Israeli Air Strike on Syria Update

Yet more updates on this growing story.

• War and Piece blog quotes Intelligence Online in saying that the attack targeting an arms depot rather than a nuclear facility. The depot was apparently receiving a shipment of parts for Scud missiles. I seriously doubt Israel would risk an operation like this on Scuds. Everyone has Scuds, why were this so special?


• Arms Control Wonk thinks they were Scuds as well.

Israeli Air Strike on Syria Update

Some more updated on the Israeli air strike:

• It seems that some satellite TV broadcasts have been disrupted, possible due to EW jamming.
  


• Some more on the alleged jamming of the Russian-made Syrian AA systems. I find the story of the SAM countermeasures to be almost as interesting as the strike itself. It seems as though the Israelis, and by extension the US, have an ace-up-the-sleeve when dealing with even the newest Russian systems. If there is an eventual strike on Iranian targets, we will likely have tons of intel on the capabilities of the SAM's and the means to overcome them. This undoubtedly enhances our position when negotiating with the Iranians.

Del Mar Beach

First Guides trip of the year!

Wagner Baby

Looks like 4 got it right!

Israeli Air Strike on Syria Update

David Fulghum speculates on the reason that the Israelis so easily penetrated Syrian air defense. He mentions a system call "Suter" that infiltrates enemy air defense systems and discombobulates them. Very interesting stuff. I can imagine the Russians getting some frantic phone calls from their SAM customers right about now.

More Nukes!

I am glad to see new nuclear plants getting under way. IMHO, nukes are the only way were are going to satisfy our energy needs. All the other alternatives won't work out. The 'natural' energy sources like geothermal, wind and solar are too limited. Who wants endless miles of those ugly windmills all over the place? A recent Dilbert blog entry has an interesting discussion on the subject of energy.

Israeli Air Strike on Syria

The most under-reported story in the mainstream news has to be the mysterious Israeli airstrike on Syria. The target was an alleged nuclear joint venture between Syria and North Korea. The details of this story are right out of fiction:

• A North Korean cargo ship docks in a Syrian port to unload "cement." North Koreans scientists were reportedly at the target site.


• Then, reportedly, Israeli commandos infiltrated the lab to verify that nuclear weapons research was going on.


• The Syrians have a very dense air defense network, but no invading planes were shot down (at least know to us).


• The raiders apparently escaped via Turkey, leaving a fuel tank.


• What weapons were used? If the facility was indeed underground, perhaps new bunker-busting bombs were tested out?
  

The US certainly knew about the operation but there hasn't been an official acknowledgment by any government. Why keep it so secret? Is the Bush administration worried about Syria complaining? Perhaps they don't want to upset the apple cart that is the ongoing Nork negotiations.
If this story pans out, it would certainly bolster Bush's warnings about WMD's and would give the IDF some much-needed prestige. As for the Syrians, some of their military leaders have some explaining to do how all that money they spent on Russian SAM's wasn't worth the rubles it was printed on.
I find this story fascinating and can't wait for more information to come out.

Update
Here is more information on the commandos plus some speculation similar to my own on the silence from US and Israeli governments.
More analysis (albeit not very well unattributed) on the Syrian nuke program.

Dad Of All Bombs

The Russians are testing an enormous new thermobaric weapon, dubbed the "dad of all bombs."
According to the source, the bomb will have near-nuclear power but with the added benefit of, and I quote,

Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment,

.

Fantasy Football Week 2

After two weeks my teams are exactly opposite of what I would have expected. My best two teams are 0-2. They both feature Stephen Jackson at RB so that explains alot of it. My worst team is 2-0 and is looking All-World. That squad is is led by Tony Romo and Andre Johnson but has gotten lots of help from bit players. Week 3 is huge for those 0-2 teams. If they go winless again, it is time to write the season off.

Lives of Adventure

I came across this obituary in a recent paper for Count Michael Gaszynski. My first thought was that this gentleman led an incredibly rich and exciting life. My life is pretty boring in comparison.
But after reading the article again, it dawned on me that this person's life, and countless others of those born early in the 20th century, seemed exciting due all the wars and turmoil. Mr. Gaszynski was born in Poland right before World War I, had to flee during the Russian Revolution, fled Poland before World War II. He did settle down after the war to make cheesecake which is a bit more mundane.
On second thought, I really do appreciate the unexciting life. We could all use a bit of adventure, but not the kind that involves running for your life.

Zoo Urinals

The family and I went to the Nighttime Zoo this past weekend. I always love the evening zoo hours as most of the animals are more active, especially the cats.
One thing my son and I noticed about the bathrooms is that they don't have child level urinals. This is quite puzzling since half the patrons at the zoo are kids. Even my office has low urinals and kids are never there. Most of the bathrooms look like have been refitted with the no-water units, so why didn't they make them lower then? Very strange.

Car Repair Tip #234

When you change your windshield wipers blades, place a towel or other padding on the glass. If you don't and the arm happens to snap back without a blade, it can crack the windshield.

Amateur IMINT

IMINT & Analysis.
The wonders of free overhead imagery.

