Sturgeon’s Law Ninety percent of everything is crap.
Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, “Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That’s because 90% of everything is crud.” Oddly, when Sturgeon’s Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to ‘crap’.
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A wedding took place just outside St. John’s, Newfoundland. In keeping with tradition, everyone got extremely drunk and the bride’s and groom’s families had a storming row. They began wrecking the reception room and generally kicking the living daylights out of each other.
The police got called in to break up the fight and the following week, all members of both families appeared in St. John’s court. The fight continued in the courtroom until the Judge finally brought calm with the use of his gavel, shouting, “Silence in the Court!”.
The courtroom goes silent and Paddy, the Best Man, stood up and says, “Your Honour, I was the Best Man at the wedding and I think I should explain what happened”.
The Judge agrees and asks Paddy to take the stand.
Paddy began his explanation by telling the court that it is tradition at a St. John’s wedding that the Best Man gets the first dance with the bride.
The judge says, “Okay. Continue.”
“Well, said Paddy, “after I had finished the first dance, the music kept going, so I danced to the second song, and after that the music kept going and I was dancing to the third song when all of a sudden — the groom leapt over the table, ran towards us and gave the bride an unmerciful kick right between her legs.”
Shocked, the judge instantly responded, “Lord Jesus that must have hurt!”
HURT?” Paddy replies, “HE BROKE THREE OF MY FINGERS !!!!!!”
Jerry the Condo King called me about a week ago to ask advice about buying a bicycle. Not for him, but for his mid-30’s daughter. She is mostly a runner, but has enjoyed borrowing his balloon tired bike and speeding around the bike paths on HHI. She mentioned graduating to a road bike and he said if you join the local bike club he’d buy her a bike. Little did he know. He check a local bike store and was flabergasted that an entry level hybrid/cross bike was $750. I suggested he check with the local Club and see if anyone had a used bike for sale. Once you get into it, it is like anything, you keep upgrading equipment until you can’t afford it any more, usually long eclipsing your competency level.
When I told Donna about Jerry’s call, she said, “What about my old road bike?” I didn’t even think about that. We both have fairly decent road bikes that were near top of the line about a dozen years ago that we don’t really ride anymore. I called Jerry back and asked how tall his daughter was. Five foot three. Bingo, Donna is 5′-2″, the bike would fit. I emailed him pictures and told him it she was interested, for $200 he could have it. Last Saturday he drove up from Hilton Head with two crisp Ben Franklins and drove home with a 1994 Bridgestone RB-1/7 with upgrade STI shifting. I tried to foist my road bike off on the daughter’s boyfriend, but he wasn’t biting. If you know anyone who might be interested in a 12 or 13 year-old Bianchi with full Ultegra 600 stuff and a cool dark purple/silver paint job let me know. I don’t know the frame size off the top of my head, but if you are 5′-9 to 6′-0 it should fit. $200 +shipping if you can’t drive here to get it.
We have two older (from the early 80s) bikes that we used to use as commuter bikes that we haven’t used for 5 or 6 years now. Each spring we think, maybe we’ll start back to riding to work and never do. Trouble is that they are so old (even though they have seen some upgrades over the years) that they are hardly worth much at all, but they are perfectly serviceable as commuters, but talk about a limited market. If I could get a hundred dollars a piece for them I can’t say as I’d be happy but it would be better than them hanging in my garage serving as spider homes.
We really have found a home on the tandem. Went for a little 11 mile ride this evening at dusk and it was very enjoyable. We are even concocting a plan on how to commute on the bike for two. I bought a front low rack for panniers and some extenders to retro fit an older rear rack off the internet last night from JANDD Mountaineering. When they get here we will be able to carry two sets of bags, one set each and then add a trunk bag for lunches.
Oh yeah, we had the breakfast of bicycle champions this morning too. Hardee’s Biscuit and Gravy for her and 2 Sausage and Egg Biscuit for me. We shared a water and order of Hash Rounds.
Meal Cost: $4.64
Tip: None
Spent Today: $4.64
Year to Date: $927.67
I posted another email joke forwarded from Mark (I think that needs an acronym — EJFFM), so if you like quasi-dirty humor, click on the Joke category for a look at it.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 137
The most exciting thing that happened today was I finally, nearly 3 weeks after the fact, completed all the captions of the 48 photos in the Northeast Trip 2007 gallery.
The second most exciting thing is I’ve completed my second shelf of CD burning with Deep Purple’s Made in Japan disc. If Lynyrd Skynyrd ‘s Free Bird is considered the Redneck’s National Anthem, Smoke on the Water is definitely the Stoner’s.
We ended up at the grand hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the rolling truck stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know well never forget
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Fifteen hundred fifty-five files in 207 directories taking up 5.66 gigabytes.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 138
Practically every year since 1992 the folks at Mazda have released a special edition Miata. Usually unique in color and loaded with extras. Some of these are particularly sought after, especially the 1993 Limited Edition black with red interior and the 1999 10th Anniversary models. For 2007 there has been an SE in Japan and England, but not the US. It is similar in color to my car, but more like the 2000SE with a dark purple exterior and light beige interior.
The Japanese market is lucky enough to get a lot of other stuff that we don’t get over here. The best is something called Web Tune where you can order your car online after customizing it with all kinds of goodies that you can’t get here.
I found an image of a Mazdaspeed MzTuned Roadster on the web somewhere and it has been my PC’s wallpaper for a while. The car is in silver and it is kind of boring, so during a dull moment today I played around coloring it. They have made Miatas in a bunch of colors including a plethora of blues, several reds, a bunch of greens, most primary colors, including three shades of white, but they have never offered any kind of beige. I think this color I call Champagne would look pretty good on a Miata. Maybe it will be next year’s special edition color?
Tonight was the May meeting of the MMC, but at the last meeting they though it would be a good idea to meet at 7:00PM. This is later than Donna and I like to eat so we stopped on the way home from work and picked up our usual 14″ pie at Ferrando’s.
Meal Cost: $15.83
Tip: None
Spent Today: $15.83
Year to Date: $943.50
I think they have adjusted the crust to something thinner than they used to do, it was still good pizza, but slightly different. We ate 2 pieces each finishing half the pie. The second half is earmarked for Saturday lunch.
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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 140
Took this picture on my way in the door to work today:
The security guard didn’t try and stop me.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, down once more, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 144
So late, I’m well past being fashionable. I’m pathetically late. I signed up for a Flickr account.
I’ve started by loading some of the Post Office photos and I got a little less than half uploaded today.
I really like the mapping feature, but it is for all your photos, so maybe I’ll just keep this account limited to SC Post Offices… Explore Brian the Red’s geotagged photos on a Map
Turns out that this thing (Flickr!) is so popular that there is a group set up for just about every type of photograph, including one for pictures of Post Offices. There are 135 members with 1304 photos in the group.
I’ve even added a little Flickr! thing in the sidebar.
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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 146
AKA: Night Watch. I watched this movie today on the lap top because I knew Donna would want to have nothing to do with it. Now that I’m done, I’m not so sure I should have had anything to do with it either. At least I didn’t have to walk out to my mailbox to get it.
