Monday Musings - March 21, 2011

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1. Welcome to the first full day of Spring! We have officially survived another winter and are now heading into the best parts of the year. Spring arrived at 7:21 pm EDT last evening. I couldn't get my egg to spin.

2. What an amazing weekend.  On Saturday at noon I was sitting in a baseball park in Florida getting sunburned in 81 degree full sunshine. On Sunday at noon I was strolling my yard in 51 degree temperatures bundled in a coat trying to stay warm hoping that the sun would shine stronger and longing to take the cover off my pool.

3. Saturday was an amazing day. I woke up in Sarasota, Florida, attended a baseball game, drove to an airport, flew two hours north to Baltimore, and was celebrating an early birthday with Patrick and his friends in a local pub before 10:30 PM. And it seemed normal.

4. Week one of daylight savings time is now complete. We should all have fully recovered by now.

5. Japan is still fighting nuclear disaster in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami--don't forget them.

6. Libya is a catastrophe. I'm glad the international community stepped in, but as we know from experience in Iraq, and the Balkans--it is a slippery slope that we are treading upon.

7. The wine that Chris and I helped create was released this weekend by the winery--sadly, we could not attend the release because I was in Florida--but we are headed to the winery next weekend to secure a few bottles.

8. Did you look at the moon this weekend? I did.

Where I am on the planet

The sign kinda says it all.

Here, they call it paradise--and I'm not going to challenge that thought one little bit.

Saturday At Noon

So what are you doing with your Saturday?

I'm in Sarasota at Spring Training enjoying my favorite sport. Live!!

Those are the Philadelphia Phillies doing batting practice.

The temperature on this March 19th approaching noon is already nearly 80 degrees. The sky is clear, the sun is hot, and there isn't a hint of snow anywhere.

Outside my Hotel

Last night as we got back to the hotel from the game and watching the NCAA Men's basketball tournament at a local and fairly empty sports bar, I parked the car under this tree.

You can see the mirror of the car in the lower right of the image.


Not going to find anything like this in Maryland in March.

This morning the sun is bright, the sky is clear and blue, and I am comfortable in a short sleeve short and shorts.

How far away is summer?

From my seat in the stadium

My first ever spring training baseball game. And I'm in my seat munching a sausage and pepper sandwich enjoying the ambiance.

Unfortunately, my glasses just broke. At least they lasted three weeks.

And I just found out that the seats we are sitting in used to be in Camden Yards. Way cool. But I'm glad we are getting new seats this year.

March, baseball, and 81 degrees--what could be better?  Nothing!

Birds Waiting for the Game

As I was walking the Sieta Key beach, I found some other Bird fans already in line waiting for the game this evening.

Since most of the spring training games are afternoon games, they were just a bit early.

Siesta Key beach

So what are you doing on your Friday afternoon?

I'm here with a couple thousand of my new best friends on the Siesta Key beach.

Baking in the sun.

The water temperature is a chilly 69 degrees though.

Out the Hotel Window in Sarasota

Awesome beautiful green morning. After the winter in Maryland, the green of Florida is refreshing. That is the thing Mike and I noticed as we drove from Tampa to Sarasota--the green.

The green-ness is everywhere and I was constantly asking myself the question: I don't live here full-time, why?

While the scene out the hotel is not much to look at, the blue sky and green grass more than makes up for it.

Spring training may become an annual event at this rate.

Out the airplane window

A beautiful clear day for flying. I'm amazed still when I think about working all morning and being in Sarasota, Florida by evening. Wow.

What a time we live in and we don't even appreciate the speed we can move and the places we can go with just a small bit of work.


I know it is a 18 or so hour trip by car. Think about riding a horse or in a wagon. Weeks.

And still I'm not moving fast enough it seems.

Accidents, Fear, and Knee Jerk Reactions

We knew it was going to happen again.

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and now in Japan--Fukushima.

Accidents where we learned of the inherent dangers of nuclear power and thought we could do better.  Each one has its own story and,  for many of us, remembering Three Mile Island and Chernobyl brings back the fears of the world as they were occurring.

An article in the Christian Science Monitor is already accusing the Japanese Government of lax oversight. Like that is going to make a difference right now.

Countries around the world are examining their nuclear power, which a good thing; but let's not condemn the entire system, yet.  We still need to learn more--but apparently the community has gotten complacent. But to turn off the nuclear plants does not make the problem go away.

We do not stop mining coal when mines collapse. We didn't stop drilling for oil in the wake of the BP sponsored oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Similarly, since shutting down the plants does not make the problem go away--we should not stop producing electricity using nuclear fuel. We need to devote more research to making the process safer and thinking about the "what ifs" that are out there when dealing with a natural disaster. I'm still amazed that no one thought about an earthquake followed by a tsunami and the need to have on site power to keep the pumps circulation coolant.  But that's just me looking in hindsight.

And while I'm at it--the finger pointing that the Christian Science Monitor is reporting doesn't help. There will be plenty of time for finger pointing later--and there will be a lot of it because I'm sure there is a lot of blame to go around.

Right now--let's not waste brainpower trying to determine blame--let's solve the problem at hand. Then point fingers and begin planning to correct deficiencies to preserve the future around the world.