I'm still laughing... It is now illegal in Colorado to wear aluminum underwear. Dang! "This is serious business," insists State Sen. Stephanie Takis, who sponsored the bill. "We have laws against using crowbars as theft devices, but if you were lining your underwear with aluminum foil, that was not a crime." It is now. Apparently, shoplifters found such so-called "iron pants" allow them to sneak stolen items past anti-theft scanners at store doors. The law also allows store security officers to detain people who "crackle when they walk," but provides an exception for aluminum britches worn for "personal amusement".
There weren't many in Hollister on Wednesday, but the annual Independence Day Rally in Hollister is going full tilt this weekend - motorcycles EVERYWHERE. Tons of Harleys, Hondas, (among others) and Indian motorcycles too (I think they're celebrating their 100th year? All last year we'd see new Indians on the highway with the riders wearing bright orange vests proclaiming them to be "test riding".) I can hear them wroooming by on our road right now. Speaking of our road, Panoche Rd. (Route J-1), we got written up in our local paper for being a part of San Benito County's 'great ride' roads. Although I DO take exception with this comment, "It’s about a 100-mile round-trip to the springs, with dang-near nothing in between but the Panoche Inn, so take water, take food, and take your time for this one." - hey WE'RE in between! Not that I want hundreds of leather clad "motorcycle enthusiasts" stopping by for lemonade and pound cake or anything. LOL.
In an unrelated note, yesterday a brown cow gave birth to a pure white calf (father is that big white bull, no doubt). It's like our own version of the White BUFFALO calf mythology - LOL. Anyway, for a while, the mother and calf were right near our gate. She was licking the calf clean and the calf was laying down in the dry grass, head bobbing around with the pressure from each tongue lick. When it saw me it stood up and was all wobbly - I just waved and said hi - heh heh.
Been knee-deep in researching Linux this morning. Finding out what it takes to run it, what applications are available or in development, what people like and don't like about it, reviews, dual boots, etc. I used a little Unix in college and so it's not completely foreign to me, at least some of the command line stuff. Along the way I was reminded that I used to really like WordPerfect (used it to write technical manuals even back when it was only DOS - right now we only have Word on our computer - default) and that I've heard excellent things about WP10 - the whole Corel Office Suite, in fact. I'm all over the board at the moment, but you gotta start somewhere. Linux seems to have a steeper learning curve than Windows, but I think you can also get more specific with how you want it to run for you. Anyway - back to my research and a Linux 101 tutorial - LOL.
Oh, before I go, here's an interesting editorial (from a Linux person *grin*) about the recent Microsoft breakup rulings and how it relates to Linux and the current situation with the open source movement.
Yesterday while I was driving, a Hollister DJ had found the USGS earthquake site and announced that our area had had some more earthquakes - she was freaking out about it and at the time I thought it was because she'd just found the site and had never heard of all the little quakes that go on around faults all the time - 1.0 stuff, even though there HAD been a few larger ones too. But... I just checked the full list on that site and our area (the ones at Tres Pinos and Hollister) has had, no kidding, *55 EARTHQUAKES* in the last 3 days alone (including today - 10 small ones already this morning) - at least *9* have been above a 3.0! That's REALLY unusual, BTW - we've been checking the site for almost 4 years now and I've never seen it like that. Friends and I theorize that earthquakes are a big release of energy, and I have to say I'm glad this energy is getting released in steps instead of all at once! (I'm also intrigued by the potential symbolic significance here - of course, LOL.)
(Ramble Mode On) It's been really hot (hit 110 in neighboring town of Gilroy yesterday) and actually HUMID (for California) - which really just means that it doesn't cool off at night much. Which means I haven't been sleeping much and I feel kinda groggy and dazed right now - I got up early because there was no use trying to go back to sleep since it's already warm and moist in here. (Please note that this is RELATIVE humidity and while its humid for CA it's NOT humid for the east coast. Humid for the east coast is when you walk outside and water just starts running down your scalp and you can't breath without a/c. But then, it doesn't usually get quite this HOT over there either - choose your evil.)