Samsung Blackjack Impressions

A couple months ago I gave my archaic Nokia cellphone for a snazzy new Samsung Blackjack. I wanted something that would replace both my phone and my ancient Sony Clie Palm PDA. My choices seemed to be between the Blackjack, the Blackberry and a Treo. I didn't want to go the Blackberry route since that seemed to lock you into their network at an additional cost (according to a Cingular rep, so this could be an incorrect premise). I was a bit scared off by rumors of Palms imminent demise and they were also too darn expensive. That left the Blackjack. Here are some of my impressions of the device:

Pros

• Form-factor - the size, weight and feel are great. It is barely noticeable in my belt holster.


• Screen - the screen seems tiny at first (and it is) but it is very clear and still display enough information.


• Call quality - I have found this phone to be much better than my old Nokia.

Cons

• Keyboard - the keyboard is quite small and takes a fair amount of practice to avoid hitting the wrong key. People with large hands probably can't use it.


• Screen in daylight - in daylight, the screen is unveiwable. My old Nokia was much at this.


• PDA functionality - the Palm is a much, much better PDA platform that MS Outlook. There are tons of little things that Palm does that are missing in Outlook. For instance, having a calendar event with no time; Outlook forces a time (or rather sets it to all-day), which doesn't make sense for things like birthdays. The todo function in Outlook lacks the polish of Palm. Also, the Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile doesn't come with a list function; I had to buy and 3rd party program for this. Lastly, the sync works much smarter in Palm. The Outlook sync always makes duplicates or recreates deleted items.
  

Overall, I enjoy the Blackjack and appreciate having only one device to haul around. If you need to go with Windows, I recommend it. But if I had to do it over again, I would have splurged and got a Treo.

Under 3 Dollar Gas

I saw the local Chevron had gas for $2.99/gallon which almost 20 cents cheaper than a month ago. This seems to contradict the rising cost of crude.
Is the refining capacity picking up?
Are we using less gasoline?
Are the oil companies suppressing prices to keep us mollified?
I guess a combination of the first two.

Roomba Review

I have had my Roomba for over 6 months now which has given me enough time to give it a thorough shake down.
Overall, the machine works great. It is a great way to vacuum. It is especially nifty at getting under beds and cabinets that are difficult with a regular vacuum. We tend to use it much more than our old central vac.
There are some nits about the unit.
* It is quite loud. Not as loud as a regular vacuum, but you wouldn't want to run it if you need some peace and quiet.
* Cleaning it is a pain. All the spinning parts will have hair and pet fur wrapped around them after one or two runs. The main brush is easy to clean with a knife or a special cleaning tool, but the side brush and the center wheel are not designed to be easily removed, so they get really clogged up. In fact, the center wheel will become hard to turn, which probably reduces battery life. Also, the unit has lots of small parts that can get lost easily; so take care when disassembling it.
* Extension cords will bind it up. Since the unit can get into places you normally don't vacuum, make sure there aren't any extensions cords, yarn or other stuff that tends to hide under beds and cabinets. They will bring the robot to a screeching halt.

Since replacement parts are easy to come by, I intend to use my robot as much as possible. I have my eyes on the workshop model next.

Mean Mr. Ice Cream Man

We recently had an ice cream man starting coming around the neighborhood. He has the typically van with all the advertising stickers on it. He also has the corny music. But this ice cream also smokes like a chimney and seems to hate kids. Once my two heard him coming and, after getting permission of course, ran to get their money. The guy saw the kids hurry off but didn't bother to wait and drove off. Now maybe his compensation packages is tied to mileage instead of ice cream treats sold, but now the kids aren't really excited when he comes by anymore.

YAAQV

Yet another al Qaeda video...this one is from an American traitor. How this joker can say this crap with a straight face is unknown to me. If these losers had any guts they would stop blowing up women and children and face the U.S. on the field of battle; like real men. Go back to your hole, freak.

Shrek 3

I filled my yearly movie theater quote (which happens to be one) by seeing Shrek 3. It is definitely the worst of the three. It started out strong but the last half is pretty lame. I think the writers have run out of fairy tale creature jokes.

Casino "Cheating"

Some local people where arrested for allegedly "cheating" some casinos. Besides the bribing allegations and other insider dealings, I never really understood how this is considered cheating. Aren't they just using all the available information to improve their play; all the other players have access to this information as well. I remember reading about casinos banning card counters in blackjack. A lot of them weren't using any devices, just counting the cards in their heads. The casinos are free to let whomever they want play, but it goes to show just how much pull they have with politicians that they can make it a "crime" to get good at their games.

Chief No More

My reign as the Dorado Tribe Chief ended this past weekend with our last event at Dos Picos. I had a great time as Chief and had a great group of guys in the tribe that make things easy.

Migrant Mother story

Everyone has seen this famous photograph of a migrant worker mother and her kids. Apparently, the real story is quite different from the picture.

Vietnam Myths

Op-for has a good recap of some common Vietnam myths.
Some highlights (emphasis mine):

Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential Papers Common Myths Dispelled: Myth: Common Belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted. Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam.
Fact: The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley a major military defeat for the VC and NVA.

Coach

My wife got me a Coach wallet for my birthday a long time ago. Over the years, it has started to wear along the spine. The Coach site describes their lifetime warranty, so I sent it in for repair. A few weeks later, the wallet was returned untouched. The response letter said that it was unrepairable; in exchange, they gave me 40% off any item. The discount isn't bad, especially if I get something pricey, but they should have sent me a new wallet. Maybe I will get one of these, or these.

