Futzing - or, Divo happiness

So, today I've been futzing - I've reduced the number of emails I'll get each day, and reduced the number of text messages in a big way.

I've re-org'd my internet favorites, cutting back on the clutter.

I have simplified all kinds of communications tools, to cut down on the input levels.

I have mapped out some web content changes.

And, I've had a great time doing it all!

Tomorrow, more execution of the "plans"!

Remember Fractured Fairy Tales?

Call this Hysterical History. Or come up with a better name for me to use.

Prior installments - how VW came to buy Porsche, and how Safeway came to be Safeway again... now, THE HISTORY OF AUDI!

http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos/car_logos_-_design_and_history/audi_logo_-_design_and_history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Motorenwerke_AG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKW

Horch/DKW/Wanderer/Audi = Auto Union

Audi = Latin for "Hear" or "To Hear" (or "listen")
Horch = Founder's name, yes, but German infinitive for "Hear" (or "listen")

Is it possible that what distinguishes Audi at its soul is listening to what people want?

I can NEVER remember DKW. It's so SIMPLE too - Dampf Kraft Wagen (rolls eyes). 'Cause all those shiny cars on your lot SO remind me of steam powered buggies.

Horch were actually more elite PKWs (Personnen Kraft Wagen, as distinct from Last Kraft Wagen) during and immediately after the Hitlerzeit than were Mercedes. And, of course, BMW was an aircraft motor company and motorbike company.

When I was an exchange student to Wolfsburg in high school, everyone in northern Germany called BMW "Bayerische Mist Wagen" - Bavarian Manure Cart.

Mercedes were taxis.

NSU is an older company than is Daimler-Benz, being founded in 1873. Karl Benz made his first motorcar in 1885. Of course, NSU started off making sewing machines. They started making motorcycles in 1901. They were, in 1955, the largest motorcycle company in the world. Started producing cars (again) in 1957, and were the first company to mass produce Wankel engined automobiles - the most famous being the Ro80, spiritual predecessor to the Audi 80/VW Passat, now being sold as the A4. The Ro80 was the European Car of the Year in 1967.

Producing such a revolutionary car broke the bank, and VW AG bought them in 1969, merged them into Auto Union (which for many years hadn't been doing much of anything) and renamed the whole shooting match "Audi" even though that brand (of the five) was the least well known. Maybe they were on to something.

After the war, only DKW were produced in West Germany - all of the Horch, Wanderer, Auto Union facilities ended up in EAST Germany. Daimler (those bastards) bought a controlling interest in Auto Union in 1957, bought the rest of the farm in 1959 and then started getting cold feet. With the help of the Lower Saxony government, VW bought the schtuff in 1964. Horch had bought the farm during the war, and Auto Union was resurrected by Daimler, who never really recovered from AU's Silver Arrows whipping the shit out of Daimler's racers in the 1930s.

Damiler had designed a lovely little platform called the F103, which was the foundation for the Audi 80/VW Passat, save for that the Audi version was only sold as "Audi" (single model) until the acquisition of NSU a few years later. In 1965, VW kicked the DKW name to the kurb, and Audi was the brand.

Pack rattage

From those really snarky, smart people who run TUT's Adventurer's Club:

Now let me get this straight: You want things that you don't yet have, people in your life who you don't yet know, and events to take place that haven't yet occurred, so that once these "things" come to pass you'll feel happy, confident, and fulfilled; accomplished, desired, and appreciated; treasured, adored, and like one bad mamma jama, a beautiful sight to see?

But... wasn't that your rationale for all the other stuff you wanted, that you now have?

Whooohoooooooo!
The Universe

Uh, yeah.

As I get further away from having far too much stuff, I keep noticing the dichotomy within myself of finding more stuff I don't need or use, and keep finding more fun and useless stuff that I am convinced I need.

Of course, the best part of this is being judgmental about someone ELSE who is accumulating too much stuff, and my observing that.

Like I was never a ripe target for such criticism.

Probably the ripest area for improvement within myself is further dispatching processed, non-nutritional foods from my life. Watching how other people focus on buying food that is advertised shows me that I've already separated myself from the "herd" quite a bit. I've also noticed how easily and eagerly I leap back into the mindless consumption of advertised food - it's analogous, of couse, to the endless desire to buy something.

