Roger O Green

A Cornucopia of Stuff

The good news here is that after six weeks of having her teeth wired shut, my wife Carol can now open her mouth. This doesn’t mean she can have steak, but she can have soft foods such as scrambled eggs. After a month and a half of not using one’s jaw, one must relearn to use it.
One problem is that she cannot yet open her mouth sufficiently to use her toothbrush, something she was REALLY looking forward to. Fortunately, her clever husband, quite possibly inspired by this workshop, suggested that Carol use a smaller toothbrush, and as it turned out, we had a couple replacement brushes for Lydia that Carol could use.
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One of my sisters works for Wachovia bank – well, she did until there WAS no Wachovia. Like just about everyone dealing with a bank, she didn’t originally work for the former giant, but rather First Union out of Charlotte, NC, where my mother also used to work. But First Union got taken over up by Wachovia and now Wachovia is owned by Citicorp. It reminds me of fish in the food chain being swallowing up ever larger creatures. In any case, she still has a job, for now.
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While my retiring Democratic Congressman, Mike McNulty , voted for the bailout, the frosh Congresswoman from the area, Kirsten Gillibrand , voted no. So did Maurice Hinchey, a liberal Dem from my old district, whose state Assembly campaign I supported in 1974. And of course, Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who’s been marginalized a lot this year, but is often correct. Someone sent me this alternative proposal; we’ll see if THAT passes.
Seriously, they’ll be some sort of deal soon, if only because there is no credit available for businesses large or small.
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The Veep debate is tonight, and it ought to generate real interest, mostly to see if Sarah Palin will self-destruct. Based on her performances in the Alaska gubernatorial debates, excerpts of which can be found here, she may fare better than most people think. On the other hand, check out this link. After the 50 seconds of the Today show description of Tina Fey channeling Palin, you will watch a side-by-side comparison of Palin and Fey. As SamuraiFrog asked: “You know what the difference is between Tina Fey and a pit bull with lipstick? Tina Fey didn’t have to keep looking down at her notes.”
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Bill Moyers’ interview with Andrew J. Bacevich on his book “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism”, which is “one in a series called the ‘American Empire Project.’ Several noted scholars and writers are examine American aspirations at home and abroad, looking for ways to foster democracy without succumbing to imperial ambitions.”
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Because you need to know: an Internet Memes timeline.
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That’s all I’ve got, but I’d be curious to get your reaction to my piece Is getting people interested in politics REALLY a good idea?

ROG

My baseball postseason rooting interest

With the Mets eliminated, I still need to come up with a priority list of teams to root for:

1. Chicago Cubs (NL) – last won the World Series in 1908, so a win this year would be especially sweet.
2. Tampa Bay Rays (AL) – getting the Devil out of their name helped therm fend off the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
3. Philadelphia Phillies (NL) – I know personally the brother of the Phillies’ Hall of Fame announcer.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (NL) – based entirely on one person – manager Joe Torre, who got out of the new Bronx Zoo just in time.
5. Milwaukee Brewers (NL) – yes, they took the Mets’ slot but that was really the NY tram’s fault. Anyway, they haven’t been in the postseason in over two decades, when they were in another league (AL).
6. Los Angeles Angels (AL) – don’t see them very often.
7. Chicago White Sox – knocked my father-in-law’s team, the Minnesota Twins, out of the playoff AND got off the WS schneide this century
8. Boston Red Sox (AL) – Boston, with its success in the NFL and NBA, not to mention MLB, needs to be taken down a peg. Or two. Or six.

You’ll note I’m leaning heavily National League. The AL has won TOO often.
ROG

ABC Wednesday: K is for Keating Five

One of the things that happens in my life is that after a while, the details get fuzzy. So, in light of the current Presidential campaign AND the current fiscal crisis, I wanted to find out just what did happen with John McCain and the Keating Five.

While one conservative commentator wrote recently that he was exonerated, this writer says that McCain was the “most reprehensible of the Keating Five”. Looking at this article from the Arizona Republic, part of a lengthy series on the senator, I’ve concluded that neither POV is accurate.

While it is true that by 1987, McCain had received about $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates, McCain was hesitant about intervening on Keating’s behalf in the dealings with the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Indeed, McCain had previously refused his colleague, Democratic senator Dennis DeConcini’s request to meet with the Lincoln auditors themselves. In his book Worth the Fighting For, McCain wrote that he remained “a little troubled” at the prospect, “but since the chairman of the bank board didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea, maybe a discussion with the regulators wouldn’t be as problematic as I had earlier thought.”

