Eight, seven central

The most people live on the East Coast, then comes the central region, and the Pacific Coast in the end.

The good thing, is that apparently there're so few people living on the West Coast, that nothing is really personalized for us. Due to the 3 hours time zone difference if you watch TV here in the evening you already skipped the evening talk show - TV series crap and you get straight to the late night shows. And you don't have to stay up until midnight to watch them. Daily Show with John Stewart at 8pm instead of 11pm, Adult Swim starts right when you get home from work, etc. I hope no one reads this at the TV companies, and they keep this good habit :)

The only strange thing is around live reality shows. Like the talent shows (American Idol, America's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance and many others). They are all on air at 8/7c... Live... And they're on my screen at 8PST. Now, if TV networks didn't invented how to travel in time, I don't know how could it be live at 8EST and at 8PST! There's a 3 hours time zone difference; 8PST is 11EST! The other explanation would be that we, here on the west coast don't get these shows live, but recorded! And that is just wrong! They say it's live TV! ;) (Not that I care!)

Anyhoo, for letting me watch the TVMA late night shows at 8pm, I say: Thank You!

Calico Ghost Town

The entrance of the town

If you're on I-15 either towards Los Angeles or Las Vegas in the middle of the Mojave desert you see the sign "Ghost Town Rd" (see left). Considering that you're in the middle of nowhere, this sign is not that surprising, now is it? But it turned out that there is a real, historic ghost town at the end of the road: Calico.

Calico was a miner community and the biggest one here in the late 19th century. If you come here you'll get right in the middle of the environment of western movies. But this is the real deal not just a setup! It is amazing how people preserved the buildings, tools, vehicles, machines and personal articles! Each house is turned into a souvenir shop. But each one has its own theme and many of them provide activities.




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There's a train that goes around and the guide on board explains what is that you see. You can see the entrances of the old mines, and find some really good stuff in the gift shops and children will be kept busy by the various activities.

The first gift shop

View of the street

Western movie

The view on the town from the hill above

Grand Canyon Skywalk

Hard to find, but on their website they give good descriptions on how to get there. Be prepared for a 13-15 miles of dirt road drive with max 20-25mph and a very dirty car afterwards!



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The Skywalk is amazing. Not only the bridge itself, but the area around it. It is at least as beautiful as the South Rim I've already seen. However it is quite expensive in comparison. For a family of four we paid around $300 to get in. But the time I need to drive there from Vegas is only 2.5hrs, while the South Rim is around 5hrs to get there; so maybe it's worth its price. The bridge where you can see through the floor is amazing! It's a pity they don't let you take pictures from the bridge. They - of course - do take pictures of you and you can purchase them later... But you're free to take pictures outside the establishment!

The Skywalk - Eagle Point

Some Native American like wigwam behind the Skywalk

The view next to the Skywalk

The Skywalk is the first stop you take in the whole Skywalk experience. Another vista point, the Guano Point is nearby. The shuttle buses come every 5-10 minutes so you really don't have to wait too long to get around. And it is worth to go there, too, since the view I think is even better:

View from the Guano Point

As I said before in my post earlier about the Grand Canyon that pictures are great, but cannot give back the feeling. The feeling of a 4000 feet  (1300m) deep abyss... And here there're no bars at the edge unlike at the South Rim. So you can walk to the very edge and nothing stops you!

The last stop is the ranch. You can either take the bus or your car to get there. It is a fake western movie style town with fake jail and all you need for your amusement. I was not that amazed, but it's definitely fun! And they have shows. And you can sleep over there, too.

So if you can afford the high price, when you're in Vegas, don't miss it!

Wild Wild West

I've just realized why it is allowed in this country to own a weapon. The reason is you cannot really trust anybody nor anything. On the other hand if you hold a gun to the forehead of your 'partner' in the 'negotiation' that might help making him stick to his words or written agreement.

For legal reasons I need to emphasize, that this is my pure assumption and I never prove it by actually conducting an act like that!

My recent experiences taught me that if you sign a lease agreement it is only a bonding contract for you and not for lets say a Ford car dealership. I had to sign 3 contracts and cancel the first two to get through my recent car deal. And it is all because someone made a mistake and assumed that I get the credit they thought I'll get. Unlike the Dodge dealership, where their assumption was correct, and I didn't get the car before they went through the proper channels and finalized all the aspects. But I did feel I made a good deal in the end with Ford. They've lowered my overall price by 4-5k and the total I'll be paying for the car is 8k less than originally. So I'm happy!

The other thing I learned recently that certain professionals in a specific management role are required to major and minor in "Art and Science of Bullshitting People". And they are also required to grow eel skin and lose their bones in order to become slippery and limp.

Gentleman's agreement?! That's only for us, Europeans...

I didn't know what I was missing

I didn't know what I was missing to fully Enjoy California until now: a convertible!

My wife's "namesday" (névnap) is coming up. And our first wedding anniversary, too. And we needed a 2^nd car anyways, so I signed a 39 months lease 60 months purchase deal on this baby:

The color you see has nothing to do with Photoshop or any other photo manipulating tool. This is how it came out of the camera! "race red"

It turned out to be a great gift, since she has nail polish in that color already. I saved another 5 dollars :)

But after we went through all the paperwork, and we could sit in the car, we opened the roof, and started cruising and then (while she was driving) I realized that this was the one thing I missed, and this is what California is all about. And I know why all the guys are sitting on the passenger seats of any convertible while the chicks are driving them: it is much more fun to sit in a baby like this then driving it. I love driving it, too, but I like my Dodge better. But it's fun feeling the warm breeze, and how I'm about to get sunburn, and just glazing all around! And don't forget the sky's always blue here! (Except for 4 days during the "winter" when it is "raining".)

And leasing a car can be cheaper then buying a used ("pre-owned") one. Which is crazy, and a very good thing!

And one note to Dodge: make a freaking convertible out of the Challenger, please! I'd have chosen it over the Mustang for sure! The Challenger is the only muscle car out of the three (Mustang and Camaro is the other two) that has no convertible version. And (at least to me) the coolest looking one. You could make millions out of all the folks living in Cali or in Florida! Get those saws out of the storage rooms and get rid of that roof!

Angry Birds everywhere

Re: Re: I'm getting pissed off at my mobile phone

The very widget causing the problem

After monitoring what applications are using the battery I spotted com.motorola.home. After a little bit of research I learned that the power control widget is also in this application. That I was using. And which tries to use the GPS module in the phone for who knows what reason. You're inside a building? No GPS signal. The program will continue trying to get a GPS location. Why? Who knows.

I removed the widget. com.motorola home's battery usage went down to 2% from 12%. It's a bit ironic that a power control widget is draining your battery. And poor engineering. Very poor indeed!

I've ordered though my extended battery from Verizon. It is only 2mm thicker then the standard one, but provides 40-45% more power. Let's see how that works out! I talked to Verizon about the Gingerbread update and they told me, that they're rolling it out indeed, but per region and serial number. So it will take a while until it'll be available for me.