Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur is the southern state in the Baja Peninsula. It's name means "lower California south." That type of thinking is what makes Mexico so... Mexico.

Not as big as they get.

Two weeks on the road and in the water gave me lots to ponder. The Baja Report: Operation 2WD (Two White Dudes) will follow as soon as I catch up with work. In the meantime, enjoy a picture of one of the lovely fish of Scorpion Bay, where sharks were seen but scorpions were not.

World Cup Final Ennui, Annoyance; Soccer Kinda Sucks

Who cares if he's bald in back? Zidane has the best hairline ever.

Laughing and smirking, I can't even take the world's biggest, most-watched game seriously. I'm not fan of American football either, but can you imagine one these Euro-floppers taking an actual shove with intent and force? They might not even know how to react to a non-floppable offense. "Why'd you hit me?!" they'd cry.

The flopping isn't so much an insult to the beautiful game as it is to acting. I mean, can you picture one of these soccer fools acting? I'm picturing Hamlet, after getting a minor, glancing cut from a poison-tipped sword in the final scene; Hamlet's flopping around on the ground, pounding the pavement with his fists, writhing like a trout on a hook, holding his wound. It'd be comedy or farce more than drama. I wonder how he'd deliver the Hamlet's last words, "the rest is silence."

That being said, it was still a lot better than the Italy-France final in 2006. Italians are good with food, but they play the worst kind of soccer. The only good thing about that game was watching Zidane headbutt that Italian dude. Even then, it was pitifully obvious the Italian overacted.

As a Europhile, for at least four World Cups I've wanted to like the game. But year after year, World Cup soccer is just as awful as I remember.

Me in Colombian Britain

Few people realize how arbitrary spelling is. There really are no rules, kids, no laws. You can spell the area grey or gray. I only mention this because I find it unusual that the country is Colombia and the river and province are Columbia.

My ol'buddy-ol'pal-ol'friend Bryce Duffy has the coolest barn/moderny loft I've ever known out in British Columbia's grizzly country, out by Glacier National Park. (Grammar is arbitrary, too: maybe I'd like to say "in by Glacier...") I guess he must've sold the photo for use somewhere, because he asked me to sign away the rights.

On a related note, sometimes I'm tempted to move back to Canada.

Malibu Colony Cutie

Saw this guy on the side of the road at Malibu Colony. Looks like a western diamondback rattlesnake that's been eating well -- good girth, good length, about 4-5 feet.

Too bad he got his rattler pinched off by a Ferrari or Land Rover. Now it's a rare stealth rattlesnake.

LCD, and I don't mean liquid crystal display

1000 words is too little. Thanks to Curtis at LafayetteBoys.com for insight into the inferno.