What is it that drives that "need"? It's not need at all. It's learned behavior. When I was being raised, having a 2300 square foot house was the standard, now it's well above 3000 square feet that are "needed". New cars are "needed".

Matticia has a perfectly serviceable eight year old Honda that he treats like the appliance it is. How much money has he saved in the past five years by not indulging the craving for a new car?

I am going to dig further into this "need" for needless things, and figure out what that's all about. When it came to be, how and .. well, the why is already known - it's to increase the unit cost of widgets and to sell as many widgets as can be sold.

All Hallow's Eve 2009

Matt is Matticiaforming his garage into a passable, professional disco and I've been watching Hulu, making chex party mix and fiddling with my iTunes library - deleting stuff I'd never listen to (why oh why was it there in the first place?)

I feel another nap coming on.

The costumes last night were amazing, many of them. I was associated with a hot hot pink spiderman, there were some truly beautiful and astonishing ensembles put together by some people who had clearly invested a great deal of time and effort into their costumes.

My favorite costume of the evening was a 30-something gentleman who had crafted a Julie London-eske evening gown in shiny bright green and gold fabric, and had made the gown's skirt as a layered wedding cake, his hat another layered wedding cake, his face and hair painted in green, gold and orange, with a "torch" that was a third layered wedding cake with freshly baked cupcakes atop. All illuminated with mini-lights.

He could have hidden a small nuclear plant inside there for power. How he could walk up and down stairs was beyond me.



A few notes:

If your belly and midriff bulge out like a roll of poppin' fresh dough just after you bust open the container on the edge of the kitchen counter - you should re-think that shirtless/midriff exposure.

Being under 25 with a great body, no shirt and a face mask is NOT a costume.

Wearing no shirt, a kilt, a loincloth, or any kind of skirt with some face or body spray paint might be a knock out at a straight club, but don't expect much attention at a professional, Gay club costume contest.

Girls, please don't take it as rejection when you come show off your creative and revealing Hallowe'en costume at a gay club and we don't grovel at your loveliness. It isn't personal. We just happen to be far more interested in the over-the-top drag costumes and all the men who are basically naked.

Wearing a costume that makes you look like the crack whore we already knew you were - well, it's a costume, yes, but don't be surprised when we don't notice that you're wearing it.

Young and well built men who put their bodies on display through wearing nearly nothing should be aware that anyone who has eyesight is INVITED to stare by their effort. There is no visual filter that eliminates old, fat or balding men, or women.

weeks away, we get to choose

In a few weeks from today, we go to the polls. In Houston, there is a contest mayor's race, but for the most part, this election seems to be a yawner.

These off-year elections are actually the more important, as far fewer voters turn out, and these are the elections where we make decisions about matters that affect us directly and locally.

Since our state is governed by a lengthy and unruly constitution, we have a variety of measures which require constitutional amendments. We Texans just go along with this process, rather than demanding a new constitutional convention to clean up the mess - much like California.

What's more disturbing, the ballot summaries of these measures are too abbreviated and sometimes diverting from the real effects. Each of the ballot measures this year have been summed up for us by the Secretary of State's office, and contain the full text of what we are voting on. You can see this report here.

There are a number of amendments on the ballot this year that deal with property tax matters. Many people will vote based on pre-judged perceptions about taxes in general without really understanding the measures that they are voting on.

Over the next week, I'm going to review ALL of these ballot measures and analyze them for anyone to read. You'll be able to find these reviews here on my blog - you can sign up for notices that new posts have been made or just ask for updates from me directly.

Let's all agree to stop with the bombastic bullet points, because we ALL want a society that just works for everyone. Let's educate ourselves as to what is in front of us and use the power of the ballot box to take back this world from those who have only their self-interests at heart.

Monday Mourning

This is post #2 under the same headline -

Last night, Matticia told me he nearly cried on the way home from work. He had spent many hours yesterday fussing about party effects he's purchased for delivery - and saw a guy trying to sell his bicycle on the street for $20 to buy some food.

I think that's called "realizing one's priorities are a bit screwed up". I don't know anything about that at all.

