Climate change/global warming,,, rumored public consensus,,,"Maui, Hawaii was just too hot and humid during Summer 2015. Many,1000s, of low pay workers left Hawaii."

Heard this from the airport bus driver Christmas week.

15 years going on 20, my U.S. DIVERS FACEMASK clear silicone still LOOKS LIKE NEW. But the SCUBAPRO facemask purchased the same year, has ugly brown tinted silicone gasket.

Dive shops and Scubapro have refused to replace such inferior parts for free.

Not one Humpback Whale sighting off West Maui, Lahaina area, for All of Christmas week.

Not one.
Christmas week 2015.
Very strange.
Usually see dozens of spouts/blows and some jumps.

What needs fixing in California?

1- Bring back the state mental hospitals so we no longer kick the legally insane to the sidewalk.

2-immediate $15/hr minimum wage , with COLA annual increase. Wage theft becomes a felony with mandatory jail time of at least a year for employers. Women get equal pay, no thanks to Feinstein Boxer Pelosi and Speier.

3-secret tax discount deals to lure companies are outlawed. It's bankrupting Silicon Valley. As if these companies, and their employees!, would move to Nevada.

4- Civil Sevants warned, "if private, for profit subcontractors can do it better and cheaper, you are laid-off, permanently." Bye DMV and Caltrans!

USPS Mobile, International Price Calculator, for years has listed "post cards" then "flats", but NOT "envelopes" !! For years,,,

USPS, please fix this !!

If you are EVER thinking or planning on driving across or into LA on Thanksgiving Day, you can just FORGET ABOUT IT.

It is nearly impossible.
Even with 6x6 freeways and 8x8 freeways,,, and even 11x11 or 11 lanes in each direction.
LA's highway system is maxed out , especially on Thanksgiving !!

Google Map, for years, has interrupted your Navigation on a long drive with "Would you like to close Navigation now?" They know you are not at your destination yet. And yet they are as annoying as kid's "Are we there Yet?"

A major company, groupthink right out of '1984', that can not see a tree for the forest.
Unless mediocrity is the new US standard and goal?

Another reason why you DO NOT want to move to San Jose, Ca.

The sidewalks and parking green strips , with 2 trees per suburban lot required, are city property, but the home owner has to pay to maintain the trees, the curb and sidewalk if damaged by those trees.

AS IF!

Don't be confused and deceived by "snow fall" from tv wx folk and "snow pack", the practical useful depth of snow on the ground !!

It's "snow pack", the actual accumulated depth of snow on the ground that matters to most of us.

"Snow fall" is often mention by devious and deceptive tv weather folk, because the conversion is 10"-12" to 1", so it THEORETICALLY only sounds like more snow.

Learned this in college, Met 101, top all glass highrise floor of Duncan Hall, sjsc.
Global Warming/climate change is giving us more b.s. agents!

Amazon layout on product pages is a MESS. For instance, with butcher gloves to prevent kitchen cuts, the fabric content is very hard to find on most and missing! on some! And no 'country of mfg' !!

Here is generally what Amazon does:

PICTURE ON LEFT,,, that is good , and the more angles and enlarge options the better!

Then on the right, NAME.

BY:

RATED:

PRICE and SHIPPING:

AVAILABILITY:

COLOR:

2 NEW:

Then big boxes of BLA.
The FBT.
The CWVTIAV.
The SPRTTI.
And the SD and PP.
BLA BLA BLA, a disorganized waste of space!!

Then, finally, the PRODUCT DESCRIPTION, by the seller, so usually a bla mess.
Then ,  finally, the Amazon PRODUCT DETAILS, which don't tell you what you need to know.

Then another! big block of BLA,, the SPONSORED PRTTI ,#2   as if the previous was not enough.

Then another big block of bla, the CUVTIMBIITL.

And finally, the CUSTOMER Q & A.
And the CUSTOMER REVIEWS.

Then another block of bla, YOUR RECENTLY VIEWED IAFR.

And an advertisement.
And the Amazon directory.


This layout is  SO much more efficient:

PICTURE/S ON LEFT.

Then on right, the NAME.

RATED/STARS

PRICE

AVAILABILITY TODAY

SELLER/S

SIZE/S

COLOR/S

QUANTITY, SINGLE OR PAIR

GUARANTEES/WARRANTIES

COMPOSITION, what exactly is the fabric made of !! Duh.

COUNTRY OF MFG,,,And Amazon is not proud to support us patriotic "Made in USA" shoppers?

PRODUCT DETAILS

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

PRODUCT SAFETY, ANY RECALLS ,FREQUENT RETURN PROBLEMS, OR HAZMAT HISTORY

CUSTOMER Q & A

FIND IT? YES/NO and SUGGESTIONS BOX

CUSTOMER REVIEWS and WRITE A REVIEW

And all those big BLA boxes of space can go down, way down here.

AMAZON DIRECTORY

LIVE CHAT WINDOW

Nick and Alek, runners up in #21 DWTS, man up and tell us what your schedule was during the show. How much PT and dancing practice did you really do??

Fans are curious!
And please, not on data-mining facebook /twitter.

dear fellow Costco shoppers: suggest you avoid ITEM #942-480, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER,2 big tubs

1- I don't like the taste
2- takes more to do the job
3- they are cutting down the Earth's precious Rain Forests to plant these palm oil tree farms!!

dear felllow Costco shoppers: warning not to buy LYSOL NO MESS AUTOMATIC TOILET BOWL CLEANER hanging bars !

1-don't work in preventing toilet ring.
2-plastic hangers often break, so wrong plastic.
Item #743 -074.

Thankfully discontinued by Costco.

Wikipedia lies about the Golden Gate Bridge only "flattening out" on 50th Birthday,1987. It SAGGED, and I was there.

All 3 major sf bay area newspapers ran front page photos of this huge sag.

Why Wikipedia won't accept an honest factual edit is bizarre.

They also would not accept "tecnu soap in first 24hrs is great for washing off poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac oil to prevent a 2wk long , painful ugly rash."

Why is there so little "affordable housing" like the 30 story Emeryville tower, instead of SF and every other city in the SFBayArea wasting valuable land with only 2-4 story new condos/apartments!!?? We have ENOUGH open pocket, open paycheck, open bank account thieving landlords, thank you very much, local politicians!!

From Petaluma to Hollister, there should be a 30story condo building boom, especially along the Caltrain corridor,  to reduce some of the insane prices on $18k 1953 SJ ranch houses selling for $1.3M and rents skyrocketing over 10% the last 4 years for $600/month 1 br apts now climbing past $2000, for a 1900 building w ancient pipes wires and appliances.

We need to elect every city council to state politician as "pro sf-  strong and effective and popular rent control."

And the SF Bay Area needs to wake up, seeing the huge housing demand caused by Google and Facebook etc, and STOP WASTING VALUABLE LAND ON LOW RISE DEVELOPMENTS AROUND THE BAY !!

I am a visual, not auditory, learner. Yet California public schools from Elem. to HS to public college never cared to find out.

I do wish we would bring back all the high school electives, like Driver's Ed. for all the girls and rich Asians in expensive cars who can not drive better than a 5th grader. And woodshop and metal shop so men and women can have at least some conversation about useful tools.
And Home Ec. so we men stop marrying women just because they can cook better than us.
And Sex Ed. and Personal Finance too so I can tell a "good investment" from "18 yrs of alimony and child support bleeding hell".
Yeah, that would be good to have back again.

Who says we can no longer have "righty tighty" door locks on cars sold in the USA !?

The Japanese?
The EU?
Our sellout Congress?
Where was the public debate and discussion?

And exhaust recirculation is a really bad way to reduce emissions, by destroying the engine faster vs adding DEF.
Ask any reputable mechanic.
So did this really bad idea come from sellout Congress, too, like engine destroying corn fuel ethanol gasoline additive?

dear fellow Costco shoppers: the boxed POT ROAST #34188,has way too much FAT !!

Do not waste $19-20 !!
This is a lousy product.
How could anyone at Costco approve this ??

"Levis" on Wikipedia is such a Corp puff piece!

Didn't Mr. Strauss come over with just German tents to sell?

Wasn't there a Levi Museum in SF's Mission District in the 1980s?

What about genoa, italy and "jeans"?

And Nimes, France and "de nimes", denim??

President Obama is Not leading on TPP. I

Neither is Mrs. Clinton "leading us" to see the pluses and negatives of the secret infamous TPP.

Remember how Obama didn't campaign for other Democrats during the last national election? So we fools voted for these horrible 2 party Republicans.

Lack of leadership.

The next election is 3November 2015, and today,6November 2015, We in San Mateo County do not have any election material by mail, like Sample Ballot and Voters Guide !! It is less than 30 days !!

There should be a law about timely mailing of election material "at least a month to 2 months prior to an election".

So little regard for the informed voter!!

How about 3months!!

SF's 1july 2015 known felony Murder of Kate Steinle is just the tip of the iceberg of tourist shootings-killings

Look back at all the recent drive-by shootings of tourists just West of Union Square the last few years! And at "crooked" Lombard Street in rich and presumed safer Russian Hill neighborhood!
Residents and visitors should be much safer, so maybe, eventually,finally,  sfpd and sf sheriff will be drastically overhauled and improved.

Since derailments seem to be more common in the usa, maybe scout cars a mile ahead would be prudent for Amtrak and all toxic carriers

We must prevent future derailment of passenger and toxic trains!!

El Faro container ship intentional sinking by steaming from Florida DIRECTLY into a Bahama TORNADO needs to be investigated by Congress and STOPPED by U.S.COAST GUARD , clearly corp murder!, in the future !

We must stop Corporations like PG&E and Florida container ship owners from acting like they can and do get away with directly responsible negligent MURDER.

For decades, the cheapest gasoline in SF has been the ARCO at Fell x Divisadero, $2.65/gallon in Oct.2015

Suggest we all only buy gas there.
Maybe then the other gas stations will get busy!

Women in American Politics. How disappointed We all are.

I really , after decades of public office, thought electing women instead of the usual sell-out suit guy, might do more good. Maybe all elected officials will have to be women to have a signifigant, besides suffrage, effect. I campaign worked for women political candidates in the 1960s and 1970s.  My guess is they were all power-vacuum packed away in little offices in state capitols.

Otherwise we would have equal pay.

And zero tolerance for rape in our own military, universities, and rich company offices.

Food and water and air would be safer. Rivers would be cleaner. And we wouldn't be poisoning our ground water to get fracked oil the hard way.

