Model Trains at the MOST in Syracuse, originally uploaded by mark.hogan.
We passed some time at the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse NY. It wasn’t very impressive but they did have a great model train set.
Buffalo via Chicago, Toronto & the Fallsview Casino, originally uploaded by mark.hogan.
Travelling to Buffalo for the holidays was not a straightforward affair. Due to weather, Southwest canceled all flights to Buffalo Sunday night. We stayed in an airport hotel and ate at TGI Friday’s (note that they have eliminated all vegetarian items from the menu this year) and woke up at 4am
to fly standby.
Alas, we didn’t get on the oversold flight. Our odds didn’t look good for getting on a later one either so we booked two seats to Toronto with Porter Airlines. Porter flies large commuter planes (with propellers) to the downtown island airport in Toronto. Once we arrived, we boarded a ferry that took us to a bus that dropped us off at Union Station… the whole trip from airport to downtown street takes about 10 minutes!
After a night at the Days Hotel on Carlton, we took the discount shuttle bus to the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls where we met up with my parents. I think there were only two other non-retired people on the bus.
All in all, it was an adventure and I highly recommend Porter Airlines. After all, they have free beer.
Just when you thought you’d heard about every imaginable type of holiday decoration, the North Baltimore (Ohio) police have decorated a tree with mugshots of convicted sex offenders. If you’re worried about missing the ornaments on the back of the tree, have no fear: the tree rotates.
It’s COLD in San Francisco, originally uploaded by mark.hogan.
It is extremely cold inside… Javier can’t tear himself away from the space heater. I guess insulation and central heating aren’t overrated after all.
Natasha and I went to Yosemite last weekend and stayed in a tent cabin. I’d never been to Yosemite before, but I was very impressed… photos can’t due the scenery justice.
I didn’t get attacked by a bear, but I did see a bear. Natasha and I were in the lodge at Curry Village drinking coffee and a smallish black bear walked up within 15 feet of the window. Before anyone else caught sight of it, it ran off into a group of abandoned cabins that had been deemed unsafe due to rockslides.
A deadly bear scales a tree in search of its next meal
Black bears (the only kind of bear that lives in California, thanks to the extermination of the animal on our state flag, the grizzly bear) don’t attack people very often and generally lead a vegetarian diet unless they are desperate for food. Mountain lions are definitely more dangerous, and so are rattlesnakes. There is something horrifying about the thought of getting attacked and eaten by a bear though, so I did some research (not real research, just on the internet) and came across this article.
The biggest lesson I learned from my “research” is that the best way to avoid bear attacks is to not be a moron around wildlife. The following is the perfect illustration of this principle:
*April 1995: In Shasta-Trinity National Forest, a man found what he thought was an abandoned cub but was actually a 70-pound yearling, put it in his vehicle and said he was driving it to an animal protection facility. In the two days that followed, two women joined on the trip, and while driving in the town of Mt. Shasta, received minor injuries from the yearling while in the car.
If I was forced to ride around in a car for two days with a stranger and two women he picked up, minor injuries would probably be involved. I can hardly fault the bear.
The most vile of fruits
In case you were thinking of bringing me some ripe Persimmons for Thanksgiving, think again. There is no fruit (or vegetable) more vomit-inducing than the persimmon. I will make excpetions for baked goods, but there is nothing worse than a raw persimmon. Combining the worst of both an apple and a tomato (both of which I enjoy thuroughly), the persimmon is something we can all do without this holiday season.
Last days at Shoe Pavillion, originally uploaded by mark.hogan.
And this is what we’re left with. White buckle top Dr. Martens, size 5. I’m not sure if they are sized for men or women. Five dollars and going fast…
Two researchers at Penn State University have mapped the genome of the extinct Woolly Mammoth using DNA extracted from hair found frozen in permafrost. According to scientist Hendrik Poinar, this means it wouldn’t be hard to recreate the Mammoth and put it in a Pleistocene era-themed amusement park.
Mammoths on Parade, coming soon to a Six Flags near you.
Maybe there will be a baby Mammoth in next year’s Neiman Marcus Christmas Book? Which other animals should we think about bringing back? Oh wait, things didn’t work out so well in Jurassic Park, did they? It would actually be pretty hard to find DNA for dinosaurs, but maybe some more recently extinct animals would be easier to find. Maybe dodos will be the new dogs?
Your next pet
It hasn’t rained since March but today it is back.
Philip Johnson’s Glass House fills the background of this billboard in San Francisco’s Union Square.
