The URI! Zone

End-of-the-Month Media Day

2010-07-30T10:00:00Z

New pictures have been added to the Life, 2010 album and the West Coast Vacation, 2010 album. Enjoy!

Fairfax principal apologizes for weight-loss ads
Cheeseburger found in gas tank
Firefighters dismantle police car to rescue kitten

Review Day

2010-07-29T10:00:00Z

There are no spoilers in these reviews.

Under and Alone by William Queen:
Reasonably priced at $6, this was the last Kindle book I read on our Washington-California vacation, and tells the tail of an ATF agent who goes undercover with a criminal biker gang for two years. It's a fast-moving page turner, even though some of the details seem more fictional than true. It also made me look shifty-eyed at all of the California bikers we'd pass daily around Santa Cruz and its environs.

Final Grade: B+

Neti Pot:
I've had some throat and nose congestion problems ever since my bout with strep throat last October, so I thought I'd try out a Neti Pot, which flushes out your sinuses with warm saltwater. It took a few tries to mix the right concentrate that didn't burn like drowning (1 cup warm-to-hot water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt per nostril, erring on the side of hotter and saltier), but I can tell that there are immediate results after flushing: it becomes almost effortless to clear the pressure in my Eustachian tubes. You don't actually get to see any grossness ooze out of your nose, which was kind of disappointing, but your airways definitely feel clearer in the aftermath. I've been using it daily for about two weeks now, so I can't tell if the effects will persist in the long-term. I also think "Neti Pot model" is an inauspicious way to break into the biz.

Final Grade: B+

Puzzle Dimension:
Puzzle Dimension is a turn-based 3D puzzler, where you navigate a ball around a maze collecting flowers so you can activate the exit. The ball is always on the "ground", so as you rotate onto a ramp, the entire world shifts around you (see a gameplay trailer here). The presentation is very nice, with old-fashioned Nintendo style music that refines into live instruments as you collect more and more flowers, and the puzzles get hard very quickly. There isn't much twitch-action, other than the need to hit spacebar to jump over gaps sometimes, but the camera can be a little tricky to maneuver when dealing with the more convoluted worlds.

Final Grade: B

Bride and groom accidentally kill wedding photographer
New Zealand pizza lovers suffer information theft from Hell
Cops issue cat alert for feline that caused wreck

Today's Birthdays

Anna (Lapan) Anderson

Trip Day: Santa Cruz

2010-07-28T10:00:00Z

Part III of III

Our next stop on the whirlwind tour of Northern California was Santa Cruz, home of the family of Rebecca's dad's sister, as well one of her grandmothers. Santa Cruz was blessed with unseasonably fogless days while we were there, so obviously our super power was to bring the sunlight to unexplored backwater lands, not unlike the White Man in 1492. We took in a sampling of Santa Cruz beaches at Natural Bridges, a beach covered in seaweed and a dead sea lion where everyone in bathing suits stands at the edge of the fifty degree surf, shivering, and then goes home.

We also went to Roaring Camp, where we took an overpriced steam train ride up the mountain to have a picnic lunch amongst the redwoods, although we did not go anywhere you could drive a car through a tree trunk. For dinner, the DeLeon family brought out their best grilling recipes and we dined on giant slabs of marinated London broil and spare ribs.

The next day, we drove down the coast to Monterey, a waterfront area completely taken over by large gangs of sea lion pirates, commandeering rocks and boats alike. We were swarmed on either side by people trying to give us free samples of clam chowder, including a hippie who wanted to make sure I wasn't from Langley before giving us the samples. We had our first taste of raw oyster here, with "oyster cocktails" consisting of two oysters in a cup of brine with some lemon and cocktail sauce. The texture is definitely memorable -- I don't know whether it's worse to chew it or swallow it whole -- but I could see it becoming an acquired taste.

