Monday, May 17, 2010

Alaska Cruise planning

A couple years ago, Allie and I decided that we'd go on an Alaskan cruise with her folks. The main location that interested me was Glacier Bay. Also, I wanted a cruise that was earlier in the year before the big crowds. I didn't know much about cruises (I've never been on one before) so I had to rely on my research. I wanted to book our cruise last year, though several factors forced us to wait for a 2010 cruise.

The first cruise line I looked at was Carnival. However, they don't have any ships that goto Glacier Bay early in the year. Other cruise lines didn't have round trip journeys (which means we'd have to fly back home on some very long flights with layovers). After researching, I found that Norwegian Cruise Line has at least a couple of ships that go up to Alaska during May with round trip itineraries that include Glacier Bay. They start in Seattle and end in Seattle. As a bonus, my best friend lives in Seattle.

The ship that seemed to have the best itinerary for us was the Norwegian Pearl. The ship, its accommodations and amenities appeared to be modern. After a lot of discussion, we pulled the trigger by purchasing 2 balcony suites for ourselves and her parents. Balcony suites are expensive, but since this was likely the only time that Allie and I would ever go on a cruise to Glacier Bay, we had to get them. By September last year, we were set for an Alaskan cruise aboard the Norwegian Pearl for seven days starting on May 9th.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

High School Poems II

Duff
Brown, brush
Lies, burns, moisturizes
Forestial protective top soil
Dirt


Boulder
Common, terrestrial
Sits, cracks, crumbles
Is at the mercy of weather
Big rock


For Extra Credit
Great way to improve my score
Ain't this just so great?!


I had classes that covered poetry for 4 years straight, and by the second year, I just started recycling much of my works,just adding extras to cover differing requirements.

I'm not going to add any other poems from my schools years here. There's over 50 or so, but nufin really any good. Some were very ambitious, and I may revisit them later for future projects anew.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

California Nature (Rev. B)

Your journey roads herald adventure,
Impelling me to climb your cloven heights,
And romp carelessly,
as aureate poppy fields beckon.

Sun-kissed waters bounce along your shoreline.
They entice me to surf the crashing calm waves.

Canopy-enveloped valleys thrive with floral scents
That draw my ingression, but I forestall.

Instead I caper like Death Valley’s mysterious-moving-rocks,
Which tickle your basin by some unseen will.

I endeavor to hike your proud hills,
And find places to gaze lostly into lakes full with sky.

Vineyard nectar overflows like sweet sweat,
To spur my soul’s arousal as I partake.
Your boundless attributes gratify my wanderlust,
And allure me to appease your nature.

Friday, April 30, 2010

California Drone

There is this photo going around of a supposed UFO that was flying over Capitola, California in May 2008. There's an AOL News article which discusses this photo.

California Drone


There is a likelihood that this photo is a hoax. According to the AOL article, "someone using the name Raji posted images on the Web site Craigslist, answered a few questions from UFO hunters around the world, and then just disappeared into cyberspace."

I have found alternative sources for the photos on flickr.com. In fact, there are a ton of photos uploaded as of March 28, 2008 on the TCorp account. TCorp has sixteen photos of the California Drone, including what appears to be two versions of the craft. The interesting thing about flickr.com is that it gives you the information about the camera used to take the photo. The original version of the photo above was taken with Konica Minolta DiMAGE X. Those who are searching for this "Raji" should keep this in mind. Several other flickr.com accounts also have photos, including hoax debunkers that have some interesting perspectives.

My impression of the California Drone photos is that they are hoaxes. Problems with the photo above? Although the angle of the sun/shades is similar across view of the photo, the angle is different in its depth. The light source between the object and the power lines is from the right side of the photo, but the light sources' height from the presumed ground is different. Also, the light intensity between direct sunlight on the object and the power line pole is much different. Another problem is focus. Both objects are in focus, but differently. It is almost as though they where taken with two different cameras.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Are Aliens Really Alien?

A question I've asked myself is that what if the beings we call aliens (visitors from other planets) are really not aliens at all, but inhabitants of our own planet. There are several ways for this to be true. The idea of ultraterrestrials and metaterrestrials is not new. However, there , is one more possibility that seems just as likely from a particular perspective.

There is a possibility that we are being visited by beings from the future. This is based on two assumptions. First, the human species will continue to evolve throughout time. Second, time travel is a technology that we will eventually obtain. If these two assumptions are true, then the most likely source of "alien" encounters is actually future evolved human-descended visitors that come back in time to observe their primitive past. They would come back to study us or to see us out of curiosity.

