THE WESTERN FRONT

Reactions to State of the Union and Response

2012-01-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

A few reactions to the State of the Union address and the Republican response...

It was very informative to see the distinct Republican contingent sitting in stony silence when Obama talked about how Osama Bin Laden had been killed and when he spoke in favor of eliminating tax incentives for companies to offshore jobs to other countries.

The rest of the chamber was applauding, and I have to believe most Americans also are in favor of such radical notions of killing Bin Laden and eliminating tax breaks for companies to ship jobs overseas.

So, the Republicans sitting there by contrast in silence spoke volumes about their values. Think on that for a minute.

Then, in the Republican rebuttal they trundled out the supposed rational moderate of their party (notice he is not running for President, however) who proceeded to unpack the same old hypocritical, conservative BS where all of a sudden they are concerned about debt and "big government." People, while both parties are certainly owned by big business and certainly we all agree that huge debt is not good, the Republican Party presided over the crashing of our economy.

Quite literally, during their control of the House, Senate and Presidency, their perspiration for the economy - low taxes for the rich and corporations, doubling down on oil as our energy source, and deregulation of most sectors - is the exact reason we're in our situation now. The Republicans are not credible....not. Dress it up as a "respectable" moderate all you want, but that guy is saying the same thing that Newt, Romney, Paul and Santorum are.

What they are credible on is the ability to take what they are guilty of and projecting it on their opponents. So, through them we get Obama as the debt creator, Obama the job killer, Obama the class warrior, Obama the creator of big government. Sure, Obama should have more balls, but these things are not true. But hey...just say it in your "rebuttal" and it starts being taken as truth.

In closing, I will repeat my questions...

Who do you think will be the first and primary beneficiaries of a Republican presidency and Congressional control? Will it be the mother or father in a poor to middle class family who finally gets a job because somehow the magic of tax cuts for the rich unleashes a new wave of new jobs?
Will it be the elderly who will suddenly benefit from lower housing and drug costs because of the "unseen hand of the market" forces prices down following more deregulation?
Or, will it be the Wall Street bankers, energy companies and the upper class who suddenly get new tax breaks and less regulation on their businesses?

I think we all know the answer. And we know this because WE JUST LIVED THROUGH IT over the past 10 years.

GOP SC Result Shows True Colors of Conservatives

2012-01-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

Newt won the South Carolina GOP primary this past weekend, and did so by a lot of votes - sending one time front runner and presumed nominee Mitt "corporations are people my friend" Romney into scramble mode, and making the Republican race as up-for-grabs as it has ever been this time around.

But that's on the surface. What does Palmetto State win by Gingrich really say about conservative voters?

Well, we know that SC is a very, very conservative state. Hell, there is no such thing as left of center down there. The closest you'd get is a moderate Republican. So, we know that the voting populous there definitely represents a large number of conservatives, and presumably a good cross section of conservative beliefs on topics such as the economy, social issues, foreign affairs, etc. So, we know that South Carolina is a good test bed for taking measure of where conservatives are at.

Next, we know that the four main candidates - Romney, Newt, Santorum and Ron Paul - all represent different shades of conservatism and personality. All conservatives mind you, but different in some key ways:

Mitt is the classic upper class "silk stocking" Republican that used to dominate the party before social conservatives took over in the 80s. On the upside for Republicans, he should represent the ultimate outcome of their preferred economic prescription for America. You an economic conservative? Mitt's your man. On the downside for the Rs, he's aloof, from Massachusetts and Mormon. That last one probably being the worst for a party run by evangelical Christians.
Newt is an old hand in the Republican Party, having been the Speaker of the House in the 1990s. He's an authoritarian, combative and a good debater. On the up side for Republicans, he is seen as a fighter (a bully really) - as someone unafraid to take on Obama with the toughest rhetoric and stances. On the downside for them, he is a walking abomination in terms of their party's claims around support for "family values" and moral codes lifted from the Bible. Newt also has a clear track record of simply changing his stance on things so that he's always on the opposite side of his opponent and can argue with him/her. Oh, and he presided over an expanding Federal government he ground to a halt in the 1990s, lost his Speakership to ethics charges and is corporately indentured as heavily as anyone else running.
Rick Santorum is THE MAN when it comes to religious conservatism. It doesn't get any more Christ-y than Rick. On the upside for Republicans, in Santorum they have a very clear, very obvious guy to vote for if their issue is moral and family values (as defined by the GOP and conservatives that is). On the downside, some may see him as unelectable against Obama and feel he is not as aggressive as Newt.

Ron Paul is the libertarian in the group. He believes in virtually no Federal government at all. So, Republicans could see him as champion for one of their big causes, small government. On the downside for them, he also believes Marijuana should be legal, we shouldn't be the world's police and the government has no business in the lives of gay people.

So with the rock solid conservative credentials of the South Carolina people and the above lineup of candidates vying for their votes, what does a resounding win by Gingrich tell us about where the collective head of the conservative party is at?

My conclusion is that the SC results show that conservatives are quickly and conveniently willing forget their supposedly strong support for "family," "responsibility," and "fiscal conservatism," and "small government," in favor of a guy they thing will be able to verbally beat down Obama. Essentially, they will sell out their values for an authoritarian guy who they think will thug his way to the Presidency. This trumps other candidates and core beliefs. Truth, adherence to strong principles, small government, ethics, religion, family values...all that stuff can go out the window because conservatives like how Newt can verbally beat someone up.

How else can you explain it? If conservatives' primary objective is to "restore family values," then Santorum should have won the primary.

If they wanted to ensure the continuation of government support for the "supply side" economics they so love (government by and for the 1%), then Mitt should have come out on top.

And, if they wanted to really shake things up and get things back to more of a "state's rights" situation (ask South Carolinians about state's rights...they'll tell you that is why the North started the Civil War. Note: that wasn't the reason and the South started the war...but I digress), then Ron Paul should have won.

But they didn't. Newt did.

Typically, conservatives respond well to being told by a strong man (bully) what to do, how to think, how to vote and what to say about the opponent. No thinking, no critique...just do it. Nixon, Cheney, Haig, McCarthy, Rumsfeld, Limbaugh, Oliver North. Those are the types conservatives flock to, and so is Newt. He always has been.

Luckily, some other GOP primaries are taking place in less distilled conservative states so we may see some more moderation in the vote tallies for the candidates. But, I'll be watching to see if "tough guy" beats out "smart guy," "religious guy" and "live free or die guy."

Kelly Staying

2012-01-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

....And once again "that didn't take long."

Less than 24 hours ago, it looked like Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly was gone to the NFL to take charge of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But no.

As of this morning, the situation has been clarified and resolved (see HERE)...so Kelly will be staying at Oregon. I think Duck fans can put 1-2 more wins back on their projections for the 2012 season now.

The Ducks will still have some challenges repeating as league champs with their starting QB and RB going pro, but with the head coach now staying I think their chances of making another run are very good.

Kelly Appears Gone

2012-01-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Wow. Well...that did not take long.

Approximately two weeks after winning the Rose bowl at the University of Oregon, head coach Chip Kelly appears to be leaving for the head coaching job at the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Sure, at this very moment he could technically stay at Oregon, but I doubt it.Assuming he leaves...combined with the departures of Duck star players RB LaMichael James and QB Darron Thomas...methinks the PAC-12 just got a a whole lot more interesting.

Sure, the Ducks will still be good. But, the three time-in-a-row conference champions will now be down a coach, an experienced QB and the nation's leading rusher. It cannot be expected to be as good.

Nope. Indeed, I think USC, UW and perhaps Cal will all now be considered equal if not better threats to win the league in 2012.

And you know what...that's OK with me. No, I don't like it. But, on the other hand, it's to be expected. At a some point all dominant programs go down hill. There are different reasons why - but chief among them is the departure of critical elements all at the same time. In the UO's case, that's what we're looking at.

The cupboard is not bare in Eugene. There is loads of talent to put on the football field. Black Mamba. Just sayin'. But, that talent is now a slightly thinner and appears to be without its genius coach. Not sure who'd they'd get to replace Kelly....bring back Mike Belloti? Get a "big name" who is available (not sure who that would be)?

So, sitting here in January 2012...and assuming Kelly is gone...I'm going to say that the Ducks football team goes 8-4 in 2012 and is not the league champion. They'll lose to to USC, one of the Arizona schools, Cal and one of the Washington schools (hopefully not UW). That's my prediction.

If Kelly stays, I'm thinking more like 10-2, 11-1 territory.

We'll see.

As the Elephant Turns

2012-01-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

A few interesting developments in the old Republican primary race over the last 24 hours:

Turns out, Rick Santorum actually won the Iowa Caucuses, not Romney. The voting was so close that it took until now to officially certify the winner - and it wasn't Mitt Romney as thought on the night of the caucuses. Hmm. OK.

Next, Rick Perry bails out of the race and endorses Newt Gingrich.

Newt is again surging in the polls. Not necessarily because of the Perry thing, but because he's popular in the very (very) conservative state of South Carolina - site of the next primary.

And of course Mitt "I pay 15% income tax" Romney maintains his status as front runner for now.

How does this all relate? Well, to my eye, it appears that the GOP is going to nominate one of the following to go up against Obama in the fall...

A raging, out of touch social conservative with beliefs that will shock well more than half the nation into either not showing up to the polls or voting for Obama. Santorum believes in some pretty crazy stuff. Check it HERE. Hint: you think birth control should be outlawed because it's against God? Rick's your man.
An authoritarian blow hard who's main interest is self promotion and "beating the other guy" rather than new ideas and what's best for the nation. Seriously, Newt is so bent on showing you who is boss and wallowing in verbal combat that he literally shut the government down in the 1990s. Not too sure we want a combative hot head who actively goes out looking for a fight running our nation. Oh, and he has a really bad track record on his personal relationships.
A super rich, out-of-touch, aloof flip-flopper who belives things like "corporations are people my friend," and that by God we have way too much regulation. Right, just what we need. The exact type of guy who crashed our economy running it. Isn't major deregulation of financial, tax, energy, environmental, labor, real estate law one of the big reasons we find ourselves in our economic mess now?

I'm seeing some credibility issues here people.

Oh, and sorry Ron Paul fans, I almost forgot. I just don't see your libertarian hero getting the nod by a party so dominated by big money and social conservatives. I am not a Ron Paul fan, but I do know that on many issues he is a threat to big business and social conservatives - so, thanks for playing Ron.

What's double ass scary is each one of these guys subscribes to the devastatingly disproved "supply side" economics theory that got us into our current mess. They'll talk about "personal responsibility" and "pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps," but what the all are actually saying is "give more tax breaks to corporations and the rich and deregulate more."

Perhaps a hard core dude like Ron Paul actually belives that philosophy (although a study of, oh, I don't know...the entire history of the USA would strongly suggest he's wrong), but it is a fantastic stretch to take Romney, Newt or Santorum seriously when they hold themselves up as having the answer to everyday issues in the form of making the rich richer. You just KNOW they're putting you on because they are beholden to and like the perks of associating with huge money people and companies.

Let me put it another way. Who do you think will be the first and primary beneficiaries of a Gingrich, Romney or Santorum presidency? Will it be the mother or father in a poor to middle class family who finally gets a job becuase somehow the magic of tax cuts for the rich unleashes a new wave of new jobs? Will it be the elderly who will suddenly benefit from lower housing and drug costs because of the "unseen hand of the market" forces prices down following more deregulation?

Or, will it be the Wall Street bankers, energy companies and the upper class who suddenly get new tax breaks and less regulation on their businesses?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Anyway, to summarize, I think the Rs are going to nominate someone who has serious credibilty issues. They all have credibility issues on the econony and what they'd do, but then they each individually have big liabilities in their personalities, history or ideas. And I think that will be their undoing. Unless something major happens, I don't think these guys are going to beat Obama.

Ducks Vs. My Rose Bowl Prediction

2012-01-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a couple weeks since the Ducks pulled off the victory in the 2012 Rose Bowl. Certainly I'm overjoyed with that outcome, but sadly...I'm hitting a bit of college football withdrawal.

To sooth that a bit, here are some thoughts about how my Ducks fared compared to my prediction before the game.

How did they do?

Essentially, I said that it was going to be a close one and that the thing that would probably be the difference between a UO win and a loss by the Ducks were turnovers.

Sure, Wisconsin would do what they do well, and so would the Ducks. But, my feeling was that if Oregon could limit their turnovers to one or fewer they would win.

Technically speaking, I was wrong then as the Ducks gave up the ball two times - once on an interception and another on a "scoop and score" fumble by Wisconsin.

Lucky for Oregon, when those things happened when there was plenty of time on the clock and the game very close...as it was all game long. While hurtful, those turnovers did not sting quite as much as they might have.

Why? Well, the Duck offense was scoring regularly. That and the Ducks created Wisconsin turnovers - and crucially timely ones too. One was a diving interception by an Oregon linebacker when it looked like the Badgers were once again marching down the field to score in the second half. The second was a fumble right by the sideline by a Wisconsin wide receiver very near the end of the game. Holding a one score lead, the Ducks pounced on the ball, killed a bunch of clock with their ensuing possession - and even though they had to punt, they killed enough time that the Badgers could not go the length of the field to score. Game over. So, the turnover game worked for both teams...but the Ducks a little bit more.

Moving on from there, another issue going into the game was the conventional wisdom that no matter how fast and athletic Oregon was, a big powerful defense with a month to prepare for the Ducks would stymie them - much as Auburn and Ohio State did in the 2011 BSC Championship and 2010 Rose Bowl respectively. But, this did not materialize this time. Nope. With only a couple exceptions when they had to punt, Oregon went up and down the field on Wisconsin...just a bit more than Wisconsin's offense did against the Duck D. The myth of a month to prepare was exploded. Indeed, the explosiveness and frequency of explosion by the Oregon offense kept them in the game and minimized the turnovers.

So the Ducks won by a touchdown, 45-38. Did I predict it? Not really. I felt good about Oregon's chances, but honestly I was too nervous and wary of past bowl performances to go out on a limb. I figured if turnovers went their way they'd win.

Am I happy about the outcome? YOU BET!

More college football come August.

Romney Pays 15% Annual Tax Rate

2012-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right. Mitt pays 15% income tax annually. Think that's something he should be proud of? Think that you'd like to get in on some of that yourself...as in, if he wins the Presidency some of that low tax rate stuff is coming your way?

Think again. That's now how Mitt works, it's not how the Republican Party works and it's not how conservative economics work.

The issue of Mitt's tax rate and the spectacular irony it presents in the context of our economy and the 2012 election cannot be recapped by me better than has already been written on The Plumb Line Blog appearing in the Washington Post's Opinion section.

That short but well-worth-reading post is HERE.

To summarize, the fact that Mitt pays 15% tax is not the solution to our economic problems. No. How he can do that and continues to do so is the problem with our economy.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - The Series

2012-01-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Below is the consolidated and complete series re-capping the Italy portion of our European Trip in the summer of 2011. For the full report on the Romania portion of the trip, go HERE.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - The Series
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Venice - seeing the sights, great places to eat and the beauty of Venetian canals
Florence - our afternoon and one evening in this beautiful city
Photo Feature - a set of photos I took while in Italy
Tuscany - we drive south of Florence and spend a few days soaking up rural Tuscany
Rome - The Eternal City hits and highlights

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Also, for those interested, you can read other stories of our travels in a number of series that I've written. For example, check these out...

Excursion To Egypt

Visiting the U.S. South

The China Reports

MLK Day 2012

2012-01-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

The following is a re-post from an article I wrote a year ago. Nothing has changed, and the following info is just as relevant today as it was a year ago...

It's Martin Luther King Jr. day here in the United States. Many people have the day off from work and may not think too much about the man, what he stood for and what he helped accomplish in the United States in terms of civil rights...not just for people of color, but all Americans.

While it would be far beyond my power and to divert people away from enjoying a day off from work, nor would I want to, I do think MLK Jr. deserves some reflection and I think it's very possible to do so in a meaningful and relatively quick way.

For example, here are three easy things to do:

READ UP - you don't need to read a book to get the basics about MLK Jr. (although that would be best), but for a quick review, check out the Wikipedia page on the man HERE.

MUSIC - listen to the song "Pride (In the Name of Love)" by U2. It's about MLK Jr., what he stood for and the price he paid for those convictions. If you don't already have this song, it costs 99 cents on iTunes.

PICTURES - there are loads on the Internet about the man, the events he led and where he went. ClickHERE for the Google image search results for King. Below is a photo I took on our trip to Memphis a few years ago...sadly, it's where he was shot and killed.

So, that's what...a few minutes to listen to and ponder a song, 5-10 min. reading and say 5 min. checking out some pictures. Do it. You'll come away knowing more all in 15-20 minutes...and that's a better use of your time than reading about who gave the most outrageous speech at the Golden Globe awards last night.

NOTE: Picture in this post taken by Marc Osborn. Use of the image not permitted for any use without prior written permission.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - Rome

2012-01-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

Waking up one last morning in the our rural Tuscan oasis at Locanda dell'Amarosa, Diane and I decided that instead of hurrying out to see one more town before making our way to the train station to go to Rome, we'd instead spend a leisurely morning on site at the hotel to enjoy the food and the setting.

By 10 a.m. or so, it was time to get going as we had to drive to a nearby town to catch the train for the last stop of our trip.

(A complete set of pictures from the Italy portion of our trip can be seen HERE. I've just added pictures relevant to Rome at the end.)

We caught the train at a town called Chiusi and the ride to the Eternal City from there took about two and half hours. Arriving at the big Termini station in central Rome, we exited the train and into the hot Roman sun to catch a taxi to the lovely Crossing Condoti hotel. This small boutique is near the Spanish Steps and well located to catch the subway or walk to any number of great restaurants, bars and shops.

Service at this hotel is wonderful and within 30 min. of us checking in, the manager had arranged tickets to the Vatican Museum for that afternoon. He also recommended lunch a the delightful Gina restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel.

In terms of the Vatican, we'd already seen the museum in detail in our trip to Italy some years ago, so we were not keen on seeing the whole thing again. But, we did want to see the famous Sistine Chapel again because when we were there before it was partly under restoration. So, we wanted a clear look at the restored room. Making our way through the crowds and the various exhibits, we eventually made it to our destination deep within the boarders of the Vatican City. It was worth the effort as the stunning work of art is the Sistine Chapel reviled itself to us anew and like never before. One does not need to be a religious person to draw inspiration or appreciate this intense display. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside the chapel, so all I have is a postcard scan.

We next walked to St. Peter's Square and then into St. Peter's itself for a look. Again, impressive in many ways. For me, however, these massive displays of wealth and power from a religious organization come with some pretty heavy doses of irony and hypocrisy. One can definitely see how European power through the ages ran straight through the Catholic Church. And so it is that every time I'm in a place like that I have split feelings - appreciation and awe for the architectural achievements and sense of history, but then also a sense of disgust given how many millions upon millions of people were kept in poverty, harmed, killed or simply scammed by or in the name of organized religion.

Exiting the church, we made a stop to get gelato on the way back to the hotel - calling it an afternoon and taking a rest before heading out to dinner at a restaurant nearby our hotel.

The following day was our one and only full day in Rome. And what better to do than hit the highlights? We started at the Coliseum, checked out the apartments and palaces of the Roman Emperors up on the, Palatine hill, then took in the Roman Forum. This adventure took up the morning, and after a stop at the Pantheon for a look, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant.

All of these ancient Roman ruins impress me. That such an advanced society existed 2,000 years ago is inspirational and makes a person - at least me - really think about history and what has come before and what may come again. To that point, it's all too clear when walking the ruins that Roman society fell. I'm sure the Romans didn't think their society would end, that their way of living would slide into history...past tense reference instead of an enduring symbol of human advancement. In this context, looking at the ruins of a once great society, I wonder what will become of ours - western society in general and the USA in particular. We're already seeing signs of decay and backsliding with our economy and democracy massively distorted by big money and corporate interests, our culture warped by celebrity distraction and a "look at me" populous. Who knows, in 500 years will tourists by looking at the decayed ruins of an abandoned and almost forgotten NYC, Dallas or San Francisco?

Anyway, with these things on my mind, we walked over to the cheery - but VERY crowded - Trevi Fountain. It's beautiful and hundreds of people at a time come to look at it and toss in a coin along with a wish. We capped off our afternoon with a walk back to the neighborhood our hotel was in and did a little shopping.

In the evening, we walked up the Spanish Steps and into the neighborhood above to have dinner with a spectacular view overlooking Rome. A perfect way to end our stay in that city and as the last evening of our European trip.

And that was pretty much it. The next morning we were off to the airport for our trip home. Our flight pattern took us from Rome to London, London to NYC and NYC to Seattle. Long day. But, we arrived home safe, sound and with a ton of great memories.

NOTE: All pictures in this post taken by Marc Osborn and are not authorized for any use without prior written permission from him.

Some Thoughts At the Start of a Political Year

2012-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

2012 is a political year. The Ds and Rs will be out there fighting for your vote and trying to convince you that "the other side" is not only wrong on everything, but evilly and mortally wrong for the USA. The politics of power. The politics of crush the opposition. The politics that - in both those contexts - ends up being the politics of, you guessed it, money. Lots of money. Greed, maximizing profit, "growth," shareholder value...call it what you will.

For a long time now, I've been disappointed in both our political parties - without hesitation the GOP, but more recently Democrats too - because as the last 15 years or so have unfolded it's become increasingly clear that the two parties are SO VERY SIMILAR. Among the top reasons for this in my opinion is that the people in charge of those parties, running and winning office in those parties and many who support those parties have the wrong set of values.

That's right. Values. And they're wrong - at least for virtually everyone. Indeed, the overriding political principles our society is guided by are things like the winning, money and power that I mentioned. They are motivated by defeating the opponent, securing lucrative contracts for cronies, making things easier for the rich and powerful, their buddies, etc.

Thet are NOT guided by ideas like fairness, competition, doing right by one's fellow citizen, hard work and the potential for a better tomorrow for most of us. These are secondary at best, and more often than not, not even registered as important. There seems to be a fundamental flaw pervasive in our collective political thought, and FOR SURE present in our actual political processes and institutions.

Pretty heavy stuff, and hard to change. Indeed, how do you change something like that? Once again one of my all time heroes, Joe Strummer, summed it up well...

“In any kind of realistic political change you have to start on the inside, by changing the central value system. You can’t start by changing the structure, change has to be a personal choice.” - Joe Strummer 1981.

I think what Joe was saying that for real political change to happen, the majority of people have to see the situation for what it is and stop buying into the central value system that is the driving force of most of modern western society - greed, profit, power, etc. - and freely chose to base political decisions on other things. He's also saying that changing the structure itself - at minimum which party controls the legislative and executive branches and at maximum a new form of government - is not the answer. That's just re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic. No, change can only come from the inside.

To be sure, enacting THAT type of change is difficult. How bad do things have to get before most people wake up and realize that they're being taken for fools...that what they've been voting for over the last 20+ years (and I include both parties in this...and yes even Mr. Obama) has actually worked to their great disadvantage?

Not sure. But I know that in 2012 I am freely choosing to cast my support and vote for local and national candidates who reflect the values I want to see more of.

