Pride 2015. What a week!

I never thought that I'd see a week like this in my lifetime, but if you live long enough the things that you get to experience will continue to amaze you.

To recap:

• An attempt by a racist piece of shit to start a race war instead started a war on racism.
• The battle flag of a foreign nation that fired the first shot at the United States of America is finally coming down. Forever!
• The Affordable Care Act will continue to provide millions of Americans with much needed access to health care. (Good for now but we must get Single Payer)
• The Fair Housing Act will continue to protect millions of Americans from discrimination when trying to put a roof over their head and that of their family.

AND FINALLY!!!

• Millions of Americans woke up this morning to learn that their lives and the people they love actually matter and now have equal rights and protections when it comes to marrying who they love.

Holy Shit! America got it right for a change!

HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE!

Idiocracy

After a wonderful State Of The Union Address last night the low information, easily misled, right wing base has completely lost their minds over the fact of man made global climate change. Every single day dumb, silly, things are reported as news. Uninformed opinion is considered fact. I just can't take it anymore. So much stupid everywhere, everyday, all day long.

Everything I am feeling right now can best be summed up by Carl Sagan when he said:

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance

We are all Replicants

I'm watching Blade Runner for what must be the thousandth time. This movie came out when I was 15 and I've not seen any movie more than this. The only thing in my life that has been more constant is Computer Science. That field of study started when I was 12.

It's my belief that everyone in Blade Runner was a replicant. There were no more humans, or other animals for that matter. That got me thinking.

Is it just me or does the world seem to have gone completely off the rails sometime in the past 10 to 12 years? Is everything around you completely foreign? Is technology light years ahead of what you remember as a child? Heck, Dick Tracy's wrist thingy is horribly primitive by today's standards. Are people, society, civilization, government, nothing like you expect it to be? Are all of our memories simply implanted programs that are woefully incompatible with the world we live in today? A computer glitch? Something far too ideal to cope with reality?

Computers are no longer silicon and metals, they are also organic. My senior year project in college was molecular computing. Working with a med student we created a gene, DNA, to solve an NP-Complete Hamiltonian Path problem. Relying on the oligonucleotide bonds of DNA we solved genetically would could not be solved with silicon. Humans too are molecular computers controlled by DNA. Perhaps we are simply computer programs existing to solve an equation. All your hopes, dreams, and accomplishments are simply algorithmic results necessary to solve a far more complex equation.

What if everything around you that you except as your personal reality; your childhood, your identity, your life as you know it; is all a lie? Perhaps we are only a few years old and our reality of 30, 40, 50 years is simply just a preloaded database of memories.

This post is just a bit of silliness on my part, but what will get your brain in a knot is wondering if I am right. What do you have to validate your memories and experiences except other molecular programs (family) designed to substantiate your identity.

Don't think on it too much. It will just hurt your brain.

Mercedes-Benz

I've always loved, and always will, love all things Mercedes-Benz. My very first job was working in a Mercedes-Benz repair shop. To date, I have owned and driven more Mercedes-Benz vehicles than any other automobile on earth. They are truly the finest of the finest.

While looking for my newest car, I also test drove Caddy, BMW, and other luxury SUVs. None could hold a candle to the Merc and as a person with real off road experience, registrations,  etc. Only my new car can do this...

Looking Forward

2013 was the best year of my life...So Far!

My birthday was yesterday, 2/2, and I plan to work hard to make 2014 even better. Hoping for a good year does not make a good year happen. 2013 was the best year of my life because I worked hard to make things happen. My health, my leisure, my career, my happiness, my relationships. I will continue to work at making things happen and make 2014 even better.


 I had a truly amazing birthday this year. I surrounded myself with loved ones and the things that make me happy. I spent my day touring my favorite vineyards in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. I obtained a wonderful 2005 Stag's Leap S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon for a very good price because I showed my "Challenge Coin" at Stag's leap.

The evening was the most fun. We went to the new Graton Casino and I made a lot of money playing Blackjack Switch. What an amazingly fun game and one that is easy to make money at.

The best part of my birthday weekend was enjoying it all in the luxury of my new Mercedes-Benz ML 350 BlueTEC. The big birthday present I bought myself.

Thanks for reading,
~ Becca

SF Pride 2013

Today was my fifth straight year in the San Francisco Pride Parade and this year was very special to me.

