Photos

#3

Willow Glen, California, USA

First in a series of photos that I took at the Willow Glen Music in the Park community event this summer.

Not really sure the make of this car, but the burgundy paint was very rich in person.

The Fallen Tree

Portola Redwoods State Park, California, USA

These trees are so tall, but we have (or at least I do) a hard time quantizing just how tall they really are, but when we see them lying on the ground, it really is amazing. It is also very impressive how relatively small the roots are for such a tall tree.

The redwood trees are also amazingly fire resistant – brush fires will hollow out the part near the ground, but the rest of the tree continues on just fine.

The Bridge

Portola Redwoods State Park, California, USA.

I am disappointed that this picture came out as fuzzy as it did – I really liked the framing of the bridge, and the curve of the pathway, but after hiking up the path, and then back down, my hands were just not to the task of holding still for the shutter speed required.

We had a really good time on this camping trip with our friends (new and old) from the Sunday school class that we used to attend for newly married couples. Ten years is fast approaching and we just don’t fit the demographic any longer 🙂

BOFA radio ads are moronic

Have you heard the BOFA radio ads for their “Keep the Change” program? They all center around what a horrible thing it is to lose your spare change.

One ad talks through a person vacuuming up spare change in the car. Another has lost change in a closet sharing how they were lost. Yet another talks about the horrors the lost change has to endure – one of whom has to live in an empty mayo jar in the garage – well it really isn’t empty if the change is in it, is it?

The main idea of the program is that BOFA will round up all you debit card purchases, and put the difference directly into your savings account. Kinda of a cool idea, but I really dislike how they are running the ad campaign.

The implication of ALL the ads that I have heard is that if you just sign up for the Keep the Change program, that you won’t lose spare change, instead of extolling the actual program. Think about it, is Keep the Change really going to help you avoid spare change, and thus losing said spare change?

No, it really isn’t.

Using a BOFA debit card all the time, instead of cash, will cause you to not have any spare change, and thus you won’t lose any. I will give them this. But so will using a debit card from ANY AND EVERY OTHER BANK. When was the last time that you got spare change back from a debit card transaction? Other than cash back of course, and then you get paper money, most likely twenties…

Not seeing how BOFA saves you from losing spare change…

Again, yes, it will cause you to save your own money, in a relatively painless way, agreed, and for this I give them kudos for a semi innovative program. But it DOES NOT REDUCE LOST SPARE CHANGE, and lost spare change is all the ads talk about.

As an aside, I must say, that if you are not the saving type, my guess is that all that money in your savings account is going to get sucked into your banking account as soon as it becomes large enough to be noticeable 😉

Sunset over I-5

I-5, Sacramento, California, USA

I caught the tail end of this beautiful sunset over I-5 in Sacramento at the end of our weekend visiting my sister and brother-in-law. Two minutes early and it was much more dramatic and vibrant – beautiful sunsets only seem to last about 5 minutes for the really good parts.