Happy Halloween!

This is Mr S.'s brain trust. South Park Pumpkins.

Evil Pumpkin Snowman was a huge hit getter this year. It isn't easy coming up with good pumpkin ideas. I think the Kenny pumpkin turned out so awesome. Mr S. is just really clever. Honestly they all look more like the characters than I could have expected.

Friday.

Today, Mr S. and I pulled an unusual weekday lunch. I mostly don't eat lunch during the week. The traffic usually sucks too much to do anything but grab some subway when he works from home. Plus, it's just hard to grab time due to work.

Today though, we figured we drive down and get some Dim Sum. We found a parking spot right away. Which was the most amazing sign ever. To be honest - finding a parking spot is like winning the lottery. They've underestimated the business traffic by 100%. Not even joking. We were able able to get seated right away. Also unheard of. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing to have a quick lunch.

Then Mr S. tried to log into work and he couldn't. Since we were pretty close to where he worked, he figured he would just pop in and reboot his machine.

As soon as we got to the parking deck he spotting the Tesla that always parks in the electric plug in station. Talked about it here. I figured I'd hang out in the car and wait for him and take pictures of the car.



As I was waiting for him, I got to watch people come in and out of the parking deck. One guy had his dog. The place is just so old time Silicon Valley. There are lots of times I wish I could talk about the things they do there. But I won't. Not because I don't want to be sued. Because - I want them to win. Fierce loyalty doesn't exist like that much anymore. It used to be common in the old Silicon Valley. You always felt like you were on the edge of changing the world and you wanted to protect the source of that.

I've been reading a lot of stories about people getting laid off recently. I have to wonder if the workforce would have had the same feeling as I do, if things would be different right now. Everyone seems to think the company should be loyal to them. It doesn't seem to go the other way. Everything is someone else's' job.

You have to protect the hive. The hive being your employer. Then hopefully - the hive protects you. So what the company gets richer than you do. It must be an enormous strain to have all the lives of those who work for you resting on your shoulders.



Driving out of the parking deck we spotted this Aston Martin and it made me happy. Somehow I've always loved that about the Valley. Walking out of a building and seeing the most expensive cars imaginable. Not that I could ever dream of affording one, and if I could - I'm not sure I could stomach driving around something that costs as much as a crappy house. This is California after all. Houses aren't that cheap in the Valley yet. Those cars represent someone having made something great. I hope they enjoy them for as long as they can.

I see the natives are restless.

I see you guys tagging my site. I should have something for you later today.

What - you expected the virgin Mary?

The plan on Saturday was to start out with breakfast. We found ourselves at a little Honduran place that just opened in town.

Hey, it isn't a new Mexican place at least! Anyway, I've fallen in love with these things called sweet tamals. After the third time at the place, a light in my head went on and said " hey, these are just tamales". Tamal/tamale. See.. I'm smart like that. (eye roll)

Then sod, then the pumpkin patch.

The sod was quick, but the pumpkin patch threatened to derail me for the day. The place was packed. Especially considering you could get any old pumpkin for at least half the price at the supermarket.

We figured we'd get the sod in an hour, and then carve pumpkins.

Yeah. Not so much. Every piece had to be custom cut. We did get the robomower line run, and at least providing a signal. I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks if the mower will do the full run. For now it looks good on the dry run.

Today we have a big wind event. You know what grass hates? To be dried out by wind. It was the last weekend to be able to get that sod in though. Apparently, you have until the first of December. I mean - November.

Home instead.

Remember a couple of weeks back - I had my panties in a bunch of the tree trimmers blowing me off? Well, last week one of the guys called me back. So I ignored him. My refrigerator had just broken, and the storm came and went without really any damage.

He called again. I ignored him. Finally, he called a third time and I relented. Which basically gave him the feedback that he can blow people off, and if he is just persistent, he still gets work.

Anyway, we set a time for today - and Mr S. lined up a bunch of crap to do around the house. Like splitting up this expensive fancy grass I'd put on the side of the house. Then putting the splits somewhere else. I don't even remember the name of this stuff - but I love it. It doesn't need any water or any attention. My picture isn't great - but you are lucky to get any pictures at all. It was a busy day.

The other thing was trying to get the robomower to do my courtyard. It's been one of those projects that we've never gotten back to. For like three years. I had to let some of my grass die this year due to the drought, and it was the perfect time to run the line. And figure out if the mower will pick up the signal through the concrete pads we stuck down. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. Because tomorrow is sod day.

Our first pass at this found a break in the line, and we had to dig down to the wire in between every single pad and see if we could get a signal from it.

To be continued......

Oh yeah - the tree guy came out, and he was completely normal. I assured him I'd talked to my neighbor about the tree thing and he was fine. (story here) I even went over there again to make sure. I'll have to tell you some of the things he said to me. But not now. Later. I'm tired Yo. The tree guy is coming in about 10 days. He's charging me less than the crazy guy, and I asked him to do more. (shrug)

Gmail hacking.

When I got up this morning, Mr S. said the following to me.

Him - I got a weird email from one of my old friends.

Me - What is weird about it?

Him - It was a letter asking for help. That he'd flown to Europe and had gotten robbed at gunpoint. They still had their passports, but they needed money to get home. His wife and kids were okay. (the wife's name was included in the email)

Mr S. goes onto say - I'm sure it's a scam. So I wrote him back and asked him to verify how we knew each other.

Me - That is weird. It sounds like a scam to me too. But, how do they know his wife's name.

Him - Right. And how would they know he had kids?

Me - I'm pretty sure it's a scam. I mean, how would you fly to Europe and not have a return ticket? And... I thought they didn't have guns there, I say sarcastically.

So, Mr S. winds up calling the guy. Apparently, it was a scam. It was a Nigerian scam.

The guy goes onto say - the Nigerians have apparently figured out how to hack gmail. And that he can't get Google to shut the account down. But, he has heard from a lot of people he hasn't heard from in a while.

Anyway. Just a warning if you have a Gmail account.

All roads lead back.

It was a few months ago, when I went to the kite festival in Berkeley - that Mr S. and I needed to find a breakfast place. For some reason we decided on this place in Oakland called Lois the Pie Queen.

Not knowing if it was a good or bad area of Oakland we were a little apprehensive. But, look at the name! Who wouldn't risk it?

It's the kind of place where the cooks are wearing Che t-shirts, and the patrons are straight out of a movie. This weekend when were were there, a couple of guys were dressed like they were in the matrix. Everyone just has very big personalities. And, the owners always greet you with a "welcome" instead of a hello. A little like being wrapped up in a warm towel from the dryer.

Well, this has set off the most unhealthy love affair with food that I think I've ever experienced. All over grits. Oh yes. I said it. Grits. I'm going to provide you with a picture in case you've never heard of them. But none of these look like the Grits from Lois the Pie Queen. Here. It's honestly like a bowl of love.

Now, I lived in the south for a while and didn't really care much for grits. All of a sudden I'm having a love affair with them. Not to mention everything they serve just looks great. Which forces you to order stuff you wouldn't normally eat. Like fried chicken for breakfast. Something I would never do. You can't get in a habit of having fried chicken for breakfast. Honestly. But OMG.

Anyway. I still don't know how good or bad the neighborhood is. A couple of times on the news people have been killed within blocks of the place. It is Oakland. Yet, I'd risk getting a cap in my ass because their food is that good. And I don't care about the Che shirts. I can look away from the love of communism for a minute. They could be having an entire revolution in the restaurant, and I would just look on. Eating my grits. Seriously.

Random shots of Berkeley.

I'm posting these in no particular order.



I thought this one was funny. Because - who are they kidding?



This is standard Berkeley. If you are aching for some tiedye. Berkeley is the place to be. Still. You'd think it was the 1970's there.



Makes the place seem nicer.



I have no idea. She was standing in front of the university. And no matter what Keyser says, it ain't that nice. I did find it an interesting shot. Though I took it on the run. I often feel self conscience taking pictures of random people.