The container ship EL FARO would not have been allowed by the U.S.Coast Guard to leave Jacksonville, Fl. and steam straight into a Bahama Hurricane, killing dozens and polluting the ocean with such an obvious negligent act and insurance scam.

I do not see womanly or motherly qualities, like honesty and frequent communication and caring with our current crop of women politicians.
So why enshrine another disappointing woman , as big a hypocrite as the average male politician?I expected women to be more honest and more caring. Ha!

The USA is in deep trouble with criminal greedy selfish American bankers paying near zero Interest for 7 long years !

Last year,2014, I had "saved" $25,000 in my 60s , renting, with a 15 yr old car.

And the bank paid me .54c for my saving and checking account.

$25,000 dollars.

And "interest" paid was only .54c.

If you are in sf and need a cab, call FLYWHEEL

The old de Soto cab company, better than most yellow cabs or Ubers.

Google: Why is it that every California politician does NOT have his "local district office" marked on your "service"?

Assemby Mullin, no.
Senator Hill, no.

The the spoiled rich minority and Google have that big a problem with democracy?

Google: Do you really need 14 buttons to get me to and from work, on the same road, every day.

7 buttons to Google Map Nav traffic to work.

7 buttons to Google Map Nav traffic to home.

Every
day,,,

dear Costco shoppers,,, I do not recommend Naples Kitchen's Hawaiian Style Chicken

Because the pineapple is black from being in the one single plastic bag with the soy sauce and chicken.
Not appetizing in appearance.

Late September and the VA hospitals still don't have this year's flu shot!! Costco has had flu shots since mid August.

Again and again, lousy SECOND RATE care for our Veterans.

Costco FLU SHOT HOURS are very LIMITED, not all day !!

Call first, or you might waste YOUR VALUABLE TIME and gas too !!

Mrs. Clinton cares about the average American, is trustworty like Bill, and is open and honest. The public doesn't seem to be buying it.

The Media, shallow and gullible, yes, with their constant beauty contests.

But not the working poor.

So hard to find legal parking for 45ft charter bus in downtown quarter, guess I'll just keep driving around , for hours, making SMOG.

What happened to all that free bus and truck parking on pier 30?

Someone with balls and brains has got to fire the private, for profit PRESIDIO TRUST that idiot Pres. Bush said could run the Federal lands known as THE PRESIDIO, for them REFUSING THE OFFERED "STAR WARS"MUSEUM !!

NPS does a lot of stupid things(closing tram and road at Mariposa Grove, loosing at trying to close Camp4 in Yosemite Valley,,,), but they must accept that tourism is SF's  #1 job !!

Fix this.
Get the Star Wars Museum.

We also should have accepted the battleship !!

Hanes says "We don't care" to customer complaints of mislabeled sizes of their popular CHAMPION-brand men's underwear

Wait till I tell your big buyers, like Costco !!

USA clothing fraud news: Costco customers discover Jamaica Jaxx labeled "100% silk" shirts in white and coral pink are really just 60% silk.

Costco customers told Costco !!
Horay !!

That should teach the clothing industry!!

San Francisco is having it's annual 85F two week HEAT WAVE, usually in September !!

This is NOT the usual cold foggy damp windy , dont go to Twin Peaks frigid ,SUMMER weather.

The meteorologists were WRONG last year about a wet "el nino" AUTUMN.
This year they say sf/l.a. "90% to get SUPER WET with SUPER EL NINO" in September and or October.

Stay hydrated !!

"Democrat". What does that mean, anything or nothing? For all the silence from the Dem.candidates and especially our elected "Democrat" political representatives, it is just a cover-up.

How else would your explain SF "Democrats" who have enacted for decades very strong rent control law just for SF.
And yet outside SF in the "expensive" Bay Area, most "Democrats" will tell you iF YOU ASK that they are for the tiny minority of rich landlords, some non-voting non-resident corporations instead of the majority of residents and often majority of voterslike in Burlingame, who RENT, and are subject to the current rash of extreme unreasonable but lawful $1000 rent increases and outright evictions of entire apt buildings or the Pacifica low income trailer park!!

What is Mrs. Clinton for and against?
Is she for the secret trade deal TTP ,,,?
Is she for more toxic fracking in our ground water storage areas, with the taxpayers stuck again with the cleanup bill,,,?
Is she pro endless war and troops dying and maimed in various Middle East countries,,,?
Why is the press not nailing down every candidate and representative with their positions, instead of this vapid dog show beauty contest!?

Free tv all over SF Bay Area !! Over70 HD channels from Sutro Tower, that giant tower in the middle next to Twin Peaks, yeah that is what that is for !!

Wouldn't it be great if every city had such a tower !?

No need for Comcast !!
I use to pay over $80/mo, and then they would not let me end service !!
Paid in full and turned in box, but they kept billing, threatening my credit, hiring different collection agencies.
Horrible, like Sprint. For months !!

Grade "C", August 2015, Caltrain, B-game to Frisco

1-no a/c or individual air adjustment at my seat!!

2-tracks are way too bumpy in Millbrae. And Menlo Park.

3-the 715am train, first car, had some loud metal squeak coming out of back of car bathroom.

4-saw a conductor only once, to check ticket, $5.25 one way.
And $9.25 for Frisco to SanJosey.

5-no window shades...

6- I'm 6'2" and my knees are hitting next seat...

7-lots of trains on website, but few running TODAY,,, wtf !!

8-NO euro style train schedule BIG BOARD, so easy as trains DEPART Southbound and ARRIVE from South.
Big clock on South wall.
But no TRAIN TIME BIG SIGN !

9-No , zero, Customer Service windows ever open at sf terminal. Permantly shuttered.  Yikes.

10- Definite lack of benches in small lobby. On East glass wall, but not West glass wall.

11-Boss seems to be the old guy in casual clothes, blue shirt, no name badge?? Doubt you will see him after lunch.

12- big green ad banners in lobby are boring, view blocking clutter.

13-taxi driver on N.side taxi waiting line, where he dropped me after using Howard to 5th instead of Left on 4th, tried to tell me "20% tip minimum, plus service charge on credit card. "
B.S.

14- "Clipper card" readers double BEEP is WAY TOO LOUD.
hello?

15-Bring sunglasses, as way to bright onboard after dark.

16-Feels like 20mph.
No e-signs over doors telling train speed.

BART is run by Moron$.
Caltrain is run by Amateurs!!

Wish Caltrain had higher standards, for the money, and staff that did a much better job. Been riding since the 1990s.

dear fellow Costco shoppers:bad tasting cheese,983164, Slices, twin pack of Asiago cheese and Provolone cheese , $

Fails good taste test.

dear fellow Costco shoppers:Bad tasting cheese!!, 967892, Belgioioso Mozzarella, 24 count,1 oz, $8.59

Fails the taste test.

dear fellow Costco shoppers:Men's CHAMPION underwear size mismarked, Beware !!

Label says 38" is a Large, so I bought looser fitting and larger size XL, but they are painfully too tight.
Went back and bought 2XL, two sizes larger!!, for proper fit.

Seattle corp buyer would not take my call.

BEWARE !!

NIKE Return Policy STINKS:"Must have receipt and go back to store in 2 months." I bought black shorts with red piping and threads were snagging and pulling out in my bedroom!, forget about the outdoors play fields !!

Please tell Nike to do better Customer Service !!

Taking pepper spray to bear country: Alaska Airlines lied in telling us to declare it in our checked bags

TSA confiscated it.
What a waste.

The U.S. Coast Guard should take over the incompetent inept bungling rude botched job of the fools at TSA.

News done right, right now: Wildfire just EAST of NAPA VALLEY, most tv media is Not talking about, was Raging Tuesday afternoon, just East of Vaca Mtns crest !!

Why the broad media silence?

They talk about the "south of Clear Lake " wildfire.

But not the "East,just next to NAPA VALLEY" wildfire.

Hmmm,,,

"MUDSLIDES on the road to YOSEMITE !!", july-august 2015, mass hysteria media, what do I do , my SF-Yosemite day tour just cancelled last minute !!"

Don't Panic.
There are 4 major roads into Yosemite.
So if the "western" along Merced River highway 140 is closed, a day a week or a month, there are other SF tour bus companies that regularly go on the long Yosemite day trip from SF via the more direct but less scenic highway 120, the "northwest" main access 2 lane road.

So you are in or near SF.
Your SF-Yosemite day trip,5hrs each way was just cancelled , for tomorrow !!
What DO You Do ??!!
If at a hotel, have the front desk and or concierge find you another company using highway 120 or even highway 41 from "southwest".  If you have a big enough group, hell, charter a minivan and stay as LONG AS YOU WANT IN THE PARK, the very best option.
Who wants to leave the Valley in April/May, after only "one hour"!!??
There are many charter bus companies with minivans and medium sizes buses, not just based in sf, itching for the work during terrible economy !!

If not at a SFbayarea hotel, call the SF VISITORS AND CONVENTION BUREAU, at Market x Powell, down in the Pit.

If japanese, call "myway" bus company, fast minivans but don't stay long enough in the park.

Most companies going all the way to YNP have a , say,10 seat minimum, cuz gate fee for a 45ft bus with only one passenger is still $300. (NPS skimming!!)  So keep calling different bus companies.
There are just ok ones and major wage theft ones.
But at this point you probably just don't care about fair labor  sf issues.

San Jose is just a bum hustle, and probably always will be. Mainly because it does not identify and acknowledge with gratitude it's community makers.

Like dr. Bill and Mary, major community makers in Lincoln Glen in the 1950s-90s.

San Jose doesn't even have strong effective , like 2%, rent control like SF.
But San Jose honors with a library , Gene Long, who was an invisible Principal at WGHS and also invisible where he lived , in Lincoln Glen, a few houses from me.

My dear Mom was PTA President so many times. And the Girl Scout Troop Leader. And started the nationally famous Investment Club of AAUW about 30 years ago. She and Dad gave so much to this part of SJ. Even $25,000 to ungrateful SJSU.

But SJ can't even computer time all the expressways and boulevards, like they keep saying they intend to do. For decades. Such lies.

San Jose is such a Huge disappointment. It has lot it's values and leadership.

President Obama is pro,,,FRACKING everywhere putting toxics in our Ground Drinking Water Historic basins, and pro-bankers and bank deregulation w/o a Glass-Stegal, and too long continuing the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and pro-secret trade deal TPP that most say will hurt the USA, and pro a huge expensive military budget and neverending middle east wars, and pro ARTIC OIL DRILLING which is almost a certainty to leak.