Trojan Horse

I got this bizarre email at work from our IT department:

Someone received an envelope from:

OCE'
5729 LEBANON RD
STE. 144-275
FRISCO, TX 75034

The envelope contained a plastic horse, about 2" long and 1"
high. Around the waist of the horse was an Avery label with the word
WORK on it. The envelope also contained a piece of white card stock, 5"
x 2" , with the following url:

"some url"

When my guy went to the url, ( using his laptop
computer) his screen tuned blue and he received over 150 pieces of spy
ware. The program then started collecting data.
It looks like the program collected about 40 different excel
files before he disconnected his computer from the internet.

Please let me know if you receive anything like this ASAP,
remember to try to save the envelope and toy (or whatever is in the
package) for finger printing and tell your IT guy to be on the lookout
as well.

I hadn't heard of this before. It must be a very specifically targeted attack since the senders had to know that the target had something of value on his PC. My guess is Chinese government hackers.

MMORPG

Our family has been taken over the MMORPG craze. Our kids have spent hours playing Webkinz. I wonder if there are Kinz Cash farmers?

Innovation Through Dedication

At my office, they have a coffee counter just like every other office in the western world. Among the available items are coffee stirrers. Here is a picture of the box of stir sticks:

Now I admire the Royal Paper Products company for the pride they take in their products, but this might be taking it a bit too far. These stirrers are simple wooden sticks. As far as I can tell, they do not possess any innovation whatsoever. Since they are probably made my machine in huge quantities and not individually handcrafted, they don't really contain any dedication either.

Kurds

Some good news on Iraq.

Disneyland

For Jaya's birthday, I took her and a friend to Disneyland on Saturday. We had a blast. Got there right after it opened and staying almost to closing. We did every ride the girls wanted except for Peter Pan, which had 60 minute plus lines the entire time.
I also did a few things that I had never done before

• Parked in the Poombah lot. If you get the opportunity to park in this lot, DON'T! It is located across Harbor Blvd. and there is no shuttle service. This wasn't a big deal in the morning when we are hyped up, but at 11:00 at night with two tired girls, the walk is no fun.


• Saw the story at Aladdin's Oasis. It is easy to miss this attraction wedged between Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room, but I highly recommend it if you have kids. The actors did a great job telling the story of the movie.


• Got dinner and a show at the Golden Horseshoe. I don't think I have ever been inside the Golden Horseshoe, but they have food (a limited menu though) and great entertainment. The band was country/hillbilly with a frontman that looked very much like Neal Young. Very entertaining, but a tad bit loud.


• Rode Roger Rabbit spin ride in Toon Town. This had the longest line of the day and right before we were about to board, the ride broke down. As the current passengers were unloaded, they announced a 20 minute wait and we decided to stick it out. After almost exactly 20 minutes, it was back up and running again.

Toastmasters

I recently joined the Toastmasters club at my company and today gave my first speech, the "Icebreaker" project. This is supposed to be about yourself, and I spoke about my progression from loathing automobile maintenance to enjoying it. I got a bunch of good feedback to pore over and hope to make my next speech soon.

Shaara Trifecta

I recently finished three historic novels from Jeff Shaara.
The Rising Tide - The newly released first segment of a World War II trilogy, I think I was the first to grab this from the SD County library. This was my first Shaara book and I really like it. Due to my past interest in WWII I knew all the people and places that were mentioned. This book follows American troops from the invasion of North Africa through the Sicily campaign. Mr. Shaara does a wonderful job of describing the heat of battle but also the tedium of the planning and waiting. I guess that is war is described and periods of shear boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror (or something like that).

To the Last Man - My favorite Shaara book to date. Follows the same tedium/terror pattern of Rising Tide but the battle scenes are much more intense. I think this has to do with the choice of characters. In Tide, Shaara follows a tank driver and a paratrooper; these disciplines, added with the nature of WWII combat lead to a greater separation between participants. But in WWI, there was still a "wait until you see the whites of their eyes" kind of fighting. Highly recommended, especially if you know nothing about The Great War.

Gone For Soldiers - This was Mr. Shaara's first non-Civil War novel, and his weakest that I have read so far. In this book, he follows the "dream team" that made up the American side of the war, including Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant and others, in the Veracruz to Mexico City campaign. He does not cover any grunts like he does in his later books and gives the book a bit of a blue-blood tone to it. Not a bad book by any means, especially considering the difficulty of the subject.

Next up is Jeff Shaara's two-part America Revolution series.

Mexican Moving Vans

Living close to the border, I often witness the wonders of the Mexican Moving Van. For the uninformed, an MMV is a steel frame built up around a pickup truck. Kind of like a carpenters pickup with the over-the-cab rack just a lot higher and longer. The owners then pack them to the rafters with stuff. It is amazing that these things can even move much less travel the freeways. I saw the mother of all MMV's on the way down from Orange County Sunday night. This one was not hauling a household of goods like they normally do, but rather had a single cargo: mattresses. Lots of mattresses. Think of your normal MMV loaded to the hilt, then throw on a few dozen mattresses. There were some decent winds on the freeway that night and I still can't figure out how that thing didn't tip over. My wife thought they were using ballast in the truck bed. I hope the poor guy didn't get rained on or he would have soaked up a few tons of water.

