Camino saves me time!

I recently upgraded my web browser to the latest version of Camino. Looking through the preferences for a way to turn off the spellchecker (story for another time), I found an option to block Flash.

I love this! Many websites are loading much more quickly. I don't get distracting motion in my field of vision. It saves me time and bandwidth.

For example, I had one site that sends me an email every week, inviting me to listen to the answer to a business question. Often, I'm interested in the answer. But if I went to the site, the Flash would swamp my browser. I had to walk away from the computer, go check the land mail, get a glass of water, stretch for a minute or two. Then, when I came back, maybe the audio would be ready to play, and maybe it wouldn't.

All because the site designer put a rotating question mark in the margin of the page, and chose an inelegant solution for providing the audios. Completely useless.

Now it loads at a more reasonable pace. I've listened to more of the audios, now that I don't have the hurdle of a long wait keeping me from them.

What if I want to see a piece of Flash animation? No problem! Camino puts a button where the Flash goes. I can click on it, and then the Flash plays. Always at my choice.

It's the evolution of the web, become as useful and reasonable as pop-up blockers and anti-spam email filters.

Camino is a Mac browser from the Mozilla group. We're running it very happily under Mac OS 10.3.9 If you run something else, I'm sure you can find someone who can advise you on what would work for you.

May you have great control of your virtual environment.

Monsoon Season

Las Cruces used to get most of its annual moisture in a two week 'monsoon season'. Two weeks in summer would have a lot of thunderstorms -- gully washers, even -- and that would be it. The rest of the year would be dry.

Last year, monsoon season uncharacteristically lasted twelve weeks.

It's running long this year, too. My theory is that higher temperatures lift more water out of the gulf, and higher air pressures carry it over here to dump it.

Ever since we watched An Inconvenient Truth, I've been drying most of the laundry on a rack and a couple lines in the laundry room. I like to catch the towels when they are not quite dry and tumble them a little to soften them.

Now that it's monsoon season -- the towels just stay at not quite dry. Nothing is drying that well on the rack or lines.

So, the heat create extra moisture that slows drying that tempts me to use the dryer and create more heat -- a vicious cycle.

I'll be glad when the air dries out a bit more.

The house is staying cleaner

All of a sudden, it seems we keep on top of the dishes and the vaccuuming. It's very odd, really. At some point, Doug and I both looked around and said, hey! this place looks better with the floors and counters cleared. And the habits to keep them that way just seemed to happen.

I'm glad to report that I still don't fold fitted sheets as neatly as flat sheets.

May what's important to you come with ease.

Anna

Wood tastes better than metal

Hey!

It's been a while. I have been measurably swamped. With good stuff. The life coaching business is picking up speed, and Tommy's book nears completion. I can hardly wait to be able to show it to people.

Do you know, silverware tastes wrong to me with Chinese food. So I tasted metal and I tasted wood, and wood tastes better to me. Something I probably never would have noticed if I hadn't learned to use chopsticks.

I'm sure there's something profound in there. I'm taking a day off, so I won't dig for it.

Have a great day!

Anna

Too busy?

I just sat down to make myself a to do list, and added over sixty items to it. Hmmm. Some of them are simple, like feed the cats. Some of them are entire projects in themselves, like build a Paypal shopping cart. After all, I still need to create the products that would go in the cart.

I didn't even notice Tuesday passing without a blog this week. Not until Thursday.

So it's quite possible the 'blog every Tuesday' plan has run its course. I'm not sure it still serves a purpose. I have my twice monthly newsletter, Creating Space, to connect on a regular basis. It's more structured and more focused than the blog, and in its five issue life is already receiving much more response than this blog.

So, notice is hereby served: I'm going back to posting irregularly. I'll write here when I wish to. When this is the best forum for my passing thoughts, or when inspiration strikes.

The newsletter, for more regular communications, is available at annaparadox.com/newsletter.

I continue to wish you all the best.

Anna

The best way

My rose bushes are a bit rangy.

So I'm very fortunate that they are also in full bloom.

