Energy conservation and the environment

China's and India's power plant-related carbon emissions are growing so fast that they will surpass the U.S. by 2010. So isn't it a losing battle to conserve energy or to recycle products, when actions by these developing nations will more than offset our conservation efforts? "Doing our part" will only be meaningful if there is a concerted global effort to save our planet.

Redistributionists

Conservatives consistently refer to most Democrats as “tax and spend” and, more recently, as “redistributionists”. They do this almost out of habit. Relative to “cut taxes” and “less government” Republicans, most Democrats can probably be characterized as “redistributionists” on a relative basis. I find it interesting that, while Republicans and fiscal conservatives in general have maintained the “high road” on taxes historically, they have also been the most fiscally irresponsible by running up massive budget deficits. This is because they cut taxes but don’t have the political will to cut spending proportionally in order to come close to balancing the budget. It is ironic that Republicans talk tough about Democratic spending, but consistently fail to make the tough choices needed to cut spending on social programs and pork barrel projects.

We live in a country with some of the lowest tax burdens in the civilized world. So my conclusion is that “tax and spend” (aka “redistributionist”) is probably better than “don’t tax but spend”. In other words, aren’t we better off trying to take in as much as we spend, or shall we just keep printing money without regard to our ever-expanding deficit? With the U.S. economy now in recession, even the Republicans can’t possibly still believe that we can magically grow tax revenues enough to cut taxes further.

Buy Stocks Now!

I think the recent 30-50% slide in equities already prices in a severe and protracted recession. Assuming credit flows do stabilize (and the trend is positive), we are basically left with a stagnant economy. Most companies however will still be around and most will still make profits. The current "irrational" market however is valuing many stocks at ridiculously low valuations. Some are even near their cash values which means the market doesn't think they're worth anything. Clearly much of the recent selling is liquidity-based and I figure seniors and others who MUST have some cash to hold them over are mostly done selling by now (or will be very soon). And after the non-serious investors have exited via panic selling, the remaining investors will begin to see stocks for their intrinsic value again. At that point, and this is where I think we are, it will be apparent that many many stocks are bargains. This is not to say we will recover our huge losses (if we do, it will probably take a long time)--just that the equity market has clearly overshot a value target on the way down.

Infant Seats, Car Seats, Booster Seats and Seat Belts

By now, every parent knows the importance of properly restraining adults and children in a motor vehicle. However I see many parents losing sight of what's really important as they rush to move their kids to the next level of motor vehicle restraint, i.e. infant seat, car/convertible seat, booster seat, or nothing at all. Parents should move their child up to the next level of restraint as late as possible--not as soon as they reach the next legal minimum!

Infants, for example, should be in a rear-facing car seat until they are at least one year of age and 20 pounds. The key words are "at least". This is a minimum standard and does not mean it is a good idea to turn them forward-facing as soon as they turn one! Your child is still much safer staying rear-facing to allow their bodies to further develop and strengthen.

Likewise, a child can legally (in most states) ride in a car without a booster seat once they are 4 ft. 9 in. (57") tall and 8 years of age but that doesn't make it smart to do it when they reach that height, weight or age. Remember that seat belts in modern motor vehicles are designed and optimized for a typical American adult weighing between something like 102-215 lbs. So ask yourself this question: Is your child closer to a small adult of say 5 ft. 4 " (64") and 102 lbs, or are they closer to 4 ft. 9 in. (57") tall and 60 lbs? If the latter, then they should stay in that booster seat!

In determining what is best for your child, don't let state or federal laws drive your decision-making--they represent the bare minimums for dumb-dumb parents who don't otherwise want to think about child safety. And don't let peer pressure or the kids themselves make these decisions for you--your child's life may depend on it!

And finally, remember, regardless of age, height, weight or the restraint method, a few general safety principles always apply:

1. The back seat is always safer than the front.
2. The middle of the rear is safer than the rear sides.
3. Facing rearward is safer than facing forward.
4. Seat belts should fit properly (over the shoulder and not the neck, and around the hip bones).

