My Facts, My Opinions

Dodger Stadium...

2008-07-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

Went to Dodger Stadium last night: Didn't like the Dodger Dogs, didn't like the stadium. The place was empty after the 7th inning. All those stereotypes you hear about L.A. sports fans, they're actually true.

Powered by Jott

So this gas stuff gets...

2008-06-13T19:01:00.001-07:00

So this gas stuff gets even worse. Well, I tried using a credit card instead of a debit card. Swell, they authorized $85. At least it's better than $65 or $75, but it's still doesn't fill the whole tank. What's with these morons? Is it any wonder I'm angry? Come on, these people are stupid! listen

Powered by Jott

Life in California....

2008-06-13T16:35:00.001-07:00

Life in California. 1 car, 2 bumper stickers. "Fight Terrorists, not Wal-Mart" and "McCain". Firmly consistent, no problem at all. In fact, they both even have nice blue backgrounds. But, they're on a freakin' Prius!!! Anyway, that's life on the PCH. Happy, sunny and sometimes conflicting. That's all for now. Bye. listen

Powered by Jott

On those gas situations;...

2008-06-10T09:20:00.001-07:00

So not only does the gas pump cap out at a $65 or $75 withdrawal on an ATM card, they don't really have that cleared with the banks. If you topped out $75 in your Jeep and you put more money in by reentering your card, if you do that, say twice in the same weekend, the next time you go to take cash out you're screwed: "sorry we put a fraud lock on your card because we were afraid it was being used after having been stolen, being used twice for gas within a few minute is a fraud sign." Note, the bank they did the right thing. The gas companies, they're just screw us every which way we go. listen

Powered by Jott

Jott really is terrific....

2008-06-08T19:47:00.001-07:00

Jott really is terrific. It's great stuff. I just spent the better part of 20 miles transcribing notes I needed to write up. 30-second increment is a pain but all in all, it's sure easier than typing and I can do it while driving. Not a bad thing. I really like Jott. listen

Powered by Jott

On Jott Posts

2008-06-07T00:30:00.001-07:00

The great thing about Jott is the absolute ease of making a quick post. Yes, it looks like I'll be running up the post volume for a little bit -- until the novelty, predictably, wears off.

The bad thing is that the voice to text transcription is not as accurate (precise?) as I'd like.

I'll try to clean things up when I can.

The listen button will link you to my original, vocal, ramble. Sometimes, that might be more intelligible. (But often times not...) Most of the time they'll be full of background clutter as I'm sure I'll be driving when I make most of these calls.

J

What's crazier?

2008-06-06T22:44:00.001-07:00

What's crazier? Gas $4.99/gallon for premium, what the hell it's $4.89 for standard. So, I get exactly 15 gallans because my debit card is limited to $75 each gas pumpwithdrawal. What's crazier: $5 gas or $75 limits. Oh, both piss me off. listen

Update (06/07/08): Tonight it was a $65 limit on a pump that sells $8 car washes!!! C'mon people, think about this stuff when you set up your pumps...

Powered by Jott

Considering(?) the divine...

2008-06-06T20:32:00.001-07:00

Considering(?) the divine versus the divine being, is there a difference? Is it meaningful? Can divine exist without a divine being? I don't know. listen

Powered by Jott

Hey, check out Jott,...

2008-06-06T00:45:00.001-07:00

Hey, check out Jott, and check out how Jott and Blogger work together with your cellphone. Pretty cool stuff.

Powered by Jott

Oh, how swell things can be!

2008-05-20T23:03:00.001-07:00

An actual email I just sent to my sweetheart describing this evening... (click to enlarge to a readable size)

Oh, and when I was cleaning up, I cut my finger on the edge of the oven door. Right on the tip of my middle finger - like a nice paper cut.

