It’s my last day in cool Socal for a while – tomorrow MikeD and I fly east for the crazy hot Midwest. he’s getting off the plane in Nashville, while I’m connecting onward to Louisville. I have plans to ignore the heat and head out for golf the first few days of July…we’ll see if that works. I like heat more than cold these days, but the temps are extreme.
Yesterday we took a long walk along the beach in Oceanside, while today we’re going to the other extreme with a drive up Mt Palomar and a hike at the top.
SCOTUS has been busy again, supporting Convict Donny in almost every decision. The government is in a flat spin, with ever more power being given to a power-mad elderly sociopath. Not quite sure how we’ll pull out of the spin.
Meanwhile, news today reported that Donny used a secret $500M no-bid contract to start construction of the new East Wing bunker/ballroom/shitshow (you know, the one that was supposed to be paid for by private donations), and he has started construction on a surprise helipad for the White House. The man is a menace.
It’s Sunday morning, hours before anyone else wakes up. Time for deep thought. Today my thoughts go toward encoding exactly what I mean when I argue for a better government. Now that MAGA has hijacked what used to be the conservative right, and an equally radical faction is in the process of hijacking the liberal left, it’s important to be clear about things.
The first question is “why have a government at all?” Anarchists, criminals, and corporate extremists like the idea of abolishing government, but that always leads to a Mad-Max style tribal warfare model. With no controls, humans default to “might makes right”. We’ve been there and tried that, and the sociopaths always rise to the top – they’re willing to kill as many people as required to gain and stay in power. We need a government to have a non-violent way to get large numbers of people to co-exist and cooperate. Agree on the rules and create a system to enforce the rules with as light a hand as possible. That’s called civilization.
Here’s what I think a good government looks like and does. The one caveat prefacing all these statements is a rational budget – spending as little as possible to accomplish things on the list, and balancing the budget in all but the most extreme circumstances (world wars, pandemics, comets hitting the earth, etc).
Protect the environment, protect the nation’s natural resources.
Regulate people (enforce laws), equally and justly.
Regulate corporations, making sure they don’t run roughshod over citizens and municipalities, but give them room to succeed as capitalists.
Regulate the national economy and currency.
Run fair and open elections at every level – local, state, federal.
Educate US citizens – all citizens get a free K-12 education. Subject to budget constraints, all citizens can get 2-4 years of higher education, in either academics or trade studies.
Defend the US from enemies. (Notice I do NOT say have the largest defense/war budget in the world. And I do NOT say be the world’s military enforcer).
Run a rational, humane border control and immigration system. Manage immigration to optimize our labor force and economy.
Build and maintain critical infrastructure for energy, communication, transportation, and sanitation.
Ensure that every US citizen has access to health care.
Ensure that the nation’s food, water and medicine supplies are safe and plentiful.
Assist in the financial welfare of those who cannot provide for themselves – the homeless, the poor, the chronically ill, the elderly.
That’s a lot. Some level of taxation is of course necessary to provide these services, but our current system is bloated beyond belief and skewed wildly to favor the rich. Some kind of per-capita budget should be used as a way to control/balance taxation and services.
And now that I’ve written this, I realize it’s not the “what” a good government does that’s hard to define, it’s the “how” the work gets done. We had an answer for how until Trump and MAGA came along and blew it up via corruption, lies, racism and greed. Now we need a new or at least modified system of governance – the old one is broken. That’ll take a Constitutional Convention or a civil war. Or both.
Spent the day yesterday using the pool as it should be used. Great fun. We only get a crowd here a couple of times per year, and it’s always a good day.
More of the same today, just fewer people. It’s shaping up to be a fine weekend.
We get the next wave of visitors today at the Socal house. About 18 people, mostly family, will join us for BBQ and pool fun this afternoon. Big crew. After that we’ll have 5 of them stay with us for another 3-5 days. We’ve moved a lot of food from Costco to our pantries, so we’re ready.
But before all that fun, one last look at what Convict Donny and his team of fools are doing to the country. SCOTUS had a field day yesterday, ruling that immigrants seeking asylum, following all our rules and laws, can now be immediately deported. Laws be damned, we (MAGA/SCOTUS) don’t need to follow them. And that no new asylum seekers will be allowed. America, via MAGA, has decided that immigrants are evil and we want them out. Especially the non-white ones. This head line says it all: Stephen Miller says ‘America’s doors are closed fully to asylum seekers’ after Supreme Court rulings. So much for the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
That ship has sailed.
SCOTUS also decided that Bayer shall have no financial responsibility for damage done by Roundup. And that Hawaii’s attempt to get some control over handguns was illegal – Second Amendment “trumps” what a state’s citizens want, it seems. So much for all that “states rights” noise that the GOP made for years.
If that’s not bad enough, Donnie’s OMB Director Russell Vought wants to control every federal dollar based on MAGA priorities. That’ll be a disaster. From The Nation:
This is how things are supposed to work: We pay our taxes. The IRS collects them, and they are deposited into the US General Fund. These dollars from the General Fund are then disbursed to agencies according to what is authorized and appropriated to them under law by Congress. Agencies then dole this money out to state and local governments, or to community organizations and other partners, through grants or contracts. Some agency allocations decisions are formula-based (e.g., based on population or other criteria), while others depend on expert advice to make these adjudications.
But if Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought gets his way, this long-standing process will be put in the dustbin. Under proposed revisions to the Uniform Guidance that governs the expenditure of federal funds, decisions on all grants will now be in the hands of political commissars rather than subject-matter experts. The new proposed rule is over 400 pages long, and there are many other terrible provisions within it.
The new rule affects everything from healthcare, transportation, education, and food assistance to, of course, scientific research. This means grants to rural hospitals, for mass transit and road and bridge repair, for special education programs and Head Start, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and cancer research would now be subject to the whims of Russell Vought and his cronies.
Little by little, Convict Donnie’s team is reshaping how things work, attempting to leave MAGA hooks in every aspect of the federal government. We may never get a rationally functioning government back in place.
Not to be left out of the destruction, NY Democrats just elevated an absolutely crazed person to be their next US Representative. Darializa Avila Chevalier is as batshit crazy as Marjorie Taylor Greene ever was – just in a different direction. She will supply Faux News with headlines about crazy Democrats for the next few years. I can’t accept ANY of her stances – you’ll have to look them up; it’s too painful for me to list them – so we’ll have to find a way to distance her from any mainstream liberal messaging. It doesn’t help to have a lunatic like that as part of our brand.
