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Speaking of citizenship, or lack thereof...

Happy Birthday Rob and Google!

Google's 9th Birthday!

I "Googled" today and tonight and noticed some creative art on the logo. I clicked on the logo to get a better look -- it's the "g" in Google made into a pinata with candy falling out. It's Google's 9th birthday. Does that mean Rob and Google share the day? I get a kick out of Google when they do the little creative thing.

I like this story I wrote.

What in the World?

I was just doing some light reading in my National Geographic World Atlas, and I came across some interesting statistics (that is an oxymoron in some cases! -- interesting statistics, if you ask me.) So lets see what you know and if you have any hidden biases.
1. What is the largest city in North American? (Population)
2. What is the second largest country in the world by area?
3. China and the USA are about the same size almost in area. What about in population?
4. Which ocean has a bigger percentage of the earth's water, Atlantic or Pacific?
I could go on and on, but I have a hard enough time keeping friends as it is.

New Word New Fun

Today my friend told me she didn't like meeting with a colleague because he tended to bloviate. Huh? So I learned a great new descriptive verb today. She said it is a relatively new word...about 50 years old (so I'm about 50...am I relatively new? Why not!). I came home and looked it up and Glen and I have made it the Milton House word for the day. Well, I'll stop here, lest I be accussed of bloviation? Bloviate: to orate verbosely and windily. (What's orate? -- I know what that is...I heard a speech on it once. Just kidding.)

It's raining in Whittier! Autumn begins in two days, but a highly unusual winter storm has overtaken the LA basin this evening, and will continue throughout the night. Meteorologists forecast one half to an inch of rain, but I was skeptical merely an hour or so ago.

The change in seasons is something I miss about living in Nor-Cal, so the first rain of the autumn is huge to me, especially living in this desert.



I'm extremely excited about the free car wash.

More on Landis

KTTV, Channel 11, in Los Angeles says they have an interview with Landis at 10, they are showing footage of Floyd talking in front of the front door of his house.

The news was broke to the world by EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer.

According to Ken Barbalce of EnvironmentalChemestry.com says, ". . .Today appears to be a very, very dark day for science, fairness and due process." You can read his summary of the information here.

Constant information update can be seen at Trust But Verify.

AP announces Landis verdict. . .

According to documents obtained by AP, and to be made public later Thursday, the vote was 2-1 to uphold the results, with lead arbitrator Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the majority and Christopher Campbell dissenting.

Landis responds:

"This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere" "For the Panel to find in favor of USADA when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent."

The panel says that the lab did not do it's job and at least the first test cannot be trusted, and the second one is suspect. But the ruled 2-1 anyway. There is a ton of information out there Trust But Verify links to most of it. Both the majority and minority opinions are available a pdf downloads. More than I will be reading today.

Gotta go no and take medicine for my gout.

Math

Today, for the first time since transferring to Cal State Fullerton I met with an academic advisor.
I learned from Tammy Rogers that I have to take three more "collateral courses" to complete my degree in journalism. These courses are upper division "liberal arts" classes that are required in addition to the journalism course work I am taking.
This means that i will have to take a class during intersession (a class that is is taught during Christmas vacation) and then take 15 units next sememster, after which I will take the six unit internship required to graduate next summer.

So, I will be pretty busy with school for the next ten months...

I am on schedule to graduate in August of 2008 at this rate.

Yay.




To graduate from CSUF, 120 units are required. Full-time students take 12 units... so for someone to attend school full-time for four years, they will only reach 96 units, 24 units short of the requirement to graduate...

Does anyone graduate in four years anymore?

Beth's Birthday Dinner

Debbie, Brianna, Jonah, Kyle, Shawntea, and I all took MamaBeth out to dinner for her birthday. We had a great time eating asian food.

Coyote Ugly

I saw one of these on a ride this morning. She was just trotting away from the bike trail on the San Gabriel River as I noticed her. She was north of where the 605 curves over the river trail, I think.



