Back In Love Again

There is no denying it. I am a man of a certain age. And this man of a certain age has a new love in his life. It's a bicycle. Those of you who have known me for awhile are probably saying to yourselves, "This is news?" After all, I've been riding bikes seriously for the past 25 years. I've ridden a number of Solvang Centuries, held a U.S. Cycling Federation racing license and marked my 50th and 60th birthdays by riding my age in miles.

So, what's the big deal and why is my heart once again aflutter? About two months ago I bought what one of my colleagues at work calls a "hipster bike." Unlike the other bike I own which is an Italian style racing bike with 14 gears and "dropped" handlebars (think Tour de France) this is a single speed, fixed gear bike with flat handlebars.

I live downtown so I walk or ride my bike to most places. But up until I bought my new bike I would probably more often run errands by walking rather than ride my racing bike because, number one, I didn't look quite right on it unless I was decked out in lycra and spandex (and at my age lycra and spandex isn't the wisest wardrobe choice) and number two, hopping on a fancy racing bike to go get coffee was a little like driving a Hummer to the corner store to pick up a gallon of milk. (Okay, when you compare carbon footprints it's not even in the same galaxy, but you get the idea.)

The new bike with its single gear is perfect for riding the flat streets of downtown, but pretty much only the flat streets. If a ride is going to involve going up hills then the old racing bike with the option of shifting into low gears is the one for the job. As a result I've never ridden the new bike further north than Trader Joe's on De la Vina.

But for going to the 99¢ Store (otherwise known as the poor man's Costco) to pick up a few bargains, heading over to the Tuesday evening Farmer's Market or going to one of the downtown coffee joints, it is perfect.

So many people have the notion that riding a bike is inherently dangerous. (Anyone remember former city council member and "safe streets" advocate Michael Self?) You have to use common sense, obey the rules of the road and act more like traffic than a pedestrian. But getting around by bike is quite liberating and, I believe, quite safe.

Now that I am freed from the tyranny of Lycra when I ride perhaps I should now go out and buy a pair of those skinny jeans like the hipsters wear? Maybe not, since in the last paragraph I was preaching about using common sense when one rides and after all, at my age it probably isn't the wisest wardrobe choice. But then again when you are a man of a certain age there are a lot of things that aren't the wisest wardrobe choice.

Maybe It's Their Way of Encouraging People to Use the ATM?

My daughter says that I'm a cynic. The other day I was talking to her and happened to mention how I thought that the routine exchange of pleasantries with those we come into contact with when carrying out our daily business was starting to get out of hand.

Take a recent trip to the bank for example. I walk up to the teller and the teller says, "Good morning, how are you today?" I respond, "I'm fine thanks, how are you?" To which the teller responds, "I'm fine. Thank you for asking." Actually, I'm thinking to myself, you're the one who asked. I was just being polite.

A little further into our transaction the teller asks, "How's your day going so far?" I respond, "So far, so good, but it's only 9am, there's still a lot of time for things to go wrong." Undaunted, the teller asks, "So, do you have any plans for this weekend?" I'm thinking to myself, "Is he going to ask me out on a date?" I quickly realize, to my relief, he's not. And then a number of responses pop into my mind, such as, "That's on a need-to-know basis," or, "I don't really see how that's any of your business!" Nevertheless, I'm able to suppress the smart aleck within me and reply, "No, nothing in particular."

Before you accuse me of being a curmudgeon, as my daughter quickly did, I would add that I don't think I'd be put off by this small talk if it were actually sincere, but it is so prevalent (it's hardly confined to the bank) and so scripted, you know it's being offered up solely because some "customer service" guru told the people on the front lines who are greeting customers that this is what they have to say. Bill Nighy, the British actor, once observed that the secret to being a good actor is to deliver your line as if the thought just occurred to you. Perhaps we ought to chip in and buy these bank tellers some acting lessons.

I'm all for being pleasant and engaging in small talk, but let's not overdo it.

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Following up on my post from last week about the News-Press reporting that a majority of its newsroom employees have signed a petition asking the the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters union be decertified as the employees bargaining unit, the Union has indeed challenged that petition.

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Good article that appeared over the weekend in the LA Times about Santa Barbara's best county park, Jalama Beach. Kind of wish though that the author of the article @SusanSpano1, would move back to Paris. She does such a good job of describing the virtues of Jalama, the place is bound to be overrun with tourists from L.A., otherwise known as El Aliens.

News-Press Declares Itself Union Free Zone, Teamsters May Say, Not So Fast

Sometimes the News-Press reminds me of my Swedish neighbor. You know, the one who is always "yumping the gun."

