"Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs." - Max beerbohm

In the elevators here at the Ida Culver House they have a variety of things posted in the elevators that change from time to time. I saw that quote (at the top of the page) in one of them earlier today. I like it. And I intend to pull it out next time I do something really stupid.
Which means I'll have use of it soon.

Jim and I met at a Starbucks this morning and 7 and the next two hours flew by. What great fun. You can't call it reconnecting because I don't think we were ever connected. We agreed that we knew each other as kids but not much more than that. We also agreed that it is a most pleasant surprise to connect now. We'll see each other again tomorrow at the reunion but I hope we have time for more vis a' vis conversation soon.

I spent the rest of the day with my folks and that is always time well spent. Mom is doing better and may be released from rehab early next week. She still has some issues but I think they're near resolution. She'll be much happier back in their unit.

Some miscellaneous observations:

• People who live in Seattle, in the Pacific Northwest, should be required to spend one year in Arizona for every ten they spend here. That would make them fully appreciative of these surroundings. I'm sure the vast majority think this is normal - the rhododendron "trees" if full bloom, the monstrous evergreen trees, the beautiful red maples, never mind the mountains in every direction and the Sound to the west. Yeah, they should experience desert living on a regular basis, and I'll make the sacrifice to trade places with them so that can happen.
• Subarus are as ubiquitous here as Buicks are in Sun City.
• Starbucks are as common as Subarus.

Re. the Dodge Avenger I'm driving:

• Even as a rental - or especially as a rental - a cheat sheet should be provided. Too many mysterious buttons and functions. I should take pictures to illustrate my point, but in the absence of visual evidence:
• The rear view mirror has an on/off switch. Huh???
• There are LED courtesy lights up near that mirror. In between them is what looks for all the world like a very small camera lens pointed at the back seat. Hmmmm.
• In the center of the dash top, way up by the windshield, is a small protrusion, a dome-shaped ____ about the size of the end of my pinky. I have no idea.
• The ONLY way to open the trunk that I can find is with a button on the key fob that has a picture of the trunk lid and then a "2x" below it. I figured out that means I have to press it twice. Fine. I can do that.
• There are buttons on the key fob for locking and unlocking the doors, obvious because of the padlock icons on them, one open and one closed. Fine. I'm good with that, too.
• There is a fourth button that also has a "2x" on it and an icon that is a circular arrow. I mistakenly clicked that twice, thinking that, after locking the car, I was opening the trunk. I wasn't. That button STARTS THE CAR!! How do you turn it off?? I unlocked the door with the appropriate button on the key fob and put the key in the ignition. Nothing. I turned the key to "Accessory" and then to off. Nothing. I turned the key to "Run" (or whatever the next position is) and then to off. The car shut off. I will NOT touch that button again.
• I tried the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel  - not while driving - and discovered that one turns volume up and down and the other either cycles through the presets or changes it from AM to FM to CD to Satellite to MP3. Because the huge touch screen on the dash is apparently too tricky.

I am eager to get my '62 VW Beetle and my '66 Rambler on the road. There's a key to turn them on and off, there's a radio with two knobs and a dial, and that's about it. The fancy new feature in a '62 Beetle was the gas gauge. Prior to that year there was none. The Rambler lacks anything but the most basic functions. Want the windshield washed with fluid from the reservoir? There's a small pedal up under the left side of the dash board, above the high beam button, that you pump with your left foot to squirt the fluid on the windshield. And an engine compartment with enough open space to sleep your 2-year old. 

When I was raising animals we had a saying to remind us that at any given time an animal may croak. "What lives, dies." In the automotive field the corollary is, "What works, breaks." And in a '62 VW or a '66 Rambler I can fix it. I suspect a 2012 Dodge is spying on me with hidden cameras, monitoring and storing my driving routes and just generally puzzling me with its wizardry. 

I've been outsmarted by Detroit.

Scary, huh?