You can't really travel five feet without some sort of overt political statement in Berkeley. The other space is filled with bums and hippies. I resisted taking pictures of a drum circle. Which I regret now.

Golden gates.

Red Eye.

Even though I've lived in California most of my life - I've only set foot in Berkeley a handful of times. I've been to the Greek Theatre, but I've never actually set foot on the UC Berkeley Campus. I thought my skin might burn.

So, when Mr S. found out that Greg Gutfeld from Red Eye was talking to the campus Republicans - my first thought was "There are Republicans in Berkeley?"

Anyway, we decided to scope out the campus. Which is pretty nice. It made me think that if my parents were rich and I wasn't such a dummy I could have gone to Berkeley. If I would have taken another path I would have fit right in with the hippies.

Even though Greg jokes on the show all the time about how short he is, you aren't prepared for how short he really is. However tall you think he is - cut that in half.

About an hour into the talk it reminded me that maybe I didn't go to college because I was stupid and poor. It was because I was too ADD. All those hours of sitting around listening to people talk. Just not my thing. He might have been talking about boobs in the photo above, but I'm not sure. But, he was entertaining and personable.

If you don't watch Red Eye, you should. It's one of the funniest shows on TV. They put it on at three in the morning for a reason. The TV censors are a little more forgiving at that time.

For your enjoyment.

Fall.

This is just filler. I should have some interesting stuff for you tomorrow.

Safety First.

Oh! This has a copyright now?

Are they out of their effin minds - or are you just jealous?

Some people may think I've gone on a little tirade against the firefighters. If they were in the private sector and not taking tax dollars - I wouldn't even care. But, you know we are having a little budget shortfall right now, and I tend to get a little bitchy about the whole thing.

So, when I found this Mercedes S500 in front of the gym, I had to take a picture.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I run across firefighters driving luxury cars all the time. This one, (in case you were wondering) runs 83,000 dollars - 137,000 dollars. Here.

Of course that was 3 years ago. The S550 is today's equivalent and would only run about 83 grand. I wonder what the monthly payment on that thing is? It's gotta be like a grand or something. And you know he probably isn't parking it in front of a crapshack.

I've almost managed to run across one of these a month since I decided to start taking pictures. July here. August here. I ran across a Lexus last month, but it was only a 30,000 dollar one. I didn't really find it that one objectionable. It did make me revel at how yuppie firefighters seem to be in the Bay Area. Which I don't really care about. It is interesting though.

I do however have a problem when a bunch of them seem to be driving cars that cost twice the median income for most in the Bay Area. You know - because we are broke. But, whatever.

Equal - but crappy.

I've been trying to resist talking about the economy. I really have. I know you are all aware of how bad things are out there.

Even though the unemployment numbers set me on edge this morning, I said - people have to learn on their own that the government can't solve their problems. After all, the economy can't be that bad.

California passed a law forcing car companies to put some special glaze on car windows to prevent you from using too much air conditioning. Here.

And, PG&E has been trying to convince people to install these smart meters to throttle your usage when ever they deem it necessary. Here. Which pisses me off. It also pisses me off, that people are just waking up to the fact that all this shit is going to cost them more.

I don't know, but the whole time I've been alive - everyone has wanted lower prices. Not higher. Say it with me. LOWER. All of a sudden President Money Bags thinks we want to pay more to save the environment. I don't.

Anyway. Everyone was so happy today with new unemployment claims going down. Yet, you can't crawl through Youtube without seeing that they are just denying claims. If you are lucky to even get them on the phone. Month after month. After month. This has been going on where people can't even get a hold of the unemployment office. Here. I don't even have enough time to list all the states that are still having this problem.

People need to learn I said. The only way they will learn is to live it. I know it sounds mean - but shit, there has been a whole generation that hasn't been poor. They have to figure it out on their own. People who grew up poor already understand this premise.

Then it happened. I read a story that included this line from yahoo news:

"President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus package into law earlier this year, and Summers said the first $16 billion spent created more than 30,000 jobs."

