China Breaks Its Own Record, Again

Beijing China again broke it's previous record for polluted air, but going off the charts for particulate matter suspended in the air.  (links here and here) As reported by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center this week, the level of 2.5 micrometer sized particles exceeded 700 micrograms per cubic meter (US Embassy Twitter feed stated a 755 level, which corresponds to 866 micrograms), or 35 times the maximum unhealthy level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization (WHO).  According to the Chinese Government, anything greater than 300 micrograms triggers "emergency conditions".

Beijing, January 13, 2013 (not an alien landscape or an enhanced image)

It's not just Beijing.  Shanghai has filthy air too, as do all the major Chinese cities.  Yeah, developing nation, yada yada yada... sure.  See how well that works out for your people, image, and the planet.

So if your company is thinking about sending you to China for a temporary assignment, ask them if that comes with a free lung transplant at the conclusion of the assignment.  Or maybe they'll increase your life insurance pay out so that your beneficiary can get a larger sum since you'll be shortening your life inhaling all those pollutants? (doubtful, but good to ask about anyway)

Shanghai smog

Jinmao Tower, 2nd tallest building in Shanghai

Anger Management for 2013

Anger Management Tip -
"Holding onto anger is like swallowing poison, and expecting the other person to die."

This "quote", often wrongly attributed to Buddha, the Dali Lama, and others (see link here) is still a good 'anonymous quote'.  Since moving to California, I've been trying to practice the "right thinking" and "right acting" Karmic principles of letting my anger go, not letting it fester, hand in the stream, let the water rush around your hand... you cannot stop the stream, nor can you significantly speed it up.  Your hand is wet, and you've felt the temperature and current, but you are not entirely one with the stream.

Pigeons, Doves, and Murders

On the west side of Phoenix, we had no shortage of pigeons.  Big, stupid, messy, fornicating frequently, roof residing pigeons were everywhere, leaving their droppings abundantly and flocking occasionally.  From time to time a hawk would come by and nail one, but most of the time the pigeons just kept posturing and copulating on all the roof tops surrounding my back yard.

There was also no shortage of morning doves.  (Mourning Doves?)  They tried to nest unsafely on the tops of the 6ft high cinder block walls.  They'd tried to nest on the top of a 8 foot ladder I left leaning against a wall.  They even tried to nest on top of the blades of the covered patio's ceiling fan, when the blades were no turning.  They were dumb, cooing, clueless, paired up birds that were slightly nicer than their big, fat pigeon cousins, but it was hard for me to love such a dumb avian creature - I like smart birds; hawks, hummingbirds, road runners, cactus wrens, fly catchers, tohees, etc.

But here in Orange County, especially 5 miles inland from the coast where we live now, one can see (and hear) massive murders nearly every day.  These are not small murders, they range from a dozen crows to more than a 100 crows.  I think Hitchcock must've seen these kinds of massive murders in Southern California before he directed "The Birds".

When I am in my car, they don't bother me, or cause me any concern.  But when I am on my yoga mat in my back yard, or when DDF and I are walking through the neighborhood and are many blocks form home, and the sky is blackened by these nearly-raven-sized birds, and their CAWS are deafening to the ears, it gives me a little bit of pause.  What if I was wearing a suit made of popcorn?  What if I was severely injured, immobilized, and had open wounds (like road kill, after a bike accident)?  The murders are very aggressive, and territorial.  When they flock to a deciduous tree devoid of its leaves, they blacken it, as if making it a "crow tree".  Yick.

I did figure out that when I am doing yoga outside, and the CAW, CAW, CAWING gets really close and loud in a nearby tree, that I can scare them off by CLAPPING my hands as LOUD as POSSIBLE, simulating a gun shot.  I've actually seen the murders change their flight paths when I CLAP LOUDLY, thinking they are averting a shooting death.  You see, 30 years ago, I participated in a hand percussion section clapping ensemble (similar to this link here) while in High School, and we actually took it to the State Band Association competition for solos and ensembles, and medalled there =)  ...so I can clap REALLY Loudly when I want to.

I never previously imaged that my hand clapping skills could be used to redirect a murder.

Stumped Another Apple Genius

HOW DO I?

I went to the fancy smanshy Mission Viejo mall today for my first "Apple One on One" training session.  This is where they are supposed to help an old, decrepit, XP Windows user like me, to learn how to use the glowing, amazing, ultimate user experience Apple product.   I admit, my Mac Book Air has grown on me a little, but I still had MANY questions.

