(Short-Lived) Attack of the Roof Rats

This is not so good. About five years ago, we first heard reports of "roof rats" appearing in the Arcadia area of Phoenix -- this is an older part of town that was developed from large citrus groves. Roof rats are fairly disgusting looking rodents with nice long tails that munch on fallen citrus (and appear to even climb citrus trees to get at the goods). These charmers do well during warm winters, and started appearing in other parts of the Valley in recent years.

You know where this story is going. We're having a very warm, extremely nice winter this year. And those RRs are taking advantage. It's also been extremely dry, which is why we found a rat corpse in our pool two times (a different corpse each time). And we've been seeing hollowed out citrus in our back yard.

What to do? After freaking out for awhile, we made sure to keep the fallen citrus cleaned up. And, as shown in the photo, we sent out a crew to clear the citrus from the trees (spy camera view was taken from my home office; it's amazing what you can achieve working from home). Since we had our worst crop ever this year, it's no big loss. Only the RRs seemed to appreciate the undersized fruit.

Note to those dealing with these citrus-sucking scum: they love oranges, barely tolerate grapefruit and tangerines, and hate lemons (just look at the sneering expression on the frustrated scavenger in the photo).

In the unlikely event that you'd like to learn more about these rodents, see http://phoenix.about.com/cs/desert/a/roofrat01.htm.

Curve Wreckers Head Back to Campus

No particular reason to blog about the return of our three students to campus for spring semester 2006 except I like to brag. Sort of like affixing the bumper sticker that says “my kid is an honor roll student at (whatever) middle school.” Anyway, I must note that Patrick (U of A ’08), Paul Jr. (ASU ’09) and Patricia (ASU ’07) (all graduation dates are estimated) are into Dean’s list territory based on their performance so far – especially based on terrific results for fall semester 2005. The last of these scholars will be back in class on January 17.

ND in Valley for Fiesta Bowl (But Loses (Again))

The good news for Notre Dame football is that it was invited to a BCS game this year (with attendant gazillion dollar payout). The bad news for Notre Dame was that it lost another BCS game (but no financial penalty for doing so). For those of you that are keeping score, that makes four straight losses in the Valley of the Sun (three Fiesta Bowls, one Insight Bowl). At least we watched the game in the comfort of our own home this time, with a fine group of party attendees.

And the best part of ND coming to Phoenix anyway is that random fans show up and we get to see them. Patricia and I (with Kerry and Chris) went to a restaurant called Jilly’s in north Scottsdale the night before the game; the place was a Notre Dame hangout during the Fiesta Bowl week. We caught up with Joe and Ruth Noack (from our Minneapolis days). And saw three excellent Glee Club alums – Joe Donovan, Brian Shappell and Steve Lillis – with families. Very nice.

Visitor from Wisconsin (or Minnesota)

We had a very fine visit from Ms. Angela House of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She just graduated from college, which is a very good thing to do, and visited for a few days at the end of December (departed January 3) (early in the morning). She had fine experiences such as Phoenix Coyotes hockey, Tempe New Year's Eve Block Party, reading a book outside in 80 degree sunshine, playing with Kelly, hanging out at our Fiesta Bowl party, playing Balderdash, getting a spiffy haircut (or whatever girls call it), playing bump-out (see post below) and many other fabulous adventures.

Photos show an afternoon hike with Patricia, Angie and me.

Today is my Dad's 77th Birthday

Ernest Mathias Gales was born on this day back in 1929. He's been a cool dad throughout. A few quick thoughts:

1. My brothers and I were lucky to be able to work closely with Dad in his business (farming and custom corn shelling and trucking). This started from a very young age (and probably didn't even violate any child labor laws!) Among other things, I think I benefited greatly from observing his approach to problem solving -- always unruffled and analytical; think it through and get it right. And always on the lookout for a more efficient way to accomplish our tasks. Since Minneapolis-Moline wasn't investing many R&D dollars in corn shellers, this resulted in many custom modifications. I think back to the discussions that would precede setting up the corn sheller at any of our jobsites -- lay of the land, anticipated wind conditions, dealing with corncrib peculiarities, etc. I'm convinced that all this greatly assisted in developing whatever problem-solving skills I use in my business stuff.
2. The guy gave us a lot of confidence in our ability to handle situations. Need a tractor and corn sheller moved and there's nobody available to do it except some 13-year-old jackass? No problem, send him over to the customer's farm. Ditto with moving grain trucks around, even if the would-be driver didn't have the right license and wasn't necessarily an expert at distinguishing the clutch pedal from the brake. I do think this kind of thing develops confidence. And since it was coupled with endless analysis and theorizing (see #1 above), we didn't veer into recklessness (much).

