In keeping with the mission of this blog to give a glimpse behind the scenes, here’s a blooper of a video on my new trading web site, www.truthaboutmacd.com . The funny bit is at the end of this 75 second clip.
Blooper Video
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Category Archives: Pleasure
Thunderstorms A Cappella
I’m fascinated by this amazing group Perpetuuum Jazzile doing thunderstorms with their hands and a nice rendition of the old Toto hit Africa. Have a listen:
At Henry Coe State Park
We gathered at Henry Coe State Park yesterday to show our support for California State Parks. 
Two television news crews reported on the scene. What I have to say is that these lands are a public trust run by the state government. They are not an asset that can be closed or sold off. The $15 vehicle license fee is a fine way to offset the costs and if other compromises are needed so be it. But closing 80% of the parks is neither a reasonable nor effective solution to anything and would be a huge violation of public trust.
Our mission of taking a photo for the SOS Weekend campaign complete, we set off hiking to see some sights, soothe our souls and get a little exercise.
More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackieannpatterson/
State Park Access Pass – Ask for It
The budget committee voted to remove General Fund support for state parks. Yikes!
That means that incredible lands like the photo shown above may be closed to public access which deprives us all of two benefits: 1. Access to affordable, wholesome, uplifting fun at a time when families may not afford other recreation and 2. Erodes the protected status of these precious open spaces.
The good news is that there is an alternative to sitting back and letting our wild lands be taken from us (and I fear eventually turned into some form of development):
The budget committe also voted to recommend a new State Park Access Pass which would give a year’s unlimited access to state parks for $15 per vehicle — an outstanding deal! This proposal needs to pass a final vote of state legislature. Please nudge your representative – click here for an automated form.
Then reward yourself by visualizing your last fun trip to a CA state park…either hiking, camping, or maybe a beach. Better yet, treat yourself to a visit to a state park this weekend. 
(Photo Credit: Montana de Oro State Park – California Poppy by docentjoyce)
Henry Coe State Park Hike June 20
Henry Coe State Park is a rare and precious combination of wild lands on the doorstep of a major metropolitan area. Its been one of my favorite places since a backpacking trip deep in the park when a rottweiler-sized cat came down to the stream across from camp to get a drink…and ran once it realized people were about. Watching the big cat drink was a wonderful sight to behold — and not one I’d particularly expect to see at park headquarters.
Unfortunately, our access to Henry Coe State Park is threatened by the CA budget crisis withdrawing funding for state parks. I’m not only concerned about not being able to use Coe — I’m also worried that a closed park is less likely to be preserved as it becomes an easier target for development.
SOS is an organization committed to keeping our state parks open. They have called for a show of support for the parks in the form of visiting a state park sometime on the weekend of June 20-21, 2009 and taking photos of ourselves with banners for a video they are producing.
I plan to be at Henry Coe State Park Headquarters to take the photos and I want you to join in. Everyone is welcome for the photo.
Henry Coe State Park HQ is off 101 near Morgan Hill, 60mins from Redwood City. Click for general directions. Click for google map The HQ has restrooms and drinking water available.
If you want to be photographed with a sign, you can print your favorite of the signs on the SOS Weekend page. If enough people RSVP by Thursday 6/18 to say they’ll be there, I’ll have a larger banner made up.
If you would like to coordinate carpools, feel free to leave comments on this post. Please understand that this website is open to the public and I won’t necessarily know everyone who comments. I’m already in a carpool down and will meet y’all there.
We do plan to hike after the photos. If you’d like to hike too, please bring water, decent shoes, snack/lunch and your sense of personal responsibility. This isn’t an organized event, but I’m happy to have new friends and acquaintances share the trail.
Hope to see you Saturday!
(Henry Coe photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nkinkade/)
An Evening in Arcadia, CA
While at the LA Trader’s Expo, I stayed in Arcadia. Now melded into LA, Arcadia used to be its own distinct town on Route 66. I spent one evening walking around and marveling at Arcadia’s most surprising residents: hundreds of wild green parrots. Parrots are not natives of the region and no one knows for sure how they came to roost in Arcadia. Rumors has it that a fire in a pet store decades ago prompted the release of a few parrots and nature took care of the rest.
I also came across an intriguing example of the great melting pot on the Pacific rim: on El Dorado St (a Mexican name), is a drive-in diner (a US thing), featuring bento boxes and sushi (a japanese food).
Windy Day on Windy Hill
Gorgeous spring day for a hike up Windy Hill. Here’s a couple nice shots.
Eagle Rock Hike at Little Basin with Sempervirens Fund
Great 7 mile hike yesterday up to Eagle Rock in Little Basin for Sempervirens.
Thanks to Emmanuelle for leading the way.
Check out Rick’s awesome photos by clicking here.
Here’s a few shots I took along the way:
Joe spotted Venus in daylight.
As you can see from the logo on the signs at the entry, Little Basin used to be Hewlett-Packard’s corporate retreat. They sold it to Sempervirens and POST, who must foot the bill until California can afford the gift of Little Basin as an extension of Big Basin state park. Meanwhile, its open to HP, Sempervirens and POST.
The thing I like best about hiking with Sempervirens is all the neat people I meet. If you would like to join us on a hike, click here. Please consider joining in the preservation of these very special redwood forests.
Heavenly Spring Break Skiing
Here’s a few photos from my last ski trip of the season. Spring break in Heavenly started out with a huge storm on Sunday Mach 22. It dumped over 18″ of powder. I was too busy skiing to take photos. Not much visibility that day anyway. The good snow did last through the week, but was about skiied off by the time I got around to pulling my camera out. The clear skies made for spectacular views of the lake.
Dipper Line at Heavenly Ski Area
Trying out the new QuickPress feature in WordPress 2.7.1. by uploading some favorite ski pics from the last trip. These two were taken on the Dipper Line run under the Dipper Express chair at Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe. The bottom one is a view of the very calm lake from the top of the Nevada side of the resort.
Updated 04/03/09: Turns out that leaving the pics unsized wrecked the formating with some browsers. Should be fixed now.