In Saguaro Romance Writers, I am part of a committee to bring Romance authors to next years' Tucson Festival of Books. I think of sports analogies and we work as a great team. For those who know me, baseball is my favorite sport. Each of us has a role to play and we all work together to play our role. As a team. Someone has to get on base, someone has to be the cleanup hitter, someone has to make the great catch.

We first boarded the train in Prague the night before, it was leaving at 9 that evening. Two men stood on the platform. A tall man and a smaller dark haired man with a club foot. The taller man spoke English, saw our Eastern Europe rail passes and said, 'My friend will take care of you.' And he did. In broken Polish I managed to get myself understood. (Yes, I had been reading the guidebook glossaries).
We fell asleep but were awakened at the border. The Polish border guard spoke no English, so he got a police officer who did.

Pierwszy raz wsiadł do pociągu w Pradze w nocy, to wychodził na 9 wieczorem. Dwóch mężczyzn stał na peronie. Wysoki mężczyzna i mniejszych brunetem człowiek stóp klubu. Wyższy człowiek mówił po angielsku, widząc nasze Europy Wschodniej przechodzi kolei i powiedział: "Mój przyjaciel zadba o ciebie." I zrobił. W podziale Polski udało mi się siebie rozumieć. (Tak, byłem czytanie słowników przewodnik). Zasnęliśmy ale obudziło na granicy. Polskiej straży granicznej nie mówił po angielsku, więc dostał policjant, który nie wiedział.

What in the world was I doing in Poland in 1999? My father has two Polish colleagues and friends, Marek Krygowski and Piotr Tomasik. I promised to visit. It just took longer than I expected. It would have been interesting to visit during Communism. I was a Political Science major in college and considered specializing in Eastern Europe, but did not want to get these folks in trouble.
Now, the train, the Silesia, was about to arrive in Warsaw Central station at 7 in the morning. I never saw the other passengers until compartments began opening and people greeted the Americans with "Good Morning." The entire car seemed to know there were Americans on board.
Co w świecie robię w Polska w 1999 r.? Mój ojciec dwóch polskich kolegów i przyjaciół, Marek Krygowski i Piotr Tomasik. I obiecał odwiedzić. To tylko trwało dłużej niż się spodziewałem. Byłoby interesujące, aby odwiedzić podczas komunizmu. Byłem głównym Nauk Politycznych w college'u i uznała, specjalizujący się w Europie Wschodniej, ale nie chce się tych ludzi w kłopotach. Teraz, w pociągu, Śląska, miał przybyć do Warszawy na dworzec kolejowy, na 7 rano. Nigdy nie widziałem innych pasażerów do pomieszczenia i zaczął otwarcie ludzi powitał Amerykanów z "Good Morning". Cały samochód zdawał się wiedzieć, że Amerykanie byli na pokładzie.

There is a British show about teenagers called the In Betweeners. We were having dinner in Rincon Market and the table next to us had the Tucson In Betweeners.
Oh to return to that age...NOT! LOL!

Was glad to have my first show back since February. My better half spoke about her book Mac's Man. Next show is April 14th and my guest is Scottsdale author Rico Austin.

This will also be translated into Polish.
People liked the first posting, so I decided to post this.
I entered Poland on an overnight train called the Silesia, traveling from Prague to Warsaw. We crossed the Czech Polish border in the middle of the night. Early the next morning, I was up looking out the window at the empty plains, the light from the train creating a slightly eerie scene.
I had Chopin playing through my head, and stared into the darkness thinking of the national past and other darkness.

Będzie to również przetłumaczone na język polski. Ludzie lubili pierwsze oddelegowania, więc zdecydowałem się opublikować ten. Wszedłem Polska na noc pociągiem o nazwie Śląsk, podróż z Pragi do Warszawy. Przejechaliśmy Czeskiej granicy Polski w środku nocy. Wczesnym rankiem następnego dnia, byłem nawet patrząc przez okno puste równiny, światło pociągu tworzenia nieco dziwne sceny. Miałem Chopina grać przez głowę i spojrzał w ciemność, ciemność myśli narodowej przeszłości i innych.

