Smart or Wise?

A recent comment on facebook got me thinking about the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Here’s what I have so far:

Smart:

- Doing what can be done.

Wise:

- Doing what should be done.

Smart:

- Having an informed opinion.

Wise:

- Appreciating someone else’s point-of-view.

Smart:

- Knowing what answers to give.

Wise:

- Knowing what questions to ask.

Smart:

- Pointing out what needs fixing.

Smarter:

- Suggesting good ways to fix it.

Wise:

- Realizing that the only direction you can truly point your finger is into the mirror.

Smart:

- Thinking wise thoughts.

Wise:

- Taking wise actions.

Update:

Smart:

- Being right.

Wise:

- Being happy.

(The Car Talk guys frequently mention that in relationships, you can either be right or you can be happy.)

Palm Springs 10-10-09

Saturday morning I spent getting cameras and clothes and water and snacks and the car ready for a drive to Palm Springs and hiking in Mt. San Jacinto State Park at the top of the Palm Springs Tramway. I meant to get an early start, but it’s so hard to rush a Saturday morning after rushing every morning all week.

I took the scenic route over the mountains to enjoy the views and the drive. Near the start of the last descent into Palm Desert I stopped at this turn out to enjoy the view. That road looking like a strand of spaghetti plopped onto the desert is great fun and gives you some idea of what the last hour of the drive is like.

New Word: Ignoracist

Then (Pat Buchanan) made his most ignoracist claim yet: “This has been a country built basically by white folks.”

Jim Nelson

Editor-in-Chief

GQ

September 2009

The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm about halfway through watching the mini-series on hulu and decided to read the book. The book is a light-hearted look into the privileged life of the rich, famous, and powerful in Hollywood. It follows one woman's struggle to survive with her integrity intact among beautiful people with skewed values, much like The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries. When I got to the halfway point I thought the book wasn't as good those other books, or even the TV show, but at that point the author was finished describing the environment and setting up her characters and was able to use her language of wit to really tell the story of these people. In the second half I really started to like the book and the characters and the author's writing style. An easy, fun, fast read; good for beaches and airports.

View all my reviews >>

Quote of the Day

“Whover said

‘You can’t buy happiness’

didn’t know where to look.”

- Bo Derek

Out the Train Window

Shortly after starting my new job in Calsbad I needed to leave my car at the mechanic for a day to be checked before getting smogged and I looked into other ways to get to work. The Coaster is a local commuter train operated by the North County Transit District that parallels the 5 and the coastline between downtown San Diego and Oceanside. I catch a bus 1 block from my house that goes directly to the Old Town Transit Center. 10 minutes later The Coaster comes along, I find an upper level seat, sit back, and let someone else do the driving. It’s a smooth, fast, quiet ride with spectacular views of Mission Bay, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Encinatas, and Leaucadia. The train crosses 3 estuaries and lagoons and goes right along the coastline in many places allowing great views of the sand and surf. No matter how early there are always surfers out in the waves.

In Carlsbad there's a shuttle bus timed to meet the train that goes right by Invitrogen putting me at work about 7:40am. At the end of the day the bus comes back at 5:15 and gets to the train station about 10 minutes ahead of the 5:45 return train. Sometimes I’ll leave work a half hour early and get an earlier train. The downside is door to door the whole trip is about twice as long as driving so I’ve been doing it just a couple of times a week. The cost is about the same as gas, but savings in wear and tear on my car, and on me, plus the views and the fun of it make it well worth the time.

Do you see the bird?

Bike Ride Sat. 06/20: 32 Miles: Lost in La Jolla

One lonely boat emphasized the expanse of the Pacific. The clouds allowed some sunlight through that did a slow waltz with the sailboat and the sea.

I can’t believe this ride was over 3 weeks ago. Time flies when everything hurts!

This ride started out like the ones before: through Mission Hills, down the Presidio, through Mission Bay Park, along Rose Creek, along the railroad tracks, then up onto La Jolla Colony Drive. When I got to the point where I stopped and turned around the previous week I was so proud of myself for not dying and relieved to reach the top of a very long hill. My plan was to continue for another mile or two, then turn around and head home. But I was having so much fun exploring new territory and enjoying the ride and a couple stop lights and small downhills gave me some energy that I soon found myself staring down a big hill to a bridge that crossed the 5 and I recognized where I was: I was clear up on Genosee, the exit we take to get to the Glider Port and Black’s Beach. Being so close, within a couple miles, I decided to go for it and see the ocean.

Westbound on Genosee across the 5 is a nice downhill, but up the other side is much longer and steeper; I walked most of it. A left turn at the top, turn right at the 2nd light, and I’m going past the Salk Institute heading for the Pacific. As the photos show it was cool, cloudy day, but there’s always something new to notice by the ocean.

After a nice long rest and a couple energy bars I headed back to retrace my ride through La Jolla. I reached 40 mph going down Genosee and didn’t have to walk up the other side. I tried to retrace my route exactly, but somewhere I missed a turn and found myself going by businesses I didn’t recognize and across the 5 on a bridge I’d never been on before. I would have been worried except there were these frequent signs pointing out the turns to stay on the Rose Creek Canyon Bike Path, which is what I wanted so I just kept following the signs. Eventually I found myself on this long downhill, which should have been fun except the wind was so strong coming up that I actually had to pedal pretty hard into it.

Towards the bottom of the hill I recognized the start of the paved path along the train tracks up ahead and realized I was on Gilman Drive: I’d just come back through La Jolla on a slightly different route.

Pedalling back through Mission Bay Park was pretty but everything started to hurt and I still had to hike up Presidio Hill which was looming ahead like a wall. By the time I limped home I had gone 32 miles, about 6 miles more than I had planned and did I mention that everything hurt?

