Merry Christmas

I have one wish this Christmas: for Santa Claus to visit my apartment. Merry Christmas!

Interner Serverfehler!

Apologies to all 3 of my loyal readers that this blog was down the past few days. Unfortunately, this was an unavoidable situation. Though I did understand the German message I was seeing, this didn't help much as the translation amounts to the dreaded and cryptic sounding "internal server error". I don't administer my own webserver. It is leased space which is provided by the hosting company. I got this website in October 2003 by signing up for a 3 year special "no monthly fee" deal being offered by the German parent company 1&1 Internet AG und Co. What I had forgotten though was that there IS an annual domain name registration fee (don't ask me what that pays for, though I suspect it probably goes to ICANN in Virginia). And since my credit card expired this past year, they couldn't collect the $5.99 I owed them. So what do those friendly people at 1&1 do? Shut down my website until I get frustrated enough to call (lesson: NEVER bother sending email to internet service providers about billing questions). Now THAT's customer service!!!!!!!

Well, now it's all settled, at least, until my free trial period expires next November. Hopefully, my blog stays online until then, so you all can reap the benefits of my enlightening and enriching postings. Ha ha ha....

Teacher Training, Part 1

On weekends I "moonlight" as a German teacher for teenagers, at a local Bay Area Saturday German School. The school is set up with classes for all ages, where the students learn basic speaking, reading and writing skills. Most of these kids are part German, so they hear the language frequently at home or during vacations abroad.

About half the kids in my class come to school because their parents make them. The other half come and get annoyed by the bad behavior of the rest. I have to deal with disciplinary problems. I have kids brining Ipods into class. I have kids who complain they're too cold, and others who complain they're too hot. I have kids who cuss when they get a question wrong. Other ones cuss at eachother. Keep in mind, these are "smart" kids - who are learning foreign languages on Saturdays.

This morning, my class was a zoo, as usual. "Kevin" brought his Ipod. I told him to take it off. He took it out of one ear. I ignored him. "Mary" complained she was cold (it was kind of cold). I told her she could sit in front of the window, where it was sunny. She refused (she prefers to sit "with the girls", and not in back , by the window with "the boys"). I told "Mary" she could stand in front of the heater. All the girls joined her, forming a gaggle in front of the heater. All the kids stood up, "in rebellion". I had to start yelling and tell everyboday to take seats.

Then, for no reason at all, they start yelling at each other. They rarely make the effort to speak any German, unless I start yelling for them to be quiet, and pay attention, and answer the godd- question. (I don't say godd-) to them. I do a fair amount of yelling. I feel sorry for the adult class next door. I am surprised they have not complained to me yet about the zoo we have.

Here is what we did in 2 1/4 hours of class.

- We went over our dialogs for the "Adventsfeier" (Christmas Party). Our class are narrators for the fairy tale re-enactment to take place next Sunday. All they have to do is learn 2 or 3 sentences each. Though I have been asking my students to learn their parts for 3 weeks, hardly any of them know it. They mispronounce words, mangle phrases, and skip punctuation.

- We listened to some tape dialogs for our German textbook. We listed 2 or 3 times to each, because usually, while the tape was playing, someone (usually "Kevin" or "Matthew") was talking. In an addition, I did not realize that since our new texbooks are East German, the people speaking the dialogs all would have East German accents. That's like teaching kids english listening to a bunch of people who grew up in the Kentucky mountains.

- We went over the concept of "split verbs". I started handing out chocolates to whomever got a question right or could give me a correct example. That got some reaction. Mostly, yelling, in english.

- We played a German word-game (where more yelling occurred, between students)

Basically, kids these days, even smart ones, don't listen to you unless you "get tough" with them. This is too bad, because it makes the job of teaching more like a policeman. I won't tell you what I'm getting paid to do this, but let's just say, I'm not doing it for the money.

I will keep you apprised ...

Happy Thanksgiving

This is the shortest post I have made to date. I liked the picture, so I thought I'd share it. It's from the State of Virgina Wildlife Management page. However I found the Wisconsin DNR site a little more pertinent to most of my 3 or so regular readers, and a better overall website to link. Enjoy your Holiday!

State of Fear

There is a new book out by Michael Crichton called "State of Fear" which has been mentioned to me by a couple friends. I thought it might be worth checking out, and since at the moment I have a bit of the flu and am more or less "home-bound", I felt it would be a good day to go to the local Barnes and Noble and "pre-read" it. What I mean by "pre-read" is, basically, read all the S&R parts (suspenseful and racy) and if I liked it, buy the book. Otherwise I could just put it back on the shelf and go home.

Incidentally, I used to do this in libraries often when I was in early teenage years. I would find the "thriller" section (including Stephen King novels) and read just the "sex" parts and also the "scary" parts. I might actually read the entire novel in some cases. I think I developed some bad habits. I have since quit reading the sex scenes in novels, though at the time it was educational.

Anyways, today I was more interested in what Chrichton had to say about the environmental movement (he says they're misguided), whether he would really frame them as the villains (he does) and whether he would really argue, at least within the framework of this story, that global warming is not a real phenomenon as most scientists accept it is (he does argue this).

Crichton's book does contain what I would consider his "trademark" style of detailed scientific evidence which backs up a certain theory or claim being put forth by a character in the book. In this case, the protagonists seeks to debunk a popular theory (global warming being caused by human activity) and stop the "mad scientist" radical environmentalists. Meanwhile, some "good" scientists analyse weather data to find that in fact "global warming" is not truly "global" but is in fact "local" - a phenomenon, according to the book, of strong localized increase in average temperatures due to concentrated energy use and deforestation in urban areas.

I think it's admirable to take what we hear in the press with a grain of salt, and Crichton with this book encourages us to do so (In the back of the book, he actually says this). However, in this day and age, with this fossil-fuel worshipping administration, with the wars it has led us into (if you don't think the fact we're in Iraq has to do with oil, then you shouldn't be reading this blog), with the hurricane season we just had, and with all the signs pointing to a real warming trend - why would anyone want to say humans aren't the cause of the problem? Or put another way: why would anyone not want to play it safe and say, ok, I guess warming weather is a problem, so what can we do to prevent it from happening?

I believe Crichton wrote this book because it's a popular idea in certain circles that environmentalists are pushing an "agenda" and the media are sympathetic to it and blowing it out of proportion. I also think he's a gifted scientific researcher / writer who can run with such an idea. However, I am offended at the same time that he would "use" the environmental movement in this way to set up an techno-action thriller so he can sell more copies of his book. In the end, I think it's all about money and sales to him and so he does not in my opinion differentiate himself from right-wing talk show hosts who will say anything to make a buck on the airwaves.

Needless to say, I did not buy this book and don't recommend it to anyone except to read an interesting anti-theory. You can do that in the store or, if you reserve it early, at your local library. In the meantime, keep recycling, don't drive when you don't need to and tell your representative in Washington it's time to get Americans to save gas.

If you want to read good fiction this holiday season, I instead recommend reading something from John Grisham. "The Brethren" and "The Partner" are a couple of my favorites. Grisham does a better job developing his characters and interweaving the plots (towards the end of the book everything kind of "comes together"). He also has a new book called "The Broker", which I would be reading right now if it wasn't for the fact I made personal committment to myself to read Dosteyevsky's "The Idiot" this year.

p.s. I did not drive to Barnes and Noble for this excercise, because I combined it with another errand.

p.s.s. if you want to read a more positive review of "State of Fear", check out what Charley Reese has to say.

