DCLS Square Dance Open House

Last night's DC Lambda Squares open house went very well, I think. It was a 2.5 hour affair with four squares on the floor during the early portion of the evening. We had guests from the Capital Country Dance Club performing a 10 minute number near the half-way point of the evening.

Christopher Dyer, Director of the LGBT Affairs Office of the DC Mayor's Office, came to read a proclamation from Mayor Adrien Fenty, declaring September to be square dance month in Washington, DC. Since we're the only square dance club in Washington, DC, it's pretty much aimed at us and I'm fine with that. :-)

I'm not sure how many new dancers actually visited with us last night: it didn't occur to me to do the head count until it was too late. I'm sure the event planners took the appropriate information. My gut tells me we had a dozen new folks and I'm curious how many will join us for the new Mainstream series starting next week.

At some point in the next 48 hours, I have to review & revise our lesson plan for the Mainstream nights. We have next Monday through early December, less a couple of Mondays where there are holidays or scheduling conflicts. I want to shuffle some calls, moving ones which were clearly causing heartburn in the Plus class a little earlier in the schedule to ensure the dancers have those calls cold before graduation.

No square dancing in Baltimore tonight: there's a municipal election and the Chesapeake Squares' regular dance space is a polling station. Bummer!

I've just finished typing up the minutes for Sunday's meeting of DC Diamond Circulate, the 2009 IAGSDC convention. I believe we're up to 177 registrations as of this morning. If you haven't registered yet, consider doing so before October 1 when the dancer rate rises from $170 to $195!

DCLS Square Dance Open House

Last night's DC Lambda Squares open house went very well, I think. It was a 2.5 hour affair with four squares on the floor during the early portion of the evening. We had guests from the Capital Country Dance Club performing a 10 minute number near the half-way point of the evening.

Christopher Dyer, Director of the LGBT Affairs Office of the DC Mayor's Office, came to read a proclamation from Mayor Adrien Fenty, declaring September to be square dance month in Washington, DC. Since we're the only square dance club in Washington, DC, it's pretty much aimed at us and I'm fine with that. :-)

I'm not sure how many new dancers actually visited with us last night: it didn't occur to me to do the head count until it was too late. I'm sure the event planners took the appropriate information. My gut tells me we had a dozen new folks and I'm curious how many will join us for the new Mainstream series starting next week.

At some point in the next 48 hours, I have to review & revise our lesson plan for the Mainstream nights. We have next Monday through early December, less a couple of Mondays where there are holidays or scheduling conflicts. I want to shuffle some calls, moving ones which were clearly causing heartburn in the Plus class a little earlier in the schedule to ensure the dancers have those calls cold before graduation.

No square dancing in Baltimore tonight: there's a municipal election and the Chesapeake Squares' regular dance space is a polling station. Bummer!

I've just finished typing up the minutes for Sunday's meeting of DC Diamond Circulate, the 2009 IAGSDC convention. I believe we're up to 177 registrations as of this morning. If you haven't registered yet, consider doing so before October 1 when the dancer rate rises from $170 to $195!

Rationalizing My Automotive Ignorance

I took my 2001 Honda Civic LX into the dealer yesterday for its 90,000 mile servicing. That particular visit was a little more expensive than I was anticipating.

90,000 mile servicing: $336.63
Replace missing bumper spoiler: $40.42
Replacement front brake pads and machine rotors: $334.46
Top engine cleaning: $135.71
Throttle plate cleaning: $75.65

Total: $942.40

On the one hand, the car has performed flawlessly since I purchased it years ago. Unlike my prior cars, this beast has never left me frustrated on the side of the road, calling AAA and praying a tow truck might arrive before I retire.

Still, I always leave a garage with the vague feeling that I've been had. I'm all too aware of my lack of mechanical knowledge and inability to know if "throttle plate cleaning" is a valid maintenance function or just code for ripping off a customer too ignorant to know he's being robbed. I suppose it's possible it's a perfectly reasonable operation but my nature is to be suspicious, even paranoid, when I know the conversation is sailing over my head.

I suppose I could remedy this a bit by doing my own research and educating myself on all things automotive. There are two barriers: I don't have a chance to research "throttle plate cleaning" once they already have my car on the lift in the garage and are awaiting my approval --and I'm sure that's part of their modus operandi.

Further, it's not economical for me to spend too much time on these things anyway. Based on my current salary, my time is worth about $50/hour: if I work 17 hours, I gross enough to cover this tab. Since I'm sure I'd need more than that to be even marginally knowledgeable about cars and engines, it's financially better for me embrace my ignorance, pay the tab and spend the time on revenue-generating tasks elsewhere.

So why do I still feel like I participated in my own mugging?

Rationalizing My Automotive Ignorance

I took my 2001 Honda Civic LX into the dealer yesterday for its 90,000 mile servicing. That particular visit was a little more expensive than I was anticipating.

90,000 mile servicing: $336.63
Replace missing bumper spoiler: $40.42
Replacement front brake pads and machine rotors: $334.46
Top engine cleaning: $135.71
Throttle plate cleaning: $75.65

Total: $942.40

On the one hand, the car has performed flawlessly since I purchased it years ago. Unlike my prior cars, this beast has never left me frustrated on the side of the road, calling AAA and praying a tow truck might arrive before I retire.

Still, I always leave a garage with the vague feeling that I've been had. I'm all too aware of my lack of mechanical knowledge and inability to know if "throttle plate cleaning" is a valid maintenance function or just code for ripping off a customer too ignorant to know he's being robbed. I suppose it's possible it's a perfectly reasonable operation but my nature is to be suspicious, even paranoid, when I know the conversation is sailing over my head.

I suppose I could remedy this a bit by doing my own research and educating myself on all things automotive. There are two barriers: I don't have a chance to research "throttle plate cleaning" once they already have my car on the lift in the garage and are awaiting my approval --and I'm sure that's part of their modus operandi.

Further, it's not economical for me to spend too much time on these things anyway. Based on my current salary, my time is worth about $50/hour: if I work 17 hours, I gross enough to cover this tab. Since I'm sure I'd need more than that to be even marginally knowledgeable about cars and engines, it's financially better for me embrace my ignorance, pay the tab and spend the time on revenue-generating tasks elsewhere.

So why do I still feel like I participated in my own mugging?