We are celebrating by going to dinner at Bella Mia [Link] and then going to see the new Harry Potter movie [Link]. Susie is a big fan of Harry Potter. So this will be a real treat for us. She took today off and went to lunch with her mom. Happy birthday my sweetie!
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Don Wiss [Link to his home page] decided to go and visit some of the Brooklyn retailers that have been getting bad press lately for what some consider to be lousy business practices. Here is what he found [Link].
In this post [Link] Thomas Hawk details an experience he had with a seemingly dishonest New York camera vendor. What a nightmare! I have never had such an experience, but I almost bought my Nikon D2H [Link] from a vendor I had never heard of that offered a fantastic price. Then, at the last minute I decided I would research them and I found horror stories similar to Hawk's. I ended up buying from a local vendor, Keeble and Schucat [Link] for not much more.
Brian and Lynn Johnson [Blog Link] have had their baby. He is a handsome baby boy. When I met Lynn she was almost a kid herself. Then she was named Lynn Benson and was a photojournalism student at SJSU. She was not yet 21 I was in my mid 30's. We became great friends. She and I took a country western dance class together at the Campbell Community Center. Some of the older women (my age) assumed we were more than friends and really looked down their middle aged noses at me, especially when the dance teacher Dave Coffman announced that the graduation dance was going to be at the Saddle Rack to which Lynn said out loud that she couldn't go because she was not yet 21. The glares we both got crack us up to this day. Lynn's husband Brian is a really great guy. Susie and I got to spend some great time with them a little over a year and a half ago when we visited them in Chico. We are very happy for them and their growing family. Here is the email we got from Lynn last weekend:
Hello all,
Brian and Lynn Johnson (nee Benson) are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Alexander Blake. He arrived two weeks late at 3:04 a.m. on Saturday, November 19th, tipping the scales at 9 pounds, 4.5 ounces, and measuring 22 inches long.
Lex is a very sweet baby, and the cutest infant that the good people of Massachusetts have ever seen. Baby and mommy are fine, and daddy is over the moon. It will surprise none of you to know that he has already said his first words: "hi" upon his arrival, and "me" the other day. We'll start the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing exercises next week.
I have attached a picture for your desktop viewing enjoyment. :)
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Lynn
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Here is another cat from the cat show. This is done using fd's Flickr toys [Link].
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The cat in this picture [Link to bigger picture] is named Ralph Loren. He is reportedly one of the top Tonkinese Cats in the nation. We saw him at the CFA International Cat Show earlier this month. He is in his owner's arms here and you can see the absolute faith this sweet cat has in him. His owner is justly very proud. This wonderful cat was lovely and had a fantastic personality. I found this web application [Link] that allows you to make "inspiration poster" like images and thought this would be a good match.
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Sorry about the lousy quality of the picture from last night. This morning it is just me and the kitties. I am going to start working on the turkey soon. Sue took her mom to the hospital at about 4:00 am. and they are still there. Sue's mom got ill in the middle of the night. Other than that things are good. I threw my back out the other day but it is much better.
We had a great experience last night. It was wonderful actually, we took my 8 Indian (as in India) student assistants out to dinner. Picture this: Sue and I telling a group of foreign students the story of the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving and the other Indians.
It was too cute!
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This road calls to me
This is the Dempster Highway [link] . It is the road to the Arctic Circle. Just look at this picture [pic link]. In the land of the midnight sun, as you drive the Dempster Highway, when you reach the Arctic circle, this is what you see [Pic Link]. I remember my dad saying, "when I retire I want to (fill in the blank.) This is the first time I have said that. My dad died before he could realize any of his dreams of retirement. He was 58 when he died. Now I am 50. When I retire I want to drive as close as I can to the top of the world. That is one reason I want a four wheel drive truck with a camper.
I am impressed by this American Truck
My friend Jonathan Chauncy has been suggesting I try driving a Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon. I didn't think much of American trucks, I have been focusing on getting a Toyota Tacoma. But, I tried this truck. I am impressed! This is one sweet truck. With the red tag sale they are having and the end of the year deals, you can knock about twenty percent off the sticker. That is sweet indeed.
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I remember the day
I was in third grade when President Kennedy was killed on this day in 1963. I remember they came over the public address system in my school, Monte Gardens Elementary School in Concord, CA. Everybody was in shock and many in tears. Like the events of 9/11 this was off everybody's radar and nobody seemed to even comprehend that this could happen. It was one of my earliest memories of that unforgettable day so long ago. As I remember everybody was called into the school cafeteria and the principal talked about it to all of us. I guess it was where I learned about death, assasination and murder, that day in 1963.