Blockbuster has got their own mail-it-to-your-house DVD rental program. They are now touting that you can return the mailed disc to the store and get a new movie without that long wait of a couple days. Well, Netflix has upped the ante, I now don’t even have to go the store. I can just click and watch. I’ve known it was coming, just not when, a couple months ago Netflix announced that you would be able to watch any of their movies on demand from the internet. How many movies you can watch this way depends on which plan you are signed up for.
What it amounts to, is for every dollar in membership fee you get 1 hour of movie time. I’m a One at a Time Unlimited for $9.99, so I can watch 10 hours worth of video per month. Your minutes don’t rollover, so it is use it or lose it. Night Watch cost me 1:49:19 leaving a little more than 8 hours and 10 minutes to use before my month ends on the 14th.
I have toyed with the thought of wirelessly piping Radio Paradise to the living room stereo from the desktop, but never really followed through because the TV is in the living room and almost all the time that there is a person in there they are watching TV not listening to music. Plus it is not real cheap to do. But now that such a system might be used for piping TV to the TV room, we’ll see.
I wonder what my cable company thinks about me using their internet service to, in essence, avoid using their pay-per-view or premium movie channels?
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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 147
We had breakfast out at the Atlanta Bread Company before doing our weekly grocery shopping. Whole grain Bagel toasted w/ Cream Cheese for her and a toasted Apple Spice Bagel for him. Water to drink for both.
Meal Cost: $2.67
Tip: None
Spent Today: $2.67
Year to Date: $946.17
I’m thinking they didn’t charge for the cream cheese because that total sounds kind of cheap.
Donna made some of her famous Chocolate Chip Cookies for a meeting I have at work today. I of course had the sample them to make sure they were up to par. Ten cookies later I allowed that they were.
No way I could have worked off all the cookie calories consumed earlier, but a 14 mile tandem bike ride helped.
We stayed up way too late last night to watch “Living With Cancer” on the Discovery Channel. We both wanted to see it, but didn’t realize it was three hours long and didn’t go off until 11:00 PM. It was an interesting show, but most of it was not new to me. The first 45 minutes or so we covered the Lance Armstrong story (we were after all on the Discovery Channel) and who doesn’t know about him, a good portion of the second hour was on Leroy Sievers, who’s blog, My Cancer, I’ve been reading since he started it last year. The third hour was new, a live town meeting thing with an audience of cancer doctors, nurses, survivors and advocates. This was a little more interesting because it was unscripted. I’m sure they will rerun the show, and it is worth a look, but who knows when.
I should have saved my Sunday Addendum for tonight’s post.
Yesterday I was all hyped up about Neflix’s Instant Watch deal, today not so much. There is a limited amount of movies available this way and you can forget about any new releases. Turns out it is more like subscribing to a second tier “premium” cable channel, but you get to pick what and when to watch not them. Here is a random row of four movies from the Action & Adventure category:
1) Flight of the Phoenix — 1965, starring Jimmy Stewart
2) Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter — 2001, starring who knows
3) Any Which Way You Can — 1980, starring Clint Eastwood
4) Daylight — 1996, starring Sylvester Stallone
Row three of the CD collection has been burned finishing up with Green Day. Next Row starts with Griffith, Nanci. So far, 292 folders containing 2,122 occupying 7.89 Gigabytes of hard drive space.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 148
Several of my co-workers know of my Post Office quest and on Monday’s I’ll get two or three, “How many did you get this weekend?” This last Monday I had to disappoint those that asked by saying, “None.” I feel like I’ve let them down, so this weekend we have mapped out an ambitious plan to get eleven POs this weekend.
- Cope
- Cordova
- Orangeburg
- Rowesville
- Bowman
- Saint George
- Saint George
- Reevesville
- Branchville
- Bamberg
- Hilda
Hilda is a retry. We spent about 15 minutes driving a hundred yards of small town Main Street trying to find this Post Office the first time, so we aren’t too sure we’ll find it this time. Hope springs eternal.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 150
Lunch of Chinese food at the Evergreen Buffet with water to drink for two.
Meal Cost: $11.98
Tip: $2.02
Spent Today: $14.00
Year to Date: $960.17
Came home from work today and our street was half resurfaced. It is about three years from when we were told it would happen, but it has finally happened. Kind of guessed it was coming the other week when we noticed some spray painted numbers on the street when we went for our evening walk. I hope it isn’t raining tomorrow after work so I can rollerblade on the smooth as glass surface.
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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 152
…it must be Pizza Day.
The nice DOT workers finished the resurfacing of my street and the circle that loops through the neighborhood today. When I got home I laced up the blades and did a couple circuits and a few criss-crosses to rack up a couple miles of smooth asphalt. It was really cool when pushing off hard to accelerate, sounded just like a hockey player making the same moves on ice.
Meanwhile, Donna finished up the aborted backyard mowing that stopped when the mower did and wouldn’t restart. A nice new spark plug fixed that little problem.
When we both finished up, she didn’t want to cook and proclaimed she wanted pizza. This week we went downtown and ate at Ferrando’s restaurant in the Alley instead of bringing it home. Ice water for both to drink, two Garden Salads (Italian for her, Blue Cheese for me) and a 14″ Pizza Pie with pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and banana pepper rings.
Meal Cost: $20.67
Tip: 3.33
Spent Today: $24.00
Year to Date: $984.17
Current plan is to ride the tandem to work tomorrow morning. I’ve got the front and rear racks on and they are carrying a set of panniers each. I’ll try and take a picture because I’m thinking of nicknaming it the Partridge Family Bus. Teal frame with red front bags and black back bags plus a blue water bottle carrier bag hanging from the captains seat. Add a couple of brightly dressed cyclists and “Come On Get Happy.”
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 154
 Somethin’ always happens whenever we’re together…
We did ride the tandem to work today. It is always nice to take an early ride while its still cool and traffic is very light. The best thing about riding to work is when you get there, you are wide awake and raring to go while the rest of your co-workers are slug-like and trying to get their brains kick started with a cup of joe. It is almost as if they are moving in slo-mo.
Tonight we went out to dinner with two other couples. The company was great and the food was good, but we spent more than we wanted and it wasn’t just because we bought a round of lasagna sticks for a communal appetizer. It seemed like the value just wasn’t there compared to some of the other places we have eaten at. Caesar Salad, 1/2 rack of Ribs with broccoli & sweet potato fries, iced tea for him, while Donna had a Garden Salad, the Seafood Fra Diavolo (discovering that she really doesn’t like mussels) over linguine with water to drink.
Meal Cost: $43.68
Tip: $6.32
Spent Today: $50.00
Year to Date: $1,034.17
 After dinner, we jumped in our three Miatas and did a 60 mile loop drive around Clark’s Hill Lake. We ended up at the dam’s South Carolina side parking lot to catch the sunset. A big ol’ thunderhead off in the distance spoiled the “sun setting over the water” image we hoped to see, but did make for an interesting show anyway.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 156
OK, so I’ve had a sore big toe for about a week now, feels like an ingrown toenail, meaning it is just fine unles I hit on something. I can deal with it. But this morning I noticed it right off as it hurt to even walk. Just the act of pushing off with the toe made me wince.
