finally reinstalled the software for my camera...this was the sunset on wednesday (i know it was caused by smog, but it was gorgeous):

and a big version. enjoy.

life itself, when understood and and utilized for what it is, is sweet. - the tao of pooh

Better gas mileage vs. jobs -- Senate about to plunge in
Rob Hotakainen and Michael Bold -- Bee Washington Bureau, Published 5:30 a.m. PST Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002

WASHINGTON -- When the Senate takes up a long-stalled energy bill in the next few days, it will consider a Democratic plan that would force automakers to build vehicles that get an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2013.

Opponents are fuming: At a "Save Our Jobs" rally in Missouri last week, workers and managers at a DaimlerChrysler plant complained that Congress was preparing to put thousands of people out of work.

"If this proposed legislation becomes law, it will basically eliminate the minivan, sport-utility vehicle and light trucks in this country -- and that means it will eliminate your jobs," Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., told General Motors automakers at a separate event in Missouri.

nice scare tactic there...and that elimination is a bad thing? no suvs? oh, wouldn't that be nice. though i highly doubt anything like that will happen in the next three years...

this is whaty i find myself doing now...my memory is terrible. when something i want to remember (for this, for future reference, for whatever) i need to write it down. am i getting old?

yellowstone coaches delayed

plans to develop new snow coaches for winter transportation at yellowstone national park have been sidetracked. fifteen months ago, federal officials spoke confidently of a $2 million government grant to develop the coaches as replacements for snowmobiles. but after president bush took office, the fate of snowmobiles in the park was up in the air. the $2 million never arrived, and the snow-coach project has not gotten off the drawing board.

the idea was to develop a vehicle that could cruise yellowstone, and other places, on wheels in the summer and on tracks in the winter. the vehicle could carry 16 to 24 people, accomodate strollers and wheelchairs, and burn one or more clean fuels such as bio-diesel or liqufied natural gas. - the oregonian, 2.24.02

well, gee, mr. bush, an ecologically sound transportation alternative to snowmobiles? well, that makes entirely too much sense to be appropriate for your administration now, doesn't it?

site and life maintenance. back soon.

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oh...and my highly entertaining friday...

woke up. went for a run. got ready to go to the airport. running late.

decide to put lipliner on in dan's truck on the way to the airport.we hit a bump as i am putting it on. and i make an berry colored stripe on the roof of his truck interior.

i always have a paranoia of forgetting my drivers license. which makes no sense because it never leaves my purse. but i go thru my wallet and it's not there. i go through it again. it's still not there...one more time. nope. still not there.we go back to the house. i search EVERYWHERE. it's gone. cancel flight and rebook on later one.

go to dmv for new license. get new license. but no picuture on it...just temp. paper one. a miricle did happen. no line at the dmv. none. and the person working was intelligent and friendly. little did i know how i would pay for this luck later that day...anyways, i hope it works as id.

back to airport. wait 45 minutes to check ski bag. had the guy my costco card (the only 'id' i have with a picture on it) with the license. whew. it's ok.

get in the security line.

30 minutes later? in security line. an hour later? still in security line. finally...i see the light. er, the metal detectors.

take mp3 player, cell phone, walkman out of purse. put purse through scanner. i walk through the metal detector. i beep. i never beep. the metal i am wearing? birkenstock buckles and metal buttons on my jeans. i am taken aside for a 'special' search. i don't want to be specially searched. i'm ordinary. not special.

they decide my bag is suspcicious and also needs a 'special search'. so now am i really special? do i get a prize for all this? i wait, frustrated, as i did everything i could think of to avoid this mess. in my purse? wallet. pens. books. paper. tin of lip balm.

they wand me. pat me down. make me sit down. take off my shoes. feel the legs of my pants. deem, after running the wand over the buttons on my jeans three times that, no, it is the buttons beeping and not some secret bomb i hid in my pants.

i wait for my bag. the open everything. take everything out. page through the books. look at the titles. open the lip balm. deem that, no, i have no bomb in my purse, either. trying to repack my bag, i drop my mp3 player in the slots between the security tables. it's a big deal to get it out. finally get it back.

go to get southwest boarding passes. number 42. and it's only 20 minutes before the flight. which is sold out. turns out being a half empty plane because everyone is stuck in monsterous security lines and misses their flight. the plane arrives we begin to board. they check my id one more time. (my temporary one has not been a problem yet) 'ah! temporary id. another search'. i looked at him. i laughed. 'you're kidding.' nope.

go through the whole everything out of my bag...wand...pat down...leg check...'but i was searched like this at the gate!' i said. 'm'am it's for your security' grrrrr...some 20-something birkenstock-wearing, carrying a fanny pack as a purse, coffee drinking girl is going to be a terrorist? at this point (if one more person told me it was for my security, including my husband, i was going to lose it) i felt violated. once? ok. not great, but i can deal. but all over again?

finally on the plane. to drink? red wine. i need it. while the flight attendant is serving me the wine, it sloshes out of the cup. all over my favorite jeans. she is very apologetic and helpful. and gives me another wine gratis. i think it all came out. at the airport, get a latte. (depressant now a stimulant. whatever) attempting to put the lid on, i slosh that all over my jeans.

i think i have used up all of my bad karma for the next month. at least i hope i have. and the rest of the trip was fine. knock on wood.

just got back from a weekend in portland...how i love that city. there's just something about it...something that is very much missing from sacramento...stories tomorrow. but i will say that this restaurant there, perry's on fremont (where they serve 'slow food'...and fabulous food), has the best onion rings. ever. big, fat, fried just right. i don't normally eat such things, but, damn. these were worth how bad there were for me. :)

when my sister and i were kids, we loved onion rings. well, no. we loved the rings. at burger king we would break open the crispy coating, pulling out the onion strip and piling the onion noodles on the plastic tray, happily munching the deep fried shell. mmm...onion rings...mmm...