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Our refrigerator sticks out from its surrounding cabinet about one door's width. It is a small protrusion. We put the cat tease on top of the fridge, thinking that is a place the cats could not get to it. We were wrong. Shadow, our little blue Burmese, has figured out a way to jump up onto that ledge and get to the tease. He is quite bold and when he wants to play he will jump up there, grab the tease with his teeth and toss it down onto the floor. Shadow likes to play a lot.
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Today Sue, Ken and I went to the big cat show in San Mateo. We saw lots of great cats and met Ray and Margaret Stevens, the breeders who brought our great Burmese into our lives. The cat pictured here is a Scottish Fold. We also saw some other fantastic cats. It was a nice show and we had a good time together.
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It has been wonderfully warm riding weather. Today I led a bicycle club ride to Croy Park. It felt good to ride and I was riding strong. It was a 43 mile ride. It was great, 16 people came. We had warm weather, with the fall change, the red leaves and we even saw a coyote. Only one rider had a flat. Lotsa folks stopped to help Sarah fix it. Tomorrow Susie, Kenneth and I are planning to go to a cat show.
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Jack Quinton died
I may work in Academic Technology now but my heart is, and will always be, in Journalism at SJSU. I worked there for the better part of 17 years, I graduated from that department. It is the reason I came back to SJSU twenty years ago to get a job.
I just learned that Jack died when I subscribed to Cynthia McCune's JMC Journal RSS feed [Link]. Oh man, this was one of the happiest guys I have ever known. He was so young, only 62. In this picture he has a smile. He almost always had a smile. I can't remember him not smiling. It is so hard to believe he is gone. You know, you work so long with somebody and share so many happy memories of them, it is hard to imagine them as being gone. Jack's death is like that.
The school is considering a reorganization to better prepare students for a the changes emerging technology is bringing to the field of journalism and mass communications. As he spoke to the faculty he showed the faculty examples on the Internet of what he was talking about using his Tablet PC. In his candid talk he told the faculty about how Mass Communications has changed since the years he was a student in our school and about how this new technology evolved and is continuing to evolve. He answered the faculty's questions. Professor Cynthia McCune recorded his presentation and the audio of that is here: Link, 66 min, 15.4 MB MP-3 File. Student Ryan Sholin was also at the meeting and he offers a student's perspective and on his blog Sholin has links to a lot a lot of the pages that Scoble showed.
This was a great moment and the audio is well worth listening to, a couple of times I think. It is like getting a private lesson from Robert Scoble.
Waiting for Lynn to pop
Last week Lynn Benson Johnson (aka LBJ) posted to this blog that she and husband Brian Johnson is past due for the birth of their child. According to her blog they were going to induce on Sunday [Link]. No new news on that!
We watched the CMAs
Last night Susie and I watched the Country Music Awards. It was neat to see old favorites like Lee Ann Womack, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks. What was especially exciting was seeing newer (for us) artists like Sugarland [Link], Sarah Evans [Link], Brad Paisley [Link], Gretchen Wilson [Link] and Alison Kraus [Link]. Back when she was a pup Lynn and I took a country western dance class together. Not long after Susie and I met at another country western dance class. It is nice to know country music is still alive and kicking up its heels.
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Another manic weekend
After all the traveling I have been doing I spent a weekend close to home. Saturday morning I worked on the bike club newsletter. Then, Sue, her mom Fran and I went for a drive in the country. We stopped first at Burrell School Winery [Link] where we tasted wine, looked at the awesome view and, in the end, bought 15 bottles. Then we drove down Soquel-San Jose Road, had lunch in Soquel, then we went to Corralitos. The Corralitos Market & Sausage Company [Link] has some of the best sausage I have ever had. (Years ago, I was turned on to this place by our friend Jeanette Glicksman [Pic link].)
After Corralitos we went for a fun and lovely drive up into the hills and redwoods. We ended up at Gizdich Ranch [Link] where we got apples and pie. We are not going to make it to Apple Hill this year, so this was our fall outing. After that we went home and dropped off Fran.
