Perils of Caffeine in the Evening

Just think of the possible offspring of this marriage - Fox News coming at you from all the Clear Channel radio outlets.   Resistance is futile!

(Here’s Clear Channel’s “public service message” to Florida commuters):

My flight home from Tucson left just before sunset Friday night.  We headed northwest over the Grand Canyon, and passed over the red rock area of southern Utah just at sunset.  As the angle of the sun became more horizontal, the rocks seemed to glow with their own luminescence.  I felt like a rube snapping pictures out the window, while my first class cabinmates read or watched movies in their road warrior nonchalance.  The view was just gorgeous, and I gaped out the window until it was dark.

On the second picture at the bottom, check out the little volcanic cones.

I flew into Phoenix Wednesday, worked there for the day, then drove to Tucson in the evening. There was not much on the way that was very enticing for dinner other than fast food/truckstop stuff, so I just drove through and stopped at a grocery store on the way to check into my hotel.

I came across a special on cooked shrimp and thought it would be a nice, low-fat respite from burritos and burgers.  I didn’t notice until I got to my room that they were frozen solid, 30 or so shellfish popsicles.  The instructions said to thaw them overnight, but I wasn’t in a mood to wait, so I cranked up the heat on the hvac unit and they were good to go in about 15 minutes.

Regretted not having any marshmallows to roast.

I’m in Tucson again for a couple of days.  It’s clear and sunny, if not overly warm, but the only sun I’ll see is through the office window.

I did get some eye candy on the flight down, however.  At right is the Grand Canyon from my window.

As my fellow Seattleite BlueSky points out today, Washington’s secretary of state as certified the election of Dino Rossi as governor, after a “machine” recount that disclosed him winning by 42 votes.  He rightly lays the blame for the loss, (as I have previously) to a lame campaign run by Christine Gregoire and the Democratic party, but I’m not sure I agree with his assertion that it doesn’t matter whether there’s a Republican or a “New” Democrat in office.  While a centrist Democrat is unlikely to press for change (as the disappointing reign of Gary Locke attests), a Republican of Rossi’s ilk will do plenty of damage in the department heads he appoints to administer and enforce, departments like Ecology, Fish & Wildlife, Revenue, etc. 

While both legislative bodies are in Democrat hands for the first time in many years, the margin is thin and certainly not veto-proof.  I expect to hear a constant refrain about the “business climate” from Rossi’s bunch, as a blanket reason to ease enforcement and promulgation of environmental protection, growth management, forest practices and consumer protection. 

A hand recount is possible if either party wants to pay for it, but a total recount is prohibitively expensive, something like $700,000.  The state Democratic party doesn’t have that kind of money.  I read somewhere that the national party will contribute some funds, and that the Kerry campaign might have $200,000 to ante up.  I’m hoping that donors who might have been thinking of helping congressman Jim McDermott pay his fine for passing on a taped conversation of Ohio Republican John Boehner.  McDermott had the opportunity to settle the case for $10,000 and stupidly passed on it, and the party has better use for the money.

Meanwhile, Gary Locke, on his way out the door, mentioned in passing that the state faces a $1.6 billion deficit, and suggested that new tax revenue must be raised to cover it.  This deficit would seem to be a direct result of his decision NOT  to seek new revenue when faced with a similar situation in the last budget cycle.  One begins to see why he didn’t seek another term.

It all adds up to an extended election hangover for us here in Washington, and we can’t get so distracted by it that we don’t allow enough time to get our earplugs in for the State of the Union address.

We kept our date at the Showbox last night and saw Ozomatli.  The venue was packed and kinetic, and the show was fast-paced and superbly played - they just kept bringin’ it.  As I mentioned below, their latest album is called Street Signs, and ranges from Salsa and samba to ska, hip-hop and has some middle-eastern influences as well.

They played a lot of numbers from the album,  mixed in with some old favorites.  One really interesting number featured a clarinet solo by the sax player.  My wife asked me what he was playing, and at first I said it was a soprano sax, but it sounded more like a bass clarinet, except it was straight.  It was indeed a clarinet, but it appeared he had an extension at the end sort of like a trumpet mute that produced the bass clarinet sound.  Once he removed it, it sounded like a regular clarinet.  I’ve never seen that device before.

At a certain point, after playing Saturday Night, a sort of musical party invitation, the band just partied down.  My wife said, “This is turning into a drunken Mexican wedding!”.  Almost as soon as she said that, the band left the stage and started wandering around the crowd (see picture), stopping here and there to play, then moving on.  I turned to the stage and saw the hands breaking down the set, and sure enough the band eventually just played its way out the door and the show was over.  Great time, great music - see them if you get the chance.

A few years ago, I was doing some work in North Carolina at a plant that processed turkeys.  They’d bring them in by truck, hang them by their feet on the conveyor you see inside the door, stun them and send them on their way to fulfill their low-fat mission in Subway shops, and in your refrigerator.

This was by far the largest business in town, and almost its raison d’etre.  Yet the city limits sign, superimposed, proclaimed it a “bird sanctuary”.  Turkeys aren’t the smartest things in creation in the first place.  How many of them, dear reader, do you imagine approached the city limits, satchels in their hand and hope of a better life in their countenance, read the sign (if they could) and exclaimed, “Hallelujah!”?

“Now Hiring” were undoubtedly the last words these plucky adventurers ever read.

and we’ll be heading to the Showbox Saturday night to hear Ozomatli.  I’ve been playing their Street Signs album almost nonstop for a month.  We first heard them at the Bumbershoot festival 4 or 5 years ago.  They’re an Afro-Latin-Worldbeat group that features an ass-kicking horn section and a ton of energy.  Should be a rockin’ good time.

Dinner was intimate, with just wife, son and mother-in-law.  Here’s a crotch shot of our organic, free range turkey, a pinot rose and our “good” china.  My wife stressed throughout the day how our turkey surely died happy, as if somehow she’d have to coax us out of some PETA-induced guilt to eat it once we saw it.

Fat Chance. Whatever its mood when the axe fell, it was delicious.

A happy Turkey Day to you all, and have a great weekend.  If you shop, please do so in moderation (and remember my favorite color is blue).

A drizzly night and morning gave way to a window of muted sunshine this afternoon, and Mrs. Perils and our son and I scurried out for a pre-turkey walk around town.  We headed up to Woodland Park, where the gentleman above, in a stylish Spongebob pullover, was straining to waylay exiting zoo visitors to watch him perform magic tricks.

I was determined to plow on by him, but my wife engaged him, and we stayed to see him do several tricks with neckties, cards, handkerchieves, little fuzzy balls, and salt.  He was actually very good.  When my wife drew several bills out of her wallet, held them before him and asked, “How many dollar bills am I holding?”, he said, “Almost enough!”. 

We continued from Woodland Park down the hill to Fremont, on to Gasworks Park, and back up the hill to our house and the aroma of the roasting turkey.  The sun broke beneath the sheath of clouds just as it was setting, producing a dazzling reflection off of windows of west-facing houses on Capitol Hill.  My camera battery died as I tried to take some sunset pictures at Gasworks, so you’ll have to close your eyes and imagine it, or click here for a facsimile.