October 2007 Archives

A LONG WAY FROM HOME: Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer has been tracking the paths of toys - such as these - that came from a shipwreck in 1992. JIM INGRAHAM/KRT

Drifting rubber duckies chart oceans of plastic

By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

PARIS – Theirs is an epic tale of resilience and pluck, a seafarer's yarn of high-seas adventure that has seen them brave some of the world's wildest waters in their 11-year odyssey from the Pacific Ocean toward landfall in Europe.

They have bobbed through storms that would have wrecked larger vessels, to drift deliberately down the Bering Strait. They have patiently borne a four-year spell trapped in Arctic ice packs, to float freely into the Atlantic.

Full story | csmonitor.com

I saw my first 6B licensing plate yesterday, on a nice black Chrysler 300 parked on the east side of Brand just outside the gym.

This article says previously pregnant women should not donate platelets. This may cut the donor population by 25%.

New Transfusion Rules Restrict Donations from Previously Pregnant Women - AOL Money & Finance

I watched Shooter with Mark Wahlburg this morning. For a straight action movie, it worked pretty well.

My friend Tim and I were discussing turkeys on the FJR Forum, and I posted a picture from a recent ride on Tepusquet Road where I came across a group of turkeys. While I was composing my post, I searched for the official name for a group of turkeys on Wikipedia, which lists two: raffle and rafter. I flipped a coin, and settled on a raffle of turkeys for my post.

Tim did his own research, and found a more authoritative source that listed only rafter. I gladly conceded the point, and determined that the official name for a group of turkeys is hereby rafter.

Here's Tim's source: Group names for birds

Mandy came over last night. I made enchiladas (which my spell-checker just told me has only one L), spanish rice, refried beans, the whole deal - along with some veggie dip for starters, and a choice of a fresh fruit salad or brownies and ice cream for dessert (which I know has two S's).

We played Phase 10, which was pretty cool. I took over Justin's game when he left to pick up Crissany at work, and together we took the title.

Justin is getting better and better riding his new Kawasaki ZZR-600. Last weekend he wanted to go for a ride with me, but I had messed up my foot moving his bike out of the garage. (I was barefoot, and didn't put his kickstand up; when I put the bike down after moving it, the side-stand landed on the top of my right foot. D'oh.) We rescheduled for today, with some minor twisties and some introductory freeway driving on the agenda.

We suited up around 11am, and hit the road. I almost immediately went onto reserve. D'oh. We took the surface street route to my old work - Muscatel, Longden, San Marino, Huntington (briefly), Monterey, El Molino, Mission, Grand, Columbia, Arroyo, San Rafael, Laguna, Hermosa, San Miguel to Colorado. Under the bridge to Linda Vista, over the I-210 to Oak Grove, then Berkshire and the freeway, north-bound.

I forgot to ask Justin about his break-in speed limit, but we kept it under 75 anyway - mostly. We got off at La Tuna Canyon, took it down to Honolulu, then got back on the freeway going south. Justin looked comfortable with the freeway riding, so we took the 210 all the way back, getting off at Madre.

The FJR had 34.5 miles on reserve when we pulled into the driveway. D'oh.

Google Maps of the route.

I watched Ronin this morning - the new Collector's Edition DVD that Jeremy got for me. DeNiro and Reno, great car chases and shoot-outs, and a plot that holds together. Michael Lonsdale is great as the enigmatic Jean-Pierre.

Rebecca gave me a plague for my 150th donation, back in August.