aust interest rates cut, page-28

Hi Ridge,

And if someone continues just a tad further down the road, up and over the mountains, they will come across Santa Cruz, and a fantastic conference centre called Chaminade (built along early Spanish lines). From there, cruise into Monterey, and experience the Bay. Then continue down the road for about an hour before veering off into a national park which takes you along the Pine Grove and into Carmel (made even more famous for its Mayor and long time resident). A delightful country retreat if ever I have seen one int he States.

I well remember being in the area for a 3 week in-residence executive conference back in 2001 (just in time for Lucent's disastrous January results to be announced).

I also well remember walk out on the pier in Santa Cruz, going to several of the restaurants there, and looking over to the Boardwalk (which was portrayed in one of Clint's movies).

My 4yo son still wears his USAF bomber jacket, and his north Pacific trawler coat that I bought for him in Carmel.

A great area - tech boom, or no tech boom.

Mind you, of course, we experienced power blackouts throughout my stay there due to the power shortages that California was experiencing at the time. Gov Gray did little to fix things then, and now he's the subject of an "Total" recall!!!

I even remember both flying into and out of San Jose (an international airport in its own right) and then conencting back hom via LA International Airport, where the big jet engines roar.