Fielding questions

Some news stories just leave me skeptical. The recent investigations about lead in AstroTurf is a case in point.

On the one hand, I don't trust the government to look honestly into the safety of AstroTurf. Not with who know how many public schools on the hook to replace the stuff if it were dangerous.

On the other hand, I question whether this might not be a tempest in a teapot. After all, it's not like people are eating the stuff. You walk or run on it, wearing shoes typically. Isn't it possible, even if there is lead in the stuff, that it still might not be worth the expense to remove it?

Out of season springs to mind.

We're waiting on the AC repairman. So I'm answering the phone more quickly than usual, and generally trying to keep the line clear. (Of course, this trip online is an exception to that, but we'll let that pass.)

We got a call from a telemarketer. Female voice--99.999% sure she was recorded--selling satellites. I hung up, and them I had a "did she just say..." moment.

She said (I believe), "we're calling to promote our new spring packages." [Emphasis mine.]

Is once a quarter too often to change the recording? It hasn't been spring in several weeks. Or they're way early.

Missed it by that much

"Get Smart:" *** (out of 5)


Warning: here be spoilers!

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With the AC on the fritz, my dad and I decided to take in a movie after dinner. We had both wanted to see "Get Smart," and the timing worked well, so that's what we saw.
It has been eight years since I shut down my movie review service. I want to get in the habit of blogging more, so I thought I'd try writing reviews here. This movie is not an easy one to review, either.
"Get Smart" pretty-much takes its cue from the '60s TV show of the same title. Maxwell Smart (played by Steve Carell) is an analyst from Control who desperately wants to become a field agent. When the terrorist organization Kaos attacks Control Headquarters and steals files with the identities of most of the field agents, he gets his chance.
In the end, Carell holds his own as Smart, and the chemistry between Smart and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) is very good. The film also does one thing that the original series never did--it explains how the bumbling Max got to be Agent 86 in the first place.
The real problem with the movie is that it never makes it out of the shadow of the original TV series--which was one of the best shows in the history of television. Two prominent gags in the movie--the fly and the beaded curtain--are lifted straight from the television series, and the cone of silence gets an electronic makeover. There are also nods to the original show--an amusing cameo by Bernie Kopell (the original Siegfried), and a Control Museum that figures prominently. With the museum, however, we do, however, come perilously close to suggesting that there's a new Maxwell Smart and Siegfried in the same universe as the old ones.
The movie also contains some iffy elements. At one point, Siegfried--who is described in the film as the leader of Kaos--gets a call from someone who seems to be his superior, but that idea is never developed. (Sequel setup-perhaps? There does seem to be a spin-off DVD in the can already.) There are also sequences in the film where the Chief (Alan Arkin) is inexplicably violent (and not towards Kaos agents). It also stretches credibility that even an agent as bumbling as Maxwell Smart would use a match to remove gum from his shoe while on an airplane. Some muddled "fat acceptance" messages also appear, but still feel out of place.
The movie does take advantage of the new medium--the stunt sequences go beyond what could readily be done for the TV show. For example, the miniature crossbow and flamethrower on Smart's Swiss Army knife are both put to very good effect. There is also one very funny sight gag at the end that simply could not have been on 1960's TV. The movie definitely earns its PG-13 rating.
I enjoyed "Get Smart." The challenge in reviewing it is that I'm having trouble figuring out how much I enjoyed the movie on its own merits, and how much it was simply making me nostalgic for the superior television show.

Home on derange

In my blog entry about the railroad sites in Colorado, I just want to know why the spell checker thought it would be a good idea to change "Durango" to "Derange."

They're helpful for proofreading, but sometimes the spellchecker is just deranged.

The AC unit is dead--and nearly took the house with it!

While we were out on the road, we got a call from Donald--the AC unit died.

We got home at 11 on Friday night. I tried calling the AC repairman--to my amazement (since they didn't with American Home Shield), they came on a Saturday!