Dogs Are Like Flies

As a previous post detailed, we are having a problem with our dog pooping on the floor, usually on the carpet where it is the hardest to clean up. A friend gave us a good trick to try. She only feeds are dog once a day, in the morning. Then she walks the dog, it poops, then nothing until the next day. Apparently, dogs are like flies. When something comes in the front end, something has to move out the back to make room. We were leaving Sophie's dish out all night. She would wander in for a midnight snack, then nature took its course. This trick has worked so far and has saved her from a one-way ticket to the Helen Woodward center.

Bad Week

Its been a rough start to the week so far.
* Woke up sick the the flu that everyone seems to have
* Dog crapped on the hallway carpet
* I stepped in said crap
* Work is piling up due to sick days
* Strained a muscle in the back of my rib cage

Pipe Hike

Each weekend, we try to get out on a hike that is not too difficult for the kids and we can take the dog. Out favorite is on the Manchester Trails just a short distance away. We call it Pipe Hike for the gas pipeline running through the park. Most of it is buried, but there is a wash that was exposed the pipe so it acts like a bridge. The kids like to cross the over it.
One our last trip, I took my eTrex and tracked our route. Through the wonders of Google Maps and GPSVisualizer, I made a map of our trip. Our route is 1.7 miles which is just right for the tykes. There is one steep stretch where we climb 160 ft. in little over a tenth of a mile.

Lucene

I have started to integrate Lucene into one of my projects at work. Now I can be a genius like my colleague.

Chargers

To fire Marty or not to fire Marty...that is the question.
IMHO, Marty is a good coach. He has made a few poor decisions in key playoff games, but most of his losses have been due to bad luck. Charger fans can now share in their grief with Cleveland Brown v1.0 fans. The coach always gets blamed because he is in charge. But in the end, it is not him on the field.
Instead of firing Marty, they need to fire some of the players. Eric Parker has to go. He is a mediocre WR at best and a game-killer at worst. McCardell is getting too old to play anymore and should retire. Then, they need to get a big-time receiver to line up with Vincent Jackson. I have my eye on T.O. You could probably get him cheap from the Cowboys. Yes, he's a headache, but look at those numbers. They bring back the same team as last year but with another playmaker for Rivers, they could go 16-0; then lose in their first playoff game :(

Roomba

I got my wife myself a Roomba. Should I hack it?

Post Vacation Blues

Upon returning from my vacation, I had the following waiting for me:

• Car covered in bird poop


• Dead battery in said car


• Lost cell phone


• Many pounds to be worked off


• Down DSL

St. Louis

I spent the last week in St. Louis visiting my brother and his family. He has a girl and a boy that are year behind my kids (my mom got grandkids in four straight years) plus an infant. The kids got along great even though they are very different personalities.
My family has deep roots in the St. Louis area. My mom grew up in Cahokia and met my dad while he was attending Parks College. My brother also attended Parks and worked for Anheuser-Busch before moving to Merrill Lynch.
We hit some great sites this trip:

• St. Louis Zoo - an awesome zoo and free to boot! It was pretty cold so alot of the animals were off exhibit keeping warm. However, the antelopes and other hoofed animals were in a big barn. You could get very close to them and the highlight were the giraffes.


• The City Museum - probably the greatest playground/children's museum I have seen. It has to be seen to be believed. If you have kids and are in the area, plan a day to go here. We stayed for over 7 hours and kids didn't want to leave.


• U.S. Grant Historical Site - a small, but very interesting park. It contains the house that the Grant's owned. The rangers where extremely informative. I plan on visiting this park again when the museum is finished.


• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial - best known for the Gateway Arch, this park also has a good museum and a great film on Lewis & Clark. The arch is not for the claustrophobic or altophobic. Imagine getting into a large clothes dryer and going straight up for over 600 feet. The angle of the viewing windows at the top let you see behind the arch.

Fantasy Champs!

My team pulled out a huge win to take the eNFL championship. Steven Jackson, Rian Lindell and the Chargers D overcame mediocre performances from Matt Hasselbeck, Marion Barber and Torry Holt.

Iran Loses Lawsuit

In more ridiculous legal news, Iran has been ordered to pay damages for the Khobar Towers bombing. Does anyone really expect them to pay?

Exxon Valdez

Why is this still going on? No wonder the courts are backlogged if they keep doing the same cases for 17 years.

Fantasy Football Semi-finals

By a minor miracle, one of my teams squeaked out a win. The game was tied after Sunday's afternoon games and I was going to lose the tie-breaker. However, due to a recount, I was awarded an extra point and the victory. I believe that crucial point was the fumble recovery by the Chargers on that blocked punt. I was in the championship game last year in this league, so I hope second time's the charm.
My other team got smoked.

Three Books

Bruce Catton - American Heritage New History of The Civil War
This book is one of the seminal volumes in Civil War history. Not because of its depth or groundbreaking analysis but because of the large number of historians that list it as one of their first exposures to the Civil War. This book provides a great overall history of the war but it is the maps that get all the attention. The maps are drawn 3D maps with tiny soldiers, cannons and cavalry running around, fighting and otherwise depicting the actual troop actions. They give a nice feel for the events over traditional military maps, especially for younger readers.

James McPherson - Battle Cry of Freedom
This book won the Pulizter Prize so it must be good. It is a much more comprehensive
narrative than Catton. Frankly, I skipped most of the first 6 chapters since they covered the political events of the prior decades leading up to the war. I was mainly interested in the military side of things. MacPherson covers everything in just enough detail to get a good feel for the war.