Yesterday's meeting was all about conflict. You cannot have a good story without conflict. To read about yesterday's speakers, http://ping.fm/wXFh8 and http://ping.fm/AclRX

My television show Meet the Writers is back March 31st, 7:30 PM Pacific Time. http://ping.fm/0hLo6, you will need quicktime on your computer to watch it.

Pandora must want to attend the Romance Writers of America Tucson Chapter meeting. http://ping.fm/In9d3
I am in charge of the AV equipment and she is sitting in the box. It would make the meeting interesting.

I am using a translator program to translate this into Polish. My father's family came to this country from Poland. (It was considered part of the Habsburg Empire then). My father is a chemist and has Polish friends who I met in childhood and acted as role models. I got the chance to go to Poland in 1999 and stay with these gentlemen.
Another world, in some ways, a lost world.

Używam programu tłumacz przetłumaczyć to na język polski. Rodzina ojca przybyli do tego kraju z Polska. (To był uważany za część imperium Habsburgów wtedy). Mój ojciec jest chemikiem i polskich przyjaciół, którzy poznałam w dzieciństwie i działał jako wzór do naśladowania. Dostałem szansę, aby przejść do Polska w 1999 r. i pozostanie z tych panów. Innego świata, w pewnym sensie świat utracony.

Like Yerbie, Pandora likes attacking the printer. I don't know what they are going to find in there.

Pandora enjoys attacking my flip flops when I am in the shower, but this time she tried a new one. She tried to put my flip flop on! She got it between two of her toes, but then spun around like a top! She left in disgust.

More on health care. We are Americans, we don't admit to being sick. We are tough like the Green Bay Packers. playing in the snow in December. We get knocked out, we get up! We are on our game!

Pandora dove into the clothes hamper this morning. She only got a 3.5 from the Russian judge, but she's biased. Otherwise, 10 across the board. One problem. She got herself in, but could not get herself out. She needed my help but did not ask for it and hated having it.

Sir we have weighed your luggage, now we have to weigh you. Are you serious? Yes, your ticket total depends on weight. Most of your fare is to cover the jet fuel needed to propel you to your destination. Don't worry sir, we will just show you your weight and your price. What you paid before just covers the airline profit, the salaries and incidentals. You thought you were going to fly to Australia for $50? Gotcha!

The health care system could use other changes. How about smaller places treat basic illnesses and wounds, you do not need a doctor for? This can keep the prices down. You don't a trained physician for it, but someone you can give basic training to. Many Conservatives, (and possibly some Communists, if there are any left) may hate me for this, but I stealing the idea of the Barefoot Doctor in China.
We know how expensive major medical equipment is. You know, you are not going to get it in rural areas, there is not enough of a population base. Set it up though, where the doctors are the big guns you reserve for where it is needed.

If we have our elected representatives threatened and attacked, we are in trouble. Representative Eric Cantor hit the nail on the head. You can be angry, but there are other ways to deal with it. That is our system. Otherwise, we become countries like Colombia, politicians with all sorts of bodyguards. Jamaica in Kingston's slums in the 1980's
If you want our Democracy to work, we have to be friends at the end of the day.

Our highway system is falling apart. President Eisenhower had a great idea when he created the Interstate system.
The system is falling apart. How should we deal with it?
Tolls all over the country. Pay as you go. I suggested the VAT tax before that Fareed Zakaria talked about. Pay for what you use. Same with public transit. Pay for what you use.

I can't resist the humor. People fear Islamic terrorists on the Mexican border? Put beer, and pork carnitas out as free food and detain who turns it down.

I wanted to add to the Education debate. I didn't think of this yesterday. The United States and each state as people have to decide what we want to get from our schools.

Meeting the Writers is back on Access Tucson. The next show will be Wednesday, March 31st. I am interviewing Elaine Charton about her new book, Mac's Man.

I have read about Chinese officials holding people and saying "You have hurt the feelings of the Chinese People."
If this happened to me, I would be impressed. If I can hurt the feelings of 1.2 billion people, I would go down in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest jerk in the history of the world. Atilla the Hun, step aside.

I was reading the story in the March 15th Newsweek about teaching in the United States.
When I was in college, the Education students tended to be the bottom of the class. The article said in Finland, it is the other way around.
Education professors are about to be annoyed by me, but here goes. After five years, you can tell in most cases whether someone will be a good teacher or not.
This seems like common sense. No tenure until five years of major supervision. They should know their subject(s) of expertise, but forget the Schools of Education and the theories. See how teachers can motivate students, control classes and nurture the next generation.
The next article about the schoolyard brawl between Randi Weingarten and Michelle Rhee. The two of you not liking each other is not helping our children. Get to work for the kids, not to protect bad teachers.
Also, the parents need to be involved in the game.
Hillary Clinton was right. It really DOES take a village!

I was reading the story in the March 15th Newsweek about teaching in the United States.
When I was in college, the Education students tended to be the bottom of the class. The article said in Finland, it is the other way around.
Education professors are about to be annoyed by me, but here goes. After five years, you can tell in most cases whether someone will be a good teacher or not.
This seems like common sense. No tenure until five years of major supervision. They should know their subject(s) of expertise, but forget the Schools of Education and the theories. See how teachers can motivate students, control classes and nurture the next generation.
The next article about the schoolyard brawl between Randi Weingarten and Michelle Rhee. The two of you not liking each other is not helping our children. Get to work for the kids, not to protect bad teachers.
Also, the parents need to be involved in the game.
Hillary Clinton was right. It really DOES take a village!

This post is covering buying and taking care of a home and property.
We bought our home from our friends. We rented the house first. If we were being shown the house, one lesson learned the hard way. Access to the pipes. We had a major plumbing issue where a hole had to be cut out in our living room wall. A door had to be installed so we can get to the pipes in case there is a problem.
Lesson learned find out where you can access, the plumbing and the electrical. For unless you are wealthy, you will be the one working on it.
Luckily, because of my job, I know some basic electronics. If you own a home now, and are not well off enough to hire someone, you need to be an amateur, electrician, plumber, landscape person, etc. A Jack of all trades, but a master of any?

Another article from last week's Newsweek, the Real Generation Gap. Several things struck me. A larger number of kids get tattoos. Where and when I grew up, men had tattoos if they had been in the military or were criminals, women if they were hookers. If you had tattoos at a workplace you kept them hidden. Some tattoos are great and quite stylish. I would not get one. Nothing I want badly enough.
Race. Only five percent of what is called the "Millenial Generation" opposes interracial dating. Growing up for me, most people opposed it. With now what we know about DNA, I guess does it REALLY matter? When I discuss race with my nieces, they wonder why we are talking about it.
At the end of last year, I was staying with my sister on Long Island. My favorite niece, Jilly is a very bright twelve year old. She would stay up and ask my sister and I questions about our growing up and about social issues. We told her about attitudes toward gays and African-Americans and interracial dating and how things are changing. Jilly and another young lady told me normally if you bring race up among their friends, they see you as racist to bring it up.
Times change. The article made me think about my niece and her questions.

Last week's Newsweek talked about government by loophole and the history of the filibuster. The real reason many years ago, made sense. Before airplanes and TV cameras. This prevented the majority from ramming something through.
The way the system is set up now, you want to choose a candidate for the Senate who is the best at working the system. Give him a test of Senate rules and see how s/he does.

Author Brenda Novak's fundraising auction for juvenile diabetes research is coming up in May. I am donating my time for public speaking coaching. For such a classy and kind lady, it is the least I can do. Check out the auction at her website, http://ping.fm/wSgcj

Bestselling Author Brenda Novak spoke about networking for your career at the Tucson Festival of Books.
She has her May auction to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes and some great items. I was happy to set a friend up for her pottery to be in the auction.
Brenda's point was exchanging help and doing favors for people, you want to work with people you like and trust.
Brenda is a classy lady. I am fortunate to have her as a friend.