I couldn't take it. Honestly. 16 billion for 30,000 jobs!

Then there was this. Also from Yahoo News.

"I am worried about unemployment and I see an enormous amount of slack. I hear it everywhere," Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher told Reuters in an interview.

"I am super-hawkish on inflation. I don't think that is where the risks are right now," Fisher said, speaking from his spacious top-floor office overlooking downtown Dallas."

Are they fing joking me? I don't have a masters in finance - but every country that has high inflation also has high unemployment. Duh! Slack is apparently not the problem. It's printing too much money. And - he hears it everywhere? Shouldn't he be looking at some fing numbers or something?

Yet - P. Money Bags says he believes in a strong dollar.

They can't even figure out how to get welfare to people. Here. Which I don't even know why I'm upset about. Because when the government back stops you - the problem just gets brushed under the rug. No welfare - people get pissed off and start demanding jobs.

It's tinsel!

I don't know what the world is coming to. They actually had this commercial on TV tonight. All I could think of is - I could totally give them that for much cheaper. It is almost Christmas for F's sake. It even comes in Christmas tinsel colors.

It's tinsel Yo.

And yes.... I've been abusing the word Yo for quite a long time now. It's about time you know.

Columbus Day is for the purchase of large appliances.

Sometime on Friday my refrigerator failed. Of course, the only time you realize this is when you see a puddle forming around the bottom of the machine. I noticed it about 7-8:00 in the evening, and spent the next hour cleaning up the mess, and throwing away food. At least anything I thought might kill me if it wasn't properly refrigerated.

Since we realized we'd have to buy a new one, we decided to measure the size of the machine that night. It wasn't until we started trying to see how we'd get it out of the kitchen that the problems started. The kitchen is U shaped, and the machine came with the house. We actually had a big fight with the guy who owned this place. I tried and tried to force him to remove it. He refused. I finally gave up.

On Friday we found out why he refused.

We spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to get it out of the kitchen. It seems like they stuck the counter tops in after the refrigerator was there. After taking the doors off, we had an 8th of an inch clearance. And, only if it was spun in the right direction because of machine tilt. I've never hated a homeowner more. Normally there are lots of times you say "I wonder why the hell they did that. Asshole!" Not this time though. I came very close to having to remove a whole door frame to get that thing out of there.Made he hate that guy oh so much.

We spent several hours of hunting for a new machine on Sat. Because now - I have these very specific requirements to get a machine back in there. We finally find one and had one delivered on Monday.

The guys who came out were monsters. No more dollies. Two dudes with furniture straps tied to their bodies. Good backs only need apply. In and out. After we tipped them. They wanted to make sure that when the bosses called we would give them a good rating. Which we assured them we would. We'd told the guy it took us 2 hours to get the other one out. To which he replied "oh no - I have 12 stops a day".

It would suck to have to lift 12 refrigerators a day. Not roll them out on a dolly, but actually lift them and carry them out. Old school style.

At any rate - the new model has this read out that tells me how cold my freezer is. Which I never cared about before. As long as stuff was frozen - I'm good. Now, somehow I feel reassured to walk by and see it sits at 8 degrees. Hey - how excited can you get about a refrigerator? 8 degrees Yo!

At least I'm contributing to those durable goods numbers I guess.

California.

Somehow, I just liked the palm tree reflections in the paint.

Perspective.

Same image. Different direction.



Too tired to comment about the day. Will update later.

The most irritating world ever.

Readers, I honestly don't know how to explain what happened today. I can't figure it out. I don't understand it. All I know is - it irritates the fuck out of me.

So, we are suppose to get an early big storm next week. It's suppose to be a big wind event. They are comparing it to the Columbus Day storm of 1962, which was the closest thing the Pacific North West has ever gotten to a hurricane. On satellite it was a hurricane. Only because it was the Pacific North West, they don't call it that. Maybe they are over-blowing it. But, it's an unusual event to compare things to.

Anyway, I got the bright idea I wanted to have some trees trimmed before the event happened. Now up front, I will admit to being impulsive. But, I haven't heard a chainsaw in my town in months. Anywhere.