Tom Clancy - Debt of Honor
I hadn't read a Tom Clancy book for ages before picking this one up at the library. I don't think I will be picking up another for a while. This book is predictable and boring. The premise is that the Japanese, after getting in a trade dispute with the US, decide they need to be more "indepenent." So they attack US naval forces and invade Saipan and Guam. The industrialists that are controlling the government also have plans to ally with China and India to grab more land. But there is no suspense, no surprises. Jack Ryan is the hero who can do no wrong (and his wife is even more annoyingly perfect). In the end, the US uses its superior technology to knock out key Japanese capabilities and forces them to retreat. Maybe it is because I read "The Hunt for Red October" and "Red Storm Rising" at the height of the Cold War and they seemed real and plausible and that made those books fun and exciting. But Debt of
Honor just seems silly.

Niihau Incident

As somewhat of a military history buff, I am constantly learning new things as I read books and websites. I recently came across this account of the Niihau Incident. I had no prior knowledge of this story but found it to be one of the most interesting I have ever read. If you live in California, you know all about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, but think that it might not have happened if it wasn't for a single wayward pilot. Some might argue that Japanese-Americans would have been imprisoned anyway, and that could be true. But keep in mind that German Italian Americans were never put in camps. Perhaps racism is to blame but like in any war, irrational decisions are made.

Grand Canyon Sky Walk

I have to go see this. Having been to both rims of the Grand Canyon, this would be another incredible experience.

XMas Superstars

Great post about Christmas.

Weevils

The weevils are attacking! Run for your lives!

Fantasy Football Playoff Update

Good news! Both of my playoff teams won their first round games, and convincingly so. Now it is on to the much tougher second round.

Tragic End

James Kim did not make it.

Fantasy Football Playoffs

The season started very grim, but two of my four teams pulled out playoff spots. Both had to win their final regular season game (week 13 of the NFL season) to sneak in and both pulled it out.
One of my teams is not very strong but it has some talent that could win a game or two.
My other playoff team is much more powerful. That team is lead by Drew Brees, the #1 fantasy QB this year. I have two solid WRs in TJ Houshmandzadeh and Steve Smith. The injury to Shaun Alexander had me shuffling Jamal Lewis, Maurice Jones-Drew and Dominic Rhodes at RB all year; now that the MVP is back, I should make some noise. One guy predicted me wining in all, I hope this is not a jinx.

Lost Family

I have recently caught up on this heart rendering story of the missing family of four in Oregon. It is hard to believe that someone can still get lost in the snow these days. They had a modern car, cell phones and who knows what else (given that the father was a well-known gadget journalist you think he might have a GPS), yet still got lost along major roads.
One interesting tidbit about the resuce of the mother and children is that the helicopter that spotted them was charted by the family of the missing people. The authorities, who are presumably experts in finding lost people, had all kinds of men and machines out searching, but can't find them.
Hopefully they can find the remaining person soon.

Thanksgiving Week

Had an awesome Thanksgiving week. Took some time off work to burn off some accumulated vacation days. My brother and his family flew in from St. Louis and we all had a great time. Of course we did some Black Friday shopping but didn't find nearly the deals as in the past. It seems that retailers are spreading it out over the year.
Spent one night camping at San Onofre State Beach, San Mateo campground. This is nice campground, but has become a bit pricey.
On Monday, we spent the day at Disneyland. It was a bit wet in the morning, but that just served to keep the crowds to a minimum. There was hardly any lines and even though the park closed at 8:00pm, we got on everything we wanted to. My daughter loved Star Tours but I can only ride it once before getting motion sickness. My son, on the other hand, wanted to ride the Storybookland Canal Boats and Its a Small World. I like the movie additions to Pirates but hated the Christmas version of Haunted Mansion.
Can't wait to visit St. Louis in December.

Rawhide Ranch

Jaya and I spent an awesome weekend at Rawhide Ranch this past weekend. The girls got to learn horse riding, pony showmanship and vaulting. I highly recommend it if your kids like horses.

Funniest ESPN Article Ever

This gem was released from the clutches of "ESPN Insider". Read it while it is still available.
First-annual Atrocious GM Summit

Holy Grail

I have been looking for continous integration (CI) tool for a long time. They all had something wrong with them. CruiseControl, for instance, was too complicated and I couldn't get it work with my build environment. Well I have finally found something that works: Hudson. I am test it on a project at work but everything looks good so far. It is easy to configure and the UI is nice.

Iran Tourist Bounty

Iran is offered a cash bounty to get American tourists to come and visit. I am sure that they have some nice archeological sites to see, but I bet most American's are afraid of ending up list the last tour group.

Open Source Project

I started a new open source project on SourceForge. Check it out at http://sourceforge.net/projects/millicontainer/.

Halloween stinks

Does anyone hate Halloween as much as I do? Here are some reasons for my dislike:
* Standing out in the cold
* Standing out in the dark
* Kids who change their minds about their costumes on an hourly basis
* Having to go to work/school the next day
* Sugered up children

I must be getting old, since those are the reasons I like Halloween as a kid.

