Adventures in Cord Cutting

"Good afternoon, Time Warner Cable.  How can I provide you with excellent service today?"

"Hi, I'm looking into turning off the cable, but I'd like to keep the internet."

"I'd be happy to assist you with that today.  First, can you tell me a bit about your viewing habits?  What kinds of things do you enjoy watching?"

"Well, I really don't watch much TV at all."

"So, do you prefer news channels, like CNN, or sports programming?"

"I actually just don't find myself watching anything."

"OK, well what we could do is boost you to a new level with our premium packaging.  That would provide you with a month of free HBO, plus 50 extra channels.  That might give you more things to watch."

"No thanks, I'm really just interested in keeping the internet.  Is it possible to do that?"

"You can do that, yes."

"How much would that be?"

"You currently pay $120.  For internet only, you would pay $61.00 monthly."

"Is that the same internet, or is it slower?"

"It's the same.  Actually, what I can offer to you, for $70, is our new turbo-charged enhanced internet, and with that, you would get access to local channels too.  You will notice a significant upgrade in speed."

"OK, let's go with that.  How do we do that?"

"All you need to do is unplug your modem, then plug it back in.  You will then notice the speed increase.  We'll have to send someone out to trap the cable line outside, but you don't need to be home for that."

"Great, let's go ahead and do that."

You may wonder if the internet speed increased following this.  It actually became much slower.  But good enough.

Happy New Year Expiration Date

Yesterday, February 11, somebody I hadn't seen since sometime in 2013 wished me a "Happy New Year."  

This got me wondering just how long one can reasonably wish someone a Happy New Year.  

Certainly if you bumped into someone in July, you wouldn't be expected to do so.

I suppose the ultimate would be to wish someone Happy New Year, for the current year, at 11:55 on New Year's Eve.   Then, 6 minutes later, do it again.  

For now, I can say my personal record for someone wishing me a Happy New Year is early February.  Impressive!

Good Gloom

Today reminded me, in a good way, of this gloomy picture I took at Heathrow a few years ago.  A break from the sun is quite welcome.

Fish Canyon Falls

Let's take a closer look at one of the waterfalls I showed Monday.

The trail to Fish Canyon Falls has an interesting history.  At one time, it was a popular trail with cottages alongside a stream.  After a fire destroyed the cottages, the trail still remained its shady, relatively flat self, leading to probably the best local waterfall, an 80 foot high one with three tiers that looks more like something out of Yosemite (almost.) This sign above was installed along the way, but sadly it has disappeared.

I showed a picture of it Monday, but here is a closeup view during a good year.  Today, if one were to go here, it would be bone dry.

Sadly, the trail to the falls became blocked off by a mining company.  The only way to hike the trail was to trespass across their land.

People complained, so the company built a bypass route around their mining operation so the trail could be accessed.  Unfortunately, this trail was badly built, and went all the way up a mountain, then all the way down a mountain, just to reach the start of a flat trail.  A trip to the waterfall had gone from a leisurely 3 mile stroll to an arduous 10 mile trek, much of it quite dangerous due to poorly constructed switchbacks.

The latest compromise is that the company runs a shuttle through the mining operation about once a month so people can hike the trail without climbing up and down the mountain.  The only problem, though, is thousands turn up, so it really isn't so great.   Below is an actual picture from one of the hikes.

Ah, I'll take a pass on that hike.  I think Disneyland is less crowded.

The upside, perhaps, is that with few people hiking the trail, it stays fairly pristine.   So if one is willing to trespass or do a crazy mountain workout, one can hike the trail with virtually nobody else there, 95% of the year.

An interesting mini waterfall is visible along the trail to Fish Canyon Falls.  It's called Darlin' Donna Falls.  At one point, it had its own sign.

This sign was only up for about a year, after which it was found floating downstream, and hasn't been replaced.   So to find Darlin' Donna, you now need to go a) when it's been raining and the stream is full and b) know where to look.   Here is what it looks like:

The Best Day for Surfing

When is the best day for surfing?

