Musings from Joel

I have lived in Junius Heights since 2002 and have always known what a great, unique neighborhood we live in. It is the largest historic neighborhood in Dallas and has some of the most architecturally interesting houses in the city. These styles include craftsman, tudor and prairie styles.

Our neighborhood worked hard in 2005 to have the area designated as historic and placed on the national registry. This has stopped the Mc mansion invasion from moving south into our area, unlike much of the M Streets which was gutted of its older homes in the late 90’s in favor of tacky, 3 story homes with little or no character.

All this hard work is finally paying dividends. This Old House has designated Junius Heights as the best family friendly neighborhood in Dallas for 2010.

Sarah Palin is up to her shenanigans again.  While I have had enough of her to last a life time, apparently there are lots of individuals who still think she is the second coming of Christ. I fully expect her to run in 2012 and I look forward to her making a fool out of herself again, unless she starts cramming on foreign policy and learns what countries are where and a lot of history to boot.  We are talking about a person who thinks Afghanistan borders the U.S and our government has a Dept. of Law.

It comes down to one thing, professionalism. Can we as a people of these United States imagine a POTUS that looks down at his/her hand to come up with the answers or remember what to say? We all know what happens when someone like GW Bush starts ad libing and talking about Doctors practicing their love with women. Presidents have to look and act Presidential. Wondering what to say next while talking to Russia’s Premier Putin would look down right pathetic and definitely would not come from a point of strength. Of course, she is a real hit with the tea party fanatics whose movement is disintegrating faster than ice in the desert. Maybe she can run on their ticket in 2012 and offer to tea bag her opponents.

I just wrapped up trip number two to see my sister and her family in Utah this week. I had a great time seeing them and my son and I managed to ski a few days while we were there. I’m old school and he is all about the board and is finally getting comfortable using it on the blues. So the experience was great as far as the skiing goes, but I have to complain about the way the service is run. On our first day we decided to eat at the lodge, both ordering food and drinks and spending $32. There was no where to sit so we sat outside. I had iced tea, since I’m Texan, we drink it by the gallon. They serve their $2.00 drinks in small cups that are probably 20ozs. I assumed the Tea had free refills. I asked my son to get me a refill inside since he did not have hard to walk in ski boots on. He went in and came back empty handed, telling me that security had stopped him and said there were no free refills. On what planet does a restaurant manager not offer free tea refills? I have been to the ugliest, seediest rat holes in town and spent under $5 and always gotten free refills.  So my response was not to eat at the lodge anymore while we skied. On the final day we did a half day of skiing. A full day cost around $65 while a half is $9 cheaper. Quite a discount for showing up at 12. I went to the ticket booth and tried to buy tickets but they would not sell them until 12:15 on the nose, so we waited and waited. When we got our tickets and went to get on the needle express to go to the top of the mountain, we were told we could not get on until 12:30 on the nose. So we waited ( mind you this on Monday and there was no one else on line) and waited and waited. Finally getting to board the gondola. I might understand them being sticklers if the half day ticket was half price, but that is not the case. So where do these short sighted morons running the mountain think treating people this way is a bright idea?  I believe rule number one is the customer is always right. My son and I have decided we will be going to powder mountain next time we head up to ski.

I already own a pair of Prana and 2 pairs of Be Present yoga pants so I thought I would try lululemons since all the women in my studio rave about them. At a $100 they are pricey, but I am impressed with the elasticity of the fabric. They fit me snugly around the crotch and thighs, but I’m not a thin build and since they stretch it is a comfortable fit, surprisingly. The attention to detail, I think, is what separates these from the other 2 manufactures that I own. They have an elastic band at the waste that is stretchy fabric, rather than a material with elastic sown through it. They also have a continuous elastic drawstring with no ends so you don’t have to worry about the washing machine pulling it out during the spin cycle.

On the minus side I wish they did not have front pockets, they simply pooch out a bit and aren’t flattering. They were also long when I bought them but the store took them up for free. Problem is they are still long.

Of course the ultimate test is how they perform in the studio, which I am quite pleased with. Since they are very elastic they flex without problem, even in Utthan Pristhasana (lizard). They also do a nice job of breathing and letting me sweat since I leave a pool everyday. Definitely worth the money if you plan on wearing them often.

