California…where to begin? I’ve got to crash now but maybe I can put in some stream-of-consciousness stuff and fill in the blanks later.

Smooth flight on Southwest, as usual. Why is it that each Southwest flight is like a shared experience between travelers? I meet more people on Southwest flights than any other airline. People just open up for some reason.

Touchdown on that familiar solitary runway at Lindberg Field.

Another ugly Mustang for a rental car. Bright yellow in Toronto, pumpkin orange here.

Why is everything so dark here? Streets are dark. The hotel’s exterior hallway is dark because the lights are out. Dark is everywhere.

The guys behind me on the plane who spent the whole time talking about vulnerability scanning. All I ever do is talk about vulnerability scanning. I was dying to talk to them and at the end of the flight, I gave them my card.

Checkin at the hotel. I managed to book myself back into the same hotel I stayed in last time I was in San Diego. That time I was here to see a former shipmate get married. At least eight years ago, in my estimation.

Memories of that trip when a taste of home came on the hotel lobby radio. It was the Connells’s hit ’74-’75. Upon hearing it, I grinned ear to ear.

Conversation this morning with a Detroit reseller whose brother lived at Mission Beach near the roller coaster. He mentioned one of my favorite dive hangounts: Moondoggies. What fun I had there.

All the friends I had here once and where they are now. I have a list of folks I hope to scare up while I’m here.

Driving by old haunts and recalling the friends I met there.

Learning my former home here in San Diego, the USS Elliot, is being decommissioned in less than a month. I hated that steel box and I loved it, too. It’s fitting it is coming to an end near my visit.

Damn you, California. I left you vowing never to look back, but you got to me anyway. I couldn’t shake you if I tried.

I’m in Detroit tonight for a sales call tomorrow morning. Then its off to the Left Coast for a marathon sales trip. Three cities in four days. Whee.

The hotel here has Wifi in the rooms. Not only Wifi, but with ROUTABLE IPs even. Good thing I run a firewall on the old laptop here. Heh.

After dinner, I’ll see how Free World Dialup likes this network by making a few test calls.

EVERY hotel should have free internet access. Those that don’t will be shunned. At least by THIS geek. 🙂

I read a headline the other day about success in Hollywood for black movie stars is limited. It said “despite Denzel Washington and Halle Berry.”

Okay, so you mean that actors (not “stars” – there’s a difference) like Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones don’t get good parts? What about Wil Smith? I mean, what are Men In Black or Independence Day? Not exactly bombs, you know. I suppose Samuel L. Jackson is a slouch for Pulp Fiction, or the zillion of other great movies he’s made. Or L.L. Cool J., who has turned into a great actor in movies like In Too Deep, playing far away from his type.

Then there are the actors like Cuba Gooding, Jr., who had a good thing going after Boyz ‘N The Hood and Jerry Maguire and wasted it on that stupid dog movie Snow Dogs. Or the Wayans brothers, who have scored with witless hits like I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Scary Movie. Those types of movies give brothers a bad name. As dumb as those movies are, though, SOMEONE is paying to see them. They ARE making money.

Whoopi Goldberg… don’t get me started. She has her moments, like in Ghost and The Color Purple, but all too often she makes some real bombs. She should break out of character once in a while. Other than the few movies where she actually shows she has acting talent, she’s mostly the Adam Sandler of black movie stars. In other words, how does she still have a career?

Laurence Fishburne. Now that guy’s had a career! He’s currently riding high as Morpheus in theMatrix franchise, but his career stretches back to the 1970’s. That guy knows how to act and he knows how to pick his movies.

And whatever happened to Rob Brown, the fresh young actor who had a lead in Finding Forrester? I’d have thought he’d be clocking G’s after that one, but he pretty much disappeared.

Who would’ve ever thought Ice-T, who once sang NWA’s anthem F**k Tha Police, would play a cop on TV’s Law And Order: Special Victims Unit? And be damn good at it, too? Of the former rap stars who have branched into acting, Ice-T is by far the most talented. In fact, he’s one of the most talented black actors out there today.

I think what’s really wrong with Hollywood is that most movies and TV shows suck, not just the ones starring blacks. With few exceptions, Hollywood is bankrupt of good ideas. In that regard, Hollywood doesn’t discriminate.

