Happy Veteran’s Day

Heartfelt thanks to all our veterans and their families. An older video, but it gets me every time.

Seeing is Believing

My trusty Honda is capable of more than I knew…

Apparently we’ve traveled 334 miles per hour. Not sure how we managed it, but not too bad.

TV Watch

I’ve been a fan of Law & Order for about 15 years. In recent years the show has focused more on creating sensational and convoluted storylines, as opposed to the traditional “prosecute the killer for the crime” which has been it’s bread and butter. The season premiere last Friday was a further example of this unfortunate trend, providing misleading and incorrect information to frame prosecutions of Bush-era terror policies.

It takes all the real drama out of a murder investigations to have the prosecution based on memos.

Boring, and perhaps the first time that I have ever rooted against the prosecution.

Vehicular Art

The San Francisco Bay Area… like no other place in the world.  Thank goodness I have a camera phone… here are all the vehicles i have seen in the last few months with odd things in or attached to them…

Having a pickup comes in handy for transporting large globes.

Yes, that IS the same truck that was carrying the big globe the day before…

Dino-mobile?  Wha-the-WHAT????

The last of which has a fake doll dressed like a bride in shotgun and when he drives, she starts dancing.  Only in Santa Cruz…

More Personalized Plates

Only in San Francisco…

Irony

If the name of your business is “Parking Solutions,” make sure you know how to park.

Stuff My Mom Won’t Touch – Part I

A while ago I decided I would post about things that my thankfully hygiene-focused mother would never touch, at least not before a thorough cleaning.

As I was retiring my old phone for a new one, I realized that I had not posted these two excellent examples from the St. Augustine tourist shops.

You might recognize the handshake machine and the fortune teller palm thing.

Yep. She’d never touch these. And good for her.

I have no words.

Inspiration

My other blog, Spanish Phrase of the Day, was inspired by my Cuban heritage. My grandparents emigrated from Cuba in the early 1960s and created a wonderful life here in the United States.

My grandmother passed away today at age 94. Her husband died in 1999, so it is nice to know that they are together again. I don’t usually get too personal on SPOTD, but I did write about her and wanted to link to it here.

Still Un-Managing

We made a decision some time ago to avoid too many political diatribes on these august (web)pages. I feel compelled to re-enter the fray this one time due to a recent occurrence that brings to mind President Obama’s poor managerial skills.

A friend of President Obama, prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, was arrested when someone called 911 as he tried to enter his house without a key. He cried racism. Obama commented that he was unaware of the facts of the case, but believed the Cambridge Police acted “stupidly.”

Since then various law enforcement organizations have cried foul, many have vouched for the quality and effectiveness of the arresting officer, and the local district attorney has contemplated releasing recordings that could actually paint Gates in a very poor light if the arresting officer’s assertions are true.

This isn’t the first time that the President has waded into waters far too shallow for his situation. Since his initial poor statements he has made an effort to clarify, but it is still emblematic of his generally poor record on issues that are ultimately inconsequential to the office. I’d worry less if it wasn’t the first time, and I suspect it will not be the last.