For Your Consideration

2012-01-02T19:27:00.001-08:00

Well, I'd just like to take a moment and say...

2012 Rose Bowl

2011-12-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

The following is definitely from the Oregon perspective. As a UO alum, I can't think about this in any other way.

OK...I would like to say that Oregon will win the 2012 Rose Bowl game, and do so by a couple touchdowns. And why not. I'd be justified based on how the Ducks played this season. I'd like to say that their superior speed, light speed pace of play and overall skill and toughness will eventually do in the slower, more methodical and traditional Wisconsin squad.

I'd like to say all that.

But experience tells me to think of some other things to say. For indeed, over the past three seasons there are three things that cannot be denied:

First, when the Ducks run up against big, strong defenses (Auburn, Ohio State, LSU) that have had weeks to prepare, they have not fared as well - indeed, they've lost. Some close (3 pts to Auburn, 9 pts to Ohio State), but lost. Perhaps a key difference this year is that despite Wisconsin's D being big, they are not nearly as fast and athletic as, say the "big uglies" over at LSU or Auburn. Stanford was like that and Oregon rolled them pretty good. But, in any case, there is no denying that the Badgers - at least on the surface - present the familiar dilemma for the Ducks.

Second, the Ducks seemed a bit lost for the first half of big games. They did some things well, but they seemed more out of sorts - or at least a bit more than the team they were playing. The result has been that the Ducks really never kicked into high gear on a regular basis until the second half. Too little, too late.

Third, prevalent in Oregon losses over the last three seasons have been turnovers. Oh, the turnovers. They gave it up several times to LSU deep in their own end leading to Tiger TDs - and the Ducks ended up losing by 14. And, in the 2010 Rose Bowl, the Ducks fumbled and were intercepted - directly leading to 10 points by Ohio State. The Ducks lost by 9. Turnovers were pretty even vs. Auburn last year's BCS championship game, but what if the Ducks hadn't turned it over at all?

Meanwhile, Wisconsin brings a lot to the table even if they are big and relatively slow. Their QB is mobile and accurate, they have a great RB and their D can hit. But, I don't see them as the lethal defensive football force that was the 2010 Auburn Tigers or is the 2011 LSU Tigers....and I don't think they are the offensive team that Ohio State was in 2009. To boil it down, the Badgers seem to have a few weaknesses that Oregon's previous BCS bowl and high profile opponents didn't have. And those weaknesses match up against for what Oregon does well.

So, all that being analyzed, I'll end up saying this...

Turnovers are going to be the decisive factor in who scores more points in this game - not rushing yards, passing yards, time of possession, receptions, passing efficiency or anything else. If Wisconsin leads in those more traditional categories, Oregon can overcome it and win - perhaps even by a lot. But turnovers? No. That's the Duck killer in big games against high quality opponents.

Also on this point, few or no turnovers will help mitigate the other factors that have challenged the Ducks in their big games - rust and the time other big teams have had to prepare for the Oregon attack.

So, if the Ducks do not turn the ball over more than one time in the 2012 Rose Bowl, I believe they will win. I REALLY like Oregon's chances if they hold onto the ball. However, if they turn it over 2 or more times, I don't think they will win. That's the history folks. The turnovers hurt in the moment, but they exponentially put the Ducks behind the eight ball.

If the Ducks hang on to the ball, they win. If not, they don't. So I'll go with that.

OK, you thin I'm weaseling out without a real prediction? Ducks with 1 turnover or less win 31-24. Ducks turn it over 2 or more times, they lose 27-14.

2011: A Year In Pictures

2011-12-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

2011 was a busy year and as usual I took a bunch of pictures of interesting things Diane and I saw over the last 12 months.

Check it out at my own "best of" at my 2011: A Year In Pictures set by clicking HERE.

Best Rock Music From 2011

2011-12-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

Best new rock and roll of 2011

Below are a few new rock bands I found in 2011 that I really liked. Also listed are new sets of music by already existing bands that are worth a listen in my opinion.

New Bands, New Music

Mona - Mona
Funeral Party - The Golden Age of Knowhere
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

Older Bands, New Music

Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man
Social Distortion - Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes
British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
Glasvegas - Euphoric Heartbreak
The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions

If you're someone asking "where has my rock and roll gone?" the above from 2011 may start helping you answer the question.

Nine Year Rememberance: Strummer Wisdom

2011-12-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe nine years have gone by since one of my all time heroes, Joe Strummer, died of a heart defect at age 50. For those of you who don't know who Joe was, he was primarily a guy who turned his back on what was expected out of a young man back in the 1970s and turned himself into an icon of rock and roll rebellion - making his fame as the singer and chief lyric writer for The Clash. Based on that huge early success, he went on to act in a few movies (check out Mystery Train and Straight to Hell) and a music career leading bands like Latino Rockabilly War (late 1980s) and The Mescaleros (late 90s and early 00s). More info on the Mescaleros HERE.

A strong opponent of the scary UK right wing politics of the late 70s, Strummer carved out status as a passionate left-of-center hero to many. He was also one of the first artists to make his music production carbon neutral and was an early and eager supporter of the organization Future Forests - now called The Carbon Neutral Company. After his death, his wife set up Strummerville, a non-profit organization that helps unsighed artists with practice space and support.

Strummer, born name John Mellor, was one of those guys who combined intellect, in inherent (and healthy) scepticism for authority, a desire for personal rebellion, charisma, looks and cool style. For me, it's that first part - intellect - that is crucial to Joe becoming a favorite to me. Indeed, Strummer challenged the status quo, asked people to question their situation, question authority, stand up for themselves and do things for themselves instead of relying on others. (Left: Strummer in NYC in 1981. Picture by Bob Gruen.)

All that being said, in the end I think one of the best ways to remember Strummer is through his words. As a lyric writer, he was a man of words after all. With that, here are just a few things Joe either wrote, sang or said that I think deliver truth and, in most cases, are still highly relevant today...

"All the power in the ands of the people rich enough to buy it...while we walk the streets, too chicken to even try it. Everbody's doing just what their told to and nobody wants to go to jail." - from the song White Riot

“Authority is supposedly grounded in wisdom, but I could see from a very early age that authority was only a system of control and it didn't have any inherent wisdom." - Joe's observations on authority in the movie Let's Rock Again

"If you're out there getting the honey, then you don't go killing all the bees." - from the song Johnny Appleseed

"You have the right to free speech...as long as, you're not dumb enough to actually try it." - from the song Know Your Rights

"You grow up and you calm down, you start wearing blue and brown and working for the clampdown. No man born with a living soul is working for the clampdown." - from the song Clampdown

“And so now I'd like to say - people can change anything they want to. And that means everything in the world. People are running about following their little tracks - I am one of them. But we've all got to stop just following our own little mouse trail. People can do anything - this is something that I'm beginning to learn. People are out there doing bad things to each other. That's because they've been dehumanised. It's time to take the humanity back into the center of the ring and follow that for a time. Greed, it ain't going anywhere. They should have that in a big billboard across Times Square. Without people you're nothing. That's my spiel.” - from Joe's radio program and re-used in the movie about his life, The Future Is Unwritten

"The future is unwritten." - Joe observation

"You should get to know your town like I know mine." - from the song City of the Dead

"I have people come up to me and say, because of your band I decided to finish school, because of your band I majored in political science." - Joe's comments about Clash fans

"'Cause the wild side of life is one that you need." - from the song Midnight to Stevens

(Right: An older Strummer with his last band, the Mescaleros. Picture taken by ???)

"I think we're going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth."

"When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there.” - Joe observation about music and radio

"Monday's coming like a jail on wheels!" - from the song 48 Hours

When asked by someone if he'd rather be a ticket collector or a garbage man, Strummer said, "A garbage man because at least then you would move about town and see people." - from the movie Lets Rock Again

Music by Joe Strummer that you should check out:

The Clash - London Calling
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Global A Go Go
The 101'ers - Elgin Avenue Breakdown

There is also a great biography of Strummer called "Redemption Song" by Chris Saleowitz that gives you the full spectrum of the man's life and personality.

And you can check Joe out in a documentary film about his life titled "The Future Is Unwritten."

Pac-12 Championship Game Prediction

2011-12-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Oregon hosts UCLA in the first Pac-12 championship game on Friday.

The winner of the North division, Oregon is also one of the nation's top 10 teams. Representing the South division, UCLA is decidedly not a top team. But, given USC is ineligible to play in this game, UCLA has the next best record of all the other South division teams. So, they'll suit up and give it a try.

Unlike other leagues with a championship game, the Pac-12 decided to place the game at whichever school of the two representatives is ranked higher. Oregon currently sits at #8 in the nation and UCLA is unranked. So the game is in Eugene.

As for my prediction...I don't see Oregon losing this game. A massive outbreak of turnovers and injuries might make it interesting, but barring that unexpected combination I see this one being "over" by halftime. UCLA just does not have the talent, coaching or motivation to win this one on the road.

I predict 47-17 Oregon. That would put the Ducks into the 2012 Rose Bowl game against the winner of the Big 10 championship game - either Wisconsin or Michigan State.

Pac-12 Final Week Re-Caps

2011-11-28T08:29:00.001-08:00

Oregon...you beat in-state rival Oregon State soundly and now will host the Pac-12 championship game this week. Win that (as you should against UCLA) and you're in the Rose Bowl. Nice!

Oregon State...you were whupped pretty good by Oregon and finish at 3-9. Have a nice off season.

Stanford...you beat Notre Dame and finished your season 11-1. However, that one loss was against Oregon so that disqualifies you from playing for the league championship. Don't be too upset though, you'll probably end up in the Fiesta or Orange Bowl anyway.

Cal...you beat ASU and finished at 7-5. Nice recovery from a poor start to the season. You will probably be in the Holiday Bowl.

Washington...you beat in-state rival Washington State in the Apple Cup to finish at 7-5...one win better than last year. Not too bad. Not great, but not too bad. You'll probably be in the Alamo Bowl.

WSU...you lost to UW and finish your season at 5-7 and possibly will have a new coach to start next season.

USC...you beat up on UCLA 50-0. Despite your 10-2 record, your season is done because of sanctions by the NCAA. If your QB stays for his senior year, you will be a favorite to win the league if not the BCS championship next season.

UCLA...somehow, some way despite getting waxed by USC you are the "best" team in the South division that is eligible to play in the Pac-12 championship game. Miracles do happen, but not this week. Oh, and your coach is gone too right after the game this week. Lots to look forward to...said sarcastically.

Utah...your loss to Colorado to end the season is disappointing. You were looking at an eight win season and perhaps representing the South division in the Pac-12 championship game. Never mind. You will be in some bowl, however, in your first season in the Pac-12. So, that's not all bad.

Colorado...you beat Utah to end on a high note. Sure, you're only 3-10 on the season, but hey...winning at the end provides promise for the future.

Arizona...you beat Louisiana Lafayette by eight points to close out your rocky season at 4-8. No bowl, new coach...and hope that next year is better. Goodbye until next fall.

Arizona State...you lost to Cal and finished your season at 5-7. Once again, your season started well, started to crumble a little then completely inploded. Another year, another collapse. New coach for next season? Will that matter?

Something Not to be Thankful For

2011-11-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.

There are many things to be thankful for. Republican and conservative stewardship of the U.S. economy over the majority of the last 30 years, however, is not one of them.

A must read that provides the calculated distruction conservative economic theory has had on the U.S. economy is here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109

It's a bit of a long article, but well worth you time in my opinion. Besides, you have some extra time on your hands this holiday weekend anyway, right?

Thankful List 2011

2011-11-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

This year as I ponder what I'm thankful for, I realize that they are essentially the same things year over year - all profound and good. Also, these are fundamentals that are difficult to displace with more trivial or fleeting things that might have happened during the year - however good they were.

So, here's what I'm thankful for 2011 style. If it looks a lot like previous years, there's many very good and wonderful reasons why:

My wife Diane - simply said, my life. I lover her the whole world.
My health and that of Diane - no substitute for being healthy. So far so good!
Family - immediate and extended family bring us a lot of joy every year.
Friends - all friends old and new add so much to our lives.
Employment - hey, having a paycheck any time is good, but especially in these times!
Travel - it gives us a new perspective no matter where we go - in the U.S. or overseas.
Art - music, film, paintings, photography, sculpture or other forms of artistic expression are wonderful...either indulging us in something we already know and love or challenging us to think differently.
Our cat Josie P. Jones - yes, she has her own full name. The "P" stands for "Pussycat."
Humor - imagine trying to get through life without having a sense of humor yourself or being around people who didn't have one.
Where we live - I simply love living in the Seattle area. Yes, it rains. But, there is so much to do and see here no matter what the weather...mountain views, desert, ocean, San Juan Islands, Sound, music scene, world class wines, great food, Canada nearby, skiing, hiking and so much more. And, the weather is temperate compared to the rest of the nation. Love it.

Pac-12 Week 12 Re-Caps

2011-11-21T19:47:00.001-08:00

Oregon...you lost to USC at home by three points right at the end. The bad news is, you blew your chance at another appearance in the BCS title game and probably ended any talk about being one of the nation's very best for a while. The good news is that you are still in the driver's seat for the league title and Rose Bowl appearance. Win next week at home against a weak OSU squad and then win the Pac-12 title game against a weak South conference foe and you're in. Lots to play for, now go get it.

USC...you beat #4 Oregon on their home field. Respect. Rumors of your demise are greatly exaggerated. Your talent, size, speed and QB are impressive. From what I can tell, it's going to be you and Oregon next year for the league title.

Washington...you lost to a then 2-8 Oregon State. Wow. You've sunk pretty far from the giddy days of beating Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Arizona, Cal, Utah and Colorado. Sure, you're bowl eligible at six wins, but will you even be able to beat WSU next week in the Apple Cup?

WSU...you lost to Utah in a snow bowl at home. Good effort, bad result. All will be remedied if you can figure out a win vs. the Huskies next week.

Utah...you beat WSU on the road in a snow storm. Nicely done. You are in competition for the South title.

Arizona...you beat your rival ASU. Your season - despite how bad it has been - just took a turn for the better. In-state bragging rights for 12 months secured.

ASU...the big fade continues. Poor, poor, poor.

Stanford...you beat Cal by three points on your own home field. Close call and the second week in a row where you did not look like world beaters. Your hopes for league honors hinge on Oregon losing at home to OSU next week. That is not likely to happen, so second place in the North is looking like your fate.

Cal...well, you gave it a shot. You almost beat Stanford. You're still at six wins with one more to play against the "faders" ASU. Win that and you're looking pretty good.

UCLA...you took Colorado to the woodshed and set up a battle next week for the South title with Utah for the right to go to Eugene or Palo Alto to get your butt kicked. Good luck!

Colorado...next year is looking good.

Occupy Wall Street Perspective

2011-11-18T18:22:00.001-08:00

A relative of mine recently asked me over e-mail what I thought of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Here is what I replied with...

My feeling about the Occupy Wall Street movement is that our nation (and our government) is essentially a wholly owned subsidiary of corporations. The fact that some people have decided to literally get up and do something about it is encouraging to me.

Now, I am all for profit and capitalism...and Diane and I are benefiting from being part of companies that operate in that system...but it is my feeling that something has gone wrong. We've gone off the deep end and we're no longer in a traditional capitalist economy. We're in a corporatist economy.

My feeling is that 30 years of massive deregulation (financial markets, real estate, energy, environment, etc.), tax cuts for wealth and corporations, corporate outsourcing of jobs, an un-needed war in Iraq, underinvestment in education and a false appeal to "family values" to get the conservative vote out (always promised, never legislated) has collectively created a terminal direction for the USA. Limited job opportunities, relatively uneducated compared to our past and our competitors, a focus on celebrities as a distraction and nobody coming up with ideas that will propel us forward.

Are we about to collapse as a nation? As a society? No...but, we're on a very dangerous trajectory. I suspect we won't suddenly combust, but slowly fade from predominance into "also ran" status as a nation.

As for who is to blame, I would summarize as follows: The Republicans did it, the Democrats rolled over and let them, but voters are the real culprits. Too easily distracted, watching the "reality show" nature of elections rather than linking their own situations and troubles with what those politicians are saying or promising. All too often it's the opposite. People vote against their own interests. The farmer votes for the candidate of big agribusiness. The school teacher votes for the "small government" Republican. The factory worker votes for the politician who is in favor of deregulation making it easy for companies to offshore jobs. Etc., etc., etc.

Not sure if I answered the question, but there it is.

Pac-12 Week 12 Quick Picks

2011-11-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

Oregon vs. USC in Eugene. Oregon needs to keep winning to clinch the Pac-12 North title and stay in the hunt for the BCS Championship Game...a stretch though the latter task may be. USC is improving week to week so is dangerous. But, this one is at Autzen Stadium. I say Ducks win a close one 35-28.

Washington vs. OSU in Corvallis. UW is probably going into this one with their backup QB starting. But, OSU is really bad. In particular they cannot seem to stop the run. UW has Chris Polk at RB and should exploit the Beavs on the ground. I say UW comes away with a win, 27-14.

Stanford vs. Cal at Palo Alto. Rivalry game. Highly rated public institution vs. highly rated private school. East Bay vs. South Bay. Above average team (Stanford) vs. below average team (Cal). Stanford is at home and wins handily 41-17.

WSU vs. Utah at Pullman. Utes on the Palouse. WSU suddenly looked better last week vs. ASU and is pinning late season hopes on their surprisingly effective freshman QB. Meanwhile, Utah is playing for bowl eligibility and an outside shot at the Pac-12 South title. But, I say the newly exciting Cougs get it done at home 24-21.

Arizona vs. ASU in Tempe. The Wildcats are bad. The Sun Devlis are fading fast. The faders beat the downtrodden in this soutwest rivalry with ASU coming out on top 29-13.

Colorado vs. UCLA in L.A. Colorado is coming off a rare win. UCLA now has bowl eligibility in their sites. I think the Bruins do it and beat the Buffs 24-14.

Pac-10 Week 11 Re-Caps

2011-11-13T10:37:00.001-08:00

Oregon...you beat previously undefeated Stanford on the road, and pretty handily. You made Mr. All Everything QB Andrew Luck look extremely human and put 53 points on The Cardinal. The world is your oyster as long as win your last two home games, starting with USC next week.

Stanford...despite your undefeated record going into this last weekend's game, turns out you are not that great - and certainly not as good as the Ducks. In your first real test of the season, you flopped. Yet, you will still finish up your season well. I doubt you lose again. You could even sneak into a BCS bowl.

Washington...the song remains the same with your loss to USC. You play weak teams, you win...six of them so far (EWU, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Cal). You play good teams, you lose...four of them so far (USC, UO, Stanford, Nebraska). With Oregon State and WSU left on your schedule, I suspect you'll win both of those to finish the pattern at 8-4.

USC...you beat Washington for the first time in at least three tries and you've set up a tasty match next week with Oregon in Eugene. Should be interesting.

WSU...you won! You beat ASU no less. With a freshman QB. Even better! Nice job. Technically you're still in the hunt for bowl eligibility.

ASU...what happened? Oh, the same thing that happens every season...lots of hype, a few early wins that seem to support that hype, and then flopsville through the middle and end of the season. Looks like you're on that path again.

OSU...you lost to Cal. Doesn't all this losing demoralize you?

Cal...your late season rebound continued with your win over the Beavers. With six wins already under your belt, one more would seem very possible - it won't be Stanford next week, but could be ASU the following week.

Cal..Utah...you killed UCLA. That's not particularly noteworthy as many teams have done that this year, but on it's own it's a step forward for you as you are now bowl eligible with a couple more to play.
UCLA...the bad news is, you lost again - badly again. The good news is that you are still overall 5-5, and while you are not going to get into the Pac-12 championship game as the rep from the South division, you have a decent chance of being bowl eligible if you beat Colorado next week.

Colorado...whoa! What just happened? You won a Pac-12 game, that is what just happened! Not only that, you put up 48 points up on Arizona. And, by doing it towards the end of the season you are showing improvement of your woeful start. Nice job.

Arizona...whoa! What just happened? You officially became the worst team in the Pac-12. That's what happens when you get beat by the team that has the worst record in the league. Thanks for playing. See you next year.

There's Always An A-Hole In Every Crowd - Sometimes Two or Three

2011-11-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I attended the big University of Oregon vs. University of Washington college football game in Seattle. This is a pretty heated rivalry and outside of what actually happens on the field, there is a healthy hate between both sets of fans. Personally, I think hating someone because they went to or support a different school is crazy. But, I think many would disagree with that.

Anyway, the rivalry between fans for this annual game always carries the potential for poor to dangerous behavior. Below is my report on what I saw...

The first thing to say is that 99% of all fans from both schools were just fine. No aggression, no comments, no issues whatsoever.

However, it's always those "special" few that stick out at any college football game. No school's fan bases are immune. Usually the common denominators for a first class football fan a-hole are: 1) alcohol and 2) a very, very limited vocabulary. Such was the case again this weekend in Seattle.

For those of you who think that I am about to share stories only about boorish UW fan behavior, please be advised that I was particularly sicked by what I witnessed the last time I went to an Oregon-Washington football game down in Eugene. You can read about that here:
http://wwwthewesternfront.blogspot.com/2008/09/theres-a-hole-in-every-crowd-sometimes.html

As for the game this past weekend at Husky Stadium, all I can tell you is what I personally observed. With that in mind, here are some things that unfolded in front of me...

Pre-game
I went with a buddy of mine who is a Husky fan, and he was wearing all purple. So, with me sporting Duck colors, I would have thought that we'd be a target from both sides just for that. But, not the case. We chatted up a couple Oregon fans who had come up for the game as we waited to pick up our will call tickets. No issues at all.

Very briefly as we stood there, a small pack of drunk UW students walked by shouting "Or-e-gon Sucks!" One of the guys was particularly fat and wore a stuffed duck on a noose around his neck. Nice. But, no big deal...just drunk fat guys at a football game.

In the stands
Because I bought my tickets through the UO ticket office, our seats were in the visitors section. Good for me of course, but big points to my buddy for sitting there with me. However, he received no aggression at all from Oregon fans. So, that was good.

The only thing I saw in the Oregon section that I'd call offensive was a guy about five rows below us who - even before the game started - was attempting to lead the cheer of "F-the-Huskies" with the full f-word being used of course. A few people indulged for a minute, but it quickly petered out. The same guy and his buddy would also give the full bird to the field when the Huskies were kicking off or receiving a kick off. Classes? Yes. Lame? Yes. Uncreative? Yes. A physical danger to anyone? No.

Halftime
This is when the uglies came out. Three incidences stick out:

At halftime, the concourse if crowded with people. As we walked through the crowd, all of sudden in front of me I hear a "hey man" and a coffee cup goes flying out of someones hand. I quickly see the guy losing his coffee was a Duck fan. In a second, I see is a guy in Husky garb walking very fast and very straight by that guy and right toward me. As he walked by his shoulder clipped mine and I said something profound like "Hey!" I turned my head around to follow the guy with my eyes and he just kept on motoring in a straight line through eh crowd...moving for nobody.

So, what you had there was a probably drunk guy deciding that he was going to walk straight through the crowd without moving...and colliding with a few Oregon fans along the way. Nice.

