Tripping in Cali

We had a great trip to California to visit Lacy's family. For excellent photos, I suggest that you visit my sister Lillie's blog. She is a great photographer, and in this post, and several others, she shows a little bit of what we enjoyed.

I ate at Cafe Rio twice (excellent), In-n-Out once (excellent), Cheesecake Factory (excellent). Not very creative options, but still... excellent. The weather was great, as was the company. The ocean was cold. There were dolphins and snakes and children. All wild.

We toured the Reagan Library, quickly- at the kid's pace. It was impressive, a fitting tribute to the man. We ate superb, butter-filled pancakes in Du-Par's in Oxnard. I'd seen the place mentioned in books by Michael Connelly, a favorite author of mine, and wanted to give it a try. We ordered too much food.

We wanted to try a local burger place called The Habit (in Santa Barbara), but long lines and little seating made it a no-go for increasingly rambunctious Isaac. It was a great trip.

Here is a great photo of my beautiful Lacy, and of our family, taken by Lillie.

Justice Lost

Whether or not you thought the Casey Anthony verdict was a miscarriage of justice, this story from Mexico easily tops it.

A young man BEHEADED four people on orders from a Mexican drug cartel and got 3 years. THREE YEARS. And the creep was on his way to San Diego when he was apprehended. Read more of the news brief here.

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Giving Back

Jonathan Vilma is one of my all-time favorite Hurricanes. He was and is an extremely intelligent player, and he is making a significant contribution to his Alma Mater.

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Olympic Future

I've been on vacation for a while, but I hope to resume more regular posting.

The 2012 London Olympics are next summer. These are some fantastic photographs of some of the venues.

In the same vein, this is an interesting article about some of the names that you cared about three years ago, and will probably care about again.

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Awesome Video Saturday CLXX

Slipping this one in at the last minute- I am and have been firmly in the "Michael Jordan will not be surpassed" camp. Watch this video, and tell me what you think.

On Judgement

I, like many of you, have been fascinated by the outcome of the Casey Anthony trial. I didn't have the visceral reaction of many, and I'm not consumed with an overwhelming conviction that a miscarriage of justice has occurred.

If anything, the outcome of the case reassures my faith in the justice system. It seems that the jurors were very uncomfortable with the choice that they had to make. They simply felt that the evidence was not sufficient to support a guilty verdict.

I served on a jury for a case that was very simple. The deliberations were quick, and no one really doubted the choice to be made. Despite this fact, we all were impressed by the responsibility placed upon us to decide correctly according the the law and the facts as they were presented to us.

I agree completely with this op-Ed from today's WSJ, written by well-known attorney Alan Dershowitz. It is worth reading.

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Happy Independence Day

I am grateful for this great country. I had a fantastic day with my family, culminating in a great dinner with some new friends and our own mini firework show.

I wanted to share this delicious recipe for tacos de carne asada. the part I was most impressed with was the mojo or marinade. I grilled both flank steak and skirt steak on my trusty Weber One-Touch. I continue to be a charcoal user, and that grill is almost foolproof.

What's more American than tacos, right?

We are exceptionally blessed, and I'm grateful for 235 years of America.

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Transforming

Lacy and I went to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon last night and I found it to be extremely enjoyable. It is loud, visually noisy, often logically inconsistent and I think I was smiling the entire time.

This is one of those films that dramatically divides critic and common moviegoer. The lack of "quality" films is often lamented, as all of the money, hype and attention goes to support these kinds of blockbusters. In patronizing Transformers I become part of that problem, but as I Tweeted yesterday, it is the fun part.

The special effects were superb, with an extraordinary melding of real and virtual. As someone who has enjoyed FX-driven films since I was a very young boy, Transformers is high art. And this one was better than the 2nd film, by a wide margin, although in reviewing my blog I wrote very favorable of the first two.

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