I took the traditional dozen buds -- and they even had decent length stems -- and placed them in a vase.

Ah.

P.S. In other good news, the spaceport measure has unofficially passed by about 240 votes.

A Squeaker

As of this morning, the Dona Ana county bond measure to build the spaceport in southern New Mexico is passing by a margin of 204 votes. All regular votes have been counted, although the results will not be official for another week. 541 provisional votes -- cast by citizens whose voting eligibility could not immediately be confirmed -- remain to be canvassed and counted.

Historical trends suggest that about 200 of the provisional votes will not be valid. They also suggest that the yes/no balance of the provisional votes will be close to that of the main votes.

For the ballot to fail now, valid, provisional votes against it will have to outnumber votes for it by 205 -- possibly a little less, if a recount changes the numbers a bit. That means that the provisional voters must go against the measure by more than (small pause for math: 541-205=336. 336/2=168 168/(168+205)=45% -- which is the smallest percent of yes votes that can fail, obtained when all ballots are valid and yes loses by one vote.) 55% to 45%. It's still possible the measure will fail. However, its chances of passing look very decent at this point.

It will take a week to check the validity of the provisional ballots and return officials results. I am fairly optimistic that the measure will pass.

In fact, I'm excited! To see this grand project move ahead in my lifetime -- where I will be able to see the vertical contrails from my home -- pleases me very much. I truly look forward to our next steps.

Ooops

I forgot it was Tuesday!

Perhaps a crash was inevitable. After the rush of Ad Astra one weekend and the marathon of editing the next, I slumped into a bit of non-productivity. Drat! Things were going so well.

It wasn't just that I was getting a lot done -- although I like that a lot. I was also surprised by frequent, sudden bursts of joy. Everything felt so right with my world. Bright hopes, blissful work, great health -- I was altogether happy.

Lately, I've been dragging a bit more. Maybe the fatigue catching up with me. And also, while I was very busy I wasn't laying the foundations for my next work. So when the current push ended, I had time on my hands.

Now that I'm an entrepreneur, it continually falls to me to gather my own business. If I let that part slow, then the fun working part slows, too. And I'm still fighting new start inertia. There really is a lot to do.

Yesterday I turned in the papers for my name change. The court process takes about two months, and if there is no objection -- and New Mexico law lists no reason why there should be -- Anna Paradox will be my legal name as well as my usual identity. Filling out the papers was a strange feeling -- as if I had become indeterminate. For a little while, my name is somewhat undefined, and it was as if I, too, was undefined. How much do we confound our existence with our words about it?

All for today.

May you all name yourselves well.

Anna Paradox

Named trinkets

Hello!

Feels like I just came home from Ad Astra, and here it is Tuesday again.

I've been happy all week.

Just before I left, I received my first iPod. It's an 8G Nano Product (red), and I had copied my Holosync in uncondensed audio format to it. Having an audio meditation aid made it possible to travel through delays and arrive in reasonable condition. At some point in the trip, I looked into my purse to get the iPod and thought 'Preciouss!" The name stuck. One ring to scroll them all. Preciouss (sic) it is.

While at the con, I chose to do the neighborly thing, and attend the auction. It's for charity, after all -- in this case, to fund an award for Canadian science fiction. In a brilliant innovation that charity auctioneers everywhere might wish to emulate, three ladies in red dancing dresses presented the items. They did a fantastic job of adding extra interest to the mercenary proceedings.

Midway through the festivities, they brought a costume brooch up for sale -- a gold salamander dotted with orange crystals and with three fiery opalescent ovals following his twisting spine. The lead auctioneer promptly dubbed him "Sparkly Bob". "C'mon," she said, "surely someone can raise the bid on Sparkly Bob."

I'm proud to say I now own Sparkly Bob. I wore him on my brown jacket over a tangerine blouse, with all but his tail emerged from the left chest pocket, and I fancy he was happy there.

May you take pleasure in the gifts that come your way.

Convention Report

What a trip it was!

