Richard’s Ramblings

Here it is, 5:00 p.m., more than three and a half hours after the supposed take-off time of American flight 268, and we are still sitting at San Jose’s Norman Mineta International (stupid name, I’ve always thought) at gate A9. First, our flight was delayed until 3:00 due to “mechanical problems”, then came the announcement [...]

Packing for trips is much more of a pain than it used to be.
Now-a-days, I’ve got to make sure the GPS has fresh batteries and a fresh set of 900 waypoints loaded up; a cigarette lighter adapter for using the GPS in the rental car; the same waypoints loaded up into the charged-up Palm Pilot, [...]

Crack! The gavel banged on the county supervisor’s desk.
“Lot number 16. Sold for $10,200 to the man in the striped shirt!”
I had made another trip to El Dorado County to attend their annual tax sale. Properties owned by taxpayers who failed to make the required annual installments for periods of longer than five to seven [...]