In-Ground and Roof-top Pools

Catching a flight out of California before it washes away into the Pacific ocean.

California Snow Day, My Ass!

Well, it was pretty cool and everything the first day and a half. But there was no crisp and clear morning after. It’s been one full week of torrential rains, with no end in sight.

These guys here aren’t set up for so much rain. Roofs are leaking, streets are flooded, traffic is more out of control than ever, even the billboards are washed away and blinking randomly.

I wanted to catch a wave or two before going home, but who surfs in the wet rain?! I am looking forward to catching some sun in MI soon.

I made a road trip to Las Vegas on the weekend. I think I liked the drive better than the city.

Vegas puts the K-I-T-S-C and H in Kitsch.

And other letters in words and such…

California Snow Day

It's raining in LA tonight. It's the kind of rain you get in coastal towns. It's like a mist sprayed and suspended. A haze. A wet vaporized halo.

Tomorrow, the mountain will be bright and close, and the sky will be blue, the air: a crisp 65 degrees of bliss.

The surfing, sailing, running, skateboarding, biking, not to work going kind of day that is all wasted on me by the chains that bind us.

Tijuana and San Diego Weekend

Going into Mexico was a breeze. Parked the car on the US side and walked in. All welcome!

They do seem to think that the tourists love those donkeys. They are everywhere munching on corn husk and attracting no attention whatsoever.

 

Yeah, I have seen this place before; they called it Bombay but it felt a lot safer.

Yup, Tijuana was all class!

Dante wrote some detailed descriptions of this border crossing back into the US. The walking line took 4 hours. There were Coyote vans that drove you across to the head of the line for 5 bucks a head, which took an hour. We took the van.

On Sunday, we rented a sailboat and sailed on the San Diego Bay. Then there was the pleasant surprise of catching the fireworks on the city skyline.

The ghost that haunts this city.

The old seadog, visiting the pound

How many PhDs does it take to open a bottle of wine with a broken corkscrew?

On the Move

The move to the new apartment is COMPLETE!

LA Auto Show

 

Conversations with a Scammer

The Internet is a constant source of hilarity. I have been communicating in email with scammers for a while now. I tell them I am interested in that $5M free money etc and string them along for weeks until they beg me not to respond. But it’s all just too slow. I wonder if they’ll get back to me or not after my last antics.
Here is a new one though: Scammers on Skype. Instant gratification. I love the Internet. Here is the text of the conversation I just had, with my notes:

[11/23/2010 8:18:53 PM] alhassan.andan: Attention:
I have been in search of someone with your last name so when I saw your name I was pushed to contact you and see how best we can assist each other. I am Mr A Alhassan (Andani) a Banker (MANAGING DIRECTOR) Foreign Remittance Department in STANBIC BANK LTD ACCRA GHANA,WEST AFRICA I believe
it is the wish of God for me to come across you on Skype now.

There was some more blah blah here that I deleted.

One of our customer a citizen of your country had a fixed deposit with my bank in 2004 for 36 calendar months; valued at (Eighteen Million, Four Hundred Thousand US Dollars) the due date for this deposit contract was this 16 of March 2007. Sadly our customer was among the death victims in the May 26 2006 Earthquake disaster in Java, Indonesia that killed over 5,000 people. He was in Indonesia on a business among them.

Serves him right, the shady character! Deposits $18 million in Ghana, does busines in Java, has my last name!
Oooh, opportunity knocks! Rubbing my hands together…
More blah blah …

I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, 50/50% to both parties, my share will assist me to start my own company which has been my dream. Let me know your mind on this and please do treat this information as TOP SECRET.

Oh poop! I didn’t see this part before posting it on the Internet. OK readers, pleeease treat this post as TOP SECRET! OK?

alhassan.andanibankerghana@gmail.com
bank web site for my profile: http://www.mbendi.com/orgs/deui.htm
Regards,
Mr A Alhassan (Andani)
Managing Director. STANBIC BANK LTD ACCRA GHANA,WEST AFRICAN
[4:00:39 PM] Me: Thank you Mr. Alhassan. I just won the lottery and won't need any money.
[5:25:56 PM] alhassan.andan: hello
[5:26:04 PM] alhassan.andan: i u there
[5:26:49 PM] Me: No
[5:27:03 PM] alhassan.andan: will can chat now
[5:27:55 PM] Me: I don't need any money. I just won 38 million.
[5:28:38 PM] alhassan.andan: ok thanhs be to god
[5:29:05 PM] alhassan.andan: so you can not help me
[5:29:28 PM] Me: No. I need no money. I am going to buy an island.
[5:29:55 PM] alhassan.andan: ok tell your friend about it
[5:30:25 PM] Me: half of 18 million is on 9 million.
[5:30:32 PM] Me: Who needs that?
[5:31:19 PM] Me: Good luck man. If you make it and wanna buy some property on my island, give me a shout.
[5:31:46 PM] Me: I think I'll only charge you 1 million per acre.
[5:31:55 PM] alhassan.andan: let your friend no about it
[5:32:22 PM] Me: you need to save up some for building a house too. So buy 4 acres and save the other 5 for construction.
[5:32:29 PM] Me: hey, u there?
[5:33:44 PM] Me: Well, good luck with the scam man. Allah be praised.
[5:36:06 PM] alhassan.andan: thanks bye
[5:36:47 PM] alhassan.andan: do u think i m here praying game
[5:37:05 PM] Me: Oh no. I know this is serious business.
[5:37:10 PM] Me: Tell me the truth.
[5:37:25 PM] Me: Does anyone EVER fall for this shit?
[5:38:08 PM] alhassan.andan: bye my brother have a nice day ok
[5:38:12 PM] Me: I mean some idiot may just go for it. May be one in a million.
[5:38:20 PM] Me: Hey, wait!
[5:38:27 PM] Me: I am just curious.
[5:39:01 PM] Me: How many people have you ever hooked to pay for the mailing of the letter, or the deposit, or whatver they have to pay first?
[5:39:04 PM] Me: How many?
[5:39:32 PM] Me: Does it really pay off?
[5:42:25 PM] Me: Ahhh c'mon...do go away! Can't we just talk?