Trip down South

I feel the need to add some content to the site. Thanks to those of you who visited since 2 weeks ago and have given me positive or, in some cases, mirthful comments regarding my fall posting.

First off, I am happy to say that the house-warming party at my new place Nov. 5th was a success. There were 12 guests in my apartment and I do believe that is a personal record for me! This was not a big party nor a "wild" one by anyone's standards. I think the wildest thing we did was bake and eat a quiche with blue cheese, pepper jack and mushrooms instead of the called-for provolone. Yes it was perfectly boring! I was happy just that the people stayed, ate my food, and seemed to enjoy themselves. The point was made at one point that it was a "mellow" party. Well I've had parties where friends got drunk and got on my nerves ... SO... I think I will take the "mellow" label anytime. And no, I'm not talking about any of the readers of this blog being my drunk annoying friends. Back in Milwaukee, I don't think any of us cared if we were drunk.

Did you see "Ghostbusters"? Remember the party Rick Moranis had in his apartment? It was the scene when Bill Murray came over to tell the party that the building was haunted. Moranis, who plays a nerdy accountant who wants to date the sexy Sigourney Weaver next door, introduces his friends and makes remarks about how much money he saved each person on their tax return. I think there was a little of that going on at my own party. Unfortunately, Sigourney Weaver wasn't here. Also, I'm not an accountant (I'm a computer analyst - close enough) p.s. did you know Rick Moranis was one of the McKenzie brothers?

Anyways, here is a picture of the new place. You could call it an "aftermath picture" after the party. The guy pictured is my friend Jon who has roomed with me before (after college) and now has done it again (but only for a couple weeks he says)

The 12 guests drank in total a measly 3 bottles of wine.

During the last week I was also had a short vacation (5 days). I flew to Atlanta and rented a car, visiting my friend Eric (who lives near Rome, GA) and then driving to my brother's in Charleston, where he plays in the local symphony orchestra. It was all in all a great time. A couple of observations:

- In contrast to the Bay Area, there is a "true fall" in the south (in Georgia, at
least there is). Here we have young Mr. Jens posing with a Magnolia "cone".

What do they call these things?

- Here's a gratuitous picture from the same trip. I like to reward readers of my blog. I believe I finally caught up to the one and only "Chief of Dead Animal Society".

Let me show you my shotgun

- My golf game is not as good as my brother's. We went to the municipal golf course in Charleston one day while I visited and played a round of 18 holes. I was feeling fine when we got to the first tee




This course, which supposedly is the "worst qualilty" of all the courses in Charleston, had plenty of challenges. Here is a shot of the one of the par 4s on the back nine.

Of course, I hit my tee shot into the water.

p.s. I scored a 135, in case anyone wanted to know

Random Fall Observations

Fall is my favorite season. I like seeing nature change, even though it's still sunny out and generally nice. It's a time for new beginnings. But also new endings!

So in this spirit I would like to make 4 random observations:

Observation Nr. 1: fall in northern California arrives with an almost unnoticeable lowering of temperatures (instead of daytime temps. in the 80s we now have high 60s) and, in certain areas, the leaves change color too. However, judging by the amount of sunlight and people relaxing themselves doing summer-like activities such as biking, sailing and surfing, you'd never know it's fall.

Do you like my shorts?

Observation Nr. 2: cooking a meal for friends can be fun, if done right. Adding immensely to the joy of cooking is when you don't burn your spaghetti sauce.

Yes, I can cook - spaghetti sauce being one of the 3 dishes I know!

Observation Nr. 3: my tomato plants are just about done for the year, and, after I and the new tenant in my old apartment building finish harvesting the couple cherry tomatoes left on the vine, I suppose they should be torn out and composted. I learned this year that not just any tomato plants will grow anywhere, even though we're in California. Also, you do need to give them water more than a simple hosing down twice a week.

I ate two of the pictured tomatos today at work. They tasted good, and meaty

Observation Nr. 4: after my first harvest of lettuce resulted in the lettuce plant going to seed, it would indicate that my lettuce fared no better than my tomatoes. Also that my garden substrate or whatever it is they call the soil is less than perfect. What you see below (behind the reddish chard / rhubarb looking plant) is a former loose leaf lettuce plant that was producing nice leaves for salad. It is slowly coming to resemble a branchy bush ... My friend Willow explained it to me like this: when the plant feels under stress, its urge will always be to procreate. Which explains the "going to seed" phenomenon.

Skyline Blvd

Last weekend I had a chance to finally see the East Bay all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge from up top. I invited my colleague Joe to accompany me on another bike ride. This time, he agreed. But Joe is a secretive guy who didn't want to get photographed, so you will have to just imagine what my colleague looks like (hint, he's married and has a grown son).

For the sake of saving blogspace, I linked the map showing the route
we rode. The road along the top of the ridge (the one that separates Oakland from the dry hinterlands to the east - see previous bike riding blog) is called Skyline Boulevard. I've been up there once before, and wondered how the bike riders got up. Well, last Saturday I figured it out. I will admit I needed the road map in the book I bought, "Bay Area Bike Rides", to do it. VERY much worth the $15 I paid for it.

We started in Orinda (on the back side of the Hills) and took a road through what is called Wildcat Canyon (didn't see any wildcats, unfortunately). We did see "wildcat" bike riders, though. I mean all those brightly colored bike rider dudes riding in packs. Some of them whizzed past us like they were chasing Lance Armstrong. Others, going more leisurely, I was able to follow or even pass.

In the canyon (near the town of Moraga), one of my favorite spots on the eastbay, the road was gentle and winding. I even could smell redwood trees (I apologize for my camera's sake)

Next, we had to ascend up to Skyline Blvd (lower right corner of the circuit on the map at top). The hairpins on the canyon road ascending to Skyline were moderate, by alpine standards, yet were as much as my legs and my ten-speed could handle. It was fun, actually. I kept thinking, what if one of those softball-sized rocks laying on the side of the road actually fell on top of me as I drove underneath? Fortunately, no such incidents occurred. A nice view towards the east greeted us at the top. They had posted extremeley high fire danger and it was not hard to see why. Everything is tinderbox dry. (and people still build homes up there! - after the Oakland hills fire you think they would have learned)

Once up top on Skyline Blvd., we proceed back towards Berkeley, thankfully not having to deal with any major grades (that's "grade" as in "slope", for all you flatlanders). The views up there are spectacular. Here is another sample featuring yours truly




On the way down, we sped through Tildon park (top of Berkeley) and Tildon golf course. Yes, Berkeley has its very own golf course, and I didn't see any tye-died golfers either. When I moved here, I thought like everyone from the Midwest that Berkeley was just the university. Anyone who lived in or "came from" or even went to Berkeley had to be a hippie and communist leaning! Well, after a while you get to learn that even Berkeley also has snobs, suburban homes ... and a golf course (which I want to play on). The subject of Berkeley probably warrants a separate blog entry ...

So that's my "virtual tour" presentation from the Bay Area this week. I am waiting for the big earthquake, predicted to come and upend life as we know it. We could, like, be experiencing the aftermath of a 7.6 earthquake and be living in a cold mountain climate.

In the meantime, I tell myself to try to enjoy life while I can...

