Uncommon Sense

Kicking Back

Visiting San Francisco for the weekend, staying at our timeshare on Bush St. at Stockton just off Union Square. We just absolutely love it up here. A few Saturday morning photographs from the farmer's market at the Ferry Building.

Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge:

The Transamerica Building and Financial District:

Coit Tower and surrounding commie residential area. That's where you can live when you can afford a $1 million condominium or $2 million townhouse. Then you can look down upon the lower classes and feel yourself morally superior by proposing endless sacrifices to "help" them, all imposed by force and conveniently exempting yourself.

On a final note, the Samsung Blackjack is performing swimmingly. Rather than buy the high-speed connection, I noted the phone showing the 3G symbol, so I hooked up and am pulling down 950 kbps and kicking up just over 300. Sweet!

 

Bear Valley, California

Today marks out 10th day up at our cabin in Arnold, CA, snuggled into the gateway of the Sierras at 4,500 feet elevation. Sadly, we'll be heading back Friday morning. But New Year's Day, we headed up Highway 4 about 25 miles and 2,500 vertical feet to Bear Valley Village and the ski area. It's a bit early in the season just yet, but within a few weeks the skiing should get pretty good and stay good into April. We stopped in at the Bear Valley Lodge, enjoying once again about the largest fireplace I've ever seen. A detour into the Grizzly Lounge rounded out the excursion.

So, I thought I'd bring you back a few photos. Click on images for the larger version.

Of course, it's completely appropriate to be driving a vehicle designed by Bavarians.

And finally, I call this one the ski lift to enlightenment.

 

"Kip Hawley is an Idiot"

Seems like a plan to me, although you ought to understand the risk you may be taking. Harbor no illusions -- especially if you're a male -- and even moreso if you're Black or Hispanic. Remember, you're dealing with the sorts of people who seek out employment where they get to bark orders and push regular people around while carrying a gun. I dunno; perhaps it gives them bulges in their pants, or moisture in their panties.

Nonetheless, if they take a dislike to you, they might suddenly "believe" that they saw a gun, or even a bomb, y'know, for even bigger bulges and gushing moisture.

I think a better, safer policy is to patiently wait until you encounter a TSA-goon in a non-airport situation, where they're not armed, and then look at them as though you just stepped in a fresh, steaming pile of dogshit.

(Wendy)

Eurotrek 2006 - Wrap

It's a wrap. Got back yesterday to SFO about 12:30 a.m. Home by about 2 a.m. We had been informed by phone and email that it was 100 deg. F in our condo. I'd left the A/C on, set to 82, so that means my intermittent A/C issues aren't resolved in spite of several things I've done.

Dave, my super-brother, was good enough to head over to the condo about 6 p.m. to follow a couple of simple trouble-shooting steps and he got the A/C going. Later that night he drove the 50 miles up to SFO to pick us up and get us back home. By that time, six or seven hours later, it was down to 80. Combined with the fan, good enough for sleeping.

Ironically, we'd had lots of A/C issues along the way in Europe. More on that later.

Alright, the plan is that I want to spend some time filling in the blanks for the trip, offering up some commentary on Europe -- the culture and the politics -- and upload and annotate all the photos. This is a fair-size project and the deal I've made with myself is to abstain from political blogging until it's done. It's worth doing, I think, so I'm doing it.

In the meantime, here's an email I wrote this morning at around 4:30 a.m. (still getting the internal clock adjusted) to a friend of mine in the Canary Islands who's headed over to Barcelona and Andorra in the next few days.

***

OK, here's the deal, if you haven't left yet.

As you know, we came over the mountains from France, through Andorra. The ski resort at the very top was quite something. We only drove through, stopping now and then for photos, but here are the few things I remarked the most:

1. Once you cross over the mountain, it is virtually one gigantic city from top to bottom.

2. Tons and tons of hotels, restaurants, shopping.

3. Tons and tons of construction cranes. I have never seen so many cranes is such a concentrated place.

Regarding the cranes, I noticed a ton of them in Spain, too. Lots of the construction sites seemed inactive, i.e., construction that had stopped in mid-span; or they do it like in Greece: get started, run out of money, save money, continue, run out of money, and so on.

OK, we pretty much drove straight through from Andorra to Barcelona and I really saw nothing that motivated me to stop. Then again, I just wanted to get to Barcelona and get a hotel. So, we get there and I took a route that brought me in to the very northern edge. I wanted to get to water, figuring that if we hugged the coast, we'd find someplace we wanted to stay. But this was a very industrial, very dismal area. It was hot; late afternoon. We found the water and started tracking south. Just as we got to that big building that's kind of a large phallic symbol, we gave up, and headed north along the coast.

Went pretty far with it being industrial. Finally, at Mataro, hotels and restaurants started popping up and we got the first thing, as it was getting late. As usual, they had one expensive room left :) (a consistent theme).

The next morning we drove the auto-route into Barcelona and discovered we'd given up just before getting to the nice areas (like: less than a kilometer). So, we had lunch and sangria in Las Ramblas and such (obligatory, I suppose) and visited the amazing Sagrada Familia, which you must see. Then we auto-routed it back NE to Mateo and hopped back down to the coastal road. Costa Brava. Loved every inch of it. Do yourself a favor, and if you haven't downloaded Google Earth, yet, do so and scan that coastline.

