After a tiring afternoon shopping around to get stuff to make a presentation board, Lynda and I went in search of food, but were having our usual dilemma deciding what to eat. Since we were in the Breckenridge/Dutchmans Lane neighborhood we batted the usual suspects around and had initially headed up the hill toward Skyline Chili — we know it is an acquired taste, but we were looking for something fast that wasn't a burger — when Lynda recalled seeing a sign for a place called Bazo's last week when we were at Village 8 to see Wanted (don't waste your time on that movie; we'll never get those two hours back). Well, we swung through the little parking lot just this side of Skyline (remember this) and headed around behind Village 8 in search of Bazo's. We came back around on the theatre side and that parking lot was wall-to-wall cars — a sign of the times when everyone is hitting the cheap seats instead of the first run theatres with their $11 tickets and $5 popcorn — and cruised along looking for Bazo's without success. We decided we must have been mistaken and came back out on Dutchmans and headed back toward Skyline, when lo and behold we spotted Bazo's and pulled into the same little parking lot (told you to remember that). By the way, you can get to Bazo's from the theatre side by going in the little door down in the corner.

We came in and found a nice, clean little shop with a dozen or so 4-place tables along the front part and an order counter in the back. Now we are not talking about haute cuisine here, but that wasn't what we were in the mood for. There was a nice mix of aromas in the air as we walked in, very reminiscent of some of the finer sit-down Mexican restaurants. A further note about the aroma; they serve fish tacos here, but I couldn't smell even a hint of fish.

We got to the order counter and were handed a yellow tri-fold paper menu and were assisted by a very helpful young lady who answered all our questions. They serve a variety of burritos and tacos, salads and sides with the most expensive items are a couple of the Combos at $6.99, but the tacos come in at $2.29 to $2.69. There is also a Kids Menu with a choice of Quesadilla, Nachos, Taco or Mexican Pizza for $3.99 with a choice of sides and a child-size drink included.

Lynda ordered the Taquitos (chicken) off the Favorites section and it comes with rice, black or pinto beans, fresh guacamolé, sour cream and Salsa Fresca for $5.99. I ordered a Burrito Especial (steak) which has cheddar-jack, black or pinto beans, rice, Salsa Fresca and chipotlé sauce inside for $5.79. Burritos have the option of coming "Ranchero" style for $1.49 more and this adds chips and the burrito and chips are topped melted cheese and Ranchero Salsa and with lettuce, sour cream and Salsa Fresca on the side. I got mine Ranchero style.

While we were waiting for our orders to be brought out, we were served tortilla chips in a couple of paper fries trays. These were lime and chili flavored and were quite tasty, but I found mine might have been sitting under the heat light a little too long and that was the only down-side to our visit, but I think as the place catches on, the turnover will eliminate this point.

Before we could finish the chips we were served our orders. Lynda apparently enjoyed hers as she was smiling with each bite. She commented that their guacamolé was fresh and this is one of her pet peeves with Mexican restaurants; if the guacamolé isn't fresh, she probably won't be back. She pronounce the taquitos excellent. I bit into mine and was totally surprised by the complex mix of flavors; from the marinated steak to the rich, smoky chipotlé sauce, it was amazing. Not at all what I was expecting in what most people would dismiss as a fast food place like Moe's or Qdoba. Believe me, Bazo's puts those places to shame, plus they are less expensive, more filling and much fresher-tasting. Also, it was pleasant that they can make a good spicy dish without burning your tastebuds off your tongue; a lesson a lot of other places need to learn.

I don't believe they have a website, so I can't provide a link to their menu, but just go and give them a try. If you are in a hurry, they have phone ahead for to-go orders.

9 out of 10 stars.

4014 Dutchmans Lane
(502) 899-9600
 

A couple of weeks ago, I happened upon a restaurant review on a local website for a new place at Oxmoor Mall. I don't really remember what it said about the place, just remember the name caught my attention. Now, normally this can be a dangerous way to pick a restaurant, considering my sad experience at the Alien Inn or whatever it was called in Salida, Colorado a couple years back. (If you haven't heard the story, ask me to tell it sometime).

Well, we hopped in the RAV and roared up to Oxmoor and after a stop at The Sharper Image store we preceded up to the food court, but couldn't find anything resembling a noodle shop, so we had to reconnoiter a bit to find it. We weren't having too much luck, so I had to bite the bullet and check the mall directory (insert your own comment about guys and the trouble we have asking directions (hey, it's an X-chromosome thing, we can't help it)) and finally located it down by Galyans.

It seems that noodle shops have become quite the thing in Asia the last few years and have started popping up in trendier places in this country, and Yang Kee Noodle appears to be the first such place in Louisville as far as I know. If this isn't right, someone correct me.

Yang Kee Noodle is tucked in tight by the Galyans entrance and across from Willis Music, so it has a mall entrance and an entrance from the parking lot. The outside entrance sports a few tables on the sidewalk for al fresco dining in warmer weather. The interior was more spacious than I thought it would be. The order/pickup counter is by the mall entrance and you can look through the window by that door to watch the cooks preparing the food. The tables are made out some light-colored plywood laminate which makes for a bright decor, but this didn't really impress me. Likewise, the trend for open ceilings with exposed ductwork is one I wish would go away, but, at least Yang Kee softens the look with wooden slats over the dining area. Lighting were those ultra-contemporary little lights hanging down from two cross running power supply wires. While such lighting works in a place like Harpers, here it look out of place and maybe just a tad pretentious considering the rest of the decor. On the day we were there, it was quite warm outside and the outside doors were open and a large fan was running loudly up in the ceiling someplace, and though it may have been keeping the air comfortable in the restaurant, it made conversation almost impossible. So, the atmosphere, though several cuts above mall food court standard, still needs work in my opinion -- 6 out 10 score.

Food is ordered at the counter and you are given a felt flag on a stick and you go find someplace to sit. The wait staff brings it out in 8 to 10 minutes (not the 15 minutes they tell you at the counter). Meals are served in square black plastic bowls that resemble Japanese lacquerware. I should warn you, they are large bowls with very generous portions and they are not skimpy with the meat in their meals. Their dishes utilize a variety of noodles: egg, wheat and rice noodles. They also offer dishes served with Jasmine rice. Meats include beef, pork, chicken and shrimp, and several of the dishes can be prepared vegetarian style. Cuisines that Yang Kee borrows from are Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean.

I decided on the Bonsai Beef ($7.45), which was strips of sirloin with broccoli and water chestnuts in a soy-ginger sauce over jasmine rice. The meat was very tender and the veggies and sauce quite flavorful. The Jasmine rice was a pleasant surprise, quite aromatic and tasty. The portion was almost too big for me, but my one real complaint was even though it started out tasty and almost mild, it had a delayed spiciness that kept building till it was almost Thai hot at the end. Fortunately, unlike most places that go for the hot with no other redeeming quality other than pure heat, this was hot that didn't overwhelm the flavor. All in all, quite good.

