Bonneville salt flats Utah

Traveling across the US

LakeTahoe,California















Northern Nevada















Bonneville Salt Flats Utah














Western Wyoming














Nebraska














Iowa














Minnesota














Colorado

The ever changing California coastline

So there was a big vote in Monterey this week on issues pertaining to the protection of the California coastline's fish populations.

Many veteran scuba divers and environmentalists have claimed that through the years there has been a marked decrease in fish populations from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara.

The professional fisherman have survived before restrictions on "trawling" in this area of the Pacific that ends on the coastal waters of the Golden state.

Some of the language of the proposed legislation was rather interesting. One such proposal which was passed was to "ban all human activity" in a 110 square mile area off the the coast. (bad news for everyone!)

Other such arguments that were brought forward were in an effort to curb the decrease commercial fishing off the coast, why not concentrate on the inland activity (i.e. pollution) that is poured into the ocean thus, degrading the environment for fish to thrive. Another backed up by published reports was that marine sanctuaries indeed do protect and benefit fish populations.

It looks like this proposition will basically take ocean access away from both people wanting to use the ocean for profit as well as recreation.

The fish now have a proposed law that will allow them to relax and take it easy in high rent areas of the California coastline. Whether they decide to take advantage of this offer to roll the red carpet out for them remains to be seen. When I was diving in Korea a few weeks ago, it appeared that all of the fish that had been populating the eastern Pacific had moved over to Korea and were basking in warmer waters.

Learning new languages

Today I am exhausted.

My 30 s0mething brain just will not absorb into it my language lessons. With so many contradictions, learning to read write and speak hangul is overwhelming me this day.

I am getting better at reading out loud and with pronunciation, but my comprehension still lags behind my desire to speak and understand the language.

In learning another language I realize how much I take for granted in using th english language as I do. I take joy in creatively wordsmithing on a daily basis using the language that appears to be the worlds default way to communicate.

There are more online resources that are coming on line each day, but there is no substitute for face to face interaction. Of which I seem to get very little of.

I reccommend everyone try and learn as many languages as they can in this modern global world we live in. As soon as I feel comfortable with Hangul, I'll be moving onto Chinese.

Integrating language learning into ones daily life is the future of understanding, peace and prosperity I think.

So today I am feeling a bit like a "Mong chong ah"

Incompetence in the banking, insurance and government industries

I am sick and tired of dealing with the necessary evils of banking and insurance companies!

Whether it is contributing to check fraud, issuing multiple checks for an insurance claim, freezing foreign accounts that can only be unlocked with expensive attorneys, holding onto deposits for over 7 days while they earn exorbitant interest off of the sum, leaving out important information regarding monthly fees, limiting the coverage that you need in a crisis and a whole slew of other such irritating and time consuming F@#$! ups and SOPs!

The people that work in banks and insurance companies are so beholden to the chain of command that they are forced into these errors of judgment and temptations to deviate from their job which is to serve the customer as well as their employer.

Here in California, processing a claim for an auto accident is a full time job! Dealing with the incompetence of the DMV alone needs an assistant to stay on top of the inefficiencies of dealing with poorly trained employees and lazy beaureaucrats.

If only they would execute what they promise to do I would not be getting so red in the face! The reality is though that the complexities and politics involved in such jobs is so mind boggling that the employee of such an institutionalized ball of incompetence such as a globallized banking firm is relegated to behaving like an ignorant fool that ends up getting a lot of people and companies in hot water, which then the expensive attornies have to step in to rectify the situation and make normal again.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scuba diving off Jeju Island

Jeju diving

Jeju Island's Sea Women...part 2

Awhile back I wrote about my fascination with Jeju Island's Sea Women.

So I'm visiting South Korea this week taking in a bit of the seaside and sights of the land of morning calm. I finally made it to Jeju island for some scuba diving and to see for myself the famous "Sea Women" of Jeju.

They are indeed real and very prominent on the coast. Rhythmically bobbing up and down in the shoals of the bays of Jeju island, they collect their revenue from the sea.

Many pop culture icons, art and sculpture made in the image of these economic divas decorate the island.

They are indeed unique and fascinating.