In fact, that, and Cinque Terre in Italy, were the absolute highlights of the trip. In fact, I've actually begun research into eventually either buying or building a villa in one of the two places, but I'm a bit partial to Costa Brava. I found that I just loved the fun-loving culture there. Even in the height of tourism (mostly Spanish tourists), they find a way to make it seem like not a big, hurried, jam-packed mess.

It was just on the northern edge of Sant Feliu de Guixols that we just happened to see a road going down from the main road to the beach and it had a couple of hotel signs. What the hell. The fist one had no rooms, then, the second: one (expensive) room left. We were in Sant Pol, we stayed two days, and it's really the highlight of the trip. There are 5 or 6 good restaurants, and you don't go eat 'til about 10 pm, and the band on the beach then starts at about 11:30 (people are still going into the restaurants up to midnight). Very energetic and fun. It's families with children eating and dancing on the beach 'til very wee hours. Very uplifting. Lovely, in every respect.

After the two days there, we headed NE and stopped that night in Cadaques. By now it's getting more desert-coastal. Beautiful, and particularly so because you can see more. Cadaques was wonderful. It's one of those tiny little crescent-shaped ports with hotels and restaurants. It was lively, but not near overly so. Just the right amount so it feels festive without feeling like an assault.

As you go further northeast, the more touristy it gets, by which I mean not the Spanish themselves, but other Europeans, particularly French.

By the way, if you ever get over to Italy, get over to Cinque Terre. We stayed three nights in a wonderful hotel in Monterosso. Hotel 5 Terre, I believe. The proprietor and part-owner has been there 35 years and made our stay absolutely unforgettable. This was three days of mostly laying in the sun -- though I did have to spend one late afternoon in the Internet café rolling some of my positions in the face of options expiration week.

Anyway, have a great trip and let me know how it went.

***

Eurotrek 2006 - Bumped

First time ever in all my travels going back over 20 years. We've been bumped and are sitting in wait at Charles de Gaulle, our non-stop to San Francisco having departed. Instead of arriving back on the west coast at noon on Monday, it's now another 5 hours until we leave Paris, on to Washington-Dulles, two-hour layover, and then on to San Fran -- arriving about 12 hours later, at midnight. What fun.

The upside is that they've given us a travel voucher for 1,600 Euros, which works out to about $2,000 worth of travel on Air France or KLM. So, perhaps a Christmas-time trip to Papeete, Tahiti, is in order. Alternatively, we can take 1,200 Euros in cash, about $1,500. That's what I paid for these tickets in the first place, so for 12 hours of inconvenience, I'm not too unhappy. Besides, overbooking is all part of the deal and you know (or should) going in.

Off to lunch on Air France. Then perhaps I'll have some time to post some travel experience updates. On y va.

Eurotrek 2006 - Moblog Germany

Waiting for my order of 3 (Not one. Not two.) varieties of bratwurst with sauerkraut and fried potatoes. Yumm.

We're at Martin's Brau in Freiburg.

Eurotrek 2006 - Mo Moblogging

Great view of Brunelleschi's Dome from the rooftop bar (where to look for me) of the hotel.

Eurotrek 2006 - Moblogging

My wife Beatrice catching up on email this very minute at the hotel in Florence. Won't she be surrised in about a minute when I tell her to check my blog.

Eurotrek 2006 - Update

We're in Florence, as the photo of Brunelleschi's Dome (Wikipedia article) I sent from my camera phone attests. I got lots of photos, which I'll organize and publish once I return.

My last update, over the weekend, was from Nice, which we used as a base to explore the area by car -- Canes, Antibes, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, Monaco, etc. We dined in Villefranche that night. One of my favorite places in the south of France going way back. Oh, yea, we also did an afternoon in Saint Tropez (and yes, the Gendarme de St. Tropez building is still as it was in 1964) on the way to Nice. I used to live just an hour from there and I went often. Can't get enough of looking at those yachts tied up in the harbor.

Upon departing Nice we took the auto-route and headed straight for Italy and it's Cinque Terre region. I was due for three days of relaxing on the beach, so we decided to forgo Rome this trip and take a breather. We chose Monterosso and I loved just about everything about it -- especially the part owner of the hotel we stayed at. 35 years on the job and you get good at it, and he is.

The auto-route along the Italian coast is an engineering marvel. It has got to be at least half tunnels and bridges. Some of the tunnels are more than a kilometer long. Imagine the Pacific Coast Highway drilled right through all those hills and mountains, with bridges connecting the tunnels in-between. Also imagine it's a 4-lane highway. It went on like that for a good hundred miles, at least.

So we got to Florence yesterday with a brief, obligatory stop in Pisa for some obligatory photos. It really was a marvelous sight, in spite of the oppressive heat and humidity combined with huge crowds of people.

