How to Scare Tourists Near Mexico

So I flew into my native city of Tucson to visit family and shuttled over to the XYZ Car Rental facility to pick up a vehicle for the week and went through the normal formalities of renting, but was surprised at the sales pitch that was thrown at me for insurance coverage.


Basically the young man behind the counter reminded me that I was in “a border town” (not entirely accurate) and that many vehicles are stolen along the border (true enough), and he asked me where I would be traveling and staying, implying that things are more than a little dangerous in many parts of Arizona. I inquired of the salesman as to the cost of several insurance options, with the most likely pitched target being something like $14.99 per day, and I then informed him that I believed that my own insurance covered my interests under the circumstances I was likely to encounter. His reply deepened the suspect nature of the human terrain likely to be encountered during my visit as he casually mentioned that their contract called for me to compensate the company for their “loss of use” for up to 28 days when their vehicle was stolen under my care.

I suppose insurance sales techniques have always tapped into that balance between greed and fear, but I resented the implication that my city, my beloved southern Arizona had become a war zone of thieves and scoundrels, untamed by the authorities, and that my only solution was to send money to the headquarters of XYZ Car Rental to limit my exposure.

If I had purchased insurance from XYZ Car Rental, my cost of rental would have almost doubled from the contracted price, excluding taxes and fees. But that is not what really bothered me about these minutes at the rental counter. It was the attempt to play a “tourist” using the much reported border security issues and the inferred perpetuation of the belief in the overall lawlessness in Mexico that really galled me. I wonder if sales associate prospects are trained in these techniques by the company if they are to be posted near the Mexican border? I love Mexico and have traveled their often enough over my lifetime, both by car and other means, and I know not to leave my vehicle parked unattended in a dark alley in Nogales, Sonora or Mazatlan, Sinaloa, and for that matter in Los Angeles, California, and Miami, Florida or just about anywhere else likely to not have a population mostly concerned about their golf handicap. In other words don’t become easy prey for thieves – anywhere. And yes, dark alleys in Tucson should be on the dumb list too.

And I also was reminded by this encounter of a basic tenet of business: If you are a corporation trying to glean a few more dollars, or pesos, from me you should know your target better and not insult them.

As it turns out, between my own insurance and that provided through the credit card I used for my rental, we’re covered well enough, but it will take some time, or medication, to get my blood pressure back down to a reasonable operating level.

(This was published in the Arizona Daily Star as a guest submittal on on May 13, 2011)

Sarah Palin meets Thomas Jefferson

I just had to share this.

Teddy Bears

Two nights ago there was a rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, just south of us on Point Conception, carrying some do-hickey for the Air Force. I believe it carried a pod of stuffed bears in a capsule, or something.

The launch was to take place at 9:24 PM, and I was hoping to make it to that hour despite having played in a golf tournament for the past two days, and having played the day earlier as well. I was pooped, but lay in bed reading anyway, just trying to make it to the appointed time. Well, the book was boring, the hour too late and when the time for the launch came and went and nothing happened I just gave up. I did not wait long past 9:24.

( I did not get to see this)

During the first fits of sleep I was kicking myself for being such a wimp and nodding off because I had seen a daytime launch when we were here in January and I thought a night observation would be pretty cool – much better than daylight hours. The bedroom windows were wide open and I strained to hear the rumble of the launch, but I am getting older by the minute and am told that my hearing is not what it used to be, so I got out of bed and peered out the window for maybe 15 minutes. No launch. The sky was crystal clear and there was zero air traffic, as you would expect. Back to bed.

A short while later I heard a low, deep sound, enough to wake me from my semi-sleep, and I was certain that it had to be the teddy bear missile, so up again. So all that I see is an oldish arching contrail headed out over the Pacific and a jet at high altitude moving due west from us making its own new contrail. I had missed the launch and had been awakened by the jet plane that was flying into cleared air space.
No report on the teddy bears.

Sailing South - for Chris & Sandy

There is a reason that sailors leave Portland and points north before the Fall and Winter swells set in along the Oregon coast...

Flowers

On the central coast of California there are micro-climates piled upon micro-climates and each area seems to specialize in some different type of agriculture. In our immediate neighborhood we see a lot of lettuce, strawberries, broccoli and greenhouse flower operations.

As a way to both educate the public about their businesses and to promote the retail aspect of some of these operations, each year a group of them hold an open house and invite the public in for tours. This year there were seven greenhouse businesses here that we open for about six hours for tours.

Julie and I toured the operations of Eufloria because we pass it almost every day driving the seven minutes into the center of our little hamlet of Nipomo and they have a very small, simple sign stuck in the ground by their entrance road that just says "Roses".

Men, if you ares still wondering how to obtain the attentions of a female just know something about roses and send a few. Better yet, take her on a rose greenhouse tour.

This operation ships millions of roses each year and literally have the growing down to a science. Our tour guide was also the sales manager for the company and President of  a statewide growers association, so not only did we learn a bunch about the growing of roses, we also learned about the politics of competition from abroad.

This greenhouse operation is controlled in ways that I had not thought about, I suppose because I had never considered how one would go about getting the maximum production out of a flower. These are all hydroponic plantings in a greenhouse environment and use a gas powered boiler system to produce extra heat when needed, but they capture CO2 generated in the combustion process and route it in a controlled manner into the greenhouse when extra input is needed for growth. Every aspect of growth is controlled and parasitic bugs are mostly managed by other bugs that eat them for lunch.  The rose stock is grown and distributed by Dutch companies who have learned how to manipulate all of the desirable characteristics. These plants will not do well at all outside or in a home because they are specifically designed to produce maximum results within a greenhouse.

There was so much more information on this tour, all of it interesting and great fun to learn.

(This is the pre-packaging stage where the staff removes any imperfections before placing the product in big walk in coolers)

Perhaps the best thing is that Julie now knows that she can pull into the parking area of Eufloria at any time and buy local, fresh roses for cheap and they can last from two to three weeks if the temperature is kept cool. How cool is that?

Trilogy Nipomo

This is a collage of shots of the club house facilities at Trilogy, Nipomo at the Monarch Dunes Golf Course. A truly magnificent, very comfortable structure.

Making a Deposit in Nipomo

The southerly getaway.

Notice that there are s-h-a-d-o-w-s, and not uniform gray.