Home at Horizon East, Watertown MA.—Phil Temples photo
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| tem·ples \ tem'pelz \ n: |
1: Flat regions on either side of the forehead 2: Places or things regarded as having within them a divine presence 3: Devices in looms that keep cloth stretched to the correct width during weaving 4: Buildings reserved for a highly valued function: libraries, temples of learning 5: Phil Temples.
You've chosen Number 5.
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"Right Now"
Posted by k9hi on: Thursday 08 May 2008 @ 17:16:02 |
Today I visited Jackie Grubb's 6th grade class St. Columbkill School in Brighton to present my last Share Aloud discussion of the academic year. Around 30 bright, attentive youngsters greeted me as I arrived at 12:30 p.m. I brought with me a very timely article from today's Boston Globe entitled, "Relief efforts hampered in Burma." It described the carnage and devastation to that country in the wake of a cyclone, a projected death toll of 100,000, and the military junta's hampering of international relief efforts greatly compounding the suffering.
I let the kids read the article; I encouraged them to circle or underline any words or phrases that they did not understand. Then, I read the article aloud. I asked for volunteers to look up words that others were confused or unclear about.
"What does 'anonymity' mean?" one girl asked. "What are 'mangroves?'" asked another. "Well, I think it's a kind of tree or shrub," I replied. "But let's look it up and make sure."
We tackled a number of difficult words and phrases. One boy wanted to know the meaning of UNICEF. "That's an acronym," I replied, giving them a quick 30-second explanation of what an acronym was. The dictionary yielded the answer: United Nations Childrens Fund. (They wanted to know why the "I" wasn't a word.)
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Brush Fire, Charles River
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 07 May 2008 @ 15:59:11 |
 April 16, 2008: I happened to glance outside our balcony window around dinner time and saw a wave of thick black smoke and flames shooting up from the banks of the Charles River. Ariel and I had a ringside seat to a working fire. It was quite spectacular! I'm sure that Sparkies would have been envied me.
Fire apparatus had arrived, and firemen were dumping large volumes of water on the brush fire. (I wonder if they were pumping directly from the Muddy Charles?) They stayed on-scene until well after dark.
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Strange Focus
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 07 May 2008 @ 15:52:19 |
  Oftentimes people ask me, 'Why is it that you're so focused on helping the hungry and diseased in strange parts of the world?'"
--George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 18, 2008 from About.com
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Homelessness--Coming To A Neighborhood Near You
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 07 May 2008 @ 15:48:00 |
 April 14, 2008: Homeless people can be found everywhere, from plush Newbury Street business district to the chique neighborhoods of Cambridge and Brookline. Pictured here: a man pushing--what is, in all probability--all of his worldly possessions near the intersection of Parsons Street and Soldiers Field Road in Brighton.
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Photo du Jour: A "Kite" Moment
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 07 May 2008 @ 15:38:50 |
 April 9, 2008: Students at Boston College share a "kite" moment with special needs children in the O'Neill Plaza.
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Photo du Jour: "The Color Lavender"
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 05 May 2008 @ 11:41:44 |
 April 5, 2008: This is about as-lavender-as-any-door one can find anywhere. It seems very apropos belonging on a house residing in Harvard Square.
The $64 million question: is it more of a Mauve or Wisteria?
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Photo du Jour: Alpha Omega Goes Out Of Business
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 05 May 2008 @ 11:37:46 |
 March 30, 2008: A popular jewelry store in Harvard Square goes out of business, creating a meager business opportunity for this person to advertise in Harvard Square. It must be not-very-fun work; I'd rank it right up there with distributing hand bills, or panhandling.
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A Treasured Moment
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 05 May 2008 @ 09:18:03 |
 Politicians don't realize that the end of the wash cycle is a treasured moment."
--Zippy the Pinhead
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A Miraculous Recovery
Posted by k9hi on: Saturday 03 May 2008 @ 18:24:57 |
 It's been a little over a week since Ariel and I traveled back to Indiana to visit my mother and other members of my family in Bloomington, Indiana. We were very concerned over my mother's deteriorating health. My sister, Jo flew back earlier that week from Arizona. She was joined by her son, Jeff, who also came from Arizona. Ariel and I were receiving daily updates that left us with the impression that Mom might not pull through. She had been admitted with anemia, weakness, and internal bleeding. The doctors were not optimistic.
It turns out, you can't always rely on what the medical professionals have to say. And, ironically enough, had it not been for a mistake in her prescription, she might very well have not survived this latest medical crisis.
At some point in the recent past her primary care physician had signed off on a prescription for a high dosage of aspirin. (The doc told me and my family that he couldn't recall this.) This certainly was the cause of the internal bleeding, given the fact that she was also taking a blood-thinner--heparin--for blood clotting.
The bleeding problem landed her in the ER and, admittance in the hospital. More importantly, however, she was also suffering from pneumonia. For someone who is 88 years old and suffering from diabetes, as well as congestive heart failure, pneumonia can be fatal. Fortunately, the right tests were conducted and she was started on an IV treatment of antibiotics in a timely manner.