Now the ingrown toenails I’ve dealt with before have all been at the very end of the toe. This pain is coming from the side of the nail about halfway down it’s length. If you wanted to make this grown man squeal in pain, all you have to do is squeeze the side of my toe. Today’s planned hike in the woods was called off and we stayed home while I tried to minimize my walking.
We did manage to get to out to the MMC Breakfast Meet. It was in downtown Aiken, so we didn’t have far to go. Veggie Omelet with Grits for Donna and Hot Cakes with Sausage for me. Donna had water and I had an OJ.
Meal Cost: $10.92
Tip: $2
Spent Today: $12.92
Year to Date: $1,047.09
I want to keep the Flickr! South Carolina Post Office Photos separate, mainly because the map is filling in and looking cool, so I created a second account for other pictures. First up were the ones from last night’s sunset trip. Here is my favorite shot: Gnorm & John
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 157
 Avulsion — a forcible tearing or surgical separation of one body part from another.
Or in this case a tearing of the time — space continuum, as 125 Broughton Ave in Hilda, SC, or at least the Post Office there, has vanished. Our second attempt to locate a postal facility in this micro town failed just as it did the first time. Maybe it is like Brigadoon and appears only one day every hundred years. I did take a picture of the next best thing though, the Town Hall. I won’t put it in the postal gallery with the other 10 we grabbed today though, just not kosher. Fittingly, there is a sign on the door saying the Town Hall is open the 2nd Saturday of the month from 8 AM to 12 noon.
Three quarters of the way through our Postal Safari today we stopped in St. George for lunch, Taco Bell. Two hard tacos for Donna and two soft tacos for Brian and we split a medium fruit punch.
Meal Cost: $5.15
Tip: None
Spent Today: $5.15
Year to Date: $1,052.24
Josh Becket of the FRS was pitching today. So far this year he has had 7 starts and has 7 wins, but something happened on the way to a record 8 straight. An avulsion on the right middle finger, leading to “irritation of the skin” lead to him being pulled from today’s game after the fourth inning. This is the team being cagey, Mr. Beckett missed several games last year because of a blister on his throwing hand. To me, no matter how you spin “avulsion on the right middle finger, leading to irritation of the skin”, it is a blister. Supposedly the early exit was a precaution to prevent an actual blister, we’ll see.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 159
It started out as a suggestion from my wife, “Hey let’s keep track of how many times we eat out and how much we spend.” Ever the obedient husband I started posting what we ate when out and what we spent. It was fun in the beginning and then it became interesting. Now that our dining costs has topped the 4 digit mark, it not something we are real proud of. But why not?
Maybe we need a little perspective. We have eaten out a total of 57 times this year and have spent a grand total of $1,052.24. That works out to about $18.46 per meal or $9.23 per person per meal. Another way to look at it is that today is the 134th day of the year, multiply that by 3 squares a day and you get a total of 402 possible meals. That means we have eaten 57 meals out, but it also means we have eaten 345 meals “at home” or 86% of the time we Eat In. Not too bad. Wonder what the national average is?
One stat I found is from foodservice provider ARAMARK.
…2004… As a result, adults now consume on average more than 5.6 meals away from home each week, citing time, convenience and value as the top motivating factors.
If this is correct, 5.6 meals divided by 21 possible meals, is a little more than 27% meals eaten out compared to our 14%.
Another one is from the National Restaurant Association’s report Restaurant Spending — 2004.
Households consisting of only a husband and wife recorded the highest per-capita expenditures on food away from home in 2004 ($1,347)
Per-capita is a fancy way of saying per person, so take that $1,347 and multiply it by two, meaning that that husband and wife spent a total of $2,694 in 2004. At the current rate that Donna and I are spending, we will end up disbursing $2,866 on meals away from home in 2007. Factor in inflation and restaurant dining trends and it looks like we are about average.
So if we are near average in money spent, but eating out about half as many times as everyone else, we must be eating at pretty nice places or everyone else is just ordering off the dollar menus.
Still to make us feel better I will add another line to the “Eating Out” macro that will keep track of meals out in relation to possible meals.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 161
or Duck in the Truck
Co-worker Mark (Hi Mark), who is a regular reader and the official Life of Brian joke supplier, called his wife early this morning from work and the conversation went a little like this:
Mark: What are you doing this morning?
Wife: Why?
Mark: I need for you to drive out to the plant this morning.
Wife: Why?
Mark: I’ve got a duck.
Wife: What?!?
Mark: I’ve got a duck in the truck.
Wife: Why?
 On his way into work, Mark spotted a wood duck sitting in the middle of the soon to be very busy Whiskey Road. He stopped and picked up the duck who appeared disorientated and didn’t try and get away. He was not too far from Hopeland Gardens, a city park with a little lake that has a small duck population, so maybe that is where this female duck came from. While his wfe didn’t seem too happy about this particular duck episode, it is entirely in character for Mark, so it is not unexpected. He gave me a brief run down on all the critters he has rescued in his lifetime and if it starts raining for forty straight days Mark could fill an ark with them all. Mark was hoping that she would take the duck to Hopeland Gardens, but ended up taking it home. I’ll keep you posted.
This morning was a cool 50°, but to me it felt cold, so I requested a top up drive to work. After work it was in the low 80s, but to Donna it felt hot, so she asked for the top to stay up and use the AC. So, today was a near perfect spring day and we never lowered the convertible top.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 161
This is an excerpt from an article by Jack Frampton called Science, Religion, Passion, Cohorts, and the Much-Heralded Doom of Planet Earth from the current (#21 June) issue of Winding Road and online auto mag. Tomorrow I’ll publish Part Two. If you would like to read the whole thing all you have to do is “subscribe” by giving them your email address and downloading the 17Meg PDF file.
Science is a process by which people seek to discover and describe a truth in the physical realm. It’s called the scientific method.
Scientists are a bunch of people specializing in various kinds of exploration using the scientific method to search for physical truths.
The problem here is that when it comes to the environment, the scientific method cannot be used.
The scientific method says that to declare something “true,” one must create an experiment that replicates theoretical results, like proving E=mc2 by blowing up two perfectly good Japanese cities. Usually there is a control part of the experiment, which does not include a key ingredient of the theory. In the pharmaceutical business, when a drug is tested on one group of people, a similar group of people (the control group) is given a placebo (a sugar pill) to test the difference between getting the drug and not getting the drug. Or in the previous example, dropping a giant goose down pillow on two other perfectly good Japanese cities.
So to “prove” the notion that A) the world is warming and B) CO2 is the culprit, one would have to take the Earth with its CO2 levels, create an Earth II with capped CO2 levels, let the two Earths spin in space together for a couple hundred years, and then compare the results.
If Earth II showed no temperature increase, and Earth I did, voilà—CO2 would be the culprit. If Earth II showed the same temperature increase as Earth I, it would be back to the drawing board.
