Can you hear me now?

Posted June 9, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Retirement, Technology
Tags: ,

Over the past few months, it has become clear that I have been experiencing hearing loss. It kind of has been sneaking up on me. It started with fights over the TV remote volume control. I kept turning the volume up. Paula kept wanting it turned down.

I tried turning on closed captioning, but on broadcast TV the captioning lag the speech by about 3-5 seconds which is really annoying. Captioning on DVD’s tends to sync rather well with the spoken word.

I also was trouble understanding speech at lodge and chapter meetings. Bad audio system didn’t help.

Listening to a person speak in a crowded room with a lot of background noise has become impossible.

So I finally made an appointment at Kaiser for audio test. It seems that the hearing test is just about the only thing that is free. I quickly found out that hearing aids are very expensive. (we are talking about thousands of dollars).

So the test revealed normal hearing for low frequencies and moderate to severe hearing loss for higher frequencies (2Khz and above). This explains why I could hear men speak and not women.

So I have made appointments for hearing aids at a place called “HEARx” which is a subsidiary of HEARusa. (Partly owned by Kaiser). I also found out the Costco is in the hearing aid business and costs significantly less than all the rest. So appointment made with Costco.

Here’s an article that I found in the NY Times on the issue. Interesting stuff. Hearing aid technology has come a long way. Most hearing aids now support Bluetooth. So you can directly connect to iPhones and the like.

More later after I meet with Hearx and Costco

 

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Boston to LAX

Posted May 23, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: California, Travel
Tags: , , ,

Yesterday was travel day. Bought gas for the rental car. They make it very painful for you to bring it back empty. We had lunch with Vicky at Friendly’s in Stoneham. Another New England tradition.

We arrived in plenty of time to turn in the rental car. Pointed out the damage to the right door. Filled out accident report. Check-in agent said not to worry that we had damage insurance so no issue.

Checked out bags and got through security. We had one last Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. American Airlines changed gates on us with bothering to tell us. the hint was no aircraft at the gate. Then we learned that flight was delayed. AA didn’t give a reason. Later, we asked a stewardess. She said air traffic issues. So finally we were wheels up one hour later than scheduled departure.

It was a pretty comfortable flight except for the jerk in the window seat next to Paula. First he asked her if she would like to switch seats. Paula politely said no.
After takeoff he had to get out to get his tea and talk with some of his travel companions. Then he proceeded to take his shoes off and rub his feet. Stinky feet are not a good thing.

Stewardess treated us good. We got discount on the sandwiches. She gave me two Chivas nips for the price of one. So I was suitably medicated.

Inflight WiFi was out of service. Oh well, saves me $15. I had sent a text to Mike before takeoff to let him know about the delay.

We got into LAX at about 8:30PM. Struggled to find our bags. Announced that baggage on carousel 2. 15 minutes later no more bags coming down the chute and no bags for us. Sigh. I head over to the baggage service office to make claim. Long line and only one staff person taking the paper work.

Called Mike to let him know of delay. Paula finds our luggage on carousel 3. No announcement, no sign. Totally pissed at this point, but we had our bags.

Time to call Mike and get him to pick us up. Pickup traffic at LAX was AFU’d. 9-10pm is a very busy time to arrive at LAX. So half hour later Mike arrives from Cell Phone Lot. Load up and off to San Pedro. Poor Jonathan was not a happy camper.

And finally to bed. It was a great trip. We had a wonderful time.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

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David Eno 1952-2013

Posted May 22, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Boston, Retirement
Tags:

I just out yesterday that my friend Dave Eno died of cancer. Strangely enough (or maybe not) I found out by reading about his death on Facebook. Will Facebook begin to replace the newspaper obits? I think so. I look at the death notices in the Boston Globe, but Dave’s obit wasn’t in the Globe,it was in the Lowell Sun. If it were not for FB, I wouldn’t have heard.

So what happens to Dave’s FB account after his death? I hope that his family have access so that they can read what has been said by Dave’s many online friends.

Dave and I go way back. We worked for 15 years (give or take) doing OpenVMS support for HP, Compaq and DEC. When your cubicles are next to each other there aren’t many secrets.

Dave struggled through a nasty divorce back in the late 90’s. His son Daniel was the joy of his life. His ex-wife less so.

I was laid off from HP in 2008. At the time, I thought that Dave would get the axe before me. The need for OpenVMS engineers was declining. Dave got the axe in 2009.

It seems that these days that corporations try hard to get rid of older employees especially those with health issues. HP was no exception.

At any rate, Dave soldiered on with his cancer treatments. In March, he was healthy enough to get down to Florida to visit with his mother.