The reprieve did not help Keating’s businesses, but tainted senators as “The Keating Five”, which became “synonymous for the kind of political influence that money can buy. As the S&L failure deepened, the sheer magnitude of the losses hit the press. Billions of dollars had been squandered. The five senators were linked as the gang who shilled for an S&L bandit.

“S&L ‘trading cards’ came out. The Keating Five card showed Charles Keating holding up his hand, with a senator’s head adorning each finger. McCain was on Keating’s pinkie…”

McCain, however, made a “critical error” when he “had adopted the blanket defense that Keating was a [mere] constituent and that he had every right to ask his senators for help.” But on “Oct. 8, 1989, The Arizona Republic revealed that McCain’s wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.”

The paper also reported that the McCains, sometimes accompanied by their daughter and baby-sitter, had made at least nine trips at Keating’s expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating’s opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay.

McCain also did not pay Keating for some of the trips until years after they were taken, after he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. Total cost: $13,433.

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself.

“You’re a liar,” McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating.

“That’s the spouse’s involvement, you idiot,” McCain said later in the same conversation. “You do understand English, don’t you?”

He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife’s ties to Keating.

“It’s up to you to find that out, kids.”

The paper ran the story.

In his 2002 book, McCain confesses to “ridiculously immature behavior” during that particular interview and adds that The Republic reporters’ “persistence in questioning me about the matter provoked me to rage.”

In the end, McCain received only a mild rebuke from the Ethics Committee for exercising “poor judgment” for intervening with the federal regulators on behalf of Keating. Still, he felt tarred by the affair.

“The appearance of it was wrong,” McCain said. “It’s a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do.”

So, it appears that while McCain was the most minor of players in the Keating Five, his legendary temper fueled his own difficulties.
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Last week, I discovered a website, ABC Wednesday, where every week, one submits a post based on a particular letter of the alphabet. I’ve already picked out my posts for L, M, N, O and Q, and they are far less political than this first contribution.
ROG

Something about the Second City

When I went to Chicago a couple weeks ago, it was for the first time. I don’t count being at O’Hare or Midway Airports “being in Chicago”.

On Tuesday, September 2, my colleague Amelia and I got a ride to the airport with the library director, Darrin. I think he was going to miss us; moreover, he’ll miss the fact that we won’t going to be doing library reference all week, and with one librarian on vacation that day, and another out sick, our departure left him bereft of his entire staff for the rest of that day.

This is the first time I had flown since the airlines – in this case, United – started charging for luggage. I suppose I could have gotten a couple smaller bags to squeeze on the plane, but I think it just clutters the overhead compartments. The guy checking in in front of me, coincidentally, was named Roger. Waiting for the plane, I see my friend Philip from church and my colleague from Kingston Arnaldo walking together, or so it seemed. Philip was returning from Kentucky while Arnaldo was taking our flight; they just happened to be proximate to each other.

The flight itself was relatively uneventful, though there was a baby on board that was crying. I’d never taken Lydia on a flight, not because of her possible discomfort but because of the possible annoyance it might have on other passengers. Interestingly, the crying child didn’t particular bother me, as it probably would have, say six years ago, as I just wanted to comfort him or her. (I didn’t actually SEE the baby; it was only an audible experience.

Someone else’s subsequent flight, though, would be affected. A passport was found on the floor immediately behind me. Afraid I might have dropped mine, I started to claim it, only to notice that her photo didn’t look anything like me. She had been on the previous flight. I hope she didn’t need it for where she was going that day.

One of those odd things is that many areas around airports look kinda sorta alike. Arnaldo, Amelia and I took a cab to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency, but as we departed, I’m saying, I want some CHICAGO architecture. Soon enough, I see some housing stock that have a particular look. Then, finally, the Chicago skyline.

After we check in, Amelia and I go out for pizza with our colleague Mary. We end up going up storied Michigan Avenue several blocks before turning, on Superior, I believe, to go to Gino’s East, where we have a spinach and cheese deep dish pizza. We should have gotten a small pie, for we had more than we could consume in a medium. Failing that, we should have taken the remainder to go, for on the return walk, we came across a number of people with signs indicating that they were hungry.

The other notable feature of this walk is that we saw a number of buskers. I’m used to seeing the sax player or violinist playing for change, which I saw. But we also came upon, not one but TWO drummers, with full gear, right across the street from each other.

Wednesday, Amelia and I went to the conference room to prepare for our presentation. The guy in the room before us was named Roger, the only other Roger presenting at the conference – I checked – and I thought that was pretty weird. Amelia and I did our presentation on Blogging for Your SBDC, which went well. I did most of the blogging stuff, and she talked mostly about RSS feeds, Twitter and other “Web 2.0” technologies. After lunch, I attended a couple workshops.