On our last day in California, we drove up the coast on Highway 1, taking in the vistas and occasionally stopping at a public beach. In general, there were very few signs that California as a state was flat broke, but the most noticeable was the overly full port-o-potties dotting the coast, which easily contained several weeks of digested food from the oceanfront Taco Bells and sometimes piled higher than the seat lid. When it came time to tally the final score, we agreed that California has nothing on the Outer Banks when it comes to beaches.

The End

Colo. bear toots horn, takes car on short joyride
Homeless man breaks into abandoned bar, begins selling alcohol
Milwaukee soil hungry for drivers

Trip Day: San Francisco

2010-07-27T10:00:00Z

Part II of III

The first thing we noticed about the BART system in San Francisco is that the trains actually run on time, down to the minute listed in the scheduling pamphlets. After this temporal marvel, we learned that in transfer stations, you can actually get off a train, find your connecting train waiting for you, and simply cross the platform to hop on. After eons of walking two blocks to Gallery Plaza from the Orange Line (to prevent growing old in Metro Center), this fresh perspective on logic was thrilling.

We stayed in "suburban" Berkeley with Anna, Rebecca's aunt and consummate host, and traveled into the city to meet up with Annie and Andrea. On our first day out, we visited Chinatown, and it probably isn't racist to say that all Chinatowns look the same. This particular Chinatown had a traditional gate which was less impressive than a junior Congressman from California -- it barely spanned the road, and looked like a cast off prop from "It's a Small World".

After sampling free fortune cookies from the Fortune Cookie Factory, we walked 10 blocks to Japantown. When we stopped and realized there were another 10 blocks to go, we decided to take a bus the rest of the way, so we would be fresh when we marvelled at the giant mall filled with Hello Kitty and live koi. We didn't make it to any European-towns while on the coast, but we'll rectify that locally with a trip to Germantown as soon as possible.

On the following day, we took a driving/walking tour of Berkeley, and then when all of the chicks started shopping, I walked home to post my 12 of 12 and read in the sunshine. Although it was chilly in the evenings, the days were unseasonably warm for the season -- we were probably emanating East Coast heat from our pores, not unlike itinerant convection ovens. For dinner that evening, we met up with East-Coaster-turned-West-Coaster, Vu, and had some delicious sake and sushi in downtown Berkeley.

On our last day up north, we rented a car and drove up to Napa Valley for a wine tour. It took us several blocks of walking to locate the Napa city Visitor's Center, although we were informed enroute by a teenager that "that place is only worthwhile for old people like 30... no maybe 57". The retirees manning the Center were very helpful and loaded us up with maps and glossy uncompostable magazines, because when there are 450 wineries on a thirty mile road, the only way you'll get visitors is if you bribe the Visitor's Center to "highly recommend" your winery to clueless visitors.

We started with a tasting at Grgich, where they sacrifice their vowels for high quality grapes, and then had a bottle of Grgich zinfandel with burgers at a roadside stand. From there we hit a winery inside of a $41 million castle, followed by the Sterling Vineyards which was separated from the road by a 200 yard sky-car trip. This winery was near the top of the valley, and with the temperature hovering up near 100 degrees, it quickly drained us of the urge to visit any others. We returned to Napa for some highly-yuppy organic ice cream and free samples at the olive oil / chocolate sauce stands.

To be concluded tomorrow...

Beer to be sold in dead animals
Saboteur unleashes bedbugs in Des Moines city building
Professor foiled while on vacation

Trip Day: Spokane

2010-07-26T10:00:00Z

Part I of III

The first leg of our July vacation took us to Spokane, Washington, a medium sized city that's closer to Idaho than the Pacific Ocean and encased in a bubble of hot, dry, Midwestern air that corrupts the acoustics of the city name into "spo-CAN". As cities go, Spokane was fairly pleasant, with a like-named river running through the center, and all manner of bridges, waterfalls, and weird art decorating the downtown area for the benefit of tourists.

A giant grassy park sits on an island in the middle of the river, filled with the usual mix of homeless people listening to heavy metal on their radios, shaved ice stands, goose poop, and a permanent fair, complete with a small roller coaster resembling the Scooby Doo at King's Dominion, and bumper cars.