As a side-note. the Bonsai Beef is NOT listed as a spicy dish. The Firecracker Chicken ($7.45), Long-Life Noodles $6.45), Classic Pad Thai ($6.95) and Island Green Curry ($7.95) ARE listed as Spicy (with a little flame symbol), so be forewarned.

Lynda decided on the Wild Pepper Pork ($7.95) which was sautéed pork, crispy tofu and mushrooms seasoned with Szechuan peppercorns tossed with udon (a wheat noodle). She said it was very good and while spicy, not nearly as hot as my dish. The downside was the mushrooms were a little strange to her taste (think she meant texture-wise, but not sure). Her meal was washed down with Thai Iced Tea ($1.99) which is brewed red tea with sweetened milk. They also had Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($2.25), soft drink and bottled water ($1.39), juice drinks ($1.79), coffee ($1.25) and hot tea ($1.75).

Before you leave, try the Sayonara Sweet Roll ($.99), an egg roll filled with cream cheese and lightly fried and served with chocolate and/or tangerine sauce. Very tasty light dessert.

Yang Kee Noodle also has wraps, spring and steam rolls and satays. The childrens menu includes Canton Chicken Fingers ($3.25); Peking PBJ ($2.65) which is sweet dough stuffed with peanut butter and grape jelly, then lightly fried; Yang Kee Noodles and Cheese ($2.95) their variation on mac and cheese.

The menu says they offer curb service, just call ahead, park out front and they'll wok it out to your car.

Bottom line:
Value - nine out of ten.
Food - nine out of ten.

Hours:
Monday-Thursday 11 am - 10 pm
Friday-Saturday 11 am - 11 pm
Sunday 11:30 am - 9 pm

phone 502.426.0800.
fax 502.426.9080

Website

<img alt="Yang Kee Noodle on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/551554/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /> 

I said I wasn't going to do it. I said I was just gonna go take pictures of the poor fools standing in line to buy their Holy Grail of phones. But dammit, Steve's Reality Distortion Field sucked me in.

It was a little bit before 6 PM on June 29th — the appointed day for the revelation of the iPhone. I arrived at the Dupont AT&Tingular store and hoping to get pictures of the scruffy-looking fanboys and gurls, the well-heeled early adopters and what-have-yous that had no doubt been standing in line for who knows how long. Grabbed my camera and was shocked to find only about 30 fairly normal folk calmly hanging around, waiting out the last few minutes of the countdown. The first guy in line had only gotten there some 6 hours before. These weren't the hard-core geeks I was expecting and this was nothing like the silliness that was going on in the news stories from the big cities. Could it be that the phone that the media and the pundits had nicknamed the Jesus Phone was going to be a flop?

I hung around for a few minutes talking with the people in line. Have to admit our small little band was imbued with a bit of a festive air, with cheerful banter and building excitement as the clock ticked closer to 6. It was during this time that I found out the reason for the short line; this store had but 31 iPhones to sell and quantities at the other stores were similarly limited (e.g. the store across from Oxmoor only had 35 for sale). Oh well, this store was going to sell out its allotment to the people already standing here, even with the one per customer limit. Oh, what the heck, I went up to the door to the gal who was serving as gatekeeper and got my piece of paper with my number on it. Thirty-two. Let's see, 31 phones and I am number 32... Oh well, wasn't going to buy one till I tried out one of the demo units and read a few reviews and maybe haunted the store a few more times before I melted plastic.

Click! The door opened and they took in the first 9 customers. Cheering! Wow, I have never stood in line for a product introduction before. Certainly a different experience. During the run up to 6 there were a lot of people who stopped by to ask what the line was for? Where have these people been all week? Even more people came up or slowed as they drove by to ask how many phones this store had in stock. There were many looks of disappointment and even disgust when they were told only 31 and realizing that the store would sell out before they even got into the store. First couple of customers were coming out with their SEALED shopping bags with their iPhones and accessories inside, each greeted with cheers and high-fives. Bags ripped open to reveal the simple, yet elegant black boxes. No, they were not glowing with an inner ethereal light. No that light was in the faces of these new owners. Simply amazing.

The line moved along fairly quickly as the phones were not being activated in the store, but had to be taken home and activated via iTunes. This sounded like an innovative new way of doing things, but as it turned out according to reports in the media and the Blogisphere, it was poorly executed by AT&T. It is a long story that I won't get into here, but it seems to have finally been worked out by mid-week. I got into the store about 6:20 and went straight for the demo units, which oddly were not being used by anyone. The iPhone feels wonderful in the hand, even when constrained by the security ribbon to its kiosk. It is just about the right size to be cradled on your palm with your fingers curled around it with a nicely balanced heft that makes it easy to use. It is very smooth without being slippery and this gives you a sense of security in handling it. In contrast, my former RAZR (in its day, considered the sexiest phone around) and my current Samsung Blackjack feel positively clunky and unwieldy in the extreme. This is a device that is truly a pleasure to hold. The metal part of it has a subtle matte finish that doesn't show fingerprints, unlike my iPod video which gets fingerprints if you point at it from across the room (don't get me wrong, you'll have to pry that iPod outta my cold, dead fingers). The optical-glass front on the other-hand had paw prints from everybody who handled it since it was taken out of its box and placed on the kiosk. I took a napkin out of my pocket (had been at the Wendys out front for dinner right before coming over) and swiped across the screen. I wished everything cleaned that easy; just one swipe and all those greasy fingerprints and smears were history. Oh, and after all the use it had already had, not sign of a scratch on it.

The screen is nothing short of glorious. I put it through its paces for about 10 minutes and was just astounded at its brightness and clarity. The user interface is what all phones should be. I found typing on it to be much easier than what I had heard it would be; even with one finger I was going along much faster than I had ever done on my RAZR and was approaching the speed I get on my Blackjack. The error correction/predictive typing works better than advertised, so much so that I could almost hear Obi-Wan whispering in my ear to "use the Force"; would probably be comfortable with thumb typing in a couple of days, so this is a non-issue. I found myself wishing that Google Maps would work like this on my phone, and why can't I get the real net on my my Blackjack like this. Video is a whole lot nicer on this screen than the little one on my iPod and the way you can access those videos, your music and pictures is much more intuitive than the current menu-based way we use today. Speed using Wifi was great and on EDGE it was ok, and actually faster than what my RAZR used to do and what Lynda's Crackberry Pearl did (before she traded off for a Blackjack like mine). An iPhone with 3G speed would be great, but most of the places I would use it have WiFi now and if you get out of town, and I mean not far out (Shepherdsville, Sellersburg and Shelbyville) you will be back on EDGE anyway, so it may wind up being a moot point. I mostly care about making calls and getting text and email and that uses the EDGE most of the time anyway.

While I was playing, er, I mean evaluating the iPhone, they announced that they were now sold out of iPhones, so the doors were opened so anybody could come on in. Sigh, oh well, I am only evaluating, just evaluating. I finished up what I was doing and made my way on out of the store as I had to meet Lynda for supper (well, an ill-advised dessert for me) over at Panera Bread across Dutchmans Lane from the store.

Is the iPhone too expensive? Considering I bought 2 RAZRs a couple of years ago for about $400 each and they were subsidized by the phone company and the iPhones aren't subsidized at all and the RAZRs couldn't do a tenth of the stuff the iPhone does, it comes down to what you want to use your phones for and the level of frustration you want to deal with. The RAZRs were certainly sexy in their day, but they have been supplanted in their sexiness and they were always a pain to use. The Blackjacks can do much more and even a couple of things the iPhone can't, but they are Windows Mobile devices and they have to be rebooted after locking up or one function or another ceases to work, and this is happening 3 to 5 times a day. Also, it is almost impossible get through a whole day with the Blackjacks on a charge, which is why they ship with 2 batteries and an outboard charger. Lynda's Crackberry Pearl almost got sent through a wall, so the less said about it, the better. There are phones out there that do more, but I question whether they do it well, and there are most certainly phones that are cheaper and even free, but even they can't lay claim to the ease of use of the iPhone, even if all you want to do is make a call from your contact list. So, the iPhone may or may not be too expensive. I think we can justify it price considering the luck we have had with phones over the last 7 years, and if we can't justify it, we'll just rationalize it and call it good.

After dinner, Lynda and I went back to the store and played with the demo units. They told us they had two 4 GB in stock. Apparently a couple of customers took their new prized possessions home and their spouses/significant others said "you paid WHAT for that #$%@ing phone?!" and they had to bring em back. The lesson there is to get permission first, even if you do rule the roost in your mind (yeah, right...). Lynda was definitely in her GeekGurl element and think she wants one more than I do.

We may get a couple of these 1.0 versions and then again, we may not. I am hoping that they will update the Bluetooth to recognize my GPS dongle so it can work with Google Maps. The GPS is the only place where the Blackjack beats the iPhone — AT THE MOMENT. We went to the phone store at The Summit and played with them on the Fourth of July and it was probably a good thing they were sold out.

Watch this spot in case we decide to drink the Kool-Aid‚Ñ¢ and actually get a couple of iPhones, will write an update and post it on the blog. 

OK, I know it has been six weeks since I got home from the trip. I usually post while I am ON the road but internet access was iffy on the Banks and we were busy trying to do too much stuff in the week we were there. There was driving up and down the Banks taking pictures of lighthouses; bouncing across the sound looking for and finding dolphins (and thinking it weird to have corn growing in the background of my pictures of dolphins), Lynda and Heather going parasailling and me going hang gliding off Jockey Ridge, and trying to eat at all the restaurants we can. Don't forget it is two days of driving down there and then two days back.

Here are my pictures:

OBX '07: Currituck Lighthouse

OBX '07: Hatteras and Bodie Lighthouses

OBX '07: Parasailling

OBX '07: Dolphin Trip

No pictures of me hang gliding obviously. Lynda took a few of me in the air, but they are still on her camera.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip, and they three of us had a great time. It was my fourth or fifth trip down there (will probably be going back to finish up my Level I and Level II Hang Gliding Certification) and this was Lynda's third trip and Heather's first and they have already mentioned going back. They both got hooked on the parasailling. I have to admit it looks like fun, but as a non-swimmer, floating over water is something I will be approaching very cautiously.

Well, enjoy the pictures. Next trip is to Seattle and the San Juan Islands for photo-shoot of the Orcas in the area in a few weeks, so check back about Labor Day. 

Still laying low. Wandering around Corvallis, we happened on to The Mac Store and had to stop in and check it out. Saw one of the HUGE 24-inch iMacs, which can easily serve as a HDTV bedroom TV/Media Center. I was very tempted iLuv Video System for my video iPod, but I checked it out online and can save $70. Wound up buying Lynda a 80 gig video iPod — Heather says she is spoiled.

Not much else going on. 

Down day to rest and do laundry. 

Pictures for this entry may be found here.

We woke up to a Small Craft Advisory, so we won't be going whale-watching this trip. Bummer!

We decided to give Georgies another shot for breakfast. They didn't disappoint — I had the corned beef & red potato hash. This really wasn't a hash, for the potatoes were large pieces that had been sautéed sweet onion and seasoned lightly with rosemary and other herbs with lots of corned beef added to the mix and smothered with rich, tangy Tillamook white cheddar cheese. I substituted scrambled eggs for the poached and it worked very well. Lynda had croissant french toast and was smiling most of the time she was eating it, but gave up, defeated by the shear size of it. Heather had the biscuits & gravy (a side order) with bacon. When this came out, it was HUGE. Of course she couldn't finish it; we found out she could have ordered it as a half order, oh well.

We decided to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium since we couldn't go whale-watching. The Aquarium is smaller than the ones we have visited back home, but it still nice, concentrating on local sea and shore life.







We went over to the shops at Aquarium Village next to the Aquarium and found a glass blowing shop call Pyromania and I bought Lynda a pendant and she bought herself a pendant and some earrings. We also spent quite a while watching the artists making glass floats.

We drove back through town to the north side to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Bought some sweatshirts at the Visitors Center. Finally got to try out my new tripod to take pictures of the light, but the kelp flies were so bad that we had to leave after only a few minutes. Lynda and Heather saw a whale while I was busy taking pictures of the lighthouse, but I couldn't make it out in the sunlight reflecting off the water.

We headed out of town, headed east on US 20; tomorrow will be a down day. 

Pictures for this entry can be found here.

Spent most of the day heading down the coast and we started off a couple blocks from the hotel in the shopping district of Seaside. Took pictures on the beach and of the statue at the Historic Turnaround circular drive at the end of the beachside promenade. I bought Lynda some earrings in a Celtic shop called "A Stor" a couple blocks off the beach in Cannon Beach.

We started running into more rain and fog below Cannon Beach. Stopped for gas on the south side of Tillamook, but didn't get any cheese. Stopped in a myrtlewood shop in Girabaldi (a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem) and found a nice kaleidoscope. The going was slow from here to Newport, with fog wisping across the road, clouds not making up their mind whether they were going to rain or not and US 101 getting more twisted the farther down the road we went. We stopped in Depoe Bay to make reservations with the whale-watching charter company, but they weren't very positive about going out due to heavy seas.