All in all, it’s a grim picture. Congress and SCOTUS have enabled a malignant narcissist, a power-mad sociopath, to carve his way into the world’s biggest budget and take what he wants. The corruption and destruction is mind-blowing.
I’m reading a LOT about AI lately, and I’m learning that the world really is changing right under our feet. Most people are unaware, but big changes are coming. And I’m not sure if those changes will make our lives better or worse.
Medical advice and diagnosis will be nearly 100% AI-driven. MDs and nurses better get used to patients armed with credible diagnoses and reams of information.
Digital security / cybersecurity is in for a wild ride. AI-driven threats will make most current online security useless.
Writing – generating content that people read – is in big trouble. LLMs can write almost anything at this point. There are tools that can detect AI-generated text, but many people cannot detect the same. And many people won’t care that their new favorite author is a bot.
Within a year it will be foolish to believe ANYTHING you see or read online. Very convincing fictions, text, image, audio and video, will be used to generate a large percentage of everything online. It will look and seem real – 99% of people won’t be able to tell the difference.
All professionals in data-intensive jobs – lawyers, accountants, engineers, data analysts – will get their jobs turned inside out. Radically changed. Maybe replaced, but definitely changed.
Countries and companies that can afford to build frontier-level LLMs will have (already have?) a huge economic advantage over those who can’t. The US, China, maybe the EU, maybe the Saudis – will do fine. Everyone else…relegated to second or third world status.
AI-generated content is already influencing US elections. Voters are influenced by media, and media is about to get overrun by AI content.
The ability of frontier-level LLMs to act independently, to gather information and take real-world action based on conclusions from that information, grows every day. It’s already waaaay past what I would consider safe.
Our collective ability to understand the implications of frontier-level AI is pathetic. We have no laws, no governance, no rules, that will help us keep the genie in the bottle. I’m reading and thinking about this a lot, and I can’t see where this all leads. We could be building Skynet right now. And this hard-to-understand change is happening when US leadership is at an all-time low.
What’s happening right now is both a shitshow and wildly fascinating. We may be building a wonderful new world, or we may be building a demon that will destroy us quickly. It’s really hard to know.
Well. After five straight days of golf fun, today is a day of R&R. That’s rest and recovery, sorely needed. I can’t remember a busier time. First the two-week trip to the UK, then the week-long drama of my brother’s passing, then a frantic day and a half going to the Rush concert, and finally the five-day golf, eating, and drinking binge with my KY cousins. That’s pretty much a solid month of unusual activity.
We get a couple of days for R&R, then it all starts again for a week. Huge crowd coming here post-World Cup event, then Em and the gang for a few days, overlapped by my high school buddy Mike coming by for a birthday visit. Mike and I travel together back to Nashville on the 1st, then I hop over to Louisville where I plan to hole up and truly rest a while.
This is all kind of a side effect of my recent attitude of “why wait, do it now, you may not have tomorrow”. Like most anything I dive into, I tend to overdo it. Just a little too much fun all at once. But I’m surviving, if not thriving.
In retrospect, three of the four golf clubs I took the cousins to were a big success. Rancho Santa Fe, Torrey Pines (shown in the title photo), and Pechanga were all hits. The local club, not so much. Here’s a shot of the 7th hole at Pechanga with its magnificent view.
Here’s a picture of La Jolla, the land of pelicans. They have absolutely taken over La Jolla Cove. The smell of their droppings is intense – a strong ammonia smell. We had a nice meal that day at Eddie V’s, but the pre-meal walk around the Cove was a bit much.
We’ve had clear skies the last few days, so the evening activity of stargazing through K’s telescope was a big hit with everyone. Here’s a shot of Jupiter and a few of its moons.
All in all, a great start to the birthday month. Next up, some fun in KY if it ever stops raining there.
We’re entering Day 3 of the great 2026 golf adventure with the Louisville cousins. After a bad start at Golf Club of CA (long story), we had a magnificent day at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club. Perfect weather, beautiful course and a lot of fun.
The food and drink is taking its toll, so I’ve gotta find a way to cut back. I’ve dusted off the old cooking-for-company skills, and we’ve had two straight nights of excellent meals with very good wine. I feel it. Turns out that celebrating a 70th birthday is gonna require some discipline.
Today we play Torrey Pines, and I’m really looking forward to that. Torrey was one of the courses I got to introduce my brother Don to, many years ago. Here he is at Torrey in 2004. I’ll dedicate today’s round to him – in a better world, he would be playing with us today.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! From Heather Cox Richardson today:
It looks as if Trump’s war on Iran has cost the U.S. the lives of thirteen service members, injuries to 400 more, and at least $132 billion so far in immediate costs, lost income, and higher consumer costs, only to leave the U.S. in a significantly worse place with regard to Iran than before Trump started bombing.
The costs to the world have been significantly higher in terms both of lives—beginning with more than 175 Iranian schoolchildren and their teachers—and of economies.
Here’s a nice summary of Mr. Art of the Deal’s Memorandum of Understanding Memorandum of Fucking Surrender.
Well done. Plus, so much winning even beyond Iran!
Seems clear to me that Convict Donny is spiraling down the drain. Even his cult members can see the decline and the dementia. The incompetence. The only real question is does it come to a head before or after he’s completely ruined the US.
The article about the Feds paying companies to stop wind farm developments is particularly galling. Because Trump has some weird phobia about wind farms, he’s spending our tax dollars to stop them. Sure, I’d go all NIMBY if there was one planned for my neighborhood, but farms in the god-forsaken TX panhandle, or atop some uninhabited mountain ridge…let them be. It’s mostly free energy. But spending our money just to buy the investors out – that’s criminal. I’m sure at this moment multiple VCs are spinning up new wind farm developments, anticipating they’ll get a zero risk buyout from the US government.
On more esoteric subjects, I’m spending some time trying to grok both sides of the AI argument by reading the incredibly verbose advocates of each side:
Argument A – AI is economically unfeasible and is a dead end, supporting only Capex-focused investors.
Argument B – We’re already in The Singularity, and AGI (artificial general intelligence) and ASI (artificial super intelligence) are just around the corner. AGI and ASI will transform the world.
Proponents of each are quite persuasive. It’s also possible that both extremes are true. This is turning out to be a very, very interesting period for tech and society. I keep wishing I hadn’t checked out of professional life.
Now, off to work. Gotta clear leaves off the driveway and fix some of the window smears our window cleaners left yesterday. Nothin’ but fun.
I have no idea what’s going on in the minds of twenty-somethings. This take on voting rights by the tradwife wing of conservative America is shocking. From Digby:
“My perspective as a Christian woman,” one young woman says, “is that my husband and I are one flesh. I vote the same way he does, so honestly, I would be okay with giving up my right to vote, because I know that he would represent me well.” Another chimes in that her daughter won’t need to be able to vote because she knows she’ll marry a godly man.
The viewpoint is shocking and even laughable when most people are exposed to it for the first time. And it does give rise to a number of questions.
Vance posts a couple of snarky comments from social media:
These women, Vance writes, are “willing to bargain away their own personhood for what they perceive to be the security of marriage and motherhood.”
I’m starting to believe that the age of 18 or 21 is way too soon to let people make any significant life decisions. Like getting married or voting. They’re biological adults, but they’re mental morons. We really, really need some civics and history education for young Americans. Maybe before voting they should take (and pass) the same citizenship tests as naturalized citizens. And Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale should be required reading for all high schoolers.
Speaking of reading, I’m re-reading an obscure Greg Bear trilogy called War Dogs. It’s the story of first contact, a war with aliens, and Mars colonization all told from the point of view of a front-line soldier. It’s very, very good. Bear is an under-appreciated author, one of science fiction’s “killer-Bs” from southern CA (Bear, Bedford, and Brin).
As I fight through accumulated time zone debt, I’m also watching some World Cup action. It’s irritating to have to watch it on Fox – even their commercials contain conservative propaganda – but the games are really good. It’s LOTS better than watching American football. Call me a convert.
Back to the driving range today to try and find my golf swing after an eventful month of travel. After about 30 hours sitting in an airliner seat, plus maybe double that amount sitting in cars/vans, my fitness and flexibility isn’t great. Time to work on that.
Back in Socal after a long, hard travel day. Three hour drive to Nashville, a three hour wait at the airport (flight was delayed), then a 4.5 hour flight to SAN – must’ve been some big headwinds. Landed at 5pm in SD, so traffic was at its worst. I decided to stop at Costco and shop (company coming, need lots of provisions) rather than just sit in traffic. So I made it home at 7pm, about 13 hours after leaving Cleveland TN. Felt every minute of it.
Having said that, if you’re going to be stuck in an airport for a while, Nashville is a good one. Modern, spacious, good food, good seating options, and lots of live music in bars and restaurants. So that part was OK.
Today it’s mostly rest and recover mode. Some light chores around the house.
And of course I’m catching up on the news, drinking coffee. Some quick thoughts:
The UFC fight on the White House lawn was a new low for American dignity, and that’s saying a lot. Really sad.
I’m laughing my ass off about the Washington Monument reflecting pool turning green with algae. Everything Trump touches dies.
The end of the Iran war/not a war is laughable. Actually tragic, but laugh is all you can do about our dimwitted federal government. We made more enemies in the Middle East, killed a lot of innocent people, blew through billions of dollars, wrecked the global economy…for absolutely nothing. Iran is in a stronger position after the war than before. Nice job.
I was very sorry to hear about the B-52 crashing at Edwards AFB. A true tragedy. But what do you expect when you’re flying 65 year old aircraft? The B-52s should be retired, right now – they qualify for Social Security, fergawdsake.. They’re a relic of another time, another era in warfare. We don’t need them today.
Zac Brown and Nate Bargatze just became dead to me after performing/appearing at Trump’s UFC/Idiocracy shit show. As a celebrity, you support Convict Donny, you lose my support. Period. Same for Roku, a company just bought by Fox. I’ve bought a lot of Roku gear over the years, but no more.
Convict Donny is in Europe, at the G7 again. Any minute now he’s going to do something that will embarrass America further – it’s inevitable. You put a spoiled child in a group of adults, and the child is going to act out. Wait for it.
That’s it for now. Time to get my golf game in shape, as a month’s worth of birthday golf starts on Thursday.
It’s been quite a day. A so-so buffet breakfast at a hotel. Then we had a lot of time to kill, so we took a drive and did some sightseeing along the Ocoee river and lakes. That entire area, up through the Cherokee National Forest, is really something. Beautiful. I can see why Don wanted to settle here. Here’s a picture just below one of the dams as the sun came out and caused a small rainbow due to the mist from the waterfall. No pot of gold, though.
It’s a beautiful forest and river valley. Good drive for a sad day. Then we went back to the hotel, got dressed and headed out for the funeral service. Plenty of people came out to honor Don – his friends and family. Lots of nice remembrances and stories. Beautiful flowers.
I came away with a renewed decision to ask for a party, a wake, rather than a traditional funeral. I hope the people I know get together with plenty to eat and drink, and good music. I’ll make sure at least one Rush song is played – have to think about which one that should be.
After the service we retired to Don’s home for some food prepared by relatives and some small talk. Then, a short drive to the hotel, where just as we arrived the heavens opened up with a fierce display of lightning and torrential rain. Fitting, somehow.
Title picture is an old shot of my brothers and Dad back in the 80s. Don is the one in the middle. Just hard to believe he’s gone.
I’m in Cleveland, TN tonight for my brother’s memorial service tomorrow. I’m as tired as I’ve ever been – not an exaggeration. I’ll go to bed early tonight and wake up based on whatever my body decides is morning. Might be 1am, might be 3, who the fuck knows. But this is appropriately the end of the road – from this point on I have two brothers to lean on, not three. A sobering thought.
The flight from SAN to BNA was awesome – I barely remember it. I was so tired I slept hard most of the way. Started in San Diego, woke up in Nashville a minute later. Sweet. The drive from Nashville to Cleveland was great until I hit Chattanooga. Three interstate lanes became one, and I went 5 miles in one hour. Ugh. But I’m here, probably for the last time in my life. It’s a nice area, but without Don there’s no draw. There’s a nephew to consider, and I’m giving that some thought.
