Labor Day

My foot has gotten better and I may try cramming it inside a boot for a ride in the morning. Since the toe mishap, I've been on my motorcycle twice, logging maybe 15 miles (at most) on both occasions. However, 3-day holiday weekends are not my favorite times to ride... especially busy 3-day weekends. And what with the heat (the temp gauge in the sidebar to the left read 83 degrees as I typed this, and it is about 9:10pm).

I have plenty of chores to keep me busy, lending credence to the labor in Labor Day. Cleaning, laundry, yardwork, a bit of shopping and more cleaning. No plans for any kind of get-togethers, which is pretty much par for the course (my cats will appreciate that however; more time with daddy).

Hope you are enjoying yours... camping, picnicking, rafting, swimming or whatever recreational plans you had in mind!

Summer's Here!

And autumn is little more than a few weeks away.

We are hitting up triple digits, and to top this off we are being treated with bad air as well. I can't complain since the better part of this summer has been relatively mild, even claiming a record low-high of 74 degrees on a day normally registering over 95 degrees (and beyond the century mark).

With this heat, we have thunderstorms in the Sierra range above our Sacramento valley. Science. And Labor Day is just around the corner.

My TV Guide

This is Why

Q:
Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?

A:
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

Burning Man

Burning Man begins today!

Every year, tens of thousands of participants gather to create Black Rock City in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community. They leave one week later, having left no trace.

More can be found at http://www.burningman.com/

Brown on Crime

ON MOVING "Some people would feel it's a little dangerous." (Brown and his wife are in escrow on a house in the Oakland hills. Helping prompt the move: Ten homicides within five blocks of his residence since he's lived there.)

That's former California governor, Jerry Brown, currently our Attorney General. Prior to this was a stint as Oakland's mayor. So, our state's number one crime fighter is moving out of a neighborhood because of the high homicide rate? Should any of us feel that our area is infested with crime, the best recourse is to pack up and move to greener pastures? So much for fighting this cancer and allowing urban blight to extend beyond its boundaries... the 'burbs are being absorbed into the inner city and one must move further away to escape.

Speed Bumps

I have been contributing to a local blog concerning our immediate community. I discovered this website while attempting to secure the name for myself through Blogger.com (as a platform mainly to rant about the local goings-on). However, it was snagged by Sue Hobbs who lives in a neighborhood a few miles from mine, aptly named "Garden of the Gods" due to the street names adopted from mythology... names like Venus, Morpheus and Adonis.

Rant I do on this community website, but I hope to also contribute something more than just bones to pick. I've shared information about the road work in progress along Watt Avenue, notified visitors about an upcoming art exhibit and a neighborhood Independence Day parade.

But my latest posting is a beef about the traffic on my street. Maybe this could be your street too?

Cyber Presence

In today's business world there's no escaping the need for an internet presence. Even before the advent of the internet, I have conducted plenty of business through mail order. Brick and mortar shops are not dead however, especially when it comes to businesses that offer service and not just goods. Such is the case with the folks who service my motorcycles.

Ozzie's BMW Center has always been a traditional, motorcycle-as-a-passion-before-business type of organization (sometimes referred to as "mom and pop" establishments). Advertisement is primarily through word of mouth and little else. So when BMW the Corporation handed down a directive to all its dealers to maintain an internet presence, they were caught a bit off-guard.

It was quite a coincidence that when I first learned of this new requirement, I had already been playing around with a webpage design for Ozzie's. Funny what some people do with their idle time. I modified the page to conform to BMW's guidelines which Ozzie's had sent to me, and came up with this.

I agreed to become their temp webmaster, just as long as we can keep the informal, mom and pop feel. Any more than that will seem too much like work.

'Sup Doc?

I had to schedule myself a visit to the doc today (no, not a head shrink). Seems that a small mishap last Sunday competing in a friendly grass volleyball coed doubles draw tournament reared its ugly head to wake me up in the wee hours this morning. And I mean wee hours (say, possibly around 3:30am?). I was unable to delve back into a proper slumber.

I play barefoot outdoors. The grass was damp during the first game so my left foot slid forward, jamming the big toe into the earth. Turf toe. This elicited a few expletive deletives and is unusual in that I rarely ever cuss (shit and damn are no longer really cuss words). Monday at work was not too bad, but as history has proven time and again, it seems to always be the second day afterward when the pain truly begins to register.

The foot at the base of the big toe was swollen, reddish and warm; my doc sent me off to get xrays done. Nothing unusual (save for a remote chance of a miniscule bone chip). No evidence of broken skin and thus infection. I am to keep an eye on it for the next several days and hope the symptoms subside. Ice, and plenty of it.

Why the hell do cities/counties water their park lawns on Sunday mornings, prior to BBQing families, picnickers, soccer players and volleyball fools to come tear up some mudded sod? Logic (my logic anyway) dictates that low traffic days are midweek. That's government for ya.

