invisible to others

At the workplace I'm often going to and fro for water, bathroom relief, and food among other things. It is rare that I don't pass a handful of people on the way. Two years ago when I relocated to a new office area I made the conscious decision not to say hello to anyone. I don't discriminate and just say hello to pretty women or friendly men. I ignore any stranger I come upon. I had been about a week in this location and did some nodding and some quick pleasantries and I found the experience to be frustrating and tiresome. There were just too many people, even if they were friendly. Besides, the majority have no interest in acknowledging others. Some read their phones, others stare straight ahead, and some do this glance and either make a pathetic attempt at a smile or do nothing. They may be lost in thought or just disregarding you. This is what I call "invisible to others". We all do it whether we realize it or not. If someone is poorly dressed, walks without confidence, or is unattractive for various reasons (short, fat, bald are three that come to mind quickly) they are usually roundly ignored by most people, even people like themselves. These split second decisions that we make all day long are necessary for us to prevent information overload. We only leave our sensory doors open a crack for people that we know and like and attractive members of the opposite sex. My recommendation is to follow your heart if you are sensitive enough to even debate 'to nod or not to nod'. The photo gives an example of two people in greeting limbo. They're quickly deciding whether the other is worth looking at.

odd curiosity - Cosmos Hotel Moscow

While recently returning from a business trip in El Salvador, I ran short of reading material. To counteract the boredom, I decided to read the Delta Sky magazine. In there they had a feature on Moscow. One of it's recommendations was to dine at the Cosmos hotel only, and they stressed only, for the panoramic view of Russia. This piqued my interest. The Cosmos hotel opened in 1979 in time to be used for the 1980 Summer Olympics. It was over 1700 rooms. Some of the online reader comments, many in broken English, state that it's massive, easy to get lost, the food and service horrible, doesn't include climate control, is sorely outdated, and has 'working women' roaming about. It sounds like just the sort of place I'd like not to stay but wouldn't mind taking a look around. The idea of someday visiting Moscow was been growing on me, and the Cosmos Hotel may be worth an hour or so, if only to remind myself to be thankful.

2011 travel

The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said or wrote "Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”

2011 was such a poor year for me professionally that for some time I forgot what a excellent year it was for travel.

Feb – Miami
March – Miami, Chicago, Daytona Beach
April – Mazatlan
May – Medellin, PANACA
June – Houston
July – Los Angeles
August – Bogota, Cali, Chicago
September – Merida
October – San Salvador
November – Miami
December – Toronto, Mexico City

Instead of saying 'woe is me' I feel fortunate to have some highlights. The best trip of the year was the May trip to Colombia. I'll have to write
another blog about that.

White Shadow season one, episode 15 Le Grand Finale

I must admit by the end of season one I became disillusioned with the quality of the show. The final epidose was mostly just a throwaway where the season comes to an end and the team forms a doo wop group.
The only serious topic was about Morris dating a white girl with a bad reputation.
At this point I don't intend to watch or blog about season 2. If I am laid up with some illness or injury it could be possible.

White Shadow season one, episode 14 - Little Orphan Abner

Plot - The show opens with Carver making an improbable comeback at the end of the game. Goldstein is a little overzealous after the win and keeps the other Carver players from looking "cool". Reese in particular is cold to Goldstein. As the episode develops we learn more about Goldstein and see a pattern in how he is a loner on the otherwise close-knit team. Goldstein's parents died in a car wreck years before and now he lives with his doting but over-protective grandparents. They are very proud of their Jewish roots and impart their values onto young Abner.
Grandpa falls ill and suddenly Goldstein has the house to himself. Reeves implores his team to help keep him company, but first Hayward and then the rest of the team take advantage of the situation to party with girls. Finally Reeves gives him some tough love and at the end of the episode Goldstein rants at the team and they accept him. Grandma comes home and the team surprises them with dishes to pass.
Observations- The two main themes are social isolation and self-confidence. We watch Abner slowly mature through the episode and come to the realization he must be more assertive in life. His goofy, happy go lucky persona does not play well with the mean streets of urban LA. Reeves gives another stellar performance, this time knowing when to hold back and push the kid forward to face the world alone.

White Shadow season one, episode 13 - Mainstream

Plot - Coach Reeves attends a faculty meeting and implores the teachers to show more school spirit by attending the basketball games. This however was not the key moment of the meeting. Just before Reeves' impassioned plea, Prinicipal Willis told the teachers about the Mainstream program, where disabled/handicapped/special needs students would be assimilated into the Carver student body. Only later does Reeves take an interest after one of the teachers committed an autistic boy named Tom Hendricks to the team despite his repeated refusals. The experiment did not go well as the team was less than supportive and Reeves thin on patience.
Finally Reeves, made a "breakthrough", getting Tom to dribble after badgering him with passes and talk. By the time he realized what he'd done, Tom was tranferred back to the school and then Reeves worked to get him back, culminating in Tom getting into a game at the end of the episode.

Observations - I don't think the episode realized its potential. There could have been more exploring of the Mainstream program at the school and less about Tom and the team. However, this was a basketball-themed show so we did get to see how it might have played out in that arena.
The best part was the end, which was classy. Carver had a dominant performance, and at the end of the final timeout, Coolidge carried Tom onto the court. Then Coolidge passed the ball to Tom and screened off what seemed like the entire other team. Tom finally took a shot but the camera froze just as the ball left his hands, with some type of crowd cheering noise in the background.

White Shadow season one, episode 12 - The Great White Dope

***the author watched this episode a couple of weeks ago, but was not moved to blog about it. After moving on to the next episode, he found inspiration again and is now belatedly writing this.

Plot - This episode centers around Mario "Salami" Petrino. He is one of two "white" players on the team, and plays to the stereotypical archetype of an Italian-American kid. He is extremely stressed out in this episode, and it is because he ardently wants to become a boxer. He takes his lumps in the backrooms of bars for $15 a fight. About midway through the episode we learn that his father was once a little-known boxer from New York, and that they have communication problems.
Coach Reeves of course does his usual job of putting the pieces together, working through the issues with the other characters, and eventually bringing us to a satisfying conclusion. In this case Mario and father are reunited in the corner of the ring, and father is reminding son of all the boxing techniques they reviewed years ago.
Observations - At this point in season one it is painfully clear that Timothy Van Patten, son of Dick, is the least talented actor in the series. His lack of range, facial expressions, and vocal intonations make him the direct forebearer of Keanu Reeves. Coach Reeves is the only one that made this episode bearable, and he was even uncharacteristically morose about inserting himself into Salami's woes. We were due for a Salami-centered episode at one point, and this was it.
One mildly interesting aspect to this was the club-fighting scene that was around these times in Los Angeles. The club he fought at was on Western Avenue, a long, well-known street in the city.
Some special cameos - Former welterweight boxing champ Carlos Palomino had a small role with some dialogue. Coach Reeves listened to a faux radio interview between Chick Hearn and Artis Gilmore where Gilmoer 'disses' Kennie Reeves.