Neurotic Parkers

No, this post isn’t about a family of mentally unhealthy folks with the surname Parker. It’s about people parking. In lots.

I recently decided to pony up the monthly fee to park my car in the covered deck next to our office building. My only regret upon doing so was that I had not done it earlier, and that I instead subjected my black Pontiac to the 110-degree heat of 75% of Texas’ hottest summer on record. (It’s not officially the hottest yet, but that record — set in 1980 — will be falling this afternoon.) I now feel much better not only about the longevity of my car, which despite being 5 years old still has only 17,000 miles on it, but also about my ability to breathe on the way home each day.

But there is something bizarre about the parking lots at this office building, whether it is the free rooftop deck where my car used to reside, or the covered lower level where it does now. It’s the other people in it. And the fact that for some reason they feel it necessary to park in different places all of the time.

I’ve never encountered this anywhere else. In the past, when I’ve routinely traveled to the same place on multiple occasions — such as the office, or school, or what-have-you — it was clear that most people tended to park in the same place all the time. It became part of their routine. Most folks park as close to the door as possible. Some stake out a corner in the back and choose it each day. Others are loyal only to a particular row or side of the lot, but they usually stick to it.

Now that I am in Texas, I have observed a fourth group: those who neurotically roam from space to space every day, like the mythical three bears testing the mattresses in hopes of finding the one that’s “just right”. Since I’ve been working here, I’ve been evicted from first one corner spot and then another by people who suddenly decide to start parking there, then disappear — only to be replaced by others — days or weeks later. Usually you find clean and classy cars in corner spaces, but I was mostly finding dirty SUVs and dented sedans. I don’t get it. What are they protecting?

I’m experiencing the same thing in the covered garage, but at least down there, plenty of extra “out-of-the-way” spaces are available for me to snag if I find somebody in my spot of choice. And chances are, when I come in the next day, I’ll find the same car parked a few spaces away, apparently at random.

You wouldn’t think that it would be difficult to park a billion miles away from the door, but fate always has surprises waiting.

Journal: September 5, 2011

My wife and I followed through with our intent to visit the community swimming pool this evening. It couldn’t have been a more picture-perfect occasion: the weather was cool, the sun was setting, the water was the perfect temperature, and the pool area was deserted. We walked down there from our house in a little over five minutes and kicked back in the water for almost an hour, chatting and enjoying the cool of the evening. My wife in particular enjoyed the weightless feeling of being submerged, especially given all the extra weight her pregnancy has had her carrying around!

The pool is actually a pretty good size, just the right depth for relaxation and has a nice picnic area attached. It wasn’t too over-chlorinated and, while it’s kept up, you didn’t get the feeling that a bunch of gestapo would swoop down on you like a pack of jackals if you took a step out of line. We rarely used the pool at our community in Florida, since we never had a good feeling about it and actually got chased out of there once because it was “too dark”. By the same security guy who once chased me off the cobblestone path because I wasn’t supposed to ride my bike on it, never mind that this path was the only way to get to the post office.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more glad I am to be rid of that place we used to live in. Way too many rules for this man to abide, and I’m hardly the picture of rebellion. On the way home from the pool tonight, we passed by a house with an illuminated window that was very obviously bedecked with red curtains, and had a giggle about how our last community’s board would have been apoplectic at the sight of drapery that wasn’t white. Not exaggerating.

Anyway, we pledged to make the most of the increasingly pleasant weather by visiting the pool at least three times per week. We both need some exercise, so these pool visits will be interchangeable with evening walks. In total, we hope to get out and do one or the other five times a week.

If the weather keeps up like this, I doubt it will be difficult to do. It was paradise here today. After washing the GTO yesterday, this morning I did a whole bunch of detail work on the car, including applying liberal amounts of leather cleaner and protectant to the interior. The red leather is really screaming red again; now that I see it like this, looking like the day I bought the car, I can see how faded it had really become. I also (finally!) removed the gate entry barcode sticker from our former digs in Florida — the place I was just talking about with the gestapo security. After vacuuming the car and topping off the tires with air, the breezy mild weather was too nice to ignore, so I went out for a drive. It didn’t hurt that we needed something extra from the grocery store, so I picked it up while I was out.

