Hard Drive Dive

The guilt was hiding in the background as I neglected my baby (Willie Boy) for so long but if there are other things going on, what can you do? I might as well list my excuses just to get it all documented. First of all, as it happens with all hard drives, ours died. Of course there were symptoms like; it was getting very slow and you had to key an icon a few times for it to activate but those things happen to all of us as we get on in years. Then one day it wouldn't boot up and even Microsoft/India couldn't get it going. It's odd being without a computer, as if checking your email is so-o-o important, or checking out a few favorite blogs is going to "make your day" or getting the news a half a day earlier than the newspaper is going to affect your ability to deal with the world. Suddenly neglected projects around the house get finished, you read a few more books and for me my second novel FAVORITE SONS gets resurrected.

Like most of DEVON LOCH I have been writing my new book by hand so it's never been something that I would have lost if the hard drive went down. I've been working on the sequel to DEVON LOCH for about  a year with an exciting story to tell involving the novel's original characters who have grown and are facing new challenges. I have a very detailed outline completed covering a terrific story, a few twists relating to the first novel, some cool new characters, challenging situations involving them and loads of very snappy dialogue.

Having the outline completed gives me a great deal of confidence and optimism about completing a  novel because I have a basic blueprint for what is going to happen. But one of the exciting parts about writing a novel is how the actual writing evolves from the basic outline; the characters that pop from nowhere and the situations that surprise me that make perfect sense. Originally I had DEVON LOCH ending and didn't imagine going back to it. But, as I am sure is true like running your first marathon, ideas kept popping up in my head. Is Jack done with competitive running at the ripe old age of 32 or does he realize he is in his prime as a world class distance runner who still has some reachable goals? What kind of running career does Laura have ahead of her with the proper training, desire and love for the sport? Does Teri want to provide emotional support for two runners in the family? What is in store for Billy who may be on the verge of being able to walk again and do he and Anne have a future involving more than just a physical relationship? Plus, are there ghosts from Vietnam lurking in the future?

But writing a novel is one thing and acquiring a new computer is another so Gwynne and I headed off to Costco to check out the inventory. We also planned to go to Frye's but the best laid plans..... Costco displayed six computers that ranged in price from $599 to four figures. Since we mainly just send and receive email, do some blogging, reserve books at the library, read movie reviews and compose an occasional Word document we realized right off we weren't candidates for the Lexus version of the Hewlett-Packard package. However we weren't sure about getting the basic package and missing out on some valuable options or even what printer to get either. A couple of days later our family computer expert Charlotte and I checked things out again at Costco and she cut right through our issues by saying, "Dad you don't need all this fancy stuff with the big screens and all the options. Just get the e-machine for $599 and use the money you save to get this HP printer with the copy/fax/scan option, plus you can do photo stuff on it too." It sounded like a good plan to me so we followed her recommendations and also picked up one of those wireless mouses which it turned out we didn't need. Obviously a mouse with a cord would be included in the computer package and Gwynne said that the wireless mouses are a big PAIN with their quirkiness and always having to change batteries when there are none in the house.

Eventually we got everything set up and it's all running just fine, plus the larger screen is very cool. It's funny because we were using caveman technology that we were very satisfied with; a big boxy Dell monitor that probably still worked off a gerbil on a treadmill, a hard drive that still had a port for a floppy disk and an 8 track tape and a laser quick printer which I have absolutely nothing critical or snide to say about. After a referral from the nice people at Cartridge World we picked it up for $5 at the Inter-Connection re-cycle place near Gasworks Park and we cycled everything at a recycle fair sponsored by the Whole Foods store on Roosevelt Way.

The only downside of the process is that we still have our cheesy little speakers that emit sound in a tone that is just above a whisper. Ya, ya I know about the little icon on the lower right side of the screen and the volume controls on the keyboard (very cool) and, yes Charlotte has checked through the Control Panel Help tutorial but nothing has worked. Her solution is to use the "hot" speakers she has stored in one of her moving boxes in the garage so we'll work on that this weekend. In the mean time I've answered the thirty-seven emails that piled up during our down time, introduced Mr. HP printer to Ms.e-machine hard drive and am sitting here blogging and still confused about the difference between a blog address and a blog name.

