California Trip Notes 2

Some of the general scenery and things that caught my eye while in California.

This picture is on the Naval Base at Point Mugu. I wonder what the prevailing wind direction is here.


As you're driving North on Oxnard Blvd, shortly after leaving downtown Oxnard, these two buildings come into view. There's nothing else over two stories around, these buildings just rise up seemingly in the middle of nowhere near the corner of Oxnard Blvd and Vineyard Ave.

There are fields on the other side of the Railroad tracks on the right and to the left are apartments, small houses and small commercial enterprises.


Another angle, from Vineyard heading east.

I actually went over there to investigate. Although they are the only tall buildings in the area, they aren't stranded in the middle of nowhere as they appear to be. There is a fairly robust industrial and commercial district right there at their feet that isn't immediately apparent until you get closer.

Although there seems to be quite a bit of industry there, I did notice a large number of commercial/industrial properties that were vacant and in search of tenants.


Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, Oxnard, Camarillo and surrounding towns are basically located in the next valley to the northwest (along the coast) of Los Angeles. It is a very agricultural area that seems to concentrate on Strawberries, but I also saw lemons, cabbage, beans, what I think were avocados, and even a little corn.


The scenery is absolutely beautiful with the surrounding mountains.

The weather there is purported to be very stable throughout the year which allows for year round farming. Most of the time I was there, it was overcast with highs in the lower 70's and lows in the upper 50's. The nicest day was on Sunday...it was sunny, the skies were clear and the temps in the low 80's. Humidity was very low (at least as compared to Virginia).

Too bad such nice weather is wasted on an authoritarian nanny state. If it weren't for the communist regime running things, I'd consider moving there.


This is Ventura Rd in Port Hueneme. The Navy Base is to the left. I really liked the tall trees lining the road here.


Finally, on Sunday, I took the opportunity to attend Church at the Oxnard Church of the Nazarene.

This is the front entrance.


The service was very good and the congregants were extremely friendly and welcomed me warmly.

This is the rear and the parking lot.


That's it for the general stuff. All that's left is my sightseeing trip on Sunday afternoon, then I'll quit boring you with this stuff.

California Trip Notes

The car I rented was unremarkable (as usual). A Mazda 6 with about 25k miles on it. It ran OK but was under powered and too small for my comfort. Got pretty good gas mileage though.


I stayed at the Oxnard Residence Inn by Mariott.

Oxnard isn't exactly the most affluent community in the area, but this part of it isn't bad.


This hotel is fairly new and has a large empty space next to it that I suppose is intended for expansion.


It sits right next to a nice golf course and across the street from a gated subdivision.


It had plenty of parking and I pretty much adopted the space that my rental car is occupying here as "my" space for the duration of my stay.

The rooms are in two story units with 8 rooms each, four on each floor. There are no elevators and the doors went straight to an outside staircase so it's sort of like a motel, only nicer.


I got the single King bed.

A little crowded in there, but not too bad in my experience.


The TV was a nice, 32" LG flat screen...combined with my portable DVD player, it made for a passable entertainment system.


I like to pick hotels that have kitchens so I can cook for myself and don't have to eat out every meal. This one was pretty well equipped, but it didn't have an oven and the icemaker didn't work. I got a bag of ice from the front desk that lasted me the whole two weeks though, so that was no big deal.


Now for the gripes:

Notice the computer desk is very high? The chair wouldn't go any higher than it is in the photo...which made for very uncomfortable computing. There was no wireless internet, so I was tethered to the desk and it was very uncomfortable.

I had an external keyboard with me so a pull out keyboard tray would have been a lifesaver.



The sofa and armchair were both incredibly uncomfortable...the cushions just didn't feel right. I had to use pillows (which, thankfully, they provided plenty of) to make them bearable.

The bed wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

My biggest gripes, however, were just weird inconveniences.


Notice the standing lamp in the corner...you know...the one right next to the table lamp on the desk? Didn't make much sense to me.

Also, note how the "coffee table" seems to be made of an inner wooden box and and outer iron frame with a wooden top.


It seemed to me that things could be made more comfortable. I put the lamp beside the couch and pulled the outer part of the "coffee table" off and turned it into an "end table". That way I'd have light to read and a convenient place to put my book, remotes etc that was in reach.

There was even an outlet in the floor under the sofa to plug the lamp into so the cord wasn't a trip hazard.

It made much more sense and was much more comfortable and practical to me this way.

Apparently, the housekeeping staff didn't agree because every day, when they cleaned, they moved the lamp back to the corner and turned my "end table" back into part of the "coffee table". Every day, I had to put things back the way I wanted them.

