For several weeks now, I’ve been ruminating, researching and tentatively planning various possible scenarios for what Becky and I could potentially do with the upcoming 4th of July weekend. As soon as I learned that I have four days off from work — from Saturday the 1st through Tuesday the 4th — I felt that I definitely wanted to make the most of the opportunity to travel somewhere and do something fun, hopefully with Becky and perhaps other family and/or friends. A trip to Connecticut and New Hampshire was considered, as was a trip to Buffalo, a trip to Las Vegas (flying out mother-to-be Shannon as a pre-baby treat) and even a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. Ultimately, however, plans for Vegas fell through because of Shannon’s work schedule, going back East was deemed impractical in terms of time and money, and the Montana thing was revealed as totally absurd. So, last night, we finally decided on a far more sensible plan…

We’re flying to L.A. on Friday night, hanging out with Adrienne, then taking an Amtrak train up the coast to Seattle, touring the Space Needle and visiting David, and finally catching a very early-morning flight back to Phoenix so I can return to work bright and early.

As I said, very sensible. :)


The Coast Starlight, reputedly the most scenic of Amtrak’s routes.

Okay, okay, so it sounds a little hectic and crazy. “Fill the unforgiving minute,” as my dad always says (quoting Kipling). But that shouldn’t surprise regular readers, who are well aware of my penchant for random, whirlwind trips. I’m all about travel for travel’s sake, or more precisely, for the sake of “making a memory.” And I’m even more enthusiastic when the itinerary involves crossing an item off my “life’s to-do list,” or in this case, three items: riding the Coast Starlight (especially important since it could be shut down at any time), visiting the Hollywood Bowl (where we’ll be catching fireworks on Saturday), and going up the Space Needle.

Besides, believe it or not, the trip isn’t going to cost that much. Despite the multiple stages, long distances and last-minute bookings, the total cost is significantly less than what a Buffalo or New England trip would have set us back. And to me, it’s totally worth it. As objectively inconvenient as long-distance Amtrak trains are, I love them. Ever since riding the Sunset Limited to New Orleans in 2002, I’ve wanted to take the Coast Starlight from L.A. to Seattle, and now I finally get my chance. Plus, we get visits with Adrienne and David as part of the package deal! Two great friends, two fantastic cities, three states, three life’s to-do list items, 1,389 miles on the tracks and 1,476 miles in the air, all in one holiday weekend? Not bad!

And the best part is, as all this plural pronoun usage implies, Becky has agreed to come along, bless her heart. She’s not usually quite as enthusiastic about this sort of thing as I am, but I guess she’s in an adventurous mood these days. Perhaps it’s that we both feel the oppressive onset of approaching adult responsibilities — bar exams, billable hours, and God willing, babies* — and thus we want to make the most of our youth while we still can! I know I definitely feel that way, and I fully intend to squeeze every possible ounce of memorable fun out of my 3L year… especially if I get a job offer at the end of this summer, knock on wood. :) So this, and the Atlanta thing, probably aren’t the last “random trips” you’ll be hearing about between now and next August. But they’re a good start!

*Don’t worry, padres, there isn’t any big news that we’re keeping from you. We’re talking about purely hypothetical future babies. :)

(a) Can’t make it up. (b) Only in The O.C. [Hi the Happy Couple Bea & Andrew :] (c) But just as with Briandot’s post re how hard cases make bad law :) there’s a Sad side to this one, because the poor drunken birdies probably were not imbibing the Guinness (an’ couldn’t yer man pour a half-keg’s worth down th’ ould distensible gular pouch o’ th’ bill begob :) but rather ingesting algae tainted with domoic acid, another poison which Impairs the Judgement :> ~

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (June 24) - The driver was sober. The bird he hit may have been under the influence. A California brown pelican flew through the windshield of a motorist on the Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County Thursday, and wildlife officials said the bird was probably intoxicated by a chemical in the water.

Though toxicology tests take several weeks, the odd bird behavior was likely the result of poisoning from domoic acid, which has been found in the ocean in the area, said Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.

…The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center has received 16 calls of strange bird behavior in the past week, and was holding three other birds found disoriented and wandering through yards and in streets.

