where to go from here

Folks I am keeping my journals now at www.tech-nomadic.com

Come visit me there.

Jim

Moving on

OK, back up and running at tech-nomadic.com - come on over and visit

To be continued ....

I am setting up a full web-page at the old tech-nomadic.com url. Will let you know when it is up. Meanwhile, unlike this guy, have a dry day.

equinox sunday at wind an sea

Some shots from this afternoon at Wind an Sea beach. There were a slew of bodysurfers abusing themselves. For bodysurfing this is a "Whomper" break; You catch a wave for 5 seconds and get slammed into the beach. These guys just kept going. I went out earlier in the morning and the waves were about 3-4 feet - really excellent - a lot of good rides.

instruments of fear

I have been away for awhile. At least away from blogging. Not because there has been a dearth of things to write about but I for some reason have been reluctant to write. An article in the NYT this morning got my attention. US sales of advanced weaponry abroad has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. There seems no end to the stupidity of the Bush Administration. In the text of the article is a comment from a defense dept spokesman something to the effect that we, "Are not gunrunners" but that these sales are a necessity to ensure "order in the world". This is insane. The Tao rightly says that, "weapons are instruments of fear". This makes my country probably the most massive purveyor of fear that the world has ever seen. So disappointed, ashamed, angry and feeling lost. What can a man do to stop this?

competitive american riders

I think everyone knows I ride everyday to and from work (26+ miles) up from La Jolla through Torrey Pines. I am always passed by fast riders in training and regular commuters all "spandexed up" and cranking like its the 10th stage of the Tour de France. The route that I take is a popular one for out-of-town riders - it is probably a section of some of the best and sought-after experiences in road cycling. I was noticing the other day a couple of Italians (who I had seen before) riding along at about the same pace as I do. They rode well, understood the rules of the road, and were clearly very experienced - but they didn't ride like it was an Olympic competition. They clearly enjoyed what they were doing and were getting a good workout while they took in the surroundings. That got me to thinking that the fast-pace of most of the riders I see is because of the American notion that eveything has to be a competition and done really fast, or it isn't deemed a "proper" pursuit. Made me think of the "slow-food" and "slow-life" advocates. Things don't have to be done just to get them over with.

a cyclist's nightmare

Since Team Spectra is going to ride the Rosarito-Ensenada fun ride in September, this one got my attention. A drunk driver in Matamoros fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into ten riders on a similar ride (although in a different placce). One was killed. This is what anyone who rides a road bicycle fears the most. Fortunately it doesn't happen often.

the back side of Mt. Rushmore

I love this - for some reason picking on poor shrub. I have a list of blog stuff that I will get to soon. J

nothing much to add to this one

blind eye

I don't feel sorry for the US Automotive Industry. For years it has been predicted that gas prices would rise. Now they have and Detroit is again asleep at the wheel. Late '70s deja-vu all over again. Just stupid.

bicycle commute ~ the beaches

Some people get to work grudgingly in their $4.50 per gallon cars. I ride my bike. Here is what I see everyday. Note the classic break at Wind an Sea Beach with the surfers going off on either side of the wave. Then, the La Jolla Shores crowd (some waking up on the beach, others paddle surfing) finally moving to an early moring at Torrey Pines Beach. Then I had to go in to work ..... Thanks to Chris Isaak for the music.

windansea dreams ....

Got to work early and its kind of hard to keep going today. Weather is great and the road beckons. This is a quick shot of my girls at Wind an Sea beach last Friday, which someone had designated "International Surfing Day". There were some amazingly accomplished surfers getting some great rides. Very good entertainment.

salgado is still going ....

Curtis Salgado has always been a favorite of mine. From small smoke-filled bars in Eugene, to San Francisco and outdoor venues in Portland, this guy could always bring me to my feet. Curtis was diagnosed with liver cancer a couple of years ago, underwent a liver transplant, then diagnosed with lung cancer and had it removed. The dude survived and is back TOURING! Unbelievable. any way they had a concert in 2006 for him. Here is the poster: What looks like a great line-up. Steve Miller, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan .... People who basically stood up and saved Curtis' life. Very cool.

la jolla elementary fifth grade graduation

If I could just turn back the clock. Lauren is up there somewhere - big deal moving on to middle school.

my vp choice

why do I think the caption should be, "god my shorts are crammed up my ass"

my friend peter unthank

These were pictures I posted last year and lost. I missed them so I am putting him back up to remember. Peter essentially killed himself the day after Bush was last elected -- no joke.

a new bicycling experience

I have been hit by cars, yelled at (and screamed back), hit in the head by a flying fruit-bat and all sorts of other things, but today was a new one. I had just ridden to the top of La Jolla Shores Drive near the UCSD campus when I looked up to see a good-sized dog (like a Jack-Russell Terrier, I think) flying right at me. The dog wasn't running at me to bite me, but had seen me and I think jumped out of an electric car (with no doors on it) maybe to just say hello. The trouble was that the vehicle with no doors was traveling past me at about 35 miles an hour. I swerved to miss the flying canine and didn't go back to see the eventual outcome, but now I can cross off, "Swerved to Avoid Flying Dog", from my bicycling experience list.

before the NYT corrected it ...

This popped up on the Times front page a couple days ago. I didn't think the Clinton campaign had any fun?

The Remarkable Mr. Burney

Were I only half as organized, I could take over the world. This is the irrepressible Craig Burney about ready to sort and organize a mountain of miscellaneous felt-tip markers. Note the enthusiasm!

Cosmetic San Diego and the US Open

The US Open Golf Tournament is going to happen at Torrey Pines in a week or so. I ride my bike through there every day and the cosmetic changes have been dramatic. For a bunch of fat, rich white guys the city (which can't seem to fix the pothole in our neighborhood streets) have somehow:

• Repaved a good portion of the road leading up the Torrey Pines grade of the coast highway
• Repainted all of the lane markers and bicycle lanes
• Cleaned off all the nearby roads (including the bike lanes, which they never gave a crap about before)
• Pruned all of the trees along the coast highway within a quarter mile of the golf course
• Blown new ground cover on to all of the medians and roadsides
• Carved an access road between the coast highway and the eastern side of the golf course (it would have taken an act of congress and an environmental impact statement to get this done for any other reason)
• Actually manned the ranger access station to the Torrey Pines Beach parking lots and beach access - in the 6 months I have been riding the route I have never before seen a human anywhere near the structure

Its remarkable what an influx of fat cats can do in motivating the city to actually do something. I'm certain it will fall into disrepair once they all leave.

The Finished Product

10 days - probably a world record

Now We Sand the Living Shit Out of the Floors

I must have sucked in 10 lbs. of sawdust in this lovely process ....

OK, Now the Carpet is Ripped Out

What you can't see are the double carpet tacking strips that came out maybe 6 inches at a time or the thousand tacks, nails, brads and staples that had to be pulled from the floor by hand.

Pre-Filthy Carpet Removal

In these pictures the carpet looks OK. Upon closer inspection - disaster. The house had been owned by one of those "cat ladies". You know, the old woman who has 2 cats, then 8 cats, then 20 cats and then 83 cats. Cats until she dies and the cats crap and claw everything in the house. Pulling up these carpets (until I cleaned the cooktop in the kitchen) was right in there with my high-school job of plunging out the sewer lines under the Redwood City Elks Club ... but that's another story. Anyway here are the marketing pics..

Where Have I Been?