Travel Log Updated

2008-02-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

Patagonia Day 3 (only 7 more to go!) is up at the travel blog. http://vagabondjim.blogspot.com/

Almost famous, again

2007-11-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

I made Andrew Sullivan's "The View from Your Window" again:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/the-view-fro-25.html

He captioned it incorrectly. I twas actually taken at 00:05 -- i.e., 5 minutes past midnight. The orangish color is from the tungsten filament light bulbs -- while they appear light to your eye, they are really orangish. Your brain is pretty smart and adjusts for this (and for fluorescent, or mercury vapor, or even sunny versus cloudy sunlight.)

So, that's the Santa Monica office and the LA apartment....next stop, Lompoc!

See also: Fame Awaits

Patagonia Trip Logs: Days 1 & 2

2007-11-14T23:52:00.001-08:00

So here's a brief trip log of the recent trip Silicic and I took to Patagonia.

We left LAX on a midday flight, which was far better than our original plan to leave on an early flight and suffer through an 8 hour layover in DFW. Admirals' Clubs are nice but not nice enough for that.

Silicic had a bunch of electronic upgrades available and we were set to fly Business Class on the leg to Dallas. But it turned out that for a small fee -- the equivalent of just 1 arm and just 1/2 a leg -- we could upgrade the entire downbound trip. With a 9.5 hour, overnight leg to Santiago (SCL) that would have been tempting enough. But we knew this plane would be equipped with lie flat seats. Sleep would be much easier.

Sleep was much easier. And it was made really easy by taking Ambien for the first time. Take a pill, put the set back, wait 15 minutes and wake up just in time for breakfast and landing in Chile! That's how to fly.

We managed to catch an earlier flight to Punta Arenas (PUQ). That flight was another long one -- three hours to Puerto Montt, a brief layover and another 2 to PUQ. We had seats in row 1 -- a pretty lousy bulkhead row as it had very little leg room. Plus, we were mildly put out by the rather annoying behavior of a few Chilean business men around us. They did not seem to have a lot of respect for personal space or proper conversational volume levels. In the end it was ok when we realized it was just the 1st sign of being in a different culture.

Arriving in PUQ we grabbed a cab to the Hotel Navegantes. It wasn't the lap of luxury but we neither needed nor expected it to be.

PUQ serves as a marshaling site for much of the research conducted in Antarctica. (Ushuaia is closer but Argentina is a hassle -- especially since the international and domestic airports in Buenos Aires are across town from each other.) And the Antarctic research season was just beginning. Silicic just missed being able to hook up with several old friends from the ice. But one was still in town. So we met Herb for dinner.

There's a little bar/cafe down the street from the hotel name Lomit's. They specialize in steak sandwich know as a Barros Lucco. They're really tasty especially when washed down with Cerveza Kunstmann and in the company of good people.

PUQ is a nice place. The people are friendly. There's nothing outrageously neat about the place. But it's reasonably clean, easy to navigate, and just comfortable. It has as certain "colonial" sense that I recall from trips to Bolivia -- especially Oruro.
The buildings are colorful, the town full of statues of national or regional heroes, the streets are all named for Generales, Presidentes, or Libertadores. It's just typical of so many of my experiences in South America. I like it. Well except for the patriotic drum and bugle corp that marches around after school playing rather badly. Or the guys with jackhammers who seemed to work until 2200.

The next day we slept in. Then we wandered the waterfront, checked on our rental reservation and just adapted to being so far (~6,700 miles as the crow flies or 7,500 miles as the big ol' jet airliner does) from home. Silicic's knee was bothering her (damn arthritis, damn clot, damn, damn, damn.) So she rested in the room while I wandered.

I went up the hill, past the bad marching drummers, to the Air Force and Army bases. And got some pictures looking back towards town and the Straits of Magellan. Then back down the hill to the waterfront and along it for a while. That took me past at least 2 naval bases. It's a military town... When I grew tired, I strolled back to the hotel.

Silicic had strong memories of the Sopa de Ajo (garlic soup) at a local restaurant named Remezon's. We dined there and hat what turned out to be both the worst and most expensive meal of the trip. Soup, crab (for her) and wild boar (for me) washed down with a harsh chilean cabernet. We should have gone back to Lomit's.