A side note on my trading, which I write about here as well. I had to spend a couple of hours on Monday in an Internet cafe in Monterosso (the notebook has GPRS, but I needed really fast). I was pretty sure that the welcome downtrend in the market was going to be on hold for options expiration week and that was confirmed in the first hour of trading Monday. So, I needed to go to work to protect some of my July positions against expiration. It came at a cost of about $7,000, but I rolled to more conservative positions for August. Great, $10k in the hole from this vacation, and now another seven?

I initiated a trade to make it back, plus another $7k, but couldn't get it filled for the rest of the day Monday, then all day Tuesday. I was asking for too much of a credit on the spread. Anyway, due to the action on Monday and Tuesday, I was really expecting a big pop on Wednesday. So here we are at the Leaning Tower and I'm on my Treo's web browser and managed to get that order canceled. The market popped big, as expected, and I re-entered that same trade this morning before the open, asking for a lot more credit on the spread. Got filled in the first few minutes and made $24,000 instead of the $7,000 I'd have received had I not cancelled before Wednesday's open. So, the vacation is officially paid for.

We'll be leaving Florence tomorrow and heading back towards Paris. We'll have Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so it's a comfortable drive and I plan to take it right up and over the Swiss Alps. That should be cool. It was great getting up to about  8 or 9 thousand feet going over the  Pyrenees into Andorra a while back.

Until later.

Eurotrek 2006 - Phone Blog

From my Treo. Waiting in line to see Brunelleschi's Dome in Florence, Italy.

Eurotrek 2006 - Now What?

I just now realized that the entry right below this one seems to have gotten itself unpublished after I'm sure I published it. So, if you were one I'd sent a link out to and it didn't work, it's there now, though it applies to what was going on three days ago.

Franky, this is a piss-poor travel log. I'd had grand designs of publishing along the way, but I think that desire was based on the ability to publish from anywhere at any time -- which is certainly cool -- and not on a particular desire to share continuously. So you get the mish-mash, for now, but I promise to do a better writeup -- if not soon -- when I get back home. There will be a few hundred pretty good photos too. Those who remember the Kauai trip know I take decent pics.

Right now we're in Nice, which is a bit of a disappointment. I'm not sure whether it's because it has changed from 15 years ago, or just because it's a holiday (Bastille Day, yesterday) and the whole stupid world is here and the local restaurants are catering to such stupidity by being stupid. Well, more on that later.

As I posted last, we were preparing to leave Arles for Avignon. I decided to take the auto-route, which took us through Nimes and within range of Le Pont du Gard. Do check out that link. This is the most amazing ancient construction I have ever seen.

If you look closely at that arch in the center, those are heads of people standing on the bridge. That gives you perspective on the enormity of this.

Most of all, this "monument" is the best thing I've seen so far because it wasn't built as a monument. Though its arches are decorative, their function is to save construction costs. This aqueduct was started 19 years before Christ was born and finished 16 years prior. It carried 44 million gallons of water daily to the city of Nimes, which I guess is a place in which men saw potential that God had not. One must wonder why God, walking the earth for 30-some years, never acknowledged or alluded to such god-like feats on the part of his children. Huh?

So now it's a monument. It's a monument to the heroic and environmentally-controlling nature of man. It's a monument to civilization and that which is at its very foundation: water.

I look at that construction, realizing it's over 2,000 years old, realizing what it accomplished back then, and I am overwhelmed with feeling about how wondrous, how virtuous, how righteous, how holy is the very core nature of man -- the essential being. Man qua man: the very defining standard of morality.

Then I go see monuments to Kings and Gods, and I get a very different picture of the nature of man:

How puny. How depraved. How insignificant, next to his bedfellow-betters: the church and the state.

You can have them both, in all of their miserable wretched glory; all of them.

Eurotrek 2006 - Où Sommes-Nous?

Where are we? Arles, France, at the Bouches-du-Rhône (Rhône river delta). Here's the Wiki-article as well.

We headed out from Cadaques, Spain yesterday, hugging the rocky coast, but arrived in France pretty quickly. We then hit a stop or two with the French side being roughly the equivalent geography. That changed pretty quickly as we got into the plains, river deltas, small inland seas and such. Boring. So -- and this is the point of all this -- I kicked the car up to 90 mph (140 kph; but the limit is 130, which is about 80 mph) and off we headed towards Avingon. It's a city were the center is completely within the walls of the ancient Roman city. Alas, tough to get a hotel, etc., so we headed to Arles and are actually in a Best Western, of all things. Today we're going to check out the Roman Arena and Theatre here in Arles, then head back to Avignon to check out Le Palais des Papes.

(Aside: I've yet to talk about the car we rented. At the Hertz counter at Charles de Gaulle, I was quickly persuaded to take the Mercedes for a about a 50% increase in price. Glad I did. It's got one of those small "euro-diesels" that are "green," or whatever -- as if I give a shit about that -- but I love the car. It consumes gas like a damn hummingbird and it drives like a sports car. It's automatic, but has the sport shifting as many do now, so you can wind out with ease on those coastal curves. I've filled up twice since leaving the airport more than a week ago and we've been all over the place.)

Bon. Aller. À la prochaine...

Eurotrek 2006 - Week One of Three

We're right here now; Cadaques, Spain. I'm quite surprised how much I've been enjoying Spain -- at least this northeastern portion of it: Catalonia.

