Wednesday, January 19
La Rue De Paris
Just any old storefront on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré - pictured. This one happens to be across the street from Sarkozy's office. Difficult not to love this city.
No. 22: The flagship boutique of Lanvin
at 11:32
Conchoid
Eric sends me a conchoid, pictured, as a fine example of his Mac's built in graphing-calculator capabilities.
For those of us not teaching maths at Harvard or writing Calculus books (and pinched from the Internets), a conchoid is a curve derived from a fixed point O, another curve, and a length d. For every line through O that intersects the given curve at A the two points on the line which are d from A are on the conchoid. The conchoid is, therefore, the cissoid of a circle with center O and the given curve. They are called conchoids because the shape of their outer branches resembles conch shells.
at 09:26
Vallejo, Ho
Vallejo filed for bankruptcy two years ago. It ain't pretty either : the police 50% staffed; the fire department closed; public teaching posts unfilled, vacant houses and pot holes everywhere (three guys to fill them). Untidy lots, garbage uncollected and general malaise. Citizens abandoning ship - at least, those who can. A sad state of affairs for a once proud blue coller community on the northern edge of the San Francisco Bay Area where HW 80 and 780 connect.
Vallejo across the Cartinez Bridge and Katie and I competed at the neighboring Benicia Blue Dolphins Aquatics Center - I recall hot summers, green grass lawns, a beautiful outdoor 50-meter pool, healthy kids and families - all seemed Ok. Vallejo today follows a dwindling property tax base from a decline in industrial activity+the after-math of decades of generous pay and pension deals for city workers - many allowed, for instance, to retire in their 50s with 90% of their salaries.
Vallejo should have seen it coming, too, with the '95 closure of the naval base but somehow never got around to adjusting itself. Marc Levinson, Vallejo's banruptcy lawyer, notes that "Vallejo is just the first, the [union] contracts were the most outrageous and the resources got exhausted first." A friend recently pointed an accusatory finger at me : "California is a mess."
Californians tried to change with the "recall" in 2003 that made Arnold "Girlie-Girl" Schwarzenegger Governor with his central pledge to reduce California's indebtedness. During his seven years, the state's debt trippled. So let us remember that, As of July 1, 2003, California had a total of $27.6 billion in general obligation bonds and a total of $23.2 billion in authorized but unissued bonds.
Today, it is $77.8 billion in outstanding general obligation bonds and an additional $42.8 in authorized but unissued bonds according to state Treasurer Bill Lockyer. General obligation bonds are paid from revenues coming from the state's general fund, meaning that debt payments reduce funds available for other services. In fact, along with its overall debt burden, California's debt payments have tripled, from $1.8 billion paid in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, to $5.5 billion in the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. In June 2009, Schwarzenegger, facing state insolvency, called for $24 billion of budget cuts or one-fourth the state's budget. Moonbeam to the rescue.
at 08:30
Monday, January 17
Chatter Birds
at 20:03
Sunday, January 16
Speed Demon
We meet newborn Alexander, the son of Effie and Edwin, pictured, at the World Duathalon Championships in Concord, NC, where he is 5th in the over-40s. No doubt Alexander will be a chip off the old block. Today he is mostly asleep and angelic. Eitan and Madeleine equally fascinated by the baby and Nason, the family dog which, in fairness, is also pretty darn cute. I end the happy weekend watching the NFL playoffs.
at 19:45
Target
Eitan's Kew Park Rangers take on Division Leader Target Sports in a thrilling game which sees the Blues lose 2-1. Both sides play to their limit and Target's goalie impenetrable - he is also the biggest kid on the pitch. Eitan scores KPR's goal after a cross field break-away that confuses the goalie, who races forward to snatch the ball only Eitan squirts by him then hooks a left foot on the ball for an impossibly difficult angled shot that skips into the lower corner of the net. He tells me later that he did not know if it went in since his momentum carried him beyond the goal post. Afterwards the boys sprawled out on the grass and receive kudos from the coaches. It should have been a draw but that's the way it goes. Nobody complaining about the team's comportment.
at 13:01
Play Date
Marcus joins Madeleine for a play-date and spends the night. At Madeleine's request, I buy an 'Aero Bar', some Starburst 'Fruit Chews' ("It's a juicy contradiction" the wrapper tells me) and a pack of 'Skittles' ("An endless color stream of bite-sized content") along with a fifth of Ben & Jerry's 'Chunk Monkey' ice cream which is mostly gone by the time I get to it. Sonnet makes popcorn which is devoured before 'Toy Story 3' while I multi-task shining shoes. Later I find the kids sprawled out on their beds talking into the late hours. Madeleine's pulled ligament, confirmed at the hospital, heals up slowly.
at 09:42
Friday, January 14
Zona Rosa
Sonnet: "Madeleine - trumpet."
Madeleine: "But the Simpsons!"
Sonnet: "Practice comes first."