As a matter of a fact one of the things that bothers me most about the recession is the quiet. Neighborhoods used to be filled with worker noise. Now it's like you are living in some Buddhist sanctuary. So, I figured I'd be able to get someone out this weekend. We are sitting at 12% unemployment after all.

I called 10 tree trimming services. Not exaggerating. Fully 5 did not pick up their phones at all. A couple said they couldn't come out till next week. One flat out said if I wanted someone sooner I might as well go with someone else. One never even returned my call. This is just the quote stage. Not to even get any work done.

I finally did get one guy to come out. Visually he immediately went onto my radar. We was dressed far too nice. Loafers, and a cardigan. Older guy. Way older. I'm sure he hasn't trimmed a tree in possibly decades. I'm used to guys showing up in jeans and the paint they rolled out of this morning. But, whatever - he's here.

So, I tell him what I want. I want the 20 foot hedges trimmed back to the fence line, and cut back away from the house 5 feet. For some reason he doesn't seem to comprehend the part about cutting them back from the house. We go over it about 10 times with hand genstures.

In his defense, this area is on my neighbors side. I already talked the neighbor this morning and made completely sure he was okay with this. He was happy actually because I was paying. My neighbors seem to be fine with anything I want to do. As long as I'm paying. I told the tree guy that I'd talked to the neighbor.

Yet the guy went on an on about this one area. It wasn't going to look nice. He didn't want to get sued. But, he didn't say it in that way that everyone does these days. In a laughing manner. He said he wanted it in writing that my neighbors weren't going to sue him. I told him again, that I talked to my neighbor. He went on to say it wouldn't look nice. He continued. Can I talk to your neighbor? Sure, I said. So, we started walking over. But - he was so odd about the whole thing. I told him I'd had people out a bunch of times to trim those hedges and none of them were so concerned about being sued as he was. He was starting to queeb me out.

At this point he almost started stuttering. Well, I'll take your word for it. By the time we got into my back yard, he'd completely flipped. I'm going to pass on the job he said. Okay, I replied.

And I swear to you - he peeled out of my street. He couldn't get out of here fast enough.

I mean, I was happy to let him talk to the neighbor - but the way he was acting was really odd. I've never had anyone want it in writing that the neighbors wouldn't sue them. This is the world we've arrived at.

I guess everyone is doing fine enough that they don't need the money.

You know you've lost your way when.....

You have to highlight the idea that your monthly edition will in fact include architecture. When the name of your magazine is called Architectural Digest.

I stopped buying this magazine years ago. Mostly because it was filled with the most vomit inducing patterns. It was all fabric and furniture mostly. Really rich people have crazy ideas on how many different patterns they can pack into one room.

I know magazines are suffering a lot of human losses right now. I do not revel in their suffering. Yet, when they wonder why everything crumbled - maybe they should look at this picture.

Pictures I should have posted.

From an artist named Andrew Myers. Made with screws.

I should have gotten a much tighter shot. Which is why I didn't post them when I took the shots.

It's a crazy world.

Readers - I know my blog has really, really, sucked lately. It isn't as easy to get great fabulous content these days. I do expect to have some interesting stuff soon. I hope. You spend a lot more effort for much less results.

And then.. the world is making me completely bipolar. I can start out the morning thinking "okay. Everything is okay. People are acting completely normally". By the end of the day I'm thinking "Oh shit. Not okay. Not okay". The whole thing pretty much wipes me out.

Another thing that has been bothering me lately. The "end of days-ers". Long time readers should remember that I am a solid atheist. Been one since I was a teenager. So I mostly don't pay attention to the end of days crowd much. Yet, they have become so noisy lately. Have you been to a movie lately? The trailers are all about how the world is ending. Television shows, the same. I have people in my circle who believe in the end of days. Hey - it's California. We are a fairly tolerant group. They are okay with me not believing in God. I'm okay with them believing in... whatever.

Still, the chatter is quite unnerving. Only because there just seems to be so much of it.