I've got a lot, a lot to write about -- going back to Paris, actually -- but it's been go go go and when we've stopped I've not felt like writing. I had good opportunity back in Sant Pol, with killer WiFi, but opted to spend the day at the hotel pool, reading. One thing is that we've been doing as the vacationing Spaniards do, which is to say: napping in the afternoon; going out to eat about 10-11 pm; staying out until 2 am; and sleeping until 9 or 10. Wouldn't want to make a life of it, but it has its logic in the context of a Med vacation.

Speaking of Internet connections: I am amazed. To say that they (France and Spain, so far) are miles ahead of the U.S. in connectivity is laughable. They are light years ahead. I've not had less than a 4 of 5 signal since leaving Paris. Nowhere. No. Where. This includes out in the middle of nowhere, over the Pyrenees, darting in and out of these coves in Spain... Moreover, I've yet to hit a town that didn't have numerous WiFi options.

That said, the hotel I'm at turns off their WiFi at 9 p.m. for some stupid reason, so I'm connected with the same GPRS/EDGE that the phones use for data. This means I can get on the Internet (it's built into my Sony TX notebook) literally from every square foot of western Europe (so far as I can determine) at about 100-120 kpbs. It's enough to do just about everything really important, but not practical for uploading pics and such, so those will have to wait.

Well, it's just about midnight, I'm turning in early, and we begin our assault on the southern coast of France tomorrow.

Eurotrek 2006 - Interlude

Been driving hard. Once we left Paris, late in the afternoon of Thursday, the 6th, it quickly became apparent that nothing would suffice except the beauty, peace, and wondrously calming environment of the Med. Like this:

We made it to Toulouse that night, scrounging a hotel across from the train station at 1 a.m. The next morning we continued on, over the high Pyrenees, through Andorra, and on to Barcelona. It was getting late and I was in no mood to search for a hotel there, so we headed north along the Med and finally found a nice place. Then we ate at about 10:30 p.m., but being Spain, this is normal. Locals were arriving after us.

Anyway, we're at this tiny little village of Sant Pol, just one step up from Sant Feliu de Guixols. Our lodging, the look from the terrace in the photo above, is right under the "Sant Pol" label you see at that Google Maps link.

Dinner. I've catching up to do, which I'll do tomorrow. We're here for two nights.

Eurotrek 2006 - Day One

Random bits

So the flight was a little over 10 hours, not 9 as I'd been thinking. I never sleep on airplanes, and it's always odd when arriving in a completely different time zone to just continue on without the benefit of a refreshing sleep. It was hot and muggy in Paris as we arrived at around noon of the 4th. Got through immigration, got the car, and then got lost in the 8th & 9th arrondissements looking for the hotel. These old cities aren't based on a grid as are most American cities, so it's difficult to keep bearings. The map was pretty useless, so I initiated a search pattern and after 30 minutes or so, stumbled upon a street I recognized and made our way.

We got about three hours of sleep, got going around 7 pm, and had dinner in a tiny little Italian place just down the street. Excellent service and food. I reflected on why I'm so damned impatient with American restaurants. With the exception of the rare few, they simply do not get it right. The presentation and the timing is always off. This is one of the things the French are famous for. Good for them, and I don't see them relinquishing that prestige anytime soon.

My senses are experiencing full-on assault. Living here for two full years in the early 90s, at a job that required conversing in French exclusively, I find it remarkable how naturellement (see) your mind can migrate into a whole different manner of thinking. Back then, I often went months not speaking or hearing a single word of English. I thought in French -- even dreamed in French. It probably wouldn't be more than a month or so before I could return entirely to that state of mind.

Bea's having a good time -- though she misses dreadfully her "puppies" and dreads the thought of three full weeks without them. I told her it's really only two, since week three will be looking forward to seeing them soon.

We both ended up wide awake at about 4:30 am this morning, got up, and Bea's out walking the neighborhood at 6, getting her bearings.

Well, time for our petit dejeuner.

Nous Sommes Arivee

We're here. Directly south of that location is Le Louvre, and directly west, L'Arc de Triomphe. Le Tour Eiffel is a bit to the southwest. If you zoom in and cebter on it, you can see people, the image is so clear.

Braved the traffic in Paris. Took a while, but I finally located the hotel and, and we've had a few hours sleep. About 8 pm local, so we're headed out to roam around.

More later.

And...They're Off!

Three weeks in Europe: France, Spain, and Italy, to be exact. Our ride:

Boarding momentarily. Looks like an on-time departure. San Fran to Paris in a bit more than 9 hours. I'm looking forward. In my experience past, the French do air travel right.

Updates, pics, and travel log to follow. Stay tuned.

Side Note

I'm increasingly spending time thinking about and roughing out rough plans (Did I emphasize rough, enough?) for our Europe trip, now at week -1 day. I've detailed road-maps of France, Spain, and Italy (thanks to Borders), since this is a touring trip, and I've highlighted the generally proposed rough route upon them so that my wife can see whereabouts we might be going and check the various resources in print and on the Web in order to persuade me one way or another -- 'cause I can get to where I might just want to drive drive drive once we're on the road.

