Notes from Key West

A quick note from Key West - it's damp, crowded, and it's New Year's Eve. Not especially desirable. The drive down the Overseas Highway was spectacular, with good weather staying with us all this week.

What I'm reading: Alexander McCall Smith's "44 Scotland Street", a readalike to the Maupin "28 Barbary Lane" series. The McCall Smith books are set in Edinburgh and are inspired by Maupin's original serialization of "Tales of the City" in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The personality quiz you see on the right side of this entry - exactly 0 percent of the people taking the test are like me. Finally I'm special.

The cruise was great fun, and while I was suspicious of going at first because of fear of becoming ill, etc., moving along at a stately pace and having everything taken care of for me was relaxing. They (Holland America Line, a division of Carnival) do everything they can to extract money from you during the cruise, so the total cost of the cruise might be 50 to 60 percent over the cost of the stateroom. It was worth it.

An article in today's Allentown Morning Call critical of some solar power installers prompted a letter to the author. Surprisingly, I got a call back from him this afternoon and we discussed the differences between there (Allentown) and there (California) regarding attitudes about electric power generation, distribution, and sales. We agreed philosophically on most points but our perspectives diverged on the acquisition of Montana Power (cheap hydroelectricity for the state) by Pennsylvania Power and Light, the Allentown-based energy company. He favored the acquisition because it lowered his rates; I've been to Montana and know how unhappy they are with the sale of one of their state treasures to carpetbaggers.