As you are aware by now, I am getting ready to go to New Zealand.  Hello!!!  This is the center of your universe right now, right???

Ahem.  In any case, this has me excited.  It also has my blog production a bit reduced, I notice.  Never fear … and here come the dreaded words, so wait for them … I have a plan!  Many of you probably remember how Grannymar queued up a slew of posts that magically appeared when she either went on a trip or became the bionic woman, I can’t remember which for sure, and I plan to do the same.  They will magically appear while I am gone, for our blogging software allows scheduling of when a post appears.  We are completing our itinerary now, so I will slot posts of where it is anticipated each day that we will be and they will show up on that schedule.

During the trip, I will be carrying a little computer called a NetBook, a cute little guy that is great for its mobility and a minor pain in the butt for any real production.  It only weighs two pounds, but the tradeoff is the 10 inch screen.  However, it is pretty functional and I only plan to use it sparingly for actual connection.  What I will use it for is offloading camera pics for backup if nothing else, note taking as we go, and easing the anxiety of my clients who might have an emergency and this computer MIGHT be able to hook up to the Internet in who knows where I am to diagnose and fix their issue.

Of course, the distance between plans and reality is where the fun comes in if you allow it.  To take advantage of that gap, I am cleaning up and organizing my world today.  I plan to travel lean and mean.  Or, at least a little lighter.  The fun here may come from the comparison of what was anticipated and what was experienced.

Stay tuned on that … reader tips and wisdom appreciated …

Everyone knows the confusions involved with understanding the opposite sex … but what if the confusion were, “Which sex IS the opposite sex?”  In someone very close to me and my wife, it played out as I will soon narrate, but please understand that I have not asked nor gotten permission to indicate either the identity of this person or how they are connected with our family.  Suffice it to say that we are close.

He was still identifying as a man when he came to Carol and me, saying there was something he wished to talk about with us.  We assumed, once we learned that it was not a health issue, that he might tell us he was gay.  But he didn’t.  He told us that he was a transgender personality.  We were unprepared and frankly puzzled, for this was before the condition was known well to the public, so it took awhile for him to acquaint us with the concept.

He told us that he was and always had been attracted to women and was not gay, perplexing us further.  Then he said that he saw himself as a woman and always had as far back as he could remember.  Indeed, he had worn his mother’s and sister’s clothing in private since the age of four.

It was then that he dropped the shoe and told us that he intended to live as a woman.  We immediately wondered if this meant surgery and he assured us, no, he was not going to have a sex change.  But, he wanted to tell us first, because he had others that all of us knew who would need help with acceptance and he wished for our assistance.

Well, to make a long story short, we became more acquainted with the idea.  We attended a Halloween party that year of his – who had now become her, the way that I will refer to her from this point forward – friends in the San Francisco transgender community.  One was a former Marine, who, to my amazement, didn’t bother much with acting in any feminine manner.  But, others were quite feminine as well as the transgender women-to-men who appeared fairly masculine.  We learned a different view of the universe that night.  One woman, quite attractive, was a well-known male newspaper columnist with a family by day, with a family and kids – an arrangement that was totally above board with the family, but not with the newspaper!  She was so articulate and intelligent, we talked for a length of time and came away much more comfortable.

Somewhere in the vicinity of 5 to 10% of the population is gay.  But the prevalence of transgender individuals is much less!  They have been shunned historically in a much more vehement manner than homosexuals and have often been killed.  Many of the readers of this post may be feeling discomfort or worse as they read this piece.

But, I say to you the same thing that I said to so many of those near me regarding this subject: “I know you have questions, for so do I. Would you like to discuss this?”

Of course this would come in AFTER our piece on time travel.  The irony isn’t lost on me.  Then again, now that I’ve found it, maybe I can go back in time to the earlier piece and use this!

San Francisco, CA,  February 27, 2010:  Famed King Tutankhamun, boy King of Egypt, he of the foul cursing, has reportedly repented since it was discovered that he died from a leg infection and malaria, not as the result of a nefarious plot (nor even a Nefertitius plot), but instead a plot more of the garden variety.  It seems he was a bit embarrassed that it wasn’t a death more exotic.  To quote the King, speaking through Agnes Moredread (after everyone had successfully caused a table to rise and then bump around), “I felt kind of bad killing that guy who came into my tomb and then making that canary be eaten by the cobra and the dog drop over dead.  I mean, it just wasn’t very nice.  So, I have stopped cursing and hope to make it up to someone soon.”

Well, darned if he didn’t pull it off.  On the afternoon of the dangerous Chilean tsunami which generated a wave of .8 ft. along the Pacific Coastline where San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park meets the ocean, an intrepid pair of locals survived by spending the afternoon wandering through the park  somewhat aimlessly, enjoying it immensely.  This unlikely couple were Carol and Conrad Hake, better known as the parents of Carly Hake, international scholar.

After going to see the genuine Dutch Windmill, which Carol had always wanted to see, they wandered to the 55-acre Botanical Gardens, noting the irony that the only section seemingly incomplete and in disarray was the section of native California plants.  To quote Mrs. Hake, “It seems ironic at first … until you realize that this was the only section probably surrounded by plants of other lands and left simply as it was found.  By definition, anything growing there HAD to be a California plant.”  The Hakes have no further quotes after that, for they were found to actually be an uninteresting interview.

