Before And After

Would you follow these two off a cliff?

This Pat Oliphant cartoon pretty much sums up the McCain-Palin candidacy:

Fall Flowers

I drove out to Solebury Orchards today by New Hope, PA to pick up some Honey Crisp apples and fresh cider. As chilly as the weather was yesterday (it was in the 60s all day), it was blazing hot today and hard to believe the first day of fall is tomorrow. Due to the heat, I skipped the "pick your own part" and bought my apples in the market. Instead I spent my time wandering through their flower garden, trying out my new the 50mm lens I got as an early birthday present (which is tomorrow). Click to make the pictures bigger for better detail.

Glass Houses

Hmmm ... The Republicans would never do something so dastardly as play the gender card over the coverage their new VP candidate is getting would they? After all, didn't they mock Hillary for complaining about the media coverage during the primary? I believe Sarah Palin herself even said that Hillary needs to quit whining and just "work harder" to prove she's good enough.




In case the embedded video won't play properly for you, here's the direct link: it's too good too miss: Daily Show Sarah Palin Qualifications

Gosh the GOP would never indulge in hypocrisy would they?

Some more lessons from Republicans now that Palin is their new candidate:

• If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're "reckless." A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a "maverick."

• If you say that for the "first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country" it makes you "unfit" to be First Lady. If your husband has been an active and registered member of a fringe political group that advocates Alaska seceding from the United States, then he's perfectly qualified to be the "Second Dude" because you can tell he only joined the group because he's really proud of his country.

• If you grow up in Hawaii you're "exotic." Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're the quintessential "American story." (Hey I have moose burgers every Friday night, don't you?)

• Teaching about birth control in schools is wrong because it only encourages teenagers to have sex. Teaching about abstinence will stop teen pregnancy completely because no teenager will ever have sex if we teach that. In fact, we should cut the funds allotted in the Alaskan state budget (and all of the rest of the states while we're at it) to support unwed teenage mothers because they all have wealthy families who will take care of them.

I'm sure the Republicans will have some more important lessons for us in the coming weeks that they will dispense from their beautiful glass houses.

(Special thanks to Heidi for her email this afternoon and Elisa for the video hookup)

By The Light Of The Full Moon

Bee captured!

Bees never can resist the sweet nectar of a flower.

Zootopia

I wrapped up my vacation last week with a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo--the oldest in the country, dating back to 1874. I strolled through the 42-acre Victorian Gardens in an 85 degree heat that assured anyone who had been in doubt, that summer had finally arrived to Philadelphia after a chilly and wet May.

The Zoo is home to 1300 rare animals and I spent my afternoon there capturing some of them with my new Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR. While many of them were doing their best to keep out of the hot sun or cat napping, others like the African elephants, flamingo and giraffe were out soaking it up. I'll have more pictures up this weekend, but here a few to start with. Click on any picture below to view a larger version.

Amur Leopard

Snow Leopard

Giraffe

Cheetah

Penguins

Giraffe

Peacock

Asiatic Black Bear

Looking For A New President

Eight years ago we had a booming economy, a budget surplus and respect throughout most of the world. At the end of the second-term Bush Administration it's all gone--a distant and wistful dream. Add to that a quagmire in Iraq and Bin Laden still on the loose and you have a grim picture of the United States current status. Thank God, Bush can't run again.

Now, it's up to us to pick the right candidate to revive our economy, extricate our soldiers from Iraq without causing a disaster for either the military or the Iraqi people and restore the luster of the US reputation globally. For the last couple of months, I've been vacillating between supporting Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. After watching all the debates, I've come to the realization that there is little difference between the two; either one can do the job and do it well. Obama is the better orator, but Hillary is the better policy wonk.

We almost have an embarrassment of riches this year in the Democratic party. I can't remember the last time there were two candidates (three actually if you count the recently departed John Edwards) that I could support enthusiastically. And therein lies my problem: which one will get my vote during Pennsylvania's April 22nd primary?

In an effort to make a decision, I went to the Barak Obama rally today in Wilmington, Delaware. I arrived at Rodney Square around 10:30 a.m. to a line that wrapped around a large city block for the 1:15 pm rally. The gates would not open for another hour, yet those at the front had been there since 8 a.m. These are the kind of lines you see for rock stars, not politicians.

Luckily for me just as I completed my long circuit around the block in search of the end of the line, a volunteer told me and a few other to head back to where we began to start a second line. In the end we lucky souls would get in ahead of many of those who had been line for hours since we were towards the front of a much shorter line.

As we waited in line, the excitement was almost palpable. College students mixed with the baby boomers. Parents held their children by the hand, telling them they were there to see history. They came from as far away as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Volunteers worked the lines. "Who can come out and volunteer on Super Tuesday? All you have to do is sign this list. We need to you to make 'get out the vote' calls." Another came by. "Have you signed the list yet?" And yet another. "Who wants to volunteer? We need you. The Senator needs you."