So, yesterday, I loaded up Google Earth on her very-super-fast PC and gave her a bit of an intro, including, of natural course, highlights along our roughly proposed route that we might be taking.

"Good. Now we don't even have to go," she says.

For those who don't get it, it's just a sideways endorsement for using Google Earth to engineer your vacations. What a resource. I paid $20 (yearly fee), but honestly, there's not a whole big lot of difference if you just use the free version.

Europe or Bust

Well, just booked flights on Air France from San Francisco to Paris Chales DeGalle, leaving Monday July 3. We'll make a three week trip of it, returning the 24th. Can you imagine what kind of time and effort it takes to plan a three week touring vacation, particularly if the wife is allowed any input?

So can I, which is why the extent of our firm reservations is airline tickets and a reservation at the Hertz counter (670 bucks for three weeks--not bad at all).

The soft, sort of we'll see how it goes-plans include staying a few days in Paris, heading down south through Orleans and on to Toulouse. Then maybe down as far as Valencia, Spain where we'll intercept the Med. Then We'll just run the course through Barcelona and all the way up to Marseilles where we enter my old stomping grounds, including Cassis, Bandol, my former residence of Toulon, and of course St. Tropez, "St. Raf," Cannes and Nice. Then it's on to Monte Carlo and over into Italy and on down to Rome--and maybe Napoli if it's looking like we'll have time.

Then it'll be northwest marking our way back to Paris, which might include stops in Venice, which I love, Milan, Geneva, Dijon...who knows?

The point is, we don't have to be any particular place at any particular time, nor do we have to leave any particular place at any particular time. I've traveled places all over the world with nothing but an airplane ticket and a carry-on bag. I've flow into Bangkok at 1 a.m. after an 18 hour flight from San Francisco via Hong Kong, and had to find a place to sleep. This trip is unlikely to ever be that intense (we've always got the car), but it's the way to really travel, for me. So here's the rough triangular outline of the trip.

It should be fun to photo-blog it too. I just got one of those Sony TX-series notebooks with the built-in GSM data capability (in addition to WiFi). If I can get a cell connection, I can get 200 kbps, which is pretty dam good.

Extreme Vegas

So here we are in Vegas. Because it's only an hour flight for me, I usually make it at least a couple of times per year. I like the town, but it has nothing to do with gambling. Reno is my hometown, and gambling has just never been much of an attraction to me. At a point, about 12 years ago, I got interested in craps. Even spent a week in Reno playing. I treated it as a business, and after a week of gambling many hours per day, often late into the night--with the noise and smoke and standing on my feet--I netted $1,100 after room and meal expense. I was playing mostly with $10 and $25 chips.

Money management is the key to the whole deal. Establish rules, stick to them, and when the table isn't going your way, leave, no matter. Never take "hopeium."

Anyway, it sucked, and since then, I've probably gambled no more than a few hundred bucks total over the last dozen years, just for the occasional diversion.

I love Vegas because it's a place where I feel that my fellow human beings are somewhat more habituated towards minding their own fucking business. It's really the way the whole world should work. I love the 24x7 atmosphere of the town, and, and... the restaurants! There is no place on earth with such a mix of such super-fine restaurants in such concentration. It isn't even close. Last evening, we dined at the Alizé at the top of the Palms. I had the 2lb. live Maine lobster, grilled. I was very, very tempted by this entry, though:

Cashew and Truffle Crusted Colorado Rack of Lamb with a  Goat Cheese, Roasted Pepper and Root Vegetable Tart, Chamonix Potato and Shallot-Banyuls Lamb Jus

Of course, they also have a filet de boeuf, as well as a ribeye, both of which are excellent.

Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom and Potato Croquette,
Asparagus, Zucchini and Cognac Cream Sauce

Grilled Prime Rib Eye Steak with a Scallion and Gruyère Cheese Potato Cake,
Mushroom "Marrow", Cabernet Braised Cipollini Onions and Horseradish Beef Jus

But, tonight, we'll be dining at the N9NE Steakhouse and I won't be having the fish.

Alright then. How about some photos? They aren't great, 'cause they're off my camera. For the first time, we're staying at the Palms, the place owned by the Maloof brothers, whose beer-super-distributor dad taught them the value of work by making them sweep the warehouse when they were old enough to start working in the family business. When dad died, those two brother and their mom built a multi-billion-dollar fortune.

We got a great deal on a Grand Suite.

 

 

Now, they're building a second tower.

Have some fun and head over the the Palms' suites & villas link. It's in flash, so I can't link individual suites within the deal, but you've got all the links on the right column of the display. Enlarge the photos, and some of them have multiple views. Get a load of all that. Make sure you check out the Party Floor Suites, and don't miss the Kingpin Suite or the Hardwood Suite.

Over on the new tower, they're building cantilevered patio Jacuzzis 30 and 40 floors up. You can see one protruding out in that photo, above, on the left side of the building. The end wall of the tub will be glass, so you can take a bath, outside, 40 floors up and watch the strip. Audacious, and I just love it. Lavish, gluttonous, excess. Those suites will be 6,000 sq. ft. for the single-story units and 9,000 sq. ft. for the 2-story.