Now, here's something I learned at the hospital. I shrunk by about an inch (height, and unfortunately not girth). Weight is up around a half dozen pounds, ABOVE the ten I've been whining about losing for the past several years. Of course the shirt, cap, denim and sandals surely added a hefty penalty. The ear thermometer recorded a slightly high body temp at 100.0F degrees. The good news is that my blood pressure came in at 106/62... not bad for an old fart (of either 29 yrs or 39 yrs, whichever you choose to believe is closest... see pics at my MySpace if the curiosity is killing you).

My doc scheduled me a blood workup per my request. All I will need to do is show up and have the bloodsuckers take some, making sure I fast first for at least the prior 12 hours.

C'est la vie.

Elvis!

It's been 30 years since Elvis died.
You do know Elvis is dead, right?

No, Elvis is not dead, he just went home.

Google Calendar

I am not sure how long this beta has been available, but Google is more than just a search engine. Perhaps you already knew that. I checked out their Calendar and am interested in what it has to offer (and will probably appreciate it even more once I figure out how to use many of its features). If you are familiar with Microsoft Outlook Calendar, I guess this is somewhat similar, except that you can access it anywhere you can find an Internet connection. That, and ways of creating and integrating many calendars.

A little more experimentation and soon I may have a Google Calendar displayed on this blogsite. Check out the options by going to the Google website.

Bullet Law Passes

Sacramento Police Chief Albert Nájera, speaking in support of the firearms ordinances on Thursday night, told the City Council that "we still have a lot of people carrying weapons who should not be."
Sacramento Bee/Florence Low

The city of Sacramento passes ordinance requiring identification and fingerprinting for bullet sales, in the belief that this will curb violent crime. Nevermind that bullets can be bought outside city limits without such restrictions, or that many hobbyists load their own ammo. Or that requiring the good guys to jump through hoops will not prevent the bad guys from continuing with their evil ways. More can be found in this Bee article, and yes Mr. Nájera, we still have a lot of people carrying weapons who should not be.

Cold August Nights

Last night there was a cold breeze blowing... not cool, but cold. This morning was overcast and the temps never made it past the mid-70s; our normal high is in the mid-90s, putting us 20 degrees off the mark. What gives? This is August!

But I'm not complaining.

Update from the Bee:

We're talking, for once, about the all-time lowest maximums, instead of the all-time highest. Monday's downtown high was just 74 degrees, 3 degrees cooler than the previous record of 77 degrees set in 1906, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday's downtown high of 76 frosted the previous low maximum of 78, set in 1962.

The Pen is...

... mightier than the sword, as the saying goes.

As much as I would like to just about eliminate using paper altogether (and replacing the pen with a stylus for electronic input), I still have a fondness for traditional media stemming from my lifelong interest in art. I have been using PDAs for around a half dozen years now, a technology that seems to be fighting an uphill battle against the convergent technology which integrates cellphone, digicam, entertainment center, alarm clock and PDA into one device.

But what I've found is that nothing beats pen and paper for spontaneity (that and random access information retrieval). For spur-of-the-moment note taking, and for doodling... nope, there's nothing quite like it.

So I will continue to tout sparing our trees, yet I must also quietly acknowledge there's no escaping the ubiquity of the pen.

A Great Country

From the Associated Press (as reprinted in the Sacramento Bee):

Some Chavez opponents have been critical of Penn's visit, saying he is being used for political purposes.

While Chavez made a speech, however, Penn stood at a distance alongside the audience, occasionally jotting down notes. He spoke only when Chavez asked the actor to say a few words.

"I came here looking for a great country. I found a great country," Penn told the crowd.

If Sean Penn truly believes that Venezuela is such a great country (I wouldn't know... and I presume that he states this as a contrast to the good ol' U.S. of A.), why doesn't he just give up his citizenship here and move south of the Equator? As much as he and all the others like him criticizes the U.S. and in the same breath praises another country, deep down they know that they've got it made reaping the benefits of being a U.S. citizen.

I wonder what Venezuela does with their citizens who come to America to criticize their homeland... execute them?

Summer of Love

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love (1967), an era in cultural history where Timothy Leary invited people to tune in, turn on and drop out. Click on the logo for more info.

Okay, I'm a bit late on posting this, as the Summer of 2007 is almost half over. Better late than never I s'pose (and I did buy a copy of Rolling Stone magazine which celebrates the anniversary).

Peace out.

A Bridge Too Far

Too far overdue (that is) in the attention to the bridge's maintenance, resulting in the horrific collapse in Minnesota. This reminds me of when I first moved to Northern California from the southwest desert, whereupon my 2nd cousins explained to me that folks here speed across bridges just to avoid spending any more time on 'em than necessary. Paranoia? Hmm, in this land of earthquakes and now this recent tragedy halfway across the U.S., I'm not so sure.

We have many rivers and the Bay Area with bridges crossing over them. The famous Golden Gate bridge. The Bay Bridge. Dunbarton. San Mateo. Martinez. Carquinez. San Rafael. Foresthill. Sacramento has its share of bridges crossing over the American and Sacramento Rivers.

This is a wakeup call where we should see upcoming investigations into the integrity of our local spans. Still, Ma Nature is a mother to reckon with, her earthquakes being a concern which will continue to fuel a bit of paranoia in many of us.