We had come to Spokane, along with the rest of the population of Grinnell, Iowa, for the wedding of one of Rebecca's college friends, and the couple had put together a complete itinerary for the out-of-towners which comprised most of the attendance. In a contrast of ambition, our wedding encouraged out-of-towners to stay at the beautiful Days Inn in the industrial park of Leesburg, and drink $800 worth of wine at the venue itself.

After a pre-wedding pizza party the night before, and several rounds of "Dirty Mad Libs", followed by breakfast in the all-you-can-eat bacon bar at the hotel, the wedding itself took place at the Patsy Clark mansion in western Spokane. Although we were initially confused and believed that it might have been the home of a country singer, it turns out that Patsy Clark was only notorious for having a girl's name and being rich, having earned his money through mining in the 1800s. The wedding was even shorter than an episode of the Office with commercials cut out -- a fine accomplishment for any outdoor wedding whose climate could be confused with the temperature of the human body -- and it was followed by five hours of partying before the noise curfew, and two hours of bar'ing behind the hotel afterwards.

Because the new couple apparently had an incredibly high tolerance for entertaining guests, the third day of the wedding weekend opened with a brunch at their home, replete with bagels, Starbucks, and mimosas. Afterwards, we braved the mid-90s heat to explore such classy Spokane attractions as the mall and a Mexican restaurant.

Our flight out of Spokane on Sunday was scheduled for 6:50 PM at Spokane International, although "International" seems to be a distinction assigned to any old airport these days (see also, Energy Star appliances) since there were only 16 gates to depart from. In spite of this, our flight never appeared on the departing flights board throughout the evening, and we finally just started roaming the concourse around 6:40, looking for United signs. We made it on the tiny plane, which had overhead bins the size of labradors and required us to walk across the tarmac, check all our bags planeside, and climb up some stairs into an artery with only two seats per side.

Our flight arrived in San Francisco around 9 PM, and we were welcomed by a gust of frosty 60 degree air.

To be continued tomorrow...

Parachuting donkey terrifies children
Two escape from an Argentine jail guarded by a dummy
Cops: Teacher Lied About Brain Cancer to Skip Work

Today's Birthdays

Friday Fragments

2010-07-23T10:00:00Z

a roller coaster of smug

♠ Our trip to the West Coast was good fun, in spite of the fact that the airlines are becoming stingier with each trip. We spent a few days in Spokane, Washington for a wedding, followed by three days in Berkeley and San Francisco. At the end of the Berkeley leg, we rented a Hyundai Elantra and spent four days in and around Santa Cruz. I'll probably do some sort of write-up next week.

♠ Based on my experiences with the free XM in our San Francisco rental car, I finally canceled my home account after months of wobbling back and forth. XM's musical output was roughly on par with a freshman bassoon audition right after they merged with Sirius, and it has since declined to "fifth grade orchestra concert". Apparently, music is too expensive now, so XM either plays the same 20 tunes found on normal radio, or throws up hundreds of minimum wage DJs that talk too much with nothing interesting to say to reduce the amount of music royalties being paid. Driving around Santa Cruz with nothing to listen to really drove this point home (if home were on the West Coast and featured Katy Perry's "California Gurlz" simultaneously on four channels).

♠ Without XM in the car, I'll probably fall back on CDs more often, which means that I'll have to replace the CD player that has been breathing static ever since my battery died in the parking lot of Popeyes in 2009. I'll also need to find a new source for new music, although I haven't downloaded a song I liked on XM since at least six months ago.

♠ I have no big plans for the weekend, other than to get some new shorts and jeans from Target that don't have holes in the ass (I prefer to provide such a hole myself) and to stock up on Costco goods for the first time in five weeks. I may also do some DDMSence work or work-work on Saturday as well.

♠ Have a great weekend!

Jurors get an eyeful in porn trial
"Zombies" crash on I-84 near Lloyd exit
Guam Turns Away Spider-Infested Cargo Ship

Today's Birthdays

Michelle (Cao) Moore