Split

Well, it's been a long time since I've been on a computer, but here I am on one in Split. I thought that most of the marinas would have WiFi, but I was wrong. I hope that from here on in I'll have better access to the internet, but there are no guarantees.

We've had good weather and good sailing, even though the winds have been pretty strong at times, and usually right on our nose. The Mediterranean ties to moor the boats can be very tricky, but so far I haven't embarrassed myself too badly. When I have more time at a computer, and especially my baby computer, I'll post some pictures and tell some stories.

From here, we're off the Hvar, Vis, and Korcula, and then we'll head up to Dubrovnik a week from tomorrow.

I was hoping that I'd see a headline that Hillary had finally packed it in, but no such luck. Oh well, maybe next stop.

I love the urinals at Schipol

Here I m in Trogir after relatively uneventful flights from Seattle. At the stopover in Amsterdam, I had to get a shot of the coolest urinals in the world! Someone has a sense of humor. They've embedded the image of a fly in the urinal to give the guys something to aim at! Click on the picture for a closer view.


This is the view from the window of the hotel I'm staying at. As my T-shirt says, "Life is Good"

It seems like I haven't slept in forever, but I've got the wireless internet figured out (other than the fact that the Blogger sign-in screens are all in Serbo-Croatian) in the hotel, so more posts could follow.

The Modern Traveler

In preparation for my Croatian sailing adventure, I've been putting stuff aside that I don't want to forget. Here's my stack of essential electronic goodies. They include my baby laptop (with assorted memory sticks), my camera, a marine VHF handheld radio, an IPod, an FM adapter (to play the IPod through an FM radio), a cellphone, a European plug to American wall plug adapter, and a 12VDC/110VAC 100W inverter. And don't forget all the assorted battery chargers and connecting cables. You'd almost think that some bright person would come up with a family of electronics that all used the same batteries and the same charger. Kinda like the battery-operated power tool sets you see at Home Depot.

In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to get another bag to carry all this stuff.

This Week in Politics

It was an interesting week on the political scene. Hillary blew Obama away in West Virginia on Tuesday, but then she disappeared from the news for the rest of the week. The Obama folks had something to do with that by having Edwards announce his endorsement of him the next day, but it was Bush who did Obama the biggest favor. By calling Obama (while not mentioning his name) an appeaser in front of the Israeli Knesset allowed Obama to attack Bush directly. When McCain came to Bush's defense, Obama was able to continue his rebuttal and able to link Bush and McCain directly. Hillary played a bit part by supporting Obama, but the only other mentions of Hillary in the news were the "poor Hillary" stories about how dispirited her campaign is. So by the end of the week, Obama is acting presidential and Hillary has disappeared. Cool.

The California Supreme Court cleared the way for gay marriage in California. I hope this doesn't have the same effect that the Massachusett's Supreme Court ruling in 2004 had. That ruling prompted a bunch of redneck states to put "Protection of Marriage" referenda on their November ballots which in turn drove up the redneck turnout which drove up Bush's vote. Actually, I don't think it'll have much effect this time 'round. Most states that support a law like that already have one. As far as I'm concerned, gays and lesbians should have the right to civil unions, which give the partners all the same legal rights as marriage. Marriage, in my mind, should be a civil union that is "sanctified" by a church. As for those who say that gay marriage weakens traditional marriage, I can say, without a doubt, that gay marriage had nothing to do with my divorce. And, in spite of the fact that I have gay and lesbian neighbors, they have not yet succeeded in converting me to their hedonistic lifestyle.

Did anyone hear Huckabee's attempted joke about Obama while addressing the NRA? A chair or something fell over offstage while Huckabee was speaking. He "quipped" that it was Obama hitting the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him. What kind of sick sense of humor is that? Joking about assassinating Obama! Assassination is my biggest fear about Obama, and it turns my stomach to hear a former presidential candidate joke about it. He has apologized for his remarks, but it's impossible to take suggestions like that back once they're out there.

It's HOT here today. 86 degrees, the last time I looked. (That's around 30 degrees for you centigrade-speaking Canadians out there.) Not to worry though, it'll be 60 and raining in a few days.

Nouveau Mennonite Cuisine?

I'm not sure my ancestors would approve. Last night I grilled some of my favorite Mennonite Farmer sausage, but instead of making the thick cream gravy (schmaunfat) and potatoes that are traditionally served with it, I grilled some yams, peppers, onions, zucchini, and a couple of potatoes. I served it all with a Greek salad, and washed it down with a couple of IPA's. Tradition be damned! It was fabulous!