I find that the more weary I get the less I give a fuck about what I say. My two brothers (plus Deeanne) and I had a meal tonight and the service wasn’t great. Normally I’m verrrrry polite, but tonight I let people know when they didn’t do so well. Maybe that’s why oldsters have that reputation – at some point, feeling sick and tired, you just can’t ignore even little slights. That sounds petty, and perhaps it is. I may have to work on that.
Tomorrow we say a final goodbye to Don. Breaks my heart. But that’s the reality of it – we’re here, and then we’re not. I hope our consciousness survives the death of the body, but who knows?
I can’t decide on any pictures to capture the moment tonight. Words will have to do.
Loved this Rolling Stone review of Rush’s night two performance in LA. I am sure lucky to have been there. This Reddit thread on the show isn’t bad either. The two old guys and the new drummer knocked it out of the park.
Catching up on sleep a little at a time, though the time zone delta is large – 9 hours difference between the UK and Pacific time. The rule of thumb, that one can expect to shift an hour or two per day, is holding true for me this time. My sleep patterns, bad as they are, got waaaay out of whack this trip. Tomorrow’s trip to Nashville, 3 hours delta, should be a bit easier. But the return on Monday will put me back in big delta territory. I’ll then be in a single time zone for 15 whole days. Woo hoo!
It’s definitely a rough stretch right now. Sleep problems, some long travel days, stress/sadness over my brother’s passing, and yesterday we learned that we have a bad case of identity theft to deal with. Someone is using K’s name/address/SSN to file fraudulent tax returns and attempt to get refunds. I’ve been in touch with the IRS, they’re aware now and say they’ve stopped the fraudulent returns. But now there’s a huge cleanup problem involving banks, credit agencies, the IRS and Franchise Tax Board, Social Security….ugh. It’s a mess. I’m well equipped to deal with all the online steps one needs to take to clean it up, but there will be lots of time on hold with various agencies. And now we’ll have to change most financial passwords and enable two-factor authentication for everything.
Scanning the news this morning, it’s pretty awful. Convict Donnie and his flying monkeys continue their destruction of everything they touch, and continue their right-out-in-the-open looting of taxpayer funds. It’s depressing. I’ve gotten to the point of wishing a terminal health event on the central figure, ASAP. If he exits, much of the evil infrastructure he’s installed should crumble or at least weaken. Don’t get me wrong, Vance will be bad, but Convict Donnie is a once in a millennium locus of chaotic evil.
On a positive note, I got my new/vintage Harman Kardon 330c receiver yesterday, hooked it up this morning, and it sounds great. I can’t A-B it with the Sansui 505 yet, but when I get back from TN I’ll be able to. Its sound is clean, understated. Plenty of punch, but not in-your-face like the Pioneer in KY. But I’ll know more when I can have a real A-B session with the Sansui. Here’s a picture of the setup in the living room listening room, facing southwest. The 330c is the equipment on the left side.
Title picture above is another Rush shot from Tuesday night. Quite the memory. Need a few good memories lately.
Exhausted. Running on fumes. That’s my status for today. I’ve been living out of a suitcase (a small carryon, in fact) for 18 days. Never more than two nights in any single place. That one’s on me; I didn’t think about how hard that would be and didn’t know what would happen at the end of the Europe trip.
So to recap, I originally planned to fly back to Socal on the 6th, giving me three days to recover until going to LA for the Rush concert. Then I decided I wasn’t comfortable waiting until mid-July to see my brother again, as sick as he was, and changed plans to swing through Nashville on the way west. On the day we were flying back into the states, I heard from my brother that he would prefer to not have company that weekend, and he asked me to delay my visit. I wasn’t happy – a lot of effort had gone into the travel changes – but I had to honor his request. I pinged him once more gently when we were in Nashville for a night (his place is 2.5 hours east of Nashville), but no go. So we drove off to Louisville for a quick visit with the grandsons and a check on the construction work at the Louisville house.
That all went fine. We got to Louisville on Sunday the 7th, visited family and got ready to head to Socal on the 8th or 9th. Then on the morning of the 8th we got word that my brother had died. I’ll never know exactly why he waved us off a visit on the 7th, but at this point I suppose it doesn’t matter.
For 24 hours I agonized over the next steps. Stay in KY for a TBD funeral date? Go west as planned? Attend the Rush concert? Ultimately I decided to carry through with the plan to head west early on the 9th, hustle home (an hour+ north of the SD airport), then head for LA with my friend Tracy to the Rush show. Celebrate life while you can. And a big factor was that Don was a Rush fan just like me, and I think he would have wanted me to go. Loud music and golf were two passions we shared. Tracy and I toasted him multiple times, a mini-wake, and it was fine. Though exhausting. The 9th was a 21 hour day culminating in a three hour Rush extravaganza.
I’ll have to say the Rush show was spectacular – they haven’t missed a step or a note. Geddy and Alex were honoring their own fallen family member, Neal Peart. And the music – you could feel it deep in your chest. Here’s a couple of pictures from it. We were 12 rows back on the floor.
Next up – 2.5 days of rest, then a rapid trip to TN and back Saturday-Monday for the funeral service. And here’s a picture of a younger, happier Don. The way I want to remember him.
Yikes. Up at oh-dark-30 yesterday and today, due to two weeks in the Euro time zone I suppose. Going further west tomorrow will be a challenge. I’m zoning out hard about 830pm here (530pm) on Left Coast. And tomorrow I have a Rush concert in LA at 730pm PST, or about 130am on my body clock. Better find some rest along the way.
I just looked at the first Youtube videos from last night’s FIRST Rush concert in a decade or more. They look and sound great, so I’m stoked for Tuesday night, late or not. Annika Niles crushed it as drummer, so that’s settled. It’ll be interesting to see what the VIP package I bought along with the pricey seats will be, but whatever it is, I know the show will be stellar. Here’s a taste.
Took a quick trip to Crescent Hill for an early morning 9 holes, playing before an expected storm. Felt great, and after a 3 week layoff my swing was as good as it gets (for me). I finally started getting my right side into the swing and hit it very, very well. Three miles of walking hills carrying clubs before 830am, in moderate heat/humidity. Feels great.
In 24 hours we’ll be mid flight, on way to Socal. And the Rush show.
In the meantime, here’s a nice little creek with boats near Ross Castle, in Killarney. The Ross castle story is a long one, for another day.
