Back Home Again

I got back to Key West a week ago today after traveling for six weeks with our grandson, Cameron (Chasse). It was a Grand Tour of Europe in a tradition that goes back to the 1600's and was considered to be an education rite of passage for young men in a gap year following completion of a course of education.

It's good to be back home again.  The weather in Europe towards the end of our journey was trending to winter, requiring jackets when outside most of the time. And, frankly, travel can be tiring, especially when carrying heavy luggage and making use of public transportation and airlines to get around.

There are now some weighty matters that I must deal with.  I'll be focusing on those in the weeks to come.  I told Cameron when we parted in New Hampshire last week that we had the same task ahead; to figure out what we'll do with the rest of our lives.  He's 19 now and has his life ahead of him.  I'll be 70 next month, so the things I might do are quite different from the things he might do.  Yet, it's basically the same thing.

He's going to work in Alta, Utah this winter at a ski resort there managed by a friend's uncle.  It's a job that he's well-suited for, operating ski lifts, as he's a pretty accomplished skier and an even better snowboarder.  The job includes room and board and a not-too-shabby hourly rate of pay.

I've been looking at the papers here and I can see that it's shaping up to be another interesting "season" at the theaters, music venues and other places for entertainment, amusement and diversion.  I wrapped up our property management gig before leaving for Europe so I'm optimistic that there'll be time now to take advantage of those things, to read (and hopefully to write) more, and to amuse myself in various other ways.

Meanwhile, if you feel like sitting through slide shows of some of our photos from the trip, go here and here on Facebook.

Staying online while moving about

Despite some difficulty in getting internet access reliably (we're at Isaacs Hostel in Dublin right now using their wireless, I'm managing to keep up with what's going on back "home" in Key West. I've downloaded the Key West Citizen for Thursday through Sunday, keeping up on the news about the Acevedos, Hendrick, etc.

I've already voted in the upcoming municipal elections. They'll probably be over by the time I return unless one or more races require a runoff.

The state of wireless internet in Ireland, as far as we've found, isn't as advanced as I expected it would be. Where we've been able to find it, it's adequate but hot spots are few and far between and it's almost all passworded. I think that the days of open hotspots is pretty much gone, lost to the abuse of those who would take advantage of a good thing.

An internet shop operator here in Dublin told me of people sitting on the sidewalk outside of his shop at all hours sucking up free wi-fi, then complaining loudly when he shut it off.

We'll see if it's any better in Europe soon.

Some time away from Key West

As announced elsewhere, our grandson Cameron and myself are on tour in the British Isles and Europe until October 20. We're blogging our adventure at Cam's blog with me as guest contributor.

We're in Dublin just now, preparing to board a bus to London (via overnight ferry).

Follow along there. As time permits, I'll continue to write about Key West here, maybe draw some comparisons along the way.

Cam and Bob's Excellent Adventure

The days dwindled down and now there are just five days before Cameron and I will be on our way to Ireland to begin our own excellent adventure. Arrangements have been made. Bags are being packed. We'll spend three days in New Hampshire tying loose ends, then we board Aer Lingus in Boston on the 9th for the 'overnight' flight to Dublin.

Europe Tour 2009

My weekdays are for working on things that have to get done; weekends, like the one just past, is for doing things I want to do, like write something at my blog so my "followers", all 14 of you, and other visitors (395 so far this month) will know we're still here in Key West and don't intend to leave any time soon, at least not for good. There is a rumour abroad that we are leaving here to go north. Not so, not so.

I used to get a lot more traffic here, but my posting frequency dropped way off when we began our 2-1/2 year property management gig and opened the gallery on Caroline St. Now that both of those are finished, I've turned my attention to my work with the BCCLT, and making ready for a five-week trip to Europe and the British Isles with our grandson, Cameron.

Cam is 18 and just graduated from Spaulding High School in Dover, NH where he lives and grew up. Like me back in 1957, he isn't sure what he wants to do now. He hasn't applied for any college. He's visited a recruiter to look into opportunities in the military. We planned this European Grand Tour a couple of years ago for the summer after his graduation. He was last in Europe, Belgium, when he was four years old, has studied and done well in French in grammar and high school, and has an interest in the history of Europe, America and the intersection of the two. We'll visit: Ireland, England, France, the Low countries, Monaco, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland. It was planned as a 30-day Eurail tour, but now it looks like we'll rent a car in France and return it there.