Rode the bike today for the first time in almost three weeks and, man, I missed it. Let's see. I was sucked into the vortex of a 1957 rancher in La Jolla. Since my last post I have;

• Moved off of Mt Soledad (no more deck views or bicycling up the mountain)
• Refinished 1,500 sq feet of beat up wood flooring at the new house
• Moved everything from a 3,600 square foot house to a 1,900 square foot house (interesting furnishing environment right now)

New place is maybe 5 blocks up the hill from Wind an Sea Beach (yes, that's how it is spelled). We can see the ocean from the house and the weather is much more beach-like. Anyway, I am going to try to post the chronology of the floors ...

Political Stupidity Juxtaposed

This past week has seen two political events/proposals that kind of represent how damned stupid politics generally gets. The first is Clinton/McCain's brilliant idea for a gas tax holiday for the summer ... why not just send everyone who votes for you $300? Why even bother to hide that there is any difference or that you are somehow not pandering? The second is in Africa (although it has a kind of "Florida hanging chad" ring to it). Does anyone think Robert Mugabe really didn't get his ass kicked by the opposition party in Zimbabwe? It has only taken him a month to appropriately "recount" the votes, begin a campaign of rampant violence against the opposition and begin the "electoral" push for a run-off. I wonder who's gonna win?

bugness

Monday was super warm and on tuesday morning all "bug" broke loose. Everywhere you looked (especially near the Torrey Pines Park) there were these stink bugs running all over the place. They were after one another from the looks of them and by the end of the week they had petered out.

it will be 90 degrees today ....

7:30 in the morning on the deck - panning west to east

rundown for the week

Filling in the blanks for what I saw on the bike commute this week. The weather has turned a sharp bit warmer ~ makes everything better. The beaches have more people on them and Torrey Pines beach has been no exception. People doing everything; swimming, surfing, running and just laying out on the beach. No real super-highlights. Yesterday met a kid of 15 years old cranking up the Torrey grade; about the only person I can pass ;-). Spoke to him a little and told him to keep riding. The day before on the way home gave some directions to two guys, maybe mid 20's, adonis-bodies riding modified road bikes (nice ones) - they had begun riding at about 10:30 AM in Huntington Beach and were headed for the Gaslamp district. I saw them in La Jolla at about 6:30PM. Just having fun. I thought about it and at first didn't believe them. I thought Huntington Beach was too far away. After checking the map - its only 85 miles from La Jolla so - I am sure they did it. Have made a mental note to ride up there someday - although it just reminded me on how close LA is...

paulson seems a smart man, unlike his boss

Bush normally appoints idiots like himself as advisors. I just read Henry Paulson's suggestions for changing the Federal Reserve System. Seems pretty smart to me. Click for the link.

something we should all pay attention to; and be ashamed of

Click for the link

on bicycle commuting

I am getting the route and routine of my bike commute down and wanted to comment on a certain aspect of it that came out in a discussion with friends the other evening. Specifically, it is that, when commuting on my bike, almost every day/night, I see something or someone that I would never have run into were I in a car. These are not necessarily "big" things, just experiences that make life a little more interesting. I'll use this last week as an example. I commuted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday I was on the road earlier than usual because I was having dinner with friends and it was light my entire return ride. About a third of the way through, near UCSD, I noticed I was cycling with a young woman who, when I asked her said she was riding home to Pacific Beach. I offered to show her the best way to go and we shared the ride for about 10 miles or so. Didn't ask her name and I'll probably see her again out on the road. Wednesday was my usual later evening ride. At the base of Mt. Soledad, as I was heading up Muirlands Road, I could see a young woman walking down the sidewalk to my right. She perked out, "Wonderful evening isn't it?" in a friendly sing-song kind of way. I responded, "Good evening", and then it got weird. She came walking at me quickly, "Why won't you help me, Sir?" she barked. My bullshit meter went off big-time and I zipped to the other side of the road and pedaled uphill as fast as I could. She continued, "What are you doing, Sir?", to which I replied, "Riding away from a crazy woman". I finished my ride wondering what the hell I had just experienced, coming to the conclusion that spring-break LSD or X had juiced the poor girl into some kind of dementia. Thursday, not much until very close to home when a guy ran out of his house squawking, "Dude, where did you get that light?", "You light up the whole street!". After multiple "Dude" -peppered exclamations from the guy (I think he had a couple drinks in him), I showed him my light (the "light & motion" brand headlamp that has changed my life and DOES, in fact, light up the whole street) he seemed satisfied and I pedaled up the hill. Admittedly, differing experiences -- but all interesting and none would have happened had I been insulated in my car.

oh, and some classic children's books

Just a couple postcards

meat rider

I have been thinking lately how attached I am to my road bike and riding and the way I feel about it. I got to thinking about fisherman and hunters, how some do it for sport and some for meat. I ride for the meat, not for the sport. Although I love the concept of sport road cycling, and certainly my love for the experience is a combination of both; I am primarily a meat cyclist. I do it to replace my car and would sell my stupid car altogether were it not for children and board meetings.

edward abbey ...

I didn't really know who Ed was. He showed up on a Patagonia blog post so I did the usual Wikipedia search. A very interesting human who spent time in a very interesting part of the world. Here are some quotes of his from Wikipedia. I especially like the abortion, off-road vehicle and war quotes. Click on the image to the left and it will expand to be large enough to read ....

shots off the deck a few days ago

Have been working like a madman the past couple of weeks - taking the day off (working tonight, though) and catching up on StumbleUpon and my usual web-surfing. Here are some pictures off the deck the other morning...

crescent moon in the eastern sky at sunrise

Also, just off the shoreline out by Marine St. beach is the line of boats. They started there about a week ago and are fishing for something but I don't know what (found out - LOBSTER). Kind of eerie late at night because they are out there with their lights on doing something. Warm finally on the ride in this morning. Dropped down the Torrey Grade into a "gnat explosion". I suspect the warmth woke 'em all up and I was peppered with them (still am a little).

lower yosemite falls last winter

bryce canyon video

my grand canyon video

so let's ride our bikes from Mission Bay to Crystal Pier

wind an sea sunset surfing

One of those sublime evenings while I was riding my bike home ....

imperial beach

Here's another video I did of the Mexiacn border and the beach town of Imperial Beach. Also some interesting stuff around the Tijuana estuary. J

coronado island tour

Click on the opening screen at left for a Yahoo Go! early release tour of Coronado Island J

lost my posts

In switching back to Blogger. I took too long and Yahoo is holding my prior site hostage. Screw'em. For the money it ain't worth it - but I just procrastinated myself out of a year's with of blog entries. I will try to put up some of the videos now - the ones I remember anyway.

efficient transportation

Not difficult to see which is the most efficient.

why the remarkable stupidity

A terrifying piece in the NYT this morning about what is going on in Afghanistan and what our government is doing to our boys and the Afghan people in the countryside. Pure destruction. Read the article - the Tao says that weapons are instruments of fear and the story this morning confirms it. Send the idiot Bush and his ilk to the Korengal Valley ~ he might last 5 minutes.

adventure cycling people

On our lunch ride the other day we met Tammy and Chuck, Adventure cycling good people. A little rain, but it looked like a lot of fun...

something new every day

I am going to try to import 2+ year's of WordPress blog back into Blogger.... We'll see.

ANyway, unrelated. I commute in to work on my bike whenever I can and this moring I saw something (which I did not take a picture of) that I have never seen before and hope I will never see again.

