the Red Bull Soapbox derby yesterday

I had always thought that the idea of a soapbox race was all fictional, like something that was in the Little Rascals movies and then other movies copied the idea. A Hollywood myth, as much as the renegade cop who gets the bad guys and destroys a city block in the process. But here is a REAL soapbox race and it was really fun to see!!!

This was in San Francisco's Dolores Park - the RedBull Soapbox derby. There were about 60,000 people on the hillside watching the race below or the huge monitors around the park. Racers were judged on the skit or dance routine they did before getting into their car, along with the creativity of their car design as well as their racing time.

The names of the three teams I have here are "Thick and Thin" with a pizza theme, "Fully Operational" with a Death Star theme, and "The Winos" from Napa valley.

Good times during the economic crash

We went out for a morning walk at 6:30 am today. There were clear skies over the Pacific, a bright moon in the sky with a dazzling play of white on the water. Sparkling lights from tankers moving slowly on the horizon. And I feel rich in spite of the fact that the economic world is tumbling down around us. I find myself standing in the kitchen looking at my old beat up refrigerator, "Well at least I have this refrigerator. My old pal the fridge. I don't know where that water leak is coming from but by god I'm keeping this fridge." Or getting on the bus I think, "this bus pass is great. Forty five bucks and I get to ride the bus every day. At least I've got this bus pass." And there's an upside to working in the entertainment business, because people still go to movies during hard times. Oddly enough, if you look it up, things like movies, tobacco, cosmetics, soda, and footwear all do well in a recession. Go figure. Each of those adds up to a fun night on the town - and then some jogging.

http://news.briefing.com/GeneralContent/Investor/Active/ArticlePopup/ArticlePopup.aspx?ArticleId=NS20071101121538TakingStock

Cheaper shelves through recycling

I had been wanting to build four shelves in the closet, but lumber can be pricey. In an effort to get in the recession/depression/full-financial-apocolypse mindset, I found another source for my wood. There was a yard sale up the street and a really big old stereo speaker set that didn't sell, and was left on the street with a big "FREE" sign on it. I don't need a big speaker, who does really? But the wood gave me an idea. I took it home, carefully popped the sides off with a hammer, sanded it down and the 1972 speaker set became four new shelves. I used the backs of two speakers and the sides of one big one. Braces beneath the shelves were made from some old wood I had got from a yard sale down the street a couple months before - also with the 'FREE' sign on them.

FREE shelves!! yay! Now I can put all my "too-small" clothes somewhere. Useful, right?