Goings On

Spent most of the last week in a wonderful suite just off Union Square in San Francisco with my beautiful and charming wife, who just completed her 23rd year teaching 5th graders (in the manner it's generally supposed to be done). San Francisco is a great place, even though it's filled to the brim with loads of commies, which, but for their incessant and ignorant wrangling in everyone's affairs, the city would be one hell of a lot nicer, cleaner, and not the refuge of every damned street bum west of the Mississippi.

Commies are so dumb that they think that any goodness that abounds anywhere is the result of their "programs" rather than the result of capitalism keeping us from going entirely off the cliff, as did the USSR. They overlook entirely all the messes.

Anyway, I'm back. Both in the office and in the cockpit. I'm pretty sure I'll solo early next week, which'll be right around the 15 hour mark.

Now I'm off to downtown San Jose to hook up with Kyle Bennett who's in town for a convention.

Luxury Med Cruise with VDH as Tour Guide

You know, there are at least several million worse ways for you and a traveling companion to spend $15,000-$30,000 (plus round-trip airfare to Naples).

Be sure to check out the brochure.

The TSA, Revisited

There's a new comment to this previous entry that really deserves to be quoted as an entry of it's own. Now, I realize that anecdotes can be made up. All I can say is that based upon my own first-hand experience, I have no particular reason to doubt any of this.

I had a rude awakening only yesterday at the hands of the TSA. I have read your comments and could not agree more. I did not feel safe, I felt incredulous ,then I felt intimidated, then angry. Now I am afraid, those that question anything are searched more. They actually try to break things in their search. Any suggestion is met with escalation in intimidation. This is how government power and oppression starts and I am truly fearful, even in writing this. Wow, next time I fly I'll be stuck 2 hours or more and purposely made to miss my plane. Or better, arrested on some made up charge. I am not sure if it is Bush alone, it is the rest of our elected officials too. I was guilty ,as they are, of mostly taking a private jet everywhere. They have no idea that standing in a security line at BWI just a few miles from the hallowed halls of freedom, they would think they had been transported to an alternate universe where Hitler was still in power and the TSA agents were made up of Hitler youth and the gestapo and TSA were synonymous agencies. I found people, as you said, calmly allowing the constitution to be tossed right out the window. As a doctor, I tried to explain that the line of people in socks standing on a moisture wicking, unsterilizable carpet is a terrific health hazard. I have a planter's wart on my foot that I did not care to share with others thru my hose. There were several athletic gentlemen on line that I did not want, that their possible foot fungus, was easily transmitted to me thru my walking where they had, as we shuffled along. Then here come the "TSA gorillas", after taking, all be it gloved hands(for the TSA worker's protection not mine), from some man's dirty underwear, ready to put her hands thru my toothbrush holder and toiletries.Then to take my underwear and place it in a bin that seconds before had contained a man's dirty boots and his razor. Even restaurants won't allow folks in with out at least sandals on. The suggestion that folks could stand on paper towels got me a pat down and extra time, my stating so that other passenger's could possibly hear, that diabetics' lives and limbs(literally) could be in danger should they contract infections in their feet was met by an offer stating that if I did not "STOP talking immediately the police would be summoned and I would have my name run." I asked do you think I am a criminal because, as a doctor I am concerned for people's health. That was too much for this bradyphrenic, power hungry,all American 5 letter word. She had 4 burly officers on the scene immediately. They demanded ID and I was told to not say any thing.

When I asked what the problem was-WOW you would think that they were dealing with a 3 year old. I was never disrespectful, I did not speak louder than a conversational tone,I spoke in what other civilians said was a calm way. I never made any fast moves and yet they got more and more agitated as if they were trying to find some way they could do something else. They went thru every nook and cranny in my bag taking 30min. to do so and having by then 6 officers and TSA folks standing there. I observed and then unfortunately stated that now I was scared and concerned because with all of them involved with this feigned concern over what horrible weapon I could have hidden among the contents of a clearly middle aged women's personal belongings,there could be terrorists going thru on the other side.

The TSA women now tells the police that I told her "there were terrorists over there" She knew she was lying but had to justify this escalating encounter. The idea that someone had asked questions and others may continue with them ,was unacceptable and had to be squelched at all costs.

The TSA – Part 2

OK, I’ve expressed my rage over our treatment at the hands of the TSA (Yea, like I’m going to deny that it’s rage? The proper distinction is between mindless and principled.). Having read the comments thereto, let me expound in greater detail and in a calmer tone.

First, I don’t get into proposing alternate (but more “efficient”) ways of disposing of your natural freedom. I don’t contrive to identify groups it would be “better” to steal from or deny freedom to. So, I won’t be proposing that you “call your congressmen” with my pat solution. I demand freedom for all human beings on the sole condition that they act as human beings, which means that they recognize all of the freedoms inherent in all others, and all that it implies.

I reject the notion that there is a thing in the world too risky, too costly, or “socially unjust” about unbridled human freedom. Yes, let freedom ring. And that’s all. The issue is not that we’ll be better off if we do. It’s just what we must do, for no reason other than that we're human beings—or supposed to be, anyway.

