TTGBlog

Two nights ago my wallet got stolen. Now that I have a replacement atm card I can buy stuff again. One of the things that I need to buy is a new wallet and since I’ve had the same wallet for at least 4 years the prospect of getting a new one is actually exciting. This prospect brings to my attention those belongings that you keep for a really long time, time by which you can almost compartmentalize periods of life. The last four years will be demarcated by the habitual flipping open of the magnetic bill fold wallet I had. And, during the years before that last four, the many years of using tobogan shaped bills created by the classic 2 fold style wallet. Cars, computers and, even shoes for some people, fit into this category of possessions but each one spans a different amount of time. What about lovers ?

Just fyi, the atm check card I got replaced is an ING Direct Electric Orange Card.  If you don’t know yet, ING Direct is awesome!  Sure you don’t get a physical checkbook with the Electric Orange account, but who writes paper checks still ?  And you can always get a check sent to via the website if you really have go and waste paper like that.  ING gives you awesome interest and the best part is that you can find free ATM’s to use virtually everywhere, like at every Seven Eleven store for example (no more driving around town trying to find a BofA or Wells Fargo ATM).   Not only that, but if you have good credit, they’ll connect a line of credit to your card which can be used for overdraft with no fees.  “Take that BofA and Wells Fargo, chargin us consumers $10 and $20 everytime we use overdraft, disgraceful!”

Since I didn’t start my blog until 2003, I thought I’d do some “Posts for Posterity”.

In June of 2002 I was surfing at Topanga and didn’t get to my car until it was dark.   When I got there I noticed a huge tower of water and loud rushing sounds coming from down the road at the Charthouse restaurant.  The road was completely blocked off and I had no way to get home.  So I grabbed my camera and headed for the source of all that water !  It turns out there had been an accident; a car had smashed through the side rail and knocked off a fire hydrant head.   By the time I got there the wrecked car was gone but the water was still gushing like no end.  It took over 3 hours for the utility guys and CHP to figure out how to shut down the water main to this hydrant.  Evidently you have to chip through the road to get to the valve.  They probably had to do this twice, once for the north valve and once for the south valve.  I wonder how many people in Malibu went without water that night ?  Once they got the hydrant turned off they let the car through and I got to go home.

A little more than a year ago I started doing solo missions. One example is the Creek Mission.   I would usually email my friend Christian a link to the location where I expected to be in case something went wrong and I never returned and needed a rescue.  The first time I sent the link was when i went up Ita’s Cliff (so named because you could see it from Ita’s apartmen in Topanga).  As I was bushwacking my way to the rapell point there was a helicopter circling the area. I thought maybe the terms I used in my email to chris (eg, mission, gps, target, etc) might have triggered a CIA email alert or something and they sent a helicopter to check things out. HA.

After a few times of sending out the link to Chris I started to forget and he would scorn me for not sending the link after the fact when I was telling him about the adventure.  So in Dec 08 I got the SPOT GPS Tracker. This little guy can send messages up to satellites and forward them to your friends and family.  You can send OK, or HELP or initiate a genuine 911 response.  It works pretty good except when you have only half the sky in view or if you under heavy trees.  It also does tracking with it’s own google maps mashup but that doesn’t work so well because the reception is poor when in a backpack or something.  At a cost just over $100 as I write this it could be a life safer.  Of course it does need a yearly subscription to work, but hey, what can ya do.

Here is a link to amazon if you want to buy one : Spot Satellite Messenger