For more information, see the AAP's car safety page.

Cancel that service for better pricing!

Whenever competition exists for a particular service, a really good way to keep your costs down is to threaten to cancel your service. Drive a hard bargain and say you're leaving for their competitor due to better pricing or superior offerings. To keep your business, they will almost certainly lower your rate and/or offer free or reduce-priced bonuses. Here are some examples:

XM Satellite Radio: We've had a $7.99/mo. promotional rate for years. Every time my year is up, XM tries to force me to a regular plan where monthly rates are usually $12.99/mo and up. I simply threaten to cancel, and whine and belly-ache about not listening to the service much, etc. etc.

Verizon vs. Comcast: With each provider, I call right after my initial one-year contract is up and my low promotional rates are scheduled to go up to the significantly higher regular prices. Before I call, I research the best current deal being offered by their competitor. Then, I call my current provider and tell them I am switching to the competitor due to their special promotion. Without exception, the offer is matched or bettered.

Credit cards: Many of the best credit cards are benefit cards that offer cash rebates, airline miles and/or other perks. Many of them also have high annual fees and/or interest rates. I will usually partake in some of the better cards because they will typically waive the first year's annual fees. In many cases, if you call after the first year and tell them you'd like to cancel the card because of the annual fee, they will waive it again. Also, if your credit is good and you don't fully pay your balance monthly, the interest rate is also negotiable if you bargain with them.

Bricks and Mortar Banks

I've noticed many new bank branches springing up recently near where I work and live. As someone who banks and pays bills almost completely online, writes about 4 checks a year, and uses less than $400 cash annually, it befuddles me as to why banks still have bricks and mortar branches to expand their business and to service customers. Over ten years ago, around the time of the first true Internet banks, I boldly predicted that, within 10-15 years, traditional banks would go the way of the dinosaurs. Judging by the steady expansion of bank branches, I was wrong.

I don't have or need a local bank because I don't need or want to pay for their bricks and mortar presence. I get better rates, better service, and more accurate record-keeping by doing everything electronically. Thus I don't pay for something I don't use. However the vast majority of Americans still value their local bank presence to make deposits, visit their tellers, use the drive-thru, talk with bank staff for credit lines, loans, mortgages or investments, use the safety deposit box, and partake of various other services. Go figure...

The Right Way to Treat Scrapes and Abrasions

A few years back, I got several large abrasions as a result of a motor vehicle accident. With plenty of free time laying around on the sofa, I researched the right way to dress abrasions. Note, this post applies only to abrasions (superficial, surface injuries to the skin) and not to lacerations which are deep cuts that may require stiches or other professional medical intervention. Remember the first priority is always to stop the bleeding.

What most people still don't know is that the "state of the art" in wound treatment has moved beyond what our parents taught us. Research has shown that antiseptic rinses and topical anti-bacterial ointments such as hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin (just two examples) actually damage skin tissues and inhibit healing. And Band-Aids do not do very much to help as they do not create an anti-bacterial barrier nor the desired moist healing environment for the wound.

Here's the "right" way to dress an abrasion:

1. Stop the bleeding by apply gentle pressure to the wound. Do not let the wound dry out or scab. If you can't stop the bleeding within 15 minutes or so, you should seek immediate medical assistance.

2. Clean the wound thoroughly using soap and water by removing as much dirt and dead skin as possible.

3. Dress the wound using a semipermeable dressing such as 3M's Tegaderm, J&J Bioclusive or similar product. As long as the dressing does not leak exudate (the "ooze"), it can remain in place for up to a week.

The advantages are:

1. Because the wound is not allowed to scab, the optimum, moist healing environment is created. Remember that our blood clots and creates scabs, because there was an evolutionary necessity to stop the bleeding, but modern man can stop abrasions from bleeding by simply applying pressure. Abrasions heal much faster and better in a moist environment (without the scab). Scarring is also reduced.

2. Unlike Band-Aids, the dressings create an anti-bacterial barrier and thus the risks of infection are greatly reduced.

3. The dressings are waterproof so you shower or bathe with them in-place. Thus the need for dressing change and the amount of overall maintenance is significantly reduced.

