The Backyard Jay Babies - Update

They are a week older now. You can clearly see all 3 of their beaks and skinny little necks. I took my life in my own hands getting this picture. Papa jay was clearly very pissed off that I was near his family as all of a sudden I felt something brush my hair. I looked over on the rail of our steps and there he was giving me a very evil eyeball. Then I quickly moved a branch and stuck the camera in and I got 2 more flybys. I ran inside!

Backyard LIfe

Is there 3? This nest is in the little tree just outside our bathroom window.

Dodgers Win - Again!

Jonathon "Big John" Broxton, closer, 9th inning, 2 outs, into the stretch.....

And yes, I took that picture.

New Twitter Phishing Scam

After Barack Obama and Ashton Kutcher, the latest people to hop on the Twitter bandwagon are cybercriminals. Twitter is a social networking website that allows its users to write “micro-blogs” and since January the site has exploded in popularity. The number of daily visitors has surpassed relative veterans such as Linkedin and Bebo so it should come as no surprise that phishers and other scam artists are following their victims to Twitter.com. What is unusual is the level of sophistication that Twitter phishing has already achieved.

For example, in one widespread phishing attack a hacker creates dozens of dummy Twitter accounts which then begin to "follow" other users. When one of these users decides to check out who's following their micro-blog, they are presented with a link to a site called "tvviter". Notice the trick spelling? Another ploy is to use websites like tinyurl.com which provide redirection services so that victims don't really know where the link will take them. Once they arrive at tvviter.com the victim users find themselves at a fake Twitter login page that is controlled by the phishers. The hackers who set up the imposter web site then use the stolen account passwords to spread adult ads and spyware downloads which can earn big bucks for the phishing hackers. Many users have fallen prey to this phishing scam.

What can you do to stay safe on Twitter and other social networking sites? * Be wary of clicking on any link that looks like “tinyurl.com/kk68ca”, these can take you anywhere on the net!* If you want to preview where the tinyurl link will take you, use the free link preview service at http://www.longurl.org/.* Always double-check the address bar before logging in. Phishing schemes often rely on victims not paying close attention to the URL.* Stay vigilant- the phishers are here to stay, and sooner or later you will be a target.

-- this article courtesy of http://www.digitrust.com/

Credit Screening

Just thought I'd post a couple websites up here that have come to my attention. The first is how to freeze your credit, what it costs and this link only applies to California residences. This link is a government website.

Freezing your credit does not allow any company to run a credit check on you unless you "open" your credit via a PIN. This obviously would stop any identity theft as no business will allow a new account to be opened without a credit check.

The second link is how to opt out of receiving those irritating and potentially dangerous pre-approved credit offers.

These links have been checked and to the best of my knowledge are not false. It is important when surfing the Internet you pay very close attention to whether the site you are visiting is real or an impostor. The Federal Trade Commission has an interesting page on this here. If you have a moment, check it out as it has valuable tips. By the way, for my cousins who are starting to twitter, be very careful of new phishing scams on twitter. I'll post a blog tomorrow on this.

The FTC also has a page detailing the ONLY website authorized to offer you a free credit report. The rest are impostors either trying to get money out of you for doing the same thing that the FTC authorized one does or are trying to capture your personal information to steal your identity.

Homeless #2

I suppose I have a soft spot for some homeless and homeless women in particular. I'm not sure where this comes from but occasionally it drives Dena a little crazy. But that's my job. On a particularly chilly day I was on my way home from the post office and I see this woman waving her arms madly on the street corner. She was shoeless and only had a t-shirt on. She looked extremely dishevelled, cold and perhaps a little off. I was concerned that she had wandered away from her caregiver. No one was stopping and I couldn't help myself.

I stopped and she told me a sad tale of a stolen social security check, how hungry she was, etc. What possessed me I don't know but I offered to get her a jacket and asked her to get in my truck. On the short drive home I began quickly to regret my decision. She reeked so bad I had to open all the windows. I wondered how I would ever get the smell out. At the house I found a brand new UPS jacket that an old roommate had given me, a pair of tennis shoes and some food. I dressed her all up and drove her back to where I picked her up. I suppose in hindsight the entire affair was foolish on my part but I like to think I helped in some way.

Speaking of Homeless #1

In another lifetime I would stop by my local 7-11 every morning on my way to work. Almost every morning there would be a young, tall black fellow there with newspapers and watered down windex asking to clean your windshield. Sometimes I would let him but I have a rule. Never give a homeless man money. It's my rule, yes it's prejudice I suppose, but it's my money. I will buy food, which I did. Regularly we had this exchange, where I'd buy him a pastry for breakfast and my windshield would be cleaned.

Some weeks, I wouldn't see him. After one such absence I struck up a conversation with him and asked where he'd been. He'd been ill and hospitalized. I could see it, he looked terrible. Most mornings after our transaction of sorts I would ponder how he got into this situation and how would he ever get out of it. It was obvious he didn't mind working for his money instead of straight begging at least he was cleaning windshields.

So, I asked him. He explained to me that he had been a cable TV installer and had been out at a party in South Central Los Angeles and had gotten busted for DUI. DUI laws are very strong now and he lost his license for 6 months, that meant he couldn't drive the cable TV van. There went his job. He said his girlfriend dumped him and he lost his apartment quickly after that. It spiraled from there and he ended up contracting HIV. A sad tale but easy to see it happening to anyone really. One bad choice and your life turns to shit.

Several weeks after our bonding experience he disappeared. He had been looking quite gaunt and I suspected the worse. I've never seen him since. Sometimes when I approach the 7-11 I wonder....

Homeless - How Do You Recover?

The other night Dena and I were standing in line for the Ira Glass NPR event and a scruffy looking guy with a long beard walked up to the people in front of us. He asked what the line was for. They turned their back and ignored him. He asked us the same question. He looked homeless but not crazy although he had crossed Wilshire in the middle of the street and just about got hit by several cars seconds before this. After a momentary pause, I decided to answer him. He then asked several other questions about NPR ending with where on the dial was NPR. You have to be old school to ask "where on the dial".

As I write this blog I'm staring at a drawing I purchased last week from a homeless woman (well I assume she's homeless) that often sets up shop on the corner of Crescent Heights and Wilshire. She sells her drawings which are either charcoal or crayon and are quite bad truth be told. I bought one from her the other night, $ 10. She's scruffy but appears to be as well kept as I imagine she's able, her clothes are very old but seem well cared for.

These moments in time add up to a terrible National crisis. Sure, some homeless people are a little crazy, the Federal and State governments haven't cared for these middle of the road crazy people since Reagan put them all on the streets. But what about the others? What about the person that has lost their job which led to losing the apartment which lead to burning bridges with friends? What about the person who has no where left to turn to? How do they recover? How do they interview? How do they even get an interview? If they got a job, how would they afford to get started in the job with clothes and getting to work? It seems impossible.

Another 7-11 Event

This morning I popped by the 7-11 on San Vicente and Hauser near the house. My Burmese friend was there, as he normally is. He works until 8am. I suppose it's a little sad that I know the 7-11 guys schedules. I've blogged about my 7-11 buddies before, check out my previous blogposts.

He greets me as usual with "Hello my Canadian friend." This all started a couple years ago when he started hitting on me. His advances were subtle but basically he was fishing for immigration status, at least that is what I thought. Marrying an American white girl would solve that for him. So I told him I was Canadian in the hopes that he would back off somewhat and he did. He's still jovial and friendly but had stopped asking about my personal life.

