Back from China

Just spent the week in Beijing. Incredible place ! I met Jeff for dinner and his lovely partner. Only 12h flight to go and 12h to get back. It was pretty hard with the jet lag, but I slept well on the way back. The business went extremely well. Good to see when the work is paying back and progress are visible :-) I was staying in the center of Beijing: 18 millions inhabitants !!!

A lot of sky scrappers and extremely modern, but also a lot of pollution. The earth is so dry around Beijing that there is always a lot of dust in the air. I was told the level of humidity was about 15% !

Alice's Restaurant

In California, there is a mythical place called Alice. In 1969 a guy named Arlo Guthrie made an album about it. The name of the album is Alice's restaurant... see below ...
The main song is called Alice's Restaurant. This is probably the song with the longest lyrics I have ever seen ... So here is just the chorus:

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

The full text can be found here and the song here

I think today's mude was anyway more matching that song :
Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Song: The motorcycle song
Album: Alice'S Restaurant

I dont want a pickle I just wanna ride on my motorcycle
And I dont want a tickle I'd rather ride on my motorcycle
And I dont wanna die I just wanna ride on my motorcycle
It was late last night, the other day Thought I'd go up and see Ray

So I went up and I saw Ray There was only one thing Ray could say was I...
I dont want a pickle I just wanna ride my motorcycle
And I don't want a tickle I'd rather ride on my motorcycle
And I don't wanna die Just wanna ride on my motorcycle

Late last week I was on my bike I run into a friend named Mike Run into a friend named Mike Mike no longer has a bike he cries...
I don't want a pickle I just wanna ride on my motorcycle Yeah,
and I don't want a tickle Cuz I'd rather ride on my motorcycle
And I don't wanna die Just wanna ride on my motorcycle


As you might guess from the photo below, the place is the meeting point for all motorcycle riders. It is accessed by the Skyline Blvd. Karl and I drove for 175 miles today. From SF, to Alice's restaurant (where I had a Le mans burger. If I recall right Karl had the BMW's burger :-)


Then we continued the coast and to Santa Cruz. The way back via HW9 was the most fantastic ride I did in the US. The road was just amazing and the scenery breathtaking.

Karl is ridding too...

Karl made up his mind too :-) He decided to go for the sport bike. We went last week for a ride : What a weather ! The begining was just fine. Grey sky, but not too cold and almost dry road. But then we took a break in Point Reyers stations. There is began ! Rain, storm, water ,... We rode back home. By the tme I was there, my gloves were soaking wet. My shoes were a swimming pool :-) But it was fum.

I prefer indeed te rides we had yesterday with Paul. Going to the Sanoma Airport were they fly plan from WWII. Then the Russian river, to Bodega and the way back ome. 5 hours in total and great roads.

Earthquake ... some activity ...

There has been some movement ... this is rather a good thing.

This screen shot is coming from the official reporting site for earthquakes. The Red one in the last hour was a 4.3 on the scale. We clearly felt it as Claire was visiting from Europe for her work and we were having dinner.
This was her first earthquake ever. This was my second. I had one last week in the office, but we were not sure at all until the day after when it was confirmed. But this one , I clearly felt the difference.
It is actually good sign to have those. IT means that not too much energy is being accumulated in the friction area ... Many small is better than a big one !

Early wake up

Claire on ze top of ze mont tam. She says Hi to her fan club.
Posted with Nokia N73