To the Moon

Long before I worked at JPL, I was a space enthusiast. In 1968-69, I saved many books and magazines about NASA going to the moon. The magazines are a little beat up, but 50 years later, I still have them. Here's an overview:

Now, take a look at my entire collection.

Sweepstakes and a minor rarity

I enter sweepstakes all the time. I win small prizes now and then. In recent years, I've won a digital camera and a couple of $100 gift cards. My largest wins, years ago, have been travel: my Katmai and Puerto Vallarta trips. I also won $10,000 cash in an LATimes sweepstakes. That was in 2010, and helped me decide to retire in 2011.

In the current Albertsons Monopoly sweepstakes, I won $5 cash in the first weeks and again last week. I've also won a free bagel twice. The other day, I got this game ticket:

It's good for a $5 gift card, and it's highly unusual. It's uncommon for one game ticket to have even two pieces for the same prize. This one has four! Since this prize requires exactly those four pieces, this is a winner all by itself! Unheard of!

When I turned it in, the clerk agreed she had never seen this before.

Autographs — Deji Bryce Olukotun

Deji Bryce Olukotun has written novels, short stories and essays. He has one story in this collection. He read a great short excerpt from his latest book at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and I got his autograph afterwards.

(Index of autographs)

Autographs — Chisholm, Duretta, Lorino, Sisco

Nick Duretta is a personal friend, and a member of the book discussion group I'm in. He has a short story in this book. At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books yesterday, I made sure to stop by the book's booth while Nick was there. I bought the book, and Nick and several other contributing writers signed my copy.

The autographs are from Sara Chisholm, Nick Duretta, Gabi Lorino, and Cody Sisco.

(Index of autographs)

Loltun cave ― Dec. 1994

Inside the cave

Of our many travels around Yucatán, one of the more unusual was to see the cave at Loltun. We went with our California friend Jeffery, one of the few times we've traveled with someone else. Jeffery took this photo of Victor and me at Loltun:

Loltun is hard to get to, or at least it was in 1994. From Mérida, the closest we could get by bus was Oxkutzcab. That took well over an hour, and we were still about 7 km from Loltun. We hired a car to take us to the cave.

The cave is great, worth the trip. (For more photos and details, see, for example, this write-up.) Because it's remote, there were few other visitors. As we left, I spotted this sculpture, part of El Culto Falico:

Finally, we were faced with how to get back to Oxkutzcab! We waited a bit to see if any car might arrive, drop off passengers, and be available for us. After a while, Jeffery convinced us to try hitchhiking. To my surprise, that pretty quickly worked. When a truck driver stopped, Jeffery, whose Spanish is good, explained what we wanted. The truck driver said we were welcome to join the vegetables he was hauling. We hopped in and got back to Oxkutzcab. I wish I had a photo of us among the vegetables. This remains the only time I've ever hitchhiked.

DescriptionMérida

DescriptionMérida

Visa progress

Sudden, silent rule changes

Progress, but not quite complete.

We finally made it through the interview, but now they require us to mail in several documents: an updated official police report showing that Victor still hasn't been arrested (we had one a year ago; now they want another), and both Victor's and my birth certificates (see "rule changes" below). At least we don't have to return to Juarez!

We are also to include Victor's current passport. That's a sign that they will, finally, paste a visa in it!

Victor's interview appointment was for 8:15 am Thursday. He was at the consulate just after 8 am. He did not get out until just before noon! He spent more than three hours waiting in multiple lines.

This time, we only spent one night in Juarez. We flew in Wednesday, had the interview Thursday morning, and flew out Thursday night.

Sudden, silent rule changes

I can't understand why they need our birth certificates, since they've seen our passports! 

Also, Form I-134, about my finances, has a section asking about my U.S. citizenship: if I was born in the U.S., give city and state and SSN. It does not ask for any documentation of that. I had to attach tons of documentation about my finances, but nothing about my citizenship. This form, last updated in February 2019 (!), was one we just submitted at the interview. 

I guess they just changed the rules in March, deciding that now they need documentation.

Autographs — Nancy MacLean

This evening, I went to hear Nancy MacLean speak about her book. It's been on my reading list for a while. She gave an excellent overview, and I'm looking forward to reading the book.

(Index of autographs)

Dick and Jane recursion

I remember reading Dick and Jane books as a child. In particular, I have long remembered one red Dick and Jane book with a recursive cover illustration: Dick and Jane reading the very same Dick and Jane book whose cover shows Dick and Jane reading the same Dick and Jane book, and so on. 

But I can find no such Dick and Jane book cover. Did I imagine it? Did I dream it? If it doesn't exist, how in the world did I come up with that at such a young age? Maybe I really was born to be a math and computer software guy.

Update (9 March). Found it! Thanks to Richard Tamez. The cover is even red, as I remembered. OK, so it's not quite Dick and Jane. Published in 1948:

And, having found that, I now find this one, too:

And, probably finally, this:

That last was from a seller on eBay. I made an offer and bought the set of three books.

Autographs — David Kopay

In November, I read that Dave Kopay lived near Occidental and frequently walked his dog on campus. I bought his book and hoped to catch him and get his autograph. I had read the book when it first came out, but I had not bought it at the time.

I kept the book in my car. When I stopped by Oxy this morning to pick up several newspapers, I saw him and his dog; he was talking to someone. I hoped he would keep talking long enough for me to run back to my car and get the book. 

It all worked out. He said he had just mentioned the book to the woman he was chatting with, and here I was with it.

When his book came out in 1977, I was an officer of the gay student group at USC, and we arranged for him to speak on campus. I think it was his first public speaking engagement; I remember he was a bit nervous before the talk. It was an overflow crowd. Here is the ad:

(I always thought that was a great illustration, too. I don't know who the artist was.)

(Index of autographs)

Dixie School District

The Los Angeles Times ran a story last week about how some in Marin County want to change the name of the Dixie school district.  The controversy has split the community. I sent this letter:

If the name came from Mary Dixie, simply use her full name. Change the name from 'Dixie' to 'Mary Dixie'.

My letter was not printed, but another with the same idea was:

Here is a simple solution to the problem: The school district should take the full name of the person for whom it was named.

It would then be called the Mary Dixie School District, more clearly honoring the woman for whom it was named.

Susan Sherman, Covina