To make a long story short, the problem is that the cutoff switch basically fried itself. It's not clear whether it burned, blew up, or simply melted. One thing is sure--it very nearly burned the house down: what was left was clearly charred. The outside unit has been nothing but trouble since we got it--ever since American Home Shield had it installed in 1997, we've had an average of at least one heating or AC failure each year. It was clear they only paid for the cheapest unit possible and they installed a piece of junk. The failure of the unit in 2004 is why we finally dumped the company, and the cutoff switch that the outside unit overloaded was installed in 2005. (That was because of a crooked repairman: he said that it wasn't safe to work on the unit without a cutoff switch, and that he could install it for a couple of hundred extra. When I asked him to sign a paper to the effect of the work being substandard, he backtracked--we still needed the switch installed, but all of a sudden, he couldn't install it; we'd need to get an electrician.)

The repairman today recommended that we replace the outside unit, saying he thought it overloaded the cutoff switch. Since it has caused so many problems--including an obviously serious one this week, I agreed to replace it. We're even getting a new cutoff switch and a new thermostat thrown into the deal.

And good riddance to the old unit!

The Great Railroad Tour of Colorado

I was lax blogging from the road this last trip. Mainly, I wanted to recover from the chaos of the flood, and unwind. A big part of the trip was the Mensa AG, but the other half which was just for my father and myself was our great railroad tour of Colorado. We got to six railroad-related landmarks. I enjoyed all six greatly.

The Monday before the AG, I went to the Colorado Railroad Museum. It's a nice museum. One highlight for me was seeing the Galloping Geese--the first time I'd seen one. (They have two: #2 and #6; I have always had an odd fascination for those railcars.) The other highlight was the Santa Fe Super Chief observation car Navajo; I kept going back in my mind to the thought that my mother may have ridden in that car on her west coast trip when she was young. (Perhaps a longshot, I know, but possible.)

The Monday after the AG, I rode the Georgetown Loop Railroad. That was my least favorite of the narrow gauge railroads--mainly because it's shorter than the others and is currently using diesels. However, I feel it's unfair to describe it negatively--it's still pretty good, and well worth the ride. Also, if you're there, take the mine tour.

On Tuesday, I took the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. That was definitely a high-point of the trip! (Sorry--I couldn't resist a pun.) I was pleased that I had few problems at 14,110 feet. (I was a little short of breath for a moment up there--enough to make me glad my dad elected to remain at the hotel.) I lucked out with my ticket--I had a seat right in front of the cab window of the downhill side of the train. I've never summited a mountain even nearly that high before, and that is definitely the easy way to do it.

On Thursday, my dad and I took the Royal Gorge train. That is a beautiful line--and I recommend spending the extra money for the dome car.

On Friday, we took the Cumbres and Toltec. As a libertarian, I hate to admit this--since this is the only government run operation of the five railroads--but this is probably the best of the five railroads. The scenery along the line is great. The only downside if the line is that you need to ride a bus one way to take the whole line in one day.

The final line we took was the Durango and Silverton. Like the Cumbres and Toltec, it is also a very well-run scenic railroad. The scenery is perhaps the most spectacular of the five routes I mentioned--especially along the High Line. They also have a nice museum at the Durango station. The biggest downside is that it was very crowded.

In short, if you're out in that part of the country, all five railroads are well worth taking and the museum is worth a visit, and all six attractions are very enjoyable.

Finding different roots than expected

I've been bad about blogging about my trip. I've been away nearly two weeks on the railroad tour of Colorado/Mensa AG, and this is my first blog.

Today was a sightseeing day in Colorado Springs. This afternoon, I saw the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Cave of the Winds, and Garden of the Gods. Before dinner this evening, my dad and I tried to find the location of Freedom School, where my parents met in 1962. We took off following the directions in a Gazette article online, and weren't convinced we were on the right track. So, we went back to Palmer Lake, and stopped in the Depot restaurant. They provided directions to a school we passed before. We took another look up (the school was founded in 1927, so if they took over Freedom School's property, they did so late in their history), snapped a picture, and left again.

Since they had been helpful and were convenient (and train themed), we ate at the Depot. In the "too appropriate for words" category, the picture on the wall across from our booth was of the Hopewell station--as in the Hopewell, NJ where we lived in the early '80s. I wouldn't have expected another bit of my past to show up on this side trip!