THIS POST IS NOW CROSS_POSTED AT http://vagabondjim.blogspot.com/ ALL FUTURE TRAVEL POSTS AND LOGS WILL BE POSTED THERE.

Blogged with Flock

Watches

2007-09-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

My grandfather wore an Omega. My dad wears an Omega. My younger brother got an Omega as a graduation gift. I had to have an Omega. So for Christmas in 1993 I got one gift -- an Omega (a quartz De Ville).

And I loved it.

I bought myself another one, a Seamaster Automatic, when I was in a position to reward myself in 1999.

The De Ville's battery died and I haven't worn it for 8 years. I've worn the Seamaster almost daily. It's been diving, sailing, camping, and counted the seconds through way too many boring meetings.

They both needed some TLC. And I knew that I'd be taking a trip* in October when I might not want to wear a nice watch everyday. Since it takes 6-8 weeks to get these things serviced (work backlog and parts issues; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) I figured now was the time to get them tended to.

Moving from an analog watch to a digital is a real pain. I want my watches back...

... will blog for a Constellation
... will blog and clean windows for a Speedmaster Automatic

* 2 weeks in Patagonia -- flying into Punta Arenas, Chile then driving to Nacional Parque Torres del Paine, back to PA for a quick flight to Ushuaia, Argentina and the Beagle Channel. Please pass along recos for lodging, dining, or activities if you've been there.

On Books -- Good and Bad

2007-09-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting lately -- I've been spending my time reading. Nothing special, just stuff to relax and entertain myself.

A quick observation: there are some really skilled writers out there telling great stories, and some absolutely shitty ones too.

Among the best series I've read in a long time are the John rain books written by Barry Eisler. The basic notion of reading about a professional assasin holds some but limited appeal to me -- but after one book, I was hooked. I've now read the whole series.

These books are extremely well researched and written with an incredible eye for detail. Eisler is a fanatic about getting it right. He also has a wonderful gift -- he's among the few writers I can think of that can successfully write switching from 1st person to 3rd person. Seemlessly. And it adds to the narrative.

On the other hand Dana Stabenow is awful. I just finished Blindfold Game. The plot had great potential but in her hands it falls way short. Her research feels light and useless. The character development is hackneyed (and the characters drawn straight from central casting.) And the writing exhibits a real lack of attention to detail.

Read Eisler, skip Stabenow.

Oh, and when it comes to crime fiction in LA...Crais is good, but Connelly is UNTOUCHABLE.

Tagged (by my punk brother)

2007-08-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Dan was tagged by Mike and tagged me in turn

4 Places I've lived:

On sailboats (The Caribean, the Atlantic, South Africa, the Med);
In my car/tent (travelling up and down the east coast);
In dormatories (Cleveland, OH);
Red States (KY, TX);
(bonus 5th place) Blue States (IL, NY, CA); (extra super bonus 5.5th place) -- Purple State (OH)

4 Favorite Foods:

Thai
Vietnamese
BBQ
European food in Europe -- French in France, Spanish in Spain, Italian it Italy , and German in Germany. Terroir matters...

4 Jobs Held:

Peanut Vendor at the ballpark
Deck Hand
Commodities Broker
Call Center Supervisor

4 Places I'd Rather Be:

On a sailboat
New Zealand
South Africa
SCUBA diving with sharks (Cocos Island? Palau? The Bahamas? Las Islas Socorros?)

I tag: THEJESSE

Juror #4

2007-08-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Doing my civic duty...details when they can be shared.

Judge Roy Beene humor is prohibited until that time....

Jim

Did anyone else miss this?

2007-08-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/british-army-ends-operation-in-northern-ireland/

Mostly symbolic or not, this is a hugely vital step.

