Posted inHome life

I’m closer to getting a Mini Cooper S (no thanks to God)

Though I'm not at all a religious sort of guy, back in 2003 I considered it a message from God when, right after reading an early review of the recently released Mini Cooper, I saw one of the rare (at that time) cars in downtown Salem. Anyway, until today I have seen only one Mini-Cooper on the streets of Salem, Then, waiting for a light to change at the corner of Court Street and Commercial this morning, walking to my martial arts class, I espy a yellow Mini-Cooper with a white top tooling down Commercial. I ogle it (though that…
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Posted inHome life

Our mailbox is politically correct now

Jeez. I didn't realize how long it would take me to get the front door of our mailbox properly non-sexist and non-authoritarian. Here's the final result: Yesterday I headed up our driveway with some stick-on letters in hand, prepared to handle a long-procrastinated chore on a pleasingly dry and sunny day. Last year we got a Fort Knox mailbox, which are made a few I-5 hours south of us in Grants Pass, Oregon. We chose the slam lock door option, because we get quite a few packages -- largely because of my Amazon addiction. The door is left ajar so…
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Posted inHome life

I spot a cigarette smoking scooter rider

So I'm driving along in south Salem, after taking our recycling stuff to the D & O Garbage drop off site, and I find myself behind a 40-something woman on a scooter. We're both waiting for the light to change so we can turn onto Commercial Street. Being a scooter rider myself -- albeit a much larger one than this lady was riding -- I'm always interested in how people are outfitted, especially in 32 degree weather like it was today. The first thing I noticed were her bare hands, one of which, her left, was holding a cigarette. She'd…
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Posted inHome life

A 62 year old guy’s mildly-wild New Year’s Eve

To all of those youngsters out there who believe that life as they know it ends at forty, the New Year's Eve tale I'm about to relate may make you think, "Dear god, don't let me live until sixty!" However, this 62 year old is here to tell you that he's had a pretty wild day so far, by old geezer standards, and the evening is still young. (Of course, the evident fact that I'm blogging clear-headedly at five hours to midnight, not imbibing more potent psychoactive substances than the french press coffee I just made, says more about my…
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Posted inHome life

Why Chase Sapphire is my favorite rewards card

My wife and I are credit card rewards junkies. But we're selective card holders. I only have two at the moment; Laurel has three. The main reason is that we like to maximize our rewards by charging as much as possible to a single rewards card. For a long time we fed at the rewards trough of United Airlines' Mileage Plus, which pumped a mile into a frequent flyer account for every dollar we spent. Eventually, though, we got tired of United's stinginess when it came time to redeem our miles for a free flight. Rarely were seats available on…
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Posted inHome life

I discover comfort shopping

In today's newspaper I read about a new restaurant whose owner described its cuisine as "comfort food." I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I suspect health-minded vegetarians like me wouldn't find much to eat there. Still, I can identify with the concept, because I've been getting into comfort shopping. Not that this is something entirely new for me -- earlier this year I praised the iPhone 4 as the way to perfect happiness. Yes, money can make us happy when it's used to buy the right things. In these tough economic times, the problem is finding the right…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

Regence BlueCross of Oregon is evil (and heartless)

I've changed my mind about Regence BlueCross of Oregon. And not for the better. In a previous post I called Regence "heartless," after seriously considering the adjective "evil." After enduring two more months of bureaucratic bullshit from Regence concerning my wife's dry eye problem, I've decided that stronger words are needed to describe how this company screws over longtime individual policy-holders like us. As described before, we were forced by Regence BlueCross of Oregon to switch to new policies as of July 1, 2010. These "Evolve" plans actually were a devolution: for the same premium, we got substantially fewer benefits…
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Posted inHome life

Amazon Prime helps save the Earth (and my time)

I'm a frequent Amazon shopper. Until recently I'd resisted the invitation to sign up for Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime is a membership program that gives you and your family unlimited fast shipping, such as FREE Two-Day shipping and One-day shipping for $3.99 per item on all eligible purchases for an annual membership fee of $79. Eligible customers can try out a membership by starting a free trial. But when I needed to have a book delivered quickly to prepare for a discussion group meeting, I decided to use the free trial to get it shipped to me in two days.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

Me to Federal Reserve: “Higher interest rates, please”

The U.S. Federal Reserve is supposed to be an independent guardian of our banking system, immune from pleas to do this or that from either politicans or regular citizens. But since Sarah Palin felt free to critique the Fed's recent monetary policy actions (though many, including me, were surprised she even knew what the Fed did), I figured I might as well throw in my own request: Higher interest rates, please. Higher inflation also, if that goes along with higher interest. I'll confess to being minimally economically literate. But I know how to balance my checkbook (except when I can't).…
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Posted inHome life

The Tao of leaf raking

I don't know why I gave this blog post the title I did. But that's how the Tao works: mysteriously. Anyway, I like feeling special, and so far Google tells me that the Internet is bereft of Taoist (or in this case, pseudo-Taoist) musings about how raking leaves leads one to recognize his or her oneness with the cosmos. By "one," of course, I mean me. So forget the "her" in the rest of this blog post, because in our home, contrary to our species' evolutionary history, the male is both the hunter and gatherer of leaves. A few days…
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Posted inHome life

