Humour-ish

Unfortunately, this photoshop from Boing Boing sums it all up:
bush disaster relief

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On a supposed to be funny note, I saw over at San Diego Blog that San Diego has its very own satirical news site, browntide.com. This is good to see, and they have done a great job so far, really solid stuff. Hell, their t-shirts are even good: “My second mortgage is bigger than yours”

This is sort of funny to see. A friend had been talking about doing something like this for a long time. But as usual, we were distracted by something shiny and forgot all about it. I did find a sample story I had done to get an idea of what it would look like though:

Pronunciation Ignored at Local Taco Shop – Jay Blank’s perfect accent when ordering was seemingly unnoticed by a taco shop employee sources reported late Tuesday night. “I don’t get it” said Mr. Blank. “I ordered a Chili Verde Burrito combo, number 4, and made sure I used proper pronunciation En Español. That means, ‘in Spanish'” he explained. “But I could have said chilly verdy for all that guy cared”

Headed up the 395 to Burning Man

We are all packed up and hitting the long road up to Burning Man from San Diego. The plan is to do the 395 route, a bit longer, but much more scenic, and arrive in Reno tonight. A quick shopping trip and we should be on the playa for Friday until late Sunday night. If they have enough bandwidth, you can see a streaming video of Burning Man from the top of Center Camp.

On the way up 395 we are hoping to stop in at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forrest, home to the oldest living thing on the earth (Methuselah, 4,751 years old). We wanted to check out the area last year, but ended up doing side trips for the Tufa of Mono Lake and the ghost town of Bodie instead. Both were great, but this year, it is the time to check out the pines.

Best wishes for the Gulf coast

My New Orleans photos

The Asian tsunami was horrible and devastating. I watched with the rest of the world, and was saddened by the loss. But I also had no context for it. I’ve never been to Asia. I didn’t know anyone affected.

New Orleans is different. I’ve visited, and loved the city. We know people that live and work there. In fact, Anna was just in NO on Friday helping to implement a new client, Delgado Community College. We were both going to visit them next month. Needless to say, their web page isn’t coming up right now, and they aren’t answering phones.

Best wishes for one of the most unique cities and cultures in the USA.

Purple Striped Jellyfish at La Jolla

(All photos for this entry are posted here)

Anna and I finally made it out to La Jolla Shores and Cove this weekend for some snorkeling. Water clarity wasn’t great, but it sure beats red tide. We went mostly to look for the leopard sharks that frequent the waters this time of year. We could see the dark shapes moving around in shallow water, munching on sardines, but couldn’t get close enough to get a good look. There was a lot of surge, so the water was clouded with sand and biological bits. Out further in the water we saw some guitarfish and rays, but most of the time they were are too spooked to let you get a good look. The downfall of snorkeling, limited time to sneak up on stuff.

About the only thing coming out to play in the water with us were the purple striped jellyfish. Our winter rains and runoff made the water quite nutrient rich. This lead to a surge of red tide growth, which lead to a surge in other critters that feed on red tide, which leads to a surge in growth on things that feed on those critters – jellyfish. We saw four at the cove, and a few at the shores. They were easy enough to avoid, but you had to pay attention. Phil got stung (haw-haw) and had to go hit the lifeguards up for some vinegar. A note to anyone out there, if you can’t get to vinegar, use sand to rub the skin where you got stung. It will clean the little stinging cells (cnidocytes) off your skin. Don’t pee or use alcohol, they will just sting you more.

The purple striped jellyfish we saw ranged in size from about a foot to three feet wide. Most were looking a little ragged (torn cups, short tentacles), I suspect from an encounter or two with swimmers. But it is also possible that they are getting to the end of their lifecycle, I’m not sure how long they live for. They were pretty neat to watch swimming around. Most of the time they hung out on the surface, but I did see them dive to about 10 feet on a couple occasions. I didn’t see any of the fried egg or rare black jellyfish, I will have to keep my eye out for them, and the fleeting leopard sharks…

NYC Part 2, very late.