Writing/Blogging Motivation

It's interesting how writing a blog works. Since my blog doesn't have a specific subject that repeats itself through each post I'm free to follow whatever interests me at the moment. Once a blog entry is posted I have a feeling of relief that I haven't let WILLIE BOY fade away from lack of attention. I suppose all of us bloggers think that some day we will run out of things to say and considering the number of people that are following my blog there aren't many people who will care. Granted maybe nobody is paying attention to my musings so it must be a conscience issue that keeps me keying away, like forgetting about a friend or missing an appointment or not living up to something I said I would do. For me that blog posting relief thing starts to fade after about a week and then I know that I've got to start thinking about something else to say.

Before I started WILLIE BOY I made a list of subjects that interested me and for which I felt I had something constructive, humorous or enlightening to say. I limited my list to one 8-1/2 X 11 sheet of paper with the subjects listed down the left side of the page and on the right side I wrote notes on each subject but limiting myself to one line. Eventually I completed a whole page of approximately forty possibilities. I felt that having one page to refer to would be the most efficient way of organizing my possible posts. I wanted to be able to have one sheet with all of the options right in front of me; not pages of subjects, notes and thoughts. If you keep it simple you'll have fewer reasons for not starting this thing. Occasionally I would think of something new and I would either "white out" a topic that didn't interest me anymore and write in a new one or I would squeeze the new subject in between a couple of lines where there was a little bit of space.

The only time I had ever written under any kind self-imposed deadline was when I wrote my one and only novel DEVON LOCH. Writing a blog is similar to writing a novel in that I find myself thinking and daydreaming at various times during the day about what I am going to write next. There I was taking a shower or mowing the yard and suddenly a new character or event or line of dialogue would pop up. Another way I came up with inspiration for my book was during a run. Sometimes a new idea would just occur for no reason and I would hold onto it tight as I neared home. Other times as I ran I would probe at a character or plot point that wasn't making sense when suddenly a solution would ignite into my brain. Dead ends into which I had found myself trapped suddenly opened, characters that were acting inconsistently made sense or plot holes where I found myself staring down a long dark tunnel opened to the light.

During those evening runs I would worry that I wouldn't remember what I had worked out and would forget what I had come up with. But somehow the idea would come back to me the next time I sat down to write as if there was some kind of organizing system in my brain that filed the idea away then released it the next time my mind searched for it. It beat running with a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

I'm always intrigued when I read about authors (Stephen King being one of them) who sit down and start writing, not knowing where the muse is going to take them. They probably had a glimmer of an idea before they started but they didn't know where they are going or how they were going to get there. I need to put the idea down on paper and then write down other stuff that I know is going to happen or list characters that are going to play their part. When I get that overall plan written down, somewhat like an outline, then I can get started. This is somewhat of a linear plan, as in traveling from point A to point B but with an option to veer off to point A-1 and A-2 and then back to point B. Not a short-cut but a long-cut, like a journey you have planned where you decide on the spur of the moment to detour over to Highway 101 on the Oregon coast instead of heading up boring old I-5.

That's where writing becomes so fascinating as your main plan takes a completely different direction or a new character suddenly arrives that you hadn't even thought of originally. I guess we shouldn't be so surprised about the spontaneous direction our writing can take us as those ideas come from our own brains. We may be making things up but those glimpses that occur are a product of our own imagination which is a product of everything we have accomplished, failed at, read, seen, experienced, people we have known and met and everything else that has happened in our lives. The amazing thing is that somehow all of that information has been secreted away in your brain but can be accessed as your fingers manipulate a pen or type on a keyboard. Also there must be other secret doors behind which are ideas that come from unknown places that are unexplainable and just plain minor miraculous because obviously the first book written about traveling in a rocket ship to the moon was not written by someone who was relating first-hand experiences. Somehow those chemicals and neurons and synapses in your brain trigger ideas that no author has ever had before and that unique occurrence may be taken for granted by career authors but not by me.

I'm sure most people who write started out as a child listening to a parent or as a kid cuddled up on a comfortable sofa or as a teenager perusing titles in a library. Traveling in your mind to far away galaxies, storm driven seas, exotic foreign countries, terrifying dark forests or imaginary kingdoms made you want to create your own adventures and at some point you had the courage to try. Those books you read years ago sparked something in your imagination and one day you followed through.

It's funny, for all my years of reading there are a small collection of books for which I have never forgotten, even though I last read them over forty years ago. None of the books were particularly noteworthy, none of them were written by authors who have endured in fame, none of them are still in print (but are available on Amazon) but all of them sent a young boy to places he had never been and on adventures that had him holding his breath and stimulating his imagination. I read a lot of books as a kid but for some reason these three have been seared into my mind and I can tell you briefly about them as if I read them yesterday.