This would be that two major class of visitations would occur: site-seeing and scientific, or tourists and scientists. Almost on a lark to describe this possibility, I coined the term Future Evolved Terrestrial Tourists and Scientists (FETTS).

This would mean that some beings either come back to observe ancients times much in the same way we visit the pyramids or other ancients sites. In fact, there are stories that every president of the U.S. in modern times has seen U.F.O.'s at some point in their life. President Carter himself is even on the record as being a person who has seen one.

This also means that some other beings comes back to experiment on their primitive ancestors, much in the same way that we modern humans experiment on great apes, including climps.

This explanation is actually more likely than others if time travel proves to be easier than space travel. According to current understanding of the Universe, there is no reason as to why time travel shouldn't be allowed; though General Relativity does demonstrate that faster-than-light travel impossible. With this fact, assuming visitations from beyond are real, it seems most likely that these visitations are from our own world.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Cars: Protecting the protection


OK, I just saw something truly ironic.  A Prius had corner sticker bumpers for its rear bumper cover {which protects the main bumper, which protects car from nothing more that 2 MPH impacts}.  That has got to be worse than buying floormat covers to protect factory floormats that protect the carpet on the floor from getting dirty.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Casted Braches (final version)...almost

Night’s pale spirit dashes spiderwebs upon earth, 
Like villains cast onto silver screens, 
Lying without breath; but breathing, as wind affects, 
To spook our children on All Hallows’ Eve. 

Creaks and cackles echo, 
While creep jostles our own essence. 
This comforts ghosts banned from bliss, 
As they hide from Inferno’s joy. 

Clamoring so, and wailing, 
Lost souls seek new abodes; 
Haunting our windows as light upon memories; 
Whisking about, agitated, frustrated…then night wanes. 

Apollo rides out with his own cast of characters, 
To sweep away specters and their weeps, 
And comfort bring to little ones as they arise, 
Oblivious to the crypts under tread. 

About this poem: Casted Branches is about the pain of lose of a loved one, and the phases we experience when dealing with that lose. The challenge was to find new ways to express that kind of lose with a fresh and creative approach, since the topic is one of the most common and poorly written for poems. Cast Branches is prolly the best and most thoughtful poem I have written. In a way, it summarizes a period of my own life that stretched for several years. I also understand how this poem may be used to address the ending of a relationship, though this is not how I personally relate to it.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

High School Poems I

I know a man with a big nose,
I'd swear it was a water hose.
He'd say it was not,
but it sure dripped a lot.
It ran all day;
Enough to fill the bay.
I told him his faucet had to be fixed.
So he gave his lip many licks.
His nose still ran with that slime.
Oh, how I hate the color lime.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Brave Man

There once was a brave man
Who said, "I will, I can!"
So he did go
And tried, ya'no,
But he got scared and ran.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Hetch Hetchy exposed

Here's a photo of an exposed section of a southern portion of the infamous/famous Hetch Hetchy Aquaduct as it cuts through Santa Clara, CA.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My Beviepie

I used to sing this little ditty to Bevie (circa 1998-1999), set (roughly) to the tune of the ol' Spider-man cartoon theme song. It used to make her giggle...well, because it's pretty silly.

Beviepie, Beviepie

My-oh-my Beviepie

She's so cute

Yeah she is

She a beaut

I want to kiss

Hey hey,

There's my Beviepie

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Days of Honor (florist version)

Each sunrise is a badge
we branshish with pride.
Honor of many days
Is our grace and blessing.
We flourish, grow,
And bloom with fullness,
To gift our energies
For this day.
Becuz we are flower & sun.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

49ers Santa Clara Stadium links

My thoughts about the Santa Clara stadium for the 49er's:

-City of San Francisco have been promoting one ridiculous stadium plan after another for almost 2 decades. The 49ers finally got fed up and starting looking around other communities.

-Only 8% of session ticket holders currently at Candlestick live in San Francisco. Many more live in the Silicon Valley area. 49ers simply want to move to where the money and support is at.

-Sharing a stadium with Raiders in Oakland is nonsensical at best. Even the ridiculous Treasure Island proposal is very poorly conceived. (Yerba Buena island would have to be turned into one massive on and off ramp)

-I don't think 49er fans don't want to see their team sharing a stadium with Raiders anyway, even in Santa Clara.

Websites that have information about the proposed Santa Clara stadium for the San Francisco Bay 49ers:

Santa Clarans for Economic Progress
Santa Clara Stadium Facts

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Days of Honor (full version)

Each sunrise is our badge
That we branshish with pride.
The honor of many days
Is our grace and our blessing,
We flourish and grow
And bloom with fullness,
To gift our energies
For this day,
As though our emblem is
Both flower and sun.