In a previous post, I explained that my plan to join Peace Corps Response in Costa Rica as a “Gifted and Talented English Education Specialist” had been postponed due to the medical screening process. Instead of February, I’m hoping to join the October cohort.

With a new perspective on 2025, I booked some trips, and here I am in the United Arab Emirates! I took a long flight to Dubai, and today (Jan. 11) I’m hoping to bus to Muscat and join the first tour: Oman. A week hence I’ll fly to Cairo, a couple of days before the second tour: Egypt & Jordan. Then…?

This first batch has some flight stuff, and the pool atop my first hotel…

Tho’ jetlagged, I Ubered to what used to be the old part of town and took a stroll. This second batch shows Dubai Creek and some of the better tourist offerings which I’m still not gonna buy (but like)…

For my brief stay, I booked a night cruise in Dubai Marina and a city tour the next day. This batch shows our proximity to the Palm Jumeirah and many views of the city lights. Near the end is a pic of the Museum of the Future from the road, and some new friends I made that evening: two from Mauritius and one from Delhi. What a great day…!

The next morning, I took a rather basic city tour, necessary as Dubai is so spread out. Perhaps one could do the same in a taxi, but this did include a boat ride, and a couple of sales pitches…

This batch begins where the previous one left off, in the Souks, or market places, these specializing in spices and jewelry. The rest of these pix are of the classics in Skyscraper National Park – the Burj Arab, Burj Khalifa, the Atlantis Hotel, etc. I was too tired to tackle the Dubai Mall and all that tribute to conspicuous consumption funded by global warming, envy, and greed…

After a bit of rest in my new hotel, I took a walk in a regular neighborhood and enjoyed watching regular people do their regular things. However, it’s not really regular. Likely all of them were from elsewhere, drawn or brought here to support this techno mirage in the desert. Only about 13% of the population of UAE are citizens! Nonetheless, I like seeing their laundry hung on the balconies to dry, the shoes outside the mosque, parents playing with their kids, and folks chatting on the sidewalks…

The next morning I was up early to be at Al Khanjry Transport at 6:00 am. The bus ride and border crossing were easy breezy, and I was able to meet my new Intrepid tour group in Muscat that evening.

Oman!

After returning from Africa, I thought I had three months before going to Costa Rica with Peace Corps Response, but that opportunity has been postponed until October 2025. Once that happened, I went hard on continuing my travels with Intrepid (and because I was still able to get in on their Cyber-Sale!) Thus, I booked four more expeditions before my next birthday! Stay tuned. Meanwhile, this collection depix November & December of 2024, etc. – a good time to be home.

Because my children go to UC Santa Cruz, I’ve been invited to some other their Inspire events. This one featured a couple of climate scientists, and I had a nice chat with the chancellor – in addition to checking out the San Jose Museum of Art…

We’re likely to get our house painted in the next several months, so I got experimental with the barn (bad idea!). Went for a hike with my travelin’ buddy Alan, listened to neighbor Steve at Lit. Night, saw a strange bird event in Santa Cruz, and observed some rocks at the beach. All random…!

Nancy & Jered had us over for Thanksgiving, and once again, they threw down the fabulous vittles. Since the fires, many eucalyptus trees have come down much improving their already great view of the ocean! Really great to see the cousins hangin’ out! Suzie, Jered’s step-mom was there, Charlie & Lucas were solo, and Veronica & Rosa brought some lovely friends, Justin & Lily…!

Unfortunately, once again I find WordPress whacked. It’s always been rather difficult, despite my simple needs. Below is a collection of pix that somehow cannot be the tiled mosaic gallery I prefer…? Click?

And, whilst struggling to make WordPress work, as it has in the past, I’m using their slideshow feature for the rest of the exhibits at the de Young that day. Click thru all 44 pix…

Interestingly, I’ve been out on the Pescadero Marsh four times this winter. First took Tim, a new Social Studies teacher at PMHS, Nancy & Jered on separate occasions, and my son Charlie most recently.

Significantly, a pair of bald eagles has taken up residency there…!

This last batch is PDR (pretty damn random): Passport, visa photo, mushrooms, sunset, and skiing (preparations – note snowboard skull art, and on the slopes at Heavenly). The last shot is a tree climbing competition in back of Applejacks.

Here’s a little blast from the past, discovered whilst going through some crates. My ticket to see Nelson Mandela at the Coliseum back in 1990, and back further, the faculty section from the ’84-’85 Hamilton High yearbook supplement, my first gig as a teacher after getting my credential and working at the summer olympics in LA.

