Panera Bread still the stop

Today's visit to Panera Bread wasn't the usual fine experience - for out of the ordinary reasons. Apparently I picked the wrong corner. The quiet, casual, snack, or dinner dinning joint, a favorite lunch and meeting spot for many took an ugly turn in my corner when a cross looking woman stomped in and sat down at the table 6 feet away. Five minutes later she unpleasantly said hi to the guy that carefully walked in and sat across from her. I felt sorry for him as she started the verbal torrent unswayed by any common sense coming from him. I really felt like interjecting a few words, but good judgement probably prevented it :) Soon she stomped out and he wimped out the other door. With her attitude I didn't see how she could be married to anyone.

But, more importantly, Panera Bread is still a wonderful place. I just wish we had them in Washington! The restaurant is largely designed around their amazing breads. So many types, and they all look and smell so good! Then of course are the pastries, and other snacks, lunches, and coffees. The entire experience is always pleasant with the exceptional 1 in 30. But that's ok, it's not the restaurants fault.

The best way to describe Panera Bread is a cross between Starbucks and a bakery, yet with a much quieter and more pleasant environment. I'm afraid I'll have to give Woods and Starbucks a back seat.

One quiet Christmas evening

Nathan! We welcome you back to Washington and are very excited to see you again! I thought that a special clandestine welcome would be in order. I am sorry to disturb your quiet evening in such a manner, yet it gave me no little pleasure to hear your mom's report of what otherwise I would have thought went unnoticed.

I look forward to seeing you before you leave next Sunday! Have you any big plans while you are here? The Thompson party will no doubt be exciting, and that is wonderful that you will be able to make it. Unforunately I cannot.

On the hunt 1

The low down in Lynden

San Juans Sunset

Christmas is here! Friends, let's share!

My dear friends, at the dawn of this new blogging era, my chihuahua and I renew the once believed saying, that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, we have decided together that one of our new years resolutions challenges ourselves and our friends to a more photographic blog. Those few who read the last quoted post in bewilderment, may have been a touch enlightened had a photo accompanied it.

Better to get a truck then walk?

I felt like walking when I let a pedestrian cross the road, then drove a couple miles and he walked past. After a day of maxing my driving abilities just staying on the road and avoiding weird, out of control drivers, I'm thinking a new Dodge pickup truck sounds like a good thing, just like a hot chocolate does these chilly days. This comes after spending what seemed like hours and hours reading license plate sayings and bumperstickers.

I hold some respect for this snow induced highway ice. Heading southbound on 405 at 1 mph, wondering why northbound traffic disappeared, and a cop drives the wrong way down the empty highway, makes one wonder. Until you see someone get out of their car with a hammer and chop at the ice behind their rear tire. I stopped and slide sideways within inches of the car beside me, yet managed to get straightened when the traffic gave room. I saw easily more than 200 cars and buses off the road. Heading down the mild hill explained why Northbound traffic was stopped. They couldn't drive up! These conditions persisted in various ways from Bellingham clear to Renton.

Ok, now why did I say Dodge truck? For me, the choice is clear :)

1. Ford may be an ok truck, but the radio ads make it clear. The dealers call in so often dedicating a whole 30 seconds or more to how they need to move all those vehicles off the lot! If they are so bad, why sell them to the public? Jeepers. I want something that is going to serve me well, not that just needs to moved off the lot!

2. Chevy trucks are for boys.

3. The latest model Toyotas are too cute with curvy Japanese lines.

4. Men are not allowed to drive Hummers. They are for women with furs.

5. Honda must have something, but the Oddessy makes them unreal.

6. The Chevy HHR armored car needs more window area for visibility, from my experience.

7. The PT cruiser is for display only. I could see having one on my desk at work.

8. You have to be nearing retirement from your bread truck job to afford a new stock Mustang. It's cool just because it's "got the old look".

9. I don't hold an opinion on SUV's. They are unnatractive.

If I had to buy a truck today it would be a new Dodge. They get the job done and they're comfy.