Some of my questions the Genius COULD NOT answer.   I stumped him,  I stumped his more senior helpers.   HA!

First of all...   when training a former windows user - since the Reagan administration -  on how to use a Mac, the phrase "I've never owned a Windows device, I've had a Mac since 1996" should NEVER be used.   My "genius" trainer used that 4 or 5 times.  I wanted to SMACK him.  Really?  Before 1996, what did you do?  Use smoke signals?  I wanted to grab his little chin beard and face plant him into the very thick "personal training" table on which sat my $1500 airbook.

I plugged in my two-button-and-scroll-wheel mouse into my Airbook's USB port, and my genius laughed "my son uses one of those too" he chortled.  "Good for him, so does the rest of the world" I replied with a degree of venom in my voice.

So I ran through my electronic list of questions.  Some of which he answered (the ones in red below, he couldn't or had to use "Template" which he said they Never do in the store.   

I HAVE to use a Dell PC for work, so I CANNOT divorce myself from PC thinking.

Here's my list of questions:

Back space key - where is it??   Fn Del

Paste JUST TEXT (no format, no styles, just plain test) - use text drop-downs (he also tried to sell me Mac Word, which I dont want)

Control Panel - where is it?  System Preferences, Black Apple or, the Gears on the Dock

Screen Capture - Command Shft 3 - whole screen, Command Sht 4 - Window

HOME key (to get to the left side) - No Home, No End..  just use your cursor to get there (really?   honestly?   oh well)

Repeat Key (hold down)   "Ahhhhhhhhh!!"   requires TERMINAL - NOT done in the store, defect of "Mountain Lion release"

Cntrl-Alt-Delete, to SUSPEND STUCK PROCESSES (task manager and rebooting)   Option Command ESC

System Status - like the right mouse key on the desktop of a windows machine used to do, to tell me version of operating system, how much free memory I have, name of computer, etc….  COMMAND I

Virus Check (have I been infected by an attacking site?) Nada, not needed

Clean out cookies?  SAFARI, PREFERENCES, PRIVACY

Auto Correct off, when I want to turn it off, and then back on, when I want to. (we didn't get to this)

No sleep when plugged in - System Pref - Energy Save

Face Time - synchs with my email, only works on Apple devices, period.

Rotating Photos, enlarging, shrinking them, cropping them -  I photo (which he tried to sell me on the AWESOME touch pad, to which I told him AGAIN "three decades of learning otherwise, no thanks"

... so I stumped them on several things.   The "genius" did say I was asking "very hard questions".     I told him that's the same thing people in India tell me when I am reviewing their work  =)

I have another One On One schedule next week, before my birthday, to try and blunt my hatred of my iPad and to answer the rest of my Mac Airbook questions...    I'll letcha know how it goes.

Backyard Yoga Upgrade

In Phoenix, I used to do yoga in the back yard, next to the pool, when it was not over 100F in the summer time, get a dose of vitamin D, and try and focus on the pool as a source of tranquility and calm.  The backyard was surrounded by 6 foot high, gray cinder block border fences, and 2 story homes that blocked out the sunset, and kept neighbors from seeing into our backyard.  It was making the most of a not-so-great situation. I'd get to see many hummingbirds, and the occasional road runner or hawk, but there were still the ubiquitous yapping dogs from 4 of the 5 neighbors' lots, the stench of industrial dairy farm feces when the wind blew from the south, the revving of Harley engines or '26 Ford hotrod engines, and the whine of fan jet engines from planes landing from West-to-East into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport combined with the persistent rooftop pigeon copulations to make it a less than desirable location.

So last weekend, when Dr Desert Flower and I walked down the beach at Salt Creek, just north of Dana Point on the Pacific Ocean, and I spotted a large grassy picnic area about 10 feet elevation above the beach sand, I thought to myself "I want to do yoga there".  The crashing of the waves into the shore, the ocean breeze, seagulls and pelicans and cormorants and spoonbills and egrets (instead of pigeons), seals and otters bobbing in kelp beds off shore (instead of yappin dogs), and a clear view of the sunset not occluded by under-valued neighboring homes made this spot a clearly better choice.

After DDF and I rode the Diamondback mountain bikes that we got each other for Christmas through Aliso Canyon Park in the morning, we headed over to Salt Creek in the afternoon in Celeste witht he top down, and did couples yoga together, on the grassy picnic area over-looking the beach, from 230 to 330pm.  It was a little cool at about 60F - but it IS January, and even Phoenix was colder than that yesterday, and much of the midwest and northeast is blanketed in snow, so I have heard.  The grassy overlook proved to be an excellent location to practice yoga.   I will be re-visiting that location again in the future.

