Albert: My Hero

Credit: Albert Einstein/Arthur Sasse/AFP/Getty Images
















This picture of Albert Einstein was taken on his 72nd birthday. Sticking his tongue out at the photographer was his ideal. Frankly, that was his privilege.

Currently, I am in the midst of re-reading Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. I'm at the point of Summer Vacation,1900. Chapter Four. Fifty pages down. Five Hundred and one to go. A second time, mind you. My summer reading has slowed down some only because I don't pack a book with me when I carry my camera case. I'm up to 40-pounds already and that is quiet enough walking, riding or lugging in and out of the car. Plus, I just took a stack of books back to Half-Price Book's Headquarters at North Park and haven't been to the bookstore for my winter's list of reading.

 I know, there are those techs that load up their Kindle. Frankly, I don't own one and I don't plan to buy one. When I read, I like the comfort and romance of a hard-cover book! Remember those? We have allowed Amazon dot com to cause our cherished book stores to fall like trees in the forest. I know, it saves trees. Well, trees were made to produce pulp and convert it into papers were inks could be married to the paper for hundreds of years. We even built buildings called libraries to house those beautiful hard-bounds. Just the other day, I went into one and they gave me a new fancy digital id card. The method of checking out is modern as most every one knows. Even self check outs. But, the basic reason people go to libraries is for books, Even though the libraries have digital editions, too.

Albert, I hope that  more of your letters and papers are discovered and some one writes about you again.

Peaceful Turtle Creek: It's National Hot Dog Day

While I make fun of myself for visiting White Rock Lake as much as I do, I go there as a photographer because there is always something going on. I've seen a fire department pumper run into the lake. I've seen divers pull a stolen car out of the lake. I've seen a sail boater flip in the middle of the lake and watched a water rescue that ended in success. I've also seen paddle board accidents and just plain stupidity end with tragic consequences.

I've seen a steam-powered boat on the lake; dogs on sail boats having as much fun as their owners, wildlife, snakes, monk parrots, American bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, pelicans, seagulls, ducks, swans, geese, coyote, horses, etc.,etc.

There is no question that White Rock is also a very pretty place and a crown jewel of the city park system. Bikers, runners meet regularly to bike and run alike. Visitors come and take pictures from the docks. Several rowing clubs hold meets on the lake and sailing clubs give lessons as well as hold regattas. The city put several million dollars into the dam and spillway a couple of years back so people can safely watch the waters cascade after a heavy rain. People fish. People picnic; even eat Hot Dogs the year round and not just on National Hot Dog Day, which is today, in fact. The culture center offers many events during the course of the year. All-in-all, White Rock is worth the trip to exercise with a cardio-walk and a place where one can meet professional photographers and hobbyist. It's a direct path to the Gulf of Mexico via its confluence with the Trinity River down stream past the dam. That's always an awesome feeling when you see water flow past your position in stream or on shore.

Having said that, when I want to think and reflect (especially during this time of year remembering my son and mom ) it's done along this stretch of paths on Turtle Creek in Uptown. Everyone has that special place for such personal reflection and thought. Mine is here.

While the traffic sounds are around you, they fade into the background as you walk. The heavily traveled  Katy Trail carries most of the bikers and runners along  and upon the ridge to the left. At White Rock, you would be getting "ON YOUR LEFT" over your shoulder as bikers zipped past. The solitude here is priceless. Across the street at Lee Park, provides areas where you can bring back the tempo of the day with statues, benches and rose walks that Jerry Jones and wife made possible. It's not that far from Jerry's house either as Highland Park, Uptown and Turtle Creek all overlap like a lotus bloom on  a lily pad.

Turtle Creek, Uptown Dallas

Today Is National Ice Cream Day In A Month Of Refletions.

Every July, for a whole lot of years, I reflect back on the past year. What I reflect upon bears the weight of past mistakes as well as decisions from everything from finances and services that I purchase to answering questions like," am I driving enough miles to even keep and maintain an automobile"; especially, being in a city with a rail service as nice as Dallas'.

Overall, each year, my goal is to be a better person than the year before. Seldom, do victories get celebrated. It's just not in my makeup. Mom would tell me over the years that ,"there are those who will vigorously try to claim as their doings the things you do that others like, but they will also be the first to cast stones on you when you celebrate a victory or accomplishment." She was right.

There was a story today about Anderson Cooper selling not one, but both properties on St. George in Quioque, L.I., New York; one with an island, the other without. It glimmers with the words of my mother that I just described. Here's the comparison.

