Martinis August 30, 2009
Posted by admin in : Alcohol, Film, Lies, Narrative , add a commentMartinis last night.
Why martinis? Could it be Mad Men fever? Actually, it was because of Julie and Julia. They were drinking Martinis in just about every scene. So after the movie, Julie and I (the real Julie) went to CostPlus to obtain the paraphrenelia. Then we went to Safeway to obtain the hooch. Then we came home. I looked up the recipe for Martinis. It’s not too hard, as it turns out. Couple cubes of ice, a bunch of dry gin, a splish of dry vermouth, and shake. I was unable to achieve the full on sexy shake, but nevertheless. Soon we were drinking home-shaken, dry Martinis.
They were OK. I prefer beer.
The only other time I ever drank a Martini? Saudi Arabia, 1989. Things were just peachy in the Gulf before the Gulf War, let me tell you. I was teaching English to Saudi naval cadets. Saudi is as dry a country as they come, hoochwise, as everybody knows. But at the Dharan airbase the U.S. military maintains a tiny bit of sovereignty, sort of a diplomatic briefcase but bigger. And inside that briefcase, you can drink. If you can get in. We got in. To the Officer’s club. So we’re in this semi-swanky space, drinking real drinks (not the homemade beer we drank back in our teacher’s quarters). Everyone was having Martinis, so what the heck, sure, I’d have a Martini. So guess who else was there having Martinis? Norm Schwartzkopf. The US had recently invaded Panama, so my buddy James, who was bold about this sort of thing, talking to generals about classified military operations and such, engaged Mr. Schwartzkopf about it. Norm, I’ll call him Norm from now on since it’s easier to spell, Norm’s a pretty intense character. Especially armed with a Martini. Norm and James went at it a bit, not arguing, but Norm obviously proud and conscious of his power to impress, inhibited by the classified aspects of the story, James trying to get him to spill. Since none of you know James, unless you do, go ahead and picture James Woods, circa Salvador. All politics aside, if you’re going to have a Gulf War, I guess Norm was the guy you’d want to be your general. And if you want someone to needle him about it, James was your man.
Anyhoo, that’s my Martini story. I hope not to have very many more like it.
Not Homer, Not Marge August 16, 2009
Posted by admin in : Art, Cartoon, History, TV , add a commentYou’ll have to take my word for it, but I drew these cartoon characters before I ever saw the Simpsons.
Not Homer, Not Marge
The Simpsons first appeared on the Tracy Ullman Show in 1987, which I definitely did see. But I drew and conceived of these characters in college prior to that, more like 84/85/86. Can’t prove it, but it’s true.
Hetch Hetchy thoughts August 10, 2009
Posted by admin in : Environment, Outdoors/Travel, Political/Editorial , 1 comment so farOne slightly negative thing about my Lyell Canyon hike: One person that I had spammed to ask for support for my “Restore Hetch Hetchy” pledge hike decided to reply to that by being a dick. A dick is not someone who declines to support, or even who disagrees with the goal. A dick in this case is someone who decides to pick a fight with me about it, imply that I’m uninformed (but he of course knows everything), that I am trying to “destroy” the water supply, that my position is “crapola”, etc. I mean it was totally unnecessarily aggressive and insulting. Compounded by the fact that it’s a “family” person (not my family, but an in-law) so he created this new awkwardness. He ends his email with “Please do not bother me with this crapola again” yet sent me a second email along the lines of “and another thing…” So I spent a good deal of time on my hike last week mentally arguing with this guy. That was both negative but had its value. I guess if I’m going to do an activist thing (doing this pledge hike) I need to be prepared for challenges and questions. So working it out in my head helped me clarify my position with regard to Hetch.
His basic objection was that Hetch Hetchy reservoir is a major (but not the only) source of water for the city of San Francisco and if the dam (which is in dire need of earthquake proofing upgrades) were to be destroyed by an earthquake, it would be catastrophic, disrupting the water supply at a time of drought, etc.
Well of course. The objective of restoring Hetch Hetchy is NOT about “destroying” anything, or allowing the dam to deteriorate. It is about revisiting the problem. The problem the turn of the century engineers and policitcians were trying to solve was: “How can we provide water for the current and fast growing population?” They solved that problem with the dam. But we in the 21st century are trying to solve a new problem: “How can we provide water for the current population, allowing for a reasonable degree of growth, in a sustainable manner with low impact on fragile eco-systems?” That problem was not at all solved by damming Hetch Hetchy, nor would it be solved by damming Yosemite valley, or all the valleys of the high sierras. We are trying to solve a new problem with new values and new technology. We need not be beholden to bad decisions made a hundred years ago by engineers and politicians long dead. The fact that the reservoir is currently in use is merely a variable in the equation, not a reason to accept the status quo.
So to be clear, my position is that it is possible and desirable to restore Hetch Hetchy valley while not disrupting the water supply to the users downstream. That is also the position of the Restore Hetch Hetchy organization which I am attempting to raise money for. No one anywhere is lobbying to stick it to the city of San Francisco. No one favors allowing the dam to deteriorate.
The only reasonable questions that can be argued over are:
- Can it be done, from an engineering perspective?
- How much will it cost, really?
- Is it worth it?
To question 1, I believe the answer is of course. If we can dam water upstream, we can also move water to a downstream reservoir. No question about it really.