I fully intended to move them back the way they were before I checked out...couldn't they allow me this minor customization to make the room more friendly for me??? I guess not.


The other thing that drove me nuts was this:

Why on earth would you use salt and pepper shakers to hold PACKETS of salt and pepper?

Especially when the openings of the shakers were so small that the packets were very hard to get out?

I had to use a knife to dig the packets out of the shakers so I could actually use them (not to mention having to take the tops off the shakers in the first place).

To add insult to injury, guess what the housekeeping staff did every day? Yup, you guessed it. Any salt and pepper packets that I'd dug out of the shakers but hadn't used got stuffed right back into the shakers for me to have to dig out again that evening after work.

Sigh.


Overall, it was a decent stay, but not great and I'll probably try a different hotel the next time I'm in the area.

Apparently...

...It's time to make some salsa.

Still lots of green tomatoes and baby peppers out there...and the pepper plants are still blooming so they're going to produce at least one more crop.

Beans are blooming again too so I should have more beans soon.

I wish I had grown my own cilantro but I just didn't think about it in time. Oh well...next year. Too bad the onions didn't come up this year...I'll have to buy them too.

I haven't gardened in several years so I'll have to get back into the swing of it over time. I made several mistakes that cost me crops this year that I'll have to alleviate next year so I'll have a better selection. Pretty much all I'm getting this year is tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, some cucumbers, a couple of ears of sweet corn, a few green beans and a few carrots. But it's a start and anything is better than nothing.

As far as yield: I've already frozen a couple of pints of chopped peppers. Based on what I'm seeing right now, I'm guessing I'll be able to can maybe ten pints of peppers and 5 quarts of tomatoes and still have enough to eat through the summer and make a few pints of salsa for immediate consumption and canning.

I haven't completely lost my touch...just need some refining of my technique.

Oh...the potatoes we'll eat. I don't have a pressure cooker yet so I don't have a way to can them. I intend to get one so I can can foods that require it, but haven't gotten a round tuit yet.

gunlistings.org

My friend CB sent me a link to this FREE "gun classifieds" site. It looks to be an excellent resource for gun owners. Spread the word.

gunlistings.org

OK...

...We're back from Maine. Things are beginning to settle down a little. The trip was good, if a bit exhausting. To avoid the holiday traffic, we traveled through the night both ways. it's about a 12 hour drive so we left around 10pm to arrive at 10am on both legs of the journey.

Switching off periodically made it tolerable, but it was still tough. We ain't as young as we used to be.

After work today, I finally got working on cleaning up my California pictures. A small taste (click to make really big):

This is a stitched together panorama of downtown LA from the Mulholland Drive "Hollywood Bowl" scenic overlook.

While in Maine, I realized that the problem was not a smudge on the lens, but small foreign objects (like...too small to actually see) inside the camera on the sensor. I've tried cleaning it several times and I successfully move the smudges around, but I haven't completely eliminated them yet. Any suggestions would be welcome. I may end up having to take it to a camera shop and have it cleaned professionally. I'm not having much luck with it.

Every time I get one piece of foreign matter cleaned off, I seem to deposit another one in a different place. Lint free cloths and swabs don't seem to be doing the trick.

Anyway, they are really only visible when taking pictures with a bright sky. Those I can clean up with Gimp so it isn't a disaster, but it's a pain in the butt to have to retouch all my pictures after I take them.

I'll try to get some more pictures posted over the next week or so, but I'm way behind the power curve on getting things done around here.

July E-Postal Match...Golf

As my regular reader already knows, I'm in Maine for my Wife's Grandfather's (grandfather-in-law?) funeral.

I recently got back from a business trip to California, so I haven't had a lot of time to think up something original for this month's "Mr. Completely's e-postal match".

As such, I'm going to recycle one from a couple of years ago that I really enjoyed.

It was designed by Free Spirit Mind so I hope he doesn't mind me stealing his intellectual property.

It's called "Golf" and it's a pretty simple concept.

Right click the image and select "save as" to download a pdf version of the target suitable for printing.

The object is to hit the five* red "holes" in the least number of shots.

Obviously, the lowest possible score is 5.* The highest is unlimited.

There are two types of "hazards" that result in "penalty shots". The black outlined areas marked "sand" count as the shot plus one penalty for a total of two.

The blue "water" hazards count as the shot plus two penalties for a total count of three.

Any shot touching the border of either a hole, or a hazard area is counted as a hit in that area.

