SWCAMBORNE

“Well done is better than well said.”

Benjamin Franklin

My nephew Robert B and his beautiful bride, Theo, have organized a series of occasional “Prom Night” events in London.

Robert and Theo

By every report they are great, fun, over-subscribed dress-up parties. They appeal to the retro 60′s instinct of young people. I’m to old to attend but I share the sentiment and recommend visiting the site and getting on the email alert list.

http://www.promnightuk.com/

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Dahlia and Joel gave us a lot to be thankful for by hosting our family get together even though they were in the middle of a major re-landscaping project.

Click here to see all of the pictures I took of the event.

I have spent a few days lately with my in-laws and other septuagenarians at various events and had concluded that hearing aids are not working that well yet. I remarked to Nurit after one investor meeting that the one conclusion we could draw from the meeting was that we should invest in hearing aid companies. It appears that most of the hearing aids sold today don’t work very well.

About the time that I turned 40 my eyes went bad and I could no longer read without glasses. I wasn’t unique, it happened to almost everybody at about that age. Well here is an advance warning to all of you baby boomers when you turn 70, as most of you will, your hearing will go bad. Get ready for it.
Fortunately I have solved the problem of bad hearing aids. It appears that one of the things that today’s septuagenarians want is to keep it a secret that they need some help hearing. The same thing happened with glasses it was hard to admit that we couldn’t read the menu so we blamed it on the lighting in the restaurant. But we are from the wireless generation. We are used to having hands free cell phone remotes and Walkman wires hanging from our ears. I pods are a fashion accessory. We can handle the idea of a much bigger hearing assistance package that might actually work.

So here is the billion-dollar idea. Start a hearing aid company that doesn’t focus on invisible as the primary objective. Its focus instead is on hearing assistance. The product is visible and fashionable like an I pod and might include a directional microphone. You can adjust the volume without putting your finger in you ear. It comes in colors and might also serve as a cell phone and a music player. It could have Bluetooth directly to the TV sound.

Acting differently:

If you are poor and you act “differently,” you are crazy.
If you are middle class and you act “differently,” you are weird.
If you are well off and you act “differently,” you are quirky.
If you are wealthy and you act “differently,” you are eccentric

Fair or not fair?

Thanks to Gary David for helping me create and refine this post.

A poem entitled ‘Ode to a Henge’
Subtitled, ‘It is difficult to find words that rhyme with ‘monolith’’

Today we gather on this lawn
With our closest, dearest friends
On which homage we shall pawn
To Simon as he erects two ‘henge.

One for money, one for tech
He builds for the ancient ruins
If they fall, what the heck?
I hope to the Rose Bowl go the Bruins!!!

In ancient days they danced ‘round
And prayed to large stone monoliths
Today we make merry on this ground,
Burrow! More wine for the wordsmith!

So gather near to see the ‘henge grow
Monuments for laptop and bank piggy
They are not so heavy for Simon to tow
Unlike his unfortunate ancestral druidy

And now, my friends, it’s time to end
This ode to hobbies most strange
I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblin’
Now, let’s toast to the latest ‘henge!

This poem considered by many to be the best “henge poem” ever written in the Western Hemisphere debuted at the Double Henge Installation on November 11.

It was written and read by Rachel B.  She has graciously set the bar for Henge poetry very low and at next years installation can expect some serious competition.

This is the back of the extremely non-commercial shirt sponsored by EF Hilton Co and the Dietz Family Foundation for the Henge installation on November 11.

To see more pictures of the Henges click here. 

To read the story of the recent Henge installation click here.

This Shirt is a good example of how an idea evolves. Andrew P heard that there was a potential t-shirt sponsor and emailed a humorous list of possible slogans for the shirts. Paul at EF Hilton was going to put his company logo on the shirt and simply “Henging 2006″ but when he saw the list he just decided to incorporate all of it with a few modifications. The comment about “Simon Needs to Get a Job.” is apparently just a jealous sentiment rearing its ugly head.

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be: for without victory there is no survival.”

Winston Churchill

Dear Steve

You stated in your email “Pasadena has no control over South Pasadena’s streets.” but you are wrong. If South Pasadena closed Orange Grove Blvd. and wouldn’t allow cars from Pasadena on it at all would we have “no control?” So why is it that they can cut the size of the southbound lanes by 50% and you claim that we have no control.

Maybe there are other reasons that the Pasadena City Council choses not to fight this restriction of traffic but “no control” is not one of them.

About five years ago I was told by city officials that South Pasadena closed one of the southbound lanes on Orange Grove because of safety issues related to the collapse of a retaining wall. There was no indication that the lane would stay closed. Now it is permanently closed. By allowing this traffic retriction you and the Pasadena City Council have not acted in the best interests of the majority of the people of Pasadena.

Simon

Pasadena City Councilman Steve Haderlein’s response to my email about the narrowing of South Orange Grove Avenue.

From: sjhaderlein@mycingular.blackberry.net
Subject: Re: South Orange Grove Avenue
Date: October 27, 2006 6:28:34 PM PDT
To: Simon@swcamborne.com

Unfortunate as it may be, Pasadena has no control over South Pasadena’s streets.

Let’s stay in touch.

Steve Haderlein

My original email to Councilman Haderlein:

Steve
I am a resident of East Pasadena and was stunned to see that the
reconstruction of Orange Grove Avenue in South Pasadena between the
City line and the 110 freeway is going to make the road one lane
permanently. This is wrong. South Pasadena is being selfish again
and you and the Pasadena City Council are letting them get away with it.
First they blocked the 710 freeway and it required a referendum to
stop you from helping them. Then they slowed down the Gold Line
trains. Now they are reducing traffic flow on one of the major
routes from our area to downtown. What are you going to do to stop
this selfish behavior by South Pasadena. Please represent the
thousands of people in your district who are forced to commute a
little bit longer each day.
Thank you.

Simon

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