After dinner with Megan and Chris, I went along with them to their first league softball game. Caroline was playing as well, so I got to be the obnoxious father yelling at the coach and umpire. It was great fun!


Here's Megan, starting her run from second to third.












Here's Caroline in right field, hoping against hope that the ball won't be coming her way. Note the look of concerned concentration on her face.

















And Chris, delivering his 10 mph fastball!


















But on to other matters... I screwed up big-time a few weeks ago when I booked my flights to Croatia. I can't believe I did it, but I did. I booked my flight from Amsterdam to Split for the day before I got to Amsterdam!!! So this morning I had to fix it all. Changing flights was excruiating, and expensive. To change my Croatian Air flights to the right day would have cost $1400. To change my North West Airline flights to Amsterdam for Tuesday rather than Wednesday would have cost $1700. I ended up canceling the Croatian Air flight, and booked a new one with Austrian Airlines for $900. So now I have a credit of $600 with Croatian Air. What do you think my chances of using that in the next year are? Oh well. All my flights and hotels are booked, so I guess I'm ready to go. I did save some money by making my hotel reservations by phone on my baby laptop. Isn't Skype wonderful!!

Then and Now (Again)

My friend Joe came over today, and we traded some software. I gave him a charting/navigation program, and he lent me his slide to digital scanner. So I dug out some old slides that hadn't seen the light of day in at least 30 years.

This picture was taken in July 1974. I had just turned 22! I was on my first major motorcycle expedition. I didn't start small and work my way up. I left Jasper, Alberta, in May 1974 and headed east, ending up on Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland where this picture was taken. St. John's is closer to London, England, than it is to Jasper. This ended up being a 12,000 mile, three month road trip!





This picture was taken last year, at the beginning of Hal's and my 9,000 mile trip to New Orleans and back.


Actually, I should retake this picture now. My hair is longer, and I have the Van Dyke, so there actually is a resemblance to what I looked like 34 years ago.

Maybe I'll repost this when I take off for the Edmonton Folk Festival this year and see if I can get a more similar pose. Or maybe I should just head back to St. John's. I haven't been there since.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

When I wrote about Thursday's baseball game, I got caught up in the wonders of my camera and the bench-clearing brawl and forgot to rant about the prices at Safeco Field. They have managed to price everything at the absolute maximum that will be tolerated before someone gets out a gun and goes on a rampage. The seats were OK, at field level on the third base line, about half-way in the outfield. They cost $36 apiece. A small bottle of water costs $4.25. A Bud Lite cost $7.00, and a real microbrew beer cost $8.50! Even though I love beer, I couldn't bring myself to pay that price. There is advertising everywhere, and it seems every announcement or big-screen TV event is sponsored by some company or another. I wonder where all the money goes. The stadium, all $400M-500M of it, was and is publicly financed. And right next door is Qwest Field, another half-billion boondoggle financed by taxpayers even though they voted it down twice! What possible economic rationale could exist for a $500M stadium that hosts a dozen events a year? What is the cut for the taxpayers? What is the cut for the Mariner's owners? What is the cut for the Seahawks? If pro sports are such a good deal, you'd think the owners could build their own damn stadiums. I think the money would have been better spent on light rail.

The city fathers recently have shown a little wisdom in their negotiations with the Sonics. Key Arena is a fine venue, and was updated with $100M (I think) in renovations in the mid-90's. This year, the Sonics said they'd leave unless they got a new arena, and for a change, the city didn't cave. It looks like the Sonics will be moving to a new publicly financed (of course) arena in Oklahoma City. All that remains is a lawsuit by the city against the Sonics demanding that they meet the terms of their lease.

Even though I'm not the biggest sports fan in the world, I'm not anti-sport. When we lived in St. Louis in the '80's, the Cardinals were recent World Series Champions. Decent seats in Busch Stadium cost $12 apiece, and beer cost $1.65! And yeah, I know, inflation has jacked up the price of everything. So, just for interest sake, let's do the calculation. The current CPI is around 230, based on 1983-84 prices at 100. Therefore, inflation would have increased the prices of the seats to $27, and the beer to $3.80. I wouldn't bitch about paying $3.80 for a beer at a ballgame. I might even go more than once or twice a year.