OK, so we made it to the bathroom line. The entrance to the facilities is located on the outer wall of the stadium, so if you look from the entrance of the john up to the lip of the stadium, you can see the backs and heads of fans whose seats are at the top of the stadium right there. Except in this case one of those fans - a fat, drunk UW guy who I would guess was between the ages of 45 and 55 years old - had turned around and was verbally haranguing anyone in green or yellow that he could. He was like a UW ogre spewing hate down from his perch. His comments were mostly along the lines of "How many Rose Bowls do you have? Zero!" "You suck" and "F-you."

Now, those are not exactly unexpected taunts, but what disturbed me most was the vitriolic way this guy was speaking - the vile hate - and what would motivate that behavior. Why would a middle age guy decide that he wanted to turn around and verbally accost people? How deep must that guy's lack of self respect or self worth be if that's what he thought would be a good idea? Sad really.

Since the guy was pretty much addressing me and the only other two Duck fans in the line, I answered his taunts about the Rose Bowls with "that might be....but at least we're not fat and ugly." That got a few laughs from both Oregon and Washington fans with me in the line. I could tell that the UW fans next to me we kind of embarrassed of this guy. I said to one guy, "No matter what school you support, you don't ever want to end up being that guy." He agreed. As I got closer and closer to the bathroom entrance - and therefore more directly underneath the ogre - I expected him to spit on me or throw something, but he didn't.

Finally, and the worst incident of the evening, occurred after this as we stood in the concession line. Suddenly I feel someone colliding into me from behind while hearing "Oregon sucks!" I catch the guy, turn around and see that it's a Duck fan who has been shoved into me. A few feet away is a wild eyed guy who had shoved the Duck fan. A few surrounding people - including the guy who was shoved - said, "hey man, what's your problem?" This just hyped the aggressor up more. He shouted that he was ready to fight and started pogoing up and down saying "lets go!" The action was about five yards from me by this point and I stood back and watched as scuffling occurred...and just before it looked like fists would start flying a couple other guys came in...not sure if they were Dawg or Duck fans (probably UW)...and somehow got the crazy guy out of there. The remaining UW and UO fans were uniformly confused and embarrassed by the out-of-control fan.

Post game
Nothing happened on the way out of the stadium or on the way home on the bus. Duck fans were happy to win in Seattle, and Husky fans were subdued due to the loss.

Pac-12 Week Ten Re-Caps

2011-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Oregon...you beat Washington 34-17 in Seattle. That's eight years straight over the Huskies. Highlights were an aggressive and sturdy D, re-established run game with LaMicahel and great special teams. Your big test is next week against Stanford. Better clean up those dropped passes and propensity for untimely penalties. Those will be killers against The Trees.

UW...you lost to Oregon at home. This game can finally put into perspective where you are at in terms of development and improvement. The good news is, you are definitely better than last year with a bowl already sewn up, and signs point to more improvement next year. The bad news is, having beat six so-so to poor teams and lost decisively to three good teams...you are what you are: a middle tier, not top 25 team at this point.

Stanford...you beat Oregon State (badly) on the road in Corvallis. This is as expected. It's also yet another win against a weak opponent for you. Quite literally, your first challenge this season is next week vs. Oregon. Better get ready for speed-a-palloza and hope your big hosses don't wear out in the third or fourth quarter like last year. Yes, Luck is awesome, but he don't play defense or special teams.

Oregon State...you lost to Stanford at home. Nobody expected you to win this one, so it's not a surprise. Your fate as a bottom feeder this year is cemented. However, you will have the chance to make it all good with a win vs. Oregon at the end of the season that would deprive the Ducks of something significant. I know that sounds tough, but you always seem to rise to the occasion for that game. Can you this year?

WSU...you lost to Cal on the road in Berkley. Another week, another loss. It doesn't get any easier next week against ASU.

Cal...you beat WSU at home. Your season is starting to turn around a bit. Getting close to bowl eligibility with games still remaining against OSU, Stanford and ASU. You might have a shot at two of those.

UCLA...what? The dismal spiral into league irrelevance took a turn for the better for you this week with a one point win against a good ASU team. Can you actually claw your way into winning the southern division?

ASU...what? You lost to UCLA. Really? Wow.

Utah...you beat Arizona at home for your second league win. You're on a slight upswing with two wins in a row and sitting at five wins overall. With games against UCLA, OSU and Colorado remaining you may win as many as eight this season...something nobody would have thought about three weeks ago.

Arizona...you lost to Utah. Other than the beat down of UCLA a couple weeks ago, your season is not going well. Play to improve for next season and get up for your game against rival ASU at the end of this season.

USC...you killed Colorado. No surprises here. Not much to say.

Colorado...you lost to USC. Same comment as above.

Pac-12 Week 10 Quick Picks

2011-11-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

Oregon vs. Washington in Seattle. An improved UW has a shot at beating Oregon for the first time in a long time...and they might. But, I think the Ducks still have an advantage because their offense and speed matches up very well against a pretty weak Husky D. More so than the UW offense vs. the UO defense. So, I'll say both teams score plenty and it's close into the third quarter, but then Oregon pulls away and wins 42-28.

Stanford vs. OSU in Corvallis. Stanford will toy with Oregon State and win big 54-21...and those 21 for OSU will come in junk time.

WSU vs. Cal in Berkley. Two unpredictable teams. You'd think Cal would win this one at home and that WSU would be unmotivated after losing three straight, so that's why I'll say WSU wins 21-17.

ASU vs. UCLA in L.A. Could be interesting, but probably won't be. ASU wins 31-10.

Arizona vs. Utah at Salt Lake City. Arizona wins on the road 21-10.

USC vs. Colorado in Boulder. This will be another wipeout for the Buffs. USC wins 48-3.

Comparing UW and UO Smack Talk

2011-11-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Smack talk is hotting up between Oregon and Washington fans this week...and it's only Tuesday!

I'm seeing a couple primary lines of smack that I think bear a little reality check from both sides.

Husky smack against Oregon

A common line of argument:
"Win a Rose Bowl and then come back and pop off about how good you are."

Implication:
Despite Oregon's success over the past 10-15 years, the Ducks have not won a Rose Bowl and therefore really don't have much to brag about. And further, in that time frame, even the Huskies have won one Rose Bowl (following the 2000 season).

Reality check:

Since the 1994 season, Oregon has won the Pac-10 title outright four times (1994, 2001, 2009, 2010) and split the crown once (2000). That's four more outright league wins that the Dawgs. Twice the Ducks did go to the Rose Bowl and it is true that in 1994 and 2010 they lost those games.
HOWEVER, following the Duck's 2001 season crown, the Rose Bowl was the designated BCS National Championship Game. In those days, that meant only the #1 and #2 team in the BCS played in the Rose Bowl. Therefore, if the Pac-10 league winner was not #1 or #2 in the BCS rankings, they would be diverted to another BCS game (Fiesta Bowl). Controversially, the 11-1 Ducks were #4 or #5 in the BCS standings, so they played in the Fiesta Bowl - a game they won by beating a highly ranked Colorado team to finish the season as the consensus #2 team in the nation.
Also, last year after winning the Pac-10 title, the Ducks were #2 in the BCS standings. So, they got the invite to play in the national title game - which as of a few years ago is now a separate game than the other big bowls. Of course they wanted to play for the title, so they went there instead of the Rose Bowl.

Conclusion:
While the Husky line of argument is technically true, it is completely ignorant as any real fan of the Pac-10 and college football know the Ducks had no say in the fact that they could not play in the Rose Bowl following the 2001 season AND last season they played in the national title game instead of the Rose Bowl.
Smack talk rating:
Really weak stuff - willfully ignorant of what's happened in 2001 and the last 10 years. A real reach.

Duck smack against Washington

A common line of argument:

"The Huskies are a joke and irrelevant to anything important in the Pac-12. We've clobbered you seven times in a row, and unless you forgot...your team went 0-12 in 2008."

Implication:
The UW football program has been so bad over the past 9-10 years that any thought of equity with Oregon is laughable. Start winning some games and then come back and we'll talk.

Reality check:

It is true that the Huskies have not had a good run between 2002 and 2010, and indeed they have not won a league title in that time frame. It is also true that the Ducks have beaten the Huskies seven season in a row by large margins.
HOWEVER, UW had a decent year last season, and they won their bowl game against a good Nebraska team. This year, they're bowl eligible already. All told, the Huskies are clearly improving steadily.

Conclusion:
Again, the insults are technically true, but ignorant - in this instance ignorant of recent events. Because the Ducks have beaten UW so regularly recently, Oregon fans like to dismiss the resurgence going on at UW...and they do so at the risk of being shocked come Saturday evening.

Smack talk rating:
Feeble - UW fans know how bad their team has been. Reminding them of that at a time when their team is actually improving rings particularly hollow.

Big upshot...

Until UW beats Oregon and/or wins a league title, Washington fans should stop tyring to undermine Oregon's recent success.
Until Oregon wins a BCS Bowl game again, Duck fans need to temper claims to greatness or reminding the Huskies of their recent woes.

It's THAT Time Of Year

2011-10-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's THAT time of year again. No, not fall transitioning to winter. Not dark mornings and increasingly dark late afternoons. Not Halloween and costume parties.

No, it's that hallowed time of year in which pride, ambition and anticipation mix with hate, jealousy and a little bit of fear.

Just what warped season am I talking about?

Of course it's that green, yellow, purple and gold week that comes around every 12 months for the big University of Oregon vs. University of Washington football game. That's right, it's interstate football rivalry week in the northwest - and I ain't talking about Oregon State or WSU.

It's a week more about the fans and alumni of UW and UO than the players and coaches. On a purely football level, those actually involved on the filed get less worked up about the rivalry. Sure, a rivalry, but nothing compared to how the fans feel about it.

No...indeed, this week is about fans and their expectations, their projections and their desires. You can read about some of my memories of this rivalry in my post from last year HERE.

All too often it is a time when one school's fans are sick and tired of hearing about the dominance of the other school over theirs on the football field - and each school has had the advantage in stretches over the last 20 years. It's a week of "this year it's going to be different," or if you're on the currently prevailing side of things it's the year of "we're going to wipe you out again just like last year." Both sentiments usually peppered with a little bit of profanity.

Lets face it. Neither school's fans can stomach losing to the other.

UW fans usually take the perspective that theirs is the more historically dominate squad given their nice run of success in the 1980s and early 1990s, the half national championship for the 1991 season and an overall historical advantage head-to-head against Oregon. From this perspective, Husky fans are still able - despite fielding horrible teams over the past decade - to take a position of superiority over Oregon fans. (Left: a picture from days gone by when Washington held the clear upper hand in the rivalry.)

Oregon fans typically take the perspective of the here an now - or at least the here and since 1994. Since that year, Oregon has fielded teams that have posted a 12-4 winning record against UW - starting with that famous pick six in Eugene in 1994 to seal a victory and all the way up to a string of seven consecutive eviscerations of the Huskies leading up to this year's game. Any Duck fan under the age of about 30 has only seen majority Oregon wins against Washington. This recent dominance, combined with some really, really bad UW teams gives Oregon fans the ability to take a position of superiority. (Right: a picture from the more recent era in which Oregon has dominated.)

And so it goes. And so it will be this week and into Saturday for the game. After all, it is THAT time of year again.

I'll be going to that game by the way. I'll make some mental notes and perhaps take a few pictures and report back next week.

But regardless, fans of both schools this week will indulge in this crazy ritual, this predictable but also unusual time of year. As they make their plans, lay in supplies for tailgating, work up some new insults for their rivals and generally prepare for the game, fans from both schools will be pondering...will this be the year that UW gets back on track against Oregon with a big win or will Oregon once again step on the collective Husky throat in a multiple touchdown win?

We shall see.

(NOTE: Pictures in this post were not taken by me. They are not mine.)

If Land Were Divided Like Wealth

2011-10-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting visual analogy for the inequities of wealth in the United States today....

Background on this is in a post HERE, but the facts are that wealth inequity is a reality and a problem any way you try and represent it.

And it did not spring up overnight. Rather it is a predictable and inevitable outcome of the prevailing political-economic practice of our country over the past 30 years of lowering taxes on the wealthy and corporations, deregulation in key sectors of the economy, "free trade" agreements, incentives for outsourcing and off-shoring jobs and a lack of investment in education. These moves over a sustained period of time have lined the pockets of the already wealthy and corporations while simultaneously eliminating jobs and opportunity for most Americans.

Sure, these things were most aggressively championed by the Republicans (Reagan, Bush, W and Republican controlled Congresses), but the Democrats are not blameless either. Clinton and Congressional Ds did roll over on these issues many times. If the Rs made it happen, the Ds let it happen.

In any case, it's real. My feeling is that if your someone in the middle or lower class and you're defending tax cuts for the rich and corporations, free trade agreements and feel that "the 1%" should get all they can...well, I humbly suggest your head is in the sand and you are advocating things that are directly hurting you.

Food for thought.

Pac-12 Week 9 Quick Picks

2011-10-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Oregon vs. WSU in Eugene. Did you see the Oregon game against Colorado last week? Did you see the WSU game against OSU last week? If you did, you know how this one is going to come out, but just in case I'll say it...Ducks win 52-21.

Washington vs. Arizona in Seattle. Night game. "Black out." Huskies rebound to beat UA, but it isn't a thrashing as the Wildcats are improving. I'm saying UW wins 27- 24.

Oregon State vs. Utah in Salt Lake City. OSU continues to improve and wins 21-10 on the road against a hapless Utah team.

Stanford vs. USC in L.A. Now this could be interesting. If this was at Palo Alto, I'd for sure pick Stanford. Being in L.A. against a talented USC team...hmmm. Well, I can't pick against Stanford yet. I think they eek out the win 24-17.

ASU vs. Colorado in Tempe. Another beat down for the Buffalos. ASU wins 49-3.

UCLA vs. Cal in L.A. UCLA on the downswing, Cal on the upswing. Cal wins big 31-10.

Public Nudity Legal in San Francisco? Yes

2011-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

File this one under "you learn something new every day"...

Turns out, public nudity is legal in San Francisco. Yep, you can walk around and do whatever completely nude inside the boundaries of the city of San Francsico as long as you are not "in a state of arousal."

This is just not something I was aware of. Strikes me as pretty out there. It also strikes me that despite this freedom, 99.99999999% of people in SF must not be nudists becuase I've been their MANY times over the decades and never seen anyone in the buff out on the streets.

I learned this bit of info in a story that reports how SF nudists will be required to cover up when entering or dining at restaurants if a new ordance is passed.

Equally entertaining are the reader comments below the story.

Glasvegas Update

2011-10-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

An update on one of my favorite bands of recent years, Glasvegas, is HERE.

Looks like a new album may be on the way in 2012.

It also looks like main man James Allan (second in from left) is back to wearing black...

Pac1-12 Week 8 Re-Cap

2011-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Oregon...you destroyed Colorado as expected - even without your starting QB or RB. The outcome was equal parts how good you are and how bad Colorado is. Get ready for stiffer tests coming up.

Colorado...sorry, this is not your season. Get through the rest of this one, reload and try again next year.

UW...rumors of you "being back" are greatly exaggerated to say the least. So-so offense and atrocious defense might work against Eastern Washington, Utah, Colorado or Hawaii, but it ain't gonna cut it against a good team like Stanford.

Stanford...well, UW was supposed to be your first real "test" this season. So, on one hand you rose to the occasion by clobbering the Huskies. But on the other hand, seeing what we all observed Saturday, perhaps UW is just another weak opponent. Your season gets real next week vs. USC in L.A.

WSU...poor performance in "the Seattle game" meant you lost to a pretty dang band Oregon State team. Like the Huskies, your resurgence has been over hyped.

OSU...well, well, well. The script remains the same year after year - poor start, middle of the season improvement (where you're at now) and then playing your best at the end of the season. We'll see if that last part comes true or not. Either way, you now have 2 wins for the season.

USC...your game is improving and you showed it on the road at Notre Dame. That win was worth it just to see ND coach Kelly squirm in front of the media afterwards. Big test for you next week vs. Stanford.

Arizona...you decimated UCLA to pick up your first win in quite some times - ironically just after your coach was fired. Nice job rebounding. Make a run in the second half of the season to build up to next season.

UCLA...heavy, heavy sigh. Just ain't work and hasn't for quite some time. I don't expect it will this season either.

Cal...a win against a school not named Presbyterian! Oh, that's right. You were playing league newcomer Utah. But hey, take it.

Utah...lets all say it again together, "The Pac-12 is not the Mountain West." Reality is really setting for you and you have not won a league game yet. Will you this season?

ASU...you did not play so nothing to say to you.

Pac-12: James Coming Back Soon

2011-10-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

What UW and Stanford fans do NOT want to see: http://kezi.com/sports/228015

I am not saying UO will beat the Huskies and the "Trees" this season, but deep down I think fans of those two schools thought they were going to catch a break and gain an advantage when James was injured.

Not so much it looks like.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - Tuscany

2011-10-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

After four days in urban Italian environments, we were ready to head for the hills and soak up some relaxed country life. But to get there and do things at our own pace, we needed a car. While it's possible to see rural Tuscany by train or bus, it's a lot smoother with more options by driving. For example, trains and buses don't go to all the little towns you might want to visit, and of course there is a lot of waiting around at the station or stop for those vehicles to depart. No, for us driving in this part of our trip was the only way to go.

Photos for this portion of our trip now added to my Flickr Photostream HERE.

Also, I knew that once we got out of the city of Florence, driving would be pretty easy. Italian freeways and roads are pretty good. But, I was a bit nervous about how we would navigate the labyrinth of streets to find our way out of Florence. Luckily the kind people at the centrally located Hertz office in Florence gave us great directions, and after securing our vehicle we made our way out of the city just fine. Also helping the matter was that we had not just rented a vehicle. No, ours was – basically – an SUV. Or what passes for one in Europe. So, with a size advantage we were more visible and more apt to have other drivers move out of our way. I was pleasantly surprised because I assumed we would be riding low in some super small Euro econo-hatch of one variety or another. (Left: Skyline of San Gimignano as seen from the restaurant we ate lunch at.)

Our end point for the day was south and east of Sienna, but instead of going directly there we decided to cut over to the beautiful town of San Gimignano for a visit and lunch. You may have seen this town on travel TV programs because not only is it a quintessential Italian medieval town, it also features tall, square towers that from afar look like skyscrapers. These structures are indeed 8-10 stories tall, but they were built by the town’s nobility as defense and safety structures. As in…if the bad guys came, they could retreat up into their towers and wait them out. And of course, over time how high one’s safety tower was became a measuring stick for how rich you were. So, the local rich big wigs built ever higher and higher towers to try and out do each other. In any case – makes for a good story and an odd visual.

The downside of visiting this town is that it is very well known – and there are loads of tourists there. It’s not so bad walking the streets, but parking is quite the ordeal, particularly if you don’t know where to look. My advice: save yourself a load of time and frustration and park at the easier to find and more open lower lots and walk up the hill to the town. Note that it will cost you a few Euros no matter where you park, so make sure to have a few on you when you’re done for the day so you can pay the machine to exit. (Right: Door knocker in San Gimignano.)

Once situated, we strolled through the streets – looking into the shops and happening upon an open air market in one of the ancient squares. But by now we were getting pretty hungry and we settled on a restaurant with an impressive view of the town and surrounding areas upstairs at the Hotel La Cisterna. Good food, nice local wine, spectacular view. Great!

More pictures, shopping and strolling after lunch.

Satisfied that we had seen the best of this burg, we hit the road with a mind to get to our villa hotel and sit at the pool on this sultry day.

Skipping Sienna

Now, at this point you might be wondering, “Didn’t you go to Sienna?” And your question makes sense because it's a beautiful town right near where we were. But, the answer is, no we did not. We had planned to, there were a few things that changed our minds:

Our already aggressive schedule – we knew we would be going, going, going for more than a week at this point in our trip and so we decided instead of taking in another city, we’d take a little “vacation from our vacation” and stay out in the country side at someplace really nice and relaxing.
Driving, parking, and tickets – we had heard and read that driving in, out and around Sienna is tricky; that you are likely to get a parking ticket; and that if you drove in certain zones (not well marked by signs) you get a expensive ticket.
Festival – we learned that there was a big horse festival going on in Sienna when we would have visited. Fun and all I am sure, but hotels were hard to find and, frankly, we didn’t want the hassle of trying to see the city with zillions of other people at the same time.

So, no – we didn’t go to Sienna.

Finding Tuscan Paradise

Where we did go was a hotel out in the country called Locanda d’Ammarosa. Stretching back in history, this place had been a fort, a monastery, a tiny little town and probably all those things at once – more than once. Today, it is a beautiful walled villa that has been renovated into an extremely nice hotel property. Featuring rustic facades, stony walkways, iron gates, arched corridors and pretty much all the Tuscan charm you could want, the hotel also has very modern rooms with excellent amenities. (Left: Courtyard view of the Locanda d'Ammarosa villa/hotel.)

Upon our mid-afternoon arrival and check in, we left our luggage in the room, grabbed a couple of the complimentary beers in our room’s refrigerator and made a beeline to the oasis of the pool. Overlooking a valley and a nearby village, this pool was the ticket – just the right place to be on this sunny afternoon.

After some swimming and basking, a fellow guest bearing a bucket of chilled white wine walked by and introduced himself…inviting us to join he and his wife for some of the wine. We thought, “what the Hell” and went over to talk with them. Turns out they are a couple from the Toronto area who come to this place almost annually. Very nice people and full of recommendations for what to do in the area and where to eat.

More relaxation followed at the pool, and then we rested up before our dinner at the highly regarded restaurant on site at the hotel. Sitting in a covered-but-outdoors patio, our meal was very good, but the service this night was for some reason very, very slow. This was annoying. But, whatever. In hindsight it was nice to sit out and take in the view. (Right: The pool at Locanda d'Ammarosa.)

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast set out in luxurious style in the hotel's bar/cafe. What a spread. With fresh eggs, cheese, bread, jam, honey and more, it reminded us of some of those wonderful Romanian breakfasts we'd had earlier in the trip.

Pienza and Montepulciano

The sunny skies and magnificent fields of sunflowers greeted us as we took to the road for the short drive to the nearby town of Pienza. Pienza is another spectacularly preserved old town, but it's far smaller that San Gimignano and nearly as touristy. This made for a nice strolling visit as we walked through the walled city gate and up the narrow main road lined with shops up to the primary piazza of the town. You can really see the main sites in Pienza just a few minutes. What's extra nice is to spend some time walking through the narrow little side streets and also making your way to the edge of the town where you will be rewarded with sweeping views of the Tuscan countryside. We did both and in between we stopped at a teeny tiny little cafe and had a glass of cool and refreshing Proseco. (Above left: Pienza street. Above right: Tuscan sunflowers.)

Our next stop was the town of Montepulciano. This is a bigger town than Pienza, but we'd heard that it was chock full of great restaurants and shopping. How could we say no?

Arriving at mid-day, we parked and walked up into the old city center, marveling at the walls, streets, passageways, etc. No matter how many of these medieval towns you go to, it never gets old...at least to us. Anyway, we arrived at the top at moment I would guess was the hottest of the day. We found some shade and got our bearings before exploring the church and surrounding streets. (Left: Main square in Montepulciano.)