I prepared myself with a light travel backpack, my liquids 3-1-1'd, in case I wanted to carry it, my new iPod loaded with Holosync, Paraliminals, and music, a bit of reading material, my journal, lots of business cards, one page of talking points for each of my panels, my passport, my printed receipts from the web purchase of my airline tickets, and my hotel reservation confirmation number. Of course I chose clothing from my life coaching wardrobe, and I carried my cell phone, some pens, a notebook and some cash. Those items are my essentials.

I started well. Doug drove me to the El Paso airport, and I quickly found my ticket on the e-check kiosk. All was well. My flight from El Paso to Houston went easily and on time.

The drama started in Houston. My flight to Toronto was cancelled. The only rerouting they could find for me left Houston seven hours later for Las Vegas and then left Las Vegas three hours after that for Toronto. I would arrive at 6 am the following morning rather than 4 pm that day. Since it was due to weather, they offered not so much as a meal voucher.

Well, well, the cell phone came in handy here. I called Doug for emotional support, and he further aided me by emailing the convention programming organizer about my delay, and by getting me the hotel's phone number. I called the hotel, and they graciously agreed to roll my reservation back a day. I called my poker coach, Tommy Angelo, the better to remind myself not to tilt.

Then I had a good time exploring the terminal. I visited a couple check in agents to get the new tickets worked out, and checked my bag. I found a quiet corridor where I had the option to walk rather than take a tram for a quarter mile. I seized the opportunity to sing a Heather Alexander tune unobserved. Or maybe not, because when I next went through security, they set me aside for extra screening. I passed. I stretched, found some food, rested with the aid of Holosync, and the remaining legs of my flight happened as rescheduled. I rested some on each of them, again with Holosync. Was feeling fairly decent when I reached Toronto.

I took a taxi to the hotel, and they graciously checked me in. I was able to get a shower, a change of clothes, and breakfast before my first function. I also registered with the convention, and Alana Otis, the head of programing herself, supplied me with my badge, the con program, the pocket program, and my name on a table tent. Sweet. My badge had a white ribbon that said "Panelist" attached to it, and a schedule with locations for the panels I was on. Very nice.

My first function was the Polaris book launch. I met Julie Czerneda (cher-NAY-da), the editor of the anthology, and three of my co-authors, Emily Mah, Jane Carol Petrovich, and Sarah Niedoba. They were all friendly and articulate. Julie ran everything with energy and kindness, Emily turned out to also be from New Mexico, Jane brought her son Benjamin, and Sarah was the winner of the student contest, charmingly modest. After Julie introduced us and told how she came to gather a polar science anthology, we each spoke briefly about our stories, and then people lined up to have us sign their books. I signed for about 40 minutes, feeling amazingly thankful to be there, and to have people care.

My three official panels were Privacy vs. Security, Editing Tips and Tricks, and Terror vs. Optimism. At all three, I felt I had something useful to add. At none did I present all my prepared points, as there were other thoughtful and energetic panelists presenting theirs. I was glad I had prepared. I enjoyed being at the front of the room, felt perfectly comfortable there, and I want to do it again.

Around the panels, I talked to people. I met a lot of friendly and thoughtful fans and pros. I picked up some items from the auction, and some from dealers. I lost track of how many of my cards I had given away. While my energy held, I glowed just to be at a con. When it flagged, I went to my room and rested.

It was a very good con. The warm local fen had me feeling right at home. And there was an interesting streak of activism. We had Julie Czerneda telling us that polar science was particularly critical now, Cory Doctorow suggesting we join the EFF and reroute our web traffic, and David Stephenson tracing the materials science that will make space mining or stiff population reduction our only options if current trends continue. I can't recall a con where there was so much encouragement to act on behalf of the future. I liked that, too. It feels like time for it.

My trip home had a few complications as well. I was sorted home only two hours late, with the help of friendly and competent Continental Air employees. It was good to smell the air of the Southwest again.

I do belong at conventions like these. I want to continue to be a panelist, and continue to meet and talk with fans. I had an amazing time.