This morning that all changed. He said that he "liked my style". I was of course, dressed for work. I dress in my own style, which is conservative with sharp, crisp lines. Perhaps it was my mother that ruined me for crisp lines, ironing my jeans and t-shirts but it is my style now...... After I chose my purchase and walked up to the counter, he asked me if there was a man in my life. I said no man, woman. There was a small, almost imperceptible pause and then a surprise question, "are you the she-bot or the man-bot?" Perhaps he didn't say bot, sometimes he's hard to understand, but regardless the words the implication was obvious. He wanted to know which of us "wore the pants in the family" so to speak. I politely informed him that it really doesn't work that way and strode out into the morning fog with a smile on my face.

Thoughts on the Meaning of Life

I often ponder what the meaning of life is. I wonder why we're all here, what we're supposed to accomplish or experience and probably more importantly, what is my place in all of it. I think this question has come up more often lately because of an AMC television series called Breaking Bad. It's an absolutely brutal show about an older chemistry teacher that turns to making drugs to support his family as he is dying from cancer. The show explores the incredibly difficult choices that our "hero" has to make, some inherent to morals, family, some to right and wrong and how one lie begets another and another and another.

One particular episode has sat with me for quite some time. It was when our co-star turns to heroine. And yes, I realize its just a television show and not reality, but when the character shot heroine into his arm he seemed so at peace. If someone who does heroine all day is rich, doesn't hurt anyone but themselves, why is that wrong? What is better a wall street capitalist making $ 100 million a year or a heroine drug user, also wealthy but equally as happy? Is following your bliss what it's all about? Does it matter what your bliss is? I suppose if my bliss were being a serial killer, then that would be wrong but if my bliss was ice fishing and drinking beer until the ice thawed every year who would that hurt? Would that be wrong?

Lots of ideas come into my head about why I'm here, well, why we're all here really. Love, friendship, happiness, "the journey not the destination", "doing unto others as they would do unto us", and the list goes on. None really ring true to me though. Is it the experience? Is it just us, a being meant to learn lessons before ascending somewhere...like heaven? Or are we these beings floating around in the fifth dimension meant to exist through different experiences expanding the collective consciousness of all? I met a guy that believed that recently. He was brilliant. He meditated himself into that collective consciousness when doing research and the answers would just come to him.

Sorry, this blog offers no answers, only questions. Answers are welcomed in the form of a comment, feel free.

Prom Queen?

We, as in the collective that is California's melting pot, can't seem to manage to vote Same Sex Marriage in as a right but they can seem to vote a guy in as Prom Queen. Fairfax High School in Los Angeles voted in a male as prom queen. Check out the article here

WipeOut

By chance last night I happened upon a show called WipeOut. It's on ABC, Wednesdays at 8pm. I don't normally surf channels but I was immediately captured by the show. The premise is absolutely ridiculous and I believe is related to the popular Japanese shows “Takeshi’s Castle” in the ’80s and the still-running “SASUKE.” I used to watch these shows when I travelled, I think I was seeing reruns on Spike TV.

The Japanese shows were funny but WipeOut had me rolling. I taped the show and actually watched some of it twice. I had to stop my first viewing at around 15 minutes because I was laughing so hard I started had an asthma attack. After a couple inhaler hits, I dabbed the tears from my eyes and tried again. Still funny! Dena was only mildly amused but a couple stunts on the finale had her laughing so hard we had to stop the show again. I'm not sure what's so funny about other people's pain, but hey, comedy has no bounds.

The premise is simple and has to do with contestants moving through an obstacle course. The guys don't wear a cup, keep that in mind when you're watching. If you've had a bad day and need a laugh, check it out, DVR it and watch it!

Clips are available here.

Another 3 Second Sound Bite

Equality for all runs into another roadblock but road blocks are dismantled and civil rights march on. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to get each road block out of the way. Today's California Supreme Court decision upheld the validity of Proposition 8, which blocked future same sex marriages. The Supreme court also deemed the 18,000 marriages that occured while it was law to stand. I think of this not as a loss but as a victory. Originally, in 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriages were a legal right according to the constitution of California. Prop 8 is an amendment to the California constitution stating that marriage = man/woman. Isn't it confusing how you can go from not having a right, to having a right, then having it taken away again? Yes, welcome to a skewed democracy where liberty for all only applies to white, straight christians.

You can bet your life there will be another amendment/proposition on the ballet, probably in 2010, overturning Prop 8 and we'll be back where we should be. After all, why should California, one of the most progressive states in the union be so back asswards to not allow it? Already 11 states in the US allow it, as well as Mexico, Canada, South Africa and most of Europe. Of course, who knows about Americans anyways, they couldn't handle the metric system and the rest of the world is doing that.....so, why would they be able to handle this?

Unfortunately, most of the world and especially the United States will hear a 3 second sound bite that says "California Supreme Court upholds gay marriage ban". That's the beauty of the 3 second sound bite, it's misleading and points people in the direction that particular news media wants to slant it. Bush/Cheney and Carl Rove were masters at this FUD tactic, (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and in today's fast moving, media frenzied world, 3 seconds is all we have time for.

I'm sure tonight will be a night for rallies, protests, arrests and maybe, if we're lucky, even a riot or 2. You can discover where the rally near you is by going to this website. http://www.dayofdecision.com/

“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
Sun Tzu - Art of War

Eco Flushing

Big flush or little flush? You decide. The new rage in toilet flushing mechanisms.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Lately, not so much. Pretty much every morning before trotting off to work I happily mosey out to my garden to check, admire and water. The first batch of lettuce seeds that went in the ground never seemed to come up. I tried germinating more in the house, see blog below, and painstakingly planted them tiny root by tiny root Saturday morning. Do you have any idea how small lettuce seeds are? The roots are thinner than a thread. Sunday morning, I go sauntering out in the hopes that the little guys have come up but alas they are gone. Where did they go? There are little footy prints in my garden plot....

I've been none to happy that all my little lettuce seeds have disappeared, twice. And the established lettuce all has lovely little bite marks out of it. Slugs and Lace Worms are the cause of the bites and according to the very knowledgeable lady at Mordigan's Nursery, birds are the cause of my missing lettuce babies. As for slugs, my sister reminded me of last years slug wars and the effective and cheap treatment for that. Please note blogpost The Slug Wars.

So, in lieu of lettuce, I've planted corn and some eggplant, both Japanese and regular. The lady at Mordigans told me it's too late for lettuce, that it will go to seed faster than you can eat it because of the heat. I guess it must be a better fall crop for Southern California. For the corn I'm told that I will need to play bee later on and rub the stalks together to pollinate. This is why it's planted in rows. A friend at work who is from Iowa said that they used to hire kids to run thru the rows and pollinate the male and female corns that were in side by side rows. Of course the question is, how do you tell a female corn from a male corn?

Well It Worked

I planted all kinds of fruits and veggies in my little garden in the back when my Mom was here in early April. All are doing well except the green lettuce. Matter of fact, last night we had an entire salad made up of the "mesculin mix" that had already matured enough to eat. The green lettuce I planted didn't even come up. I was trying that from seed.

So searching the internet I read that soaking seeds for 24 hours in warm water then planting will help. Also scoring them with a knife or sandpaper will also speed the process when used with warm water. Well, if you've ever seen a lettuce seed you'll know that neither of those is possible as they are soooo small. I also read that if you soak for 24 hours and then can't plant right away, you can put the seeds in a ziplock baggie in your window in the sun with a moist paper towel and let them grow roots.

