I live in the bay area and I have a lot of friends who are democrats. I know a handful of republicans, but most of them know better than to speak up in political conversations. We all know it is not going to get us anywhere. I found the best way to go is ask democrats questions and make them explain the way they think.
I have been hearing them talk a lot about Sarah Palin. I find myself often explaining that the democratic party here in California is not the same as the democratic party in other states. I have to remind people that when I was in high school Pennsylvania elected a pro-life democratic governor in Robert Casey. Pennsylvania currently has a pro-life democratic senator in Bob Casey Jr.
In the last week I have heard and read a lot of those California Democrats react to Sarah Palin. When I hear the reaction there is an extra level furor and anger about Sarah Palin. After the convention speech, I feel that there was a much bigger reaction that their would have been if a man would have made this speech.
I think there is something going on here. I want to know what other people think. I want to know if there is more anger because she is a woman. A few people I have asked have admitted that they are angry about that. They feel both that there is a level of pandering on John McCain's part.
Will Democrats be upset if the Republicans beat them to the punch putting a woman in the White House or at least a heartbeat away from the White House?
It appears that Sarah Palin has energized both the Republicans and the Democrats. She has upped the fund raising of both parties. After the speech at the convention this race got more interesting.
I was sent a map of the current Califorina Fire. If you zoom way out it looks like the whole state is on fire. According to what my parents are seeing on the news on the East Coast, the rest of the country thinks the whole state is on fire. Yes I have smelled the smoke and see the haze, but I have yet to see any fires this year. I am happy about that.
I am declaring June 30 "State wide Talk and Drive Day!" On July 1 California is enacting a hands free while driving cell phone law. This will bring an end to an era to the state that is the home of car phones on the free way.
On the last day, we might as well call'em if you got'em. I am calling on all my California people to use your cell phone and drive on Monday June 30. Lets use this freedom while we have it.
Yesterday I was sent a map of the Significant California Fires - June 2008. Damn there are a lots of fires. Yesterday I could smell the smoke in my apartment. The map is cool. If you zoom out all the way the whole state seems like it is on fire.
My advice to my friends is go out and see California. I know lots of people around here that never get out to see the rest of the state. You have to take the time to see what is going on around you. California is so big, it is hard to see all of it. Every once in a while you need to take the effort to see part of the state you have not seen before.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking at leasing the California lottery to a private company. I have not read any real answer of why he wants to do this. I really want to see a detailed plan to see where the money would go.
Is this a good idea? If the state had a lot of debt to pay off, this would be a good plan. If the state had some huge capital projects that there was no other way to fund, this would be a good idea. Other than that, this does not sound like a good plan. Gambling makes money. I am not sure why else we would want a middle man to come in and take some of the state's cut.
I have a hard time seeing this actually happen. I am not sure he will able to get the kind of support that would be needed to get this to pass. From the reports I have read about this so far, most people are scratching their heads of why the state would do this. It is not like the lottery has a reputation of being poorly run. I know there are a lot of fans of privatization out there. They think the state should not be in this kind of business, but I look at it from a "if it's not broke, don't fix it" point of view.
Today I toured Hearst Castle on the central coast. On my current vacation I have been trying to do things that I have been putting off. The top of the list are Hearst Castle and the Getty museum. I picked Hearst Castle because it is closer, would cost me less to visit it, and there is a much better chance I will go to Los Angeles in the future. I have a hard time seeing myself just happening through San Simeon.
I am happy I have came to see it. It is a pretty cool place. It is in the middle of nowhere on the central coast. It is not the kind of place people come by accident. I can see why it was a good get away in William Randolph Hearst's time. I can see why it was popular with famous people.
I have to file Hearst Castle under crazy California homes of Rich People. Currently the other place in that file is the Winchester Mystery House. They both have a lot in comment. Never ending construction, never finished, owners who kept on changing the plans, and ended up being historic sites.