To date, we know of no Earth II being built. So the scientific method is off the table.
What is being used in our quest for the truth about Global Warming and CO2? Well, for the most part, computer models. And let us state here as clearly as possible that it may be scientists using computer models, but computer models are not science. They are a technological tool.
And while computer models are important technological tools, they are far from infallible. They require a whole list of assumptions that make them unreliable, especially when applied to something as complex as weather. All you have to do is watch the weather report on TV, and you will witness forecasters using three or four different computer models, each showing a different prediction, and then splitting the difference in their forecast. And this is for what’s going to happen tomorrow.
These same sorts of computer models promised us a disastrous 2006 hurricane season. Didn’t happen.
So for these scientists to use their computer models to tell us what will happen in thirty-five or fifty years is, if not mendacious, highly suspect. Remember, thirty years ago Time Magazine reported that scientists (probably the fathers of the current batch) were predicting a new Ice Age, and we were all going to die.
Once a scientist steps away from the cover of the scientific method and its demonstrable physical facts, he is just as liable to be as full of baloney as the guy who bends pipe down at Muffler King.
Breakfast for two at Hardee’s. Biscuit & Gravy for her, a Sausage & Egg Biscuit for me. Water to drink for her and an OJ for me. We split an order of Hash Rounds. I have a local middle school discount card that let’s me get 2 Sausage & Egg Biscuits for $1.89, so to save money and get some use out of the ten bucks we paid for the card, I’ve bought two the last two times. The first time I was going to take the second biscuit to work and give it away, but as we sat and read the paper the biscuit started calling our names, so Donna and I split it. It was too much food, so we vowed to not eat the second biscuit this time. HA! Couldn’t do it. Today the second biscuit was devoured before we left the place. Next time we will resist.
Meal Cost: $5.18
Tip: None
Spent Today: $5.18
Year to Date: $1,057.42
Meals out, 58 of a possible 408.
Big Toe Update: A doctor’s visit on Monday netted me a ten day prescription for an antibiotic and an admonition to soak my foot 3 times a day in hot ass water with some epson salts. So far so good, I’m about half fixed.
Duck Update: Its tame and follows Mark around. He and his son will be making a small pond out of a big ol’ old heating duct hood from our old die casting department this weekend.
As Seen On TV!
 A local morning weather shows pictures sent in by viewers as long as they are remotely weather related. I sent in the image on Gnorm from Friday’s post. Figuring he probably wouldn’t show that, I also included this one. It made the cut and was shown yesterday morning at 5:15 & 6:15. I had about a half dozen folks at work tell me they saw the picture.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 162
Here is the second excerpt from an article by Jack Frampton called Science, Religion, Passion, Cohorts, and the Much-Heralded Doom of Planet Earth from the current (#21 June) issue of Winding Road and online auto mag. If you would like to read the whole thing all you have to do is “subscribe” by giving them your email address and downloading the 17Meg PDF file.
It has been observed that there is a direct correlation between higher levels of CO2 in the air beginning with the Industrial Revolution some 300 years ago and certain acceleration in Global Warming.
This “discovery” begat the “greenhouse effect” theory, which begat the whole Global Warming controversy.
Without asking just how reliable the Earth’s temperature gathering was 300 years ago, if one simply accepts that the one happened due to the other, again there is no scientific way to prove the theory.
It is clear that the Earth has gone through a series of warming and cooling cycles, from the heat and humidity of the dinosaur age to the Ice Age in a geological blink of an eye.
And though there are many theories about why one or the other happened, from volcanoes to smashing asteroids, nobody really knows.
In a court of law, the coincidence of warming and the Industrial Revolution’s CO2 would be termed circumstantial and perhaps inadmissible.
We read that there has been much concern in the Alps recently because they have had the warmest winter “in 1300 years.” This is presented to us as more proof that the world is warming. It could prove instead that we’ve had a 1300-year cold snap. And if the Alps were really warmer 1300 years ago, a whole millennium before the Industrial Revolution and its CO2, what was the culprit then? Goat farts?
Another perfectly logical explanation for the Earth’s temperature fluctuations is solar activity, fluctuations in the energy radiated to Earth, which have warmed and cooled the planet.
Of course, CO2 aficionados poohpooh this suggestion as a theory with no scientific evidence. But, guys and gals, as we have demonstrated, you have no scientific evidence on your side either. Its either declare a draw, or its pistols at dawn.
So, class, let’s review. There are scientists and there is science. They are different.
Scientists are free to use any technology they want, but unless they can reproduce an outcome using the scientific method, it’s not science.
The Earth may or may not be warming long-term, but the Earth has seen this movie before.
And the sun, not CO2, may or may not be the largest influence on Earth’s climate, but nobody really knows.
We went down to Hilton Head with a couple that knew Jerry when Donna and I were still in grade school. Russ Schwalbert and his wife Jean lived on the same street as him in Mansfield, Ohio. Jerry’s kids baby sat Russ and Jean’s kids and they both worked for Thermo-Disc which moved to Aiken in the building that now houses ASCO in the late 70s. Jean just got a new Lexus ES350 and they offered to drive us down, so Donna and I got to ride in a very strange place, a back seat.
Before going to Jerry’s service, which was to start at 1:00PM, we stopped in Bluffton for a little lunch. To be somewhat fair to Russ and Jean because they supplied the ride, we picked up the tab for lunch. It would have been easy to split because I got what Russ did and Jean ordered the same thing as Donna did. One slice of the special pizza for the guys, soup and salad for the ladies. Russ and I had iced tea, while Donna had a Sprite and Jean went for a water. Total bill$36.00, $31.48 with a tip of $4.52. Divide by two:
Meal Cost: $15.74
Tip: $2.26
Spent So Far Today: $18.00
We got back home at about the same time we would have had we gone to work. Donna had conveniently forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for dinner. We thought we were going to be much later and figured on a meal out anyway, so we headed out to try a new place in town, Jim’s Taste of New England. Lobstah Roll for her and Fish & Chips for me and we split a Garden Salad. We both washed the meal down with water.
Meal Cost: $28.16
Tip: $5.00
Spent This Meal: $33.16
Spent Today: $51.16
Year to Date: $1108.58
Meals out, 60 of a possible 411.
The Lobster Roll was good, but expensive and not nearly as stuffed as you would get in the northeast. The Fish & Chips consisted of one, albeit large, piece of fish and a bunch French Fries. The fries looked like they came from real potatoes, but didn’t really taste that way. Have they figured out a way to extrude an incredible simulation of a real potato? The cole slaw was delicious though and is probably the driving reason for a return visit, but we’ll probably try something different.
Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 166
or The King Is Dead
We went to Hilton Head Island today and spent a couple hours. It was not for fun. We got a phone call Monday night to tell us that our friend Jerry Horsman, AKA The Condo King, had died suddenly of a heart attack. Jerry was 71 years old, but he had the vitality and drive of a man half his age. When he “retired” 6 years ago from ASCO he didn’t kick back at all, he just had more time to manage condos and do more projects around the home.