I did this and this morning they are well rooted and I'm going to plant them. It took 4 days. Pretty good I think. Now if I could just figure out what is making tracks in my little lettuce plot I'd be happy. It's not birds because I see 4 little footie prints. Squirrel? It's almost like it jumps or falls from above because there are no tracks anywhere else.

Star Trek and What Demographic?

I heard a news brief the other day commenting about how the new 2009 Star Trek Movie , slated to release this weekend is focused on the teen and twenty something demographic. They didn't want to spend money luring the original series fans for some reason. Are we too old? Do they assume we'll go anyways? Hey, we have disposable income, dammit! We give that disposable income to those teens! I demand that we be paid some sort of homage! We are the reason that Star Trek is still viable in all of it's formats and re-incarnations, perhaps with the exception of Voyager.

So this director, Abrams, who is supposedly the hottest thing in Hollywood is making this movie appeal to the all important 18 - 30 year old male demographic. Who made them so important? Why are they important? Do they have more money than the rest of us? Are they more nerdy than the rest of us? Perhaps they have nothing better to do than go see Star Trek 12 times. I guess the bottom line is that I don't appreciate being the older, completely unimportant demographic that is not catered to in the least. I like to be catered to....

Regardless of the momentous special affects that I'm sure will be prevalent in the movie, I am looking forward to it. There were 10 Star Trek movies in their day. I think the Next Gen movies were the best. And thank goodness that Captain Kirk was killed in the last one because I could do without seeing him again. Don't get me wrong, I love Captain Kirk, it's William Shatner I've had enough of. Ah, the trouble with tribbles just popped into my head.

Water and Los Angeles

As of June 1st Los Angeles will be on a mandatory 15% water reduction ordinance. When the news first came out it was stated that you have to consume 15% water than you consume now. Dena and I were concerned. We are pretty water conscious now, watering only when necessary, turning off the water when brushing our teeth, using shorter cycles on both the clothes washer and the dish washer and the best conservation is the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" rule. In our house, that saves a lot of money as I have a small bladder.

We were concerned because I couldn't imagine how in the world we were going to cut another 15% off our water total. We already have low flow everything, we did that long ago. I read that if you use over your first tier that you will be penalized by paying a significant amount of money for anything used in the 2nd water tier. I have no idea what this means.... This morning I called the DWP (Department of Water and Power) for clarification. It turns out that your first tier of water is 28 HCF. HCF stands for one hundred cubic feet which = 748.05 gallons. Dena and I's bill last billing cycle was for 11 HCF. Check out your DWP bill to see how much you are using. A billing cycle at the DWP is 2 months. The lady at the DWP this morning was very nice and said that we were doing great and didn't have to do anything else to conserve than we were already doing. We were already so low in our usage that we were not a factor. She was very nice and encouraged us to keep up the good work!

I am relieved to be sure. I was even considering putting a pail in the shower to collect the water that goes down the drain while I wait for the shower to get hot. I was going to water the plants with it.

Links with tips

1. http://www.bewaterwise.com/tips01.html
2. http://www.lacity.org/ead/environmentla/tips/waterSavingTip.htm
3. Flush less, if you cannot afford to replace your older toilet or don't want to do the "if it's yellow let it mellow" thing, then put a brick in the bottom of your toilet. You'll use .5 gallon less per flush.

Rebates:

1. http://socalwatersmart.com/index.php
2. http://www.watersavinghero.com/rebate-program.html
3. http://www.bewaterwise.com/rebates01.html

To Do Lists and other Musings

On my drive home from San Diego I was listening to the news. I heard a clip about how Obama popped in on a press briefing at the Whitehouse quite unannounced and talked about how he just got off the phone with Souter and how he's going to retire. I'm not sure if Obama mentioned that on his list now is to fill the upcoming vacancy or whether I thought it but.....
It got me thinking. What does his to do list look like? I see a yellow pad on that big desk in the oval office. In neat penmanship is his list of things to do. Below is what I see:

 Announce Chief Justice Souter’s retirement
 Get troops out of Iraq, make a plan
 Swine flu outbreak, try to comfort public
 Stimulate economy so the unemployment rate doesn’t plummet to 12%
 Deal with torture issue
 Close Guantanamo Bay
 Meet with credit card company executives to stop fee gouging

I would imagine that he felt so excited that there was something he could write on his list and cross off right away that he had to run out to the press corps and tell them. I know I would. I get a sense of accomplishment when I cross things off. Below is my list:

 Fix the leak on the back house faucet
 Decide on a contractor the kitchen remodel
 Take vitamins so I don’t get moody
 Try to get Flex Health Pay plan raised for 2009 with payroll
 Work out with trainer
 Weed garden
 Deposit checks to joint before we get hit with the $ 35 overdraft fee

I've already done 4 of them today. I can't imagine having things on my list that take years to accomplish. I suppose that's the difference between great people and the rest of us. There to do lists take longer....

Cell Phone Chargers

You'll all be thrilled to know that the days of your drawers, desks and countertops littered with different cell phone chargers are limited. The CTIA wireless assocation has endorsed a plan to create a common format, MicroUSB, for all cellular phone chargers. The idea was first put out there in February 2009 and has backing from all the major cell phone players, aka AT&T, Nokia, etc.

But, don't throw away all your chargers just yet. Implementation is targeted for 2012. Patience....

By that time cloud computing will have taken over and Wireless would have changed again...

Another Trip to the Dentist

This involved prepping for the crown. I had my root canal already and it was traumatic but as good as it could be I suppose. I took over a month to heal from that. Did you know that there is a ligament surrounding each tooth and these can get very sore from all that dental work. This was apparently what was causing me pain. See picture for some of the things done in a root canal. I felt you really needed to see that....just to share my pain with you. Yes, there is blood if you're a bleeder. I am.

Today was the prepping for the crown over that particular tooth. Since it was so decayed, had an old filling, etc, they tear apart most of the tooth to get in there with that lovely file/drill thing so there's not much left of the tooth when they are done. This means they have to crown it. A crown is a new porcelain or gold tooth that sits on top of your old tooth. Your old tooth is prepped to receive the crown. It's crowned like in checkers and fits like a puzzle piece or glove. I've happily provided you a picture of that too. Now this trauma and drama in this picture didn't happen to me where they ripped apart part of the gum, instead they put some sort of strings between the tooth and the gum, then pushed it in there to make a space so they could drill and cement. It was lovely but I suppose, all in all better than this picture.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go have 4 advil and chase it down with a pint of vodka.

Rebuilding Together

Webcor and Rebuilding Together work every year on a big project to renovate a facility in need. This year was Angel's Camp in San Pedro. Here's some shots of us helping out today.

Kitchen Lessons Learned - Granite vs Marble

We had a beautiful piece of countertop picked out.

We had a color scheme and a plan. We had wrapped our mind around the kitchen cabinets, stain and flooring all in a certain style based on this "granite". We went over to Arizona Tile and received quite an education from Tiffanie. She was wonderful. It turns out that this is NOT granite but marble. You can put marble as your kitchen countertop but it is not recommended as it is softer than granite and quite porous. She saw we were in love and was kind enough to give us a sample and some porous sealer with instructions to test it out. I sealed it twice as instructed and waited 72 hours. Then we did the lemon juice and red wine test. These are not kind to porous stone apparently. I put on both for 20 minutes, sponged and rubbed off. Both left very visible dark marks. Hmmmmmm lesson learned. I then said, well, we don't really cook that way, we're pretty neat, let's try for 3 minutes. Same result.