Before I finish: thanks to my friends, like Carla from the Netherlands, who confesses they read this blog from time to time. But you didn't leave any messages! Carla, do you think I write this blog just for the satisfaction of the Dead Animal Society and our Midwestern Republican commentator Siskel? Please, if you visit, sign my guestbook. Thank you and good night-

Fantasy Football Update (Steve)

Just so nobody thinks I don't respond to my readers, Steve here is the update on my fantasy football team. For all you other readers, this is how a single guy with computer skills and fast connection can spend his idle time. Don't follow my example! :-)




As you can see, I didn't do terribly well point-wise, but got really lucky, with my opponents each week scoring lower than normal. My scoring total is middle of the pack. However, I still have a 4-1 record. Oh yeah ... did you guess which team is me? Hint : it's named after the city where I now live.

Player-wise, I've dropped a couple duds off my roster, which inevitably happens every year I play this game. Those were:
Tyrone Calico (WR, Ten) (now playing David Patten, WR Wash)
Ryan Moats (RB, Phi) (now playing Brian Finneran, WR Atl)
Eric Johnson (TE, SF) (now playing David Martin, TE GB)

Here's the rest of my roster and my report on each player:

QB: Kerry Collins : playing well, perhaps not up to high 1st round draft level, but close.
Steve McNair : a nice substitute. He won last week's matchup for me with a 26 point performance.

RB: Steven Jackson : showing improvement. Last week was his best game so far.
Kevin Jones : likewise, same as above.
Rickey Williams : my "dark horse" finally coming back from a long suspension

WR: Michael Clayton : a total DUD. This guy was projected to have a great year. Instead his teammate Galloway is collecting all the receptions.
Nate Burleson : mediocre. Hurt by D. Culpepper's lackluster performance and overall bad Vikings management / coaching.
Travis Taylor : a pleasant surprise. I was lucky to get him in the 14th round. Suffers from same problem as Burleson though.
Keenan McCardell : had a nice couple of games to start, but last week he only caught 1 pass for 5 yards! The judgement is still out on him.
David Patten, WR Wash : just picked him up off waivers.
Brian Finneran, WR Atl : likewise.

TE: Jeremy Shockey : glad I picked him high (I think, in the 6th round). He's been my mainstay, very consistent.
David Martin : nice fill-in last week on Shockey's bye.

K: Jason Elam : not as good as I'd hoped.
DST: Bengals : better than expected.

In summary, I'm hopeful about my prospects. My team has thusfar played below its potential, yet I am still 4-1.

Bike Riding

During the last week, I vowed to try to take a ride on my "new" road bike (one I "inherited" from a colleague) every weekend until the weather turns. I guess sometime in November, it will become rainy here and the outdoor recreational opportunities become more limited.

So, this morning found me at the BART train at 40th and MacArthur at 9.30, headed north toward Pittsburgh / Bay Point. The BART ride was surprisingly long. But, with sunlight streaming into the car and not too many passengers, I had a pleasant ride, enjoying the view of the brown California hills (oops, "golden" hills, I am supposed to say). My ride began at the last BART stop (about 15 miles from downtown Oakland, by my reckoning): Pittsburgh / Bay Point. This is an industrial-looking town along the south side of the Sacramento River delta. Lots of not-so-scenic looking refineries and power plants, plus a port to accommodate barge traffic coming down from Sacramento (see map). Not the prettiest place to start a bike ride. But, I had contacted a local biker club and was told this is where the "novices" would meet, at 10 a.m. Well, I got there around 10, and no one else from this "club" was there (I asked another biker resting nearby, just in case I had missed them somehow). The "novices" were apparently taking a break, or had graduated to a better classification. I was on my own. I asked the same biker at the BART stop where I might be able to enjoy a "scenic" ride. He sort of laughed. "Lots of traffic here. I don't like to ride in this area", he said. I could see that the area didn't have that many roads ... and where there are fewer roads, there are more cars. That's just life in California. I noticed the same thing in certain parts of Europe, so I I'm used to that. I set out intrepidly, despite my fellow biker's advice, and headed for the hills.





And what a hill it was! I proceeded from Pittsburgh back toward Walnut Creek (and Oakland) via the "Kirker Pass" on the romantic sounding "Railroad Avenue". I didn't see one other biker on this road. And I soon figured out why. a) lots of fast-moving traffic passing by, b) lots of flat-tire causing gravel and litter on the shoulder / bike lane (the bike lane was not marked as such, but at least there was a stripe), and c) a hill that steadily increased in grade until it because practically impossible at the top to go on. Nevertheless, I didn't regret the ride. I learned the limits of both my own legs and my 10-speed bike. My legs can get me up a short hill, like the one I live on, without too much problem. When it comes to longer inclines though, like the approx. 4 mile uphill I did today over the pass, I still need training. I walked about 1/4 mile. To be fair, my older-model road bike (I'm guessing it was made in the 80s) is also not designed for the faint of heart and body. While modern roadbikes have a forgiving 24 speeds, (allowing even weak guys like myself to traverse most hills), my Peugeot only has 10, of which only 8 are really usable.

As I wrote on the accompanying map, my estimated bike distance was a paltry 18 miles, while the BART ride was about 20 (including the trip back from Walnut Creek to Rockridge). I saw a lot of scenery, including lots of the nice suburbs that border Oakland and Berkeley to the north/west. Lots of sunshine there, hills to go biking and walking, shopping malls, beautiful, tanned (mostly white) people. The American Dream, I suppose. This includes the cities / suburbs of Walnut Creek, Pleasanton (the old home of PeopleSoft, now Oracle/PeopleSoft), and Concord. I will return. I need to measure myself against the Kirker Pass again.

Anita

A friend of mine from Germany, born in Ohio and residing with her husband and 2 children in Freiburg, died during the night yesterday. Her name was Anita.

I got to know Anita through church, which I attended sporadically at first, and then more often as time went on. She and I hit it off because basically, she is the type of person who appears to be on happy pills 24 hours a day and could not resist cracking jokes even during the dullest of moments. This is a very rare type of person to meet in Germany.

Anita sang with me in the choir (they were desperate for male voices and corralled me into it), and though we were not very good musicians, we did our best to keep our spirits up and stay warm somehow, in spite of rehearsing in old drafty and cold German churches (ours was not, but the ones we sang in usually were)

Now Anita is gone and, if I were still living over there, I would certainly miss her companionship and presence.

Since I am not over there, I can't really miss those things but only reminisce instead what might have been.

The feeling left is that I should have been there during these last months as the disease came back and affected her liver and body. But I left that place and there is no going back to what you used to have. My time there was done, at least, it was done in that town.

The worst thing about death is the finality of it all. Anita is gone forever. No dreams remain, no possible plans to make, or happy reunions, or joking about the good old days, when we were young and stupid, or at least adventurous and silly.

The next time I visit Freiburg, it will be a sad occasion. My best friends from there were all friends of Anita.

Moving is hard sometimes.

New Apartment

Hello All! Long time no new posts. I see from my guestbook that some people are still visiting. Thank you. Even if you do it just to criticize either me or eachother, my door is "always open" for entertainment from the public at large.

In case anyone was wondering, the reason for my brief disappearance from blogging-world was that I moved. I now live a whole 200 yards down the road from my old place. Thanks to my friends April and Bob, I was able to get moved in by my deadline date Sep. 17th.

