Garbage Truck Ablaze on Caribbean Dr on the overpass over Freeway 237, Sunnyvale, CA
Copyright (c) 2004 Matthew Lorono

I'm Sailing, I'M SAAILLING

More sailing practice today...well, not really more cuz it's the first time the Spitfire crew has practiced this year.  It turned out to be pretty fun, without the pressure of the run.  Our first race of the Summer Series is this Friday.  I think we are ready!

Four Problems with California Politics

Item 1:  There are too many laws which mandate spending.  This creates two problems.  Well over 50% of the California budget is locked up by these laws that prevents the legislature and governor from putting money were it is needed on a yearly basis.  Second, they create government spending that cannot be eliminated.  We need to not pass any more mandated-spending bills, and scale back on such laws already on the books. 
Item 2:  We have this ridiculous requirement for a 2/3rds supermajority vote on the budget each year. This is a democracy, where the majority rules, but the rights of the minority are protected. How is a supermajority vote requirement for something as mundane as the yearly budget supposed to do either?   When used on something mundane as the yearly budget, supermajority actually allows a very small number of powerful legislature members to mandate their own personal desires onto the entire body.  Supermajorities should be reserved for when they are most useful, as in cases of political crisis (impeachment) or changing winds (changes to the constitution). To use them for anything else is antidemocratic! We need to get rid of the supermajority vote requirement for the state budget. 
Item 3:  Term limits in the state legislature is leaving our leadership in shambles. Any experienced members are lame ducks, and the rest are rookies. There's no accountability because no one is around long enough to care! Originally, term limits was supposed to help minorities and women get into government, but now it is having the opposite effect. We need to get rid of term limits. 
Item 4:  Single-minded religious centric people and cooperate egomaniacs have a stranglehold on the Republican Party in California.  This has hampered its ability to put up electable members to the legislature.  Coupled with term limits, this has created a scenario where the Democratic Party has an unnatural majority at the state level.  The Republican Party needs to put more socially and secularly minded conservatives or moderates up for election.  Again, term limits would also need to go.  These two actions would hopefully bring more balance back to the legislature.  

 If Californians took these bold steps to correct the problems mentioned here, I feel the state would have much few budge crises and we'd have more resources to tackle older problems that just keep getting worse, such as the detoriation of our public school system, fire departments, road system and other urban infrastructure.

Bumble Bees and Cows

If you glued a million bumble bees to a cow, you'd have a flying cow.

(a saying I came up with over ten years ago)

So, why do I recycle?

I'm confused as to why I recycle. As a Californian, I'm stuck paying a ridiculous 5 to 10 cent deposit for buying plastic bottles and aluminum cans. If you bring in your saved cans and bottles, you only get a percentage of that back. Additionally, each major city has set up a recycling collection program in which they expect you to hand over your recyclables to them. Instead of getting your CRV back, home owners actually have to pay for the service! What the hell? It's no wonder that recycling has dropped a bit in the past 5 years.
Ok, so I actually attempted to save my aluminum cans. I've been saving them for 3 years now. You might think, "Man, that's a lot of cans." Not really. I had only 4 kitchen garbage bags full. The first problem I encountered is that it is not easy to find recycling centers. Where the hell are they? I found one by accident last month, so today I brought my cans to it. The place was closed in the middle of the morning on a Monday. So I came back at lunch. Finally, I was able to offload these cans...for the tremendous sum of...16.54 (including a few plastic bottles). 3 years worth of saving netted me an amount that is substantially lower than my hourly income. Yeah, so tell me again why I'm supposed to recycle?

Paintballin'

Dave, his g/f Miriam (no relation to the other Miriam I talk about here), Nate and I paintballed today. Man...fun! Outdoor, of course. We went to Bearcreek (backup link) in the hills outside of the Los Gatos area. It's only a 30 minute drive from my place. We got there around 8am, but didn't get started til 9:30 cuz of sign-in and orientation. By the second game, I was hella tired, but I got past that and came back strong. This one game I ran up the hill up the middle. Some how I got to the enemy base, ran right around their main bunker and took four guys out before I was hit. At the end of the last game, after lunch, I moved to the center of the field and held my position for the whole 15 minute game. I ran out of ammo about 6 minutes into the game, but kept myself from getting hit. I had two snipers come up at different times to my position. I would stand over the barrier, yell, and fire blanks in order to draw fire, then duck. The sniper was able see who shoot at me and take them out. The second sniper eventually got hit and passed off the last of his ammo to me...which I promptly used up. Finally, an opponent got around our rear, taking out a nest of our guys. He was so focused, he didn't notice me running right up to his position. I took him out just before the whistle blow to end the game. I got 8 minor welts around my body. I'm sore. Damn I had fun.