For me it's mostly a retro tour. Janet and I did it together in 1997. We spent 4-1/2 months in Ireland and a month traveling in Europe. We traveled mostly by bus and train, did some hiking here and there, hitchhiked a little, and rented a car to drive the Cote d'Azur from Hyeres to Monaco. Cam wants to see what we saw, and he has places on his list that I've never been to: Normandy, Versailles, Prague, Switzerland, and others.

We have our plane tickets and now we're looking for a good car rental deal, hopefully in Calais. We're both going to be packing MacBooks, so we ought to be able to chronicle the trip for our friends back home.

We leave from Boston on September 9; return there on October 20.

A Mayoral Exchange

Russian oil rigs just 45 miles from Florida?


Let's do a swap: Morgan McPherson for Juan Contino Aslán. Give them until October 7 to come up with a plan.

In searching for the Mayor of Havana, I found the website CityMayors.com where Mayors from around the world are identified and profiled. Key West isn't listed, but could be if enough people go there and enter the Key West Mayor in the section called Mayor Monitor. I did.

Medical Information Technology

I went with Janet on Friday morning to see yet another physician, this one an ENT specialist (otolaryngologist) to have her hearing evaluated and to discover whether there's anything in that region of her body contributing to vertigo, a generalized lack of balance, and stuffiness and congestion.

The doctor, female and an osteopathic physician, saw her about 25 minutes after the scheduled 11:00 o'clock appointment time. To be fair, we arrived early knowing that we'd be faced with filling out a bunch of new information forms, something that is repeated each time you make contact with a new medical advisor. We were probably scheduled early to give us to time to fill out the forms. The office wasn't very busy. We only saw two other possible patients in the time we were there.

If you walked in and looked around, there'd be very little to tell that you were in an ENT practice. Almost all of the advertising materials on display had to do with cosmetic things, Botox, facial treatments, and plastic surgery. There was one rack that held a 4-page fold-out brochure from the American Academy of Otolaryngology. I grabbed a copy and its lying here somewhere, strewn among the things I'm trying to sort through following our move to Elizabeth St.

The point is, it got me thinking again about that whole process of grabbing a clipboard from the receptionist and filling out the forms for insurance, medical history, complaints, prescriptions, and anything else the doc decides is pertinent, and of course the obligatory and all-important insurance information. Oh, I already said that? OK. Over 20 years ago I worked on a research project for Honeywell centered on an optical storage card that was touted as a solution to a variety of needs in medicine, banking, business and you-name-it. It was a time before the internet, 'flash' drives, and PDA's, and even before the ascendency of insurance companies as controllers of medicine.

I'm trying to understand what the barriers might be to a universal patient health information system might be. It isn't technology; today's technology can easily accommodate such a system. It might have to do with a lack of standards; Doctor A and Doctor B could have different things they need to know about a patient's medical history. I suspect that patient privacy could be a significant barrier for some patients. Does my otolaryngologist (say) need to know my gynecological condition? (Not that I'm likely to have one, being male and all.)

I get my medical care from the Veterans Administration, as I've mentioned here before. The VA has a sophisticated on-line Patient Information Record system. My VA doctor can quickly pull up my information and see the results of all of my routine visits, lab results over time, all special diagnostics such as X-ray, MRI, and X-scopies, and all my prescriptions. If I happen to be away from Key West and am close to another VA facility and need to see a doctor, I'm pretty sure that he or she could pull up that same record and consult it.

I'm pretty sure that there are some entrepreneurial companies working on such systems. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing billions of dollars to foster the development of health information technology. If the controllers of that $800 Bn fund can figure out how to get it out there without the scammers getting hold of it, we ought see some pretty significant advances made over the next 2-3 years. Like this. I hope they do it -- soon.

Bar Stroll in Red, White and Blue

announcing the inaugural, "4th of July KEY WEST Benefit Blast"

A Bar Stroll in Red, White, and Blue! To benefit the Forgotten Soldiers Outreach

July 4th Key West Benefit Blast
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 26, 2009 – 4th of July Key West Benefit Blast. A Bar Stroll in Red, White, and Blue!
Rick Dostal announces the inaugural, "4th of July Benefit Blast" along the Historic Key West Boardwalk, to benefit our military service members serving worldwide.

