Archive for December 2003
Ontario, California
A business trip to California allowed me to escape the cold, snowy weather of DC. Monday and Tuesday I was in the so-called “Inland Empire” west of LA. The “Empire” is the area west of LA comprising Ontario, Riverside and some other towns. Empire of what is hard to tell.
Even so, unlike most East-coasters, I love Southern California. Palm trees, mountains, azure skies, what’s not to love? This was the view from the Ontario Airport Sheridan, where I was staying. Even the tacky motel across the highway makes a worthy landscape when framed by the mountains and the early morning sky of Southern California. It may not be an empire, but it’s a welcome retreat.
Posted by clifburns on 12/18/03 at 12:12 pmCategory: Uncategorized | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Early December Snowfall
My photo editing software (Corel Photo-Paint 9) and Windows XP got into an argument and I haven’t been able to post any pictures for the past 2 weeks. Every time I tried to open a jpeg, my computer would crash. I really hate Bill Gates and his myrmidons. The new Microsoft Office ad campaign running on CNN just underlines this feeling. The ads feature office workers in slow mention, accompanied by a heroic soundtrack, à la John Williams, whooping it up as if we had just caught Bin Laden, when in fact they are only celebrating the fact that they have installed Microsoft Office. Puhleez. Of course, maybe they are just so ecstatic because they finally managed to do something with Microsoft Office that actually worked. My next computer will be a Mac.
Photo-Paint 11 arrived today and it seems happy with XP. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Anyway it snowed this last weekend. I was thinking that December was early for a snow storm in Washington until I found this photo from last December. This is the northeast gate of the White House, festooned for Christmas. This would be a great photo for a Christmas card were it not for the perfidious current occupant of the White House.
Posted by clifburns on 12/8/03 at 11:42 pmCategory: Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »
