Birds of a feather

These colorful birds are residents of the indoor four-story rain forest display at the California Academy of Sciences. It was a terrific experience -- more photos to come.

Don't confuse the colorful birds above with these two old crows!

Sushi at your fingertips

The California Academy of Sciences had a nice cafeteria where we had lunch Monday. The dining room had the wall-length aquariums that you can see in the picture.

Of course, we all had to joke about having sushi on the menu -- just go over to one of the tanks, reach in and take a bite. Yum! Doesn't get any fresher than that!

Speaking of sushi, I had the best sushi of my life when we went to Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco on Monday night. After the meal, we saw a concert headlined by one of Vanessa's college chums from UM music school: Sachal Vasandani (guy on the left in the picture.) Vanessa says he was an awkward geek when she first met him, but he sure seemed to me to be one cool dude now. Guess it's hard to find a job much cooler than being a jazz singer.

One crazy gator

On Monday on our trip, Rory and Vanessa took us to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It's an amazing science museum with an aquarium, planetarium and indoor rain forest (photos of those later this week.)

This is a picture of their albino alligator. It was a weird looking beast and less-than-energetic. We were there for about three hours, and Rory said he thought he saw it move one toe -- but that was it.

Vanessa and Rory's famous neighbor

We took a walk Sunday after going to the Palo Alto Farmer's Market. Here's a shot of Jennifer and Vanessa about a half mile from Vanessa and Rory's apartment. The house in the background belongs to Apple CEO Steve Jobs!

I went up and pounded on the door and yelled "Hey Steve! I want an iPad!"

Sorry, that's ridiculous. I didn't yell that at all. I said "I want an iPhone!"

Back from our trip to see Vanessa and Rory

I'll spend the next couple weeks showing you pictures of our trip.

It's becoming a tradition that Vanessa and Rory take us to the Palo Alto Farmers Market on Sunday morning after we arrive. It was cool but partly cloudy -- no snow, hurray! -- and we enjoyed, as always, the gourmet food booths. But they sell much more...

Thought you might enjoy this picture of what people are growing out there in California: "Love Potion." Click on the photo to read the entertaining caption.

Smokin' joints!

Scientists design bioactive nanogel that regenerates cartilage in joints - SmartPlanet: "Researchers at Northwestern University have designed a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in the body’s joints.

Minimally invasive, the therapy activates bone marrow stem cells to produce natural cartilage, no expensive growth factors necessary.

The discovery is important because while bone can grow back, cartilage does not — leaving athletes and other active individuals with “worn out,” painful joints that can’t be rehabilitated by orthopedic surgeons."

Comment -- Important news for any of my readers who might be suffering from joint issues. You know who you are!

Our joints will benefit from nice weather in California next week. Clear skies and temps in the '60s. Bring it on!

I gotta get me some of this super high speed Internet!

Google to launch turbo-speed Internet trials - washingtonpost.com: "Google, the world's biggest online search engine, wants to turbocharge your Internet connection. The company said Wednesday it is getting into the broadband service business with trials for fiber networks that will deliver Internet access speeds that are 100 times faster than what most Americans are getting today."

Comment -- The article says Google is taking bids from towns that want to be part of the experiment. Delhi Township, you need to get on board!

We've come a long, long way from the early days of the Internet when the only option was single-color text, slowly crawling across your screen.

Total recall!!!

Toyota announces global recall of more than 400,000 Prius, other hybrid cars - washingtonpost.com: "The 2010 model of the car uses a two-stage braking system that includes regenerative braking to capture energy from the wheels, as well as conventional hydraulic brakes. On snowy or icy roads, however, the brakes can 'seem to soften for a split second' when an anti-lock braking system kicks in, Toyoda explained.

The delay is not the same as brake failure, and there have been no reported accidents or injuries because of the problem, he said. But Toyoda and Shinichi Sasaki, vice president of quality control at Toyota, said at the press conference that complaints about the braking issue have been increasing in recent months."

Comment -- The sentence above that "the brakes seem to soften for a split second" is an excellent description of my experience from time-to-time driving our Prius.

