Photo of the Week (March 29, 2009)

Greetings from Long Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 28, 2009.

When reading these weekly journal entries, some people must skip over the paragraphs that focus on volleyball. In the midst of college men’s volleyball season, I am not getting complaints. But I do limit updates to every three weeks or so and here is the next one.

The UC Irvine team had back-to-back matches against the University of Hawaii on Thursday & Friday. On the first night I already had plans for another event but I was there the next evening. The second match was a repeat of the first with the Anteaters sweeping the Warriors 3-0 games. With these two wins, the team’s record becomes 19-3 for the season. Additionally UC Irvine now has the #1 position in the national rankings. Go Eaters!

I do watch other sports. In fact a friend invited me to see the Long Beach Yacht Club’s 45th Congressional Cup competition. It’s actually a series of races but I must confess to missing most of it. On the previous night I stayed up late doing my annual income tax forms, then overslept. I arrived in the midst of the final race right at the moment when the two competing sailboats both maneuvered unbelievably close to the pier where we were watching. You could have stretched out a hand and touched the mast of either boat.

This week’s photo shows both boats in mid-race with wind filling their sails and Island Freeman filling the background. The slender palm trees complement the outline of this harbor isle, adding scale that would have been lost with a water-only backdrop. The victor was Berntsson, a Swede (with the Catalina Adventure Tours sail), over Bruni, an Italian (with the Oceanaut sail). Go Sweden!

I included a second shot. Actually it is the same picture, just unedited. Compare the two and you see that by cropping (trimming) the image, I tightened the focus solely on the two boats and the island. Meanwhile the color adjustment brightened both the red (sails) and the blue (sails again, water and sky). These two steps brought out the potential in an average picture.

Post-race my friend and I walked to and through 2nd Street in the upscale Belmont Shores neighborhood of Long Beach. It has a merry mix of restaurants and gift shops, from the ubiquitous Starbucks to the unique Fern’s Garden. It also has a bohemian vibe. The parking meters cast “fake shadows”, silhouettes in shapes such as a carousel horse on a pole or a scarecrow. Also the walkways have fish-shaped posts that are bike racks, I think. Whatever. They’re cool. Go fish!

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 22, 2009)

Greetings from Glendale, California, USA!
Photo taken on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.

On my calendar for Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day, a roommate’s birthday and, alas, a funeral service. The recently deceased was age 70 and had a wife of 30+ years, two children and three grandchildren – all indicators of a good life. I last saw him no less than ten years ago but probably closer to two decades. I did not know him well but he was a friend of my parents who could not attend any of the services. Since I’m not working, I went on my parents’ behalf.

I traveled to Glendale, a three-hour round-trip in workday traffic. Together the funeral and burial lasted another three hours. I barely ate anything for breakfast and was starving by the time services were over but I skipped the reception. It was at a restaurant and, if I went, I predicted another thirty minutes to an hour before I actually got something substantial to eat. I had a quick but fulfilling lunch at the Americana shopping center, where I took this week’s photo of the mall’s trolley.

Then I met up with a friend in Los Angeles for a St. Patrick’s Day drink at an Irish pub before driving home. I originally planned to join my roommate in celebrating his birthday that night but I was exhausted. For more than a week, I have had a cough get gradually worse. Combined that with the funeral and driving and I was beyond drained. I slept between 12 midnight Wednesday and 10 AM Thursday – 34 hours! Except for coughing fits that broke my sleep, I was awake for two hours only and managed to have a meal. Thankfully after a much needed shower on Thursday afternoon, I was back to my normal self.

The cough is nearly gone and I am relieved that the worst of it came sooner than later. On my calendar this Friday in big, bold letters was written “Battlestar Galatica – Series Finale”. If divine intervention stopped me from seeing it, I would be uttering the show’s curse word “Frak” until I watched it. Thankfully I had no relapse and no disaster - manmade or natural - interrupted the broadcast.

Few television series received the chance to give themselves a true ending. Then typically the longer the series run, the higher the finale expectations are. The final episode for “Newhart” is highly regarded and the one for “Seinfeld” is highly maligned while the end of “The Sopranos” has a distinct love/hate quality. In my humble opinion the finale of “Battlestar Galatica” was a perfect elegy.

I bade farewell twice this week – one to a person, the other for a television series. Two good things came to end. Time now for two new good things to begin.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 15, 2009)

Greetings from Irvine, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 14, 2009.

My calendar shows that I had three consecutive days this week – Tuesday through Thursday – where I did absolutely nothing. How is that possible? Fortunately I was out all day on Friday helping a roommate with a work project. That was followed by an evening of take-out food and a board game at some friends’ house. But the very next day, Saturday, more than made up for all my inactivity.

Just two weeks after my last visit to the Great Park, I was back again but not to ice skate. Originally the Valentine’s Day weekend opening of the park’s temporary ice rink would coincide with a “Snow Day”. Unfortunately the preceding week was dominated by rainy weather and the event was moved back a month to the rink’s closing weekend instead. I could have gone by myself but it is always good to share the fun. I relayed the Snow Day info to several couples with little children and one mom was able to come with her son and daughter.

