I’m not going to bore anyone with the details of our week in Southern California, nor the four days of driving to and fro. But, I will share a few entertaining bits and random mind drippings from the travel here.
We passed a number of military vehicles (construction-type mainly) on the way through Arizona, and not far behind them were some buses. The juxtaposition was merely a coincidence, but the buses have covered windows and the Department of Homeland Security emblazoned on their sides. It made me think of obvious plots of conspiracy theory movies based on some version of the Argentinean Disappeared.
While crossing the Californian desert, I saw billboards advertising special sales on breast implants (only 3500 dollars!), followed closely by billboards advertising artificial turf for the lazy homeowner. Fake boobs and fake lawns.
Although I continue to not find El Paso appealing, they do have a Paulina Rubio concert coming up next week. Yum.
The Morongo tribe has a name just made for a casino. “Yes, Kemosabe, moron go to casino, Morongo Casino.”
Social Distortion has a new album out. Well, a new song on a greatest hits album.
We made it back home, all safe and sound. Whew!
More details later.
Because people are paranoid about (mostly) imaginary threats, we’ve become so afraid of the boogey man that our children never leave home except under armed guard. An article in the Daily Mail indicates that this is not isolated to the United States, but is seen in the UK as well.
When I was in elementary school, I walked to school without parental escort, even in the winter (snowbanks six feet high, so far as I could tell). I even wandered over to my Great Aunt’s house, which ended strangely as I miscounted the number of blocks and ended up at a stranger’s house who got me back to my family.
Later, we moved to an even smaller town, and I could wander anywhere in town when I wanted to. My brother and I would go to the creek with the other kids, and jump in the rock-infested waters off the abandoned and rust-crusted bridge. David ended up with one of his many head wounds this way, but that didn’t stop the mud-sliding fun the next week, no way.
Even when we moved to southern California, when I was 14, we didn’t end up incredibly restricted in our movements. We would ride our bikes to school, all of two miles away on suburban streets in Los Angeles County (the horror). We would ride our bikes down the L.A. River, all the way to Seal Beach (13 miles). We never even ran into the Terminator once. We did see pelicans, though. And terns.
And now our kids are put in cars to take them to parks. No wonder we’re all getting fatter.
Note to self: fix bicycle.
La Tienda is having a sale on whole Serrano hams. I love that stuff, but even on sale, it’s not really cheap. The cheapest is a 12 pound boneless ham for a mere…$189. Sure, let me get two!
Oooh, pretty. I want one. My Clie is about dead, the Palm “next big thing” is a useless piece of telephone-tethered nonsense, and laptops tend to be not very portable these days (19 inch screen, really?). So, an ultraportable for less than the cost of a new car is very neato. Too bad it’s just a reference design so far. Hopefully it’ll show up soon.
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