And after dinner we drove up the PCH to Laguna Beach, where we walked along the board walk at sunset - along with people from most of the countries of the United Nations it seemed, tourists visiting the CA beach before the January 6th Orthodox and Latin American tradition Christmas (feast of the 3 kings), then had drinks and appetizers and lobster bisque on the terrace at C'est La Vie as the sun set west of Catalina Island and eventually under-lit the cloud cover in a spectacular dark red-pink-purple .  It was a very enjoyable day.

Stone Brewery Loves To Brew Beer

Stone Brewery LOVES to brew beer.  Real beer.  Quality beer.  Not mass produced swill.  Craft beer.  Not industrialized, corporately mediocritized, least common denominator beers, like InBev, SABMiller, Molson-Coors, and Heineken.  These "big 4" control 95% of all world beer.  That's Ninety Five Percent of ALL World Beer.  The true Craft Beer producers make and sell just 5% of the beer in the world, but that 5% is the good stuff, the high quality stuff, the stuff that is not padding the wallets of corporate titans in mahogany paneled board rooms.  That 5% - Stone included - is being loving made by small companies that understand beer making, who are fiercely independent, and who are some of the nicest people on earth.  My beer drinking dollars will go towards supporting their efforts, going forward.

For a FULL list of the corporate lords who dominate the industry, see the bottom of this listing.  I bet you find one or more of what you THOUGHT were your favorite "craft beers" there.  Now, those former "craft beers" are being made in massive industrial processes, the profit from their sales siphoned off to make the 0.01% even richer, and the big four are driving forward their predatory acquisitions of the remaining 5% of the independents.

5 Amazing and Unique Ales from Stone Brewery

The Sublimely Self Righteous Ale had a hint of mint and parsley in it; it was interesting.  The "Perfect Crime" was very good.  The "Vertical Epic" (aka 12-12-12) was a bottle of Christmas, with clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, al combined.  The "Double Bastard" is one of the best beers I've ever tasted.  And the Smoked Porter was smooth and delicious.  Awesome, all around.  Highly recommended.

And at the Stone Brewery in Escondido, they have a large restaurant and bier garten, where they not only pour Stone products, but Huntington Beach Brewery, Rogue, and other craft brews as well!  They're not cut-throat assholes.  They're genuinely nice people, who want to make as many converts to craft beer as possible, and preserve their industry from the corporate behemoths who are trying to destroy them.  They'll talk to you about craft beer, sustainable agriculture, helping the homeless and food banks, being localvores, and even chat about bicycles.  They're very nice people.

For a list of beers that are now part of the 'big four borg' or assimilated corporate profit driven culture, the list below is provided for your reference, and as an obituary to the small craft beers they obliterated:

InBev in the US, aka: Budweiser, Michelob, Natural Light, Natural Ice, Bare Knuckle Stout, ZiegenBock, Ascent 54, Redbridge (gluten-free), Rolling Rock, Landshark Lager, Shock Top, Skipjack Amber Lager, Wild Blue, Sun Dog, Beach Bum Blonde Ale, Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale, O'Doul's, 180 Energy Drink, Stone Mill Pale Ale, Wild Hop Lager, Bacardi Silver, Tequiza, Tilt, Jekyll & Hyde, Bluecoat Vodka, Cape North, Hammer and Sickle Vodka, Ku Soju, Margarittaville Tequila, Purus Organic Wheat Vodka, Vermont Spirits, Hurricane Malt Liquor, King Cobra, Red Hook Brewing, Widmer Bros. Brewing, Goose Island Beer Co., Kona Brewing Co., Ray Hill American Pilsner, Starr Hill Brewing, Fordham Brewing, Dominion Brewing, Harbin Lager, Tiger Beer, Kirin, Bass Ale, Boddingtons, Beck's, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Stella Artois, Löwenbräu, Tennent's Ale, Budvar Czechvar) .... and if you want a comprehensive list of all of InBev's international brands (many of which you probably thought were still micro brews or true craft beers, but are now governed, distributed, and manufactured and controlled by 