I don’t remember how we got hooked up, but he owned a unit in the Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort that he rented out, managed several others and wanted a web presence. I was monkeying around doing a little HTMLing for a personal home page and told him I’d do up a basic page for him. Condos came and went, both owned and managed, over the years I was doing the web page, but there were at least two trips, sometimes three, a year to photograph different or remodeled units. Each time we went, Jerry would put us up in one of the units. As if that wasn’t enough payment for what little work it was for me, he also took Donna and I out to dinner at a nice restaurant (of which there are many on HHI) or sometime he and his wife Donna would cook us a great meal at their place.
While Hilton Head was not a place that Donna and I would have picked as a getaway place, over the years we really came to enjoy it and mostly because of our interaction with Jerry and his wife Donna. We won’t miss him as much as you will Donna, but our lives will be a little less bright from now on because Jerry is no longer with us.
My boss lives in Lexington, SC and when he found out I as taking pictures of all the Post Offices in SC he wanted to know if I had gotten the PO in Red Bank.I told him that Lexington has 4 Post Offices, but Red Bank doesn’t have one because it is a census-designated place not an actual incorporated city. He told me there was in fact a Post Office in Red Bank and he is sort of right. The largest Lexington PO is in the Red Bank area, but it is technically not the Red Bank Post Office according to the USPS.
 Because there is not official governing body to pay for or erect a sign letting people when they are entering Red Bank it was left up to some enterprising individual(s) to do it. I’m not sure who is responsible, the citizens of Lexington putting down the Red Bankites or one of the 9,000 folks in CDP of Red Bank thumbing their noses at the Lexingtonians, but here it is, the unofficial Welcome To Red Bank sign. Photo credit to Bob Wilson’s wife. Bob was driving and left the car running in case they heard any banjo music.
I wonder what the one one the other side of town looks like?
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 166
or They Made Me An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse
 Today was the MMC’s bi-annual Driving Miss Daisys Event at the Elmcroft Assisted Living Center. We had 7 Miatas and a Sebring show up for caravan duty and we had 9 female residents go for a ride up and around Strom Thurmond Dam at Clarks Hill. Their combined ages were nowhere near 58,000, but that is the mile mark the Emperor passed on the trip. We could not have asked for a better day, it was around 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
Afterwards all us Miata types went out for lunch. Some one suggested a semi-new Mediterranean restaurant up the road a piece in Evans, GA called Khalid’s Cafe. The service was leisurely (partly because the eleven of us overloaded their Saturday lunch staff), but definitely worth the wait. A return visit is in the offing for a Club meeting at a later date.Donna ordered up a bowl of Lentil Soup, a Greek Salad and Sprite to drink. I went for a Kufta Burger with Iced Tea to drink. We each had a piece of Baklawa for dessert. My mouth is watering just typing this.
Meal Cost: $23.86
Tip: $3.14
Spent Today: $27.00
Year to Date: $1135.58
Meals out, 61 of a possible 417.
Because of my affection for Rudy and Patti’s gnome Gnorm, they asked me to be his Godfather. I readily accepted and my first act was to volunteer to take him with Donna and I on our trip to the northwest starting next week. I sure hope Gnorm’s blue coat is waterproof…
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 167
 …when the FRS are playing baseball. The Sox had a 6 run lead through almost the entire game, somehow the Braves managed to get the tying run to the plate in the top of the 9th (must not have got the memo about Jonathan Papelbon being the most feared closer in the American League.) But he got Andruw Jones to strike out swinging (for the fifth time in the game) to end it. Season series so far: Boston 2 — Atlanta 1. There are three more games to be played in Atlanta in June to settle it for this season.
We started the morning with a nice tandem ride. I had finally measured the wheel circumference and set both cyclecomputers to the same figure, so Donna wouldn’t be riding further than me on these trips. Worked out pretty good, as mine read 14.0 miles at the end of the ride and hers said 13.98.
Lunch out with friends at Zaxby’s where we split a large Wings ‘n’ Things and an order of Carrots & Celery Sticks. One large Coke and one water to drink.
Meal Cost: $11.72
Tip: None
Spent Today: $11.72
Year to Date: $1147.30
Meals out 62 of a possible 420.
I uploaded five new photos to the Enchanted Ceiling site, something I hadn’t done in a while. It started yesterday when I thought I might sort out my sky photos. I had 14 posted EC and I had 34 posted in a gallery here. I have 37 in the directory on my hard drive and about more 40 in a staging directory. I uploaded the 14 to my other Flickr! account and then to make matters somewhat worse I picked the 5 from the staging directory and added them to the Enchanted Ceiling site ( 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 ), then the Flickr account, but not the gallery here. So did I help the organization or hurt it? Who knows.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 168
A wealthy hospital benefactor was being shown around the hospital. During her tour she passed a room where a male patient was masturbating furiously.
“Oh my GOD!” exclaimed the woman. “That’s disgraceful! Why is he doing that?”
The doctor who was leading the tour calmly explained, “I’m very sorry that you were exposed to that, but this man has a serious condition where his testicles rapidly fill with semen, and if he doesn’t do that at least five times a day, he’ll be in extreme pain and his testicles could easily rupture.”
“Oh, well in that case, I guess it’s okay,” said the woman.
As they passed by the very next room, they saw a male patient laying in bed while a nurse performed oral sex on him. Again, the woman screamed, “Oh my GOD! How can THAT be justified?
Again the doctor spoke very calmly, “Same illness, better health plan.”
 Gnorm and I settled in to watch some more baseball this evening. Yesterday I could handle him rooting for the Braves against my beloved FRS, but tonight I knocked him on his butt when he started to cheer for the dreaded Yankees. (Gno Gnomes were harmed in this stunt.) If Gnorm is still routing for the Bronx Bombers he is now keeping quiet about it.
When Patti gave me Gnorm the other day she also passed along his special gnome bed (the molded styrofoam packing he came in.) It has seen better days and is all right for local trips, but he is going all the way across the country with us. Today at work I modified an existing box to be a little smaller and had a friend on the assembly line make a custom bed using some expandable foam. Gnorm is now ready for the big trip.
But are we ready to fly with Gnorm? We’d like to put him in our carry-on bag, but how are the TSA screeners going to react to a polyresin statue cradled in a custom padded box? Does it look like we are trying to bring a molded and painted chunk of C-4 on board? Could Gnorm’s pointy hat be considered a weapon? I really want to get a shot of him in the terminal for the flight out, but we may just have to put him in the checked bag.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 169
 Our Fabrication Manager has been gone for a week on vacation and now he is absent for fortnight visiting vendors in Asia. Gnorm moved into his office today in a bloodless coup. Don’t worry, because he is the boss, he’ll be taking next week so he can go to Seattle with us.
I’m still burning my CD collection and I’m almost done with row #5. I just came across a CD I have no recollection buying and I can not even think of what anything on it sounds like: Pourquoi Quebec? by Tony McManus. I may have to give it a listen.