That night I started working on our bike club newsletter [Link]. I got a enough of it done that the next morning I could go on a bike ride. I went on Joanne Grimaldi's ride to Morgan Hill. That was a lot of fun despite the wicked head wind coming back. After I got back from the ride I worked on the newsletter more, then Sue and I went to Mountain View and Danish Concepts [Link]. We bought more furniture. Then I went home, we made dinner and I went to back to work on the newsletter and Sue got a migrane.
The final version of the December newsletter is posted [ download here, 1 MB PDF ]. By the time I got done it was late, I was wiped. Man, it was hard to get up early Monday morning.
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The new furniture is here
After waiting so long we just took delivery of the new Ekornes furniture. This is what it looked like before [Link].We are still getting used to it. I think it is great. The cats love to curl up on the blanket on it. It is great. It is very comfortable and opens up the space very nicely.
40 Shads?
Our wild and crazy cat shadow is quite a character. This is the cat that we were told by one vet was going to die. Sue wrote recently about him and the other cats:
"I'm happy to say that Shadow is doing great!! I think you knew that we finally found out he has IBD. He is now on this IVD (innovative vet diet) food exclusively and has been very healthy since we got him started on that diet. Poor little guy always wants to eat everything else in sight but we are good about not letting him eat what he shouldn't. Pixel is doing great. They are still the best of friends. Our older calico cat is coexisting with them but they gang up on her a little more often than we'd like. All things considered, the blend of cats is working pretty well."
When shadow is in a feisty mood he leaps all over the place. Last night we had company over, one of whom was afraid of cats. Of course Shadow decided it would be great fun to leap all around her. Forty Shads? That is what the license plate of an SUV in our parking lot at SJSU says. That is just too cray to imagine!
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We worked on our sunshine proposal
The rest of the weekend went great. For most of Saturday and Sunday we worked on the contract proposal for the new contract coming up next year. This is called the sunshine process where both sides say what they would like to see in the next contract. Negotiations then start from there where both sides work toward a meet in the middle. Saturday evening we had a dinner and a party. Working on the sunshines is very intense work. It takes a lot of input. Not only do we try to improve wages, hours and working conditions for employees, the union strives to improve contract laguage to provide better protections for workers rights. At the dinner CSUEU union president Pat Gantt presented awards to good folks in the union who have made special contributions to our cause. Many of my friends were recipients. I think we have an excellent statewide team!
On the way home I visited Elaine
I left Sunday at about mid-day and headed north. Elaine Whitebook is an old friend of Sue and I who has moved south several years ago. She has a very nice condo in the high desert of Santa Clarita. It is right near Grapevine. We had lunch together at a brew pub and visited. That was very relaxing. She is a good friend.
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I cannot say enough great things about Russell. He is from San Francisco State University and the chair of our union's communications committee and is editor of the newsletter, the University Employee. What great words can I associate with Russell. Integrity, commitment, intelligence, passion for a cause, honesty, humility, devotion, drive, ethics, all these are traits I readily associate with him. In short he is my hero. Nobody could find a better role model than him. He is the consummate labor activist. And, I have known a lot of labor activists. I am proud to be associated with him and anything he does.
SJSU Chapter 307 Highlights
Our great unit seven rep. and statewide vice-chair of unit 7, Vera Acevedo, introduced chapter Vice-President Shannon Staley to the delegates and guests at CSUEU’s division council the weekend of November 5 thru 6 at Manhattan Beach. This is Shannon’s first Division Council. Staley received a warm round of applause! Vera also introduced me.
Gus sings, we sing to Gus!
CSUEU President Pat Gantt introduced Gus Lease and noted his years of service to CSEA. He also told the delegation it was Gus’s birthday. Gus is a music professor at SJSU and a very talented singer. He often sings the Star Spangled Banner at CSEA events. This time the tables were turned for Gus and the university delegates sang happy birthday to Gus. He also received a warm applause and many well wishes.
Our new furniture will be here next week and we are selling these, our old couch. We have been doing a lot of furniture changes, so this a big change for us.
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I Found, one more roll of Kodachrome
I was going through my closet and I found one more roll of Kodachrome 25 slide film today. So, I did not shoot my last roll last month chasing trains on Tehachippi. It took almost two weeks to get my last roll back. So, should I shoot this roll or save it? The slides were great, when I finally got them. I bought 3 rolls of Fuji Provia, thinking I was switching.
