We spent Friday night at a local restaurant that we thought was new.  Neither of us had ever heard of Stone Brewery’s World Bistro & Gardens until it started popping up as a recommendation on the Urbanspoon app on my iPod.  The waitress said they’ve been open two years, and Spinner’s lived in Escondido for five, which just shows that despite lousy marketing you can still have an amazing restaurant.  

Good drinkies, of course, but also very good food.  The Mac & Cheese was delicious, and Spinner raved about the pork roast.  Best though was the venue.  Tough to find and literally in an industrial park, but they’ve built a wall and set up an enclosed garden for their guests that completely blocks out the Escondidoness.  Foot bridges and a pond with fake frogs and some adirondacks so you can relax a bit before or after the meal. Totally unexpected.

Zip forward to Sunday, when we brought home our newest shiney, a new Wii.  I know we’re late adopters, and we certainly can’t use the excuse that it’s for the kids, but OMG it’s so much fun.  Nothing like a little tennis in the morning before work without ever being more than a step away from the coffee.  Diego seems to think we’ve gone insane, but he learned pretty quick to get out of the way, and hasn’t stolen the controllers (yet).  Lots to explore there.  Nice to have some new in the life.

Jaguar captured and released in Arizona.  Not bad for an animal once called extinct in the United States.

Nothing like being charged by a stray while on the morning walk with Diego to get the adrenaline going.  Who needs coffee when you’ve got slacker neighbors?  Who-rah!

Having a very good Friday here.  The weather held just long enough to spend most of the day at the San Diego Rugby Invitational at the Polo Grounds.  Caught three games, two of which featured Cal, and the other being the Cal Poly – Navy matchup in the posted photo.   Great event, lots of fun and entertaining even for someone with a pretty minimal knowledge of rugby like myself.   Eye candy, naturally, and a fun time with the alums as always.

Also got to see the return of Ellen in the latest Battlestar, which was verrry interesting, even if it raised more questions than it answered at this point, and am giddy as a schoolgirl for the debut of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, which comes on in about 45 minutes.  Tonight’s about the geeking.

And yes, just to rub it in, I do have plans for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.  Dinner and whatnot.

Sure, Spinner celebrated last Monday, and you get another party next Monday with your co-workers, but the local courtworkers are taking a day with pay to celebrate today (in addition to the big party next Monday), and who am I to argue?  With Cal Rugby in town tomorrow and some decent weather being forecast I might even make it a five day weekend in your honor.  Happy Birthday President Lincoln.

‘Insurance’ to make sure there are no ‘misunderstandings.’ A protection racket to give the (mythical?) gay mafia a bit of a bite. Does a business that gives to the Human Rights Campaign buy themselves a get-out-of-jail-free card to use in their other endeavors?

That certainly seems to be what Garff Automotive’s John Garff is suggesting should be the case at the end of this article.  Californians Against Hate has called for a boycott against Garff Automotive in response to $100,000 in donations supporting Proposition 8 made by the wife of the Chairman and CEO of the dealership.  Included in Garff’s response is the claim that the dealership gave money to the Human Rights Campaign and offers a “favorable” benefits package to employees in same-sex partnerships.

I’m not much of a fan of the HRC, and I can easily see how a company could have believed that a donation to the HRC was enough to buy protection and escape scrutiny for the balance of their treatment of their neighbors.  Not too long ago a little gift to the Rainbow Don probably could have bought a lot of protection.

But not anymore.  If nothing else, the aftermath of the Proposition 8 defeat showed just how little Human Rights Campaign and the rest of the self-appointed gay leadership actually lead in the 21st century.  There are protests they don’t vet and spokespeople they don’t know.  There are thousands of websites that they absolutely can’t control, and maybe, hopefully, they’re finally realizing that their only real contribution in recent years was the ubiquitous yacht club decal for the car bumper that allowed us to identify one another in strange neighborhoods.

The boycott of Garff itself means little to me directly.  They have no local dealerships, and I’m not in the market for a car anyways.  That said, I hope it sticks, and I hope it hurts, because every dime they don’t earn is hopefully a few fewer pennies Katherine Garff can give in future battles for marriage equality.  But boycott list or not, I will not give money to people who will use that money to take away my rights and attack my family.  From the local gas station that proudly displayed their Yes on 8 signs and all the way up the economic food chain, when I have a choice about doing business with someone who will try and hurt me and my family, my business has to go elsewhere.  No matter how much protection’s been paid to the Rainbow Don.

Between lawyer work, website maintenance and whatever is wrong with my arm I’ve been a very dull boy lately. No swimming, no surfing, no photography. Not sure when I’ll return to the water, but weather permitting I’ll spend Friday cheering for Cal Rugby with some alums and my trusty camera. Same tourney as last year, but they’re scheduled for three games this year at the polo grounds, against VMI, Wyoming and Navy.

As for the rest, the arm is doing better but I’m taking things slowly, and the new photo gallery software is working nicely after the still unexplained crash of the previous site.  There’s still a lot of work moving over captions (one cut and paste at a time), but I like the new platform and think the templating in Zen Photo is certainly much easier to customize than in either of the other two packages I’ve used here.

Balance should be about finding the right combination of work and personal life, not the right combination of stimulants, antihistimines, NSAIDs and throat losenges to get me through a BS hearing despite allergies, five days of exposure to a bronchitis carrier, and a messed-up arm.  Mentally I need a swim, but then I’d probably need to get the arm amputated.  At least then the hearing would be cancelled and I could just go to sleep and not worry about finding the right meds to keep me alert and clever but not distracted by pain or coughing up a lung in my case file.  Whatever I do though, I should probably keep notes.  Got another hearing on calendar Monday.

While Michael Phelps is absolutely a great swimmer, I was never a big fan, mostly because he seemed more marketing robot than human.  If anything, seeing him come off his pedestal this last weekend moved his stature up a notch or two in my book.  Now, in response to all the whiney blogs lamenting the damage he’s doing to the youth of America by being a poor role model, and the various holier-than-thous who seem to think a criminal prosecution is appropriate mandated to prove the impartiality of the system, please read the best post out there.  The letter he should have sent.  [via]

The day after my 45th birthday, on the 260th day of my marriage, the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the legal cases arising from Proposition 8.  That gives us a ruling by the first week of June.   Should be an interesting spring.