Oklahoma hats drive on dangerous Macbook Amateur
“... problems, Dan.” Nazy explained. “A lot of people don’t want to drive to Solvang.”
“Why? It’s a beautiful drive.”
“Beautiful during the day, Dan. But at night the Chumash highway is dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“It’s a mountain road.”
“It’s a hilly road, Nazy.”
“People say it’s not well-lit at night.”
“Our car has headlights.”
“You, Dan, are experienced driving in the mountains..”
“... hills...”
“ .. but this road is tough for..”
Nazy was right.
Spousal Interrupt: “Of course I was right.”
I thought about driving along winding (real) mountain roads in Italy where the trucks were wider than the lanes. I thought about our drive in Spain.
Flashback
“You want to go this way, Dad!” 10 year old Darius, who controlled the guide book, proclaimed.
The road, hacked off the side of a sheer cliff, disintegrated as we climbed. It was impossible to turn around. I directed all the kids to the right side of the car to keep most weight over ‘road’ rather than air. I tried to keep at least 50% of the left tires on terra (in)firma.
“Darius!” I exclaimed through clenched teeth. “Turn on the tractor beam.”
“What Dad?”
“The magnetic couplers, Darius. We can’t rely on gravity to hold us onto this ‘road’.”
“Isn’t the view great Dad?”
“Dan!” Nazy shouted. “The outdoor mirror is scraping the mountain.”
“Don’t worry Nazy.” I replied. “The left tire is not scrapping anything. By the way, did you pack extra underwear?”
When we finally arrived in Mijas, I confiscated the guide book and I read about the route that Darius had recommended.
“... children will like the view, but adults may find the drive somewhat challenging.”
End Flashback
“Tell your friends, Nazy, to drive back via the 101.”
“Isn’t that longer?”
“Yes, but it’s also flatter. And it’s a freeway.” I replied. “We, however, will take the Chumash Highway,” I thought.
In Solvang, Darius and I tried on several hats (I like the hat store). Nazy, more focused, bought several hats.
We had a nice dinner and then went to the outdoor theatre to watch Oklahoma. The performance was really wonderful. The musical takes place on the plains of Oklahoma and the outdoor setting was a wonderful match. In fact, during the performance:
“The cricket sound effect is too loud,” I whispered.
“It’s not a sound effect, Dan.” Nazy replied.
After the show, most people in our group had positive reviews. But one attendee noted that:
“Curly had an accent.”
“I know,” I replied.
“He sounded like he was from one of the plains states.”
“Isn’t Oklahoma a plains state?” I thought.
We also drove to San Francisco this weekend to visit Nazy’s brother Shahriar. The drive, which we have made several times, was somewhat more challenging than usual.
“Turn off the navigation computer Dad!” Darius demanded. “I don’t like people telling me what to do. You know the way.”
“Madeline, the computer, will be upset when you talk that way,” I replied.
“Madeline is an overbearing loudmouth.”
“Madeline knows traffic conditions, Darius. We rely on her knowledge.”
“Your route is being recalculated due to traffic conditions.”
“See, Darius!” I interjected.
Unfortunately, Madeline, poorly programmed, couldn’t decide on the best route. Every 30 seconds or so, she recalculated. And, she didn’t do it silently until..
“Shut her up, Darius. I capitulate. Madeline is overbearing.”
“Madeline is a dumba...”
The problem occurred because the arrival times on the two major possible routes kept shifting by a few minutes. As we were passing Palo Alto, Madeline actually asked...
“Asked, Dad?” Darius interrupts.
... demanded that we exit. And she gave us about 5 seconds warning. That was the end of Madeline.
We arrived with only minor delays. San Francisco is a beautiful city. However, the trip left my MacBook P r o (which is slowly disintegrating) disgruntled. The keyboard setting that controls the delay when the (say) “delete” key is pressed was changed by a stray cosmic ray. As a result, it didn’t matter how long I pressed the key, it didn’t go into delete mode. An accomplished professional, I went to the settings menu to configure the keyboard to my preferences. Unfortunately, the only options that worked were “no repeat” and “look at the delete key to repeat.” Now a smile aimed at the delete key will erase the previous 93 characters. I think I’m going to have to do something about this computer.
Darius also enjoys playing with his nephew