Free Range Kids and Lenore Skenazy. I was honored to moderate her talk. I just had to ask an occasional question to keep it going.
It was fun to have her talk about her information about parents not allowing their children to explore and reach out.
Now, I am no longer in moderator role, (actually, I was more like her comic foil), I can make it clear I support her positions completely and will put on her blog comic wisecracks about some parents.

Literary agent Kevan Lyon, and authors Julia Quinn and Rachel Gibson were guests of Saguaro Romance Writers last night at dinner leading up to the book festival.

Pandora has been having lots of fun. Last night, my toes were the targets. If you follow American Football, my toes were like sacked quarterbacks. Tonight, she was asleep between my legs. I got up to go to the bathroom, then got on the computer right now. She is small enough, so she sat in front of the keyboard. Then she decided to attack my medical medallion. When she couldn't get it off, she left in disgust.
Yerbie slept through the entire event.

The Middle East is a rough neighborhood. You knew that. This is just an offbeat view, not meant to offend.
I will watch Battles BC when it is on History Channel. If you remember Exodus, Moses is led to the top of Mount Nebo and shown Israel, but told, you will not get to set foot in it.
Can you imagine the dialogue between God and Charlton Heston, sorry Moses. (The movie The Ten Commandments, you know). "God, what do you mean, I can't set foot there after all I've done for you."
"I need new leadership. People who are not held back by being slaves in Egypt. Your forty years in the desert was no accident. (I know, you have heard the jokes about they were men, so would not ask for directions. Not many folks to ask in Sinai).
Moses dies on top of Mount Nebo. Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land. "Oh yes, Joshua, I forgot, it is not being handed to you. You have to fight for every acre."
The people there, the Canaanites have other ideas. Isn't like a schoolyard brawl? My God can take your God, Baal vs. Yahweh any day.
The real estate agent neglected to tell the Jews, everyone else wanted it. Read your history and look at a map. Major land bridge for empires for thousands of years.
Let's see if real peace in Iraq happens. Who wants to bet on that?

Tonight at the Barnes and Noble we go to in Tucson, Mystery author Joanne Fluke was signing. Murder with your cookie recipes. Her small Minnesota town and Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove have similar high murder rates. Sherlock Holmes once said to Watson, "There are more dark secrets in the countryside than the worst neighborhood in London.

The March 8th, 2010 issue of Newsweek had an article by Fareed Zakaria called Defusing the Debt Bomb.
He had three suggestions.
1. Adopt a Value Added Tax which most countries now have as a National Sales Tax. Make that 25% and you can balance the Federal budget and eliminate the Income Tax except for those earning over $100k and those would pay a flat 25%. Reward Americans for saving.
2. Get rid of various subsidies, running $250 billion a year.
3. Raise the retirement age.

These can be hashed over, but the upshot is, should we not pay for the services we need and vote for?
Let us work and innovate.

The United States has always had immigrants. The Western Hemisphere was the last place to be settled by man.
We are not based on blood, but ideas. Come here, work hard, be a pioneer for your family and hack out your place in the wilderness.
You have to have an invite though. Allow me to break this down on a neighborhood level. I invite you to my home, you don't just walk in and squat. I would not walk in and trespass in your home.

A couple of years ago, I had philosophical musings I called the Pioneer Party. I have not founded such a party, mostly musings on what I see as common sense and where the United States is going.
I got the idea of "Pioneer from the second book former Monty Python comedian and commentator on all sorts of things, John Cleese wrote with his former therapist and friend Dr. Robin Skynner.
At one point in the book, they discussed different societies. One of those was the United States. John Cleese talked about the individualism of Americans and the pioneer spirit and hard work made us.
It suddenly hit me reading my friend, Author Lori Foster's posts we are missing something with our present gridlock in government. We need to return to some of what made us great. Hard work and neighbor helping neighbor, sharing skills.
I may not agree with Lori on everything (that is what makes America great), but we can agree on working to help each other help the country. Pioneering is not just a log cabin in the woods, but innovation. Innovation is something we are good at and must remain good at. Otherwise, what is our niche in the modern world? Where do we, the United States belong?

