May, the lovely month

Spring is brilliant, the light clearly bouncing from roses , hydrangeas, irises. The air soft and warm by day and coolly brisk at night.
I will go
To my first Bees ( triple-A baseball) game of this season with Radha tonight.
Last night Nat and I enjoyed Ira Glass' simulcast at the "16" on 33 S. Wednesday the Utah Opera. Last week I volunteered at a fundraiser for KUER Public Radio.

Spring in Salt Lake City. Spring in Las Vegas. Check out my pictures of the Gehry designed Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas. The street view is of a slumping lattice of windows and stainless walls, like a melting exterior, a metaphor of the mind in dissolution and disease. I found it joyous and remarkable in it's bending of all the architectural banality we suffer.
We swung over to get a bettter look at the Ruvo clinic after a couple of hours of shopping at the outlet mall accross the street, in a neighborhood close to Las Vegas' downtown. I left Natalie with her iPhone and sudoku and entered through the ordinary-looking north side that contains offices and clinics. The South side with the crumpled stainless skin is a big meeting room separated by an airy courtyard with cafe tables and a matrix of supporting structures for the waving walls above.
Ruvo, a beverage distributor, donated over 100 mill to construct this center for those suffering from Alzheimers and other brain diseases, in memory of his father, who was so afflicted.
Our trip included a grueling visit to the Grand Canyon, a first for Natalie and me. Ten hours bus time to be at the GC for an hour-and-a-half. Still worth it (just). And we had q time at Trader Joes,
There was a pleasant time with cousins Wally and John/Larry and their wives Helen and Maureen. Natalie's first time seeing Wally and H. Considerable attention was paid to the NBA playoffs. We also had a visit with some friends in Mesquite at their lovely home: Big and beautiful.

Hello my friends

Salt Lake City in the late winter: brilliant sunshine, lightning snow storms, long long views. Ahh. The cordiality is contagious, the legislature ridiculous: the imagination fails to guess what kooks with no reins can cook up. Munich 1932? Could be.

Fabric sculpture by Naomi Marine, Fitch Gallery during Gallery Stroll, Salt Lake City. Wedding photo, SLC main library, home of the homeless, Architectural design by Safdie

Entrada Final

La Entrada Final de Spanish 1020.

¿Es termine? ¡No me diga! Hasta que el agosto pasado, he estudiado el español. La primera vez que traté a aprender esto lengua fue 1966, durante un viaje para México en coche. Aprendé poco, unas frases útiles, no más.

Dos o tres vez yo lo traté aprender, compré unos libros, y estudiaba español dos o tres meses; pero al final yo dejé leyendo. He tratado CDs, como Pimsler, para practicar hablando. Me alegro de estudie español en la universidad. Ahora puedo decir que hice que 9 meses que he leído, hablado, y escrito español. Siento gratitud al profesor y todas las gentes que han preparado los materiales educacionales.

Esto curso fue hibrido. Dos días de estudia fue para la computadora, y dos días el clase se encontró en OSH. La duración de la clase fue solo cincuenta minutos. Muchas cosas pasaba muy rápidamente cada día. Nos hablábamos nuestros ejercicios, al mismo tiempo conocimos nuevos amigos. El profesor, Tim Canon, nos ensañamos sobre varios sujetos. Sin embargo, el trabajo de aprendizaje, como le dice muchas veces, fue nuestros. El enseñador debe ayudarnos.

Me alegro de encontrar que puedo leer mucho en español. Español es una lengua hermosa, histórica, y muy expresiva. He hecho amistades nuevos con trabajados hispanohablantes, después de estudié español. Ahora voy a tener más oportunidades a hablar con personas hispanohablantes. Estoy muy contento a pensar de las posibilidades. Estoy muy contento a ser estudiante en la Universidad de Utah.

El semestre próximo estudiará español 2010. Mis clases serán por la noche, y las serán por dos horas cada noche. Ojalá que me las disfrutará tan como las clases del año pasado.

Las vacaciones de primavera fueron bienvenidas. La educación no es trabajo, es un regalo de aprendizaje. Aunque tengo la gratitud por lo, me alegré a ir para las vacaciones en el marzo pasado. No las empezaron bien. Tuve que cambiar aceite en mi carro, y el mecánico me dijo que la Jetta estuve enfermo. Después se la reparó, fuimos a campo de las piedras rojas, y la ciudad donde lo que ocurre en Vegas quite en Vegas.

En principio, nos visitamos nuestra amiga, Susan. Ella y Natalie, mi esposa trabajábamos para los Olímpicos de 2002, cuando las fueron amigas. Susan está muy artístico. En su casa hay muchas cosas hermosas, en la estila de Suroeste. El barrio donde la vive esta muy interesante. Los edificios construyan bajo y moreno, en un campo muy dramático. Cada casa tiene vistas muy buenas. Hay un centro de artistas también, con estudias de pintura, cerámica y la escultura ferra. El nombre de esto barrio es Kayenta, circa Ivins, UT.

For my non-spanish speaking friends, this is about my trying to get out of town for spring vac, and finding that I needed expensive work on my diesel Jetta. Fortunately my mechanic found a less expensive fix, and we were able to get to Kayenta, but had to cut short our plans to visit Zion. We spent some inspiring time with our friend, Susan. We are thinking about spending more time down south in redrock country. We made a short trip to vegas, to see the "M" where I did my last electrical job, and ate in one of the restaurants where I worked on lighting. We also took a short tour of City Center (sometimes called City Cemetery due to the hard toll it took on construction workers), including time spent in the Chihuly gallery. We also got to see the stunning Henry Moore marble sculpture and the canoe construction, a sculpture that consists of tens of canoes in every orientation, like a cloud of glued seed husks in bright colors. We drove 1000 miles in four days, and hit a snowstorm in Cedar on the way back. Spring travel in the lovely state of Utah.

hello friends

I haven't been so busy since working for old local 806 in the Hudson Valley, in New York. College is a test, I guess. I took one too many courses this semester. Last semester was just right for me. I need to feel that I can invest adequate time to each class so that I get the most from my opportunity to learn. Getting good marks is ok, but it should only be a reflection of sufficient work, a sign that the student gathered, harvested, studied, inhaled, in the orchard of apples.

What a good time: reading Dante, Chaucer, Augustine, Aquinas, Marx, Locke, Burke, Mill, Cervantes, Erasmus. I can only say to my friends who are mature enough to appreciate what is in the great books: jump in (again). Not only is youth wasted on the youth, but college is too. I know it's unfair to say that, and it's untrue. But it is more true that older minds can gain more from the wise men (and women) of the canon than the young. Experience gives relief (as in sculpture), compassion, understanding, and wonder, at the great minds who've left us their thoughts. Besides, most of my college educated friends were like my young classmates, just getting their tickets stamped on the way to fulfilling someone else's expectations. Now is the time to savor what riches are there for us.