We arrived at the Newport La Quinta on the south side of town and over the bridge by the Aquarium , in the rain, famished. We went back up 101 hoping to find something, a task made difficult by the fact that none of us knew of a good restaurant from previous visits. Lynda spotted a sign for Georgies, an on-property restaurant for Hallmark Resorts. Lynda was wanting a restaurant with an ocean view, and she sure got it. The sun was setting through heavy, but broken clouds and huge waves were crashing on the beach and the restaurant is close enough to feel the vibrations faintly through the floor. We ordered our food and just kind of drooled at the trays being carried by; everything on them just looked wonderful. Thankfully, our wait was mercifully short — my 3-cheese fettuccini alfredo was up among the top two or three I have ever had; rich, creamy and full of flavor with the pasta perfectly cooked. Lynda ordered the pecan-encrusted tilapia — this was the first time she had ever had tilapia — she thought the tilapia was excellent and will be ordering it again, but wasn't a big fan of the pecans and wound up scraping most of it off. Heather had the deep-fried prawns and was very happy with her choice, but eventually had the plate away due to an overabundance of food. The tab was surprisingly small considering the view, quantity and quality of food. Check Georgies out if you are ever in Newport.

Back to the hotel and crashed, long day. 

Ok, up bright and early once more because of the TSA requirement that you show up half a year before your flight time. I really wish there was a different way to get around, because I really hate flying in the post-911 world. Especially since we are no more secure today than we were on 9/10, just more frustrated with the bureaucracy and ticked off about the further erosion of our freedoms by an overzealous government.

We flew on our first leg to Midway just after sunrise. It was actually kinda neat looking down on southern Indiana at all the little pockets of fog in the valleys, especially behind the knobs to the north and west of New Albany. Looked a little like someone had strewn cotton batting across the landscape.

It only took an hour to get from Louisville to Chicago and looking at the city through the haze made me realize I really miss it. All the things to do, see, hear and eat. Just don't miss the expense of living there.

I have been in and out of O'Hare lots of times, but have never been to Midway. Neighborhoods around the airport don't look that nice from the air I noticed as we made our final approach. As we crossed the outer fence, it occurred to me that we were coming in awfully high and hot! I turned to Lynda and said, "We're gonna bounce, he is too high." Actually, we did two bounces, but who is counting. Dadblame jet-jockeys!

Have been in worse airports than Midway (San Jose, CA comes immediately to mind) but most airports are better, thankfully it is only a transfer point for us. Anyway, we caught our flight and were outta there.

There were a lot of clouds and some pretty good turbulence as we winged our way west. I dropped off a couple of times and am told I snored. Hope I didn't disturb too many people around me. Got one good shot of Mt. St Helens as we went into Portland.

We claimed our brand-new, expensive, hard-sided suitcases. Scuffed up so bad that they looked like we had had been traveling with em for years. Waddled our way (dragging two bags, you tend to waddle) to the car rental place and found out that PT Cruisers have no room for luggage. Was offered a Hyundai which I wouldn't drive under threat of death. A jeep with lousy gas milage and a Buick LaCrosse which we finally went with. Already miss my Rav. Crammed the suitcases in the trunk and back seat with Heather and headed for Government Camp way high up on the slope of Mt. Hood.
We are staying tonight at the Mt. Hood Inn which is at the west junction of US 26 and OR 35 in the above Google Earth Map.

On the way up here, we stopped in Sandy, Oregon (between Boring and Zig Zag) and ate at Shorty's Corner Cafe. The food was very good, inexpensive and in bountiful quantities. All three of us heartily recommend it if you are ever on US 26 in this part of Oregon.

Well, I am off to find something to eat and then off to bed, we have to drive down the volcano (yes, Mt. Hood is an active volcano) to Hood River to catch the Mt. Hood Railroad, which is celebrating its centennial this year. We are doing the Brunch train, and it leaves early and we are an hour away.

Update: We went east on Government Camp Loop Road (our Inn is on the west end where it peels off on the north side of US 26) for about mile, maybe less to the Huckleberry Inn. They had a big board out front proclaiming their great huckleberry pie, so we stopped. The Inn has a steakhouse and a 24-hour cafe and the cafe was the pie place; it was clean enough, so we plopped into booth. Our waitress had definitely been toking all day and the proprietor/manager was complaining about a hangover (said there was nothing else to do at night up here). Thankfully, they weren't cooking. I had a large order of onion rings ‚Äî got more than I bargained for, was a big platter plate piled high with them ‚Äî and a slice of apple pie ala mode. Lynda had the Chicken Strips dinner with really good chicken and a couple of pounds of fries and Heather got the Prawn Basket and they split a slice of huckleberry pie. Nite nite. 

Picture for this entry can be found here.

Another bright and early (Pacific Time early anyway) morning. The three of us got ready and trooped downstairs to the lobby for the continental breakfast to get something light to eat — didn't want to fill up since we would be doing brunch on the train. When we had gotten up the temperature outside was 31°, and when I stepped out to the car before I ate (wearing light khakis and a polo shirt, no coat) it had warmed up to a balmy 40°. The lobby of the Inn is kind of in the Lodge-style — even if the rooms were just modern hotel rooms (large-ish ones mind you) —and the floor was was an interesting, alternating diagonal patterned parquet of the butt-end of pine 1-by-4 boards.

We finished eating, grabbed our bags, loaded the Buick and checked out. As we were leaving the parking lot, Lynda and I had a disagreement about which way to go. By going left as she wanted, it would have been hard to have gotten back onto US 26 eastbound as the Loop Road junction is design for easy access for eastbound 26 traffic to get on the Loop and westbound Loop traffic to get on westbound 26. Since I am driving, we went MY way, but Lynda was convinced that this road only went up to Timberline Lodge which was up above the snow line on the mountain — the snow was only 500 feet vertically above us — and I had a difficult time convincing her that I knew what the map said and had looked at the whole town on a satellite picture and actually knew where I was going. I don't think I will every live down the male reputation that we are clueless navigators who will not ask for directions, or she will never forget that ONE time we drove ten miles up a wrong road in South Dakota's Black Hills when I missed a turn that had had its sign stolen.

A couple of blocks from the Inn we had a spectacular view up AND down the mountain that showed us just high up the slope of the mountain we were. Mt. Hood towered above us and the view would have made a great picture, except for the overhead wires (another argument for underground utilities) and the not very attractive roofs of the buildings of Government Camp. Hood had been clouded in last night when we came in, so we didn't see anything but brief glimpses of snow on rocks and crags, but I didn't stop this time because I figured I would get a better shot up the road and I was concerned about finding US 26 and not sure how fast the drive would be on OR 35. About a minute later we found 26 and two minutes after that, we were on 35 and swinging north toward Hood River, Oregon, our destination for the morning.

