So I am riding to work, daydreaming as usual. I round an easy curve on the Sorrento bike path heading south and, Viola!

Look what’s sitting there:

What is a helicopter doing here on the bike path? I think if I had 1000 guesses at it I would not have been right.

The reason:

The workers in and around the San Diego Utility truck (it is in the background) needed to do some work in the estuary. Since this is a “protected” area they can’t just walk out a few hundred yards and make their repairs, THEY HAVE TO TAKE A HELICOPTER OUT SO AS NOT TO DISTURB THE ENVIRONMENT. They said they were waiting for the “Bio-Lady” to tell them when and where to go.

As an aside, it apparently also takes about 10 workers to get all this together.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for the environment, but Jesus, you have to install some common sense somewhere.

When they told me what they had planned, I pointed out to them that a train regularly runs right through the middle of the protected area and a sewage treatment plant (which you can see in the distance to the right of the chopper) that dumps treated mystery liquid into the marsh is within 200 yards of where we were talking, they just smiled and shook their heads.

Go figure why California and San Diego are bankrupt.

Tired, more work but most done. Set up to ride home. Always one of my favorite times of the day.

About half of the time I ride up through the neighborhoods, the rest of the time I glide by the beach. The beach is messier (sand, water, traffic, dogs) but more fun because there is more going on and because I can get a feel for the surf and the mood. I saw this machine immediately. Clearly restored as the upholstery was immaculate and a beautiful paint job that mimicked the original I think in both color and finish. If the owner happens to see this and feels charitable, I will give it a good home.

I think that this may be a much better application than Apple’s own embedded voice control. It seems as if voice control is just this clunky interface that does not work very well.

The above was a transcribed message sent from Dragon Dictation for the iPhone. It is remarkably good. Have to try to weave into workflow. I think it can save time.

One in Eight Americans Used Food Banks in 2009

This is the title of a WSJ article in today’s paper.

Assuming 304 million in the US – that’s 38 million people who have gone hungry.

The top five wall street banks plan to pay out over $92 billion in bonus money “earned” in 2009.

That works out to close to $2,500 per “hungry person”. When you frequent food banks to stay alive, the value of $2,500 is magnified. Yes, it keeps you alive, but it also lets you hold on to some self-esteem, some small sense of control.

I don’t think many Congressmen or Senators have been hungry. Our political economic system is completely FU and it boils down to power, greed and hubris.

Sonsofbitches.

Small, but consistent surf at LJ Shores this morning. Perfect for learning on a longboard.

Testing the iPhone blogging capabilities.

The past several days have seen some epic storm activity rolling through southern california. I read somewhere last week that the meteorologists could see it coming, basically the most powerful jet-stream anyone can remember; Rather than coming in at 30,000 or 40,000, this one was barreling in at 8,000 feet. Since Monday, storms have been rolling in like waves creating flooding, mudslides and general havoc here in San Diego. People here have no idea how to drive in this weather (they may not have any idea how to drive in any weather) so that makes it dicier. Then there is the general stupidity factor, “I don’t think it could be that deep, we’ll just drive through it despite the barriers”. Yup. Good idea.

Riding in on the LHT this morning I found few people at La Jolla Shores. You can see the storm cells coming in behind Scripps Pier. It is much less active than it was, but if you get under one of these babies you’re going to get a bit damp.

I was dodging rain cells the rest of the ride in. Here is a picture of one about to blow right over me. I skirted the edge of it, got hosed, and then was lucky enough to outrun it on my way into the office. I had a big smile on my face – its a lot of fun riding a bike through a storm (if its the right kind of bike and you have on the right gear).

Well now, this looks like big fun. This idea has cyclists riding on a “half-pipe” with support/balance cables on either side. can you imagine trying to convince your city council that this was a good idea?

This morning the weather continues mild and earlier it seemed the surf was making more noise than usual. So, after wading through people, kids, dogs at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (I usually get there earlier in the morning) I wandered straight down to the beach.

Here are a couple shots I think from “North Bird”. In the first, you can’t see them well but I think there are over a dozen surfers out there. I just realized you can’t see them because they are further south of this shot ….

Here’s from the same viewpoint looking North.

Then I meandered north to Wind an Sea ….

Same beach looking Northwest …

Then, more meandering down to Marine Street/Horseshoe. Normally, this is a “Whomper” break, right near the shoreline. I had never seen it break out so far … and there were very few people out there. Two shots South then Northwest. I can’t get over the weather here. It only took me 50 years to move here.