A few months ago, I was convinced that a beautiful $100K Audi S8 would make me happy. I had been convinced that a beautiful home with a pool and a garage were necessary and appropriate.

Having had a few of those beautiful homes, with rooms I didn't go into, boxes in closets I didn't open, kitchen appliances in cabinets I didn't use, I can tell you I was wrong about that.

I didn't really understand HOW wrong I was until this morning.

Even as I settled into my peaceful little apartment, even as I reveled in the freedom of having a LOT less stuff, even as my stress level unwound - I STILL thought that a gorgeous S8 would do me right. Happiness could rise or fall on whether the S8 had a full leather upgrade, and absolutely was dependent on it having the $6800 Bang & Olufsen stereo system.

I poured over the Audi S8 brochure (and the interwebs, frankly, and every other resources I could drum up). I looked at other cars, too. Whipping my neck around at every pretty shade of red paint, maybe THAT one, maybe THIS one.

Then, the week before my birthday, I started to contemplate how much money I was spending on having a car.

I've been making car payments since the fall of 1977 - so, 32 years of monthly obligation. 384 months of uncertainty. 11,520 days of worry. 230,400 or so individual moments of being afraid, unsure, or concerned.

I drive 4.6 miles each way to the office. Once or twice a week, I drive 52 miles round trip to the church. Every once in a while, I may run up ten or twenty miles in errands, or to have a visit with someone.

Call it 170 miles a week (last week being the exception with FIVE trips to church).

Those 170 miles will cost a very predictable $35.00 in gasoline and miscellaneous wear and tear on the car. Insurance is another $60 a month.

So, why was I paying nearly a thou a month for a car?

Between the interest cost and depreciation, that's what the Red Rocket was costing.

So, $1.58 a mile.

$7.25 to drive to work.

$164.32 for each drive to church.

$142.20 to visit a friend outside the beltway (no wonder I'm so committed to staying inside the loop).

This was insane. Especially since the math is exacerbated with the stress.

New choices were made.

I just acquired my SECOND 1998 Buick Riviera. Victoria Regina, her name. She has 67K miles on her, fewer than did the Red Rocket. She's paid for in full. She needs some loving labor, but she's pretty.

And I love her.

This morning, as I was running back and forth between the storage locker, the laundry room, VR (as she's now nicknamed), and the mailbox, I kept noticing how much she makes me smile. Like, I am giddy happy smiling.

Giddy. About a car that cost fewer than $4,000.

She doesn't have a snorting V10, Audi exquisite engineering, and she cost less than the Bang & Olufsen stereo.

But, every day that I own her is the opportunity to have something other than twenty fearful thoughts.

Monday Mourning

My brother (half-brother, dad's first marriage) died Saturday afternoon/evening of a heart attack in his sleep. He was 53.

He died because of our country's policies over the last thirty five years or so.

Mike (whose real name was Edgar, but nicknamed Mike so as to avoid confusion with my dad) had a high school education, gained at a time in this society when that was enough to get a decent job and raise a family on that income. And, he got both a decent job and a family, working in an auto plant.

Which auto plant was closed some twenty years ago. He then went and got trained on repairing ATM machines and drive through machines, and supported himself and his family working outside in cold Michigan winters, making it easier for people to pull up inside their climate controlled cars and access their accounts without having to deal with the bank lobby.

Until that bank was acquired by another, larger bank and they outsourced to a different vendor.

He and his wife struggled to keep up the property taxes on their very modest house, and of course health insurance was impossible.

Being of stocky stock, Mike had always been prone to weight gain. Between the stress, the cheap food and the lack of care, he developed type II diabetes in his early 40s. Had a diabetic stroke at 47.

Couldn't walk, couldn't work. Social Security fought him tooth and nail for three years on collecting disability, and when his snap-back occurred, a significant chunk of it went to the lawyer.

They had train-wreck luck, but Mike never seemed to begrudge his life.

The last few years, Mike could walk a few blocks. I don't know how much weight he had gained, but I can guess it was a lot.

His death of a heart attack over the weekend was, I guess not a surprise. Without money for health care, without money for prescriptions, without purpose and hope - victim for our having savaged our nation's manufacturing base, beaten down the unions, allowed for megalithic business combinations - he was one of the tens of thousands whose life trajectory was shot down without fault or recovery.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me

Wild and woolly! I guess, it wasn't so wild, but it was non-stop low key action.