It’s still June 6, and we’re back in Trumpistan. Boston, to be precise. We’re waiting on a flight to Nashville, a flight that we would not have taken except for wanting to see my brother. Which won’t happen, but that’s a story for another time.
JetBlue, our connection after Aer Lingus, has a weird, weird process of not assigning seats until 50 minutes before departure. Really? I thought Southwest was quirky. Never flown JB before, probably won’t again. So here we sit in Boston waiting to know where we’ll sit on the next flight. With my luck it’ll be on the wing or in the restroom.
On the way in I decided to listen to some music instead of reading, and I really enjoyed listening to all of my usual tunes via headphones. Wolf Alice, Rush, Tame Impala, Blue Oyster Cult…I was rocking at 30K feet over Greenland. I might become a headphones guy after all – the sounds were really good. As an engineer and a gear freak, I love speakers and amps, but music played straight through headphones…it’s pretty great. Pure. I can hear a few things that I don’t hear with any of my systems, and that’s saying a lot.
Speaking of systems, I just bought a sweet Harman Kardon 330c on eBay, and it’ll get delivered to CA in 4-5 days. It should sound spectacular with the Spatials. Call it a Fathers Day gift or a birthday gift. I bought it while chilling out in the back of nowhere, Ireland – actually, on the upper lake of the national park in Killarney. Weird. Almost as weird as buying our KY house sight unseen while on a volcano in Hawaii. But that’s the way I seem to roll. That said, the KY house was almost exactly 1000x the price of the HK, so…not a big deal.
I’m waaaay behind posting items about the trip. In Dublin airport lounge now, waiting for our flight to Boston, connecting to Nashville. Nashville, because we wanted to see my ill brother before going further west.
We’re on our way back to Trumpistan, and the news from there is predictably not good. Maddening, like this note from a health conference. All the shit that Convict Donny and his minions want to impose on US citizens is done in the name of “security”. Fuck them. We won’t be secure until we root out every last MAGA minion in every branch of government. It’ll take a generation. Here’s another atrocity example – convicted criminals get favors from the Preznit, again and again.
It’s pretty sad, going home to a place being destroyed from within. Unless something dramatic/wonderful happens, we have many more months of destruction to put up with.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of the windy wild Kerry Cliffs.
I’ve not done a good job keeping up with (documenting) the journey, but there should be some time in the next few days.
Yesterday we left Dingle and traveled about 90 minutes to Killarney. In spite of the move, it was a fairly restful day as we had no planned excursions and (shocker) it was gloomy, cold, and raining. So we stayed inside our hotel(s) and rested up for today’s big journey, the Ring of Killarney.
Our penultimate hotel, The Cahernane, is one of the older hotels in Killarney and a grand one with quite a story. Here’s a picture I took of the hotel during a few minutes between rain showers. And our view toward the mountains is the title photo above. It’s a perfect example of our motto since entering Ireland: “Wow, I bet that’s beautiful on a sunny day.”
The view from our hotel in Dingle (The Pax House) was wonderful, when we could see it (Wow, I bet that’s beautiful on a sunny day.) Vast swaths of pastureland and ocean. The main sitting room in the hotel was comfy with dozens of plush chairs from which to enjoy the view. Jules the dog ruled the room – he greeted every guest and had his own special chair. The Pax House owner, John, clearly loves his dog and has done an incredible job decorating the place with artwork from all over the world. I can’t recommend the Pax House strongly enough, though one would be wise to book it 9-12 months in advance. We learned that the hard way. It fills up for an entire tourist season within days of John opening the website for bookings. Example view below.
We did have a great day being guided around the perimeter of the Dingle peninsula by our guide Mossy, short for Maurice. In 4+ hours, we took in the Conor Pass, some 5000 year old stone ruins, an 1100 year old church partially destroyed by Cromwell (they really hate Cromwell in Ireland; he was that era’s version of Convict Donny), a cool beach and giant seascape, some pre-Christian-era standing stones with Gaelic writing…quite a lot. Mossy had a final surprise for us when he took us to a standing stone in a church/graveyard, and told us it was the only “marriage stone” in all of Ireland. He showed us how placing your fingers in the top hole of the stone and reciting vows was the way the Irish had their marriages “written in stone”, and challenged us to do that for our 25th. We did, and it was a memorable moment. I signed up for another 25. Here’s the stone at Kilmalkedar and a reference.
There are too many pictures to illustrate all the things we saw, but I do like these two pictures of the wild western Ireland seascape. Turns out that Ryan’s Daughter was filmed in this area back in the 70’s, and I remember seeing that movie with my parents back in 1970. My mom was mortified that she had brought me to a movie with some spicy scenes, though I’m sure they were tame by today’s standard. The beach in the photo below was featured in the film.
Today we took a long rainy drive around the Ring of Kerry, and I’ll write that up tomorrow. I’m at least a day behind on documenting.
It’s Tuesday, June 2, even though my WordPress account thinks it’s June 1. My Mac has been wonky since I fired it up this morning – it rebooted itself unexpectedly, so…we’ll see what’s up. It’s mostly working now.
The last 24 hours after arriving in Ireland have been interesting. We arrived in a foggy, driving rain that only got worse as we were driven toward the coast and our hotel, the Armada House. I checked the weather and the outlook for our entire stay is/was the same – rain, fog, etc. Our first impressions of Ireland were a bit rough.
The Armada House was first class, though we were only there for about 12 hours. We had a meal across the street at the Armada Hotel – great seafood, as expected from a North Atlantic island. The next morning we had a short drive up the western coast of Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher, an allegedly beautiful sight. We couldn’t see it much at first, as the fog was in, thick and cold. Not conducive to sightseeing. Here’s a selfie and what we saw of the Cliffs.
It was cold and windy. Of course.
We decided to leave and visited the shops toward the entrance. Just as we were leaving, it cleared up a bit. Of course. So here’s a slightly better view of the Cliffs that we got by hustling back the quarter mile to the view.
After that we had a looooong 3.5 hour drive from Moher to Dingle, where we are in the middle of a 2-night stay at Pax House. Pax House was advertised by our travel agent as the highlight of our two week vacation, so we had high expectations. When we arrived, the House met expectations, but our promised room did not. The travel agent messed up and booked us what is politely referred to as a “Snug Room”, a tiny room without a view, underground ( a basement). It was a shock, to say the least, given what we paid and what the travel agent knew. I had a few tense go-arounds with the agent, and we’ve got it mostly sorted out by now. We’re still in the Snug Room, but we have some significant compensations/reconciliations for that. I did pretty well not letting this setback ruin even a day of our vacation.
