PHOTO RADAR REDUX.......

I read the news today......oh boy!

PHOENIX - Phoenix police arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a man who was operating a state police photo radar unit that was parked on a north Phoenix freeway to catch speeders, police said Monday.

The suspect was being questioned Monday morning, Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said in a news release. Police said more information would be released at a briefing later in the day.

The victim, 51-year-old Doug Georgianni, was shot just before 9 p.m. Sunday on the Loop 101 freeway and 7th Avenue.
Video equipment on the photo enforcement SUV, which is marked as an Arizona Department of Public Safety vehicle, showed a vehicle that was believed to have been used during the shooting. The driver of that vehicle was described as a man who appears to be in his 60s and has white hair and a white mustache.

Georgianni had worked for three months for RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc. The company has a contract with DPS to operate photo enforcement vehicles and fixed cameras on state highways.

When he was shot, Georgianni was inside the Ford Escape and monitoring data collection, the DPS said.

I just knew somebody would start to get even with the photo radar guys in Phoenix. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

iPhone.......AGAIN

I need to say it again. I was wrong. Meredith...can you hear me. Julie wake up from your nap....I was wrong. Colleen, you know I always agreed with you about the phone.

This iPhone is, well, GREAT. Yes, there is an APP for that...regardless of what you want to do. Somebody thought of it and wrote the code. I am almost sure there is an APP to pick your nose if you really want it.

As I use this thing I can not stop being amazed. Why didn't somebody tell me about this? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I FOUGHT THE LAW AND........

Well, we really don't know the conclusion at this point. The no talent CHP Officer above says I was riding on the shoulder. That's violation 21755 of the California Vehicle Code. But I took pictures to show that I was riding between lanes and that is NOT the shoulder.

I went to court. Waited two hours for my case. Officer Sunshine here showed up. But he underestimated me. I can see why. The other people who were there were just plain stupid. They had no defense other then to say ..."the cop is lying" Ha ha ha. Ya the Judge really likes that.

The Judge asked a guy...Do you want to go to traffic school and avoid the points? The Guy said No. Then he went on to say he wasn't sure how fast he was driving but he was 100% sure he wasn't speeding. Guilty, $248 fine.

My point is the Officer charged me with riding on the shoulder and I wasn't on the shoulder. I had photos, like the one above, and Google Earth Satellite images of the highway. The Judge said he would go look at this and send us his verdict. 50-50 chance I win.

Stay tuned. I have a second ticket for Speeding and I am 100% sure I was doing 62 mile per hour.

SHEEP WAITING IN LINE

This photo of sheep tells the whole story. It is the dumbest story ever told but you need to hear it so as to help me save mankind.

Saturday we went to South Coast Plaza. Pam bought an ARMANI suit. [Yes that is another long story.....a $3,500 story] As we drove into the mall parking lot we saw a loooong line of cars waiting to exit. The line went out to the freeway on ramp. I thought it was strange but, it's the weekend and maybe the economy is better than we think.

We finally got the suit. Pam wears a 34 in Italian size. Only a few 34's are available in ARMANI suits. You would think they would make more. It is a VERY NICE BLACK SUIT. It should be.

As we drove out the long line was there waiting for us to exit. We waited as it slowly took us up and over the freeway to the 405 on ramp. Then down the ramp. I saw the problem. People were stopping for the on ramp light that controls traffic entering the freeway. I thought it odd that the light would be working on the weekend. It is really to control traffic during rush hour.

As we approached the light I saw that THE LIGHT WAS OFF. It was not working. People were stopping just as if it were on. It wasn't flashing...it was off. And, stay with me, people were stopping. They would wait for the light to change, until they felt really stupid, and then they would drive away. But worse the people behind them paid no attention and when it was their turn...THEY STOPPED FOR THE LIGHT TOO. When I got to the light, the car in front of me was sitting there...waiting. I honked and then as if she had been hit on the head, the Chinese lady in the Mercedes, drove off. I just drove through and kept going.

Behind me I could see people still stopping. Waiting for a light, that wasn't working, to change.

Mankind has become too stupid to know when the stop light ISN'T WORKING. Soon we will need a text message to tell us to urinate. We are becoming Sheep.

