True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.
Albert Einstein

Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.
Albert Einstein

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Albert Einstein

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Albert Einstein

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
Albert Einstein

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Albert Einstein

Information is not knowledge.
Albert Einstein

Okay, Jeremy Clarkson may be an unknown to most of you, but this article he wrote for the London Times is hilarious. He is a British automotive reviewer/host with Top Gear. I had a hard time containing myself at my desk while reading it. Luckily the office was mostly empty at the time.

This article is not for people who are afraid of heights or anyone that works for OSHA. It was posted with the caption 'Einstein once said: "There are two things that are infinite; the universe and human stupidity. And, I'm not too sure about the universe."'

Another silly link for Muppet fans and fast drivers.

I am saddened to report Trevor died on Friday and has actually already passed when I posted my last piece. He was a good man; a hard person to replace. I'm glad I was fortunate enough to get to work with him for a time and had a chance to visit with him at his home about a month ago. My prayers are with his family.

Someone this week asked why I was being forced to face mortality so much in this lifetime and it made me think. The question came in response to my telling her about my friend/mentor/former boss Trevor, who will die very shortly of kidney failure brought on by the same blood bacteria that killed my dad. He was given the option of having his legs amputated and dialysis, while they seek a transplant and I understand his choice to decline. I do not have an explanation as to why there has been so much death in my life, or that it has been in such shocking forms in so many cases - three suicides, a murder, heart failure at 17, brain aneurysms, kidney failure, and on and on. I can only fall back on my complete faith in God and the promise we will not be tried more than we can handle. While there is intense pain and sadness at the loss that comes with the memories I have with each of the those people in my life, I do not believe this world is the end, there is more beyond this life. I believe that each of them is sleeping and justice/fairness/mercy will eventually be served. Those things allow me to live without fear of death. All of us have life experiences that make connections with others possible, sometimes we may be the only people that could reach a specific person because of a common bond. I trust I will gain a fuller understanding of the 'whys' of this life at the Judgement and I am satisfied in waiting for that to happen. Til then, I miss you TD, SB, LP, LB, DD, EM, I miss you alot. And I'm glad it is Sabbath.

Here is a site collecting funny pictures of dogs....

Beer bottle broken over one man's head leads to retaliation with a metal car jack. Four men arrested. Best baby shower ever!

Beautiful pictures of Enceladus up close. (That is one of Saturn's moons FYI)

Interesting thing happened yesterday. This space got scanned a couple times by government agencies in Virginia. Seems they picked up on the caption for one of the pictures at the bottom of this page which includes the word 'Bomb'. Hopefully, I won't get a visit from the nice men in black suits over a picture of eggplant, but it might be exciting.

Last Thursday was the final regular night for the Fall bocce league. We started the night in 5th place, so we already knew we would be in the playoffs, but if everything went well we could move up in placement. Well, as luck would have it we were facing the last place team on our night and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams were playing each other and everything went VERY WELL, INDEED. We won our three games 12-0, 12-1, and 12-1. Combined with the outcomes of those other games we moved into third place. Last night was our first round playoff game and we faced off with the third place finisher from Friday nights. Evenly matched games can take a long time and we were trading single points and were tied at 6-6 before we got a surge in game one and closed it out 12-8. The second game started off badly as Andy and I surrendered 3 points and after a failed short game experiment we found ourselves down 8-2. I think we were all starting to think we would need a game three, but all of us have been pretty dialed in the last few weeks. So we focused a little more and came back to 10-9 in their favor. After seeing Andy and I struggle with the short game from our end, the players on the other end of the court decided to challenge Rob and Brian the same way. Big mistake. They got three points for a 12-10 win and could have easily picked up the fourth point if it had been necessary. There is something very satisfying about doing well, especially as a team, and we do work well as a team. And it also is good to So, Sunday morning at 9am I'll be in St. Helena for round two. Hopefully it will be a long day of bocce and we do well. Bocce is one of the many things I will definitely miss while on my travels and I'm glad I have been able to participate over the last three years. It has been really fun. Anyone reading this should see if there is a league near where you live and try it out. I really recommend it.

If you enjoy beautiful cinematography and otherworldly landscapes, check out "House of Sand", a Brazillian film set in a desert in that country. I WANT WANT WANT to go see that place for myself. REALLY WANT. I may get that chance within the next two years!!

Life is busy, busy, busy....

Last weekend TrueMusicMedia provided sound for the Luau and Grand Finale concert for the 1st Annual Wine Country Ukulele Festival. This was an incredibly fun thing to be involved with. I had no idea of the versatility and creativity gifted uke players could bring and they overwhelmed me with their skill. Truly fun to watch all four of the artists perform at the finale. Thanks to NIMBUS Arts for going out on a limb to host this type of event.



