Took some time after a business trip to San Jose (Yes, I know the way to San Jose) to drive down the coast and take a few photos.  Not as many photos as I would’ve liked due to some weather, but it was still a worthwhile couple of days. Cleared out the head and listened to a lot of old music too.

Found an interesting new map of California too, though I suspect I’d have difficulty getting it into the glove box.

California’s Legislature went to state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown recently seeking relief from a future pay cut and on Thursday received an unwelcome surprise: An 18% reduction for lawmakers and other elected state officials can begin next month instead of a year from now.

Really hard to be sympathetic for a bunch of bureaucrats making six figures when they whine about an 18% pay cut after they’ve driven the state into the ground.  Who do they think they are?  Banking executives?  At least banking execs got their employers a federal bailout – what have California’s so-called leaders done for the people they serve?

The L.A. Times article quoted above has the details, but the money quote was from the S.F Gate:

Murray, the Citizens Compensation Commission chair, said the Legislature may now regret raising the issue.

“In hindsight, it might have been better to let sleeping dogs lie,” he said.

The commission made the pay cuts last spring because 193,000 state employees have been forced to take three furlough days off a month to save the state money.

Wanted to go up to Irvine this weekend to catch #4 Cal water polo in action, but alas, it is not to be.  C’est la vie.

Going to have to let my alumni spirit be pumped by last night’s high school outreach session.  These college fairs are always fun events, with the alums working the table to talk to high school students about Cal, what it means to be a Bear, and why Cal is Cal and not just another UC[FillInTheBlank].  There were three of us at it last night: an attorney, a banker and a Marine officer with graduation years from 1984 to 2001, and it was a blast.  As always, there were just enough kids that had the right attitude and class that I can really hope to be seeing them at alumni events in six years or so.   There were a lot of others too, mostly being towed around by their parents, but I’m just tuning them out.  Looking for leaders and hope, not more sheep.

Need more positive thinking and hope for the future.  California, and Cal, have huge problems facing them.  Years and years of chronic mismanagement have led to a state so gridlocked that it can’t keep office doors open for forty-hour workweeks and courts have to take furlough days to keep their budget balanced (and it’s not like they were providing timely services in the first place).  Really having a lot of doubts about the future of this state, and not yet seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe one of these kids will have the answer.  Unfortunately I think they’ll have a shot at solving the problem.  I don’t see the current officials in Sacramento (or the self-proclaimed outsiders positioning for office) having the answers, and certainly don’t see anyone paying down the massive public debts before these kids graduate and enter the work force.

Sorry this is turning so serious.  Maybe I should’ve been irresponsible and headed up to Irvine anyways.  Fiscal extravagance is the California way.  Then I could be sitting back in the bleachers saying ‘oh, that’s pretty‘ and watched Cal dominate the way Bears should.

It’s been a long week.  I’m ready for the weekend.  Big thoughts are just depressing me, so, to paraphrase Buffy “fire pretty.”  If I remember right she meant fire literally, but I’m just thinking of the hotness and the glistening light.

The San Diego Superior Court will close all courtrooms and business offices on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 as well as the third Wednesday of each subsequent month through June 2010.

The California Judicial Council approved the unprecedented one-day-a-month closures for all state courts due to the ongoing statewide financial crisis and the Legislature’s reduced state funding to the courts.

Because, yes, this state is that messed up.   This is on top of San Diego already closing the clerk’s office to the public at 3:30 every afternoon.  Anyone care to remind me of any states where the California Bar has reciprocity for practice?  It would be nice if they coincided with states that recognized my marriage.

I wonder how many times since the Civil War someone’s been convicted of spying against the federal government on behalf of state officials.  But I suppose my bigger question is why the Marines were collecting intelligence information of interest to California’s local law enforcement agencies.  The military wouldn’t have  been caught doing a bit of domestic spying, now would they?  I wonder what this guy was thinking – geez, someday I can defect to the Governator and live out my life in exile on Catalina.  Sometimes you just have to wonder.