They come from the hills.

Towards the back half of summer, the turkeys stayed up at the VA hospital on the hill. The grass was fantastic up there. They didn't reduce watering at all. Now that the lawns are starting to green up they've decided to go slumming it down here in the low lands.

The funny thing about the turkeys is they follow road rules and stick to sidewalks and yards. I think I even got a video of them using the crosswalk once. I'll have to troll through my youtube channel. They are very good about staying out of the road.

I actually waited for this group because there was a white one. It's the first time I've seen that. It was also funny they hung out in a yard with fake deer. The VA hospital is also full of real deer. So the turkeys must have felt right at home.

And yes, I do still have some tech stuff to get out, but I just don't feel like talking about it right now.

It's too late to panic. We've been floating in space like Wile e Coyote for months. People just didn't believe it.

The thing that bothers me most about the oil collapse is how everyone in the oil industry was taken so by surprise. In The Valley, it's very hard to keep secrets in sectors. They all kind of roughly know what their competitors are doing. Sometimes they surprise you.

Mr S. and I were talking about this a lot  last night and we both came to the conclusion that they ( the oil people) must have been drinking the cool aid thinking the economy was getting better. It does no one any good if you cave the whole sector. You might risk putting yourself out of business in the process. No sane sector works that way. They must have expected demand to be much higher.

It doesn't matter now though. Copper and Cotton are telling the whole story.

T-REX by Compagna Motors.

I'm not sure how I feel about these. Campagna Motors home.

US import prices post biggest drop since 2008.

There are so many headlines like this now - it kinda makes you feel like we are about a get (at least) a giant ass whoopin' like 2008.

I don't understand everyone is so shocked about the holiday retail sales numbers. I know that all those gas savings were suppose to save the world. Problem is - the energy sector was the only one providing us growth, really.

Well... that and weed.

Now - the jobs for the whole entire energy sector are at risk.  Those people are going to hunker down.

This morning I was able to find a rate at 3.50%. This is the lowest rate since January 2013. I know because that is when I started the process to refi my rental. And it's a full point lower than what I got for my house.

The whole thing makes me a little sick inside honestly. Rates do not fall when things are good. Mortgage rates have basically told the true story the whole year. And the story is - things are clearly getting stomach churning.

Dead Robot walking.

You know .... a couple of months back I was pretty excited to see these in stores. Before I even begin know I still have not tried the technology. But there was one at CES.

I guess the main reason I haven't gone to see on in person yet is because in my opinion I think OSH is dead. It just doesn't know it yet. Maybe it takes years like Radio shack - but they have lost their way. And this is the reason I think this.

Over the summer my OSH completely remodeled. It was an older store, and I think this is always a good thing. I say gentrify the hell out of it. But the way they put the store back together was sort of nonsensical. For instance one day I went in looking for sandpaper. In the good old days there was one isle of sandpaper. No matter what kind of sandpaper you wanted - it was on that isle. Now... sandpaper is in three isles as I found out after searching down a clerk. Self I said - no wonder they now need robots. Really? I have to search three isles for whichever sandpaper I want? Ridiculous.

The other day I went in to get bark for the yard. We've been in a drought so I just left everything. Now that we've had a little rain and things are coming back to life I wanted to spruce things up. It wasn't in the logical place like the garden area. So again, I had to ask someone if they sold it anymore. At first the guy said it was "seasonal". In my head I was like - reeeealy? This is California. There are no seasons. Then he relented and took me to an area of the store I thought was for employees. Turns out they have bark and some lumber out there.

They used to have a really convenient drive through area for this kind of stuff. Mostly so the guys didn't have to haul heavy things more than a half dozen feet in any direction. And because you couldn't get this crap through the isles of the store. But my store decided to get rid of that and now the guys have to carry things through a roll up door and out to peoples cars or trucks. And that area is not manned at all. So by the time I'd paid for the bark and pulled around, they'd closed the doors. I had to call inside to get my bark. The employees are none to happy about this. It seems to me in California Bark would sell well any time of year, but they sure act like they don't want to sell it at all.

Now lets talk about the employees. OSH used to be one of the few stores that hired old timers that had retired from the trades. And they were actually pretty sharp. Now OSH has gotten rid of all these people in favor of other people with the skill set of baggers. None of them know where anything is. Which is kinda a pisser because when they remodeled the store they made so people couldn't find anything. I can assure you half of the people working at my store are there to tell people where to find things. And half of them don't even know themselves.

I'm not sure if all stores are run like this. But mine is grinding my nerves enough that I don't want to deal with that at another store. Not even to hunt down their robot. I hope he can get a job somewhere else when he gets laid off.

Polaris Slingshot.

Other shots via Google image.  Polaris home.

Tesla Model X.

I'm not sure I'm that excited about it. I've never seen it, and it isn't on the road yet. That is how this blog works. I don't have to love everything.

My biggest problem is - I don't think this company (or any of his companies) would be alive without corporate welfare. The SpaceX stuff maybe I could maybe turn a blind eye to. From the tax incentives on every car, to the cap and trade, to him buying up farmland for tax benefit. I know he paid off his loan. But if gas stays low - we get to see how this company rides. I'm pretty sure the Bay Area makes up the lion share of the sales. They are everywhere. And I just don't understand how batteries are better for the planet than oil. If a product was that great - you wouldn't need tax incentives to get people to buy something. It's just the bottom line. I know the owners love them. But we are still early days.

Still, everyone seemed to be super excited about it. There was such a crush getting a side shot was out.

Every day I'm shuffling.

One of the things I found most interesting at CES was at the Virtuix Omni booth. It wasn't the Oculus that fascinated me as much - it was the shoes the guy was wearing. They were the opposite of golf shoes. Instead of providing you traction, they made you slip as if you were on an ice rink giving you the ability to almost run in place. Watch video here with game overlay. Most people are calling it a treadmill, but when I saw the guy playing the game - I could see how they would train the military with this device. And as it turned out they do have a much larger military version that accommodates the requirement of soldiers to kneel while holding whatever long rifle.



I haven't talked much about Oculus lately because I think it will survive. I'm not sure if I think it will survive with it's current footprint for the same reasons I didn't think Google Glass would survive. I still believe that people just generally don't like wearing glasses. Sunglasses aside. I saw exactly two people at CES wearing Glass. I asked one of the guys how he was still liking it. His response told me everything. Uuuuuuuum. He started out.  I still like it for taking pictures to upload to my blog. I'm sure the privacy issues and stigma don't help.

I think the whole Oculus hardware getup is just awkward. But the VR is undeniably pretty impressive.

I've tried it twice now. The first time was at the last CES and they were demo'ing simple games . The second time was over the summer in a motion demo. The second time I tried it I was completely shocked how I had a physical reaction to the motion. Like that feeling you get at the top of a roller coaster. At one point I started trying to figure out how I was going to get out of this demo without looking awkward. Finally I had to tell myself - just close your eyes! That is how immersed you are.

The first time you try Oculus, you are just amazed. The second time you start picking apart the graphics. At least I do. I spend the first hour of a game just checking out the PhysX and particle effects. So the second time I was not as impressed. I went home and was talking to Mr S. I was like - It looks like I'm watching a game through a screen door! What - is - up - with - that? Turns out, that is actually a thing in graphics. Via wiki.

"The screen-door effect or fixed-pattern noise (FPN) is a visual artifact of the projection technology used in digital projectors, where the fine lines separating the projector's pixels become visible in the projected image."

He said as the devices become more dense, that will go away. Suddenly I became obsessed with figuring how where that range was. The guy in the Virtuix Omni booth said that will go away at 4k. So we are almost there I think.

Oh sweet sun rays of death.

If you've read this blog long enough you know I think think these panels are bullshit.  I mean, they are a viable product. Just a very inefficient and expensive one. But judging from the drive - the desert is a pretty popular place for money pits.

The desert is one of the few places I don't think I could gentrify. Although - it looks like many have tried and failed. I wouldn't be surprised if these power generating plants met the same fate eventually.

Still, when you reach Nevada, they are pretty amazing to see in person. They have a halo of death!

And.......... if this crap weren't expensive enough? You probably need to buy a Raybot to clean these things.  Picture at the end. I mean, its probably someones job to do this. Eventually that must make you go blind. This is the view from the freeway. Imagine if you worked there! I know the picture above is mirrors, but they still need cleaned. They must need cleaning if this dude is trying to develop a drone to do the job. Seriously.

I like that this blogger says "it's not much of a problem to clean solar panels". I've been on a roof more times than I can count, and I can assure you - most people will not think that is "not much of a problem". He also has video of it.

CES dog count - 2.

Yes.... I'm starting with this. I probably won't get to my rundown until I get back. It's late in the show and I'm sure you've seen a lot of the stuff already. There is just too much going on to do much tech blogging.

Dog posts are easy on my ADD addled brain. It's really quite amazing how pet friendly the world has gotten. Says the person her brought her bunny to Vegas.

Celeb count - 3.

Tricia Helfer - famous among sci-fi nerds. And no - I couldn't have gotten a better picture. Mr S. spotted her in a dark Audi booth and she looked like she was trying to not be noticed. When she got into the light her people closed ranks and I respected that.



Kristen Holt - famous among gamers.



Vicki Liviakis - famous among people who watch the news in the Bay Area.



Sriracha Dude - famous among hipsters. Honestly I think half of us in Silicon Valley didn't even know that shit had a name. It was just that stuff you got at Pho.

I haven't made it to the show floor yet - but I did make it to an abandoned water park.

Wow California - what is up with the air quality?   I didn't see a mountain range until I hit Tehachapi. When I got to Fresno I could kinda tell there was a range out there because you could kinda see snowey tops. From the Bay Area all the way down.  How can that be possible? I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow. We were on burn bans up there because of the stale air. But wow. How can the move not move for hundreds of miles?


I'm not in Vegas yet. I'm hanging out in Barstow - because, why not? I'm gonna find out how much it costs to live here tomorrow.

This is why I love Silicon Valley.

Today we stopped to get the truck washed before heading out tomorrow. Normally we wash all the cars, but it's been pretty effing cold lately. So that was not happening.

We dropped the truck off and decided to walk across the street to Home Depot to get a huge flash light. When we got back to the car wash Mr S. asked if I saw the Ferrari they were washing. Which I hadn't. I just didn't expect to see a Ferrari at a car wash. I thought these guys got all these cars detailed.

At any rate, I spent most of the rest of the time they were working on the truck to get photos. When I got shots from the front you could hear these guys giggling like a school girls. Look at the picture. You can see how happy they were. The funnier things however was - when they were done with the Ferrari....... it wouldn't start! Which made me laugh in a perverse way. Those guys had to be shitting their pants. They tried like five times and finally they let it sit. The owner was no where to be seen. By the time we left the Ferrari was still there.

Also..... those guys at LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Labs) are making bank apparently. This was in the East Bay, so I assume it belongs to someone who works there.

As a side note, you might not get anything from me until I get to Vegas. I'm going to be in some sketchy internet access areas. Sure it only takes about 7-8 hours from the Bay Area. But it's going to take me a lot longer than that.

Huh. So - low oil prices are not good for the economy? Said in the most sarcastic way.

Make no mistake - I do think low energy prices built this country and in theory should be a huge positive. But, there are the way things should be - and then there are the way things are. 

In a deflationary environment psychology starts to rip apart textbook economics. In a deflationary environment - wages go down. Hell, during the worst of the recession half of the companies in The Valley had their people on at least 10% pay reductions. And everyone sucked it up because it was better than the alternative. Oil also was around 40 bucks a barrel. And you can see how much that helped the economy back then.

You guys should be happy I'm going to try and get "not too lost" in the desert. I was up for an hour this morning before I heard someone say the word deflation. Which is pretty effing scary considering I was the only one insisting we would have deflation before the end of last year. Now it seems to be the general consensus.

I presently do not know of one country that isn't at stall speed. Last night even Australia said they were entering recession. Which is really troubling. They were strong throughout the recession.

Oh dear gawd - the desert scares me.

I'm still trying to suss out my route to and from Vegas. I'm not much of a gambler, and I'm not into Vegas shows. So I plan to take in some ghost towns, hunt down some urban decay,  and stay at a couple of those creepy hotels that show up in every single horror film ever made. Ya know the kind that a lot of people check into but you never see them check out? Maybe that is all the hotels from Barstow and beyond. I don't know.


At any rate..... check this place out. The Clown Motel. I'm creeped even writing this. It has a cemetery next door! I keep asking myself if I could stay there on a dare. Gawd don't let me reply yes.


Why oh why do people in the desert have such crazy issues?

So - this is New Years

Over the New Year I was completely in a funk. I'd never felt worse going into a New Year. I should have been happy to ditch old year and get a fresh start - but all I had was this deep sense of dread for what's coming.

But, it was the New Year, and I thought - if you don't have something nice to say about it - don't say anything at all. I have all year to be Debbie Downer.

Now that I've read through today's headlines - I'm happy to report that I was completely over-reacting. Said in the most sarcastic way.

Ya know - I was pretty scared at oil getting to 40 a barrel. Some are now reporting it might get to 14 a barrel. It just makes me shake my head. If the price of oil can take India's economy from a 7% inflation mark to 0% in one year - that is a huge deal.

Obviously the oil sector has a lag, and i don't know what that lag time is. I bet we all get to figure it out real soon though. Food hasn't started coming down yet - so my guess is we are early in.

Back to reality on Monday.

This isn't to say I won't have anything for you, but things start getting good next week with CES.

For the past handful of years I've almost made it a science getting in an out out Vegas in a day. The getting "in" isn't so much the hard part. At the beginning of the day-  the cab situation is like a perfect ballet. It amazing to watch.

Leaving Las Vegas is a different story all together. You could easily wait two hours for a taxi. When you have a flight that night - it's actually a lot of stress. Last year I found the perfect way out was actually by city bus. It takes you straight to the airport. I think it might be a preferred method right now. Every year I've tried a different way to get out. The cabbies are amazing - but at the end of the day it's every wo/man for himself.

This year though - we are driving and staying two nights. Have you seen the price of gas? Mr S. took some time off. I'm bringing the bunny. Oh yes I am. We are pulling a minivaca/conf. Jasmine travels remarkably well. She's been on a plane to Ohio. She's been to Tahoe and Ft Bragg. I'm thinking of getting her a little tiny passport. Hell - last year someone had their dog on the show floor in a baby stroller! So, I'm obviously not the weirdest.

I'm on the floor late Wed into Thur - but I'm leaving Tuesday. So... sit tight. I will have stuff to entertain you soon.