InBev international:  Absolut Cut (Sweden), Alexander Keith's (Canada), Andes (Argentina), Antarctica (Brazil), Apatinska pivara (Serbia), Jelen pivo, Pils Light, Aqua Fratelli Vita (Brazil), AstikA (Bulgaria), Baisha (China), BagBier, Bass, Beck's, Belle-Vue, Bergenbier (Romania), Boddingtons (United Kingdom), Bohemia (Brazil), Borsodi Sör (Hungary), Boomerang (France), Borostyán (Hungary), Brahma (Global), Breda (The Channel Islands), Cafri (South Korea), Caracu (Brazil), Castlemaine, Chernigivske, Diebels (Germany), Diekirch (Luxembourg), Dimix (Germany), Dommelsch (Netherlands), Double Deer (China), E-Generation, Dutch Gold (Holland), Franziskaner Weissbier (Germany), Gilde Ratskeller (Germany), Guaraná Antarctica (Brazil), Guaraná Brahma (Brazil), GuoGuang (China), Haacke-Beck (Germany), Hasseröder (Germany), Hertog Jan (Netherlands), Primator, Oud Bruin, Grand Prestige, Tripel, Dubbel, Winterbier, Bockbier, Meibock, Hoegaarden (Belgium), Hougaerdse Das (Belgium), Jinlin (China), Jinlongquan (China), Julius (Belgium), Jupiler, KK (China), Kamenitza (Bulgaria), Klinskoye, Kokanee, La Bécasse, Labatt Family (Canada) Acquired in 1995, Lakeport (Canada), Leffe (Global), Liber (Brazil), Löwenbräu, Marathon (Brazil), Mousel (Luxembourg), Pivara Trebjesa (Montenegro), Nik Cool, Nik Gold, Nikšicko pivo, Nikšicko tamno, Noroc (Romania), OB (South Korea), Oranjeboom (Netherlands), Permskoye Gubernskoye (Russia), Piedboeuf (Belgium), Quilmes (Argentina), Red Shiliang (China), Rifey (Russia), Rogan (Ukraine), Safir (Belgium), Santai (China), Sedrin (China), Sibirskaya Korona (Siberian Crown)(Russia), Skol (Brazil), Spaten (Germany), St. Pauli Girl, Staropramen (Czech Republic), Stella Artois, Sukita (Brazil), Taller (Ukraine), Tennent's, Tinkov Russian Lager (Russia), Tolstiak (Russia), Vieux Temps (Belgium), Wolters (Germany), Whitbread, Yali (China), Yantar (Ukraine), Zagrebacka pivovara (Croatia), Božicno Pivo, Ožujsko, Tomislav, Zizhulin (China), Zhujiang (China)

SABMiller:

