Mischievous Ramblings II

Small Town Hold Up

Another example of hold up happened much later in our trip in Sara's home town of Bishop, California.

We traveled to Bishop from Westlake Village for a couple of reasons:

• We had a long-term issue with CA DMV concerning a motor home in Sara's late father's side yard
• Sara's niece Grace (about 18 months old) is in Big Pine (just south of Bishop) with her mom Kathleen
• Kathleen needed a truck retrieved from "storage" where it had been for about a month since Sara's brother Dan was arrested on DUI charges by the CHP

Big Town Hold Up

When we studied "hold up" in Managerial Economics, I didn't find it a compelling subject.  As a generally cooperative individual (the snorted "hah!" you hear in the background is from disgruntled stepchildren — pay them no attention) it's difficult for me to appreciate that there are people in the world who will willingly — nay, happily — take advantage of opportunities to hold others up.

Civilized Airline Travel

Sara and I flew from Vancouver to Toronto yesterday on Harmony Airways. For a 4.5 hour flight, it was very civilized. Since we were flying entirely within Canada we didn't have to deal with the TSA. They fed us a very nice piece of salmon in butter with rice (Real food? On an airline?) and plied everyone who'd take it with red or white wine. Hot towels, even.

What is this, 1965?

Home!

Back after a three week RV excursion to SoCal for Xmas. Haven't posted much while we've been gone, haven't advertised the fact that we've been gone, but there will be pick-up posts here and there (and at least a few posts about the trip) as time goes by.

It Was A Nice Day…

until the Dog exploded

And y'know, cleaning up a major dog mess in an RV, in the rain, with a wife laid up because of a caroling induced knee injury, in the dark...

is just no fun. :-(

But the Flying Flags(?) RV park here in Buellton is a nice place, even if we can't get their WiFi in our rig -- that might be because we're sitting through a multi-inch rainstorm that's passing from South to North. The last one of these we sat through (while we were in Westlake Village) dropped 6 inches of rain on downtown LA. This one is supposed to be a bit smaller, but still....

A Taste of the System

BarlowFriendz: A Taste of the System describes John Perry Barlow's ongoing court battle with the court system over a drug arrest and seizure based upon an airline security search of luggage.

This is why I don't fly. It's also why I live in Canada.

I can't argue the merits of the legal arguments. I'm not a lawyer. I do know that whatever drugs Barlow was carrying were no threat to the flight or the security of the US, and should therefore have been of no interest to the TSA.

America is in danger of becoming (or has already become) a police state. Personal privacy is increasingly irrelevant, whether the sacrifice of it has anything to do with national security or not. Victimless crimes (and yes, most drug offenses are victimless) are penalized more strongly than vast corporate fraud. Our votes are kept less safely than our money or our video rental histories (at least it requires a password to access those).

Mathematician Caught in ‘War on Terror’

Mathematician Caught in 'War on Terror'

I guess mathematicians are of a type -- he bears a distinct resemblance to my father.

Mike’s Road Trip

My best friend Mike has posted September Road Trip, a travelogue of a short escape into the Sierras from the Bay Area.

Mike was kind enough to make a quick "runaway dad" drive with me up the coast from San Jose to Vancouver when I needed to recover the GMC's toad. He's a great traveling companion.

Help Overseas Americans Vote!

When Diana Kerry came to speak in Vancouver, her message was largely about Americans overseas voting. I've added a couple of links in the Politics section to your right to sites that will help Americans overseas get absentee ballots.

I can vouch for the fact that overseasvote2004 works, because they got me all the necessary forms to arrange for an absentee ballot here and I received my modified voter registration card from Snohomish county a few days ago. I don't know for sure about TellAnAmericanToVote but I imagine they are presenting essentially the same information.

It's not hard to do, but it varies by state and the entire package of information that might be necessary is a large book (in order to know the exact requirements and deadlines for each state), so having all the necessary information online is wonderful.

The short version is: if you are an American citizen living overseas and of age to vote (18 years) in a federal election, you are entitled to an absentee ballot. You register in the state where you last lived (or if you have never lived in America, where your parents last lived -- I'm not sure what you do if you've become an American citizen through marriage and never lived in the US, but I'm sure the web sites will inform you). Voting exclusively in a federal election (voting for President, Vice-President, Senators, and US Congresscritters) will NOT effect your tax position or current legal residence status.

There are approximately 5 million Americans of voting age living overseas, according to Diana Kerry. About 8% of those are active-duty military. Also according to Diana Kerry, American passport holders skew about 65% for Kerry, which means getting the overseas vote out could make a big difference in the election.

Get out there and tell every overseas American you know that they are eligible to vote and about these web sites. If they can't reach one of the sites, they can talk to their nearest American consulate, which will also (I believe) have ballots available.

Update: There's also the US government Federal Voting Assistance Program

Ocean Suites Motel in Brookings, OR

If you are traveling on 101 near the border of Oregon and California, you simply must consider stopping at the Ocean Suites motel in Brookings. Follow the signs from the highway for the Best Western, but look north and inland from there and you should see it (at 16045 Lower Harbor Rd). The suites are fantastic, they provide both free movies and free internet, Deanna Griffith is funny and friendly and cute at the front desk, and the prices are more than reasonable ($90 for a two room, two bed suite with kitchenette and all the above amenities).

If my directions are insufficient (or to make a reservation), give them a call at 541-469-4004.

Evan-Bob and Mike-Bob say "check it out".