Domoic acid poisoning was the most likely cause of a 1961 invasion of thousands of frantic seabirds in Northern California that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds.”…

Read the rest. I bet there’ll be a big flap about this. Yes, all the seabirds and voters of the Golden State are going to squawk. This must Never Happen Again. :}

Is anyone else watching this Netherlands-Portugal game? Holy cow. What a freakin’ disgrace.

It’s good news for England, though, because Portugal’s best player was sent off with a bulls**t red card, and thus won’t be available for the next game if Portugal wins. (Portugal leads, 1-0, at 83:35.)

UPDATE: Portugal advances. The referee presumably will not.

UPDATE 2: Andrew thinks the ref wasn’t the problem, the players were.

Colin thinks Portugal should be banned from the 2010 World Cup.

The Brits are in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. God bless England! :)

Legal news? Or offbeat? CNN is reporting about a particularly hard case to settle: a man had a penile implant inserted a decade ago, but it turns out it didn’t perform as advertised — or too well, depending on how you look at it:

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) — A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that gave him a 10-year erection.

Charles “Chick” Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996, about two years before Viagra went on the market. The Dura-II is designed to allow impotent men to position the penis upward for sex, then lower it.

But Lennon could not position his penis downward. He said he could no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said.

Originally he had been awarded $750,000, but the judge deemed that too stiff of a penalty and reduced it.

Should we feel sorry for him? I filed this under “Misc. Funny Stuff”, but I guess it’s only funny until someone gets their eye poked out.

Host nation Germany became the first team to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals earlier today with a 2-0 win over Sweden. German fans celebrated by clashing with English fans in Stuttgart.

The Germans will face the winner of the Mexico-Argentina game. Argentina has looked extremely impressive so far in the tournament, and has been declared the favorite by Andrew, but right now they’re tied 1-1 with Mexico late in the first half.

Yes, the next skirmish in the Second Spanish-American War has commenced ~ as was foreshadowed by Senate adoption of the pernicious “English Is The National Language” pronunciamento that nobody has a Right to communicate with the US Government in any but Her Majesty the Queen’s gloriously native-American Mother Tongue. :|

Washington Post:

House leaders abruptly canceled a vote to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act yesterday after rank-and-file Republicans revolted over provisions that require bilingual ballots in many places and continued federal oversight of voting practices in Southern states.

The intensity of the complaints, raised in a closed meeting of GOP lawmakers, surprised Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and his lieutenants, who thought the path was clear to renew the act’s key provisions for 25 years. The act is widely considered a civil rights landmark that helped thousands of African Americans gain access to the ballot box. Its renewal seemed assured when House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders embraced it in a May 2 kickoff on the Capitol steps.

But many Southerners feel the law has achieved its purpose and become more nuisance than necessity in several respects. They have aired those arguments for years, but yesterday they got a boost from Republicans scattered throughout the nation who are increasingly raising a different concern: They insist that immigrants learn and use English.

…Several House members, acknowledging that the GOP leadership had been caught flat-footed by the intraparty ruckus, said it was unclear whether the issue will be revisited before the week-long Independence Day recess.

…nearly 80 House Republicans signed a letter by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) objecting to the Voting Rights Act’s provisions that require state and local governments to print ballots in foreign languages — or provide interpreters — in precincts showing a need for such services…

The Voting Rights Act requires Justice Department preapproval of changes in voting practices in states that used techniques such as poll taxes or literacy tests to discourage blacks from voting in the 1960s. Some Republicans in Georgia, Texas and other states say such efforts to disenfranchise minorities disappeared long ago…

…The House Rules Committee had agreed to let Georgia lawmakers offer two amendments that would make it easier for states to become exempt from the Voting Rights Act. House leaders had expressed confidence that the amendments would fail. But the committee rejected King’s request for an amendment to end the multilingual requirements.

That was “a gigantic mistake,” said Rep. Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. (R-Ga.), a leading critic of the act’s renewal. “What people are really upset about is bilingual ballots,” he said. “The American people want this to be an English-speaking nation.”

Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said in a statement, “We are extremely disappointed that the House did not vote today to renew and restore the Voting Rights Act because a small band of miscreants, at the last moment, hijacked this bipartisan, bicameral bill.”

