Remembrances

Timeworn trail marking passages of time and travel...

Know Yourself and Be Yourself

We each have an expedition, yours belongs to you...

It is an act of courage that enriches your experience.

The goal is to keep going and not stop. One step a day is progress while taking none is going nowhere. Sometimes that one step is a motivating pause of reflection and in that moment we then still move upward and forward. There are other days when almost maniacally we take many steps and we breakthrough barriers in leaps and bounds. Other times the grade of the climb is so steep that every stride seems purchased at a painful price. Each type of ascent has its own merit.

It is also perfectly acceptable, actually advisable, to occasionally look back and see how far you have come. The act serves as encouragement to keep climbing. The passage in this life is not to reach the end destination but to prepare for it and make the most of the exploration. Ultimately you will get there but on the way positive steps in the right direction will make the expedition enriching and worthwhile. On rough terrain when the hike is steep and the slope slippery looking up to where you are going is more helpful than looking down. The time will come when you have gone over the jagged rock and up ahead are able look back and revel in the accomplishment.

Regardless of where you are in life you can always look around and find someone better off, someone in about the same condition and someone worse off than you are. All three should be humbling experiences to motivate you to keep going rather than to rate yourself against them and allow you to halt. Others have their own journey, the one you have belongs to you and are responsible for each rung you make on the way up. It never hurts to reach down and give a hand to help someone else over the jagged rock, it is advisable since you will need the aid some day.

Positive thinking, optimism, self-reliance and mutual help are the mental tools that will keep you going and avoid stopping. As we move along our pilgrimage we collect and gather the means to take the next step. Know yourself and be yourself, it is an act of courage that enriches your experience, as well as giving you the wisdom to help others. All roads indeed do lead to a common destination but the mission on the journey upward is to make it worthwhile.

Down The Road

Postcard from the present...

Take A Virtual Ride on Valley Metro Rail

Trip the Phoenix Light Rail fantastic...

Valley Metro Rail, Inc. is a nonprofit, public corporation that brands itself as METRO but is commonly known as the Phoenix Light Rail. It is actually part of the Regional Public Transportation Authority that runs the bus systems and other public transit with member organizations. The history of the current RPTA dates to 1985 when voters approved a sales tax increase for a freeway system and provided for seed money for expansion of regional public transit. The current system in effect operates on county-based funding collected from sales taxes.

This video is edited from a trip started from the Central Ave and Campbell Station just south of the Grand Canal going south and the east past Sky Harbor, through to Tempe and ASU, to the "end of the line" in Mesa and returning back to Phoenix ending in midtown Phoenix. The route map can be found on the web at Valley Metro Light Rail's website.





Trip the Phoenix Light Rail fantastic... from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

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Between Palm Springs and Phoenix

OH NO! Stuck in Desert Center Again...


OH NO! Stuck In Desert Center Again... from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

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Urban Desert Flowers in Bloom

Hibiscus...

Hibiscus has always been a part of my memory since they grew all over Bermuda, where I was born. When I moved to the US when I was 14, I found they were also prolific in Arizona.

They are of the flowering Malva genus in the family of Malvaceaea commonly referred to in English as mallow. They're can be found in warm, temperate, subtropical and tropical environments throughout the world as native plants. They are not native to Arizona but grow very well with little care, primarily a good water source, some varieties require partial shade and are widespread wherever people live.

Up and Away

Paraglider Over Ahwatukee...



A paraglider floats over Ahwatukee, this video was shot from the communications towers area of South Mountain. Ahwatukee is a community of Phoenix that is physically separated from the rest of the city since it is located on the south side of South Mountain.






Paraglider Over Ahwatukee from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.


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We Will Still Need To Wear Shades...

Phoenix Economic Crisis Solutions in Six Paragraphs

Part Two: A follow up to my post Phoenix Economic Crisis in Six Paragraphs http://bit.ly/a0nS7T Low Tide, Waiting for Second and Third Wave...

Residential Mortgage/Lender Crisis: We need to acknowledge that since the '93-'94 recession, we intensified a decades old delusion of an economy built on housing construction, that was unsustainable. The mortgage/lender standoff is an actuality that must be resolved in a variety of ways, although the answers are not easily attainable, to avoid becoming another Detroit or Cleveland somehow they must be worked out. The populist notion of "walking away" is not acceptable with few exceptions. The process of mortgage holders admitting some responsibility for leveraging when they did and lenders accepting their share of accountability in this situation is without doubt an extremely difficult one.