I was in the Spartan Daily Today
Today the Spartan Daily ran a story [Link] about my blog post [Link] on the SJSU wireless network. (This blog post is also being ran as a story that will be sent to 15,000 university employees in the CSUEU union publication The University Employee [Link].) The crux of my blog post is that the direction of wireless networking is to provide open access in metropolitan areas, like downtown San Jose.
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Me at 50
Here I am at 50. It is a regular day doing regular things. This evening was our bike club meeting and I took a lot of pictures of folks running for office. So I took my digital camera and strobes. It has been years since I used the strobes and this is the first time I have used it with my digital nikon. It actually worked pretty well. Franz Kelsh took this photo of me.
Steve Jr. lands job at Boeing
Luci sent this in an Email today:
I would like to congratulate Stephen on the acceptance of his dream job. I am happy to announce on 10-28-05 Stephen accepted a Unix Systems Administrator job with Boeing. He was in negotiations until last night and made himself a very good deal with his current company and Boeing.
That is really great news for them!
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A team from SJSU recently made a presentation at the Educause national conference in Orlando, Florida. Reportedly there was standing room only for their presentation. I am very proud to be associated with this. Tablet PC's rock and have the potential to really change the way computers are used in education. ~Steve
This is really great stuff!
From Malu Roldan: Here are links to the video that SJSU Media Producer Bob Reynolds produced on SJSU's Tablet PC usage. Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno and I just came back from presenting it at the Educause national conference and it was very well received.
The links (you will need real media player:)
Broadband | Medium | Small (dial-up)
Fifty years ago, on September 15, 1955 I was born. Less than three months later Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a bus to a white man. It is amazing to me to think that in just my life time's worth of time it was expected that she would. When asked to move to let a white bus rider be seated Parks refused. She did not argue and she did not move. The police were called and Parks was arrested.
To me, in the here and now, the idea that a person could be arrested for this and that it could be considered a crime seems absurd. Yes, we have a long way to go. Also, we have come a long way thanks to Rosa Parks and many who shared her courage. The day she died recently, a short time after my 50th birthday, is a sad day. We lost a genuine American hero.
The statue of Smith and Carlos at SJSU is an important statue. It is a symbol of activism, but it is also a symbol of the struggle of black people in our society to be free and to break the chains of oppression that still bind them. This is an important icon for us all to see and remember. It was not that long ago that people had to give up seats on a bus, just because they were black. Thank you Parks and Smith and Carlos and so many more...
I have a bad case of truck itch. I haven't had it this bad since 1991. That is the year I bought my last truck. This was my fourth truck and my first four-wheel drive.
In 1991, after Candy died, I needed a reliable vehicle for hauling around my three sons and a few of their friends. I didn't want something girly, so I bought the Explorer. Sue, Ken and I turned 100,000 miles on this truck on the north shore of the Columbia River in Washington. We had some great adventures in this truck. I made many trips into and out of "camp" in it. We did a lot of train chasing trips in it. We went to Canada and made a cross-country trip with the boys in it. One wonderful memory is when we stopped at four corners and laid the camera down on the exact spot where four states come together and made the photo of four Sloans in four states.
Susie and I dated in this truck. We fell in love on a trip to Mendocino in this truck. A family bought this truck when we bought the Integra in 1999. I have only made it to camp one time since then, in Jeff's Suburban. I loved the ability to go where no car could go, where no two-wheel vehicle could go. I never had to be pulled out of anyplace in my Explorer, it climbed great. With a manual transmission and a low-four gear it had a granny tranny that could walk up a wall.
My crazy dream now? I want to drive to Alaska. I want to drive to the Artic circle, to where the road ends. I want to drive to the top of the world, perhaps with Susie and a grandchild or two!
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With the emergence of enabling technologies, like blogging and podcasting. Everybody has access to powerful global communications tools to post ideas to the Internet. This seed change has marked the end of business as usual. Using search engines like Google and even more, Technorati these Internet posts can be found, linked to and remixed in ways unimaginable just a short time ago. It does not require the blessing of institutions to make these posts accessible.
The result is a good thing. This is a conversation where ideas are free and easy to give, get and rehash. Everybody must be able to join the conversation. It is everybody's loss to expect employees to check our brains at the door as we walk onto our jobs. Business, as the Cluetrain Manifesto says, is a conversation and businesses are no longer walled cities holding those conversations inside. Workers are empowered and have plenty to say. It is to everybody's benefit to let them have a voice.
Right up there with a root canal!
