Purgatory in the Garden of Eden

Bet you think this post might be about politics - we do live in California, but vote opposite of most of the state. No....this post is about the Garden of Eden - Marina Bay of Richmond.

I took a walk today-my usual 2 miles and ended up appreciating even more where we live. Take a look at the Marina - boats lined up, water still reflecting a cloudless sky and the air was crisp for Thanksgiving, 2010.

We have everything here! You can see the yacht harbor, but on my walk I visited the playground (Barbara and Jay Vincent) where all the grandkids have played one time or another. Then there is the beach! OK, so it is small, but it is a great place to view the July 4th Richmond Fireworks show.

Want to learn how to sail? Try out the Tradewinds Sailing Club which is an inexpensive way to do it. Check out their website.

This is an historical area - all built on the land previously owned by the Kaiser shipyards where many ships were built during World War II. Right here is the Rosie the Riveter National Park & Museum.

There are miles and miles of the Bay Trail to amuse any walker, runner, biker, skateboarder, skater, etc. etc. One can go from here down to the Bay Bridge or over to the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. Along the way, you can visit the Point Isabel Dog Park and let your pet take a walk in the park as well.

Before I bust my buttons let me at least give a mention to the best restaurant in Richmond - Salute Ristorante and it is walking distance from here! See what I mean - we have it all? What makes your location a Garden of Eden?

A Call to Action

DIXON, Cal. -- Anne Loucks Chapter NSDAR is leading the pack to honor fallen veterans this Christmas, but we are worried we won't be able to pay tribute to all of them.

Sue Busenius is leading the local Wreaths Across America effort. Cities nationwide are participating to collect wreaths for their own national cemeteries to place on the gravesites.

Busenius said 4,000 wreaths still are needed, in order to place one on all the gravesites, at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery.

"We want and need to recognize them for their service to our country," said Busenius.

As of Friday, Busenius said they were short 4000 wreaths.

She's grateful to those who have sponsored a $15 wreath, but the chapter needs more help to reach their goal, she said. "We will take anything that anybody has to offer because it will all add up."

The deadline to buy a wreath is Nov. 29. To make a donation visit Sacramento Valley National Support Committee website.

The Wreath laying ceremony is Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

This blog post has been in the back of my mind for some time. What more appropriate day to take a position on the topic than Halloween 2010.

My belief in ghosts began on a walking tour of Colonial Williamsburg.
We signed up for the tour based on the advertising: "Your fearless guide leads the brave down the dark streets of Williamsburg protected only by the glow of a single flickering flame, the only protection keeping the reputed walking dead, ghouls, goblins and ghosts from trying to do their worst with you." One stop on the tour was a house inhabited by the ghost of a young boy with dark hair. I remember taking a picture with my cell phone and seeing the boy in the picture. He's looking out of the window. Can you see him?

This picture was the highlight of the tour and has been shared with the grand children, who ask to see it on a regular basis.

In the October issue of Spirit magazine (published by Southwest Airlines) there is a special guide to America's most spirited places. First on their list is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington DC. Yes, the White House is spirited and sightings are documented. Grace Coolidge, wife of Calvin Coolidge, was the first person to report having seen Lincoln's ghost in the White House. She said that he stood at a window of the Oval Office, hands clasped behind his back, gazing out over the Potomac.

Two surprising places are on the list: Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas and the Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone Arizona. The ghost bride haunts Hotel Galvez and people report smelling cigars and hearing laughter in the Birdcage Theatre. One place where I would expect ghosts is Gettysburg Battlefield where more than 50,000 soldiers lost their lives. All of these places have ghost tours where you, too, can decide for yourself if you are a believer.

Let me know - Do you believe in ghosts?

Deliverance

Last year our mobile GPS device, a Garmin, was stolen. After replacement analysis, we determined that the best financial decision was to pay monthly to use GPS on my Blackberry phone.

Not only are we pleased with this application, we're glad that the thief forced us to make this decision.

Through AT&T (the service provider) the GPS application is Telenav. The most recent version (5.8) became available while we were traveling on the east coast.

Let me tell you some of the features we experienced on recent use.

First, the app tells you the speed limit for the street you are on. And, it lets you know if you are exceeding (over 5 mph) the speed limit via a red rim around the miniature speed limit sign. Nice!

Second, the app warns you if there is a "traffic camera" ahead. Very nice!

Third, you can speak the address rather than type it (NO texting while driving). Super feature if you don't have a navigator with you, although I suggest it is safest to pull over to enter/speak the address.

Finally, the directions given are exact, even down to the number of feet before turning. This last feature has led us to give her the name "Demanding Diva". But we are considering a change to "Deliverance".

Parking Karma

The Urban Dictionary defines Parking Karma as the uncanny ability to find an open parking space in a desirable location of a busy parking lot.

There are people who have parking karma and my husband is one of those people. While on our trip recently to the east coast, there were two scenarios where his parking karma proved beneficial.

Scenario 1: Provincetown, Mass. center on a busy "tourist" Sunday. As we headed into town to find a parking spot to join the other tourists, we drove to the main street and expected to be circling the block a few times. Our guide even said to head to the outskirts and we would walk in. Just as those words were said, we spotted an open space - actually the space was nearest to the main street. Voila! We were out of the car and having a grand time.

Scenario 2: Boston, Mass. Park Street, close to the State House. We were returning to Boston for one night before going to the airport to return the rental car and catch our flight the next day. Our GPS guided us neatly to 8 Park Street (Union Club of Boston), our hotel for the night. Our plan was to drop off the bags and locate a spot in the Boston Common parking garage at a HUGE fee (absolutely never expected to find street parking). Much to our surprise, there was a metered spot available almost in front!

This Parking Karma is a wonderful benefit of being married to my husband. Somehow, it has even rubbed off on me as I often locate a spot close to my destination. How about you? Got Parking Karma?

A message from Michelle

For only the second time in my adult life, I am not ashamed of my country. I want to thank the hard working American people for paying $242 thousand dollars for my vacation in Spain. My daughter Sasha, several long-time family friends, my personal staff and various guests had a wonderful time. Honestly, you just haven't lived until you have stayed in a $2,500.00 per night suite at a 5-Star luxury hotel. Thank you also for the use of Air Force 2 and the 70 Secret Service personnel who tagged along to be sure we were safe and cared for at all times.

Air Force 2 only used 47,500 gallons of jet fuel for this trip and carbon emissions were a mere 1,031 tons of CO2.These are only rough estimates, but they are close. That's quite a carbon footprint as my good friend Al Gore would say, so we must ask the American citizens to drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars and drive less too, so we can lessen our combined carbon footprint.

I know times are hard and millions of you are struggling to put food on the table and trying to make ends meet. I do appreciate your sacrifice and do hope you find work soon. I was really exhausted after Barack took our family on a luxury vacation in Maine a few weeks ago, and we are now in Martha’s Vineyards although I can’t find the vineyards. We just had to get away for a few days……after all, we had been working in DC for 8 or 9 days in a row.

Cordially,

M. Obama

Before you send that email....

I received this in an email today and enjoyed it, so I did a little research to find its origin. I also thought it might make a fun blog entry. So I did several google searches and came up with a blog entry from a law firm and a snopes entry. Snopes tells all, so I would not forward an email with this in it, although it is a good story. I'm surprised that the law firm bought into it and ran it in their blog January of this year. The story follows, however, my Bits n' Bytes wisdom is to check things out first before you send that email!

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.



(Actual reply from FHA):

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response):

"Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus's expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?"


The loan was immediately approved.