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We had a lot of fun over the holiday weekend. I'm still recovering from all the driving and walking but it was worth it. On Saturday we went to the Mushroom Mardi Gras in Morgan Hill. We had a portabello sandwich, fried mushrooms, sauteed mushrooms, and stuffed mushrooms. Jace went on a few rides and the weather was perfect.


On Sunday we went to Bonfante Gardens which turned out to be a perfect place for Jace. His favorite part was the splash park that had a lot of water spraying out of the ground and from above. He was frightened and fascinated at the same time. One time he got down on his knees to look in one of the holes that water squirts out of. I kept warning him not to but he kept looking and then eventually it sprayed out and he jumped backwards and cried for a few seconds. After that he ran around the water in circles for about half an hour laughing the whole time. Needless to say he passed out in his stroller after that. However, after a quick nap he started exploring the huge playground they had on the other side of the park. He went down the biggest slide he's ever gone on and he did it about ten times. In order to get to the slide he had to crawl (all the other kids were bigger and could just walk up the steps) up stairs that went up almost two stories (there were bars all around so he couldn't fall). He slept well that night.

Wow, I'm actually surprised that Lay and Skilling were convicted today. It's not that I don't think they deserved the verdict. The prosecution dug up dozens of examples of corruption that were confirmed by several witnesses and documents. I just have come to expect that if you have an extremely expensive legal team you will get out of trouble or at least have an extremely reduced sentence.

In an apparent effort to distract America from its problems the government is trying to blame everything on immigrants. They have taken this to the extreme today by approving a massive wall along the Mexican border that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. When is the last time that a massive wall between two countries did any good?

Also, the Attorney General admitted that his family probably didn't enter the country legally.

vs.

For the next several weeks I will be commuting to Foster City three days a week to work onsite with a client. Since it's a significant distance I decided to compare and contrast public transportation versus driving.

On the day that I used public transportation it went like this:

1. Drive from Brentwood to Concord
2. BART from Concord to Balboa Park
3. BART from Balboa Park to SFO
4. BART from SFO to Millbrae
5. Get picked up by a co-worker and drive from Millbrae to Foster City

The process took almost exactly three hours door-to-door.

On the day that I drove I went in pretty early in the morning and it went like this:

1. Drive from Brentwood to Foster City

The process took almost exactly one and a half hours door-to-door.

So, from a time perspective, driving is the obvious choice.

From a financial perspective, driving is also the obvious choice. Here is the math:

BART
Costs: $11.40 BART + $5.37 Gas = $22.25 - $11.40 BART (expense) - $5.48 Mileage (expense) = -$16.88

Driving
Costs: $3 Bridge + $15.68 Gas = $18.68 - $3 Bridge (expense) - $64.97 Mileage (expense) = -$49.29

So driving earns me $49.29 after figuring in expenses.

I understand that my car is experiencing wear and that driving isn't as good for the environment. However, if I get to spend an extra three hours with my family and take home extra money I'd say it's a pretty obvious conclusion that driving is the way to go.

Fortunately my car gets great gas mileage so I actually earn money after expenses (most people at my work lose money with their 14 mpg SUVs). Also, my car will probably easily last 150,000+ miles without major mechanical work so I'm not so worried about the wear.

It may take a couple hundred years or a few decades but must environmental scientests agree that the Earth's sea level will rise somewhere between five and twenty feet. So, to see if you (or your grandchildren) will be flooded here is a cool tool for you to use.

Today, in San Francisco, I witnessed the largest demonstration I've ever seen in person. There were one hundred thousand people pouring down Market Street like a river of humanity. They were loud, happy, and infectious. The noise was shaking the windows of my office on the 14th floor one block away! Over one million people demonstrated around the country today.

I know illegal immigration is a difficult issue to discuss because there are so many sides to the story. No matter how you look at it though you have to admit that California's agricultural, construction, hospitality, and food service industries wouldn't exist as they do today without those people. I understand the security concerns about enforcing our national border (even though the concerns are brought on by our international mistakes...) but it isn't right to insult such an important portion of our country.

A counter-protestor actually said the following:

"You should send all of the 13 million aliens home, then you take all of the welfare recipients who are taking a free check and make them do those jobs," said Jack Culberson, a retired Army colonel who attended the Pensacola rally. "It's as simple as that."

Yeah, because the millions of people without work right now are being actively turned away as they desperately seek out farm labor... right.

And then there's another interesting story. Stephen Colbert just personally handed the Bush administration one of the most scathing (and hilarious) reviews ever.



It's one of the most popular stories on the Internet right now and yet the mainstream media have completely ignored it.

UPDATE: A good wrap-up of the media reaction.

Finally, Rolling Stone has an interesting new cover story: