well, I sit here in Ballard WA waiting for our table of four at the great restaurant Oaxaca. If you are living in Seattle this might mean something. If not, I’m sorry. The point is, this is my first post to my own blog from my iphone. No monitor. No keyboard. No ethernet cord. People, just trust me. This is a fun device that is worth buying. I am liberated from my pc. Apple-i cant quit you. And this is a version 1? Incredible…

There must be a god up there.

Our last stop was Munich Germany. Here are a few pictures from our few days there as well as some images we took at the Deutsch Museum.

A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Moon is full, and when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so.

According to NASA, the event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT (3:54 a.m. EDT) on August 28 and this eclipse will be the deepest and longest in 7 years. The longest possible duration for the total phase is 107 minutes, and last occurred in July 2000.

I am working with some photos I’ve taken to see if I can achieve a distressed painting effect. Here are the first few..

I’ll be dumping the rest in the Paintings folder here.

Science and religion never have mixed well. In the case of global warming, the late Jerry Falwell and Ann Coulter would have you believe that global warming is a political distraction being cultivated by tree huggers. I suppose there is little point in trying to explain that ice does melt when warmed. From my standpoint it wasn’t even a political party issue although now that Russia and others are realizing that arctic warming provides economic viability as to harvesting the great wealth of energy laying beneath we’ve got a proverbial land grab underway that is bound to have the global warming naysayers soon to turn into energy protectionists. Nothing makes fresh new believers more than powerful adversaries who monopolize on the global stage. Almost certainly and very unfortunately, even the race for the North still won’t convince everyone that the planet needs attendance as a top priority. Maybe when there are no more polar bears to put in zoos will Ann Coulter finally will realize that global warming wasn’t “fascistic sophistry” after all.

I took this picture of the forthcoming BMW M5 Touring while traveling in Germany. This is an incredible car that the USA is not likely to get in the short term. But, if you want both space and performance this surely must be one incredible compromise. This finest 5-Series Touring will be the most powerful production estate of all time: 305 cui, ten cylinders, a maximum output of 507 bhp, a peak torque of 383 lbs/ft and engine speeds redlining at 9,000 rpm, these are figures that speak for themselves and blur the lines between a car for the whole family and a vehicle for ambitious motor sport racing.

Enjoy these pictures from the Vatican and the ancient ruins of Rome! Needless to say, the historical ruins that can still be seen are hard to comprehend. There isn’t another place quite like this. My only recommendation for tourists traveling in Italy during the summer months? Carry a lot of change so you can pay exact amounts to taxis and restaurants. The reason is because they will try to tell you things like “our credit card machine doesn’t work” (after you have already had dinner) or, “I have no change.” The reason for doing this is because they either don’t want to pay the credit card fees or because (the taxis) want to try to pressure you into giving them whole bills which effectively amounts to larger tips. This happened to us on most occasions but I started to catch on after the first or second time. In fact, it is generally a good idea to NOT use your credit card here during the high tourist months because extra charges can very easily appear on your card when you get home and if you pay cash you don’t have to deal with the credit card companies when you get home. Anyway, we return home to all our friends in Seattle on Wednesday! See you all then.

So Tricia and I have just finished about a week in Hvar off the coast of Croatia. I must admit that this has been on of the most surprising travel experiences of my life. Croatia (and Hvar in particular) is going through a huge surge of popularity as a top flight summer destination and I can now understand why. The amenities are world class, prices are fair and the ambiance is authentic. Croatia has about 800km of coastline and some 1100 islands but Hvar is the undisputed heavy-weight for sun seekers who want to experience a Mediterranean style excursion that easily matches any other exotic coastal destination. Hvar is famous in Croatia for having the most sunlight. The waters are a perfect blue, the locals are friendly and the 13th century architecture offers a great surprise to visitors who come from Split, only two hours away. It is the most relaxed town in Croatia where even the tourist information lady sits outside on the waterfront, instead of her office. I’ll definitely be back!

As part of our August 2007 trip to certain locations in Europe, Tricia and I stopped in the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. Dubrovnik is a historic city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist resorts, a seaport and the center of the Dubrovnik-Neretva county. From its establishment in the 7th century, the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. After the Crusades, Ragusa/Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205–1358), and by the Peace Treaty of Zara in 1358, it became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Serbian-Montenegrin remains of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) attacked the city in 1991 and several of our pictures still show shrapnel on the walls of the old buildings.