On Friday I had a sigmoidoscopy [Link]. Yes, I would wish this on my worst enemy. It starts off by them giving you these two bottles of laxative to drink. In essence they give you the intestinal equivalent of the flu. If "the procedure" were not bad enough, the "medication" is far worse. I was sick for almost all weekend. I slept almost all day Saturday. I was not able to make my own bike ride. Finally today I started to feel better. I had to do something fun.
Today I test drove a Toyota Truck
I have been wanting a four wheel drive truck for some time. I loved the ability to go in the back country when I had my Ford Explorer. It was a great truck and I put around 150,000 miles on that truck. I have not had a pick-up since the F-150 that Candy was killed in. Before that I had a Chevy S-10 which Candy had totaled in an accident near Escalon. I loved having the campers and made some great camping trips with the boys when they were little. But, after Candy died I needed a family vehicle. After Susie got the new Accord I inherited her old car, the 1999 Integra, which I gotta admit is a gas to drive. But, I want something that I can take camping into the back country. The Toyota Tacoma truck was also great fun to drive and it has surprising room to sit in the back. There is plenty of room for a little grandchild to go camping with grandpa and grandma. I took a picture of it with my camera phone. I would like to get a truck like this and put a camper shell on it. This is the first pickup I have driven in a long time.
Garage Sale Time
Susie, Diane and Fran had a garage sale this weekend. On the east coast I guess they call these tag sales. They sold a lot of stuff. It was a busy weekend.
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Podcast thirteen, 44.55 minutes - October 19, 2005, Another conversation with Steve Greene.
To listen to audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
San Jose State University professor, friend and former co-worker Steve Greene [Link] discusses the future of SJSU's School of Journalism and Mass Communications (J&MC), his journey to four J-schools in four weeks and his proposal to reorganize J&MC. There's some pretty major changes being proposed by Greene and explained in this conversation, including a proposal to cease daily publication of the school paper, The Spartan Daily [Link].
A train photo of mine, that is better than the one shown here, ran in today's version of the on-line daily train E-newsletter Altamont Press [Link]. It was cool seeing it be used there. This is a neat web publication and a real example of the enabling ability of on-line delivery for niche markets.
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At 6pm this evening Jeff was interviewed on Mortgage Magic, a show on the local Comcast Cable channel. It was great seeing him on TV. He did a great job and I was a very proud parent.
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Last week's trip was rich, with many fine moments and memories to savor. I loved chasing trains and spending time with dear friends and doing good and important work. All this and more was wonderful. I did a lot of photography and podcasting and even went dancing. It was rich, like a glass of fine Cabernet.
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Today was the last weekday whine and dine ride of 2005. It was a fun ride and we concluded it with a ride up Cat's Hill in Los Gatos. There I asked them to pose for a picture and a local house cat came up to check out the action.
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It was a General Council full of great moments. In my opinion the greatest was the election of Hylah Jacques as Executive Vice President of CSEA. In my opinion she is the best of the best. She is among the hardest working, smartest, most honest, fair minded, kind hearted and all-around greatest people I have ever known, ever. Her election is a great victory even for the people who voted against her, because they could not have elected better. She is the best in my book!
Union business being done today
Today is the day when most of the hard core business is done. Today we pass our budget and deal with changes to our policy and bylaws. Today we shape the future of our union. Then, we go home. It is intense work and a lot of folks are being heard.
Happy birthday Steve Jr.
Today my oldest son Steve turned 29. For the first time. Happy birthday son!
The heart of the union
The union is more than meetings, contracts and representation. It is about people! At every GC we celebrate the friendships we have built with each other at a GC dance. It is great fun!
This is our CSUEU delegation to General Council 2005
The University Employee Delegation
These are the folks who are representing university staff employees at this statewide union meeting. They are fine hard working folks who are sincere, who care about the pay, working conditions and the benefits of university employees. I am proud to be associated with them.
Here are some recordings of conversations from early Sunday October 9, 2005; the second day of CSEA General Council 63 in Anaheim:
Here are two recordings of conversations from Saturday October 8, 2005; the first day of CSEA General Council 63 in Anaheim:
Andy Stern "gets it!"
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Andy Stern spoke with university employees Friday evening on the eve of the California State Employees Association's 63rd General Council. Stern gave a rousing come to Jesus speech about the importance of the labor movement. Then he stepped from behind the lectern. Stern listened as well as talked and the result was a very lively conversation. Stern, as head of SEIU, recently led a group of formerly AFL-CIO unions out of the AFL-CIO to form a new organization named Change-to-Win.