Now it was lunchtime, and we found a place noted in the Lonely Planet guidebook called Enoteca a Gambe di Gatto. Situated on one of those narrow little streets, this is a small restaurant run by a husband and wife team. She's the chef and he's the service. Their "thing" is to travel the region annually to find suppliers of the freshest, best tasting and organic food for their menu. And wow, that effort pays off.

To start things off, we were presented with a fresh loaf of locally baked bread and a selection of olive oils from different areas around Italy. We were given a chance to taste each and then settle on the one we liked best for the table. Next, wine needed to be attended to. Similarly, several options of red were set up on our table - each local to Tuscany and one in particular from right nearby. We sampled and decided on the most local - a very nice 2007 red from Montepulciano.

Our entrees were to die for. Having loved this mean and service so much, we decided to buy some of the olive oil and perhaps a bottle of that wine. As were were paying for our meal and those other items, out came the locally made Limoncello for a taste at the bar. We could not refuse. We tasted this lemony liqueur, loved it and decided to get a bottle of it as well. Sure, we were up sold, but it was worth it. For the entire package of food, service and setting, our visit to this restaurant has jumped onto our personal list of best meals ever.

Happy as could be, we decided to walk lunch off a bit by going back to the main piazza and doing a little shopping too. By now, heavy clouds had moved in and you got the feeling that it was going to rain. Before that could happen, we went to the tippy top of the town hall for a good view and then hit some shops where we bought some really cool shoes and bags. (Left: Local wine on our table as we celebrate one last evening in Tuscany.)

By the time we got back to our vehicle, it was starting to rain and it increased as we made our way back toward our hotel. The original plan was to sit at the pool in the late afternoon again, but it was looking like this was a no-go based on what was happening outside. Sure enough, when we got back it was still gray, cloudy and drizzly. Warm, but not pool weather. We opted to rest up in our sumptuous room instead.

To finish off this perfect day in Tuscany, we headed out to a small nearby town for dinner at a restaurant our new friends from by the poolside had told us about. By now, the weather had cleared and again we were looking at clear skies and a beautiful sunset - all the more delightful as we sat on an outdoor patio and enjoyed a meal of Tuscan specialties and wine as the sun slowly set before us.

Tomorrow we would make our way to Rome, but for this day we could not have envisioned such a wonderful experience.

NOTE: All pictures in this post taken by Marc Osborn. No use of any kind is authorized without prior written permission from Marc Osborn.

Pac-12 Week 8 Quick Picks

2011-10-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Oregon vs. Colorado in Boulder. Ducks may be without their starting QB and RB, but it won't matter. Too big a talent and experience miss-match. They win big: 41-17.

UW vs. Stanford at Palo Alto. UW is reminded that their 5 wins to date have come against poor and injury depleated teams. Stanford is neither. Trees win 34-21.

WSU vs. OSU in Seattle. Neither school's campus is anywhere near Seattle, but yet they're playing there this weekend. For the Beavers, it won't matter where they play this one. Cougs win 24-10.

Cal vs. Utah in SF. Neither team is having a good season so far. I'm going to say that Cal gets off the losing streak at home with a win - 17-10.

UCLA vs. Arizona in Tucson. Pillow fight! Two bad teams slap it out in the desert. Arizona could be re-motivated with the loss of their coach and playing at home against a team similar in talent. So, I'm going to pick them to win a close one 24-21.

USC vs. Notre Dame in South Bend. Hmmm. Could be a close one. Neither team really setting the world on fire, but both have talent. Toss up, but I'll take USC 27-21.

ASU has the week off.

Pac-12 Week 7 Re-Caps

2011-10-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Oregon...you achieved your best win of the season to date by beating a talented ASU team by two TDs. You are still on track for major collisions with UW and Stanford coming up soon. QB and RB hurt, but probably back before those big games.

ASU...well, you tried. The truth is that this loss does not impact your standing in the Pac-12 South - at least for now - as you beat your next best competitor, USC, already this season. But, if you have to match up again with Oregon in that championship game, you have things to be concerned about.

UW...you KILLED Colorado. So, that's good as you were expected to do that. But on the other hand, killing the Buffs is not hard to do this season. Your second opportunity to show you are a legit football power this season (the first one was big loss vs. Nebraska) comes next weekend vs. Stanford.

Colorado...long season keeps getting longer. Thanks for joining the league. Hopefully you'll get better in coming seasons.

Oregon State...the struggling BYU Cougars beat you by 10 points in your own house. The misery continues.

Stanford...you man handled WSU in Pullman. This was expected. Chalk up another win vs. not-that-great of an opponent...aka your entire season to date.

WSU...nice effort against Stanford. But, you still lost. At 3-3 you still have a bowl game in your sights, and with the Beavers as your next opponent, you probably will pick up win 4 next weekend.

USC...you killed Cal, which is becoming increasingly the norm.

Cal...your season is starting to look like OSU's.

Utah...you redeemed yourselves some by winning on the road at Pitt.

UCLA...you didn't play.

Arizona...you didn't play either, but given your record this season you could say that every weekend.

Mona - Lean Into the Fall

2011-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Mona just released their song "Lean Into the Fall" in the U.S.

A very good song in my opinion.

Check it out on iTunes or Amazon.

Pac-12 Week 7 Quick Picks

2011-10-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Oregon vs. ASU in Eugene - Ducks are likely without their best player, but they are at home and have plenty of talent to pick up the slack. ASU better this year, but did I mention this game is in Eugene? Ducks win 38-28.

UW vs. Colorado in Seattle. Dawgs are better than Buffs. They win 27-13.

WSU vs. Stanford in Pullman. Road game for the "Trees" against an improving Coug squad. BUT, Stanford is better and will win 41-20.

OSU vs. BYU in Corvallis. Beavs coming off a win. BYU has a winning record against weak teams and lost to Pac-12 whipping boy Utah earlier. Beavs make it two in a row and win 21-17.

USC vs. Cal at Berkley. Cal has lost two straight, but return home. USC isn't what they used to be, but they're better than Cal this year and will win 24-13.

UCLA vs. Arizona in Tucson. UA has fired its head coach after losing 10 games in a row going back into last season. Ironically, they finally get a win by beating a weak UCLA team.

Utah vs. Pitt in Pittsburgh. Utah's woes continue as they lose 17-10.

Yeah, What the Dalai Lama Says...

2011-10-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

I saw the below quote attributed to the Dalai Lama floating around on Facebook today.

I am not 100% sure if he actually said this, but I am sure that the sentiment is something I believe...

We all gotta make our way in this world, and making some money to do so is part of the equation for most of us.

But the bottom line for me is:

Life is short. Sure, be responsible, but do not sacrifice your mental or physical health, and do not delay experiences for "sometime in the future," when you assume you'll be healthy and wealthy in the name of money or the maniacal pursuit of it.

Mona Plays Live in Ballard

2011-10-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

An up-and-coming band I've kept my ear on recently, Mona, played a gig last night at the small Tractor Tavern venue in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. A buddy and I went to check them out and were glad we did.

More info on Mona HERE.

In addition to their ripping set of melodic, edgy rock and roll we also were fortunate enough to meet each member of the band at some point in the evening and we can report that members of Mona are approachable, good guys who appreciate people who come out to their shows.

Unfortunately, my point-and-shoot digital camera was on the fritz, so the few pictures I attempted to take did not turn out very good. Here is one that kinda (but not really) turned out at least somewhat visible...

More pictures of Mona that I took when they played the Showbox SoDo earlier this year are HERE. Mona are the last few pictures in the set.

Opening bands Sunday evening, Funeral Party and Locksley, were both quality and if you're interested in new bands to check out, I'd add them to the list.

Pac-12 Week 6 Re-Caps

2011-10-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Oregon...it took you until the third quarter to do it, but you destroyed Cal as expected. Star RB James may be out due to injury for the next game, however. Luckily for you, it's at home against an ASU team that has issues when playing on the road against good teams.

Cal...on the up side, this year you didn't fake injuries against Oregon (that we can tell), but on the down side you got your butt whipped and are now 0-2 in the conference.

Washington...nice job taking the week off.

USC...you performed your "bye" duties equally well.

WSU...oh so close. You didn't exactly "Coug it," but you also didn't finish it off against a feeble UCLA.

UCLA...it took WSU coming to your home field and a full four quarters worth of effort, but you did win a Pac-12 game.

OSU...a win! Your very first of the season no less. Things are looking up after beating Arizona, at least until next weekend.

Arizona...wow, if there was a game for the taking this was it and you blew it. To Oregon State. Not a good season.

Stanford...a win against Colorado. How did you build your schedule to be so soft for so much of the first half of the season? Makes for a nice 5-0 record, but one wonders if that's just because of who you have been playing.

Colorado...no shame in losing to Stanford, but would be nice to see you try and get a few wins here at some point.

ASU...a good win. Winning on the road is always a good sign, especially for you. But, beating Utah is not exactly a statement that you're ready to win the league. Next week will be that test in Eugene.

Utah...your education on the quality of football in the Pac-12 compared to the Mountain West continues with your home loss to ASU.

Pac-12 Week Six Quick Picks

2011-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

Quick picks for week six of the Pac-12 season...

Oregon vs. Cal in Eugene (Thursday) - Cal played Ducks close last year in Berkley. Not the case this year. Ducks win at home 41-24.

UW had the weekend off. So does USC.

WSU vs. UCLA in L.A. Hmmm. Both teams have question marks, but pretty even. I want to pick the Cougs here, so I will. WSU wins 22-14.

OSU vs. Arizona in Corvallis. Both hurtin' units looking for a win. Arizona has more overall talent and a better QB, so they win...28-17.

Stanford vs. Colorado in Palo Alto. Stanford continues win streak. Beats Buffs 33-10.

ASU vs. Utah in Salt Lake City. ASU takes another step toward a Pac-12 South title with a road win here 35-14.

Rainy Weather Music Recommendations

2011-10-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a while, I drove to work today in the rain. Yes, summer here in Seattle seemed short and the previous winter and spring were wet. But, in any case, it's been a while since I did my commute in the rain.

That got me thinking, what are some good bands or albums to listen to when it's gray and rainy? For some people, foul weather may bring on a desire for bright and sunny music that reminds them of a more pleasant season - reggae, Beach Boys, pop and the like.

For me, however, I go the other way - embrace the gloom, marinate around in it and find music that goes with the feel. That's not to say...depressing...but just that fits the environment.
Anyway, here are a few ideas for music that goes with gray rainy weather:

Radiohead - pretty much anything by them, but more particularly OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac.
The Good, the Bad & the Queen - an album by Damon Albarn of Blur, Paul Simonon of the Clash and others.
Rubber Soul by the Beatles - Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, Michelle, Girl and other songs really fit the rainy mood.
Suedehead by Morrissey - it's a "best of" compliation from the Mozzer, but it's genius and fits a melancholy mood.
Ten by Pearl Jam - Once, Evenflow, Alive, Porch, Jeremy...all great foul weather rock.
Lifeblood by Manic Street Preachers - icy, detached, sythy-rock with some guitar...this entire album connotes bad weather.
Metal Box by Public Image Ltd. - grindy, scratchy, warbly avaunt guard music. Gray, dark and challenging - just like a winter day.
The Joy Division - pretty much anything by this band.
Kill to Get Crimson by Mark Knofler - mellow, soulful, beautiful. Check it out next time there's a light rain falling.
Bleach by Nirvana - you sick of the rain? You pissed off that it's dark, cold and damp for like nine months out of the year? Crank this up and get that angst out!
Zooropa by U2 - Lemon, Numb, Stay, Zooropa and pretty much everything else here fits rain.

There are just a few suggestions, and I'm sure you have your own favorites for those not-so-great weather days. Feel free to let me know. It's October now, so I'll be looking for some new tunes for the upcoming season.

Restaurant and Bar Recommendations - NYC

2011-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a weeklong business trip to Dayton, Ohio (1 day) and New York City (4 days).

Here are a few food and drink tips for anyone going to either city...

DAYTON

Chappy's Tap Room & Grille. This is an oasis for beer lovers, and the food is dang good too.

NEW YORK CITY

Veritas - this used to be a high end, white table cloth, expensive place with a spectacular wine selection. Wall Streeters were the primary clientele, along with perhaps couples splurging on for that big anniversary or special occassion. We were one of those couples a few years ago and enjoyed it. However, that incarnation died at the very moment the economy and Wall Street went in the tank back in 2008. Today, the restaurant is still in the same location, still called Veritas and still has a wonderful wine list. However, the decor, service and food selections are dialed down to a more casual and affordable level. It's still a nice place to be sure and the dinner I had was great. But, the whole affair is more approachable.
Hi-Life - this is one of those joints that as an out-of-towner you would just walk right past and not really think much about. There are two Hi-Life's in NYC, and I was at the one on the Upper West Side. This little joint has a diverse menu (chicken pasta bowl over here, sushi plate over there, steak, salads, etc.), local beer on tap (I had the Blue Point Lager) and a nice setting. In warm weather you can sit outside and watch the NYC world go by. Casual, affordable and unpretentious.
Wong - a new place in the west village with an inventive menu. Small, popular and tastey, this hit the spot for us as we'd been craving some good Asian fare. I had the Cha Ca La Vong.
Dos Caminos - above average Mexican food at several locations around the city. We ate at the one in midtown. Just what we wanted after a morning of hoofing around the city.
DaNico - ironically, one thing New York's Little Italy is not known for is great Italian food. However, DaNico's is pretty dang good. It's more the rustic Tuscan and Sicilian fare rather than high end Northern Italian. But, relax...not everything has to be "hot, hip and trendy." Have a good time and enjoy some hearty Italian food and plenty of good wine selections in Little Italy.
Pravda Bar - an old favorite and still a happening joint in the later hours of the evening. It's literally underground and decked out in Russian decor, and all this makes sense as they specialize in vodka drinks. We tasted a few of the home made infused vodkas on offer.
Jane - for our last meal in NYC before heading home, we had brunch at a place called Jane on Houston Street. Brunch is a big deal in NYC, and picking your place can be a hit and miss affair. This place had good reviews online, was within striking distance of our hotel via subway and...you can make reservations. This last thing was the clincher. Most places you cannot reserve, so you end up standing in line for an hour or two waiting. Not so here. And, turns out we made a good choice. A nice place, great food (several types of unique Bennedicts) and friendly service. Note: They don't serve any alcoholic beverages at brunch before 12 p.m.

PAC-12 Week 5 Recap

2011-10-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Washington...you beat Utah on the road. Nice win and you are at the top of the PAC-12 North for now. Next week vs Colorado could be good for you too.

Utah...welcome to the PAC-12. This ain't the Mountain West.

WSU...hey, lookie here Cougs! A win! With your third victory this season you are half way to being bowl eligible.

Colorado...you are the team WSU beat. Heavy sigh.

OSU...you played better, but still lost at home to ASU. Is 0-12 a possibility? At 0-4 you are a third of the way there.

ASU...you won on the road vs the lowly Beavers. Took care of business.

Stanford...you killed UCLA. Your wins are piling up, but they are against poor teams. Bigger tests coming.

UCLA...you are not good. Season looking bleak.

USC...you beat Arizona. You were supposed to, so you are back on track.

Arizona...you, OSU and UCLA will battle it out for worst record in the leave. Which of you is the worst? Can't wait to find out.

Oregon...you did not play and await Cal, the only league team who slowed your offense. Be ready and motivated and you should win at home.

Cal....you also did not play and go to Eugene this week.

Pac-12 Week 5 Quick Picks

2011-09-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Oregon and Cal have this week of. Will play each other next week.

Washington vs. Utah in Salt Lake City. Is UW for real or just lucky to have beat Eastern and Cal at home on the last plays of those respective games? Is Utah ready to make a statement in Pac-12 play? Utes are at home, so win 24-21.

WSU hosts Colorado in Pullman. Hmm. Two fairly weak teams. Again, home team Cougars wins 21-10.

OSU vs. ASU in Corvallis. Will OSU get their first win of the season and upset the South division race? No, they won't. ASU wins by a lot - 41-21. OSU misery continues.

Stanford vs. UCLA in Palo Alto. This one won't be close. Stanford big - 52-24.

USC vs. Arizona in Tuscon. 'Cats rebound from consecutive losses? No. USC 27-20.

Pac-12 Week 4 Re-Caps

2011-09-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Oregon...you rolled over Arizona big. So, you matched the other two Top 10 teams that have done that to the Wildcats this season, substantiating two things: 1) yes indeed, you are a Top 10 team (#9 as of today), 2) Arizona is not a very good football team. Rest up on your week off and get ready for Cal.

Washington...you tried to give it away to Cal at the end, but you didn't. Kudos to your D (oddly enough) for stifling Cal right at the end. Bizarre play call by Cal on that last play, but hey - you won. You are now officially at the "top of the middle tier" of the Pac-10. That will be on the line again next week vs. Utah.

Cal...you lost to UW on the road. You are probably better than that, but you just dug yourself a hole with your next game against Oregon in Eugene.

WSU...you didn't play, and that's probably good as last week's loss vs. SDSU was not a good sign.

Arizona...you looked pretty bad most of your loss to Oregon - in particular mental breakdowns, penalties, dropped passes and an "out of control" coach on the sideline. You are now fighting for bowl status.

Oregon State...you lost to UCLA. At home. Not good. Welcome to the bottom of the Pac-10.

UCLA...you beat OSU on the road and can feel good about being 1-0 in Pac-12 play. But on the other hand, you only beat the Beavers. So, don't get too cocky. Reality will be present and accounted for when you square off against Stanford next week.

Arizona State...you bounced back from losing last week to beat a ranked USC team on your home field. That's pretty good, honestly. You are now in the driver seat for the Pac-12 South crown.

USC...you lost to ASU. That is not shock, but in recent years this would have not happened. You are not the team you were two, three or four years ago.

Colorado...you had your "hat" handed to you by Ohio State. Lots of teams suffer that fate, so don't get too down on it as it's a non-conference game.

Utah...you sat this week out and prepped for UW next weekend - a game in which with a win you can simultaneously climb into the Pac-12 South race and knock the Dawgs out of the running for the North title.

Stanford...you sat this week out with UCLA coming up in a week.

The Rude Pundit Calls It As It Is

2011-09-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to pass on a post I read as I think it sums up the Republican/conservative approach to Obama pretty well.

The Rude Pundit calls out conservative hypocrits for their over-inflated and shrill denunciations of Obama's jobs and economic plan in his post (as in, he wrote the below, not me) that reads...

Hypocritical, Cruel, and Buffoonish Responses from the GOP on Obama's Tax Plan:

So let's be sure we're absolutely clear here: when President Obama talks about raising revenue by having the wealthy pay their fair share, he is not talking about passing a single tax increase on individuals. What he is talking about is limiting certain kinds of deductions, closing loopholes, and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on people making over a million bucks a year. That's it. Yes, tax rates do return to a higher level on the very wealthy because the Bush tax cuts were allegedly designed to be temporary, enacted in flush times, but supposedly with a sunset just in case times were rough again. In other words, it was the model of "kick the ball down the road" legislating.

But to say that President Obama wants Congress to pass higher taxes is a lie. In fact, what he wants Congress to do is make the Bush-era tax cuts on the poor-to-merely wealthy permanent. If Congress doesn't do that, and Obama doesn't cave again on it, all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire and the revenue crisis is over.
Of course, none of this is preventing the scumsucking pig fellaters of Congress from laying into the very moderate plan Obama proposed. Let's check out what the most heinous motherfuckers are saying.

Why, here's Rep. Joe Walsh, who takes European vacations with his girlfriend while avoiding his child support payments: "The President is in over his head and just isn't serious about helping American businesses create jobs." You know who else is in other their heads? Rep. Joe Walsh, who owes over $100,000 to his ex-wife to take care of his children. Most hilariously, Walsh says, "I would encourage the Warren Buffett types, who want to pay more in taxes, to write as large a check as they want to the federal treasury. Nothing is stopping them." You know who else should write a check that doesn't come from his campaign funds? Nothing says "motherfucker" like fucking over the mother of your kids.

Louisiana Senator and whore lover David Vitter said, "The president's plan is a grab bag of tax hikes in the middle of a recession, pure and simple." Like a large plastic bag where you can put an adult diaper? (Actually, the Rude Pundit wishes for the sake of easy jokes that Vitter had said what Rep. Jeff Landry said: "My beef is taking any money from any American at a time when our government is wasting money - not just wasting money but throwing it down the toilet." Beef? Toilet? That would have been comedy gold, baby.)
From the immoral to the imbecilic, it went. The usual suspects said the usual things. Rep. Joe "You lie" Wilson of South Carolina barked, "I'm just shocked at the level of tax increases. It's clearly just an effort to grow big government."

Unpack that statement, if your brain can wrap around it. Remember: there will be no "tax increases." The only thing that's happening is that a "temporary" tax cut might end and some other shit may going away. It's like saying that when your Groupon offer expires, it's a price increase on your sushi dinner. No, dick. You're just not getting it cheaper.

Of course, some "tax increases" are different than others. 'Cause, see, the payroll tax cut that Obama got as part of the extension of the Bush tax cuts is also sunsetting. That's a tax hike, no? No, you prole. The GOP is treating that cash for the middle class like it's a hooker with a sign that says, "Get hep-c here." Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions really did say, "If your debt is this large, I think you've gotta be very careful about adding debt." And Rep. Paul Ryan declared that the tax cut "didn't work."

Amazing how quickly they become agnostics when it comes to helping anyone but the rich.

Pac-12 Quick Picks - Week 4

2011-09-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Oregon vs. Arizona in Tucson. Closer and lower scoring than you think. UO gets out of the desert 27-24.

UW vs. Cal in Seattle. Huskies bounce back and beat an unprepared Cal team 21-14.

WSU vs. Colorado in Bolder. CU beats WSU 28-14. Sorry Cougs. CU ain't great, but neither was SDSU.

Oregon State vs. UCLA in Corvallis. Battle of bottom feeders. OSU wins 13-10.

USC vs. ASU in Tempe. USC continues ASU woes and wins 22-17.

Utah and Stanford not playing this weekend.

Elizabeth Warren Quote to Ponder

2011-09-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Below is something I saw online and think really think it is a perspective not being heard or discussed as we all debate the economy and what to do next.

As background Elizabeth Warren is a lawyer, a Senate candidate, a law professor and former chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

I agree with her comments.

My take is, you show me a rich person and I'll show you someone who - about 80% -90% of the time - started out rich, well off or with significant advantages in life.

Warren is saying that even if you literally did start from "nothing" in your life and have built up wealth and success, you STILL did not do it all on your own. There are elements of our society and economy that we all pay into and benefit from.

And to the degree that one might debate how big (or small) a "hunk" should be given back in her example, I would say this...our nation has over the last 30 years specifically and methodically reduced what that "hunk" can or needs to be through major tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. So much so that reversing course even a little now elicits shrill cries of "socialism!" if "revenue increases" are discussed as an option for solving our debt and budget crisis.

All good food for thought in my book.