Today we had a great tour around the Dingle peninsula. I’ll post about that later.
Here’s a hurried post from the wildly-crowded Edinburgh airport departure area with some one-liner observations about the last few days, and Urquhart Castle in the title photo.
We both love Scotland. It’s got a great feel, a good vibe. Gorgeous and rugged country, especially in the highlands.
We only had one bad weather day out of the last five, a great ratio. Unfortunately the cold/rainy day was when we e-biked in Foyers and we took the boat road on Loch Ness. But so it goes.
Foyers Lodge was spectacular. Way out in the middle of nowhere, but sure beautiful. Real nice people running the place too.
I’ll reiterate what a great job the Scots do taking care of their country, their land. We could learn a lot from them.
After moving a dozen “little” travel details to drop by and see my brother in TN on the way west, turns out it’s not gonna work out. That’s frustrating. A story for another time.
I made a great decision to not drive while I’m here. Much, much less stressful. And maybe not any more expensive, as I didn’t need a rental car, just paid private drivers when we needed to get from A to B. Pretty smart move, now that we’re in the midst of it.
Tonight we stay in the Shannon area, and then tomorrow off to Dingle. I have no fucking idea what to expect in either place (clover? Leprechauns? indecipherable accents?), but I’m assured it’ll be great. We’ll see.
My on-the-lam camera has returned to me. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, aided by a traitorous backpack, the camera’s brief journey to Perth and parts unknown has come to an end. It took the efforts of four kind Scots to facilitate its return – Annette, who located the camera in Perth rail station’s non-communicative Lost Property office; an unknown honest person who found it under a seat and turned it in at Perth; Roger, our gregarious driver around Inverness; and Andy, Roger’s mysterious retrieval agent who just happened to be passing through Perth at the right time and was willing to coerce ScotsRail into releasing it. I hope I managed to send enough thank-you cash to Roger and Andy for their efforts. I won’t forget their goodwill.
Today is a mirror image of our first post-wedding days in Scotland 25 years ago. Rainy, overcast and cold, with no end in sight. Highlands weather. Our hotel here in Foyers is great, as is our room – hotel shown in title picture above. Elegant, situated with an amazing view of the Loch (when the clouds part, occasionally), quiet, and boasting a Michelin-starred rating. Our original post-wedding stay on the Isle of Skye was similar. But I’m much better equipped to deal with the forced stay-inside weather now than I was 25 years ago. Back then there was no Wifi, no laptop with me. A nascent worldwide Internet, certainly not present on Skye. And I’m much more tolerant of forced downtime now than I was then. Sipping coffee this morning in a plush sitting room, decorated as a turn of the century Britain library, watching the cold rain outside, is…OK. Reading, writing, contemplating…it’s all good. We planned to ride e-bikes today and do some hiking, but it doesn’t appear the rain will stop. We might go anyway – light rain in a hillside Scottish forest or in the tiny village square could be fun. We’ll see. Here’s the view we got yesterday upon arrival, during a brief break from the gloom as the storm approached from the west.
After our time here at Loch Ness, we leave for a long drive to Edinburgh, then a short flight from Scotland to Shannon, Ireland. We’ll visit Shannon, Dingle, Killarney and Dublin in our brief four day stay. The weather in Ireland looks a tiny bit better – there’s a chance it won’t rain at least one of the days we’re there.
It’s anniversary day today, our 25th. We have a good day planned, designed to be peaceful and stress free. That’s the good news. The slightly less good news is that the weather has turned, quickly and sharply. It’s Scotland, after all. Yesterday was sunny and in the high 70s. Today it’s overcast, cold and windy – maybe 50 degrees F that feels like 35 with the wind.
We spent a nice morning on Loch Ness, taking a boat ride from the Inverness end of things to Urquhart Castle and back. It was frigid on the Loch, with dark choppy water. Bone chilling wind. More of a scene from a murder mystery than of an anniversary trip. But we enjoyed it all the same. Loch Ness is a really interesting place – wild and deep, it’s a deep geologic fault line that runs for approximately 30 miles east and west. At 800 feet deep, it’s a huge fresh water reservoir. And no, we didn’t see Nessie. Later today we move on down the Loch to Foyers and Foyers Lodge, a highly rated hotel and restaurant, where we’ll spend a couple of nights.
More good news, due to a conspiracy among private tour drivers, I’m getting the Sony camera back tonight. Our driver from yesterday knew a guy who knew a guy, and they’ve collaborated to transport the camera back up to the highlands and to me. Very kind of them, and I’m gonna owe some big tips before this is all over (some already paid). The Scots are generous, and those involved in the tourist industry are especially so. But those big tips will still be cheaper than a new camera, plus I get the days of photos currently trapped on the camera’s SD card. ScotsRail wasn’t much help in all this – each option we came up with ran squarely into a ScotsRail limitation or policy blocking our retrieval. The latest was their lost and found office isn’t open on the weekends. But all’s well that ends well, I suppose.
I took the opportunity midday to read the news, including US politics. That was a mistake – what a shitshow. We’ve discussed Convict Donny with a couple of locals, and we all agree he’s the worst.
So goodbye shortly to Bunchrew House (pictured in title photo above), and on to the next adventure. Bonus picture below from the amazing gardens at Cawdor Castle in yesterday’s warm sun. One garden is surrounded by a maze of laburnum trees, the yellow in the picture.
Welp. It’s been a while. So much has happened, don’t know where to start. Feels like constant motion since leaving Socal on the 24th. At the moment we’re in a 300 year old Scottish hotel near Loch Ness, trying to deal with the 19 hours of sunshine each day (light till almost 11pm, nice and sunny at 4am) and resultant difficulty sleeping. Between eternal sunlight and jet lag, sleeping is a big issue. Same as it ever was.
The flights over were fine – Iceland Air business class was about what I expected. You get what you pay for, and I thought it was a fair trade. Our first two days in Scotland were…eventful. Picked up at Glasgow by friend Annette, got settled in at her place after Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride through 1000 roundabouts, then took a nice walk through her Glasgow suburb of Milngavie. The Scots have made “Milngavie” unpronounceable, so I’ve given up trying. But it’s a lovely little town and I wish US suburbs were more like it. Walkable, bike and hiking trails, a walk-only retail area several blocks square. I don’t have any pictures of it at the moment for reasons I’ll explain shortly.