On Saturday night, Caroline and I watched There Will Be Blood. Caroline was smart and left to go for drinks with friends half-way through. I thought this movie got good reviews and was nominated for Academy Awards and stuff. Or was that another movie? It must have been, because this movie was an unmitigated piece of crap wrapped up in some artistic gauze. I kept waiting for something to happen that would explain it all, and it would all make sense. Maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am, and maybe I didn't see the allegories and connections to classical themes and classic movies. Maybe I'll suffer through it once or twice more until I get it. NOT!!

And on a lighter note... Yes, I really am lighter since I started working out five months ago. On Saturday, I went and bought some new jeans. 34W 30L. I haven't bought 34W jeans for at least 25 years!

The White Trash Coalition?

Hillary never ceases to amaze me. What she said yesterday would be described as blatantly racist if anyone else, particularly a Republican, said it. Here's one report of what she said,

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

The interview was recorded. I heard it. This was no slip of the tongue. She was choosing her words very carefully. She may as well have said, "I've got trailer park trash in my corner and they'll never vote for a black man, so vote for me."

As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather have latte-drinking elitists, young people, and blacks choosing the next Democratic candidate than trailer-park trash and old bitter white women.

And, for your entertainment, here's a great You Tube about the end of Hillary's campaign.

Baseball, fights, and a cool camera

What's the line about going to the fights and having a hockey game break out? Well last night I went to a baseball game and the fights broke out. The Ranger pitcher threw a pitch head high to Sexson, the Mariner's first baseman. He took offense, charged the mound, the benches cleared, and all hell broke loose. These melees aren't nearly as much fun as those in hockey. I don't think there was a punch actually landed in this one, but it was great fun to watch the bullpens and benches empty. As in hockey, the crowd went wild.




I took my camera to the game last night. It's got an 18X zoom lens (I think that's equivalent to around 500mm in the old 35mm camera world), auto focus, image stabilization, facial recognition, and other goodies I haven't yet figured out. I just leave it in the "Intelligent Auto" mode and let it do all the figuring for me. It's a pretty amazing device.

Here's Ichiro in center field, a long way from our seats.




Here's Lopez at bat, also a long way from our seats. What I find most amazing about these shots is that they were taken at dusk,(with the stadium lights on), with almost maximum zoom, and the pictures don't fall apart even when you zoom in on them. Well OK, the Lopez shot falls apart a bit because of the action, but check out Ichiro in center field. Amazing.

You can click on the pictures to get a full size view.

Is It Over Yet?

I watched the North Carolina and Indiana primary results on Tuesday night on CNN at the airport in Minneapolis on my way back from Philadelphia. I was happy to see Obama blowing Clinton away in North Carolina and losing narrowly in Indiana. I had guessed that the margin for Obama would be narrower in NC, and the margin for Clinton would be bigger in Indiana. I had resigned myself to a bitter fight all the way to the convention.

But now it seems that the pundits and observers have decided the race is over, and it's only a matter of how it will end. Even Hillary has cooled her jets somewhat. Even though she says she's still in the race, I think she's looking for a graceful way out.

We can only hope.

Jazz Fest in Philly

As I'd hoped, a good time was had by all at the Jazz Fest in Philly.

I'll apologize ahead of time for the seemingly random order of photos. For any of those of you who've used Blogger, you know that posting and placing photos can be a pain. In any case, I managed to post the photos I wanted, but not necessarily in an order that makes sense.

Here's a shot of Ben, Kara, and me on the couch. This one was taken immediately after Kara assumed a more lady-like pose than the first shot taken. She's forever in my debt for me not posting the first one!

Don't tell Farley, but I also got my dog-fix there with Buckley and Panda. They seem to have made the transition from New Orleans to Philadelphia without too much trouble.







Speaking of Farley, I couldn't resist checking out this bookstore in New Hope, PA. I bought him a book, The Dangerous Book for Dogs, by Rex and Sparky. It has valuable chapters in it like "How to Pick a Pill out of Peanut Butter," "Escaping Fenced in Areas," and the invaluable "How to Mount a Bitch."





New Hope had an excess of manikins, yearning to breath free.











This is Monday night's dinner, a traditional New Orleans shrimp boil. Since I had pigged out so badly the night before, and was still feeling some of the ill effects, I had to take it easy. That was too bad, because the shrimp, potatoes, corn, artichokes and garlic were truly wonderful!