It’s Friday Morning and I am driving my son to school on Skillman, like we do everyday.  But, today I notice something that really concerns me in the southbound lane, just after Mockingbird, near my favorite donut shop. Scattered all over both lanes are dozens of shotgun shells, which look brand new and ready to shoot. Brain dead commuters heading down Skillman don’t seem to be giving them any thought, driving over them like large chunks of gravel. Being the concerned citizen I am, I decide to call 311, but after being on hold for 5 minutes, I opt to call 911. Maybe I’m a tad paranoid but I don’t want to read in the news about some tragic shooting as a result of shotgun shell rounds going off under oblivious commuters tires and I don’t want my precious donut shop destroyed either. So I call 911, which puts me on hold and dumps me back over to 311, where I sit on hold for 25 minutes.

After I drop my son off at school, I decide that if I happen upon a cop I will ask him what he thinks. Luck is with me because I spot one a few minutes later sitting in a parking lot, in front of a donut shop (go figure). I pull up and tell him my story, all the while still on hold with 311. He makes a call into Central and they tell him they will send a car to check it out. About this time 311 picks up and proceeds to tell me they don’t have the intersection of Skillman and Mockingbird in their system. Then they ask me if it is in University Park? Are the city’s GIS systems so bad that they can’t find a major 90 year old intersection to fix a problem, or can’t this operator spell her way out of a wet paper bag?  If I robbed stores this would be a great intersection to hit, the system wouldn’t know what to do with the request. Anyway, I digress, 5 minutes later and apparently requiring a MAPSCO, the operator tells me the street crew will respond in 1-24 hours. Realizing the whole neighborhood could be swiss cheese by then, I hang up and expressed my frustration to this cop. He proceeds to tell me how stupid people can be and imparts this funny story on me, which I will try to regurgitate below.

Last night while patrolling around White Rock Lake (which is his beat), he spots a car sitting in one of the open park areas. As he moves in to check it out a suspect runs off and disappears, leaving behind a t-shirt and one puma tennis shoe. The officer uses his detective skills and decides to pull back a block and watch and wait for the suspect knowing he will return for his shirt, shoe, and car. He parks in front of a house and while waiting notices someone coming up the street to his car from behind. The man asks the officer what he is doing there and if there is a problem. The officer responds that he is just observing a situation and that there is no problem.  The man starts to walk off, but the astute officer notices that the man has no shirt on and is missing a puma tennis shoe. A light bulb goes off in his head and he decides to get out of his patrol car and ask the man where his shirt and shoe are. The suspect responds that they were in his parents house, which happens to be the house the patrol car is parked out in front of. The officer knowing he is lying decides to play along.

It is also obvious to the cop at this point that the man is intoxicated and tells him that he needs to go home and sleep it off.  The drunk man tells the cop that he really doesn’t want to disturb his parents and would sleep in their backyard. The officer responds to him that it is not safe and insists on knocking on the door to speak with his parents. So the officer goes to the front door, knocks, and after several minutes an elderly woman answers the door. When the officer tells her that her son is drunk and needs to come in, she responds ” son? what son?” At that moment an elderly man comes to the door and the officer asks him about his “son” and shines his flashlight at the suspect’s face.  The old man curtly responds, ” he isn’t our son, and he isn’t from around here!”  At which point the cop goes back to the suspect and decides he is going to arrest him for public intoxication. The suspect knowing what is coming preemptively faces the cop car and puts his hands behind his back and says ” I really wish you hadn’t bothered them.”

The officer finishes this story to me with, ” people really are dumb, this guy practically arrests himself, and then is upset that I knocked on these people’s door to check out his story.”

Dallas, like so many cities, is in crisis over a money shortfall from a drop in tax revenue. At first glance this seems reasonable, given the economic situation the entire country is in. But, the reality is quite different.
Here are the facts:

City’s budget for 2008-2009 $ 2.7B
City’s budget proposal for 2009-2010 $ 2.72B
Budget estimated Shortfall $190M
Jobs cut as a result 900+

If you want to see a pdf by the city here it is. The first thing you notice is that the city’s budget still went up by 20M this year. Which seems odd considering the 900+ layoffs. So the city manager and city council approved a budget increase last year, in what was obvious to everyone else, a major recession. I was aware that we were heading into a recession in 2007. So how is it that city hall did not even think to be conservative in its figures in 2008 when planning for 2009? More interestingly is to look at the city’s budget over time. Looking back at the previous few years:

Year	Budget	Increase over previous year
2002-2003	1.72B	na
2003-2004	1.92B	10%
2004-2005	2.05B	6%
2005-2006	2.22B	8%
2006-2007	2.34B	5%
2007-2008	2.65B	12%
2008-2009	2.7B	2%
Total Difference	$980M	64% Total Increase in 7 years