On Saturday the News-Press ran a front page story reporting that a majority of its newsroom staff signed a petition to withdraw recognition of the Teamsters Union as its authorized bargaining representative. If in fact it is true that the News-Press has rid itself of the union, it would be free to change terms and conditions of employment for newsroom employees without communicating with the union.

So, is this the end of a unionized newsroom at the News-Press? Well, not so fast.

This isn't the first time a decertification petition has been circulated at the News-Press. There's been at least one other petition that was passed around that garnered a plurality of signatures of the newsroom employees and the circulator in each case was sportswriter Gerry Fall. When a previous attempt was made to file the signed petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) it was blocked because of pending unfair labor practices (ULP) charges. While the Union reportedly has not yet decided what, if anything, they want to do about this most recent petition, they have several possible options including the possibility of filing a a new ULP charge because of, once again, a pending adjudication that News-Press management has been guilty of bad faith in the bargaining process. That finding is not affected by the decision of the DC Circuit court that the firing of eight News-Press employees did not violate the National Labor Relations Act.

Reportedly, key union members were not asked whether they were willing to sign the petition although it is believed that some of the newsroom employees who did sign previously supported the union but grew frustrated with the lack of raises and bonuses. But of course, when was the last time anyone in the newsroom got a raise or a bonus? It was two or so years ago that management gave an eight percent pay cut to its nonunion employees.

While the News-Press may want us to believe that the demise of unionized newsroom may be a done deal, it may be only a half-baked proposition. No one will know for sure until the union and the NLRB weighs in. Until then, anyone know of a good recipe for Swedish meatballs?

When The Headlines Don't Tell the Real Story

By Craig

As you are undoubtedly aware, Steve Pappas, the unsuccessful candidate for 3rd District County Supervisor, lost his attempt to have the election results overturned and has paid his opponent Doreen Farr, close to half a million bucks in attorney's fees. Last week, both the News-Press and the Santa Maria Times had virtually the same headline: "Pappas Case Going to U.S. Supreme Court."

Not so fast. All Pappas has done is file a petition with the court asking that it review his case. The Supremes haven't agreed to hear his case and most likely won't be agreeing to consider it on the merits. Saying Pappas' case is going to the Supreme Court is a little like saying that someone who buys a lottery ticket is about to become a multi-millionaire. Actually, I like the ticket buyer's chances better.

From an article in the Daily Journal, a legal newspaper:

The Supreme Court does not exist to correct every flawed decision issued by a lower court. Even with the help of their law clerks, the nine justices could not possibly handle the enormous volume of cases generated if every aggrieved party could call upon the Court to review the merits of each controversy as a matter of right. Therefore, with very limited exceptions, Supreme Court jurisdiction can be invoked only by filing a petition for writ of certiorari (cert petition), which the Court can grant or deny at its discretion. When the Court denies cert, that is the end of the litigation road; the Court will not consider the case on its merits, and the lower-court decision will stand, rightly or wrongly.

To make matters more difficult, the odds of persuading the Supreme Court to grant cert have always been small, but they have decreased even further in the past two decades. The volume of cert petitions filed has increased while the numbers granted each term have declined. Between 1989 and 2009, the Court averaged 7,500 cert petitions each term, yet it granted an average of only 93. Those figures translate into a "grant rate" of only 1.2 percent.

In other words, there's about a 99% chance that Pappas' case won't be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Of course, as a headline, that might not look too good.

Spending Sunday With The Sound of a Familiar Voice

By Craig

On Sunday afternoon before the gusty winds came, when the breeze was still gentle and the sun was out, I grabbed a beer and sat on my front porch. My house is only about 1,000 square feet in size so the front porch makes for a nice bonus room. It's the place where I go when I want the world to slow down.

On the TV in the living room the Dodgers game was on and I turned up the sound. Without the pictures I only had the voice of Vin Scully to inform me of what was going on on a brilliant afternoon in a ballpark 100 miles south of here. Listening to his voice transported me back to the early 1960s when my dad would come home after work and we would listen to that same voice call Dodgers games on the radio. We lived in a duplex near the Wilshire District in L.A. I was only 9 or 10 then. As I sat on the porch Sunday I was struck by the fact that some 50 years later, and long after both of my parents had departed this world, I was still listening to Vin broadcast the Dodgers, only this time in my own home instead of that of my parents. I'm amazed that someone who has met both Jackie Robinson and Clayton Kershaw is still going strong as the voice of the Dodgers.

Sunday afternoons tend to be quiet in my downtown neighborhood which is a mere three blocks from State Street. As I drank my beer on the porch while listening to Vin's voice and thinking back to my childhood in L.A., living forever suddenly seemed like a possibility. If every Sunday is like yesterday, it's going to be a good spring and summer.