Here's Hal expounding on some important subject of the day.

Here's Ben and Kara checking out the chicken and ribs for Sunday night's dinner. As expected, I ate and drank way to excess, but it was great fun until the next morning.

Thanks to Ben and Kara, and to Laura and Jim (Ben's parents) for their hospitality.

I kid you not

I went to Costco early this evening to pick up my new glasses. Three people were working the optical counter. One was helping another customer, one was doing some paperwork, and one was emptying the waste basket. I caught the Waste-Basket-Emptier's eye and said I was here to pick up my glasses. She said I had to take a number from the machine on the counter. I scowled and muttered something about that making perfect sense, and took number 65. The WBE continued puttering around with the trash and put in new garbage bags in the bin. After a few minutes, she called out number 62, the number showing on the red LED display behind the counter. She and I looked around, but no I was the only one there. (It was near closing time) The WBE looked around a bit for the number changer remote control, finally found it, and clicked it while cheerfully calling out 63. Again we looked around. Same thing with 64. When she hit 65, I let out a whoop as if I'd just won the jackpot at the Muckleshoot Casino Bingo. I dutifully gave her my number and my receipt for the glasses. She dug out my glasses and gave them to me. I left, knowing that she was confident and secure in having done a good job by following all the rules, never realizing how ridiculous she really was.

Economic News

The NY Times headline this morning was, "US Sheds Fewer Jobs Than Expected." The headline in the Washington Post was, "Employers Cut Fewer Jobs Than Expected." Both stories portrayed the loss of "only" 20,0000 jobs as good news. This is the fourth straight month with job losses, and yet the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% from 5.1% to 5.0%. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture? How can job losses translate to lower unemployment?

Economic statistics in general and unemployment statistics in particular have been a pet peeve of mine ever since I took Econ 201 at UW. I had always wanted to know more about how the economy and financial systems worked, and after that class I had a better idea, but also saw a lot of smoke and mirrors. (So now I'm an expert, or at least I know enough to be dangerous.) For the last 40 years, US governments have manipulated and fudged the statistics to make things look better than they actually are. The Consumer Price Index is no longer a fixed basket of goods. People are assumed to make substitutions (hamburger for steak, etc.) if prices get too high. Increased prices for goods are discounted because of the increase in "quality" for the same price. (Ipods are better than Walkmans even though they cost more, etc.) Income statistics include the "imputed" income from owning your own home. (That's the income you would have received if you had rented out your home.)

But my biggest peeve is unemployment statistics. Economists and pundits always talk about how great the US economy is compared to Europe or Canada. Unemployment in the States is reported at around 5%, and other Western countries are typically 3-4% higher. My point is that it's really hard to be unemployed in the US. You have to have been unemployed for several weeks, you have to be collecting unemployment insurance, and you have to be looking for a job. If you're recently unemployed, under-employed, or have part-time work, you're employed. If you've given up looking for work, are working under the table, are prematurely retired, or your unemployment benefits have expired, you're no longer counted. If you're in prison or the armed forces, you're not counted either. And these last two groups are not insignificant. Over 2.3M people are in prison in the US. This is the highest percentage of people in prison anywhere in the world! There are 1.5M in the Armed Forces. If prison and armed forces population percentages were closer to those commonly seen in the Western world, what would happen to the unemployment figures? How many people in prison and the military would be gainfully employed if they weren't where they are? If all of these figures are taken into account, it's not hard at all to come up with unemployment figures in the 8-9% range.

So in spite of the fact that the economic news here is generally not good, it's even worse than is being commonly reported.

Jazz Fest in Philly

As some of you know, I've been a regular New Orleans Jazz Fest attendee for the last few years. Last year Hal and I rode our motorcycles down there on a monumental month-long adventure. It was also the start of recording my adventures on this blog. This year, we're going to bring a bit of Jazz Fest to Philadelphia instead. Our New Orleans friend and hosts, Ben and Kara, ended up moving to the Philadelphia area last year. So on Saturday we're flying to Philly for the last weekend of the Jazz Fest. I'll prepare my world-famous dry-rubbed hickory-smoked baby back ribs, red beans and rice, gumbo, greens, and maybe even some crawdads if I can find them. So we'll eat and drink and listen to a Jazz Fest stream on the internet, and then eat and drink some more. I'm sure a good time will be had by all, and it will be great to see Ben and Kara again.