So the city has increased its’ budget $1B in 7 years, which is a 64% increase. Does that number seem really high to anyone else? But, lets take a look at the population estimates for Dallas. In 2002 the city had a population of 1.19M. The Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 1.279M in 2008. Now that number really jumps out at you. The city’s population has only increased by roughly a 89K people in the same time frame, which is only a 7% increase. So our city budget went up 64% over the same time period that our population increased 7%. That in my book is out of control spending. That should indicate that the city’s taxes are too high to begin with. So using the Census Bureau’s data I thought I would look at a couple of cities of similar size to Dallas. San Antonio is slightly larger than Dallas at 1.3M and has a 2010 budget of 885M, that is a whopping $1.8B less than our budget.  San Diego, which has essentially the same population as Dallas, ( but a much higher cost of living) has a 2010 budget of $3.01B.  Houston with a population of 2.2M, quite a bit larger than Dallas, only has a budget of $2.3B, $400M less than Dallas.

So our city is laying off people and screaming about a drop in tax revenue, when the reality is it has been over taxing its citizens and spending like mad. Having lived in Houston for 4 years, I can’t say Dallas has any real advantage over that city’s level of service. So why is the discrepancy so large? What is our city wasting our money on? The really profound thing to me is I have noticed no changes with an extra billion in “services” the city is spending. There are still potholes everywhere, crime is out of control and response times suck. My car had both windows smashed out by thieves the other day and the police no longer even come out to take a look at the crime. All these extra cops on the streets and no service. It is a joke and so is the city council.

So Lexus thinks they are geniuses putting these “keyed lugs” on each tire. It keeps your wheels from moving on without the vehicle in tow. I can see their point, but I would have to question why someone driving one of these vehicles new would park it in an area where tires are going to be jacked. Steeling tires takes time. So, unless Tony Stewart’s pit crew turns to crime I don’t see why these things are standard.  The only time I see cars with stolen tires is when they are left on the side of the freeway for several days, usually that is the least of their problems.

I would venture to guess that most Lexus owners are not going to abandon their car in favor of walking somewhere. Then decide to leave it on the freeway for several days until they can convince some unemployed and otherwise bored and wayward friend to get a rope and help them tow it back to their house ( assuming it still has tires). But, I may be wrong. Anyway I digress, these damn keyed lugs are nothing short of a nightmare, if like me, you attempt to take it off and a section of it breaks away. What you are left with is a useless, unremovable, lug and a tire that isn’t going anywhere without dynamite. The ultimate anti-theft and anti-tire maintenance lock in the world.  It’s akin to padlocking your front door and then throwing the key in the lake, except a lot worse.

To begin with these things are made of chrome alloy, so think about something really hard and then beat it to a pulp with these lugs. Women should wear these things on their wedding fingers, they are so hard. My first thought was to drill a hole in the top and then insert a bolt remover which looks like a reverse threaded drill bit with a cone shaped head. 10 minutes of drilling later and a drill that was starting to melt, I had made a scratch on the surface of the lug and nothing more. I would have better luck nailing jello to the wall. So then I thought I would get out a cold chisel and try to beat until it decided to turn and loosen up. My cold chisel lasted all of 3 minutes before it bent out of frustration and decided it would rather be in the garbage can than continue on with the torture I was imbibing on it. So I took a minute to curse the lug, wish it eternal damnation, and then decided to get out the diamond tipped grinder.
Grinders really are the catch all of tools. They can remove just about anything you throw at them and are a favorite on many tv shows for the sparks they throw when grinding metal. They are the Billy Mays’ quick chop of the construction world. So I went to town on this bolt with my grinder. It was a slow process to essentially cut the bolt in half and then break it with a chisel but it did eventually give up and let go. The trick of course is to not destroy your wheel with the grinder while cutting the bolt. It takes a skilled and steady hand. But it can be done.