I know that William Randolph Hearst just called it the Ranch, but a castle is a good name for it. You can see how visiting the castles and residents of Europe influences. It reminded me of the Würzburg Residence. Both building were build to impress the guests who came to visit. I wonder if it was a way for Hearst to remind people who came to visit who he is. No matter what kind of Hollywood star you are, you are not as big as William Randolph Hearst.
Walking though the building I just thought to myself, "of course this place is in California. California is a place of people putting really big dreams into action. You would have to dream really big to build a place like this. It is on the top of a hill that is 1000 feet up. The place has amazing views of the country side and of the ocean. It is just an amazing place.
The building is amazing, but it is also a mis-mash. Both on the inside and on the outside it is a strange combination of styles. The building complex exterior is a combination of Spanish, Italian and Ancient Roman. In my head I can hear an architectural snob declare how the different style clash. You get the feeling that Hearst could not make up his mind. He wanted everything.
On the inside there are a ton of different art styles. I cannot even count how many different countries the art came from. It is almost dizzying. I bet that is what Hearst was going for. I bet it looked better when it was a house and not a museum. Now it is too much to take in. All the different styles were too much.
There is something about the Hearst Castle that made me a feel a little sad. I get the same feeling when I go to the Winchester Mystery House. All of these effort went into making this house, but now it is not a house. If feels like it is a little dead. It would be better is someone was living there. Since it is just a display piece now, it has lost a little of what made it special. Worst of all it was only in use for 29 years. It has been a state park for almost 50 now.
I was a little surprised to hear that KCNL is dropping Spanish format. Over the past decade or so Spanish language radio has been very profitable in California. I wonder if this is a change in radio. Has Spanish language radio his a saturation point or was this channel just doing it poorly?
I have not listened to the new station yet. I know I should check it out. I found this quote to be interesting.
The station, licensed in Sunnyvale with offices in San Jose, plans an ambitious new lineup, which will include listeners picking what to play and announcing songs from mobile studios built into two Scions that will rove the area.
I drove to Point Reyes on Saturday. The road has been calling my name for a while. I was suprised to find out how quickly winding roads reduce my desire to drive. Highway 1 North of the Golden Gate Bridge is even worst than the area around Big Sur. The older I get the less time I can stand driving. On a winding road like Highway 1 my endournce is only a third of what it is on the interstate.
I need to travel more in California. There is a lot in this state I have not seen yet. After seven years you would think I would have seen more. Now I am going to double my efforts to travel.
The oddest thing happened to me last night. A woman walked up to me and said she knew me. I looked at her and drew a total blank. She said that we went to Millersville University. together. At that point I totally remembered her. Ok, not totally, I drank way too much beer in college.
I never run into people I went to college with. Milliersville has about 7000 undergrad students, putting on the small side of medium. It is a state college and the type of place where you go to and come back to your hometown. You might end up in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, or Baltimore. It is news when someone ends up in NYC. The last time I saw an alumni map there were 50,000 alumni in Pennsylvania and Maryland combined, 47 in California.
We talked for a little while. She said that she grew up in the Bay Area and she knew she was going to live here again someday. She is working for atom films. When she sends me an e-mail I will update this entry. I can remember her name, but I cannot spell it.
Since I have moved out to San Jose she is only the fifth person I have seen from Millersville. I think I have only seen twice that number people from Millersville since I left school. I have never seen it as a place in my life that I need to keep connecting to. Being on the west coast makes that easy.
This week I will be seeing my first college roommate. I had three that lasted any length of time. We are still good friends. We will talk about college and the people he still keeps in touch with. I have a really bad memory about college. There are lots of stories that I do not remember at all. It will be good to see Jimmy, but I do not care all that much about reliving the past.
I am sick of all the attack ads in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. I am sick of all the mud that is being slung back and forth. I wish someone else would swoop in and call these two for all their bull. I know it is not going to happy. I just wish that going negative did not work so well.