We retired to the living room with visions of our kitchen falling down all around us. We would have to rethink the entire color scheme. A couple hours later Dena wandered into the kitchen again and happened to glance at the marble. The wine glass ring and lemon juice mark were gone. What the?! I have no idea why but they were gone. We've decided against this stone anyway and will stick with granite. We've decided to go a little more generic and thus resaleable in case someday we move. Regardless, Arizona tile will be where we buy the granite because they were so helpful. And SMG Stone will be our fabricators because I have heard over and over how good they are.

Is It Really All About Me?

My neighbour bought his friends' kid (who is over at his house all the time) a new truck to run up and down the driveway beside our living room and bedroom windows. The old truck was a 12 pack sized dump truck that made a lovely clicking noise when he pushed it up and down the driveway thousand's of times, sometimes until 10 o'clock at night. What parent keeps their 4 year old up until 10 and 11 o'clock on a regular basis?

The new truck is one of those big, electric ride 'em type jeeps. It makes an absolutely horrible noise on the driveway not unlike a jet plane taking off. Sometimes I wonder if he buys this stuff for the kid just to drive us insane. How in the world does he stand the noise? Well, they play loud rock music in the garage with the door open that we can hear thumpa, thumpa, thumpa.

Is it wrong to approach life with the attitude of you just can't wait until it's all over?

A Day With My Mom

Get up early, get over to the Garden Store and buy over $100 worth of soil, flowers and veggies. Come home, plant for 2 or 3 hours. Quickly make some sandwiches for lunch, jump in the car and eat them on the way to the Psychic. Have a couple card/tarot readings then drive over to Costco, pick up all our pictures, drive over to a different garden store. Ooooh and aaaahhh over the gorgeous flowers (this store is much higher end than the first), buy more pots to plant and separate more plants. Drive home. Are you tired yet?

Quickly garden a little more, exchange gifts, change, jump in car and drive to The Grove. Have a wonderful supper, do some shopping and go see a movie. Walk around the Grove some more and drive home. I passed out into bed at 11:30 pm completely unable to keep my eyes open.

This was my mom's birthday day. There wasn't even time for cake. She is truly an amazing person with triple my energy. I'm not sure where she's getting it from.

Pictures of The Vacation

Big Sur - California's Coastline

Canada Goose Vacations at Monterey Bay, CA

Million Dollar Day

Today Dena, my Mom, my Aunt Elaine and I left Cambria, California and drove north up Highway 1. This coast road is considered by many to be the most spectacular coastline in the world and it did not disappoint. First stop was the Elephant Seals near San Simeon. We marveled at their size and smell and took lots of pictures.

We drove by the Piedras Blanca Lighthouse and continued north stopping a various overlooks to revel in the breathtaking views up and down the coast. Crashing waves, steep cliffs, large rock outcroppings and a full palette of spring wild flowers greeted us at every turn. We stopped for a quick waterfall hike and some more pictures. Mom fed the blue jays and I was surrounded by 5 little gophers eating Elaine's rye crackers right out of my hands.

We stopped at Nepenthe for a well deserved lunch break and admired more of the view and soaked up some sun. We then oohed and ahhed further north past Big Sur itself and then up to Point Lobos State park. This is where we saw Harbor Seals, an otter and whale spouts. Like I said, a million dollar day. We are now in Monterey Bay and will stay the night here.

The Dentist Part 2

In the past, one of my attempts at getting my teeth fixed was getting referred to a dentist that a friend of mine goes to. My interest in her was that she used laughing gas, aka nitrous oxide. Not all dentists do. My thoughts were that more anesthetizing must be better, right? Not only some shots in the mouth to numb me up but some laughing gas to make me forget that horrible drilling noise.


I sat down in the chair, feeling rather positive about my decisions and put on my headphones and turned up my ipod. She put a little nose piece in my nose and I breathed deeply. This sort of worked for a little awhile but then I got a little anxious and asked her to turn it up. Then I asked her to turn it up again. I started to feel claustrophobic, then lightheaded, then nauseous, then a little violent and just before I passed out I ripped the mask off my nose. That was it for the laughing gas. I survived the filling but I'm pretty sure she cracked that tooth. I can't seem to win.

Later in the week I was talking to my Mom and relating this story. She told me of her experience with a rural Canadian dentist and nitrous oxide. She beat him up she got so violent on it. Apparently it's hereditary, some people just can't deal with laughing gas.

Another Saga Begins - The Dentist

I guess I'm like my Mother. I believe most women say that after they hit a certain age. It's not a bad thing to be sure, but there are some traits that she has that I definitely have. One of them is fear of dentists and subsequently, not so good teeth. Today, after several failed attempts, I have started on the road to dental resolution. I suppose you just have to put one foot in front of the other, or tooth, and keep chewing along until it's all done.

How did this fear of dentists start I wonder? When I was young I remember going to the dentist and I had something like 10 cavities. I think I was around 6 or so. I vividly recall sitting in the dental chair crying very loudly and my mom having to leave me there and run home to get more money. I don't know if I had permanent teeth or baby teeth. What dentist fills cavities in baby teeth? What dentist makes the Mom leave their kid screaming in the chair? Sadistic bastard. I'm sure no one likes going to the dentist but for me it's definitely a fear laden experience. I lay in that chair and my back is rigid and my neck is so tight you could play a tune on my tendons.

So I tried a new dentist that was recommended by a friend. She told me that this dentist had a very Zen attitude. Zen is good. Zen is calm. I like Zen. The dentist can be found here. My first appointment wasn't bad at all except the inevitable news that more work was needed. The most interesting part of the appointment was the new technology. She put a small pen camera in my mouth and took live pictures of the teeth and then they only x-rayed what was needed instead of shoving tons of those hard plastic painful film pieces into your mouth. And yes, I did have a heated, lavender scented neck pillow to soothe me.

Since that first experience I've been back for preparation for a root canal and a crown. I'm sure step 2 of many, many steps. The experience was preceded by some drugs on my part, very necessary, Bose noise cancelling headphones, my ipod, a lavender scented neck pillow and a very kind, patient dentist. I'm none the worse for wear. I now have an appointment with the endodontist for the root canal. I'm hoping he's a nice, gentle and cute as my Dr. Shafi.

Racing in Las Vegas

The First Purchase

I guess in for a penny, in for a pound. We made our first kitchen purchase yesterday. A new wine refrigerator, built in. We had planned on a 16" wine fridge in the kitchen, stainless steel but the price for any builtin wine fridge is outrageous. On a whim we wandered on over to Home Expo which is going out of business to check out the sales. When we arrived all floor model appliances were 40% off. This little wine fridge from Marvel popped out at us and said "buy me please". I checked it out thoroughly and it looked to be in good shape. The only problem was that it was not stainless steel and was missing the handles. Odd I thought. But upon further investigation it is a cabinet style, where your cabinet maker puts a door frame on it in the style and wood of your choice. I think it will work and we save $ 1,000. That makes me happy. Hopefully it works.

Oh, and as a point of reference in case you ever need to know. If you ship/transport any refrigeration unit on it's side you must leave it upright for 48 hours prior to plugging it in to power. This is so the freon will settle. This is apparently vital. Good to know.