My tree house isn’t crazy — it’s a work of art

The line between craziness and great artistry is, of course, exceedingly blurry. Thus when my wife said "You're crazy!" upon hearing of my plans for a treehouse, I anticipated that I was heading in the direction of a wonderful artistic creation. Now, the prophecy has been fulfilled -- mostly due to Jim, a friend who also happens to be our housecleaner. (It's nice to have your home cleaned by someone who also can sharpen your chain saw blade, dig out deep tree roots, and build a tree house). Since Jim has a granddaughter about the age of my own (three),…
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Posted inHome life

How to sell expensive stuff to someone like me

If you're a salesman (oops, salesperson) who deals with spendy items like appliances, autos, computers, or such, here's some advice on how to close a deal with someone like me: Don't act like a used car salesperson. Or even like a new car salesperson. Forget whatever sales techniques you've learned on your own or had drummed into you by your boss. Simply act like a normal human being and treat me the same way. You need to take this advice seriously, because there are a lot of people like me nowadays. We're used to buying stuff over the Internet, where…
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Posted inHome life Sustainability

Tall firs crush our solar energy dreams

We finally got a solar energy guy to come out and see if our house was suitable for rooftop panels. But the result wasn't what we'd hoped.  When Chet of RS Energy (who works with Solarize Salem, the group I'd contacted for an assessment) pulled into our driveway, I told him, "Look, we've got two hybrid cars and a Kitzhaber sticker on our Highlander Hybrid. We're ripe for solar." I also said that we were appreciative of him being here, since I'd contacted quite a few solar energy companies and had only gotten a few responses -- with no one…
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Posted inHome life Web/Tech

New Apple TV is a winner with me

Should you buy the recently released $99 Apple TV gadget? Of course, it's made by Apple! Am I qualified to give this advice? Of course, I've had it for a whole day, and have used it for a whole hour or so! Do I, or you, need Apple TV? Of course, it's made by Apple! There -- I've already answered the key questions about Apple TV (which isn't a television, but a little black box that streams content from the Internet and/or a computer to a TV via a broadband connection). Two of the questions had the same answer. I…
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Posted inHome life

To condo or not to condo — the big retirement question

Like lots of guys who are about to get their first Social Security check, I've been having some fantasies that would fall into a "mid-life crisis" category if I wasn't so damn old. I imagine cozying up to a younger and more petite model of what I've been accustomed to for so long, and am getting tired of. She'd be beautiful. Easy-maintenance. I wouldn't have to put up with all the problems I deal with now. She'd do what I wanted, when I wanted, and leave me in peace the rest of the time. I'm speaking, naturally, of a modern…
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Posted inHome life

“Can you spare some gas money?”

Out in the south Salem (Oregon) suburbs, there aren't many people asking passers-by for money. But once in a while I see somebody with a cardboard sign standing on the sidewalk at the junction of Liberty and Commercial. He or she is easy to ignore if I stare straight ahead until the light changes.I try to avoid reading what the sign says. It might be "disabled veteran -- need help." Something like that. I figure it's probably a con job. Today, though, there's wasn't any avoiding possible. I was starting to get on my Burgman 650 scooter after shopping at…
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Posted inHome life

Failing to balance my checkbook unbalances me

I'm a habitual checkbook balancer. For as long as I've had a checking account, some forty years, every month I sit down with the bank statement, my checkbook, a pen, and a calculator. I've never failed to balance the checkbook. But sometimes it takes me a while to find the error that is preventing me and the bank from being in perfect, to-the-penny agreement. (Invariably, those errors have been caused by me or my wife. As this person says in retgard to checkbook balancing, perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek, "the bank is always right.") Yesterday, though, was different. I'd made…
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Posted inHome life

Men are wimps when sick, so I’m manly

Last week I got a flu/cold sickness from my three year old granddaughter, Evelyn, who probably caught the virus on her plane trip up from California. Evelyn had been coughing for a few days before my own symptoms appeared.With no hesitation I started to let the world know about my pitiful condition. Cough. Cough. "Ohhhhhh, I'm sick!"Blow nose. "Ohhhhhh, I don't feel good!"Cough and blow nose. "Ohhhhhh, where's the cold medicine?!"It didn't take long for my wife, Laurel, to make an observation: "You're better at whining than a three year old." My utterly predictable reply: "Ohhhhhh, I'm sick! You have…
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Posted inHome life

I’m strangely proud of my Starbucks gold card

This is my Starbucks gold card. I haul it out of my wallet and show it to people whenever it seems appropriate. And also, when it isn't.On the front it says: "Brian Hines  Cardholder since 2008"Wow! That's two years ago. I deserve this prestigious card! Well, semi-prestigious, considering all I did to get it was use my old Starbucks rewards card 30 times.At least that's how I believe it came into my adoring hands. Starbucks says so, thus it must be true. I'm a cult member. I've even joined the Starbucks Passion Panel. What that means is, periodically Starbucks emails me…
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Posted inHome life

I’m proud of my second childhood: 61 going on 12

"Second childhood" are words that haven't meant much to me until recently. I never thought of myself as old enough to warrant having them applied to me, especially since second childhood usually is a derogatory term.Noun1.second childhood - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuationsHey! Those are fighting words! I'm proud of my second childhood, especially my foolish infatuations. I don't feel like I'm 61. For some reason, the past few years I've been feeling younger with every birthday. If this is a mental infirmity, bring it on. More, please.A few hours ago I…
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