Busy Sunday

* Bike ride
* Recaulk bathtub
* Haircuts
* Family day at Lux Art Institute
* Birthday party
* Devine guitar school concert at Cardiff Seaside Market

Most Watched Cable TV Show

According to reports, Monday's NFL game between Chicago and Arizona was the third most watched cable tv show ever. The second most was another football game. Number 1 was a 1993 episode of "Larry King Live." Do you know what the topic of that show was? The only good guess I could come up with was Bill Clinton. The correct answer is the Ross Perot-Al Gore NAFTA debate. I doubt this had to do with the county's concern over NAFTA but had more to do with the clown-like Perot and the moronic Gore fight.

Indian Guides

One week after the first Indian Princess event (my first as tribal chief), I had my first campout with Bengt in the Indian Guides. This event was at Mission Trails, one of my favorite spots. We got there Friday evening and were quickly swarmed by mosquitos. I have been to Mission Trails several times and hadn't any problem with bugs, but we were practically eaten alive. Then the rain soaked our tent and we had to make a midnight move into the car to stay dry. A light rain accompanied us on our morning hike but then stopped for good after lunch. Overall, I was very pleased with Bengt and he had a great time.

Weevil

I capture this weevil in the front yard. I thought it might be one of the weevils wanted for mass destruction. But after close examination, I don't think this one of them. The amazing thing about this bug is that is lived in my speciman container for over 2 weeks without any food or water and is still alive at the time of this entry. Could this be some sort of "superbug"?

Fantasy Football Update

I won 3 out of 4 games last week. Obviously posting here is good luck so will continue.

TS Furby

As a clearance holder, I have heard the Furby spiel but thought it has half-joke, half-true. But apparantly there is a story behind it.

ArtSplash

Spent two days at ArtSplash in Carlsbad this past weekend. The kids' school had a huge tile mosiac they were building. It will be mounted on one of the school walls. They also did some chalk art on one of the squares the school had. Saturday featured the Stomp-like Jr. Crew dance ensemble. We have seen them before and really enjoy their work. Sunday had a performance by the Fern Street Circus. That was very good as well.

Tomcat put down

But someone is still flying them.

Fantasy Football

I now know how the Bucaneers, Panthers, Dolphins, Browns, Titans, Texans, Chiefs, Raiders, Redskins, Packers and Lions feel. I have four fantasy teams and every one is 0 and 2 so far.

Roy Martin Birthday

On Saturday we attended the 60th birthday party of a very good family friend, Roy Martin. Mr. Martin has had a long and distinguished career in aviation from flying F-4's in Vietnam to becoming a top test pilot. Many more, Colonel.

Sophie Gallery

Wikipedia edit

I made my first Wikipedia edit. For some reason I was perusing entries on the oil business and came across the entry for PIG's. The entry had a unusual blurb about them being featured in two James Bond films. However, pigs were also featured in an earlier film, "Diamonds Are Forever". Who could forget when Mssrs. Kidd and Wint stuff Bond into a (presumably water or sewer) pipeline to die a horrible death. However, after befriending a rat, James encounters a pig, which he disables and is rescued by the crew that comes to fix it.
I am going to watch to see if anyone edits my edit.

Tuesday Morning Quaterback

TMQ is back on espn.com! I guess whomever he upset a few years ago has gotten over it.

Sophie is back!

The dog saga continues...
As you know, we had to give Sophie back to her original family. The dog and kids were very sad. But it seems that she wasn't doing back in her new (old) home. Her owner said she was barking alot and the neighbors were complained. So my wife, being a big softy, agreed to take Sophie back. We surprised the kids when we picked her up at Mission Bay on Saturday. She's a good dog and it is nice to have her back with us.

More books

Updated the reading list

Firefox Extensions

My current roster:
DOM Inspector
Adblock
LastTab
Sage
Session Manager
Tabbrowser Preferences
Tamper Data

Know any other good ones I should install?

Weights

Added another plate on the bench press to get to 192 lbs for my reps. I read that the bench press record at the NFL combine is 51 reps at 225 lbs. I did 17 my last try so I have some work to go.

UCLA blog ring

I joined the nascent UCLA blog ring. I was at UCLA from 1989 through 1994 (yes, that is five full years and I needed every day of it) graduating with a degree in Computer Science. At UCLA, CS was in the engineering school, which meant plenty of math, chemistry and other fairly difficult subjects. I was always amazed by the difference between the north campus and south campus classes. In the few north campus classes I took (art history, etc.), I got good grades because it was so subjective; you could almost make stuff up and still come out ok. Try that in physics and you will end up at the wrong end of the curve. Don't get me wrong, I liked those classes, I just didn't find them very challenging.
I will have some more UCLA stuff in the future. If you were a former Bruin, especially during my tenure, please write or comment.

Shaken and Stirred

An interesting take on the current Middle East situation (thanks to Smash):
Shaken and Stirred.
I agree with everything except the last part. The author, Josh Manchester, says that Israel has an opportunity for a "decisive defeat" of Hizbollah. Although they may very well be defeated decisively, seeing that they don't stand a chance going toe-to-toe with the IDF. I am afraid any such victory would be only temporary. As long as there are countries and organizations (and people) that feel that terrorism is an option to them, then there will be terrorists. Given time and money and weapons, there will soon be a Hizbollah II, Electric Bugaloo.

Saturday Schedule

• Jog on the beach at Swami's and San Elijo


• Kayaking at Agua Hedionda Lagoon


• Pick up kids from the airport!

Atlanta vacation

The week of July 4th, we were in Atlanta to visit my wife's parents and other family. So much went on it would be hard to recap here but I will list some highlights.

