Fluid Flow

The Big One is inevitable. Catastrophe is not.: “The message for Southern California from the horror in Haiti should be — but probably won’t be — to prepare for disaster.

(Via L.A. Times - California | Local News.)

I actually started this post before this LA Times article came out. But it is an easy post to work off of. While we don’t expect a natural disaster will turn our cities into third world countries, we must expect it.

There is a difference between a natural disaster and a man-made one. We make man-made disasters by being unprepared.

I am not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I am approaching 50 (in a year or so), perhaps it’s because I am reading Farley Mowat’s “final” memoir, I am not sure.

It certainly isn’t because I have something to write. I have never had a desire to write. Prose and poetry do not leap from my keyboard. The only time that my writing has achieved passing marks is in journalism, geology, and one composition class at UCSB, where the teaching assistant did not mind my simple and direct approach.

It isn’t much to hang your hat on.

But I do like telling stories and I have lived long enough to have a few.

So I have started an outline. The two top headings are “Timeline” and “Themes”. I don’t know where this is going to go, but it seems worthy of exploration.

I fired up the truck this afternoon. Suddenly it is sounding more like a Sopwith Camel than a Toyota 4Runner.. After my WTF moment, I looked under the truck and a 3 foot section of tail pipe was missing in front of the muffler.

Strange, why would some one take a hacksaw to a three foot section of muffler pipe. Was this some kind of prank?

Sadly, the answer is no, because my catalytic converter lived within that three foot section. Apparently the metals in the converter are worth enough these days to steal.

4runners and other SUV/trucks are an easy mark because you can slide under them, cut the tail pipe with a cordless hacksaw and be gone in a few minutes.

Of course it takes me a few minutes to climb under my 4runner, but that’s I probably why I never went into crime.

So once again, I am called to stimulate our economy, by purchasing something that I would have otherwise not.

And this might be the stimulus that keeps me spending, because now I am thinking about an alarm system, anti-theft devices, and enhanced insurance.

Alternatively, I can lock my truck in a garage and buy a Prius.

Either way, I am stimulating the economy.

If you want to donate to my efforts to get us back on track, let me know.

A simple statement on Facebook, “Depression is just anger without enthusiasm.”

I could comment on this, but really I can’t. It is just not that simple and it can’t be explained in a comment.

Depression isn’t “just” anything…

It is having your entire life, dreams, and aspirations ripped away from you. Leaving you hanging above this empty hole with nothing to latch on to.

It is being in perpetual pain, yet unable to locate or isolate the pain.

It is being unable to tell anyone what is wrong, because you think it might be contagious.

It is knowing that all the kings horses and all the kings men can’t put your life back together again.

I could go on…

In short, there are a lot of things that depression is. A simple statement is not one of them.

So I got to do my part for the economy the other day. I plunked down $400 for new driver’s and rear windows. I will also get to spend $150+ for a new/used iPod, $200 for a new sleeping bag, and $3-5k for a new bike.

All of this spending thanks to one reasonably small act of crime. Judging from the business that the auto glass place was doing, it seems like crime may be rivaling federal investments to promote consumer spending.

Crime hurts those of us who have been putting off investments while our income is down or non-existant. I was quite a happy with my 17 year old truck, my 20 year old sleeping bag, 6 year old iPod, and 5 year old bike. I was fine with what I had and had no plans to replace them.

Now I have to replace them, or do without. It just sucks.

Well, I survived another 4th of July. They always seem to be busy days for me. A few years ago I took over 500 photos on the 4th, starting out at our neighborhood parade and picnic and ending with a San Jose Giants baseball game. In between, I downloaded images and cleared my cards so I could keep shooting.

This year I didn’t shoot that much, but it was just as hectic and required more driving. I started the morning in Monterey, then drove up to San Jose for the Naglee Park 4th of July parade. I wasn’t planning on returning to my old neighborhood, but then they named me Grand Marshal for the parade. You don’t say no to such an honor.

In years past, I was on the sidelines taking pictures of the parade. This year I had the unique perspective of being in the parade and taking pictures of the spectators. It was fun to turn things around. As always, you can view my shots on flickr.

After the parade and a side trip to Supreme Dog, we headed over to the park for the block party. The coals were just right, so our dogs were among the first on the grill. After 15 minutes and a few singed arm hairs, lunch was ready.