4. The dressings are flexible so they are more comfortable than alternative of having a scab and traditional bandage. This is especially important if the injury is in a area that moves regularly such as a knee or elbow.

5. The semi-permeable dressings are clear so you can see how the wound is healing, how much exudate, if it is infected, etc.

The problem today is that these semi-permeable dressings are not commonly available in most grocery stores or pharmacies. They're still relatively expensive (more than $1 or $2 per dressing), and Johnson and Johnson still dominates the bandage market with their "Band-Aid" brand bandages. People have become brainwashed with Band-Aids for 20-30 for two bucks (depending on size and shape). Hospitals and medical professionals already know better but hopefully the word will get out to consumers soon!

Is China spending its trade surplus at the Olympics and other events?

Americans are currently addicted to cheap Chinese goods and the resulting trade imbalance flows hundreds of billions of dollars to China each year. Some people believe that, with intelligent investing in infrastructure, technology and research, that China will use this huge positive cash flow to their long-term strategic advantage.

Well, it's not much, but after watching the Olympics, there were many examples of China spending money on image-building, and not infrastructure. At least some of the $40 billion China is spending on the Olympics is going toward extravagant, one-time expenses such as the elaborate opening and closing ceremonies, good-will expenses, decorations, landscaping, etc. etc.

And, according to the Wall Street Journal, Shanghai will spend $40 billion for the 2010 World Expo and Guangzhou is estimating $27 billion for the 2010 Asian Games.

On top of all that, U.S. companies are finally getting in on the action for all the infrastructure spending. Maybe there's some hope to balance our trade someday after all...

My Olympic Highlights and Lowlights

Here are my personal highs and lows from these 2008 Beijing Olympics:

Highs
- 32-year-old Jason Lezak's unforgettable final leg swim, running down trash-talking Alain Bernard of France, in the men's 4x100M relay.
- Despite the loss of perhaps their two best gymnasts, the U.S. men's gymnastics team's earned a surprising bronze medal in the team competition.
- Michael Phelps: 8 gold medals and a thrilling 0.01 second margin of victory in the 100M fly.
- 41 year-old Dara Torres wins a silver medal in the 50M freestyle.
- Shawn Johnson finally gets a gold medal. Her cheerful attitude, charisma and spirit was a lift on the sideline so if anyone deserved a gold medal for her performance, heart and positive attitude, it was her (even if she reminds me of Robocop).
- The son of illegal immigrants, Henry Cejudo, wins the 55kg wrestling gold.
- The U.S. women's indoor volleyball team making a surprising run for the silver, and the U.S. men winning the gold for grieving coach Hugh McCutcheon.

Lows
- Alicia Sacramone's torture after her failures on the beam and floor.
- Gymnastics Judging. American women were obviously cheated out of medals on the individual vault and uneven bars. Why don't these incompetent judges ever make deductions for the Chinese gymnasts? Gymnastics needs to either simplify their scoring system by returning to the old 10.0 scale or simply rank competitors relative to each other. You'll never remove the human element so at least keep it understandable.
- Boxing Judging. When a boxer's glove hits his opponent's head and snaps it back, then it's supposed to be a point for the guy doing the hitting--not the guy getting hit. Get rid of the stupid 3 of 5 scoring system.
- Pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski being criticized and put-down by her coach Rick Suhr, after she had just won the silver medal.
- Lolo Jones hitting the ninth hurdle just meters from a certain gold medal.
- After winning 22 games in a row, and outscoring opponents 57-2 in this Olympics, the U.S. women softball team are stunned in the gold medal game. To make matters worse, it looks like this might be the last softball game played in the Olympics as the IOC voted it out for 2012.
- U.S. men and women both dropping the baton (and their gold medal hopes) on their 4x100M relays

The Un-Olympic Spirit

Jenn Stuczynski should be totally thrilled and extremely proud in the aftermath of her silver medal performance in the women's pole vault. She "lost" the gold medal to world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva. Considering she's pole vaulted for all of four years, and that she was competing against a dominant, umpteen world record-breaking champion, she did really really great.