Constitution Week?

2011-09-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Did you know it was "Constitution Week" this week?

I didn't. That is, I didn't until I was looking on iTunes for new free apps and found several educational apps grouped under the heading "Constitution Week."

Well, turns out there is such a week annually. Info HERE.

With that in mind, lets look at one of the basics of the Constitution...the First Amendment.

The text reads...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There's a lot of stuff covered in there. With the election season hotting up, some of the issues it touches on will no doubt be big.

How far will (or should) a candidate espousing "Christian values" as the core of his or her platform be able to go in primaries or general election. Similarly, how about candidates who have said or implied that anyone not a Christian (Muslims) should be treated differently or are in some way suspect?

Or, here's one for you. Is it right for the government to deregulate communications and online technology to the degree that now big international businesses buy and consolidate media into fewer and fewer for-profit corporations? Corporations that also own major companies that the media would normally cover objectively. Does all that help ensure "freedom of the press" or does it restrict it?

Anyway, you can see a copy of the entire Constitution in many places online. Try HERE or HERE.

Check it out. Read it over and form your own opinions rather than relying on "talking heads" who tell you how to interpret it.

Marc

Obama's Jobs Strategy

2011-09-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Obama's "jobs" plan appears to present things Republicans want, but also things they don't...but that are of course common sense like tax hikes for the wealthy and regulation for multinational corporations.

Why?

Setting aside the merits of the plan (and I think it's on the right track if not a little underwhelming) I think Obama's strategy is to force Republicans to either: a) vote for this and "co-own" the economy going into an election year, or b) not vote for it and be finally revealed simply as the party of "no to anything Obama proposes" even if the proposals contain things the Republicans say they want. Anybody paying attention would already know this, but many don't pay attention until election time.

In any case, I think it's a solid strategy and probably the type of political hardball that's needed if Obama wants to be re-elected. Put it this way...on the economy, he either runs as the President that has gained consensus and is leading the country forward OR he runs hard against the Republicans for their irrational opposition to their own ideas and as obstacles to progress.

So which response to Obama's plan do you think the R boys and girls will chose?

If you selected "b" from above then you are very likely correct. In fact, I think we've already seen amble evidence that they have no desire whatsoever to play ball with the President. I think their political calculus is...regardless of facts, it is better to run against Obama on a "blame everything on Obama/questions is authenticity" platform (socialist, deficit creator, Muslim, etc.) than it is to run against him after buying into some of his proposals and trying to differentiate on what they would do different in a Republican controlled Congress or White House.

And that's what they'll do.

So, all you Americans out there waiting for some sort of progress on jobs and the economy...it ain't gonna happen because of our government over the next 1.25 years. And lets not forget, conservative government carefully created and hand delivered the national debt, collapsed housing and financial markets, increases in outsourcing and off shoring of jobs and other ills in the seven years they ran everything from 2001 to 2009. Thanks Republican Party.

But in the meantime, the President created the difficult political situation we're witnessing now by himself by spending three years under the wild delusion that he could "work with" Republicans to get things done. This is a fundamental misread of the modern Republican party. He squandered big D majorities in the House and Senate when he had them. THAT was the time to get things done...not now. So, while I am on his side and think his current approach to jobs is correct and feeds nicely into election politics, Obama bears a lot of blame for the inability to get things done now.

Pac-12 Re-Cap

2011-09-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ducks...you bounced back from your season opening loss on the road to LSU by beating Nevada and Missouri State by a lot of points as expected. Can you keep improving vs. Arizona on the road? Win and you're on schedule. Lose and...remember the Holiday Bowl?

UW...you lost big to Nebraska on the road with a healthy shove from the refs. But you also didn't exactly help yourself with your 3rd quarter meltdown. Get up, dust off and make something of your season starting vs. Cal this weekend. Or, don't and get prepared for something more like a 4-8/5-7 season.

WSU...reality bites huh? SDSU isn't Idaho State nor UNLV. A revealing loss as to where your team may actually be.

Oregon State...you got the week off. Probably for the best considering your season to date.

Stanford...you beat Arizona on the road, but lost your best tackler for the season due to injury. A nice win, but how costly?

Arizona...you got beat at home by Stanford. Doesn't get much easier with a game vs. Oregon this weekend. You may be looking at 0-2 in league play real quick.

USC...you beat Syracuse at home by a lot of points. As expected. Nice job. On the road vs. ASU next weekend is a big one for the Pac-12 south race.

Arizona State...you lost to Big-10 middle tier team Illinois on the road. Is this the start of your annual "not ready for prime time" performance or just an isolated road choke?

Cal...whatever. Nobody is impressed that you beat Presbyterian. In fact, nobody has ever even heard of that school. Even their own students are saying, "I go to Presbyterian? And we have a football team?"

Colorado...nice job. You beat in state rivals CSU. You're on the upswing after losing to Cal close.

UCLA...well, you are just not a very good football team now are you? You lost to Texas by a lot. Your season is starting the circle the toilet bowl.

Utah...you hammered in state rival BYU. Thank you and good job.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - Florence

2011-09-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Arriving by train from Venice, we alighted on the Florence train station platform about 11 a.m. Steamy weather and big crowds were there to greet us, but with only one afternoon and night in this city, we knew we needed to make the most of our visit. Thus started the second segment of our Italy adventure – Florence and Tuscany. As a reminder, you can see the set of pictures associated with our visit to Italy on my Flickr Photostream HERE. I will add new pictures to the set as I post about the places we went.

Our first goal was to get to our hotel without walking. Seriously, it was HOT in Florence. So, we took a taxi for the short 1-2 mile trip to the Hotel Consigli, situated right along the Arno River.

Checking in and situating our gear, we decided that – much like in Venice - we would forgo seeing the things we had already seen in favor of checking out some other locations around the town. Yes, I know, some will say that it’s a crime to not go see The David or tour the Ufizzi, but we saw those things last time and we only had the rest of the afternoon. For us, we made the right choice. However, I would advise anyone who has not been to Florence to go see those two things at minimum. They are a “must,” but for us not a “must twice.” Maybe next time.

The first order of business was lunch. Again favoring a taxi instead of walking given the heat, we were dropped off right in the middle of town where we attempted to get a table at a restaurant called Cantinetta dei Verrazzano. This is a well known and generally well reviewed restaurant – but since the word is out on it, the wait time would have been more than an hour. Forget it. We simply walked about half a block and found a nice, shaded outdoor place where we enjoyed a tasty lunch – and cold beer.

Next, we strolled through the main Piazza della Signoria and down one of the nearby “leather streets” that Florence is known for. Jackets, bags, shoes…you name it, this row of shops had it. And as a bonus, they carried styles that I don’t think you can readily get in the U.S. (Left: Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria. Leather shops just off to the right behind that white truck you see.)

As we talked to various shop owners, we learned that their clientele had changed over the past few years. According to them, sales to American tourists used to make up 70% of their revenue, but now it’s less than 30%. Meanwhile, guess who has taken over as the biggest tourist customer base for leather goods? The Chinese. And indeed, in a couple shops there were signs in Chinese. In one shop, the entire three floors were inundated with Chinese tourists looking over the goods.

Anyway, we ended up buying ourselves some very cool leather jackets from a proprietor we liked. This latter point is not a small one. There are a lot of leather shops in Florence and many of them carry similar styles. But not all offer the same price, and not all offer the same level of customer service.

Let me tell you what I mean...

After identifying a jacket I liked at one shop – decent price, nice owner – we went down the street to another shop where I spied a very similar jacket – perhaps even a bit nicer than the first one. Now, bargaining over price is a normal thing in most parts of Europe. So, when I heard that the jacket was priced $100 or so higher than the first one I had liked at the other shop, I thought I’d see if I could get it for near the same price. After trying it on and asking the price from the sales lady, I offered $50 less than the asking price. After a bit of back and forth, the lady disappeared and then the owner came out. He sternly said, “What is the problem.” I said, “No problem, I really like your jacket. We were just talking about the price.” He replied with something along the lines of, “Yes, our price is our price.”

We talked a bit more and I advised him that there were similar jackets nearby for less. He acted insulted and claimed that those “other jackets” are inferior.

Once again, I offered him my price and once again he acted insulted and said no.

So, I said, “OK, well…I guess I’m not ready to buy it for that price. Thanks for your time. We may be back later.” To which he replied, “If you come back, come back with $50 extra dollars.”

Done. Not EVER coming back buddy. At that point I wouldn’t have bought from him if he gave me a 70% discount. The man let hundreds of dollars walk out the door. Good job man.

With that decision easily made, we went back to the first place and picked up the jacket I wanted and got a different type of one for Diane too.

Our shopping over, we decided to head back to the hotel for a rest up. But not before getting some gelato at Grom and walking through the Piazza del Duomo, church and other spectacular sights. (Right: View of three key buildings in Piazza dell Duomo.)

After a nice, cool rest at our hotel we headed out for dinner at Il Latini. We ate at this place when we visited Florence 15 years earlier and at the time considered it one of if not the best meal we had ever eaten…and that has stood up over the years. We just had to go back.

When we arrived at the front door, it was clear that the joint was still popular as evidenced by the big crowd waiting to get in upon opening. Positioned close to the door, we didn’t anticipate any problems getting in and we didn’t.

Seated in the main room, we enjoyed course after course of goodness. Starting with prosciutto and melon, we moved on to salad, pasta, a huge platter of meat and – of course – desert. Table wine sufficed nicely to wash the feast down.

Another thing that makes Il Latini stand out is that the service is very good and very friendly – and not in a cheese ball way. A lot of restaurants in Italy roll out very indifferent waiters (they are almost always male servers) who take their own sweet time and treat you poorly. Certainly not at Il Latini, however.

Anyway, that meal FILLED US UP. We waddled around a bit after to try and feel better, ultimately catching a taxi to take us the rest of the way home.

Sleeping off our meal, we awoke the next morning with a new mission: pick up a rental car and drive out of Florence and into rural Tuscany for more fun.

NOTE: All pictures in this post were taken by Marc Osborn and are not permitted for any use without prior written permission from Marc Osborn.

Pac-12 Quick Picks - Week 3

2011-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Quick picks for this week’s Pac-12 games…

Oregon vs. Missouri State in Eugene. MSU ain’t LSU. They’re not even Nevada. This could get ugly quick. Only way Ducks "lose" is if one of their players gets hurt. Ducks 56-13.

UW vs. Nebraska in Lincoln. Yes, UW beat the Cornhuskers in the Holiday Bowl. But they were also trampled by Nebraska last season in Seattle. This game is in Lincoln. The “Ns” win 31-21.

WSU vs. San Diego State in San Diego. Cougs are 2-0 with warm ups against inferior teams. They are probably better a tad better than SDSU and will win 29-17.

Oregon State vs. UCLA in Corvallis. Coming off a loss to an FCS team at home and an epic butt whooping by Wisconsin on the road, the Beavs are in bad shape. They lose again. UCLA wins a yawner 13-10.

Stanford vs. Arizona in Tucson. After two weeks of beating up on cupcakes, Stanford gets a jump up in competition. But not that much. Stanford 38-10.

ASU vs. Illinois in Champaign, IL. ASU is 2-0, but they won against an FCS team and then blew a 14 point lead to Missouri at home in Tempe - eventually winning in OT. I think they are upset on the road in Big-10 country. Illini win 26-19.

Colorado vs. Colorado State in Boulder. Buffs seem to lose this game annually. They do again. 24-21.

Utah vs. BYU in Provo. In-state rivals clash and BYU comes out on top 17-13.

USC vs. Syracuse in L.A. Trojans are better and therefore they will prevail - 31-13.
Cal vs. Presbyterian at Berkley. Presbyterian? What? Really Cal? Well, we all know how this will end. Cal wins big, big, big - 65-10.

Italy: La Dolce Vita - Venice

2011-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

This post kicks off reporting on the second phase of our June 2011 trip to Europe - our journey to Italy. Also, I will be building a set of photos on my Flickr Photostream to supplement the pictures you see in the posts.

Some of you may already know we spent a week in Romania right before this, and if anyone wants to read or revisit our adventures there you can check it all out in one convenient post I've put together that accesses each episode and photos.

Arrival In Venice
Flying into Rome from Bucharest, Diane and spent a couple hours on layover in the airport before our flight up to Venice. Three things happened during this time: First, the cold hard reality of how little our U.S. dollar is worth compared to the Euro became blatantly clear. Of course we knew this going in, but after a week in Romania where the reverse was true, this felt even worse than if we had just showed up in Italy directly from home. Second, we had lunch. Third, Diane bough some seriously cool shades at one of the boutiques at the airport. Soon enough, we boarded our plane and flew to Venice.

Arriving at the Venice airport is just like arriving anywhere else by air in Western Europe. However, once you've collected your bags, the way you get to the city is by boat rather than taxi, train or car.

After chugging our way across the lagoon for about 40 minutes, we alighted at one of the drop off stations in the main part of the city. Our next challenge was to find our hotel amongst the maze of streets and canals that make up Venice. I knew generally which direction to go and which piazza we were looking for. But, no matter how good a map you have of Venice, it cannot and does not account for all the little streets and narrow passageways that confront you. Suffice it to say we did a pretty good job of finding where we need to go. (Left: A quiet canal right near our hotel.)

All the while, of course, we were taking in the scenery as we dragged our bags behind us. For indeed, every turn brings a new and picturesque view – a little canal with boats, a bridge, old buildings, painted shutters, small piazzas, art on the wall and on and on. It’s tempting to stop and take it all in as you go. But, we’d been on the road all day, tired and it was getting hot. So we kept going on our best guess at where our hotel was. And sure enough, we got there no problem. After checking into our nice room at the Hotel Bernardi (our room was in their anex building) in the San Marco neighborhood (but very near the Cannaregio neighborhood) we washed up and went out to a nearby street to get lunch, a cold beer and watch people walk by. Relaxation at last!

Meeting Up with Family and First Evening

Later that evening we met up with Diane's sister and her husband - who were on vacation in Europe and obviously Venice at the same time as us - for an evening stroll and dinner. As you walk through the streets of Venice, just how different this city is from others screams out at you. No cars, no scooters, pedestrian only, wide thoroughfares, small passageways, big obvious bridges, crooked alleyways, small out-of-the-way bridges, cheerfully colored buildings, crumbly facades, church steeples, a boat roaring by followed by a quietly paddled gondola and more. All of this contrasts greatly with most cities of the world. And it's fun to experience simply as you walk around on a warm evening. (Above: Piazza San Marco from the water.)

This night we hit appetizers at a little walk up counter on a typical Venetian piazza. Just walked up to the window and ordered a fresh basket of fried seafood and vegetables. Simple. Delicious. Later we had dinner at Alla Vedova, a great little osteria serving typical Venetian dishes. Given that we'd had a long day coming in from eastern Europe, we called it a night after this and turned in. (Left: Basilica San Marco.)

First Full Day
Refreshed and ready to go, we dedicated most of then next day hitting the highlights of Venice - especially since our relatives had not seen them. Strolling the crooked crag streets we emerged at Piazza San Marco in the brilliant sun. Everything within view - Basilica San Marco, the campanile tower, Doge Palace and all the surrounding buildings - were lit up brightly all vivid and attractive. Crowds were gathering, but we sensed we had beaten the majority of the hordes that would no doubt show up soon. So, we jumped in line to get into the Basilica. Now, if you've never seen this church, it's unlike virtually any other anywhere. Beautiful onion domes, gold interior and spires all make this a worthy visit. Oh, and it's free to get in.

Next we ascended the campanile tower. This is something Diane and I had not done 15 years earlier when we visited Venice, so we were excited to get a view from up there. With the sun hotting everything up by now, we braced ourselves for the hike up the stairs to get up there. Imagine our pleasant surprise when we finally entered the bottom of the structure and found out that an elevator takes you to the top. Nice! Jetting up inside this old tower in a modern elevator, we exited at the top inside the bell tower. The first thing we noticed was the welcome breeze, cooling us down. Looking around, you could easily see the layout of the island city and marvel at the canals and red tiled roofs everywhere.

Back down at ground (or island) level, we dropped Diane's sister and husband off at the Doge's Palace as we had already seen the inside. As they toured the palace, we struck out to look around the back alley streets and get some lunch. After a while we settled on a little restaurant on a hidden piazza. As it turned out, a good choice! People: pizza, salad, beer and a view of an ancient little piazza...it does not get any better than that! And that's the fun of Venice. Getting a bit lost and stumbling onto an unexpected place or a restaurant and just saying, "what the Hell, we'll check this out." Delightful.

For our afternoon activity, we decided that instead of re-visiting the better known museums of Venice to re-see Renaissance art that we would check out something completely different...a modern art museum situated in the Palazzo Grassi. We picked up our relatives and headed out on a vaporetti water bus up the Grand Canal to the museum. For the second time this day, we were rewarded for getting off the beaten track. Featuring very interesting pieces from the personal collection of French billionaire Francois Pinault, each room had something new, different and thought provoking to ponder. That, and it was nice and cool in there compared to outside. An afternoon well spent. (Right: View along the Grand Canal.)

Next up was a well deserved rest up at the hotel. Refreshed, we hit the streets for a progressive dinner in which we went to successive osterias to get small plates collectively called cicchetti (loosely pronounced chick-et-tee) Think Italian tapas. (Left top: La Cantina; Left bottom: Osteria al Bomba.)

We hit places on or near the Strada Nuova. We started at Osteria al Bomba just off the main drag tucked away on Calle De L'Oco. They featured seafood. Wonderful! We then walked up to La Cantina where we had delightful meats, olives and home made bread along with only-can-get-it-there beer. Finally, we ended up at some random place that turned out to have a good special of fried seafood. Sorry, don't remember where. But it was on Strada Nuova near the Ponte Pasqualigo.

Second Full Day
This day was all about getting out on the lagoon and visiting some of the other pretty islands right near by. OK, this day was really about doing that while also finding and buying a nice Venetian glass chandelier. With these goals in mind, we boarded the water bus and made our way. Alighting at the main Murano dock, we quickly started checking into the various glass houses to see what was on offer and how much.

To my novice eye, Murano is basically a small Venice - but less crowded. It was nice to walk around without the crush of tourists you get in the main destinations in Venice proper.

Anyway, back to glass shopping. We hit three different shops. One was a large but interesting place with a lot of options. We felt pretty good about this place and the guy we were talking to, but given that it was the first place...we decided to keep looking and perhaps come back.

Next we stopped at a huge shop with a load of inventory - much of it indeed beautiful. However, the problem here was the sales guy who showed us around. He was fine walking us through the galleries and talking about the different styles, but he was extremely elusive when it came to pinning a price to anything. We had a bad vibe here - either we were being set up to be taken advantage of OR the guy just didn't respect us and thought we were just "lookers" out of our league looking at this stuff. Oh well, his loss as we bailed out of there. (Right: View of the main canal on Murano.)

Our third shop was a small, family run operation that had an amazing collection. Instantly we thought this might be the place where we scored our Venetian chandelier. We looked, we talked to the proprietor, we hemmed and hawed, we picked out the 2-3 we liked best...and then we said we would think about it over lunch and come back if interested.

At this point we had a nice picnic lunch we had packed along with us consisting of fresh bread, salami, cheese, wine and olives - just sitting on the street curb and enjoying.

Next we went to the Murano Glass Museum. This is a nice visit if you go there because it shows you the history of glass in the area, artifacts and explanations of the various styles of glass creations you see when looking around the rest of the island.

Following all that...we did go back to the small shop and we did buy a chandelier. Suffice it to say that we are very pleased with what we bought, where and from whom. We recently hung the thing in our house and, I have to say, it looks great!

With the primary goal of the day achieved, we made our way by boat over to another island called Burano. This is a smaller still Venice-like island town. Brightly colored buildings and quaint canals lined with shops, boutiques and restaurants make up most of the island. Here, they are known for their lace and textile work, and so as not to deprive ourselves, we bought a few items. At this point it was getting late in the afternoon, so we hopped the boat bus back to Venice. The trip from Burano takes about 45 minutes. (Left: Colorful buildings of Burano.)

Rested after a couple hours in our hotel, we made our way down the Grand Canal and over to another part of Venice where we had a water-side dinner at a restaurant called I Figli delle Stelle that looked back at the main part of the city. With the sun going down and good food on the table, this proved a great way to end our time in Venice. (Right: View from our table at I Figli della Stelle.)

Departure
The next day we simply checked out of our hotel, went to the train station and boarded our train bound for Florence - thus ending our stay in Venice.

My thoughts looking back on our visit are that the city is as beautiful as we remembered and I am glad we did some different things this time compared to last time we were there - that we did not spend our days simply and only looking at Renaissance art and rather we got out on the water, to little neighborhoods and into interesting places like that modern art museum. My advice for anyone going to Venice with only two full days to spend there is: do one day of "the classics" and one day "out and about"...and of course eat well by dining one night at a nice traditional place and then dine another night by "cicchetti hopping" around a neighborhood.

Next post up in this series is a re-cap of our time in Florance and Tuscany. Check on back for that in a week or two.

NOTE: All pictures in this post taken by Marc Osborn. No use of the images is permitted for any purpose without prior written permission from Marc Osborn.

Two Points to Consider When Watching Obama's Jobs Speech

2011-09-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

As you watch President Obama's "jobs speech" Thursday, or perhaps if you torture yourself by tuning in as pundits tell you what you just heard, here are a few things to keep in mind, at least in my opinion...

Companies need to step up and get back in the game
While government action can and is sometimes necessary to stimulate the economy, the bottom line is that companies create jobs, not government. No, I haven't gone all "supply side" on you, but it is true that companies are the ones who make decisions on the vast majority of hiring - where, how much, for what and when. There's no getting around that. Obama can talk a good game about tax credits or incentives, but if companies don't want to hire...and rather want to sit on their cash...they won't do it.

This is all related to my assertion that, guess what? The jobs ain't coming back. Companies - especially big ones who tend to employ (or used to) a lot of people - have weathered the economic storm and are now getting by without having to hire back costly items such as employees. So they won't.

Nope. Old jobs are not coming back. Forget about it and move on. The hope would be that "something new" comes along to spur growth, offer clear investment and hiring opportunities for companies and help alleviate the unemployment rate...and thus many of our other economic ills. This is actually the American spirit that has gotten us by in other times. Be it the automobile, the airplane, medical breakthroughs, the space race, computer chips, the Internet...something big has always come along to really boost our economy and usher in new good times. But this isn't happening now. The bubble burst and the ones left holding the money bags are not ready to invest in innovation and new sectors of the economy.

If government can help via stimulus, great. I am for it. But again, it is companies who hire. So, if you are ticked off that companies are not hiring...get mad at them.

We are in a "conservative economy" and have been for quite some time
Without a doubt, you will hear the Rs rebut Obama's recommendations as ineffective, too reliant on "big government," and wrong for the country. And no doubt, those same conservatives will say that what we really need is a big old helping of tax cuts, deregulation and "getting government off our backs" to free up the economy and get it moving again.

But here's the thing...we are already in that type of economy. Huge tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations were enacted 10 years ago and are still in effect. Aggressive deregulation of energy, financial, transportation, housing and other markets has been going on for 20+ years...and got a big boost over the last 10.