The park had three snow zones, each for a different activity – one for snowball fighting, another for snowman building and the third for sledding on a slope. My friend, her kids and I did all three. I had a sled ride with my friend’s daughter and I would strongly argue on who had more fun – her or me. My weekly photo shows the brother and sister sledding – the girl has a face of pure joy while the boy looks a tad scared but still having fun.

In addition to the snow, the event had another rink for hockey. It also had arts & crafts activities. Under some tents at one set of tables, kids cut out and decorated paper crowns. At another they made Play-Doh snowman magnets. My friend and I helped her kids with both before they all headed home. That was when my favorite moment happened. When asked to say good-bye and thank you, my friend’s son grabbed my right leg and gave it a big squeeze. It was his way of showing how much fun he had with me. Forget the sledding, snowballs and snowmen. That hug was my highlight of the week.

But that was not the last I saw of my friend and her kids that day. Her husband and she were having a get-together that night. I went and spent the evening talking, eating and playing games – namely, Rock Band and Legos. Lacking any sense of musical skills, I avoided the former and instead focused my talents on the latter – with the kids, of course. I spent a few hours playing with Legos with five-year-olds, being amused by their innocence and amazed by their imagination.

First sledding, then Legos. Don’t you wish every day was a snow day?

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 8, 2009)

Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 7, 2009.

Occasionally I come across a “time post”, something that reminds me how much time has passed. For example a high school senior graduating in 2009 was born in 1991. That student was not even alive when I graduated in 1989. This came to mind when I received an email about a reunion for my high school. TWENTY years already? I quickly learned that the email was not about a 20-year class reunion but an annual social for all alumni of West Covina and Edgewood High Schools, former cross-town rivals that merged before my final year when the school district had (suspicious) financial problems.

The email prompted memories of my 10-year reunion held at the Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach. It was mere miles from where I lived then, yet I almost missed it. I was in Atlanta, Georgia, working at my company’s conference until Friday. The reunion was on Saturday and I resisted an offer of a free hotel room for two nights if I left on Sunday as the cheaper plane fare offset the room cost.

I arrived at the airport to find my flight cancelled but was quickly rebooked on an earlier one with no stopover. Great but I had to run across several terminals in an unfamiliar airport to catch it. “Hot-lanta” is HUMID in August and I reached the gate covered in sweat. A flight attendant, unaware of my rebooking, scanned my boarding pass and remarked, “Oh, we were paging you for the last 10 minutes.” In between gasps for air, I replied snidely, “I’ve been running for the last 10 minutes.”

Back home a friend was to pick me up but unaware of my earlier arrival time. Sweaty, still catching my breath and last in line on the boarding ramp, I realized this fact while the woman in front of me turn to see if I was all right. I sputtered my story and she offered her cel phone to call my ride. I accepted the magnanimous offer (cel phones were less common and more expensive in 1999) and learned my friend could not make the new time. I took a taxi home instead.

The next night, I went to the 10-year reunion and came home with about a dozen classmates, spouses and friends. We drank and talked until sunrise. After all my near-misses I had a blast. This dual-school alumni social was also close to home at the Newport Beach Marriott. This week’s photo is that hotel’s fountain. I went but did not recognize a soul, somewhat odd since I run into family, friends and other acquaintances all the time. My 20-year reunion will be later this year. I expect to have as much fun as my 10-year one – and without all the obstacles.

Angelo

Photo of the Week (March 1, 2009)

Greetings from Irvine, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, February 28, 2009.

Have I gone three straight weeks with nothing eventful? Will I write again about movies & television? The best television spin-off – Laverne & Shirley, Melrose Place, Law & Order: SVU? Or the best movie series – James Bond, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter? I give that topic a rest as I actually went out and did stuff.

On Friday afternoon a friend and I went to lunch and a movie. Both were inexpensive. The meal was at a Souplantation restaurant and the movie was a pay-per-view back at the home that my friend and her husband recently bought. We watched The House Bunny, a pleasant comedy. I often read the credits and saw the name Rumer Willis. I vaguely remember when she was born to her parents, actors Bruce Willis & Demi Moore. Fast forward 20 years and here she is all grown up. I feel old now.

That evening I watched a men’s volleyball match. The UC Irvine Anteaters team won the match – 3 games to 1 – against the Long Beach State 49ers, bringing the season record to 14 wins, 3 losses. Also in the three weeks since my last update, the team has moved a notch in the national rankings, up from #3 to #2. Woohoo!

On Saturday I went ice-skating for the second time. My first was three years ago when a friend invited me to an ice rink in Pasadena. I never fell down but did not last long on the ice. My problem was the rental skates. I tried on two pairs but neither fit right, making my feet hurt while skating so I gave up.

This time around I had better fitting skates and fell only once. The same friend was with me at a temporary ice rink set up at the Great Park in Irvine. It was housed in an old airplane hanger on the former El Toro Airbase. Both the rink and skates were free but limited to a 50-minute session. This week’s photo shows the ice rink, almost completely smoothed out by the zamboni in between the hourly skate sessions.

Taking full advantage of the day’s great weather my friend and I next went to Laguna Beach for a couple of hours walking along the beach, climbing the rocks and looking into tide pools. That was followed by a pizza dinner, a chance encounter with a former coworker at a coffee shop and a singles mixer. I had a long day and left the last event early. In fact I was so tired that even after a night’s sleep I did nothing the next day. Aren’t you supposed to rest on Sundays anyway?

Angelo