So, today, I mostly worked on a loan - mortgage loan, my last one - and finally, for the first time since 1996, THIS one is going the way they should have all been going. Neat, tidy, clear communication ..

Just as I was finishing up with that this afternoon, my neighbor was texting about getting together for dinner tonight - AND mentioned that he was across the street with his mom surfing for bargains! I hitched onto their parade, and we went over to Marshall's - where I found a new coffee mug (of the style I love) for 10% of the original price, a cool console table for between my club chairs marked down from $179 to $50, and FOUR pair of dress trousers (representing a 400% increase over what I had previously had) all cheapola! THEN, we went to the Empire Cafe and had some cake - mine was called "Chocolate Mugging" I think. Then, we came back to the apartments and I had to lay down.

One of my very first tax clients dropped in today - he told me that when he came up the stairs and rounded the corner he could tell how much more calm and happy I was than he's ever seen me. He remarked about it twice, and then we talked about the fallacy of "obtaining" when done with debt. Great conversation, and it was nice to be acknowledged for having been changed.

I had fun today! My phone was blowing up, the IMs were pouring in, and nearly every one of my high school friends on Facebook wished me happy birthday. Wow.

Thank you world! I had a great birthday!

Whirlwind preparedness

I had the most strange and delightful dream last night. I had just purchased a new home theater system - it was no bigger than a coffee table book, and it had two little speakers, each the size of a CD jewel case. It was very chromey and awesome looking.

The whole rest of the dream was about trying to keep from losing or letting other people damage this cool new toy, plus weird additions showing up to the house, my mom being present, etc.

This morning, I walked around the block (which is nearly a mile) and came across six discarded soda cans, and four discarded plastic bottles. I picked them all up, to assuage my feelings of guilt on behalf of my fellow man.

I'm finding that written to-do lists are becoming more and more important.

It's very interesting - I watched some Hulu last night, and saw a Daily Show piece in which Jon Steward interviewed a man with a computer modeling program that has been right about what was developing nearly 100% of the time, and 100% of the time better than the CIA projected.

He said in his mind, and based on his projections, things are actually headed in a pretty good direction - peace in the Middle East, health care resolution in the US, movement on climate change, people behaving themselves in general.

Something for everyone to pray for.

I'm just gonna rant on a while here -

On people who hate taxes -

Why is it that so many people who hate taxes and feel that "they pay too much" actually pay nothing at all?

On people who don't want changes to health care -

Why is it that so many people who are so jacked up about health care have no health care themselves except "don't get sick, and if you do, die fast"?

On people who don't want gay marriage -

Why are you willing to welcome insta-marriages between opposite sex couples who have just met, or divorce, or ... just how is your marriage threatened by anything from outside of that marriage?

On people who believe that other nations pose a threat to us -

How? How are they a threat? Please don't share with me fanciful speculation, tell me just how they are a threat.

On people who believe that their state should secede from the Union -

If it wasn't acceptable for the South to secede in 1860 when Lincoln, who was against slavery but came to office without a mandate to end slavery, why would it be acceptable now when Obama, who had a far greater voter mandate came to office not proposing (and actually not changing) much of anything?

Should I or shouldn't I?

The hardwood floor in the kitchen mocks me. It lies there, silently, knowing that it's dirty and sticky and that it's thereby driving me crazy.

Earlier, the countertop, the trash, the bathroom, and the dishes all cooperated nicely. Although there were a few overpour incidents, they all cooperated with the clean-up.

And yet, the kitchen floor continues to mock.

It knows full well that I am very careful with splatters, spills, footfalls, and such.

Still, it's sticky. It's dirty in that subversive, non-visible way. It mocks me.

I could get out the pail, fill it with warm water and a smidge of detergent and then clean it, following with the Orange 3 in 1 treatment that adds a hint of shine.

Should I or shouldn't I?

I probably will, whether I should or not.

Saddiday night and ...

I'm too pooped to pop?

It's so interesting - the question was posed "when in your life have you been happy?"

Uh .. wow. That was a hard question to contemplate.