Top photo shows EMG with a now-vintage Super M. Bottom shows him at the 50th wedding anniversary celebration, looking dapper in the suit in which he was married on February 19, 1952.

Happy #77!

Flashback: Grade School PE

Remember “bump out?” The grade schoolers got in line and took turns shooting free throws. Two basketballs are used. If you miss your shot, you can rebound and shoot again – but you better make it before the person behind you in line makes his or her shot, or else you are eliminated from the game. If you are in danger of elimination, you can “bump out” the other person’s basketball by whamming it with your own basketball. While they retrieve, you score! (In our game, retrieval of a properly bumped-out basketball involves a long trip across the park. Plenty of time for even the worst shooter to make good.) Last person standing of course wins.

We had our most recent game on December 30. Played in gorgeous weather at the park right outside our front door. Various of the participants won games. Christopher was the most aggressive bump-out-er. Photos show the intense action, as well as somber bumpees. In photo at top, you can see that everyone (except Chris) is trying to figure out where the heck Nicole's shot is headed. (Chris is trying to figure out how far he can bump her basketball should it come back to earth.)

Holiday decorating 2005

OK, we went through our pretty much ritualistic holiday decorating routine again this year. Here’s the routine:

• The work is done over Thanksgiving weekend.


• All workers were present this year, including our out-of-town daughters.


• Basic assignments work as follows:


• Patrick, Kerry and Christopher have primary responsibility for putting decorations on the tree.


• I’m in charge of finding and bringing in boxes from the garage (now largely delegated), getting the tree up and dealing with bad lights (now largely delegated) and hanging a few strings of lights outside (not accomplished in 2005). I also find CDs with Christmas music (predominantly ND Glee Club 1977 Christmas album, Jessye Norman’s Christmas album, and a CD by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.)


• Patricia opens the boxes of ornaments and generally directs the tree decorating process.


• Paul Jr. basically sits around and supervises his mother so that she doesn’t miss (intentionally or otherwise) a single ornament.


• Nicole hangs lights over the fireplace and kitchen counter, puts up the stockings and distributes around the house the countless little Christmas items that have accumulated over the years.


• Generally the final task is to hang a streamer along the rail up the staircase. Staffing is variable. Christopher and Patrick took the lead on this in 2005.

The end result is quite nice, as you can see. Merry Christmas.

ASU Choral Union -- 2005 Christmas Concert

Below is the poster for the recent Christmas concert by The ASU Choral Union. It was the second concert with this group for Christoph, Paul Jr. and me. I loved being part of our Brahms concert in October (see post of October 17). The experience of singing with a high-quality orchestra is quite a fine thing. That concert also was educational for me as I had no real previous exposure to that type of music -- and learned that it's good stuff.

Our expectations for the holiday concert initially were pretty low -- the seasonal music seemed less sophisticated, etc. But in the end the programming for this event was wonderful. The first half included pieces from Berlioz, Handel, Mendelssohn and Beethoven; I couldn't really tell you which piece I enjoyed more, all were just delightful. The second half included the more traditional carols (albeit with interesting Rutter settings) and the sing-along, which went very well. The second half also included a 2004 setting of the traditional "O Come , O Come Emmanuel," and featured a violin soloist who was absolutely lights out. Small world story: Virgil & spouse (Grandpa & Grandma's neighbor from St. Joe, Iowa) were in attendance by sheer coincidence, and we're told they liked what they heard. In any event, this was absolutely the finest Christmas concert that I was ever associated with. We're told that the Phoenix public TV station recorded the event and will broadcast it in a future holiday season, and I'm hopeful of getting a copy of the video sooner than later.

Part of the enjoyment for the listener (or performer) with this type of music is recalling the various places in which the traditional songs have been enjoyed over the years. I certainly recalled the Notre Dame Glee Club Christmas concerts, recording our Christmas album in 1977, and singing carols in the library during finals week; high school concerts; caroling (complete with costumes) arranged by Clara Bormann; how much my Grandma Gales enjoyed singing carols in the living room on the farm house on the hill; midnight Mass with the ad hoc choirs at St. Joe church; and many more. Everyone has his or her own list. How do you beat this type of thing?