I wrote previously about the Red Sox. The element of Celtic "Lost Causes" I am a major fan of Asterix the Gaul.
Can you imagine, a tight Red Sox-Yankees game. Asterix and his partner in crime, Obelix, the Menhir mover.
Obelix wanted to bring his menhirs in, but even with his belly, they are hard to hide, and the rules against bringing items into Fenway Park. Obelix would dearly love to deliver menhirs as Yankee gravestones, but Major League Baseball frowns on this sort of extra curricular behavior.
The Yankees remind them of Roman Legions.
"Ye Gods!" Asterix cries as a ninth inning Yankee home run hits the foul pole in right field, known as Pesky's Pole.
"Ye Gods, another loss to the enemy!"
"Well, if they let me bring my menhirs in,"
"Quiet, let's get some ale drown our sorrows, and remember tomorrow is another day, another battle.

I have been thinking more about Homeschooling. Last Saturday, my friend and fellow writer Lisa Cottrell-Bentley spoke about home schooling. In the past, I would have opposed it. I've now seen enough success stories to think it may not be such a bad idea and would like to do some research toward it.

Last night, we watched part of Ken Burns' series on baseball. I was reminded of the years of Red Sox disasters.
I realize being a Sox fan is more than doing it to continue breathing through a nose not broken in three places. I grew up with my parents stories about Ebbitts Field in Brooklyn. (My Mom could WALK to Ebbitts Field). I told my father recently he really dated my mother for easy access to Dodger games.
The Long Island raised Harvard historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said the same thing. Fenway Park reminds her of Ebbitts Field, so I was always interested.
Becoming part of the Red Sox nation is an entirely different story. George Will is right. New England has so many literary types, much ink is spilled when writing about the Sox.
When the film talked about the 1986 World Series against the Mets, Bob Costas talked about being in the Red Sox clubhouse being ready for the celebration; until the roof caved in and the Mets won. Doris Kearns Goodwin said she did not want to watch Game Seven. Her young sons said, "Don't cry, Mom, there is next year." She didn't think it was time to share the history of the Red Sox. It is a bit like the book of Exodus. A tale of hardship. Redemption comes much later.
There is also the Puritan "Life is hard." Said with the hard flat "A" of my father-in-law. Can you imagine the World Series party in Government Center and an annoyed voice in back, "You've had your party, now get back to work."
There is also the Celtic element. It's a Celtic thing, you wouldn't understand. The Celtic love for lost causes (Boudica, Vercingetorix, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Ireland, especially today's "Troubles" in the North). The French cartoons character Asterix the Gaul would be sitting in the Fenway bleachers with his buddy Obelix crying, "Ye Gods, another loss to the Yankees!" Can't you just see the Yankees as Caesar's Legions? Derek Jeter, centurion. When the Sox boot another one to the Evil Empire from the Bronx, the cries are heard from Hartford to Halifax.
Baseball is a wonderful game with all sorts of drama. Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series, injured and coming off the bench to hit the game winning home run, that psychologically wrecked the Oakland Athletics. The terrible 1989 season, Pete Rose, Bart Giamatti, and the World Series earthquake.
Baseball has that sort of history. It was a nice night to visit that.

Today has been an interesting day involving the two members of the Feline nationality in this household.
It started with Yerbie feeling rather neglected and wanting his Daddy.
Fast forward to tonight. We were coming in with library books and the groceries.
We have a hammock by the front door. Pandora was asleep on it. Yerbie wasted no time in jumping on top of Pandora.
Yerbie likes to try and get out to go on the grass, roll around and eat some. This is not allowed, until we can find him another harness.
My favorite hockey goalie of all time is Dominik Hasek. The man once described as having a slinky for a spine.
The front door is the goal. Yerbie charges for the door, kick save Hasek, rebound Yerbie attacks, Hasek covers up and play is stopped.
Then I went to take a shower. There is no privacy from Pandora. I threw her out of the bathtub, displeasing her greatly. She retaliated by attacking my flip flops. What did they do to her?
The cats had a blast. It is never dull.