So much has happened in the last year, it's like being fast forwarded.

Saddiday night and ...

I'm too pooped to pop?

Be careful what you wish for - Tuesday edition

So, at about 5:40 this morning, I awoke to the pleasant sound of a hard rain. The air conditioner popped on about then, and I got up to turn it off, wanting to enjoy the sound of the rain for a while.

Shortly afterward, the power went out for three hours. I've listened to a lot of rain!

Apparently, my Swedish furniture name is DÖYGLLAS.

A few isolated anecdotes -

First, an extraordinary picture of a US Air Force transport aircract - "Air Force One" is how one would normally think of it. This one, previously used for that purpose, was at least thirty years old when this picture was taken. Who says our government ALWAYS wastes tax dollars?

Next, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm pretty annoyed by stupid. Well, increasingly, premature death is BECAUSE of stupid.

Just be wary of the stupid people around you, should their efforts to purify the gene pool with their actions unintentionally affect you.

Next, if you were wondering who benefited the most from the recently concluded "Cash for Clunkers" program, this chart will give you those answers. Big winners - just as you'd suspect, Honda, Toyota (the champeen), Hyundai, Nissan.

But, buried in these statistics are some truly amazing items - my favorite car (regardless of what Robert thinks) is the Audi S8 - it's EPA rated for 13/18 - and Audi SOLD one with the clunkers trade in credit. What in God's name could someone have traded in on THAT which provided a fuel economy increase of six mpg?

Two HUMMERS were sold. Tens of thousands of pick-up trucks.

I'm visualizing many fewer supertankers unloading foreign oil onto our soil because of this.

As I engage my day, which started out with enforced peacefulness and contemplation, I am also thinking about the stuff I've got that I'm still not using. Watch this space for announcements relating to the selling off of even MORE stuff.

Mondays - why would they get someone down?

I rather like Monday mornings, but mostly because of my own design. Since I usually work all weekend long, Monday mornings are a slower time for me, doing some cleaning, organizing my week, and so on.

Today, I played catch up from a mechanical standpoint - consumables replaced, bills paid, and so on. I broke down and decided to have DSL set up at my apartment, so that took a bit of time.

Here in my little apartment, there is some white noise of traffic in the background, the ceiling fans are - of course - unobtrusive, and the only real noise I get is from the roar of the air conditioner. It's so tranquil - and so not what I'm used to. I've spent more than twenty years in living quarters with loud room mates, loud neighbors, traffic, neighbors, people beating on my door while drunk - I can say that this may not be the most luxurious or fancy place I've lived, but it has a peacefulness that even my grandfather's house didn't have.

That peacefulness is a luxury that goes beyond anything that could be measured in currency.

As is my constant, I keep finding ways to tweak my surroundings to make them just that much more pleasing, that much more workable, that much more attractive.

I'm weird that way. I like it though, so I have no intention or inclination to change that.

It's funny - even though I have given away, cut back, thrown out so much of what I had been carrying around, I'm finding increasingly that a fair amount of what I do have here is .. not used.

Perhaps another purge is in the works.

Sunday peace

After being here for two months, I am thinking about refinements. Having the bedroom painted, adding some more lighting, just some little tweaks to make things a little more special.

Sidebar - Sigourney Weaver is a presenter at tonight's Emmy awards and looks like a hundred million dollars in cash - WOW.

Peace for me right now means that I have been enjoying my peaceful and solitary environment, and enjoying not having some task or project needing attention tonight. So, more profound thoughts will follow - anon.

Keith and Rachel - my apologies

I love you both dearly. Especially you, Rachel - your beautiful smile and intellect - I just want to hang out with you and soak you up.

However, I'm reaching a saturation point for angry information about people acting badly. I've come to expect such bad behavior that nothing you share with me is remotely a surprise. It's almost more surprising that it's thought to be noteworthy.

More than twenty years ago, I stopped watching local TV news when our largest local affiliate ran all the way to Shreveport to lead with a murder story. People get angry, they have family arguments, they get drunk and argue, they try to steal sixty bucks from the corner convenience store and someone gets killed. Lather, rinse, repeat - is it news? Is it UNUSUAL?