Superbowl Sunday.

That is the day when everyone, or almost everyone, stays inside almost all day watching the game.

Leaving the waves finally free and clear.

Hopefully our recent run of amazing waves will still be going strong this weekend….

Remembering the Waterfalls

Above is Upper Escondido Falls, which is not in Escondido, but in Malibu.  This is how it looks when it has rained heavily.

Typically, this time of year is when the waterfalls are refilled.  Sadly, this is the third year in a row of very little rain, so most waterfalls are probably bone dry at this point.

Interestingly, one of the heaviest rainfall years was just four years back, when waterfalls that don't even flow in the best of times sprang to life.

Here are some photos I've taken of various Los Angeles area waterfalls over the years. Hopefully February and March will give us a rainfall turnaround…

Lower Escondido Falls

Fox Canyon Falls.  There is no trail to reach this; you have to bushwhack.  I will never return there; once was enough.  It's in the Angeles Forest.

Newton Canyon Falls in Malibu.  This is a waterfall made of limestone, so like Escondido, it has more of a trickling appearance.

Fish Canyon Falls near Duarte in the San Gabriel Valley.  Probably the best overall waterfall and best trail to a waterfall.  If you went there now, though, it would be completely dry.

Don't You Guys Have To Go To Work Or Something?

Every dot is a surfer.

Finally

Excellent Eggs

Getting actual free range eggs is not as easy as you might think.   The terms "free range" and "cage-free" actually have limited legal meaning.  Often times "free range" means 80,000 chickens crammed into a barn on top of each other, with a tiny door leading to a patio that can hold 100 chickens.   And stories abound of unscrupulous farmer's market vendors simply taking grocery store eggs and selling them as their own.

A good way (I think) to spot "real" eggs is to see if they are irregular.  Unlike grocery store eggs which will all look identical, like a Pringles potato chip, real eggs will have specks, different colors, varied shades.  The above eggs came from the Beverly Hills farmer's market.  The top one is one of their "blue" eggs, which actually does appear blue in real life.

In the grocery store, there are almost no genuine quality eggs.  A good website that rates eggs is called Cornucopia Institute.    http://www.cornucopia.org/organic-egg-scorecard/  There, you can see eggs rated "5 eggs":

And eggs rated "1 egg."

A surprising 1 egg rating is Horizon Organic.  On the packaging, they have happy dancing cows and birds, but they appear to in reality be eggs, cheese, milk, and butter produced by a giant agribusiness.  The term "organic" is also not legally binding, unless you have "USDA Organic" on there.

The only locally available five star egg appears to be Vital Farms.  

These cost double the eggs you'd buy at Ralph's, but hopefully it is worth it.  They certainly look like "real" eggs, and you even get a report on which flock your eggs came from.

Whither the LAX Theme Restaurant?

One of the coolest things to do in recent years was head over to LAX on a quiet afternoon, park in the short term lot, and walk a few feet to a waiting elevator, heading up to the Encounter restaurant.

Once there, one did not find especially good (or well-priced food) but one did find amazing views of planes landing and taking off, very cool Jetsons meets James Bond decor, and a truly relaxing place to hang out.  It came in particularly handy if one were marooned at LAX waiting for a flight.

Sadly, the Encounter restaurant has now closed.  This puts the restaurant back to its usual condition of not being open.  Due to construction, earthquake damage, and simply not having any tenants, the restaurant has been closed or nonexistent for a hefty portion of the building's existence.

Apparently, the issue these days is that nobody wants to leave the terminal once they get through security; otherwise, they'd have to go through security again.   Thus, not enough customers.  I would of course add in that a) nobody knows about it, b) the food is weak, and c) the prices are too high.

With the owners of Umami Burger buying the property, I would imagine they will do something with it.  Until then, we can enjoy some photos from the last time I was there a year or so ago.