I think I'll wait another month or so and have the software update done the same time I drop off the car for an oil change.

As far as I've read, the Prius has not been implicated in any "sudden acceleration" problems like the other Toyota models allegedly have.

Despite this recall, I have to say the Prius is one of the nicest cars we've owned -- fun to drive, comfortable, roomy and cool-looking. And the 50 mpg are pretty easy on the wallet, too.

Software update for our Prius?

Toyota Recalling 270,000 2010 Prius Hybrids in Japan & US for Brake Issue | PriusChat: "Nothing official out of Toyota yet except for a very minimal statement, but the Nikkei news service in Japan is reporting that Toyota will recall 270,000 3rd generation Prius hybrids that have been sold since the May launch of the 2010 model. As we've reported a couple of times on PriusChat, Toyota performed a software update to the Prius brake computer system and it has been in effect for Prius models rolling off the line since January. But Prius hybrids sold between May and December do not have the updated brake ECU software, yet. This recall is to update the rest of the 3rd generation 2010 Priuses with the new software."

Comment -- I assume that we'll soon get a letter from Toyota instructing us to take the car to the dealer for the update.

I can't say I've really seen any noticeable problems with the brakes. A few times in the last six months, I have felt the car lurch a little as we rolled to a stop. But I don't know if that was an issue with the brakes, or if it was the engine kicking in at the same time I was rolling to a stop.

Regardless, it was nothing like a safety problem. Just a little quirk of driving a Prius.

I follow PriusChat.com and in the months leading up to this controversy, I can't say I've run across any discussions or complaints about the 2010 Prius brakes. And, since complainers are more vocal than are satisfied customers, you would think that if there were some kind of widespread problem, then we would have heard it first in the chat rooms.

Finally, if anyone in the domestic auto industry asked me, I would caution them to not be too gleeful about Toyota's PR disaster. As all cars get more and more technological and computer-guided, these kinds of software glitches could easily hit some GM or Ford product. Then the shoe would be on the other foot -- or brake pad, as it were.

Win or lose, it should be a thrilling game tonight

Star players? Who needs star players? MSU-Wisconsin�Preview - The Only Colors: "You may be aware that it's been a while since Michigan State won in Madison. KenPom doesn't see it happening this year, either, predicting a 65-59 Wisconsin win in a 62-possession game. Might as well have the numbers confirm what hard experience tells us: winning on the Badgers' home court will always be an uphill battle--regardless of the state of Bo Ryan's roster."

Comment -- Huge game tonight a 9 p.m. Wall Street Journal predicts a 2 pt. MSU win. Not to jinx the Spartans, but I believe a victory tonight will basically lock up a Big Ten title. Purdue will still be three games back with eight to play, and I can't see them catching us -- not with them still having to play us in Breslin.

On a different subject, I was interviewed by Ch6 this afternoon for a story on the President trying to free up more credit for small businesses. Don't know if it will be on at 6 p.m. or 11 p.m.

No MSU upset for Northwestern this year | detnews.com | The Detroit News

No MSU upset for Northwestern this year | detnews.com | The Detroit News: "Atop the conference standings with road games at Wisconsin (Tuesday) and Illinois (Feb. 6), it's hard for Michigan State to not feel good about its standing.

'We know teams are going to come at us,' guard Kalin Lucas said. 'Just stay focused, stay hungry.'"

Comment -- The highlight of Saturday night's game we attended was Chris Allen's soaring tomahawk dunk. The crowd went wild -- not only after it happened, but during the replays, too.

We got a bit antsy when Northwest closed to within single digits late in the game, but MSU hit their foul shots and we held them off.

State is now 9-0 for the first half of the Big Ten season. Admittedly, the schedule gets much tougher now with road games to Wisconsin and Purdue coming up. Still, we got this far, notably without any upsets. In other words, we won all the games we were supposed to win.

If I'm the Wisconsin or Purdue coach, I'm thinking right now that I have a very daunting task trying to make up 3 games in the standings with only 9 games left. Go State!