But unable to get us "single payer" or "public option" or strong cost controls on USA medicine that the press says is "1/3rd waste".

Nor do ANYTHING to make our food safer.

This is NOT the person I voted for.

ADP mobile app: avoid the Mediocrity, and lack of Employee Respect

First,  no tutorial.
Wait, it is so mediocre, you don't need one.

Second,  ADP won't help Employees install or use their product of payroll time clocking. Who does ADP think they are !? "We only talk to contracted employers."

Third, it's trash.
Too slow.
Too crude.
Can't label "start shift" and "end lunch".
Incomplete, for Employee, time record!!
Can't correct.
Can't note.
Just "punch".

Fourth, I "punch" in on time, but it is so slow to "confirm", I am a minute late, every day !! And it is damn ADP's mediocre app fault !!

Yeah yeah someone is making $M off me using this inefficient crud my boss contracted for.

Is this the best ADP can do?
God help America.

Dear fellow Costco shoppers: beware of item 673 840, Jamaica Jaxx silk shirt, short sleeve from china

1- Now these shirts have an irritating hard thick neck label. Costco buyer should have nixed this design flaw!! Prepare to cut off.

2-thick white tape at inside collar seam is different and I guess ok.  So far.

3-Lots of loose threads under front left and right button placket. Very poor china quality control !!

4- Front button left and right button and eye plackets are not 3+ 2 sewn tacked down, so white underside shows !!  Again , very poor QC by Costco and china.

5- button eyelets are not well sewn !! Lots of loose unbound threads that catch on the button !! Again, very poor Quality Control by china and Costco !!

Google mobile Outlook for Hotmail in 2015 still requires that I fill my own "Trash" file, empty it, and WAIT for Google to finish, instead of scheduled auto-dumps at 3-6-12 or 24hrs !!

What a waste of my time.
Every day.
Google.

Wish some Environmental Group would red x mark every fracked with toxics well in a water table that will be short-sighted poisoned for centuries in California

How quickly we can lose something as precious as clean ground water.

Why the Huge media coverup in the SF Bay Area of the American company responsible for the huge "$1.8B", actually over $6B cost overruns and delays on the dangerously flawed , new Oakland Bay Bridge ??

Can't the media honestly spell F-l-u-o-o-r ?

Dirty local politicians too are probabltw behind this new/history coverup. Hmmm, which?

Is this the best that NPS can do? Have a Thursday June 18,2015 AP article in the San Jose Mercury News that "Aramark gets Yosemite deal". Isn't Aramark the Concessionaire-company that was kicked out of Muir Woods National Monument for it's very low pay Aramark employees , repeatedly and for months without adequate NPS supervision, caught by paying guests at the cafe USING A PLASTIC FOOD SERVICE GLOVED HAND TO PICK UP TRASH FROM THE KITCHEN FLOOR AND THEN turn around and HAND FOOD WITH THE SAME RISKY GLOVED HAND to utterly shocked , NPS park guests?

Is this the best that NPS can do, really !?

President Lincoln fighting  the Civil War set aside the first two pieces of Yosemite National Park in 1864, before Yellowstone "National Park" in the 1870s.

Yosemite is the park John Muir walked to , before it was protected, from dangerous 1800s Frisco.

Yosemite is the park Ken Burns made a great tv documentary about, with other "National Parks", not just county parks or garish roadside commercial tourist attractions.

Congress (ha!, those payola shirkers!) is suppose to accept or reject the NPS "deal".

All these rich, tax-shelter foreign countries hiding, big boasting,unethical forging thousands of signatures to make a buck, American corporations and busted Aramark is the best NPS can do?

Does the Sierra Club, Muir's legacy, and all the other US environmental organizations even care?

Who is hiding our recent history, forever?

Pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge sagging dramatically on its 50th birthday in 1987 are gone almost entirely from the internet.

The big nuclear modern US aircraft carrier that was stuck in the mud , for Days, between Treasure Island and SF is near impossible to find a photo of on the internet.

Videos of the 1989 ,7.1Richter ,45second "Loma Prieta" Santa Cruz earthquake should be in abundance, not scarcity, on the internet with all the pro media cameramen and video tourists in the SFBayArea.

There's a rat, maybe a govt torture rat, on the Internet is my guess.

Amtrak , from Emeryville to Merced , by train. And by bus to Yosemite Valley !!

The Amtrak staff are usually short-tempered and or rude.
Comes from running on rented freight bumpy tracks and alway always being late, for having to pull over for Every lousy freight train!!

Bad neighborhood.
So bathroom is "c" grade, often damaged and never cleaned often enough.

Always sit by LEFT WINDOWS of the train FOR BETTER VIEWS.

if you change seats on the train, say go upstairs, be sure to take your tiny white seat ticket with you. Or the mostly grumpy Conductors will enjoy berating you for something you can't be expected to know everything about!!

In Merced, again, SIT BY THE LEFT WINDOWS FOR THE BEST VIEWS UP THE MERCED RIVER HIGHWAY TO YOSEMITE VALLEY.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
1- The 2 hour, about $25 Valley Tour Tram Ride. Yes, there is the Free Valley Shuttle in $250k diesel-electric buses,  if you want to feel like a sardine. Maybe you remember the 'custom' badly made doubledecker open top buses of the 70s-80s that carried more people and were much more spacious and enjoyable public transit. And the whippy 3 car trams, again a flawed construction contract, but more fun than current boring expensive urban fleet.

2-Sometimes there is a Native California indian, the world famous basketweaver JULIA PARKER, at the INDIAN MUSEUM and VILLAGE, that most tour guides do not mention, unfortunately.
She is a National Treasure, in my opinion!!
Check out her WIKIPEDIA page.

3-Yosrmite Lodge cafeteria is just ok food for a visit, not constantly.   I get the spagetti or tube rigatoni pasta and meatballs, buy extra meatballs, and always ask for "extra sauce, please". And parmesan.
Or the cheeseburger.
Or the small pizza.
Or the ruben sandwich.
Sometimes the hot soups.
Again, NPS park policy prices are SKY HIGH and most of the food in the park is just "ok", with a few exceptions.

4-You may or may not on a sf turn bus or train-bus tour have time for lunch at the super expensive, fancy hotel, the Ahwahnee, but for some this may be a happier option.
I like early 7am breakfast at a deuce ,2 seat tiny table by South windows with GREAT VIEWS.  I also skip dinner here and eat at the Lodge Broiler Room-steak restaurant, then cross plaza to Lodge bar for a draft beer, and I'm good.

5-There are usually black (brown) bears in the middle of the valley eating grass and veg to fatten up after winter hibernation.
This DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD GO LOOKING FOR THEM IN THE TALL GRASS,,, WILD ANIMALS, VERY PROTECTIVE MAMA BEARS OF THEIR CUBS !!
IF you go hiking on a trail, you might want to wear a tiny bell on your daypack or person, just so you don't surprise a bear walking around a rock or tree.

6-IF you are parking your car or a rental car anywhere in the YNP, but especially the apple orchard lot at Curry Village and the May Lake High Sierra Camp paved Parking Lot,  I always (discreetly) powder my left and right side doors with RED CHILI POWDER, cheap if buy in bulk at a major city restaurant supply store, to keep the bears from peeling down both side windows and causing $ BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CAR DOORS DAMAGE OVER THE DECADES. Check before you go to see if YOUR car insurance covers bear damage in a NPark.
HUGE PROBLEM OVER THE DECADES. Many bears have been terminated. Too many.

7- Don't EXPECT to be rescued.
So don't do stupid stuff like rock climb, without a guide , gear and training.
Or jumping off bridges into the river. Rangers will yell at you, and can ARREST YOU  and take you before one of the scary imfamous "hanging federal judges of Yosemite", especially for fist fights and shop lifting!!
Nasty federal jail right in Valley.
Also EXCELLENT MEDICAL CLINIC !! in Yosemite Village, East of General Store.

8- Read some John Muir in the Valley he so loved.
He walked the first time from Frisco!!
There is a thin small brown booklet you can buy cheap.
The other MUST BOOK is the former $4, now $10,,, YOSEMITE ROAD GUIDE !!
Why NPS decided to retail gouge us on this essential book, priced so low for decades, is beyond Bureaucratic! !

9-RESPECT THE PARK, all over 1000 square miles of it.
Enjoy !!
Thanks , Teddy Roosevelt and President Lincoln !!

Dear fellow Costco shoppers: CAUTION on the 2 QUICE PIES from LA TERRA FINA ,#64 76 61

I bought a package and went straight home.
Put in frig and opened next day for breakfast.

Eye Appeal= C-D
Taste=C-D
Lasts how long?= LESS THAN A WEEK !!=F

Mine went BLUE MOLDY closed in the hard plastic and in the frig,,, in less than A WEEK !!

Costco has had Nancy's MINI QUICHES , which were fine.
And another so-so brand.
Costco buyers, you can do better !!

BROTHER INKJET PRINTERS are so far Superior to HPs !!

Why did we ever buy all those Epsons and HPs!!?

This j4420dw is AWESOME !!

What are you waiting for!?

DO NOT date a female Psychology Major in College !!

And you Thought You had problems, being single !!

Also, DO NOT agree to "be studied" with your signature, by a college Psych. roommate or classmate with only a smile, and not $50,000-$500,000!!
For without any respect or kindness they will in Psych.class rip you apart and give you an imagined personality black hole that will grapevine like kudzu all over campus for all your Years, then be read and re-read in a Psych. Dept Published report that you, sucker, will Never Ever have any access to !! Yes, I had an arrogant anti-social manipulative-bastard genius pull this one on me. Dorm life became,,, Hell. Heard of India's "untouchables"?

Again, DO NOT date female Psychology Majors at colleges regardless of their Sympathetic System charms and Para-sympathetic assets !! DO NOT.

But it's totally ok at Universities. Especially overseas Universities. The more distant and foreign the culture, the better.

(humor, some)

There is just one thing that might save the USA's experiment in a democratic republic: A Constitutional Amendment that all elected officials be 100% honest.

Our Founding Fathers had too high an opinion of themselves as the benevolent but wealthy landowners and White Male Voters and the depths of corruption men and women elected and duely Sworn on a Bible or Torah, maybe will for small sums like 30 pieces of silver or $50,000, will short-sightedly sink to.