Saturday evening, we will have the chance to witness another total lunar eclipse. I hope to go with Kelly and Hallie out to Jordan Lake to get the best view of this spectacular event.

Hallie has become a moon fanatic lately, going bananas whenever she sees it. I wonder how she’ll react when she sees it go dark on Saturday?

Read more at Sky and Telescope.

Two big stories in the Linux world caused some chattering this week. Novell bought SuSe, the leading Linux vendor in Europe. Not long afterward, Red Hat announced it was getting out of the consumer Linux market.

Seems to me that Red Hat could use some good competition. The teaming-up of Suse with Novell says a lot to me in regards to the future of Linux. I think Novell will prove a champion of the open-source OS.

As for Red Hat, its catching a lot of flak from its grassroots supporters. And probably for good reason. I understand Red Hat’s purpose is to make money: and it IS making money. Their Fedora project is an effort to throw a bone to the little guys who helped make it what it is.

But its too easy to see this is just a bone. However they may try to spin it, it seems like Red Hat gets the jewels and the volunteer get the shrift. I suppose it always was that way, though, only now its official policy.

The geeks have always held up the Red Hat flag and pulled it into their datacenters. To overlook them in favor of executives is a strategic mistake by Red Hat. Those executives rely on their geek employees to educate them about technology. If those geeks decide that Red Hat is rewarding their loyalty by snubbing them, they can quickly turn the tide away from Red Hat.

Here’s some fun. An anagram generator.

Wonder what my brother Jeff “Jet Fur Fern” Turner or buddies Scott “Thugs Got Encore” Greenough and Jamie “I See A Man Jig” Gaines think of this.

-Mark “Mr. Run A Trek” Turner

I’ve noticed that the unsolicited commercial email (a.k.a. “spam”) I get has become more creative in its measures. The tried-and-true “MAKE MONEY FAST!!!!!11!1!” won’t make it past the spam filters, so spammers (or, more accurately, spamming software) has to try a little bit harder.

Now it seems I always get spam from creatively-named ficticious senders. Going through my spam folder, I see names like Aracely Morris, Georgette Esposito, Eva Walden, Mayra Sneed, Omar Trotter, Myrtis Willis, Adaline Collier, Marcella Arrington, Sterling Nicholas. I mean, these are some good names! They’re mostly female, for some reason, but good, nontheless.

If I have another kid someday, I might just look in my junk email for name ideas.
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When I wasn’t spending quality time with the family, including celebrating my mother’s birthday, I was out doing yard work: the first in a long, long time. I do my best thinking when I’m mowing the lawn. Given enough grass to cut, I could figure out a way to rule the world. 🙂

Anyhow, during the many times I paused to empty the mower bag, I stopped and took in the beauty that is fall in North Carolina. It was a stunningly beautiful day, with a crystal blue sky providing a backdrop for trees bursting with brilliant fall colors. Perfect day for flying, I thought to myself as I imagined the view from Up There. Every now and then, my jealous ears would hear the sound of a plane passing overhead. At times I got a glimpse of it: the biplane was out again. Lucky bastard.

It made me realize that flying is one of those things I was really set to do, but never let get off the ground. Without debating why I’ve delayed it, I reaffirmed my desire to one day get my wings. I really, really, really do. Like anything.

But our current situation doesn’t allow for it. Flying is an expensive hobby, one that most certainly isn’t in our budget at the present time. I would have to get a substantial raise in order to even think about it. The odds of that happening anytime soon, however, are pretty slim. And that’s where the conflict sets in. It’s one I’ll have to solve or go nuts trying.

Given the desire, there isn’t anything I can’t accomplish. I can be amazingly focused on topics that engage me: the PBX thing, for instance. I feel the same push to climb into the cockpit; to eat, sleep, and breathe flying. The competitive spirit in me has been roused by my officemate Greg, who recently began his lessons.

I cannot let go of any more of my dreams. It has to happen, and I have to figure out a way for it to happen. But until that magic puzzle piece falls into place, the closest I’m going to get to the runway is Observation Park. And that sucks.