Something else random – there was something compelling about the possible subtext of this poster on a wall at Kaiser. Perhaps a new angle on promoting health…?

Lucas Lawson & Charlie Vail jammin’ at Thanksgivin’…

Whilst walking with Veronica on West Cliff in Santa Cruz, we saw a lot of birds, perhaps enjoying a lot of fish…?

Whilst kayaking with Nancy in the Pescadero Marsh, we saw a lot of birds, perhaps not enjoying us…?

The gondola at Heavenly, again…

Fast & faster…

Well Scholars, I hope to be posting from afar soon…

Here’s to putting some meat on the bones of “Happy New Year”!

As a former Humanities teacher, I’m vaguely concerned about what the history books will say about the American election of 2024. Perhaps I shouldn’t be because the idiocracy that just prevailed won’t be breeding readers. Famously uneducated, steeped in stupidity, indoctrinated into the cult of orange jesus, the heathen imbeciles who voted for Trump have missed glaring monstrosities of uncommon nonsense: megalomania, corruption, fraud, sleaze, etc., etc…

Of course, libraries of words have already been spilled over this folly, and will for years to come. Certainly, I have no particular insight, and hope that some strange paradoxical good will eventually come from swinging pendulums, swords, or sensibilities. Unlike my brethren, I think the Donald is shrewd, even brilliant in his audacity. It is his voters, especially those who claim to be Christian, that I disdain. Yet, based on Hanlon’s Razor, I’ll quote the real Jesus: “forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Except, they did! The lies, the hatred, the bombast, the misogyny, the slander, the hypocrisy,  the felony convictions, the moral bankruptcy, the obvious sociopathic behavior were well known and should have precluded serious consideration. Yet, the brainwashing by Fox and the deplorables of rightwing radio – and pulpits? – was complete. To my mind, the perpetrators of the January 6th insurrection should have been executed for treason, but they’re about to be exonerated as heroes. Last time, it was a fluke. This time it could be disastrous – or not?

To be fair, Merrick Garland should not have been Attorney General. Partly because he should have replaced Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court as appointed by Obama, but mostly because he failed to prosecute Trump for the January 6th insurrection based on the 14th Amendment, Section 3. To be further fair, the woke politics of the left has become ridiculous. Poor old Joe stayed too long at the fair, and Kamala, though potentially awesome, had too much going against her. Mistakes were made.

While systems might need the coming disruption, and all kinds of reckonings might be good, the desperate masses may come to regret their roosts when the plucked chickens come home to vote. Deportations may cause shortages, tariffs may cause even higher inflation, more tax cuts for the rich may cause the poor to be poorer, and the chaos of pomposity politics may cause our fragile democracy to disintegrate? And climate change is gonna be a-comin’ faster than ever! Or, I could be wrong…?

In conclusion, I’ll leave some links, that I hope will not be purged by the new reich, and that I hope may be considered by those writers of history books, or programmers of neuralinks, or sympathetic bots bamboozled by the lesser Gods who created them. This is only a sampling. There’s so much more…

1. NYT Opinion piece from people who know Trump’s character: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/26/opinion/donald-trump-personality-history.html
2. NYT article from people who were Trump’s advisers: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/30/us/politics/trump-administration-criticism.html
3. Atlantic article on unthinkable moments of Trump’s first presidency: https://www.theatlantic.com/unthinkable/
4. Atlantic article on the legal cases against Trump: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/donald-trump-legal-cases-charges/675531
5. Wikipedia list – Trump administration controversies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Trump_administration_controversies
6. Trump’s timeline of hate: https://www.hrc.org/resources/trumps-timeline-of-hate
7. 15 reasons to not like Trump: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article244460337.html
8. 30 reasons to oppose Trump: https://www.thestate.com/opinion/article243771942.html
9. 50 reasons why Trump is bad for workers: https://www.epi.org/publication/50-reasons/
10. Jimmy Kimmel’s last ditch appeal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy0zq8YzY9w
11. Stephen Colbert’s concession monologue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNX5OPkrfZk
12. VP Mike Pence on Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6agDUSgdw
13. Robert De Niro on Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fJ0FgPSQk
14. Republican officials on Trump: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_APYcvqr_Gw
15. Former Trump voters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahBKWQssQ5o, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_fYrykccPA