In Burlingame, We've had a string of women Mayors elected by the majority of voters are renters and the majority of residents are renters, yet these  playing at virtuous Mayors serve the many apartment building landlords,some of which don't even live and vote in this town!, are against any type of rent control, and one will even tell you to your face how unimportant renters are in this tiny microcosm corrupted little burb of Burlingame.

Will have to ask the priest what the Christian penalty is for lying in your heart if not your word by falsely swearing on the Bible. Let's see,,, falling to a worse place and then falling again, after awhile, to an even worse place? Or maybe honing their deception in public duty by,,,?

And what is exactly the Oath of Office that is so easy abused for coin, lifetime pension and cabal botherhood?

SF and even LA and SJ have some sort of rent control.  Can you imagine, as just happened down the road in Redwood City, that your manager/apt bldg owner/slowly repair and almost never replace appliances property mgmt company told you today that "Your rent is going up $1000 more next month. Pay up or get out."?
Are we really still in the Middle Ages socially and in this regard legally !?

There is no way the USA should call itself a civilized Nation until this is immediately corrected. What will it take for all those comfortable non-renters to give a damn about those less fortunate ? Why are all religions so mute, like when the California state mental hospitals were closed and the mentally sick went to live on the streets ? Are their flocks that small and small-minded? Shame on every congregation that ignored that crisis then in state govt.

Maybe it will take the Pope to teach us all the proper value of greed in society.  And look at all the suffering! Can't or won't look, will you?

Yep.  Just frequent lie detector tests and a Constitutional Amendment of Government that is 100% honest.  A little word, but imagine the possible benefits!  I am really so tired and frustrated by all these got elected and forgot honor politicians. Aren't you?

Attention all Truckers, Bus Drivers and other users of AIR BRAKE BUTTONS !! Snap on hurts your hand every time, bad design, right? I invented years ago an AIR BRAKE LEASH out of 3' of REI 6-7mm kernmantle colorful cordage and I for decades have not had my hand spanked often,,, at work!!

Take your 3ft length of whatever rope you like,3 strand hemp twist or fancy kernnantle and tie a single fisherman's knot with the ends.
Move this knot to the 4-5oclock position.
At the 12 oclock position, pinch the loop and make an overhand knot just big enough to fit over your air brake button.

The overhand knot of the pinched together loop will keep the AIR BRAKE LEASH on the air brake button.
And the single fisherman's knot will be easier to grab than just two loose ends.
Really saves your right hand, all day long!!

I also invented the TWO HANDS MAP OF SF BAY.
And the 2 FACING LINES OF 6 AND 4 ADULTS IN A STRAIGHT LINE, ARMS OUTSTRETCHED, FINGERS TOUCH to show the max width (24ft) of our California coastal redwoods vs the max width (36ft) of our non-lumber California mountain redwoods. The tallest, use to be 400ft, trees in the World,,,96% cut down and still clear cutting!!
And the biggest trees in the World !! California also has the bristle cone pine, the oldest tree in the World !!

SF use to have a convenient free charter/tour bus parking lot at Pier 30 near the Bay Bridge for 50-250 bus to park "engines off". Now it's a paid car lot and there are 50-250 charter/tour buses circling SMOGGING UP THE Environment !!

Really Stupid.

Wikipedia post about the 1987 Golden Gate Bridge 50th Birthday Party, closed to cars, and "only flattened" by up to 800,000 sardined pedestrians is a FLAT OUT LIE !! All the local SF and Oakland newspapers clearly show the Golden Gate Bridge SAGGING IN THE MIDDLE. I was there.

Do not be deceived.
Wikipedia should be corrected.

It's like SF saying there is absolutely "NO VIDEO" of the recent Great 1989 and 45 second,7.1 Richter EARTHQUAKE.  Purchased and hidden/destroyed video, maybe. But nothing we want the tourists to see.

Recommend reading SAN FRANCISCO IS BURNING, since sf can not be honest. Corrupt Mayor then, City govt voting down high pressure water mains and hydrants, Army illegal involvement when only Governor can call out the and only National Guard, order citizens to not defend their homes that easily could have been saved from the flames, police and citizens and Army looting and sport shooting civilians on sight.

Wouldn't it be nice,,, and proper, ,, if Every City had in its Charter that it "MUST BE 100% HONEST WITH ITS ELECTORATE AND CITIZENRY. "
Period. Simple. Obvious. But overlooked, oops!

Imagine,,,
How different all levels of usa govt would be.

I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 $500 smartphone,,, and don't like Android software making me "PLEASE WAIT,,," to fill and empty the email "Trash" folder !!

Also DO NOT APPRECIATE the lack of full email addresses and names vs abrevs !!

Also, having to tap 2 screen buttons to fully open every darn email !!

For the first 2 years I had a Navigation problem with a frequent annoying pop-up asking "Would you like to exit Navigation now?"
No, I'm driving for 30min or many hours !! What idiot software developer and manager would think, "oh let's annoy customers using Navigation with this pop-up!"
Instead we still need Navigation RETENTION, especially when you get a call or make a call and change screens. Anyone listening?

In Navigation,  I speak or type where I want to go, then am asked on another screen, "From your current location?"
Nawh, let's just wait till I am almost there, maybe a block away, then Navigate !! Stupid.
And then there is ANOTHER SCREEN, before Navigation actually starts !!  Again, what idiot software programmers decided to make Navigation for car drivers, not train engineers, so redundantly obtuse !?
Destination and navigate, dammit!!

In navigation, I wish I could choose overhead or angle view of next half mile OR ,,, NEXT 5 OR 50 MILE VIEW ANGLE.But no, I just get to tap between overhead 1/4mile or angled view of next 1/2 mile, not really enough if cars can go 70mph in California.  Yeah, they really legally can.  Also want to have option of selecting North at top of map or direction of travel at top, as a setting. Voice prompts come too late, too close to turn without enough preparation.  Again, cars go 65mph, and faster.

The camera is too slow to focus and too low in image detail. Not 1080p HD.

The speaker is very inadequate as even with added volume on called # page, the speakerphone volume and clarity are a "D-".
So forget about listening to music or music videos or even YouTube.

And data is sooo darn slow here in the sfbayarea !!

If you're going,,, to San Fran-cisco,,, you don't have to follow the Herd and go to Alcatraz Prison Island. Other options:

1, Do you want an inexpensive BOAT RIDE, subsidized by the high Golden Gate Bridge car tolls ? Then for about $10 go to the Ferry Building and take "second most scenic FERRY BOAT ride in the World , after Shanghai" to SAUSALITO, have lunch at Poggio or Scoma's or Hamburgers or Napa Valley Burgers. Ferry back.

2, Want a free guided city tour, no charge-donations accepted, instead of the usual $40 each ?  Go online and look up SAN FRANCISCO CITY GUIDES, they have a nice brochure at most good sf hotels also. Lots of different walking tour, EASY EXERCISE slow walking, such as the Victorian Houses and the Barbary Coast from the dangerous gold rush. Hint: Watch the dvd "gold fever 2014" , as the California gold rush history has been completely rewritten, less Sacramento Mr.Sutter&Mr.Marshall and much more lying greedy merchant Sam Brannan(the huge lie was "I saw lots and lots of gold all over the ground near the American River,"said just to sell 1000% overpriced supplies) , first millionaire. Cal has seen lots of booms:gold, redwood 96% gone, salmon and ocean fisheries near dead, oil as the world #1 producer for a time, fresh water for farming and far distant suburbia growth,,, now privacy info worthy $Trillions with .com companies. Great PBS documentary on those.

3, SF has many backyards, from thousands in the SW quarter the Sunset District, to fancy one in the rich NW quarter.  But Frisco (if you only knew sf stole its name from Benicia) has many lovely FREE PARKS !!  In the NE or Downtown Quarter, I recommend the Transamerica Insurance co. private redwood tree park and pond with frogs in memory of Mark Twain sometime drinking, sometime working nearby.  Save the cost and time of tour bus-ing to MUIR WOODS IN MARIN. (Morning opening time is the best.)
From the ugly duckling, sore thumb of the T.A. building, a senior for 75c can take the steel twin rails and overhead electricity of the F-line street cars in many colors to Fisherman's Wharf and the lovely WPA depression era park , AQUATIC PARK, where you can watch brave souls swimming in speedos in the 54degree "bay", the Sacramento River, the biggest river in the State. Go West to the also scenic MARINA GREEN with lunch on Chestnut or Union Street. 

Sunny? Maybe a great view and sunbathing at ALAMO SQUARE PARK or DELORES PARK, surrounded by all those fab murals and good Mex food. Now Latino, this use to be the big German neighborhood in sf.

The about 1500 acre federal lands of the old Army base, the PRESIDIO is good for a visit to CRISSY FIELD and the pre-Civil War fort under the GG bridge, FORT POINT, and go inside and to top on open weekends. The private for-profit but not well done Presidio Trust manages this Federal land.

Around to one of the best neighborhoods , Sea Cliff, and the most popular Black's Beach? Don't miss historic Cliff House and the famous indoor swimming pools ruins of the Sutro Baths !

Next up, GOLDEN GATE PARK, larger than NYC's Central Park, and maybe should be renamed Yerba Buena ,"lots of weeds", Park since it was made from "western wasteland " sand dunes and many carts of manure and various plantings.
Great art, mosaics and murals inside Beach Chalet, and good place to watch the sunset over the Pacific with a draft beer and some squid-calamari maybe from Monterey Bay.
I like the bison herd, the toy yacht pond Spreckle's, and the fine friendly folk at the Flycasting Pools. Wish the Japanese were running the Tea House Garden, good reparations long past ww2; They need to serve fortune cookies where they were invented, again. The aquarium and roof top garden of the Cal Academy of Science are a hit, tho que is odd. Hear the great food court mgmt co left. Then the no longer free formal gardens of Stribing. And the private money expensive redo of the white building, the Conservatory.  JFK Drive is partially closed on Sundays for roller skaters , bicyclists, and babybuggy walkers.

TWIN PEAKS in the geographic center of the city, but not highest hill, all under 1000', is a good view, except on freezing cold windy zero vis, most Summer days.

Nearby is upper and lower Haight Street and the much improved Hayes Valley restaurant scene.

Beware of the Western Addition projects w bars on windows and high crime, and Tenderloin whores and drug dealers and the entire SE quarter, too poor, high crime, too few cops.

