California

I had forgotten about the weird beauty of California.

I’m an East Coast, Midwest kind of guy. I understand low hills and small trees. I understand geography shaped by eons of wind and rain, and plants shaped by harsh winters. I’m constantly amazed by how big plants will get if you don’t set them back with a nice solid frost except every 25 years or so. The people, too. It does something to them. Living without winter…it doesn’t make you happy, per se, but it does make you Californian.

Explored the mass transit systems of the bay area yesterday. To get from the Oakland airport out to Palo Alto took two bus rides and a train trip. I could have done it the other way around with one bus ride and two train trips…but either way it worked out to less than $10. My way cost me $6.75. A cabbie or a shuttle would have been at least $40. As an extra added bonus, I got to talk to this weird old vietnam vet on his way to the VA. He had “the vision,” see. He predicted that something would happen on Presidents day, and lo and behold, Arafat Died. His next prediction is to avoid sporting events on Thanksgiving day.

Class today went well. Three hours is a long time to hold forth from slides. My flip rate was over the top. 210 slides in three hours. No wonder they were glassy eyed at the end. Tomorrow, I hope it will be a bit more interactive.

The news today is just weird. Naked time on ABC? I’m sorry, but the fact that you can have a show called “Desperate Housewives,” but you can’t advertise it with a naked woman (what else is the show about?) is just silly. Failed self immolation at the white house, by an ex FBI informant? Bowflex machines recalled? And (perhaps weirdest) Grid computing made the front page of CNN today.

Weird.