However, if you caught NBC's short coverage of the event, then you saw her coach Rick Suhr verbally berate her immediately after winning the silver medal. You could see how visibly dejected Stuczynski was after her coach's negative remarks.

I was stunned that someone would choose that moment to deliver those words to an athlete who had worked so hard and performed so wonderfully. Unconscionable. Jenn Stuczynski should find herself a new coach. And, if my kid were a pole vaulter, I would never consider sending them to his pole vaulting school or academy. His behavior was reprehensible and his "win the gold or you're a worthless piece of sh!t" attitude runs counter to everything the games should be about.

Olympic Swimming Relays

My wife and I got really confused as to how the swimming relay exchanges are handled. As nobody on NBC bothered to explain it, I had to do some research and here it is.

Basically, swimmers can (and should) be in motion during the relay exchanges, but the outgoing swimmer must maintain contact with the starting platform until the incoming swimmer has finished. The incoming swimmer's finish is registered by the electronic touchpad on the finishing wall, as is the outgoing swimmer's contact with the starting platform. The two times are compared by an electronic timing system (with a .03 second "allowance"), and if the outgoing swimmer is off the platform early, that team is disqualified.

The above also explains why only the first leg of any swim relay counts towards official records, as it is the only leg that is comparable to a non-relay race.

Killer Tires?

I was recently forwarded an ABC News story called "Tire Danger: The Cryptic Code That Could Save Your Life". It basically warns that driving vehicles with tires older than six years old could kill you. The point of the story is that, regardless of actual wear or appearance, driving on tires that are older than six years old greatly increases your chances of having tread separation and this could kill you. And there is a conspiracy amongst tire manufacturers to keep all this secret so the story goes on to tell you how to find and decipher the cryptic code found on every tire that tells you when it was manufactured.

While I agree that people should not use older tires, and that tread separation is not desirable, I think the danger and risk is overstated. When a tire blows out on most vehicles, the vehicle will suddenly pull to one side but the vehicle itself remains controllable. So if you remain calm and maintain directional control over the vehicle (i.e. keep it straight!), you should be fine.

In summary, it's great to warn people about the risks of driving on old tires, but I think it's more useful and important to learn how to handle your vehicle in emergency situations!

Olympics, Kids and Chinchillas

Poor Alicia Sacramone. After yesterday's women's gymnastics team competition, much focus was placed on the poor young lady and her big mistakes. The underlying point was that her mistakes cost the U.S. team the gold medal. I don't really understand this because the Chinese beat the Americans by 2.375--a signficant margin of victory. While I'm not a gymnastics expert on scoring, I don't see how, even adding back the deductions for Sacramone's fall off the beam and on floor exercises, how she cost the U.S. the gold? Even if none of the American girls hadn't stepped out of bounds, I don't think the total sum of all the deductions would have made up the difference. Thus the Chinese girls definitely earned their gold, and we shouldn't diminish the Chinese performance by blaming Sacramone and implying the Americans "gave it away". Now if only the Chinese girls were actually the required 16 years of age to be eligible to participate...

Then, very late last night (at least on the East Coast), Andrea Joyce interviewed (or should I say grilled?) Sacramone on her performance and its impact on the team. Exactly how many different ways can one ask the same question about the girl's mess-ups? Why didn't you ask her when she planned to commit suicide? Very cruel.

Anyhow, after the interview ended with Sacramone near tears, NBC cut back to Mary Carillo in the studio. Clearly distraught after watching Sacramone suffer through Joyce's interview, Carillo blurts: "Uh, it's a killer... it's a killer watching... I mean they're just kids... as a parent... this is why some people just raise chinchillas." Buwahahaha! I love it!

Olympics and Diversity

I've been watching a lot of Olympic coverage these past four days! There were a few interesting examples of our nation's diversity, and the rest of the world's lack thereof. During the medal ceremony for the men's gymnastics team competition, did you happen to notice just how homogeneous the Japanese and Chinese teams were, while the U.S. team included men of Russian, Indian and Chinese descent?