A • Aguila • Aguila Light • Americana • Arany Ászok • Arequipeña • Atlas B • Bahia • Balboa • Balimi • Barrilito • Barena • Blue Sword • Brava • Brutal Fruits C • Carling Black Label • Costeña • Costeñita • Castle Lager • Castle Lite • Castle Milk Stout • Chairman's Extra Strong Beer (ESB) • Chibuku Shake-Shake • Ciucas • Clausen • Club • Club Colombia • Club Especial • Club Pilsener • Club Premium Lager • Club Shandy • Cristal • Cusqueña • Cusqueña Light D • Debowe Mocne (Oak Strong) • Del Altiplano • Dog In The Fog • Dorada • Dorada Especial • Dorada - Peru • Dorada Pilsen • Dorada Sin (Low Alcohol) • Dreher Classic E • Eagle Extra Lager • Eagle Lage F • Frisco • Fusion Banana - Botswana • Fusion Banana - Zambia • Fusion Ice - Botswana • Fusion Ice - Zambia • Fusion Pineapple - Botswana • Fusion Pineapple - Zambia • Fusion Tropical - Botswana • Fusion Tropical - Zambia G • Gambrinus • Gambrinus Dia with lower sugar content • Gambrinus Premium • Golden Light • Golden Pilsener • Gran Riserva • Green Leaves • Grolsch H • Hansa Marzen Gold • Haywards 5000 • Henry Weinhard's Amber Light • Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale • Henry Weinhard's Hefeweizen • Henry Weinhard's Northwest Trail • Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve • Hansa Pilsener • Huadan Dry Beer • Huadan Yale I • Icehouse • Imperial K • Kilimanjaro • Knock Out • Kobányai Sör • Ksiazece Tyskie L • Largo • Lauretina Clara • Lauretina Preta • LECH Free • LECH Lite • LECH Mocny • LECH Pils • LECH Premium • Legenda • Leinenkugel's Amber Light • Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss • Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock • Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark Lager • Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss • Leinenkugel's Light • Leinenkugel's Northwoods Lager • Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest • Leinenkugel's Original • Leinenkugel's Red Lager • Lion Lager • Lowen M • Malta Arequipeña • Malta Cusqueña • Malta Polar • Maluti Premium Lager • Manica • Mickey's Malt Liquor • Miller Chill • Miller Genuine Draft • Miller Genuine Draft Light • Miller High Life • Miller Lite • Milwaukee's Best • Milwaukee's Best Ice • Milwaukee's Best Light • Mosi Lager • Moya Kaluga N • Nastro Azzurro • N'gola • Nile Special Lager • New Three Star O • Olde English 800 Malt Liquor P • Peroni • Peroni Nastro Azzurro - International • Pilsen • Pilsen Callao • Pilsen Trujillo • Pilsener • Pilsener - Ecuador • Pilsener - El Salvador • Pilsener Light • Pilsner Urquell • Poker • Port Royal R • Radegast Birell • Radegast Original • Radegast Premium • Raffo • Raiz • Redd's Apple • Redd’s Dry • Redd’s Premium Cold • Redd's Sun • Regia Extra • Rhino Lager • Royal Challenge Premium Lager S • Safari • Salva Vida • San Juan • Saris Light • Saris Dark • Saris Premium • Sarita • Shengquan • Shenyang • Singo • Sip • Smadny mnich Light • Snow beer 11°P • St. Louis • Stejar • Sterling Light Lager • Stone Strong Lager • Suprema T • Tianjin • Timisoreana • Topvar • Tusker • Tri Bogatyrya Bochkovoye • Tri Bogatyrya Svetloye • Tropical Pils • Tropical Premium • Tyskie Gronie U • Ursus Premium V • Velkopopovický Kozel • Velkopopovický Kozel Cerny • Velkopopovický Kozel Premium • Velkopopovický Kozel Svetly • Vitamalt W • Whisky Black • Wührer X • X-Cape Y • Yingshi Z • Zero • Zolotaya Bochka Klassicheskoye (Golden Barrel Classic) • Zolotaya Bochka Svetloye (Golden Barrel Light) • Zolotaya Bochka Vyderzhannoye (Golden Barrel Aged) • Zubr (Bison) 2 • 2M Molson Coors owns: Coors "Banquet Beer", also known as "Coors Original" • Coors Light • Killian's Irish Red • Blue Moon • Keystone • Zima • Winterfest (Seasonal) • Wildwood Westlake lager • Coors NA (Coors Non-Alcoholic) Outside of the U.S.: • Allbright • Arc • Breaker • Caffrey’s Irish Ale • Carling • Hancock’s • Lamot • Mitchells & Butlers • Stones Bitter • Toby • Worthington Molson beers • Molson  • Black Ice • Carling Black Label • Old Style Pilsner • Rickard's  • Laurentide (Ale only available in Québec) • Black Horse (only available in Newfoundland) • India Beer (only available in Newfoundland) • O'Keefe's Extra Old Stock (only available in Newfoundland) • Dominion Ale (only available in Newfoundland) • Old Vienna And Heineken owns: 1 Heineken brands 1.1 Heineken 1.2 Buckler 2 Subsidiaries' brands 2.1 Europe 2.1.1 Heineken Italy 2.1.1.1 Birra Dreher 2.1.1.2 Birra Ichnusa 2.1.1.3 Birra Moretti 2.1.2 Affligem Brewery 2.1.3 Athenian Brewery in Greece 2.1.4 Amstel Brewery 2.1.5 Beamish & Crawford 2.1.6 Bochkarev Brewery 2.1.7 Bralima Brewery 2.1.8 Brand Brewery 2.1.9 Caledonian Brewery 2.1.10 Cruzcampo Brewery 2.1.11 De Ridder Brewery 2.1.12 Fürstenberg Brewery 2.1.13 Krusovice Brewery 2.1.14 Murphy's Brewery 2.1.15 Pelforth Brewery 2.1.16 Skopje Brewery 2.1.17 Starobrno Brewery 2.1.18 Zagorka Brewery 2.1.19 Zlatý Bažant Brewery 2.1.20 Żywiec Brewery 2.2 Africa and the Middle East 2.2.1 Almaza Brewery 2.2.2 Al Ahram Brewery 2.2.3 Nigerian Breweries 2.2.4 Sedibeng Brewery 3 In partnership with Fraser & Neave 3.1 Asia Pacific Breweries 3.2 DB Breweries 3.2.1 Tui Brewery 3.2.2 Monteith's

Not Worthy!