Nonetheless, as soon as winter's over, the truck fantasy will vanish, and I will return to my pursuit of class over clumsy with BMW or Audi.

Comments inevitable.

Should eagles be flying?

Eagles are a great disburtance to our aircraft's natural habitat. They shouldn't be aloud to fly anymore! Get eagles out of the air! They are a danger to us and our families and could drop out of the sky on us any moment. Ban eagles. We need you, Rick Larsen! You've been working tirelessly to save Whatcom county from pipeline tragedy's, now we need you to reduce the number of eagles roaming the skies completely unmonitored.

Does your vote count?

Not if you vote for the wrong candidate. I mailed in my absentee ballot Tuesday evening as I know many, many other people did as well. How are those absentee ballots counted OVERNIGHT so that Wendesday morning there are conclusive winners in one parties favor? Why immediately annouce Cantwell's and Larsen's "win" as if all votes are counted? They were reported as winners - that the election was over and wrapped up.

Ok, it's time for...

*Elections Cover-up*
*The concise excerpts from media articles below reveal major problems with the elections process. *This is not a partisan matter. Fair elections are crucial to all who support democracy. *Few have compiled this information in a way that truly educates the public on the great risk of using electronic voting machines.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

CNN News, 9/20/06
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/19/Dobbs.Sept20
Voting Machines Put U.S. Democracy at Risk
Electronic voting machines...time and again have been demonstrated to be extremely vulnerable to tampering and error. During the 2004 presidential election, one voting machine...added nearly 3,900 additional votes. Officials caught the machine's error because only 638 voters cast presidential ballots. In a heavily populated district, can we really be sure the votes will be counted correctly? A 2005 Government Accountability Office report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf on electronic voting confirmed the worst fears: "There is evidence that some of these concerns have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."

New York Times,/ 9/5/06
In Search of Accurate Vote Totals
A recent government report http://bocc.cuyahogacounty.us/GSC/pdf/esi_cuyahoga_final.pdf details enormous flaws in the election system in Ohio's biggest county, problems that may not be fixable before the 2008 election. Cuyahoga County...recently adopted Diebold electronic voting machines that produce a voter-verified paper record. Investigators compared the vote totals recorded on the machines after this year's primary with the paper records produced. The numbers should have been the same, but often there were large and unexplained discrepancies. The report also found that nearly 10 percent of the paper records were destroyed, blank, illegible, or otherwise compromised.

*MSNBC/Associated Press, 9/13/06
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14825465/
Princeton Prof Hacks E-vote Machine
A Princeton University computer science professor added new fuel...to claims that electronic voting machines...are vulnerable to hacking. In a paper http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting posted on the university's Web site, Edward Felten and two graduate students described how they had tested a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine they obtained, found ways to quickly upload malicious programs and even developed a computer virus able to spread such programs between machines. They designed software capable of modifying all records, audit logs and counters kept by the voting machine, ensuring that a careful forensic examination would find nothing wrong.

USA Today//Associated Press, 7/13/06
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-13-evoting_x.htm
Electronic Voting Machines Under Legal Attack
Lawsuits have been filed in at least nine states, alleging that the machines are wide open to computer hackers. New York University's Brennan Center for Justice released a one-year study http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/downloads/Full%20Report.pdf
...that determined that the three most popular types of U.S. voting machines "pose a real danger" to election integrity. More than 120 security threats were identified, including wireless machines that could be hacked "by virtually any member of the public with some (computer) knowledge." Lowell Finley http://www.voteraction.org/teambios.html: "We had dozens of affidavits from voters in New Mexico who said they touched one candidate's name, but the machine picked the opponent."

*/Washington Post/, 6/28/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062701451.html
A Single Person Could Swing an Election
A team of cybersecurity experts [concluded] that it would take only one person, with a sophisticated technical knowledge and timely access to the software that runs the voting machines, to change the [election] outcome.

*/New York Times,/ 5/30/06
Block the Vote*
States are adopting rules that make it hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups to register new voters. New rules for maintaining voter rolls...are likely to throw off many eligible voters. Florida recently reached a new low when it actually bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts. Colorado recently imposed criminal penalties on volunteers who slip up in registration drives.

*/Newsweek,/ 5/29/06
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12888600/site/newsweek
Will Your Vote Count in 2006?*
A report http://www.bbvdocs.org/reports/BBVreportIIunredacted.pdf by Finnish security expert Harri Hursti analyzed Diebold voting machines [and] found unheralded vulnerabilities. Experts are calling them the most serious voting-machine flaws ever. It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that...could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. It's even possible...to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems.

*/Wall Street Journal/, 5/12/06 http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114739688261250925-q5rh2ocioxu6mgjmS6bZPCZL0HY_20060610.html, Reversing Course on Electronic Voting*
Some advocates of a 2002 law mandating upgrades of the nation's voting machinery now worry the overhaul is making things worse. Proponents of the Help America Vote Act are filing lawsuits to block some state and election officials' efforts to comply with the act. In Indiana, an ES&S [major voting machine supplier] employee alerted local-election officials that another ES&S worker had installed unauthorized software on the machines before the election. That and other disputes led to a multimillion-dollar settlement.

*/New York Times,/ 5/12/06
New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems*
Officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives...about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines. "It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system," said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon. Diebold issued a warning...saying that it had found a "theoretical security vulnerability." A professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University...after studying the latest problem [said] "I almost had a heart attack."

*/Washington Post/, 3/26/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500805.html
Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors*
Ion Sancho is...elections supervisor in Leon County, Fla. Last year, [he] helped show that electronic voting machines...would allow election workers to alter vote counts without detection. Sancho may be paying an unexpected price for his whistle-blowing: None of the state-approved companies here will sell him the voting machines the county needs.The trouble began last year when Sancho allowed a Finnish computer scientist to test Leon County's Diebold voting machines. Diebold will not sell to Sancho without assurances that he will not permit more such tests, which the company considers a reckless use of the machines.

*/New York Times/, 9/12/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/opinion/12sun2.html?ex=1252728000&en=dda9313c18e02663&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
On the Voting Machine Makers' Tab*
Some of electronic voting's loudest defenders have been state and local election officials. Many of those same officials have financial ties to voting machine companies. Officials from Georgia, California and Texas argued that voter-verifiable paper trails...are impractical. Former secretaries of state from Florida and Georgia have signed on as lobbyists for Election Systems and Software [ES&S] and Diebold Election Systems. When Bill Jones left office as California's secretary of state in 2003, he quickly became a consultant to Sequoia Voting Systems. His assistant secretary of state took a full-time job there. The list goes on.

*MSNBC/AP, 8/23/04
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5762054/from/RL.4
Secretive Testing Firms Certify Nation's Vote Count Machines*
The three companies that certify the nation's voting technologies operate in secrecy, and refuse to discuss flaws in the machines. Federal regulators have virtually no oversight over testing of the technology.

*/New York Times,/ 1/31/04
http://www.WantToKnow.info/040131nytimes
How to Hack an Election*
Maryland hired a computer security firm http://www.raba.com/press/TA_Report_AccuVote.pdf to test its new machines. Paid hackers had little trouble casting multiple votes and taking over the machines' vote-recording mechanisms. Diebold...rushed to issue a self-congratulatory press release http://www.companyboardroom.com/releasetext.asp?ticker=dbd&coid=106584&client=cb&release=489744 with the headline "Maryland Security Study Validates Diebold Election Systems Equipment." The study's authors were shocked to see their findings spun so positively.

gotta love the Democrats

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, theant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible

MODERN VERSION:The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and every body cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Ted Kennedy & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Dan Rather that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call foran immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act,"retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican

This must be Texas

Walking the Dallas terminal looking for gate A34, I wondered why I should feel like I was in special state of the USA. Somehow Texas and Texans always seem different, distant, blunt, big. It's something unexplainable, but somehow this day I felt engulfed and yet free... in a state I rarely visit.