I used to read quite a bit of science fiction as youngster and as I entered my twenties, horror became my choice of escapist “literature.” Used to read a lot of fellow FRS fan, Stephen King’s books, but quit about the time he started writing them thick enough to be used as nightstands. Now I’m into pulp stuff about private eyes and disgraced cops that save the world from criminals ans serial killers. I’m also a sucker for lawyer slash courtroom drama books. My latest read has been a real pleasant surprise, I picked it up thinking I was getting a typical lawyer saves a wrongly accused book, and it is that (at least I think he saves him, I’m not finished yet) but it also mixes in a very convincing horror plot. For the icing on this cake it is also told with some biting humor in places. The following is a snippet from Lost Girls by Andrew Pyper:
The next day is passed by explanations of DNA identification technology delivered by the google-eyed lab rat the Crown has brought up from Toronto. I feel for the poor bastard, though, trying to teach a remedial science lesson to the jury, who look back at him as though auditioning for the chorus in Deliverance: The Musical. It gives me a chance to doze off for five-second hits of sleep. A tricky business that involves holding your head up with one hand and positioning it so that your closed eyes will be hidden from the bench. This part is essential. Judges are universally intolerant of sleeping lawyers, mostly because their own seating arrangement prevents them from indulging in the same pleasure themselves.
Each time my eyelids spring back open it’s with the terrible image of Bert Gederov and Graham Lyle having kittens all over the boardroom floor two hundred miles to the south because I haven’t yet returned their calls. The reason is simple: despite my best efforts I haven’t come up with a resonable explanantion for my remarks to the press of the other day. By the time the court is adjourned in the afternoon (the DNA dweeb having just finished his “introductory remarks”), I know that it can no longer be avoided.
Donna was out at a business dinner with a couple bishops from the Vatican (ASCO HQ in NJ) and some vendors, so I was left to my own devices. A 6″ Italian Sub (Ham, Salami, Pepperoni & Provalone) from Sub Station II that I brought home and ate over the sink pretending I was a bachelor. All that was missing was a bottle of beer to wash it down. I substituted a Sprite Zero.
Meal Cost: $3.60
Tip Jar: 40¢
Spent Today: $4.00
Year to Date: $1151.30
Meals out, 63 of a possible 426.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 170
 Today was Donna and my annual eye exams. Good news is that neither of us have any issues nor have our eyes changed enough to warrant getting new glasses.
We went mid afternoon and some six hours later the drops they put in your eyes to dilate them has not not entirely worn off. I think I could take a book into a closet and read it with the light off. You know your pupils are open wide when the little WinXP screensaver (bouncing logo on black background) has a bright rainbow hued halo around it.
I remember a couple of years ago we went late afternoon and by the time we left the Eye Guy’s place it was dusk. The sun was down but the sky was still light. Most cars were driving with their lights on and both headlights and taillights were giving off these awesome starburst patterns. Even the traffic signals looked like they were being viewed through a starburst filter. Very cool effect, but it was difficult to concentrate on actually driving and not running into anything while looking at all the pretty lights.
We rode the tandem into work again today. I think we are going to try and make it a once a week event from now on. Because we are working our nine hour days this week, this morning’s ride start was way early and it was still dark out. We have a nice powerful light so that was not a real problem. As a matter of fact it was actually nice that time of day, there was almost zero traffic on the road and it was nice and cool (I wore a light jacket and Donna was in long sleeves.)
Right now I’m not sure what is worse, the FRS losing 6–0 to the Yanks in the sixth or having to listen to Chris Berman call the game and Bonnie Bernstein with the sideline commentary.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 171
 The adventure begins. After work today we went home and had a quick dinner of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (as Rachel would say, “Yum-O”) and hit the road. I-20 to I-77 to Charlotte in about 3 hours with one pit stop for gas.
Gnorm says he sure hopes he wakes up a lot smarter for staying in this Holiday Inn Express (805 West Arrowood Rd., Charlotte, NC 28217) because right now it isn’t looking like a smart stay. First there was only a half used bottle of shampoo in the bathroom. A walk to the front desk brought a new shampoo and a new conditioner. Wireless connectivity was nearly flat lined, I hooked up, but could only surf at dial up speed. That explained the three people in the lobby area with laptops open as I passed through on my way to the ice machine. After Donna had showered and she peeled back the sheets hop in bed a little black bug hopped out, a flea. A call to the front desk brought the desk clerk to us with a couple of room keys for something on the third floor and a promise of 30% off the charge. It looked OK, so we moved our stuff. Second room has shampoo and conditioner and three out of four bars of wireless signal strength. When Donna got into bed here she only found three black specks in the sheets. They weren’t moving so we figured they were tiny meteorites, so she just brushed them to the floor.
Tomorrow morning it is up and a short drive to the airport. The guy at the front desk said it is about a ten minute drive and then asked what time were we leaving. When we told him 7:00 AM he went uh-oh. Seems traffic is stop and go around here in the mornings because we are close to both I-77 and I-485, he said better leave earlier, about 6. When asked when breakfast starts, his answer was, “6:30 AM.” Whatever the consequences, I’m getting a cinnamon bun for breakfast, so I guess we leave at seven and take an hour to drive what should take 10 minutes.
Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 175
 Well we did get the 30% off the room making it almost worth staying the night. We woke up earlier than the alarm and just got moving. We checked out at 6:00 a full half hour before breakfast started, but when Donna went back into the lobby to get a Charlotte area map we had seen she coaxed the front desk gut to let her snag an apple and an almost warmed up Cinnamon Bun. The drive to the airport took us right by the same shopping center that we got ice cream at last night and it had a Panera Bread place, so we stopped in for a bagel and a banana.
We pulled into a long term lot but it seemed like every spot was taken. We wound our way further and further back where we parked against a back fence or as Captain Barbossa would say, “You’re off the edge of the map Jack.” Our shuttle bus driver was a hoot and made whatever we pay for parking out there worth it. She stopped the bus to pick up one group of five, three women and two men. The guys were in the back and the women were up front and started stacking the luggage inside the door of the bus and the driver yelled out at the guys to come forward and put the bags on the rack as they were big strapping fellows and she was just a bitty older women. Once loaded up all was forgotten and she gave them the same spiel as she did us. “To get back here you have to get on a bus for Long Term One, but a short bus and tell them you are in the north west corner. Remember a short bus, like this one, not a long bus as it couldn’t make the tight turns.” We stopped and picked up one lone woman and when she asked what airline of her, she just sighed when the woman answered Jet Blue. Everyone so far had answered US Air. She told the new woman that she would have to get off at the US Air stop as the one she wanted was always backed way up with rubes. She could just walk back to it, it wasn’t far.
