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.