Some ten years later, I stopped reading the local newspaper. Every single story was slanted toward a particular political and social viewpoint (one that did not include persons of color, as an example).

I was raised believing that watching the news and reading the newspapers were signs of intelligence.

It's a brave, new world.

I began to put my faith in blogs - people who undertook to recreate what reporters USED to do - research, read, assemble. Angry, ranting blogs weren't what I read - blogs that cross linked to original sources or other references so I could (and did) go read for myself were valuable.

Those resources haven't changed. But, all the anger is pointless. We're all raging at symptoms - screaming at a runny nose or a sore throat when the problem is that we should have covered our sneeze, or washed our hands appropriately, or eaten a better diet or gotten more sleep.

We are hip deep in crazy because no one's willing to deal with causes. Causes as in causal issues. Everyone's interested in having their own little world pampered, but there are no big picture thinkers who aren't either Matt Taibbi or the titans of Wall Street.

Frankly, if Matt Taibbi was running Wall Street, there'd be a whole lot more and better money being made and no more bubbles bursting.

KKR has a longer world view. AIG did not. Goldman does.

I'm thinking that the health insurance companies know that long-term, their goose is cooked. I'm thinking that they're looking to make hay while the sun still shines, and maybe extend the time that they reap those benefits.

Which leads me back to my point. I love you guys. I love you. You make me feel like I'm not alone. Yet, we're not making progress. We're tilting at windmills. I already gave up Daily Kos. It's time to go back to fundamentals. We have to re-teach civics and expand understanding. We have to give clear access to facts and provide an alternative to spin.

I know I'm going to be drawn back to you from time to time, but I need to take a break and re-focus.

Speed walking through Safeway

I recall there being a wide variety of laundry soap products; now, at one of the largest Safeway (Randall's) stores in the Houston market - there is only a wide variety of liquid Tide. Tide makes my pale, white skin break out, so I was hoping for something else.

They did have sugar-free Popsicles on sale, which was fun. They also still had a bunch of sugar free tapioca cups in the discount bin, so I grabbed a bunch. Either I've gone daft, or they only had a very small selection of bacon. They also had coffee on sale (which was what brought me into the store - I was out of bean). Dunkin Donuts beans are more expensive than Starbucks? Really? Safeway has prices marked in disparate ways, just as do all grocery chains - some containers are marked per pound, some per ounce, some per package. This requires math on the spot - which is the better deal? This one's on sale, but the price per measure isn't converted for the SALE price, only for the original price ..

Calculate, calculate, calculate. This one says it's organic, but is it fair trade? This one looks perfect, but it's decaf.

Finally, I reached a decision.

The little hand basket loaded to overflowing, I wandered over to the cash registers, so loaded up with last minute offerings that one can't see whether a cashier is there until one gets right up on the belt.

I remember when Randall's (before it was Safeway) used to have thirty plus types of mustard. Now, there are five or six.

Not that I don't care for Randall's now - but, how Randall's became Safeway is an excellent example of how American business is so focused on short term profit and not on long term stability and growth.

Back in the distant past, there were four or five grocery chains that dominated the Houston market. Kroger, Randall's and Weingarten's, Safeway, Gerland's and Feista. Feista, I believe was a Spanish market store created by the Weingarten family.

Of those, only Kroger and Safeway were multi-state chains.

Houston has seen and kicked Albertson's to the curb, along with Food Lion and a few others. Weingarten ran for the exits in the 1980s, wisely focusing on their real estate holdings. Gerland's gave up the ghost, although hints of it linger on in the Food Town chain. Fiesta moves from strength to strength. Kroger has been the king of the hill for decades.

Safeway, though, had a very strong market position. In about 1986, Safeway was put "in play" by Robert Haft (who were, at least in the business of running food and drug stores), and the board ran for cover with Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts (KKR) as their savior. This is sort of like leaping into the arms of the cannibal pygmies to save oneself from being eaten by marauding lions. Proving my axiom, KKR required that the company repay the borrowed money by selling off chunks.

Of course, KKR handled the filings and arranged the financing making a blizzard of cash.

The helpful investment house of KKR offered to broker the sale of huge chunks of Safeway, which had been so neatly assembled over fifty years following a strategy set in place by Merrill Lynch. Overseas operations, about half the total was all sold. The Houston operation, including its distribution warehouses and its brand spankin' new dairy factory to the Houston managers.

Who had to borrow the money.

From KKR.

Who made a shitload of money on THAT angle, too.

Enter "Apple Tree Markets".

Apple Tree was actually a TERRIFIC grocery chain, but the debt load was too great to sustain its operations, and pieces of it began to fly off. The dairy plant. Prime locations. The stores started to show their plight.

Finally, Apple Tree stores sold off their pieces to .. Randall's and Fiesta. Mostly to Randall's, which expanded hugely from Apple Tree's failure.

Randall's bought up the Tom Thumb stores in Dallas, along with Apple Tree stores all around the state. And they were large. And they were prosperous-ish.

And they loaded up on debt.

Kroger, being the 800 pound gorilla in the marketplace, only had to burp up a few tenths of a percentage of cash flow to turn a cranky, 1970s Kroger store into a Sak's like emporium, and Randall's had to keep up.

And the money kept flowing in ... (with acknowledgment to Tim Rice). Guess who loaned them the money???? (hint, their initials are KKR)

Well, ten years after taking the company private, the Safeway folks were .. expanding into new markets to replace those 1,000 or so stores that vanished when KKR took the company private.

And, guess how they re-entered Texas? By buying Randall's and paying a blizzard of money for it. That they borrowed. From KKR. But, wait - KKR was the majority owner of Randall's - and had provided Randall's all of the financing - so, how did they .. loan .. uh ..

And now, we have Safeway in Houston again.

And Kroger is still the 800 pound gorilla.

But KKR has made a TON of money! Retail centers have lost tenants, managers and employees have lost jobs, pensions are gone, choices are fewer - but KKR HAS MADE A TON OF MONEY!!!!!!

And, isn't that how it should work? A growing food and drug chain in DC decides to expand their presence, so they start buying stock in a large, publicly traded grocery and drug chain but the board of directors of the large, publicly traded grocery and drug chain want to retain their jobs and their panache, so they bargain with the devil, who requires them to sell off ONE HALF of their enterprise, pay enormous fees and interest, finances the sales of all the ONE HALF of their enterprise to the buyers - making interest and fees, then FIRES ALL THE DAMNED DIRECTORS ANYWAY, and then suggests - hey, you guys - you should be expanding into these markets you're not currently in (because we made you sell the stores you already had there) and SELLS THEM MORE STORES THEY ALREADY OWN.

Seems quite reasonable.

And we wonder why sub-prime mortgages didn't sound so bad.

Berlin calling

In 1975, I visited Berlin for about a week. I was 15 years old, and yet I was captivated. Berlin has a history going back a thousand years, is the amalgamation of a number of smaller cities and villages, and is now one of the most important and exciting cities in the EU.

And, in 1945, it was blown to smithereens. British bombs, then Russian artillery blew the city into rubble. Every structure of importance was reduced to its foundations. To look at Berlin today, one wouldn't realize that the heritage was reconstructed - it is a blending of new and old, modern and traditional, experimental and trusted.

Last night, I had a delightful surprise through an email from Philip. Just as a reminder, there are only two Philip(s) with one "l", and this one is the awesome one that stayed with me one summer a few years ago.

He, Philip, is engaged in an effort to re-define and revitalize Detroit.

People slag Detroit endlessly and have for decades, but most people have never visited there. A hundred years ago, Detroit was arguably the second most important city in the country - a status it held until the 1960s. The race riots of 1967, spurred by the division of the black neighborhoods by the development of I-75, accelerated "white flight", and the city itself has never recovered.

Detroit presents an incredible and unique opportunity - the re-invention of a major American city. Rather than rely on traditional methods to spur growth and re-settlement, it is an opportunity to think totally out of the box, and marry the advantages of human convergence in a major city with renewable, sustainable environments that reduce city infrastructure needs, support growth through reduced recurring costs, provide a healthful environment for residents and look forward to what comes next, rather than trying to be a better city for 1958.

My mind is a river of ideas for the concept.

Every once in a while

I feel validated.

It seems that someone in California has obtained the signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would outlaw divorce completely.

Now, THAT would be marriage as a sanctity.