Wandering to the DeYoung Museum at 5:00 PM PST, they decided to check on the pricing of the King Tut exhibition taking place there.  Walking to the ticket desk, Mrs. Hake asked the attendant what the cost was of the exhibit.  The attendant replied, “Would you like to go in and see it now?”  She was told that, “no, we simply wish to know the pricing and the time schedule for another day.”  The Hakes had already spent $5.00 at the Botanical Gardens after all.

The attendant leaned over and spoke more slowly, perhaps thinking with some justification that the Hakes were not bright, saying, “No, you don’t understand.  Would you like to go see it right now, FOR FREE?  Someone did not pick up their tickets and we would like to give them to you.”  Bright or not, the Hakes homed in on the word FREE like it was Momma calling them in to dinner, and gladly accepted.

Now, I copy the ticket so that you may examine it:

Not only were the Hakes given two tickets, they were given two VIP passes!  The lines of people waiting to see the exhibit wound back and forth as they do in Disneyland; long lines, tiring lines.  But, being the VIP’s they were, the Hakes were ushered around the lines completely and taken directly into the exhibit.  Ten exhibit rooms of some of the most exquisite carvings, jewelry and furniture to be found anywhere!

Mr. Hake, who was thought to be mute to this point, was heard to exclaim as they disappeared into the night, “Thanks, Tut!  I owe you one!”

__________________________________________________

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How many of you have seen the Will and Grace show when Jack met Cher?  This clip is so funny, because Jack always imitated Cher – and you will see by the end of it how it fits in with our time travel theme.

Jack meets Cher

If I could turn back time … what the heck would I do with it?

I put this together with certain assumptions.  First, I assumed that I would not be visible to anyone in the circumstance, would not be able to interfere, just observe.  Second, I assumed I could not be harmed by events or the environment.  Third, I assumed I could place myself anywhere in space as easily as I could in time.  In other words, I would be kind of a ghost!

Then I decided to just start free associating.  My interests are always so eclectic, as anyone who has read this blog for awhile knows.  I knew that if I had this ability, I would have a large number of interests that would be continually changing.  In fact, what I can’t actually put in place here is how my next target would change depending upon the experience at the current and last place.

Also, note that none of my travel is to the future!  I would only want to learn things from he past … but I wouldn’t want to screw up my present by knowing anything of the future.  Besides, I think that any future would be a probable outcome anyway.

So, enough with the prelims.  Here is the list of times / places that flowed out of me.  And, let me tell you, this list would just grow and grow and …

• Go back to see how the pyramids were constructed!
• See if I could find Jesus, Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist, the Disciples.
• Check out the events surrounding Moses at various points!
• Check out the first humans at Olduvai Gorge.
• Go see the Founding Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin.
• Go to the School Book Depository in Dallas to see if Lee Harvey Oswald really did do it alone.  Also, I might have to multiply locate to the Grassy Knoll.
• Visit Einstein in his study at the point that he boiled the essence down to E=mc²
• Return to the Renaissance and watch Michelangelo at work on David, on the Sistine Chapel.
• Go to the moon to watch the first landing, the first steps.
• Watch Mozart and Beethoven compose.
• See how Shakespeare wrote and directed some of his plays.
• Watch Krakatau explode and Vesuvius erupt!
• Watch DaVinci painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
• Watch Babe Ruth and Satchel Paige, each in his prime.
• Watch and listen to Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address.
• Watch Orson Wells and crew create War of the Worlds for the radio.
• Go to China and observe the life and surroundings of Confucius.
• Go to old Tibet, with one of the early Dalai Lamas – or, at least the Dalai Lama in early incarnations – at the Potala.
• Check out some of my early ancestors in Germany and see, in about 1630, where Barthold Hake came from.  He lived in Hemeringen, ten miles from Hameln, but … before that we do not know.

And on and on.  Where would you go?  What would you want to see?

Only one of these two sitting here with Maynard is a bloodline descendent.  Guess which one!

Mayo, sorry to hear about the accident that took the pinky off your left hand, man.

This is becoming suspicious!

One month from today, we fly out from San Francisco. One month and two days from now, we arrive in Auckland. The day in between will be Easter for the rest of the world, but not for the Hakes this year. Easter will be lost at the International Date Line!

No coloring Easter Eggs with our granddaughter. No family meal. No sunrise church service … which we haven’t done in a few years anyway.

Worse, we leave in the spring, each day becoming longer and warmer. We arrive in the fall, each day becoming shorter and colder. And they want us to pay for this???

Well, don’t cry for me Art and Tina! How many of you have been to New Zealand? I am soliciting information and I know Maynard has some! What I want to know is what we HAVE to see, what you’ve seen, what is just WAY too exciting to miss. Here is a list of potential places Carly has for us so far:

• Auckland
• Rotorua – we already have reservations there and she wants to show us the adventures she had the first week.
• Abel Tasman National Park
• Tongariro National Park
• Franz Josef Glacier
• Milford Sound
• Christchurch
• Mt. Cook
• Queenstown

Other than using Google Earth and looking things up online, Carol and I know very little about NZ. So … input please!

Note: for those who would use this time to rob our house, Carol’s brother will be staying there so don’t even think about it!

Palace of Fine Arts

Not bad, if this editor works like it seems.  Especially for the price – FREE. But, it has the same exact problem as with Windows Live Writer – and I am not the first to suddenly be experiencing this.

This a different kind of text.

This is some quoted text.

• Here is bulleted item 1.
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This is what the above looks like when sent from my editor right now:

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