No matter which side you support, a study of The Troubles should be something every modern American undertakes. Doing so would yield insights into:

The categorization of prisoners as criminals, political prisoners, or say "enemy combatants" -- exactly why this can matter.
The extent to which imprisioned men will go to maintain/acquire the respect/dignity they believe they are due.
The damage done to justice by less than standard evidentiary requirements and the suspension of the right to trial by jury -- the Diplock Courts in Northern Ireland are an abomination of justice. When hearsay is evidence bad stuff follows.
Exactly how much the concept of martyrdom can incite/motivate/maintain a community that feels repressed or threatened.
How truly damn important human intel is and how it, not ubiquitous survellience cameras, is what leads to long term results.
And there are just a zillion examples of how to fight and how not to fight a battle against an insurgency.

I know nothing about the French in Algeria, but what I gather is that it is another piece of history worth re-visiting in these troubled times.

Recommended reading for those interseted in The Troubles:

There's another text that has many of the messages that were smuggled out of Maze Prison (the "H-Blocks") but I can't remember its name. If I can come up with it, I'll post it.

2007-08-08 Update: Dad weighs in with:

"It was Ten Men Dead, or at least that's the first place (I don't know of any subsequent source.)While your message is quite accurate about some of the lessons to be learned from the 'troubles', there may be an even more important one in how the issues were ultimately resolved. Gerry Adams and Martin McGinnis are examples of real statesmen/negotiators and beginning to be recognized for what they accomplished, at least in the larger world outside the US. We heard McGinnis speak last Sunday at XU (Xavier University) and I got to talk with him afterwards, truly amazing."

No news is no news

2007-07-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'll be travelling for the next few days. That means even fewer than the already infrequent posts of normal.

But, if you're good -- I'm mean really good -- while I'm gone, I'll hopefully have some cool picks to share when I get back.

Then again, if you're not good and I have to pull this blog over to the side of the road just one more time then I'm cancelling Christmas!!!

(I know, you don't get it. Probably because you weren't there when our fine father quieted 2 very unruly kids with that threat. It was July and legend has it we actually behaved all the way through the middle of November.)

Jim

Comments Sought over at Flickr

2007-07-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

So few people that I don't have contact with daily read this blog that this post is not likely to reach anybody not already willing to do so, but I'd love to start getting comments/critiques on the countless photos I'm putting over at Flicker.

Click on the little Flickr montage/coloage thing on the right side of the blog, mid way down the page. Of, go straight to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vagabondjim/

Go ahead and be honest, even brutal. I'd like to know what's good and what's not....

Jim

Live Earth

2007-07-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Good lord, the NBC coverage of this thing is simply dreadfull. That's not to say the intent of the day was bad -- just that the presentation of the music and the ideas both truly sucked.

Quite possibly, the world's most perfect satire site

2007-07-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

I laughed aloud at this it's the perfect iDea. And it merits the 1st link recommendation for the blog. (Click this post's title.)

Well, I tried to be surrepetitous...it didn't work

2007-06-23T22:30:00.001-07:00

Well, I tried to be surrepetitous...it didn't work
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

There are some people who will smile whenever you point a camera at them. Even if you try to do it without their knowledge.

Sometimes that makes for a nice pic.

'Take our picture"

2007-06-23T22:26:00.001-07:00

'Take our picture"
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

There are folks who think that ANYONE with a decent camera MUST be from the newspaper. I'm not.

"Take our picture,please"

2007-06-23T22:23:00.001-07:00

"Take our picture,please"
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

There are apparenty folks who want strangers to take thier pictures. I'm not one of them.

License Plates and Bumper Stickers

2007-06-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

California has the best and worst of the bumper communicators...

Stupid Plates Seen on Priuses:

OILBGON
H8OPEC

C'mon people, let's not be so damn trite...

Better Bumpersticker Seen:

More Cowbell

Now, I bet you can't get Christopher Walken out your head....

For the, sadly, uninitiated:

Are we safer? Chapter 2

2007-06-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/feeling_safer_yet_/2007/06/the_910_president_whatever_happened_to_homeland_security.php

It looks like there is a pretty good case to be made that we're not safer....

2007-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

Roadside memorial -- Bailey Ave.

2007-06-11T00:12:00.001-07:00

Roadside memorial -- Bailey Ave.
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

Sad and stupid. Very, very stupid.