Trouble started when I tried to check in using the self service kiosk, it didn’t know me. Not by name or flight or swipe of the credit card. I flagged a clerk and he couldn’t find us in the system either. Off he went to find someone with a clue. She arrived and fingers flew. Seems that US Air stopped flying the morning non-stop to Seattle months ago. They were nice enough to offer us seats on the 5:55PM non-stop, a mere 11 hours later. When we expressed displeasure at that, her fingers flew around the keyboard in a blur (obviously she done this a few million times before.) She could get us on a flight to Phoenix
By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be rising
She’ll find the note I left hangin’ on her door
She’ll laugh when she reads the part that says I’m leavin’
’Cause I’ve left that girl so many times before
where we could change planes and hop one to Seattle. One 4–1/2 hour flight just became a 3 hour flight with a 2–1/2 hour layover followed by a 2–1/2 hour flight. “Oh, you want to sit next to each other? Impossible,” she says.
For the first flight we were placed 3 rows apart and the second we were 6 rows apart. But for both flights we managed to find a nice person to swap places, so that we sat right across an aisle on one flight and next to each other on the other. With the amount of other seat hopping that was going on, this seems to be standard flight operations on US Air. Judging by the long lines at the service counters, everyone last one of them, canceled, delayed and changed flights I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less.
Our next surprise was at the car rental desk. Seems that if you rent through Travelocity or Orbitz or some other intermediary company and miss your selected pick up time the quoted price doesn’t need to be honored. Our ridiculously low price for the car jumped by about 100%. After what we had dealt with so far yesterday and today we didn’t put up a fight. Plus it was still lower than the price quote we got directly off the rental car site.
Now everything is just fine. The weather was great for driving with the top down, the Seattle traffic was not nearly as bad as expected, the B & B in Snohomish is nice and new nephew James is as cute as a button. Although he took to me right away about 5 minutes into the visit he decided he didn’t like me at all (no problem, because now I won’t have to change any diapers.)
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 177
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 4
 After breakfast we got up and walked around the small downtown of Snohomish. Lots of antique stores, lots of coffee shops and lots of old buildings.
We then went over to Scott and Beth’s to see about going for a short hike/walk. Donna has a book with a 100 walks through natural places in the Puget Sound area and Donna had picked out a couple close by ones. Scott was at work so we figured we’d take Beth and and baby James for a nice distracting walk. When Donna asked if we should wear our hiking boots, I told her, “Nah, James will be in the stroller, so we’ll pick a nice easy rails to trails type thing.”
Beth had a different book, A 100 Family Friendly Hikes, and had picked out one she had done a few years before. After loading up the cars we followed Beth over to her Mom’s house as she wanted to join us too. Cool, the more the merrier. There we all piled into her Mom’s SUV. Joanie proceeded to tell us that she and her husband, Les, have done this hike before and promised we’d love it. The trail ended at a nice little lake where we would have a great view of the 6100 foot tall Mount Baring. They read the description of trail to us from the book which told us we would start by leaving Rte. 2 in the town Baring and drive through (traverse was the word the book used) a valley to reach the trail head.
After last years visit to Washington state I mentioned something to the effect that people were different out here compared to home. When we started traversing the valley I knew I had underestimated in just how different they were. When we turned off Route 2 the road quickly went from paved to narrow gravel forest service road. After about 10 minutes of driving up a windy steeply inclined road I asked aloud when would we get to the valley. The reply I got was that this was the valley. Oh boy, apparently if the ground isn’t vertical it is considered flat. The surprises weren’t over though.
At the parking area, everyone got out while Beth strapped James into one of those three wheeled baby jogger strollers. At the trail head I noticed that this was not any rails to trail thing at all. Think backcountry North Carolina, Appalachian Mountains stuff. West Virginia gnarly single track mountain biking trails. Roots, rocks narrow wood bridges. I bet an eighth of the mile and a half trail was smooth and wide enough for the stroller, the rest of the time it was on the front wheel with the back lifted up or vice versa. There we also a dozen or so places that the stroller had to be portaged over obstacles. Incredibly enough baby James slept calmly through all the jostling, snoring away.
The lake and the views at the end were well worth the trip. Joanie even had brought in some cheese and crackers for an impromptu picnic on the shore of the lake. It was probably near 90 degrees in Aiken today, but at Barclay Lake I was cool in a T-shirt with a sweatshirt over it. There was still snow on the mountain across the way.
For the return trip Joanie decided to give her daughter a break and carried the 20lb James zipped up in her sweatshirt like a front papoose. Donna pushed the empty stroller with me helping lift it over stuff. Next time either of these women offers to take Donna and I on an easy trail in the woods we will go gladly, but we will be sure to have on our hiking boots not sneakers.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 8
 Donna and I were going to meet everyone downtown for lunch and then do some walking to see a few things. You know us, we went down early.
First, even though it was lightly raining, we took a nice walk from Donna’s book. On the way into Seattle we visited North Creek Park in the town of Mill Creek. It is about a mile round trip and all on boardwalk through a small wetlands.Very interesting walk, but I called it off after about 2/3’s of it because I was getting soaked.
From there we ended up parked not too far from where we were to meet at, the Olympic Sculpture Garden. After we had covered almost all of it we stopped inside the pavilion to warm up and dry off. While we both found the pieces interesting and the park itself very nice, we agreed that we really didn’t get art. The only one we both could “understand” was a giant eraser (another of which we had seen before.)
At noon we met brother Jim, wife Linda and daughter Jennifer next to the entrance to the sculpture Garden, but instead of going to view the “art” we headed down the water front to see Sylvester and Sylvia Mummy at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Now that’s entertainment. After gawking at, but not buying any, curiosities we walked whence we came to meet brother Scott, wife Beth and evil-eyed baby James for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory.
After lunch Jim, Linda and Jen headed off to see an old teacher of Jennifer’s and the rest of us walked up the hill to Seattle Center to check out the Folk Like Festival. Think music, arts and crafts, multiply that by 10, toss in a dallop of free spiritry and you get lots of very strange characters (and I guess that includes us.) I think if you enjoyed a particular style of music and could plan your visit around that it might be a very entertaining way to spend a day.
By three thirty in the afternoon Donna and I were toast so we all walked back to the cars where Scott, Beth and stare down king, James went their way and we went ours.
Started up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 8
 Gnorm, Jim, Linda, Jennifer, Scott, Beth, Donna and I (Baby James stuck with formula) can recommend the Paradise Pie at Maltby Pizza & Pasta if you are ever in the Maltby, Washington area.
Donna, I, Scott and Ol’ Laser Eyes* went for a walk in the park this morning. Because Scott normally has Monday off he usually takes James with him to give Beth a little me time. Today she stayed home and caught up on a couple of projects while we went out walking. Because of last fall’s flooding rains the trail was washed out not too far in, so then we headed over to the Centennial Trail and walked for a couple three more miles.
After the walk Scott went home and Donna and I returned to the B & B where I finished my second Jack Reacher novel of this vacation, The Hard Way while Donna caught a nap.
You can see part of our dinner above, the other parts were vegetables and dip supplied by Scott and Beth, plus a second pizza from a place called Romeo’s brought by Jim, Linda & Jenn. After dinner the rest of the evening was spent chatting and watching the skydivers land at Harvey Field down in the Snohomish Valley visible from Scott & Beth’s backyard.