Any shot touching the border of more than one "scoring" area at a time will be counted in the manner most advantageous to the shooter. In other words, if your shot is touching the black ring border surrounding one of the holes, but is also within the border of a sand hazard, the shot counts as "in the hole". If the shot is touching both a sand hazard and a water hazard, it counts as a sand hazard shot only.

Handgun Classes are:

1: Production rimfire: Open sights, no long barrels, compensators or other add-ons.

2: Open rimfire: Rimfire, anything goes.

3: Production centerfire: open sights, no long barrels, compensators etc.

4: Open centerfire: anything goes.

5: Air powered handguns.

I can add other categories (such as black powder, rifle classes, etc) if I get any entries for them.

Tiebreakers will be determined at my discretion as needed.

The target is to be shot at 7 yards (21 feet) or as close to that as you can get at your range (Rifle entries should be shot at 25 yards).

There is no time limit so, "aim small, miss small".

You can enter as many different guns as you want, and different shooters can use the same gun; and you can shoot the target as many times as you like to get your best score, but please only submit one entry per shooter/gun combination.

I prefer that you send scans/digital photos of your entry targets, but if you don't have the facilities for that, just send your scores. If I need more information for tie breakers, I'll let you know.

Entries should be submitted to sailorcurt@cox.net no later than Midnight (your time), July 28.

If you have any questions or the rules need to be clarified, feel free to e-mail me, but I may not answer until after I get home from Maine on Sunday.


*Corrected...apparently I can't count. My apologies. Thanks to Mr. Completely for catching it.

Notes from the Dinner Table

These pieces of chicken are the same brand, bought from the same store on the same day:

Granted, the thighs and legs were packaged separately, but all of the thighs were of a relatively uniform size as were all the drumsticks, so the logical conclusion is that all the chickens used by this company were of relatively uniform size.

Those must have been some funny looking chickens...big, giant legs with little bitty thighs...either they were distantly related to Popeye or they were imported from Chernobyl.

They tasted just fine though after grilling and liberal application of BBQ sauce. (BTW: We had mashed potatoes and green beans from the garden to go with them...yum).

You know...

SayUncle often rhetorically asks "Why are anti-gunners so violent".

It occurred to me today to ask, why do the proponents of the ownership of high powered, spray firing, only designed to kill people, death machines always seem to be such kind-hearted, caring people?

Maybe I'll make a theme out of that.

Grounds for losing gun rights forever...

Arguing couple does no damage with Cheetos:

According to Roddy's report, the pair became "involved in a verbal
altercation" with each other "at which time Cheetos potato chips were used in
the assault."


"There was evidence of the assault," the report read, "however no
physical marks on either party and the primary aggressor was unable to be
determined."


Both Taylor and Childers were charged by Roddy with domestic assault.
Both posted a bond of $2,500 and will appear in Bedford County General Sessions
Court on July 15.

It's a good thing we have "reasonable gun laws" to protect society by preventing such dangerous people from owning effective tools of self defense.

BTW: Apparently, the Police and the press know as little about assault snack foods as they do about "assault weapons". The last time I checked, Cheetos are not "potato chips".

Personal news update

Today's my last day in the PRC. I should cross the border back into FA ("Free America" for you non-fans of Red Dawn) around 11:00pm.

This doesn't necessarily mean that blogging will become any more prolific: My wife's Grandfather passed away a couple of days ago. We'll be heading up to Maine for his service around mid-week next week (which means we'll be driving through a couple more totalitarian states...New Jersey and New York) so we'll be getting ready for that. It's about a 12 hour drive and we'll be on our way back right smack in the middle of the July 4th holiday weekend so prayers for travel mercies, as well as for my wife's family's loss would be appreciated.

Strangely, his passing hasn't been the subject of non-stop news coverage since it was announced. Maybe the AP missed the press release.

Important Happenings

After watching about 25 minutes of TV news this morning while eating breakfast in the hotel dining room, I can reach only one conclusion.

Absolutely the only thing going on today in the entire world that is newsworthy:

Michael Jackson died.

[shakes head in disgust]

I have a question:

When did the vast number of disparate and independent doctors, hospitals, clinics, nurses and other medical care providers, and the vast number if disparate, independent and competing providers of medical insurance, suddenly become a "system" in need of government regulation, oversight and control?

Why don't we have a "national automotive repair system" or a "national lawn care system" that are similarly in need of government control?

It occurs to me that a major part of the problem with our "national health care system" is that we HAVE a "national health care system".

What say ye?

Update from behind the tofu curtain.

After attending a very nice Church Service at the Oxnard Church of the Nazarene this morning, I did the obligatory sight seeing this afternoon.