The first book titled: GLADIATOR by Philip Wylie I am going to save for a special post but one of the  memorable books I have not forgotten is THE TERRIBLE GAME BY Dan Tyler Moore (no relation to Mary Tyler Moore). Jonathan Burr is the college-age son of an American super spy who has been assigned a mission in a small European country. The father's job is to parachute into the land-locked mountainous region to play a game that all captives of that country are required to complete. The game involves running, riding, wrestling and sword fighting to the death. If the participant survives the competition, without being killed, he will be granted any wish that the country is able to provide. In the United States' case their wish will be to establish a land-based rocket system which will give them a strategic advantage over the U.S.S.R. which borders this small country. The dilemma is that the father is seriously hurt on the eve of his mission and the son, who has been training with his father and knows the intricacies of the Terrible Game, is enlisted by the secret agency to take his father's place. Naturally the athletically gifted and fearless Jonathan accepts the assignment. However one thing his superiors fail to tell him is that the game has never been won by an outsider for hundreds of years. I remember a great villain whose name was Tunch Belak an ominous adversary for young Jonathan. Thrilling adventures for teenage Will!

The last book I have never forgotten was titled THE SECOND SON by Charles Sailor which has one of the most thrilling openings to a book I have ever read. Joe Turner is an average good guy who works in New York city as a welder who connects steel girders at the top of high-rise buildings. After he and his best friend ride the elevator to the top of their latest project they begin their work-day hundreds of feet above the city's streets. During a maneuver to connect a beam Joe's friend loses his balance and is forced to grab onto the steel girder to save himself. The beam is hanging over the site attached to one steel cable. As the beam circles in the air and starts to tip down the man begins to lose his grip. Just before his friend drops Joe leaps onto the beam, leveling the steel girder and allowing his petrified friend to swing back to the main structure. As his horrified co-workers watch, Joe coolly attempts to balance the beam and swing it back to the main frame. Instead he loses his grip and falls to the sidewalk landing in a deadly heap. As the police try to keep the area secure the crowd watches in awe as Joe Turner begins to move and rises unsteadily to his feet, unhurt. Joe's adventures continue as his invulnerability becomes known to the world and he aligns himself with an anti-nuclear weapons group. A hydrogen bomb is detonated and the extent of Joe's powers are revealed. Very dramatic and exciting stuff as I read the book more than once!

I'll never know if either or all of these books encouraged me to want to write but I think the inspiring and exciting ideas at least gave me the idea of giving it a try. For that I am grateful to the authors who wrote those books. Maybe there aren't a lot of people who remember my three favorites but those authors are lucky to have at least a few of us. The point being that anyone can write but whether anyone else is going to read whatever you write is another story that involves talent, intestinal fortitude, belief in yourself and luck. That's why blogging is so great. All you need is access to a computer and something you want to communicate. A blog is personal, it's for the writer and if someone else happens to be interested that's fine but it shouldn't be what is driving you; you're mainly doing it for yourself to prove that you can do it.

Jeez I don't need the pressure of thinking that there might be people out there hanging on my every word and relying on my musings for their entertainment.

Scott's Memorial

Yesterday on January 2, 2010 in the most amazing outpouring of love seen in Madison Park since the passing of Judge John J. McGilvra over one hundred years ago, friends and relatives of Scott Earl McKee memorialized his passing. With people lined out the door of McGilvra's Restaurant and up East Madison Street over four hundred well-wishers told Scott stories and drank his beer.

As if respecting the occasion, the Winter Seattle weather turned unseasonably mild as Madison Park residents stood on the sidewalk renewing old acquaintances and introducing themselves to strangers. Under the sunny skies we all searched for the "Scott connection" and it was a joy when that connection happened with someone you had just met. Invariably the connection had to do with a lifetime neighborhood guy with a generous nature, who had the "know how" to fix things, possessed an easy smile and had the ability to explain things to people who didn't have a clue about driving a nail, opening a can of paint, turning a screw in the proper direction or turning off the electricity before sticking their finger into an electric socket.

Former school mate and UW football star Greg Alex, there with his wife and granddaughter, talked about Scott's old station wagon that carried his pals to school; Edwin Weihe attending with his wife Noreen, recounted Scott loaning him tools for 30+ years and Scott's wife of six years, Kay McKee, remembered Scott's joy of being a father to his new step-sons Parker, Colin and Andrew.