Madeleine: "But it's a cliff hanger!"
at 18:08
Wednesday, January 12
A Sprain
I arrive home to find Madeleine on the coach instead of band and swimming practice: "sprained arm, Dad" she tells me without looking away from the TV. "It might be broken." She and Billy rough-housing at school and, Aneta informs me, no tears until Sonnet on the mobile then some considerable drama. I feel Madeleine's arm and get a few good yelps so I don't doubt that Billy gave her a twist. When I query, gravely, whether a trip to the doctor in order she replies "Maybe after 'Nemo.' Mom is taking me to the emergency tomorrow morning if it does not get better." Later, over dinner, we discuss bedtime. I tell Madeleine she cannot possibly sleep in her bed since it might cause harm to the injury. Instead, we agree, the bathtub. Sonnet unsure if I am joking as Madeleine takes her blanket, and Doggie, into the tub.
at 20:45
Monday, January 10
Charlie And The Tree
at 12:08
Sunday, January 9
Busty Mary
Chilean fashion designer Ricardo Oyarzun under fire from the Catholic Church for dressing "busty" models as the Virgin Mary, pictured.
"There is no pornography here, there's no sex, there are no virgins menstruating or feeling each other up. This is artistic expression."
at 18:11
Lazy Sunday
at 13:29
Wednesday, January 5
Staying Focused
I am shooting these days with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens which is good for portraits and some landscapes. I am working up to 70-200mm IS f/2.8L but this will set me back a couple grand. The price says ouch but this is the lens my DSLR made for. The quality coatings and design of combined with a hood means less light bouncing around and diffusing inside the lens, and that means sharper, better contrast photos. I'm also contemplating a wide angle - maybe 20mm f/1.8.
at 14:03
Tuesday, January 4
Murder, She Wrote
Madeleine writes a story in her journal, below, which she reads on our way home from the V&A where I pick up the kids for the day.
Chapter 1: Death
It was Midnight. The full moon rose into the sky. A detective was on the lookout for a killer.
The detective had found a dead body outside his house two days ago. In the dead man's hand there was a piece of paper. The piece of paper was red with blood.
There was a message on the paper, it said: "death are there millions. The moon will shine. You must journey to the cave called 'Murderers End.' The journey is dangerous. You must find the murderer or there will be no more life. He will kill millions with the help of a murderer ghost called 'Hax.'"
The detective wondered who was the murderer and how he was going to get to Murderers End in time. He needed a crew of detectives if he wanted to succeed. Slowly he walked back to his house. He froze. The door was hanging open.
The detective walked in and screamed. His wife was dead on the floor. There was another note. It said, "Get out of here, detective, before I get you too."
The next day the detective set out to the police station to get a team of detectives and at the same time he gave his wife's body to the police.
"This is a mystery story and horror story combined."
--Madeleine
at 13:50
Monday, January 3
Moonbeam
Heeere's Jerry, California Governor. Again. As my business school friend Costa once quipped: "careers are a long thing."
at 12:19
Sunday, January 2
Silver Truck
We stroll past Southbank Center alongside the Thames and marvel at the volume of concrete. Man, this place ugly in a 1960s sort of way. Southbank's three buildings include the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Hayward art gallery and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracts three million visitors a year, including this hung-over lot following the New Year parties.
at 12:23
Zebulon
As Zebulon's family moved to Oxford with little notice on Alain's professorship, Zebulon sat the entrance exam with zero preparation which is like taking the SATs without Stanley Kaplan. Naked. He crushed it. Nita tells me Zebulon, in class, gets the hard questions right while suffering the unchallenging maths. His teacher comments on this. Such motivational concerns, I might suggest, a luxury.
The boy has a charming curiosity, easy in discourse, and mature for his years. We discuss his favorite subject, geography, and he tells me the regional topographies from last semester. Next year, South America and the Andes. Cool.
Zebulon, his brothers, and Eitan and Madeleine get on famously and Zebulon treats Madeleine as one of the boys which is tip tops with her. Us parents marvel at their joy and I find them, last night, in their beds, jammed together, 10PM .. reading.
"The merry year is born
Like the bright berry from the naked thorn."
at 11:16
Saturday, January 1
1.1.11.11.11
We walk to the Tate Modern to see the Gauguin exhibition before it closes this month. Behind me is Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds," the 11th in the Unilever Series to fill the Turbine Hall (Weiwei best known for his Bird's Nest Stadium at the Beijing Olympics). Sunflower is an inch-thick carpet made of some one-hundred million intricately handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds, each with its own unique note, delivered to London by the craftsmen of Jingdezhen. When the exhibition opened in October visitors encouraged to walk on the seeds and marvel at the human effort required to complete Weiwei's vision and contemplate each individual seed in .. a sea.. of .. existential .meaningless. Unfortunately the stones rubbing together created dust and the city's health and safety experts suggested that prolonged exposure to the dust could exacerbate conditions like asthma. And I could get hit by a car walking to the Tate. Yet, two days later, the invitation to touch the art revoked.
at 15:25
2011 Here She Comes
We spend New Years with Alain and Nita and their three fabulous boys Zebulon (one of the twelve tribes of Israel); Zakkai (In the New Testament, Jesus comes to town looking for an honest man and Zakkai the only one he finds); and Zephyr (The West Wind in the Greek mythology; warm and gentle). The family recently relocated from Tucson, AZ, to Oxford so Alain could teach at Oxford where he has a Professorship of Mathematical Modelling. Nita, meanwhile, earned her PhD in applied Mathematics at Arizona and before that, NYU for her masters in magneto hydro-dynamics - the study of charged fuels like plasmas found in the sun. Fluids can be shaped by magnetics (I learn). Nita, Sonnet and Catherine were "the Smith misfits" who found each other Sophomore year in "the quad" which is "the party center" of campus but did not make room for new comers. "This," Nita says, "why we bonded together."
at 09:28