Our first full day here we made a pilgrimage to Annette’s hometown of Dunoon, with lots of stops along the way to visit places mentioned by K in her book Puck’s Fairy Glen. That was a lot of fun. The drive around Loch Lomond was beautiful, and our first big stop, Benmore Botanical Garden, was superb. Giant redwoods and a profusion of flowers, all nestled in 600 pristine acres of valleys and hillside. So much to see there – it was a perfect example of Scottish environmental ethic – they really take preservation seriously.
After the Benmore hike and a stop at the title-centric Puck’s Glen a mile away, we went to Dunoon to retrace her characters’ journey, then to visit Annette’s family for an afternoon tea.
The trek around downtown Dunoon was cool, and the best was an unexpected visit we got in The Clansman pub. We were there because that’s where her characters started their journey, and because I wanted a Guinness. While there on the patio, in pops the roughest-looking quartet of locals you can imagine. Like characters straight out of Mad Max – shirtless (the guys), sweaty, bizarre haircuts and tattoos, one guy with a bloody nose and heavy attitude. Their attached girlfriends were equivalent. Most days I would cross the street quickly, just based on looks, but today I figured “what the hell?”. I said hello, we started a conversation. They were just returning from a three day punk festival (Punk on the Peninsula, held in Dunoon, who knew?) and were happy to talk about it. They were curious why an elderly yuppie-looking American was there, and I explained our book tracing journey. We got along great; they were really nice people. I left sad that I had judged them by look at first, and happy that I had broken out of my normal bubble. I didn’t get a picture of them as I should have, as I didn’t think fast enough to come up with a rationale that wasn’t a bit exploitive. But they’re safely in my memory, for what that’s worth.
The visit to Annette’s family in Dunoon was great, though a bit fuzzy in the aftermath. Turns out her brother-in-law is a scotch aficionado who seldom has a drinking buddy these days, so I obliged him. Also turns out that a Scottish afternoon “tea” can be quite a boozy affair – lots of little snacks on a rotating lazy susan with tower/tray, and a long menu of drinks. Tea optional. We all had a great time and then designated driver Annette carted us back to Glasgow, including a nice ferry ride across one of the ubiquitous bodies of water.
The final big event of the last few days was the loss of my Sony camera on the train. Long story short, my backpack popped open on the train from Glasgow to Inverness, lots of shit spilled out, just as we were leaving the station in Glasgow. I scooped it all up (or so I thought). After arriving at our quiet ancient hotel in Inverness, I readied for an evening photo walk, and…no fucking camera. It took a while to figure out what had happened, but I was pretty sure I’d never see it again. I went through the 77 stages of grief very quickly, as my primary sightseeing activity these days is/was photography. We contacted ScotsRail, and some honest passenger had found it under a seat (my old seat area) and turned it in at Perth, about 2 hours away from where we are now. ScotsRail is either going to put it on a train to Inverness today where I can retrieve it, or we’ll swing by Perth in a few days on our way to Edinburgh. All’s well that ends well, and I will be happy to get the Sony back. Though the backpack and I have taken our last journey together – popping open and regurgitating contents is a capital offense in backpack land.
Last photo for this post – a magnificent tree planted in front of our hotel in approximately 1700. A humbling thought.
Getting ready for a looong travel day today – about 20 hours door to door. A Southwest flight from San Diego to Denver leaving midday, a longish layover in Denver (by design, gotta go through international security/checkin there), then catching an Iceland Air flight from Denver to Glasgow. I chose Iceland Air because their business class seats were about half price of everyone else’s. That’s mostly because they have recliner-style seats in business class rather than lie-flat. I’m OK with that – it’s not like we’re going to Africa or Asia. It’s only seven hours from Denver to Keflavik (our stopover before Glasgow), and I’ve gotten pretty good at sleeping sitting up due to hundreds of hours on Southwest. So I hope the service and food are good, and we can get a nap or two along the way.
Once in Glasgow, we hunker down at a friend’s house for a day and a half – she’s picking us up at the airport. That’s perfect – if we’re zoned out, we don’t need to do much. If we’re rested-ish, we can get out and see the city. We’ve toured Glasgow before, and it’s a lovely city. On Wednesday we catch a train from Glasgow to Inverness, where the formal/scheduled/curated part of our trip begins. We’re not staying in Inverness proper, but at a nice little place on Loch Ness (Bunchrew House) for the first couple of nights. Then we move on down the Loch to a country estate, Foyers Lodge, where we can go biking, hiking, and take a cruise on the Loch. Two days at Foyers then off to Edinburgh for a short day there, then a plane ride to Ireland. The Scotland part of our itinerary will go by quickly (5-6 days total, depending on how you count flight days). I hope it’s relaxing – that’s the plan, but with travel you never quite know.
Final prep today – download travel apps from IcelandAir, RyanAir, and Aer Lingus. Each airline wants you to use their app for boarding passes and status updates. Plus read a little more about tipping customs in each country.
Title photo is a picture I took in 2006 atop Castle Stuart, where it all began. I always liked the light in that photo, and the Scottish flag. The castle itself (more of a fortified large house, actually) is pictured below. In 2001 we rented the entire place and 23 of our friends joined us, staying there for the wedding. It’s not open for such shenanigans today, and even if it were we probably couldn’t afford it. Destination weddings in UK castles got pricey after we set the trend.
Back to the Starship v3 launch watch/wait today. Yesterday’s multiple holds at T-40 seconds seemed to be due to problems in the launch pad, perhaps the gigantic water based fire suppression system. Or the pressures in fuel lines and pumps – we can’t know until SpaceX figures it out and tells us. So back to hoping for a clean launch today.
In the meantime, how does one reconcile the disgust at founder Musk’s sociopathic behavior and the admiration for his creation, SpaceX? Musk has become the worst kind of political animal imaginable – greedy, amoral, destructive, racist. He basically got Donny Convict elected by tossing about $300M into the 2024 election, thanks to SCOTUS and Citizens United. He then tore down decades of progressive institutions via his weird role in DOGE, an action that arguably has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the developing world, as we see right now with the huge ebola outbreak and no USAID to stop it. He also stole private data on every US citizen, data he’s now using to get even richer. Musk has shown himself to be a shitty human being, a criminal just like Trump.