May you all find your communities.

Poised Between Past and Future

Last week, I changed the template and couldn't think of a thing to say. This week, almost too much has happened, and I'm preparing for another significant event.

On Wednesday, Doug's father Mo went back to the hospital. Lois found him groggy and confused -- much unlike him -- and called an ambulance. Her first thought, after his recent heart troubles, was stroke. As it turned out, he had a bacterial infection that flooded his system with toxins. He spent two days in ICU, had some drama over low blood pressure, followed by skyrocketing blood sugar, and at last a return to healthy homeostasis, and then they sent him home again, with both sulfa and a powerful mold-based antibiotic.

The infectious agent was an antibiotic-resistant form of staph called MRSA for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. There's a discussion of it here which is enough to worry a person. The mention of the need again to emphasize hand-washing among health care workers seemed like a throwback to the years before Pasteur.

Mo went to ICU Wednesday evening. By Thursday morning, modern medical science had a decisive edge in the battle. Lois said we needn't fly out. Last night we spoke to them, and they were tired and returning to normal.

Meanwhile, last week was also final push for one of my editing clients. Professional No-Limit Hold 'em went to the publisher last night. This one is going to make a difference in how people play no-limit hold 'em. Look for it from 2 + 2 in a couple months. 2 + 2 is a small and agile publisher, as well as holding their products to a high standard of reliability. I'm very pleased to have been part of the project.

Now I gear up for my first science fiction convention as a guest. I'm on three panels at Ad Astra in Toronto next weekend, plus the book launch for Polaris, which holds my first published sf story. I'm really looking forward to seeing the con from the other side of the table. I've done a little research and plan to do a bit more and have my thoughts lightly organized on my panel topics. This will make a relatively gradual introduction to public speaking.

If you're in Toronto this weekend, stop by the Crowne Plaza Don Valley and say hi.

Forced change of Blogger

I put it off as long as I could. I resisted every invitation to move to the new Blogger. At last, they made it mandatory this morning. And of course, despite offering to keep my template, the template is broken.

So soon I'll have to say goodbye to this format. I don't know when I'll find time to delve into the html and recreate the lovely corners I used to have. Maybe I will just switch templates. The image file for the corners may be lost.

I have been very busy. Lots of time editing, lots of time devoted to building the life coaching business. Starting to see some traction from both activities. I was very pleased to have someone contact me, interested in editing. We will see how this goes.

Also very excited to be attending Ad Astra science fiction convention in Toronto as a guest first weekend in March. Time to try the other side of the table. I am really looking forward to it.

At my training, Martha Beck asked if we had ever seen a dog work. Dogs totally love their work. They go out and exhaust themselves, bouncing and happy all the time. Long hours, and love, and then when they play or rest, they are one hundred percent present for those activities, too.

I am so glad to have work I love. A twelve hour day of creative engagement with talented people is far more satisfying and much less fatiguing than four hours of meaningless employment.

My long term plan is for a forty hour work week. I am very thankful to the worker's movement for gaining us time for a more varied life.

May your work feed your soul.
Anna

The Smart Cat

Hello, world, it's Tuesday.

Today it's raining in Las Cruces. Pumpkin intrepidly followed Doug out the door when he left for class.

A bit later, I went into my office to check some items off my to-do list. For the first time, Pumpkin was on the exterior sill of my office window. She greeted me, and made some questioning noises.

Pumpkin has a lot of control over her voice. She can say a lot of different words. And when vocalizing doesn't work, she's very expressive with the tilt of her ears and the turn of her back, too.

Anyway, I figured she wanted me to let her in out of the rain. So I went to the front door and called her.

"Row-oo-era?" she said.

"Come on, you can jump off the ledge and make it in."

"Row-row?"

"Hey, it's raining out there, and I have my slippers on. Are you going to make me get my feet wet?"

She paced back and forth on the ledge, pretending to be helpless. "Row-row?"

"Oh, alright." I walked across the yard and through the roof's drip line, and offered my arms. She came to them, and I put her on my shoulder, the way she likes.

