Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

We went to San Francisco so we could see this movie with digital projection. The film was visually rich and did a good job of bringing the story up to the first Star Wars movie made in 1977. I think they could have done with a better script and a little more humor, but it was quite good.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Ken and I went to see this movie yesterday. I had never before stopped to think of how much Douglas Adams' tale reminds me of Lewis Carroll. The film had its good parts which I enjoyed, but it didn't quite knock my socks off.
Check it out.

Control Room

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary about Al Jazeera. It was very thought provoking concerning the role of the journalist and many other issues related to this TV news service of the Arab world.
Check it out.

Point Reyes

Ken and I went up to Point Reyes, north of San Francisco, last weekend. It is an outrageously beautiful spot, more so on this trip because of all the yellow coastal lupine growing everywhere. This photo was taken from near the lighthouse. My photos were not great, but
here they are.

Persepolis 2

Marjane Satrapi's graphic biography describes her time as a student in Europe and then her return to Iran. I liked the inside view of life in Iran. I'll have to look for Persepolis which concerns her childhood and precedes this book.

Daniel's senior project

Ken and I went down to San Luis Obispo to see Daniel's landscape architecture class display. It was fun to see his model and drawings and to hear his presentation.



I am impressed by his artistic ability.

Tiptons Saxophone Quartet

We returned last week to Kuumbwa, our favorite jazz spot in Santa Cruz, to see this marvelous all woman band. There are 4 saxophones of varying size and a fifth woman on percussion. The audience was not very big, guess they need to get the word out.

Rolling Stones gathering

You know you are a baby boomer when you look at this picture and think "How can they be so old?" From the picture, they look a bit amused about it themselves. I saw them once at one of these big arena shows -- once was enough. They had a lot of energy, so they have to be taking care of themselves.

Favorite Stones song? "Paint It Black".

Uncle Jack's wildflower photos

My uncle takes lots of nice wildflower pictures in Pennsylvania and then emails them to me. Click here to see more.

Trip to Massachusetts

I went back to the RSA home office for a business trip so I called Steven, a co-worker who is a fellow astronomy nut. He took us out to the Oak Ridge Observatory late one night. It was pleasantly creepy to be at this old facility in the middle of the woods on a dark night.


Steven's friend Joe measures star's radial velocity and is part of the search for other stars with planets. This is just a photo that I found of him on the web, but it catches the low light conditions of our visit.

Read more here.

Chick Corea Elektric Band

This was a sold out concert at Kuumbwa. I can truthfully say I had never seen anything like it. Wow!

Desert blooms

Heavy rain fell in southern California this winter so there were reports of a great wildflower year. Ken and I went down to check it out. We also went to Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona. I had never seen so many cacti in bloom, it was truly a thrill. Click here to see more photos.

Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham

We went to see these two characters from Scotland at Kuumbwa last month. Aly Bain plays the fiddle and Phil Cunningham plays the accordian in traditional Celtic tunes. They reel off one funny story after another and remind me of my grandfather and his brothers who were great story tellers in the same tradition.