Meanwhile, in women's gymnastics, Nastia Liukin's parents were both former Russian gymnastics champions who decided they could have a better life here in America. They opened a successful gymnastics club in Texas. And Shawn Johnson's coach is a former co-captain of the Chinese men's gymnastics team who immigrated to the U. S. to pursue the American dream in Iowa.

Aren't these examples of what makes our country special? We nurture the best and the brightest, and because we embrace diversity and provide opportunity to all, we also attract the best and the brightest from around the world.

Tipping

Tips are supposed to give service providers an extra incentive to provide good or excellent service. Tipping and expectations vary however, from culture to culture. In many western nations, tipping is expected by many (but certainly not all) service providers. In China however, tipping is generally no expected and may be considered inappropriate.

We actually need guides on who to tip, when and how much. In the U.S., we don't tip service providers such as doctors, dentists, auto mechanics or other "professionals". But we are supposed to know, for example, to tip hair dressers and waiters 15%-20% for good/excellent service. We are expected to know that taxi drivers and food delivery people should customarily get 10%-15%. Massage therapists and aestheticians might receive between 10%-20%. And then there are the hotel housekeepers, bellman or valet parking attendants who get a few bucks per whatever (night, bag or car) depending on this or that.

I'm 46 years old and have travelled a little in my life, and only now, do I think I've got it mostly figured out. But I think the world should move away from tipping. Why can't the cost of each service be right out in the open? Why can't people just pay whatever the price is without burdening it with some mysterious ghost cost? In the computer world, there used to be a term called WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) to describe the new fangled graphical user interfaces. We need WYSIWYG for services!

Restaurants and hotels should just pay their wait and housekeeping staff a living wage. And bellman and valet drivers, for example, should just hang signs on their chest that say "I'll help you with your bags/car for $2 each please". One should always expect service to be good. If the service you receive is not good, then take your business elsewhere, but I say let's not continue the current confusing "it all depends on who and where you are" system of tipping. For the current system to work, people need to study, know and memorize different rules with various exceptions for each country or culture. Isn't that crazy?

Rising China, India and Russia?

A friend of mine and I frequently debate as to whether the U.S. is in decline or not. He routinely points out that China, India and Russia are rising powers. Our addiction to, and consumption of, foreign goods, and overall lack of energy resources is creating a huge transfer of wealth overseas. Americans have become complacent and our education system is faltering. The resulting brain drain will inevitably make us a second-tier nation. The U.S. already can't manufacture anything competitively, and we will face our eventual demise.

I argue that the U.S. possesses inherent advantages that still uniquely make us “one of a kind”. Much focus has been made on America’s success due to our industrial past or because of our unique implementation of capitalism. Thus countries like Japan, China, India or even Russia focused on and copied these attributes to “emulate” the U.S. And their national economic and societal trajectories each shaped up much like our country at the dawn of the 20th century. Many think that these rising economies or countries will inevitably overtake the U.S. What I think they miss is that none of these countries possesses the unique and special attributes of diversity, adaptability, ethics, entrepreneurship and innovation that only Americans possess. Our education system may not be the best by many objective criteria, but we still have the best universities for a reason. The U.S. may not have the best test scores or the most Ph.D students, but we still have the most creative people. And by that I mean, we still have the people most likely to invent, innovate and create great new things, and not just copy or improve someone else’s idea. This is what a leader is and does, and there is no way China, India, Japan or Russia can do this because they each lack one or more key requirement in the recipe for greatness: democracy, capitalism, innovation, ethics, and religious and cultural diversity and tolerance.

He responded to this by saying that I am overly optimistic. Was my assessment based on wishful thinking or are there any statistics to back it up? Where's the beef?

