August First

As if I need more reminding of how fast time is flying lately, I look up and there it is on the wall. The August page is up on the calendar. This year is truly going fast. And summer is halfway through.What happened in the first half of the summer? Here in California, wildfires happened, over 2000 of them. And there’s one burning near Yosemite. Oh no! One could just imagine the anguish of all those affected by the blazes, both those who lost their homes and those whose homes were miraculously spared. And all the environmental impact as well as the health hazards brought about by the fires have a lasting effect, long after the summer of 2008 is gone.

I was in Yosemite during the Memorial Day weekend. I mean after that holiday weekend. There was snow a foot deep in the higher elevations and in the valley wildflowers had yet to arrive. I was meaning to get back in time for the beauties of the valley to grace and beautify the already gorgeous place, but work has been crazy and with the horrific gas prices it was not easy to just up and go.

Summer has always been cool and pleasant around the bay. We did experience two episodes of heat wave, the last one urged us to get a portable airconditioning unit. Believe me all the stores who were selling AC units were running out of stock. I know because I was there and two of the models we were eyeing ran out on us on two different locations/stores. The irony of it is after we bought the unit and used it for one night, the famous marine layer, aka fog, or natural air conditioner of the bay area returned. From then on until today, we have not had any opportunity to use the unit. The temperature has remained normal, which is cool and pleasant, to even below our normal, cooler.

And in a week the Summer Olympics will open. I did not watch any of the Olympic trials on tv. I was not interested. I am more of a Winter Olympics fan, figure skating is my sport to watch.

I heard a new word or concept this week, couch surfing. It’s close to house-swapping. You know you go online, register on a site, chat with potential homeowners who are willing to lend you their house in exchange for yours. There was a movie about this, whose name has escaped me right now, am having a senior moment please bear with me, that starred Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. Okay, so you get the idea. Couch surfing is similar, except that you don’t swap couches. People with couches and those who are looking for couches for the night log on a website and register, I suppose, then you go and chat and see if you are going to say Phoenix and if there are people in Phoenix whose couches are available for you to crash in for the night/s you are visiting the town. Anyway, like every concept, this has good and not so good points. The good point is for a single traveller who can free up say $48 for a motel room and just accept the hospitality of another’s couch for the night. As with everything else, be careful, check, and recheck profile and chat with potential couch owner/visitor few times to see if you’re compatible or if you like what they see. But this would be good for a lot of back packers. I hear it’s available in many countries as well.

California is without budget yet. So, Gov. Arnold plans to lay off 10,000 state workers and cut the paychecks of about 200,000 workers to the minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. Here’s what’s the union say about this.

I better hurry up and enjoy the beach and the outdoors before summer departs.

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