In his Friday talk Stern, whose SEIU is growing in union membership, spoke about why it was necessary for SEIU to leave the AFL-CIO. He answered the concerns of folks, like myself, who do not like to see the house of labor divided. He cited declining membership in the labor movement overall and the seeming unwillingness of the AFL-CIO to change its strategy to meet the demands of a changing world.
What really impressed me about Stern is that, he gets it! He referenced Freedman, who's book The World is Flat I am currently reading. He spoke about globalization and the role of unions in a changing global economy. I was able to ask Stern a couple of questions about globalization and the public perception of the labor movement. Stern answered my questions. He spoke about global organizing to meet global markets, unions embracing emerging technology and how unions need to be reorganized to effectively organize workers globally. In short, I was very impressed!
Fiscal issues in CSEA
The California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) is one of four organizations in the California State Employees Association (CSEA). Kathryn Plunkett is on the statewide CSEA fiscal committee. Last night, after Stern left, she spoke to us about the ongoing struggle within the statewide organization over central support issues. Central Support is the CSEA entity that provides support services and coordinates activities involving all the four affiliated CSEA organizations. There is a big conflict within the CSEA affiliates about how strong and well funded Central Support should be. Kathryn is a long time close friend of mine. I spent a lot of time in Friday's fiscal committee meeting. It was a long day for Kathryn and a hard day as she and her allies were almost constantly being out voted on issues that are core for university employees.
The meeting of university employees Friday night went to about 10pm. After the meeting we went to a hospitality suite where we discussed the day's events until the early morning hours of the next day. I had a great long discussion with CSUEU Chapter 307 president Jeff Baldwin. I like Jeff a lot and really enjoyed our conversation. Today, at 1pm, the 63rd General Council Convenes.
I am at GC, the big university staff employee union meeting in Anaheim, and the pre-council committee meetings are happening. I just took this photo of Gus Lease, who is the guy I spoke to in my recent podcast with him [Link]. Gus is a great guy and I admire him very much!
I also just met Steve Aunan, the webmaster for CSEA. He is a sharp guy, and is a blogger, that is so cool! Here is his CSEA blog [Link]. I have taken this photo and another photo of Fred Cordova for a daily newsletter we are doing of the convention.
I will be posting more about the union meeting on my union blog [Link].
After Mojave, I went to Anaheim
I arrived in Anaheim today (this is being written Thursday night) and am attending the union meeting. Thursday morning I watched trains from, and blogged from, Mojave. It was a rail hotbed, and I saw tons of trains. This view is from my motel room in Mojave:
The train action was really awesome. Later Thursday I slipped across downtown LA during the mid-day traffic lull and got settled in here in Anaheim for the big union meeting. It has been great seeing some of my old friends in the union. I met Perry Kenny and Steve Alari, I haven't seen them in years. This is going to be quite a convention! I even got to the gym in Anaheim, so I guess I am getting settled in.
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Madison is one
Yesterday was Madison's birthday. It is hard to believe my sweet grand-daughter is one. She is growing like a weed. I am on a trip to a union meeting in Anaheim today. I miss her and look forward to seeing her when I return.
From Mojave
It is a crystal clear morning in Mojave, California. I am sitting here next to the railroad tracks watching trains go by and sipping my morning coffee. Next to me is a Union Pacific freight train with three engines on it. Another train just went past, one of a parade of freight trains I have seen this morning. Mojave is not far from Lancaster and Palmdale but in terms of thinking it is very far. Lancaster and Palmdale are like the furthest reaches of the LA suburbs but Mojave belongs to the desert. In Palmdale and Lancaster there are Starbucks and 24 Hour fitness. Burger King and Motel 6 is as city as it gets in Mojave. Mojave is also a railroad town, a major junction for the two biggest California railroads and there is a constant roar and commotion of trains. But, despite the hubbub of rail activity here what owns Mojave is the wind. In the afternoon the desert zephyrs kick up and anything that can move even a little, does move. This is also the home of some of the most free thinking aeronautic folks in the world. The first non-stop non-refueled flight around the world, the first civilian flight into space and many more amazing flights took off from here. So it is the wind and the desert and the trains and the planes that make this place Mojave. Mojave is not LA in the least little bit. Mojave is just Mojave. There is no other place like Mojave in the world.