And just like that, he walks into the sunset with $9 million of MY money.

The Readers Are Complaining

Wow, found out that people are actually reading and following this blog! I was hoping that this was just a private venue for my own musings and note keeping. Come to hear that folks are complaining that the blog has dried up and there is nothing new to read.
Well this one is an update for my dear JN of Canada, the Banannie of Finley and the dQ of Canton.
So I went to China’r where the air was as clear as the air inside the muffler of an old GMC truck, if the engine ran on diesel soaked tobacco. And it was cold. Harbin is way up there. Near the Russian border, across from Vladivostok, where the winds blow across the Siberian land mass and bring all the joys of arctic air with them.

The food was like Greek women. When it was good, it was gorgeous. When it's bad, it could be the subject of some horrific Greek mythology.
Here is the picture book.


Korea, with the best airport in Asia


A Room with a [crappy] View

A walk thru the grocery store. The food sold here was commonly served on Fear Factor in the US.

Sheer Marketing Genius: Candy bars packaged with AAA batteries! Hopefully in melamine laced packaging.

Food, when it was GOOD. Ahhh Curry Fish.
A mango-coconut drink


Dinner at a high-rent place, the kind where there are name tags in front of you and the surrounding is a giant aquarium.

…and back to the US for Halloween mayhem.

Tell No One!

Rode my bike down to Venice Beach today
The usual freak show
It's boring once you have seen it once
Then rode up to Santa Monica
where my new apartment would be
Seemed nice and quiet
A hell of hill to ride up though

Rode back to Mar Vista
On the way stopped at a gas station for water
Outside I noticed a young girl asking for a dollar
from a stranger for gas
He gave her a dollar
Inside she cut in the checkout line in front of me
And said to the guy in front
"This is probably a bad time, but can I get a dollar for gas to get home?
Somebody stole my wallet."
This guy did not spare any change


I felt bad for her
What if it was my kid out there
with no money
trying to get home


I put a $5 on the counter and told the clerk to give her a dollar from my change
She looked surprised and thanked me
I took my change and left the small change too, all $1.80 or so
She thanked me again and again


As I turned my bike around and rolled away
I saw her walking to a new black Mercedes
An addict looking guy on a cell phone got out and started to pump gas
she glanced at me and grinned, or was it a smile
No matter
She didn't seem like she was going home


I wanted to shout out at her and say
"Never tell of this to anyone!"
On the account of an old Persian fable that came to me:

A horseman came upon a tired walking man
The man begged to be let to ride the horse for a bit
To rest a bit
The horseman pitied him and allowed him to ride
Soon as he was upon the horse
He whipped the horse and galloped away
The horseman shouted out
"Never tell of this to anyone!"
"Why?" asked the thief
"No rider will pity a walker again"

So, tell no one of this!
What if my kid was trying to get home

Labor Day

And befittingly I spent Saturday working and laboring away. I did take today off and got my surfing gear and headed out to Malibu. Alas this was the worst surfing day ever. The ocean was as flat as a misty northern Michigan lake. No surfers out today.

I did spot a couple of dolphins in the mist and snapped a few shots though.

What to do next? My bikes tires are flat. Need to get a pump and go for a ride.

 

Sky Sailing: More Random Lyrics & Music

Find the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsJl6XROdJc

Sailboats

Sailboats wish that they were stars,
Floating softly in the sky,
Among our dreams that bid goodbye,
Moving thru transparent space,
Drifting thru the stratosphere,
And onwards 'til they disappear,

These continents from overhead,
Look like tiny paper shapes,
Intricately set in place,
Below the misty mountain clouds,
There's a lovely silver bay,
Where sunset sailors often hide away,

Scuba-diver in the loch,
Speed-boat driver on the dock,
Sailboat pilot in the blue, take me up there with you,
The world looks brighter from this high altitude,

I was walking thru the trees,
And I was swimming thru the seas,
I was falling thru the air,
When it hit me right there,
My eyes are tired and I don't even care,

An airplane carried me to bed,
Where I slept above the coast,
And dreamt I had become a ghost,
I sailed above the frozen peaks,
Deep in cold cathedral caves,
Across the hills and far beyond the waves,

Take the car on the run,
And fly the jet to the sun,
And bring the spacecraft in soon,
While I play chess with the moon,
I feel like sleeping thru this cold afternoon,

Once in 1964, an actress ran on the shore,
And though you'll never return,
I love you Audrey Hepburn,
Sometimes I can see your face in the crowd,
There are sailboats throughout this brilliant sky,
But you cannot pick them out if you can't fly,
I'm glad the Earth doesn't care if I go up there,
If you want to just ask me and I'll take you along.

Sad Yeats

So hopful to be met in Byzantium by an unageing intellect.

I am home alone in long while, in hopes of sleeping in ahead of a long weekend, staying up and catching up on some poetry.


Sailing to Byzantium


THAT is no country for old men. The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees

- Those dying generations - at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.



An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.



O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.



Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.



WB Yeats

Long Time, No Blog

Been busy with work and play.  On the work front: I am only putting in 12 hours a day and no weekends on the account of the family being here. On the play front, we went to Disney Land last weekend; yesterday it was a drive down to San Diego Zoo and today we drove up to the beautiful Santa Barbara. Here are some pics in that order.

Disney

 

San Diego Zoo

Santa Barbara