I am feeling fine and dandy about the new apartment. Finally, I have a two room apartment! It's funny, that what they call a "One Bedroom" apartment in America actually contains two rooms: one "living room" and one (in this case) equally large, or slightly smaller, "bedroom". In Germany, this would be called a "Zweizimmerwohnung" ("two-room apartment"). While living over there from 2000-2004, I always was in an "Einzimmerwohnung". That's "one room". I bet you are all just fascinated by this lingoism. In any case, after so many years of living within 4 walls, I am now feeling like I have arrived in the lap of luxury. And I am now paying less rent than before!




Above is a picture of the living room. As you can see, things are still somewhat "in flux". That couch-thing you see on the left is the futon, on which I still sleep. I have yet to purchase a decent bed. I expect that, until I get visitors, perhaps from among those that frequent this site, it will stay like this.

Another important event also occurred since last time I posted. At 4.25 local time last Saturday morning, I was jolted awake by shaking. At first, I thought it was my sometimes rambunctious new neighbor upstairs, doing something I didn't want to know about. This was just my first instinct. But then when I started processing brain signals, and sounds, like my TV cabinet creaking from moving back and forth, I put two and two together and realized I'd experienced .... my first California earthquake! It was only a 3.2 magnitude tremor (epicenter was only a couple miles from my house, and 6 km beneath the earth's surface). Several local people I talked to didn't even feel it at all! That means I must be a pretty scared, naive Midwesterner.

It does make me wonder what could happen if I experience the "big one" that the experts are predicting to happen here in the next 60 years (with 90% likelihood). If it's at night again, will the roof over my head keep intact? Or will I be crushed under a load of drywall and concrete? Will I still have any possessions left? Will my job still exist? Thoughts like these do lend a certain kind of perspective. At least now, I understand why people around here don't bother spending as much as other people I know in Wisconsin getting their houses all up to snuff. Why bother investing that much when it will likely get destroyed by an earthquake anyways? I don't know what earthquake insurance costs around here for homeowners. I do know, however, that at both places I've rented, I had to sign a form acknowleging that there is no legal protection if my stuff all gets destroyed in my apartment by an earthquake. And, my auto insurer, State Farm, told me it would cost much more than my property is worth to buy such insurance. So, am I living "on the edge" ... or what?

Sierra Club Activities

Last weekend was the first-ever Sierra Club national summit in San Francisco, held in one of the city's convention centers (the Moscone Center). I guess attendance was fairly good - judging by reports I heard at the conference, and my own impression from attending the conference on Sunday. The only reason I was there was because I volunteered and got in for free. They assigned me a cushy job as a "pass checker" at one of the meeting rooms. You see, the Sierra Club charged something like $160 for people to attend all of the 3 day conference, which gave them access to all the "forums" and speakers in the individual rooms. To be fair to the Club, the conference did cost quite a bit to put together, so I suppose some kind of fee is necessary. Anyways, those who either couldn't afford the $160, or were just too cheap to pay, like me, could either pay just $15, which let them visit the exhibit hall, or volunteer. My job as pass checker was keeping the "cheapskates" apart from the "faithful", who ponied up their money to attend. And I even got free lunch. Not bad! Naturally, I was rather lax on the "cheapskates", for whom I have sympathy.

The highlight of the conference for me was listening to Marine General Lehnert from Camp Pendelton talk about being an environmenalist and a marine at the same time. He made some great points. People clapped politely when he was done, but I think he deserved a "standing O".

Too bad though I missed Al Gore's speech on Friday. I guess he really socked it to Bush. Where was that spirit when you ran for president in 2000, Al?

As long as we're talking about (elected and un-elected) presidents, I was emailed this picture by a friend in Milwaukee. If it weren't such a sad situation, I would say it's hilarious.



NEWS: I will be moving this weekend. Knowing my own tendency to procrastinate, I decided the best thing I could do to expedite this process is to take apart and disassemble my computer to limit my tendency to surf endlessly and do all sorts of other useless activities on this infernal machine. So hasta la semana proxima, everybody...

Bagdad in New Orleans

I turned on the computer after getting home today and read the news on MyWay, as is my custom. The first picture I saw from New Orleans was this.



I guess there are people with guns down there shooting at cellular tower repair people. So the Sheriff's department gets to "play Army".

Can you just imagine, a little old lady, stranded for days in her apartment, opens the window to ask for help and sees these Sheriffs. "Hey Billybob down there, would ya help out an old lady?" "Close your window and stay inside! We busy hunting snipers!"

Despite all of the catastrophe news, when I see pictures like this I see how ridiculous America can be. Call me upatriotic.

Let me put it this way, for all pro-handgun advocates: is it better that we have guys like this with M-16s patrolling the streets of our cities, or would it not be better if there were serious gun laws and the cops could keep their guns holstered, and give some real meaningful help?

On a related subject, the latest I heard from Texas is they are sheltering 13,000 hurricane victims in a shopping mall in San Antonio. Well, hey, those people won't have to go far to spend their $2,000 government vouchers!

The Salvation Army and American Red Cross appear to be doing a lot of good work, and are asking for donations...

And yes, I did finally get around to posting pictures from my trip to the Sierra Nevada the weekend before last.

One last thing: everybody please sign my guestbook! Call me a moron if you want! Or should I go on strike to test the faith of my readership?

Email from San Antonio

This week I'm not going to do much creative work in blogging. I thought it would be inappropriate to talk about my hike in the Sierra Mountains and show you all the nice pictures. I'll do that next week.

Instead I'm posting an email that was forwarded to me by a friend. It is written by Nancy Daniels, Lt. Col. US Army (ret.) She is part of the psychological counseling team set up in San Antonio TX to support arriving refugees from the Gulf Coast.

"Experience from Hurricane Andrew in the 1990’s was that several whole cities were knocked out. New middle class homes had not been built to code and fell on their occupants. It was hard to get assistance in because there were no phones, no electricity, no water, no roads. Storms have a way of wrecking road systems through flooding and debris. Also, if there is enough wind and water, the road bed gets taken right out of the ground.

New Orleans set up the Super Dome and Convention Center as a refuge of last resort for the sick and crippled who couldn’t evacuate. By Saturday night there was enough wind that the airport closed. People who could buy tickets went out on Trailways, but they didn’t really know where to go. Lots of people didn’t have money for more than a few days in a hotel. There were some evacuee centers in Baton Rouge and all around the state. Lots of people couldn’t evacuate because they couldn’t buy a bus ticket and didn’t have a car. There wasn’t any public transport for evacuation near as I can tell. So people went to the superdome. Still others stayed in their homes and rode out the storm. They were just fine for a while after the storm. There was no water, no phone, no electricity by Monday after the storm passed. Then it got sort of hot and sunny and things were looking up by Monday afternoon. People were willing to stay in their homes and endure the hardship until the power and water were back for a few weeks. Then Monday night the levees broke. Tuesday morning people woke up and washed out of their beds. I mean the water just sort of rose up during the night and took people by surprise.

Amtrak tracks are under water. They only run a few trains in and out of there each day. I think the schedule is two trains a day going east and two going west.

Only one route on I-10 was passable. It was hard to get to. Finally they got more roads open.

Yesterday I was at the evacuee center. I heard the stories. Life is kind of messy and chaotic anyway. Disaster preparedness is not foremost on the minds of people who live kind of hand to mouth anyway. One man said he pulled a woman out of the water into a boat. She died in his arms, but it looked like there was really nothing wrong with her. He thought she was just overwhelmed. He was asking for some new clothes since he had been handling dead bodies.