Bealville
Yesterday I drove to south from San Jose to the Tehachippi mountains. I arrived in Bealville, California to find a train in the siding there. He was waiting for another train to pass in the opposite direction. So, I went to the top of the little hill there and photographed the train that came the other way. I know the routine there very well. I have been coming here for about 38 years taking pictures of trains. I have come here with my father, my wives and my children at different times through the years. I have seen trains with loved ones who have passed from my life here. Yesterday was my sweet grand-daughter Madison's birthday. Soon, it will be my grand-children whom I will take here.
Over the years I have shot many thousands of rolls of Kodachrome slide film here and other railroad places. Yesterday I shot my last roll ever. I finished that roll of film and switched to my digital camera. Then, I kept shooting. There is a tree on top of a hill in Bealville that overlooks the tracks. That would be a good place to leave my ashes after I die. It has a great view of the tracks and the passing trains.
Elaine
Yesterday evening Elaine Whitebook took me to dinner to celebrate my recent birthday. It was great seeing Elaine. She is a really good friend. We talked late into the night. She was a regular on our whine and dine bicycle rides and moved south more than a few years ago. It was a very pleasant evening.
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Yesterday we had a training and I took the Help Desk Staff out to lunch. We went to Shalimar [Link], a local San Jose Restaurant where they trained me in the fine Indian Cuisine. They are a great group of young people. Pictured here are Kamlesh, Akshay, Kishwer, Pranav and Shilpina.
Today I am heading south, to a big union meeting in Anaheim.
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On Saturday we went to the Italian Festival at Santana Row. It was actually more like a craft show with a few Italian things thrown in. You could buy all kinds of nick-nacks but despite it being a very hot day there was no place to buy gelato and the wine booth sold wine made in Gilroy and the beer booth sold beer from Colorado and only one booth sold only one kind of pasta. They did have dancing there, if you like dancing on concrete. It was crowded and parking was a nightmare, other than that it was fun. The Vintage Wine Merchants [Link], a Santana Row wine merchant, had a tasting of Barolos, so we did get to taste some great Italian Wines.
Sunday was a more relaxing day. We just relaxed for a good part of the day and then did some errands. I went for a mountain bike ride.
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I did this podcast last week on my vacation. It was fun going to Berkeley and talking with Fred Beshears. He is a sharp guy and a good speaker. I really enjoyed the visit!
Edupodder Podcast, A conversation with Fred M. Beshears.
To listen to audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
Fred Beshears, the University of California Senior Strategist of Educational Technology Services talks about the high cost of textbooks for college and university students. He is proposing application of open source, creative commons solutions, based on the UK Open University [Link], as a partial solution to this serious student cost issue. This conversation occurred September 20, 2005 on the Berkeley campus.
A conversation with Gus Lease, Looking at the labor movement in the California State University System.
To listen to audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
SJSU Music Professor and good friend Gus Lease has been with SJSU since 1950. He joined the California State Employees Association (CSEA) before it was a union. This union now does not include faculty, but then it was an association that everybody who worked at the university could belong to, including managers. He describes how the association evolved and discusses the upcoming statewide CSEA meeting, General Council.
We had a great time on our trip to the Santa Barbara County wine country. It was very pleasant and I look forward to going back again after knowing what we learned. We had some great wine, great food and great times.
Seeing the whales at Pismo was a perfect cap to the trip. I had heard people talk about seeing the whales along the coast but I never imagined that we would.
That was something I never thought I would see. I wish I had had a bigger telephoto lens, but at least we have the memories.
The Road Less Traveled
There is a poem by Robert Frost called The Road Less Traveled [Link]. It is an inspirational poem about choices and the thrill and challenge of not taking the easy choice or the well worn path but instead about the challenge to take the chance of taking the less traveled path and all its associated risk. Author Scott Peck wrote a similar named book [Link] that once served as a powerful inspiration for me to take that path when I was facing a major life changing decision in my life. It is with sadness that I learned that he died recently. He was a good man, a good author and he helped a lot of people live better and more meaningful lives, myself included.
Wine Reviews
I have posted winery reviews on my opinion blog [Link]. This link is to our tasting at Babcock Winery [Link] on the last day. More reviews will be coming.
