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Last night, Megan and Abigail treated me to a fantastic birthday dinner at Mi Casa Grill.

I’m so lucky to have Megan as my partner, best friend, and wife! And Abigail is her father’s joy!

Mi Casa Grill is a gem: presentation is always a fantastic three dimensional sculpture and the tastes so fresh, bold, and balanced! A joy from start to finish!

A zillion years ago I took a college English class on the Bronte Sisters. We were told about the intense literary rivalry of the three sisters. Each sister trying to outwit the other.

I couldn’t make heads or tales of the Agnes Grey story. It was just so… … so preposterous! So many scenes were outlandish but done with a straight face. It finally occurred to me that it must be a (secret) comedy!

Give it a listen or a read and tell me it isn’t the best kept secret comedy you haven’t heard in a while!

At this exact spot (see the photo of the start of the MacArthur Maze on Rt 80 coming from the north), Google Maps says “keep right at the fork” [when it is wanting you to take Rt 580 or 880] but that is TERRIBLY misleading and dangerous! It should be something like “Stay in the middle lanes” or more verbosely “Don’t take the left exit/HOV lane. Instead, stay in the second or third lanes from the left. If you get in the right 3 lanes (as is suggested by the phrase “keep right”) you will find yourself going over the Bay Bridge, sucker!”
This is a high priority fix because it’s on a major highway used by tens of thousands per day, and it’s on Google’s home turf.

There’s two problems with the direction. First, it says “keep right” when it means “don’t turn left”. The second is that another major highway intersection is just 200 yards further down the road, at 50mph, it’s impossible to change the required 3 lanes to the left!

That is what I reported to Google Maps Feedback tonight. (make your own updates by clicking on “Feedback” in the far lower right corner of your Google Maps directions on your computer).

I am reminded that it is important to distance myself from news media. The media coverage about Burning Man was dumb. First, I’ll just say that it was an amazing, fantastic, terrific, wonderful event. My entire family (me, wife, and 8 year-old daughter) had a simply fantastic time. The “problems” that the weather created were a joy to behold. Remember that it is an extreme camping event in the best of times with typical daily temperatures sometimes above 110, daily temperature swings of 50 degrees, humidity hovering around 15%, daily dust storms and even dirt storms with winds up to 70 mph! Those are typical conditions! Every person there was EXPECTING extreme weather, that’s why we’re there! Every news outlet that created headlines with words like “troubled” “disaster” “descent into chaos” etc… are simply… dumb.

Here’s a realistic article about this year’s burn:
Most participants of the week-long extreme survival camping vacation event called Burning Man stayed an extra 1-2 days in paradise because of of unusually rainy conditions. The tone of the event became more “local” for 2 days as participants walked the temporary city instead of biking. On Saturday night, instead of the traditional burning of the man, members of Kidsville had a potluck party in their camp, making friends, burning their mini-man, and bouncing on trampolines. Participants relied on free-local coffee shops, bars, dance clubs, and wood-fired pizza ovens instead of biking across the city for other neighborhood’s freely offered events and services!