I am sorry that I won’t be able to make the memorial service in June. Rest easy Dave. The pain is gone. Rest in peace, my friend.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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Treble Cove Road

Posted May 18, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Billerica
Tags: ,

As many of you know, I am presently back east visiting friends and family. We decided that we would meet with our old neighbor Candee in West Billerica. So we got into our rental car and headed down to Billerica from Andover.


We got off at our old exit from Rte 3 and the first thing that we see is a brand new Mobil gas station with a Dunkin Donuts shop. Now we lived in the house for 28 years. The corner of Treble Cove Rd and Republic Rd had an old abandoned restaurant. So on my way to work, if I needed to get gas, I would have to either go into Billerica center or North Chelmsford to get gas. Need a coffee, go to Boston Rd to the Dunkin Donuts store by Treble Cove Plaza.

So, no sooner do we leave town, but Mobil and Dunkin build a new store. I am seriously bummed. I will probably have to wait another twenty years for Dunkin to build any stores in San Pedro. Bah…

And another a thing, I forgot about Hay Fever. All of the trees are in bloom and the air is full of tree pollen. Watery eyes, sneezing and runny nose. Three more days until we get back to LA.

Location:E Merrimack St,Lowell,United States

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West, Texas

Posted April 23, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Politics
Tags: , ,

The explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas didn’t get the headlines that it deserved due to the Boston Marathon bombings. Now that the Boston situation has calmed down a bit, time to look at West, Texas.

It certainly was a nasty situation, but should it have ever happened? Texas has billed itself as a place that is business friendly where the government will stay out of the way. Perhaps, the government stayed too far out of the way.

Two things that government is useful is insuring a safe working environment. The questions that keep coming to my mind are:

1. Why wasn’t the plant inspected for safety violations? According to the news, the last time the place was inspected was 1985.

2. Zoning. I don’t know whether the schools or the plant came first, but why were they allowed to be so close?

Here is the satellite image before and after the explosion. Note how close the homes and schools are to the plant site. This is the sort of thing that good zoning practices should prevent. Luckily, the schools weren’t in session. Otherwise, fatality counts might have been a lot higher.


And one more thing, Gov. Rick Perry is asking the federal government for disaster aid. Whatever happened to his plans to secede from the union? Idiot.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

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Boston Strong

Posted April 22, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Boston
Tags: ,

It’s been almost a week since the bombing. I still keep thinking about the events of the last few days. News out here in LA is beginning to quiet down. News of the bombing still is in the local news, but not as much as a few days ago. The pieces on the bombing doesn’t lead the news. More stories of fires in Monrovia.

Before long, we’ll be back to KTLA running pictures from news choppers watching LAPD chasing cars along the freeway or news that it is raining. I really can’t stand watching the local news here.

I had to make a choice this morning whether to watch baseball or go to church. Going to church won. Paula would kill me. Besides we meet up with Mike and family and have lunch at the Pacific Diner. People out here don’t understand what it’s like to be from Boston.

I didn’t get to watch the game on Saturday, but I did see the highlights including the clip of Neil Diamond singing “Sweet Caroline”. It made me feel so good, plus the clip of Big Papi with his expletive deleted was wicked awesome.

We watched the “60 Minutes” episode that consisted of a piece on the bombing investigation (interview with Ed Davis, Boston Police Commish), training of bomb sniffing dogs, and a piece on the 9/11 museum, (Scheduled to open at ground zero next year.) Here’s the pointer to the “60 Minutes” video.

One of the things that makes my life out here in LA bearable is my (besides my sweet wife Paula) is the news media that I get to read every morning on my iPad. Typically, I read the NY Times and the Boston Globe. Sometimes, I look at the LA Times (not very often though). Most of the time I would read the Times first and Globe second. This week it’s been the other way round. Globe first.

BTW, I’m going to have to get one of those “Boston Strong” T’s or caps. I wear my dirty green Red Sox hat with a feeling of pride for Boston and all of the wonderful people that still live there. I wish I could be there to be at Fenway.

Enough for now.

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Joshua Tree National Park

Posted April 19, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: California, Travel
Tags: , , ,

On Friday, Paula and I decided that we needed a day off of the grid. So we decided to take a day trip out to Joshua Tree, CA. Joshua Tree is about 150 miles east of Los Angeles in the middle of the Mojave desert. We left San Pedro around 0930. Light to medium traffic out the 91 freeway. Most people were heading in the other direction. We stopped for lunch at a Carrow’s in Yucca. I checked my iPhone for any updates on the Boston Marathon bombers. Not much new news. It was a beautiful day. Clear skies and about 75 degrees.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the Joshua Tree information center. We talked to a very nice park ranger who gave us a map. We paid $10 for a lifetime National Park service pass. This was the first time that I have ever been carded for my status of being over 65. Then off we went to the park. So here are the pictures taken by my trusty iPhone 4S.


