Plan "B"

It took some butt kicking, but I'm finally moved out. I think that I was dragging my feet for so long because I really liked the villa and was reluctant to move back into the city. It's really 180 degrees different from how I've been living for the last 3 years (in 3 houses, in three cities, in two states).

I met one of my neighbors yesterday. I tend to size them up and decide on the spot if I'm going to try to strike up a conversation or give the respectful "South City Nod". The chin up quickly while facing the other person while saying, "Hey, man." in a deep, manly voice. They usually respond with, " 'sup" or a simple nod back. Very macho. Too macho for me, but I fake it.

The neighbor I met yesterday was different. He seemed approachable (and without tattoos on his neck). "Hi", I said cheerfully, "I think I'm your new neighbor."

"Hi, I'm Eric." (or Erik - one never knows these days)

We chatted for a bit, and out of the blue he said that this was the longest that he had ever talked to any of his neighbors. I commented on the cultural wierdness of Californians not knowing their neighbors.

I got my introduction to my new neighborhood this weekend while moving the rest of my junk. I have storage lockers in the garage area, and I decided to go to Home Depot, which is a block away, to get some locks for them. I drove over there, because nobody walks in California, and was in and out in a matter of minutes because of the new self-checkout stands. I'm really starting to like those when they work.

I pulled up and there were squad cars and police and people and spectators and an air of mystery as if I had just walked onto a Hollywood set. "Hmm", I thought, "I don't know what's going on, but I've got work to do with moving." I pulled into my driveway and found that someone had very recently carved "WSM" on my garage door. Well, it was time to visit the nice police officers.

I walked up and found that the police were holding some pretty small children. They weren't in handcuffs, but they were all leaning against the squad car - looking as tough as a 4 foot person could look. "Are these the kids who were tagging doors?", I asked. "No, they were involved in assult and battery", replied the cop - leather bound and looking cool in his mirrored sunglasses.

I couldn't believe my ears. They were in middle school at best; possibly even 5th or 6th grade. I requested that the police visit me after they were done and that it might be a good idea to check the keys of the kids - the one with blue paint on their keys is most likely the one who carved "WSM" on my door.

After an eternity of process that is our modern legal system, the cop took a look at my door. "Ah, West Side Mob" he uttered under his breath. He filled out a police report and said that nothing further would be done. I figured as such, but since he was here and has the suspects in hand anyway, he may as well ding them with another offense (and possibly get their parents to pay for the paint job instead of me - the innocent). At the very least I probably need the police report so the HOA can submit an insurance claim - so all of our rates can go up. Don't you just love "victimless crime"?

I asked if he had any luck looking at the kid's keys. He admitted that he had forgotten to do it, but then later suggested that it was supposed to be done by his partner who had just left to investigate a drive by shooting. For some reason, I happened to remember the license plate of his partner as he drove off(1118088). "Well, whatever", I said giving him a way out.

I decided that all this excitement put me in the mode for some coffee. There's a Starbucks at the end of the block, but I drove anyway. I pulled into the lot and much to my surprise, the drive by shooting must have taken place at the Starbucks on the corner. There were a few squad cars and -yup- good ol' 1118088 was there too. O.K. not the first time I've been lied to.

I got my coffee and went back to Los Gatos to continue my move. In front of the post office, I noticed a young tree was growing sideways into the street, and cars coming off the freeway were whacking it. "This doesn't look right", I thought. I parked my truck and since I had some mail to send off I walked to the post office to get a better look. It appears that someone had pulled up the support poles for about 10 trees. I noticed a woman (Patty) doing some volunteer work in a garden box up the street. I approached her and asked if she had any rope. "I see that there's a tree in need of some love", I shouted over the freeway offramp noise while pointing.

"Yes, I saw that. I wonder how that happened?"

"Well, someone has taken all the poles for the trees in this area."

"Really? Why would the city do that I wonder?"

"Perhaps it wasn't the city." My eyebrows bounced.