One curious thing happened on the ride: While stopped at light in La Jolla this basketball suddenly dropped from the sky, landing 10 yards away from me, almost in the middle of the intersection. There was a 5 story apartment complex behind me and I assume it came from its roof. Then on the way back, while stopped at the same intersection, a sedanful of twentysomethin’ guys made a left turn in front of me and they were all hanging out the windows yelling and cheering and gesturing in my direction.

Did they recognize me as the one they threw the basketball at? Had they started their Saturday night binge early and were cheering at everyone? Perhaps. But I think the paparazzi finally caught up with me. And next year, when this blog is bigger than Perez Hilton’s, my paparazzi will actually have cameras.

Antidote for a long day staring at Excel:

Running on the beach,

Dodging the incoming tide,

Watching Apollo slowly sink into the waves.

Bike Ride Saturday 6.13.9./ 24 miles

Last Saturday I decided to head out for my ride rather late in the afternoon. My days during the week start so early that Saturday mornings I’m moving very slow. I figured I would still have plenty of light since sunset is so late, and I could take advantage of the great light late in the day for photos.

I headed out along the same route I’ve been taking the past few weeks, this time going over a mile further into La Jolla Colony, which is a beautiful little neighorhood tucked in between the 5 and the canyon the train goes through. Although the last mile just about killed me going from a slight incline to a very steep hill. I had to stop and catch my breath for a few minutes before heading back and this is where I found the flowers.

Going back started out a little chilly because the sun was on the way down; but zooming down hill, so much fun. This was a good ride for me in that I only made 2 stops, a few minutes at the halfway point and another brief one to take the picture of the creek that the bike path goes along by Mission Bay

Great Opening Lines: Maya Angelou

“What you looking at me for?
I didn’t come to stay . . . ”

- Children’s poem

Bike Ride Saturday 6.6.9. 22 miles

I finally made it to the start of this bike path, which has been my goal for the past few weeks. That it’s just under 10 miles from home and it took this much effort to reach is really pathetic. Although there is a stiff, steady wind coming in off the ocean that I’m battling almost the entire way out. Add to that a slight, but constant uphill grade and it’s kind of a challenge. I followed this path for about a mile along the train tracks. Then it ends and the bike route splits; you can stay to the right towards La Jolla Colony or go left into La Jolla Shores towards the ocean. But I was out of breath and still needed to get back home, so I turned around and headed back. Going downhill with the wind was a fun reward and a such a relief.

On the way home I took an extended break in Mission Bay Park watching everyone having fun in and along the water.

While still trying to catch my breath after walking up Presidio Hill I found this view at the end of a dead-end street. A house at the end of the street had a low wall I stood on to take the picture. I was hoping they didn’t mind too much. The view is looking southwest over San Diego Bay to the north island of Coronado and the open ocean beyond that. To the right is Point Loma. And on the horizon just left of center, very faint, is an island that, according to Google Earth, is about 21 miles away.

New Roommates Frank & Gypsy

Early in March Keith decided that he really missed Puget Sound and the forests and the rain in the Seattle area where he grew up. And he wants to be able to buy a few acres and build a house, which is much easier there than in San Deigo. So the end of April he packed up his stuff and his bird, Nikko, and his motorcycle and headed north.

May 1st Frank and Gypsy moved in. Frank and I had been acquaintances for a little while. I haven't lived with a dog since I was a little guy and I'm really enjoying it. She's really sweet, mostly well-behaved, and very smart. I've taken her for walks a few times and that's lots of fun.

Faces in the Crowd

June 2009: National Gay Pride Month

First Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then President Barack O’Bama proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

Via Joe.My.God.

Quote: Churchill

“Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after having exhausted all other possibilities.”

– Winston Churchill

Action on the Field

Some shots of the action on the field at Friday Night’s Padrés’ game. I’m pretty sure the white blur in the 3rd picture, about 5 feet in front of the batter, is the ball. I’m not sure if it’s coming in or on its way out. Most of the pitches throughtout the game were 85 -95 mph.

Bicycling Mission Bay Park

A panoramic view of the northeast corner of Mission Bay. A minute after I took these pictures (there are 4 shots merged together) there were half a dozen wave runners zooming around on the water.
My 2nd favorite view from Mission Hills. This is across the street from Presidio Park.

My trusty steed.

This morning I rode 18.4 miles on my bicycle through Mission Hills, down Presidio Hill, across the SD River to Mission Bay Park. At the north end of the park I rode along a paved bike trail that goes along one of the creeks feeding into the bay. When that ended I followed bike trail signs on a couple side surface streets. My goal was a paved bike trail going through a nice, shaded canyon I'd seen from the train. But after 9.2 miles I was out of breath and tired and still had to get home so I turned around and headed back.

Friday Night Baseball Game

A client of Bruno’s passed along some free tickes to a Padrés baseball game so I got to see Petco Park from the inside. Even though I’m not a baseball fan it was a very fun evening. They do a good job of getting the crowd involved and keeping us entertained. The structure itself is very well-designed and they used lots of natural stone, stucco, and terazzo finishes to make it a beautiful building to walk through. I love that they incorporated an existing building into the stadium and that the area behind center field is free and a good spot for little kids to run around during the game. At the end of the game they shoot off an impressive fireworks show from there and bring all the people that were sitting there during the game onto the field.

Our seats were about half-way up looking right down the line from 1st to 2nd base in an area where they serve food and beverages right to your seat. But I got the impression that all the seats had good views and none of them were too far from the field. The staff were all really nice and helpful and seemed to be having fun themselves. I’ll post more pictures of the crowd and the action on the field later. Anyone with an extra ticket let me know. I’m in!