First, there is a "-ish" question of whether he actually lives in the Hampton's. So here you go. If you come in by the front door route he's on Moriches Bay. If you come in by the back door route, he's on Shinnecock Bay. Who actually cares. It's the tip of Long Island and it really doesn't matter one bit. People are so jealous they split hairs. The people with the money don't really care one way or the other and don't split hairs. Frankly, I like their way better. And, Anderson has three plums in his hat straight out the gate! He's a Vanderbilt by blood. His mother is a world renown fashion Queen, He's a Yale grad. Even if the rumors are true that he is a CIA operative in training as a news reporter, He looks like a CIA operative so what?

Many years ago I had a group of friends that lived on Long Island from the easterly borders of Queens to Southampton. The Syosset connection was a steel importer that I purchased from and sold to over the years. The Westbury connection was a warehouse operation, The Levittown connection was a 30 Rock Gems Dealer that taught me how to play cribbage and the Southampton connection was a Contractor Supply guy that shored up all the big-money houses in the Hampton's with steel beams into bedrock! The houses will still blow away in a Nor'easter or Hurricane but at least the foundation will still be there! The Riverhead connection trains dogs. All make up a composit of good as steel New York People over all.

Second, giving up the properties for  nearly 7 million would be hard especially if you loved the water and the trade currents that bring cool summer breezes. On the other hand, moving into the mountains into a Manse that while stately, isn't any thing close to what his grand father's father, railroad magnet Mr. Vanderbilt, built in the mountains in North Carolina. It still remains the largest house ever built in this country. The fact that his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, has a fashion empire in addition to being an heiress, really does not factor into the debate. Anderson has a degree from one of the Ivy League schools. Yale, in fact. I've flow into New Haven, via Bridgeport via Boston Logan . In fact, I still buy my hats from a hat shop in New Haven that has been selling hats from the same store front for over 100 years. Then, I wake up and find myself down in the hold of a ship inspecting my shipment of steel from a European mill. It's all relative. But being in a house c.1906 in the mountains of Connecticut just east of the Appalachian Trail, appeal more to me than being at sea level or slightly above. It's still 100-miles from the city plus a few. You just trade one for the other. The point is, some would trade the other way. As it happens in Anderson's choice, I would have to go along with the mountain property over the sea shore. The crashing of waves gets old after a while. Wind blowing through the trees is music of the Austrian Philharmonic wind section.


Finally, I don't begrudge Anderson Cooper one thing. I see him as another human being that will now be voting in Connecticut or maybe still New York. After all, he lives in a fire house in the City, too! He simply has a few more options than most people and options are a good thing. So in between  here and the last paragraph, I scooped up a big bowl of  Death by Chocolate ice cream. It is National Ice Cream Day, don't forget, and I reflect on that every year as well. It makes no different if it's a Friendly's Ice Cream in New Haven or a Braum's Ice cream in Dallas. I like to reflect back on why I like ice cream every year, too.

Walgreens for Kilowatts Anyone?

Retail Electric Deregulation is the wild west 10 years later.

Yesterday, I went into my favorite Walgreen's to talk to the pharmacist and to pick up prescriptions. As I went in, "Welcome to Walgreen's, Be  Well" came the sound waves of a human voice from behind. Since Walgreen's started that Be Well campaign I don't even turn to look any longer, I just wave over my shoulder as I continue to walk toward the pharmacy. Always, however, I stop to thank the person at the table that wished me to be well as I leave. It turned out to be two young ladies on this trip  from Green Mountain Energy. The thing about Green Mountain is that, one, I like the concept; two, I know a little something about the company and three, I like to see how much the person on the other side of the table knows about the company that they are representing. After all, this is an old marketing guy.

Later in the afternoon while the cat was sunning herself on her favorite towel on the floor where the sun comes through the glass, I got to thinking. That's always good for a couple or three days before my brain settles down to normal again. What came across my mind was the thought about the California Energy Crisis of 2000-2001. So I sat down at the computer to look it up. That led to the deregulation of retail electricity in Texas the following year and from there on, it would take a Philadelphia lawyer to sort it out. Just so happens, I know a Philadelphia lawyer. I picked up the phone and called an old friend, Dave. When he answered the phone, I ask him, "who's your electric supplier?" He shocked me when he said, "the same as yours if the bankruptcy judge okays the sale". Dave was making reference to the parent company of TXU Energy, which is now  Energy Future Holdings. The Delivery System is Oncor but NextEra wants to purchase Oncor because they have invested 7 billion dollars in transmission, power generation and other operations in Texas, but the main reason is,[" they plan to pursue a once-rebuffed bid to take control of bankrupt Energy Future Holding Corp's profitable Oncor unit and that it has the balance sheet to do it." Linda Sandler, Bloomberg.net.]

To make a long story short, I have been following the money for two days now and frankly, it's blowing my mind. So at some point, I say to my self, that I will continue until chasing the money  comes back on the circle. Well, it got to be so interesting that the circle came back on itself about three times over and the suspense was still keeping me going.

There are two things that just freaked me out about business practices.These are always the same.