It is not my problem that you don’t feel safe to get on an airplane unless you and your co-passengers are frisked prior to boarding (under federal mandate, imposed by force). Using “safety” as an excuse to violate rights is logically untenable (utterly so). Just take one moment to think of the myriad ways that terrorists could make your life a living hell when they set themselves purposefully to the task. Here’s just one: four or five simultaneous suicide bombers in a huge indoor shopping mall. Hell; make it 20—and make it 50 shopping malls around the country at the same time.

In truth, the planning and preparation for such an operation would be child’s play compared to what was carried out on 9/11. I could go on, and if you’re honest with yourself, you know that I can.

So the simple and obvious fact derived from the above is that the TSA has nothing in the world to do with safety, and your insistence on clinging to it as some magic bullet is simply irrationality motivated by fear. You’re just not thinking clearly. Understandable—people do their stupidest things when in fear mode. That, however, does not alleviate your basic responsibility to think. It also does not absolve you of your culpability in supporting such an abomination as the TSA.

The Big Lie at work here is in the ‘we’, as usual. It’s “our” national air-transportation system, you see, so “we” have to keep it safe for “our” sake. Et cetera. And while I’m at it, the white-collar-hoax pipsqueaks that man the boardrooms and executive offices of these major airlines are just as at-fault—if not more. The very first thing the shit bags did after 9/11 was not to step up and tell you: “We messed up, and by God, we’re going to do better. We pledge to do the best that can humanly be done to get you safely to your destination.” Not at all. The first thing they did was to point fingers of blame and whine about how they needed a federal bailout.

This should have been a clue to anyone thinking about the issue. The airlines, and by proxy, their shareholders wish to be absolved of a portion of the very thing that you contract with them to provide you—safe passage to a destination. Why on earth should they be responsible for the material safety of their aircraft (which they do very well), but not the skies in which they fly (I’m taking a shot at the FAA, here, in case you didn’t notice), or the comportment of the passengers they carry?

In the end, it all comes back to laziness. Laziness is at the root of each and every collectivist scheme. Nature has blessed us with human beings who benevolently produce far more than they could ever consume—in spite of every obstacle thrown at them by the do-nothings. This fortunate circumstance has its double edge, as no good deed goes unpunished. The lazy are, at once, incentivized by democracy and plunder.

Everyone wants to escape their responsibilities. Who is naturally first in line in the chain of responsibility for keeping you safe on an aircraft? You are. You look around. You use your senses and mind, and in a rational world, you’d be able to pick an airline (and probably pay more for the ticket) with an excellent safety record in all aspects of travel, from the time you step into their boarding area at embarkation, to the time you exit at your destination. Second in line, as implied, it the airline you’ve contracted with. Who’s next? Nobody is next. The contract is between two entities—you and the airline. Those are the only two entities with any business in the matter.

Instead, all the lazy have together made passenger security the responsibility of neither party to the contract. No one with any business has any responsibility. The lazy have made it the “government’s” responsibility, which means, everyone is responsible for everyone else’s safety, which means, no one is responsible for any one’s safety.

As I said at the beginning, the TSA has nothing in the world to do with safety. It can’t, since no one is really responsible or accountable. Instead, it operates as a gauntlet of intimidation so that people unaccustomed to thinking can feel safe.

Gorillas of the TSA

I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In company was my wife, her parents, and my parents (yes, we all get along swimmingly). It was a great trip, all in all, not marred by one single unfortunate event.

But it was tarnished, nonetheless—purposefully and willfully—by a group of loathsome people with the effrontery to call themselves “public servants.”

The first incident came right at the start, leaving from San Francisco (SFO). I don’t travel a lot, per se, but I’ve made two business trips to Chicago and one to DC over the past few months. I try to block it out—the absurdity of it all—and typically I get through “only” moderately inconvenienced. I’ve never taken off my shoes, have never been compelled to do so, and have never set off the Citizen Inspection Device.

So, as I’m disassembling myself (belt buckle, watch, wallet, pocket change, laptop computer, etc.), a TSA goon walks up and asks about taking off my shoes (classic Converse All-Stars with 1/4” soles, at most). I ask if it’s mandatory. He says no, “not if you have lots of time.” Since I knew I wasn’t going to set anything off, I proceeded through the Citizen Inspection Device, and as typical, didn’t set it off. Notwithstanding, I am immediately pulled aside. My high-end laptop, leather Hartmann carry-on, and other valuables—including a very expensive watch—are just sitting there unattended, having come through the Property Inspection Device. I ask, “Is anyone going to attend to my valuables?” “Yes,” he replies, and then just looks away. Another half minute passes and other people’s stuff is stacking up against mine. Finally, I discreetly motion my wife, she gets the clue, and comes and collects my stuff.

I wait another three minutes, there, Temporarily Detained in Federal Custody, and in all that time, not once did any “Authority” look to make sure my property was secure from theft or damage. Finally, a Comrade Interrogator arrives with the express purpose of assaulting me, in person and in dignity, for the crime of Non-Immediate and Non-Cheerful Submission to the faintest suggestion or admonition of “The Authority.” This is where I get to endure the spread-‘em pat down in front of my family and the whole world.