__________________________________________
Arizona State University Herberger College of Fine Arts
School of Music
presents the

ASU Symphony Orchestra
Timothy Russell, conductor
and
ASU Choral Union
David Schildkret and Joel Neves, conductors
in their beloved annual
Holiday Concert

Seasonal works by
Handel, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven,
plus
Holiday Favorites by Rutter, Tyzek, and others,
and featuring a
Christmas Carol Sing-Along
___________

Sunday, December 4, 2005
2:30 p.m.
Gammage Auditorium
____________
Tickets: $12.50 (Students, $7.50)

ASU Nursing Student Makes Good

Tonight we attended the Fall Induction Ceremony for the Sigma Theta Tau International. Don’t know what the Greek represents, but this is an honor society for the nursing profession. And a big deal if you are selected. Our Patricia Joann was an inductee. They held a nice ceremony at the Fiesta Inn in Tempe. It was a good chance to meet some of her friends and instructors from the nursing program. Including Shelley (361-0341), who sat at table with us (us being Patricia, Paul Jr., Nedda, Chris and me). A fine evening all around. After, we moved Paul Jr. out of his dorm room for winter break. Patrick continues slaving away down at U of A for a couple more days. Info about the honor society is at www.sttibetaupsilon.org.

Fall color!

Some folks say Arizona doesn’t have a change of seasons. This is absolutely not true in our backyard. We have one tree that changes color. Check it out.

Thanksgiving 2005

I must say that we had a fine Thanksgiving this year, as usual. EPG came up from Tucson on Tuesday. N and K both flew back to Arizona, arriving very late Wednesday evening. On Thanksgiving morning, PJ put together the usual major brunch. For dinner, we had one of those “free range” turkeys (in this case, from Young’s Farm in Prescott, Arizona). I’ve always been a huge skeptic of this concept. Not any more – this was noticeably better. Then we all watched a family video from the 1995 timeframe in the evening.

On the Friday after, our U of A (EPG and K) and ASU (N, C, PJr) students/alumni got up bright and early and went tailgating at ASU for the annual Arizona-Arizona State football game. Patricia (ASU ’06) and I went to coffee. Other than locking the keys into the car, CPG having some trouble getting back to his section, everyone getting sunburned, EPG eating too many red vines, and all leaving at halftime as ASU was being slaughtered, I think they had a great time. Unfortunately for U of A, their QB was injured in the second half and ASU rallied to win. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers + an apple pie. Also had a fine hearts game going on.

U of A Homecoming

Here’s something fun: Kerry showed up in Arizona for the first time in several months. Last we saw her (back in June), she had just purchased a hot black Honda Civic, loaded it up, and headed off on a cross-country tour to her new job location in Virginia (all this while overcoming a mysterious ankle injury). We’re still waiting to see photos from that adventure, but I hear Graceland was a major highlight. (She also left behind lots of stuff in our house, most of which now has been rearranged or properly disposed of.)

Anyway, she made it to Arizona for U of A’s homecoming weekend in Tucson. We didn’t attend this year, but reports are that she spent quality time with (1) Patrick, and (2) many of her U of A pals. There was a shocking development that evening in Tucson: U of A’s traditionally lousy football team beat a Top 10 team – heretofore undefeated UCLA – by the score of 52 to 14. Everyone thought the score was a misprint. If you’re interested, there’s a story at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=253090012&confId=null.

We did see Kerry on Sunday (November 5) for a couple hours before taking her to the airport. That was fun. And it’s good that it’s just a short time until she returns for Thanksgiving. From Kelly's response, we are convinced that the dog actually remembers her.

Disclaimer: U of A photo is from last year’s U of A Homecoming, which we did attend.

Lockett's Meadow 2005

We were later than usual, but we did get up to Lockett’s Meadow again this year. And it was well worth the trip. The hike into the “Inner Basin” was beautiful as always. Because we were a couple weeks later in the season, most of the aspen leaves had already dropped. Which made the trees look more stark than usual. We were lucky with the weather. Snow had fallen earlier in the week, but temps were warm by the time we got up there. Plenty of snow on Mt. Agassiz, per photo.

Lockett’s Meadow is about 15 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. I don’t remember exactly the first year that we went up there to hike. I know that EPG and PJr either couldn’t or wouldn’t hike the whole way, and PJ and I had to carry them out. So it probably was 1990 or thereabouts. We’ve been going up there a long time.

