June 27, 2005
More Signs Of A GM Mess
What does it mean when you forbid your senior executives from buying and selling your stock indefinitely and "decline" to update your full year earnings forecast since April? It means that you are FUBAR. I'm guessing that with gas prices going up and the fact that GM doesn't have any notable hybrids on the market, that their SUV sales have crashed through the floor and their ability to make money has gone with it. I make my "guesses" based on this article. If anyone out there is still buying the big, fuel-inefficient SUVs for $50k then they are probably the same people that are propping up the housing market with their interest only loans. Scrubs.
June 26, 2005
It Sucks To Be Me
Right after I had replicated my email and started to go through it to weed out the junk (around 10 PM) I got a phone call. They need me to do some work tonight. I had wanted to get through my email tonight so I could get to the real work first thing tomorrow morning. Now that I have to do some work tonight I can't get though all the email which means I'll be starting work tomorrow behind where I want to be and I probably won't be in the office early because I'm probably going to be up late tonight. It sucks to be me. I guess my vacation is officially over.
June 24, 2005
Statue Of Liberty
Today we did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island along with having pizza and other good Italian fare in Little Italy. We leave for home tomorrow. This week has gone by really fast and one cool thing is that work hasn't called me at all. Does anyone want me to pick them up anything from NYC? You have until tomorrow morning to email me with your request.
June 23, 2005
Avenue Q
The highlights of today were having lunch in Central Park and watching Avenue Q. I'd highly recommend watching it because it has commentary on real life and this version had great parts that were specific to NYC.
June 22, 2005
Great Spanish Food
We went to the Empire State Building today and checked out the site of the World Trade Center. For dinner we ate at a Spanish restaurant called Flor Del Sol. I think this is the best Spanish food that I've ever had. Everything was excellent and I would highly recommend this place. I'm going to put up a separate page for the restaurants that we're eating at on this trip, so I'll put much more about this place on that page later.
June 21, 2005
DC To NYC
Today was our last day in DC. We got up later than expected and then checked out the Holocaust Museum. After that we headed to NYC via Independence Air. Once we got to NYC we got to our apartment (that is in the ghetto I might add) and then headed to Times Square for dinner. I'm not sure exactly what we'll do tomorrow but it doesn't matter since I already got my pastrami sandwich and picked up some cheesecake from Roxy.
June 19, 2005
Woke Up Late (Big Suprise)
Because we got to bed so late the night before, we got up later than expected today. We skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch. I've noticed that service on the east coast is pretty poor. The main attractions that we hit today were the Smithsonian Castle, Museum of Natural History, and the Air & Space Museum. After that we had dinner and hit Georgetown. We'll try to get up early tomorrow and go on a tour of the Capital Building.
Long First Day In DC
It is now 4 AM DC time and we just got back to our hotel. We made it into DC via Independence Air on Saturday morning, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and then went out and saw some sites. We got tired and came back for a little nap and then went out again. There is so much to do and see and I know we won't be able to get to everything before we have to leave for NY on Tuesday. But that won't stop us from trying.
June 15, 2005
Finished Collapse
I finally finished reading "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Overall it is a book that dives into detail about the problems that caused present and past societies to collapse, and what we moderns can do to keep the same fate from befalling us. Some of the past societies that are covered are the Viking colonies in the new world, Easter Island, and the Anasazi of the American Southwest. Some of the present collapsed societies covered are Haiti and Rwanda. The essential point that is made by this book is that societies that incessantly degrade their environments generally stand little chance of lasting. Some societies that have been around for a long time because they know how to maintain their environments are the New Guinea highlands and Japan. Whether or not you believe in global warming and the other harms we modern people have done to the earth I think this book will open your eyes a bit. I definitely recommend public policy makers to read this book amongst many others to help them shape their views on how we relate to the environment around us. And lastly, I recommend it to all the other right wingers out there like me.
DC & NYC
I'm going to be in DC and NYC next week. I'm taking the red eye out of CA on Friday night and hopefully I'll get to see all the sights while I'm out there. I'll try to post updates when I get a chance.
June 13, 2005
Back From Hetch Hetchy
We made it back home last night just as the sun was going down. We did a quick backpacking trip to Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park this weekend. I now know why I've never backpacked in Yosemite before, people are every-fricking-where. I'll post a trip page and photos later this week.
June 08, 2005
Running The PCT
I heard about a guy that is running the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and trying to break the record while doing it. You can follow his status here. Warning - It is a PDF file that they update on a daily basis. You would think they would create a blog for it or at least put up something that is a little more maleable.
June 07, 2005
You Get The Employee Discount Because We're F****d
I find it interesting that that GM is offering its own employee discounts for the first time. Could that be because they just lost $1B and laid off 25 k employees in the first quarter of this year? All signs point to YES, and that they are pulling out all the stops to stop the bleeding. I think they are f****d. Break up the company and send the executives to Singapore and have them beaten with a bamboo cane. How do you lose $1B in a quarter? I think most of the employees are "professional grade" but I think their leadership really let them down. As a result they should not be allowed to lead any other companies ever again. There should be some kind of stat, like the +/- ratio in hockey, but for executives it should be if their unit made or lost money while they were in charge. Executives that have a - for a long enough period of time should get out of management. Losers.
Hetch Hetchy This Weekend
It's official, I'm heading to Hetch Hetchy this weekend with Forrest and the crew. It will be a two day backpacking trip that should be fairly easy. Now I just have to talk Timber into going.
June 05, 2005
More Photos Posted
Here are the photos from the A's game and the Greek Festival.
Tom The Greek
I had wanted to go to Lassen Park to go snow camping this weekend, but instead we stayed in town to work on things around the house. One of the things we took refuge in was the Greek Festival. I ate pretty much everything and even had some Greek beer. Their theme was "Come Be Greek For A Day".
June 02, 2005
There And Back Again By TLC
I usually have to work longer hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays for undisclosed reasons, and as such I was suprised that I wouldn't have to do my "special work" until 10:30 PM tonight. I had just gotten home and gotten a bite to eat when I got a call from Timber. She told me that A's tickets had fallen into her lap and asked if I was interested in going to the game. That was at 6:15 PM and the game started at 7:05 PM. Also, we live in south San Jose and the game was in Oakland. So I got ready to go while she came home. We got on the road right as the game started, and made it there by 8 PM. The tickets also came with a parking pass. We got there just in time to see Eric Chavez hit a grand slam. The rest of the game was somewhat slow, but still kind of entertaining. There also didn't seem to be all that many people at the game. The A's won and the game ended early. After the game I rushed home, and right after getting in the door I got the call that I could start doing my "special work". All in all it was good timing all around.
Oxbow Photos Posted
I've posted my photos from last weekend's Oxbow camping trip. You can check them out here.
June 01, 2005
Urinating While On Cell Phone (That's New!)
I just had to say something about this. I hit the restroom earlier today while on the way to a meeting, and I couldn't help but notice that someone was standing at the urinal while holding their cell phone up to their ear. I'm hoping it was a really important call, but it was pretty gross just the same. My way of showing my dispeasure with the situation was to flush the toilet a few times before moving on to wash my hands. Can you imagine being on the phone with someone and then hearing a bunch of toilets flush on their end? Hilarious! I think if someone has to stay connected even while using the rest room they they should probably wear depends instead. Think of the marathon meetings you could have if no one had to get up to go to the bathroom. :-)