And it begins

We've jumped full force into the kitchen remodel process. We've begun to narrow down the appliances we need/want, we are close to pulling the trigger on the cabinets and the kitchen design in general. Then our contractor came over and gave us a ball park to complete the job. Dena said I looked like a deer caught in someone's headlights. I'm sure I did.

Now it begins in earnest. Do we really need the top of the line fridge? How can we cut corners here and there and everywhere? Price shopping on the internet. Reading product reviews. It's all very exhausting. Some people say "it's the journey...", enjoy the ride. I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy the ride but I'm sure I'll enjoy it once we are there. Can I just click my heels 3 times and have it be the end of 2009? Perhaps the economy would be better, my kitchen would be done and all of life would be wine and roses? Right?

David Copperfield

My sister, Ian, Dena and I spent the weekend in Lost Wages. I was excited because we got tickets to David Copperfield, 2nd row booth. When we sat down I thought I was in a movie we were so close. Being in a booth so close to the stage reminded me of those mafia movies where the "don's" sat. Side note: Don = a title in Spain (Don/Dona) and Italy (Don/Donna) descending from Latin "dominus," master, lord.

As excited as I was to see the master of magic I walked away a little disappointed. He seemed bored throughout most of the performance, just going through the motions. He also seemed quite cynical, almost defending himself to the new talent in town, the Criss Angel's of the world. Even his pre-show curtain candy seemed defensive. It was a listing of all his accomplishments, touting them to the world, as if he felt threatened we would forget. Perhaps David, it is time to hang up the wand and top hat. Just like Dan Marino and Brett Favre, sometimes it's best to retire on a high note before you're old, washed up and cynical.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was a blast. I did a ride-a-long at the Las Vegas Speedway in a Nascar where we did the 1.5 mile oval at 165 mph. Fast, unbelievably fast! I played craps for the first time in years. Most of it came back to me after about 30 minutes without the help of the sarcastic stick man. I'm proud to say I came out of Vegas $55 ahead....

30th Reunion

Reader Beware - The occasional graphic comment.

I put that in there because my Mom reads my blog....
Not that my Mom is a prude or anything but it's important to cover your butt. She's still my Mom.

Tonight I attended Dena's 30th Fairfax High School reunion. She asked me to go. I swore after the 20th I'd never go again. Dena gets what she wants so I went for moral support and frankly, so she could show me off. What can I say....

Wow, how boring can you get. I mean, how could you not be bored. Here are 200 people that you don't know and have absolutely nothing in common with. Dena barely has anything in common with them. I was never one to be bored for long as I was an only child for 10 years and learned how to entertain myself. The picture pretty much shows you what I did for three hours. I pretended to be the reunion official photographer, I flipped these three cards back in forth in my name card badge all night long. It was hilarious. By the way, a photographer can walk up to any group of people, flip any kind of stupid badge at them and people will pose and tell you their life's story.

One lady is a intimate lingerie designer for the bondage and dominatrix market. A niche market I'd say. She was a dominatrix for three years prior to moving into this natural transition but decided that humiliating and hurting people wasn't her gig. Currently, her line is focusing on color. You see, the whole S&M world is fixated on black, black suede, black leather, black latex, etc. She's expanding into color and is currently designing a lovely turquoise garter with little skulls that hang down on tassels from the front and knock against the pussy. A teaser she says. I would imagine that's true......

Habit Forming

Being frugal is habit forming. Since the stock market hit the big slide around September 2008 we've been cutting back little by little. Some people more than others but I can only speak for ourselves. We don't eat out as much, we haven't seen a movie in awhile, we haven't really bought much of anything from a consumer perspective, we've just cut back. This allows us to save some money and pay some bills off.

I received a couple gift cards for my birthday. $ 50 each at 2 different stores. I've been in each store twice now and I cannot spend them. The $ 50 isn't enough to get what I want and what I want I'm not sure I really need. I'd have to put some of my own cash into buying it and I don't really need it so I'm having a lot of trouble committing. Isn't that odd?

I think once you get in a habit of considering your purchases a little closer and holding your money closer to your vest it gets a little more difficult to part with it. I wonder if that's why people who are really cheap get that way? They've developed a habit that becomes harder and harder to break, so much so that you can't stand being with them because they won't spend a nickel. I can't imagine ever getting that way, but you never know.....

I just couldn't help myself....

Some Assembly Required

I've been wanting a weight bench to work out with my trainer on. I wanted one that had legs as well as an incline. I was out shopping on Craigs List and thought I would get one cheaper. No way. Everyone is pretty proud of their used weight benches. So I found one in at Big 5 Sporting Goods, on sale fro $89.99 to $ 59.99. What a deal!!! It was everything I wanted. I brought it home and opened the box. Holy crap! 2 hours later, a socket set and 3 wrenches, it's almost done!

Almost a Year

I don't make many mistakes. I pride myself on being organized, thoughtful and persistent. In 2008 I made some great moves in my life and some big mistakes. Dena likes to tell me to stop being the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" girl. I try not to but it's hard. I won't go into any of the mistakes except one....

That one mistake I made was when I changed jobs (a brilliant move by the way) I didn't take any time off to regroup mentally and to change my physical situation at home. Let me explain; I have a home office. It's rather large. Dena has a tiny space in the corner and the rest is mine. It was that way because I spent 12 years working out of it. It's full of stuff. Manuals, books, files and the entire life that was Mitel before I switched jobs.

To give myself a break regarding this misstep, I wasn't mentally ready to clean up my old Mitel life or rather to let it go. I also wasn't mentally prepared for the new job and the drastic change that it would mean. Going from working out of the house for 12 years to reporting to an office everyday is a pretty big change. Don't get me wrong, I'm thriving on the change and am happier for it but it is a big change.

So, while in hindsight I wish I had taken a week or two to discard the old Mitel life there is no way at that time I was ready to it. Now, almost a year after leaving Mitel, I am ready. Now the problem is finding the time to clean up the office at home. I suppose that it will have to be done, little by little, similar to how personal realization and insight strikes me. Little by little I figure myself out.

Another thought is "does having a clean office, files, bookcases or whatever make you a happy person?" Does a clean garage bring happiness and emotional well being? Does discarding the old and minimizing bring calm? I think that answer depends on the person. Some people think that yes, this one thing will make it all better for me but it never does. Some people need everything in it's place to feel comfortable and some do not. Frankly, happiness is all a mind set. If we could just quiet our minds and live in the moment all the ancillary "noise" caused by our excess stuff wouldn't matter. Of course, if we could have quieted our mind to begin with we probably wouldn't have excess stuff. Something to think about.

Thoughts

Dear Blog Reader,
I wanted to apologize for not blogging much lately. It seems I have nothing to say. I'm tired of talking about the economy and the tail spin that this country seems to be in. I don't want to talk about my problems with my neighbor. We haven't started construction yet on our new kitchen so nothing to talk about there. We aren't moving at this moment in time, so that's not interesting.

I get up every morning and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I work hard, try to eat right, try to get some exercise in, and find myself wishing each day that 2009 would be over. What a terrible thing, to wish your life away. I have always tried to live by the belief that life is all about the experience and the memories those experiences create or as is often said, the journey, not the destination. But the last couple weeks I just want to get to the end. Not the end of my life but this little chapter. I want to hit the DVD chapter skip button on the remote control for my life and move on.