It’s been a great holiday weekend, and I’m actually looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow with some renewed vigor. Having a sharp-looking car to drive to the office also helps.

I’ll have some bits of more interesting commentary to post here in the next day or two, beyond the journal entries.

Journal: September 4, 2011

Tasks done today:

• Installed two dimmer switches.
• Cleaned the third bedroom and set up the old TV stuff.
• Vacuumed the whole house.
• Washed the GTO.

Very productive day…for a Sunday.

Out there washing the car this evening, there was a strong and cool wind blowing. The heat of the day had completely evaporated and was replaced by a very pleasant, mild warmth. I felt like I was on another planet. As a bonus, Apple made homemade bread today. It came out brilliantly and we enjoyed it during dinner. Plenty left over!

Pretty tired now at the end of the day. Going to pack it in and enjoy the holiday tomorrow.

Upcoming Knight Rider Soundtrack Releases on Indefinite Hold

I’m a huge fan of the soundtrack from the 1982 TV series Knight Rider. The show’s iconic theme tune (and the incidental music for the first 13 episodes) was penned by Stu Phillips, but it was Don Peake who scored the vast majority of the episodes from the series’ four-year run. In the past few years, portions of Don’s Knight Rider recordings have been released to the public thanks to Hitchcock Media Records, which recognizes and caters to several fairly niche audiences with its varied and often eclectic catalog.

For much of 2011, fans of Don’s work have been abuzz with the news that the release of a huge cache of Knight Rider material was imminent. We’re talking as many as six or seven complete episode scores, easily making this Don’s most significant release yet. Unfortunately, as the expected release timeframe neared, the news tapered off until eventually it seemed like nothing was happening at all.

Well, sometimes no news is better than bad news, I’m afraid. I received word this evening from Ron Hitchcock himself that the upcoming soundtracks are on hold for the moment. Frustratingly, it seems that the material is ready to go, but the current economic climate makes funding the production of the CDs impossible for the time being. It’s a let-down for sure, though obviously classic television soundtracks are not high on anybody’s priority list in a widespread financial crisis.

We may be stuck in “wait and see” mode for now, but I’m confident that eventually those albums will see the light of day. I’ll have a review to post when they finally do land. In the meantime, browse over to Hitchcock’s site and see if there’s anything in their catalog that interests you — every little bit helps, I imagine.

Journal: September 3, 2011

Today was the first of our eight childbirth classes, taught using the Bradley method. I was a bit apprehensive of this going in; I think all new dads-to-be probably are, because they’re not sure exactly what role they will find themselves needing to play as part of the birth process. But after this first class I am already feeling much more confident about what I can and will do to help my wife through her first natural birth. We learned a lot of good stuff, most of it in the form of real-world experience from our instructor, her assistant (and even a fellow classmate) who had already given birth several times, some of them through a variety of different methods.

My greatest fear about the birth process so far was probably that a natural birth would be more difficult, more painful and more risky than a medicated hospital birth. I mean, I’ve certainly received no shortage of shocked looks and awed remarks from colleagues and acquaintances when I’ve told them we were having a natural birth without pain medication or chemical inducement. While unmedicated birth is of course painful, based on what we heard today the process can actually be easier for the mom to control (and sometimes even quicker to complete) without chemical intervention. I think in the U.S. we’re all somewhat conditioned to believe that natural births are the exception, the “strange choice”, the “risky decision”…which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it, because it’s part of the human design!

Even more importantly, we got to practice a variety of exercises, relaxation and muscle toning techniques to help manage pain and make labor go more smoothly. You could probably learn as much from book research, but for some things, there really is no replacement for having a real person teach it to you, show it to you and then watch you practice it. It’s a real boost of confidence. My wife already discovered some techniques that she likes, and we’ve got lots of stuff we can practice here at home.