*Let me explain the nicknames directed at the poor defenseless 7–1/2 month old James Leslie Morrison. When Donna and I first arrived on Friday night she picked up her nephew, held him for a while and then passed him to me. James took an immediate liking to me and was quite happy to have me hold him. When I passed him back to his mother and he saw me from a distance he started to wail. He would be quiet for a while and then he would notice me and start to cry. Then for all day Saturday, Sunday and this morning he could look at me and not cry, but he would really *look* at me. He would stare at me like he was trying to figure out just who or what I was. It became a running gag amongst us. By tonight I guess he had figured me out some because it wasn’t all just starring, I could actually coax a little smile out of him now and again.
Tomorrow we are off to Canada eh.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 12
 After breakfast we left Snohomish and the Countryman B & B behind and headed north on WA-9. Traffic was ugly until we got north of Arlington and then it was pretty much one black PT Cruiser and the road until we hit Bellingham. There we jumped on I-5 and hightailed it to the border. Not many people heading into Canada on a Tuesday morning, there were two lines open at customs and we were number two in line for one of them.
So excited to clear customs that easily, we (meaning me) drove right past the Canada Welcome Center and then promptly zoomed by the exit for our hotel, realizing it only as we (meaning me) drove by the building. Is this a cool country or what? On the major highways you can go 100! Instead of backtracking we just headed into downtown White Rock for lunch. We ended up at a Japanese place where I discovered that it is really hard to eat flat, slippery noodles with chopsticks. While we ate at a table outside along the waterfront we were entertained mightily by a half dozen or so teen aged boys dressed up in wild and distinctly feminine attire (later explained to us a graduation rite where the girls dress the boys and parade them around town.)
When we finally did check in, the woman behind the desk said that they weren’t expecting me until tomorrow. Ooops, I made the reservation for the wrong day. Fortunately they were not full and could put us up for tonight. After settling in Gnorm and I enjoyed a Canadian 7UP on the small balcony of our room. Donna and I did a load of laundry as we waited for Jim, Linda and Jennifer to arrive. They got in with just enough time to catch a 1 hour nap before we went for dinner.
We met Donna and Jim’s 1st cousin-once removed at a local Fish & Chips place. His name is Jim as well and although he and is wife are regulars at this restaurant they didn’t know his name matched the famous singer for the Doors until we asked the waitress if he was there yet. The seven of gathered around a table in the corner of the place and heard stories from him and his wife Anne about their lives and the lives of some distant Morrison folks. Afterwards they invited us to their small neat apartment where we took pictures of each other and shared some more memories.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 14
 Donna and I headed back towards the beach of White Rock for some breakfast. It was about 7:00 AM, so except for several joggers we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. I got a couple of nice photos of the town’s namesake without the graduating hooligans standing on top of it. The rock is the reason the town of White Rock, BC got its name when it incorporated 50 years ago. I guess it was white-ish in the beginning, but now they paint it white every year. Perhaps because it is still off season here there was only one place open, so that is where we ate. Both had a ham, egg & cheese bagel, not too bad, but we probably won’t eat there again next time.
Then it was off to Tsawwassen to catch the ferry to Swartz Bay. We meet Jim, Linda & Jennifer at the port and rode the boat over together, only to split up on the other side so that we could take the back roads while they took the main road. Donna and I originally intended to see the Butchart Gardens, but didn’t feel up the sun because it was already midday, so instead we went indoors and visited the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. Awesome place. If you stood still the butterflies would land right on you. It was only a couple kilometers down the road before we realized we should have taken Gnorm in with us. Dang.
Last night we visited Donna & Jim’s father’s cousin, tonight we all went over to meet and eat with Linda’s father’s cousin, Keith Walker. He, his wife and their youngest daughter treated us all like royalty. Like last night the stories flew, and while like last night I couldn’t always follow the family connections, it was great to get a sense of history these folks imparted.
Tomorrow we separate again when Donna and I head to the Olympic peninsula, while Jim, Linda and Jenn spend another day in Victoria. We meet up again on Friday night at the airport Marriott at SeaTac.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 16
 As usual we were up before most people and headed into downtown Victoria. After finding a place to park not too far from the ferry entrance, we next found a place for breakfast. Ended up at a chain, probably the equivalent to our Denny’s, called Smitty’s which had a location on the ground floor of an office building.
Hunger satisfied, we wandered the downtown and the inner harbor looking for a real estate book for a friend who hopes to retire to this area in a few years. We had a dickens of a time finding one, unlike in Aiken where these books are in nearly every business and you are never out of sight of a stand-alone kiosk full of them (not unlike gift shops at a Disney theme park) here in Victoria we had to ask a half-dozen folks before we got a hold of one.
A couple of people we know, who have been here before us raved about the Inner Harbor area, with it’s interesting mix of old, stately hotels & government buildings and the presence of an excellent provincial museum. But to counter balance all that there are lots of tacky touristy stuff like bright yellow zodiac boats from whale watching companies zipping about, souvenir shops and a wax museum. For us the best part was watching a steady stream of seaplanes arrive and leave, bringing people right into downtown from Vancouver & other places.
We were so entertained that we almost screwed up our ferry ride back to Washington. The reservation for the Vancouver to Victoria ferry yesterday told us we needed to arrive no sooner than 60 minutes prior and no later than 30 minutes prior to departure, so we were going on the assumption that the one from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA would be the same. Wrongo! At about 50 minutes to the departure time we noticed that there were a lot of cars queued up at the ferry loading area. We had a reservation, so we weren’t too worried about getting on, but decided we should get the car and head over. When we pulled in to the line and paid we were near the very back of the line. It was then that we looked on the reservation sheet I had printed from the Internet and noticed in big bold letters that we should have been in line 90 minutes prior to the scheduled launch because of customs. Luckily it is not high season, because they could have given away our spot on the boat. At about the 5 minute mark of the 90 minute crossing we entered a fog bank and didn’t emerge from it until we were nearly ashore at the end.
Our first stop back in the US, other than filling up with gas, was Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park about 18 miles south of Port Angeles. Spectacular. Unfortunately the bright sun was high in the sky behind the ridge making an exposure that showed the bright blue sky with a sprinkling of high white clouds set against the gray/green peaks, some still covered in white snow, with dark green evergreen trees in the foreground impossible. You are just going to have to fly out here and see for yourselves. At an overlook on the way down we said hello to a guy who had just pulled in and he launched into a 15-minute spiel on how the logging companies, American greed and Bush have nearly destroyed the planet. At one point I had the car in reverse, but couldn’t go anywhere for fear of running over his feet. When he saw our National Park map he calmed enough to give us a couple of tips being as he is from the area, 1) the road to one of the rainforest trails we had planned on seeing was washed out about halfway to the end, rending that section of the park unreachable and 2) we should stop at Ruby Beach instead of the three others because it was the most scenic because it had several sea stacks along it.
He was right on the beach; Ruby was reminiscent of the Oregon coast we visited last fall and well worth the stop. We won’t even test his other tip and will just head back north up the coast to take in the other rainforest area in the park. There are also a couple other places to see back that way that we bypassed on the way to tonight’s bedding down spot, Kalaloch Lodge.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 18
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