"You're spoiled, you know."

She purred loudly, snuggling in, and licking my ear.

"OK, forgiven," I said.

Home and Home

I had a great time at Cosine last weekend. It was a small sf convention in Colorado Springs. The very gracious Connie Willis was guest of honor, and propelled a large proportion of the panels. She had much of interest to say.

Wil McCarthy was also in attendance, and reports progress on his way to Wellstone. He talked about how they have been discovering marketable advances along the way. It is a balancing act, harvesting enough to keep the process fueled and not getting distracted from the main goal.

It was good to be among fandom again. SF does feel like home. So now I'm considering again writing. Connie Willis inspires literary aims. She so clearly loves reading and writing. She likes fans, too.

I gave away a handful of cards and talked a bit about life coaching. It felt like a good warm up.

I have made my airplane and hotel reservations for the Ad Astra Convention in Toronto March 2-4. I'm going to this one alone. Doug enjoyed Cosine, and feels his real work is here during the school year. So he'll be home with the cats. And I'll be on panels for my first time, courtesy of Julie Czerneda and the Polaris launch party. I'm excited. Wow, now I'm really A Pro.

Quite the adventure, and I'm looking forward to it.

May your dreams come true.

Gifts from Cockroaches

Disappointed to read here that Derek Kelly has lost his case that poker is a game of skill. It was a very high road approach to take to the case. His statements to the Gutshot forum indicate he is willing to fight on. I wish him every success.

I've restarted my morning tour of the perimeters of the rooms of my house. When we first moved here, I was finding a cockroach, about one per day, somewhere along the edge of one of our rooms each morning. Rather than let them pile up, I found it satisfying to seek them with a tour each morning, and flush them.

Well, the stream of inverted insects has stopped. I don't know if it is no longer their season, or if their nest died, or if they no longer find my house worth exploring, or what. In any case, I stopped finding somnolent roaches, so I let the morning tour lapse.

Then I found I missed it. So I have started again. It's actually even more pleasant, to survey my home in the predawn -- turning on one light, circling one room, turning off the light and moving to the next area -- when I don't find a cockroach to dispose of. Yet without the daily incursions, I would not have started the habit I now enjoy.

So I guess I owe them thanks. Not that I will grant them any more mercy, should they again start coming into my home.

I find them viscerally repulsive. It is also a gift that I have learned to deal with them, through the disgust, in a fairly calm and organized manner. That lesson, too, will serve me in the future.

For Derek Kelly, and all others who have hit setbacks -- may the apparent misfortune return many times its cost in unexpected ways.

Anna

Restart

Home again, after very nice holidays with Doug's parents -- it feels like the new year starts now. I have plans, long lists of actions to take to advance my business. The lists actually make me happy. I spent time thinking of my next actions, my long term plans, and the reasons I want them over the holidays. The return to center to gather my thoughts and choose my directions really strengthens me.

Here's the deal about life coaching -- I have tools that could help just about anyone. With my training and my experience, I can help people find their true calling, discover the goals that are meaningful to them, release the blocks that come between them and their goals, and develop strategies to achieve those goals. And who couldn't use that? Who couldn't use a listening ear, a skillful mind, and an encouraging voice as their support? And it really doesn't matter if the goals that flow from my client's heart are relationship goals or work goals, success goals, learning goals, health goals, or whatever it may be. Very many of the tools we've learned have extremely wide applicability. I could support just about anyone.

What I really want is to help the smart, creative, progressive people who care about the future be even more effective. I want to help environmentalists develop amazing ways to live abundantly using less energy, and find ways to preserve clean air, clean water, and wild spaces for posterity. I want to help space activists build commercial spaceflight and take all the steps that will lead to a spacefaring civilization. I want to empower the builders of democracy that will help our nation and world be agile, creative, free and just. I want to awaken and help to reach their platform those wise people who will give us the teachings so that we can be happy and wise and kind.

(I want our future to look like the Earth of Star Trek: The Next Generation -- clean and green and peaceful, wise, inclusive, democratic, and our people freed to adventure beyond our well of gravity.)