On the side of the road on the shoulder - a flesh-tone dildo .... I guess somebody threw it out the window of their car??

just think this one's funny

musings on my commute

With my new job my bicycle commute has gone from 16 to 30 miles, round trip, and now includes some serious elevation. The new route is traffic-nuts, but also sublime, taking me right through Torrey Pines park, beaches and estuary. To my point; things one experiences on a bike vs a car. Riding home the other night (with my Light & Motion headlamp beaming) I had a bat come zooming in from my right and miss my head by just a couple inches - got my attention. The night was cold (for here) near the water and I made my way down to the coast highway. Then, not a couple miles further as I began to climb the Torrey Pines grade the temperature changed suddenly, becoming for some reason quite warm. Immediately my glasses and rear-view mirror fogged-up and I rode blind for a few meters, chuckling to myself at the experience. Insulated in a car, I would never have experienced any of it. Just the little things.

ahem, just coincidence, I guess

we must get out now, no more excuses

These boys lost their father in the bombing of a popular pet market in Iraq yesterday. I don't imagine they will think kindly of the criminally misguided efforts of the Bush Administration to occupy their country to control undeveloped oil markets in the name of democracy. Yesterday's blast was particularly heart wrenching because its reporting contained so many classic elements and human miseries of this debacle. "Many children were killed in the Bird Market" ~ Probably trying to find a small window of beauty to forget the horrors of daily life which for 65 people (many children) is over now. Condi condemns, "The absolute brutality and bankruptcy" of the terrorists ~ Look in the mirror Ms. Rice. An earlier article I read this morning talked about the success of rooting out insurgent strongholds (ALL of which are Al Qaeda, NEVER anyone else?). One example was given where to begin the "rooting" 40,000 pounds of bombs were dropped in the "insurgent stronghold" in 10 minutes. Precision attack, no doubt. Women suicide bombers carried out the attack. The Iraqi police claim they were "mentally impaired". Apparently after inspecting their severed heads this was obvious. A shopkeeper who survived the blast describes one of the women as quite normal, with the chilling twist that she had been shepherding a small boy in a completely normal manner, adding, "the child had vanished and I can't forget the innocent look in his eyes" "Later, someone covered the bomber's head with an empty cardboard box of Wonder potato chips" "Its chaos" A critical observer can draw the correct conclusions despite the propaganda: Violence is "down" because the media is less able to report all but the most horrific acts, the Shia militia stopped its overt attacks, we have befriended Sunnis who will be our buddies while it serves their short-term interests and the collapsing economy at home has diverted people's attention. The sins of this Administration's idiotic forays will fall hard on all of us for generations. As my paycheck goes a shorter distance and my tax dollars go to waste and greed, I could not be more disgusted with my political leaders. Send them and their children to watch the beautiful birds and tropical fish in the Baghdad pet market.

get those bikes out of the warehouse!

Torelli and Raleigh (AKA Vaca & Negro) in a corner of the warehouse ready for spur-of-the-moment blasts up the Torrey Pines grade. On my commute the other night (thank you, light & motion - ungodly good bicycle lights) from the “protected” slough (which the Coaster train runs right through, so you can’t hike in to observe the birds, but you can blast through on rails blaring and rumbling along at 90 MPH?) I heard a cacophony of frogs from near the water. I had not heard frogs like that for a long time and, apart from the fact that they are out at the coldest time of the year around here???, I think this means the water in the marsh is of good quality. When things are polluted, frogs seem to be the first to go (which I have assumed is why I never hear or see them any longer).

saw it coming .......

This “big surprise” meltdown of the mortgage securities market was obvious to me. I’m sitting on the deck of my rented house warm in barefeet, happy I am without debt of any kind. The troika of credit score agencies, financial industry lobbyists and Manhattan financial hubris dickwads can kiss my ass. I’ll ride my bikes, loll in the surf, play with my digital video, follow my friend Michel’s wonderful French philosophy of life, keep reading interesting things and fall further into the life of the Epicure.

every once and awhile .....

Interesting, but common phrase. Things have been busy and it is difficult to believe that I haven’t written for well over a month. Here’s a shot off the deck yesterday at sunset. In the two-and-a-half years I have lived here, this may have been the most beautiful sunset I have seen. Fog over the water, clouds swirling and, invisible in the photo; huge waves braking underneath. The Maverick’s surf contest was today — biggest in two years. Will try to get some Wind-an-Sea video later today.

why not in the right context?

I’ve been thinking a bit about drug use in the US and how all drugs seem to get lumped together. In particular opiates with hallucinogens. I no longer use any drugs, including alcohol, but there was a time when that was not the case. I have pretty much experimented with everything with the exception of heroin. My notion is how beneficial drugs like psilocybin and LSD can be in certain situations. Environments should be controlled and kept as familiar/safe as possible. I always preferred being out in the forest in the mountains (although I have tripped out at wild Halloween parties - not recommended). I guess I think it would be a good thing if everyone, at one time or another had such an experience. I learned a lot about myself and, when I was active with it, took LSD maybe once a year to clear things away. I remember thinking that it was a way of unscrambling my brain and putting the pieces back together in a slightly different, more satisfying way. Unfortunately, most such drugs are used for recreation or as a means of escape; this is absolutely true of the opiates. Anyway, nothing will come of this but it was just something I was thinking about.

Tour de France

It's anyone's game - I am really enjoying the Tour this year. Without Lance it could be anybody.. ahh, but it won't be Bernard Hinault or Greg LeMond; I just liked this picture :-)

test

will this make it?

Mexican Elections

I am really heartened by the goings-on in Latin America. The recent Mexican elections are a good example - populism is alive and being respected, regardless of who the ultimate winner is. Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile - all moving moderate, or leftist, but all I think from a core of "the people". Poor and lower-class people pushing/pulling their governments away from the exogenous military/industrial/congessional complex. I can't help but wonder if the popular movements in Latin America are benefiting from our misguided sinkholes in Iraq and Afghanistan. With our military muscle being exhausted on other continents, the US maybe doesn't have the horsepower to prop up the reactionary military juntas any longer.

Immigration Debate

Who gives a shit other than politicians? Building a wall in the name of national security? How goddamned stupid do these politicians take us for? No illegal immigrant is hurting me or my family - Should I turn my back on someone who has the initiative to improve his or her life? It is not one whit about "National Security" -- it has everything to do with maintaining power. I'm with Neil Young, "Looking for a Leader" and with every breath I take I am more convinced it isn't going to emerge from this wellspring of "plurality" - Democrats vs. Republicans. My forebears didn't have to wind their way through bullshit bureaucracy in order to become citizens, yes, its true that some social services are strained in trying to deal in particular with the Mexican influx in particular, but the positive economic affect of these immigrants must dwarf the negative cost.

The "Slack Water" Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest

I love the Pacific Northwest and, although born and residing now in California, I really feel like Oregon is my home. I was cruising through Wikipedia a few days ago looking at pictures of the mountains familiar to me (the Sisters are above) when I came across a reference to how the Cascade Range got its name. Apparently, a doctor on Vancouver's ship noted the proximity of the rushing cascades of the Columbia River to St. Helens, Hood and Adams and began to call them the "Cascades". The name stuck. Now to the irony. Today the cascades of the Columbia are nothing more than slack water behind the Bonneville Dam. I guess the only thing to do is rename the range ......