ROOM & BOARD

This is not a paid advertisement. I just want to pass on some good news and a tip about ROOM & BOARD.

Furniture is necessary and always too expensive. I see it like blue jeans. You want it to fit well and last a long time but not be $100 per pair. Levis have always been the best value. I like the story about Levi Strauss coming to find gold in San Francisco during the 1849 Gold Rush. The Gold he found was in making jeans out of tent material. Here is a link to him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss

Back to my point. Furniture is necessary. When we built our new house we decided to give most of our furniture to Meredith who was moving to an apartment in San Francisco. For a short time we lived in an apartment with no furniture. We had a bed and a plasma screen TV. We would sit on the floor to eat and watch TV. We should have lived in a trailer I suppose.

All our new furniture was in storage at ROOM & BOARD. We went to the local ROOM & BOARD store in Costa Mesa and picked out things for the new house. Then we went on line to make decisions about color and sizes. Finally, I called a really nice lady in Minnesota [ yes she said MINN -A- SOOODA]. ROOM & BOARD is headquartered in Minnesota and they have a call center there. We picked all our stuff, had it made or shipped to the Irvine Warehouse and stored until we were ready to move.

It was cool moving into to a new home and then having all new furniture delivered. It was like living in a model home or at a hotel. The things we ordered worked out great. It has been 18 months and not a single problem. ROOM & BOARD like Levis is a great value. If you have not been to a ROOM & BOARD Store, or seen their great catalog, here is a link to their site. I recommend them for Traditional / Contemporary Furniture. It's NOT Modern. It is good solid stuff that looks like the 21st Century.

http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Well, I never thought I would change may mind but I bought an iPhone, and it is just great.

Back in the 1980s I was one of the first to own an Apple Computer. We had Macs and one of the first PowerBooks. Meredith and Colleen learned to use the computer on Mac. They were always way too expensive and fragile. I remember having out first Mac torn apart on the living room floor as I taught myself to replace the hard drive. I swore I would never go back to Apple after we got our first PC.

When the first iPhone came out, everyone waited in line. I thought SUCKERS. This phone will only break your heart with its promise of being great and then CRASH. Many of the original buyers were later disappointed when the new phones came out with twice the memory at cheaper prices. I laughed again at them for falling for the same old Apple marketing gimmicks. Then Colleen wanted the iPhone and I looked at them with her. They were cool but I was still 100% sure they were basic crap. Colleen's Mac Lap top crashed twice and so did Kimmy's. Again, I was sure Apple was a joke.

My phone, the Treo 750 was rock solid for three years. Once in while I had to reboot it and I lost all my files one time but overall it was great. Each day it got older and slower. I kept waiting for the "New PALM PRE" to go on sale. It was the phone of the future. They released the TREO 800 PRO which looked cool but was really just like my own Treo. About once a month Palm would send me an email about the NEW PALM PRE...coming soon.

Then Pam got a new Blackberry Curve. I started looking at Blackberry in a new light. The Blackberry Bold was very nice AND.............all the reports said it was almost as good as a..Holy Shit iPhone. What? Was I reading all this right? The Apple iPhone was the best phone around?

So, I got my last unemployment check in the mail. $475.00. Thanks again Arnold and Barrack. At the Bank, I passed the AT&T store and went in to look at the Blackberry Bold. Jason Yee, the sales guy was good. He asked me how I used my phone. I told him I used it as a hand-held mini-computer. He showed me how the Bold worked and how it did everything I wanted. I was ready to buy the Bold. Then I asked him about the iPhone. He took his out of his pocket and said, "Here try it." The guy, who sells phones, owns an iPhone. I said, "Aren't these really just a toy?" He showed me all the applications on his phone. It was like going back in time to my old PowerBook. It could do anything and it was way cool.

So I asked the BIG QUESTION...which phone is better? Jason said, "They both make calls and get email. The iPhone does much more and it is designed to be able to do more in the future. They are adding new applications almost daily that will run on this phone." He was right. Just as Apple invented the use of the mouse and forced the development of Windows. Apple has reinvented the hand held device. It isn't a phone. It is the magic wand of the future.

So long TREO and so long Sprint. I drank the Apple flavored kool aid again and I'm skipping down iPhone lane.