Sunday was my brother's wedding which I thought went very well(although I did hear some complaints last night from my brother and sister-in-law). Apparently, I must have been at a different wedding than they were. Anyway that was a nice wedding and the annoyances of all the little tasks that landed in my lap the day of are all but forgotten at this point.

All of the above was complicated by the Deer Park fire that consumed 300 acres and a house and created all kinds of traffic havoc throughout the weekend. That only one house burned is a testament to the FireWise practices here in Napa County and the hard work of the many firefighters involved in containing this one. Two of my friends were passing by at the time the fire initially started and saw the truck pulled over at the side of the road and the fire already roaring up the hillside.

Last night in Berkeley I picked up what looks like an interesting bit of anime called Cat Soup. It is described as 'Hello Kitty on Acid' and that was enough to catch my attention, but in looking at the IMBD info on it, I think I may have stumbled on more than just a visual gem. Looking forward to repeated viewings to tease out the symbolism.

An interesting time lapse photography link I found today.

I've been driving a car with a TAPE DECK in it lately and as humorous as that must be to anyone reading this it has actually given me a chance to listen to a bunch of tapes, I haven't heard in years. Rediscovering great music almost every day. In particular I have been listening to a group called RedRedGroovy, somewhat dated music, but just as fun as I remember it. Plus one of the first goa/psy compilations I ever got that really hooked me on the style, Concept in Dance Digital Alchemy, put together by ManWithNoName. That contains one of my all time favorite tracks 'Sugar Rush' by the ManWithNoName genius himself.

"We loved life so much that we imagined ourselves immortal. Overwhelming the powers that be with the force of our passion for science. Or maybe we were just f$#*ed in the head." from Flatliners as sampled by ManWithNoName in his track 'The Far Side'.

"Madam Speaker, this is a huge cowpatty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it. I'm not going to eat that cowpatty." Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga. on the Financial Bailout plan.

Rep. Broun may not want to eat the cowpie, but every tax paying American is now going to get a mouthful. Just close your eyes and enjoy as best you can! There are still analysts who believe there is a lot more marshmallow than we think and it won't taste nearly as bad as it could. Time will tell.

I wasn't able to able to see either of the debates, so I tracked down the transcripts: Here is the transcript of the first presidential debate.

Here is the Vice Presidential Debate transcript.

Part of why I missed the VP debate was the much higher priority bocce match I was in Thursday night. Our best player has been gone the past three weeks and our record over that period showed. He was back and we were able to turn in a good performance against a talented team. Taking two of the three games put us in the playoffs for sure and next week we play against the last place team so we may move up one more position in the standings if we take care of business. One of the players on the team we played against on Thursday is a friend of mine and it happened to be her birthday. Couldn't give her a break during the games, but I did go with her and a couple others over to the opening night of A/K/A on Main St. in Saint Helena. They were not serving food that night, but the menu looks good and the prices very good for the offerings. Since Lisa and Julie were both in the mood for food, we went down the block to Cook and ate. I had had pizza during bocce, so I was not that hungry, but I did have a beet salad that was very good. Other friends joined us towards the end of the meal, and when they headed to Anna's for some karaoke, I headed home. No singing for me and besides I have plenty to do at home to get it back under control.

Little did I know that when I got home, my brother would be there with the directive that my room downstairs had to be completely vacated right then to allow the carpet cleaners to do their job first thing Friday morning. That pissed me off, because I had moved about half of my stuff already and was doing it a specific order so there wasn't a lot of double work, but this threw that plan out the window. I got the last of my things moved by 3 am and my new room was so overloaded I slept in the hall on the floor. Had a foul mood at work on Friday thinking about all the extra work I was going to have to do so my brother would not be inconvenienced. Anyway, I got home and started cleaning up and it went much faster than I thought. I could use my bed again and after working on it Saturday night and most of Sunday it is in a condition that I can live with. We also got my dad's office two thirds emptied and that will create a lot of new space. He had so many manuals and notebooks from the 60's and 70's, it is amazing. I don't think even he had gone back to look at them probably ever. They just took up space on a book shelf. We had one of his friends from Bechtel come by and see if any of the manuals were usable if we wanted to donate them, but he said there was very little worth keeping.

As for the house itself, the stucco work is done, the woodwork is nearing completion, the painting crew will be here tomorrow to continue where they can, and we had a team adding gravel and regrading the driveway. Thank you God! We had been so far behind with everything, but the necessary things are being accomplished and I know the stress will be diminishing here in short order (at least for me).