Vahik's Cafe

It is not really a cafe and I don't have any pictures. Vahik has a coffee stand in the parking lot on the corner of Nautilus and La Jolla Blvd. It is shaped like a Volkswagen bug chopped off at the top and it has 38 coffee beans painted on it. I know this because my son once counted them all in exchange for Vahik giving him a biscotti. I talk to Vahik everyday on my way into work and there are always a gaggle of neighborhood characters there. Anyway, several days ago Vahik was sporting a new hat. It was a camouflage baseball hat with a Wind'n Sea sort of logo on a shield in the front of it. This hat represents some kind of fraternity of beach rats from the area a group of which (Vahik among them) had also gone to France for a foosball tourney and had a wonderful time getting their asses kicked. Even amongst this group these hats are apparently valuable because Vahik was only allowed to have one when he agreed to post a large picture of the original owner's parents; this was a black-and-white from what looked like the late '40s or early '50s. I found the story kind of funny (you really have to see the picture) and showed up the next day with a small black-and-white of my parents holding me in probably 1955, with some unknown women standing next to us. Vahik thought that was funny and so started a "gallery" on his volkswagen coffee stand. Today, while I was at the volkswagen recovering from riding to Swamis (see below), some other customers were looking at the pictures and wondered where the "extra hands" on the original picture. Somehow there was another person hiding in the picture or some speculation that perhaps a mannequin was somehow involved. This discovery immediately cheapened my picture -- there were no curious appendages or inexplicable digits anywhere. Vahik wondered if I might have something that would work. As it sits now, my little picture is still there .. but far outclassed - I will have to find something.

Swamis

I rode out this morning up the coast to North County. I am learning this area but I know I passed through Del Mar, Solana Beach and Cardiff by the Sea. My goal was to get to the "Self Realization Center", or what people hear tell me is called Swamis. There is supposed to be a great surf break just off of where this place is but I didn't go down to check it out. I thought I was spoiled riding in the Bay Area Peninsula with the multiplicity of good rides, but this is better. The route along the coast is the perfect mix of rolling elevation and the surf views and bike lanes are great.Maybe somewhere in Europe might be better but I don'tknow where it would be. Even the south of France between Cannes and Nice probably isn't so good (I have just driven it in a car). Southern Spain or Portugal, I can imagine .. or maybe Australia ???

Apple

A little over a year ago I left the Windows world and bought a Powerbook. I got the same machine for my wife and for my daughter a mac mini. This was before the intel world and so, in order to run quickbooks seamlessly I also got a little VAIO notebook (I have been using SONY laptops for the past 5 years or so after using Thinkpads forever). We also got the assortment of iPods. I should say here that I was a lucky dog when Marco sold Verdisoft to Yahoo and I was able to do this - its kind of a once in every ten years kind of thing. Anyway, my point is that now everybody in the house is doing something creative on their machines. Making movies, watching movies, playing songs, shooting video and editing -- you name it. Microsoft can't come close and I don't think ever will be able to (even with more money than God). And I spend a lot of time cussing out the little VAIO because of the clunky WIndows environment. Vista? How many gigs is it? Can't wait for it to be released and start blowing up machines.....

YouTube video - easier than Ourmedia?

This is a test to see if YouTube is easier than Ourmedia ..... Yes, it is a lot easier, but you get all of the YouTube interface and advertising and stuff. Still, it is so fast that I think I prefer it to OurMedia. Click on the picture to run the video of Pacific beach at the foot of Chalcedony Street. J

The army's payroll system

Today in the NYT is an article about the antiquated armed forces payroll system. In particular it mentions that there have been material overpayments to certain soldiers' families; those who have been wounded or killed in action. If the soldier lost his or her life, the army is forgiving any erroneous overpayment. If only wounded, the military is sending debt collectors to collect for their own errors.

So you go to Iraq, get your foot blown off, come home to a job given to someone else, your wife leaves with the kids and you have the government chasing you becaused they mistakenly paid you money that you desperately need.

We bought into it

An appropriate quote from Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." So, I guess Bagdhad is just suffering from the early throes of democracy, not unbelievable Islamic sectarian violence driven by what we have done. George says we've only killed 30,000; its probably closer to 130,000. I don't figure they're happy we dropped-in. What can we do ...............

Sports that make sense

In my years on the planet there are certain sports I love to do and others that make squat-sense to me. The reasons are consistent. - I like solitary aerobic sports where you don't have to schedule places or other people. - I like sports that once you have your basic equipment, you have what you need. You don't have to buy new stuff, once you've got what you need then, except for maintenance and supplies, you're done. - Also, sports that require that you pay money each time seem stupid - downhill skiing and golf come to mind (although I do have a semi-life rule that says when I can no longer physically do anything else, I will play golf). - So, my favorites are: ROAD BIKING BODY SURFING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING RUNNING I may find some more but these keep me going right now.

This is a good one - George W trying to speak the language he demands Immigrants' speak

This is from Mr. Bush's February 4, 2005 explanation of how he will "save" our Social Security system. Take notes, class, there will be a test: Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of the United States: "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU? IT'S KIND OF MUDDLED. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. This is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- that that growth is affect, it will help on the red." Got that? [Taken from Palast-05/7/06 ZNET Commentaries]

Richard Thompson

Spent the morning rolling around in the surf. There is a real connection for me there. Now listening to Richard Thompson - I had to go dig up this quote and slap it on the blog .... "Personally, being somewhat envious of Richard's songwriting and guitar playing, it's somewhat satisfying he's not yet achieved household-name status. It serves him right for being so good." David Byrne By the way... any of you five people who read this, David Byrne's blog is really good and all over the place. A couple of days ago he was talking about the simplicity of human genes and how sets of rules can determine how cells turn into whatever they decide to turn into when we (and everything else) are zygotes; to the morality/legality of using peoples' images when taken in public places. He is all over the map, but one of the most consistently interesting sites I go to. [journal.davidbyrne.com]

The Streets of San Diego

I ride a bike a lot around San Diego and the streets and pavement surfaces are, for the most part, a joke. Potholes filled with water (I assume coming from somewhere below), asphalt seams everywhere, holes appearing randomly, etc. My favorite, aside from the mammoth hole that was dug and just filled on Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach, was the entire repaving of La Jolla Blvd. in Bird Rock. The entire main drag was completely redone in front of a ritzy new housing development called SeaHaus. These are upscale condo homes with ocean views if you have a top unit blah, blah. Anyway the work was done last August and the street is already falling apart. There are potholes and the fancy crosswalks are simply crumbling away -- I have never quite seen anything like it. Now I know that this is a sandy foundation kind-of-environment but don't professional road contractors know how to deal with this? I remember nothing like this in San Francisco.

I am the ...........

The DECIDER!, no wait, er, the WAR PRESIDENT!, er wait. A man leading the most powerful country in the world with no clue.

Pay Attention

Here are some links to issues related to the political effort to restrict open web access. From what I can tell this is basically a move by the large bitpipe operators to make more money on their networks. I think the result would be to squeeze non-commercial content (commentary, opinions, individually created media, etc.) off of the web. Anyway - here are a bunch of links (Sorry, I guess I'm not smart enough to make the links live - but you can copy them to your browser): Key links: * MoveOn petition (please include prominently) - every person who signs will get future actions they can take to keep the heat on Congress: http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/ * Call Congress today: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1670 * Original MoveOn email describing the issue: http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html * How gutting Net Neutrality affects regular people (Ipod users, Google users), and proof that telecom companies abuse their power: http://www.savetheinternet.com/=threat * Our coalition MySpace profile – including a video explaining this issue (please include): http://www.myspace.com/savetheinternet * Coalition website (please include – mentioning our partners Gun Owners of America and Craig from Craigslist): www.savetheinternet.com * Coalition blog – good recent developments: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/ * A key committee is voting this week. Click here to see if your Representative is on this committee: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1672 * Find out where your Member stands: http://www.savetheinternet.com/=map * Good articles on coalition kick-off: "Gun Owners, Librarians Unite Against Bells," Telephony Online, April 24, 2006 http://www.freepress.net/news/15113

Something Worth Stopping

Department of Offense

We should just rename the Department of Defense and call it what it is and what it has been. We invaded Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Central America, Grenada, Afghanistan, Iraq and who knows where else via proxy (Indonesia, Bosnia and Palestine come to mind). But enough of that. Now the government is talking about the judicious use of a pre-emptive strike anywhere in the world (Iran comes to mind). The Department of Defense isn't "Defending" us from anyone; It is proactively decimating the parts of the world that have economic or bullshit anticommunist/leftist governments that we can propogandize as "them" and crank up the industrial machine to destroy. It is a wonder that 9/11 only happened once. This insanity has to change. We have the wherewithal (wealth) and institutions to be the shining light to the world and this (and a long line of) adminstration(s) will succeed in squandering it all. Throw them all out.