All of this has left us both feeling a lot better about everything, and we are truly lucky that we’re going to have our baby at a natural birth center. It’s a lot easier to have a natural birth when all the midwives and nurses around you have made it their life’s work to provide that experience for women, rather than the “expedience above all else” routine of many overworked doctors and hospital staff whose every move is being analyzed by insurance adjusters.

It’s been hard (nigh impossible for lazy bones like us) to get much exercise this summer, thanks to the last three months’ worth of sweltering heat that has been hard for even Texans to bear, let alone we transplanted Floridians. As the weather begins to cool, we’re hoping to start getting some exercise in the form of swimming down at our community pool. With Monday’s temperatures expected to be in the 80s, we’re thinking about diving in for an inaugural swim. I’m going to run by the pool this evening and take a look around, check out the hours and such. I hope they’re open late…there’s nothing finer to me than a swim at night.

I’m planning an old-school pizza-and-movie fest (the exact opposite of exercise, I fear) this evening, once I run out an take care of a few more errands. We’ve got a couple more rooms at the house that still need dimmer switches, the Mazda needs a new rear wiper blade and if I don’t get some more copies of our housekeys made, I will lock myself out of here some day. We came very close to doing just that this week; only my seemingly arbitrary choice to unbolt the front door before we went out saved us from calling a locksmith. That’s no good, son.

Journal: September 2, 2011

It’s the end of the week at last, and this one comes with a three-day weekend as an extra bonus feature. I feel spent right now, though. No motivation or energy to do much beyond playing some more Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the addictive game whose siren song I hear constantly. The funny thing is that my mind is churning away on ideas that I’d like to start exploring, like a new design for one of my other websites, but there will be no synthesizing of that mental energy into physical productivity tonight. My best hope is to do some creative writing later.

Speaking of Deus Ex, I can’t say enough good things about this game. It’s the second sequel to one of the most beloved PC games of all time, the original Deus Ex from the year 2000. That game was followed by Deus Ex: Invisible War in late 2003, a decent shooter but one that had no hope of living up to the standards set by its ancestor. Invisible War also suffered greatly from “consolitis”, the condition wherein the interface and graphics of a multi-platform title are brought down to the lowest common denominator set by a game console like a PlayStation or Xbox, and PC gamers usually suffer for it. In late 2003, the gulf between the technical capabilities of a well-built gaming PC and a PS2 or Xbox was vast.

So I was largely uninterested in Human Revolution, even forgetting completely about it until a couple of weeks before its release this past month. But when the Internet started to light up with glowing early previews and opinions about the game, I laid down a preorder and wound up with the game on release day. It was a smart investment indeed: this is easily the most consistently fun and engaging game I’ve played so far this year, and that includes the likes of L.A. Noire and Portal 2, both of which were excellent titles. Eidos Montreal has really pulled off a masterpiece with Human Revolution, and it looks fantastic even on my Xbox 360.

Here’s a secret: I’m particularly taken with Human Revolution because a large part of the game takes place in future Detroit, ca. 2027. Having grown up in the shadow of the Motor City myself, it’s fun picking up on all the authentic references in the game. These include names like Grand River Road and Highland Park, as well as the Renaissance Center being referred to in dialogue, and even a futuristic monorail that just so happens to have the same stops as the present-day Detroit People Mover. “The next station is…(pregnant pause)…Bricktown.”

With the Labor Day weekend here, I imagine I’ll be playing some more of the latest Deus Ex, in between the usual errands and weekend warrior type stuff that I’ve been doing of late. A couple weeks back I hung some curtains up in my study, for example. They’re woefully short, as the window in there is absolutely humongous, but the missing portion happens to be concealed behind my desk, so I’m not complaining. The rod and holdbacks that I picked up from Kohl’s have square finials and a “black coffee” finish that matches the other aesthetics of the room perfectly. The only thing that did not go according to plan with the installation were the cheap garbage screws included with the kit; next time I’m using my own screws from the hardware store.