So after several months of delays I have finally installed my rear struts in my Lexus ES300. What a pain it was. You have to remove the entire back interior to get to the strut top nuts to remove them. It basically works like this:
1) remove the sitting area of the back seat. This is easy just lift up the back seat. There are 2 simple arms that sit in a catch on the floor.
2) Remove the backs of the back seats. There are 2 bolts at each lower corner that hold the seats in place. Once these are removed you simply lift up the seats. You may have to get rough. There are hooks on the back that sit in catches. These have to come out to free the seat back.
3) Take off to interior side panels over the back doors. These are held in place by snap in screws just simply pull off the panels. Start from the top area over the door and work your way back to the area over the back shelf.
4) remove the back 3rd brake light. It is simply held in by some simple hooks. Just grab it and pull it back and disconnect the light.
5) Remove the back shelf with the speakers. This item is cheap and I heard lots of old crappy particle board breaking as I moved it. I think the best advice would be to remove the seat belts at this point but I was too lazy. I just undid 6 black plastic screws that are running along the side of the shelf. 2 are under the seatbelts. Then I slide the shelf down still attached to the seat belts so I could get it out of the way and access the rear strut top screws. This whole process took about 15 minutes.

Now you are outside.  You have to jack up the car in back, but make sure you loosen the lugs first so they are easy to remove once the car is on jacks. Remove the rear tires and there are 4 areas you have to deal with. There are 2 lines that attach to the strut. They must be unscrewed. I believe they use a 10 and 12mm socket. There is also a nut attached to the suspension that has an odd hex head in the base of the nut. You will need to use a crescent wrench and an allen wrench to hold this nut in place while you undo it. It was rusted some in my case and was very  challenging.
The most challenging part is the strut lower bolts. These are 19mm bolts and I highly recommend a 1/2″ socket to remove them. They are very tightly screwed onto the strut. Make sure you attack from the nut side, not the bolt side. Otherwise you won’t be able to loosen then. I blew 2 -3/8″ extensions going for the bolt side before I purchased a 1/2″ extension and went after the nut side. Once the this is done you need to remove the 3- 12mm  nuts inside the car holding the strut in place. These are fairly easy to do. The strut is difficult to wiggle out from under the car, but it will come.

I decided to keep the spring and head. You may want to do that depending on your situation. If you have a completely new strut all you need to do is install it. This part goes fairly quickly. It took me about 2 hours to get out the struts, but less than half that to get them back in. You waste a lot of time breaking rust and finding your sockets. This is definitely a project for someone comfortable working on cars. I don’t recommend it for people who are novices. It is complex.
Make sure you have a good set of metric sockets and a 1/2″ rachett and sockets to undo the struts.

Update: After having driven the car for a few weeks I would recommend changing the entire strut. The springs which don’t particularly look worn, apparently are and are squeaky too. I am not thrilled with the sound the car makes going over potholes. If I had it to do again I would definitely recommend a full replacement.

My son has been taking the Actor’s Studio class at the DCT for 2 weeks this Summer. He is finishing up his second week this week and came home with some disturbing news. Apparently a “Teacher” named Anthony ( who is apparently the owner’s son)  blew his top over my son’s tennis shoes and his lack of interest in putting them on, as well as his smart remarks ( something about shoes being a conspiracy). My son is hard headed, no doubt, and you have to hold a line with him, but a teacher screaming “put on your shoes, now” at the top of his lungs is way over the top.  This so called “Teacher” yelled so loud that Teachers from other rooms came rushing in to see what had happened. Anthony was pulled out into the hall and then came back in to apologize for yelling at my son. My son apologized to him for being a smart aleck.

I, of all people know how difficult my son is, but losing your top over bare feet is ridiculous. To make matters more disconcerting, Anthony apparently teaches the younger kids. I can only imagine what he must do when they won’t sit down or any other misbehavior. My son appears to be fine about the issue. Which is good, but I am concerned for other kids who next get this small, angry man’s rants directed at them for little more than not reacting quick enough.

I was at the FOE Eagle Yesterday and got into a heated conversation with a guy about the bogusness of global warming. I have had this conversation three times in the past month. My republican friends are wearing blinders and love to spew “factual” data about how global warming is not happening and the earth is just going through a phase that is perfectly normal. They seem to all get their data from Rush because I keep hearing the same bullshit. Yesterday I heard that while the Northern hemisphere is losing ice, the Antartic is gaining some. I thought that was not accurate so I decided to dig. According to NASA, which tracks this stuff with a satellite, the Antartic has lost .68 meters of ice thickness over 4 years. More significantly the older ice that usually does not melt has dropped 42% over the same 4 years. Between Greenland and the Antartic 77% of the Earth’s fresh water are frozen around them. If they continue to melt at this rate we will have some sigmnificant problems in the next 50 years. So either I can’t read or someone tried to snow job me with BS. What I don’t understand is why everyone thinks this is a party line issue. If I’m wrong then nothing happens and I eat crow, which is fine. But if I’m right then we are in for some major problems, and everyone eats well done crow.