on this car topic, my topic for today involves cars and the economy.
The Dented Car Syndrome
There is something interesting about the economy that I have noticed over the years about cars that I see as I drive around. It is not about how expensive the cars look, although I suppose that expensive cars do not sell as well when the economy is poor. I don't really know that much about the price of different cars, so I cannot comment very much on that. It is not about how new or old cars are, either, although I suppose people try to hold onto their cars longer when the economy is poor. What I am fairly certain of, though, is that the more dented cars I see driving around, whose owners do not bother to fix the dents, the worse the economy seems to be for the average driver. I have noticed lately an increase in dented cars once again, which seems to correspond with our current economic woes and probable recession. Of course, this is a different way to assess the economy than the way the goverrnment does, or investors do, or major corporations do, but I would argue that measures such as these, which look at the standard of living of ordinary people, are more valid indicators of the economy than other types of measures which are used.
Unfortunately, people who make it their business to assess the economy all too often look at corporate profits or the value of the stock market, rather than living wages or the value of a famiy's belongings. They all too often look at employment rates rather than the type of employment that people are finding. To these people, the economy is just faltering a bit, but nothing major. Corporate profits and the stock market are down a little. Perhaps employment rates are down a little as well. But this is purely a corporate perspective, and the economy is there to serve the people, rather than people being there to serve the corporations. It is the standard of living of the majority of citizens that is really crucial in assessing the economy. Imagine if the international news, for instance, were exclusively about the rich people of other nations -- the rich people of Sudan, for instance. Never mind that many people are starving there and a brutal civil war is going on. As long as there are some oil barons in Sudan, and some corporate moguls or filthy rich corrupt politicians, as long as Sudan's economy is "generating wealth," the corporatists would argue that Sudan's economy is not too bad. The corporatists would prefer to look at mean income (the mathematical average of all citizens, including the rich who skew the mean income upward), not the median income (the point at which half of the population has a greater income, and half, lower). But the median income tells us more about how the average person lives.Of course, raising the median income without changing the mean income would require that wealth be more evenly distributed among people, and that is what this economy really needs, but "heavens no" the CEO's of the world cry, "We can't take a pay cut. That's not the way our world works!" No, it is not, but it is the way the real world works, as opposed to the fantasy world these people have been constructing for the past 28 years.
As for me, I take my cues regarding the health of the economy from the condition of the cars people drive.
April 21
Spring "Brake"
I meant to put a "gone fishing" sign on this website several days ago, but we were too busy to even think about it. This past week was my "Spring Break" which means I try to do things which are difficult to accomplish when school is in session. Monday, I took my car to the repair shop "Auto Import Experts" which is the shop that saved my car from the scrap heap, according to my father, when my parents still owned the car. To backtrack in time, my parents bought this car as a new car quite some time ago. It is a 1992 Toyota Corolla, which my parents hardly ever drove, mainly because it kept having problems. The main problem, I believe, was that its battery constantly ran down. It was Auto Import Experts who fixed this problem and whatever other problems it may have had. When we needed a new car about 2 1/2 years ago, I had the idea of having my parents give this unused car to me, so we could save some money and the car would finally be put to proper use. Thus, it became my car. It turned out that it needed lots of new parts when I got it, but since then, it has done well. Recently, I noticed it felt rough when I was braking, a problem I was familiar with from my previous car, also a Toyota Corolla. I found that when that happened, it meaned the brake rotors were getting warped and needed to be replaced. It turned out I was right; my car needed new brake rotors, and also, an axle shaft or some such, which really surprised me. (They showed it to me and it was pretty large, but I am not familiar with many car parts. As anyone can tell, I am not enamored with car anatomy. I just want a safe car which gets me there, and more importantly, I believe we desperately need to develop affordable transprotation using alternative fuel sources, something which could have and should have been done long ago but has been stalled by the intrasigence of the auto manufacturers.) The mechanic also did a safety check and checked and rotated my tires, so my car seemed fit to go on our pending fishing trip.
Well, after Monday, Eunice and I turned out to have a very interesting and eventful Spring Break, which will be the topic of the next several posts, I believe.