A couple of miles up 35 we came around a curve and were wowed by Mt Hood filling the windshield, framed on both sides of the road by huge trees. Of course, there is no place to pull off through that stretch of road guard rails on both sides instead of shoulder. Around the next corner and the view was gone. We would get several chances farther down the road to take pictures of Hood and there even a few places where we could see Hood and Mt St Helens at the same time, but St Helens was far enough away (60-70 miles) that the intervening haze rendered her not that photogenic. Oregon 35 is a very pretty drive and not nearly as twisty as it looks on the map. Oh, before I forget, there was one feature of note back pretty high up on Hood — if you look on yesterday's posting here at the Google Map image I placed in that blog entry, there is a place on there that looks like snow, or maybe a glacier crossing OR 35 not too far northeast of Government Camp. When we reached that place, we crossed a mile-wide moonscape-dead zone of tumbled, house-sized boulders, with a little half dry creek in the middle of it. You could see it going back up the mountain above us to the snowline and sweeping on down the slope below. Had it been an ancient lahar, or runoff from a tremendous snowmelt. I am not sure what caused it, but it is so stark and the scale is so big, that I felt like an ant crawling across a dry creek bed.

We got to the train station in Hood River about 9:45 after only an hour on the road. Not too bad since Lynda MapQuested (yes, I made a new verb) and it said an hour and a quarter; and we stopped a couple of times for pictures and I wasn't exactly pushing it (I'm on vacation, not in a hurry). Lynda picked up our tickets and we just kind of hung out around the depot. The depot building is in the Craftsman style and was built in 1911 and is on the National Registry of Historical Buildings. I am usually not that impressed by that designation, since I lived for 10 years in a building that was on the list (427 Spring St., Jeffersonville, IN) and that building wasn't all that, other than the brass plaque; but the depot had been restored fairly well. There wasn't all that much in the gift shop, so no souvenirs this stop.

We boarded at 10:30 for our 11 AM departure. The dining cars are from the 1930s or 40s I would say, but I will have to get on their website and double-check this factoid. They had nice comfortable booths, white linen tablecloths and a vase with a flower. Not haute cuisine elegant, but a far cry above fast food shabby. We settled in for a nice two hour journey up the mountain for 22 miles to Parkdale through old forests, apple and pear orchards and two hours back down over the same route. What it amounted too was four hours of eating and being rocked almost to sleep. Very nice, leisurely way to spend a Sunday. We had all opted for the crepes, which were very good, but we were started off with a nice little fruit tray, with our choice of champaign or sparkling cider, a choice of fruit drinks, coffee. Next we were served a cracker plate with salmon mousse or cranberry mousse — cranberry mousse went really well with the crackers, even the cracked pepper water cracker. Lastly on the trip up, we got are crepes. They were delightful, filled with apples and smothered in a warm fruit compote and fresh whipped cream and they were served with rosemary-season red potatoes. Delicious.

We stopped at the end of the line in Parkdale for 15 minutes to stretch our legs and take pictures of the train and Mt Hood. In a little park next to the train was an interesting scuplture of a little girl reaching up to pet a Clydesdale horse, made entirely out of barbed-wire that had had the barbs ground off. There are a couple of pictures on the Flickr link above.

Our dessert on the way back down was a small square of chocolate cake sitting on top of a square of lemon cheesecake, joined together with a dab of white chocolate mousse, drizzled with a little chocolate ganaché and garnished with a half a strawberry dipped in dark chocolate. Was good, except the disappointing cheesecake component.

Back to Hood River and then westbound on I-84 back to Portland, then around Portland on I-205. We had a good view of Mt. Hood as we crossed the bridge over the Columbia. Hood was probably 60 miles east of us. Mt St Helens made an appearance about mile marker 10 on I-5 in Washington. We crossed back over the Columbia from Longview, WA to Ranier, OR to pick up US 30. Longview stinks bad from the paper mill there, you get a great view from the overlook on 30 behind Ranier over the Columbia, and we saw Mt St Helens (50 miles away) quite well and she had a pretty spectacular cloud cap.

We ran into ran as we topped the pass through the coast range and it rained on us all the way through Astoria and on down to Seaside where we stopped for the night at the Best Western Seaside Resort. Ate at the in-house Italian restaurant (ok, nothing to write home about) and went back up to our room to crash for the night, although Lynda and Heather took a beachside walk down the Promenade in the dark.

Tomorrow, down the coast to Newport. 

Some weeks ago in my review of The Da Vinci Code I noted that we had seen the preview for The Lake House and I had made a pun by calling it Speed Bump after the previous movie the two leads had starred in together and because it was obviously going to be a much slower-paced movie than the testosterone-laden Speed. If from that reference you concluded that the film would be a cumbersome, lethargic chick-flick, well, don't judge a movie by its previews or your reviewer's preconceived notions.

Yes, the movie is a Chick-flick with the premise that asks the question, "what if you could reach across time to touch someone?" and contains the requisite doses of romance, tragedy and angst necessary for a successful film that will appeal to the women in the audience. Before you dismiss the previous sentence as a sexist oversimplification, remember that men and women do go to movies for entirely different reasons and the films each gender enjoys, rarely overlap. The Lake House is one of the films that may overlap the disparate genres. While not exactly a time travel movie, it does have time continuum paradoxes for the guys to mull over in their minds during the course of the film. You also have the conflict between father and son in the film and most of the men I have known over the years have had some issue with their fathers, whether stated openly or not — Alex (Keanu Reeves) and Simon (Christopher Plummer) have a relationship that while not at all hostile, is marred by the seeming indifference on Simon's part and resentment of that indifference from Alex's. I suppose a great many sons wonder if there is any love left for them beyond the self-absorbed nature of their fathers; there is certainly that question between these two. The Lake House of the title is a connecting point for these two however, as Simon designed and built it and Alex later buys and lives in it. It also becomes the connection between Alex and Kate (Sandra Bullock).

Well, a connection if you can suspend belief long enough to accept the premise of two people having a real-time conversation through letters, two years apart. Oh and did I mention that they share a dog? (But then, as Roger Ebert noted in his review, dogs live outside time, so we'll grant this as a given.) Alex even arranges for Kate to live in the Lake House.

Whether or not things work out for the two leads is not nearly as important as how they get there, the building of the bond between them, so I won't tell you how things turn out, but just tell you that I enjoyed the journey. Was not even all that bothered by the little mistakes in the film; like Alex telling his brother that "there isn't even any steps down to the lake" when you can plainly see there is. And where the heck is the attic in that house?!! Biggest quibble though is that logically the end of the movie can occur because of the beginning, or is it the other way around? Oh screw it, go see the movie and we'll analyze it over coffee/soft drinks sometime.


8 out of 10 stars.

IMDB Link.

Official Site.
 

