Home & Back Again

LA was nice and warm. And as always the food was good. It was a pretty relaxing time down there. Saw a few friends and the grandparents got to spend some quality time getting to know the little monster in my life.

As usual there is not that much to do at my parents place. A couple years ago, after we purchased the Game Cube, we retired the N-64 to my parents place. Now trips down there meant countless hours spent with Dr. Mario. Stay away from this game. It's somewhat addictive.

After years of driving up and down Interstate 5, I decided to try something a little different. I told the wife I was taking the scenic route and would go through the dessert instead of LA. We started up the 15 to the 399 to the 58 to the 99 to the 46and caught Interstate 5 around a place called Wasco. We went through countless towns with colorful names that I had never heard of before. I'm sure most of you will need a map if you're interested in finding Adelanto or Tehachapi.

As expected, parts of the drive were boring, and parts were boring. For a guy like me it's not everyday you see Joshua trees or stark mountains poking out of the sand. It was nice. What I wasn't expecting was dangerous. At one point near the town of Mojave, we went right through and honest to goodness sandstorm. I mean when we looked to the left, we could see a wall of moving sand that reached the sky. I mean when we caravaned through at 15 miles per hour, I could barely see the car 10 feet in front of me. I mean we could hear the sand beating against our car like it was shot out of a gun. I haven't checked the paint that carefully, but I wouldn't be surprised if the left side of my car was now a slightly different shade from the right side.

So yeah, we added about two hours to the drive and risked an adventure that we probably didn't need to, but now that it's said and done, I'm glad we did. I've now seen something new that I never thought I'd see in my life.

Goats

For some reason we started a tradition a couple years ago of buying a goat at Heifer International. Check it out at www.heifer.org. This year thanks to the efforts of a coerced bakesale and corporate matching, we managed to raise over $1000 for this charity. That's enough for a couple goats. Just a tiny bit of good news during this hectic holiday season.

Bad Gas

I think I'll try the dialogue thing again. It worked for ancient Greek geeks and for the moment it works for me. If anyone has an idea who should be cast in these roles let me know.

Detroit: We make bad cars. We know we do. So we need your help to stay in business. If we throw lots of money at you, can you make this global warming thing go away?

D.C.: Well, thanks to Al, Katrina and some dying polar bears, people are starting to overcome the bad science argument we've been throwing out there for years. Even if the CO2 levels aren't changing, the political climate sure is. I'll try and protect you, but you've got to give me something.

Detroit: But we're losing money. How about that California thing about fuel efficiency? If we make more fuel efficient cars, we're doomed.

D.C.: Yeah, but tens of millions of people want it, including the Gubernator. I know he can't run for President, but he still scares me.

Detroit: Please... Pretty please.

D.C.: Okay, how about this, we'll have make it part of our new energy bill. We'll continue to let my oil company buddies get billions in tax breaks, and we'll pass some wimpier efficiency standards. Stuff you can do now without any effort whatsoever. And when it passes, I'll get the EPA to say California's plan has been pre-empted by federal law. Then they can't touch you.

Detroit: Not idea, but if that's the best you can truly do.

D.C.: I think it is.

Detroit: Okay. Screw California.

Conversation with Al and Jordan at the North Pole.

Al: Hey Rid, what's up?

Rid: Al? Is that you? How is Oslo?

Al: Not bad. I'm surprised how much they like to party up in Norway. But people are making too big a deal of the whole thing.

Rid: Don't be silly, Al. You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize this year. I'm happy that the prize committe was able to look beyond the usual human rights advocacy and nation-state diplomacy to recognize that the environment is one of the most important factors in peace and war. It's all about scarce resources that are becoming more and more scarce.

Al: Well thanks. Hey, and I took your advice about the speech. Instead of using the same joke I've been using to open all my Inconvenient Truth talks, I started with a homily about Alfred Nobel. I think it went over pretty well.

Rid: That's great.

Al: Anyway, Rid, I've got a favor to ask.

Rid: Anything. What do you need?

Al: Well, I know there are great scientists all over the world studying the impact of global warming. There are projects studying polor bears on one end of the globe and there are projects studying penguins on the other. But until just now it's slipped my mind to ask someone who actually lives at the North Pole.

Rid: Santa?

Al: Yeah. But the problem is I've got a pretty busy schedule and...

Rid: You haven't talked to him since that night in San Felipe with the the marguiritas and the fisherman's three daughters, have you?

Al: Well, that did end a bit awkward...

Rid: Okay, I get it. I'm pretty busy at work, but I think I can squeeze it in on Sunday. I'm just hoping he's available. This is a pretty busy time of year for him.

Al: Great, thanks. You should bring Jordan up there. I'm sure she'd love a chance to meet the guy.

Rid: Yeah, maybe I'll do that. She probably needs the brownie points to get off the naughty list. Hey, so you're sure about '08?

Al: Yeah, Rid. I don't know what I was ever thinking running for president the last time. You couldn't pay me enough to do that job.

Another bad gun day.

The headline read, "Mall shooter hid assault rifle in sweatshirt." I'm thinking the NRA is probably going to come out with a campaign outlawing baggy sweatshirts. People don't kill people, baggy sweatshirts kill people.

Occssionally these seemingly random acts of violence just pop up. The thing that most people don't seem to notice is that this happens disproportionately in the US because we love our guns and we don't seem to mind that crazy people, even those with criminal records, get their hands on them.

Okay, I'm not an anti-gun nut. I don't own one and I never will, but I actually think the 2nd Amendment was written to protect that as a right. It was written at a different time and place, and I would probably take it out if I was writing the Constitution today. But all rights have limitations, and it's perfectly reasonable to say 1. Crazy People should not own guns. 2. Assult rifles are not necessary for personal protection.

That doesn't seem so difficult, but for some reason it is. This isn't new ground. See Bowling for Columbine. But for some reason we're forced to go over it over and over again and more random folks end up with unwanted bullets.

I blame the NRA. They've gone off the deep end as to their gun advocacy.