And Obama? He has repealed almost exactly none of that.

You think his "big government healthcare plan" is the problem. Nope. Virtually none of it goes into effect until 2014.

Think Obama is the guy responsible for the debt. Wrong again. Our historic and spectacular federal debt was hand delivered to America by Republicans in the short six years between 2001 and 2007 when they ran the White House and both houses of Congress - all on their watch, all in service of the same economic theories they're still talking about today and all while happily raising the debt ceiling without a peep of controversy.

So you see, we ARE IN a carefully and steadily constructed conservative economy. How you liking that?

Put another way, if tax cuts and deregulation are so good for the economy, where are the jobs?

Anyway, a couple things to ponder as you watch or hear about jobs over the next couple/few days.

Short Picks for Pac-12

2011-09-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Time for my abbreviated Pac-12 picks for the week...

Oregon vs. Nevada in Eugene. Ducks rebound and win 31-17.

Washington vs. Hawaii in Seattle. You think Eastern WA had an offense? Upset. Hawaii wins 27-24.

WSU vs. UNLV in Pullman. Cougs win two in a row. Score will be 27-10.

Oregon St. vs. Wisconsin in Madison. Blowout. Badgers 42-9.

ASU vs. Missouri in Tempe. Hmm. Interesting game. ASU wins at home 27-24.

Arizona vs. Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Okies win big 37-16.

Stanford vs. Duke at Chapel Hill. The cupcake parade continues for the Trees. Stanford big, 47-10.

Utah vs. USC in L.A. USC at home, better. 28-14.

San Jose State vs. UCLA in L.A. Bruins win 17-10.

Cal vs. Colorado in Boulder. Close game between not very good teams. Cal wins 17-9.

Russian Jet Crashes

2011-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

The story today that a Russian jet liner crashed, killing all but two on board is sad. Very sad.

It also brings up something anew that I've always been leery of - Russian built airplanes. And in particular Russian built airplanes built in the Soviet era. Seriously, they freak me out.

Diane and I travel the world and I honestly try to avoid booking us on any flights run by Russian carriers (Aeorflot) or flying Russian built airplanes (Yakovlev, Tupolev, etc.).

Why?

They seem to crash a lot. We want no part of that obviously.

Why do they crash?

Not sure, but I would guess few things:
1) They were poorly built in the first place
2) They are old now - increasing the odds of failure
3) Maintanence standards are not the same in Russia as they are in the west
4) Russian built planes (especially older ones) are cheaper for smaller airlines from small or poor countries to buy so they use them...and their maintanence and pilot training standards are even lower than Russia's.

My advice...avoid flying on Russian built airplanes. If you go to/from Russia, do so on western carriers. If you have to fly on Aeorflot, make sure it's a recent-vintage Boeing or AirBus built airplane.

Know Your History: Labor Day

2011-09-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Most people associate the Labor Day holiday as a nice long weekend at the end of the summer - a chance at one last warm weather "harrah" with friends and family before the realities of Fall weather, school or work settle in.

However, at at time when the U.S. economy is in the dumper, corporations are laying people off and outsourcing jobs overseas, unemployment is at a 25 year high and people are working longer hours or multiple jobs just to get by, the realities of why Labor Day came to be are worth revisiting I think.

Here are three things to know about Labor Day in my opinion:

1) The first celebration of labor in the U.S. The first civic observation of labor in the United States happened in 1882 after American labor leader Peter McGuire witnessed celebrations of labor in Toronto, Canada earlier that year. McGuire organized a similar celebration in New York City complete with parades. From that point forward there were increasing numbers of cities and states recognizing labor with a special day or celebration - all usually in that early September time frame. However, it would be another 12 years before nationwide Labor Day came to be. To know why the did this, you need to know more about...

2) The Origins of the Labor Day holiday. As the economies of world modernized in the 1800s to become far more industrial, along with that came the need for workers to work in the factories, mills, printing presses, transportation and other key components of the economy. These jobs did not pay very well, but for many they represented a potential way forward for themselves and their families compared to farming - especially for the continuing waves of European immigrants coming to the U.S. during this time.

But here's the thing. There were no laws governing pay, hours worked, number of days a week worked, age of workers, safety of workers. Neither were there any benefits for workers other than their minimal pay, no social security, no Medicare, no weekend etc. The U.S. economy operated on an unregulated and "laissez fair" level that even most Americans who vote conservative today would be offended by I think. And, on top of that, you can imagine that captains of industry and the wealthy (and the politicians who they supported) were vehemently against giving workers any concessions whatsoever.

As you might imagine, this situation touched conflicts between labor and business. And when I say "conflicts" I mean pitched battles in the streets. People were hospitalized and killed as business-hired thugs and occasionally the US Army were deployed to stop strikes, marches or protests as workers did the one thing they could do - withhold their labor - as they sought some elements of a decent living.

One such clash that brought several decades of conflict to a head was the Pullman Strike in Illinois in 1894 in which 3,000-some railroad workers staged a walkout strike after railroad company management slashed their wages. The strike virtually stopping all railroad traffic in the United States west of Chicago. Between railroad company thuggery and labor union aggression in retaliation there were casualties on top of everything else as the conflict worsened. On the pretext that the strike hindered the delivery of the U.S. Mail, President Cleveland sent in the Army to settle things - and they did with more causalities following. Naturally, the railroad company got off scott free while the labor union leadership were taken to court.

In the aftermath President Cleveland sought to avoid further strife with labor and pushed through a bill establishing the first weekend in September as a national Labor Day holiday. The first one of which was in 1894.

3) Establishing Labor Day didn't really change much. OK, so great. Labor had one day a year to feel good about itself and be collectively recognized. Did this change the conditions under which working people had to persevere? No. All the same issues remained, as did business and government resolve to not give an inch. And that's why vicious conflicts between labor and management continued well into the 20th century.

Only the sad realities of the Great Depression, created in major part due to unregulated business and zero safety net for everyday Americans, could convince society and government to do the right thing and start legislating things like Social Security, workplace safety regulations, hourly limits and more. This is an agenda championed by President Franklin Roosevelt called The New Deal. Ten years later, President Truman attempted to reform the healthcare system to make in more equitable, and in the 1960s President Johnson established Medicare and Medicaid to help the poor and elderly. All of these things helped everyday working people far more than a single day off in early September. Many conservatives at the time called these things "communism" and predicted it would lead to the downfall of the country...and their conservative brethren have been trying to repeal these programs ever since.

So thereyou go...three things about Labor Day you may not have known. Born as an attempt by the government to appease a group of people it had just supprssed with the Army, the day is ideally a chance to reflect on how our economy relies on everyday working people...and, yes, an extra weekend day to say goodbye to summer.

Underwhelming Debut for Pac-12

2011-09-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

OK, well...week one in the books for the new Pac-12.

UO Ducks...you have a lot of work to do. Sure, you were playing by far the stiffest competition in week one compared to other Pac-12 teams. However, you could give North Dakota State College for the Blind Girls School South Campus Annex four turnovers (two of them right by your own end zone) along with 100 yards in penalties and probably not win. Give those same turnovers and penalty yards to LSU and...well... you are toast. And you were. Thanks for coming to Dallas and being so giving. Figure it out starting with Nevada next week or it could be a very long season.

UW, sorry...your rise into the top part of the league is on hold. You all won vs. Eastern WA, but not very convincingly. Three points. Really? Get better against Hawaii next week or it will be another 6-6 or maybe 5-7 season.

WSU...congrats. You pounded Idaho State.

USC, you just got by Minnesota.

Oregon State, you lost to Sac State...at home.

UCLA, you lost to the University of Houston.

Colorado, you lost to Hawaii.

Stanford, Arizona, Utah and ASU...you beat respectively the powerful lineup of San Jose State, Northern Arizona, Montana State and UC Davis.

Not very impressive from top to bottom.

Michele Bachmann Quotes God - Says He Sent Storm and Quake Because of Overspending

2011-08-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I wondered which would come first - the Republican party presidential contenders blaming Obama for the recent east coast earthquake and hurricane or their attribution to those events to "the wrath of God" for the budget deficit etc.?

Well, we now know the answer.

While it is entirely possible that a "blame Obama for the earthquake and hurricane" strategy will still emerge among conservatives, for now, this his past weekend, Bachmann has gone the "wrath of God" route and said that the two natural events were God's displeasure with government spending.

Yes indeed, filling her role as "nut job" to a tee, this past weekend Republican candidate Michele Bachman said...

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending."

Wow. That's pretty impressive...quoting God.

You don't believe that she said that? Check it out HERE and HERE.

Who knew God was so wound up about goverment spending. Where was the Almighty One when Bush and the Rs were putting the USA in historical debt over the last 10 years? Oh, that's right, he was using such things as hurricanes to "punish" places like New Orleans for embracing and indulging in "hedonism" - so said another God quoter at the time, Pat Robertson.

Anyway, now that she knows she was caught on camera and catching some heat for her comment, Bachmann is playing the whole thing off as a joke. (By the way, watch the linked video above and see if you think she was joking.)

So, why care? Just a stupid comment by a stupid person trying to appeal to a whole bunch of other stupid people...right?

Well, here's the thing: Bachman is in or near the lead for the Republican nomination at this point. In other words, she is a serious candidate to win the Republican nomination. This is the type of person the Rs very well may nominate. And where it gets really scary is...with the economy in the dumper (thanks W and friends) and not going anywhere good soon, whomever the Republicans nominate will have a VERY good chance of defeating Obama come November 2012.

My GOD not let that happen.

It's Pac-12 Prediction Time

2011-08-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

OK everybody...or everybody interested in Pac-12 football...it's that time of year again. Kickoff to most schools' opening games is only a week away. That can only mean one thing: predictions.

Last season I followed a hunch that my Oregon Ducks would be very, very good...so I covered them and the then Pac-10 season closely with posts, analysis and entries about each week's games. I'd predict late in the week and re-cap on Sundays. Thing is...that takes time. This year I'm pretty sure the Ducks will be good again (but probably not 12-0 good), but I'm going to scale it back a bit and try to be more brief.

To start this new approach off, below is my prediction for a) how the Pac-12 will finish this season, and b) the first weekend of games.

PAC-12 SEASON PREDICTIONS

North Division

Oregon (10-2 overall, 8-1 in league play) - the world is their oyster if the O-line gels quick and QB Thomas stays healthy. Wins the division.
Stanford - (9-3, 7-2) - great QB, solid talent, but key losses from last year + new coach.
Washington (7-5, 5-4) - Dawgs get over the hump and win more than they lose this season.
Cal (6-6, 5-4) - Bears not that good. Not their year.
Oregon State (5-6, 4-5) - lose too much talent all around to compete for top end of this division.
Washington State (4-8, 3-6) - steady improvement continues, but not enough.

South Division

ASU - (10-2, 7-2) just might be their year.
USC (9-3, 6-3) - not eligible for a bowl or Pac-12 championship game.
Utah - (8-4, 6-3) - could cause a stir their Pac-12 debut season.
UA - (5-7, 4-5) - lost five straight to close out last season. May upset 1-2 teams, but overall not that great.
UCLA (4-8, 3-6) - another season, another sub-par performance.
Colorado (3-9, 2-10) - sorry CU.

Pac-12 Championship Game

Oregon vs. ASU (outside chance it's Utah) in Eugene, OR - Ducks win. Better team, home field advantage. Win takes them to the Rose Bowl.

WEEK 1 GAMES

Oregon vs. LSU in Dallas. LSU wins 24-17. Ducks good, LSU good. But, UO O-line has some new guys, it's a road game and no Cliff Harris for this one. Advantage to the SEC squad by a little.

UW vs. Eastern Washington in Seatte. UW wins 31-10. ESU is good for their division, but if UW is really "on the rise," they'll beat 'em pretty bad.

WSU vs. Idaho State in Pullman. Even the Cougs should beat ISU like a drum. 41-10.

Oregon State vs. Sacramento State in Corvallis. Beavs win 23-9.

Stanford vs. San Jose State at Palo Alto. Cardinal win big 44-13.

Cal vs. Fresno State in Fresno. Upset. FSU wins 24-21.

Utah vs. Montana State in Salt Lake City. Utes all the way 35-21.

USC vs. Minnesota in L.A. USC still too good and at home. They win 28-10.

UCLA vs. Houston in Houston. UCLA gets beat bad 49-10.

Colorado vs. Hawaii in Honolulu. Rainbow Warriors win 24-17.

ASU vs. UC Davis in Tempe. Umm...yeah. Sun Devils win 31-7.

Arizona vs. Northern Arizona in Tuscon. N.A. is not a pushover, but 'Cats win this one 27-13.

R.I.P. Elvis Presley

2011-08-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

It was 34 years ago that the "King of Rock and Roll" died.

Rest in peace Elvis.

(Below: Elvis' Graceland estate, the grave of Elvis Presley)

NOTE: Pictures above taken by Marc Osborn. Use of these pictures is not permitted without prior written consent from Marc Osborn.

Where the "Cool Kids" Will Be Oct. 9 in Seattle

2011-08-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

I just learned that one of my favorite new bands, Mona, is co-headlining a show with another good up and coming band, Funeral Party, on Oct. 9 in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood at The Tractor Tavern.

This is a chance to see two new, hot U.S. rock bands up close and personal...and I'm guessing at a pretty cheap price.

I'm going. Hope to see you there.

Who's Responsible? You Are.

2011-08-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the debt ceiling debacle and related matters - not to mention enduring high unemployment, wage stagnation, shriking middle class, high cost of education, gridlock in DC, Social Security and Medicare future in doubt, etc. - there's a lot of blame being tossed around.

Power-hungry conservatives blame Obama and Democrats while full-well knowing that it is conservative economics that have a) dominated the last 10 years and b) consequently created most the problems we are now experiencing. They are essentially banking on the American public's collective amnesia in an effort to pin their failures over the past decade on Obama in order to win more seats and/or majorities in both houses and the Presidency in 2012.

Meanwhile, weak and wishy-washy liberals attempt to blame, well, hmm. I guess they're saying "the politics of division" or "politics" are the problem. Kinda right, but so woefully articulated and so poorly fought that it has the force of impact of a bowl of cold oatmeal hitting an already soaked sponge. Soft.

But one group that is not being called out for the blame is...you. That's right, the citizens of the U.S. are to blame for either a) voting for the bozos running the country now, or b) not voting.

Let me put it to you this way...

Are you a "red stater," or hard conservative voter? You sitting on your couch drinking light beer and watching NASCAR and Fox News - literally cheering when someone like Palin or Bachman gives a speech? You are to blame for our situation because of your habitual voting into office of people who enact economic policies that are KILLING our country. Tax cuts for the rich and big companies and massive deregulation of business, financial, environmental and housing sectors does not - repeat, does NOT - benefit you, your community, your fellow citizens or the nation as a whole. That agenda has never worked in the U.S. and it never will. To the contrary, every time it has been enacted in force, it has led to major economic crisis. History is clear on this and you are ignorant of this. So, you keep voting for these people and they keep passing that agenda - duping you.

Are you a "blue state" liberal or "progressive?" You sitting outside on your lawn with your legs crossed smoking a J? Maybe a white wine spritzer and some brie while watching a re-run of The Big Chill? You get fired up when you hear Obama talk about finding common ground and the power of the American people to overcome anything? You are to blame for our current situation - perhaps even more than the red staters. Why? First, you keep voting for REALLY wimpy and spineless Democrats who cannot or do not enact a progressive agenda nor effectively defend common sense programs and values. OK, maybe you say that you can only vote for the Ds or progressives that get put on the ballot. But, that leads me to my second point here, which is while your type did muster one big push to get Obama elected, since then you've pretty much said, "OK, did my part...I'm done." And with that, things have gone right back to the way they were before - ie, Republicans kicking Democrats in the head with Democrats responding in kind with, "thank you sir may I have another?" Conservatives are highly motivated, you are lazy.

Are you someone who does not vote? Are you sitting around thinking to yourself, "it doesn't matter who I vote for...they're all the same anyway?" You more turned on by The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills than what's going on in your state capital or DC? Hey, I get it. I share a lot of those feelings (but not about Real Housewives), but if you're not voting, you're part of the problem. Put it this way...if a few more of you had turned out and voted for Gore in 2000, we would not have been treated to that catastrophe of the 2000s called the presidency of George W. Bush - a man, an administration and an agenda that more directly than anything else put us in the mess we see today. Thanks for that.

So there you go. You want to blame someone for our current economic crisis, the debt, unemployment, environmental issues (oil spill anyone?), engagement in two wars for going on 10 years now? Don't automatically look to your neighbor or your political opposites and start screeching about how "they are ruining America." They might be, but only becuase YOU let them. More than that, YOU elected them. Ergo...who's to blame? YOU are. Ponder that over you next Bud Light, spliff or spritzer.

Romania: On the Trail of Dracula - The Series

2011-08-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to anyone and everyone who checked out my series about our recent trip to Romania. We had an excellent time, leanred a lot, met wonderful people, ate great food, drank great beer and loved every moment of it.

So that everything is all in one place, I've gathered together all the posts from my series here in one spot for easy access and reading should you want to revisit the adventure and check out more pictures. And if you're happening on this for the first time - dive right on in!

ROMANIA: ON THE TRAIL OF DRACULA
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Bucharest and Snagov
Targoviste
Peles Castle, Sinaia and Simon Village
Photo Feature - Romania Trip Pictures
Bran Castle, Brasov and a Hike
Viscri and Sighisoara
Biertan, Gypsies, Sibiu and Tilisca Village
Hiking to Dracula's Castle and Last Night in Bucharest
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Details on the Romania portion of our trip:

Dates: June 18-26
Route to get there: Seattle-NYC-London-Bucharest
Guide service: Pan Travel
Guide: Andrei
Cities visited: Bucharest, Targoviste, Siniai, Brasov, Bran, Sighisoara, Sibiu
Villages visited: Simon, Viscri, Biertan, Tilisca
Castles visited: Peles, Bran, Poenari

And lastly, for anyone interested, I will be reporting on the second portion of our trip - our visit to Italy - in a another series of posts on this blog that will be titled "Italy and La Dolce Vita" - along with pictures to supplement. Come back and check it out.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - The Real Dracula's Castle, Back to Bucharest

2011-08-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

The morning feast in Tilisca equaled the previous evening's dinner in terms of size and taste. Elina outdid herself with a huge morning spread - locally produced cheese, sausage, meats, eggs, bread...the works. Perhaps the highlight were the diversity of home made jams.

Anyway, we left Tilisca on this - our last full day in Romania - with the goal of finding and hiking to the actual "Castle Dracula." Yes, it does exist. I'm talking about the castle fortification built by Vlad Dracula (aka Vlad Tepes...aka Vlad the Impaler) in the 1400s. Straddling the boarder of Transylvania and Walachia, the castle is where Vlad retreated if or when he needed maximum protection. Remember, Vlad was primarily holding court and impaling people in and around Targoviste. But, no self respecting ruler and ruthless dictator can go without a castle high on a craggy peak. Right?

As we drove through the countryside, valleys and passes on our way to the castle and the hike we'd need to do to get there, two things went through my mind. First, it's looking awful rainy and cloudy out here...I sure hope when we get there the weather is good and the castle isn't socked in with fog. And, then I reviewed in my mind some of the stories I'd read about this castle.

First, while the castle pre-dated Vlad and was used after his death, he is credited with fortifying it and turning it into a more substantial fortress. To do this, the legend goes he force marched a large group of local nobility from the Targoviste area who he as angry at all the way into the countryside and to the location of the castle...then made those nobles build and fortify the structure as slaves. So long and hard was the work, and so unwilling was Vlad to have mercy on them, that he basically worked many of them to death...clothes falling off of them as they labored. And naturally, Vlad tortured and killed many people up there and in surrounding areas by many means - including his preferred method of impaling people on a long wooden spike. (Left: View of Dracula's castle from the valley floor.)

Also, one story goes that during one of the many battles against the Ottomans that Vlad Tepes became famous for - and is still revered for today in Romania - his wife learned that he had been killed. It is said that reports of Vlad's death were a planned ruse enacted by the Ottomans to potentially defeat him amid confusion by Vlad's troops. In despair over her husband's death, the wife threw herself off the castle battlements and to her death in the deep cavern below. Vlad - not being dead - defeated the Ottomans (again) and then found out about his wife's death. Legend has it that the Ottoman fake-out then became one of the key events that made him up his game in terms of being the entirely ruthless and dangerous impaler that the world came to know. True story? Who knows. Maybe. Probably. But not certain. A good story none the less.

Third, I'd heard that the castle is one of the most haunted places on earth. Given all that happened there, even taking out dubious horror stories, I could see how this might be the case.

Today, the castle is called Poenari Castle and we eventually got to the base of the hill it resides on about mid-day. Lucky for us, the skies opened up and the temperatures rose so that by the time we saddled up for our hike it was sunny and pleasant. Score! Andrei parked the truck at a nearby restaurant and we walked over from there to the trail head. Andrei said that we ought to plan on about an hour to get to the top. Um...well, not quite. Yes, it was steep. But, walking up through the shade of the forrest, we were able to make good time and did the entire assent in 20 minutes. (Right: We reach the top of the hike to the castle.)

Once there, we walked around inside the ruins and marveled at the view. There is a serious drop off on each side of the castle and you could see how it would be pretty easy to defend against attackers. You could also see how Vlad's wife would have easily died by flinging herself off the battlements and into the gorge below.

While we encountered nothing that would indicate a haunting, it was a bit spooky to think about the stuff that happened here under Vlad Tepes' rule. Check out some of these pictures. You can see more on my Flickr Photostream HERE. (Left and below: Shots of and from Poenari Castle.)

The castle is not huge, so we did not need all afternoon to look around. We poked around the battlements, looked at the walls, went into what remained of one or two rooms and imaged what had happened there over the centuries. All in all, we were might impressed that we had found and hiked to the actual Castle Dracula - the real castle of the real Dracula.

From our perch we could also see back down to where we parked and the restaurant. After we were satisfied we'd seen the castle completely, we started back down the hill with lunch on our minds. Arriving back down at the red-roofed building we sat down for a delicious lunch of local sausages, polenta and cold beer - after all, we had earned it! Feeling pretty full, Andrei noted that this restaurant had donuts on the menu...like what we had in Brasov. Well, we couldn't pass that up. We agreed that it was unlikely that they could possibly be as good as the Brasov donuts, but that we needed to try.

After lunch, we took one more look up at Dracula's castle and then departed toward Bucharest for our last night in Romania. The drive took about three house from the rural zone of the castle all the way into the center of Bucharest. Arriving in the late afternoon, we rested up and then went out for one last fling on the town. Walking in the nice evening weather, we crossed a number of wide boulevards and went through a few neighborhoods to ultimately reach that same restaurant/bar zone we had seen a week earlier on our first night in Romania. (Left: View from our walk on our last night in Bucharest.)

Crowded and bustling with people out for a good time, we walked one of the narrow streets and selected a good looking restaurant to sit down at. Virtually all these places had outdoor seating and virtually all patrons sat outside...all the better to see the "street parade" of people going by. The place we settled on served middle eastern food - good middle eastern food. So, with Andrei we sat and nibbled on appetizers - remember, we had that big lunch of sausages and donuts - and of course Romanian beer. In fact, on this last night in the country I think we found our favorite beer - Ciuc Unfiltered. Wow. Really good.