And I'm glad to work incrementally. Right now, there may be a man who would make a breakthrough in rocket propulsion design -- if only he weren't spending most of his hours wondering why he can't find a woman who loves him. I want to help. Right now, there may be a woman who would build a business selling an amazing energy-saving device, that could make every household in the country more efficient -- only she is so tired, she can't take the steps to realize her dream. I want to help. Right now, an idealistic student has a really great idea to make Washington more responsive to the people and more resistant to corruption -- and thinks the practical thing is to get a safe job and earn a living for twenty years, and then get back to it. I want to help.

I do believe that freeing individuals who care about the future to do their best, to dream and live effectively, is the best path to the best future. And I can do that. And I want to.

It's so strange, talking about this. I still struggle to tell people what I do. I've been able to practice, and I know that people who work with me feel lighter and stronger. They become freer to take action in the direction of their dreams. They find specific steps to take that will improve their lives. And they have someone to support them as they move into new territory. If your life was a game, what would you be playing for? Would having a coach for that game accelerate your progress? How could having someone to check in with every week or every month support you? If you are in transition now, would it help you to talk with someone -- once or a few times or over time -- whose only goal it was to help you find and live your own dreams?

I still write like I want to help everyone. And I do, indirectly. I will best directly serve those who share my interest in a creating a progressive future.

So last night, I made new business cards, targeted to SF fandom specifically. They say: Wings of Infinity Life Coaching. Helping SF Fans Create a Better Future. Then there's my contact information, and finally: Anna Paradox. Choose Your Game. Win it.

I'm taking them to a Cosine in Colorado Springs the weekend after next. It's one tactic to reach the people I can best serve.

Because my game is creating a fantastic future. And my strategy is to help people who care about the future lead more effective lives. Various methods of reaching those people, and various tools to help them, are all tactics to complete that strategy.

And then those I help can deploy their own strategies and tactics toward the glorious future we may reach long after I am gone.

Please bless me today. Most weeks, I bless you -- today I want your blessings. Write me at annaparadox at mac dot com (you know the translation), and send your good wishes. My work is calling, and I could use your support.

Times of transition

We had a wonderful Christmas. After a big family dinner at Izzy's on the 23rd, six of us went to the coast together. Doug's parents are doing well. Mo has regained much of his energy following the heart attack in October. Lois was cheery and generous as always. Doug's sister, Charis, came, and brought her good friend Andrea. They are both pastors. Then Doug and I completed the party.

The Oregon coast is beautiful and dramatic. We stayed at Worldmark in Seaside, and had an ocean view from our unit. The water was lapping around the historic turnaround there -- a concrete raised circle that touches the edge of the beach. Lois, who grew up in that area, said she has never seen the water so high. We walked along the promenade, played in the arcade, and ate very well from food we brought along and prepared in the full kitchen.

Andrea proved a great addition to the group. She was great to be around, interested and quick to lend a hand, generous and a lot of fun. We all told her she was welcome back. Her family is far away.

Everyone enjoyed the gift exchange. This year our rule was one gift from each to each. I was surprised and delighted to receive Absolute Sandman, vol. 1. The larger size and recoloring are gorgeous, and the stories are like old friends. I keep forgetting that these stories are horror. The gore, too, showed in greater detail. Yet there is a warmth and humanity -- after punishing Alex Burgess, Morpheus goes on to forgive Dee. Was he deliberately provoking Lyta Hall?

I'm only about half through the first volume. It will be hard to wait for the rest to come out in Absolute format. I'll likely reread the series from the graphic novels.

We will be at Mo and Lois' house for another week. Now that Christmas is over, my attention returns to the changes I am making in my life. How can I reach the people my life coaching can best serve? How do I do my work in the world, and receive the compensation that will let us live and continue our service? There are even harder questions: I feel our country has taken a wrong turn. Shall I lend my sway to restoring law and freedom? How?