The short version goes like this: Tuesday and Wednesday -- Helping Eunice's daughter Isabella with home repairs of several kinds and getting ripped off by The Home Depot (more to come), and I don't just mean by high prices;
Thursday-Sunday -- We went on a fishing trip to the lower Colorado River area, an area we went to last year during Spring Break and really liked. We did even better fishing-wise this year than last, and caught fish everywhere we tried. We caught numerous large specimens of our favorite "panfish" Redear Sunfish A.K.A. Redear Yumfish. They averaged around a pound, which is really large for a species such as this, and I caught the biggest one on a lure (plastic "jig"). We also caught many Bluegills which averaged around a half pound, good size for Bluegills, but small compared to the Redears. Plus we caught 6 Smallmouth and 4 Largemouth Bass. Now, Eunice is interested in catching more Smallmouth Bass; they are very beautiful and sporty fish. Most of the bass were under the size limit (minimum 13 inches long), so we released those. We kept the Redears and Bluegills which were all good-sized and good to eat (with no limits on these prolific species) except I gave two Bluegills away to a guy who wanted to use them for catfish bait. (Yes, it is legal to use Bluegills for bait on the Colorado River, but not most other places.) A catfish would have to be really big to eat a medium-size Bluegill such as those. Apparently, the area has lots of large catfish, but we did not see any of those, much less catch one. (I did catch a 6 1/2 pound Flathead Catfish in 1993 from the Colorado River while fishing for Bluegill with a bobber and worm and 4 pound test line, however.) Another interesting event was at the place where we had the best fishng, a place called Aha Quin resort. We noticed many good-sized bass swimming around, but they would not bite, although the Redears and Bluegills were being quite cooperative. After fishing there about 3 hours, we noticed a great deal of boat activity in the area. At that time, I took a break to drink some Powerade. On my way to the car, I noticed about 30-40 men, each with a large plastic bag. Each man, in turn, pulled bass out of his bag until the bag was empty and each bass was weighed. It was a bass tournament weigh-in. After weighing the fish, they were put back in the bag, then the fisherman went down to the shore about 20 feet away from the little dock where we were fishing, turn the bag upside down, and let all the still-healthy bass slide down into the water. At that point, it dawned on me why so many uncooperative bass were swimming around. They were probably "Sore-Mouthed Bass" as opposed to Smallmouth or Largemouth Bass, which were still in the area from the provious day's tournament. I would say the average tournament fisherman had an average of about 5 bass out of 6 possible which is the limit on the Colorado River. That's a lot of bass, around 150-200 according to my estimate, all over the size limit. Well, when I returned from watching the weigh-in, there was a large blond-haired man on the dock with my wife, and I noticed a couple of bass lying on the dock. Even though the tournament fishermen are required to used lures, sometimes a fish is hooked too deeply or in the wrong way (in the gills, perhaps) even with a lure, so the fish is unable to recover and will soon die. It turned out this fisherman had two such bass. One was a large Smallmouth (about 17 inches long and over 2 pounds); the other was a 13 inch Largemouth. The Smallmouth was already dead, and the Largemouth was barely alive, so the kindly gentleman offered them to my wife, which she gladly accepted. We just ate the Smallmouth for lunch today, and it was delicious.
By the way, regarding fishing, there are many fisherpeople who espouse a catch and release policy, especially when it comes to bass and trout, but I believe a policy of "selective harvest" makes the best use of fish as a resouce. We all hear about how good fish are for you, what a good food source they are, so in a world with a huge and still exponentially growing population, they should be utilized, but not overfished. If you think about it, fish such as these grow naturally, without human intervention, so they make a perfect supplement to a person's diet. I think of it in somewhat the same way I would think of picking wild berries, except we use fishing poles instead of hands. True, fish are animals, but their brains are so rudimentary that they probably have no awareness that they are even alive in the sense that we think of awareness, so I don't feel too badly about taking them (or crabs, crawfish or lobster) to eat -- just as long as a people aren't being "pigs" about it. And speaking of pigs, it is certainly more ethical to eat fish than eating a relatively intelligent animal such as a pig.
To get back to the trip, yesterday, we had to drive back home through the Mohave Desert, which was fine, except the gasoline in Needles was too expensive, so we went to the next gasoline place, 35 miles down the road. The gasoline was even more expensive there, $5.29 per gallon, but I really needed gasoline, espeically since the next place was another 58 miles down the road, so I gritted my teeth and paid through the nose, $20 -- there was no way I would fill up the tank at that price. And the gas station owners keep telling us they are "victims" of high gasoline prices, too. They barely make any profit, so they say. They would not be so unethical as to gouge the public. Yeah, right! And Exxon is the world's largest charity, I suppose. But anyway, we had a good trip, so onward I drove, and things would have been alright, except we still hadn't made it to Barstow, the first real town of any consequence on our way home, and the low gas warning light was already on. But that would have been okay, except while 50 mph winds were whipping across the road, and Eunice was feeding me Fig Newtons (my entire dinner), a loud thumping noise appeared, and the car became very rough to drive. That could only mean one thing -- one of my recently checked and rotated tires had gone flat (and for no apparent reason). I moved over to the right, and eventually found a call box. Eventually, a nice man (I think his name was Ralph) from the tow truck company came by and installed the spare tire. (I am not good at things such as changing tires.) So things were sort of okay again, although delayed by a couple hours. I started the car and got ready to hit the road again, put the car in reverse, and -- was serenaded by the sound of grinding rubber, which apparently found tis way from my shredded tire into parts of the car where it does not belong. I asked "Ralph" (or whatever his name was) to check it out, and he said some rubber probably had gotten into the brake calipers and was rattling around. Ultimately, I decided to go on my way, as I noticed various thumping sounds as rubber left the car, followed by somewhat quieter driving than previously. Things were getting better; perhaps all of the rubber would work its way out without causing any damage of consequence. I was able to drive home with a tolerable, constant, light humming that isn't usually there. Unfortunately, something is still in there, so I will need to get it checked soon unless it gets better on its own. I hear it especially when I make a turn, so I think it may be somewhere other than the brakes. Either a trip to the place where I bought the tires (Goodyear), or Auto Import Experts, or both will be in order. I'll keep you "posted."
And that was the "short version" of "what I did on my Spring Break."