Read the whole sad story.

As a retired career state elections officer, in one of the Several states where (in the aggregate) at least Hundreds of Thousands of the legitimately-registered voters are Native-born United States citizens whose primary language is Spanish, I understand ~ BELIEVE me, I do understand ~ both the fiscal Costs AND the fierce administrative Hassles of producing accurate bilingual Balloting materials. / And, yeah: a return to Monolingual balloting would make life a Lot easier for us gummint bureaucrats, and a Little bit easier for all the Other taxpayers too.

But it seems to me that Democracy is worth the Price, in both Sweat & Treasure. And since, all in all, Millions of our fellow American citizens do need nonEnglish-language governmental assistance in effectively carrying out the most fundamental act of democracy ~ Voting ~ I am utterly at a loss to comprehend what actual Harm is inflicted upon us oh-so-proudly-unilingual Anglophones when our government Provides such assistance, as part of the balloting instructions which Invariably are Also set forth in the language that is our very Own.

I just wanted to let y’all know that I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth or anything. I’m just exhausted after our mock trial, which followed on the heels of the pre-trial mini-retreat at Gainey Ranch. The trial went well, and the associated activities (several of which involved tequila) were a lot of fun. :) But man, I’m beat. So I’m not feeling terribly inspired to blog at the moment. Sorry. But, hey, at least I have CNN Breaking News alerts… lots and lots of them…

CNN confirms alleged Reno, Nevada, courthouse shooter Darren Mack has been arrested in Mexico. Visit CNN for the latest.

Indictment alleges a member of a Miami group told a man he believed was an al Qaeda operative of a conspiracy to “wage war against the United States government,” including a plot of blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Visit CNN for the latest.

CNN sources believe potential targets for terror suspects arrested in Miami today included Sears Tower, Chicago, and Miami's FBI building. Visit CNN for the latest.

Several arrests were made during a series of raids in Miami, Florida, targeting domestic terrorism, the FBI says. Visit CNN for the latest.

Harry Kewell has sent the Socceroos into the last 16 of the World Cup with a stunning late equaliser in the most remarkable soccer match Australia has ever been involved in. Kewell’s 79th minute goal in its deciding Group F match against Croatia gave Australia the draw it needed to advance to the second round.

English referee Graham Poll may have had some questions to answer had Australia not advanced, with Mark Viduka denied a clear penalty inside the first 10 minutes when Croatia’s Joe Simunic rugby-tackled him in the box.

Poll will also have to answer questions over why Simunic was not sent off in injury time after being shown a second yellow card. He was allowed to remain on the pitch for a tense final few minutes as Croatia searched for a winner. Simunic was eventually marched on the final whistle for his third yellow card, but by then the Australians were celebrating.

Australia will play Italy in the round of 16 in Kaiserslautern on Tuesday (AEST).

Check out this article with some great pics of a dell laptop literally bursting into flames and apparently adding some small explosions while it was at it. This occured during a conference of some sort in Japan, apparently not a firemans conference as they let it burn for atleast five minutes.

William J. Perry & Ashton B. Carter, former Defense Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively, now Stanford and Harvard per-fessers :), profess the case for the pre-emptive wallop of Kim Jong Il’s Taepo Dong in a Washington Post op-ed piece today.

A sub-launched cruise missile will do the job nicely, say the boys. First we should threaten it; and then if the North Koreans don’t respond by Defueling their toy and putting it away, we just Take that mother right Out.

Since Our Good Friends the South Koreans will yell to Hell about this plan, they’ll be safe from any Red retaliation, add the lads. Well. Probably. But just in case, they hedge,

…it would be prudent for the United States to enhance deterrence by introducing U.S. air and naval forces into the region at the same time it made its threat to strike the Taepodong. If North Korea opted for such a suicidal course, these extra forces would make its defeat swifter and less costly in lives — American, South Korean and North Korean.

Perry & Carter also opine that if we wreck Kim’s rocket Japan will be pleased, but only Secretly so; whereas Russia and China will be “shocked” but won’t Do squat about it.

Interesting. (OKOK: Intriguing. :) Read the essay. And, as Kat Palmore asks below about the Other kind of global Warming: Thoughts? :|