I want to know if all these things Obama is doing will work. I want to know if the next 5 years will be the next Great Depression or if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I want to know if my neighbor will move or if I'll get a fence and if I do, will it all work out. I want to know if the granite we choose for the countertop will look good with the tile when it's all done. I want to know how it will all turn out and I want to know now. Perhaps I should have been a psychic? Is there a class for that? Now where did I put my crystal ball?

A Room Full of Dummies

Last night I attended a CPR/First Aid training at my work. I thought this was an amusing sight, all these dummies on the floor. What did I learn? Compressions have to be fast, after 2 minutes of compressions I was quite tired. And what I have been preaching for some time was re-enforced, it is always better to have a land line at home and if you are calling 911, try to call from a landline. Why? If you dial 911 from your cell phone you are reaching the California Highway Patrol (or the highway patrol in your state). If you are not on the highway then they must transfer you to the local 911 call center. This takes time. Also, there is no address automatically associated with cell phones, all that information must be communicated to the dispatcher. If you call from a landline or even a pay phone, the address is automatically populated for the dispatcher. If you are choking or cannot speak, this could save your life.

Letting Go

I'm sure most of you know by now that over the past 5 months we've been looking to move. There are/were a number of reasons that I won't get into here but one of them was that prices on homes were dropping. We could now move somewhere where we never could have afforded before.

In preparation for that eventual move the purging began. I had changed jobs 10 months ago and had switched from working primarily out of the house and travelling all over the United States to now going into an office. When one works out of the house in a technical role, geek things accumulate, these things include computers, servers, circuit boards and literally tons of technical manuals. When one works out of the house and travels, other things accumulate, suitcases, frequent flier cards, airline statements, travel coupons, and the list goes on.

I've been trying to clear these things out with most of it going into the garbage. Today, I sit and stare at a stack of United 1K systemwide confirmed upgrades. For those of you uninformed, these practically guarantee you a first class upgrade no matter the flight length. One used these when flying to NY or Florida. They were like gold. It's hard to let them go. It took a lot of pain and suffering for both for me and my spouse to earn these. They are paper. Beautiful pieces of paper that used to sell on ebay for $ 100 but are now worth nothing. I'm sad.

But alas, better things have come. I'm tired of business travel and am thrilled not to be doing it anymore in this post 9-11 world but it is still hard to let go. Well, off to the shredder I go. They are after all only things and things are not memories.

Craft - Restaurant Review

I took Dena out for her birthday to Craft in Century City. Craft is one of the restaurants run by Tom Colicchio , the head judge on Top Chef. Dena and I are big Top Chef fans and we were looking forward to a real "foodie" experience. We were not disappointed. I'll run through the meal below, if you're not a foodie, this may be boring....

The meal started with a lovely champagne, a Michel Beauchamp Rose. Incredible finish on this champagne. What I like about Craft is that they do not cheap out on the wine pours. A lot of restaurants bring you exactly 3 oz. of wine or will only pour you half a glass of champagne. Look, I'm paying 18 bucks a glass, fill it up! At Craft they bring out the bottle of whatever wine by the glass you are having, you taste it, once you're happy they pour you a nice generous glass. I love it!

The meal started with an amuse bouche, a little goat cheese tart. It was lovely. I'm not into the amuse bouche's because I feel the restaurant just stacks them up and brings them out like MacDonald's burgers. I was not surprised, it was the same here. We had two starters, a lovely marinated Tasmanian sea trout served with avocado, pomegranate and dill. One of the things we've learned from all these food shows is to combine all the flavors served on the plate. This was especially true of this dish where it was completely different if you had a bite of the trout sans dill or with dill. The chef combines these flavors for a reason and you should enjoy each of those reasons....

The second first, (LOL) was a sweet onion tart served with local goat cheese and a dollop of tomato paste. Weird that the paste is just plopped there but it was delicious none the less. For our second course, we had one dish, the stinging nettle and ricotta ravioli. I just had to order it because it was a little out there. The edges of the ravioli were a little al dente for my taste, the dish was good, unique, but not special.

Our wine choices were both fantastic. We're into Chilean and Argentina wines lately and are never disappointed. Dena's a Malbec - Bodega fin del Mundo, 2006 Patagonia -and mine, a Tempranillo, Beronia Reserva 2001 Rioja - also yummy.

Our entrees were good but not fantastic. Dena had the prawns and I had the braised short ribs. When those appeared in their little cast iron pot they looked just scrumptious, but apparently looks are not everything. They were very tender but short on flavor. Excessive amounts of fat, a little dry and bland. I would have to tell the chef to "pack your knives and go" on that dish.

In true shwanky restaurant tradition, everything is separate, so we ordered to vegetable dishes, the kale and the mixed mushrooms. We wish we knew what the sauce was that the kale was steamed in because it was spectacular. As a pallet cleanser we were served a cute, wonderful little blood orange vanilla ice cream float. It was so delicious.

For dessert, I had two hand crafted dark chocolates. One a hazelnut/orange chocolate and the other a rhubarb chocolate. I thought if heaven existed then I was surely there. My eyes closed and my tongue danced around each flavor, happy and content. Dena had the banana cream pie, served with maple and banana ice cream and toasted cashews. She made yummy faces throughout that dish. After our dessert we received the little complimentary dessert, which we didn't know we would get. It was a nice surprise with two little red velvet cupcakes and two little butter cookies. As I popped the red velvet cupcake into my mouth, a smile widened across my face even as I opened the check.

All in all, a wonderful meal, very special. We were treated exceptionally well, the wait staff is highly trained, highly professional but yet very personable. In a restaurant such as this, everything matters. A snobby wait staff can ruin an otherwise exceptional meal. Craft fires on all 12 cyclinders like a finely tuned machine with only a couple small missteps. I don't fault them for those and wouldn't let them interfere with my return visit. I felt almost as if they knew me because I came in all the time I was treated so well. We'll be back....

Let's Solve This Now

The purpose of the Stimulous Package is to stimulate the economy right? And how does that happen? You can't create jobs unless people are spending money. People that spend money create jobs because they create a demand for goods and services. But no one has any money because they are either freaked out that we're in a depression and they are hoarding their money or they have lost their job and are freaked out because they have no money. It seems like a vicous cycle doesn't it?

My first proposal is this - Give all the good, tax paying Americans with good credit ratings a 30 year fixed mortgage at 4% through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. This will jump start the entire process and here's why:
It will create jobs by stimulating demand for appraisers, title companies, and other paper pushers.

1. It will create a larger tax base because people will be allowed to take cash out if they have x percentage of equity in their homes.
2. It will give those people hoarding all their money some extra cash every month due to the interest savings to go by those things they want, not just need, like flat screen TVs, cars, boats, restaurants, movies, etc, this creates jobs.
3. It will create jobs because some percentage of those homeowners who take chunks out will be remodelling, painting, upgrading, or expanding.

The government finances the whole thing and makes money while stimulating the economy and NOT penalizing those of us who didn't go for some flash in the pan mortgage we knew we couldn't afford when the rate adjusted.

More ideas tomorrow. Why can't those people in Washington get off their ass and move it. In the words of the Madagascar crew - You've got to move it, move it!

Sunrise over Downtown Los Angeles

What a spectacular morning yesterday was. It was just before the rains came to the Los Angeles basin hence the low, thin cloud cover. These shots were taken by myself from the 53rd floor of the LA Live building, the first at around 6am, the 2nd is a context picture with some of the buildings of downtown Los Angeles on the left hand side and the 3rd was taken 10 - 15 minutes later. This was the only good part of my day....