• Georgia Aquarium - Home to 4 whale sharks.

Whale Sharks at Georgia Aquarium

• Callaway Gardens - This resort southwest of Atlanta had all kinds of activities, from biking to hiking and plenty of aquatics. One of my favorites were the tandem bikes made for an adult and child so the kids could ride along with us.

Tandem bike at Callaway Gardens

• Wild Animal Safari - where you can feed the animals yourself. This place is great!

Petting a Gnu

• Kennesaw Mountain battlefield - piqued my interest in the Civil War

Kennesaw Mountain Cannon

• St. James Episcopal in Marietta - where we were married oh so many years ago.
  

St. James, Marietta

• All the wonderful family members that I don't get to see nearly as much as I would like.

Traffic School

As a result of a recent speeding ticket, I had the pleasure of attending traffic school. I opted for the weeknight version that consists of two 4 hour sessions. Better that than kill an entire day. Apparently the online versions aren't much of a time saver. The instructor was a former cop and provided some interesting insights. Not so much how to get out of a ticket but how to avoid them in the first place (mainly by obeying the law). The best part is going around the room to find out everyone's ticket. Half of the class had speeding infractions while other had mainly red light violations. The red light tickets where mainly from the cameras and very expensive, $300 and up! There was one older fellow who got fairly belligerent when discussing (more like yelling) about his ticket. The instructor almost had to throw him out. All in all, it wasn't the best time I had, but it could have been much worse.

Big Weekend

Lots going on this weekend.
First, we went to Rancho Guajome Park in Oceanside. I had read about the Rancho and the restored adobe hacienda, but seeing it person is quite an experience. Unlike the Mission San Diego de Alcala, Rancho Guajome is still very much in rural land; so much so it seems impossible in this day and age. The Rancho is very interesting historically due to the vast amounts of letters, journal and other documents that were kept by the various residents over the years. Built in 1852, it was inhabited until 1972 when it was donated to the County (apparently the State passed). The staff and docents were very helpful and knowledgeable. My daughter enjoyed the fashion show of 1800's dresses that a volunteer put together.
Almost next door to Guajome is the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum. If you like engines, tractors or anything big and stinky and made of metal, this is the place for you. There are two rows of gas and steam engines. Not little toys but big old-timey engines. The gas engines kind of chug along but the steam engines are usually connected up to something. For instance the water pumps had pools of water to move around while a smaller engine turned a whetstone for a guy sharpening knives. Bengt could watch the engines forever. We got there a bit late so we missed the tractor parade and thresher demonstration. We did take a hayride for the grand tour of the grounds. Lots of old rusting tractors and machines; pretty interesting. There is another festival in October that we plan on attending. If your kids get tired of the sterility of LegoLand, consider the AGSE Museum.
Lastly, on a sad note, we parted ways with our dog, Sophie. My wife is allergic to dogs, but she thought she could handle it. It eventually become too much. We contacted the same family we got her from and they were missing her and were glad to have her back. Jaya was crying when they came to pick here up but we know she will have a good home.

Father's Day Pie

My mom is an extraordinary pie maker. She makes the best crust; not too crispy but not too soft. She usually makes apple-boysenberry but my favorite is peach. For father's day, she make me my own personal peach pie. I was a good day.

My results of the OK Cupid Politics Test. Since I typically vote Libertarian, these results aren't suprising.

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (80% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Bengt's 6th Birthday

Last weekend, Bengt turned 6 and in celebration we took him to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. AOP is much bigger than Scripps here in San Diego. They even have some non-aquatic exhibits such as lorikeet feeding aviary. My favorite was the impressive Barents Sea exhibit which had waves crashing on rocks thowing up cloud of mist.
This picture is Bengt at the shark touch tank.

TV

It has been over 2 years since we decided to get rid of our TV. Not completely; we still watch DVD's but don't get cable, broadcast or satellite. The only thing I really miss is the sports. I tried to get some rabbit ears to pick the USC-Texas Rose Bowl but never got it working. It has been long enough that there are now shows that I have never seen but hear being talked about ("Lost", for example). No that I think about it, it is probably best to live in blissful ignorance.

Camping

This past weekend was the annual family campout for the Adventure Princesses. We went up to Lake Perris and had a great time. The main event was a cardboard boat race. Each tribe had to construct a boat (on site, not beforehand) out of cardboard, plastic and duct tape. We ended up third after a rocky start; I had the anchor leg. It was Sophie's first trip with us and she had a great time. It took her a bit of time to get used to all the people. She is still recovering from all the attention.

4 Things

inspired by carlosrull.com...

4 jobs I've had - telemarketer, pizza delivery man, computer guy at a major university medical center, restauranteur

4 movies I can watch over and over - Any James Bond movie, LA Story, any 80's Chevy Chase movie, any Harry Potter movie

4 places I've lived - Santa Ana, CA; Santa Monica, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; Los Angeles, CA

4 shows I watch - none, I don't have TV

4 places I've vacationed - Hawaii, Bonaire, Arizona, Santa Barbara

4 foods I love - California burritos, pasta with Bolognese sauce, burgers, mashed potatoes

4 sites I visit daily - Yahoo, signonsandiego.com, nctimes.com, bimmerboard.com

4 2 places I'd rather be - Hawaii, the beach

4 items in my bag - cellphone, wallet, PDA, pens

Bathroom etiquette

I constantly amazed at the number of people at work that don't wash their hands after using the restroom. I could maybe understand if you were just going to work on a car or dig a ditch, but these are highly skilled, presumably well-educated employees.