Anyway. I hope to have some interesting content for you soon. And, hopefully not that much of it is about how people are freaking me out.

I'm tired of everyone trying to save the planet - because frankly you're doing a piss poor job of it.

Ran across one of these thing recently hidden behind a dumpster. Presumably some hipster doofus thought this was the best plan of action. Because yo dude - when they throw stuff out they can just put it in this recycle bin. Of course the local goodwill is less than a mile from this spot. If you just tell everyone your saving the planet it doesn't matter if you create a completely redundant piece of garbage to clutter the world with. You don't hate mother earth. Do YOU?

Not pretty.

See update at the bottom.

Man - I just wish all of this would stop.

So yesterday at breakfast Mr S. and I walked past a news paper stand. Front page was an article about how half of the rental properties in a crappy little city called East Palo Alto were going to be foreclosed upon. Half!

The properties are owned by a company called Page Mill Properties.

The article caught my attention, because of it's sheer magnitude. Sure East Palo Alto is a small city, but a 50% foreclosure of all rental housing in any city is notable. Also, I technically lived in EPA for a while when I was first starting my career. I say technically, because my zip was EPA, but I lived on the frontage road bordering the freeway on the Palo Alto side. It was a rent controlled area.

People think rent control is great. It isn't. And it's only something you can completely grasp until you live it. You understand the philosophy of how landlords can't raise rents so they never do repairs. Yet, you can't understand the magnitude until you experience it.

Anyway, the article made me wonder how many Page Mill Properties there were out there. Companies that moved into low income underdeveloped areas and just started buying cheap real estate. So I plugged Page Mill into a search engine, and much to my shock actually - the word CalPERS popped up. My mouth immediately dropped. CalPERS folks is the California Pension plan! Odd, I didn't see it mentioned in the newspaper article.

From The Registry.

"Palo Alto developer Page Mill Properties and CalPERS, its equity partner, may lose control of more than 1,700 apartments acquired since 2006 as part of a more than $340 million play in East Palo Alto."

The article goes onto to say:

"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System also has remained stubbornly mute on Page Mill’s activities or plans. CalPERS invested $100 million in the Page Mill fund. According to public record, it has written down the value by $40 million."

To me it looks like the pension fund will loose it's entire investment in East Palo Alto. Makes you wonder what else there is out there for them to loose?

Update: This is all happening on the street I used to live. Story here. Man, I haven't been in that neighborhood forever. Now I'm going to have to go look. That street never looked so nice. Photos at the link.

2nd update:

I couldn't believe that I missed the connection between CalPERS and Page Mill Properties when I read the article in the San Jose Mercury News paper. It is something that would have stood out to me. So, I re-read the article tonight. I guess I shouldn't be that surpised that the Mercury News carefully worded the article to make no connection between the two entities. This is what they say about the CalPERS investment into Page Mill.

"Another trashed apartment is the last thing Page Mill Properties needs right now. After using other people's money the past three years to buy and improve nearly half the rental units in this hardscrabble community wedged between the bay and the gleaming city of Palo Alto, a lot more than spray paint has hit a wall. "

When they say "other people's money" - they mean the retirement fund of California State employees and taxpayers.

The Article goes on to say:

"CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, helped fuel the buying by investing $100 million, and Page Mill got a quarter-billion-dollar loan from Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. CalPERS, under pressure by city officials and activists in East Palo Alto to end its involvement with Page Mill, would not comment. Neither would Wells Fargo, saying only that "the safety and quality of life of the tenants at Woodland Park is of primary concern to Wells Fargo."

Like that? They do mention CalPERS, but not that CalPERS actually gave Page Mill any money. That tidbit I ran across accidentally.

No wonder the employees of the State have no idea how screwed they are. And, just as a side note - by definition CalPERS is a slumlord. They are catagorised as an "equity partner". Partner to me is 50/50 ownership, but perhaps the definition has changed.