This year’s hiking crew included PJ, PJr, EPG, Luke Stenger, Kelly and me. Kelly was a last-minute addition. She did well for an older pooch but we did carry her for portions of the trip up. Everyone else made it unaided. Dinner at Outback; long service delays did yield free (and massive) desserts.

Info about Lockett’s Meadow and the hike is at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/peaks/inner-basin-tr.shtml. Topping out at about 10,000 feet is neat. PJ did a good job with the photos.

Schicksalslied and Nanie: the big night is almost here!!

The post of September 9, 2005 below discusses that PJr, CPG and I have joined the Choral Union at Arizona State University. After weeks of diligently practicing, our first big performance is scheduled for 7:30p on Friday, October 21.

There are two pieces that involve the chorus; each was composed by Johannes Brahms, and each is accompanied by a full orchestra. Schicksalslied (the Song of Fate) lasts about 17 minutes. You can (and I think you will) enjoy the entire song by clicking here: http://www.classiccat.net/brahms_j/54.htm. (Instruction: when this page loads, click the Uni Witten-Herdecke chor link; that will lead to a page of free music links; scroll down the page to Sommerkonzert 2001; click on Schicksalslied and wait for the file to load, it doesn't take long. The beginning of the song is quite quiet so make sure you have enough volume on your speakers.) Notwithstanding my ethnic heritage, learning the German pronunciations did not come easily. The song extols the beautiful, points out everybody eventually dies, and laments that nobody mourns the un-beautiful. Cheery 19-century German stuff. But very nice music.

As far as Nanie, the text is by Friedrich Schiller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiller). This fella also wrote the “Ode to Joy” that was so famously set to music by Beethoven. Schiller is all about aesthetics, meaning I don’t really know what Schiller is all about. Nanie includes a bunch of classical and mythological references. Again: 19th-century German stuff, but very nice music.

You can read about Brahms at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahms.

Anyway, I've never been in a performance with this kind of music. It's a great experience.

Time for a change . . .

I graduated from ND law school in 1982 and have worked in large law firms ever since (except for about four years working for corporations in-house). So it’s been all large organizations, all the time. 23+ years. Which starts to sound like a long time.

On Friday, September 30, 2005, I cleaned out my desk and left Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, where I’ve been a partner for the last 5+ years. SSD has been a good place to work; a large international law firm with 800 attorneys and offices around the world (www.ssd.com); about 75 attorneys in the Phoenix office.

My new firm has about 792 attorneys less than SSD. I’ll be the eighth partner at a small firm in northeast Scottsdale (Feldman, Brown, Wall, Hall & Agena PLC, www.phoenixlawgroup.com). My bio is at http://www.phoenixlawgroup.com/pgales.htm (but no photo until I get a chance to get together with the photographer this week).

My practice areas won’t change, though I will be able to focus more effectively on smaller companies (which is the right market to target in Phoenix). But work life will be quite different with far greater flexibility and far fewer resources. I’m looking forward to it.

It happens that we had a bottle of 1993 Dom Perignon sitting around the house that was a closing gift from a client on a $200 million refinancing transaction from 2002. When I got home from cleaning up the office, Patricia and the kids had the idea to break out the bubbly and toast my last day. Nicole and Patrick were visiting here in Phoenix along with the usual suspects, and Mary Beth Stern also showed up. So that was a nice idea and I appreciated it.

Then we watched a home movie from 1995-96; we probably haven’t watched this one since it was recorded. The scene of Kelly chasing racecars around a slot car track is quite hilarious. PJr also had some trouble finishing street hockey breakaway chances. Among other good scenes. I need to get back on my project of converting tape to DVDs.

The only down moment was realizing that Nicole forgot to bring a coupon for Kelly's ProPlan food with her from Chicago (see posts of September 23 and September 21, below). Uh oh.

Flights - of pancakes(?)

I wanted, but have kept forgetting, to mention a neat breakfast idea that we encountered on our trip to Chicago in August. Many restaurants or brewpubs are now offering “flights” of wine or beer – where you receive small servings of three (or more) different types of wine or beer. It’s a neat way to experience multiple tastes.

When we stayed at Nicole’s apartment in August, she took us to breakfast at a restaurant in her Wrigleyville neighborhood, I think it was named “Orange.” Anyway, this place does flights of pancakes (of all things), with a different flight offered each week. The theme offered during our visit was mangoes. I can report that this was a great idea, very unusual. No one would admit it, but I am pretty sure that my co-diners (Patricia, Nicole, Patrick, Paul) were secretly wishing they had ordered what I did.