Walmart brought out some clothes and diapers. Everybody needs clothes and we haven’t got laundry facilities. Things run out real fast because there are about 5000 in the shelter in various states of chaos. There are plenty of volunteers, but as with any operation communication is very difficult. Well organized refugee efforts have to unfold over time. It’s not possible to have emergency situations quickly organized. Communication is really a very fragile commodity.

This is a triple decker disaster. First was the grinding poverty. Then there was the Category 5 hurricane that took out 6000 square miles and along with it all infrastructure—(water, sewer, roads, power, phones). Then the levees broke and flooded 80 % of New Orleans. So that’s why things are such a mess.

Buses were coming in every 5 minutes with about 50 passengers each. There are second and third evacuation centers opening all over this city and many others. Everything is overflowing. These people are sick, too. There is a federal agency-NMDS that is coordinating sending folks to hospitals. Only the sickest can be sent to hospitals. They’re full, too.

I have been in disaster planning for many years. It is hard to imagine the reality of something like this. We have never anticipated or planned to manage anything of this magnitude. Ordinarily something this big wouldn’t necessarily have this many survivors.

I am going back to the evacuee center today.

Love,

Nancy"

Best bargain wines

I'm off to go hiking in the Sierras starting tomorrow and ending Monday eve. As usual, my place is a mess, I'm only half packed, and it's almost 11 p.m. I had to buy a lot of equipment for this one, like a tent, walking sticks (I know they're yuppie, but I figure being 34, I got to start taking care of my body), water purifier, polyester clothing (so you don't stay damp) etc. etc. It cost me a bundle at REI before I realized I could get most of this stuff cheaper at other stores. For instance the 2 person tent from REI that I bought for $170 can be had for half the price at the outdoor shop across the street. Naturally I will return the REI tent and keep the cheaper one. I love America!

On another subject, just so you folks don't think I never give you free stuff here on this website, here is the top bargain wine list published in today's S.F. Chronicle:

Best Budget Brand Wines under $15 or less

- San Francisco Chronicle Wine Section, Aug 25 -

1. Bogle Vineyards (Sacramento Delta). Try their Chardonnay for $9 or Petite Sirah also $9
2. Castle Rock Winery (Calistoga, CA). Napa Valley Chardonnay $15
3. Concha y Toro (Chile) all red wines are good deals.
4. Don Sebastian and Sons (Sonoma, CA). Good merlot, Chardonnay or C. S. They often blend other's wines into their own.
5. McManis Family Vineyards (San Joaquin Valley). Chardonnay, P.S. and California Viognier (?), all around $10.
6. Falesco (Italy) Umbria Bianco, Umbria Rosso, Umbria Rose $8.
7. Hogue Cellars (Yakima, WA). Merlot, Riesling, Sangiovese Rose $10-$15.
8. McWilliam's Hanwood Estate (Australia). Australia Chardonnay, Riesling and Shiraz all around $10.
9. Villa Maria Estate (N.Z.) Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Merlot all $13-$15.
10. Three Thieves (Mendocino Cty, CA). They sell 1 Liter glass jugs and Tetra Brik Boxes of "Bianco Trebbiano", California Zinfandel and C.S. for $6-$10.

Enjoy the shopping!

Elkhorn Slough Excursion

Today I had an opportunity to enjoy some more of California's scenery south of San Francisco. My colleague Dan from work invited me to meet him down between Santa Cruz and Monterey (that's about a 2 hr drive) for kayaking excursion. Despite the early 7 a.m. wakeup this morning (or maybe because of it), I had a relaxing drive listening to A.M. radio through the normally congested Bay Area suburban / industrial areas between Oakland and San Jose, followed by a scenic and windy drive south on Hwy 17 from San Jose to Santa Cruz. The last part of the drive was along Highway 1, which further south and further north of Santa Cruz becomes a very scenic coastal road, but in that area is more or less hillly and barren. Arriving at the appointed hour (we had agreed on 10 a.m.), I found the rental facility and saw kayakers already taking their morning instructions from the "harbor master" (the guy who was renting out the boats). Figuring I was late, as usual, I hurried inside, only to be told I was the first in the group to show up - at 9.58! This is my kind of crowd.

Anyways, we got going soon enough, and because it was foggy, as usual, you had the feeling it was still early in the morning, even though it was rapidly approaching noon. For an explanation of coastal fog in norther California go here.

Below are some pictures of us getting going in the morning.


Learning the Basics: Land Kayaking 101


Dan and Collin following by the rest of the horde

An agreeable sight was looking east into "Elkhorn Slough" (the name of the estuary that runs in about 5 miles from Moss Landing harbor). It looked very peaceful and calm. Reminded me of Wolf Lake in Wisconsin.


I soon started seeing some of the wildlife they told us about at the rental place: in this case, some pelicans perching on logs.


If you click on the picture you will see the sea lions looking very lazy.


A sea otter having a snack. In the morning I could actually hear the guy chewing away on a clam or mussel of some sort.

At the end of the day, we were nice and tired. Since I decided to "go the extra mile" and not turn around like some others did after about 1 1/2 hrs on the water, I ended up paddling a longer distance that I thought I would - I guess it was about 7 miles. I admit I had the advantage of a fast boat and no kid that required "pushing" on the boat. I had a sunburn ... on my ankles - the one place I forgot to apply sunscreen.

To sum it up, a tiring but eventful day - and now I'm ready for bed!

Just hanging around

I have to finally admit I've settled into a bad routine. First off, this week I actually had to work. Our main technical "guru" on the team at work is leaving us! After 8 years in the team, he decides to take a new position somewhere else in the company. This guy was so good, the rest of us didn't really even have to work! Joe is nothing short of brilliant when it comes to computers, especially what he can do with MS Access and Microsoft Office. So does his leaving say anything about my ability to work together with others??? I hope not. Joe and I got along pretty well. I just stole a lot of his grapes (he always keeps a bag of white grapes in his cube, and I love to stop by to "chat", that is to eat his grapes).

So this week was kind of hectic, because I had to try to figure out what the heck Joe had been doing these past 8 years so when our medical contracting customers come to me from now on, I'll be able to help them. That was the first "bad routine". The SECOND one is, this week I spent a even more time on the Internet that usual. I mean a LOT of time... like 3-5 hours a day, every day! (not including at work, where I try not to "surf") Thank God no one's charging me per hour for this, like in the old days of AOL. Because if they were, I'd be poor. Maybe I should go BACK to AOL?

Anyways, the main reason I was online so much this particular week is the Lewandowski family fantasy football league draft, which is happening online as we speak. For those of you readers not familiar with fantasy football, it involves picking offensive football players at each position (in American football there are certain positions like Quarterback, Running Back and Wide Receiver that score almost all the points). The better you know which players will do well in any given year, and the better you are at picking those players (there is a rotating order to the draft), the better your chances for success are during the "regular season", which begins after labor day in early September and lasts till Christmas.

We - that is "the league" - decided to have the player draft "live" this year, to give everybody a chance to pick all their players instead of the SI.com computers doing it for us. And with 15 people in the league (all family members - a new record for us), that's a lot of picking. The fun part is, you get to "chat" / talk trash with your competitors - and watch them pick. The bad part is, if you are like me, you end up spending a lot of time scouting NFL players online to see who has the best fantasy football league prospects and not getting around to doing more healthy stuff like "real" sports or cleaning your apartment.