New dog

The long dog saga if finally over! We have successfully procured a one and a half year old Maltese/Poodle mix named Sophie.

Chicken pox

First my son got it, now my daughter has it. About a fourth of their school has it now. By the end of the week, Bengt will be the only there.

More car work

Just a couple of weeks ago, I spent the better part of a weekend changing the timing belt on my Honda Passport. Right afterwards, the water pump starts to leak! My brother warned me to change it while I had everything apart but did I listen? Noooo. Off came the fan, belts, timing covers, timing belt and finally the water pump. I am getting quite proficient in this procedure now. The only real difficulty was in removing the gasket from the old pump as it was stock on the block pretty good.

Agua Caliente

Had a great Indian Princess campout at Agua Caliente in Anza-Borrego this past weekend. There was hiking up the stream beds, off-roading to exercise my seldom-used 4WD, swimming in the hot springs and explosions (only one dad had to go to the hospital and he is going to fine).

Snow in San Diego

In San Diego county at least. We took a drive up to Mount Palomar to check out the recent snow fall. The kids griped most of the way but were very excited once they saw the snow on the roads going up the mountain.

Car work

I did some major surgery on my Honda Passport this weekend. It was due for a new timing belt and had a leaky valve cover gasket.
The gasket was fairly straight forward, but time consuming since some of the bolts are hard to reach.
The timing belt was another matter. The job was going good until I got to the crankshaft pulley. The bolt holding it on is quite tight as you can imagine but the hard part is keeping the pulley from turning while you try to get it loose. The Haynes guide says to simply hold the pulley with a big set of channellocks. This is nearly impossible. I first tried putting on a strap wrench with the handle up against the frame to keep it in place. I broke two strap wrenches this way. Plan B. The Passport board had a good suggestion: stick your breaker bar down through the bottom of the car, slip on a long pipe and hit the starter (make sure you pull the ignition so it doesn't start). I had to get a pipe from Home Depot, but it worked like a charm. The second major difficulty was getting the new belt on. I had inadvertenly left the camshaft pulleys inbetween strokes so when I removed the belt, they snapped into a new position, throwing off my timing markings. I had to turn the sprockets with one hand and weave the belt with another; it took about an hour to get it right. Then I realized I couldn't get the hydraulic tensioner back in so off came the belt and I had to repeat the exercise. The last diffuculty involved reattaching the crankshaft pulley bolt. I had to find a way to stop the pully from turning while I torqued the nut. Since I was out of strap wrenches, I jury-rigged a solution. The pulley has a flange on it with two threaded holes. I imagine this is for a tool that the dealers use to keep the pulley from turning. Since I don't possess one of these tools, I screwed in a small machine bolt. I then borrowed a large pipe wrench from my neighbor and gripped the screw with it; the handle of wrench was up against the frame to keep from moving. I then was able to torque the nut a good deal. My breaker bar is 28" long and I was able put full strength into it, so I imagine I want over the specified 123 foot-lbs.
I haven't decided if all this was worth the $600 bucks or so my mechanic would charge.

Dream Car

I want to build one of these before I turn 40.

Bin Laden tape

Is everyone tired of these ridiculous UBL tapes already? He has been turning out these hollow threats for 4 years now and nothing has happened. If this guy has so much money stashed away in Swiss banks or gold bouillon, how about checking out Best Buy or Circuit City for some decent recording equipment. Any middle school a/v club could produce better material than this joker.
You can argue about Iraq, Bush and whether the US really is trying to find Bin Laden, and if Pakistan is covertly hiding them from us, and whatnot all day, but one thing you can't argue with is the ineffectiveness of terrorists in striking US targets. You would think by now that one attack, even a "failed" one (ala the first Trade Center bombing) would have gone down by now. I am not crazy about the Patriot Act, the TSA and HLD, but it is hard to argue with results.

The Great War

My wife recently picked "A Very Long Engagement" to watch. It is a good movie; half love story, half mystery. The subtitles didn't bother me at all. The setting of the movie is early 1920's Paris where a young woman searches for her fiance whom was supposedly killed during World War I.
I had great interest in military history when I was younger (primarily World War II) and this film piqued my desire to re-read some of my old books. I review two of them on my reading page.

California Burritos

I love California Burritos. Ever since I discovered them at Rico's in Encinitas, I won't eat Mexican food at an establishment that does not proffer the delictable bundles of goodness. For the uniformed, a California Burrito is a burrito filled with carne asada, cheese, sour cream and the pièce de résistance: french fries.
They are also easy to make at home:

Ingredients:

• Beef, use the cheapest cut you can find. I usually use chuck steak since it has little fat. Buy alot and freeze it in portion sized baggies.
  
• Cheese, cheddar is perfect
• Sour cream
• Frozen french fries, any brand will do.
• Tortilla

1. Start the fries per the manufacturer's instructions. They usually take 20 minutes in the oven to cook nice and crispy.
2. Fry up the beef until cooked through. This isn't filet mignon so don't keep it rare.
3. Grate the cheese.
4. Warm the tortillas a bit.
5. When the the beef and fries are done, pile everything on the tortilla and enjoy!