2010 By Dave

Elizabeth loves to sleep in the crook of my arm, face down please.

Orange County Photographers

I just got a post on my Facebook account that promoted Starwood Preferred Guest. Something about free weekends. Since an associate posted it, I decided to check it out. The landing page read,

The Starwood Preferred Guest® promotion has expired.We’re sorry, the SPG® Free Weekends promotion has expired. Please visit SPG.com to view other special offers and promotions.If you’ve already earned Free Weekend Night Awards through the SPG Free Weekends promotion, you can track them by accessing your account at SPG.com and clicking on “My Earned Awards.” Redeem your Free Weekend Night Awards through December 19, 2010, by calling toll-free 866-539-0059 from the U.S. or Canada, or by contacting the Customer Contact Center in your region and mentioning Award ID 3FWFN. Book now atSPG.com.

Well, so much for that idea.

Admirals Cove Homes | PGA National homes

Fires broke out across the southland in San Diego and Riverside counties because of yesterday’s thunderstorms but no structures were threatened, even though a 200 acre blaze broke out right here in Temecula’s Crown Valley. The smoke contributed to spectacular sunset colors as the storm remnants darkened skies along with it.

LA Times reported numerous fires in the swath of the unusual thunderstorm. Homes were unharmed but everyone got a view of plenty of lightning. Several bolts struck within a few home’s distance of mine.

In Riverside County, the lighnting strikes caused about a half-dozen fires near Temecula and Sage, officials said. The fires ranged from less than an acre to 200 acres, the Riverside County Fire Department said.The 200-acre blaze was burning rapidly near Temecula by Crown Valley and De Portola roads, officials said. Shortly before 5 p.m, 100 firefighters were attacking the blaze but no air support had arrived, according to the Fire Department.

Admirals Cove | PGA National homes

Goodbye Kin. Have you heard of the Microsoft brand of smartphone? It was to be the mothership’s answer to iPhone and Droid. The Kin is DOA, dropped by Microsoft two weeks into market.

Heard on the mini-microsoft blog was the possible best eulogy, the Kin may well replace Microsoft Bob as the all time worst M$ product.

The rumblings have started. With no apparent innovation on the horizon, the giant that brought us the tortures of MS Word and its horrendous implementation of monolithic APA rigidity followed by unblinking corporate dweebs everywhere, will apparently lay off employees as quietly, but quickly as possible.

Expect a lot of new MS experts to hit the streets with new upstart tech ventures and resumes soon.

I can almost hear Warren Buffet saying to “thoroughly evaluate the fundamentals of a company”. I wonder how much stock he owns or will have formerly owned in the future in MS?

I remember thinking, the first time I heard of Kin, “This is a terrible idea.” Now it’s going to have a terrible consequence for some people who may be facing the hard cold streets of Redmond soon.

Admirals Cove Real Estate | PGA National