If any of my frequent readers (if there are any) may have noticed, I have taken another hiatus from publishing over the last six weeks. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you…

When we got back from Alaska in the middle of June, I fired up my trusty PowerBook up to get my emails before I went to work — I did mention that I had to drop Lynda off at the house when we got home from the airport and head straight into work? — and found that I couldn't connect. OK, that happens, I just need to go reset my wireless router like I have to do every couple of month when it gets wonky. I open the cabinet on the desk where all the network equipment is and notice the Internet light is out on the cable modem. Great, InsightBB is out; don't have time to deal with them, so I head on in to work.

I come home that afternoon after working, picking Sophie up from the kennel (nothing like a freshly bathed dog who is just thrilled to death to see you again), and find the flippin' light is still out. I had found out at work that InsightBB had upgraded servers the Saturday we left, and everyone had been having trouble with their broadband, so theoretically, the service may have been out for as long as two weeks. I called Insight and wade through phone menu hell for a half hour on my cell phone (Insight also provides our phone service, so it was out too, but thankfully we get TV via satellite instead of them). Finally, a body comes on the line and we go through the troubleshooting steps and determine it is actually out, but were unable to determine if it is them or my in-house cabling to her satifaction, or whether it is my equipment or theirs (although I have repeatedly told her I have determined it is external, but you can't argue with someone reading off a script). Of course she wants to schedule a service call with the entire day blocked off as a window that they could show up, which means that Lynda or I will have to take a whole day off work; told her considering the premium charge we pay them made this solution unacceptable in my eyes and offered a three hour window from 3 to 6 as a compromise, which she found unacceptable. Hung up in frustration after letting her and two levels of supervisors know in no uncertain terms what I thought of their service policies. Two hours on the cell phone and the broadband and the land-line still out of commission and no resolution forthcoming.

While walking Sophie a few minutes later with Lynda, one of our neighbors came out to ask if our Insight service was still out and we told her it was and found out that the whole neighborhood was out and had been out almost daily for two weeks. Of course we immediately organized a mass-calling of Insight's customer service number until they sent someone out. The truck finally shows up about 7 (I'd been trying to get this resolved since noon) and they pull the cover off their equipment box three doors down and fiddle around for 5 minutes with everyone standing on their stoops glaring at them and then they packed up and left. Service restored!!!!

Five minutes later, it is out again and the neighborhood is burning up their cellphones. Truck came back, they fiddled for a few and we were back up and running by 8:30.

At least until the next day; came home and the broadband was out again, but only the broadband this time, as the phone still worked. Neighbor on the west side of the house said broadband and cable TV had gone out about 11 AM and they had called it in. Also at this time I found out that when I called in, their automatic phone number sensing/ matching with account system wasn't picking up our phone as a valid account, so I still had to go through phone menu hell. InsightBB didn't show us as an "outage" so we made our rounds again to make sure that all the affected neighbors called in to complain, so when we got back to the house and I make my call, we now show as an "outage". I am getting tired of jumping through hoops, but have a feeling that this is only the beginning. They got us back up around 6 after I started pushing them about 3 and my nice neighbors to the west had called it in at 11.

OK, so ends Tuesday. On Wednesday — I know you know where this is going — yep, it was out again when I got home. Broadband AND phone this time. I am on the cell phone, madder than heck, ripping new ones as I go up Insight's phone ladder DEMANDING an escalation of the problem to get it resolved. They come out, repair it again at the same box they've been working on all week. Their solution to the problem? They leave the cover off the box when they leave. So at this point I have no lasting resolution, just a ticket number to use when I call and a promise to credit our account for any and all days it is out. Paying almost $100 a month to Insight and just get shuffled off to the side and forgotten. Mildly ticked at this point.

Thursday. Yep, it's out again.

Friday. Wonder of wonders, it stayed up.

Saturday. Dagnabit, the damn thing is out again. Do the call thing and go run errands.

Stopped in at the Cingular store because I need a new belt case for my Razr. Found one I am finally happy with. What has this got to do with my kvetching about InsightBB? Well, plenty. They are/were running a deal on bundling phone/cellular/DSL services together on one bill from BellSouth that would wind up saving us some money. The down-side was that instead of 4 mbps we could only get 3 mbps download (had hoped to get the 6 mbps down/512 kbps up package, but isn't available in our neighborhood), but the 384 kbps upload would remain the same. The gal signing us up assured us we probably wouldn't notice as cable rarely attained speeds over 3 mbps and dismissed my statement that I consistently got better than 3.7 mbps as we were on a very small loop. Hoped she was right and we signed up for their service. We were told we would be up and running around July 6th.

On July 3rd I received a letter from BellSouth informing me that service would be connected by August 2nd. Not what I was promised, but after making a phone call, found out there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. InsightBB meanwhile was down every other day now instead of everyday. All I could do was fume every day when I walked Sophie passed the still open cable box three doors down and glare at the Insight truck whenever they were working on it. Wonder if they know how ticked off we are getting?

Finally on July 20th, we got an automated call from BellSouth that they would be out the next day to hook up the phone line and that my DSL kit would ship later that day. Well, they came out on Friday, July 21st and discovered that the old line we had before we switched to Insight four years ago had been severed when the irrigation people had installed our sprinkler system in June. Well, when he ran the new line, HE severed the CABLE. Had been hoping to keep it going — was down to every third day with it going out — until the DSL kit arrived, but since that was no longer an option, called Inight and told em where to stick it. Lynda just had to make do with dialup through FasterMac.net and I used my Razr as a bluetooth cellular modem.

Tuesday, July 25th (notice that this date bears NO resemblance to July 6th) the DSL kit arrived via UPS about 7 PM. I had things up and running in about 10 minutes. Rather, I thought I did until Lynda tried to send anything out on her email. Took me a couple of days to figure out and fix the problem. BellSouth has port 25 blocked to prevent spammers from sending their vile detritus out into an unsuspecting world. They force you to use their SMTP servers if you are going to use email accounts other than the account they supply. Tried to make it work, but it apparently a solution that only works with a PC (which figures, considering the ongoing security issues they have). Noticed a lot of stuff on their website is not Mac-friendly. Searched through forums and found a few ports to try to get around the problem. Port 587 works for IMAP accounts like mac.com accounts and my POP account at ourserendip.com works on port 26. So, if you wonder why neither us were ANSWERING emails that week, now you know.

So far the only problem with BellSouth has been the speed. Downloading, I hit a solid 2.95 mbps, which is great speed for a 3 meg connection with the overhead from going through a wireless router, but is still noticeably slower than the 3.7 mbps we were used to. Upload speed on-the-otherhand has been a major disappointment. I have not seen anything faster than 220 kbps, down from the 340 to 360 kbps we were used to. Became a problem yesterday while doing a videoconference with Heather. Did a speed check through Speakeasy.net and found that we were down to 177 kbps. Lynda and Heather were eventually able to get their conference in, but picture froze and pixelated more than usual. Guess I will have to contact BellSouth in the next few days and let em know that we aren't getting the speed we were promised, even though their speed check says we are, none of the others out there say we are over 220.