Disconnection of the Heart

If you're expecting something poetic here, forget it. Ever since the replacement of my natural-born aortic valve with a pig-one, the electrical connection between my brain and my heart is just gone. This is the strangest thing in the world. I can feel like my heart is going to blow out of my chest when I walk upstairs for a glass of water or I can blast up the coast hills on my bike 30 miles into a ride and believe I could pull the world to the moon -- go figure. When the "specialists" mess with you, that's exactly what they're doing - they don't know.

Iraq/Afganistan and Vietnam

I am reading, "Manufacturing Consent" by Herman and Chomsky and while the media coverage parallels are striking, the political/war management similarities are frightening. Iraq and Afganistan are lost and we, the American People need to accept this, force triage and replace the idiot politicians who did this to our country. I am just really becoming politically aware, perhaps it comes with age and experience, and this is really the second major war of my lifetime (Grenada and Gulf #1 don't count). In that vein, and despite the fact that W had some trouble articulating the following - "fool me once, shame on you" - "fool me twice, shame on me". I won't sit still for these assholes to continue this or do it again and I don't think I am alone.

Crashing the Gate

I read Kos' book last weekend. It was a fun read hitting a midpoint somewhere between Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky. Definitely a book written in the blogging style. The great thing is the concepts can probably be outlined in 2 pages of bullet points for a new Democratic playbook. I still remain unconvinced that either of the established political parties can get anything meaningful done. My personal (who the F*** asked me?) opinion is that real change will only be driven by a populist progressive ("netroots"?) movement. Read A NEW THIRD PARTY which can "embrace, assimilate and extend" probably the "Democratic Wing" of the Democratic party. This is nothing more than applying Bill Gate's business philosophy to politics -- except that we wouldn't start out with an operating system monopoly.

UN Human Rights Council

Today in the NYT an article about how the US is bowing out of running for inclusion in the new US Human Rights Council preferring instead to "run for a seat next year". The masterful John Bolton opines that "our leverage in terms of the new council is greater by the US not running ..". This, as opposed to the fact that we might not be elected to the Council given our appalling human rights record. Christ, we even voted (along with political heavyweights Palau and the Marshall Islands) not to establish the new council. It probably would have been better to just keep the former Human Rights Commission - perhaps HRC members Sudan and Zimbabwe could teach the US a thing or two about human rights.

The Bug with Personality

The other day, very early in the morning, a storm blew in and was really knocking stuff outside around. About 3 AM I woke up and I walked around to make sure everything seemed to be where it was supposed to be (the garbage cans had wandered out into the yard). As I went through a downstairs hallway I could see a black beetle, maybe the size of a nickel, motoring away from the front door towards me (no doubt after having the crap scared out of himself outside). I ducked into the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel to pick the bug up and take it outside. As I came back into the hallway this little guy saw me and jumped up like a little person and made this comical beeline back to the front door. I just started laughing - it was like the "keystone cops beetle" or something. I got him - and took him out the back. These things are smarter than we give them credit -- but Insecta with personality??

Close to drifting off completely .......

Marian shoots a sunset off the deck

William being a monster

From Another Time

Woke this morning to an email from an old friend who I had wondered about but never really knew where he was. Richard Bass pinged me with a recollection and it was wonderful to remember again the times we had and the people we know. Hopefully I can keep up the connection. A very good man -- too good to lose track of ......

Sick, but with a cool device

Lost weekend, having finally succumbed to whatever the kids brought home. At least I can moblog on my new TMobile MDA. Finally, the US gets a device I've had to get from europe before now. Keyboard is good, device a little slow but am getting the hang of it. It's Invade Iraq Third Anniversary Eve! I smell democracy or maybe civil war or maybe puppet regime or maybe operation "Swarmer" (who the hell thought that name up?).

Grey and Fire Silver

Watching the light blast the ocean amid swirling clouds. Like a quicksilver paintbrush moving super-fast, but still 10 miles or more away. Lazy and cold. Listening to Jerry Garcia and Merle Saunders at the Keystone. I remember going there to listen to them -- just awhile ago. Great combination.

I have figured it out

Hibernation

Moblog from bed. Will built this last night. It's kind of a ferris wheel for mice or something. Talked to Balch and reconnected with some early U of O people and memories. Coffee now..

Caffeine

I've now culled and honed down the acceptable drugs to caffeine and a small amount of chewing tobacco. Completely smitten by espresso and, no, I don't ever see giving it up. If anything I'll increase the intake. I am really finding it almost sublime to quaff a doppio with a little sugar, hop on my bike, and slice down the road. Find it intriguing that the things I end up enjoying seem to be Italian. My road bike, espresso, design and view of life. Then the quirkiness of a Ferrari spinning donuts in a cloud of exhaust at the opening of the Turin Olympics just makes me laugh.

Dr. Dorst

"Bend over and I'll say when ...."

Bicycles and Treadmills to Nowhere .....

We have a very nice work-out facility in the building where I work. Many of the machines I can't even understand but I don't use them anyway. I find it curious and a little disturbing that people seem to prefer riding a stationary bicycle or "running' on an endless rubber loop to nowhere. I just don't get it. It isn't the weather or the difficult terrain because here in Pacific Beach it is always sunny and the office is only a few hundred yards from Mission Bay. I think it must have something to do with people feeling safer (see my risk blog below) inside. The temperature is predictable... the terrain never varies .... you don't have to worry about actually looking at anyone else or interacting with the real environment and there are no forks in the road. You can go from your rubber road to your insulated car to your cookie-cutter clubs and listen to prescribed music and go home to your new condo and .................................

Risk

People have been scared into not taking risks. If you can't already tell, I ride my bike a lot. I commute every day that I can (which fortunately, is most days). This time of year I always ride home in the dark and when many people see me leave or I explain what I do each day they make some remark that they can't believe I would do such a thing and that it is right up there with drunken hang-gliding. I am careful. I ride with lights. I watch for morons (and find them all the time). I live my life.

It's Been 60 Years - His Time was Then and His Time is Now

FDR, I think was arguably our best president. Compare his "Second Bill of Rights" to what the Bush/Cheney idiots are doing now. Among the rights he articulated were: "The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation." "The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation." "The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living." "The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad." "The right of every family to a decent home." "The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health." "The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment." "The right to a good education." Is this too much to ask of the most powerful nation on earth?

Democracy? Oil? It's bigger than that ....

Why we are in Iraq? There's damn good money in it. Dwight Eisenhower nailed it in his farewell to the nation in 1961: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together". Eisenhower had originally called it the military-industrial-CONGRESSIONAL complex (really what it was and is) so as not to offend.

So it Continues ......

Again out on the deck this morning and about 75 degrees . After this I biked down to the beach. The waves were big and lots of people and would-be surfers just watching. I think there are already a bunch of Christmas holiday people around because traffic was heavy and there were folks all over the place.

Winter Solstice

I was just standing on the deck, 11:15 at night about 70 degrees F and a light breeze from the desert. I've never seen a Winter start like this before. Little blogging as work has been busy, on the bike every day (mostly) and between college football and politics have been distracted. Happy Holidays to anyone who reads this.