The nice guys down at Stone Brewery in Escondido put a diatribe (their label, not mine) on the back of their "Double Bastard" ale (link here).   I thoroughly enjoyed my son's reading it the night we got home from the brewery last week.  I laughed heartily as I read it to Dr Desert Flower last night.   There's more 25 cent words in here than Dr Paul R of I.U. could ever accuse me of having a penchant for using.  DDF pondered if maybe I'd written it in my sleep, or had a second job working in the San Diego North Country on the sly.   I postulated that this sort of diatribe is what you get when :
a) you make delicious craft beer, And are not a soul-less, heartless, corporate profit driven machine, beholden only to share holders
b) you have too much time on your hands
and
c) have former English majors and poets working in a brewery.

Double Bastard Ale

Warning: Double Bastard Ale is not to be wasted on the tentative or weak. Only the Worthy are invited, and then only at your own risk. If you have even a modicum of hesitation, DO NOT buy this bottle. Instead, leave it for a Worthy soul who has already matriculated to the sublime ecstasy of what those in the know refer to as "Liquid Arrogance."

This is one lacerative muther of an ale. It is unequivocally certain that your feeble palate is grossly inadequate and thus undeserving of this liquid glory...and those around you would have little desire to listen to your resultant whimpering. Instead, you slackjawed gaping gobemouche, slink away to that pedestrian product that lures agog the great unwashed with the shiny happy imagery of its silly broadcast propaganda. You know, the one that offers no challenge, yet works very, very hard to imbue the foolhardy with the absurd notion that they are exercising ‘independent’ thought, or attempts to convey the perception it is in some way ‘authentic’ or ‘original.’ It’s that one that makes you feel safe and delectates you into basking in the warm, fuzzy, and befuddled glow of your own nescience. Why so many allow themselves to be led by the nose lacks plausible explanation. Perhaps you have been so lulled by the siren song of ignorance that you don’t even notice your white-knuckle grip on it. You feel bold and unique, but alas are nothing but sheep, willingly being herded to and fro. If you think you are being piqued in this text, it is nothing when compared to the insults we are all asked to swallow streaming forth from our televisions and computers. Truth be told, you are being coddled into believing you are special or unique by ethically challenged “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” marketers who layer (upon layer) imagined attributes specifically engineered to lead you by the nose. Should you decide to abdicate your ability to make decisions for yourself, then you are perhaps deserving of the pabulum they serve. Double Bastard Ale calls out the garrulous caitiffs who perpetrate the aforementioned atrocities and demands retribution for their outrageously conniving, intentionally misleading, blatantly masturbatory and fallacious ad campaigns. We demand the unmitigated, transparent truth. We demand forthright honesty. We want justice! Call ‘em out and line ‘em up against the wall... NOW.

I admit, I had to look up "gobemouche" as I had not used it in a sentence previously...  but "I got" the rest of the diatribe.  And I agree with it, completely.  

When DDF and I picked up our friends Ame & Zim from the airport Saturday evening, and I inquired to the front desk for a list of restaurants and drink establishments, my eyes (and heart) instantly went to the listing on the "surf city" pamphlet for "Hunnington Beach Brewery", just two blocks away.  DDF, Ame & Zim concurred with my selection, and we enjoyed delicious Ales, Stouts (Russian Imperial), and Porters (Noel Gulden Porter) with our dinner. I'd sampled the HB Imperial Stout AT Stone Brewery just 2 days prior - "a rising tide raises all boats" - Stone encourages all of it's visitors to embrace Craft beer and throw off the oppressive yoke of corporate InBev evil.

I thank Stone Brewery's Phillip Macnitt (Lead Indoctrination Specialist), Mike Martinez, and tour guide Nickie Pena (Indoctrination Specialist) for opening my eyes to the reality that is high quality Craft beer. My purchasing habits and perspective will never be the same again.

Falling Behind

I've fallen behind in blog postings, as our son, Nathan Junior has been visiting for the last two weeks.  As I type this, I have 14 empty wine & beer bottles sitting beside my computer screen, watigin to be photographed and blogged about.   The old Windows XP desktop is gone, replaced with a 13 inch Mac Airbook running (I think) Mountain Lion OS, that I bought the week before Christmas when my LG 15 inch monitor died one morning - the Apple Store guys in Mission Viejo were really really nice, and incredibly patient with this curmudgeon.  I went in to buy a Mac Desktop, and walked out with an Airbook and a service agreement.