After a while, a kid walked up to our table with a box that contained three birds on a perch, along with a little container of what appeared to be folds of paper. Talking to Andrei, it turned out that the kid was - for a price - offering to have one of his birds chose the fortune of one of us. Too good to pass up. Diane volunteered. The bird eyed Diane, slowly turned around and carefully picked out a slip of paper from among the many available and placed the paper in Diane's hand. The bird had sized her up and selected her fortune. Andrei read it out in English...something about good health and winning the lottery and providing a set of numbers sure to win. We agreed that Andrei could have the numbers, but that if he won we were coming back to Romania on his dime.

All of this proved to be a great way to end our trip - fun times with Andrei soaking up yet another element of Romanian culture.

In the meantime, we finished our Romania experience the next morning. It was a simple get up, eat breakfast and go to the airport. Oh, with one exception. We left door to the room's balcony open during the night because it was hot in there and there appeared to be no air conditioning. We awoke not in a hotel room, but a swarm of mosquitoes. What! We hustled our packing and got out of there as quick as we could. But, we were bit up.

Thus ended our trip to Romania. What an experience. So much seen, so much learned - much more than just Dracula. 'll have some broad observations about Romania on my very last post about our trip once I've reported on the Italy portion. So, check back for that.

After a quick breakfast downstairs at the hotel, Andrei dropped us off at the airport where we said our goodbyes and began our journey to the second part of our trip - Italy.

How I Know the Debt Compromise Isn't That Bad: The Tea Party Hates It

2011-08-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge fan of the recent debt ceiling agreement - other than coming to the agreement averted making our already iffy economy much worse long term.

And Hell, how can you get excited or take seriously any debt reduction plan that keeps the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy and big business AND in which President Obama pretty much caved on all the key issues?

But you know why I think that this recent deal is at least OK...at least heading in the right direction?

The Tea Party hates it.

That's right. They think it isn't enough and is a sell out to their cause.

In my estimation, the Tea Party principles are so far off base for what's actually happening in this country and what's needed to fix it that the fact that they don't like this compromise is a good thing. It means we're not going down the path they would advise.

Seriously, these are people who have amnesia when it comes to how our debt and economic crisis happened. How did we get into our mess? Right:

HUGE tax cuts for the wealthy and big business
Massive deregulation of the financial and real estate industries - resulting in a meltdown in each
Overwhelming outsourcing and offshoring of U.S. jobs by companies...who by the way don't pay any taxes either
The spectacularly poor decision making by President Bush to commit us to an 8 year (so far) war in Iraq and the costs associated with that
Our war in Afghanistan and the costs associated with that

These are the core reasons. Not Social Security. Not Medicare. Not some secret socialist plot to overtake "America."

And what does the Tea Party say they'd do to balance the budget and get us out of our debt? Lets look at their platform:

Eliminate excessive taxes. Hey, nobody wants to pay "excessive" taxes. Unfortunately, this one has the distinct and familiar sound of code for actually meaning cut taxes for the rich and corporations. It's all in what you define as "excessive" and for whom.
Eliminate the national debt. OK - when in debt, you have to cut spending and raise revenue. Otherwise, you're just cutting and that will lead to bigger problems. So, this one and the first plank cancel each other out.
Eliminate deficit spending. I guess you achieve this if you eliminate the debt. But then, once you've eliminated the deficit, without revenue the government cannot function...and since you are against "excessive taxes," you don't have that revenue. Net-net...no government really. Nice.
Protect free markets - simple code for deregulation and protecting the ability for companies to outsource and offshore jobs. Really people, that's what this nets out as. My guess is that this one is in here because there is a perceived "socialist" element (aka any spending at all) by the Federal government as a result of the financial bailouts and the healthcare reform law.
Abide by the Constitution. Fine. But we all know the Constitution is interpreted in many different ways. Again, my thought is that this is in here because of a perception that certain things Obama has done are not Constitutional such as healthcare reform.
Reduce the Overall Size of Government. Nobody wants a big, bloated bureaucracy that weighs down the economy. Conversely, nobody wants a wafer thin government that does virtually nothing. Oh, you think we'd be better off with a super small government? Look at the entire history of our country. It is only in the period between the 1940s and 1970s that we had what is perceived to be "big government." And that same time frame is when this nation had its very best economic times. Before that...there was a very small middle class, a few super wealthy and a very large poor population. After, well, you know how things have been going. So, I give the Tea Party an D- on this one.
Believe in the People. As written by the Tea Party, this one is just a re-statement of the "protect free markets" plank. If the Tea Party actually believed in the people, then they'd be in favor of healthcare reform, repeal of Bush tax cuts, closing corporate tax and offshoring loopholes and strong Medicare and Social Security programs.
Avoid Pitfalls of Politics. Oops. Too late.
Maintain Local Independence. Almost "power to the people" if you ask me. Somehow I don't think this is what they mean.

Strip out some paranoid stuff and you get a perception for the exact things that got the USA into the mess we're in now. So, none of this crap will actually work. And since the people espousing this crap didn't get what they wanted in the recent deficit deal, that is a good sign in my book.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Biertan, Gypsies, Sibiu and Tilisca Village

2011-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

As we left Sighisoara behind us, we ventured out into next to last full day in Romania. Our first stop on the road was another typically beautiful Romanian village, Biertan.

As a reminder, you can see more pictures from the Romanian portion of our trip by going to my Flickr Photostream HERE. I've updated the set to include supplemental pictures that go along with each post up to and including this one. Once there, just scroll down to the last 4-5 lines of the set to see the pictures related to this post.

Biertan
If you've been following my posts about this trip, you get the idea on how these villages are organized: German style houses mostly, linear street layout, hilltop church with fortification. Biertan is no different. Perhaps a bit more beautiful than some, however. So, this time, I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking. Check out these shots from Biertan...

Inspired by our breakfast the day before, before leaving the village, we bought some wonderful local honey. With that we were on our way.

Gypsies

Aiming for the city of Sibiu, we did stop once on the way to see some Gypsies on the roadside selling copper pots and other such items. Gypsies - or Romani as they are often referred to - are an ethnic minority in Europe. The stereotype is nomadic families or groups of Gypsies wandering around Europe picking up work or selling things when and where they can. I cannot speak to whether the Gypsies we saw moved around, but I can say that when we saw them they were indeed either doing manual labor (such as helping build haystacks as we observed) or selling things (such as we saw on the roadside.) (Left: Gypsies sell their copper wares on the side of the road.)

Sibiu
Sibiu is a larger city, along the lines of Brasov. Vlad Dracula would have been here a few times and his son was killed and buried there. So, we checked it out. After parking and walking in the muggy afternoon down picturesque streets we settled in for a lunch overlooking the old city square. After, we walked through the old town some more and went half way across a pedestrian bridge that our guide Andrei said was the "liars bridge." He said that the superstition is that if you are a liar and you cross the bridge to the other side you will drop dead. None of us decided to test the theory, most especially Andrei who said that he had told enough lies in his life that he would not want to tempt fate. Turning to go back the way we came, we ventured over to the huge Cathedral that is the centerpiece of the old town.

Now, by this time we had been in a number of Romanian churches and normally seeing yet another one might be going "a church too far." But, actually, this was not the case here. We got a nice tour by a local youth whose school was doing a tour of duty as guides for the church interior. The cool tempature inside the church was most welcome as this obviously well educated kid showed us some interesting frescoes, how the local big wigs (including the son of Vlad Dracula) were buried within the walls of the church - noting that the more wealthy the person was, the more ornate and detailed the sculpted coffin covers were. (Right: Main square in Sibiu.)

There must have been some money in that town back in the day because quite a few coffin covers had virtually life-like renderings of the deceased carved into them, just as the people now inside would have wanted to be remembered. Our youthful church guide also noted that the particularly fancy ones would have been created before the person died so they were sculpted exactly what the person wanted to represent him (and it was always a him) on the outside of his coffin - another sign of wealth.

As we looked around the ancient interior of this church, a thunderstorm broke out and doused the city for about a half hour. A real soaker. We passed the time under the church awning watching it all come down on the old roofs of the town. When it lifted, we ambled back across the old town and to our car, stopping for pick-me-up espresso from a vending machine along the way. Side note - look for these little vending machines to hit the USA sometime. They typcially kick out your choice of espresso, capuchino, cafe with milk or straight coffee. Sounds a bit sketchy I know, but I have to say we never had a bad espresso from one of these. The best ever? No, but not bad by any means. Oh, and cheap. (Left: Cathedral in Sibiu.)

Our timing back to the truck proved excellent as not more than two minutes after we were back in, another - larger - thunderstorm broke out. Andrei piloted the truck through the streets, but he might as well have been driving inside a washing machine. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much rain come down in such a short period of time.

Outdoor Museum
Cris-crossing the city in this downpour, Andrei set a course for our next destination of the day, an outdoor history museum as he put it. As the rain let up, we parked and got out. Essentially a huge, leafy park, this museum had real life examples of old Romanian homes, mills, windmills, recreational activities and more. We toured this sight for about and hour and then set off for our next guesthouse village for the night. (Right: Traditional windmills.)

Tilisca Village
Off the main freeway we wound our way through rough and uneven roads, through a couple villages to ultimately arrive in Tilisca Village - site of our guesthouse. Right in the middle of all the normal older buildings and homes, this place actually was quite modern. Situated adjacent to a roaring stream and looking out on a green forested hillside where ancient fort ruins poked through, we instantly knew we'd like this place. The house owners were home - a school teacher and a musician - and happily greeted us. After a rest, we ate a wonderful home cooked meal of lamb and, at last, tried the regional "hooch" called Palinka. This is a sort of distilled plumb wine that is clear in color and super powerful. Think ouzo or grappa. (Below: The streets of Tilisca Village at sundown.)

After dinner, Andrei and I took a walk around the village as the sun set and darkness took hold - casting what turned out to be a bluish wash over the town. We walked past very old churches, through alleyways, over cobbled streets, across small bridges. Mostly quiet, the streets did yield some activity when we got near one of the bars - naturally. And yep, the youth of Tilisca were out for a good time as they could be seen and heard living it up as we walked by. After we returned, Andrei and I sat up with the guesthouse owners in their courtyard, drank beer, and compared notes on the world as the stars sparkled overhead in between big cloud formations. Fun. But, it was getting late so after a while I decided to call it a night. Good thing too. I think Andrei could have stayed up all night talking - which of course is a complement. It had been a long day and I just couldn't.

Diane had already turned in and was asleep, and so with the sound of the lulling stream sounding continually outside and below our room...I quickly dropped off as well and slept the sleep of another great day in Romania. Knowing that tomorrow would be our last full day in the country, as I drifted off I relished our last big stop on our tour - hiking up to the real Vlad Dracula's castle.

(Below: Diane and Marc with guesthouse owner Elina in Tilisca.)

NOTE: Pictures in this post were taken by or are the property of Marc Osborn and are not permitted for any use without prior written permission of Marc Osborn.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Viscri and Sighisoara

2011-07-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Pulling out of Simon Village, we hit the road with the well preserved medieval town of Sigishoara as our ultimate destination. To be sure, there would be plenty of driving on this day, but to me watching the countryside, the villages and the people go by out the window was endlessly fascinating.

I think the things we saw on the drive were typical of what we observed every day in Transylvania. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, check out some pictures I took as we drove along below. Also note that I've updated my set of Romania pictures on my Flickry Photostream HERE to include pictures relevant to this post.

The other thing that was going on as we drove was the temperature was going up - way up. Sure, it'd been hot in Brasov but now I think it was getting into the mid 90s if not hotter. Eventually, the fairly populated countryside because quite rural again and eventually we exited the main freeway for a side road that would take us to the picturesque and off-the-beaten path village called Viscri.

Viscri
Viscri is one of those places that is consistently cited by travel books as a wonderful chance to see how typical Romanian village life is today and was in the past. However, it's also a place that not many tourists go because a) it is so off the beaten path, and b) the "beaten path" is a REALLY rough road. But, as Andrei our guide says, good things are worth the effort. (Below: Viscri home, Viscri stork nest.)

So we made the effort. Pulling into the village after a jostling ride, the first thing you see is a row of houses on each side of the dirt main street. These German-style houses are bathed in bright colors and seem to connect together to form an almost sold wall going all the way through the village as it rises up the hill.

We got out into the heat and walked up the hill, noticing both some guys sitting outside in the shade at the local (and only?) bar in town. We also spied a stork in her nest atop one of the house's chimneys. Cute. Turning to the right and into some shade, we made our way up to the town's primary visitors site - the fortified church.

Back in history, these villages would always have a church, but they typically also fortified it so it was a fortress as well. Often these were placed on the highest hill in the village boundary. This would give people a place retreat to if an ill-intending army or bad guys showed up. From there, the town could either wait out the trouble or fend of the interlopers from their positions.

We walked around the complex, got up into the rafters and defense positions, toured the church and generally looked around. I also bought a pair of home made wool socks from the woman in charge of the gate. Kinda funny doing that when it's 100 degrees outside, but I figured that come next winter I'd appreciate them. Anyway, this was an intriguing look at how typical villages were structured and how they organized themselves. We were glad to have stopped. But, we were getting hungry so off we went - hitting a roadside diner (another score for Andrei!) before heading directly to our next and final stop of the day. (Left: Viscri fortified church.)

Sighisoara
Located in the heart of Transylvania, Sighisoara (pronounced sig-y-shore-ah) is one of the best preserved hilltop medieval towns in all of Europe and the only one like it in Eastern Europe still inhabited. It is also the birthplace of, you guessed it, Vlad Dracula.

Winding our way up the hill toward the old town center in our vehicle, we eventually broached the old city walls and emerged into a wonderfully colorful town square. Diane and I got out and found some shade as Andrei squared off with the hotel staff over whether or not he could park our truck across the very narrow street from the hotel. Andrei won out. (Left: Medieval tower in Sighisoara.)

Our plan from here was to see the sights first and then dodge the heat with some shade, a beer or two and then some rest in the late afternoon. The first thing was saw was the massive clock/defensive tower in the middle of the old town. It's impressive from the outside, but then also we climbed up inside and emerged at the top where there was a nice breezy balcony to survey the entire region.

Back on the ground, we next stopped at the birthplace of Vlad Dracula. Vlad's father, Vlad Dracul, lived in this town in an house right on the square. "Dracul" is a name he was given after he joined "the order of the Dragon" earlier in his life. Upon the birth of his son, Vlad, he gave him the name "Dracula" as in, from Dracul or Dracul's child. And that's how the name "Dracula" came into being. Today, the house is actually a restaurant on the ground floor, and yes, they do play up the fictional Dracula angle a bit. But, you can also see the order of the Dragon symbol over the doorway too and there is a plaque noting the building as the home of Vlad Dracul and the birthplace of Dracula. Across town in a small square, there is also a bust of Vlad Dracula.

Next, we hit the torture museum, and why not? About this time we were overheating and getting tired so we headed for a shady side street and sat down to have beer. Wiling away a good hour there, we then adjourned to our hotel - situated right on the main town square - where we checked in and rested up. (Right: Building where Vlad Dracula was born.)

As it turned out, there was a film festival happening in Sighisoara that evening. Initially we thought that this would be a pain because it was taking place right in the town square...right in front of our hotel. But, as it turned out it was fine. We actually ended up sitting in the audience, enjoying the finally cool weather and watching some of the festivities and the film - in this case a recently-produced historical drama about the Ceausescu days. (Below: Colorful scenes around Sighisoara.)

Before that, however, we took a walk up to the top of the fortified hill for a view and a look at the church up there. While still hot, this was a nice way to see more of the back streets of the town. We ate dinner back near our hotel in a delightful courtyard restaurant, and then strolled the streets some more before sitting down to watch some of the movie.

Thus ended a very busy, but very rewarding day. With no problem sleeping whatsoever, we awoke ready for a new day. I actually got up a bit early and walked the streets of town to see it in the morning sun. Pretty.

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we saddled up and headed out for the day with the town of Sibui as the main point for us to visit.

NOTE: All pictures in this post were taken by Marc Osborn and are not authorized for use without prior written permission.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Bran Castle, Brasov and a Hike

2011-07-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Waking up after a restful night in Simon village, we sat down to a spectacular Romanian breakfast of village-produced sheep cheese, ham, eggs, honey, fresh baked bread and hot delicious coffee. Seriously, check it out in the picture here...

All of this was literally and figuratively "setting the table" for our day - a visit to nearby Bran Castle and then touring the town of Brasov. Satisfied with our morning feast, we took off with Andrei in our trusty vehicle for the short ride to Bran.

Bran Castle
OK, the first thing to know about Bran Castle, is that it certainly looks like a castle that the real or fictional Dracula could have lived in. Craggy hilltop location? Check. Spooky towers and spires? Check. Birds (or are they bats?) circling around? Check. Narrow pathways leading up through a dark forest to get there? Check. (Below: Bran Castle.)

But then the second thing to know about the castle is that it was neither the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional Castle Dracula nor the residence or property of the real Vlad Dracula - although the later probably did set foot there at some point.

However, exactly none of that has deterred the good people of Bran from hyping up Bran Castle as the place to get the "Dracula experience." Why? Did I mention how much the castle looks like it could be Dracula's? And indeed, at the base of the hill that the structure resides atop, there are all kinds of Dracula inspired items in an open air market - mostly junky stuff. (Right: Sign at the Bran Castle market.)

But if you strip away all of that business, there is one more thing to know about Bran Castle. And that is that it is a great example of what castles in this region looked like and were used for. With a mindset of learning more about this rather than some fictional Dracula thing, we enjoyed our visit to Bran Castle. Climbing stairs, ducking through narrow passageways, resting on balconies overlooking the inner courtyard and seeing the various rooms - all with great views of the valley - the castle proved to be fun. Also, a number of rooms featured information about who really did live in the castle, when and why. One room in particular addressed Dracula - the real one - and also the very real superstitions of rural Transylvania such as vampires, living dead, ghosts and others.

When we were finished looking around, we descended from the hill and actually did check out the open air market. Yes, we did pick up a few funny Dracula items, but amongst the schlocky stuff there were a few stalls selling legitimate hand-made local items. In particular we found the table cloths to be pretty. After checking out the various options and comparison shopping the stalls, we settled on a table cloth we liked best featuring brilliant aqua and dark blue designs. Andrei interpreted for us and verified that the table cloth was indeed hand made in the local area, and with that we happily purchased it.

Brasov
Our next destination this day was the beautiful city of Brasov. Bigger than any other town we visited other than Bucharest, Brasov features a wonderfully preserved medieval town center with a great wide plaza in the middle. The reason for visiting here was simply to take in the sights...and eat some good food. (Below: Main square in Brasov.)

However, our first stop was the Gothic Cathedral that sits near the town center. Inside, we learned a few things that we didn't know. For example, back in the old days the rows of side pews along the edges of the massive hall each were property of a local guilds - builders, millers, blacksmiths, etc. And in fact, you can see the guild designs on the respective pews. Andrei said that guilds paid money to the church for the pews and that the more they paid, the better position they'd have in the church...and by implication respect in the community. They also apparently were in charge of "policing" their section of the church during services and providing staff for whatever functions happened in their section during the service.

The next thing we learned, or more accurately first saw, was that there were many middle eastern carpets hanging on the walls. This seemed odd for a Christian Cathedral. But, it made sense when Andrei told us that these were gifts from Ottoman traders over the centuries. Sure enough, Romania sits right on the east-west trade route used to transport goods from the east into Europe. Apparently to keep things on the up-and-up, the Ottoman traders would gift these very expensive and beautiful carpets to the local nobility and church.

And then the third thing we learned was that during the 1989 revolution, there was fighting in the streets of Brasov as various factions tried to either retain power or take it over. At one point, a group of revolutionaries holed up in the church, but the local military shot into the the church anyway. Today, you can see the bullet holes in the interior of the Cathedral. (Right: Cathedral in Brasov.)

Next, we walked the short distance to the city's main square. By this time, it was getting to be after 12 noon, so we thought the best thing to do was get a bite to eat at one of the restaurants bordering the square. Featuring umbrellas with the tag line "Brasov, Probably The Best City In The World," we alighted at a patio table at one of Andrei's now reliable selections. Good choice. Again, spectacular food. Before we ordered, however, Andrei said that all he would be getting is soup "and the donuts." Donuts? We though, "yeah right. Too much on a hot day and couldn't be that good." We were wrong. Seeing what he had ordered, Diane and I quickly requested our own order. Now, these are not donuts like what you'd get at Top Pot or Dunkin' Donuts. No. These were more like big fried bread cannon balls slathered in a sweet icing and jam, topped with a donut hole and powdered sugar. Huge, delicious and...possibly...the best thing we ate the entire trip.

Fueled up on pork, beer and donuts (yes!) we set out to see the rest of the town.

Hike
Once we were done walking the streets and seeing the sights, we loaded back up in our truck and made our way back to Simon village to take a hike. We did this by driving the entire length of Simon up to where the road ends, parking and then proceeding on into the forrest on a trail. Following along a delightful flowing stream, our hike took us gradually up through the lush green forrests. Along the way we had views of serene medows, small water falls, gorgeous trees and, ultimately, a fabulous view looking up at a poriton of the Carpathian mountains. After the hot afternoon in Brasov, the entire hike was a welcome departure.

Here are a few pictures from our hike...

One intereting thing we learned along the way was about sheep poop. Well, actually more about dogs. Here's why...at one point, Andrei looked down on our path and said, "I don't like what I see here." I asked him what he meant and he said that there was sheep poop on the trail, and that meant that there could be a sheep heard nearby. And where there is a sheep heard there are sheep hearding dogs. These dogs, according to Andrei, are fine if the Shepard is around, but if he's not then they are extremely aggressive. He advised is to each pick up a sturdy walking stick and keep it with us as we hiked. We quickly complied. In the end, we never saw any sheep and certainly no dogs. But, the story also brought to light how pervasive sheparding is in Romania and how seriously they take it.

Returing to our guest house after 7 p.m. we could officially say we'd had both a very busy but extremely fun day in Romania. We settled in for another great meal from Magdalena. I attempted to stay up late enough to see the stars as there would be no light polution of cloud cover to obscure them, but I was too tierd. Both of us hit the sack and rested well.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to our host family and Simon village as we made our way to our next desinations - Viscri Village and the town of Sighisoara.

NOTE: All pictures in this post taken by me, Marc Osborn. Pictures are not authorized for any use without written permission from me.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Peles Castle, Sinaia and Simon Village

2011-07-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Having left the Princely Court of Vlad Dracula in Targoviste, we made our way through the Romanian countryside up into the mountains for a visit to - what turned out to be - one of the most interesting castles we've ever been to, Peles Castle. I have added pictures associated with this post to my overall set on Romaina on my Flickr Photostream HERE.

