January 16, 2017

Stretching class was held poolside this morning because the River Club is being used as a photo studio this week. The resort is producing a "face book" of the owners and long-term renters. I asked the photographers what they would charge me for a shoot with digital images only. They said $250. I said thank you and walked away. I don't see the value. Jean said I should just do a selfie. Maybe I'll ask Sherri to take my picture with my phone.

​It was nicer doing the stretch class outside than doing it inside. The turnout was quite high which surprised me considering it constituted a change. A man wearing a Keuka Lake (New York State Finger Lake) tee-shirt took the chair next to me. We both grew up in Steuben County some 30 years apart – he was a native whereas I was a transplant. I told him that I had gone to college on Cayuga Lake, I learned to windsurf on Seneca Lake, and I learned to sail on Keuka Lake. To his delight, I reported that the last is my favorite because it is much smaller and nearly potable. The woman to his left had a place on Canandaigua Lake (another Finger Lake), and the woman in front of her was also from the Rochester area. The latter woman’s daughter-in-law had taught at my high school long after I graduated. What a small world!

As I expected, Sherri was sad to see her Airstream get towed away this morning. Her husband died in it two years ago. She said he had a lot of fun times in that trailer (it was their fourth Airstream), and I said that I bet she did as well. I'm not sure if her son appreciates how difficult this transition is for her, but his intentions are good. I watched the guy deliver the park model to her site just because I like the physics of moving large objects. Backing up a hitched object is very different from backing up a long vehicle. I've never driven anything hitched – let alone backed up a hitched object – but I'd like to do it just for the experience.

I've realized that this park is just like every high school in America. In high school, it's all about your clique: nerd, jock, Barbie, stoner, loser, etc. Each clique has a rank, and each person in each clique has a rank. Cliques connote constituencies, constituencies connote politics, and political entities rival each other for power. Power at the condo association level is manifested through title and exclusion. Title is created by election to the board and appointment to committees. Exclusion is the raison d’être of cliques, inviting those they see fit while shunning others. Wealth, however, is the ultimate trump card because it is its own source of power and exclusivity. Show up at any condominium park in your new $2M Prevost, and you’ll see what I mean.