Scott's mother Lola McKee was surrounded by her daughters Jane and Jeri, their children Kelli, Daryl, Todd, Lisa and Bryan and cousins Kirk McKee, Betty, Jack, Paul and Sandi and her husband Bill. With all of these loved ones attending along with her Madison Park neighbors, Mrs. McKee seemed to thrive off the positive energy emanating from the crowd. She looked radiant as one old friend recounted seeing Scott walking down 41st Avenue East a few weeks earlier as the neighbor was on a run and Scott called out, "You're getting slower!" She laughed recognizing Scott's ironic wit.

Mingling in the jam-packed McGilvra's, hosted by owner Peter Johnson, were lifetime residents John Gallen co-owner of Best Buds with Brenda Lorentzen and her sons Rory, noted arborist & Ross seen on "Deadliest Catch" as a commercial fisherman; Jim Hagen and his family and father, Steve Day and his wife Kim(Hagen)Day, along with her sister Nan & husband Ken owners of Nanny's Daycare. Also attending was the Stephens' daughter Alexandra, former soccer star with the McGilvra Raptors coached by the legendary Will Lomen, the former champion runner and author of the best-selling novel DEVON LOCH who was seen holding court with wife and banker Gwynne Lomen and Sally and Burt Straight 30+ year residents of Madison Park who were known for their wild makeup, weird outfits and unconventional behavior in their rabid support of their daughter's soccer team.

Other lifetime residents represented were graphic designer Brad Ingham of Zeppelin Design known for inventing the award winning Kid Valley hamburger chain logo and Neil Murphy well-known entertainment entrepreneur hanging out with former Attic Manager Rob Gentry now a "community organizer" which gives him all the qualifications needed to run for President and Scott's pal for 30+ years Mike Lazzereti known Attic and Red Onion supporter. Laughing with Mrs.McKee was another lifetime resident, Madison Park raconteur & artist Dick Lehman and his wife Karen. Dick writes the Award winning column in the Madison Park Times that chronicles the history of Madison/Washington Park. Unable to attend but filing reports from a secret vacation site was noted Madison Park Blogger, Bryan Tagas, who moonlights as a banker and real estate dilettante.

Other lifetime residents seen were land barons Dick and Nancy Clark, their daughter Carrie and Nancy's sister Lexi Robbins along with a fine representation of the Robbins clan: sons Todd & Spafford, former valedictorian at McGilvra Elementary School, his sister Sarah, brother Howard and his son former Garfield football star Bo, all six foot eight of him. Real estate mogul Tom Maloney and wife Christine, the girls tennis coach at Holy Names were seen chatting with Tom's mother Jan owner of Park Travel for over 30 years.

Lifetime Madison Parkers architect Dan Clancy and his wife Adele schmoozed with their neighbors Dave Hutchens and his wife Jennifer the award winning designer who, along with Lola McKee, had a major hand in organizing the wildly successful Madison Park Book Fair this summer. Noted rock and roll stars Paul and Nancy Dobrin, career residents, modestly signed autographs amongst a hoard of rabid fans.

Keeping a low profile was petroleum recycler & former IBM executive Hoby Douglass who is in the Madison Park top five of people who solicited the most free advice from Scott McKee and is in the top 1% of people who still need to return borrowed tools.

Thirty+ year residents Dr. Steve Chentow and his lovely wife Laurel attended but had to leave early because Steve thought they had to pick the kids up from soccer practice. Attending solo was another former Garfield football star and McGilvra soccer standout William Schulze one of the heirs to the Schulty's sausage fortune.

Another former athletic star attending was McGilvra Bandit scoring machine Connor Casabeaux seen with his sister Andrea and his ravishing mother Erin Gailey a 20+ Madison Park resident and neighborhood insider. Her neighbor, 20+ year resident Linda Lesnick was there with her daughter Lauren.

Others honoring Scott were real estate grande dame Janet Rooks; 20+ year resident Kathryne "Kit" McGarry mother of crusading attorney Tim McGarry; Kay McKee's brother Bo Peck, wife Susan(Rolfe) and daughter Analise; Mark Lunsford and his wife Lynn who emmigrated to Madison Park over twenty years ago from the far away kingdom of Anacortes and Marcy Rawn who grew up on 39th Ave. E. and used to help Spafford Robbins with his ABC's.

To the unnamed hundreds who attended Scott's Memorial you are honored by your commitment to the first family of Madison Park, the McKees. It was a great day made even greater by the hope that Scott knew we all loved him and will never forget him. Meanwhile life goes on and as always Madison Park Hardware will open at 8 o'clock sharp Monday January 11th. Scott won't be there but the memories of him will never leave.

If you would like to read Bryan Tagas' Memorial of Scott on his blog click here.