But then there’s SpaceX, a company that has single-handedly resurrected space travel as an aspirational US dream. NASA was stuck, going nowhere. Then Musk and SpaceX came along and changed the rules for rocketry. More rockets have been launched in the last 3 years than in the previous 50, and that’s 100% due to SpaceX. The Falcon 9 system is an amazing launch workhorse, and Starship is the stuff of science fiction. I just love it.
So how does one reconcile Musk the shitty human with SpaceX his wonderful creation? I suppose there have always been deeply flawed people creating wonderful things, but Musk/SpaceX are extremes. No matter how I try to twist my head around it, these two things can’t be reconciled. One is incredibly bad, and one incredibly good. The cause and effect relationship between the two is hard (impossible?) to explain.
This essay is what happens when you’ve got too much time to think about things…
Happy to be at home #1 in Socal, at rest, after three tough days. Long drive to TN and back, a couple of near-sleepless nights. Sleepless due to stress over brother’s illness and a bunch of fires burning in Socal, a big one near where K is camped. Just what we need.
Then a 20 hour day yesterday – early flight to Socal, then an all day board meeting, dinner and drinks afterward. Then an evening drive up the I-15. That would be a tough stretch for someone in their 30s, much less an incipient septuagenerian. But I dragged my ass into the house about 9pm PST and crashed. Today it’s just R&R, listening to the Socal stereo rigs, and later hoping/watching as Starship v3 gets launched.
Speaking of Socal stereos, I always forget how impactful the Spatial M3’s are after being away for a while. They have a punch like no other speaker I’ve heard, even with the modest Sansui 505 driving them. I guess dual 15-inch drivers on each speaker make a difference. Listening to Laura Lee Ochoa’s bass line (Khraungbin) is a real experience. You feel it in your chest.
Only three days from now we take off for our big Scotland/Ireland trip, 25th anniversary. Everything is planned, paid for, scheduled and so on. All that’s left to do is packing, and I’m traveling light (carry-ons only), so no big deal. I’m looking forward to seeing Scotland again, and visiting Ireland for the first time. It should be a relaxing trip.
Busy, tough 24 hours. 650 miles round trip in almost exactly 24 hours. A couple of hours with my brother – worth it, but no good news there. He needs a miracle, and those are in short supply lately. Maybe always.
In Louisville my street is once again a war zone (construction zone, actually) and I’m about to add to it. My basement remodel crew will be here most of June, so unless something goes wrong, I’ll have a new bedroom and a finished basement when I get back. I’m putting a lot of trust in this contractor…let’s hope I’m not being naive. I’ve done my best writing down every detail and instructions – that works in software; we’ll see how well it works in construction.
Wanted to play some golf today, but between the unusual heat and road fatigue, it’s not gonna happen. I’ll miss Crescent Hill and Nevel Meade as I travel to the birthplace of golf, without my clubs. Doh.
Meanwhile, Donny Convict is pulling off the largest bank robbery in history, hiding nothing, and there’s nothing we can do. $1.8 billion, probably going to hard core MAGA types, including J6 rioters. Unreal. You. Couldn’t. Make. This. Shit. Up.
Corruption, cruelty, and chaos. That oughta be the new conservative tag line.
Long drive today, down I-75 to rural TN east of Chattanooga, to see my brother. He has triple organ failure (heart, liver, kidney), yielding a very tough prognosis. Time is short, and I’m gonna be away from this part of the country for a while, so off I go. At least the weather should be good for the drive. 650 miles over two days.
Starship v3 should launch this week, and I’m real excited for it. Musk has turned out to be a fascist/racist asshole, but his creation of SpaceX is still worth admiring. SpaceX single-handedly brought back America’s push into space exploration, and I’m grateful for that.
Had a little surprise yesterday. I’ve had the KY stereos wired up to compare the Pioneer SX-828 with the similar-sized and similar-powered Yamaha CR-840. I decided to have the smaller, older, less powerful Sansui 210 replace the Yamaha for a while. The 210 is rated at 10 watts per channel, and the Pioneer at 55+ wpm. Shockingly, with the volumes set at the same spot (about 1030am on the dial), the Sansui sounded almost exactly the same as the much more powerful Pioneer. Just a little less bass and low mid, but in general you had to listen hard to tell the difference. It was always obvious when I switched between the Pioneer and the Yamaha – the Yamaha was much less warm, very precise and a little sterile sounding. But the Sansui sounded glorious. I guess it’s true – the late 60s/1970s Sansui’s were the best engineered receivers of them all. The 210 uses a Class A amplifier topology, so that has a lot to do with the oomph factor it delivers. I may have to find another in the 210 receiver line….
Title photo was taken at Churchill Downs last Friday, where my friend Gary and I had a fun day at the races with almost no crowd.
Weird weather day yesterday – a little of everything. Cool morning, then heat and humidity, then rain/thunder, then back to cool and sunny. Three seasons in one day; classic KY or Scotland weather
Not much left on this KY stay – birthday action for grandson Jesse today, then a 36-hour trip to eastern TN and back Monday-Tuesday. Back to Socal Wed, a few days there and then off to the UK. Kind of an intimidating schedule.
The basement project is…evolving. I keep changing my mind about how I want to finish it; I’m probably driving my contractor crazy. But at least the project hasn’t started yet – changing requirements before project start is OK – it’s changing them after the start that is deadly. Right now I’m leaning toward no drywall on ceiling (preserve what little ceiling height we’ve got, plus preserve access to plumbing and electrical run through basement ceiling), plus no vinyl flooring. Just use pads and big area rugs on the concrete floor. Both those moves should save some money and another contractor friend tells me basement refinishes seldom result in a commensurate increase in home value.
Had my first DOA vintage receiver yesterday – an Onkyo TX-1500 Mk II got delivered damaged and inoperable. I actually saw the FedX guy dump it hard on my concrete porch, so. may have witnessed how it got damaged. So I promptly repacked it (better than the seller’s packing) and filed for a refund. Looks like eBay and the seller will honor my refund/return. Here’s the front panel damage – big dent and a popped side panel.
All things considered, I’m happy with the eBay purchase experience. Vintage gear prices are way up, but…you can take a risk on equipment and get your money back if the buy goes bad.