Finally, the gates opened and we made our way through metal detectors and got wanded down after, tripping them. While many made their way down into the square in front of the podium, I found a sunny spot on a concrete parapet with a good view. As the temperature soared into the 50s, my coat came off and I settled in to wait. The Square slowly filled up as around 20,000 made their way in, until they over-flowed into the surrounding streets.



At 1:15, the Senator from Illinois made his way into the Square along the rope line. The crowd went nuts, screaming and chanting; it began to sound more and more like the last rock concert I went to. Finally, Obama mounted the podium and began his stump speech.

Hope was a major theme in his stump speech. He spoke about repairing the damage from the Bush administration at home and abroad, education, veterans rights and extricating us from the Iraq war among other things. His speech was punctuated by cheers, applause and screams from a crowd that was clearly drinking the kool-aid. Below are a few snippets from his speech.

While I enjoyed Obama's speech, I heard nothing new that I hadn't already heard in the debates. Nothing new to help solidify my support. I think I'm still a Hillary girl when it comes down to it. I think she's better on the details. And I've been waiting for a female President for as long as I can remember. She may not get the nomination, but she has my vote. If in the end, Obama does ultimately get the nomination, I will support him. But, for now, I have to go with where my heart is.

Wrinkle No More

One of my favorite childhood writers died yesterday at the age of 88. Madeleine L'Engle was the author of the 1962 book, Wrinkle In Time, the book that introduced generations of children to science fiction and fantasy. I spent my grade school years reading about Meg Murray, Charles Wallace and Calvin through Wrinkle and its sequels Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Titling Planet. As I got older, however, my favorite series of hers was the Austin Family series. I was captivated by A Ring of Endless Light and subsequent novels in the series.

Much like JK Rowling who followed in her footsteps years later, L'Engle's books touched on sweeping adult themes such as the battle against evil, totalitarianism and the power of love. They were captivating books that transported readers to new worlds and made you understand this world better. Only the best writers can do this. And L'Engle was one of the best. While the planet may no longer tilt for her, her stories live on. And through them, so does she.

More INXS Photos

As promised, here are more photos from last weekend's concert. It's going to be slow trickle as I sort through the remaing ones. I took around 150 and a surprising number came out well. As usual click for the larger versions. Note, these are not size properly for RBL. You may want to resize before posting elsewhere.

Running of the Bulls INXS Style

The late afternoon sun beat down on us while we stood in line at the Maryland State Fair waiting for the gates to open for the INXS concert. With 45 minutes to go, about 150 people were in the line ahead of us and the line behind us was growing longer by the minute. Sweat trickled down my back as the minutes ticked by while we waited for an ever elusive breeze to wash over us.

A few minutes before 6 pm, they ushered us through the first set of gates after checking our tickets. Anticipation was beginning to rise in the crowd. Those that had been in the front of the line were forming a twitchy, impatient mob in front of a rolling chain link fence--the only barrier left between them and the football-field length hike down the center of race track to the stage. Like the horses from the races earlier in the afternoon, they were already jocking for position--pawing the ground, jostling each other; all wanting to be the first through the gate to get the perfect front row position.

As folks piled up behind the gate, I edged around to the side of the crowd to get in closer to the opening. I didn't care about being in the front row; I just wanted to be close enough to the stage for good pictures. With a creak, a fair worker began to roll the gate backwards. As soon as a gap opened wide enough for a body, the first one was through and the fair worker stumbled backwards with the gate as the crush surged through the narrow opening. Men and women of all ages took off at a breakneck speed down the field. Women kicked off flip-flops and high heels. It was the running of the bulls INXS style. And one of the funniest things I've seen in ages. I would have turned around to get film, but I feared being trampled in my amusement.

My companions, Ann and Jeff, weren't far behind me as we walked at a good clip down the field. Our failure to run as if our lives depended on it rewarded us with a fourth row spot just right of center stage with a clear field of vision. Good enough for my purposes. I had a good camera with a telephoto lens. I was reasonably certain that I could get good shots from there, so I was happy. Now, we just had to wait out the hour before the opening band hit the stage and another hour after that before INXS came on.

To pass the time, I chatted with a large group of friends in front of us who had make the mad dash. Bags of balloons were making the rounds and party hats were being passed out. JD Fortune, INXS's lead singer, had a birthday that day and the crowd was preparing to celebrate with him. Birthday wishes were squeakily sharpied onto the balloons in preparation to be tossed onto the stage. The excitement was palpable when the opening band, Duchess of York, a cover band from Richmond, VA, took the stage. While I failed to recognize the songs, I have to say they were great guitar players.