To question 2 — well there’s a lot of numbers to argue over I suppose. But when you factor in real, meaningful water conservation efforts, the cost of upgrading the current dam, and other number crunching one could do, I believe a realistic number could be arrived at (FAQ says $1-3 billion).
To question 3, well, this is a value judgment. My feeling is that reasonable, sustainable growth is better than uncontrolled growth, that low impact environmental solutions are better than high impact ones. I believe the valley is a precious and very special resource that was destroyed by short sighted minds and is worth restoring. I can’t argue with a person who does not share those values.
But please be assured, the goal to restore Hetch Hetchy is a proposal to embark on a civil engineering project that solves 21st century problems with 21st century values and solutions, NOT an attempt to protect a spotted owl at the expense of jobs. If anything, a large civil engineering project like this could be viewed as a very timely stimulus which would create jobs.
So whenever my dick in-law tries to engage me again, I’ll be ready for him.
If you share my concerns about this cause, or if you merely want to stick it to the dicks of this world consider donating to my pledge drive.
Lylle Canyon Hike August 10, 2009
Posted by admin in : Environment, Irrelevant, Outdoors/Travel , 1 comment so farWe’re back at sea level — the air is so thick and balmy compared with 10000 ft! Terry and I hiked 10 miles into Lyell Canyon (basically to the end of the meadowy part halfway up the switchbacks to Donohue Pass). So it was basically about 25mile hike in total, including a day hike on day 2.
This was a pretty easy hike — mostly flat (although we gained 1000′ feet from Tuolumne Meadows to the pass area). It was unseasonably cool — we were warned about a snow storm. It definitely was freezing overnight and did snow lightly, but no accumulation in our area. This was a pretty spontaneously planned hike. Terry just happened to be in town and I snagged some days off. Most of his gear is at my house, but he was a little under-equipped for cold weather.
Anyway, we lit out early Wednesday morning, arrived to get our permits at the ranger station around 9, and after gathering some last minute supplies (warm clothes for Terry and some lunch) we were finally on the trail around 1:30. We hiked in about 6 miles to a point beyond Ireland Creek where we had never been before. It’s always fun to explore virgin terrirory. We found a really excellent site — flat, soft earth, plety of trees for our hammocks (Terry’s tent is a hammock dealy. I have a simple hammock for resting during the day but my tent is a single person tent on the ground.) Close to the Lyell Fork for water, a pretty little falls. Previous campers left some little presents for us — a copy of the novel All Tomorrow’s Parties to use as kindling, some sunblock and a handkerchief.
There seemed to be tons of pack trains on this trail — this is a segment of the John Muir Trail and most hikers are going much farther than we did. Lots of groups were hikers plus horses plus mules. We also saw one Llama train! That was cool. Two hikers leading around four or five llamas. They did not carry as much load as the mules did but they were really beautiful and exotic.
On day two, Thursday morning, it was snowing. We had some hot coffee and Ramen noodles for breakfast, then head down the trail for a day hike. We passed more pack trains and chatted with hikers. One British dude we met was 6 days into a 4 week hike of the full JMT — which culminates with a hike up to the summit of Mt. Whitney. He’s out there now, presumably, so do raise a pint for him. He bid us “Cheerio!” which struck us as archaic, although I greeted him with a “Howdy” so…
We hiked up the switchbacks at the end of the meadow — it really isn’t Yosemite unless you do switchbacks, according to Terry anyway. Got more views of the pass and the meadows we had just come from. But it was a little too cold to linger too long. We hiked back down to camp, lit a nice fire and mixed ourselves some High Sierra Margaritas: water + instant lemonade + tequila + snow.
Friday morning we lingered at the site. The sun threatened to emerge but basically it was still cloudy and windy and cool for the hike out. We drove to Oakdale for our traditional Mountain Mike’s post hike pizza and it was a wrap.
In terms of wildlife, we saw: mama deers with their fawns, a garter snake (first non-poisonous snake we’ve seen in Yose), horses, mules, llamas. No bears, so our success rate for this area dropped from %100 to %66.666. But that’s OK, especially since we saw something rarer. It was either an American Marten or a Fisher. We had stopped on our hike out at Rafferty Creek by a bridge. Right as I was ditching my pack, I saw across the stream an animal that scurried across the rock and stoop and looked at me. I said to Terry, “That’s a huge marmot!” Then the creature slinked away and as it did so I noticed it had a more elongated shape than a marmot. It had similar coloring — a brownish coat with a light colored chest. But the behavior was not at all marmot like — a marmot would have come right up to us to steal our food. Also I have never seen a marmot at this elevation (around 8800′) — they usually appear higher than that and in more rocky terrain. This was woodland. The elongated shape and size were the main giveaways. I came home and wikipediaed the thing and basically narrowed it down to Marten ro Fisher. It looked more like a marten but the size was more like the fisher. So cool, I saw my first new mammal, and a hunter as opposed to a scavenger.
That was a real highlight. Also the lack of mosquitoes or bugs due to the cold weather. Virgin territory, new animals, no skeeters, and snow added up to a really pleasant, highly successful hike. Also cool is that this canyon is a fork of the Tuolumne River, so I essentially hiked all the way to the very headwaters of the source of the water that is eventually captured in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. Next month when I do my “Restore Hetch Hetchy” hike, I’ll connect up by hiking from Tuolumne Meadows down to the reservoir. So that means I’ll have walked the length of the watershed.