I also recently completed painting of our son Connor’s room. The home’s previous owners had a daughter and her room was painted yellow with a mural of flowers along two walls. The yellow is okay — my room was yellow when I was a baby — but the flowers wouldn’t do for a boy, so my dad helped me paint a sky blue stripe over them. It turned out great.

Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it’s forecasted to be. I’d like to check out the community pool!

Journal: September 1, 2011

Spent the day working at home, getting into some web design for work. As somebody who claims “web designer” on his resume, it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I actually did any web design. I’ll be easing back into it over the next couple of weeks with a small project, which will in turn prepare me for the upcoming total overhaul of our company web site.

That will be one of those bittersweet kind of things, because the current site has won (and continues to win) a lot of praise from our customers, but it really is showing its age. Plus it’s expanded far beyond what it was ever intended to support organizationally, so usability has begun to suffer. A new design is definitely needed, but it’s one of those balancing acts where you have to make sure you don’t screw up what people like about the current site in your haste to replace it with something ostensibly better. That seems to be difficult to do in this industry, as evidenced by all the failures. (“Put it back! I liked it better the way it was before! Rawr, fffft!”)

I found another musical gem on the Internet today. I’m a bit of a soundtrack buff — have been since childhood, without fully realizing it. As a kid in the ’80s, I remember adoring the theme music from Short Circuit. Today I found the “unofficial” Short Circuit soundtrack online and free for download. It’s one of those crazy stories: No official soundtrack was ever released, but the webmaster of that site once met a collector who in turn had met a studio engineer who worked on the film. The engineer apparently had access to a set of backup tapes of the soundtrack, and a few winks and nods later, it became available to the world at large. Now I guess there’s another entry I can check off of the childhood geek wish list.

This Saturday morning my wife and I are starting our “Bradley method” childbirth classes. They’re holding them every weekend at the same place where we’re planning to have our baby. Looks like it’ll be a fairly small class — maybe 7 or 8 couples. I have almost no clue what to expect, honestly, but I’m sure it’ll be good.

Labor Day weekend! I keep forgetting about it. Three days off is a definite good thing. The other thing that’s good is that it’s supposed to rain and the temperatures are finally supposed to dip below 100. It sounds weird to be hoping for a rainy Labor Day, but after the summer we’ve had here in Texas, any kind of rain is like the gift horse you don’t want to look in the mouth. And my grill is under a roof, anyway.

That People Mover Sound

Back in high school my friends and I used to goof on the Detroit People Mover, the little unidirectional skytrain in Motown that doesn’t go much of anywhere. It’s a driverless ICTS train powered by a linear induction motor, manufactured in Canada by the now-defunct UTDC.

One of the Mark I ICTS trains’ quirks was the pronounced shifting-gear like whine heard whenever it would resume motion. I found this video on YouTube that captures the sound perfectly (at 0:39) — but it’s not of the Detroit People Mover, it’s of one of the still-operating Mark I ICTS trains from Vancouver’s Skytrain system. This, the DPM and Toronto’s Scarborough RT are the only rail systems in the world still using the Mark I ICTS.

When these trains reach end-of-life, upgrades may be quite costly as the Mark I is no longer made and the Mark II may not be directly compatible with existing track. That’s just another wrench in the works when you consider the People Mover would need to charge approximately $3 per ride in order to break even on its operating costs, yet to this day, rides are still the same 50 cents that Detroit has been charging since 1987 when the trains began operating.

There are plenty of clips of the actual Detroit People Mover on YouTube — almost all of them very poor quality — but my favorite is this VHS footage of a ride around the complete circuit in 1987, shortly after the DPM opened for business. Vintage! (And no, I don’t know what’s going on with that music, either.)

Footage: Downtown Detroit ca. 1954

Whenever my grandmother would tell me stories of how great and grand the city of Detroit once was, I never had any frame of reference to envision it. Now that I have seen this footage of Detroit shot in 1954, I think I understand.