DETAILS

Key West Kermit's Key Lime Pie

Kermit is a familiar figure at the corner of Greene and Elizabeth streets, dressed in his chef uniform and holding up one his famous key lime pies for the tourists passing by on the Old Town Trolley. The video shows how you can make a key lime pie at home. Or 24 of them.

Cars of Key West

I went on the air at KONK AM with Jim Thomsen, on the program Spirit Talk. When I tuned in it was with the expectation that I'd be listening to Rev. Randy Becker from the UU church. Randy is traveling and Jim -- who I knew from our days at the Seekers Forum that met, and maybe still meets, at the church -- Jim was filling in for him.

Jim has a web site, Smiling Cloud, on which I found this great collection of pictures of Key West vehicles. Several are the works of Captain Outrageous.

See here.

Barefoot Bob

Barefoot Bob is dead. Robert Salamone, originally from Chelmsford, MA, a hop, skip and jump away from Tyngsboro, MA where I spent my high school years, passed on on June 22 in Key West. Robert -- Bob -- operated the bar known as Barefoot Bob's during the 1990s. If I have it right, the club was first at the Duval St. location of today's Willy T's. And I remember going just once to Barefoot Bob's on Telegraph Lane. It was a Deadhead hangout then, a dark place with black and strobe lights, walls painted in psychedelic scenes and colors, and a booming sound system playing stoner tunes.

I didn't know the gentleman, though I knew of him. You can't say that you know anyone from what is written in his or her obituary, but his reflected a caring person to me, someone in the business he was because he liked people, liked being around people having fun.

I kinda wish I had come to know him.

The rain in Spain ......

Heavy weather coming in from the north, but a strange force field seems to be keeping the island here in the dry.

We're in that circle in the center. Can't last much longer.

Bank Safety

What should a depositor DO on finding out that their bank was just dropped to zero star rating by Bauer Financial? The answer to that is, "it depends". Mainly it depends on how much money you have in the bank and what kind of account it is. And what does 'zero star' mean, anyway?

Bauer puts it this way:

All banks are subject to federal regulatory capital requirements, but those requirements vary among institutions and are dependent on many factors. In general, institutions are required to maintain a tangible capital ratio of at least 4%, a tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 4% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 8%.

In addition to the capital ratio, other criteria are used to determine Bauer Financial's Star Rating. Some of these include but are not limited to: profitability/loss trend, evaluating the level of delinquent loans and repossessed assets, the market versus book value of the investment portfolio, regulatory supervisory agreements, the community reinvestment rating (CRA), and liquidity. Potential losses on available-for-sale securities, delinquent loans and repossessed assets are forecasted in assigning our star rating. De Novo banks generally can not qualify for a 5-star rating for at least two years.

I worked on a project a few months ago that made it important for me to evaluate certain banking choices made by a client and recommend whether he should take any action based on the stability of one bank or another. Key West is a bank-rich town, out of proportion to its population. There are national (e.g., BankAmerica and Wachovia (Wells Fargo) and regional (TIB, Centennial, Orion, BB&T) banks headquartered elsewhere and a couple of local banks and three local Credit Unions.

The client moved some cash around to balance things out, but felt secure in retaining a relationship with all of the banks that he does business with. His decision was based in part on the FDIC protections in place that allow a failed bank to reopen immediately, on the next normal business day, with no losses and no delays in getting access to funds. 60 Minutes did a segment on the process of seizing banks and reopening them a few weeks ago. The process inspires confidence that the FDIC knows how to at least one thing well -- closing the barn door after the cow got away. His decision was also based on a desire not to punish any bank doing its best to regain its footing.

Not everyone knows that the FDIC increased the amount of insurance on deposits in interest-bearing accounts at FDIC-insured banks, raising the coverage from $100,000 to $250,000 for each individual account. Fewer people know that non-interest-bearing deposits are insured to an unlimited amount. Both of these actions are temporary, the action taken as part of the economic recovery program. Uninsured account coverage is scheduled to end in December 2009 unless Congress extends the duration. The increased coverage on interest-bearing account was recently extended until June 2013.