Nathan Jr and I visited the Stone Brewery in Escondido CA, about 45 minutes to the south.  Toured the brewery, drank the fine ales, and now I am a converted craft beer disciple.  Shun all beers brewed by InBev.   Craft brewed beer, by definition, as to pass the low bar of
- less than 6 MILLION barrels brewed (serious, 6,000,000)
- must contain barley, hops, and yeast (not HFCS, corn, rice, or other filer & cheaper ingredients)
- must not be owned by a major commercial corporate brewer (InBev, SAB, etc) by more than 25%
It's a pretty low bar...  but 95% of the beer sold inthe US doesn't make that bar.   Even beloved Goose Island (not Creek, thank you Ron and Traci) from Chicago recently sold out to InBev, and the former CEO is advising InBev of how to "look more Craft-beer-ish" grrrrrrr.
We picked up some Arrogant Bastard Ale, some 12-12-12 Vertical Epic Ale, and some Porter (DDF loves porters).  I'm finishing a "Sublimely Self Righteous Ale" this evening as I type this.

My drumset is set up in my new California office - and it IS more spacius than the cramped Phoenix home office.  DDF and I are proud owners of new Diamond Back mountain bikes (mine a 29 inch wheel, Shimano hardware, grippy off road tires, and her's a 27 inch tire, 16 inch frame, also Shimano hardware) that our son recommended as excellent bargains (for entry level mountain bikes).  Nathan Jr and I rode them down to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and then onto Laguna Beach for a grand 26 mile round trip inaugural trip the day after we bought them last week.  Happy Hour at Laguna Beach C'est La Vie restaurant was wonderful, before we biked 400 feet vertical climb and 13 miles back home.  This week, we did Aliso Canyon & Woods, from North to South, East to West, putting on another 20 miles, but this time in the mud.  We saw the sun setting over Catalina Island from one of the several 800 foot hills we climbed. 

I need to cancel my Norton AntiVirus subscription for the XP desktop.  95% of the boxes are unpacked from the move.  California is not as bad as I thought it might be, and I actually kind of like it here.  I'll be sad to see our son leave tomorrow, but he wants to get back with his friends in South Carolina, and our friends Zim and Ame are coming to visit with us for a friend's wedding this weekend, so that should be fun  =)

Sorry to be so neglectful of my followers.  I hope all your RSS feeds still work.   Be well - JustJoeP

An Improved Perspective

Wednesday was the first day that I got done working before it got dark outside (sucks when you wake up at 4am, and work past dusk... but somebody has to make sure the electrons are flowing).  So I decided to go outside and do yoga in the back yard, since it had finally stopped raining, the sun was out, and still shining on part of the bricked patio to warm it.  Ambient was about 65F, with nearly no breeze at all at ground level - upper level clouds and contrails were cooking along, west to east (from the Pacific, of course), at a good 50 or 60 mph.  Admittedly, it was the first time I'd done yoga since getting to California, and my back was very unhappy about this fact.

Well, this is one of three palms on the East side of my house.   It dwarfs the old Mexican Fence Post Cactus that stands in the front yard back in Phoenix.  And looking up at it from the yoga mat, had a very relaxing result.  As you can see, there's quite a bit "more green" in the California landscape in contrast to it's libertarian and arid neighbor to the east.

These are the other views that I have to 'endure' while doing yoga in the back yard.  I think I'll manage. 

AND - there's NO yappin dogs here, unlike their ubiquitous presence in western Phoenix! Coyotes, hawks,  and bobcats keep the population in check.  There's many small and large dogs - I see neighbors walking them all the time, but they're on leashes, and they are never left outside at night to bark incessantly.  So That's a Very Nice improvement as well.

Now I have to figure out how to string Christmas lights on palm trees, rosemary hedges, concrete pillars, and fan palms.  We'll see how well that turns out this weekend.

Romantisme Escargot

Maybe it's not snail romance, and it might just be casual sex with a wet, slimy, sure footed stranger, but they were sure going at it, for hours (even lions take a break between each coupling).  These gastropods found the globe surface, and remnant Arizona bacteria irresistible, slowly shimmying from hemisphere to hemisphere, rubbing up against one another in my back yard on Tuesday.  When I figured out that they were not going to stop (hours later), I flicked them both off the glove using a stick, in mid mutually adjacent slime mode, and into the mulch bed about a meter away, where they continued to writhe around together.