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The Hitching Post and Sideways Sequel News
On Saturday night we went to the Hitching Post [Link] and had the best steak I remember ever having. I think it was the best steak I have ever had in my life, but after turning 50, I don't know. It was hopping. The waitress at the Hitching Post said that since "The Movie" (as Sideways is called there) business has increased 40%. at the Hitching Post. She said they just learned last Wednesday (at the Hitching Post) that they are doing a Sideways sequel soon. She said that now she will have to kill herself. It will be so cool if they do a sequel to Sideways and and I guess that the folks at the Hitching Post would possibly be the first to know if the folks at Fox/Searchlight were going to shoot it there.
Anyway, the food at the Hitching Post was better than I expected. The wine was superb. We had the Highliner (as featured in "the movie." It was so good we bought another bottle to take home. I had heard they had went down hill after "the movie" but I guess they made adjustments. It was fun watching them do the oak wood barbecue, (you can see this in "the movie.")
We got naughty in Neverland
The next day was Sunday and it was back to Solvang for breakfast, then we did the only wine tasting we did this day. We stopped at Babcock Winery and Vineyards [Link]. Man, there wine is great! They have some great Chardonnays with less than 30% MLF, killer Syrahs, a yummy Super-Tuscan and surprisingly good Bordeauxs. They make an out-of-this-world Meritage blend. I know this is not Bordeaux country, but they grow grapes in a vineyard called "Hidden Valley." Reportedly this area has been getting quite a bit of acclaim from folks like Robert Parker and Wine Enthusiast has name them one of the top 100 wineries of the year. There Pinots are on par with Sanford. Plus, the Sanford family has sold their interest in Sanford. So we did the naughty, we joined the Babcock wine club! We decided to quit Sanford, after all these years.
A whale of a good time
We came home via highway one to Pismo Beach where we stopped to stroll out on the pier. While out there we were delighted to see a number of migrating whales pass by. What a wonderful end to a great trip. So far, turning 50 has been pretty cool!
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Fun factoid:
According to our waitress, the record at Andersen's Pea Soup in Buellton, California is 17 bowls of soup consumed by one person in one meal. I had two bowls and felt like a stuffed pig. How can anybody consume 17 bowls? That is about two gallons of soup.
Wine
We had another great day of wineing and dining. We went to Sanford [Link], Melville [Link], Buttonwood [Link] and Rideau [Link]. The last two were from a sudden lack of imagination (we found coupons for free tasting.) They were very commercial. But, both seemed to have good value wines. Rideau has a premium line, but that was not included in the tasting. We liked a few of their wines and bought their 2003 Solvang Tempranillo. Their facilities are nicer, much nicer than Buttonwood. The Buttonwood wines were good for the price, but their tasting room was loud and blared music that made it more suitable for the college crowd.
Our friend Tyler recommended Melville, and that was a real treat. The pourer there was great. I liked their Chardonnays, which have lower malolactic fermentation (MLF) and are crisp and more like the European style of white burgundy. These were very yummy. Their Santa Rita Hills Pinot was quite good, but we already have a lot of Sanford Pinot. They make a Syrah that is very different, inky and spicy. Susie and I liked it but not as much as Tyler, whom we picked up a bottle for. We got the Chardonnay.
Susie and I are members of Sanford and had a very enjoyable drinking experience there. We have quite an inventory of their wines already, but Susie really like their Sauvignon Blanc, and so we bought that. Their Chardonnays were good, their 2003 Chardonnay: Santa Barbara County is great with partial MLF and similar to the Melville and the 2003 Chardonnay: La Rinconada Vineyard is a buttery 100% MLF powerhouse. We have some of each already, so we bought neither. To me Pinot is king at Sanford and we tasted the 2002 Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, the 2002 Pinot Noir, La Rinconada Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills and the 2002 Pinot Noir, Sanford & Benedict, Santa Rita Hills. The latter two were knock your socks off good and we bought the Sanford & Benedict as we did not have that.
We really took our sweet time at Sanford and Melville. These were real treats! Thank you Tyler for the suggestion.
Food
Elaine Whitebook [Pic Link] recommended the Solvang Restaurant [Link] to us and it was a winner! Thanks to Elaine we had Aebleskivers for breakfast. They were really yummy. I had not had them for years and I got to introduce Susie to them. That was too much fun! Then we went walking around the Danish-like town of Solvang before we went wine tasting. We later had lunch in Lompoc and saw the bowling alley that was in Sideways. Ohhh-Ahhhh...
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