We keep our own money in the Keys Federal Credit Union, and have since coming here in 1999. KFCU went through a rough patch of management turmoil a couple of years ago, but they're back to being a smooth-running machine since. I haven't been able to find any ratings of this credit union [which is, I guess, a little odd], but the NCUA (same as the FDIC but for credit unions) guarantee is really all we need for our modest holdings.

Kokomo Redux

Here's a follow-up to my recent Kokomo post:

Public Trust

For months now the Monroe County School District has been embroiled in controversy over who ought to be punished for mis-, non- and malfeasance that led to the theft of several hundred thousand dollars of public and private (kids) money, the arrest of the wife of the Superintendent of Schools, and then the Superintendent himself.

One way that it's all playing out is on the pages of the Key West Citizen web site. John Guerra, the Citizen reporter who is doggedly chronicling the scandal in almost daily revelations of newly-uncovered information is sure to earn multiple journalism awards for himself and the newspaper. But there's another dimension to the story. It's in the Citizen's recently added feature that allows readers to comment on news articles and editorials directly after the article is posted on-line. Each new revelation is thoroughly sliced and diced by readers of the article, who then are themselves sliced and diced by readers of the comments, and so on and so on. It makes for lively reading, some of it, and it can get pretty heated at times.

Below is a small sampling of the "conversations" that take place. This one appears to be between an anonymous reader and the Chairman of the Monroe County School Board, though there's no way to be certain of it is indeed him.

The Key West Citizen has a link on their front page (on the web) that gathers together virtually all of their coverage. It's a Key West story, right up there with Bum Farto, and the Bubba bust of the 1980s.

Board Attorney as a conduit
Submitted on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 11:24am
Mr Griffiths [Andy Griffith, chair of the Monroe County School Board] is well versed in the law and he is not reckless or reactionary. The board attorney cannot be used as a conduit and Mr. Griffiths did not attempt to contact the regular board attorney for such a purpose. This fact was incorrectly reported. The board is currently using a law firm in Tampa and that attorney is advising the board members individully as well as collectively.

Submitted on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 8:01am
Sounds like I got an attorney's response! I'm thrilled to know the Tampa attorney isn't acting as a conduit between board members individually OR collectively!

Submitted on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 11:18am
Thanks for the compliment.

Submitted on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 12:41pm
Andy that was a great answer, but we are all watching to see how you react to the changes Randy [Randy Acevedo, suspended Superintendent of Schools] planned before he left. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, you like to hide behind "POLICY", but we all know the school board has more control then that. As a matter of fact, everyone knows what you said about Pedro Fraga: "If he is in the budget, the whole budget will be voted down." Remember that! Do the right thing, way too many eyes watching!

Submitted on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 11:31am
I deal in reality. I try to deal in facts rather than emotional opinion. I do not like to speculate. How does one "hide" behind the law? Policy is the law. Some of us respect it. The school board's power is in policy and they collectively can change those policies. The budget is a significant policy. I hope to avoid a split vote on this budget. I will do what I think is right regardless of who or how many are watching.

Submitted on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 1:17pm
If policy is the law, does the MCSD have a nepotism policy (appears we don't)? Does the MCSD have a policy which allows people (Ordinary people)to apply for jobs before others are just appointed to positions (appears we don't)? Does the MCSD have a policy to protect those who report criminal activity (appears we don't)? And, finally are you going to stand behind those of us who report additional fraud or are you going to allow those who committed fraud to remove the rest of us (we will see I guess at the next school board meeting)? I am not sure if you are aware (I know you are, but I am giving you the benefit of the doubt), but there are still A LOT of bodies out there (I know you need facts, but they are there right under your nose), but when you see people like Cheryl Allen and John Welsh being removed from their positions (and no one has told them they still have a job), it kind of scares the rest of us. We (union, SRP, non union, general public) are closely watching how the board (Andy, Debra and Duncan) handles Cheryl and John and then we will know how the rest of us will proceed. Open you eyes to that, and I don't give three craps if it is on TV or not! Do the right thing and if you could say what you said about Pedro why couldn't you say the same for Ms. Booker and other who's job are not as important as school level teachers and administrators. You got your $$$ for the rest of your life and your kids lives, I don't, and I need my job to feed my kids. Finally, finally, not everything the school board does is on tv, but we know the deals which are being cut behind the doors.

I'm reminded of Mick Barnes' essay from a few years ago on how to get Great Government.