As usual, neighbors provided a wonderful assortment of potluck salads and deserts. Sadly, I couldn’t partake in the potluck as I had of another engagement to get to.

My 6th grade class decided to hold a reunion on the 4th after 36 years. Why would you have a 6th grade reunion and schedule it for the 4th of July? Well, our class was special or gifted or just plain nuts.

So I left the Naglee Park celebration early and headed over the hill to get stuck in traffic.

I crawled, along with half of the South Bay’s population, from the third turn past the summit down to Scott’s Valley. With no end in site, I left my South Bay brethren and took back roads from Scott Valley over to the coast just south of Davenport (I knew my degree at UCSC would come in handy someday).

When I finally arrived, it was to half a dozen folks trying to guess who I was. Apparently the beard and sunglasses weren’t enough, John jumped up and pinned a name tag on me, with my name and a picture of a face that I have seen 36 years.

We had a great dinner and it was fun to catch up with my classmates. But toward the end of the evening, I started to feel much the way I felt through most of those years, outside the various little groups.

Most of who I am has been defined by the last 30 years, not the first 18. So while I feel a kinship to these folks, I am pretty sure that they have no idea who I am.

I left the party earlier than I had planned to and headed back to Monterey.

I was up early the next morning and heading back to Aptos to meet up with 6th grade classmates Craig and Dan for a bike ride up into the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.

This was much more my speed. We had a great time, as Craig described it “watching Tom suffer”. Craig and Dan set a leisurely pace and we talked the whole climb.

This was a better venue for me. Somehow it is easier for me to open up and talk about myself when I am gasping for air.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I am looking forward to the next get together with my 6th grade class. But I think we should make the bike ride obligatory.

On Saturday, I got out on Coyote Creek to help clean it once again. The occasion was Nation River Clean-up Day and the Friends of Coyote Creek joined a number of groups in cleaning the creek and its banks.

We had a big crowd on the water and our boat spend most of the day acting as a garbage scow, ferrying the trash pulled by our volunteers in canoes to our dump site. If fact, I don’t think that I pulled anything out of the creek myself.

There was one logistical problem when we discovered the boat filled with trash would not fit under a downed tree, so we had to offload half our collection and then haul it overland to the dump site.

All told, we collected about a ton of trash, including 4 shopping carts, a couple of bicycles, a few bike tires.

The creek seemed cleaner than usual, though we couldn’t get to a couple of large trash rafts. We didn’t find any car tires, which I think might be a first.

I am guessing that the lack of trash in the creek is more the result of blockages upstream and a generally mild winter (with few storms washing trash into the creek) than anything else.

But I am pleased to say that the reach that we worked on is cleaner than it was. Many thanks to all of our volunteers

Three falcon chicks hatch atop San Jose City Hall: “For a mother who just watched three offspring hatch — and is watching her fourth egg — Clara appears to be in excellent health today from her perch atop San Jose City Hall.”

(Via Mercury News: News.)

More good news. Once again, I think that $300 million for a platform for falcons to nest is money well spent. For all the stuff that goes on inside the building, I am not so sure.

Update: Make that four new falcons. I don’t think even Ford could do as well.

Merced

Clara was adopted today. That leaves Merced. Funny, but I thought she was the cutest of the four. Just goes to show you what I know. Merced and Clara were the more personable kittens of the litter but they are the last to go.

While she is a little skittish when you walk into the room, Merced is the first to jump up on my desk, walk on my keyboard, and lie down in front of the monitor. She has been known to inhibit work.

So I have one more kitten to get to a good home out of the five that I picked up along Coyote Creek. I lost one but with the rest finding homes, I am more than a little pleased with this years fostering efforts.

With homeowner in doghouse, bobcats move in: “A family of feline squatters has moved into a foreclosed home in Lake Elsinore. Residents of the Tuscany Hills development first noticed the bobcats about a week ago.

Taking advantage of a slump in local real estate, a family of bobcats has moved into a foreclosed Lake Elsinore home, lolling about on fences and walls and riveting an entire neighborhood.

(Via L.A. Times - California | Local News.)

It is good to see that the original tenants are moving back in. The picture is worth the click through.