Dear fellow Costco shoppers: 716674, Tommy Bahama mostly cotton-some nylon socks in many colors seem to be a WINNER

I bought about 20 pair of the black dress socks. For work.
Very comfortable.
First wash ,,, seems not to fade.
Do recommend turning inside out when you take sock off, to prevent white lint on outside of black socks.
About to wash all for second time and will see how they stand up.
So far, much prefer over Costco's other black nylon dress socks that are usually too tight for size 12 shoes.

California car insurance price gouging, weak State Insurance Commissioner, weak State Attorney General, weak Lieutenant Governor, weak Democrat Governor, ,, and Nationwide overcharging safe senior driver.

I am over 65, had been with Nationwide for decades, am a very careful and safe driver, and drive my car less than 40 miles a day.

My car insurance was about $800/yr, with $1M uninsured motorist, as we have lots of terrible new drivers in California and SF!!

I heard I could go back to the California Legal Minimum, for less than $400, but Nationwide Mutual, a non-profit, said "no, we will charge you almost exactly the same, for much less insurance." About $780.

I am a very safe driver.
So much for company loyalty!!
So much for California insurance companies!!
So much for trying to ripoff seniors!!

I went to AAA, for only $300.!!

Snap, Nastia is voted off DWTS ! Can't fake-smile at partner in romantic dancing vs cold-machine gymnastics

Bummer.
Just smiling is all she needed to Win.
Oh, well.
She would Not take judges advice , early advice to "connect emotionally with partner. "
Can't gymnasts be allowed to smile too, if they love their sport? And team? And coach?

Why would Android and Samsung think it was a Good idea to have their "smartphone" customers "Please wait,,," while the $500 phone fills the trash file, and empties the trash file ??

You can't do it automatically, daily. Or hourly.
And the longer you wait to empty trash emails, the longer Android and Samsung make you,,, wait.

Plus the phone "Favorites" heading on my G3 totally does not work.  The list is full of triplicates and quads, and people I never call !!
How could Android have such sloppy stupid unrefined software ??

And after a few years this "smartphone" is sooo bloody slow, even in SF or Silicon Valley !!

Ready for the fourth, a $600 "smartphone"??
The V.A. says their website is not designed or useable on such devices.
Told the same by the big power company, PG&E, about billing. The company that got away with gas mainline explosion defective maintenance killing 8 and blowing up 38 houses.

Cal-train, from Gilroy-San Jose-SF is by Far the Best train service in the SFBayArea, with Amtrak a distant second and BART a distant 3rd, old super expensive dirty cars, garbled station announcements, and too small station signs

So if you are planning a SF vacation, there are scores of fine hotels and motels along Cal-train, El Camino Real Boulevard nearby, or Highway 101,  often Much Cheaper than inside expensive SF.

Happy Trails !!

Why are most American young women emotionally and verbally closed off to their sexual partners!?

I'm in my 60s now and looking back over 45 relationships since my 20s, the one near certainty was that the beautiful smart college-education fun , good job often higher paying than mine, woman would never ever tell me how she felt , in bed or out. Amazing, eh?

They would say "I love you" after a few weeks or a few months of sleeping , and eating and even living together.  But never "I like you" or "I like you but I don't trust you."  I always felt these young highly desirable women were telling their girlfriends and sisters and mothers much more than they ever told me!  And I can prove it; She was an artist at heart, in love with a super handsome blonde (straight) guy who only wanted monthly visits so he could "meditate"(nut), and worked at a famous hotel front desk.

I would go by after work and ask her how her day was going, what art she was hiding behind the front desk. She was a 10 in my book, ok a 9 and 1/2 for being hung up on a never attainable guy.  I brought her a rose once, but really didn't think I had a chance. Then one night she asks me to her tiny apartment after work!.

I envisioned lots of kissing and compliments, of her. Take it slow and gentle.  Talking kissing touching. Instead she undressed and laid on the bed.
We had sex. She said "I need to sleep", so I told her she was beautiful, I liked her and her art, and I hoped the sex was ok or good enough. Soo gushy embarrassing! No comment.

I left. As I walked away I felt like I had not told her how special sex was with her, for me, and how I admired and respected her. So , since I am no artist, I went back to the famous luxury hotel and got some stationary and an envelope and wrote my feelings, desires, wishes, dreams, hopes down and even apologized if the sex the first time wasn't good enough. I felt like a fool. But I was smitten by this perception of near perfection.

When I got back to her tiny apartment,  I could hear her loudly laughing and telling these other girls every detail about how I was such a terrible lay !  Here I had done 99% of the work, she only undressed, and I was being publically mocked about our intimacy!
How could such a woman be so cruel and closed off?!  I left the envelope and letter in the door jam very quietly and left.
I was so hurt, even after 20 relationships. After a week she asked a mutal friend to apologize to me for her.

I have never paid for sex. And never will. Yes, I have had some secret slut one night stands, but that is because those women never told me they were sleeping with anybody. And I do mean anybody. Like a dead cow. What is the point?  It seems so sick for women to act this way, but who is going to teach them , if not their mothers and or Oprah!?

The famous SF lawyer. Wow. She could barely wisper "I love you."  We swam at night in the Bay at Aquatic Park. What a mind. What a body. What a total failure to talk face to face and with total honesty. I wanted to marry her. But she could not tell me. I had no idea at all what she thought felt about me. Women, you Must tell us!    What a regrettable loss.  Oh, if I had only said "look, I can't afford you, but I think I love you. How important is my income and my love to you?"

Of all these 40+ women , only two wanted their own orgasm on the first bedding.  Amazing.
How can women go for months and years without an orgasm of their own!?  Are they doing it alone, secretly and privately? And not telling, not talking with their partner? Or just cold turkey?

For some of these much richer than me, and much better job than me women like lawyers nurses and teachers, how can you live with someone for two years and then at Christmas or New Years PROPOSE and say "I love you, let's get married, after you get a new job that pays over $80k instead of $40-50k. Otherwise, get out."
No discussion,  just a surprise ultimatum.  Bizarre. Happened 3 times to me.

How can a beautiful grocery checker invite you to "her apt" for dinner and it turns out to be his expensive apartment, her boyfriend's,  who "I am going to break up with!" And she really thought we were going to have this delicious meal and all night sex in HIS very expensive apartment she could not afford!? I so wanted her and had tried for months to ask her out. Costco big cheap dozen red roses weekly,,, Why didn't she tell me she had a BF and wanted to break up?  She should have more self confidence and self respect.  So women live with rich guys for the comfort but don't love them, and we all see this all the time. Especially rich old selfish grumpy men. What a pity. What a compromise.

Why did the stunning short blonde hair dresser in Millbrae and Bgame never tell me how she felt about me, how she wanted me to propose, how she had gotten pregnant and was going to have the baby alone with her mother because I could not read her mind and her heart?.  I Definitely would have married her and been true faithful, if I had heard even just one positive word. The sex was great. She was gorgeous. So young. So fit. So fun. But as important as our relationship was to me and obviously to her, she did not want to talk about it!  She wanted the guy to propose. I so wish she had told me these desperate secret expectations.  Maybe that was the my "the one".

Last year I had 3 lovers come by, after 20 years , to see if I still had magnum good looks.
My brown hair is mostly grey and I weight 250 vs 200 at 6'2".
One nurse who had married an unknown lawyer after our break up and had 4 daughters, lived in a huge fancy 2 story house, divorced the lawyer,,, she only want me listed as a "friend" on her Facebook page. No discussion. No reminiscing.  No feelings, no tenderness.  In fact she lied and said "it is not like we were ever in love !" Ouch.   How do you know it is love, and for both of you?

One left me for a "fat, no neck!!" millionaire engineer, had 2 boys, lived in Paris, our city, and been dumped at 50. She was still drop dead gorgeous, smart as Einstein,  but could not even introduce herself "hi, it's Karen. Do you remember me after 20 years? (Her parents were drunks and physically abusive, locking her in a dark closet all day.)   Do you have any feelings for me?"  She just showed up at my work, looked so sad and heartbroken it killed me, and then she walked away,,, in her signature tight jeans and fancy high heels I use to love and tease her about. Is that, just that, all she wanted to happen!?  Why couldn't she just say my name?  Why plan for disappointment?  Why not at least try to reach out again? I would have hugged her so long.  We had lived together for 4 wonderful years way back then.
What a tragic waste !!  I only wish you the very best, Karen Valerie Jill Colleen girls-women.

And let's not forget the super rich , all powerful fathers of the stunning divorcees with 2 kids, the blonde therapist in Orinda and the plus size model in Ocean Beach-San Diego. The 2 boys in their cowboy boots always kicking me in the shins; Yeah I know I am not your real biological father!!  And then ending an immature marriage after my wife declared it open. So embarassing.
"Hello, I'm her father and there is no way you are marrying my daughter."
The Frisco irish lawyer and some big DC V.P. made their point. It was love for me, no harm, no foul, just could not pay all their bills. So why is it so hard for women to tell him their feelings, wishes and hopes?

I accept that I am average income.   But what do women want? They are in the driver's, accepting, seat;  Famous Look magazine back page editorial. Look at all the relationship misery out there. Guys shouldn't be blamed for more than 50%. So are women going to relate better,tell more, love better, live better, here in "better off" America?
Hope so.
I don't think they know what they are missing, what with all the bad relationship modeling around.
So many "couples" not holding hands and not smiling. See there. And there.
Talk about an American tragedy! ! I missed so much, with so many. My apologies.

Dear fellow Costco shoppers!! Today the 4 colors of the UNION BAY CARGO SHORTS go on sale !!

Looks like the buyers have found a Winner !!

Bought 6 pair a few days ago and will return tomorrow, with receipt, to get the sale discount! !

Only up to size 38.
Made in Vietnam, not China,,, good.
Label warns of fading but I ran one tan pair through regular wash and no fading at all on first and only wash.

Very light fabric.
I've had some 100% cotton canvas heavy ones for about 5 years. The bottom hem edge frayed. And the "little woman" said the old comfy all cotton ones from Ross had to go!!

Bought tan and also soft green. Passed on dark camo and blue. GF would look good in blue,,,

Good job, Costco!!

Congress and Burlingame, Ca.:The macro and microcosm of campaign contributions totally subverting American Democratic Republic

Fact: Most of the residents of Burlingame are renters. And most of the registered voters are renters. But the Mayor , A.K.,will tell you, a renter, in public that she cares more about the businesses of Burlingame than the voters who elected her and the city council, because of campaign contributions.