Winding our way up the Carpathian foothills hills to a summit, we passed through a number of typical Romanian villages and increasingly glimpsed views of the beautiful peaks on our way to the small mountain pass town of Sinaia. There are other things to do in Sinaia than see the castle, and indeed it's a popular destination in the summer for hiking and biking and in the winter for skiing. The day we arrived, the town was full of people enjoying the sun. In the distance up on the peaks, you could see a large gondola ferrying people up to the meadows and mountain tops for summertime hiking and sight seeking.

We made a bee-line to a nice old hotel for a lunch on the balcony overlooking the city park. We had delicious soup, home made bread and some leafy salad. Once done there, we drove up some more and to the site of Peles Castle, tucked away in a very large wooded park. (Below: Peles Castle.)

Peles (pronounced pell-esh) Castle is not very old in the context of European history, as it was built only just more than 100 years ago. However, it's significant because it was the residence of the very first king of a unified and independent Romania under the monarch King Carol I. Prior to that, "Romania" was actually just a series of principalities (Wallachia, Transylvania, etc.) ruled by their respective princes and loosely bound to the Hungarian King and/or the Church. As a side note, it's interesting that King Carol I was a close relative to the Kaiser of Germany. All these European monarchs were (and are) related. For example, a 110 years ago the Czar of Russia, King of England and Kaiser of Germany were are cousins. And King Carol I was part of that big family tree too.
At any rate, the castle is also significant because, well, it's very pretty from the outside and quite impressive inside. No Dracula angle here, just a visually pleasing castle.

Touring the grounds and the interior was delightful. The diversity of rooms, styles, art and color themes wowed us. Certainly there are bigger and even flashier castles in Europe (Versailles for example), but even up against those bigger and better known palaces Peles really stands out. Massive wood carved statues, banisters and spiral staircases; beautiful Moroccan style rooms; glitzy Venetian mirrors and chandeliers; impressive displays of armor; secret passageways and grand hallways; opulently decked out apartments; sweeping staircases; spiky turrets; cozy library and study rooms - all these and more make Peles one of the most diverse and interesting royal residences we've toured.

After our enjoyable tour inside, we walked the garden-rich grounds outside for a view of the castle from close up and afar. All and all, a very nice visit and a pleasant surprise.

And then we were off - on the road down from the pass and toward the town of Bran where we would stay in a guest house in a nearby village called Simon (pronounced she-mon).

We blew through the main part of Bran on our way in and only got a glimpse of the famed castle there. But, knowing we'd see it the next day we didn't care too much. Onward we went a couple miles until turning off down a road that soon led to Simon. Many villages in Romania are linear - as in, they are not clustered around a central plaza. Rather, most villages are one house or building deep along a road on both sides. Most structures are homes and then of course your typical other buildings like a school, post office, general store, bar, etc. interspersed here and there. Simon is like that - linear. (Left: The guest house we stayed in and our vehicle.)

About a quarter of the way through the village we stopped at the guest house where we would stay. Basically, a guest house is what we would call here in the states a bed & breakfast...except you get dinner too. The owners of this guest house were a couple - Magdalena, who is the village doctor, her husband who is a teacher/administrator at the local high school and their teenage son.

On this day, the father and son were out in the yard cutting down the tall grass with scythes. These are long sticks with a sharp, curved blade at the end that are swung with the blade right at ground level to cut the grass. I tried this. Not as easy as it looks. Anyway, they were cutting the grass to create hay for use by their neighbors. Everybody in Simon seemed to be doing this as we say it everywhere. (See picture above of neighbors piling up cut grass for hay on a horse cart.)

Our original plan for our tour called for us to take a 2-3 hour hike to end the day after arriving in Simon, but since it was already 5 p.m. we postponed until the next day. Too tired.

We did, however, decide to take a nice, leisurely walk along the much of the length of the village. We visited some neighbors as they piled up hay onto a horse cart, observed local farm animals and ultimately stooped at the Magazin Mixt shop (like a 7-11) to get some icy cold Romanian beer that we drank while taking in the view from the yard associated with the shop. (Right: View from our walk through Simon village, Left: view as we drank beer in the garden next to the convenience store in Simon.)

Strolling back, we ended our day with a wonderful meal made by Magdalena featuring a hot polenta and cheese appetiser dish, pork, salad, potatoes, locally made wine and desert. Wonderful.

When planning this trip, I asked the tour company if they could dial back the price a little, and the option given was to stay a few nights in guest houses instead of hotels. I wasn't sure what that would get us, but now that we experienced it first had, I am a big fan. In fact, it would have been great to stay more nights in village guest houses. An excellent way to meet people, see "the real" country and eat some seriously good food. (Below left: Church on main road through Simon village.)

Another interesting thing we learned about guest houses was that following the 1989 revolution, there were a lot of people out of work - particularly in the rural areas. The new government felt that tourism could be and would be a major component of the new Romanian economy and incentivize rural families to build guest houses and learn the basics of the "hospitality" industry. Our guide Andrei actually got involved with that program back in the 1990s and that's how he initially got into the tourism industry. However, as Andrei is quick to point out, the promise of flocks of Romanian, German, British, Russian, French, Dutch and even American tourists flooding the picturesque Romanian countryside to spend their money on accommodations, food and drink has not materialized. Sure, some come. But not as many as hoped. As a result, villages like Simon - so beautiful and well located - are full of nice guest houses with virtually not guests during tourist season.
Our thought was that Romania ought to invest in getting "adventure traveler" to their country. With so many peaks to hike and climb, rivers to raft, parks to mountain bike in and so forth, it seems a natural. We'll see. Anyway, it was kind of nice to have Simon to ourselves as tourists.

Bedding down after our late dinner, we looked forward to the next day's adventures - seeing the famed Bran Castle and visiting the beautiful town of Brasov. Satisfied that we'd had a great day, we quickly drifted off with only the occasional farm sounds in the inky darkness breaking the rural silence. (Left: view from the main road of Simon village.)

NOTE: All pictures in this post were taken by Marc Osborn and are not authorized for any use without written permission.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Targoviste

2011-07-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

Picking up from the first post about our trip to Romania and Italy, our next destination in Romania was Targoviste. You can see the growing set of pictures from our trip on my Flickr Photostream set located HERE. As of this post I've updated it to include Targoviste. Check there for a more diverse selection that you see in the post below.

Driving in from Snagov was about a two hour drive, interrupted by that great lunch I described in the last post. When we got to Targoviste (pronounced tar-go-vish-tey), it was pretty clear that our guide Andrei had not been there in a while because, well, we got lost.

We knew he'd eventually find our hotel, but we spent quite a while trying to find it. We were very close a number of times. In fact, on the first try we were only a block away - and thought we were only a block away - but the street that would get us to where we needed to go was closed off for "private use only." This sent Andrei into an annoyed soliloquy about the sloppiness and corruption of Romanian police and civic officials. His assertion was that the street was blocked off from public use simply because a local official probably lived down the street and did not want traffic on it or wanted to charge a fee to use it.

(Above: Main square in Targoviste.) This sent us looking for another way to get to where we needed to go. Ultimately we found our way, and when we did we were pleasantly surprised. Upon initial inspection as we drove in, Targoviste seemed a bit more "hard" that Bucharest and I was wondering what our accommodations would be like. Well, we needn't have worried because we ended up at a very modern, really nice hotel.

Anyway, why Targoviste? Well, our man Vlad governed the principality of Wallachia, dealt with Transylvania and generally presided at his residence here - The Princely Court of Targoviste. So, we wanted to see where Vlad the Impaler ruled from.

After unpacking at the hotel, we took a walk across town to see if we could find the Princely Court. Strolling through the town's central park to avoid the very hot weather, we saw kids at play, a mini-midway with games, packs of old men playing chess, a beautiful green-topped church, a few dogs running around (more on that later) and some nice old homes.

Eventually we found the Princely Court. Unfortunately, it was not open on Monday. So, no dice for us that afternoon. We did get some glimpses of the tower and scouted out a couple places for dinner, however. In particular, Andrei thought this one place nearby would be good...simply based on his review of the menu and a look around the place. While I had no opinion on the menu, I wondered if this open courtyard style restaurant with some pretty loud music coming from the speakers really was the answer.
(Right: Church in Targoviste.)

We walked back to the hotel for a rest and reconvened in the evening for a walk and dinner. Not having discovered any other options for where to eat, we went with Andrei's gut instincts and walked back over to the place near the Princely Court. Good call. The music was not loud, the grassy courtyard was lit up and we selected a table with a very nice view of the now very easy-to-see tower inside the Court complex. But the big deal here was the food. Wow. We ordered the "Dracula Stew," a huge plate with two types of Peasant Potatoes, carrot salad, Gorgonzola pork, green salad, Romanian beer, Romanian wine and a chicken dish. Incredible savory goodness.
(Left: View from our table at the restaurant.)

Part of our high rating for this place was the expectation game as the food easily exceeded the expectations. Diane's "Dracula Stew" was not really a stew, but more like chunks of lamb in a thick, rich, dark red/brown sauce. My Gorgonzola pork delivered nicely and those potatoes were a huge hit. Awesome all around. The other thing that made this a smash hit dinner was that the entire meal for three people cost us the equivalent of $40. That's it. Welcome to Romania.

After the meal, I told Andrei that he was "two for two" on his restaurant recommendations and that we'd go wherever he thought was good. And with that, we reversed course and walked back in the warm evening to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we packed up and drove over to the Princely Court for our walk through. As we exited the hotel, there was a large crowd of local people gathered in the parking lot. Andrei explained that they were there to apply for and interview for a few jobs that were on offer from the hotel. That so many people would turn out for just a few jobs underscored the unemployment problem in the town he said. (Right: Princely Court in Targoviste.)

On site at the Princely Court, there were basically four elements to see: 1) the tower that Vlad Dracula built for defense and observation of the countryside, 2) the court complex itself, 3) the church and then 4) a display of very early books published in the area. We toured each. The books were interesting. Having been around for 500-some years, these thick volumes looked pretty good. Certainly if you knew the language you could read them today. The ruins of the court itself were somewhat interesting, but the were greatly reduced over the centries, so while you could tell there was a faily large complex of buildings here it was a bit tricky to visualize how it was laid out - at least looking at it from ground level.

The highlights were the tower and the church. The church offered another look at the fresco style interior that was the norm in the time of Vlad and before. In fact, we were lucky enough to get a tour of the building by the on-site historian and the on-site restoration expert. While one explained about the building, the other told us how he was restoring the frescoes. (Left: Church at Court complex, Right: Frescoes inside the church.)

Not much later, we climbed up the tower. Once on top, you could easily see why Vlad had it built. Delivering a dominating view of the area, Dracula's forces could easily see what was coming from any direction. From this vantage point, you could now easily see the entire lay of the Princely Court. Much clearer as to who the place was laid out. (Left: Tower at Princely Court built by Vlad Dracula.)

As we gazed down from this perch, we imagined what the place might have been like when Vlad the Impaler strode the halls of these buildings as he ruled from this site. What maniacal plans were hatched, what court intrigues unfolded, who was in favor, who was out, how many people met their end here or nearby? So many things to consider. Fascinating. (Below: View from tower.)

Descending from the tower, we made our way back across the grounds and to our vehicle where we took off for our next destination - the town of Sinaia and Peles Castle.

NOTE: All pictures in this post taken by Marc Osborn. Any use is not permitted without prior written permission from Marc Osborn.

A Photo Set to Go With My First Romania Post

2011-07-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

I just posted as set of pictures I took in Bucharest and Snagov on my Flickr Photostream.

You can see the set by clicking HERE.

I'll be posting more pictures from Romania and Italy over the summer, so check back on my Photostream or this blog to see new ones.

Romania: On The Trail of Dracula - Bucharest and Snagov

2011-07-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

This year, Diane and I took a spectacular trip to Europe - splitting our time between two countries. One we'd been to before, Italy, and the other was a place most of us have heard about but most have never been to...Romania.

More specifically, the part of Romania that most everybody has heard of is Transylvania - mainly because of the Count Dracula and, more recently, vampire stories that are so pervasive in entertainment.

To be sure the lure of Dracula was interesting to us, but the primary draw for us was not Count Dracula of vampire fame because, well, he never existed. Rather, we were interested in the history of the real man - Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes (which translates in Romanian to "Vlad the Impaler).

Indeed, based on our knowledge of the fictitious Dracula and the Transylvania he inhabited, both Diane and I read the biography of the Vlad Dracula, prince of neighboring Walachia in the 1400s and no stranger to Transylvania either. And through reading about him and his often gruesome exploits (he didn't earn the nickname Tepes for nothing) we also learned about Romanian history. We also learned that so bloody were Vlad's methods of ruling that he was used by author Bram Stoker as inspiration as he built his fictional Dracula vampire character for his book. (Left: Vlad Dracula)

Given that we had a great time in another eastern European country a few years ago, Poland, we thought it might be time to check out another east Europe country. And yes, of course, there is that appeal that Transylvania has given all the movies and books written about vampires. Hell, it's cool to have gone to Transylvania and to be able to say so. It's proving to get a reaction every time I say it.

With all that as set up, with this post I'm starting a series of reports on our trip - including both Romania and Italy. For the Romania portion, the places we saw were more or less places that were both important to overall Romanian history and the history of Vlad Tepes. Hopefully by reading, you'll get a sense of what these places were like, why they are important. Along the way, I'll drop some knowledge about Vlad, as well as food, beverage and such.

To begin the series, I'll start with...

Bucharest and Snagov
We flew into the capital of Romania from London after flying there from New York and to NYC from Seattle...all in one day. Literally, a whole day of travel. But, luckily we arrived in the late afternoon. So, all we had to do was stay awake to clean up and eat...and then it was bed time no matter how you looked at it.

We stayed at the nice and well located Rembrandt Hotel in the older district of Bucharest. This locale offered us easy walking access to a load of restaurants and centered us among buildings that show why Bucharest used to be called "the Paris of the east." We ended up going to dinner at a very good place nearby called Caru cu Bere. Featuring traditional Romania dishes and their own delicious beer all in a baroque setting, this meal really hit the spot. After that we had enough energy to take a walk the hip and happening streets nearby where there were narrow street after narrow street chalk full of bars and restaurants - each with outdoor seating. Quite the scene. Lets just say the 20/30 somethings of Bucharest were out to see and be seen. (Right: Out on the town, Bucharest)

We slept hard that night, but were in surprisingly good shape the next morning. Following a delightful breakfast in the hotel overlooking the pedestrian byway one floor below, we met up with our guide for the trip. We decided that driving around Romania ourselves would probably not be a great idea given the road conditions, finding things and what we'd heard about Romanian drivers. In hind sight we probably could have done it ourselves, but having now used the PAN Travel agency in Romania to plan things out, drive us and guide us we wouldn't have done it any different anyway. And, we arranged it so it was a private tour from just we two.

After breakfast we met up with our unstoppable guide, Andrei. Upon meeting him, we instantly knew we were in for a good time as Andrei has a positive attitude, a good sense of humor and a sense of adventure.

Andrei showed us the "highlights" of Bucharest in a driving tour in the first part of the morning, including the massive Palace of Parliament, universities, opera, traditional neighborhoods and the key locations where the revolution against the communist government happened in 1989. (Left: Palace of Parliament in Bucharest - one of, if not the, largest buildings in the world.)

The only Vlad Dracula angle in Bucharest is that he is fabled to have named the city and founded it as the capital of his domain. More on that on our second visit to Bucharest at the end of our Romania tour.

A more clear link to Vlad, however, was at our second stop of the day - Snagov. Located outside the city on an island in a pleasant lake, the Snagov Monastery is the place where it is strongly believed that Vlad Dracula is buried. So we had to visit.

To get there you have to travel outside of Bucharest into the countryside, through a village and down to the water's edge of the lake in which the island monastery is located. As we rambled toward the destination, we realized that if we didn't have a guide who knew where he was going we'd never have found the place because there were no signs at any time. But, eventually, we got to a parking spot on a village road right by the lake. Exiting the truck and into the hot, hot Romanian summer, we walked the bridge from the land over to the island and onto the grassy, tree-lined way that leads up to the monastery.

Entering the chapel, we marveled at the all-mosaic interior. Unfortunately, the monks would not let us take pictures. Suffice it to say that while small, the church was impressive. And sure enough, on the floor near the later was a picture of Vlad Dracula with a lit candle standing directly over what looked to be a grave marker. So, who knows...we may have (probably did) see "the Impaler's" last resting place. (Right: Snagov monastery, burial place of Vlad Dracula.)

After a leisurely stroll around the flowery grounds, we returned across the bridge and to our vehicle - satisfied that we'd seen our first real Dracula site. And of course learned a bit about the religious history of the area.

With that, we hit the road for our next destination. Along the way, we decided to try a roadside diner for lunch and boy were we glad we did. A true highlight for here, on the side of the road was a restaurant serving DELICIOUS Romania fare. For example, our lunch consisted of a rich soup, thick bread and a dish called sarmale - meat, rice, onions and spices wrapped in grape leaves (or sometimes cabbage leaves). Throw in some nice polenta on the side and we're talking a really good lunch. And beer of course. Romania has some great beer. Ursus and Ciuc.

Filled up and happy, we made our way to Targoviste - a town where Vlad ran his principality from his "princely court."

Check back to the blog later for the next installment of the series!

NOTE: All pictures in this post except the portrait of Vlad are taken by me, Marc Osborn, and are not authorized for use without written permission from me.

2 More Questions for Republicans - This Time On the Debt Ceiling

2011-07-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

What if the very Republicans battling with Obama and the Ds about the debt ceiling would gain financially from the U.S. defaulting on its debt?

Hmmm. That sure would explain a few things, and in particular why Mr. Cantor has dug in so deeply in his fight with Obama. See how he may benefit if our nation defaults on its debt in the story HERE.

Why was if OK to raise the debt ceiling many, many times in the 2000s when W was president, the Rs controlled the House and Senate and our debt was exploding in front of our very eyes, but now all of a sudden its a major issue that may shut the government down or much worse?

Naked politics. That's the answer. Politicians of all stripes and parties are capricious to suit their needs, no doubt. But the Republicans are Jedi frikin' Warriors at changing their tune, position and stance on issues by 180 degrees if it will suit their goals of re-election, winning a policy debate or getting legislation passed. And that's what we're seeing here. They want to make Obama look weak so they can win votes in Senate, House and Presidential races next year...taking back over control of the government for their "serve the rich and big companies" agenda.

2 Questions for GOPers Slamming Obama on Jobs Today

2011-07-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

I see that GOP presidential contenders are slamming Obama on the recent job/unemployment numbers released today.

Two questions for those conservatives:

1) Where was your concern about jobs when you were championing the very policies that led to the economic crash of 2008 and after? Seriously, where were your concerns? You do remember that the big economic crash came on your watch and as a result of your leadership, right?

2) Why are your suggested fixes now just more of the same stuff that got us into this mess in the first place...and have done so every time they've been implemented in our history? Big tax cuts for the wealthy and big business, aggressive deregulation of major sectors of our economy and large cut backs on government programs (except defense where you like spend more): that's all you got or ever had and it has resulted in a shitload of trouble four our country over and over again. Why do you keep singing that same song?

That's it. Just want to know.

Space Shuttle Launch Intiated My Interest In News

2011-07-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the last Space Shuttle launch ever. Mildly interesting in the moment I suppose - after all, we've seen and heard about these launches for 30 year now - but it reminded me that the very first Space Shuttle launch back in 1981 was an event that I really tuned in to - the build up, launch, mission and landing. It was a big deal back then for everyone - even to me as a kid of 11-12 years old.

In fact, I think that intense news coverage around that launch and all that it included - the stuff about the space ship itself, the astronauts, the role the Space Shuttle played in the Cold War space race with the USSR and other important issues all helped that news event turn me on to news generally. This naturally opened me up to all types of news - national, political, music and more. And, I've been hooked ever since.

So, thank you NASA for giving me a "boost" into my interest in current events and news.

Why the U.S. Cares About Yemen

2011-06-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why we here in the U.S. should care about Yemen?

You know, Yemen? Yeah, me too...never would have thought about the place until recently.

But here are three things to consider in order to get to the answer of why our country cares about Yemen and uses our military to intervene there...

First, think about how dependent on oil our economy is, and how much of that oil comes from the Middle East.
Second, think about how that oil gets from the middle east (by ship) and where it has to go to get to us.
Then third, look at this map...

That's right. Yemen sits there at the opening of the Red Sea...a major waterway up to the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean and onto the Atlantic. Or, going the other direction, it sits there right at the gap leading from the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and Pacific. Either way you are shipping oil by ship, you're more than likely to need to go through that gap. Control that gap, you control the flow of oil shipping. You don't control that gap because of a rouge regime or anarchy? Well, could be problems gassing up you Escalade.

Gig Report - Mona in Seattle

2011-06-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

One of the new and upcoming bands I've been keeping and eye and ear on is a Nashville-based group called Mona.

They play what I'd call "rock and roll." What? You not familiar with that type of music? Unfortunately, U.S. music fans and music labels have in large part turned their back on rock and roll these days in preference for hip-hop, dance music, country (or what passes for it these days), diva singers, pop songs and similar fluffy genres. So, that's pretty much all you see and hear on the radio, packaged up for you to buy on iTunes or (where they exist any more) featured in music stores. You have to go out of your way to find good rock and roll. And indeed, bands like Mona have to go to the U.K. to get gigs, build up a reputation, make some money and get an album produced.

However, they took time out from trying to make it in the U.K. to play as the opening act for a short portion of a U.S. tour by a band called The Airborne Toxic Event. One of the stops was Seattle, so me and a buddy went to go check out Mona at the Showbox SoDo Wednesday evening. You know, a chance to see a new band up close. We weren't disappointed. (Below: Mona on stage in Seattle.)

As the opening band for the night, their set was fairly short - about 40 minutes. However, the guitar-bass-and-drums driven songs were tight, compelling and - as good music does - makes you feel something, makes you believe. Singer Nick Brown's voice sounded just right...a combination of tuneful singing and guttural emotion. The rest of the band sounded tight and on their game. To my ear each song came across well, and you could see the band was enjoying playing to the crowd. You can see and hear some of Mona over at their Web site media page.

Beyond simply cranking out solid tunes with energy, a couple moments stuck out. As singer/guitarist Brown slowly started the chords of a song and the rest of the band held off, a female fan shouted out, "That's hot!" This cracked Brown up and he had to stop, laugh and say, "That's funny. Usually, it's usually some drunk guy yelling something." With that laughed again, then restarted the song and went on from there. Also, to sing the song Shooting The Moon, Brown ditched his guitar and walked the stage as he sang that intense song.

(Left: Nick Brown (l) and Vince Gard (r) of Mona on stage in Seattle.)

You can check out a few more pictures I took at this gig over on my Flickr Photostream HERE and HERE.

The set list as I can reconstruct it here a day later was...

Trouble On The Way
A song that I do not know the name of
Teenager
Cloak And Dagger
Lean Into The Fall
Taboo Lights
Say You Will
Listen To Your Love
Shooting The Moon
Pavement
Alibis

Mona have just put out their self-titled debut in the U.K. and I think it's due out in the U.S. later this year. Anyway, my verdict is that the band is pretty cool. They sound good live, I'm digging their album and will see what they do next. If you're looking for new American rock, check 'em out.