Cocoposts

Pacific Coast Road Trip

I hadn't seen the Pacific in decades and it had been three years since I’d flown anywhere. A good friend invited me to drive from Seattle to San Diego along the coast. Trip planning was sketchy and flexible. But a week sounded like enough. It really wasn't.

They'll pry my cold dead fingers off the Honda’s steering wheel but I have to admit her Tesla was more comfortable and fun. My back didn't hurt and it was great to drive.  It did occur to me that the fun might be limited if everyone zoomed Teslas all the time. I found the huge screen in the center of the dashboard distracting and I never did get the door and window buttons right. But the short stretch I drove was exhilarating - for me at least. Zoomies are always less fun for passengers. I drove a hairy little stretch of former logging road and really enjoyed the fun curves. But for some reason, that was my only opportunity.

The trip began the day after a King Tide and a week of big storms. There was evidence of flooding everywhere - huge trees down and closed portions of the coastal highways. The booming Pacific was unsettling, especially the first night when I thought I was hearing heavy furniture moving around the room. And it was especially impressive for a desert dwelling unfamiliar with its power. 

We blazed down the coast, stopping periodically to wonder at sights but never really long enough to fully relax. We made it to California our first night after zooming into the dark forest. There’s a giant peanut sitting beside the highway in Orick that's carved from a huge Redwood. It was sent to President Carter as an appeal to stop designation of the Redwood National Forest. It  was returned and the forest was established. We visited the awe inspiring “Big Tree” there, and many like it. In Leggett we stopped at the even larger “Grandfather Tree.” 

In the predawn hours in Monterey I woke to the unfamiliar sound of  barking harbor seals. It was Friday already. That night was Santa Barbara. Then San Diego. I would go the other direction if I had another chance. Hopefully the highway both sides of Big Sur, which we missed, would be open. And I would go north instead of south so that the population grew thinner and the trees thicker as the trip progressed. 

 

Year Six Blog Anniversary

Rain falling on the United States contains radioactive material from Japan at levels that exceed federal safety thresholds.

Federal officials on Tuesday urged calm in the wake of the discovery of iodine-131, which blew across the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, in rainwater.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12bQH)

The sixth year anniversary gifts are candy and radioactive iodine.  Whoops, I meant iron.

Rain falling on the United States contains radioactive material from Japan at levels that exceed federal safety thresholds.  Federal officials on Tuesday urged calm in the wake of the discovery of iodine-131, which blew across the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, in rainwater.  (From Bay Citizen)

But remember not to worry.  New plants will be built better.  Promise?

Rain falling on the United States contains radioactive material from Japan at levels that exceed federal safety thresholds.

Federal officials on Tuesday urged calm in the wake of the discovery of iodine-131, which blew across the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, in rainwater.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12bQH)

Rain falling on the United States contains radioactive material from Japan at levels that exceed federal safety thresholds.

Federal officials on Tuesday urged calm in the wake of the discovery of iodine-131, which blew across the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, in rainwater.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12bQH)

Rain falling on the United States contains radioactive material from Japan at levels that exceed federal safety thresholds.

Federal officials on Tuesday urged calm in the wake of the discovery of iodine-131, which blew across the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, in rainwater.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12bQH)

Return of Coco Jones

The beer. Seattle PI's Washington Beer Blog, "Everything beer in the Evergreen State" has coco news, straight from the Raven’s mouth:

The elusive Coco Jones is about to make a rare appearance.  I’m not talking about my disowned second cousin, Ms. Coco Jones. Last I heard, cousin Coco was still doing two shows a night in Vegas, proudly walking on the wild side. Nope, not that Coco Jones. Today we are talking about Black Raven Brewing Company’s Coco Jones Coconut Porter.

Release Date is Tuesday March 15th.  (I've never done Vegas.) 

Water Happy-Talk

"A rainy winter in the Southwest has bought time for Las Vegas. According to The Arizona Republic, water levels in Lake Mead are up five feet, forestalling water rationing … until 2015, anyway. Last fall, Lake Mead’s surface had fallen to seven feet above the point where emergency measures would have to be instituted.

Don’t let the happy-talk local papers fool you: Lake Mead is still at least 125 feet below its 1999 level, an alarming 40% of capacity. Of course, to the hear the most powerful person in the Silver State — Southern Nevada Water Authority führer Pat Mulroy — tell it, we don’t need no stinking rationing … just more giant pipelines to suck other people’s aquifers dry."

From Stiffs and Goerges, a Las Vegas blog.

Worst of Cocoposts Vol. 1

Idea for a blog post series dedicated to such ill-advised content as Barbie P*rn, which showcased my formidable vintage collection in various dance poses.  Remaining family members, being unappreciative of the Barbie aesthetic in general and the implied homoeroticism in specific,  reacted with distain disdain and stopped reading my blog.  I've since gotten over it and crammed them in a huge suitcase.  The dolls, not my family.  

 

Pissing Match with a Troll

One of the newest of my New Year resolutions is not to feed them, but I got drawn into it and am heartily sorry.  I'm taking a long cold walk with Big to the Cathedral garden to say some Hail Marys -  just to stay away from God Damn Duke City Fix where, in a cruel twist of fate, I am the troll.  

A well-meaning discussion group about the west side of Albuquerque versus the rest side east side of Albuquerque* miraculously turned into Rail Runner bashing and pronouncements about discovered aquifers and water desalanization (sic) being more cost effective than rain barrels.  I've overused the word ridiculous and am now banning myself.  You can find the link for yourself.

 * Could such a thing really be well-meaning?  Was this a set-up or what?

Life Without the Web

James Sturm, writer-illustrator-cartoonist.  He's been offline for four weeks and draws about it for Slate.  

City of Women and Dreams

I feel love and a lot of pain for Ciudad Juárez. The city doesn't have an objective beauty, as other Mexican cities do. It's in the desert, so in the winter you freeze and in the summer you just want to run away.

It's a city of women and dreams. Of single mothers who have come to work in the manufacturing plants, and who have found their economic liberty and their independence as women. This reality is what has me trapped here -- not a fantastic man, if that's what you're thinking! *

Freelance journalist and blogger, Judith Torrea from interview - Blogging the Drug War - in Salon.

Her blog: Ciudad Juarez, en La Sombra del Narcotráfico. (Like I can read Spanish.)

*She's blogging a dangerous drug war but critiqued for her physique (tall and attractive with a helpful link to her photo) and compelled to answer as to her hook-up status.  Sigh.

Blame the Planning

Slate's architecture critic, Witold Rybczynski, hates on city planning and illustrates why architecture critics should stick to their architecture. He kicks at the scary dead ghost of soviet-style centralized government planning - suggesting backhandedly that we're headed that direction with the stimulus funding.  

It is not hard to find good examples of bad planning.  It is also super easy to define something - anything - as planning.  He does both.

Mary Herrera's Heads

New Mexico Defamation Suit uses their patented Manny Aragon head ScandalRater to give our Secretary of State 2.5 out of 5 for the stuff she pulled according to a former employee, who wrote what Suit calls one hell of a resignation letter. 

::What letter?!::