Well, I responded by saying that my assessment is based on recent and real-world innovations. Think of the major transformative products or ideas in recent years—and most are American. Everything from the iPod and Hollywood movies to GPS, communications, biomedical research and alternative energy. Or looking at it another way, what revolutionary or transformative idea has Japan, China, India or Russia contributed recently? The “outflow of brains” theory is rooted in the statistics of how many degrees are being obtained by various ethnic groups—not by a real-world manifestation of what those people do with their brains. I will take one good American engineer over 10 Chinese Ph.D’s any day of the week. Likewise, I'll take one good American software developer over 10 good Indian programmers. The reason again is the intangible of creativity. The Chinese engineer or Indian programmer, for example, can do but he/she can’t innovate or invent. Just one quick at the Apple iPod/iPhone, and you see why Americans do most of the great things. The rest of the world just complains about our arrogance or undo influence without offering anything themselves, but they follow our lead nevertheless.

I don’t think I’m an optimistic at all—merely being pragmatic and realistic. I’m not a U.S. cheerleader, and have in fact, been deeply critical of many government policies and of our general strategic direction. That criticism however doesn't mean that the rest of the world will pass us any time soon. I think one of America’s unique qualities is its boundless energy, and the unique ability to reengineer or reinvent itself as needed. Historically, many dominant empires or cultures were based mostly on sheer military innovation and might. I think America is different because it possesses a unique mix of dynamic, ethical, intellectual and innovative qualities that don't exist elsewhere. Our diversity is the engine that propels us, and thus I don’t think America will become complacent or overconfident.

Take the current energy and global warming crises, for example. While the U.S. led the world down the road toward oil-dependency and environmental catastrophe, I am confident that, within the next few decades, it will be the U.S. innovating and adapting its way out of this energy crisis—all while doing our part to improve the environment. This is because we are wealthy, innovative, ethical AND adaptable. In the meantime, China and India are just entering (too late as you can imagine), the oil-driven world. Can you believe that China and India still have sales and other incentives for having their people buy automobiles? China now has one of the fastest growing markets for large cars and SUVs, including Hummers! They face an economic and environmental catastrophe, and it is a good example of why Americans need not worry about China or India passing us in our lifetime. If they have so many smart people, how come they haven’t invented non-polluting plants, new alternative energy sources or perhaps an electric car, by now? Do you really think that someone in China will come up with a solution to our world's most vexing problems before an American? I wouldn’t bet on that.

America is easy to pick on or to criticize because we are highly visible and successful leader of the world, and people generally don’t like the big boy on the block. I think the U.S. is still out ahead of the pack, and while it’s convenient and easy to speculate about its imminent demise, we forget that the U.S.’s inherent advantages remain unchanged simply because they are attributes that other countries cannot easily manage, engineer, teach or copy.

Let’s take a look at China and Russia for a moment. Both countries have a long history of failed monarchies and a deep inferiority complex. While both now enjoy strong and growing economies based on manufacturing or bountiful natural resources, respectively, what would they do even if they should overtake the U.S. economically? Neither has any real sense of purpose. Neither country or people have a sense of global responsibility or the ethics or principles required to become a true leader. You are not a leader because you can produce more oil or children’s toys than anyone else. You are a leader because you can inspire, invent, produce and/or help lead the rest of the world forward.

So you can say “I told you so” when we see the next great transformative idea comes from outside this country. In the meantime, in the real-world, the U.S. remains unchallenged.

So I'm not a U.S cheerleader...

Go U.S! GO U.S! GO GO GO!

California Trip

We recently took the kids on a fun two-week driving trip of California. The plan was to fly into Sacramento and spend the night in Santa Rosa. We'd do a bunch of stuff in Sonoma and Marin County before heading into "The City" (San Francisco, if you didn't know) for four days. Then, we're off to the great outdoors and Yosemite National Park. After three nights in Yosemite, we would drive west to Pacific Grove for a night before heading south on the PCH to Santa Barbara. From there, it was a short drive to our Los Angeles base in Santa Monica. Here are a few interesting bits from our trip:

1. For our first evening in California, we had booked the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa via Hotwire for $86. When we arrived however, we were told they were overbooked but would comp us a night at the neighboring Fountaingrove Inn. I was angry and immediately thought "bait and switch". We had a very nice stay at the Fountaingrove Inn however so I guess we can't complain.
2. The original plan was to visit Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Petaluma, Calistoga, Point Reyes and Muir Woods all in one day before heading into the city. Well, that turned out to be way too ambitious so we ended up doing about half of it. I'm not sure what I was thinking as far as Point Reyes goes--it really requires a day in of itself! Next time, we do all this over two full days.
3. There's only one TripAdvisor top-rated, sub-$200/night hotel in San Francisco--the Chancellor Hotel. It's an old hotel with smallish rooms and no A/C, but it gets high marks. Having travelled quite a bit, I was skeptical about being "wowed", but for $151/night including parking at Union Square, how could we go wrong? Well, this hotel was awesome! The rooms are smallish but had a small walk-in closet for storage. The beds were comfy and the in-room wifi was great. Even the hot weather during our stay didn't cause us to miss air conditioning. And most of the staff were extremely friendly and helpful throughout our stay. They had complimentary fruit, cookies, coffee and beverages in either the lobby or bar area most of the day. My only complaints were the lack of a view (forgot to ask), no in-room refrigerator and a noisy toilet.
   
4. In this day and age, many managers talk about customer service but almost nobody actually puts their money where their mouth is. Here's where the Chancellor's General Manager, Wes Tyler, really did go above and beyond. On arrival, I had emptied our car of luggage and some of our other belongings (including two $45 bottles of 2005 Benziger Oonapais wine) onto the sidewalk just outside the hotel. I went in to check-in while my wife stayed with the kids and watched the bellman load up our stuff. Later, after getting our stuff and settling in, we noticed the missing wine. By the time someone could outside, our wine was long gone. We were disappointed but the obviously the mistake was nobody's in particular. Well, Mr. Tyler found out about our missing wine from a review I posted on TripAdvisor. And although he clearly didn't have to, he felt responsible and shipped us another two bottles of the wine! Now, THAT'S customer service I haven't seen in a long time. Anyhow, his passion for taking care of his guests clearly shows in this outstanding hotel!
5. Unless you have money to burn, don't eat at McCormick and Kuleto's in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco! My wife and I have eaten at a lot of restaurants in our time including some very nice places. What struck us about McCormick and Kuleto's is that, while the view and ambiance are good, the food quality was surprisingly mediocre and expensive. And this is consistent with other M&S restaurants. $60 for a appetizer sampler? $32 for overcooked fish? Even my daughter didn't like her kid's meal. Give me a break.
6. Yosemite Valley was the perfect place to experience nature's breath-taking beauty without leaving the comforts of home behind. While I've personally done everything from primitive camping to 5-star hotels, I wasn't sure just how much nature my wife could take. She grew up living in apartments and condos, and her idea of the wilderness is the clump of trees in our backyard. Well, Yosemite offers everything from campgrounds to the full-service Ahwahnee. The Ahwahnee even has a formal dining room with a dress code! So guess where we stayed? Yup. Needless to say, the Ahwahnee was nice but it was a bit too stuffy for our taste.
7. Around Yosemite Valley, there are great hiking and biking trails, regular shuttles to get you around, many restaurants (formal sit-down and buffets), a deli and pizzeria, two bike rental locations, and a grocery store. For us, the perfect blend of civilization and nature.
8. The Big Sur fire closed the PCH the day we were heading south on it, so we had turn around at Big Sur--costing us a two hour detour. All-in-all, we were not impacted by most of the California wildfires as we just avoided most of them. Most of them started kicking up soon after we departed an area. You would've thought we started them! Anyhow, we never made it to Santa Barbara that evening so we stayed at the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo. We'd stayed there before and enjoyed it again. I'm not sure how to use this experience in the future--how do you plan around wildfires?
9. The Getty Center in LA was a great place for families because they have a wide variety of different art, interesting public spaces, and many things to do for the kids. I also felt like we were home in DC because, like the Smithsonian, there is no admission fee!
10. The last time we visited LA, we stumbled across a downtown LA shoot of "Wayne's World 2". It was very interesting and we got to see or meet Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, Tia Carrera and Christopher Walken. This time, we were taking the kids to see the walk of stars in Hollywood, only to discover the street was closed for the red carpet premier event for "Hancock". Depending on who you ask in the family, we either cherished or wasted several hours hanging out waiting to see, shake hands or take pics of various celebs, including but not limited to, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Peter Berg, Jason Bateman, Chris Daughtry, Sinbad, Sean Combs and the Cheetah Girls. Who are the Cheetah Girls anyhow???