The day before we arrived, she was incoherent and very weak. She was having extreme difficulty breathing. When we got there on Friday afternoon, it was a miraculous turnaround, according to my family members. She was sitting up in bed, feeding herself and asking when she could go home! She was released last Saturday, and allowed to go back to the assisted living facility where she has a small studio apartment.
When I called mid-week and asked my sister how she was faring, Jo was practically giddy. She explained: my mother had waited for someone to come and take her downstairs for a hair permanent. When no one showed up, she plopped herself into her wheelchair and wheeled herself to the elevator, down four floors to the basement, and down a long corridor! Jo said she was "plumb tuckered out" from the episode. But we both took that as a very good sign.
Mom must have been a cat in a former life. I wonder how many "lives" she has left?
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"Awesome, Dude!"
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 21 April 2008 @ 16:01:32 |
Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech."
--George W. Bush, to Pope Benedict, Washington, D.C., April 15, 2008 from About.com
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The Birthing Of A Film
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 21 April 2008 @ 15:57:51 |
I'm excited! Guardedly so, because it's very early in the process and the whole thing might just fizzle out. But I feel very privileged to witness--and to play a minor part--in the birthing of an independent film, a film for which I wrote the original screenplay.
Folks associated with the New England Screenwriters group in the Merrimack Valley have begun a series of meetings and conference calls to discuss the logistics: shot lists, props, wardrobe, filming locations, insurance, signing professional actors from the Screen Actors Guild, even a helicopter rental. And last but not least, there's a budget to worry about. It's definitely a "shoe-string" budget--but a budget nevertheless.
My screenplay is entitled "A Last Resort." It is based on the lives of a 13-year-old child-king, his boyhood friend, and the adults who come to rely on the young leader in making crucial decisions while their kingdom at war. The script has gone through some major revisions. In a couple of places, it's deviated substantially from my original creation. But that's okay. I trust the process--and the producer and director. Between them, they both have a couple of films under their belts. So I'll happily defer to their judgment in these matters.
I can't help but wonder what it will actually feel like to watch a film play on the big screen that sprang forth from my imagination. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that everything actually proceeds according to plan. Time will tell if the baby's head crowns and I'm a proud daddy.
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Photo(s) du Jour: "Save Professor Roy"
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 09 April 2008 @ 22:20:48 |
  March 27, 2008: Students made large signs and protested outside of Fulton Hall at 12 noon on March 27, 2008, upon learning that one of the most popular Computer Science professors, Amitabha Roy, Ph.D. was being denied tenure by Boston College. It was a touching demonstration of support for Amitabha, whom I admire greatly and count as a good friend.
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Photo(s) du Jour: The Power Of Nature--Driven Home
Posted by k9hi on: Wednesday 09 April 2008 @ 22:12:45 |
  March 21, 2008: Mother nature took its toll on our home at Horizon East in Watertown in the form of destructive winds on the night of March 20, 2008. A large swath of our building's front exterior came crashing down to the ground in front of parked cars. The damaged area spanned an area from approximately the second up to the fifth floors. Fortunately, no cars (or people) were hurt by the falling debris. As of this date, the management company was still waiting for the insurance folks to get their act together so that repairs can begin.
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Photo du Jour: Player's Club
Posted by k9hi on: Friday 28 March 2008 @ 14:34:52 |
 March 19, 2008: I and many of the other IT geek-types eat lunch together daily in The Player's Club in Walsh Hall on the B.C. campus. This day, the cafeteria was crowded so we moved next door into the adjoining conference room. It featured a very attractive skylight. Both the cafeteria and the conference room are adorned with photos and scenes of B.C. sports heros of today and yesteryear.
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Snatching Defeat From Defeat
Posted by k9hi on: Monday 24 March 2008 @ 18:10:03 |
And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq."
--George W. Bush, to Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008 from About.com
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Handiham 2008 Winter Radio Camp Photos Now On-line
Posted by k9hi on: Sunday 16 March 2008 @ 18:10:14 |
 After a bit of a delay, I've posted my photos from the Winter Handiham Radio Camp in Cupertino, California February 15-23, 2008. Each year I volunteer as a radio instructor at the camp. It's great to see all the familiar faces, as well as some new ones. Shown here: (left) camper Diane Vorwald, WD9DNQ assisted by Handiham volunteer Jeanne Dolan, KD0CVQ. The entire collection may be viewed under "Photo Gallery|Events".
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| Shuffle The Shuffle |
| "I get the shuffle and then I shuffle the shuffle." --George Dubya Bush, Command-in-Chief |
| Life's Purpose |
| "The purpose of our lives is to be happy." —The Dalai Lama |
| "That Depends" |
| "That depends on what your definition of 'is' is." —President Bill Clinton |
| Notable Quote |
| "While the lucky few million in the rich world amuse themselves in cyberspace, half the human race has never made a telephone call." —The Economist, May 18, 1996
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| "America's quiet warriors are the legion of ham radio operators, 700,000 of them, who are always at ready for backup duty in emergencies--amateur, unpaid, uncelebrated, civilian radio operators, during and after floods and fires and tornadoes. After the nine-one-one attacks, hams were indispensable in reuniting friends and families. Most recently it was they who expedited the search for debris after the disaster to the Space Shuttle Columbia, and right now, at this moment, they are involved in homeland security..." —Paul Harvey, March 19, 2003 |
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