Saturday on the South Coast

Woke early to get some miles on the bike. The stars were really prominent - I had to stand outside for a minute of two and take it all in. An easy ride with real heavy fog up Torrey Pines so I didn't blast down the hill as usual. If there was anything on the shoulder I would just plow into it so I figured I would take the extra time to check out the dudes at Scripps Pier. Not a huge break but lots of people out there. Befriended a curious dog who actually ate some of my Clif bar -- apparently he's an organic vegetarian - more likely non-discriminatory. The dog looked just like Cochrane's old dog ... wonder if he is still around. Last night watched a really interesting PBS NOVA on the brain's apparent inability to distinguish between (or maybe better put - perceiving as similar) actually doing something and watching someone do the same thing. Very cool and something to think about. Also am finishing up a remarkable book I have had for awhile, "Passion of the Western Mind" by Richard Tarnas. Impossible to describe in a small paragraph but it is essentially a synopsis of Western history from something like 500 BC until today. Stunning. I also was able to email Tarnas to thank him for the book and he actually responded. I love technology ............... J

I Saw and Spoke With God

Yesterday while riding home from work in the early evening I met and had a chance to speak with God. He was ahead of me on Diamond Street in Pacific Beach heading down the hill on a beat-up cruiser bike. I first saw him in front of me zig-zagging back and forth across the road the way all bicylists do when there are no cars and they don't think anyone is looking. Its an instinctual behavior that first happens when you're about 4 years old and on your first bike. God was in his early 30's, deeply tanned with his wetsuit on up to his waist, unzipped and dangling above it. He had a small goatee and was carrying a beat-up fishtail surfboard under his right arm. I rode up beside him and said, "I just want you to know that I want to be you when I grow up". I had surprised him but, as you might expect from God, he had a good reply; "Steady now ....", he said. Made sense to me and I had to turn right up Dawes to get to Loring -- Hope he caught a few good waves. J

What a Wonderful Country....

Headlines for the day ...... "12.7% of the US population living in poverty", and (apparently on the positive side), "the number of people in the US without health insurance remained steady at 45.8 million". If I do my calculations correctly 12.7% * 295,000,000 means that there are a little less than 37.5 million people living in poverty in the US. So..... I guess it makes sense that we have spent $194,000,000,000 on the butt-stupidest war in a futile attempt to quash the "global spread of violent extremism" whatever the hell that means. Shrub should be forced to live on $9,060 per year in a trailer in Crawford, send his daughters to Iraq and begin to pay attention to the suffering at home .... I have never been much of a participant in popular uprising but if anyone is putting a team together give me a call. Disgusted with the whole thing - Demos GIVE ME SOMEONE TO VOTE FOR !!! J

Reminded

Just lying on the deck and watched the most remarkable sunset. Reminds me how much beauty there is in such a short life .... Everett Ruess

Getting the Route Down

The picture is of late afternoon from Mount Soledad looking west. The light on the water was impressive and changing - I think I stood outside for 45 minutes watching the light/water dance. Unrelated I finally have my bicycle commute ride nailed. I zoom down the hill into La Jolla and then stay south along the beach later moving up parallel to the major Pacific Beach thoughroughfares Grand and Garnett. I do end up on Grand as I move to the east but avoid it most of the way. If I lose my life on a bike I'm banking that it will be on Grand. Anyway I got some good video of WindanSea beach yesterday afternoon so I will try to get that up on the blog in the next couple of days.

La Jolla Shores - Dolphins

Another video of the beach last weeked. What's kind of cool about this one is that in the beginning you can see acouple of dolphins playing in the surf. Look for their dorsal fins at the break. Also, there is some guy kayak fishing in the same frames.

A Day in the Connected Life Vortex

This is a first-ever look into the bowels of the Connected Life group at an unnamed company who shall remain anonymous unless you are color blind and have lived in a cave for the past 10 years. This is my extended family who I all miss. Even Josh ... but I wish he would shut up... and I never really got to know Russell .... and Jerald and Joe will now probably mix with the wrong people ... and Paul has body parts in his cube.

Beach at Torrey Pines Park

Last Sunday morning on the Coast Highway just before Del Mar

It's all About the Bike

This morning Lance Armstrong won his seventh Tour de France. Unrelated to the tour (as you can probably tell from earlier posts) I have been riding a road bike for about a dozen years on-and-off and currently have a wonderful Torelli Countach frame with Campagnolo components that I plow the roads around my home with. I'm relatively new to the San Diego area and am really enjoying discovering the rides. I ride early and today noticed a LOT of people on the road and finally realized it was because they probably woke to Lance's win. Anyway, I look forward to nxt weekend when it gets a little quieter again. And by the way -- still nothing like the circus I left in Palo Alto - many fewer and more normal riders down here! Enclosed pics show my bike and Torrey Pines Beach this morning about 6:15. J

Kudos to the Spin Doctors at the White House

Un frigging believable. It looks as if Carl Rove has committed a felony and he's got his shorts in a bunch right now. George deftly pulls John Roberts out of the hat, a man who seems not to be of the administration's ideological ilk - actually a reasonable man. The dissonance this has created completely overshadows Carl-in-the-corner. Don't worry, buddy - we Democrats my not have the penchant for making things up or the killer instincts you've shown over the years - but we have enough not to let this one get away. Have a wonderful weekend. J

FW: Paradise

-----Original Message----- From: James Dorst <jim.dorst@verdisoft.com> Sent: 7/19/05 6:13:44 AM To: jdorst_us@ailsoft.blogger.com Subject: Paradise

I am sitting in my kitchen literally in a cloud. We live on the top of Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. So quiet -- have always wanted to live in the mountains or beach -- am finally at the beach and it is delicious.

Need to start on the vision quest blog; Have only been thinking on it for 12 years now....

:-)

J

Ken or Saddam ???

Saddam has been a bad-guy longer than Ken Lay but I think someone ought to handicap who gets to go to the "Big House" first. Personally, I think George would get more votes out of locking up Kenny-boy especially because the big bang-for-the-buck with Saddam has already been had. I mean pulling him out of a hole like a rat -- that's pretty good when you want to demonize somebody. Saddam on the stand nobody in America so much cares about unless he does something goofy. Lay is differnt (Texas sp). George can spank his buddy and look like a reformed man! Maybe Kenny-boy can be in the same cell as Karl! They can cheat at poker with one another! This would be cool. J

Big Fun

When you get to a certain point in life it is sometimes hard to just have pure fun. Behold Lauren, William and Marian all having pure fun at Pacific Beach yesterday. It just doesn't get any better than a big-ass inflatable "slip-n-slide". J

Speaking of Propaganda

I was being a lazy-dog watching CNN the day after the multiple blasts in the London tube and suddenly stiffened up when a "news bulletin" peppered out of the TV. It went something like this; ".. an unidentified high-level CIA source indicates that the terrorists involved in the bombings in London may have connections to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi the infamous Al Qaeda leader in Iraq....". Excuse me, but the Brits (who seem to really have their act together in responding to all of this) had barely begun speculating that the bombs themselves were set by timing devices and were not suicide or cell-phone bombs. One day after the events how in the hell could anyone in the US intelligence community have ANY REAL IDEA that this terrorist attack was connected to Al Zarqawi? I am afraid that the answer is that they could not have any such information but such a "connection" would be valuable to the White House -- just a few days after George went on TV to fumble through a "decisive" speech trying to justify the stupidity of Iraq. If any government types read this (and I assume you might because blogs are probably scanned for these sorts of sentiments) I want to apologize. Normally I wouldn't think anything of it but when you make it so damned obvious it just sticks in my craw. Remember when we used to call Soviet leaders "ham-handed"? J

Supposed to be my Last Day and Podcasting

How's that for two disparate topics. Later this afternoon the boys are going to have pizza and cake for my last day at Yahoo. Turns out I will be working tomorrow as well and some into the future but as the last day of the month it is kind of a line of demarcation. I loaded the iTunes podcasting software on my Powerbook and iPod. iTunes doesn't support BitTorrent so some of the podcasts that look the most interesting I can't get but I am sure that will change soon because these are some of the most advertised podcasts. It's interesting when you look at the Top Ten podcasts, Al Franken is in there and his deal is Bit Torrent I think. So what I guess this means is there are a bunch of pissed off people trying to download Franken's shows, failing, but still driving his show into the top ten. What's wrong with this picture? J

Neighborhood Watering Holes Not a Good Idea

When I lived in Menlo Park I was riding my bike to work at Yahoo in Sunnyvale. Along the route on Old Middlefield road I saw a classic old bar near San Antonio road - called Fred's Bar. It is set back a bit from the street and has a classic neon sign, come-on-in-after work look to it and it made me think about taking up drinking again. There were people in there who would be interesting. Today in the newspaper, the following: "About 2:15 AM Friday, a patron of Fred's Bar on Old Middlefield Road was arrested on the 2500 block of Alvin Street after allegedly standing in the middle of the road with his pants down and scratching five vehicles with a knife." Reminding me that there is a damn good reason for both my abstinence and the lack of as many "colorful neighborhood bars" as there used to be. A

Friday and going home

Well, here I am finishing up another week. Detroit lost last night but it was a good series and things could be worse. I have been thinking about people's overall complacency regarding the war in Iraq (and the acceptance of this administration's completely implausible and sometimes outright false explanations for things) and what the real reasons for creating this hell in Baghdad are and I am afraid of the answer. I go back to the Vietnam war. I think at the time if one had taken a reasonably intelligent 12 year-old child, shown her a map of Southeast Asia and explained to her the "Domino Theory" of the spread of communism, she would have looked at you as if you were insane. The argument on its face just made no sense. Taking another equally intelligent 12 year-old today, show her a map of the world, explain to her how a country like Iraq possesses Weapons of Mass Destruction which can be used against the United States a half a world away and this is somehow a threat to us ??? (I am going to forget about trying to get her to buy off on the, "Terrorists from Saudi Arabia, by way of Afganistan, trained in Iraq, blew up a couple of buildings in New York" argument) ...... Anyway, I think you get the picture. Collectively, we Americans are stupid and easily led around by our noses. I will scream in anguish against the war if my son or daughter comes home in a "transport tube" (they don't call them "body bags" any longer) but am then forced to rationalize the loss by accepting the Bush Administration's specious argument because if I don't -- then I am guilty of sacrificing my child to my own unquestioning lack of critical thought. I don't think it's completely blood for oil -- later on this topic and apologies for being so bleak. I take comfort in Cheney's learned assessment that the insurgency in Iraq is in its, "last throes"...... A A

Off the Back Deck

Might be hard to tell but this is what I can look out on when I am at home....

Kinda Back

Well, I am soon to complete my stint at Yahoo and am leaving a front row seat for their mobile initiatives but for probably a good reason. That being to move to La Jolla where my family already is. I had tried to warm to the Yahoo360 blog product but, although in beta, it is nothing near as robust as the Google blogger so I am going to stay here I think. Today across from my cube I had a chance to talk to Russell Beattie (just search for him and you'll find his blog) who sits right across from me. I am sorry I leave next week because Russ is a real interesting guy and I could spend a lot of time talking with him about a lot of things which mostly would educate me. He is a very interesting guy. Today is the first aniversary of my friend Don Cochrane's death as well as my daughter's 10th birthday, so a lot of mixed thoughts run through my mind. A

From San Diego

Blogging from San Diego on the Easter weekend. Spongebob and Scooby on the tube and trying to get to the beach. Will return hopefully with some pictures to post. Still need to figure out how to do this on a Powerbook. Weather is cool - will report back on the beach situation later. August

Well things are Kind of Evening Out

It has been a long time because our little software company is now a small piece of a much larger company and being the operations guy - I took a big shot of the brunt of the thing, I still have a couple of weeks of insanity but then things should settle down and I will show up here again. Probably the newest thing is that I am now the proud owner of a 15" Powerbook - I have made the switch to Apple and my main thought has been - "Life is too short to live it inelegantly". This machine is amazing. Later - A

Too Long

I can't believe its been over a month - I will get on it but its late so I sleep .... A

Importance of Being Lucky

I am listening to my 3 small children squabbling and at the same time looking at an old picture of me holding a 20 lb. steelhead on the banks of the Deschutes River (two truly mutually exclusive experiences). These things remind me that through a remarkable accident of birth I am able to indulge in these thoughts/pastimes and not eke out a subsistence life elsewhere in the world. We (I) are (am) stunningly lucky to dream about and occasionally even do those things that bring us the most pleasure and fulfillment in life. Mine are easy; fishing, road-biking, reading, cross-country skiing and running (all with my kids). The latter two I am working back into as my heart is not where it used to be ~ but I will get it there. I think I mentioned it before now in this Blog but coming up on two years ago I had my aortic heart valve replaced with a porcine (read, "It used to belong to a pig") valve because I had a congenital defect I knew nothing about. The alternative was, "You have 12 months to live", hence the "Lucky" part. Anyway, I can exercise but the hardest part seems to be getting into good enough shape to assimilate oxygen while exercising. It is simply harder to breathe than it used to be, although I am told that I can work up to it. We shall see .......................A

Depression

I suppose things could be worse, but the thought of four more Bush years has me dreaming of Canada and New Zealand. I have a haunting nightmare of the Red/Blue US electoral map - is it just me or does anyone else see the Union/Confederate comparison here? In my dream Carl Jung is explaining to an audience that, on average, the empirically determined IQ of the red states is 94, while the corresponding IQ value for the blue states is 132. The audience erupts into a kind of an academic riot (I later realize the presentation hall is on the Mississippi State campus). Everything disappears into a fog until I awake with my foot blown off on the front lines of the Civil War of 2005................. A thinks he maybe should start drinking again.

Hard to Believe

I suppose it's the excitement of the debates or the volume of email I am getting from MoveOn.org, but I have not made it to the keyboard. I will improve this weekend. Anyway, still thinking a lot about Don. His memory motivated me to call a couple people I hadn't spoken to in a long time. One is Ross Hawkins who is a very wonderful spirit - living up in Portland (where I met him ) and running an eclectic and equally wonderful publishing house (www.arnicapublishing.com). I also called another good friend, Tom Harper from Berkeley. Tom, Don and I worked together at the same small "science project" in Emeryville. Both doing well and new (old) threads to the tapestry. Definitely members of the tribe. Then there is Balch who is out there somewhere doing webcams and Putnam smoking a bowl and howling at the television. later .... A

Music and Poetry

A few years ago I read in an interview with Gary Snyder his answer to a question about the demise of poetry. His response was something like, "What do you think popular music is? Poetry is more popular than it has ever been". Now, to music. I am a true non-explorer of contemporary music of the past 20 years. I tend to listen to stuff I happen to hear on the internet or very obscure stuff. Being a big dead-head I tried Phish ... sorry, don't get it Trey. Then I bought a couple of Dave Matthews albums. I am as blown-away as seeing Terry Haggerty play up in Marin. Really good. and I am exploring. It's hard for me to believe that he's been playing for a dozen years and I hadn't bothered. Oh well. At least he's still alive an making music. Marian and I are listening right now. ....A

Marian and Dad

We are looking at the blog and trying to figure out what to do and what to write today.

