Brown Motion

This title refers to the business of University students hosting potential applicants to their campus.  We did the rite of passage in visiting some Southern California campuses as our kid prepares to apply for ongoing learning at one of the (esteemed) houses of education. Some observations of this endeavor we endured.  Endure perhaps is too strong a word but it does get exhausting.  Show up at appointment time and get your car parked.  Spend around $12 for that privilege.  Then get yourselves checked in to an auditorium or lecture facility on campus. Cue the arrival of docent / paid interns who have a prepared speech to provide highlights of the school.  This is the Rah-Rah moment.   All great things with amazing people - faculty, students and the like.  Bunch of metrics that start looking the same with a few schools crammed into the trip as we did. I get to ask 'what is one thing you would change', knowing it will be treated like a rh...

Named for a Spanish saint, San Diego is the birth place of modern state of California on the western coast of the United States.  This spring break we took the highway (I-5) paralleling the old King's Highway or El Camino Real to visit this wonderful piece of real estate along the Pacific.  Back in the late 1700's it was considered New Spain. Those Europeans knew how to spend their time during the 1500 - 1800s setting out on long voyages to "discover new worlds".  Now we go to the moon or something boring. On one such discovery voyage a Portuguese called Juan Cabrillo took off from the Mexican west coast and sailed up to discover new lands and ports.  He found San Diego and continued up to discover Monterey and then Point Reyes north of the Golden Gate.  They missed  finding San Francisco in their travels. After a few centuries another Spaniard called Gaspar Portola took a bunch of soldiers and set out from the south west coast of Mexico to subsequent...