September 23, 2016
Dear Everyone:
We had our
Homeowner Association (HOA) meeting this week.
It actually went quite smoothly, if a little bit long at around
three hours. Our treasurer,
“Pyewacket”, is determined to pinch every nickel and dime that gets
spent. So our Property
Manager, “Michaela”, had to explain the difference between an
Operating
Budget and Reserves and what charges come out of each.
Even “Phoebe”, our newest Board member, who’s late husband ran
his own business, claimed to understand the intricacies before
“Pyewacket” conceded that counting every nail used to repair a balcony
before it crumbles isn’t really necessary.
Then “Michaela” had to explain to “Patty”, the volunteer Landscaping
Committee (of one) why she couldn’t just buy various types of equipment
to “try out and see” if they would be useful in obliterating local
mushroom
populations and such. I kept
my mouth firmly shut while “Michaela” pointed out that the Association
insurance company would freak if “Patty” got herself hurt, or damaged
the property to the point of needing repair work, with her little
experiments.
After that it was time to discuss, for the umpteenth time, various
revisions we wanted to make to the
Covenants,
Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R) for our Association.
Several changes in various laws made it necessary to have our
attorney rewrite some of the language.
And as long as we were doing that…
You can see where this leads.
Every little thing had to be considered, discussed, challenged and
accepted. Fortunately, three
of us had already met and gone over just about all of it previously.
So there were only a few new items to be added, like allowing, or
disallowing,
satellite
dishes and “Pyewacket’s” desperate desire to see individual
water meters
applied to all 188 Units so people would pay for their own water usage,
instead of having it included in the Dues.
Time flies when you’re having fun…
Meanwhile, movies.
I am continuing to cultivate “Phoebe”, my neighbor and fellow HOA Board
member. When I showed her my
little electric leaf-blower, and used it to clear her tiny patio in just
seconds, she was delighted.
And promptly went out and got one of her own.
Last week, we went together to see
Sully
at the local theater.
“Phoebe” wanted to see the movie at the
IMAX theater in
Dublin.
When I asked her why a 40-foot screen wasn’t big enough, she
admitted that she had only been to the IMAX once before and wasn’t
really aware of the difference.
Frankly, you don’t need to see a plane crash (correction: “an
emergency water landing”) that much bigger-than-life.
“Phoebe” also had no idea how much more the IMAX costs, since
someone else purchased the tickets the one time she went.
I advised saving the money for something more appropriate.
In fact, I told her about the time that we paid extra to see James
Cameron’s
Avatar
in IMAX 3D. After all the
Oscar-winning Cinematography and special effects, “Jeannie’s” only
remark was, “Lots of pretty colors.”
As for the movie…
One morning in January, 2009, an airplane bound for
Charlotte, NC,
took off from New York’s
La Guardia
airport and accidentally ran into a flock of geese.
Captain
Chesley
Sullenberger, nicknamed “Sully”, successfully guided the plane to a
water landing in the
Hudson River.
Many, many vessels from the police and fire departments, among
others, arrived in scant minutes to rescue everyone.
It was the “Miracle
on the Hudson”, a Happy Ending for everyone except the geese, of
course.
It was only a matter of time before someone wrote a
book about it and someone decided to make it into a movie.
In this case,
Oscar-winning director
Clint Eastwood
is the movie-maker.
Tom Hanks plays
“Sully”, with snowy-white hair and mustache, and a commanding quiet
dignity.
Laura Linney
plays Mrs. Sullenberger, trying to deal with hordes of reporters and TV
vans invading her little
Danville
neighborhood. And a great
many seasoned actors fill the smaller roles because they can do the job
without attracting attention away from the story.
The special effects people got to recreate a water landing, with real
water. And lots of extras
got to teeter on the sinking plane’s wings while shivering in the winter
cold.
The closest thing this movie has to a “Bad Guy” is a flock of
Canadian Geese.
And, after Argo,
you can’t really complain about anything Canadian.
So no real Bad Guys.
Instead, Eastwood chose to make the bureaucracy the Designated Villain.
There are mildly intense scenes of the
National Transportation Safety Board “raking Sully over the coals”,
second-guessing his decision and requiring a number of simulations to
“prove” that the plane had time to reach one of two airports.
Or not. At the end of
it all, Aaron
Eckhart, as co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, got the best line in the whole
movie.
Love, as always,
Pete
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