New York Trip Part 2 (Part 1)
(Photos for this entry can be found here)

(Five months later, I have finally gotten around to writing about the rest of my NYC trip)

March 27, 2005 – After seeing ASSSSCAT 3000 we headed over to Tia Pol for some tapas and sangria. The place is bit stylishly sterile, but intimate due to the small quarters. The staff were great and had no problems recommending some food. We listened – Roasted peppers with salt, olives & cheese, lamb kebabs, serrano ham croquettes (amazing), and bread with tapenade and lentil spread. All really good, and at a decent price.

March 28 & 29, 2005
I spent almost two days wandering around Chinatown in New York. It is big, busy, and a lot of fun. I spent hours wandering through stores, or sitting back and people watching. Where else are you going to buy dried seahorses or your durian? Chinatown has so many things that are unusual for most, but at the same time, intriguing. How does that duck in the window taste? Why don’t we all have vendors selling hot green tea on the street during cold rains?

Not far from the Manhattan bridge is the classic New York Noodle Town. We had dinner here and shared a table with two other parties. I love doing that. Frequently you end up sharing a table with a regular customer of the restaurant. They know what’s good and are happy to make recommendations. In our case we sat with some second generation folks that were happy to fill us in. When in Rome.. I had to try the crisp-skinned baby pig. Not quite my thing. The meat is good, but the whole package is a bit too fatty for me. The skin? Well, it was crispy. The veggie and soup dishes we ordered were fantastic.

March 30, 2005 – I spent most of the day wandering around Prospect Park in Brooklyn. On my way to the botanical garden, I had to pass through the Brooklyn Museum’s parking lot, as they were doing construction on part of the park. It turned out to be a nice detour as I passed by a fenced-in graveyard of old New York architecture. The small compound behind the Brooklyn Museum is filled with stone and concrete building relief’s, sculptures, and figureheads. I’m a sucker for that kind of grand architecture, so I was really happy to stumble on it. I wandered around it for a good 45 minutes, checking out the different pieces.

After making the parking lot security nervous for a while, I headed to the botanical garden’s entrance. I was told it was free that day. Bonus. While the lake is a bit slimy, the rest of the area and buildings are well done. I was there in the early spring, so I’m sure it wasn’t even close to its full impact yet. It would be a good visit in the summer. There are also several buildings that house different plants & climates. They are well done, and I could see them being a huge draw in the middle of winter.

After that, it was time to head back to Manhattan to meet Anna at The Frick. It was a good collection and the building is interesting. Definitely worth the price of admission. It all has a very Hearst-like feel to it, which is hardly surprising (get rich, buy art, build a house for it, leave it behind). Then Anna and I trucked up to Town Hall to see the Blind Boys of Alabama.

March 31, 2005
I headed back to Brooklyn to visit the museum. The Brooklyn Museum building is great, and they have filled it with some fantastic exhibits. The museum is sized just about right for my attention span, it doesn’t overwhelm. I loved the Assyrian Reliefs, and the new Visible Storage area was very cool.

After that it was over to Greenwich area to hang out. Crazy guys in velvet suits never get old. A good spot to go coffee or tea shopping is Porto Rico Importing Co on Bleecker. Bags and bags of different coffee, and large tea tins on the walls. I picked up a half pound of black lychee tea that I had enjoyed at Mooncake Foods.

The village also has some good, cheap eats. Dinner at Indian bread Co was great. I had stuffed parathas and a mango lassi. Mmm. Ambience was nice, though I almost choked when the quiet Indian music in the background changed to loud Jay Z. Another great spot for a quick bite is Mamoun’s Falafel. The shwarma I had was different (more crispy than I’m used to), but delicious. Plan to eat on the run, the place is tiny.

As great as NYC is, there are a couple spots the city can improve on. 1) NYC needs public bathrooms. Pay or free, I don’t care. Many times one has to walk a long way before finding a decent cafe to pop in, buy a tea, and use their facilities. In a pinch I can usually I can find a starbucks to use, but more frequently they are out of order or downhill. Mc’ds or others are usually a last resort. 2) Whenever I eat at a cheaper place in NYC, I kill a lot of trees. Most places package everything to go, even if you stay because they don’t want to deal with clean up or a slow down in service. My morning bagel is wrapped in wax paper, wrapped in tin foil, put in a paper sack, which is stuffed full of napkins. It is a bit depressing when the packaging is bigger than the item.

That is just nitpicking though. New York really is the city, and I love it more with every visit.