The week between Christmas and New Year's often feels like found time to me. When the Christmas project is completed, and the New Year's projects are not yet ready to begin, there is a length of time ideal for planning changes. Shall I have new paths in 2007? How will we create income? What really is my most critical work to do in the world? How can I serve?

May you face your future with courage, and use this time of contemplation well.

Paradox World Journal

Hey!

We soon depart for Oregon for two weeks. We'll be spending the time with Doug's parents. Mostly in Portland, two nights on the Oregon Coast.

The Oregon Coast is known for dramatic weather. We should have a good chance to remind ourselves about rain and humidity. We seem to be forgetting pretty quickly.

I look forward to doing some shopping in Portland. It is still the best shopping city I have ever lived in. Low prices, great selection, no sales tax. Really a great place to shop, and since I'm not keen on carrying a lot of gifts on the airplane, I've delayed most of my Christmas shopping. This should be entertaining. Fortunately, I find something festive in large crowds of shoppers. Really looking forward to hitting Lloyd Center, which was my 'home' mall for seven years. I wonder how it has changed.

Maybe walk NW 23rd, or hit Saturday Market, or stroll the Alberta Art District. Just for old times' sake. And then there is the huge center of gravity that is Powell's books. Nothing makes a city feel like home more than a good used bookstore.

Las Cruces does have one. Coas' is very decent, especially considering how much smaller a population base it has to draw on than Powell's. And how many fewer rainy days there are here to inspire the locals to curl up at home with a book.

Life is good.

Happy holidays to all. I may skip another week as we travel. May the new year find you well and prospering.

Las Cruces Buses

Good morning!

We've been walking more recently. The repair on our car, originally estimated for 2 days has reliably been extended by a day each day for the last 4 business days. Of course the shop is closed on weekends.

I'm a little out of the habit of it. It's very easy to become accustomed to the seductive dinosaur-burners.

Las Cruces has an elegant bus system. It does almost everything necessary, at the minimum acceptable level. In return, the price is very low. There are eight or nine bus routes. Each is a one-way loop. I was confused, at first, because there would be bus stops on only one side of the street. Now I know -- it's because the buses only run on one side of the street. If you want to travel upstream on the loop, ride most of the way around it.

Fortunately, each loop is fairly short. Most of the buses running the various routes all start from the central transit station at the same time, every 40 minutes. They tour their loop, sometimes waiting at checkpoints to keep the time right, and often meeting another bus for transfers there. Then they return to the starting point, in somewhat less than 40 minutes, salute the other members of the herd, and on the mark, they start the loop again.

This makes transferring from any line that goes to the central transit area to another such easy. And you can transfer from any one to any other one just as easily.

The lines that don't come to the central transit station intersect at logical points, like the local mall.

My small experience with the buses so far has shown that they run on time. This is very good.

Running only every 40 minutes, and sometimes requiring riders to take circuitous, long way around paths, is not so good. But it does allow the system to cover a large portion of the city, regularly, with only one bus and one driver per route. That is very efficient. The exchanges are elegant.

All in all, it is a low cost public transit safety net. If you have time but not money, it will get you where you need to go at a low cost.

If you have money but not time, you are unlikely to want to use it. Observed ridership has been low on my small sample. Maybe I'll take a look at it during rush hour some time.

May you balance the costs and benefits of your purchases well.

Joyous Leftovers

This morning's breakfast consists of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mashed squash. Obviously, this is a post-Thanksgiving meal. All three of those veg are too starchy for Doug's low carb diet, so normally I don't have any of them in the house. But our good friends David and Susan sent us home with Thanksgiving leftovers, and I am enjoying them very much.

Turkey is almost gone. Today will be the last day. Dave brined it, following a three-day marination procedure, and the results were excellent. They also chose an organic turkey, and placed celery and sage and garlic in the cavity, and I've never had better.

David and Susan took very good care of us. We spent four nights at their place in Albuquerque, much talking and laughing and relaxing. I'm very thankful to have such good friends.

And I'm thankful for this breakfast!

May you take joy in the common gifts of life.