I put up a picture of the most recent draft board just to give you an idea of the suspense and drama going on. Incidentally, the picture you see at the top, "Welcome to Oakland", is also my team logo. It has little to do with the name of my fantasy team except for the "Oakland" part. I have always had Sausage-related names all 4 years (it started with "Knackwursts", which I kept for the first 2 years, then last year it was "Smoking Knockwursts" and now I made the radical change to "Oakland Sausage Factory"). Just something to emphasize my Milwaukee roots...

By the way, here are my picks so far:
Round Pick Player Position
1 7 Kerry Collins QB, Oak (a mistake, considering I could have gotten Priest Holmes)

2 9 Kevin Jones RB, Det
3 7 Nate Burleson WR, Min
4 9 Steven Jackson RB, SD
5 7 Michael Clayton WR, TB
6 9 Jeremy Shockey TE, NYG
7 7 Tyrone Calico WR, TEN (here I could have picked Keenan McCardell from the Rams, but didn't because I'd been reading how great a preseason Calico and Steve McNair are having)

So ... that's the long version of Why I am Online Too Much. I am beginning to think it's like a bad habit I can't break. I'm a compulsive Internet addict. So Steve, you might be a gambling fanatic, but I've probably got you beat in terms of computer time...

Well that's my weekly roundup. I am going to post a new poll, this time it's about what are some of the hobbies I should be taking up. I'd be interested what you have to say.

By the way, the results from last week's poll indicate that I should take along the tomato girls when I want to impress women like Rachel McAdams, and that I should also work more and not think of Rachel so much. Thank you very much - but I'M STILL SINGLE!

Worst Movie of the Year ... Period

Hi everybody,

Just so you all know it I am still here and going strong. The aphids seem to be going away, thanks to my garlic broth remedy. However a new calamity has struck the garden: the tomato plants are getting yellow on the bottom! I asked an expert here in north Oakland and she said I might be over-watering and causing the tomato to focus all it's "juices" to the top. So from now on, tomatoes only get watered once a week! Let's hope that cures them.

On another note, I saw a totally terrible movie this weekend : "Wedding Crashers", starring, well, who cares who those guys were!



The basic premise of the movie is these two guys, who are professional mediators in their other lives, go around to weddings of people they don't know (they find out by reading the paper) and get drunk and hopefully also laid with the other girls at those parties. The only redeeming quality of that movie is Rachel McAdams, and that's because she's cute, smart and WAY too good for this movie. At least for me, there was one thing I could enjoy looking at and listening to.


question: How old is Rachel, anyways?
answer: though I would have guessed about 18, she is actually 28 going on 29, that means 5 years younger than me. So do I have a chance? (you can vote in this week's poll)

Anyways, if you were considering whether to spend your $8 or whatever it costs to see "Wedding Crashers" in your neck of the woods, I am here to say SAVE YOUR MONEY and spend it on a better movie you will remember longer than this forgettable one. Heck, you could even rent 2 movies for this price, one of them being "Rocky IV", and the other being any other movie with Rachel McAdams or a movie star/starlet of your choice.

Speaking of "Rocky IV", I mentioned it because I just watched bits of that movie in between "Fear Factor" on TV tonight. It was shown on Cine de las Estrellas here (in Spanish, of course). Even though it was considered a flop back in the 80s, I loved the training sequences in the cabin in Siberia, and the inspirational 80s music including the "Final Countdown" by Survivor. On item I have to criticize however- Sy Stallone does not look like much of a boxer the way he lets Dolph beat him up. And it's not very realistic to get absololutely pounded for 10 rounds and then win the fight. But hey, it's Hollywood, and I STILL liked this movie way, WAY more than "Wedding Crashers".



One last thing: remember how Ivan Drago a.k.a. Dolph Lundgren says "I must break you" as he's facing Rocky in the beginning of one of the boxing rounds??? Well in Spanish it's "Yo contigo acabare". That sounds a lot cooler to me than "I must break you". Go Ivan!

New garden arrangment - Aphid invasion!

Here you have an up-to-date view of the gardening rearrangement. You may notice I moved about half the plants. Here is a summary of changes:

1) moved the Kale from front center to rear middle left (between 2 tomato plants) to improve sun exposure for front cabbage, collard, and remaining 2 lettuce plants.
2) moved cabbage plant from between the left-most tomato plants to the right rear spot to improve sunlight exposure.
3) replaced dying lettuce plants in front right with Collard.

A guest remarks that I am a "Lettuce Killer". I am offended by this accusation. Listen up: my actions to remove 2 dying lettuce plants were "mercy killing". Don't you understand? I had to kill a few sick plants to save the crop. So please, stop labeling me a "killer".

On another note, while doing the replantings, I noticed that the cabbage appears to be in less than perfect health. You may have noticed the holes in the cabbage leaves. There is also some kind of white slime that has collected in the "armpits" of the cabbage leaves. I can only guess that this is due to some kind of aphids, or "cabbage loopers", whatever those are (looked it up on google). So I took the unconventional step of brewing a home remedy consisting of diluted, cooked mashed garlic, and poured a little of if on all the cabbages. Now things smell wonderfully like garlic in the evening. All Aphids must die! If this doesn't do the trick, I will think about putting on a plant screen next.

New Garden Work Crew

Well it's been a full two weeks since I last updated my Gardening site. The reason is, everything's coming along splendidly in the garden so there wasn't much news to report. There was some new growth in the tomatoes. I will make another post to display that. Also, I had to kill some lettuce plants. They apparently don't like the direct sunlight. Or the bat guano.

A recent guest remarked he'd like to see more girls in bikinis. So to "spice things up", I decided to hire a work crew I will call the "Tomato Girls". These girls, dressed mostly in red to honor the produce that rules my batch of land, are as you can see hard-working, salt-of-the-earth, roll-your-pant-leg-up types. I only hire the best :-)



They are expert in using the gardening implements I provide and their effect on plant reproduction seems quite amazing. After just one shift of them toiling in my backyard, my tomato and cabbage plants had "spruced right up".

On another note, it appears my time here as master of Apartment E at 3912 Harrison Street may be soon ending. I found another place just up the street that offers more space and a garage for my car (see my earlier parking post from May), for the same rent I pay now. I will have to make side trips to take care of my plants. Since it's only a 1/2 block away, and it appears the rental market is moving real slow around here, that shouldn't be a problem....

Stay tuned! And thanks for visiting

Garden update

Quick update on my garden, which because I have little other social life, has become my main topic of conversation. The plants all responded to my emergency bat guano- planting mix quite well from 2 weeks ago. Interestingly, the plants on the near / "house" and middle sides of the garden - the tomatoes in the cages, most of the 5 cabbages, and the kale - are doing the best, while the lettuce on the far side of the garden is only staying green, but not really growing. It was in the far side of the garden, where the lettuce is, that I "dropped the load", meaning, I used about 85% bat guano mix there, because I'd run out of the topsoil from doing the grading in the rest of the small garden. So it seems to me that you CAN over-fertilize vegetable plants. Maybe they're like us humans - you give them too much of a good thing, and they start wilting.