I've figured out that just about everything in my neighborhood has snails in it, or on it, if it is outside.  Saturday night, while walking to a neighbor's home for a friendly and raucous block party Christmas gathering, DDF (or is she Dr Orange County Flower now?  hmmm) and I saw a golf ball sized snail crawling up one of those 6 foot tall inflatable snow men.  There's Real Bird of Paradise flowers on the corner of our yard, and this morning I saw a snail inside one of the brilliant orange blossoms (but camera was not handy). They're on the driveway, garbage cans, and sidewalks too, leaving their shiny little trails and they seek out bird poop

It did rain, solidly, the first 6 days I was here.  And, it's been foggy every morning - which burns off by 11am or so.  So there's no shortage of facilitating moisture for these gastropods.  The neighbors tell us this is unusual, and it is typically NOT this damp... but time will tell.  The moss and algae on walls and side walks reminds me of South Carolina's perpetual "mouillure", combined with the gray, cloudy skies of the midwest.

Il faut voir.   Ya veramos.  We'll see...

(DDF just telephoned me coincidentally, and said she's still DDF... or possibly one of the "The Real Scientists of Orange County")

My Last Lizard

While talking on the phone to an internal customer last Tuesday, the boxed contents of my home methodically being loaded into a moving truck by 2 conscientious movers, I noticed this little whip tail lizard outside my kitchen window.  It was not even 4 inches long, tail included, a baby compared to the 6 and 8 inchers I watched the road runner stalk and catch along the wall earlier this year. 

I am going to miss my bevy of buff, butch, push-up-displaying, territorial, all female lizards (they reproduce asexually, according to what DDF has read) as the Southern California suburb where we live doesn't have this Sonoran desert species.  We do have snails (moisture in abundance!), ants, and hummingbirds.  And when I asked a neighbor what kind of 'critters' they have here, she told me "just bunnies" - as she's a master-gardener and the bunnies are her nemesis.  From rattle snakes, gila monsters, lizards and tarantula, to snails, bunnies, and Labrador retrievers.  Quite a change. 

At least we still have hummingbirds.   It made me kind of sad to see the Big old Anna's Hummingbird male come flit about where the nectar feeders USED TO be, in the back yard, last Tuesday, as if he was saying to himself "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!! They were here yesterday... ???"  But it warmed my heart to hear 3 different (and see 2 of them) males singing at the top of their tiny lungs on Wednesday morning here in California while waiting for the moving truck to arrive at 730am.  Soon, there'll be 5 or 6 nectar feeders in he back yard.  Enough for everyone.

"C" is NOT for Caliente!

The "3rd party installers" were here yesterday, to hook up the washer and drier, unpack the flat screen TV (but not re-connect all the cables) and reassemble my particle board / cherry veneer office desk that were all taken apart and packaged for shipping from Phoenix.  The craft labor did a good job assembling, unpacking, and photo-documenting their work, but apparently, there was a language issue that I did not notice, until today. 

I did a load of dark laundry this morning, and strangely, it was steamy hot when I took it out.  Luckily, there were no bright colors to run.   I thought "maybe the cold water is HOT in California, like it was in Phoenix, for some reason?"  So I did a load of whites, and sure enough, it came out cold at the end.

"C" does NOT stand for Caliente.  "C" stands for "Cold". 

Every contractor who has come to my home in the last 2 days has been Hispanic.  About 1/2 of them speak English fluently.  The other half, struggle with English but speak muy rapid Spanish that I have difficulty keeping up with.  I can understand the general gist of what they're saying, but not the nuance.  They're each taken aback when I respond to them "entiendo". "peligro" or "si, un poquito".  The individual who hooked up the hoses to the washer was far from fluent in English.  

He also used a pair of pliers much too harshly on my new (new as of last July) metal hoses and scored up the knurls pretty severely, but that's ok.  They're not ruined, and I was able to reverse them fairly easily with my Craftsman channel locks, treating them much more delicately. 

In California, apparently, as much as this state shakes with Earthquakes, they install a manual cut-off valve for the washer hoses.   It's a handy little device that kept me from spraying pressurized water all over the back of the washer.  This is the first residence where I've ever seen one of these installed.  It appears to be robust and practical.

Now that the hoses are corrected, the whites come out warm, and the colors come out cold.  Good.  And if you didn't replace your washer hoses every 5 years (for the rubber ones, 10 years or so on the braided metallic ones) you're asking for trouble, breakage, a massive soaking.  JustJoeP strongly recommends applying preventative maintenance techniques to avoid such wet events.