Also from the Mercury News article:

"Nobody knows what's going on," says Norma Rodriquez, 32, who lives with her husband and their five children, shoehorned into a bug-infested one-bedroom apartment. With the temporary closing of the management office early this month, "I worry about my rent check and I don't know if it's going to the owner.'' "

Someone has been really - really - busy.

The day started really uneventfully. It's been mind numbingly hot. So other than being on tilt because of it - and having a cold when it is mind numbingly hot, I'd say it was still an uneventful morning. Until I ran across this on the way out of town.



This of course, is a fascinating development. It must have gone up last night. I drove by this billboard just yesterday. We never get this kind of stuff here. I'd say the burb is more politically correct liberal leaning. While people have political views, unless they are protesting nukes - it isn't that easy to get people all riled up. I swear to you - the only time I've even seen protests was over nuke issues. And usually that only happens once a year.

So the idea that these Obama signs are starting to crop up in a lot of places is very interesting. I don't know what it means, but it must mean something. I haven't even seen this crop up in San Jose yet. Which being a big city you'd expect to see.

Anyway, Mr S. and I have breakfast, and on the way back there is an area that has some billboards. I turned to Mr S. and said "hey - they should put some of those Obama signs there. It's prime real estate". I guess they had already thought it of, because they'd tagged the space already.





The interesting thing is - they are only putting these up on retail space billboards. We have taggers everywhere, but these signs aren't in any of the places the paint taggers touch. Hell, the taggers are so bold they will tag the lane dividers in the middle of the freeways these days. To do this you have to run across several lanes on the freeway.

They could put the Obama posters up anywhere, but they are exclusively on retail space billboards.

Here is another one. It was a bitch to capture. I actually put about 10 miles on the car trying to get this shot. No frontage road, and there were trees until you got right up on it. So I had turn around three times in an area that was a couple miles in between exits.





These are all from today. Including yesterdays shots, they are now in three different cities.

Odd sighting.

I have to admit - this thing didn't even register until I'd past it. It's on 580 in the East Bay. Which by this picture looks like a tiny two lane road. It is an 8 lane highway. They have all the roads torn up right now, so the barriers block the view of all the lanes.

I was actually pretty surprised by it. I know these are popping up everywhere, but most of them are a lot smaller. I'd guess in the 8 inch range. You can see by one of the pictures that these must be at least two or three feet in size. Other than a rather devoted bunch Ron Paul followers, we don't get much of this around here. And even the Ron Paul guys are still sporting bumper sticker sized stuff.



I don't really know what to make of the whole thing.

Update:

After I made this post - Mr S. pointed out that the posters all said something different. We couldn't make out what the middle poster said. So I blew the picture up. Here is the result of that.

People have such short memories.

Today apparently, I went completely insane and called to have some flood insurance quoted on my rental property. Say anything to people in California about flood insurance and they will roll their eyes. I swear to you - my agent actually at one point said "oooohkay".

Normally that is maybe what I would have done too. There are a lot of people back East right now who are under water in their homes, and mortgages. And quite frankly it freaked me out.

It used to be that people could get loans easily, or they had equity. None of those things are true right now. And BTW, my rental almost flooded Jan of 08. There was water coming out of the manholes downtown. Here. In my pictures you can see a few homes aren't really that far from having water at their foundations. My agents office is honestly 10 blocks from some of these pictures. My rental is about 3 blocks.

It wasn't even a wet year, just a freak storm. Hell even the old house I lived in came close to flooding every now and then. It was on the other side of town. The grade of the properties around here are all helter skelter.

I don't know how long the administration is going to keep killing the economy. I don't want to spend any reserves on damage. Normally with a little flooding most people would just pay out of pocket. I don't think that is going to be an option this year for a lot of people.

Thankfully enough, since the insurance companies think meteors will hit before flooding. Insurance is really cheap. Earthquake insurance though. That will cost you a bundle. Not to mention the 40-50 grand detectable.

Isn't that a weird coincidence?

And I mean that in the most sarcastic way.

Lately I've been marveling at the rather noticeable trend of companies keeping older workers rather than workers in the 16-24 age range. I've never seen such a defined trend. But, I've only lived through a couple of recessions. The teen unemployment rate is practically 20%. Normally companies want younger workers - because they are cheaper.