1]When you start to see companies that have dual headquarters--one for financial and the other for operations-- your are into a good ENRON-type mystery: who made way with the biggest pile of money?
2] Then a company merges with another company and quickly retires the previous logo, but keep doing business in the just purchased companies headquarters, generally you know you have already been had  as a consumer.

So, here is the shortest tale of what  we know. First, a couple of facts. The largest wind farm in Texas is owned by Florida Power and Light, except, it's not called Florida Power and Light anymore. It's now NextEra Energy Resources, but still based in Juno Beach, Florida. Adding to that fact, the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in Seabrook, New Hampshire, is also owned by NextEra Energy Resources. There are others in nuclear, solar,  wind and gas/steam generation, including the gas
/steam generating plant in Forney, Texas, just outside Dallas that uses 14 million gallons of reclaimed water from the city of Garland, Texas daily just to keep the lights on. NextEra also owns Gexa Energy. NRG also owns Cirro Energy. Bounce Energy is owned by Oncor the company being targeted by NextEra.

Now, a couple of final facts. In 2003,  Houston Light and Power, or (HL&P) was forced to split into three companies; Reliant Energy, Texas Genco and CenterPoint Energy. But in February of 1999, Houston Industries had changed it's name to Reliant Energy and in 2005, NRG bought Texas Genco.
Watch closely here. In 2009 NRG had acquired the retail operations of Reliant Energy, which became RRI. In 2012, Genco was acquired by NRG, the RRIs name was retired and NRG moved in to Genco's offices.

Now, the fun part. The Brits formed a company named Green Mountain Wind Energy Center. It was developed by National Wind Power of the UK which is now part of N Power Renewables. Neither NRG or Green Mountain own Green Mountain Wind Energy Center. It is run by [LOL] NextEra Energy Resources based in, yep, Juno Beach, Florida, home of Florida Power and Lights parent, NextEra. But, it gets even more comical, Green Mountain Energy that is based here in Texas, purchases and sells the energy generated by Green Mountain Wind Energy Center. Green Mountain Energy, Texas, calls it the first commercial wind farm of Green Mountain Energy. So Green Mountain is selling energy generated by a company with Green Mountain in their name but not owned by NRG, but is run by NextEra and Green Mountain calls it their first wind farm.

The next time someone says, "welcome to Walgreen's. Be Well"  to me won't be getting just the hand in a friendly wave over my shoulder. The hand that waves over my shoulder might  be short three fingers and a thumb as I walk on down the isle.

What Do You Do In A Traffic Jam ?

This guy knows how to wait out a traffic jam on a hot summer day.

This past Wednesday, President Obama (with the help of Governor Rick Perry) created a traffic jam on the Dallas North Tollway that lasted more than an hour while the president's motorcade moved from Love Field to a prominent Dallas Attorney's home in North Dallas. The arrival of Air Force One at DFW International was a first for Obama, making him only the third sitting President to land at DFW.  Air Force One had not landed at DFW since 1992. From DFW, the president took Marine One, along with it's decoy look-alike and three Osprey's that carried the press corp to Love Field.  The reason for the switch: Love Field has been undergoing a major renovation of both terminals and runway/taxiways. The last time Air Force One landed at Love, the flight deck at DalFort Fueling was cramped, to say the least, but dodging yellow cones and barrels from the left hand seat of Air Force One, some seven stories up in the air, was like watching some test driver move in and out between cones in a zig-zag pattern along a test track that only a professional could handle.

The work that Love Field was undergoing on Wednesday was due to be finished in time for the arrival of Air Force One ( SAM 29000 ran late arriving as Air Force One anyway) and the work was finished, but at the time the schedule was put into place, the White House Staff for Schedule Making decided to land at DFW to error on the safe side. After all, it was  POTUS that was being juggled around in the schedule. As it ended up, the meeting with Governor Perry and others was held in one of the conference rooms at DalFort Fueling where Air Force One usually parks anyway.

The old neighborhood where mom had lived has changed a lot since she passed over. It's more youthful now. Many of the wonderful 1950-60 era sprawling one floor ranch-styles have been purchased up, torn down and rebuilt with McMansions, the process of reclaiming perfectly good neighborhoods and putting two story and still sprawling houses with both double and a single garage doors and roof lines that make Edgar Allen Poe's House of Seven Gables easy to count by today's standards.

On Wednesday, the neighborhood's  neighbors were all out in force to catch a glimpse of POTUS. I can recall doing the same thing when Carter, Nixon and Johnson had come to my neighborhood after I had left the nest and started my own family. Nothing in life really changes much, just the GPS points and neighborhood names and a little architecture meddling hear and there.

