Angie and I decided to escape to the desert again this weekend. The thought/understanding of having a back yard of the immensity of the California deserts grows on me. The areas are vast. So vast, it humbles the largest of thoughts and comforts the smallest.
At the same time I am repulsed by urban New Yorker's thinking my upstate farm is their back yard. The significant difference (in fact) is that part of the California desert is the largest national park in the lower 48 states and other California deserts are largely protected.
In Shoshone, CA (Population 31) Gas was $5.35 a gallon for the cheap stuff.
This past week my Sister drove from Maine to Orange county CA in her van camper. It was 3174.9 miles in 7 days, one way.
Angie and I have been adventuring in Southern California. Traffic is almost funny here. You are on highways (not me very often) up to 8 (or more) lanes doing a stop-and-go to 20 miles an hour. When will we finally solve the problem not as a more lanes are needed, but as how do we make a single lane go faster? There are lots of different types of parallel ports (multi-lanes) on computer interfaces. I don't think we've applied these same protocols to highways. Think about how fast USB is these days, or the previously considered impossible 10GB over Cat-5 copper (both single lane). With the increased speed in a single lane you will need to give up some freedom. Fine, if you want freedom stay in the slow lanes with your 8085 8 bit processor. The fast lanes will enjoy car-to-car awareness and safer speeds consistently well over 100MPH, not stop and go to 20 MPH. Aircraft pilots know all about the freedom -safety-speed tradeoff.
An article about the anthropology.
Here are some pics from our recent adventures along the coast. One of our stops was San Juan Capistrano Mission. When I was very small my grandparents gave me a brass/bronze bell that was a tourist trinket from the El Camino Real. I liked the heaviness, the ring tone, the patina. I thought about what was written on the bell and the Spanish/Franciscan/California meanings. It was a delight to actually get there. It is very strange that some things stay with you.
Amazingly, I found a bell for sale in the gift shop almost exactly like the one I had a child that I studied so closely.
Angie and I took a few different metros trains to Santa Monica. It takes awhile from Costa Mesa, but it sure beats taking the car. Besides, the Leaf wouldn't make it there and back on one charge anyhow.
I spent this year's birthday traveling alone again. I can't say I like that, but I had some ice cream cake a few days later.
I went to a the CIDM conference in Durham NC. I didn't speak this year, but it was good. There was quite a bit of new stuff. This is a pic of me with George Bina. He has to be one of the most respected people in the XML industry.
The koi fish seem to be wrestling in the pond outside my apartment window. The ducks even get into the fray. Good show to watch while I am drinking morning coffee.
Angie and I walked from the apartment to the Newport Beach Pier.
I saw at least 2 Lamborghini, 5 Ferrari, 1 Rolls Royce and a bunch of other rare species of urban crawlers. It is the natural habitat for these machines.
We are back from a road trip to Las Vegas. We met my brother for his birthday out there. The last time I was there was in 2006 My blog post from 2006. I don't feel any strong intrinsic need to go there then or now. But it is a well known destination and certainly the road trip from SoCal to Vegas is the iconic American road trip. We stopped in San Bernadino to visit the original site of McDonalds. While in Vegas, we may have enjoyed "downtown" better than the strip. I didn't even know it existed, but there are neon signs, cheesy clubs, cheesy casinos, cheesy buffets and even cheesier people.