Rent control? "Not interested."
Rent freeze in economic crisis?
"Not interested."
More reduced overnight and day rate parking for renters and residents?
"Not interested."
Uniform higher standards for all apartment buildings, so old buildings are not exempted and allowed to have no basic security garage doors, and over 50 year old appliances like refrigerators , gas stoves and antique toilets?
"Not interested."
My building's rents have gone up more than 10% each of last 4 years to sum of 50% increase!!
"So move," she says.

This is how the USA is diminished and Democracy dies.

Foreign and Native travelers on AMTRAK should BEWARE of massive deception in the California "train" route use of BUSES, instead of a TRAIN !!

This is fraud, of course,  hiding in small print.

My apologies to all visitors to California.

Huge American Press Cover-up!!: The 1989 "loma prieta", Santa Cruz based,7.1 quake and the press release that "No one in SF got the 45 second earthquake on video." Not a pro or amateur, with all those tourist in town?? B.S.!!

Why is the govt and media/press hiding the facts and probably destroying any videos, evidence?

Why have most of the 1987 videos of the Golden Gate Bridge's 50th birthday party, and huge sagging middle, been taken down from YouTube and the Web?  Why does Wikipedia let someone bold face lie and state that "the bridge only flattened"?

Shades of book,1984.
No long national discussion of the Right to Privacy. Just a lot of hypocritical .com companies secretly taking and selling FOR $ MILLIONS and $ BILLIONS any and all private information, even your medical records.  And Congress does nothing.
And the national American Media and Press do little to nothing.

Shocking.

California CDLs/commercial driver licenses have become Very Difficult to get for driving Semis or School Bus. How hard? More difficult than some college classes !!

Why is California being so hard on the working poor !?

Why, if it is so darn important , do you have to MEMORIZE 7 full pages of a pre-trip inspection, if can use the PRINTED 7 FULL PAGES when you inspect the Semi, bus or School Bus at work !?

State should promote the SMITH SYSTEM, like UPS.

California is sooo messed up (by Sacramento)  !!

San Francisco refused the donation of a WW2 battleship,, and fumbled dropped the Star Wars Museum !! SF's #1 biz is TOURISM.

2 huge mistakes by sf city-county govt.  HUGE.

REAL SIMPLE magazine: Charged $37/yr on "automatic billing', yet website says regular rate is $24/yr !!

They even have a '2 for 1' subscription pricing on now, April 2015, so you could cancel and get a much better rate.

Lesson learned: Don't give just anybody 'automatic billing' priviledges, as some people/companies will charge you a higher rate, not their lowest rate !!
Shame on Real Simple magazine.

Treasure Island, California: What a scary ugly neglect DUMP of a man-made island between SF and Oakland

Texted SF 311 about a backed up sewer, standing nasty water on the street, public health risk, and they say "t.í." is no longer going to be serviced by SF.

Did the Navy with their long secret nuclear waste dump decide to keep it?

If you do come out here, maybe to the Administration bldg for the night time view of SF across the Bay or a drunken corporate bash or a wedding reception in the 2 small shore buildings, don't expect any help from SFPD.  I caught a car burglar in my car,  IN a fenced parking lot for the company, and the 3 SFPD cop cars from SF would not get closer than 50ft, the lazy cowards! The carjacker was allowed to run away and drive away, off island, one entrance and exit.

There are lots of poor people living out here in lousy apartments. Then there are all these expensive cars driving around. Male and female prostitutes? Top that off with the Secret Service, junior division in full team, watching the Russians, looks like.

Darn few trash cans.
Good luck finding a large clean public restroom, or two.  Lots of teens and young adults loitering. Lots of run down uninhabited concrete dorms and buildings.

So again, why would anyone, with just a little sense, want to come out here, off the Bay Bridge, to Treasure Island !?
Ugly, neglected, under policed, high crime rate. Be careful.

Don't come to California to work, to earn a living, the odds are Heavily against you. Come to vacay, come to overspend at hotels vs VRBO/airbnb rentals !!

Just found out ,,, Companies can have to sign a waiver that you don't want your 5-6 hour of work, unpaid 30min lunch break. So mine "forced" me to sign today. No meal break, unpaid natch, until 6th hour now.

Also "forced" to sign waiver of earned paid vacation pay.
Oops, there goes one or two weeks max paid vacations/yr, permanently,  for the whole company. Hope you are all enjoying the Dark Middle Ages, Revisited !!

At least this SF boss is still paying overtime. Many in the City's #1 biz of Tourism do not pay legally required overtime after 8 hours.  How do so many California companies break the wage laws on the books, with so many Democrats in state offices ??
Just amazing.

Democrats!
Clinton killed welfare for the few. And Glass-Steagal.
Obama said he wants to end Social Security. A real defense-spending warmonger. Bush tax cuts for the Riche have not been reversed and repaid. Medicine is still 1/3 waste and massive for-profit incompetence.   Wall St.ers have not gone to jail in hundreds,,,thousands,,,
Food and water safety are much less.
But lowly Pinnacles is a National Park!  Priorities?

Google Maps is so hard to street-view navigate/drive !! Why not an automatic "drive-about", pick a start point, pick an end point, pick look left/right/both, and press Start. HOW EASY THAT WOULD BE. (Trust me, "they" will Never think of this.)

I have updated a popular restaurant on Google Maps, on the wrong side of the street, for over 2 years.  Hello ??
All those $ M salaries and college/university degrees at Google, and look at the mediocre end product !!

"Oops, time for a long free excellent free company lunch,,, and a siesta under desk !!"

If only all American companies overpaid so much and asked so little. Must be nice to be a rare overpaid Elitist, and join the selfish Republican Club.

Not Recommended: Whirlpool Cabrio H2low-He clotheswasher

1, so little water that normal powdered soap would not disolve. Had to switch to liquid clothes soap or liquid pods.

2, the top load door will not open , after sound of motion has stopped for 15-30-45 SECONDS !! What a waste of time. Bad design !!  Hate This LID LOCK, too damn long !!

3, no timer, so you have no idea how long the chosen cycle is. Bad design.

4, we were sold one without a window in the top loading door. Later we found out you can buy one with a window. Highly recommend you get a window to see if the rinse is clean enough.

Welcome Costco shoppers: Don't recommend the MONTEREY GOURMET brand of ORGANIC ROASTED RED PEPPER RAVIOLIS,,, or the SPINACH AND CHEESE version in plastic trays,2 pack. Too little filling, but more importantly, don't taste good

My Costco sells another brand of SPINACH AND CHEESE RAVS with MUCH MORE FILLING,,, AND much more FLAVOR. Come in a frozen bag. Green and white plastic bag.

I do recommend the latter.
Will find and post brand, ,, later

Any California politician who talks about our 4th year of Drought and does not suggest not planting our 3most water intensive crops of rice, alfalfa and cotton this year is just blowing hot air.

Over 70% of California water goes to Central Valley farmers and SoCal diversions.
Rice alfalfa and cotton are not  vital crops, just habitual crops.
This cheap water rates major user, farmers, must change, at least during this Drought !!

Could women's tennis Lisicki's play today against Serena be any more servile?

Both were playing high school tennis today. "ICK" groan and moan from this audience for "700th win". Disgracefully low level of play. Serena throws racket down against court, breaks it, and no fine for unsportsmanlike conduct ?

Aren't women athletes and tennis players embarrassed and disappointed by the low level of play in today's womens tennis !?

Welcome, fellow Costco shoppers! I really like LANGER'S OJ, pasteurized so you don't have to refrigerate for weeks, it will keep in the pantry or closet,,, item #334633

It doesn't go sour like most canned OJ in a week after you make it by adding water.
I have had it in the frig for an entire month, and still tastes as fresh and sweet as the day i bought it.
And San Jose-Almaden Costco has it back, again now !!
Hope you can sample some in the store or buy some and see what you think,,,
It is by far my favorite OJ of all the OJs on the market right now, even against my Mom's fresh squeezed from the backyard orange tree with lots of pulp OJ.
Enjoy !!

They also make a mango juice and i mix both in a tall glass. With ice.
Just Wonderful !!

Also love the blood orange soda in the tall bottles , that isn't always available.
So refreshing and not as carbonated as a soda.
Great color and flavor.
Costco buys a good brand here.

Federal withdrawal "minimum distrbution" law MUST BE REVERSED !! Forcing savers to tap their own savings in an IRA before they want to or need to is unnecessary and onerous to the struggling working poor and declining middle class !!

NO, the US govt does Not need this tax money from most at 70 and 1/2, if the Bush tax cuts for the rich are still on the books. How much have we lost, plus interest??

And all the corrupt 'loopholes' and individual 'rifleshots' in the tax code. Yikes !!

And all the waived taxes, like $2B/yr by California in the only state without an oil extraction tax.  Add it up, over decades, and that is a lot of waived potential tax.

Or taking the about $129k tax ceiling off SSN taxes !! How much is that, since day one off SSN ??

Or tax breaks for profitable companies like GE that should be, if we had truly 'Honorable' Congressfolk, paying huge taxes  to the USA every year.

Public school teachers, college/University Degreed and Master's in Ed. licensed AND Very Low Starting pay,,, are still expected even in California to COMPLETELY REMOVE EVERYTHING FROM AN ASSIGNED CLASSROOM ONCE OR TWICE/YEAR !! Not the Janitor or a stong back School District employee hired as a "Mover" !! Just Shocking.

All those bloated Principal and Superintendent salaries,with added cost of 'golden handshakes' and 'golden parachutes' when probably any college grad could perform as well for much less, and all those 'rubber stamp' school district meetings, and all that wasted annual funding in the public shool philosophy of "spend every cent this year, and get the same or more next year", and all the money wasted on 'literature-based' schoolbooks one year and 'phonic-based' schoolbooks the next to hugely profit the publishers,,,

And forget help from the Teacher's Union, almost as worthless as Teamster to unemployed Union Members,'in good standing'.

In all this public tax money largesse, the most important professionals, the teachers, are still starting salary vastly underpaid and on top of THAT insulted by being the public school's "Moving Company".

Just shocking.

Was listening to another Great inside story this morning on NPR, "the Eulogy for the Peach" about Japanese-American farmer Mas Masimoto and his sweet juicy Suncrest eating, not canning, peaches, picked and rotting in the San Joaquin Valley, southern Central Valley

I would like to likewise honor my father's favorite peach, and my Grandfather's livelyhood from the Sutter Buttes area of the other, Northern end of the Central Valley, the Sacramento Valley, where the huge main river by comparison has not Yet been sucked completely dry by greedy farmers subsidized with way too cheap, 70% of state's entire supply, water prices.