July 4th weekend in the Midwest

I'm back refreshed after a long (5 day) weekend in Wisconsin. I know this blog is supposed to be more about the area I moved to in northern California, but it wouldn't be complete without some journalistic impressions from home. After all, I suspect that the majority of the 5 people who visit my site are from my home state :-)

Anyways, the first order of business after arriving at my parents' last Thursday was to prepare for a trip Up North. Nothing to exciting to report about this. My friends, Julia, Zurab and Yury (Zurab is from formerly Soviet Georgia), had prepared their stuff the night before, and came to pick me up in their car. Since the place we were going to up north is fully furnished, all I needed was a bag with some extra clothes. I took more than I needed.

Arriving in Wausaukee, everything was prepared for us. In contrast to winter months, we could immediately settle in to the place, since it wasn't necessary to heat the building first. During winter, on the other hand, you have to have the old electric heaters running at least 4 hrs before the place is habitable. See my winter travel diary if you want to know more about visiting north country in the winter.

Here you see a picture of the cabin - as you can see, a "real" log cabin.



I've been all over Marinette county, and besides the couple of similar looking buildings that relatives have built, there aren't many homes like this. The logs, besides being rustic looking, are also excellent insulators. The white stuff you see in between the logs is a type of mortar. The original part on the left was built in 1980. The original logs and mortar are still in pretty good shape. The right side was added on by the Pashek brothers, a nearby building company (I tried to google them online, but couldn't find them).

Enjoying some fine food prepared by Julia - the best quiche I've maybe ever tasted - we relaxed during the first evening. The next day was our swimming adventure on Wolf Lake. This featured some muck-walking, to the amusement of all 4 of us. Did you know that the bottom sediment of such northern lakes as this one is composed largely of plant detritus and ground mussels and clams? I happily happily demonstrated the application of mud to myself and others in the group.



I'll spare you the rest of my northern adventures, since they involved mostly me working around the place to "pay rent". Unfortunately my friends had to leave already after 1 1/2 days, far too short a time. They appeared to like it there and I suppose we'll return again. And again unfortunately, I didn't think to take any digital pictures while they were up there ... bummer!

In Milwaukee on July 4th, I got together with my friend and fellow blogger, Steve Schroeder. Besides gambling a lot, he has also surpassed me in terms of blogging volume. Here is a picture of us two taking a break from watching the Brewers and babysitting. Actually, Theresa, Steve's wife, was doing most of the babysitting. I tickled the baby a little bit and coo-ed to him, but I think he was more interested in food. Below you see a picture of me and Steve, followed by Theresa and little red-eyed Alex.





Steve actually did gamble a little on his laptop that day, but didn't appear to win much. Checking his blog shows that he lost $2. Well Steve, you could have blamed me for distracting you from your favorite past time. Then again, I could say you should be happy it was only $2 you lost that day!

During my visit to the Schroeders', we were also entertained by some nice views of the sunset in Milwaukee.





So as you can see, I got around a lot over the weekend and saw a lot of people. That was the main objective. Plus, I never once used the computer (except to help some friends, and my mother, with their questions). I was very pleased with this!

During the return flight(s) to California, I had the opportunity to see my tax dollars at work in the Milwaukee Airport - in the form of extra security staff. These guys checked me for bombs like nobody's business. I got "selected" for a "special" security check consisting of frisking and wanding my entire body. Maybe it was because I presented California ID - I don't know. The TSA guy, after he finished wanding and frisking me, made me take off my belt buckle, and turn up the waistline of my pants! It was so ridiculous. I wanted to yell at the guy but it's like in a bad movie, where the cops have you, and you know if you speak up, they'll only treat you worse.

Don't get me wrong - I don't think those people working for TSA, or cops in general are bad people. It's just that these types of experiences, coupled with things I have heard and read about, like incidents of police brutality in Oakland, only reinforce my opinion that we live in a police state. p.s. I know the girl pictured in the linked CNN article - the article is true.

OK, I went off on a mini tangent. When I start talking about politics, I tend to do that. The next blog will be from California again. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I'll try to pick something good. Thanks for reading! p.s. leave a comment please - it helps motivate me to keep writing.

Gardening in California

June 18th - first entry

Due to some contact I had with the West Oakland community garden City Slicker Farms, I recently started to get a little interested in gardening. As a Midwesterner, raised by very down-to-earth parents (they are so down to earth they composted all kitchen scraps in the backyard garden - just to make the plants grow better), I had some previous experience working in gardens. That involved mostly the aforementioned composting activities, weeding, and in springtime, being a "human rototiller" (take a shovel, dig, turn over dirt, move to next spot, repeat). So I guess you could say my previous experience was mostly labor-intensive with not a lot of enjoyment. I will admit, however, that I did always like to eat the fresh tomatoes we would grow and Mom did me a favor by showing me that home-grown vegetables can be tasty.

Anyways, without recapping too much of my past, one could call me a novice gardener with a fair amount of experience in the "dirty aspects" of gardening. And, now that I work full-time sitting in front of computers, and then do more of the same at home (like maintaining this blog), I've become more interested in gardening and other such "primitive" hobbies that get me out of my cube and apartment.

So it came to be that last week, when the director at City Slickers offered me a bunch of tomato, cabbage, and lettuce seedlings that they couldn't use, I said "yes" without too much hesitation (though my mind was asking the question, "but what will you do with all those plants?" and "Do you really think you'll be living at the place that long?") My landlady had once mentioned the possibility of maintaining a garden at the house, right behind my apartment. So, here was the perfect opportunity to take her up on it. I took the seedlings, plus some planter pots and a couple bricks to line the "new plot" with, in my Ford and unloaded them at home. Next I needed some tools to do the digging and planting. Rummaging around in the dark, dusty basement of our 100+ year old house, I did manage to find one old wooden shovel. I was in business. Here is the scene then when I initially began planning what to do:



Actually, I didn't do much planning at all. I just started to dig up sod and cut down bamboo. You see, bamboo has pretty much taken over our backyard here on Harrison St. In fact, if the gardener didn't come once a month to cut those pernicious stalks down, we'd have a veritable bamboo forest growing right behind my apartment.



For any of you who have not yet had the pleasure of dealing with bamboo, here is some quick info. Firstly, bamboo grows "rhizomes" underground in a lattice-type fashion, searching for ideal spots to send up "shoots", like periscopes from under the surface of the ocean. If you don't know this in advance, like I didn't, then you sit there and chop, and chop, and chop those stalks and wonder why in the hell don't those things ever stop growing?! Well, here's one why: it's all one interconnected plant! (when you have the "running" bamboo, as we do) So, the first order of business for me to get this garden planted was to rip out all the roots.



I hope you're getting an idea of the amount of work this involved. Needless to say, my ordinary garden shovel wasn't up to this task, so I had to go bug the neighbors to borrow some "weapons" like a small pick and axe. The similarity to the gold miner's picks is striking. Except now I am digging for "bamboo rhizomes", and not gold.

It's getting late, I'm tired, and I don't care too much anymore about being neat.

Basically, the "garden" for now looks like a bomb hit the backyard.

Total time spent on the garden so far (est.) : 4 hours.

June 22th - 2nd entry

Today I finally got the tomato cages in. It took me a while to go to the store, buy this stuff and then finish up what I started last weekend. I noticed when I got back with the cages that I actually have 5 sickly looking tomato seedlings planted, but only 4 cages. Darned it all - I should have counted better! That's ok though : I will have to get other supplies later, too. I spent most of the 2 hours I was in the yard this evening "grading" the dirt (by shoving it around with my hands and a little with the shovel) and moving the plants around again to give them enough space to grow. I'm sure I'm breaking some kind of Gardening Rule by doing this "replanting" while the seedlings are still so young and unhealthy looking, but I have little choice. Besides, half of gardening for me is aesthetics.



