December 15: Rain or shine ...

It rained all night and it was still pouring in the morning. Native Los Angelenos rarely see this much rain let alone drive in it! El Cajon Pass was closed due to snow. Possible snow day for some kids in SoCal tomorrow! It was truly not a good day to travel 60 miles to visit a client in the Inland Empire, but alas, a meeting was scheduled. I allowed myself 2 hours which was more than plenty of time ... until I heard ... a long stretch of the CA-60 has been closed due to an accident.

Thanks to my GPS and 4 freeway changes(detours) later, I arrived at the meeting location.
As soon as the meeting ended, I hopped back on the freeway, as I did not want to be stuck in the LA's infamous evening rush hour! I was getting used driving with sunglasses in dark cloudy and rainy conditions. Rain or not, the fluorescent-like light from the sky, was bright to my eyes! Suddenly the sun peeked out behind the dark clouds and the rays bounced off the slick black asphalt roads and blinded me some more!

Boy, was I happy to make it home! Then on the evening news I heard about the numerous accidents out on the roads today and CA-60 was closed because a highway police officer was killed while directing traffic of an accident. How tragic!

December 12: Swahili spoken here

In a cab ride on my way to the Solana Beach train station, the chatty driver decided to play Trivial Pursuit with me. He said, "I will give you a free ride if you can guess where I am from?"
I felt sorry for him as he'd would be out $30-$40, but I thought "You are on, buddy!"
He gave me three guesses along with three clues:

1) Birthplace of mankind
This clue threw me for a loop, as I immediately thought of mummies and Egypt! --Wrong!

2) Most beautiful place in Africa
I dunno. This clue was sooo subjective. South Africa? --Wrong again!

3) One of two countries that speak Swahili
Oh! I got it!! Tanzania!! --Wrong yet again! I guessed the wrong one! D'oh!!

After all that, it was Kenya, home to the President-elect Obama's father ...