Then there was the trip back. This time, like a Good German, I took off my shoes. But my dad, age 67, failed to heed the sign about putting his video-camera into a separate bin and was taken into Temporary Federal Custody for Search and Interrogation. My father-in-law, age 74, was taken into Temporary Federal Custody for the Crime of having a film canister and pack of gum (foil wrappers) in his pocket.

You know what? Fuck the TSA. Fuck George W. Bush for spearheading it. Fuck Norman “the moron” Mineta. And Fuck every last one of his goons, including even the TSA bitches currently out on maternity leave. Every last one of them can be God damned, and then they can Kiss My Ass. I’m serious.

There’s not one scintilla of a microgram of redeeming value in the TSA. Not one bit. Not for any rational purpose under the sun. Its sole reason for being is intimidation, and in so doing, the Gorillas make all the chimpanzees feel nice and “safe.”

Update: See TSA - Part 2

Kauai - Wrapup

I wrote briefly about, and posted some photographs of, our just-concluded week in Kauai here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Because of the quite surprising level of very nice and complimentary comments and emails, I promised to put up a good collection of the images in full high-res at Club Photo.

Promise delivered.

Now I can get back to a little rage. It should be no surprise that my first topic will be the TSA.

Kauai - Day 6

The tour with Safari Helicopters was fantastic. Note to Commander Preston Myers, USN (Ret.): from one former Navy officer to another, your operation is ship shape from top to bottom. Your offices (even the head), your staff, your shuttle vans, your aircraft and your all-ATP-rated pilots performed superbly, and as for the personnel, each and every one demonstrated a high degree of pride in what they do. Well done, sir.

Here are a few pics (and then I'm off to the airport for the trip back). You may recognize the first one from one of the Jurassic Park flics.

Kauai - Day 5

Well, we didn't take the helicopter tour yesterday. Scheduling conflict. It should go down today.

Relatively quiet yesterday, and we topped it off with a Luau that our traveling companions treated my wife and I too. I've always resisted going to one of these group things, but this one was put on by a family who's been doing it for decades. There's nothing in the world like competence.

Three pics today. This first was quite a lucky shot, I think, of a peacock trying to impress. I used the flash and it really brings out the colors.

I forgot the name of this tree, but its bark is sure interesting.

Some newly hatched chicks having a conference between two parked cars. I've learned that the reason for all the chickens is the hurricane that struck the island in 1992. Apparently, because of the climate, it's an ideal place to breed, raise, and train chickens for cockfighting around the world. The hurricane came through and blasted apart all the coops around the island.

Kauai - Day 4

It goes without saying that we're having a wonderful time. Today is helicopter tour day: Waimea Canyon, Na Pali Coast and whatever else they have in store for us. Pics tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's get to yesterday's pics. Thanks for all the kind comments and emails, and to answer the questions, yes, there are dozens more photos. Once I get back on Saturday, I'll throw most of them up on Club Photo and announce it here.

Six pics for you today. The first is one of the four Macaws perched in the atrium of the Hyatt Regency Kauai.

Next, we have the view out of the Hyatt's open air atrium. This is an exclusive place. 2005's published rates for rooms are from $455 - $785 per night. Suites start at $1,300 per night, and the presidential will set you back $4,400 (yes, per night).

Here we have an attempt at an artsy fartsy pic. It's using the flash, looking out through the ferns at the Fern Grotto.

Below is looking up from the grotto. I went back a few minutes later to take another, but the effect of the sun reflecting through the spray of the water was gone.

Here's another looking up from the grotto.

I'm told this plant is called "red ginger".

Kauai - Day 3

So far…so good. Three days—and I’ve yet to have to suffer through some pretentious, teachy spectacle showcasing the “vast superiority” of the native Hawaiian culture to that of Western Civilization. And; you know, how much more “harmoniously” they interacted with nature, et cetera.

I’ve got three pics today. One is from the beach on the southwest of the island, just north of the Navy’s missile rest range. There’s Waimea Canyon, said to be “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” or something like that. Finally, a little of the “wildlife.” Seriously though; there are thousands and thousands of chickens running wild on Kauai. This suggest two truths: there are no natural predators for either the chickens or their eggs, and, neither are the human inhabitants of the island starving.

Kauai - Day 2

I'm really pleased with our choice of Kauai for this trip. We previously did a week in Maui, which was fantastic (do the bike ride from the top of Haleakala: 40 miles, all downhill, with only about 200 yards of peddling), and a day in Oahu, which was enough (though I'd like to explore the north and interior).

Yesterday, we explored the east and north side of Kauai. Here's a couple of pics (I'd do more, but I'm on dialup, so you know how that goes):

Hawaiian Paradise

I’m sitting here, looking out the rear sliding door of our rented condo, situated at the extreme southern tip of Kauai (Makahuena Point, Poipu). We’re right on the rock cliff’s edge and can see the sunrise to the east, and sunset to the west. We’ll be here throughout the week. I’ll toss up some pics later.

Las Vegas Monorail

Some testimony and commentary regarding my weekend trip to Las Vegas and riding the new Monorail, via Greg Swann at Pressence of Mind.