Unemployment/Underemployment: We should accept we aren't an overly educated (but certainly not a poorly or undereducated) population. We do have very strong customer service and mechanical skills and polite, conscientious, motivated people with a good work ethic. We should actively seek to attract jobs that match what we are really good at doing. We're excellent at high end customer service centers, warehousing and shipping, aviation and communications, healthcare, hospitality and tourism. We have our fair share of software and technical companies and do quite well in manufacturing and transportation. We should focus and capitalize on those qualities and sectors.

State Government: Our state government needs reform but not more regulation and taxes. Our last six Governors have not served us well by design, lack of skill and/or default. Our current Legislature, with few exceptions, is a disgrace. We are a testament to why legislated term limits don't work, a lesson the nation should strongly heed and learn from. "Clean Elections" has been a farce and exacerbated a corrupt campaign contribution system even further. The reorganization implemented by Bruce Babbitt and the Legislature in the seventies was timely and well intended  but no longer works for us.

It's interesting to note that the Babbitt era reforms were primed due to the force of hand of the Federal Government and Federal Mandates during an unpopular Presidency. We now face a similar situation with a divisive US Congress, unwieldy onerous Federal Mandates and another unpopular President. As Arizonans it is time to reclaim our independent nature and reshape our government to make sense for us today.

Commercial Real Estate: The elephant in the room could be our greatest asset. We now (or soon will have) a large inventory of cheap office, business, hospitality and retail space. We still have a great climate and now is a great opportunity to attract businesses and jobs, based on simple supply and demand of available space and an abundant work force, motivated by an extended period of unemployment. Our climate allows us to benefit from Las Vegas' fiscal situation and reputation. What happens in Arizona is generally clean and healthy as well as acceptable to companies, conventions and visitors.

Immigration and Population: The topic of illegal immigrants is a complex one and inspires emotions of every range. A Rasmussen Poll on March 18, 2010 indicated that 59% of all Americans say the US should continue to build "The Fence" along the border. Those of us who have lived here for decades cannot remember a time that illegal immigration has not been a problem for our state. It was not until the problem started spilling over into more distant states that it became a heated national issue. There are no easy answers but somehow all sides must come to the rational conclusion that illegal immigrants of any background in the US, under these economic conditions, is fiscally unfeasible. We need to recognize our legal population needs to be stabilized at a sustainable level for the harsh environment of the geography we exist in. We must invest in education in an analytical meritorious way, recognizing that it will take several generations to build the employee base that attracts leading edge employers.

Acceptance: We have relied on unsustainable economic enterprises in an environment that is not capable of sustaining a large population without damaging our environment to the point of damaging and permanently devastating it. Realistically, although the entire country is in (at a minimum) the worst recession since post WWII, we are for all practical purposes, in a depression. The best indicator of the future is the past and looking at history. In that context, we are quite capable of pulling ourselves out of this condition but it will require hard work, consistent and unified effort, with a sustained ability to perpetuate progress one step at a time. 

End of the Road?

Cordes Junction 

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Sunset Point Scenic View

Black Canyon Highway (I-17) Exit 252 Sunset Point Scenic View 

 

Sunset Point is a popular overlook from the rest area on the Black Canyon Highway (Interstate 17) located at exit 252 just north of Bumble Bee and south of Badger Springs Road. It sits on a mesa ("tabletop mountain") and the rest area is on the western edge of the mesa. You can stand with your back less than one-half mile from interstate traffic and overlook a beautiful vista known for it's scenic sunsets, hence the name. A traveler passing through Arizona, unable to take the time to visit the beautiful geography of the state, for a few moments at least, can intake some of the state's charm. If they arrive at the right time, they can see a beautiful sunset fall below the mountains into Bumble Bee and Crown King.

Enjoy a short video of the mesa on the east side of the Black Canyon Highway and the vista from the overlook on the west side of the Interstate.

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Arizona Sunset Point Scenic View on the Black Canyon Highway from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

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Urban Desert Storm: Phoenix Arizona September 2009

I'm a geek...weather interests me

Urban Desert Storm Summer 2009 from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

Video Response to my unedited video "Urban Desert Rain 09/16/2007"

http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

Phoenx South Mountain Communications Towers

Twenty Towers Top South Mountain



Over the years I've wondered about the vulnerability of the towers on South Mountain. Usually decades ago when lightning protection was not what it is today, the concern was lightning strikes. That also sparks another concern, wildfires from the brush that covers the mountain, which could be started by lightning.
After September 11, 2001 the security of locations like this all over the US was reconsidered. The Bush Administration quietly spent millions of dollars in securing all kinds of locations. Among other things 911 emergency communication systems were upgraded both in locations like this and correspondingly in 911 centers.

This video blog was taken on South Mountain where the communications towers are located.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8obFpg_MTYk

http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

There is a lake in California...

A visit to Dry Ford Lake in California in August, peak heat of the year



My video blog on YouTube



http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

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