Then I decided to tackle Chicago mass transit to get to the Cubs-Astros game. I went up to the brown line rather than going down to the red line, but eventually met up with Gordon. This has already been described here and here.

Thursday, it rained all day. Went to four sessions, about which I’ll describe eventually on my work blog and link here, broken up by the luncheon. That evening, I got into a three-hour conversation with Jim Poole of J.J. Hill Libraries about politics (May 1972 was a pivotal month for both of us; he was for Hillary in 2008; and lots more.)

Friday, I was up early so I took a walk down by the river. I love how this city is at times in several levels, particularly around Wacker Street. I also appreciated how the city provides access to the river, unlike what happened to Albany, where the highway cut off access to the Hudson, although some attempts have been made to lessen the damage. Went to a couple sessions and later got access to a computer so I could print out my boarding pass for the return flight.

For lunch, I was wandering about when I came across the headquarters for the
Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago. The museum itself museum was seven blocks away, but there was a charming restaurant within the HQ building called the Backstage Bistro where one could look in to see them preparing the food. the drink of the day, the BackStage Pass, was cranberry juice, orange juice and Sprite. I’d made that myself, but using ginger ale; does this means I could be a restauranteur?

That evening was the awards banquet. In the tradition of the event, every time the photo of New York’s star performer, Myriam Bouchard, came up, the dozen of us yelled wildly.

Saturday morning, Mary, Amelia and I went to the airport. It occurred to me that I probably could have taken public transportation if necessary, but I wasn’t that bold. The flight back was fine until we got to about Buffalo, when the turbulence caused by Tropic Storm Hanna gave me a wretched earache. My mother-in-law, my wife and my daughter picked me up, and while I had a great time, I was glad to be home.

ROG

Roger Green Answers the Proust Questionnnaire

I was listening to a HubSpot free webinar about Blogging for Business, and one of the examples was this. Andrew McAfee is “a professor at Harvard Business school, a top blogger, and the coiner of the term Enterprise 2.0 which is used to describe the application of web2.0 technology (i.e. blogs, wikis, social media, etc) in the business world.”

Device you would never give up?

My DVR. I watch television when I want, without actually having to watch commercials, in whatever order I want. With the VCR, I had to find a particular program. I also like recording two shows while watching a third, and pausing live TV. Since I’m sharing it with two others, this is an important consideration.
I’m also very fond of Caller ID. Yes, I screen my calls, often letting unfamiliar numbers go to the answering machine.

Your Favorite Software Application?

iTunes, because I don’t have to do as much work in accessing podcasts I listen to. The music stuff’s OK too, but not my primary usage.

Blog you read most frequently?

Probably News from ME by Mark Evanier, if only because he posts often, is only mildly left of center, and finds whack videos , many of which I actually remember.

Social Media Tool you actually use?

LinkedIn. Probably not as often as I should, but I’ve written up a positive review or two and people have reciprocated.

Favorite Business Book(s)?

As a business librarian, I suppose I ought to have one, but most of what we do isn’t business philosophy, it’s finding facts. I do recall enjoying Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg.

Favorite Newspaper(s)?

The Wall Street Journal. Aside from its pretty rabidly right editorial pages – no worse under Rupert Murdock than the previous owners – it gives me useful trend information that our clients can use.

Person that inspires you?

I think I’m a big fan of those amazingly creative people like Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson. McAfee picked Jefferson, among others, calling him “another flawed polymath and humanist”.

Who Was Your Best Manager? Why?

At the risk of embarrassing her, my former library boss, Mary Hoffman. She let me know what was expected and mostly left me alone. She was also someone who let me test her, a reaction to her evil predecessor, and her listening to what my issues about that other person were.

Your first “real” job?

I delivered the Binghamton (NY) Press, six evenings plus Sunday morning, for a couple years. I was good at delivering the paper, not so good at dealing with collecting money and I got stiffed more than a few times. But the good customers were generous with their tips. I inherited that job from Walter Jones, my parents’ godson and the grandson of my godparents. I also inherited my library page job from him a few years later.

Where Do You Do Your Best Thinking?

Washing dishes, taking a shower, almost anywhere that doesn’t require thinking, ironically.

What Do You Most Value In Employees/Colleagues?

Varied intelligences, a sense of fair play, a desire to share.

What I’d like To Be The World’s Best At?

It used to be lawyer or baseball player or pastor, but I was never good enough. Librarian, I suppose, however one measure that.
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My condolences to friend Fred Hembeck on the demise of another Mets season; I managed to see parts of that last game. What kind of karmic forces are at work where neither NYC team gets into the playoffs the year their stadia are being torn down and replaced?
ROG

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