Amazon and Security

As some of you may know, I'm a bit of a security freak in the IT world. Not excessive like all the IT security professionals out there but aware and diligent I like to think. This link takes you to a blog post that I read today. It's concerning. I have many friends as well as myself that shop on Amazon. I wanted to take a moment to give you some pointers to shopping on line.

What is a dictionary attack?
A dictionary attack uses a brute-force technique of successively trying all the words in an exhaustive list (from a pre-arranged list of values). In contrast with a normal brute force attack, where a large proportion key space is searched systematically, a dictionary attack tries only those possibilities which are most likely to succeed, typically derived from a list of words in a dictionary. Generally, dictionary attacks succeed because many people have a tendency to choose passwords which are short (7 characters or fewer), single words found in dictionaries or simple, easily-predicted variations on words, such as appending a digit.

So, for example, your pet + the number 1 is not a good password (example: fido1). You kids name followed by their birth year is also not a good password. Come up with something more original. Mix it up a little bit. For example: my password for amazon could be Amm4z0n$$ where the a is a 4 and the o is a zero. I threw an extra m in there to make it not a regular word. Notice that one letter is capitalized. Now, true, capitalizing the first letter is pretty obvious but something is better than nothing. Passwords are case sensitive so adding a capital letter or 2 is always a good idea.

Here are some other fairly obvious online shopping best practices:

1. Never give your password or login to anyone.
2. Never cache or ask the website to remember your password and login.
3. Try to never allow the website to save your credit card information.
4. If you don't shop their frequently, use a guest account if offered instead of signing up.
5. And the number one most important item: Make sure that the website is secure, that is, your URL in the browser address bar should say https://. The s is the important part s = secure. Also, there should be a little eyeball in the bottom bar of your Internet Explorer. An eyeball with a red circle and cross line in it means unsecure.

More in the next blog....

Church of the Open Door

It's not unusual for me to discover new things in the downtown area. It's like a maze down here with little nooks and crannies and paths leading to places you never thought were there. This is my most recent discovery and I've walked by it for 9 months and had no idea. It's a church. Right in the courtyard of my building. Well, ok, not a church but an homage to the original church that was on the site of 550 S. Hope Street, Los Angeles. As you can see by the picture, a black marble path with the brass inlays representing footsteps mark the path to the monument. The maintenance guy in my building polishes the brass every week, religiously. The gold plate to the right of the door closes at night and during storms which I suppose to the cynical mind sort of defeats the purpose....now it's probably to keep the homeless out.

The pictures above reflect the original Open Door Church from 1915 and the homage that the high rise built in 1985 pays to it now. Apparently, there was a infamous "Jesus Saves" sign that was huge on the top of the church way back when. That sign has been relocated to the new church in Glendora. My favorite TV celeb Huell Howser did a special on this church in his "LA Downtown series". You can actually buy the episode here. I doubt it warrants such a drastic measure though.

How did the church come to move? Was it forced out by big developers? No such story here. The church had become landlocked in downtown LA with most of its parishioners now living in the 'burbs. The next generation was not coming to worship so they decided to move. Lucky they did as apparently, just after they sold the property, an earthquake occurred, and the building was condemned. It has now been demolished, and an my office tower stands where the church used to be.

Goodbye Former President Bush

This picture is of Dena burning a cartoon that has been on our fridge for 8 years. The cartoon was of a bunny or something sitting on a stool telling another character that he can't believe he has to put up with Bush for 4 years. In the 2004 election she changed the 4 to an 8 with tears streaming down her face. Today, she was elated to burn the entire cartoon thus ending an era of American politics that drove this country into the ground.

Sunrise over Downtown Los Angeles

This shot taken from the 50th floor of the LA Live building in south downtown Los Angeles. In the distance you can see the sun glinting off another Webcor crane at 9th and Figuerora Streets

Top Chef: Where are they now?

Since I'm a big fan of Top Chef and have watched the show from the beginning, often I wonder what has happened to the winners, the losers and the in betweens.

Over Top Chef's run, several accusations of wrong-doing have been alleged on Contestants as well as Judges.
1) Contestant Marcel Vigneron was arrested on August 23, 2008 on suspicion of DUI [20] .
2) Contestant Richard Blais had a petition filed against him by a women named "Samantha" alleging that he had neglected to pay Child Support for a child she claimed was his. [21] Blais's name is on the Birth Certificate as the father of the Child (now 17).
3) Contestant Cliff Crooks was discharged from the show as a result of assaulting fellow Contestant Marcel Vigneron [23] Vigneron did not file charges against Crooks.
4) Judge Tom Colicchio was sued for allegedly failing to pay a waitress minimum-wage. [24]

Marcel Vigneron has had a tough time of it. He was always portrayed as sort of an ass in the show. It hasn't served him well. Vigneron, after identifying himself, was assaulted and struck on the face with a bottle by a Top Chef viewer at a nightclub.[3] On August 23, 2008, Vigneron was arrested in Laguna Beach, California, for suspicion of DUI after being pulled over for speeding.[4] As of November 2008 he serves as a lowly sous chef at The Bazaar in the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.

I'm excited and fascinated by the Internet gossip regarding Ilan Hall (Season 4). He seems to either be suffering from lack of focus or lack of funds. There have been many rumors of him opening restaurants in Manhattan and now Los Angeles. The latest is a restaurant called Gorbals in Los Angeles that is a severe twist on Irish/Jewish cooking. There will be rabbis doing backflips in their graves at this restaurant with menu items like bacon wrapped matzoh balls and lobster hummus. There is no indication that it is open but the rumor was for it to open in January 2009. Knowing funding, the economy and the Los Angeles permit fiasco it probably isn’t. Details here.

I am also excited to be taking Dena out for her birthday to Tom Colicchio's restaurant Craft in Century City, CA. I had the privilege of eating there for the holidays in 2008 and am looking forward to another visit. The service was impeccable, the food was excellent and innovative although the amuse bouche was practically inedible. We shall see what a second visit holds.

A Shocking Message

At home this evening there was a message on the answering machine from Costco. Odd? Costco calling me? The message was regarding a recall for Zone Perfect bars. I just bought some from Costco last weekend. I have one every morning at 6:30 am. It was quite shocking to me that a) they knew that I bought some and b) they knew my home phone number to call me and tell me that.

So, let's preface this whole conversation with the news of the day that applies to this story. There is a problem with peanut paste causing salmonella. People have died, it's nothing to joke about. That's what the CDC says anyways. It's been traced to The Peanut Corporation (what an original name) and they make peanut paste. Peanut paste is in everything except peanut butter. Odd.

Zone Perfect bars and tons of other items (125 and counting), have peanut paste from the company in question in them. This peanut paste was somehow contaminated at their Georgia plant with Salmonella. This is nothing to joke about and is quite serious. Not to be too graphic here but yesterday all of a sudden, without warning, I got diarrhea. This sort of explains the whole thing.

And back to the 2nd item that is freaking me out. How did Costco get my phone #? Our home phone is listed under Dena's name and the Costco membership is under mine. How did they know I bought Zone bars? I suppose I'm foolish enough or have my head stuck in the sand far enough to think that no one is keeping track of what I'm buying. Well, here is proof that someone is, and frankly they always are, keeping track of what you are buying, when you are buying it, where you live, and the privacy violations go on and on and on....
I think I'll stick my head back in the sand, but before I do....