As I put my hands under the restroom sink's water sensor, the thing sent water gushing out in a big way, immediately splashing me, the surrounding area, and the mirror. "stupid faucet" I thought, what's wrong with this thing? I tried again - same deal. That's a lot more water than I asked for. "This must be Texas". It comes fast and hard, there's no in-between, it's all or nothing... fast and hard!

Anticipating a wait and nothing more than a silly $4 snack pack on the plane, I decided that a beef burrito would be the thing. The overweight guy manning the counter greated me as he methodically squashed ants with a handful of napkins. "They like the soda machines at this airport", he said. Not satisfied with the progress he was making, he used his bare hand, squashed some more, and finally swept them off the counter.

I ordered and watched him head into the back to make the burrito for me and another customer. I had to believe he washed his hands when I wasn't looking.

Waiting there for a moment I wanted to lean against the metal handrail... trouble is, it was 5 foot tall with a 3 foot middle section. I figured the lower rung was for their 1st graders and the upper bar was purely insulting serving no more than to clang one's head. I'm not going to raise my hands to head level for a hand rail. This must be Texas.

The burrito ... outstanding. Ants or no.

Rollover Ounces

It's a new concept.

Adam asked, "we have rollover minutes, why can't the post office give me rollover ounces?! It would save a lot of wasted postage".

The post office of our United States never outperforms itself. In fact the motto seems to be, "if you're happy, we're happy", in whatever way your package was or was not delivered. Yes, individual letter-packin hero's exist. Mine happens to be one.

Rollover Ounces. What's up with that? Ok, Adam suggests that if you pay for more ounces than you've mailed, they should roll them over to your next purchase. It's only one more good natured punt at our unfairly-labelled post office bullies. And bullies they are, according to Adam.

He believes he does a very good job weighing the parcels and assigned the correct postage due.
He finds that his package weighing several pounds cannot be mailed since it's .05 of an ounce too much. Somehow it just seems unfair... the clerk barely smiles as she coldly informs him that this package can't go.

Adam returns with his refused work of art. Yet, before he left the post office a plan was hatched! It would only take a couple minutes. And then he would watch her face.

Adam, hurriedly returns and opens the large parcel. Next, he removes the inner cardboard flaps and recloses the package just as before, returning to the post office within 5 minutes after he was "refused".

He approaches the clerk in the next window and is delighted to see that his other "favorite" package refusing clerk is watching him attempt the package at another window. She reports, "this guy tried his package here and it's over-weight. Don't take it!"

Unabashed, the new clerk weighs the package and sweetly declares... "Your package is. 3! Ounces! Under!... good job!

Adam never felt so good.

He cares

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care on him; for he cares for you. 1P 5:7.

With all the busy-ness, distractions, work, schedules, activities, sports, get togethers and more, do we ever get frustrated? Ever become so focused on a personal agenda that the spiritual life and perspective suffers? What a loving, patient God that bears with so many wanderings - such frequent neglect. The verse came at a time when it was really needed. It serves both as a warning and a comfort. Down with the personal, prideful, self-serving desires. God breaks the pride of those he loves by withholding their joy and peace and sending trials that work in us his glory and our good.

The verse offers both a comfort and a warning. A comfort that humility and confession will be met with God's grace. It's also a command which may not be ignored. Recently a friend bodly warned and encourged me in this matter. I have to say thanks. We can't pull ourselves out of our troubles, but one thing I know. Persisting in the means of grace - reading God's word, prayer, and receiving counsel is blessed by God. Read and pray - especially during those times when you don't feel like it. A follower of Christ who continually scurries off to fight his own little battles along the way, dropping his sword, setting down his shield for the weight of it, leaving his helmet because of the heat is continually returning with wounds and scars that he might have avoided.

Who needs a cel phone anyway?

