NoCal Chronicles, Day 1

The plane trip out was uneventful. Minor delay out of Dallas as our plane was coming from Atlanta, which was set back a bit due to air traffic control problems due to hurricane Dennis. No biggie.

A few observations:

Having a 13-year-old at the window seat, tapping on your shoulder every 30 seconds to show you something outside of that window, will slow you down considerably when trying to read a book.

Trying to get that same 13-year-old to understand that whatever she's pointing at that excites her so much is impossible for you to see due to the reality that you're looking at it from an entirely different angle simply can't be done.

Open message to native Texans: I think you're going to have to understand that your state simply offers little by way of aestetics compared to most other states. Yes. Yes. We all know about the Hill Country/Riverwalk/Lake Whatever blah blah blah but the harsh reality is that the state is hot, flat, brown generally depressing to look at. Bigger is not always better when the substance of bigger is hot, flat and brown.

There's a "heat wave" here in Oakland. It's going up to 90 today. Due to the nature of the place, though, it's going up to 100 or so about 20 miles east of us. It's going to be 65 about 20 miles south and west. I think TV weatherpersons could do real well here by saying, "The high today is going to be somewhere between 65 and 100, and some parts of the area will get plenty of sunshine, others some clouds, and others somewhat rainy." They really can't miss.

I don't know how they get used to television here. Everything "live" comes on at like 5PM. So, for example, when the All-Star game home run hitting contest came on at 5PM, we could watch the whole thing and go to dinner afterwards. Usually, when I want to watch something like that, I go to bed right afterwards.

If what my sister tells me is even close to accurate, the housing dollar doesn't buy much per square foot here. Texas kicks butt against California in that regard. Some serious butt-kicking, too.

I'm a big fan of the daily miracle that is a newspaper. I like reading different perspectives on the same news, and you really get a different perspective in reading political insights in the Bay Area...even if I disagree with some stuff it's pretty cool to have to compare and contrast with what we usually get.

There was a bumper sticker that said, "Stereotypes De-Humanize." I thought that was a bit strong.

Those "in-dash" navigation systems are pretty darn cool if you ask me.

I walked to a small shopping area to grab a paper and some coffee this morning. My choice was Starbucks, or Peet's Coffee across the street and a block further. I chose Peet's. The only discernable difference was that the colors of Peet's were maroon everywhere Starbucks has green. Other than that, nothing. They even looked the same inside.

Well, I know it's afternoon when I'm posting...but there's not much that can be done about that. Hope I don't throw off the routines of my loyal readership too much with my excursion. But speaking of throwing off routines, Kelsey and I are off to Haight/Ashbury & Cal Berkeley in a few minutes! I'll try to take some photos...