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I was glad to read this story about Cottonwood Canyon Road. Seven or eight years ago, my wife and I took it from south to north, taking the same “shortcut” to Bryce. About halfway, the skies opened and it rained at least two inches. The road south of where you took your pictures gets quite hilly. We nearly skidded off the road and down the canyon more than once. Without a doubt, one of our scariest experiences ever. We ended up in a caravan of five cars (at least two of which were full of German visitors) working our way out. Someone called the park ranger who did show up (after the terrain became flat) but mostly helped out with moral support. The pictures of the trucks crossing the stretam looked EXACTLY as I remember it. Our rental car was absolutely covered with mud and I was concerned about contract violation, etc. We took it to the coin car wash and spent about 10 bucks cleaning it up.

One funny thing, we had our fist cell phone with us. About halfway up the road, we decided that we might at least call 911 and ask how much trouble we were really in. Turned the phone on (didn’t have one on 24/7 then) and, surprise, NO SERVICE. At least we had gas and some water (for a change). My wife won’t let me drive on dirt roads to this day.

Why does that lost comment keep coming last? Is there a PhD in computer science in the house?

Phil, sounds fair. Sadly, I think you’re right about the federal gov. wanting nothing more than to improve social services for Iraqis but not Americans.

Tom: there is an old saying that if you’re not attractive at 20, intelligent at 30, or wealthy by 40 you’ll probably never be attractive, intelligent, or wealthy. So I do feel lucky to have scored 1/3!

Do I feel a “duty” to work more than the 23 years that I worked? I might if society were crying out for new and improved information systems (the kind of engineering for which my PhD is relevant). But as it is what the Federal Government wants is a richer life for the average Iraqi, something that I don’t know how to produce, and the average American seems to want a larger SUV (a job for a mechanical engineer). Fortunately I’m going to be busy finishing Internet Application Workbook (our online textbook for 6.171) and teaching 6.171 through mid-December so I won’t have to spend too much time thinking about the bigger issues…

>>At my age you don’t count yourself lucky for preserving an extra $17,000 of wealth…

Philip … you should indeed consider yourself lucky … I’m same age as you, have worked as a software engineer, er computer programmer, made good money but “$17,000 of wealth” is a lot of money. Though, my perspective might be askew now as I’ve been hit hard in the last year or so by this economic downturn and I’m going to make a third of what my average annual salary was …

…I wish I would have stayed in school longer and pursued a MD/PHD … OTOH, it’s never too late…