Patty looked puzzled at the notion that someone would steal tree poles, but I've heard of cases where people roll up your lawn and steal it. This was within my acceptable range of viable explanations.

"I don't have any rope or string", Patty said, "Otherwise I could have done something."

"I tell you what. I've got some rope at the house. I'm using it to move, but I can spare some to help this tree". I ran back to the house and gathered the rope I had been using to tie my loads down. I returned and Patty and I helped the tree back to a vertical position.

"Does this remind you of Harold and Maude?", I asked jokingly. Patty either hadn't seen the movie of was a little perturbed at being compared to Ruth Gordon.

We got the tree back in shape, high-fived either other, and then Patty wished me a happy Earth Day.

Last weekend (well, the weekend before last now) I got a Cadillac Sedan DeVille and was planning to spend a nice relaxing weekend at a B&B in Napa. Some wine tasting, some hottubbing, some spa treatment, the works. Anyway, everything got rained out, but I had this great car and nowhere to go.

I decided to head south on 101 to see how far I would go. I drove past Prunedale and noticed that they took away the cardboard cutout man who had been shaking his fist at drivers for the past 10+ years. "It's 55 in Prunedale!"

Drove past Echo Valley Road. Drove past Echo Valley Road.

Stopped at Mo's in San Luis Obispo for the best pulled pork bbq sandwich and homemade chips outside the Bible belt. Oh, and don't forget the dippin' sauce for the chips. [MMmmmm, Smack!]

I was going to stop in Santa Barbara, but it was still raining.

Saw the Sun set over the ocean just in time. The rain gave me a rainbow just in time.

I got to Goleta, but didn't laugh uncontrollably.

Ended up in Disneyland (surprise).

I really like traveling at the last minute. I enjoy not having a plan or reservations or even a final destination in mind. Sure, I ended up in Disneyland, and you probably could've guessed that, but sometimes I end up in Hawaii or 4-Corners or Vegas or the Grand Canyon. It's nice just leaving and going places, ya' know? It's what I used to dream of doing when I was young and didn't have my drivers license.

The original reason for my iTunes post was not to rant on the iPod. I was going to rant on iTunes a bit. I'm looking and looking and looking, but I'm not seeing a lot of music that I would really want.

There's a good assortment of DJ Sammy, but almost no DJ Skribble. The longest Oakenfold song I can find is 7 minutes long. I know he's got some really nice 30 minute songs out there at Kaaza or other pirate site.

And there's ONE Bananarama song! I mean - c'mon.

So, the first two songs I downloaded were:
1. The Geto Boys - Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta
2. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow

You couldn't get two more different songs. The first one is from Office Space. Now that I have it, I don't really care for the explicit lyrics though. The second is from my trip to Hawaii. It's not quite like being there, but it helps.

So, I got a new ThinkPad. A fancy new T41p with a 1600 lcd resolution (sweet). I downloaded the latest driver for my iRiver MP3 ripper and learned that my iRiver will now work with iTunes. (sweet).

So, off to iTunes I go. I was originally bummed because my iRiver didn't say it was compatible with iTunes format, but it worked with MP3, AVI, WAV, WMI and a few others, so it had the technological advantage over an iPod.

While I'm comparing/contrasting iPod and iRiver:
iRiver - built in mic recorder
iPod - no built in recording capabilities
iRiver - inline ripper (I/O ports)
iPod - will gladly make you interface with iTunes
iRiver - Plays about a dozen formats (including iTunes)
iPod - Plays iTunes, MP3 & WAV
iRiver - FM Tuner
iPod - Nope
iRiver - Works as USB storage device
iPod - No file storage
iRiver - holds 256 MB of songs (there are bigger ones)
iPod Shuffle - holds 512 MB of songs

And the #1 reason why I own an iRiver and not an iPod:
iRiver - 1 x AA battery
battery life = 24 hours
unit life = unlimited since battery is just a AA
iPod - sealed battery
battery life = <12 hours
unit life = 18 months since the battery is not changeable