Transparent Car

This is too cool to ignore!

The Friendly Skies

The airlines are at it again. Spirit Air recently announced that they will be offering planes with “pre-reclined” seats. “Wow, that’s great!” you may be thinking – but you’d be wrong. Spirit Air is installing seats that do not recline at all and are marketing it as “pre-reclined”. Now, as an engineer, I can understand and appreciate the benefits of non-reclining seats. For one, you save cost from repairs – fewer moving parts, fewer aging components, fewer repair men… saves $$. Two, no moving parts = lighter seats, essentially saving gas over long flights... saves more $$. I don’t reject non-reclining seats conceptually, but I get a little fired up when the airline tries to bundle this up into a nice little marketing scheme where the seats are “pre-reclined”. Bullsh*t. They are making us suckers by design! Call it “fixed” seats, or “stationary” seats, or don‘t make it part of your marketing at all. And don’t you dare charge me more for a “pre-reclined” seat. As Steve Inskeep (Morning Edition on NPR) so eloquently said, “Pre-reclined for a non-reclining chair – that’s like saying your crashed plane is pre-landed.”

They charge us more and service us less. Charges for checked bags, charges for carry-ons, charges for bathroom use - the list is growing by the volcano, um, I mean day. It’s high (haha a pun) time the airlines change their strategy. Flying humans should be the same as flying cargo - weigh the person and all their luggage when they show up to the airport. A flat rate should be applied to the resulting weight. For example, total weight under 200 lbs pays a $25 fee, between 200 – 250 lbs pays a $40 fee, and so on. If the airlines don’t figure something out, they’re going to find the entire industry “pre-landed”.

And don’t get me started on airport security…

FAIL!

Funny picture from Ed Levin this weekend...

Sunny Weekend!

This weekend we finally had some dry, warm weather in the Bay area! Crystal and I were able to get all three pets outside to enjoy some sun and fresh air. The cats love being outside and the fence around the yard is about 6 feet tall, and reaches all the way to the ground. Of course Calhoun, with his one declawed front paw, is unable to climb the fence and explore "the outside". Pandi, on the other hand, is able bodied enough to make the climb up to the top of the fence, but just doesn't always seem to understand that she could climb to the top -think even to get those teasing squirrels!

Sunday we took a short drive into the hills and stumbled on the Ed Levin County Park. Sonoma got to play with ducks, heron, geese and mud! Here are pictures from our walk around the pond...

Here's the pterodactly that Sonoma made friends with. She was splashing down near the water's edge next to a bundle of tall grass and next thing we know this huge bird is flying out of the weeds! I thought Sonoma was goin' for a ride!

There was a pair of turtles sitting on a log. They had a nice spot too far from Sonoma's excited movements to really worry.

Crystal got a great photograph of the ducks swimming along... in formation... Check out those funny looking curls at the back of their tail feathers. I think they call these Elvis mallards.

And just when we got Sonoma to stop running, jumping, rolling, splashing, etc., we had a great chance for a photo in front of the pond... and the goose had to go act like a tough guy and show us how big he is...

When we got home, we picked some lemons off our tree and made some (jane's hard) lemonade! We are becoming professional lemonaders after harvesting over 75 lbs of lemons from our tree on steriods. Soon enough, however, it was the end of another nice weekend in San Jose.

Next weeekend: Snugie night at the Giants game at AT&T Park!

Today's News

So I want to write a post that is interesting and keeps people entertained. But I made a realization today - I cannot come close to writing anything as entertaining as real-life stories. So please, follow the link to a story from the Associated Press. I assure you, you won't be disappointed. This is the kind of stuff that you just can't make up....

Officer Demos Taser on 30 High School Students

Thanks for the heads up on that broken link, Dad. Wish I knew a good QE...

Agility Videos

Here is a video from the trial over Easter weekend. This is Saturday's Standard run that where she took first place.

Our New Boy?

We just received pictures of the potential newest member to our family. We are hoping to get the lone male blue merle (spotty color) in this litter. However, when you choose your puppy from a litter, it's important that the puppy also "chooses" you. Meaning, if we show up and the boy is not interested in us, or openly friendly to us, but another puppy is, it may be best to put our specific desires aside and go with the one that chose us. Of course, it's also up to the breeder who will know the personalities of the pups way better than we could from a short visit. But let's be honest, any way you split it, we'll end up with a (second) beautiful, athletic dog. Good fruit grows from good trees.

I love the big, black spot on his side, as well as the little tiny specs on his ears. I think he'll be breaking hearts in no time. We're still working on names for the guy, partly because personality will play into it. We have a good list going, but I am not going to give any spoilers.

Here's one last picture of all the brothers and sisters laying together to stay warm. Our breeder has been doing Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) every day to increase performance abilities later in life. Also, she's been feeding the pups a dab of yogurt each day which aids in stronger digestion and immunity defense. We're very pleased with everything the breeder has shown so far, and look forward to finalizing everything sometime within the next 6 weeks so we can officially prep our house (and the pets) for the new arrival.

Sunday's Results

Sonoma got three more "Q's" (qualifying runs), one in each for Standard, JWW, and FAST. She placed first in FAST, and second in Standard and JWW. That was a perfect 6 for 6 in terms of Q's this weekend. Sonoma achieved her Novice level in only two trials and can now compete in the Open division. This may be the average length of time to spend in Novice (Crystal and I are unsure), but we did meet a guy who has been competing with his Sheltie in the Novice division for 2 years!

By the conclusion of the trial on Sunday, we could hear people whispering Sonoma's name as we walked by, followed by more obvious pointing and staring. She's making a name for herself as an "up-and-commer". Multiple people on Saturday and Sunday came up to me to compliment Sonoma and our team. They are excited for us, and have been very willing to show their support for us. Our friends from Jumpin' Java Agility were also so helpful, showing us the ropes at the trials and keeping us informed on when our runs will be.

We are really pleased with the progress Sonoma has shown over the past year. We are excited about this journey we are beginning with our lady - and we know it makes her happy to work as a team with us. For anyone interested in agility, I would recommend it highly. It teaches the dog to be obedient, confident, and a teammate - all important qualities of a happy, healthy dog. You may think, "My dog would never do well in agility, he is too _________!" (fill in the blank with your own adjective: crazy, stubborn, stupid, nuts-o, lazy, etc). But agility helps dogs of all sorts get the positive attention they deserve from their owners as well as exercise and discipline - which helps with all types of behavioral issues.

Unfortunately, under the big cover and with the rain we had this weekend, a lot of our pictures came out blurry. We're still learning how to take good shots with our camera, but we'll get there. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll manage to get videos of our runs this from this weekend posted. Keep your eyes out for that.

And finally, here's a picture of Sonoma with her ribbons from the two trials - not a bad start to her collection!!

Saturday's Results

We had a very successful day with three out of three qualifying runs! We placed first in Standard, second in JWW, and third in our first try at Fast. All in all, we couldn't have expected more from Sonoma, and we are now lined up to achieve our novice title in Standard and JWW with qualifying runs tomorrow.

The wifi is too weak to post photos, but rest assured they will be making it up online as soon as possible!!

Agility Weekend in Santa Rosa

Sonoma's resting before her big weekend!  Wish us luck!

Camping Trees

This is an interesting picture I took while camping in Northern California. There are a lot of redwoods up that way.