I drove the Pacific Coast Highway back to LA, then tracked down Mulholland Drive and navigated it, stopping at the scenic overlooks along the way.

My excitement for the day came in the form of a shutdown on Mulholland Drive. They had a detour sign pointing the way down into Beverly Hills, but after leaving the drive...nothing to direct wayward travelers back onto the path.

The roads in Beverly Hills wind and wander through the hills and rocky slopes and many of them simply end when they ran out of flat space to put a road.

Luckily, I had my GPS with me so I could try to plot a route around the blockage. Unfortunately for me, there are lots of rich people in Beverly Hills. Several of the roads that show on the map as going through, effectively end at a forbidding gate with security warnings, video surveillance and intercom systems. This happened to me on three separate occasions. Apparently we little people have no need for the use of Hollywood mogul's roads, even if they are listed as public roads on the map.

I basically spent about an hour and a half wandering around Beverly hills trying to find my way around the 1/2 mile section of Mulholland drive that was closed. Sigh.

I have to wonder what the guy washing his Red Ferarri in his driveway thought about me when he saw me go by in my crappy rental car, first in one direction...and then again a few minutes later going the other direction after coming up short against the unassailable entrance of some wealthy film magnate's estate.

By the way...I've never seen so many Ferraris in one day in my life.

I took lots of pictures but the ones I took from inside the car didn't come out very well as it was a bright day and there were lots of reflections from the glass. Upon looking at the pictures I took when I stopped and got out, I realize that I had something smudgy on the lens...CRAP. Now I'm going to have to do some photo-shopping before they're post-worthy. I'll get some up after I get home and have a chance to doctor them a little.

Anyway, as I was looking at the pictures on the memory card, I realized that I never posted a picture that I had intended to put up:

Behold...the firstfruits from my garden...picked the day before I left for California.

Yes, the potatos are still a little small. They still tasted good and there's plenty more still perculating.

I cooked the potatos and green beans together with some store bought carrots (the carrots are still too small to slaughter yet too) and we had them for dinner Saturday evening before I left on Sunday.

The peppers are looking really good. Some are probably going to be ready while I'm away and will be a little over-ripe by the time I get home. Oh well...I'll get over it.

Anyway, that's were we're at. I'll be home in 6 days.

Leave a message at the beep...

I'm not home.

I got sent on a short notice business trip so here I am in the People's Republic of California for the next two weeks. Luckily, I should be gone before the state runs out of money and chaos descends in a month or so.

I'm in Oxnard (about an hour north of LA) and it seems something important happened Sunday night (right as I was flying in to LAX). I think it was related to a sporting event and had something to do with lakes or something. Rowing maybe?

Anyway, I guess the team that Los Angelinos supported lost because they got all upset and burned stuff in the streets and trashed cars and buildings and looted a shoe store (how a shoe store had anything to do with defeating a rowing team and was deserving of punishment, I have no idea). Fortunately, I escaped the city without harm.

I can see why California is so strict on gun ownership. I've been here for two days and I've already seen three stories on the local news about people dying in car crashes...hey...wait a minute...

Although I know it's nothing new to my loyal and dedicated reader (hi honey), expect blogging to continue to be light. I've got a "high speed internet" connection here in the hotel, but apparently "high speed" is a relative term. As compared to, say, sponge migration, I suppose it's high speed. Plus I don't have my comfy office to blog from, I've got a high desk and a low chair, the combination of which makes using a computer slightly less uncomfortable than a root canal.

My room does, however, have a semi equipped kitchen. That means I don't have to eat out every night and can "cook" for myself. I took advantage of the situation last night by fixing myself a delicacy which my wife doesn't like and so, I've been unable to indulge in for a while: Manwich.

Yum.

Has anyone else noticed...

...that blogger is no longer formatting correctly all the sudden?

When I create a post in "compose" mode, when I use blockquotes, it doesn't separate paragraphs unless I put two blank lines between them versus one.

When I go into "edit html" mode, the paragraph tags are correct, but after publishing, there's no blank line between graphs any more. There used to be. This is a recent development. It smushes everything together and makes it hard to read.

I've noticed this in blogger comments too. When I've commented recently, it's smushed the paragraphs together versus putting a blank line between them.

So now I have to remember, whenever using blockquotes or commenting through blogger, put two line breaks in between paragraphs to get it to look the way I want after publishing...sigh.

At first I thought it was Firefox that was interpreting the HTML incorrectly, but it does the same thing with IE.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I going crazy?

Maybe the Obama administration has begun taxing blank lines?