California

I recently found myself looking at school buses, for potential conversion into an RV. While there are many relevant criteria to be satisfied when making such a purchase, probably the most important is "will I be able to drive it?" I am not so concerned about physically being able to operate a bus, only legally. Most school buses in which I am interested have a GVWR over 26,000 pounds, which normally requires an upgraded, "Class B" license in California (and similar licensing in most other states.) But as it turns out, this is simpler than it seems at first.

The following is an alternate version (a bit more wordy) of a review I wrote for travelpost about a visit to Comfort Inn at 5370 Clayton road in Concord, CA.

My lady stayed in this place and said she hated it, but we tried to get a place up the road and all the rooms were booked. It must have been because everyone else knew about this place, because it's Feb. 20th and nothing special is going on here. This is by far the LOUDEST hotel I've stayed in, which includes venues in Santa Cruz and Las Vegas. Outside noise is absolutely intolerable, and because of the neighborhood this place is in you can expect to hear loud engines, tires screeching, and horns honking all night (I did.)

Following is my response to an email sent to the staff of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). It was addressing legislation regarding the broadcast flag. If I actually get a response to my talking points, I will add it here. (Nothing as of August 23, 2006.) I have not edited any text, only inserted formatting. (Preformatting text often has poor results.)

Currently there is a fire going on near Highland Springs Reservoir in Lake county. The name of the incident is "Highlands" due to where it started. I spoke with sonoma/lake/napa unit information officer Kevin Colburn, who informed me of a website other than the primary CDF website, which has more up-to-date information: http://www.calfires.com.