Last night Silicic and I were out at the beach/train station taking the nighttime photos posted over at Flickr.

On the way back we saw a large aggregation of flashing lights - cops, fire trucks, ambulances - on one of the roads through the fields, pretty close to town. And there was a small car with the front end bashed up on a utility pole.

We returned today and saw a memorial there. Evidently, a 16 year old was killed in the accident. His 14 year old passenger survived with apparently minor injuories ("treated and released").

What angers me is the fact that one always has to assume the involvment of alcohol in the accident. But look at the "gifts" left behind -- a can of beer! Somebody just doesn't get it...

Like I said: sad and stupid.

6/11/2007 Update

News reports are indicating I jumped the gun on the alcohol assumption. So let's rephrase:

Sad -- for the you man, his family, and friends
Stupid -- me for making an assumption like that publicly
Loutish -- the buffoon who thought a Coors Light was a suitable memorial item

Whoring

2007-06-09T00:11:00.001-07:00

Hey, if you're actually foolish enough to click on the links I get paid. Just keep that in mind.

Ok, some of the stuff is realllllllly annoying -- let me know what has to go.

JK

Rudy ... Why he really would be a horrible choice

2007-06-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

Chris Mathews lays it on the line, correctly;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t92f7X-M55E

For the record, I generally find Matthews to be irratating and never watch him. Olbermann, when he's not being a shrill shill, I can deal with. O'Reilly - well, just don't go there...

A hat tip to TalkingPointsMemo.com for the pointer.

Jim

Tonight, I get political

2007-06-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

1) New photos up at Flickr -- Los Angeles National Cemetary after sunset.

2) Are we safer than before 9/11?

Sen. Clinton says we're safer than before. Senators Obama and Edwards disagree. They're all wrong. The world is a lot less safe than it was back then. But for those of us living quotidian lives, there is no meaningful increase in the risks and dangers we face daily.

Mayor Bloomberg gets it right:

"There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life....You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist"

I believe the real issue is "Are we as safe as we could be -- given all the money and effort we supposedly put into making ourselves safer?" Hell no. For example, do you think the financial suck-hole that is the TSA makes you one iota safer? No, but they sure make flying more fun.

It's time to stop window dressing and either make the commitment to spend our resources wisely, or apply those resources to (m)any of the myriad of domestic problems we face. And while we're at it...let's restore Habeas Corpus and the rest of the Constitution...

Yes, I live in Blue-Land.

And yes, I remember 9/11 -- I lived in the NYC area at the time, my ex-wife worked 10 blocks from the WTC, I have friends who lost friends.... But a tragic event has been stipped of all meaning by shamefully being used as justification for too many bad things (torture, suspension of due process, dreadfully bad foreign policy, etc.) I'd rather die free than live enslaved by fear.

Rant over....for now.

Jim

The Pace of Lompoc

2007-06-03T16:40:00.001-07:00

Snails on a Cactus
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

So yesterday I rose at the crack of noon-- actually 11:30. And, like all of last weekend hopped in the car to head to Taco Loco #2 for some of the world's best breakfast burritos.

The camera came with me, as it will pretty often going forward. Whilst waiting for the burritos I wandered to the end of the parking lot. It was filled with prickly pear cactus. 20 bad pictures later I discovered that there were snails on several of the cactus. 1 bad picture later I had a shot of them.

I tend to crop pretty severely and that's what made a bad composition into a reasonable photo like this one.

Anyway, "finding snails crawling on a cactus while waiting for a late breakfast of burritos" kind of strikes me as representative of one of the gears Lompoc runs in. (The other is the frenetic destruction Janice manages to get me involved in when she tears down a wall to remodel. Me with a pry bar, a hammer and covered with dust and sweat is for another post down the road.)

Last night lying in bed, I blurted out -- apropos of nothing, that I was not having a breakfast burrito today. That would be 5 consecutive weekend breakfasts from Taco Loco....truly loco. Of course...today I had a burrito from Taco Loco #2 for breakfast. That type of thing strikes me as pretty typical of Lompoc, too.