Oh, before I forget, got an email from BellSouth on July 30th informing me that my DSL kit had shipped and to use the included tracking number. Nice touch, except, you may have noticed I said they sent the email on the 30th and I had already received the kit on the 25th. We pay these companies big bucks and collectively it really adds up to a lot of money and this is the sort of customer service we get in return. It's time we said to them that we are tired of their lousy service and tired of the way we are treated.

As I write this, I am listening to the garage door being replaced (long story) and sitting in the Southwest Room (our downstairs sitting room (yes, we have two sitting rooms)) that is decorated in a Southwestern motif) looking out the bay window at an Insight truck parked three doors down. Guess they are still having problems. 

What to do during an extremely hot weekend in Louisville when the Street Rod Nationals are in town? Why you go cruising around looking for the street rods, oogling them when you find them. Then you go bowling.

We had a new bowling alley open near us back in the spring called Kingpin Lanes and we decided to check them out. Found their prices way too high, lanes way too slick and the constant light show on the lanes to be headache-inducing. The place is more of a family fun center. It is more like what you'd get by mating a bowling alley with Chuck E. Cheese and the results just didn't work for me. But It did get us thinking about taking up bowling. Lynda used to bowl in leagues out West and I did my share of rolling gutter balls back in college. In fact, if you look at the widescreen version of the movie Breaking Away, in the bowling alley scene you can see my back on the edge of the frame for about half a second.

Lynda had her own ball, bag and shoes, so we thought about hooking me up with equipment so I wouldn't have to rent shoes and try to find a house ball that didn't tear my injured wrist up any more than it already was. Unfortunately, Kingpin didn't have a pro shop, and the only places in Louisville to buy bowling equipment is a bowling alley pro shop, so we'd have to look elsewhere later. Lynda also discovered problems with her bowling, think it was the plugs in the finger holes were cracked/pulling out, so it would need to be plugged and re-drilled, or the ball just be replaced.

Fast-forward three months to this past Saturday and we decided to go check out Ten Pin Lanes across Shelbyville Road from the Mall of St. Matthews. It is a more traditional alley, so more our speed and it had a pro shop. Of course the guy who would have to drill the ball was gone for the day, but we found a helpful young guy behind the counter who really knew his stuff to help pick out new balls, he just couldn't fit us and do the drilling. Lynda decided it would be cheaper in the long run to just replace her ball so we both wound up with $63 Ebonite balls. Mine is black and blue according to the box and Lynda's is purple, blue, silver and all sparkly — definitely a girl's ball. Needed bags for them, so we got a couple of cheap ones and I picked up a pair of bowling shoes, that look more like sneakers than bowling shoes, thankfully. I also had to get a wrist brace to hold my wrist together where I ripped that tendon loose from the bone a couple of years ago. Two hundred and twelve dollars later and we were equipped, but not quite ready to bowl; still had to bring our balls back on Sunday to get them drilled, so we gathered up our booty and headed home.

I had neglected to mention that we had been to eat earlier at Genny's Diner. Place is bit of a dive and nothing special — they have a commercial on local TV and radio pushing their Sweet Daddy Burger (huge, messy burger in the pound and a half range) and their Frickled Pickles (battered, deep-fried pickle chips), but we passed on these with Lynda odering a cheeseburger and myself partaking of the meatloaf sandwich from the specials board. Like I said, nothing special in the food department and they could improve the mood of the place by taking out the three huge aquariums full of ugly fish. For dessert, we chose much more wisely by moving back out on Frankfort Avenue to Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen down by where Frankfort Avenue meets Lexington Road and becomes Shelbyville Road and next door to the old Vogue Theatre. This is a VERY DANGEROUS establishment, the contents are quite addictive and even looking at the pictures on their website can cause weight gain and uncontrollable drooling. I had the Key Lime Pie and Lynda tried the Georgia Cake and both were delightful. We also, got cookies to go. A word of warning about the snickerdoodle; it's the size of a dinner plate.

While on the way home from Ten Pin we were checking out the street rods on Shelbyville Road, when the Ultimate Rod pulled up beside us.



Yes, that is a REAL Shelby Cobra, in concours condition and every bit as drool-worthy as the desserts at the Pie Kitchen. It had a Kentucky Antique Tag, so it is a local car. I had not seen one on the road in maybe 30 years; think last one I saw may have been in the Automotive Museum in San Diego's Balboa Park or the ACD Museum in Auburn, Indiana. It was really nice to see one of these tiny little 550 hp beauties on the street again.

Anyway, we went back to Ten Pin on Sunday to be sized and have the balls drilled. Guy working the pro shop was very nice and extremely thorough. Told us he'd have the balls finished in 50 minute to an hour, so we stepped over to the lane's restaurant where Lynda got a BLT and I got a patty melt with fries. Good, solid bowling alley fare, while not exactly haute cuisine, is filling and cheap, with two sandwiches, fries and two soft drinks coming in under $10. Regretted not splurging the extra forty cents and getting onion rings though.

We had a nice time sitting there eating and watching the other bowlers. Chuckled over a couple of families with young kids who were bowling with the bumpers up and the parents needing those bumpers as much if not more than their kids. Sproing, sproing, sproing, crash.

Fifty minutes on the nose he had the balls back on their stand rings on the counter. He spent a lot of time making sure things were correct and offered a lot of pointers, like for me to watch the speed since it was only a 12-pound ball — he had come out before he drilled it to make sure I REALLY wanted a 12-pounder — but I once again assured him that because of my wrist injury, I would be hard pressed to hit the 20 mph limit on the lanes. (eighteen was about the upper limit of my throw and that hurt)

We got 2 free games apiece to try out the balls, so we bowled three. Lynda did really well I thought, bowling over 100 all three games with a new ball and her last game was 147, which she said was only a couple pins below her average. My first game was a 98 and we won't talk about the scores after that. The guy in the pro shop was apparently watching and suggested I pull the palm-side steel shank out of the wrist brace to help my control. Said I only needed support on the back side of the brace for my injury and the support was keeping me from holding the ball flush on my palm, so I wasn't letting go of it right, which I could tell as I was dragging my little finger and making it sore. He also offered to come down and give some pointers the next time I come in to make sure I break any bad habits. These seem to be very nice and helpful people behind the counter, who know bowling and want their customers to have a good time.

We are already thinking about joining a league after a bit of practice, or in my case, a lot of practice. 

