Category: Manny Kagan

Do You Know About Klamath Falls?

Klamath is located in 25 miles north of the California border in Southern Oregon. When I mentioned to a friend that we are planning to come here for a week-long vacation, she made a face and asked what do you do there? We stayed at the Running Y Resort in a Timeshare Exchange. Our fourth floor unit had a balcony that faced the golf course designed by Arnold Palmer with sweeping views of the mountains. On our way there, we stopped at Mount Shasta to buy groceries. It’s a dinky place at the foot of the snow-covered Mount Shasta Mountain.

Our resort was a twenty-minute drive to Klamath Falls, a local center with a population of over 20,000 and three local museums. Klamath is the name of one of Native American tribes, who lived there for 4,000 years. It is located 6 hours North of San Francisco (it took us eight hours with two stops) and 5 hours south of Portland. One of the local attractions is about an hour drive to Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park. It was formed about 2,200 years ago when the Mount Mazama Volcano collapsed into a caldera and filled with water to form a lake. Crater Lake is the deepest and clearest lake in the United States. When we got there, the surroundings were covered with snow; a magical scenery to see. People were skiing along the shore or walking on snowshoes. We were at the lake a few years ago during the summer and had a completely different experience.

The area has many other attractions. We visited the Lava Beds National Monument, which is actually located in northeastern California. It has numerous lava tube caves, which are open to visitors (You could read about this place in the last Sunday’s Travel Section of San Francisco Chronicle). Klamath Falls area is well known for their bird sanctuaries, as well as fishing and hiking. We did everything but fish, which we let others do for our dinners. But the most important part of our visit was to have a few days of rest and fresh air and it gave me an opportunity to start writing my next book, “Retirement Solutions for Smart People. 5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Your Golden Age”. I will keep you posted. We stayed in the resort for five days and then drove an hour and a half to Ashland. I will let you know about this visit in a few weeks.

Enjoy and Share.

P.S. For me, photographing nature or people has the same basis. I photograph when I encounter beauty. With nature it can be easier, to what these four images will attest.

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Cheers,

Why And Where To Go Running

After participating in the Bay to Breakers race, I wrote about two weeks ago, I have a few thoughts that I wanted to share with you, relating to the synonym for the word “running”, which is the word “rushing”.

Running as a sport was introduced during the Olympic Games, which first took place in 776 BCE in Olympia, ancient Greece. But the number of runners was relatively small. The rest of the world population was growing rather slowly. There was no reason and nowhere to rush. The actual change came during the Industrial Revolution, which started in 1760 with the invention of the steam engine. Consequently, people could accomplish more in the same period of time, and work longer hours. In addition, as a result of a breakthrough in medicine and changes in lifestyle, people could live longer, productive lives. Over the course of this period of time, we have been doing more and more. But the question remains – are our bodies and our mental state ready for all the pressure and demands on our lives? During the dot-com bubble, which took place from 1997 to 2001, thousands (if not millions) of young men and women have worked hard, longer hours. And then the bubble burst. However this did not stop the rush. In the last few years, more and more start-up companies have been popping up and driving the competition and the rush to make it another Google or Facebook. People are rushing to catch the next business opportunity, and not only young people.

There is a story about Bill who was running in the street and ran into his friend, John. “Where are you running?” John asked. “To catch the business opportunity”, Bill answered. John replied, “How do you know that the opportunity is not trying to catch up with you?”

So, what makes us rush and run? Years ago a friend recommended I read the book, “What Makes Sammy Run?” The book was written by Budd Shulberg in 1952. It is a story written about a young man – Sammy who wanted to succeed in Hollywood (over sixty years ago).

Years of rushing through life, working hard, short vacations, and not enough money leads to stress. Many people look forward to their retirement. Are they ready? I first came across retirement issues about a year ago when I helped a retired couple buy their first home by utilizing a reverse mortgage.

This led me to the realization that many people are not ready to retire. After doing some research and reading a few books, I decided to write my own book called “Retirement Solutions for Smart People”, as well as to conduct seminars titled “Retirement Solutions 4 You.” The first seminar took place last Wednesday with an incredible turnout. We will continue these events. Please stay tuned.

P.S. I took over 500 images at the Bay to Breakers race. Then after deleting more than half of them, I still have a few to share with you. As you can see, people have different running/walking styles. Some fly above the ground. I encountered a man, who in spite of being handicapped, found a ways to compete with specially designed prostheses, while yet another man couldn’t walk straight, but this did not stop him from running. But there were also those who felt that their clothes slowed them down and found a solution by simply taking them off.

Enjoy and Share.

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Cheers,

When It Is Time To Retire

I received a phone call recently from a childhood friend. She and her husband, with whom I went to school, used to live in Virginia. We saw them at least twenty years ago on a trip we took to Washington DC. She told me that after losing her job and her husband selling his business, they decided to retire in Sarasota, Florida. They were able to buy their new home for cash, after selling their house. After waking up late in the morning, they take a fifteen-minute drive to the beach and swim in the warm Caribbean waters. They meet and spend time with quite a few other people in Sarasota, who have chosen a similar lifestyle. Their children live quite a distance away, but they see each other often. My friends are planning to take a Scandinavian Cruise in May, which will end in our hometown of Riga, Latvia. For many retirees this kind of life sounds great, but not for me.

