Oh yes. The season pass .
For just a few hundred bucks I have purchase a whole year of abuse to my knees, liver, and any part of me that encounters any number of potentially lethal stationary objects while I'm traveling at a high rate of speed.
If even Advil is proven to be cancer causing, I'm definitely a dead man.
Sure, in my neighborhood, this is a ride of choice for forty-year-old douchebag millionaires who made their fortune selling bad mortgages in south OC, all while wearing torn True Religions and positively ridiculous, blingy man blouses, but I have to admit, THIS may be the prettiest car I have seen come from Italy in a long, long time.
Those damn Italians. They are obnoxious, unreliable, and totally incapable of doing anything on an kind of schedule, but they make some spectacular automobiles. I think the Stig may have one of the best jobs in the world.
Postscript: Ironically, the first version of this car in the US was sold to none other than the founder of True Religion jeans. @#$%ing figures.
After twenty years (literally, TWENTY YEARS) of daily workouts at the gym, I've not set foot inside a weight room in over a month. Sure, the increased pressures of a professional life contributes to this. And admittedly, my perpetually painful knees aren't helping either. But a month ago I invested in the TRX Fitness system - a tool I first tried in a hotel gym in Calgary two years ago. And, honestly, I love it.
With thirty to sixty minutes of these exercises, I am getting absolutely jacked. I'm going to start bringing these on the daily dog walks to crank out workouts at the beach. The concept is so damn simple too. By pulling against gravity with nothing more than my body weight, I'm constantly engaging all kinds of little stabilizer muscles for balance. And, because I can assist my tortured knees on all the leg exercises, I'm finally able to do SOMETHING for my legs that doesn't cause me to pop Advil like Tic-Tacs.
Admittedly, the price tag was a bit steep for what amounts to a set of nylon tie downs with a handle sewn onto the ends, but I figure the two DVDs of training programs make the investment more than worthwhile.
And to have a viable full body workout option that I can toss into my travel bag or utilize in my office on those days when a drive to the gym through SoCal's summer traffic is just beyond my motivation.
If you are in reasonable shape and travel a lot, I HIGHLY recommend this stuff. If you are just getting into shape, I recommend getting a trainer first. The nature of these exercises can put some considerable stress on your connective tissue - and if you don't have the body awareness or joint strength to deal with it, well, you too could soon be popping pills.
But no matter who you are, some of these exercises are going to make you cry.
Oh, where to begin! Where? There's just so much here. Aromazing? Seriously? AROMA-ZING?
First, is that a word? At all? Ever?
Second, if it is, isn't that just an advertiser's perverse, backward way of telling you that it will make your hair stink?
Third, "time to SPA?" Spa?! At what point did "spa" become a verb? Apparently, our marketing manager used to work in consulting, turning normal, everyday nouns into verbs, like "teaming."
Finally, "sharp" shower gel? Sharp is not an adjective that I would want or expect to be associated with a gel, showers, bathing and/or, nudity in general.
This really made me glad to be bald.
Spent a little time up on the Nob.
Hill.
Chill, Brent.
I'm usually down in the Tender-Nob (again, quit your snorting), but the Monaco was booked, I'm a bit bored of the Adagio, and the Mark Hopkins, one of my favorite properties in the Bay Area, happened to have availability. So I was at the top of the Mark, top of the Hill, on a bright, sunny Tuesday in San Fran. Ate some Chinese food, visited with some friends, blew out my knees on the hill, and reminded myself once again why I probably should give serious consideration to a semi-permanent relocation.
I took an hour this morning to wander around with my camera in search of a coffee shop (I finally found Isabella's), and took a few shots. I would have had better light except it took me nearly 40 minutes to get out of the hotel this morning as we had very special guests at the property. And these guests required a whole lot of very heavily armed guards and traffic control and elevator closures and large men with earpieces who were more than happy to scare the ever-living shit out of San Francisco's hapless, iPod sporting cyclists (cyclists accustomed to ignoring cops and traffic signals and parked cars) when they attempt ride right through a secret service blockade.
I didn't care. It's not every week that you get to hang out with the first family. And by hang out I mean, sleep in the same building as.
I was instructed to tell Michelle "I love you" on behalf of at least three good friends, and one specifically asked me to give her a hug.
Somehow, after watching the response to that cyclist, I'm pretty sure that if I did get that close to her, a hug would have been DEFINITELY out of the question.
Again.
For the (number removed to preserve my inheritance) time.
We love you!
Driving into the valley, we passed this immaculate Packard. It was stopped on the side of the road. Had a bit of a blockage in the fuel line.
I figure after 75 years, even a Packard can have trouble with cholesterol.
This may have been the most luxurious car I have ever seen. And even the big V12 was beautiful. The owners, despite their predicament, were kind enough to let me take photos and talk to me about the vehicle.
This was one of the preferred modes of transportation for the celebrity elite back in the day. And just looking at the leather and wood inside and out, it's easy to see why.
In related news, I've posted most of the best photos from the Sierra road trip. We saw deer and bear and marmot and elk and ate pie at the Tioga Lodge. I always eat pie at the Tioga Lodge. I will drive ten hours JUST TO EAT PIE at the Tioga Lodge.
And then we ran the dog senseless in Lee Vining and had fish tacos at a gas station . I always eat fish tacos at the gas station. I will drive ten hours JUST TO EAT FISH TACOS at the gas station.
And it was good.
Here's the pics . Enjoy.
I don't know if you have been paying attention, but if you haven't noticed, we are in the middle (beginning? end? lost indefinitely inside?) of a severe economic recession.
Banks are failing. Businesses are failing. BIG banks and BIG businesses are failing. The State of California is failing. Homeowners are failing. And about half my friends are out of work.
Most of us, if we have listened to ANY form of mass media or have or had a job are well aware of this. And you may even have a decent idea of how it all came to be. The bad mortgages. The bad derivatives. The housing bubble. Somebody blames Greenspan. Somebody blames Bush. Somebody blames Fannie May. Somebody blames Wall Street. And suddenly everybody is right or everybody is wrong.
And in reality, well, both those ideas are true.
Over the last year, "This American Life" has done a fantastic job of collecting the information and reporting on the whole, big, hairy, ugly mess in a way that makes it all almost make sense. These stories aren't about pointy fingers or burning torches. They are an explanation for those of us who lack a degree in finance and are sick to death of the people with the pointy fingers and burning torches telling us who is to blame and what we should think.
These episodes, remarkable in this day and age as it might sound, seem at least to this admittedly financial layman to be a fair and reasoned approach to the whole, damn thing.
So I encourage, you, if you are a citizen, if you are curious, take a few hours over the next few days, and listen to these four podcasts. Some of this isn't surprising. Some of it is downright shocking. And when taken together, the whole lot of it makes this mess appear almost understandable - if not inevitable.
A Giant Pool of Money
: The Mortgage crisis explained.
Another Frightening Show about the Economy
: The big, bad bailout.
Bad Bank
: The banking crisis explained.
The Watchmen
: The regulators explained.
Did a little road trip to the valley this weekend. Photographing a place as iconic and overexposed as Yosemite can sometimes make you feel a little uninspired. Then, walking around, you realize just what makes Yosemite iconic.
It's spectacular.
And good images are largely the result of just pointing your camera somewhere and pressing the button.
Expect a whole lot more of these this week.