Photos show the coffee-stained “flight plan” plus Nicole’s apartment building (she + roommates occupy the upper floors); the folks in the foreground are engaged in some sort of discussion over the finer points of our bocce ball game.

CPG's new wheels

CPG has been stringing along a badly behaving 1995 Ford Explorer for quite some time now. It has been an underperformer relative to its mileage and most other standards of car behavior. In the Phoenix market, at least, the new car deals have been pretty compelling recently. He found a deal on a 2005 Kia Sorento and moved on it (especially because for some reason the dealership seemed willing to give good value for the expiring Explorer). I think he did get a good deal. It helped that the dealers are anxious to clear out the 2005 models (though for this model there is no difference between the 2005 and 2006 versions). A review of the 2005 Sorento from a “leading publication” is at http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/kia/sorento/100477310/review.html. Those Koreans have figured out how to make good vehicles (finally). But their problems from the 1990s keep the prices lower and the warranties longer than the competition, by a meaningful margin.

You might wonder why Patricia and I went along to the dealer? Well, sometimes we’re looking for something to do. And we thought we had fun. We got in on the first trip!

BTW, note the Cardinals’ logo on the rear window of the Explorer. Another reason to jettison the vehicle quickly.

Use of initials

I use initials for immediate family members mentioned in this blog. Most initials are easily interpreted but some have common letters, so FYI:

PSr = Paul Sr. (aka me)
PJ = Patricia (Joann)
NMG = Nicole (Marie Gales)
CPG = Chris(topher Paul Gales)
KHG = Kerry (Helen Gales)
EPG = (Ernest) Patrick (Gales)
PJr = Paul Michael Gales Jr.

Kelly receives full spelling in all instances, as she doesn’t understand initials.

Cutting it close

We have fallen into an embarrassingly cheap habit of not paying for Kelly’s dog food. The habit developed because we have “connections” in the pet food business, i.e. our own Nicole, marketing whiz for Nestle’s Purina business in the Chicagoland territory. Our primary (actually only) interface with Nicole’s work is to badger her every now and again for coupons for a free 20-pound bag of Purina’s premium ProPlan dog food (specially formulated for older small dogs) (product info at: http://www.proplan.com/product_detail.aspx?pid=138.)

Kelly is nearing 14 years of age (that’s of course 91 by standard dog-year math), and she looked pretty well used up just a few months ago. But now she seems to have adapted to life with PJ and me, and actually is pretty frisky again.

The problem is that we also fell into the habit of estimating Kelly’s anticipated remaining lifespan in terms of bags of food, instead of years. It once seemed that the current bag would be more than enough, and we didn’t make plans for a replacement bag (in this context, “plans” = hassling Nicole for another coupon). Kelly’s current bag of food is perilously low now, and she shows every sign of outlasting the bag. And Nicole hasn’t yet come through with another coupon.

We’re going to see Nicole for the ASU-USC game the weekend of October 1. Here’s hoping she brings along a coupon. Kelly could be pretty hungry by then.

The photos: one shows Kelly in her current dire circumstances, the other shows her in happier days surrounded by Purina bounty.

Something I did at work

When the kids were little, I never felt like I was able to do a very good job of explaining what it is that I do all day at work. They were convinced that I just played on a computer and talked on the phone. (They were pretty much right, actually.) At Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (www.ssd.com), where I’ve worked for the past 5+ years, a significant part of my practice has been corporate and governance matters. In case you’re interested, I’m briefly discussing here an example of things we do. (If you’re not interested, well . . . ) Anyway, we just put into place an updated “poison pill” for one of our clients. Basically, the pill makes it easier for our client to defend against certain types of unsolicited takeover attempts – it forces a so-called raider to negotiate with the company rather than just buy up a controlling stock position in the market. In theory, that permits the board to negotiate a better deal for all of the stockholders. (Cynics would say that the pill mostly permits the board and management to stop buyouts and hang onto their high-paying jobs.) Pills have been around since the days of the (in)famous corporate raiders of the 1980s. Most institutional shareholders profess to hate pills, but they do make sense for many companies. Here’s a link to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing disclosing the pill we prepared: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/906326/000119312505176426/d8k.htm. And here’s a link to the pill document itself (trust me, it’s pretty much boilerplate with very little original drafting involved): http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/906326/000119312505176421/dex41.htm.

Speaking of work, I’m on the threshold of a change. Will discuss details in a future post.