The picture shows a much thicker animal (cannis latrans) than the skinny thing that I saw today. Next time I'll take my camera and try to have it ready. I am not the journalist that some of my nephews are becoming.



This one looks hungry like the critter I saw. I didn't see any scorpions.

Pan Am player at CSUF - Sports

If you haven't already had the opportunity to do so, you might want to check out Rob's article in the Daily Titan's sports section: Pan Am player at CSUF - Sports. I am proud to be his uncle.

Today was the first time since school started that I was able to enjoy a bike ride up in Turnbull. I was able to tour ground zero of the now infamous Turnbull Canyon blaze of '07 (okay, it wasn't that big of a deal) and I was also able to catch some wildlife that I rarely see.

Behold, a scorpion (I think this is the family that I found). It was by complete luck that I saw it, my tire narrowly missed squishing it into the tire-tracked, powdery, parched Earth along the service road that I consider a bike trail.

In the sun, it appeared to have a purple back with white limbs, and it's exoskeleton glistened like plastic, and also did not move in the slightest, which made me skeptical that this was indeed a real scorpion. So, after sufficient prodding with a twig, I was convinced that it was indeed a real scorpion, so I slipped it into a baggy I had in my pocket.

I want to find someone who will make it into one of those belt-buckles. Anyone know of someone?

Update from Peru

My friend from high school, Sally, lives in Lima, Peru. Tonight I got their update with photos of the earthquake. Let's remember to keep the communities in our thoughts and prayers. Her husband wrote:

"The images of people in shock from the destruction of the earthquake continue to fill our news. Many towns and villages are virtually destroyed or so badly damaged that people are afraid to live in them. Please continue to pray that the aid that is pouring in continues and that it is distributed in a fair and efficient manner. Pray that the kindness and generosity of many Christian aid organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Mobilization will reflect on the love of God and encourage many people to seek Him in this time of struggle."

How hot was it?

And, the other question, how do you know if it's hot?

I think there are a variety of ways to know if you are hot. Fritz, the weather comedian on Channel 4 pointed out that heat causes moist glowing skin. LA county is investigating the deaths of 16 people over the weekend to see what the role of the heat was in their demise.

This is what it looked like right here on the Family Blog yesterday:


Our thermometer with sensor on the back porch reported this sometime on Labor Day:


And our patio:


How can you tell if you are hot?

Summer in Placerville

Well here in Placerville we is used to the high heat. With the shade tree and the watering hole we is just com fort able as heck. When Beth gets a bit warmish I just get a large palm leaf and wave in over her. One of these days we may get some of that electricity stuff but I still haven't figured out how to get it through those tiny wires. Hope the weather breaks in your parts. Your always welcome to sit out the heat in our parts of the woods.

Heat Wave

We are suffering through creatively at our home without air conditioning. There are two fans going. One on the doggies. One on the humans. I have that small wading pool in back to keep us refreshed up to our ankles. When all else fails, there is always a quick shower. The wet hair does bring relief. I've gone out to water the plants and "accidently" gotten some water on myself.

I finish all physical activity in the morning. Our upstairs offices are in the 90 plus range, so I'm grateful for a long weekend of no work! It is a treat to run an errand and cool off in the car air conditioning there. We are really guzzling the ice tea.

Falling asleep the last few nights was hard due to the lack of cooling in the evening. Brought back memories of a certain August wedding. We do manage to fall asleep and sleep soundly until morning, thanks to the aid of the ceiling fan in the bedroom.

I'm just glad I don't play a sport -- the high schools and colleges are practicing football, and the baseball teams still have to play. I've get salt in my eyes from sweating now and then. I told Glen, "When I'm really cold this winter, remind me of this day." We watched a movie with a winter scene and snow falling to help us cool down last night. It didn't really work, but it provided hope as we remembered being cold once.

Brown Cow, anyone? Frosty rootbeet blended with vanilla ice cream did help us tolerate yesterday's triple digit temperatures!