This my friends is a Joshua tree. We had hoped that the trees would be in bloom, but we think that we were a little bit early or perhaps not enough rain over the winter.


Lots of boulders.


This is a Yucca plant. Much of the flora in the desert has evolved to that it can survive in the desert with little or no water.


Some of the plants were blooming.


Cactus flowers.


It is amazing how a plant can survive in the cracks between the boulders.


Big boulders.


Yucca with a bloom.


This is view from Keyes View. The view is towards the San Rosa mountains and the San Andreas fault.


This picture was taken using the iPhone’s panorama mode.

So it was getting on to be 4:30pm and we wanted to be back to San Pedro by 7:30pm. So we hit the road back west towards LA. Next time we might try to stay a little longer.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Joshua Tree, CA

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Point Fermin Park

Posted April 19, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: California, Travel
Tags: ,

Another thing to distract us from the horror of the bombings in Boston.

There is a lovely park in San Pedro at Point Fermin. It is on the southern tip of San Pedro with scenic views toward Long Beach (aka LA Harbor) and Santa Catalina. Paula wanted to go down there yesterday to get out of the house and take a ride on her bike. We were almost there already for her dentist appt.

So we loaded up the bike into the back of the jeep and headed to the park. We do need to get a bike rack if we are to continue with this. Had to stop and get air in the front tire. While she was attempting to ride, I walked around the park and took some pictures.

The views were spectacular. Here are the pictures.

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View towards Long Beach

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Point Fermin Light house. Not operational any longer. Houses a museum.

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Santa Catalina. Back in the eighties when Harold and Mary had a condo with a view of the Pacific. They kept telling me that Catalina was out there. I told them that they were pulling my leg. Most of the time, fog prevented one from seeing the island. Clearly in view yesterday.

Twenty-six miles across the sea
Santa Catalina is a-waitin’ for me
Santa Catalina, the island of romance
Romance, romance, romance.

I could have sworn that it was the Beach Boys that sang it. But Google says “Four Preps”.

 

2013-04-17 15.20.56

Nice view of the park.

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Another view of the light house.

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Last but not least. Flowers. BTW, for those that care. All of the pictures were taken with my iPhone 4S. I’ll  likely be upgrading as soon as Apple announces there new iPhone in June?

We’re thinking of heading out to Joshua Tree tomorrow. Spring time in the desert.

TTFN

Joe

 

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Red Sox vs Indians 4-18-2013

Posted April 19, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Baseball, Boston
Tags: ,

Well this concludes the sweep of Terry Francona’s Cleveland Indians. Three good solid games. Good solid pitching. Red Sox were just better. This is the first game that i have had the time to score. I didn’t get the actual pitch counts on the last inning and half. Internet performance was getting to suck. MLBTV was dropping in and out.

I scored the game on Patriots’ Day but decided not to post due the bombing.

Good to hear that other teams including Yankees were playing “Sweet Caroline”. Very cool.

So here is the score card.

Bos vs Cle 04-18-2013

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42

Posted April 17, 2013 by joebowker
Categories: Boston, Dodgers, Movies, Reviews
Tags: , , ,

Well this evening I had a choice. Watch the Red Sox play the Indians, go to see the new movie “42” or watch more news about the Boston Marathon bombing.

Normally on Tuesday evenings we have Mike, Theresa and little Jonathan over for dinner. But Mike & family were off to Los Vegas for a three day mini-vacation. Aunt Georgia provided them with a couple of hotel passes for a non weekend stay. So no Jonathan this evening.

Well one of the local theaters has $4 admission on Tuesday, so off we went to see 42. It was good to forget all of the sadness with regard to the events in Boston. I figured there would be more Red Sox games to watch. Glad to here that the Sox won again tonight.

So this is the story of Jackie Robinson being hired by Branch Rickey to play for then very white Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Jackie Robinson is played by Chadwick Boseman and Branch Rickey by Harrison Ford. How did Harrison get to be looking so old? Must be the makeup, right? It seems like just yesterday that he was starring in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, right?

Chadwick Boseman does a decent job of playing Robinson. How do they cast for someone who can act AND play baseball?

Generally the film is well done. You feel the pain when Jackie gets hit in the head. I thought to myself how does anyone survive getting hit in the head. Tony Conigliaro certainly survived, but never really was able to play major league baseball.

The baby that was born in the film to Jackie and his wife seemed to be about 9 months old or maybe that was a twenty pound newborn?

It’s worth seeing, especially if you love baseball. Here’s the pointer to the trailer.

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