Do you have items in your pantry that have this peanut paste in it? I'm sure you do.
Check out these links:

USA FDA
The Peanut Corporation official website
USA today info article
Costco Zone Perfect Letter
Recalls - just go to the Costco website and type the word recall into the search bar. I was stunned at the quantity of results.

How Does Former President Bush Live with Himself?

As I sat and watched the inauguration in the comfort of my own home and the power of my DVR remote, many thoughts occurred to me. I watched as they showed George W. Bush a couple times and wondered what he thought of the speech. The statements in italics below struck me as indirect digs at Bush's inability to lead and his leaving this country in a state of disrepair not seen since the original depression.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

Was Bush wondering how it all could have gone wrong? Was he feeling bad about creating such a mess? He must have felt something because his speech as he landed in Texas a few hours later could have been taken as a bit defensive. You can read it here. I would probably feel terrible if the legacy I left after running a great country like the United States of America for 8 years was the highest unemployment since the troops came home from WWII, businesses closing their doors so fast we cannot keep up with the news, people losing their homes at a record pace, and frankly the list goes on and on and on. Some interesting graphs on the younger Bush years is here

Perhaps the record number of attendees illustrates the hope and desperation of the American people? See the numbers below:

Attendance numbers
PAST ATTENDANCE
1965: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1.2 m
1973: Richard Nixon, 300,000
1977: Jimmy Carter, 350,000
1981: Ronald Reagan, 500,000
1989: George H.W. Bush, 300,000
1993: Bill Clinton, 800,000
2001: George W. Bush: 500,000
2009: Barach Obama: 1.8 - 2.0 million

I wonder what he's thinking and I wonder if he cares or if he thinks at all....

Inaugaration - The Year of Hope Begins

The machine that is the Obama campaign is producing what I can only imagine was their goal 2 years ago -- the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America. The Obama campaign machine is a digital marvel and did a fantastic job of capitalizing on the changes in communications media that has occurred in just the last few years. We are after all much more media driven than 2 years ago, if that's possible. We want to know what you're thinking, where you are and what you're doing at any given moment via Facebook, Twitter , Skype or any combination of those via your iPhone. I want to know NOW.

On that thought let me expound a little on the technical preparations that are being done in DC for the inauguration. Sprint, AT&T and other astute wireless carriers are beefing up cell sites in and around the White House to handle the expected increased cell, text and Internet traffic. They are adding mobile cell site trailers or "cell on wheels," or COWs to help. Did you know that text messaging traffic spiked 44% above normal on election day as the results came in. Is the fact that it spiked 44% some sort of cosmic reflection on the fact that the 44th president was getting elected or was it just coincidence?

So if you're lucky enough to have a ticket to the inauguration or one of the balls, just know that texting takes less cell overhead than voice and sending pictures so a text is more likely to get through a jammed network. Speaking of jamming, Secret Service agents do have the capability to jam wireless communications in the immediate vicinity of the president - that is, if they think there's a threat. But if you have trouble getting though from the parade route, it will probably be due to congestion rather than national security.

Get your official Inauguration poster here and if you're feeling generous, for $500 you can get a signed one. Signed by who I don't know but it's signed none the less.

Hanging out Above 53

Today I had an opportunity to go up to the top of one of our buildings for a survey for some temporary cellular coverage for our workers. Here I am, on top....

Did you know there was a word for it?

Me neither....what am I talking about? Someone sends you an email with an URL or hyperlink in it, basically a web page. You click it, think it's cool and then forward that email to 500 of your closest friends. They click it, think it's cool and so on and so on.... This is a phenomenum created by the proliferation of the Internet itself. It has a name....Internet meme (pronounced /miːm/) Internet memes are spread organically, voluntarily, and peer to peer, rather than by compulsion, predetermined path, or completely automated means.

Say what? What the hell is a meme? Glad you asked. A meme is (according to the Princeton Online dictionary); a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation); "memes ...

There are many kinds of Internet Memes, standard joke emails, hoaxes, altered images (think Sarah Palin), false news stories and the list goes on and on. Some of these memes have created their own businesses, like Snopes for example, whose sole business purpose is refuting Internet Memes and their validity. I could be creating my own Internet meme by putting hyper links into my blog. There's your new word for the day.

House Hunting Update

This weekend we decided to try something different regarding the whole house hunting adventure. We decided to expand our area of interest and we looked in the Venice Beach area. An interesting group of houses were carefully chosen by Dena all around our price and all "reduced" which is the norm nowadays.

As we drove around and stopped in to look we noticed some things that we have never really paid attention to about Venice. It is very dense. Much more densely packed and populated than where we live. Most houses have no yards, the houses are much more expensive due to their proximity to the beach and no one has a garage to speak of. If there was a garage it's long been converted to a "single" where usually some surfer bum lives. The houses are on the smaller size and you get less for your $. Venice also comes with an eclectic set of neighbors. You could have section 8 living next door or a 6 figure attorney with a surfing habit.

We realized that Venice wasn't our cup of tea and quickly drove out of the neighborhood. It's good for showing tourists around, good for brunch and great for a walk with a view, but not to live in.

My Office

All of you have been bugging me and teasing me saying that I don't really have an office since no one has seen pictures. Well, finally, here it is. A picture is worth a 1,000 words, so I won't bore you. Yes, isn't the view lovely? Yes, those are flowers - a gift from Webcor for my birthday. And yes, those are orchids, a gift from a subordinate. Yes, it is all wine and roses in my life.

In Search of the Wii Fit

I got a Wii for Christmas. I've been playing it almost everyday, we played it on New Year's Eve with our friends, we played it with friends from Sweden last night and I played it by myself today. It's addicting. I played 18 holes of golf on Doral (Home of the Blue Monster) and had to take 2 Advil afterwards for my sore shoulder. By the way, I was 2 under par! Perhaps next weekend I'll try Pebble Beach...

I wanted to start the new year off right with a Wii Fit. I searched online and my goodness they seemed expensive. They were selling for ~ $ 150.00 I tried Target, GameStop and the like, all sold out and no idea when more would come. They were cheaper if you could find one in a brick and mortar store. $89.99 That was reasonable. Best Buy was the only store that knew when they would get more in and the nice girl at the Culver City, CA store told me to come early as there is usually a line. I've never waited in line for anything in my life but I had to have it.

I set my alarm for 8 am Sunday and barely could sleep with anticipation. Would there be a mad dash through the store? Would I have to push aside some 6 year old to get one? I arrived promptly at the Best Buy in Culver City at 8:30 am. There was no one there. I trotted over to Ralphs, got the paper and a muffin and took up my position as first in line. I was assured a Wii Fit. I felt confident. As the morning wore on and my feet got colder and tired of standing more and more people showed up. A fellow behind me wanted the Wii for his kids for their belated Christmas. Everyone had a story.

At 10:00 the doors opened and calmly we filed in, a young boy shouted, "There they are, I see the Wii Fits!" and the race was on. My walk became a trot and I too finally spotted them. And yes, there was some pushing and I had to reach over a 6 year old to snag my Wii Fit. The little kid was faster than me as he was about 10th in line! There were only six Wii Fits and one Wii. I got the 3rd one. I'm not sure how as #1 in line I got the 3rd, but hey, I got one! The guy second in line behind me walked away with no Wii. I felt sorry for him but I left triumphant! Was I just as happy as I plugged it in and played (or rather exercised) with it? I can tell you for sure, YES!