Being only seventy years young, I feel that my retirement can wait. We just moved into a new office. The lease is for five years with a five-year extension. Thus, I am planning to keep myself busy by helping other people to enjoy their retirement, for at least the next ten years. Last year I started to help a number of clients get reverse mortgages. During this experience I realized that a lot of people feel lost and need my assistance later on in their lives. I decided that I can help them by writing a book. Not about reverse mortgages (there are quite a few on the market), but rather about how to prepare for retirement.

The title of the book is “Retirement Solutions for Smart People. 5 Easy Ways To Enjoy Your Golden Age.” Retirement is a popular subject among the baby boom generation, and I’ve found quite a few books on the subject. Most of them are written by professionals who manage money or by professional writers.
In my book, I’m going to write about the following 5 Easy Ways to prepare for retirement:
1. Having a retirement mindset
2. How to create savings
3. Who can help to get better results
4. How to make the Government your partner
5. How to manage and lower your debts

I expect my readers to be age of 30 and up, since it takes time to prepare for one’s retirement. As soon as you start to develop your retirement mindset, it will be easier to enjoy your next life’s journey, many years later. We are launching our discussion about the retirement with the seminar “Retirement Solutions 4 You”, which will take place in our office on June 7th. Please come, learn and enjoy my photography on the walls of our office.

Enjoy and Share.

P.S. During my wandering around San Francisco I encountered many people in their advanced age, who seem to have found their way to enjoy “Golden Age”.

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Cheers,

Run For Fun?

When a friend told me that the Bay to Breakers race would be on Sunday May 21st, I decided to get there, not to run, but just to take photos. In the morning I got up with a pain in my lower back, and in my left knee, which requires surgery, but nothing could stop me from getting a few images for a story. This was the 106th race, which was first held on January 1, 1912. It was intended as a prelude to the world-class athletic events being planned for the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition. There were 218 registrants, 186 starters and 121 finishers.

Many things have changed since. Bay to Breakers is one of the largest foot races in the world with 50,000+ participants and 100,000+ spectators. I took Muni to Howard and Main Street, right on time to catch the first group of runners. Then someone told me that the best photo opportunity is in the Hayes Valley. I could take Muni again to get there, but I decided to walk instead. The runners had all passed through, and the swelling crowd was mainly walkers like myself. Starting on Octavia, Hayes Valley is a hill, and is considered the most difficult part of the 7.46-mile race route. Along the way streets were filled with people who were dressed in funny looking costumes and having a good time drinking, smoking and laughing. It was getting warmer and the crowd was filling the road. I decided not to quit, my pain had dissipated and I kept going. We reached the panhandle part of Golden Gate Park where people were having picnics along the way.

In Golden Gate Park the crowd thinned. As we progressed, some of the runners were already returning back, some even kept running in the opposite direction. People were wearing many creative costumes, which I imagine made walking in the warm day quite challenging. Some chose not to wear any clothes at all. Some carried dogs, some children. The majority of the crowd was made up of young people. I only noticed a few middle-aged people like myself (I am 70).

The winner of the race was Philemon Chabai, age 23, from Kenya. It took him 34 minutes, 48 seconds to reach the Finish. Exactly five minutes later, 23 year old Buze Diriba of Ethiopia was the first female finisher.

It took me 3 hours and 27 minutes from the moment I photographed the first runner until I took an image of the Finish Line, which I decided to cross running, after all, besides taking photos I had great fun. Enjoy and Share.

P.S. Since a lot of people came to the event to have a good time, it was easy to choose four images. In a few weeks I will share with you more images and a different running story.

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Cheers,

The Work Behind The Artwork

In the past two stories I wrote about the art world of San Francisco after visiting its two major museums, the SFMOMA and the Legion of Honor. The art theme continues in this week’s story, as we recently attended the opening of the San Francisco Art Fair, an annual event, for which I received VIP passes. When we arrived at Fort Mason on Thursday evening at 6:30pm, the huge parking lot was completely full. Hundreds of people rushed into the exhibition hall. It was packed with artwork and people. Our daughter Alona, who is an art consultant and came with us, made an interesting comment – “How many people can distinguish the good art from the not so good?” There were many exhibitors and hundreds of different art works in different forms and shapes, it was definitely challenging to distinguish the good from the less than good art.

After all, the appreciation of art is in the eyes of the beholder. But regardless if you like the art or do not, or even how much it is selling for, a lot of effort and work goes into creating it. From the idea or the vision to the execution, to the marketing and even the displaying of the art; not to mention the time commitment to studying, the trials and errors, and cost of the materials. One of the well-known photographers pointed out that his success depends on the size of his waste basket. I recognize this sentiment very well. When you visit our new office, you’ll be able to see my personal photo exhibition. Some people have asked to purchase some of my images. But how do I determine the price? What people see today is the result of many years of practice, which no one can see or appreciate. When next time you see any work of art, just be aware that the artist created it for your appreciation.

Enjoy and Share.

P.S. When you will come to my office you will see my photography based on three subjects: Light, flowers and sunsets. If you want to see images of the people I photographed on the streets of San Francisco, ask me to show them to you or you can purchase “42 Encounters in San Francisco” on Amazon.com. The definition of art is the application of human creativity, which some people use on their appearances, as you can see from the four images of people I encountered at the SF Art Fair.

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Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,