If I actually get any edible food out of this in the end, it will be a bonus.

Nevertheless, I am pleased with the result so far, and I think that I've finally reached a point where I can just water the plants and not worry too much about digging anymore.

Total time spent today : 2 hours.

Visit to Seattle and Portland

Last weekend I went to visit an old college buddy of mine from St. Olaf in Minnesota who lives in Portland now. How many of you knew the name of my college? Well Jon is one who knows. That's because he spent 3 years there with me, studying Biology and freezing his butt off during Minnesota winters. Now we both live in warmer climates. So does that say anything about Minnesota winters, or did we just become wusses?

Anyways, I landed in Seattle on Friday, for the purpose of meeting up with Jon, who commutes up there from Portland on a weekly basis. He is doing some kind of neurological research up there. So I landed at the airport around 4 pm, and then took a long bus ride downtown. They have a "dual" system of express and city busses. Of course, Jon didn't point this out to me, and I got on the "slow" bus. I "enjoyed" the long ride past the massive Boeing plants into downtown Seattle (over 1 hr, many stops). After asking the bus driver where the "University Bay" stop is, I got off as instructed. Jon told me to meet him "at a cafe a couple blocks west of the Bay stop near the Amtrak station". Well, the Amtrak station is nowhere near "University Bay", so I had to walk about 20 blocks across town (btw: the "Bay" refers to the underground bus stations Seattle has, where you go down stairs to a "Bay" and wait for your bus. It works pretty well, and if I'd gotten on the bus number that Jon had told me, I would have actually stopped there too). We finally met up coincidentally by looking for each other on the street somewhere near the Amtrak station.

Pressed for time now (we still had to drive 3 hours to Portland that evening), we took the "lightning tour" or Seattle, which started at the Pike Street area (overlooking the port and the mountains beyond). The world's first Starbucks is located there.

Jon and me looking happy to be inside the first Starbucks. This store isn't really as trendy as I thought it would be. Just a plain old coffee trader as far as I can tell (even has an old hardwood floor). The friendly staff even took this picture of us without making us buy their coffee. I will never complain about Starbucks' service again!

After a short driving tour of downtown Seattle, we proceeded to a quick dinner and beer and then onwards to Portland. Personally, I didn't mind, because after all that walking around looking for Jon, and staring at the glass stores and office buildings, I was getting tired of Seattle.

Arriving at their condominium in downtown Portland late in the evening, I was happy to meet Jon's wife, Humaira, for the second time. The first time was all the way back in 1999.

I'd like to thank Humaira here for her wonderful vegetarian meals. I never felt so healthy visiting friends. In the background is the fireboat firing red, white and blue cannons at us, because we were complaining about all the police boats doing nothing.

The next day, Jon, I and Sheba (a Siberian Husky) drove east of Portland along the Columbia River Gorge. This reminded me somewhat of traveling along the Rhine in Germany - except it's bigger, windier (this is a favorite spot for windsurfers) and with more variety of landscape.

Here's an example what I am talking about. Along both sides of the Columbia river closer to Portland, there are many areas that are heavily forested, reminding me of the Black Forest, or the Smokey Mountains.

Then there are also spots - not far from the picture taken above - that look a lot more like Colorado or Wyoming.

Sunday, we stayed around downtown Portland, visiting the rose garden, Japanese Garden, and some stores. I bought a book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, which I was very pleased with. These early explorers enjoy something of a hero status here (we learned about them in school as kids). Jon mentioned that the American Indians might not agree with this view. Well, it's a nice book anyways, and I can appreciate that.

Portland also has some modern streetcars, which is kind of a novelty in the U.S.

The inscription in white on the top of the streetcar says, "Lewis and Clark explored a wild Oregon. Will our children?" I think that pretty much defines Portland right there.

To sum it up, I enjoyed visiting Portland very much, and can recommend it to anybody who does not hate environmentalists, streetside cafes, or ice cream shops. I think I am starting to rant now, so I better stop...

The "Castro Erection"

Friday night I decided to go to the other side of the bay to see a free movie. The show I wanted to see was "Grizzly Man" , a new documentary by the German Director Werner Herzog depicting the life and death of outdoorsman and author Timothy Treadwell (Grizzly People). The movie was being shown as part of the "Green Screen Film Festival", which is how I got the free tickets. Us "eco" types are usually not good profiteers - a fact which I appreciate! To be truthful, I am only "eco" so long as it's cheap. Which is why I ride my bike to work.

So there I was, late as usual, on my way to the theater on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). I got off at Embarcadero station and switched to the "Muni" train and proceeded via the "M" line below and up Market Street toward Castro. I was feeling comfortable, riding the public trains again, like I had for years in Europe. Along the way up Market, passengers kept getting on - mostly men, between 20 and 40. Having snagged a comfortable seat at the first station along the line, I could just sit and people-watch. Which is a reason I like to ride metro trains in the evenings (watching commuters is much more boring). Anyways, the men kept getting on, till the conductor had to yell through the speakers to "make room in back". I don't think this was a problem for many of the passengers! It then dawned on me, this must be some sort of gay festival that I was approaching. In fact, it was just another Friday night on upper Market St. in San Francisco...

Anyways, when the train finally stopped at Castro and Market, about half the passengers, including myself, got off. The Castro Theater is apparently a kind of landmark in San Francisco's gay community. I don't know where "Christopher Street" exactly is, but I assume it's somewhere in that neighborhood. Or, if it wasn't in S.F. then there is a street nearby that carries the name. There are those "rainbow" flags, which I always associated with the peace movement, flying from streetlights up and down Market Street. It's a very interesting and colorful area at about 10 p.m. on a Friday night. Being curious by nature, I would have liked to reconnoiter and check it out ... but alas, I was alone. Bummer! Next time, I'll ask a female companion to come along with me.

The Castro, where the movie was showing, has its own history and story. Apparently, this place, which resembles the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee (it's got a more fancy Spanish facade than the "Oriental"), was ready to be razed by retail developers when a local S.F. businessman got the bright idea to have it declared a historic landmark and keep it preserved. Since then, it's been kind of a local institution of sorts, apparently. The kind of place you'd go to to see the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"...

The movie I saw, about the aforementioned grizzly activist Tim Treadwell, was pretty good. Tim not only went up to Alaska to "protect the bears" - he also filmed himself , and "his" bears, the whole while. There are some really gripping scenes. The most memorable is the "fight" scene, when 2 male bears - he names them "Sgt. Jack" and "Micky", I think - have a big brawl, mauling each other for minutes on end, their jaws clamped around each others' throats. I couldn't believe it was just another of those primitive male fights for breeding rights. This one looked like it was going to be to the death. I won't ruin the suspense and tell you what happens next...

To sum it up, even if you couldn't give a hoot about environmental protection, and think global warming is just the latest scare tactic invented by us lefties to keep you under Big Brother's watchful eye, you should check this movie out. To me, Treadwell represents something typically American : an adventurer, self-promoter, and activist all rolled into one.

p.s. if you're wondering about my choice of words for the title of this post, it comes from Gary Morris' historical description of the Castro. See you next time at the theater!