I do. At least that's the way I felt Tuesday morning when I realized that I left it on a sidewalk bench in Lynden Monday night. I ate breakfast wondering whether anyone would have seen it - whether there were enough kindly, honest people in Lynden that might wait for "the" phone call, or if one of those daily bus-junkies would have seen it and tossed it into the bushes.

Ten minute drive into Lynden and no phone. I remembered exactly where I'd left it. (no, i'm not telling you). Arriving at my office I spent 5 minutes calling the phone hoping there'd be an answer. Nope. Waited 5 minutes and rang it again. Lynden Police. "We found your phone" - when can you pick it up?

So... the Lynden Police do a decent job, eh? A foot patrol found it overnight - and left it to ring in their office.

That's better than dropping the phone in water. I've learned that cel phones don't work under water.

I'll come up with more creative ways to damage or lose my phone yet.

Mt. Baker Crater

This photo shows the south slope of mt. baker near the top of the mountain. Close to the center of the photo is where the steam is often spotted. Some days it can be seen even from Lynden. A reminder that it's a dormant volcano waiting for it's day. There was a small steam cloud visible this particular day, but it's hard to see in the photo.

Artist Point Hike

The hill Ethan (not my brother Ethan) sit-snow-surfed. I thought he was crazy! Enlarge it and you'll see a track down the hill in the left of the photo. It's quite a steep slope.


Off to....
The group...

I was just wishing I had hiked up with my snowboard. It would have been much easier boarding the whole way down rather than walking it! Next time! The roads and hills were being groomed that day for the Ski-2-Sea event, so that would have been perfect!!

Today's math - do you count?

Last week I purchased a combo at Burger King for $3.58. The counter girl took my $4.00 and I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies. While looking at the screen on her register, I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this? Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

Teaching Math In 1950
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1970 A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

Teaching Math In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20 Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math In 1990
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers.)

Teaching Math In 2005
Un ranchero vende una carretera de madera para $100. El cuesto de la produccion era $80. Cuantos tortillas se puede comprar?

The Johari Test

http://kevan.org/johari?name=bluecub22
a journey of self discovery ;)

Powder slopes and dashed hopes.

Today, Ted, Jesse, and I went snowboarding at Mt. Baker. It was incredibly beautiful and the snow conditions were perfect! I love it when the morning shadows make the snow covered trees, peaks, and slopes so much more distinct. What made it really nice was the new snow, right temperature and mostly clear sky.

Riding the lifts can be boring, but with such awesome views it was a treat. I haven't boarded on Baker more than 6 or 7 times and this time I found a few new spots. It's important to watch out for the tree hazards, but going on the less travelled areas with deep powder is a lot of fun.

In the first 10 minutes I nearly broke my arm, but survived just fine the rest of the day... except when Ted and I took a wrong turn and encountered one of the steepest ridges full of trees. We didn't know what lay ahead so we worked our way onwards, down the hillside - what workout that time. The trick lay at the end... about 150 feet down and 50 feet forward. If you sat down you'd be sliding down the hill and starting a mini-avalanche. We made it just fine though. We aren't top notch snow boarders what we do take the diamonds runs fine.

Ted and I like to poke a little fun at skiers. You just have to... being a snowboarder. We were delighted to be so entertained on a lift watching a skier try to retrieve his two poles that fell to a nearly inaccessable spot. He was slowly making his way down the precipice with his skis not underfoot, but as his new makeshift "ski poles". Nearly steeper than he could handle, he was inching his way. If only our lift hadn't made it over the hill so quick. We nearly witnessed his soft tumble - well, I'd like to imagine that's what happened. Deep down I had a little sympathy for him, but it was still fun to watch :)

You never know what you're going to see up there. I didn't know people would be stupid enough to ski without a lift pass. The guy next to me had is expensive snowboard confiscated - until he'd pay the $100 fine. I think the lift pass is cheaper - so is the peace of mind.

This was the first time snowboarding this winter... with conditions like that, I'm ready to go again! Next time... the jumps.

Monthan AFB, Arizona

It's difficult to comprehend the number of military aircraft in dead storage until you see these photographs!