Having grown up and spending most of my life in California, there are a few things I enjoy coming back to (besides family). Maybe on top of the list is In-N-Out burgers. If there was a company that has the fast food burger down pat it is this company. I can remember enjoying these back in the 60's living in the Pomona area when their were probably no more than a few outlets. Family owned and operated they grow slowly and never franchise. As successful as they are there are no plans to take their company public. They don't have to.
They had three things on the menu (besides drinks): Burger, Cheese Burger and French Fries. Today, they have the same three things (OK, add a double burger). Their establishments are always sanitary clean and the staff is dressed in white uniforms; always presenting themselves in a professional manner.
Now the food: the burgers are made fresh on the grill and the fries are always fresh. In fact, if an order of fries sits more than two minutes, they are tossed and a fresh order is delivered to the customer. The burgers are by far the best. No soggy buns; always fresh toasted. The other ingredients are always fresh including onions, lettuce and tomatoes. This is a company that perfected a product and never deviates from what they do best.
Check out their website at http://www.in-n-out.com. Take a look at their menu and history. They haven't changed their success factors for over 60 years. Simply the best!!
If you are mobile like we are, chances are you have some sort of technology allowing you access to one of the major carriers Mobile Broadband. We have been using Verizon Mobile Broadband for over 15 months through their USB Mini Air-Card. Works 98% of the time and have been very satisfied with it. The only downside, it is for one computer. Pam and I only share it physically; I have it or she does.
I just learned about a relatively new technology offered by Verizon called MiFi™. It is about the size of 5 or so credit cards pressed together. The best part:
That means we can be on the internet simultaneously and have access to our HP Wireless inkjet printer. No more competing for the AirCard. I found it very easy to set up. It can run on its battery (4 hours) and is active plugged in and charging. In fact, we leave ours plugged in all the time since we always have electric power into the Providence.
Remaining to see:
I am amazed at the capability in such a small package.
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We are having dinner tonight with friends at the Hog's Breath restaurant in La Quinta, CA. You know ... Clint Eastwood's restaurant. We will have one of my cellar wines corked: 1996 Dominus. It is drinking like silk. Simply stunning! Here's an excerpt from the vintner:
Dominus, produced by the Dominus Estate Corporation, is made solely from grapes grown on the historic Napanook Vineyard in Yountville, California.
The 1996 growing season was nearly perfect, one where everything seems easy. Of course, the team at Dominus was leery about this, and concentrated on their work in the vineyard even more than usual, in order to get the best quality grapes. Their efforts were rewarded; the wine is beautifully complex and well balanced.
Well balanced and complex is an understatement!
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Our business Website is now up and running at BIG (MT). No, it is not BIG Mountain! It is all about using Movable Type (MT) for presenting your business to the world. Included categories are News, Potfolio, MT Tips, Technology, Services and more. We also have a Facebook group at BIG (MT) Group. We invite you to join.
]]>Visiting Arizona can take you through winding scenic roads to observe native wildlife or to a relaxing luxury golf and spa getaway. From the deserts, barren mountains, rock formations and cactus in the south, the beautiful Sedona red mountains and forested high country to the north and the splendor of the Grand Canyon. Here are just a few photos of our journey through the state: Sedona and rock formations near Tucson. Not a bad place to winter (and many do).
Texas has one of the highest rates of uninsured motorists in the nation.
Go figure. I'll check out South Dakota some time in the future. Same low personal tax structure as Texas and I am sure lower insurance rates.
I did get my Texas driver's license today: Class B Commercial (because of the motor home). I was required to pass a CDL test and do a behind the wheel driver test. I passed both.
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When we sold our house I sold about 3/4 of my wine collection but stashed away some favorites for myself including Silver Oak, Dominus, some Italian Brunellos, StoneStreet Legacy and many more.
I just opened a 1996 Legacy, a Bordeaux-style varietal blend, from my collection and what a wonderful experience. It is drinking very silky. Not one characteristic that is over powering. Nice tannins, fruit and very balanced acidity.
All I can say is WOW!
]]>]]>I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent.
There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now.
You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:
One: illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This is not to be confused with legal immigration.
Two: the STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it.
Four: cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand.
Five: universal healthcare.
I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden
me, my children, and grandchildren. Don't you dare try to pass this in
the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down! Fix only
what is broken -- we have the best health care system in the world --
and test any new program in one or two states first.
Six: growing government control.
I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less
government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down.
Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real
[Constitutional] obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven: ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes -- how did they pull that one off? Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello.. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight: redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs -- and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
WHY IS IT THAT ALL OF YOU LEAVE OFFICE AS MULTI-MILLIONAIRS?
I
WOULD LOVE TO SEE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THAT! MEANWHILE, YOU LIMIT HOW
EVERYONE ELSE CAN PROSPER......AND HOW THEY MUST PAY TAXES--GUESS SOME
OF YOU FEEL YOU DON'T HAVE TO? WHAT ROCK DID YOU CRAWL OUT FROM UNDER?
Nine: charitable contributions.
Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in
need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs
best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out,
please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten: corporate bailouts.
Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If
there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it
and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. (Have you ever
ripped off a Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in
America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot
disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven: transparency and accountability.
How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we
give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please
stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording. I am not
the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting
in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude
to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve: unprecedented quick spending.
Stop it now. Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get
some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making
everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law. I am
not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist,
a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I
work. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected
competent people to take care of the business of government so that we
could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little
recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our
personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be
responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to
be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the
brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution.
I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off
course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think
I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble
all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it
contained? I do not.
It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming.. We will be heard and we will be represented.. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone... and we are now looking at you.
You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office.
We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution, and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them.. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you.
If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up.
Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak
up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be
herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole
damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for
you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we
are coming. We the people are coming.
So, here is the interior of our "camper," all 500 (approx) square feet of it. Party anyone?
2008 Fleetwood Providence (Model 39R)
Since we are on the road full time, it makes absolutely no sense to be based in Virginia and be subject to the enormous personal property taxes on our Motor Coach ($4.20/$100 of assed value). Our real property was being taxed at about $1.20/$100 of assed value. Does this make any sense at all? Not to me since we hardly use Virginia's highways. Virginia, you just lost me but not without a bit of sorrow.
So, we have become citizens of the Lone Star State. It is just a matter of establishing "domicile." No state income tax and no personal property tax.
We are still "wandering" and on our way to California for the holidays.
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Departed Sherling Lake Park in Greenville, Alabama this AM and arrived at our favorite spot on the Florida panhandle. We are in exactly the same site as we had last January when we were here. About a one minute walk to the beach. It is windy and stormy today and tomorrow but forecast is nice weather for our remaining time here. We are here for a week then start our trek west on Interstate 10. We plan to visit the National Naval Air Museum at Pensacola next week, also home to the Blue Angels. The schedule shows they practice at 8:30 am next Tuesday and Wednesday and is open to the public. Should be absolutely thrilling!! The museum is known as "one of the world's largest aviation museums."
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Before leaving Atlanta I searched for an RV park about halfway to Mobile as I really don't like to drive for more than 3 to 4 hours. I found this one and had no idea what we would find. What a surprise!!
Paved roads, grassy areas between sites, full hookups with 50 amp service, concrete paved site pads, great Verizon reception with broadband, DirecTV access, very picturesque and very clean. The park belongs to the city and they maintain it beautifully. And, with Good Sam it is only $25/night!!!
Rating: 8.5
Cost: $ (one $ = cheap, five $ = pricey)
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