Finally, as the sun went down, the opening band cleared the stage and the hard- working INXS roadies started prepping the stage. Shortly after 8 pm the first notes of ACDC blasted out of the speakers, revving up an already excited crowed. Squeals pierced the semi-darkness of the stage, one-by-one the INXS members slipped on stage--Jon, Kirk, Andrew, Garry, Tim and finally JD. The stage lights blazed as the band launched into a raucous version of New Sensation. The entire band was in good spirits and the birthday boy glowed as he bounded across the stage. This was the best I'd heard them sound in a long time. Elegantly Wasted and The Loved One both stayed in the set for this leg--two of my favorites. Taste It and Kick appear to be gone for good and I don't miss either.

It was a great way to end the summer. Below are some pictures from the show. I love shooting rock concerts; I get to combine my favorite hobby photography with great music. Enjoy the first round of pictures. I'll have more up later in the week. Click on the pics for larger versions.

Zoom, Zoom!

Please pause for a moment of silence to honor the passing of my 1997 Ford Escort. After 103,000, I retired the Escort last night. In its place is a nice shiny new 2007 Honda Civic with Navigation system. It's zippy, quiet, and pretty. And with the Atomic Blue color, I finally have seen the last of either silver or gray cars (my previous two vehicles).

The road to my very first new car began two weeks ago when the check engine light came on the way home from work. It wasn't the first time it had happened while I'd owned the car; in some cases it meant a small problem, and others a big one. Considering I'd just done major work on the car in January, I had a feeling this wasn't a good sign. But, I was still hopeful that it could be fixed with minimal pain to my bank account.

I'd been looking at new cars for the last year, but I just wasn't ready to dive back into the land of debt, having only paid off the Escort 3 years prior. For kicks last Monday, I solicited some bids for a new Honda Civic and a Toyota Prius through Edmunds.com new car buying service. I wasn't really planning on buying just yet, but I thought maybe it was a good idea to start looking since my car was becoming increasing unreliable. I wanted to go the Internet route, because I wanted to be able to do my price research online and to avoid the high pressure sales tactics until I was actually ready to buy and walk into a dealership.

Buy the end of the day Monday, I had 7 bids which I could use to compare prices on the base model plus the options I was looking at. Much to my surprise when I got home I had 5 voice mails from dealers, despite requesting that I only be contacted by email. Apparently, I wasn't going to be allowed to escape their sales pitches after all. Since I really wasn't ready to buy, I just deleted their voice mails. This was a drill to be repeated several times over the next few of days. These folks just don't listen. When I say, "Don't call me; I'll call you," I mean, "don't call me" NOT "ignore my request and call me anyway."

I was waiting for my Friday appointment at the Ford dealership to figure out what was causing that pesky red light on my dashboard. Finally, at noon on Friday came word from the Ford service department that my Escort was on its last legs. They catalytic converter was dying a slow and painful death. While it wasn't immediately fatal, it could be soon. It was going to cost far more to fix the problem than the car was worth and I was suddenly tired of pouring money into an automotive bottomless pit.

After picking my car up at lunch, I set the wheels in motion to find financing. Capital One, with whom I have a credit card, has been pummeling me with offers to get me to finance a car through them for about 6 months. They promised great rates, no down payment and the ability to walk into any dealership and negotiate like you had cash. It all sounded a little too good to be true, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to apply and see what they offered me.

I applied for my loan online and within 10 minutes I had a call from CapitalOne Auto Finance to verify it was me actually me applying using a series of security questions. Ten minutes later I had an offer for a loan at a great rate, with more money pre-approved than I had any intention of spending, and a blank loan check on its way to me to be delivered the next morning. I couldn't believe how quick and easy it all was.

Now that the financing issue was settled, I started digging back through my email for the bids from the various car dealers. I tossed them all into a spreadsheet to see who had the best deal. I combine their information with the reports I had received from Edmunds True Market Value (TMV) Report.

The TMV report gives you two key pieces of information. The dealer invoice price and what others in your area are paying for the base model. These two pieces allow you to see how much a mark up the dealer has placed on the price they gave you and how good of a deal others in your area have been able to negotiate for their vehicles.

I went into my dealer negotiations knowing there were very few deals out there for Honda Civics--no special finance offers or cash back deals. They are popular cars and they pretty much sell themselves based on the quality of the vehicles and the good gas mileage. With my TMV pricing report, various bids and my pre-approved loan, I was finally ready to step into the dealer bear cage. I was ready go in for the test drive and to negotiate.

