Monday, March 29, 2010

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

I don't know who, how, or when the application request was sent out for Google's Fiber-Optic ISP offering, but my market place would be a great zone. Sure West has a near monopoly in our area. That is, if you consider ComCast as competition. I don't.

The details listed in the article found at the following link (fair use) sound succulent and savory:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/google-fiber-apply/

I think our market area would fit their criteria admirably. Alas, I have no knowledge if anyone even submitted for our area. But it would be nice.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

It's a Family!

I am not sure how to tell this story safely. Suffice it to say that I have recently communicated with family members for the first time. I'm a full grown man. I'm old enough to have grandchildren. I don't, but could have had them if life was different. Now I have six more siblings, a handful more of nieces and nephews and I don't even know how many more grand-nieces and grand-nephews yet.
All I can say is that it is kinda weirdish.
Life can change in a heartbeat, over a weekend, or it might take a matter of a few weeks. Only time will tell what ones' tapestry will look like at the end of the road.

More on that later, maybe.
:-D

PAH-THETIC

I believe that in California, it used to be a state law, that all gasoline stations had to have public restrooms. That's a good law. It makes good common sense, fill up one tank and empty the other.
Somewhere along the way, somebody failed the general public, I guess. It seems that it is no longer a state law, it isn't enforced, or that there are very lenient exceptions.
I think it is PATHETIC that a father can't pull in to a gas station so that his daughter, in disparate need of relief, can go to the restroom. Instead, only to hear a very unsympathetic voice stating coldly, we don't have public restrooms.
I have come across this three times now in the past few years. I can only hope that the legislators responsible for abolishing a health and safety law have been since fired from all public services. Probably not, but one can hope.
It seems that throughout this country, self-serving special interest groups are modifying laws at the expense of the common people.

I hope they poop their pants.

Two of the offending gas stations are Shell, Greenback Ln., in Orangevale, CA., across the street from a DQ - Dairy Queen. And an ARCO at Ethan Way & Alta Arden & Arden Lane. in Sacramento, CA.

I hope it becomes law once again and those two stations close down.
The third station was in Chico, Cal-I-Forn-I-A. Unfortunately, I don't know the fuel brand or the exact location. But all three had unsympathetic employees who didn't even offer the nearest alternative.

May the fleas of a few thousand feral cats and dogs invest each and every one of their crevices.

Hew, I feel better now. Not by much, but better.

UPDATE: I stand corrected, AB830 was not passed in 2004. There is not a California state law that requires gas stations to have public restrooms. It should have passed and become law (IMHO). I originally got my disinformation in 1990 or so. I was working for a guy who owned his own name brand gas station. Since he had to comply with all the federal, state and local laws, I took his word with some authority. But hey, anyone can have a misunderstanding of all the complicated rules of business, right. My sentiments remain the same. It should be the law. I believe it's common sense. So it should be a common law.