Yesterday I decided to spend the day in air conditioning - drove John to work and stayed in the hospital cafeteria area all day. Which was fun because I got to hang out with John and our friend Jill on their breaks, and they brought me food and popcicles - LOL. And last night I actually felt like eating some real dinner instead of just drinking cold liquids.
On one hand, I've decided to rise above the heat psychologically and not get annoyed and flustered by it - it's actually a relief not to "have to" react like that. On the other hand, sleeps been tough, and although I appreciate the clouds streaking through the skies I am still glad temperatures are now on a DOWNturn because spending the day spraying myself with water and exchanging sympathetic looks with the panting dogs isn't my idea of interesting. *grin*
Today's also July 4th, Independence Day, and the major town nearby, Hollister, has an "Independence Rally" every year that involves thousands of motorcyclists (bikers, riders, etc.) coming into town and hanging out. You've never seen so many Harleys in your life. I'm expecting a lot of riders going up and down our road today.
Oh, but here was something really weird from yesterday. It felt like we switched probabilities when we left the hospital yesterday at about 6:30 p.m. It had been up to 110 (as I mentioned) and we were expecting severe warmth, but it was actually NOT hot, and nicely breezy. And then when we got to Hollister, we were expecting the streets to be full of traffic and bikers starting the celebrations early, but it was just like a normal day. Not that I'm COMPLAINING - LOL - just noticing. And anyway - Happy Independence Day to those who celebrate in the United States. (Ramble Mode Off)
Want to buy locally grown produce so you get it the same day it was picked? Want to pick it yourself? Want to subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture - usually a weekly box of various kinds of produce, whatevers in season)? Check out Local Harvest - you can put in your zip code and find places nearby where you can get fresh, and sometimes organic, fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy. VERY cool.
Cool! We've been having some pretty fun-sized earthquakes this morning: 4.1, 3.4, 1.7, 1.5, 2.8, 2.9 - from about 8:30 a.m. to now. The 4.1 was, as you might guess, a bit more noticable - the whole house WHUMPED. Since we live so close to the epicenters (and a fault) they are usually insta-quakes without any prolonged rattling of windows, rumbling, and the like, which I think I prefer. Still, it's rather strange to experience. If you'd like to see the official map, click here.
I want to wax philosophic/sentimental for a bit. I really appreciate people I can hang out with who just show up to BE THERE and see what happens. Most of the time we end up laughing, usually at the stupidest things - meaning to say one thing and screwing up a word or two, that kind of thing. When John, tom, and I get together, there's a lot of that. And I talked to my long time friend Mitch on the phone last night there was more laughing. Usually my cheeks get that achy feeling at the jaw hinge because I've been grinning too much.
Not that you can't get together to DO stuff, because just 'showing up' doesn't exclude having a plan or whatnot, but it's like the difference between when a person's energy is really ALL THERE and when you can tell they are distracted by other things in their life that AREN'T in front of them at the moment.
A boss I had for a little while had a wandering eye. When she was really listening to you her eye was trained on you, but when she was off in her head, even while you were still talking, her eye was going off on its own and you might as well have just walked away. Of course, there's not always an obvious physical cue from people, but you can still tell. And I have less and less interest in trying to engage people who aren't showing up mentally/energetically to listen or really interact - why should I waste either my time or theirs? LOL.
So here's to the people who show up and appreciate the moments they are living, as they live them! *grin*
After the sun came up, the bat (see photo below) apparently decided to leave (but thanks for the photo opp). In other news, although I didn't write up a nicely linked photo-story like tom did, I did put together a page with links to the photos we took at Big Sur. Lots of scenery shots - you've been warned. *grin*
There's a little bat sleeping peacefully on the outside (whew) of the screen in one of our windows, just behind our small fan. I hope he does okay when the sun hits - or maybe he'll wake up and fly home then. Since he was so willing to just hang there immovable (and upside down - look for his ears), he got his picture taken. *grin*