Below the glacier 

Chugach I think 

Kenai - big Chinook - In my mind I see Charlie catching cutthroat under this tree. I have an extensive dream-life that ought to come out

How Does the Song Go?

Where Does the Time Go?

You would think I have been in prison or something, not having blogged for close to 3 weeks. Have kept up riding the bike and enjoying my family now that they have returned from Alaska. My daughter did at least get a shot of the Kenai (for my soul). All the 3 weeks they were there they had clear weather which I think may be some kind of a record. Denali was visible all of the time and I missed it. I will get some pictures up. Republican convention is coming up so look out for the FBI at your door! "'Scuse me sir but we just want to know what your intentions are when you're in New York for the convention." Must have something to do with the Patriot Act............. A

Next few of southern San Francisco Bay today

Trynig to get a cool reflection with a mini picsel pocketPC cam - In the distance are some of the old evaporation salt ponds. I grew up around here and 30 years ago this area was a dump and is now a "wilderness area". If you go down 2 feet in the mud you'll glow in the dark. I think there are more heavy metals here than in Iraq.

Another 

Next shot 

Next 

Baylands this morning 

Pulgas Water Temple (next few)

Inviting, eh?

another 

Family is near Denali, while August works and rides his bike

They are going ....

Here is where.... 

Wireless Blogging

Here I am blogging from the foothills of the California Coast Range. Now I need to figure out how to upload pictures from the device........A

Collective Unconscious

Have been reading an edited version of Jung's work (edited by Joseph Campbell) and have spent the last couple of weeks wrapping my brain around the concept of collective unconscious. For me it is further confirmation as the keystone of what I have been looking for and seems to make sense. I come from a layman's perspective so don't bring a doctorate in to pollute things. It's the idea. The notion melds perfectly with the historical biological record - We all do come from the same place (Africa) and it makes intuitive sense that we would share the same mystery patterns. August will think some more but it is pretty good so far....... A

Cheap Road Bike - But it flies with a 220 lb man on it

Gone are the days we would stop to decide where we should go ...... we just ride -- Crazy Fingers; Grateful Dead

My Prayer ~ Completely Stolen from The Sons

I decided to tell you one thing or two..., but what did you do to make it so hard to talk to you? Its wasn't long ago you had it in mind; You were going to find what was slowing you down. You found it. Did you suddenly realize another thing? Did you suddenly start all your wondering, forget to sing about a thing bigger than you? Well you're never alone but some stranger things are true - Wherever you go I'm right beside you. I'm the good things that you do. HEADWAY

Tao ~ Christ

With the West, man is immeasurably small and the grace of God is everything; but in the East, man is God and he redeems himself.

The Funeral

Don's funeral was on Wednesday. I have not gone to these in the past (my family just has memorials or "remembrances"; no coffins or ritual) under the the belief that the reasonable thing to do was to remember the person as best I could; meditate or project in my own way my feelings for the person usually when I was in some place of physical beauty (elevation or ocean). Don also had something on Tuesday called a "visitation". There was a room in a mortuary where his coffin lay (it was closed). Many large flower displays and a large picture of him. It was good for me because, while I was there it was not crowded and I sat in the front pew and more or less fell apart. I think you have to do this as a part of it. Anyway I was able to then attend the funeral the next day and keep it together. The large church where he had his service was packed and the eulogies were flat profound and consistent. This was a man who had many REAL friends, I being one, and now the question for me is how to fill the gap that he had come to fill on my life. I know how to do it - I am going to try to take the pieces of him that he gave to me and try to give them to others. The first step is to do what he would have done - stay in regular contact with his wife and mother, just to let them know I am there. I think its exactly where he would have started........ A

One of the last vices.... 

I wish I could talk to Don... 

Strata 

Let's get wet 

Here's a list that's making the rounds of the Internet: GEORGE W. BUSH ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT: I attacked and took over two countries. I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury. I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!). I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period. I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market. I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner. I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record. In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did). After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history. I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history. In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job. I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history. I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history. I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV. I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history. I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed. I cut health care benefits for war veterans. I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history. I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history. Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her). I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy. I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world. I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community. I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States, called the "Bureau of Homeland Security"(only one letter away from BS). I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but I did it!!). I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission. I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board. I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history. I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant. I withdrew from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions. I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections. I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations. The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation). I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history. I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied,saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1) I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government. I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history). I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability. I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts. I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history. In a little over two years. I have created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided that the US has been since the Civil War. I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down RECORDS AND REFERENCES: I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available). I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war. I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use. All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. PERSONAL REFERENCES: For personal references, please speak to my dad or Uncle James Baker (They can be reached in their offices at the Carlyle Group where they are helping to divide up the spoils of the US-Iraq war and plan for the next one) (Note: this information should be useful to voters in the 2004 election. Circulate to as many citizens you think would be helped to be reminded about his record.

This is a blurry picture of one of my best friends, Don Cochrane. It was taken where we hung out to drink beer and tell stories for hours, Paul and Eddies. Yesterday, June 23, 2004 Don fell to his death while climbing Half-Dome in Yosemite. You will always be with me my friend. 

Amy in San Diego 

Lauren in San Diego 

Marian in San Diego 

Will in San Diego 

CIA

George left yesterday. Personal reasons. Everyone seems to want to talk about how he was forced out. Of all of them for some reason (and you may think this insane) he seemed the most human of them all. He just seemed to be a good guy. I know he said WMD were a "slam dunk" and they missed Osama but people believe what they want to beleive - Tenet is not any different. In rolling it around I think on the "who is the most human" scale they ought to go in the following order: 1. Bush - he tries not to be, but is such a dope he personifies humanity 2. Powell - Stuck between his military approach to sticking with it and an atavistic urge to pummel his boss with one of the busts in the oval office. 3, Rummy - well, nevermind ..... 4. Rice - Borg In case you're confused number 1 is the most human, not the other way around.

The mundane. corner of Foothill and Page Mill on the way to work yesterday 

They will always return 

Thinking out a ways 

Terry 

Where is Jon Balch?

He is elusive. He is eighteen cents with a beret. His fly is open.

Out the window 

Up the street in Palo Alto 

Down the street in Palo Alto 

beppo 

On the way to the Sons - this was a while ago - Guess who's August  

Memorial Day

Subtle day today, temp is exactly body temperature so not sure I am really awake. Speaking of Memorial Day, my namesake was killed during WWII. Shot down over Burma which is interesting as I have never asked my father what our planes were doing over Burma... I don't remember them as a part of the Axis powers. Anyway I'm a bit into the bourbon and cleaning the house so got to run. I just sent this address to my good friend Jon Balch (a filmmaker). If I get a response back I will at least know he read my blog - Not sure if Charlie has seen it yet. Goodbye .... A

Corso

Charlie says Corso's the man. I've read a bit. He is the man. A gritty Snyder. A man. Tonight it's Faulkner for August, " A lot of wisdom in an acre of corn". Schemed all day in my mind how to leave my wife and young children. Must be an asshole. Had some drinks with her and it seems better.Listening to Nora Jones who calms me down. She reminds me of Phoebe Snow when I was on the prowl. Now I just want to experience life. Ed Rickett's rules. 1) Have fun;2) Have enough good food to eat 3) keep things clean; and never let rule 3 get in the way of rule 1

My Son

Today has been a wonderful day. I spoke to my son who I have not talked to in a long time and who is really a good man. He is in college, pursuing an Arts degree, which is exactly what he should be doing and exactly what his father didn't do ..... but there is still time. I don't think anyone has even looked at my Blog, let alone commented, but no matter; maybe this is a way that he and I can share stuff that I haven't done a good job of before. Anyway, hi there Charlie.. I love y