T minus 3 days and counting

Three days till my first class. Although not much is planned (it will mostly be going over the syllabus and having students do an assessment exam), I'm still excited and nervous at the same time. Very cliche, but very true.

Joshua Tree National Park

One word: awesome.

It's a shame that the lines are out the door at Disneyland at almost 50 bucks a pop, whilst a carload of people will get into JTNP for 10 bucks over 7 days into some of the most remote and unimaginable country you have ever seen. The kids had a blast rock-climbing and looking at the strange desert plants. We also saw various packrats or ground squirrels, some kind of a hawk coasting in the incredibly blue sky, several lizards, and different kinds of insects. But the thing that is most striking is the landscape. The Joshua tree is so unique as to almost look alien. Up in the high desert, a "forest" of these things stands upon a plains of sorts nestled between majestic mountains. It was an amazingly cool 85 degrees or so.

We went further south, through the "transition zone"; here the transition from Joshua tree to cacti dominated growth was visibly apparent. The heat was noticably greater in the lower desert. Also very striking was the geological transition. The upper desert mountains seemed to contain larger, more intact boulders good for rock climbing (we saw a bunch of more experienced rock climbers scaling really impressive rock walls), whilst the lower desert mountains had a much darker red tint and were more broken. I'm not a geologist, obviously, but this is one of the few times I wish I had a 4x4; the park offers an 18 mile off-road, self-guided geology tour that sounds incredible.

Traveling with little kids prevents exploring too far off the beaten path, and I'm elated that they were as patient and excited (such as it was) as they were. I do look forward to going again. And again. And again. JTNP is what a National Park experience should be, quite, desolate, memorable, and inspiring. Not the touristy overflow of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or Arcadia, beautiful though those places may be.

Theme Parks

Today we went to Sea World San Diego with my brother-in-law's family, who are visiting from a foreign country. It's a very strange experience. On the one hand, it truely is very entertaining; the animals are clearly well taken care of, and they seem to enjoy performing. The performances themselves are quite incredible. I am not a PETA animal rights fascist and I believe in part of the mission of theme parks such as Sea World to promote education and wildlife conservation among a (and I know I'm sounding elitist but what I'm saying *is* true) typically ignorant general public. On the other hand, these places are such goddamned tourist trap rip-offs that it pisses me off to no end. $20.00 fucking dollars to get 3 crappy pictures of your kid and her cousin sitting on top of a fiberglass model of Shamu the killer whale?!? Fucking $8.99 for a large Pepsi in a "souvenir" Sea World plastic cup?!? If that doesn't upset you just hearing about it, you are certifiably insane.

What really gets to me is how typically rational, well educated people get into this buying frenzy once they step into a theme park. Any semblance of sanity is left at the door and wallets are whipped out for overpriced plastic trinkets, crappy food, and unhealthy sugary treats. I thought that enjoying the performances, visiting the animal exhibits, and spending the day with your family would be well worth the $50.00 admission; apparently Sea World management thinks $50.00 is not enough and works hard to wring every last cent out of we hapless tourists.

*sigh* theoretically we are going to (or will try to go to, the kids are pretty tired tonight) Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow. I have high hopes; it's a National Park (tm), it's got to be AT LEAST as good as Sea World, right? If not, if the kids are bored out of their minds, if we search in vain for a gift shop with a prefabricated fiberglass photo-op in front, then I'll know the capitalists have won and we're all doomed.

Red vs. Blue

Having just driven 3,300 miles from Boston to LA, and passing through some of the most breathtakingly beautiful and amazingly desolate country I have ever seen (the Texas panhandle, northern New Mexico and Arizona, southeast California), I have a newfound appreciation of the red state mentality. To the people who were born, raised, lived, and will die there, what expectations are there in life? What is there to look forward to? Quite literally, there is nothing to do BUT go to church and bash liberals.

You have to give the right wing neonconservative mouthpieces credit: they understand this demographic and take full advantage of it. You can get two kinds of radio stations in the heartland of the USA: country western and conservative talk radio. Passing through a large metropolitan area such as OKC I could not even pick up an NPR news station during the 5:00 PM evening commute. I may have missed it searching through the FM spectrum, of course, but I picked up NPR in every other major metro area I went though. Even though my sampling is very small, it's clear that the neocons have done a superb job of silencing any dissenting opinion.

If liberally-minded folk want to change the political climate of the nation, they are in for a serious uphill battle. This is something I sort of understood in the abstract before, but this road trip really drove the point home in a big way. For the Americans living in the heartland, "liberal" values are simply alien. Women's rights? Gay rights? Reproductive rights? Environmental protection? I doubt that any reasonably minded person, given enough serious thought, would be opposed to that which is representative of basic human rights. The problem is that there is no frame of reference, no relevant life experience, no discourse, and no discussion. There is one way of life, and one voice of opinion.

Moving to California

Hi, this site is all about California, REAL CALIFORNIAS. This site is awesome. My name is Mike and I can't stop thinking about California. This state is cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Facts:

1. California is a state.
2. Californians fight ALL the time.

3. The purpose of California is to flip out and cause traffic jams.

Testimonial:

California can have a traffic jam anywhere it wants! California has traffic jams ALL the time and doesn't even think twice about it. This state is so crazy and awesome that it flips out ALL the time. I heard that there was this Californian who was eating at a diner. And when some dude dropped a spoon the Californian jumped into his SUV and stopped all traffic on I-10. My friend Mark said that he saw a Californian totally stop traffic just because he got bored.

And that's what I call REAL Ultimate Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you don't believe that California has REAL Ultimate Power you better get a life right now or it will make you idle for hours wedged in between semis on the interstate!! It's an easy choice, if you ask me.

California is sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants. I can't believe it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart. This state is totally awesome and that's a fact. California is fast, smooth, cool, strong, powerful, and sweet. I can't wait to start yoga next year. I love California with all of my body (including my pee pee).

Q and A:.

Q: Why is everyone so obsessed about California?

A: California is the ultimate paradox. On the one hand it doesn't give a crap, but on the other hand, California is very careful and precise.

Q: I heard that Californians are always cruel or mean. What's their problem?

A: Whoever told you that is a total liar. Just like other mammals, Californians can be mean OR totally awesome.

Q: What do Californians do when they're not sitting in traffic or flipping out?

A: Most of their free time is spent in hot tubs, but sometime they stab. (Ask Mark if you don't believe me.)

(We just moved to California last week, and experienced first hand the bloody horror otherwise known as LA traffic on I-10 just south of downtown, between the 710 and the 405. People do this every day? Insane. But then look at us; we moved here. Humans are gluttons for punishment and physical pain.)

(See here if you don't grok the strangeness that is my first blog attempt ever. It felt appropriate.)