6/10/07 - UPDATE

Another weekend in Lompoc...2 more breakfasts of burritos. Nor, really -- don't have a problem; I can quit any time I want. I swear.

6/19/07 - UPDATE

The streak ended. Saturday was the usual. Plus, I tried a few bites of a chorizo burrito -- that didn't work for me. (I prefer Spanish chorizo to Mexican and good Linguica to either.) But Sunday was just Burger King drive through as we ran errands. Oh, that we had chosen to keep the streak alive...Silicic's streak is in tact; she had the left over chorizo one later Sunday.

Fields of Lompoc -- Evening Clouds Approaching

2007-06-01T22:11:00.001-07:00

Fields of Lompoc -- Evening Clouds Approaching
Originally uploaded by VagabondJim

Not much to write today.

I t was a hectic day at work because we had a manditory "team bulding event". Everybody had to leave the office by 11am.

Don't get me wrong, these are fun events -- but they seem to coincide with days that are awful for me. Sometimes they kill my chance at getting ahead of the L.A. traffic for the drive to Lompoc. And, they occasionally involve doing things that I would rather do with Janice -- and then she's bummed too because we either miss something she'd want to do or she hates the fact that I have to re-do something (which leads her to believe it must be boring me -- usually not a true assumption.) So all-in-all I have mixed feelings. Maybe if they weren't always on Fridays.

Anyway that made for a busy day. One without much to share with y'all.

I did make great time driving tonight; 2:57 including about a half hour stop at Costco. For a Friday in L.A. that's great! Then again, on a Sunday the southbound trip is about 1:45 plus stops.

But I have arrived in Lompoc even if the evening clouds bet me here.

Fame awaits

2007-05-31T12:27:00.001-07:00

More on this later (damn, I hate workin' for livin') but Andrew Sullivan has some of my stuff on his blog.

Click over to: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/the_view_from_y_30.html

Later Update:

So Andrew Sullivan and I don't have a helluvalot in common -- as I wrote to him, it breaks out like this:

Andrew vs. Jim

* Catholic vs. Lapsed Catholic, Atheist
* Gay vs. Straight
* Staunch Federalist vs. Not Staunch
* Beagles vs. Poodles
* American style tea vs. British style (Too long w/ 5 Brits on a very small boat…)
* “Conservative” vs. “Liberal”

Anyway, in spite of our differences I find his blog to be required reading. He's well spoken, well reasoned, and willing to reconsider his positions. That makes him a great read. So I check in on his site 5-7 times a day.

He has an ongoing feature called "The View From Your Window". He posts pictures from readers that show the view from their window. Not snapshots from their travels, not their artsy pics, just the image of what they see when they literally look at the world. There have been pictures from literally around the globe. I love the feature.

Several months ago I took a nightime shot out my apartment window. It was done with a 3 year old P/S Canon. Not a bad little camera, just not quite suited for the task. Andrew did not see fit to post it.

This weekend I bought a Nikon D40x. I took pictures in Lompoc on Monday (follow the FLICkr link). Tuesday I had the camera in the office because I intended to shot that evening at the Santa Monica Pier. As long as I had the camera...

I deliberately left the venetian blinds down for the shot -- I think it highlights the "window" nature of the thing.

The building across the street is The Water Garden -- fans of CSI: Miami may recognize it as the Biscayne Courthouse from that show. But that's another post....

Jim

Yes, Virginia, Jim may occasionally post here. But you can too!

2007-05-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

I've been offering up my unique brand of drivel on several poor bloggers' sites. I figured maybe I ought give people a chance for a little intellectual vengence. Plus I wanted a place to bore people with my pictures.

With some luck feelings will be hurt, egos bruised, and sensibilities violated. Frequently. With great luck they won't be my feelings, ego, or sensibilities. But somehow I doubt it will work out that way.

I absolutely guarantee that spelling and grammer will be heinously butchered, with great frequency. There are two acceptable ways for you to respond:

Laugh -- outloud or otherwise
Drill me with an acerbic comment

"Lay on, MacDuff..."

Jim