North of Marysville up the cheap narrow 2 lane county road was my Grandfather's small edible peach orchard of Melrose peaches. My dad was expected to go to school and get good grades,  be on the football team and do Herculean amounts of childwork, physical labor around the small farm. They were relatively poor, but ate well off their land and my father grew up very strong and healthy from all the pruning, horse and mule chores, and other general farm chores that city kids to this day do not have a clue about.

Long before ww2 ,for many decades,  my Grandfather's family had employed one Japanese-American family who lived in a house behind the main house and where my father was invited to join the family in their daily late afternoon big wood hot tub soaks, all naked, after cleaning off before entering.  I wish he could have remembered their family name, to include them in our family history and Californians family history, but Dad died at 95 suddenly last year and Mom and the family have suffered a terrible loss. He taught famously at college level and was a multiple decorated war hero , whose exploits are still "classified Secret" and even after 50 yrs , soldiers of his exceptional bravery will possibly never ever have their true heroic stories told.  What a national waste !!

My Dad's sister wasn't interested in these hired farm workers and their strange hot tub soaking, but dear old Dad learned Japanese and became very close to the family, respectfully, even tho I gather the parents were typically rather racist of everybody generally,,, non-white, non-Protestant back in those old days. And then he has to go to the very front of the Pacific theatre war and fight the Japanese. It must have been hard for him, tho he was to his death extremely patriotic. He took us to San Jose's tiny Japantown many times as children to eat a meal. And the Japanese-American family had been shipped off to one of the California desert prison camps. Such an injustice.

Bank of America foreclosed on the farm when the great depression hit and without shelter or peaches, the 2 kids were given to relatives in Sf and Oakland. My Grandfather took personal blame  for the G.Depression, tho it was not in the least his fault. Can you imagine the hardships?

Several years ago the last of Grandfather's delicious juicy big and beautiful Melrose peach trees died in the San Jose-Willow Glen backyard.
None of the local garden centers knew how to order another Melrose , so my busy busy Dad gave up looking. Boy scout troop leader. He gave so much to the neighbors and neighborhood over his long lifetime, now forgotten by San Jose.

So I took up the challenge for him and my appetite !  I phoned lots of State Ag.civil servants who all said,"I have been working decades in the Sacramento Valley and never seen or heard of a Melrose peach."

I called the rich and very famous UCDavis university and talked to employees in their famous plant reference library who all said, "There is no record at all of this Melrose peach every existing or even being grown in all of California."

I went online and talked to arborists and tree experts all over the United States. No luck.
No one remember the pre-canning peach days, when you ate peaches ripe and juicy and full of flavor right off the tree.
I was so lucky as we had many fruit trees in our yards front and back.

Goodbye, Melrose peach.

May and Inside Passage HUGE TRAVEL DECEPTION !!

I had about a dozen SF Bay Area travel agencies ,"Cruise Specialists", tell me that May was "not ordinarily too early to see herring come in in masses, and bring the whales salmon and Orcas".

So I booked not 7 days but 2 weeks , as I was saving up for this desired trip for years !!
The smaller cruise ship was very luxurious on boarding off Seattle, and the recent cooking school grad chef was much better than me, and the views around the SE corner of Vancouver Island were truely Breath-taking, if you love Nature.

But no Orcas.  For 2 full week weeks, all the way up to almost Glacier Bay !! Not one Orca. Did you know Glacier Bay charges cruises ships HUGE ENTRANCE FEES !? Huge, like the $300 for a 45ft bus with say only 5 guests to enter Yosemite !! Glacier Bay needs to be honest and publicly confess this fully.

And only a few whales, maybe a dozen,,, in 2 long full outside on deck weeks ?!!

I asked the ship's crew.
All told me quite frankly that "MAY IS TOO EARLY TO SEE MANY OR ANY PODS OF ORCAS, UNLESS YOU ARE VERY LUCKY, AS THE HERRING TINY FISH ARE NOT HERE YET IN LARGE ENOUGH NUMBERS. EVERYBODY UP HERE KNOWS THIS. DIDN'T THEY TELL YOU the truth DOWN THERE IN THE LOWER 48 ?"

And the cruise lines charge FULL PRICE for MAY , when it should be severely discounted, like a repositioning cruise.
Don't fall for this MASSIVE TRAVEL INDUSTRY LIE, and waste $1000s by going too early on the INSIDE PASSAGE from Seattle/Vancouver to Alaska !!
Wait until June, at least.
July is even better.

"Everybody know this,,, up here.  Didn't they tell you the truth,,, down there ?"

Another Inside Passage "trick" involving float plane rides.
On the ship they said they could negociate a low price for this fun amazing excursion.  But I did as well on my own on the dock ! And then the small plane company last minute switched the 3 of us from the ADVERTISED roomy, bigger engine Beaver or Otter, feel safer, to a tiny engine and cramped Cessna !!
THIS MUST BE A HUGE AND COMMON DECEIT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA !!
We were all bouncing in buffeting air and hanging on for dear life !! Next time I will cancel and find a more honest float plane excursion company !!

Don't think all the cruise ship dock restaurants are safe !!
No grade signs on front doors,,, and I got sooo sick at one in St.Petersburg !!
All these restaurants should be health inspected much more often and big grade signs on the front door !! I skipped a paid for meal onboard ship to eat "locally with the locals".
Big mistake, like in Mexico.

Happy trails !!

Yelp,,, I don't trust them anymore !!

A local business threatened me after a bad review with "I know where you live."  Creepy !!
And Yelp did nothing !!

How can a body shop on the West side of SJ airport do such lousy work and for so much money,,, and only have "all 5star ratings" ,,,?

Frequent "common" corruption in San Mateo County Small Claims Courts

This is what the Bailiff told me , shockingly, after a visiting Judge had failed to get signatures from plantiffs and defendant Before hearing the case, then mistake noticed after and His correct, evidence supported, confession letter admitted Guilty Verdict was dismissed and the case was rescheduled for another day and a Resident Judge, who ruled the defendant innocent !, the reversed judgement, to COVER-UP THE VISITING JUDGES PROCEDURAL ERROR ,,, in not getting signatures before hearing the case !!

The official court Bailiff explained to us outside the courtroom, in the Casa Mia apts vs Ms.Pennell case, that this miscarriage of justice "happens all the time in San Mateo County Small Claims Court cases".

We victims of this injustice contacted the State Attorney General of California office and others judicial offices with no further action taken on the matter. Even the Grand Jury was "not interested" in common judicial corruption in San Mateo County Courthouses!!

Shocking.

Costco fellow-shoppers!! Avoid STRING CHEESE , now labeled "Galbani" , strings poorly and tastes "C-" to same Fr. CO.s old Sorrento Precious label, a solid "A-" in taste and tearing

Huge difference in taste and tearing. Costco needs to tell the Fr. Co. what it wants , best for their customers.

And Costco's selling some organic string cheese is Ridiculously overpriced !! What, about 40c each vs 15c,,, outrageous.

Guess it is time for those Costco Corporate Buyers to get busy and earn their large salaries !!

Soil Logic's " Liquid Gypsum" , about $25 for 2 1/2 gallons. Not Recommended.

No noticeable effect in San Jose, Ca. , famous for sticky clay soil.

Suggest instead brown granular gypsum for lawns and flower beds and general soil tilth, which is about $8 for 50# at most professional turf supply stores, like the one in Campbell, Ca.   Brown neutral color vs old white gypsum powder that is not very disolveable,,, quickly dissolves in watering, quick results tho moderate with infamously extreme clay soil in San Jose, Ca.

Also suggest alfalfa pellets, mixed and buried below topsoil.  Nowadays about $16 for 40-50#  at most pet and feed stores.  Twenty years ago was $6 a large bag !!  Lots of worms and worm casting fertilizer, quick results, usually mix and cover in late winter and again in mid-Summer.

Major Hassle with Smartphones:short battery life, Constantly trying to RECHARGE(Anker backside battery)

Such a Hassle.
You start your day, with a $500-600 "smartphone" and an American slow internet service. And within say 4 hours you are looking everywhere, Everywhere!, for a power outlet, under your desk, in the hall, at a restaurant,,, Everywhere!, just because most smartphone batteries can't last a full day, or two days. The downsize designmania is just too b-i-g.

$30 on Amazon, ANKER backside batteries , mine almost lasts 3 days!!!
What a Relief.
Yeah, I lost the slim blue back that, cough, came with my 3rd $500 smartphone,,,
Not that vain, right.

T-Mobile doesn't sell them in their stores I've seen, nor Verizon nor Sprint nor whatever!

Uncomplicate your slow expensive tiny battery "smartphone" daily grind American experience!
Check out ANKER cordless backside batteries !!

Feb2015, The USA news media ELEPHANT in the room is the secret , critical TPP TRADE NEGOTIATIONS.

Mostly silence from American news media.
Rich corporations are getting sweet deals over their Nation, and many others!!

More news media silence.
The lie of omission.
It is just as bad, or worse, than some isolated , overpaid, egotist Talking Head.

"Weapons of mas destruction" was a total lie.
"Links to al Q. terrorists" was a total lie.
The American news media allowed these Huge lies, and thus the Iraq War, on and on.

The lie(s) of silence.

Memories,,, are a tricky thing.

My lover and I frequently discuss our first kiss.

She says it was at the kitchen stove. And she kissed me.

I say I waited months, years for her to see how much I admired and respected and lusted and loved her. She's a college grad and school teacher so very busy.

But I took her hand one day in the Mall.
And I looked her in her eyes as we walked, leaned over and kissed her on The Lips.
Certain.
As sunshine in the morning.

We go round and round, all the time, about This:    OUR FIRST KISS.
Maybe she is testing me, seeing if I still remember.
Yes, she is blonde.
And Yes, she is from ,,, Wyoming, God save her!

She seems to love the Cal coast more than me. I can take it.
She loves the 2 kids so much.
And I studied Oceanography!
We both love the over-priced West coast.
I know I will always love her.
I don't know how much she loves me, even tho we make love and have phone sex all the time, after 30 years.
With women, and all their many secrets from everyone, but God maybe, she prays a lot, how is any Guy to Know for sure if their woman really loves them.
Not just great acting.
Millennia of male dominance.

I can only hope she loves me.
I still can't take my eyes off her.
What if she left me,,, for a younger, more handsome if that's possible,better guitar player, rich guy?