On Saturday morning, I picked one of the two dealers who had actually listened to my requests not to call me, located about 15 minutes from my house, Keenan Honda of Doylestown. Keenan wasn't the cheapest, but I knew that they guaranteed that they'd meet their competitor's prices, so I knew I had room to negotiate. I scheduled my test drive and was hooked on the Civic with Nav system in minutes. Being the techno geek that I am, I loved the all the Nav system features, voice activated response system and XM radio immediately. By the end of the test drive I was completely sold.

I followed Ron Davenport, Keenan's Internet Sales Consultant, into his office tucked away in the back of the dealership. Since he wasn't dependent on walk-ins, he had no need to see the walk-ins coming into show room floor. We sat down at his desk and began the negotiation process. He pulled out his 4-square sheet which all dealers use to negotiate the price you end up paying.

I'd read Edmund's undercover report about the car buying process and knew this was one of the key tools dealers use to attempt to jack up the price. In the upper right hand corner, they put the vehicle price, and in the other boxes, the trade-in value, payment amounts and down payment amounts. Usually they start out by asking what size monthly payments you want and how much you want to give them for a down payment. You tell them the amount you want and then they usually say "Up to ..." and let it hang in the area until the unsuspecting person tosses out their upper limit not knowing they've just committed to paying more $50-100 or more a month than they needed to. Same thing with the down payments.

I intended to escape all of those traps since I'd done my research ahead of time. As soon he asked if I'd gotten the vehicle price I sent him, I took control and pre-empted what I knew was coming. I told him that I'd gotten bids from 5 other dealers and that his wasn't the lowest. I let that sink in for a moment and then asked if he was willing to meet the lowest price I had from another dealer. Looking unhappy, he said that it was their policy to meet the competitions price. Visions of his commission must have been going up in smoke at that point. I pushed the email from the other dealer across the desk and he looked even unhappier. The competing quote I had was at dealer invoice, far less than the average going price in the area and nearly $2,000 less than his original offer. He picked it up and went off to talk to his manager.

He came back 10 minutes later, to find me looking relaxed and reading his newspaper as I waited. I think he was used to coming back to anxious and nervous customers. He told me his manager had signed off on the price and then we started to negotiate the options I wanted--moon roof, moon visor, fog lights, auto-dim mirror and iPod adapter. In the mean time he sent someone out to look at my trade-in.

Finally, the topic came around to the financing and payment issue. He reached for his 4-square and I stopped him once again. I broke the news to him that not only was I pre-approved, but I had gotten a really good finance deal. After telling me that Capitol One was slow to pay dealers, he asked if I would be interested in financing through Honda. I told him him I'd consider it just to make him feel better. I knew I wasn't going to get a better deal, but I figured there was no harm in letting him go through the motions he was supposed to go through. I had plenty of reading material in the mean time. Finally, 15 minutes later he came back admitting defeat. He couldn't top the deal I had gotten. So, we finished filling out the paperwork and I gave him my vehicle deposit. It would take about a week to find the color I wanted and get my extra equipment installed.

I could have gone to a dealer that had what I wanted in stock and probably driven it off the lot that Saturday, but most of them had already shown themselves to be pushy and aggressive and I just didn't want to deal with that. So, I waited the week to get what I wanted. I'm now the proud owner of a new 2007 Honda Civic with Nav system in Atomic Blue which I love and I got it with minimal haggling and pressure.

I learned that there are 4 keys to having a pleasant car buying experience:

1. Do your research. Use the Internet to look up the cars you are considering and the options you want. Find out how much the dealer invoice is and have a firm understanding of what others in your are paying for the same vehicle. This gives you negotiation wiggle room.
2. Get prices from more than one dealer. Take the time to shop around and make them compete for your business. This only strengths your negotiation position. My sales guy seemed shocked that I had gotten prices from more than one dealer.
3. Go in pre-approved for your loan if you intend to finance your vehicle. This allows you to negotiate from a position of power. If you don't like the deal you're offered, you can walk out of the dealership at any time. You don't have to play the "Up to ..." game. If you have access to the Internet, you can find a great deal. CapitalOne Auto Finance has great rates. You can also get competing offers through sites like LendingTree.com. Don't forget your bank. Most banks allow you to apply for a loan online in just minutes. It never hurts to allow the dealer to try to match or beat your offer. Occasionally, they do have special finance incentives. But, keep in mind, unless your credit is spotless and well above 720, you aren't going to qualify for their best rates.
4. Don't be afraid to walk out if you don't get a deal you don't like or aren't treated with respect. If you follow steps 1-3, you're in control, NOT the dealership. You aren't beholden to a dealer for financing or just because you happened to test drive the vehicle there. If you feel like you're being jerked around, you probably are. Unless you live in a tiny town with one dealership, others will be just as eager for your business. And if you do live in a tiny town, drive to a bigger one. There's a good deal just around the corner.