This was the first time out of the last six trips to the Metroplex that I have failed to go watch Air Force One arrive. Actually, I had planned to go over to the old neighborhood and do what all the old neighbors were doing--wait to catch a glimpse of the president. But, that would be worse than getting caught up in traffic snarls at either of the two airports, the tollway etc.,etc.

St. Michael Drive runs from Forest Lane near Medical City Hospital  to Royal Lane between US 75 Central Expressway to Hillcrest Avenue. At Royal Lane, St. Michael becomes Boedecker, continues to run south and ends in the new parking lot of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the campus of Southern Methodist University. When ever I cross Boedecker to this day, I sing the word to the tune of "Gold-Finger!" by saying, Boe--Decker!-- is a street. It's just one of those things that I like to do. The area is just west and behind the JCC (Jewish Community Center) on Northhaven Road. Midbury runs one street north of Northhaven.


The part of the street were the president would be attending is  east of St. Michael on a cul-de-sac. I'm sure the Secret Service were pulling out their hair again because it is such a "dead end" type- area. It's one of the things mom liked about the neighborhood. She liked driving the back roads and she knew every angle of that neighborhood like the back of her hand. You never wanted to race her on the expressways. Just when you thought you had won--you looked up and saw the baby blue Buick  coming at you. She would park having gotten the right-of-way and all you could do was to pull in next to her (and laugh to yourself in defeat).

For now, there will be a count down to to the retirement of this SAM-29000 and the back-up. The bigger and more modern and upgraded 747-800 with the elongated second deck will await a new President in 2016. There has been talk of  a new Marine One and others in the detail. Most people get excited over a new car. I get excited over a new presidential plane. After all, it is the most visible source for our American Democracy on display where ever it flies. So make the best of presidential motorcade traffic jams!!

Not Everything Is Revealed At A Grand Opening.

This Father's Day the city of Dallas held another big party on a bridge. The first one was the opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the Santiago Calatrava designed cable-stayed bridge over the Trinity River. With connecting of downtown to west Dallas, new development soon followed.

This time, the party was held on the adjacent Continental Bridge that carried traffic across the Trinity for 85 years. After the transformation of the Continental Bridge was complete, it was opened Father's Day as the Continental Bridge Pedestrian Park and below it, the city opened the new Skyline Trail along and between the Trinity levees on both sides of the river.

The party also celebrated by serving a gourmet lunch on a 100 yard long table by 50 top chefs in Dallas. A 5 k run had been taken off below earlier in the morning. The turnout was a success for visitors, riders and runners.

Two weeks later, the new park brought out the fun stuff. The water jets that shoot streams of water into the air were working as was the misting stations and not just for the kids. A lady in her wheel chair was being pushed by a member of her family and all were having fun and laughs at getting wet. The separate misting stations have contour chaise lounges under them.

 While the chess board was seen at the opening, there are also tables with chess boards and checker boards inlaid in the tables and I had suspected that the squares on the deck were just to denote where the chess and checkers would be available. Wrong! beautiful, heavy wooden chess pieces were out on the squares at this visit. They were stunning! Beautiful wood. Lacquered finishes that shined in the sun. Amazing. They are designed for a game of stand up chess.

The opponent: Black in color with the same high gloss look.

Father's Day Opening Luncheon on the bridge.

Cremation of the Big Oaks at White Rock

It is sad to report that another of the big old oaks at White Rock came down in a storm this past week.  This one was about 31-inches in circumference. There were three others that sustained severe damage to large limbs in the same area in an around Preservation Grove. Ironically, last fall, there had been a planting of many new trees by Friends of the Lake in the Grove area.

This past winter, I had started to photograph the old and mighty trees that have so much character and grow around the nine miles that circumnavigate White Rock's shores via  roads and accompanying trails. There are about thirty of particular interest that have received many lightening strikes over the years; lost limbs during storms or were felled by some type of disease or infestation. It has long been my opinion that the big old oaks that have so much character are part of the overall character of the lake itself.  Many lake-goers simply see them as trees and nothing more. I hear all the time," it is where I go to bike" or "I run there".  I'd like to say, "no you only pass through, you don't notice anything else about the jewel of the Dallas Park System" but I don't. I keep quiet. For me that's difficult!!

The past couple of years, there has been some new home construction at the lake. One modern with solar power, one classic revival , one country-style, one mixture of modern and old. There is one that jumped out at me on a rather steep hillside  blends into the trees so well that had not the glass picked up a reflection, I wound not have know it was there. On the east side of the lake last year, several homes were gutted and remodeled  in this type of architecture. I counted four new homes under construction that are at the completed foundation level of building.  So, while the planting of the new trees at Preservation Grove will grow and age with these new homes, it is difficult to see the mighty trees that grow at White Rock go away one-by-one; being cremated in someone's fire place.

Note the thickness of the bark covering.

Two more big oaks are seen in the background along with the new plantings from last fall.