Maybe I'll ask her.
"Do you remember Our First Kiss ?"  I do my best, every day.

Happy Valentine's Day, Love of my life. ;)

State Farm-insured driver victim? Me too. First put on hold for half an hour!!

Then lied to,"You have 3years to get repairs done."
Then received letter,"You really have only 2 years to get all repairs done."

Welcome to the Receiving End of State Farm !!

GERBER toilet beats all others, Kohler , Am.Standard, Glacier Bay , in My book !!

CR can have their opinion.
But for best value price and low maintenance functionality,  I would buy GERBER again. And again.

Yes , I know they don't sell the low volume toilet I have any more. Not low enough!! The 1.6 gpflush.

And you go into a toilet showroom and there are Kohlers all over the floor.
So I went into the discount Winchester blvd. place across the tracks, "Cloud" , and asked about "these rare Gerbers".

Oh, you're done your research, the salesman said. We keep the other good stuff in the back.

We also wisely bought the Higher ADULT HEIGHT versus the common and bit lower Family Height. Sooo much easier for seniors to get up from!  And kids can still use a Step. Our cat has no problem drinking out of the higher bowl.

I grew up with 3 sisters, so know how to use a toilet plunger and 4ft hooked metal tube, taped curve to prevent scratching,8ft by 1/2" flexible steel toilet snake with red painted wood crank handle !!  We have had several American Standards and Kohlers. Even a Toxx !

Still, highly recommend a GERBER and buy only at a reputable discounter, pro shop like "Cloud" in Silicon Valley.

Austealian Open 2015, not much fun to watch

Some, like Berdych winning over obsessive but civilized Nadal on 18th try. Sweet.

When are we going to hear less gunting and moaning and intimidation noise on serve from women, not in the privacy of the bedroom, but Every Blasted 'bloody' awful compared to male side serve!?

When are the smash a racquet rules going to be enforced against multimillionaire sports players, some making M $ for Not winning a championship, just being good choking , can't close losers!?

Andy Murray may be a good to great player, but I'm not going to watch his "meany face" to opponents in a game that Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors and others played with manners and class.  It's a spectator sport, tv revenues and sponsors, and I chose not to watch. Fans need more "shut it/escort out" of bleacher enforcement. All this pervasive social and economic lawlessness may be au currant, but it's uncivilized.

Same for Miss. Keys failure,lack of public apology to Lindsay Davenport and fans, gave up, "overwhelmed", choke, massive head fog on playing high school level Serena. It was painful to watch her butler a volley return to Serena versus the open court!
And that 8th match point video of Serena off balance was soo embarassing; this is the best American womens and international womens tennis can do!?

Let's watch something less rude, rule breaking, uncivilized.  What's next for professional tennis, fist fights!?

Costco Corporate: Thank you so much for giving up on only selling boneless skinnless chicken parts , thighs etc. in California !!

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Journalism majors, wake up! How do you reduce the jobless claims in California without even trying to make more jobs? You make the alternative to just jobless and going broke to a Much Worse state EDD unemployment office!!

Ahhh, Sacramento-scum politicians.

Back in the 70s , if you got fired or laid off, the EDD state offices were full of polite, helpful , compassionate people who gave you the tiny checks (you and ERs had been paying for into the 'system'), with just one form or two. You could get thru the dead-winter tourist season, pay your rent and eat at Mom's,  and get a job in tourism on the Spring rise, next year after year of  "seasonal layoffs,,, it's California."

Now, the state EDD offices are black holes of lies, deception, ill will, and legally we can file your U.I.claim under the wrong funding category, totally our mistake, BURN, and you have to go before an Admin.Judge - like waterboarding?--to pay it all back. Plus interest and penalty.  So sick.  California is so sick.
The San Jose office on Bascom is Not staffed by "real EDD employees" as they say-lie and say they are. The phones don't connect to starting benefits.
The PCS do not connect to starting a claim. If you go home and use your pc, you also do not get to 100% open a new EDD unemployment insurance claim. These subcontractor staffers lie and say their EDD business cards are "too far, over at my desk." And they DEFINITEY won't help you get a job, like back in the 70s and 80s.!!

Heck, even the Teamsters will not help "members in good standing with their tiny paper Withdrawal Cards" get a job !!

So that is how The State of California makes numbers lie, on joblessness. Aren't we all so proud of seminary student, Democrat Governor Jerry Brown? OK, only Pat Brown?

SINKMASTER (discontinued) brand and "WASTE KING" brand and "WHIRLAWAY" brand, are all manufactured by ANAHEIM MANUFACTURING, POB 4146, Anaheim, Ca. 92803 with the 3"w /wide SPLASH GUARD, that is so very hard to find online!!

I have looked for weeks online.
Google-d my fingers off.
Amazon ordered "no size" in subject line or WRONG SIZE from "technical description".
And paid-postage returned,,, grrr!!

So if you are looking for a,,, "a 3inch Wide SPLASH GUARD for WASTE KING brand sink disposals, or WHIRLAWAY brand garbage disposals or SINKMASTER disposals",,, you should contact the source, the original mfg., Anaheim Manufacturing,  of Anaheim, Ca.!! They tell me they have the original mold, so it might be 3 1/64",,, or about 3". They swapped office location, and mfg for this Very Difficult to Find part. When my spares arrive, in "about a month",,, I hope they fit !! As I said, this is the original manufacturer, I was told.

Order 4-6 of these , as they are wear out, disposable parts that last a year or 6months.
Call 1-800-854-3229 and talk to the polite CSRs like Debbie! And you whiners who ordered spares with purchase, Stop Whining!! Shut up, if you have the right spare!!

I should charge $ for this in this mercenary period, but historically there was "the public good" and the "public commons", guess they don't teach in school any more.
Not just ripping off a Billionaire's fortune and starting a tax benefit Endowment to assuage their Guilts.

Watching that great teenage perspective movie "Breaking Away" and sure hope there are rules in usa and international bicycle racing against such Dirty Tricks as changing another riders shift gear levers or putting a bike pump in the front wheel !! That is Not Honest Competition !!

Ok, so illegal drug doping-use is rampant.
Rules are rules and MUST be inforced.

In California, and maybe other states, i have noticed a slow erosion of basic labor rights, specifically the centuries earned protections of hourly pay and overtime pay work rules in favor of 'job pricing' !!

Why do we have Powerful Democrat politicians like the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, who even went to the Seminary??
And the Powerful Democrat Party women of Feinstein, Pelosi, and Boxer if the weakest, lowest paid workers in this State of California are being cheated by this slow creep of the loss of hourly pay and overtime pay, basic labor law protection !?

Lord knows, wage theft and tip theft are rampant by employers in SF and California. Heard of the famous car valet service in Silicon Valley that steals 1/2 an hour, daily!, from all employees!?

Tower Tours and Super Sightseeing- Greyline have been stealing drivers overtime pay for decades in SF,,, decades. As have other employers. The owner of MTR Western tried to steal all the many West coast offices employees-drivers 401k plan savings! Why hasn't the Grand Jury investigated hourly pay and overtime pay wage theft in SF? Where has the District Attorney been?

Less than 20 years ago, all the airport shuttle drivers in the sf bay area were hourly employees. Now, not one company has hourly and overtime pay employees, just 'independent contractors'. Not one. 

What backroom thievery has Sacramento been doing??  All are 'legally' listed as 'independent contractors' who NOW must buy or lease the van, pay for insurance, pay for a mechanic's maintenance, and work for only one employer. 
Thus they are really not 'independent contractors'. That is a lie. 

 But what does the state public care about the struggling working poor,a lack of enough rent control, or the legally insane kicked out of good state mental hospitals in California and now littering our streets as the 'homeless'? Shame on California !!  Shame on Jerry Brown for being Governor and doing so little !!

The same basic labor law protection loss is happening from the bottom up, as in the limousine business and the charter /tour bus business as well. (Who cares!) Some SF charter and tour bus drivers have had their legal overtime pay stolen ,illegally, by employers for DECADES. 

Yet new companies, like Green Dream Tours, based out of Treasure Island in SF, are legally allowed to pay their drivers a flat $200/job !! Plus the drivers can keep their tips ,instead of 'sharing' them with the employers. This means that these drivers go around SF to pick up passengers at hotels, give a wine tour of Sonoma and Napa, and return to SF to do hotel drop offs, then back to Treasure Island to clean the bus, for maybe a 12-15hr day!! Isn't this a direct violation of SF's minimum HOURLY wage law?

This slow 'pay/job' trend in California MUST BE STOPPED, by true democrats and progressives.
We obviously can not trust either the Democrat Party or the Republican Party !!

With recent, now Jan.2014, attempted car burglary attempts in SF and SJ and "F" lousy SFPD and SJPD responses, i am willing to vote to make 40 YEAR MINIMUM TO GET POLICE OR FIRE PENSION, ZERO DISABILITY, IN SAN JOSE !!

After decades of the police and fire union blackmailing city politicians for vote endorsements and 'basic protection', it is time for San Jose to say "Enough!!"   You may have been one of the highest paid police departments in the USA, but your poor job performance is well documented.  I personally have seen several SJPD cops in expensive cruisers circle in West San Jose in the back of a public high school and sleep the night away with one cop listening to the police radio !!  Is this the police protection West San Jose wants from its overpaid cops !?  I don't think so !!
Especially with how dangerous East San Jose is.

Just a few weeks ago a SJPD officer came out and could barely do a police report and give me a police report number for an attempted car theft, after the criminals had inspected /cased the car 5 TIMES IN WILLOW GLEN !! This officer did not want to fingerprint anything, like the shoe horn of plastic the thieves pulled out of the glove box.  2 years of community college, lousy attitude, poor performance, and SJPD cops still expect to be paid, overpaid like fatcats after only 20 years,,, or even 30 years of lousy performance !!.

San Jose voters have spoken with a new mayor, like the old mayor, getting tough on SJPD for poor job performance !!  A full pension and full disability for just being old lazy and fat and 20 years of not being in a shotout is no longer going to happen, hopefully in San Jose. Why?  The city finally realizes it can not afford to treat x-firemen like Lords and Barons , who go out on full pension and full disability and buy 3 luxury homes on the same expensive golf course !!

All civil servants in California should, must be held to a much higher work standard, especially the DMV, Caltrans, and EDD !!  OK, my funny, as these my be the least effective agencies in any State govt. in the entire US of A. !!