Marc J. Elzenbeck It’s always sunny in San Diego. Even on November 26th, 2025, the start of Thanksgiving weekend, it was still great for driving convertibles. Hugo Parra and Ariel Beltran decided to make that afternoon even better. They hopped into Ariel’s red Alfa Romeo and drove from their apartment complex over to the Churchill…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck How do you become a pirate ship? One suspects it’s always been a tricky process, what with obtaining pesky letters of marque, patiently hiding in keys to ambush passing merchant ships, and the risks of your crew swinging by their necks from a yardarm. Paul Freeman of the good ship Sara…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck There are good reasons to bury treasure. Fear of discovery and theft is well-founded, transport risk is real, and it is wise to avoid temptable natures. Love isn’t known to top the list, but it might be the oldest reason and the best. A love story is why Vashon has been…
There stands a tree. What pure over-climbing!Oh Orpheus sings! A tall tree rings in my ear!Then all falls still but even in the silencingare new signs and portents that draw near. Creatures press in quietly from their clearly absolved dens, untussled bushes and nestsfree from predation, at their curious best.Not quiet from stifled fears, instead…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck Imagine it’s 2006 and you’re looking to buy a subcompact car for parking in tight spaces and weaving through some of the heaviest urban traffic tangles in North America four times a day. A connoisseur of fine engineering, let’s say you’re also a bit large, at 6’ 8”, and tip the…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck Imagine it’s May of 2022. You’re a 15 year-old boy in Chicago named Merritt. You’re sitting in your bedroom in front of your laptop wearing a mask all day on Zoom, pretending it’s school. Your teacher, also in their bedroom on Zoom, sits in front of a fake digital shelf of…
One week before winning this year’s NFL Super Bowl, Jody Allen, long-time manager of the Estate of Paul G. Allen, a family trust that owns the Seattle Seahawks, issued a statement saying the team was not yet for sale. On February 18th, only ten days after a triumphant victory in Super Bowl LX, the estate…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck In a previous installment, we looked at the Toyota RAV-4 in its early forms, a handy-sized workhorse renowned for its durability and steady character. But among the many things a 20-plus year old RAV-4 has never been known to say are, “Hey, wanna see how fast we can make it down…
By Marc J. Elzenbeck North America was raised on Sheriffs standing up for the rights of their constituents, for modest pay plus risk to life and limb. Hollywood regaled us with their tales, often in Western movies. As the highest law enforcement officer in a county, Sheriffs had a tough job. Sometimes they had to…
Vashon Enters the Surveillance Age By Marc J. Elzenbeck Imagine you’re a county or municipal administrator in a cash-hungry jurisdiction and you see a demo of an Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) system. These are typically “green” solar-powered cameras mounted along high-traffic public thoroughfares to capture vehicle images, license plates, make, model, color, and designated characteristics. …