Pre-Travel CheckList of Things to Do

Here's my list of things I always do before leaving on vacation:

In advance of leaving:
- Ask a friend or neighbor to check in periodically. They can make sure the walkway and driveway are clear of newspapers and other deliverables, and can water plants if you are away for an extended period
- Stop the newspaper and hold the mail

On the day of travel:
- Turn off the main water. Water is one of the biggest dangers to your home and possessions. Don't even think of leaving your house vulnerable to pressurized water in your pipes! This applies year round but especially in the winter when pipes can also freeze and crack. Also, every toilet loses some water over time so you will also be conserving water.
- Set back the temperature on your thermostat(s) to conserve heat or A/C.
- Set back the temperature on your water heater. Why heat water when you're not using it?
- Pack the freezer. The freezer will run much more efficiently when it's jam-packed.
- Put the refrigerator in vacation or energy-saving mode. Many refrigerators now allow you to stop the automatic defrost cycling that consumes extra energy. Defrosting is unnecessary when nobody is opening and closing the doors that would usually allow humidity to enter and freeze inside the unit. Alternatively, manually move the freezer temp up to 5 degrees F and the refrigerator temp to 40-45 degrees F.
- Unplug transformer bricks, TVs, computers, cable set-top boxes and other energy-consuming devices. Remember most modern electronics draw significant power even when they are "off". For example, a 65-inch LCD TV can draw 76 watts even when it is "off"!
- Prep your cars. If you're going away for awhile, disconnect your car's batteries or, if you don't want to lose your memorized radio and seating positions, keep them on an intelligent battery charger. Many modern (especially luxury) vehicles draw plenty of amps even when parked so an extended vacation can leave your battery weak or drained by the time you return.
- Set-up timers for lights in different rooms that closely simulate your "normal" home occupancy patterns
- Turn off all lights not on timers
- Relocate plants susceptible to temperature extremes to other parts of the house, and water them well.
- Close all windows
- Empty the trash. Your salmon from last night's dinner ain't gonna smell so good two weeks from now!
- Arm the security system

And for me, most of the above applies anytime we are away from the house for even 24 hours. Hope this helps!

HP Printers

I've personally been buying and using HP printers for over twenty years now. I fondly remember our old HP LaserJet II, IIId and 4si printers from the 80's and 90's. They each probably printed several hundred thousand pages with hardly any servicing or maintenance before eventually quitting. In 1999, we purchased our HP LaserJet 5000GN and, nine years and probably a hundred thousand pages later, it's still going strong! We kill fewer trees these days because we print so much less than we used to. The 90's vision of the "paperless" office is really approaching reality!

I'm disappointed to report that my 2 1/2 year-old HP OfficeJet 7410 inkjet's scanner unit apparently just failed. When copying or scanning, the unit will routinely make a loud grinding noise, displays a "scanner failure" error message, and hangs. So now it can print but can't scan, fax or photocopy.

Since it's out of warranty, nobody locally wants to fix it, and it's not worth shipping it for service. As my home office unit, I doubt it's even scanned or printed 1,000 pages yet and it still smells and looks like new. At $468 delivered, that means it cost me about 46 cents per page to own and operate, and that doesn't include the cost of toner and paper! I realize I can't compare a multifunction inkjet-based printer to a workhorse LaserJet, but this multifunction unit wasn't that much cheaper than those LaserJets.

I've since replaced this defective HP OfficeJet 7410 with a new HP LaserJet CM1312mfp multifunction. We'll see how long this one lasts, but I'm certain it's not going to make it to 100,000 copies or 10 years like the old workhorses...