The festivities began the Wednesday before the parade when I met with nine wonderful women from Melbourne, Australia.  Two of them I had the pleasure of meeting three years ago and they are all from the Melbourne Chapter of the Dykes on Bikes®. These amazing women really and truly got me into the Pride Spirit and I knew this year was going to be special.

Thursday evening I had dinner with an amazing couple , Susan and Fay. Fay had reached out to me weeks before to make arrangements to have me help Susan fulfill an item on her "Bucket List," to ride with the Dykes on Bikes in the San Francisco Pride Parade. They are really a cute and amazing couple and it was going to be my pleasure and honor to make Susan's dream come true.

Bright & Early Saturday morning I headed over to Eagle Rider in SOMA to meet those Aussie Gals again as they all rented Harley's and we headed out for a ride before the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® "Pink Saturday" party at El Rio. I had to drop out of the ride early because my bike was overheating in the insane SF Pride Weekend traffic around the Embarcadero. I headed over to El Rio to join the festivities. As soon as I get there it's a non-stop session of hugs and kisses as I reconnect with so many people I just love and am so happy to have in my life. Later in the day I was completely broadsided when Vick, the President of the SF Dykes on Bikes® called me up to the stage. She then honored me with a Certificate of Appreciation for my contributions and years of service. This big strong woman was reduced to tears. Everyone could see the stream of tears running down my face. I've never felt so loved and so honored and it will be a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Leaving El Rio I finally had the opportunity to head home and get sleep for the first time in 37 hours. I was going to need it because the next day is the pride parade and you'll find me at the corner of Market & Beale at 7am every year. This year was no exception.

Boy 7am comes quickly when you are tired but there I was, at my normal post, directing traffic and working with the SFMTA to keep people safe and shut down the F-line and the buses. I'd like to thank Denise at the MTA. Denise, you were a Godsend this year and your efforts made this the smoothest parade line-up I've ever been a part of. You Rock!

Around 9:30 Susan and Fay show up and I take Susan around to my motorcycle and walk her through the crowds so she can meet other members of the Dykes on Bikes® that helped make her bucket list dream come true.  It's 10:15 and the parade is about to start. The energy of the riders and the crowd is at a boil and the goosebumps are running up and down my arms. Soni, the oldest and dearest member of the SF Dykes on Bikes® gets us all riled up by screaming to everyone to start our engines. This is my favorite part of the parade. Imagine hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles all starting up. The ground is shaking, the noise is insane but the cheers of a million cheering spectators drowns out all the motorcycles. Oh, I just got chills writing that as I recall that amazing moment I cherish so much.

I gave Susan an amazing experience as we rode down Market St. We were one of the lead bikes and I hope she enjoyed herself. I know it was an honor for me to give her a ride and to be a part of the San Francisco Pride Parade during this very important and historic year in LGBT history. Days before the parade the United States Supreme Court gave us our Loving v. Virginia and there was great cause for celebration.

Another year is in the record books but I will be surprised if there will ever be a Pride as amazing and important as this year's. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of it.

Synesthesia

Are you a synesthete?  I am.  Mine is number form and/or time space synesthesia.

It was only very recently that I learned the whole of human experience does not "see" numbers, dates, time, history. Nor do they apply a three-dimensional model to all of these things. I do.  I always have. I always will and I think it's pretty cool. I was reading an article (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/04/02/the-rare-humans-who-see-time-have-amazing-memories/) when I came across this topic and to be quite honest it shocked me. Does this mean something is wrong with the way my brain is wired or does it mean I can contribute to things in a way very few others can.

I admit, I know nothing about synesthesia and am now on a quest to learn more. Not because I feel odd or special for being a synesthete but because I would love to know how the Hell people can do math, know what day it is, or recall history and events if they cannot see it in a three dimensional space with applicable color and heat. Seriously, if you can't fold numbers upon themselves to get a result or know the color to determine addition or subtraction/multiplication or division how do you come to an answer?  How do you know what the day is or where it lies in the week and how on earth can you recall history if you can't slide down a path to the exact date of the event?

The coolest part is I can draw all of this out for anyone that asks.  I just need enough room and enough colors.

I want to hear everyone's comments. How do you do math?  How do you know what day it is?  How do you when the heck "Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue" or when Cleopatra reigned supreme if you can't actually see it?