Politics should never enter into a movie review, but the subject matter of today's review is at the center of one of the hottest (pun intended) political debates in the history of this country. I don't like to trot out my political views — having been decidedly apolitical for most of my life and now tending slightly left of moderate — as discussing political matters with with the like-minded has always struck me as preaching to the choir and accomplishes little more than perhaps propping up your own certitude regarding your views, and arguing your points with the loyal opposition runs the risk of apoplexy when trying to change hidebound beliefs. That being said, let's try to view the movie on the merits of the facts presented therein and not enter into the political debate of whether or not Global Warming is a real phenomenon or not.

In my opinion — now, would you be reading this if you didn't want to know my opinion — does Global Warming exist and is it a result of mankind's industrialization during the last century and a half and our continued use and dependence on fossil fuels?

Resoundingly, I would have to say, YES!

Those of you who know me are quite aware that I understand the science underlying the evidence presented in the film quite well and I can read and interpret graphs and charts with the best of them and can see it as a certainty that Global Warming exists and that it is accelerating and that there has not been anything like this acceleration in the last 600,000 years. Add to that my anecdotal observations (backed up by NOAA records) over the last 40+ years regarding the changes in the local climate and also in my travels and subsequent talks with locals during these travels about the changes that have been occurring all across the country, for that long and longer.

The truth of Global Warming was really brought home to me a couple of weeks ago when I was in Alaska; bright, sunny and 84° in Juneau with that becoming more and more the summer norm — not exactly the Alaskan experience I was seeking. You can read all you want about how much ice has melted out of Glacier Bay — mostly since 1850, which coincidentally was about the time the Industrial Revolution was really taking off — but until you ride back into the bay some 65 miles to where the Grand Pacific Glacier has retreated; thought about that 2,000-4,000 foot thick river of ice that filled the bay to its 20-mile wide mouth, you can't imagine the magnitude of the change we have made on the climate there in the bay and elsewhere across the globe, to greater and lesser degrees. Last year's hurricane season should have been the latest wake-up call to those who don't travel as far afield as Lynda and myself, that something is in the wind.

In this morning's news, there was an article on AP where they had queried leading scientists in this country about the movie and found that Gore's science was accurate. Now there were some quibbles to be sure about some minor misstatements (e.g. that ice core samples from the Antarctic have shown dramatic improvement since the passage of 1972's Clean Air Act when he meant to say Greenland), but nothing could be found that was misleading with the facts presented in the movie.

The movie presents its facts without sensationalizing them, which surprised me. I was expecting something more along the lines of some heavy-handed evangelism of the environmental zealots, but instead it was a rational, calm presentation of the facts. The former Vice President has been giving this talk as a slideshow (more than 1,000 times by his count) for the last six years, giving us before-and-after photographs showing the rapid loss of glacial cover around the world, charts of the relentless rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere —something on the order of 70 million tons a day — and finally the steady upward curve of global temperatures. He presents all this with a passion that was missing from his presidential bid in 2000 (I didn't know then if he would have made a good President and still not sure today, but I think we would have been better off under him than the current administration), but isn't overbearing when making his points. He makes it clear that there is no real debate about the existence or the cause of the problem beyond the artificial debate created by the energy companies to protect their interests, not unlike the positioning of the debate about the health risks of smoking that the tobacco industry and their lobby had done over the last 40 years. Gore, to his credit does not stoop to use of fear-mongering to get his message across. He may even be a bit too optimistic in his assurances that we can fix the problem, but I agree that we have to try and NOW is the time to start.

My only complaint with the movie is that is may be a bit slow and dry for some viewers used to the sensory overload that permeates most summer movie fare. But, even with that caveat, I recommend that everyone see this movie, and that everyone recommend it to all their friends. This movie has the potential to make a real difference, not just for us, but for generations to come. Just remember not to become a zealot who turns people off with their zeal, but to become a passionate advocate for change. Had the Vice President brought this measured passion to his Presidential campaign 6 years ago, he may have been elected. But then he may not have been as effective in his fight to solve this problem, as the presidency is not the bully pulpit of change one might think it is. As to the questions as to whether this could be taken as political positioning for another run for the White House in '08, he told Letterman the other night that he has no desire to face another campaign and has dedicated himself to this issue. Yes, he is a politician, but he sounded convincing and kept bringing the talk back to the issue and deflecting it from himself; I find I believe him when he says it.

So, see this movie. Tell all your friends to see it. Tell strangers to see it. Heck buy copies of the DVD and give as gifts, you'll be doing the recipient a lot of good and helping all of us. Stay through the credits to learn what you can do on a personal level to help.

100 minutes.

9 out of 10 stars.

IMDB Page

Official Site  

Pictures from this blog entry may be found here.

It may be weeks before I can walk right after the cramps I had in my calves from the flight. Over eight hours cooped up in that flying Pringles can that Boeing call a 737 is just too much on the muscles. Our flight was a direct flight from Seattle to Louisville with stops in Oakland and Vegas; which means we couldn't get off the plane to walk around and stretch.

I couldn't see much on the flight down the coast as it was cloudy and I had the aisle seat. Only shots I got were 3 extended arm shots of Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens as we passed Portland. Didn't see much worth taking a picture of from Oakland to Vegas even though I now had the window seat after a few people got off in Oakland. Unfortunately, the pilot said we would not be flying a direct route to Vegas as we had to make a couple of kinks in our flight path to avoid flying close to Area 51, so there goes that photo op. Of course Vegas just looks artificial and tacky sitting out in the desert in the middle of nowhere and I do literally mean the middle of nowhere.

Did I mention that Southwest pilots are hot-shots? Our pilot was accelerating HARD while making the turn onto the runway for takeoff. He seemed to be competent even when doing that, but I found that unusual in a commercial pilot. Yes, I may have done it while I was still flying, but I wasn't flying a Pringles can with more than a hundred paying customers on board.

From Vegas I went picture crazy from the north end of Lake Mead (looks like it is drying up with its broad bath tub ring around it) to the spine of the Rockies in Colorado where the clouds got to thick for anymore pictures and the ground was too dark over Kansas where the clouds cleared. Saw lots of canyonland, forest fires, storm clouds, smoke and land that looked like dry lizard skin. Beyond that, the only interesting thing was flying a bit south of St. Louis where the city lights made it look like an electronic map laid out before us. Could see the dark ribbons of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers carving their way through the constellations of city light and make out the paths of I-64, I-70, I-44 and the rest as they snaked into, through and finally out of the city. I could even make out the Gateway Arch, More as a shadow against the lights since it is no lit well enough to be visible at night from 30,000+ feet above it.

I followed the path of I-64 to just about Evansville where I lost it in the clouds. We landed after midnight, collected our bags, hoofed it out to the far end of Row J by the fence in the remote parking lot. Had a moments pause as the engine hesitated turning over, but it fired and hasn't done it since. Dropped Lynda and the baggage at the house and turned around and headed back to work. Thus ended the vacation.