The government even spent about 15 million in stimulus funds for jobs training for this demographic.

From the AP.

"Vice President Joe Biden described the Workforce Investment Act summer program as a way to keep teens out of trouble and off the streets while reinvigorating the country's summer youth employment program, which had gone dormant for a decade. But the program didn't prevent youth unemployment rates from soaring to 18.5 percent in July, the highest rate measured among 16- to 24-year-olds in that month since 1948.

"The summer program was basically half-disaster," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. "It was too little, too late and too poorly constructed to have any lasting effect on our youngest workers."


After reading this article - the first thing I did was clench my teeth and mutter "these are the people who want to run our health care"? They never seem to tire of pushing through stuff that has less than the desired results and waste a lot of money.

Still the stark contrast of other recessions and not hiring younger workers nagged at me. So I brought it up to Mr S.

Well Snarkolepsy - He said, they did raise the federal minimum wage. If they can keep more experienced workers for the same wage. They are probably going to do that.

Oh yeah! I said. Holy crap, I'd totally forgotten about the minimum wage increase. There's been so much noise. It feels like a million years ago. Still I was curious to see how long it took for the effects of the minimum wage increase to take effect.

Looks like pretty much right away. From CNN Money.

"The federal minimum wage will go to $7.25 an hour on July 24 from its current level of $6.55, according to the U.S. Department of Labor."

I mean, it is sort of odd that the same month they raised the minimum wage, teen unemployment rates spiked. I'm sure they have nothing to do with each other. After all, minimum wage jobs were suppose to be very temporary positions. I guess now that they forced companies to raise it, those jobs aren't so temporary. Older workers are filling them and camping out.

Now that I think about it, I think that behaviour was predicted at the time the government was trying to shove it through. I just don't feel like finding the article right now. Maybe I'll add it later.

Just about the coolest thing I've seen all day.

Three blind mice.

I hate talking about this. I really do. But, it is the reality that we are in.

Mr S. and I have been talking a lot about the administration. My question always is - do you think they will ever get it? "It" being the psychology of the economy. Mr S. says the Libs never will. They'd have to admit their whole world view was wrong. That giving things away to people can not be sustained. That everything they'd worked for like entitlements don't help people. They hurt people.

I of course understand the entitlement issue. Being a welfare baby and all. It's still hard for me to grasp that they will ignore everything around them to reinforce their world vision to the bitter end. At some point they have to surrender. Right? There just isn't enough wealth to offset the weight of all the obligations.

Honestly, most days I'm shocked that the world isn't on fire. It is a great testament to us as a people. We've kept it together. Yet the strain is palpable. Everywhere. Laughter is replaced by a far off stare. Everywhere.

The moderate part of me thought the administration would make a small attempt to get itself together over the summer. And if it doesn't realize it now - it better soon, it's walking into a public relations nightmare. That's what is important to them. Right.

There is nothing like the Holidays that will focus people's minds on how much they've lost. And how fragmented their families are. People have spread out to anywhere they can get work. Right now, people are trying to hang low and survive. Around the holidays, the media will capitalize on the human suffering. People "camping" outdoors will be forced to take shelter somewhere.

Hell, in SF in a good year when it freezes - there aren't enough beds for the homeless. Where are these people going to go when the weather gets bad? And how will the news not jump with joy at being able to report this?

To see that the administration just thinks jobs are created from thin air is just breathtaking to watch. And people believe him! Hell, even my own family believes him.

I was out at breakfast this weekend and the owner of the place was talking to us. He said, "people are scared. I've never seen anything like it". I'd guess the guy about about 60. You can't go anywhere without people talking to you about it.

I never quite understood why the administration tried to ram things through in this fashion. I know they try to get the big stuff out of the way while they still have traction. Yet, it would have been easier to do - if they'd let people stay richer. They could have gotten so much stuff through while we weren't looking. Now, I honestly think his presidency is lost. He may not know it. But it is.